What Movies Have You Seen Recently?

i rewatched trolls 3 again i pirated the 1080p version for now but im making space for the 4k ultra resolution ver teehee

while i was watching twitter found a drop of some new unseen behind the scenes content!

 
The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
This movie was a mixed bag. The story has some repeating beats to the first movie about the kid wanting to go in a different realm but having parents overprotective about it, though the new icy area is a cool touch. (Not kidding pun actually wasn't intended.) Melody is fine and has enough spunk, one can sympathize with her reasoning considering how long Ariel hid everything from her. In terms of the returning characters it is kinda mixed, Ariel and Triton are in character and written with taste, and Eric is fine if a bit underused/bland here, and as characters are some of the reason why when the movie does try to take itself seriously it generally feels natural; not all of the serious moments don't feel like they're trying to add funny in too much. However, Scuttle is not funny in this movie, and Sebastian has some funny by themselves/on paper lines about getting older but they start to get grating when he mentions it over and over, and his being mopey starts to become much in the movie. At least Morgana is actually fairly good of a villain; they do a good job contrasting her with Ursula in that while she is not always as polished/slightly more wacky she still has some calculating and intimidating moments. The climax feels surprisingly high stakes with a lot of the characters involved facing physical or emotional powerlessness, with Morgana's smackdown towards Melody being especially brutal; I like that in the movie in general it focuses more on Morgana getting Melody to trust her personally than Ursula to Ariel in the first movie. (EDIT: Melody is a sucker here though) Undertow is a fun new touch too as a minion with how his running gag of wanting to be more powerful is executed which like everything else I won't spoil. I don't quite like Tip or Dash as much; they aren't as memorable as the villains in that they can feel a bit much like Timon and Pumbaa, though Tip is a bit more cynical than Timon. At least they have some interesting slapstick occasionally. The soundtrack is okay; the duet between Ariel and Melody is pretty good and the ending song is decent but the other songs are meh. The animation isn't good much; aside from some good colors the frame rate is much worse and the characters can really look off-model.

So yeah about exactly as much good as bad in the movie. If you love the Little Mermaid movie and are interested in watching this one I won't say don't, but you might not like it or you might. At least that's… closer to being a recommendation than I could give Mulan II which I watched last year, which is my generally both my least favorite of the DTV Disney Sequels currently and my least favorite animated movie I've seen this decade. (Mushu-yikes!)
Though I watched this a little ways after watching Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken, I realized it's also derivative of this movie with how similar its villain's plan is to Morgana's involving manipulation through playing the misunderstood friend. My opinion of the movie was already starting to weaken considering it's also extremely derivative of Turning Red, especially since that's maybe my favorite movie I've seen this decade actually, but thinking about how much is recycled from this movie too really amplifies it.
 
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Seen Dobrinya and the Dragon (Добрыня Никитич и Змей Горыныч), my first Melnitsa movie. It's a fun movie, very distinctly Russian, which I'm very fond of. The only thing I don't like is the portrayal of the Mongols, but aside from that, great time. Love how Zmey is portrayed as a friendly hyrda than a monster here.
 
The Powerpuff Girls Movie (2002)

This film was a very exciting watch for me. The animation is very clean and stylized, there's lots of action, and you get to learn about Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup's first few days in Townsville. Mojo Jojo had a bit of a soft side before the climax, as he provided shelter and let the girls help him construct his lair atop the city's volcano. His mega form also looked really cool, and Professor Utonium was a great supporting figure. The Mayor and Miss Bellum didn't have much of a role and the Gang Green Gang and Fuzzy Lumpkins made cameo appearances. The only part I didn't like was when Mojo transformed, as it had a lot of flashing lights, which forced my hand to cover the screen during that seqeunce. The film was also quite touching, especially during the part when the girls are contemplating whether or not they should return and save Townsville.

Overall, I think I should give this a 9/10. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great prequel to the main series. Shame that back in 2002, this didn't make too much at the box office, thanks to films like Men in Black and Lilo and Stitch.
 
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The New Mutants (2020)

Just watched this movie for the second time with my first being about 3-4 years ago, and it definitely holds up. It might not be quite as good as most of FOX's X-Men film series, but regardless it's still fantastic in its own right.

It has an intriguing plot and it's interesting how (besides the intro) the whole movie is 6 characters stuck in one location, but I think it pulls that off really well. I think the chemistry between the 5 teenagers is pretty good. I also think the horror aspect is pulled off well. And of course, I'm still a huge fan of how the movie is both an allegory for being LGBT and being subjected to conversion therapy, as well as actually having a gay romance with a nice kiss scene.

With Deadpool and Wolverine coming out in about a week, I might go on to rewatch the three Wolverine films and the two Deadpool films before I see it.
 
I'm a little late but I think this still counts as "recent" because I saw this film on July 11th: Inside Out 2.

Having watched the first movie when it released I was looking forward to the sequel! It was very fun and I'm glad I saw it with my family… even if most of them haven't seen the original.
 
