Author: Caillou Pettis

Spider-Man: Far From Home – The BRWC Review.

To say that the twenty-third instalment in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man: Far From Home had some pretty big shoes to fill after the masterpiece that was Avengers: Endgame would be a massive understatement. Many fans all around the world were worried that Far From Home would be too similar to 2017’s Homecoming in that it would feel too small in scale and inconsequential to the overarching story that is the MCU.

While a large portion of the movies in this franchise do feel absolutely necessary, there are a few times in which an entry feels kind of unnecessary except for a few scenes that tease things to come in future instalments down the road. Although I definitely enjoyed Homecoming, it did feel ultimately forgettable in the long run and didn’t feel like it had a big role to play. Far From Home is the exact opposite.

Ever since his impressive debut in the 2016 smash hit Captain America: Civil War, Tom Holland has won the hearts of many around the world as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and it is not hard to see why. He has all the wit and charm that the beloved character is known for in the comics, plus he is extremely sympathetic. One of the most essential elements to the character is that he is always getting beaten down in life. Not a lot of things go right for him, but when things start to improve, we as an audience feel joyed ourselves. In Far From Home, Holland delivers an incredible performance and has a much more emotionally driven role than you may have thought. He is still dealing with the devastating events caused by Thanos and it is evident throughout the film that the mad titan’s actions have caused hardships that will take a long time to be erased on Earth and this is the case even for the superheroes.

The humour here is also terrific, and is one of the funniest MCU pictures in years. I love witty humour and comedy that makes you think, and a lot of the jokes here are exactly like that. There were dozens of scenes that left me laughing consistently and with a big smile on my face.

Speaking of smiles, this latest adventure is a whole whack of fun. In terms of an action standpoint, this is by far the most exciting Spider-Man film we have ever seen to date. Some of the action set pieces here are absolutely mesmerising and Marvel continues to reinvent the superhero genre with each passing movie.

Much like Homecoming, there are also plenty of twists and turns the plot takes that are genuinely surprising and it is hard to see them coming. You would think that by watching so many movies we would know what these twists are, but director Jon Watts is able to brilliantly pull the carpet from under your feet and does so effortlessly.

Michael Giacchino, who previously composed the score for the aforementioned Homecoming, provides an amazing score this time around as well. During a few sequences towards the final few moments of the picture, his score makes the scenes extremely emotional and gripping.

Far From Home does feel remarkably long however, clocking in at a lengthy one hundred and twenty nine minutes. The running time could have been cut down by about twenty minutes or so and the film would have flowed a bit better.

Additionally, for the most part the editing by Dan Lebental and Leigh Folsom-Boyd is exceptional, but there are two scenes in the first act that did feel incredibly jarring and felt completely out of place.

But those looking for an absolutely exhilarating and tension-filled extravaganza with lots of real human emotion, breathtaking action scenes, a good Spider-Man film, or just a good film, are in luck. Far From Home is easily the second best film the character has had to date.

Men In Black: International: The BRWC Review.

The Men in Black franchise is one that has definitely declined in quality with every sequel and I think that most people can agree with that. Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1997 blockbuster original film was an extremely clever, hilarious, and exciting picture that won the hearts of many upon release and is still beloved decades later. Its eventual sequel was not received as highly though. It was certainly not as good as its predecessor, but still had its moments, whereas the third installment fell short on practically every level. For many years, audiences thought that Men in Black 3 would be the final entry in the exciting series until now.

As far as similarities go between the original trilogy and Men In Black: International, one of the biggest is its sense of chemistry between its two lead protagonists. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were remarkable as Agent J and Agent K, respectively, and the exact same thing can and should be said about Hemsworth and Thompson here. This does not mark the first time these two actors have been on screen together, as they have shared the screen together in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame most notably. The chemistry they exude in this film is some of the best of the entire year so far. They are lightning in a bottle.

Long time fans of the series as well as general moviegoers can expect to see some over the top, zany action sequences that the franchise has become known for at this point. However, do not get your hopes up thinking that there will be dozens of these moments because they are rather limited this time around. It definitely would have been nice to have seen more of the wacky chaos that we are used to thus far. There are really only a handful of these scenes which was a bit of a disappointment, especially considering that this is a series of films in which agents wear sunglasses, tote around gigantic futuristic weaponry and attempt to crack down on other worldly threats.

In addition, some of the computer generated imagery looked somewhat unfinished which is weird considering that this is a film being released in 2019, and the visual effects in the aforementioned films do not look too much different than this one. There is one character in Men In Black: International named Pawny, who does work quite well in a few scenes, and he is one of the only CGI characters that does not look too bad. It is the other creatures shown in various moments that just seemed off.

Some of the acting here can be a bit off and sometimes just downright weak as well, most notably from Liam Neeson who portrays High T, the head of the United Kingdom branch of the Men in Black organization. Most of the time he is on screen, his acting comes off as a bit wooden sadly.

The humor here is one of the biggest problems. The original two movies are consistently comedic throughout the entire running time. It is rather apparent that writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway were really making an effort to make Men In Black: International a hilarious film with a sense of cleverness to it much like the others but there are never any moments of true comedy shining through. Furthermore, the story was never one that is not all that intriguing, mostly because all of the eventual plot twists are ones that many will be able to see coming from a mile away.