This week I watched “We Live In Time” starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh. While the story isn’t told linearly it centre’s on the relationship between a talented chef named Almut and a recent divorcee named Tobias. From their meet-cute when Almut hits Tobias with her car while he’s stumbling around depressed in a housecoat, to their budding romance full of ups and downs, Almut’s first cancer diagnosis, going through treatment, going into remission, struggling with infertility, getting pregnant, raising a daughter, to her second cancer diagnosis and her struggle coming to grips with her own mortality and wanting to achieve something meaningful in life, while Tobias struggles to understand and grapples with his own fear over losing the love of his life and raising a child alone…this movie takes you on a wild emotional rollercoaster and I was here for it.
I fucking loved this movie. That’s not a shocking revelation. I knew I would love it the moment I watched the trailer maybe 6 or 8 months ago. Florence Pugh? Love her. Andrew Garfield? C’mon…still my favorite Peter Parker. This is exactly the type of movie I love: a real, grounded, emotional look at the tragedy of life, but with a sprinkle of hope that leaves you with a “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” type feeling. I eat that stuff up all day and I will never stop.
I refuse to say anything critical about this film, so I will highlight some of my favorite parts. First, there is the scene, I believe it’s the morning after they first hook up where he’s leaving and the camera has this split shot where you see the both of them leaning on either side of the door, taking a moment before they carry on with their day, and they each have this subtle exhale smile…It’s perfect, one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen on screen and expertly captures that moment of how it feels when you know you’re sunk deep in the throws of love. Whoever came up with that shot is amazing and the performances were *chef’s kiss*.
Second, Andrew and Florence killed it. I loved both of their characters and could really identify with them as they went through all their different life events. My favorite scene by far was the gas station birth, just wild. The two actors who played the gas station attendants were also fantastic.
Third, not only is this movie entertaining and poignant, it’s also educational. There’s a point where Almut teaches Tobias that the best way to crack an egg is on a flat surface. Friends, for 38 years I have always cracked my eggs on an edge of some sort, assuming that if I used a flat surface I would just smash it, but since watching this movie I’ve been flat cracking my eggs and it is a game changer!
This week I watched the 2024 reboot of The Crow starring Bill Skarsgard, FKA Twigs, and Danny Huston.
The story follows a girl named Shelly who lands in a rehab centre where she meets a tortured artist named Eric. Shelly is on the run from a crime lord named Vincent Roeg, who also happens to be an emissary of the devil. Roeg is after Shelley because she is in possession of an incriminating video of him. At the rehab centre Eric and Shelly become smitten with each other and quickly fall in love. When one of Roeg’s minions comes to the centre, Eric and Shelley escape and for a time they live in romantic bliss until Roeg’s men finally catch up with them and murder them both.
Eric wakes up in train yard purgatory, where a guy named Kronos lives with a bunch of crows. Kronos offers Eric the opportunity to be reunited with Shelly by killing Roeg. He agrees and is sent back to the real world with the inability to die. Eric begins his investigation into Roeg and discovers that not only does the video incriminate him, but Shelly as well. After momentarily doubting the woman he loves and getting killed for it, Eric offers Kronos his own soul in exchange for Shelly’s life.
Returning to the land of the living once more, Eric goes through Roeg’s minions arcade style until he finally reaches the final boss and takes him out. His mission completed, Shelly is revived on the night of their murder while Eric returns to the train yard and waits for the day they will be reunited once more.
My Take:
I’ve been waiting for the reboot/remake of The Crow for what seems like forever. Most notably I recall a time when Jason Momoa was set to take on the role of Eric Draven, but alas that never came to pass. As someone with an affinity for movies with a gothic, supernatural feel along with some creative violence, the concept of The Crow has always appealed to me. I watched the original movie well after it came out, but I still loved it. I read the graphic novel shortly after and it became one of my favorites and probably opened the door to me expanding my comics reading outside of Marvel and DC.
So when it was announced early last year that this movie was finally in production I was psyched. When the trailer came out I actually thought it looked decent, but I’ve said the same thing about every trailer for each Sony Spider-Man adjacent movie that’s come out over the last few years and we all know how they turned out. When the reviews started to come out I decided to pass on seeing it in theatres and ultimately I ended up watching it on $0.99 rental on Apple TV. It was worth exactly that much.
This movie takes a while to get going. Normally, I’m a fan of solid relationship building, but for a movie like this they spend way too much time building up the relationship between Shelly and Eric. It drags on for too long and even though I felt like Skarsgard and Twigs have great chemistry, the story doesn’t really do much to create any depth to their characters or their relationship. It basically amounts to the type of unrealistic, bohemian love affair that used to be reserved for alternative rock music videos in the early 2000s. Ultimately, I came to this movie for the revenge killing and I just wanted them to get on with it.