SparksMarioWiki said:
I'm a little late but I think this still counts as "recent" because I saw this film on July 11th: Inside Out 2.

Having watched the first movie when it released I was looking forward to the sequel! It was very fun and I'm glad I saw it with my family… even if most of them haven't seen the original.
Click to expand...
I think that's recent enough to belong here.
 
Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip (1999)

This movie was a super cool sci-fi adventure, with lots of time travel in it. Dexter puts together a team of his future selves: a senior citizen, a cowardly and nervous teenager, and an Action Hank like crime fighter to take on a powered-up Mandark, complete with a supersuit, ray gun, and cape, as well as his own army of future selves. His team consists of an older business man who forced teen Dexter to work under him, an overweight overlord of a wasteland, and a brain inside a containment jar whose design looks like a prototype for Hector Con Carne from ECC.

The film has a lot of action scenes and while Dexter doesn't get along with his future selves at first, once they're all together, they show a lot of chemistry, especially during the climax. Mandark's team is trying to obtain this source of postive energy, and once they acquire it in the wasteland, they corrupt it by forcing it to release negative energy instead. This also corrupts Mandark's personality, making him more malicious and threatening than he was for most of his appearances in Season 2.

However, there were some things I didn't like in the film as well. Dee Dee didn't have much of a role, and the fact she started the plot up by sending the robots to the lab without Dexter realizing until after the climax made her a designated hero. Overlord Mandark's design is quite hideous, there weren't too many humorous scenes, and the film's last few moments after the climax were bittersweet.

Overall, I think this film is pretty solid, and a must-watch for any fan of Dexter's Laboratory. It's not perfect, but the positives allow the film to stand out amongst the crowd and more than make up for its flaws. I really enjoyed my time with it, and I'm honored to have seen the last project Genndy Tartakovsky and Christine Cavanaugh worked on before the former began work on Samurai Jack and the latter retired after playing a few bit characters on PPG and some other roles like Birdee in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald. For these reasons, I'd give the film an 8.5/10 rating.
 
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Deadpool and Wolverine (2024)

What an absolute banger and a fantastic (likely) finale for Hugh Jackman as James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine.

After having always adored the Fox series, which was in its own bubble and separate from the rest of Marvel, I was pretty concerned about the third Deadpool movie being in the MCU, especially after learning it would also be a crossover with Wolverine. Thankfully, they handled it pretty well. My main gripe is that the whole deal with the Time Variance Authority and the many different timelines is very convoluted, but having watched Loki Season 1 and 2 it was a bit easier to follow. I'm glad that the film didn't feel too much like it was interfered with by the rest of the MCU, as the X-Men are really the only part of Marvel that I really care about.

So, I never really got around to rewatching the Deadpool and Wolverine movies prior to this one, so for most of them, the last time I saw them would've been 3 years ago, around the time I wrote my "Ranking the X-Men Film Series" thread. At the time, the two Deadpools were my least favourite in the series, in large part due to the strong violence/gore, sexual references, swearing, drug references, etc. but I guess because I'm older now those things don't bother me so much. Tonally, this film is most similar to Deadpool and Deadpool 2, but I found myself really enjoying that. Ryan Reynold's portrayal of Deadpool is once again fantastic and his personality, 4th wall breaks, and humour really carries the film, as does Hugh Jackman's timelessly legendary portrayal of Wolverine which I feel very lucky we got to see once again after Logan was seemingly the last time.

It was especially cool that after 24 years we finally get to see Hugh Jackman don the iconic yellow Wolverine costume, and it was hilarious that Deadpool made a joke at that by comparing it to how he wears red to camoflague his blood.

It was good to see a lot of returning characters from the X-Men, such as Blind Al, Vanessa, Yukio and Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Pyro (who happily is played by Aaron Stanford again after 18 years since Last Stand), Toad, Sabretooth (reprised by Tyler Mane after 24 years since his first and until now only appearance in the first X-Men movie, as Origins Wolverine had a different actor, Liev Schreiber), Gambit (though I'm dissappointed he wasn't played by the same person as in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Taylor Kitsch), and especially
Laura Kinney (X-23). I wasn't surprised that she was referenced, but when she actually appeared in person and had a major role, and was played by Dafne Keen as in Logan, that was awesome. In fact I knew it was her as soon as I heard the music that I recognised from Logan lol. Also, we see her foot claws in this film, which is really cool. The sunglasses were also a nice nod to Logan, as were her use of a few Spanish phrases as a nod to her Mexican heritage in that movie. It's kinda cool to know what happened to her after that movie, but I don't understand why she would get sent to the Void lol.

Cassandra Nova makes for a pretty good villain, she's got a good personality and intimidating powers.

The opening scene ("Bye Bye Bye") was legendary, and extremely funny how Deadpool just uses Wolverine's skeleton to fight instead of his weapons (though I wish he hadn't used his sword to take out that last person). I will say I was a bit dissappointed that this scene 100% confirms for sure that

Logan did die, when a part of me always liked to headcanon that his regenerative power might have somehow saved him even after he seemingly got his ticket punched.

