Creed II (2018)

I'm not going to lie, the only reason I was excited about Creed II was the perspective of seeing Michael B. Jordan and his muscles on the big screen. Thankfully, that was not the only good thing about the movie. 

Much like its predecessor, Creed II follows both the personal and professional life of Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan). Adonis has just become the Heavyweight Champion of the World and proposed to Bianca (Tessa Thompson) when Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), Ivan Drago's (Dolph Lundgren) son, arrives in Philadelphia and challenges Adonis. Against Rocky's (Sylvester Stallone) advice, Adonis accepts the challenge while trying to keep afloat his relationship as well as a new paternity. 

The film follows the same formula of the other Rocky movies and therefore the plot is predictable —the trailers completely gave it away anyways— and doesn't have anything new to offer —not to mention the several subplots that barely go somewhere. Despite this, the story is quite engaging and enjoyable. 

The characters too are better than expected. What I mean is that they shouldn't work and yet they do. They don't have much development and Adonis doesn't have any depth whatsoever —while he really grows as a person in Creed, he stays pretty much the same in here. Maybe he even takes a step back as he's the hothead he used to be—, but I still cared about them, even about Viktor Drago as him and his father have more development than Creed and Rocky put together. 

Michael B. Jordan gives another charismatic and energetic performance as Adonis Creed and truly carries the film on his (broad) shoulders. He is a bit overacting when it comes to the drama but, overall, he is believable. It also helps that his chemistry with Tessa Thompson is wonderful. As for the supporting cast, Russell Hornsby steals his scenes in the role of a boxing promoter and Phylicia Rashad gives another striking performance as Adonis' mother. 

Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer, Warner Bros. Pictures

At last but not least the fighting. These scenes are amazing as they look intense and realistic, and the final fight between Adonis and Viktor, although you already know how it will end, will keep you on the edge of your seat. It was also kind of emotional, just like when the Rocky theme came on.

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

I've seen Sorry to Bother You on my Letterboxd homepage many times but, despite it having Tessa Thompson, whom I love, I never bothered watching it, mainly because some of those Letterboxd ratings/reviews were pretty bad. Then Allie over Often Off Topic reviewed it, she talked about how she liked the film, and she really made me want to see it. 

The film is set in an alternate present-day version of Oakland and follows Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a young African-American telemarketer who starts using his white voice and quickly rises through the ranks of his profession. He soon finds himself with plenty of money and no morals as it turns out that the company he works for is completely unethical.

I really liked the idea — the economy is ruined, everyone struggles to find a job so someone creates a company that provides food and shelter for lifelong work contracts— and I was interested in seeing how it'd play out. Unfortunately, it was dreadfully executed and it ended up being tremendously stupid, something that gets more and more ridiculous and uncomfortable to watch as the "plot" moves forward, excruciatingly boring and ultimately unwatchable. It is supposed to deliver a message about the working class and the loss of one's identity, but it gets lost in.

The characters are pretty bad too. Actually, to be fair to awfully written character, I should say Sorry to Bother you features non-existing characters as they have no dimension nor depth whatsoever. Although they aren't presented as caricatures —maybe they would have worked better if they had—, they lack any emotional depth and therefore I didn't sympathize with any of them, nor care about them.

The performances, however, aren't as terrible as one would expect with so little to work with. Lakeith Stanfield gives a solid performance in the lead role as he handles the transition from timid loser to selfish prick very well. Tessa Thompson is equally good as Detroit, Cash's girlfriend, although what sticks the most is her earrings. As for Armie Hammer, who is the only one who is given a character that is presented as a caricature, he's definitely having more fun than I had while watching this crap.

As for the film's style, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it as it's very weird and ambiguous, just like the meaning of the film. The camera work is kind of bizarre, which doesn't necessarily mean bad, but here, I'm more inclined to think that as it is flat and detached as if it was the work of someone who does not like films.

Annihilation (2018)

Though I didn't really like Alex Garland's Ex Machina (but I'm planning on giving it another chance), I was really excited about his latest film, Annihilation, and really pissed off that everybody outside of the US got to see this on Netflix instead of cinemas. It has an upside though, no money wasted if the movie sucked, but that was not the case. 

A year after his disappearance, Kane (Oscar Isaac) goes back home to his biologist wife Lena (Natalie Portman) but he doesn't remember where he's been and how he got home. He suddenly gets sick and is rushed to a hospital. Once there, in order to help Kane, Lena joins a team made up of an anthropologist (Tuva Novotny), a physicist (Tessa Thompson), a psychologist (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and a paramedic (Gina Rodriguez) and embark on an expedition into the Shimmer, a mysterious electromagnetic field.

