Movie Review: Dark Phoenix

The “X-Men” film series makes a second attempt to tell the iconic “Dark Phoenix” saga, and while it’s an overall better movie than last time, this is a fairly-bland retelling that just doesn’t justify its existence. The overall story shares so many beats with “X-Men: The Last Stand” that, even with all the different details and story arcs, there’s a painful sense of déjà vu throughout. The plot does benefit from having clear antagonists working against the X-Men, but Jessica Chastain’s big bad is too uncharismatic and too mysterious to make much of an impression. It’s also a bit shocking how much most of the X-Men are pushed into the background, and don’t get much to do besides show up for a couple action sequences. Most of that action is mediocre. If feels low stakes and kind of rushed, although finale has some fun moments, finding unique ways for characters like Magneto to use their powers…even after seeing so many films before this. And despite the connections these characters have formed across these movies, none of the emotional beats land. It could be just the fact that we’ve already seen this tale, or it could be that it doesn’t really matter what happens to them because the franchise will be rebooted by Disney in a few years. (You have to wonder if this film came out on its original release date of November 2018, long before the merger was finalized, if it would still have this problem.)

** out of *****

Movie Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Like the first “Godzilla,” the sequel spends most of its time with boring human characters, and only allows a small amount of time to be spent with the impressive looking monsters. The plot is strange, featuring eco-terrorists, a sonar-like MacGuffin and convoluted monster fights. Most of the human characters are boring and poorly-written, but there is one character with a bit of a surprise twist that helps shake things up. And while the ad campaign seemed to focus on actress Millie Bobby Brown, her roll is fairly small for the most part. It’s her father, played by Kyle Chandler, who is the star of the film. He’s generally fairly one-note, defined only by his desire to save his daughter and hate of Godzilla. As far as Godzilla himself, he doesn’t get to do a whole lot. We really only see him in action a couple times, and its brief and somewhat uninspired. The other monsters are fine, we see a couple get some decent action sequences, while the rest mostly just pop-up on news broadcast showing us a glimpse of the damage they caused. There is a scene after the credits, but it’s really not worth sticking around for if you’re in a hurry.

** out of *****

TV Review: Cloak & Dagger (Season 2)

*This review contains some spoilers*

Watch the SPOILER review on YouTube

“Cloak & Dagger” season 2 continues to tell mostly grounded stories, while doubling-down on the voodoo magic and some abstract concepts.

The grounded portion of the story worked great, and covers some dark territory. Our heroes find themselves stumbling onto a human trafficking ring, and they don’t sugarcoat it. We see girls without hope, slipping through the cracks of society, being taken advantage of and being controlled through drugs and lies. And it gets creepy once Tandy is snatched, and she is nearly raped while unable to move. It’s pretty uncomfortable, but the series has never been afraid to tackle real-life issues.

The series struggles most when tackling the more fantastical elements. The voodoo stuff is odd, and tends to be poorly defined, but it’s the trips inside Tye’s cloak where things get strange. Not only does this dark realm contain a gas station and an abandoned mall, but also a few voodoo gods hang out here as well. And for some reason Andre can access this place at will, and it’s where he keeps all the records that represent the despair he takes from his victims.

As for as big bads go, Andre ends up being a bit disappointing. The setup revealing him as the villain works well, and he’s pretty powerful, even though we only see his best work when he’s messing around with his record collection. However, once he finally becomes a god, it’s kind of a letdown. He generally doesn’t do much besides sending our heroes visions and blowing his horn at them.

Overall, Tyrone and Tandy have a solid arc. They continue to become better versions of themselves and are much more active as heroes. And, they begin to get much more impressive with the use of their powers as the inch closer to being on par with their comic book versions.

The Mayhem/Brigid story ended up being a bit of a bust. While it was an interesting twist that they were separated into two beings, after a point they didn’t seem to know to do with them both, and when the reintegrated nothing really came of it. And initially, Mayhem seemed to be unstoppable, but as the season went on she seemed to lose her fighting prowess.

“Cloak & Dagger” season 2 scores with the grounded material, but often struggles with the metaphysical stuff.

**1/2 out of *****