I didn't really like the bit where Deadpool asks to be an Avenger (that would NOT suit him) and subsequently is seen as a car salesman, but the scene where Deadpool betrays the TVA and escapes to search for Logan was utterly epic and from there the movie is fantastic. The scene where Deadpool goes across various timelines looking for the right Wolverine was epic, and I like the choice the writers made of the Wolverine that Deadpool ends up with is "the worst Wolverine" stuck with crushing guilt for failing the X-Men.

The one on one fight scenes between Deadpool and Wolverine were pretty great,
and I guess they do confirm that Wolverine would win in a fight, which is something I've always wondered.

I have to say I really wasn't a fan of Nicepool, and it was super confusing how he's the only variant of Deadpool without a regenerative power. But the appearance of the whole Deadpool Corps was really awesome, and the fight scene where Wolverine puts on his mask at last and he and Deadpool fight the Corps ("Like a Prayer") was utterly phenomenal.

I think the finale and ending of the movie was really nice, and I was a huge fan of how
the credits contain a montage tribute to Fox's X-Men film series. It's awesome to see that this film pays respect to Fox's series even though the X-Men have changed hands to the MCU.

All in all, this was an excellent movie, definitely better than the two Deadpools and probably better than the first two Wolverine movies, but it's not perfection and I'm not sure it rivals Logan or the original X-Men trilogy (also I don't know what I was thinking ranking Dark Phoenix as the second best X-Men movie 3 years ago lol).

I will probably see this movie again someday, possibly buy a DVD of it so that I can own it permanently like I do for most of Fox's X-Men series. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of Deadpool, Wolverine, the X-Men series, or even just superhero films in general (and an adult, because this film has a lot of mature so I'm honestly not sure how it's only a 15.) I'm excited to see what direction the MCU takes next with Deadpool, Wolverine and the X-Men franchise in general. It won't ever replace Fox's wonderful series, but as we've seen with this movie, it can still produce top notch movies.
 
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Despicable Me 4 (2024)

I saw this movie last Thursday with my mom and oldest sister. The plot is pretty cool, with Gru and his family having to move to the city of Mayflower after an encounter with a new villain named Maxime Le Mal. The fight scene at the beginning was pretty cool, with a lot of action and tense moments. But once Gru Jr. is introduced, a lot of the humor that came with him didn't impress me. However, he is very cute, and his initial aversion towards Gru is given some focus, which is a nice touch.

5 of the Minions undergo special training to become Mega Minions. There's one with long arms, one with a big appetite, one that can shoot lasers uncontrollably, a flying one with a pointy head, and one with super-strength. Maxime's main powers include being able to turn into a cockroach-human hybrid, which both me and my sister found gross. His assistant Valentina doesn't have much of a role beyond moral support.

Where the film starts to falter is when Gru and the family move to Mayflower. They have to go under different names to conceal their identities, which is baffling in my opinion. A lot of the scenes within the city are pretty mundane as well. Margo has to enroll in a new school, Edith and Agnes enter a local martial arts class, and Gru and Lucy meet their new neighbors, who are initally umimpressed with their mannerisms.

However, once Gru and Gru Jr. are forcibly taken on a heist with the new neighbors' daughter, Poppy, the plot starts to improve. Poppy is initally cold-hearted and snarky, but once she and her teammates head to Lycée Pas Bon to steal a Honey Badger named Lenny, she starts to warm up towards Gru and is more upbeat and peppy as a result. After the heist, Gru Jr ends up being kidnapped by Maxime. Gru and the Mega Minions try their best to save him, with Poppy assisting by using the car from the heist scene to transport Gru to a building where Maxime is holding Gru Jr. hostage.

The climax has a lot of action and tense moments, with Maxime turning Gru Jr. into a flying cockroach-human hybrid and using his powers to force him to turn on Gru for most of the fight. However, after Gru is about to lose the fight, his words of encouragement and forgiveness cause Gru Jr. to break free from Maxime's control. He fights back, and with the help of the Mega Minions, Maxime is defeated.

The family goes back home soon after, where Agnes is reunited with her pet Goat, Lucky, and it's revealed that Poppy enrolled in Lycée Pas Bon during the epilogue. Gru Jr. is returned to normal, which is a shame because I thought his flight powers were pretty cool. But by far the best scene in the movie is when Gru visits Maxime in jail, where they settle their differences by performing Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears. During this scene, we see all the past villians, including Vector, El Macho, Scarlett Overkill, Balthazar Bratt, Dru, and all members of the Vicious Six.

Overall, I'd give this film an 8.5/10. It's a lot better than Despicable Me 3 (2017), Minions (2015), and Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). But although it has a lot of good elements, I personally think Despicable Me (2010) and Despicable Me 2 (2013) outshine it in many ways. However, it's still a pretty fun watch, and is a definite reccomendation for any fans of Despicable Me or Illumination films in general.
 
Wish (2023)

Just saw one of Disney's most recent animated films, this one was designed as a celebration of Disney's 100 year anniversary and is certainly rich with Easter eggs (with varying degrees of subtlety) referencing Disney's history.