I enjoyed Bill Skarsgard’s performance a lot more than I thought I would. His version of Eric Draven, lacks the cool factor that Brandon Lee’s had, but there’s an emotionality that he’s able to project through his big doe eyes that really makes you feel the character. He really has that Machine Gun Kelly, I’ve been traumatized to the max vibe working for him in this movie. It was kind of comical to me that despite the fact Skarsgard is absolutely shredded, Eric is kind of a clutz, a piss poor fighter for most of the movie, and never really feels like he’s physically up to the task he’s about to embark on. That being said when he finally dons the black leather jacket, and the signature Crow makeup, and shows up to the opera with a katana and really starts putting his inability to be killed to the test it makes for great entertainment.
Adding a supernatural element to the villain, Roeg, was an interesting choice. I felt like it kind of took away from the original idea of the crow, where it’s more about the tragedy of their love being torn apart that brings Eric back. This one is set up as more of a heaven vs. hell type of thing, but it’s not really even heaven? It’s a weird and unnecessary addition to the mythos I think. Roeg also just isn’t that interesting of a character.
This version of The Crow isn’t a great movie. BUT it also wasn’t the pile of flaming hot garbage that it was made out to be. It became pretty clear to me early on that this movie was never going to succeed in theatres. People just don’t watch movies like this anymore. This is the type of movie where back in the day you would watch when you got to the theatre and realized the movie you wanted to see was full, but you were already there so you had to go see something. But that doesn’t happen now. People either go see the movie they want or they don’t go at all. It’s a shame and it’s the reason why movies like The Crow generally just go direct to streaming. The only thing I can think of for why the studio opted for a theatrical release is they felt it would be able to rely on the fanbase of a 30 year old movie and the source material being super-hero adjacent. Wrong on both counts. One thing I kept thinking about while watching this movie is that it really would have benefited from a better soundtrack. The aesthetic of it is so grunge/gothic and I think they really should have incorporated more Nu-Metal era music in this one. It feels like a movie that should have come out in the early to mid 2000s, maybe that’s why despite all of it’s faults I still kind of liked it.
Ultimately, I thought that once the movie really got going, basically at the point that Eric decides to offer his soul in exchange for Shelly’s, it was actually a lot of fun.
Last night I went to see the newest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America: Brave New World.
The movie picks up where The Falcon and The Winter Soldier left off, with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson fully installed as the new Captain America. The story starts with Cap leading a military mission in Mexico to recover a stolen canister from a terrorist group called Serpent and their leader Sidewinder. With the help of the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres, Cap defeats Sidewinder, saves a priest and some nuns, and recovers the stolen canister which contains a newly acquired element called Adamantium.
As a thank you, Sam and Joaquin are invited to an event at the White House by newly elected President Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Sam brings along the OG Captain America Isaiah Bradley as his special guest. At the event Ross explains that Adamantium was discovered and harvested on “Celestial Island” (that is the frozen Celestial stuck in the middle of the Indian Ocean from way back in Eternals). Ross is trying to cement his legacy by organizing an international treaty to harvest and share adamantium for the benefit of the entire planet.
Things go sideways at the event when Isaiah and a few other military personnel suddenly attempt to assassinate the president. Sam is able to talk Isaiah into giving himself up to the authorities and then sets about trying to discover what led to the sudden attack. What Sam finds is that everything: the stolen canister, the run in with Serpent, the attack on the President has all been orchestrated by Samuel Sterns. Sterns was used as a scapegoat by Ross after the events of The Incredible Hulk. Ross kept him imprisoned and then later used Sterns to develop a pill that could heal Ross’s failing heart with the promise that if he did he would allow him to go free. But when that didn’t happen Sterns set a plan in motion to destroy Ross’ legacy and turn him into the thing he hates the most. The first part of Sterns’ plan, to destroy any hope of a treaty and incite a war between the United States and Japan over control of Celestial Island and adamantium nearly succeeds, but is ultimately foiled through the intervention of Captain America and The Falcon, though Joaquin is critically injured in the battle. The second part of his plan goes off without a hitch. It turns out the heart pills that he’s been feeding to Ross are loaded with gamma radiation, and when Ross’ epic temper is brought to the boiling point, the Hulk Hunter becomes a Hulk himself. With a Red Hulk ripping through Washington DC, Sam is forced to contend with his lack of superhuman ability and find a way to embrace his humanity as Captain America.