It's a pretty simple plot that unfolds at a quite slow pace, it does have a few twists here and there but nothing that mind-blowing to leave you speechless, the final twist included which I saw coming miles ahead. There are many plot holes, several unnecessary subplots and nothing makes sense basically since nobody really cared about answering the questions posed. And yet it's engaging and very enjoyable.

The characters too are flawed but they all have interesting backstories --revealed through flashbacks or a few lines of dialogue--, they are developed and we get to know each main character both emotionally and psychologically. Sure, most of the things they do don't make any sense (above-mentioned plot holes) but it's still fascinating watching them in the Shimmer, how they react to the weird and bizarre happenings and I was invested in the characters' fates.

Paramount Pictures, Netflix

Natalie Portman gives a very good performance as Lena. She is able to deliver, at every moment, complex emotions only through her facial expressions, she carries the whole film and gives it its emotional charge. The support provided by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tessa Thompson is pretty solid too, and Oscar Isaac gives yet another great performance. I did find, however, Gina Rodriguez and her character utterly annoying. She is miles away from Jane Villanueva, the role she is most known for, and I give her credit for playing such a different role here, fact remains she was annoying.

As for Alex Garland, while his script hasn't won me completely, I liked his direction. He skillfully built tension and suspense and delivered an exciting science-fiction film enhanced by a magnetic score and even more magnetic visuals.

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

I'm a sucker for Marvel and I'd watch anything they make. Those terrible movies with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garden and whoever played the Punisher are the proof.  What I'm trying to say is that's pretty obvious I was excited for Thor: Ragnarok. However, this time there wasn't just the fact that it's an MCU flick, but especially the fact that Taika Waititi directed it. Last year, he left me speechless, in a very good way, with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and that's the real reason why I was really looking forward to seeing this. And once again he left me speechless. This indeed is the most entertaining, exciting and fun Marvel film since Deadpool.

Set after the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and picking up when Thor: Dark World left, first Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds out that his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) has taken over Asgard; then a new menace arrives, Hela (Cate Blanchett), the ruthless goddess of death who wants to steal the throne and rule Asgard, he gets imprisoned on the other side of the universe and finds himself in a deadly gladiator contest where he has to face an old friend of his, the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), in order to survive and save Asgard.

It's a rather simple plot, a little predictable at times and it doesn't always make a lot of sense but it does have a few aces in the hole and the pace is just perfect which makes it very compelling.

And that's because of the direction Thor: Ragnarok took. Instead of being another dark-toned family drama like the previous Thor movies, Waititi's film relies more (like only) on humour. I'm sure many will complain about this, maybe saying that the dark tones were the only thing separating the Thor movies from the rest of the Marvel movies that all look the same (DC fanboys are so going to say this), but it works here. The humour is spot on (very close to Deadpool's): the jokes never feel forced and there are plenty of funny moments. This film is basically like a buddy-superhero movie with some sibling rivalry.

All that comedy though kind of throws away Thor's development achieved with the previous movies. Thor isn't indeed the serious God anymore, but he a funny guy. But this change is more than welcomed as Chris Hemsworth does comedy way better than drama. Seriously, I had no idea he could be so funny. The reason why I liked this Thor better though is that for the first time the God of Thunder is shown in all of his strength. Without the hammer.

The humour isn't the only charming side of Thor: Ragnarok. The visuals are just as charming, which makes of this one of the most beautiful to look at Marvel movies. The film is an explosion of vibrant colours, the photography and editing are stylish and the locations are just stunning. The CGI could have been better though. While it's great during the action, sometimes the background looks a little flat.

Just like the characters since there's no development whatsoever in here. I'm still trying to understand what the writers were trying to do with Hela's henchman played by Karl Urban. That character was such a mess. It's not like Tessa Thompson's alcoholic Valkyrie was that better. Or Cate Blanchett's Hela. Blanchett is very charismatic and her presence is just perfect for Hela, but the character itself wasn't that strong which is pretty common with Marvel. She did get more screen time than most Marvel villains though.

Worth of a mention are Benedict Cumberbatch who reprises his role of Doctor Stranger and Jeff Goldblum who plays Grandmaster, the host of that gladiator contest I mentioned above. The first has a hilarious cameo at the beginning of the film, the latter, although his performance reminded a lot of Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, is very amusing.