Venom (2018) Review

There's a good movie lurking somewhere in Venom's back gooey depths and it lies specifically in the fun Venom/Eddie Brock dynamic that serves to be the films main highlight. Tom Hardy is clearly having fun in his role which is why it mainly works well and serves to be enjoyable.
The CGI is also fine but does get a bit messy at times particularly in the climactic fight but I don't think the editing helped with that either.

My point though is that I liked the portrayal of venom here, It's just a shame that its' all wrapped in a bog standard story and some messy craftsmanship leaving you with a film that is kinda entertaining but mostly lackluster.

May have just been better if they just did a spider-man film with this venom, the problem with origin origin films is that the majority of them go down similar paths and they just don't end up being interesting enough, so I wouldn't call Venom outright bad, it's  just very meh. **1/2
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X-men: Apocalypse (2016)

The X-men franchise returns, with another solid entry that doesn't reach the heights of Days Of Future Past, but is certainly on par with First Class. One again helmed by Bryan Singer, the film is set in the 80's and deals with popular X-men villain Apocalypse.
Now Apocalpyse was one of my favourites as a kid, but the issue with using him, is that he's not the most dynamic of villains and he fits the cliche 'I want to rule the world, cause I'm powerful' archetype.
This means the film struggles to make itself stand out from other superhero films by taking a more generic approach to things. Having said that I think Oscar Issac does a good job with his portrayal and Apocalypse definitely has a very demanding and threatening presence here, that makes him more compelling and memorable than most other generic supervillains.
The film also features more younger versions of characters from the previous films like Jean Grey, Cyclops and Storm all played well by their respective actors and I thought all performances across the board were fine too, with the one stand out being Michael Fassbender who as usual has the strongest performance, managing to really bring the emotion out in certain scenes.
I think the film has a good mix of drama, humour and action, with some fairly brutal moments for a 12A and is very entertaining throughout. It is a little inconsistent and messy, has some some hokey dialogue and more should have been done with the Four Horsemen but other than that, I  once again managed to become engrossed within this universe and thoroughly enjoyed the film. A solid entry in the franchise, nothing spectacular but still damn good. ***1/2

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

The latest offering from Marvel Studios and probably their best one yet. Captain America: Civil War is a great superhero film full of great drama, action and humour. It gives us a very character driven story, that makes for a much more compelling film. We've got all the previous characters being represented better than they ever have been, as well as great new additions like Black Panther and the new incarnation of Spiderman (who seems to be the best one yet). Everyone manages to fit and isn't out of place, even the 'villain' is well drawn out and has very good motivations behind him. There's a lot of really good action sequences too, that are decently shot with lots of cool moments sprawled throughout.
The whole thing just works great, it's well balanced, paced, written, acted and is just a super entertaining film overall. I really liked it. ****

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016)

So here it is, the much anticipated superhero film directed by Zack Snyder and I'm just gonna jump right in and say that the film is a bit of a mess, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.
First off, I really liked Ben Affleck's take on Batman and how he is much darker and grittier than before. I know a lot of people hated it when he was first cast, but I thought he'd do a good job and he certainly did, Jeremy Irons as Alfred was also a good choice too.
I also really liked Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of Lex Luthor, being a much more energetic mad scientist version of the character, that I think is a good contrast to the much sterner heroes. Henry Cavill is also still fine as Superman and the rest of the cast is pretty good too.
The film unfolds at a good pace and is never boring despite it's 151 minute runtime and includes a few unexpected moments and interesting dream sequences. It has a lot of great visuals and really good action too though the final fight does admittedly go on a little too long. It does actually go a little over the top in it's last act which will probably put a few people off, but I was totally on board with it. Soundtrack is good too and I still love Zimmer's Superman theme.
In terms of detractors it is a little over saturated and messy, there were a few points that could have been focused on more and handled a little better and it could have used with more of an emotional core. But other than that, I really enjoyed this and thought it was an epic thrilling spectacle.****

Deadpool (2016)

The first big superhero film of this year and it's a pretty darn solid one. A rare 15(R) rated marvel film filled with graphic violence,strong language,some sex and of course 'breaking the fourth wall' making for a very fun viewing experience. Ryan Reynolds is on top form as the titular character in probably the best role of his career, and the rest of the cast are also good. The plot is pretty straightforward and still contains the usual genre conventions but it's well executed and it's more adult themed content and meta-stuff make it stick out a little. Overall this is just a really fun, solid superhero film that's not necessarily great but works well as a introduction to the Deadpool character and is just really entertaining. I  look forward to the sequel and how they go about it.***1/2