The plotline and setting was okay but felt underdeveloped, it's all about wish-granting which is a pretty classic Disney thing I guess. Asha's a passable main protagonist, but idk I feel like her personality didn't really feel very unique to me and I don't feel she really had any character development arc either. Magnifico was kinda cool I guess, but I feel the film could have developed him more and done more to make his descent into evil more relatable/understandable to the viewer rather than just having him be kind of an asshole right off the bat, and
Straight up just becoming a generic evil villain as soon as he embraces the forbidden magic, that was lame.

It is cool though how he has many similarities to the magical talking Mirror from Snow White, although my understanding is that that is not actually him, it's just another Easter Egg.

Asha's friends, Valentino, and Star were kinda meh. Particularly most of Asha's friends felt far underdeveloped, the film might have been better if there were fewer of them with more development. I can barely even remember most of their names apart from Dahlia and Simon because those two are the most plot relevant. I do see though that Asha's friends were meant to be a reference to the Seven Dwarves, so that's nice I guess.

The humour in this movie didn't really land on me for the most part.

The songs in this film were really weak in my opinion, none of them felt like catchy tunes and they all just kind of felt like the lyrics were kind of... forced.

The artstyle/animation in this film didn't really impress me at all but wasn't terrible either.

Interestingly, this Disney film has no romance subplot in it, which I guess isn't a dealbreaker but I do kinda feel like I missed this, because romance is something I generally enjoy in Disney movies and other fairytale-based media.

I found the final battle of this movie pretty underwhelming, not least because of the aforementioned problem that Magnifico instantly turns into a generic evil dude once he gets corrupted by the forbidden magic, but also it's underwhelming that the villain with all the awesome power who seizes the Star and the wishes and blocks out the sky to stop the people making wishes to the heavens, and he just gets defeated by ordinary people singing in unity I guess. The one redeeming factor is that it's clever how they had Simon disguise as Magnifico to chase Asha while the real Magnifico stayed behind to stop Asha's plan. That genuinely caught me off guard and I was impressed by that plot twist.

The ending is kinda wholesome with the Queen becoming ruler and her now encouraging people to make their own wishes come true rather than relying on magic, and the friend group forgiving Simon for betraying them. Asha becoming a fairy godmother really didn't sit with me though, she clearly doesn't have magical aptitude and was only given a wand in the first place during the final battle so she would have something to defend herself with, and her personality doesn't come off as very fairy godmothery to me.

All in all I'd give this film a 6/10 or so. It's alright, and it has a few things that are decent about it - my favourite probably being the Easter Eggs, but the whole film feels very safe. It doesn't really do anything adventurous or ambitious at all, and it doesn't truly excel in any single aspect. It has several significant flaws, such as the very weak soundtrack. A lot of this perhaps comes down to the fact that it's rushed, and it focuses on being a love letter to 100 years of Disney at the expense of truly excelling as an a movie in its own right. But despite all that I did enjoy it a bit. I don't think I would recommend this film unless you really have the time and money to spare, and/or if you're a really hardcore Disney fan who's very keen on seeing how Disney celebrated 100 years and all the Easter eggs.
 
X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Rewatched this movie for the first time in 3 years and it's still great (especially the final battle) but ranking this as my second favourite Xmen movie back in 2021 was definitely a huge mistake. In fact I'd currently say that it's possibly the weakest in the series aside from the first two Deadpool movies, but I really need to rewatch the rest of the series to be sure.
 
The Blues Brothers, a musical comedy about two musician brothers who form a band to raise $5,000 for the orphanage they grew up in but get relentlessly pursued by the police and others they anger along the way. A great film to see if you like blues music.
 
Justice League Dark (2017)

Warning: This movie is age rated 15 in the U.K.

So I saw this movie recently because I've never really tried a movie that's more on the mature/serious side whilst still being animated. I also knew going in that Zatanna Zatara would be one of the main characters and that was if anything the biggest reason I decided to watch this - since the live action Zatanna movie was cancelled, this is the closest we'll get to a Zatanna movie for the foreseeable future.

Despite being targeted at adults and older teenagers, it's surprisingly very short at only about 1h10m not counting the credits. Which is honestly a huge shame since I feel the story could have better paced and had more detail if it was more like 1h30m-2h long.

