This week marks the one year mark since I started this venture, and it has been a fun year of learning and growing for me. This next year should be more of the same, but I was given a couple suggestions of things to do, so I will have a couple new kinds of post here in the near future. Two of those ideas are going to be here by in the within the next few weeks, so that should be fun. On to the reviews!
As the now final entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe with no Spider-Man, this was an appropriate film to end things on. This was rough. Kraven is an interesting character in the comics, but for me at least, he is only good as a foe to Spidey. Here, he obviously has to be the focus, and the only thing tying this to Spider-Man are very small easter eggs (Daily Bugle is flashed quickly) or the antagonists being other rouges of the wall crawler. The action sequences are fine here so it isn’t a complete dumpster fire like Madame Web was, and at least the ADR is better here too. I might view this in a more harsher way because I watched this bitter. Kraven’s Last Hunt is a storyline that I have always wanted in a Spider-Man film. Now that we have this slog of a movie, we will probably never get it. Why did Rhino need to be a crime boss here, when that is very much not what he is in comics? Why did we have to wait until the last 3 minutes for the Chameleon true comic look to just be a tease for a sequel that will never happen. Same applies to Calypso, as DeBose is so underused here that it seems she had to be promised a bigger role in a sequel. Taylor-Johnson is fine here, but he isn’t the Kraven that I have known for years in the comics. That isn’t necessarily important, but when Rhino looks close, and Chameleon at the end looks stupid close, it stands out to the nerd side of me. Film side me things this a slow boring affair that has the loosest of plots and nobody is truly good in this. It’s still better than Madame Web. Last year, we said a not so sad goodbye to the DC Extended Universe. Today we say a just as not sad farewell to the SSUWNS. It will be missed by very few.
Lord of the Rings is something I have mixed thoughts on. The books are literary treasures. Jackson’s LotR trilogy are masterpieces. His Hobbit trilogy is barely watchable at points. Amazon’s Rings of Power has been interesting so far. That brings us to this very different way of presenting the takes from Middle Earth. In War of the Rohirrim, the story is told through Anime, and it really does work. The feel of being in Middle Earth comes through animated just as well as it does live action. Also with this being in the Jackson LotR universe, we get the sounds and sights we have seen in the films before that. It really is a pleasant thing to watch as a Rings fan. One problem I know some people have with the Rings films is for them they are long and boring. Fellowship of the Ring is the most boring for some, even if I think is the best entry. This one is not going to win them over as this is 135 minute animated film, and for that genre that is a tad on the long side. There are a few action scenes, but like the first Rings trilogy, this is a character film with some action, rather than an action film with some characters. This should no doubt work for the Tolkien crew out there, but you might want to leave the kids at home for this animated film. I don’t say this because it will be inappropriate pre se. I say this because they will bored out for their minds within the first 10 minutes most likely, and you will heard questions if you can go see Moana 2 or Wicked instead. If you wait until this next weekend, Mufasa and Sonic enter that chat for the kids.
As we begin the final month of 2024, there isn’t a lot that will stop Moana or Wicked. I see those two running things for a couple weeks longer still.
- Mufasa: The Lion King
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3
- Wicked: Part One
- Moana 2
- Gladiator 2
The things I do for this blog. I am going into Mufasa on Thursday with the lowest of expectations, so maybe I am pleasantly surprised. There is also a streaming film to watch this week.
Mitten Film Nerd 
Leave a comment