Brief thoughts on Gloria Bell.

In 2013, Chilean director Sebastian Lelio released Gloria, starring Paulina Garcia as a woman finding happiness in her 50's. Interestingly enough, however, is that following A Fantastic Woman and Disobedience, 2019 sees him revisiting familiar territory. That's because Lelio himself remakes his earlier film in English, renamed Gloria Bell and starring Julianne Moore in the title role. Having not seen the original film, I came in fresh with no idea what to expect, but upon exiting, I felt richly rewarded and deeply engaged with its quaint, sometimes rocky slice of life storytelling.

Shazam! movie review.

Seeking to compete against Marvel at its own game, the DC universe has went through massive retools to stay afloat. The dour grimness of Batman v Superman instantly rubbed audiences the wrong way, leading to progressively lighthearted stabs at their source material with choppy quality control. After all, this is the same studio that followed Wonder Woman with the behind the scenes nightmare Justice League. Now instead of trying to sort out the kinks of the intertwined stories, DC has wisely decided to scale back and treat their films as stand-alone entries with brief outside references.

Following Justice League, DC's new approach officially got started last December with James Wan's Aquaman, an entertaining improvement that I've nevertheless forgotten about since. But the more drastic change in course comes in the form of this April's Shazam!, based on one of their earliest superheroes, originally named Captain Marvel (subsequently, they've stopped calling him that). And with a more lighthearted, comical tone, this stands as a solid representation for where the DCEU can go from here. Shazam!, by default I'll admit, stands as the universe's second best entry following Wonder Woman.

Us movie review.

Through his career, Jordan Peele has made a reliable name for himself in the realm of comedy, be it his stint on MadTV, and his Key & Peele sketch show with Keegan-Michael Key, along with their tag team film Keanu. Needless to say, it sure seemed like a career 180 when he decided to try his hand at the horror genre, let alone craft one that would go on to earn a Best Picture nomination. But that's precisely what he did with Get Out, a sort of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner with hypnosis, merging dark comedy and societal satire with the unnerving claustrophobia of a horror movie.

It was a breath of fresh air for horror, which in the last decade has finally veered away from incessant jump scare factories, favoring those valuing thoughtful stories and genuine frights over cheap 'Boo" effects. Two years and a Best Screenplay Oscar later, Peele returns with his follow-up, another venture into the horror genre, but rather than opt for another dark satire, veers into the familiar doppelganger horror trope. In his second movie, he continues to evolve as a filmmaker, both becoming an outstanding storyteller and visualist, standing right alongside his original debut. It's Us.

Climax and Wonder Park mini-reviews.

Recently, I haven't always had the immediate desire to write many actual reviews. Partly because of busy personal conflict, but also because - to be frank - not every new release merits an expansive review. Factoring in the intense whiplash I often feel with my AMC Stubs A-List subscription (going from Boy Erased to Ralph Breaks the Internet is a trip), it can be easy to lose focus.

But every so often, I still feel like penning some thoughts down, and after having the most bipolar double feature you could possibly imagine, I thought it would be amusing to compare. Not only that, but I'll be doing my best to lay out more thoughts on future viewing experiences, if not given full review status. So let's dissect this.

Captain Marvel movie review.

Marvel's Cinematic Universe has been very slow to broaden their character diversity. While Black Panther showed great steps taken in putting focus on black superheroes, it's taken decidedly longer for a woman to take center stage. That's a bit dubious when your roster has Black Widow, who's been attached to the universe almost since the start, and yet is still awaiting her own solo entry. It's made more pronounced since we live in a post-Wonder Woman world, where the comparatively flimsy DCEU did justice to such an iconic character, succeeding in their fourth film what's taken Marvel over a decade to act on.

But 21 movies in, that realization is finally upon us. The name Captain Marvel has been the calling sign of a number of gifted individuals, but perhaps the most fondly remembered is Carol Danvers, the subject of Marvel's latest blockbuster event, and a last warm-up before Avengers: Endgame. And much like the history of Danvers, it's a very rocky road in order to bring such an icon justice, but eventually it succeeds. As much as I enjoyed this movie, it doesn't quite live up to the power of its lead character.

Another journey to The Hidden World of How to Train Your Dragon.

It's been a month now since I first saw The Hidden World, the final chapter in Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. Back when I originally reviewed it, I put forth the argument that this could be the greatest animated trilogy ever made. I still believe in such an argument, but back then, I knew I was probably too blinded by hyperbole to allow myself a level-headed approach, so I let my thoughts simmer before solidifying anything, even intentionally disregarding any grades in the meantime. Now that I've had some time to cool myself on it, and give the film a much needed second look, I feel like I can definitively cement my feelings on it. While it may be the weakest of the three, it's still a stellar closing chapter to what is an otherwise fantastic series.