I do want to talk about John Constantine, since I've heard of him for a while as a magician who serves as a love interest to Zatanna in some media (in this movie they are ex-lovers but still friends IIRC), but he doesn't appear in either DC Super Hero Girls or Young Justice, which are the two main franchises from which I'm familiar with Zatanna prior to seeing this movie. I feel like I like him, mainly thanks to his personality which was a perfect mix of being skilled, competent, cool-headed, confident, intelligent, and witty, and being gruff, sarcastic, and abrasive. His voice acting by Matt Ryan was excellent, and as a Brit it was hilarious and enjoyable to hear John have such a thick British accent. However, I don't like him anywhere near as much as Zatanna, because unlike her he doesn't have a cool name (John Constantine is quite a bland name and he has no alternative superhero name) , doesn't have a cool outfit (he literally is just a dude in a suit and brown coat, not even with distinctive accessories or anything), and his powers are nowhere near as impressive as Zatanna's (and while she has the interesting trait of casting spells by talking backwards, John doesn't)

I also want to talk about Zatanna, who as previously mentioned was the biggest reason I saw this movie in the first place, as she's one of my favorite fictional characters of all time out of anything ever (and my theme this month). Whilst this movie's version of Zatanna was absolutely herself and fabulous, I sadly have to admit this is my least favourite version of her so far. This version of Zatanna is an adult rather than a teenager (and while I'm not sure exactly how old she is, she seems to be in her late twenties to early thirties, making her significantly older than even the final season of Young Justice where she is 24), and her personality is much more mature, serious and calmer, with less focus on stuff like fashion, makeup, drama, social media, and even her career as a stage magician is only briefly shown at the start. She's still very much a caring and compassionate soul though, which I feel works very well as a contrast to John's much more abrasive personality.


That said, there is that one scene where Zatanna goes beserk mode and unleashes an utterly impressive and threatening display of her magic, easily overpowering Felix Faust who had made quick work of all the men simultaneously. She very nearly executes him but is stopped by John, but once she calms down and realises what she did, she starts crying.

Things like this truly are a testament to how awesomely powerful Zatanna is - she is by far the strongest character in the movie, which Felix even explicitly states in the film, and I love that about her.

She's so OP in fact that the movie actually had to remove her from the final battle with plot convenience (she faints from exhaustion just before the fight), which is kinda disappointing but at the same time I love how that shows how awesome she is

Zatanna is this film is voiced by Camilla Luddington, which is the first time I've heard Zatanna voiced by this actress, as she's voiced by Kari Wahlgren and Lacey Chabert in DCSHG and YJ respectively. I think Luddington's a decent fit for the character, but I much prefer Chabert and Wahlgren.

Interestingly, it turns out Luddington is also the voice actress for Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, all of which are video games I'm a fan of (warning that those are 18+), especially Shadow, but I didn't at all notice this when watching the film, I guess because Lara sounds very British in those games whereas I didn't really think Zatanna sounded British in Justice League Dark (unlike John lol). Luddington herself is British but I'm guessing she intentionally didn't want to sound British in this film as Zatanna is Italian-American.

I have to say I really wasn't a fan of Zatanna's outfit in this movie. The movie (outside of a brief scene at the start) ditches the iconic magician outfit (a white shirt and black magician jacket with tails, worn over a black and/or purple leotard and tights, complete with long boots or high heels, a bow tie, white gloves, and sometimes a top hat and/or a waistcoat) that she wears in Young Justice, Teen Titans Go, and some episodes of DCSHG, and also differs from her superhero outfit in DCSHG (a decorated black and white leotard with purple tights, shoulder pads, black high heeled boots, a fuchsia gem on her chest, and a magneta-lined black cape.) Even her civilian outfit in DCSHG was way better than her outfit in this movie (a black waistcoat over a white blouse, with a magneta skirt and black high heeled boots). Instead, this Zatanna doesn't wear a leotard at all (which I always viewed as an iconic and adorable fashion choice of hers), she wears a white top with black trousers, black boots, long black gloves, and a black choker and I'm not happy at all with how revealing/sexualised her outfit is.

Zatanna is the only major female character in the movie, and it is also poor in terms of POC representation and LGBTQ+ representation as well as women. Every prominent character in this movie is white, and there is no canon queer representation at all. I'm aware that John Constantine is canonically bi in other media, so this movie's choice to gloss over that completely was a missed opportunity.

As for the rest of the team, I also really liked Deadman, who as the name suggests is someone who died and became a ghost who can possess people. He's quite funny, and I kind of love how he's pretty much just a textbook ghost who can possess people, and there isn't a logical reason why he of all people is the one that was chosen to be able to remain on earth as a ghost. Jason Blood/Etrigan is my least favourite of the team, but he's still okay - this is not my first time seeing him as he is in both Young Justice and Justice League.

Jason dies at the end of the movie, but I honestly didn't find his death compelling or sad at all. It's also weird how Zatanna or John didn't even seem to think of using a healing spell.

Finally, Batman is also a major protagonist and on the team in this movie, and I really appreciate his role in this movie as a familiar face and the only non magic user. His serious personality and master detective skills fit the movie perfectly. He certainly fits the "dark" in "Justice League Dark" like no other.

The plot of this movie is fairly decent. The opening scenes are nicely dramatic, and I like how Batman's investigation leads him to gather the magical team even though he was the one initially skeptical of the idea that the crimes were caused by magic rather than insanity. Overall, Justice League Dark is an excellent mixture of a horror film, a mystery film and a superhero film.

The theme tune with the opening titles goes EXTREMELY hard.

I like the Felix Faust scene and the final battle, but most of the rest of the plot of the movie was decent but just that.

