My Top 5 Best Films of 2018

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5. Mission: Impossible – Fallout– An awesome action film, with well-conceived and well-filmed sequences, featuring Tom Cruise doing it all…including flying a helicopter. Most of the big twists are too obvious, and the movie runs a bit long.

4. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse– Innovative visuals that bring a comic book to life, plus a great character arc. The main villain and some side-characters could’ve been fleshed out a bit more.

3. Black Panther– A great and diverse cast, a unique cultural superhero story and a fantastic villain create a memorable movie. A slow start and an overly CGI-filled climax take some of the wind out of the sails.

2. A Quiet Place– An innovative horror film, with fantastic acting and edge-of-your-seat tension. A clever mix of sound and no sound creates a rich texture. A few cliché moments hurt the originality of the film, but only slightly.

1. Avengers: Infinity War– An impressive visual spectacle with action, humor and moments of sorrow…although all these elements don’t always blend well. The cliffhanger ending leaves you in shock, but knowing that you’re only getting half the story hurts the overall experience.

My Top 5 Worst Films of 2018

I did my best to avoid movies that I thought looked terrible, so these are the 5 movies I liked the least this year.

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5. Halloween (2018) – A mediocre sequel that never justifies being made. The story isn’t much different than the original, aside from the Sarah Conner-inspired Laurie Strode going proactive against Myers, who mostly aimlessly wanders around killing folks.

4. The Equalizer 2 – Denzel brings great acting and brutal fight scenes, but the movie is bogged down by a slow plot, obvious villain reveal and anticlimactic ending.

3. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – A group of mostly bland characters not doing much of anything, besides setting up for the next 3 sequels. The film looks good, and Depp and Law give enjoyable performances.

2. Skyscraper – Dwayne Johnson doesn’t get a chance to bring much of his charm to this action film, or much action either. Forgettable characters, impossible physics and a burning building that rarely feels like an actual threat ruin this predicable “Diehard” rip-off.

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom– A bland sequel, with almost every character doing unbelievably dumb things. Escaping a dinosaur-filled island with an exploding volcano could’ve been a great climax, instead it starts the film, and we end with people hiding from a dinosaur in a big house. 

TV Review: Titans (Season 1)

*This review contains minor spoilers*

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“Titans” attempts to balance its dark subject matter with likable characters and just the right amount of humor, and they succeed more often than not.

This show is for adults. There’s stuff here that would make Marvel’s Netflix shows blush. Graphic violence, the abundant use of the f-word, and there’s just a few well-placed shadows blocking out male and female full-frontal nudity. While some moments feel gratuitous, for the most part these moments are appropriate for the context of the story and the characters.

The plot is solid. Rachael and Robin’s on-the-run storyline works well alongside Starfire’s amnesia arc. Gar’s inclusion feels a bit random, but he adds much needed levity to the show. While it’s clear that the threat isn’t neutralized just yet, there’s still a solid twist in the final few episodes that reestablishes the danger. However, the finale seems rushed and the final episode kills the momentum and leaves off with way too big of a cliffhanger. This would be fine for a midseason finale, but not the end of an entire season.

The main cast is strong, particularly Brenton Thwaites as Robin and Anna Diop as Starfire. Both can show vulnerability, yet still come off as convincing strong leaders. The supporting cast isn’t bad, even though many of them only appear for one or two episodes. These appearances are a mixed-bag. Jason Todd and Donna Troy are both important parts of both Dick and the Titan’s mythos. Hawk and Dove are built up to be something of importance, and then suddenly get pushed aside…twice, while the Doom Patrol seems to exist only to set up their upcoming series.

Another complaint is that while it’s fun to see a show taking place in a firmly established DC Universe where there’s already a Justice League and all the major heroes are established, you can only take so much name dropping before it gets aggravating that you’re not seeing the characters. The most blatant example is Batman. He’s mentioned non-stop, but except for a few body-doubles of Bruce Wayne and a couple out of focus stuntmen in a Bat-suit, you never see him. It’s a bit like the first season of “Supergirl” and their handling of Superman. (However, the body-double used for the post-credit scene of the Titan’s final episode is acceptable, and they shouldn’t rush to cast such an iconic roll.)

Overall, “Titans” season one is a fun ride. The likable characters, dark subject matter and relatively straightforward plot work well, but a few shoehorned in characters and a cliffhanger ending that derails the momentum bring the show down a notch.

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

Movie Review: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Fantastic animation, great character moments, and a good amount of humor create one of the best Spider-Man experiences in years. It’s the sights and sounds that really set the mood here. The animation is unique, sometimes trippy, but is almost like a character of its own. While the character designs are kind of simple, there’s a lot of work making the faces show a range of emotions. The film also recreates the visuals of comic books, from using the comic books themselves, to using word balloons and having some sound effects be written on screen. I also really enjoyed the soundtrack, as it complimented Miles and his world pretty well. The story starts of unfocused. There’s a pretty long stretch where you have no idea where this adventure is going. Once they establish the stakes, things move pretty fast. Before all this, they do an excellent job of establishing Miles and his family. They are the source of some pretty emotional moments throughout. While Peter Parker is fleshed-out a bit, the remaining Spider-themed characters tend to be pretty one note. The villains are mostly bland, and just there for the heroes to fight. Even the main bad guy, The Kingpin, is a bit lackluster. He has a strong story, but it’s just barely touched on. I wasn’t much of a fan of his overly bulky design, and the looks of his enforcers were hit and miss. The fight scenes could’ve been a bit better, but the finale was exciting.

**** out of *****