Change Your Image
kbobsmith
Reviews
Captain America (1979)
This would've been fun if it was John Walker, not Steve Rogers
Like the caption said, the felt more like a John Walker Captain America story than a Steve Rogers one.
First of all, in this incarceration, Steve is not the first Captain America, but his father is. This could have easily been the story of John Walker taking up the Captain America mantle from an aging Steve Rogers and they could've made some half-hearted excuse like "John and Steve are cousins and, therefore, have similar enough DNA that it will work!"
Secondly, Reb Brown's portrayal of Captain America feels very mean-spirited in his actions and not in the Johnny-do-right way Steve Rogers goes about doing the job. Again, this feels like John Walker. In an action scene, he smiles as goons fall into oil that he spilled and it looked like he enjoyed their pain. He also didn't want to serve his country, but instead he wanted to just be a painter in the countryside. Which, is great thing for someone to want, but a core tenant of Steve's character is his want to help people and serve the ideals he believes in. This "Steve" seems to not really care and just be about doing it cause it's thrust upon him.
Now, John Walker (as Super-Patriot) wouldn't be introduced for almost seven years and I understand that it couldn't have been John Walker Captain America in this film, but it just speaks to the disservice that this film did to the character of Steve Rogers that the character that is played in the film is more like his opposite that Steve (John Walker was originally written to be the anti-Steve in a way).
The car/helicopter scenes went on for WAY to long, Reb Brown was cardboard in this role, and the villains were as two-dimensional as they come. The bright parts of the movie, to me, is the man that payed Louis was pretty good (unless he just seemed that way because of how poor Brown faired) and it made me think of The Incredible Hulk (which my wife and I are currently watching through).
Bad movie. Bad portrayal of Steve Rogers. Pretty good portrayal of John Walker. Campy and 70s charm very prevalent, especially for those who enjoyed The Incredible Hulk and the Spider-Man show for this time period.
X (2022)
Goth, Ortega, the Direction, & Photography
The meta-commentary of the characters attempting to make a high-class porno vs. Ti West trying to make a high-clash slasher film is stupendous.
Mia Goth is nuanced performance is sultry, vulnerable, believable, and (at points) so badass. I hope she continues to work a lot.
Jenny Ortega is amazing (what's new). Her character is the glue this film needs (especially in the first half) to tie it to reality and she's really brings it. I do wish her and Mia had more scenes and dialogue together though. A highlight of the film (for me) was her marvelous scream (all who've seen the film will know which one), it was breathtaking and perfect. I hope it didn't take to many takes, because I'm sure her voice would've been fried.
The direction was nuanced (as were all the performances) in its beauty, the cuts were jarring (in a good way) and the suspense was kept throughout the film with amazing camera angles and creeping transitions. Many of the camera angles wear perception was altered or added really served to heighten the dread, brilliance, and jarring-nature of many scenes.
Also, Kid Cudi was very funny and felt very natural in this role; really a good job, as was the whole cast.
Velma (2023)
This show is not THAT bad
This show is not great, not the worst thing ever either though.
I am a huge Scooby-Doo franchise fan. I grew up with the old school cartoon and the movies of the '90s-'00s and I love them so much. I loved Mystery Incorporated and even didn't mind the goofiness of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo.
Having said that, I like Velma. It is fine. It is crude and vulgar and not very sensitive when it comes to sensitive topics, but it's fine. I didn't love some of the overt and weird sex-stuff, police brutality, and poor taste jokes, but it's fine.
This show is not nearly as bad as the live-action TV movies from the around 2010, the Velma & Daphne movie from a few years ago, or most of the straight to DVD movies they still make, so why is this show a 1.3 on IMDb?
The animation is beautiful, the jokes are fine, and story is good. The show as a whole is fine.