All in all I would give this movie a 8/10 or so. The strongest things it has going for it are Zatanna (even if this is thus far my least favourite version of her, she's still great), John's personality, Batman, Deadman, some of the more action heavy scenes, and the music and horror atmosphere. The story is just decent, and certain weaker aspects include the villain(s), the limited female, POC, and LGBTQ+ representation, Zatanna's outfit, and the short length. I would recommend this movie to adult DC fans looking for a darker/scarier adventure, or if you're a fan of DC's darker heroes like John, Zatanna, and Batman. I'm aware this movie has a sequel which I will certainly check out soon.
 
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Just rewatched Godzilla (1954)

What a great film and honestly still the best Godzilla film there is.

No political BS being forced down our throats like modern movies either.

It's just a film that has an opening scene that is directly referencing the Daigo Fukuryuu Maru (Lucky Dragon No. 5) incident, where a Japanese fishing boat ended up being showered by radioactive fallout from the detonation of Castle Bravo, a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb, by the United State's military only a few months prior to the start of filming and features a giant radioactive prehistoric dinosaur that is awoken as a result of the testing of hydrogen bombs - one which was explicitly stated by director Ishiro Honda that they wanted it to possess the terrifying characteristics of an atomic bomb - and the rampage of Godzilla through Tokyo was designed to mirror the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which occured only 9 years prior and ends with a message that if nuclear weapons testing continues, then another Godzilla may rise in the future.

I mean absolutely nothing political about that, nope. I can't see anything political about the literal atomic bomb allegory giant radioactive dinosaur.
 
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)

I've lost count of how many times I've watched this movie overall, but it's certainly been a good while so decided to give this a rewatch.

I may not be as much of a TTG fan as I was when I was 16/17 or so but this movie is still near perfection. It's a pinnacle of everything that's great about TTG from the silly yet genuinely funny humour to the entertaining personality of all five of the titans, as well as Slade, to the running gags, to the multiple catchy tunes (I particularly like all three versions of Go! and Upbeat Inspirational Song About Life).

The whole premise of the movie is that DC movies canonically exist in TTG universe and the superheroes themselves are the actors for their own movies. I think this is a really clever, unique and interesting premise and without spoiling anything the movie does an excellent job of making an engaging plot out of this premise.

The artstyle and/or animation of the movie is ever so slightly different from that of the shows - one particularly noticeable example being Raven's magic being visibly quite different - but I think if anything I actually like this style a bit better than the style of the main show.

Slade was a perfect villain to the Titans and it's a shame that outside of cameos/non speaking roles/mentions he was never seen before or since this movie in the TTG universe.

Also, this movie gives us an extremely adorable version of Zatanna, even though she's only a cameo.
Jade Wilson announces "you're all getting a movie" whilst Zatanna is in the audience and her logo is on Jade's presentation screen, which really rubs salt in the wound of Zatanna's movie getting cancelled.
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All in all I would give this movie a 10/10. It's the ultimate TTG experience, full of everything I love about the series, and I'd struggle to think of any substantial complaints I have about it. It's easily one of my most rewatched movies of all time (alongside the first Equestria Girls movie, the Little Mermaid 1989 version, and the first Frozen movie), and I can very much see myself continuing to revisit this film on a frequent basis for many years to come.

I've definitely got to rewatch Teen Titans Go vs Teen Titans (I've only seen that movie once before but I remember liking it pretty well in its own right, but nowhere near as much as this one), and I will also watch Teen Titans Go See Space Jam and Mayhem in the Multiverse (the latter is a crossover with DC Super Hero Girls G2, a series that I love even more than TTG) which I still haven't seen before.

(Edit: another small thing that's cool about the movie is how they show the general DC intro with the justice league but animated in TTG's style, which I think looked perfect)
 
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So I wanted to do a rewatch of all the Showa Godzilla films in order, but unfortunately since I just watched the original 1954 film, that would mean next I'd have to watch Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla Raids Again...kinda sucks in the bad way of sucking. It's just a boring type of sucks because it was literally rushed into production after the original film was a box office success and was released to theatres in late April 1955 (the original film was released in November 1954, so y'know if the sequel comes out less than a year later - yeah that was fuckin rushed)

SO INSTEAD I decided to watch a kaiju film I have not seen yet and I decided to watch Rodan.

Way better choice than if I decided to watch Godzilla Raids Again, first color kaiju film from Toho, great special effects, enjoyable story, just a great film.
 
Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans (2019)

So as I mentioned at the ending of the last post, I'm currently watching through the TTG movies in order. This is the second time I've watched TTGvTT and the first since I actually saw the original Teen Titans series. It's also been a really long time - at least 3 years - since the first time I watched TTGvTT since I was 18 when I saw the original series.

This movie's existence was hinted at in the mid credits of its predecessor, Teen Titans Go to the Movies, where the original Titans are seen and Robin says "I think we've found a way back." It was a very dramatic and captivating scene and I still remember how it felt so mysterious to me at the time. However, this movie basically contradicts that, because instead of the original Titans managing to find their own way to "come back", they are instead
captured by the Trigons as part of a setup. They're forced to fight the TTG Titans in the arena and it's clear they don't know what's going on.