My take:
Going into this movie I was…apprehensive to say the least. Even though I enjoyed The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I’ve never been that jazzed on the new Captain America or the actor who portrays him: Anthony Mackie. When it comes to the MCU and Marvel Comics in general, Captain America is my guy. I love Steve Rogers and I really enjoyed Chris Evans’ portrayal of him. I knew that when he came back all old after the events of Avengers: Endgame it was likely the shield would pass to Falcon, even though, as a fan of Ed Brubaker’s comic run circa Winter Soldier, I personally wanted to see Bucky have go as Cap. Combine that with the overwhelming glut of MCU content since Disney+ came into existence, and a lot of the recent movies being objectively terrible (I’m looking at you Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania). My hopes for this Captain America movie were not high. I was sure it would likely be another disappointment.
But I was wrong. This movie is great. Surprisingly great even. In my opinion this movie is exactly what the MCU needed to get back on track, because for the first time in a long time the direction that things are heading seems clear. For me this Multiverse chapter of the MCU has been like driving in the fog, I had no idea where the hell we were or where we were going, but with this movie it’s like we can kinda start to make out some shadows in the distance. It’s comforting, when for so long it’s felt like stuff was just happening. I gotta give props to Anthony Mackie, he gives a great performance here and I actually think I like Sam Wilson now. I think his arc in this movie of finding his own way as Captain America was good. Harrison Ford was awesome as President Ross. I’m kind of sad William Hurt didn’t get a chance to take Ross through to the Red Hulk, but I think he’d be proud of Ford’s performance. I’m really excited to see what they do with this character going forward. An unexpected joy for me in this movie was Danny Ramirez as Joaquin Torres. I loved that they didn’t follow the normal superhero trope of introducing him and then slowly but surely by the end he gets his chance to become the new Falcon, he just is Falcon from the get go and he’s great at it. Mackie and Ramirez have great chemistry and it really shines in the bonds and interactions between their characters.
My favorite thing about this movie, as I alluded to before, is how it serves the entire MCU story. The past, present, and future. Prior to watching it I was talking to a friend who had seen it and they mentioned that they wouldn’t have thought that the movie to rewatch prior to this one would have been 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, but for anyone else who hasn’t seen it this turns out to be sage advice. The Incredible Hulk has long been the black sheep of the MCU. Even though it has a direct crossover with Iron Man, whatever aspirations they had for a Hulk franchise died when things fell apart with Edward Norton and with stricter Marvel IP licensing that have prevented further solo Hulk movies from being made. Despite more recent inclusions of Tim Roth’s Neil Blonsky AKA The Abomination in Shang-Chi and She-Hulk, the movie has largely been forgotten and ignored in the MCU canon. Until now. An argument could be made that Captain America: Brave New World is as much a sequel to The Incredible Hulk as it is a continuation of the Captain America franchise. The inciting historical event that drives the conflict of the film is the battle in Brooklyn between Hulk and Abomination which led to the creation of The Leader AKA Samuel Sterns, played by a returning Tim Blake Nelson. We also get to see the return of Liv Tyler’s, Betty Ross at the end of the movie, further cementing (hopefully) that the Hulk’s world is here to stay in the MCU and opening the door for future solo Hulk adventures. I would love to see a live action Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.! Just throwing it out there Feige. Make my dreams come true!
In the present we finally get to see an acknowledgement of the Celestial stuck in the middle of the ocean that has been a long time coming. That was a huge thing to do in Eternals and it’s wild that a reference hasn’t been made to it in every MCU show or film that has come out since it happened. I thought it was an interesting twist to have that be the source and introduction of Adamantium, which further drives the push towards the future state of the MCU and the introduction of the X-Men. Because for the uninitiated, Adamantium is synonymous with Wolverine, and while Wolverine has technically entered the MCU in Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s clear that that world is not the MCU’s Earth-616. It’s currently unclear to me if “mutants” exist on MCU Earth-616 at all, although we have Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (RIP) who are meant to be mutants, and after doing research into Shira Hass’ character Ruth Bat-Seraph, it looks like she is also a mutant known as Sabra in the comics, so maybe? In any event I’m super excited for mutants to finally become a big part of the MCU and Brave New World really kicks the door open in that regard.
In closing, I really enjoyed Captain America: Brave New World. It was fun to watch, it didn’t drag at all, I enjoyed the reintegration of The Incredible Hulk plot points and characters, and I thought the new characters added a lot. I think the title of Captain America is in good hands with Sam Wilson and I look forward to seeing how his journey progresses. I’m also now really intrigued by the upcoming Thunderbolts* movie, because apparently Bucky is running for congress now? Did I miss something? Anyways, I think if that movie follows a similar tone to this one then it could be great as well. The only things I didn’t like about this movie were: no Seth Rollins, Giancarlo Esposito was underutilized (hope to see him again in the future), and the CGI can be a little hamfisted at times. Like I’m not confident Liv Tyler actually showed up on set for this movie or if she did a self tape in her house and sent it in or if they just generated an image of her with a computer.
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