So as I mentioned before this is the first time I'm seeing this movie AFTER watching the original TT series and I have to say... I can really see why a lot of TT fans don't like this movie. It's 100% TTG in terms of writing and tone (as well as the universe that most of the movie is set in), and the "original" Titans are mostly very unfaithful to their personalities in the original series. Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg - especially Starfire - are far too similar to their TTG counterparts. Robin is too much of a jerk to his TTG counterpart and his dramatic brooding and planning is deliberately over-exaggerated for comedic effect. Raven's alright though, and she had pretty good chemistry with her TTG counterpart.

I also noticed TT Cyborg can fly in this movie, whilst the original series made a point of Cyborg being unable to fly.

TTG Raven is actually the main protagonist of this movie which I think is an interest and welcome choice, since she's my second favourite Titan after Starfire, and the first movie was very much focused on Robin. In connection to that, the main villain of this movie are the two Trigons who are just okay to be honest. It's good that they at least acknowledged that Trigon was defeated in the TT universe but even then I feel conflicted about this movie's decision to bring him back under the logic of usurping TTG Raven's power. Slade was definitely by far a better villain for a TTG movie.

A major complaint I have about this movie is that the movie literally opens with forcing the audience to wait seventeen and a half seconds for Silkie's food to fall out of the tin. Yes, I timed it. That's not even funny, that's just irritating.
Silkie food (trimmed).gif

A more minor complaint is that as I mentioned at the ending edit of my previous post in this thread, I found it really cool that TTG to the Movies took the general DC intro and stylised it in TTG's artstyle, and I really liked that, but this movie for some reason decided to scrap that and use the "normal" DC intro, which was a shame.

I think the arena fight scene was pretty cool, although it's weird that that's the only point in the movie that the two teams actually compete against each other despite what the movie's title and cover art might suggest.

Whilst TTG to the Movies had several awesome songs, this movie has only two: We Are Teen Titans Rap (which is really good imo) and Worlogog (which was mediocre at best).

It's interesting that original Beast Boy claims that "my Terra died" in the rap even though I recall the last episode of the original series showed her mysteriously alive but this is was never explained as the series unfortunately ended.

This movie has an arc where the two teams minus the Ravens realise that the TTG universes' Worlogog belongs to Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus/Megan, leading them to infiltrate the North Pole to fight them and subsequently being chased by Santa and Megan throughout various dimensions. I thought this arc was really fun overall, especially the scene where the Clauses are defeated.

I did think it was really cool when the Titans visited all sorts of different universes, including the DCAMU Titans, the Mermaid and Steampunk Titans, the Protein Titans (the Titans all being animals except ironically for Beast Boy), the latter three having been foreshadowed by Beast Boy and Cyborg earlier in the movie.

The final battle is probably this movie's strongest point, it was very epic with the showdown between Raven and Trigon in their powered up forms - The Unkindness and Hexagon respectively - the first being an interesting reference to the rare term "unkindness" meaning "a flock of ravens" (which is certainly a very weird term and one I'd never have heard of if not for this movie), as well as the many alternate verisons of the Teen Titans helping in battle. The fact that Trigon and Raven power up by eating their alterate selves is hilarious and unexpected, as is when Robin unsuccessfully tries to power up by eating the Worlogog. I also love how the scene where TTG Ravens eats all the other Ravens parodies Pac-Man.

Finally, the movie finishes with the TTG Titans going back home and Darkseid showing up to attack Jump City, but the Titans just... refuse to fight him? I really wasn't a fan of that bit.

All in all, I would give this movie a 7/10. From the perspective of a TTG fan it's a huge step down from its predecessor, but still a solidly decent movie in its right: it's a Raven-centric movie, it has a fairly engaging plot, one good song, and plenty of funny, entertaining, and dramatic moments. But from the perspective of a TT fan, I can understand the criticism, as the "original" Titans are so unfaithful to how they were in the original show, and the movie's writing and tone is pretty much 100% TTG as opposed to TT. I would recommend this movie to TTG fans like myself, but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone who only liked the original series and not TTG.

Next up is Teen Titans Go See Space Jam, which I've never seen before, and I'm really not sure what to expect.
 
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (2022)

I saw this film yesterday on Amazon Prime with my eldest brother. I thought it was a lot of fun, and a good way to start off my Halloween playlist on a high note before diving into the shows on it. The movie starts off with a rendition of the song "Just The Two Of Us" as we see a montage of Mavis and Dracula's life throughout the course of the previous three films, as well as their pasts. The Hotel is celebrating its 125th Anniversary, and Drac has some big plans for the building's future.

Drac is intending to retire from running the Hotel so he can spend life with Erica, while also allowing Mavis and Johnny to enjoy their relationship without any interventions. During the celebration, Johnny's excitement causes a whole lot of trouble, so instead of telling Mavis and her boyfriend the truth, Drac freezes time and tries to cover it up by saying that the Hotel is about to undergo an expansion, much to the dismay of the audience.

Thinking that his clumsiness caused Drac to change his mind, Johnny heads to the basement to get assistance from Van Helsing. He introduces him to a mysterious crystal that can turn normal creatures into monsters and vice versa. After demonstrating the effects on a hamster, Johnny is eager to try it out and transforms into a dragon-like creature. This animation sequence was gross in my opinion, but I got attached to Johnny's monster form once I saw it in full force. It's cool and goofy at the same time, and the powers he gains throughout the film are neat as well.

Soon after he transforms, Johnny wants to show Mavis his new look. But as he searches the Hotel, he unintentionally causes a lot of destruction. Once Drac sees the wreckage, he goes into the basement and takes the crystal into his own hands. He then scours the building, firing beams at Johnny in an attempt to turn him back to normal. Along the way, he sees Mavis' son Dennis and one of the wolf pups minding their own business. Not wanting them to know about the incident that's unfolding, Drac hypnotizes them before continuing his mission.

Once Johnny reaches the top floor, Drac fires one last beam. However, it ricochets off the wall, causing him to fall towards the water. He manages to hang onto a pole thanks to his cape, but it doesn't last long. After he exits the water, he realizes that he's turned into a human, much to Johnny's surprise. The two head into the basement to find a remedy, but Van Helsing tells them that the crystal is broken and they must travel to South America to find a replacement, and it won't be an easy task.

The next day, Drac and Johnny board a monster filled aircraft and fly to their destination, while Mavis and Erica are wondering where they've disappeared to. Mavis comes across a drawing of herself and Drac in front of the Hotel, as well as the key he was intending to give her during the ceremony. Later on, Wayne, Frank, Murray, Griffin, and Blobby drink some slime and transform into humans, though in Blobby's case he just turns into gelatin. They try to hide from Mavis and Erica, but the two spot them after trying to get away on a luggage cart.

While this is going on, Drac and Johnny arrive in South America. Drac has a lot of trouble adjusting to his new form, so in an effort to help out, Johnny guides him across traffic. Eventually, they get on a bus with passengers on a rainforest safari. To get them to their destination, Johnny uses his big size to move the bus at a quicker speed. During this sequence, a dubbed version of Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" plays. After a few minutes, Drac and Johnny exit the bus and continue their journey, braving the wilderness along the way.

Back at the hotel, Mavis, Erica, and the rest of their peers board a blimp after hearing about Drac and Johnny on a TV News Bulletin and confronting the now bigger and more destructive hamster in the basement. Once they get closer, Erica transforms the vehicle into a dune buggy, while Mavis pinpoints their direction using echolocation. Meanwhile, Drac and Johnny have set up camp and are enjoying toasted marshmallows. Drac burns his treat, but Johnny cheers him up by teaching him that only seeing the negatives of a situation will prevent people from enjoying the positives of the experience.

Later that night, Mavis and her crew reunite with Drac. However, Johnny learns the truth about the ceremony, and after hearing a mention of Drac's name, becomes furious and hunts down everyone in a fit of rage. Mavis tries her best to calm him down, while Drac, Erica, and their peers use the dune buggy to make their escape. Soon, they come upon some water, and it transforms into a boat. But after a while, the vehicle gets damaged a begins to flood on the inside, forcing everyone to head towards the shore.

Inside the crystal filled caverns, Drac, Erica, and their peers get confused on where they're going. After a few minutes, they bump into Mavis, who tells them they shouldn't panic and to get to the crystal they need before Johnny approaches. Johnny eventually finds the others and wreaks havoc, while Mavis grabs the crystal and attaches it to the base. She tries turning Johnny back to normal, but it has no effect. He then grabs Drac and attempts to eat him. In an effort to save everyone, Drac reminds Johnny of their conversation earlier that night, while telling him that although he might not be perfect, he's still a part of the family, and he means a lot to his peers despite his many flaws.

The kindness of Drac's heart causes Johnny to transform back to normal. After a loving embrace, Johnny, Mavis, Drac, Erica, and their peers head back home, while the former also transforms Drac, Wayne, Frank, Murray, Griffin, and Blobby back to normal. But upon their return, the hamster has grown to an enormous size and in the process, has completely destroyed the Hotel. Johnny fires a beam from the crystal, turning the hamster back to its original state. Drac retires as he intended to, and gives Mavis and Johnny the key to the building.

A year later, Mavis and Johnny rebuild the Hotel, and upon seeing it for the first time, Drac is amazed with their efforts. The cast of the film are enjoying themselves and celebrating the big day in a colorful 2D animated style as the credits roll.

I thought Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole. It's a lot better than Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), and Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015). In retrospect, Hotel Transylvania (2012) hasn't aged well, but I still think it's a fun time and can be enjoyed by those who grew up with it. While Transformania does have some pacing issues and odd animation sequences, it doesn't go the over the top with inserted popular songs, nor does it overload the cast with a bunch of new characters like previous films. I'd personally give it a 9/10, and would recommend it to any fan of Hotel Transylvania or Child-Friendly Halloween Films in general.
 
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