Matthew J. Barnette

I know I’m defintely in the minority here, but nevertheless this needs to be said: The more I see of this game, the more I feel it wasn’t worth the wait. Alan Wake is a very special game to me; it’s the game that made me want to be a writer. The atmosphere, the characters, and the overall feel of the game just oozes charm and subdued thrill and intrigue. And while Alan Wake’s American Nightmare didn’t quite hit the mark, it still looked, felt, and played like Alan Wake. The same cannot be overall said for Alan Wake II from my experience.

Firstly, I've never read the books and I'm not a fan of the Twilight-esque teen angst love story. I purchased this film purely because I knew it was about angels and I was really on the Supernatural fan train at the time. That said, this movie feels like nausea in narrative form. It's not that it's a bad looking film. More like the important parts feels disjointed and inconsistent. From the filming to the editing to characters and dialogue. It feels like big parts were left out, if they were shot at all. This film desperately needed reshoots and rewrites.

I’m getting the impression that the only people who are really into this film are Rock fans. Unfortunately it’s far from his best work and his typical charm just doesn’t shine through as you’d expect. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some moments of genuine thrill in this film and I found the Justice Society heroes to be quite endearing in their own ways. Overall, I’d say this film’s biggest drawback is ironically something that should’ve been (in theory) it’s biggest strength: the Rock’s star power. He was no doubt the final authority on every creative decision and sadly the writing definitely reflects the fact that this is as much a shallow vanity project as it is a longtime passion project,

Not gonna lie, I was moderately hyped for this movie. The trailers really sold me on the atmosphere and tone, and I really liked the idea of this different approach to Dracula’s narrative. That said, while I can’t totally despise it, I also can’t completely love it either. Like I said, it nails atmosphere and tone surprisingly well; it genuinely feels and looks like a vampire’s castle and it handles its few jump scares very cleverly. I also have to give props to the screenwriters for actually trying to say something agreeable on the issues of race and class without resorting to cringey or confrontational dialogue. In retrospect, it’s incredibly similar to Get Out but with vampires instead of suburbanites. The first two acts of the film are definitely the best in terms of building suspense and introducing you to the shadiness and mystery of the family. It’s only when the fangs finally come out in the third act that the film seems to loose its momentum and the villain looses his intimidation factor - becoming a cliché even as he finally revels in his vampiric nature; and this is on top of already embodying the prince charming trope that every female-led romance story seemingly must have. Although I do appreciate the film’s attempt to subvert that trope even if the reveal does feel somewhat rushed and not totally earned (not that they were being subtle about it at all).

It's a shame that more people don't know about this film. The characters are likable and the plot is genuinely compelling. Some of the acting gets a bit choppy towards the end, and it was definitely made on an effects budget, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this underrated film.

If I had to describe Eternals in a word, it’d be “bland.” I’d say most of the praise for this film is either due to the cast’s diversity (which doesn’t play any significant role other than making the two Bollywood characters into the butt of jokes) or Chloé Zhao’s Oscar clout. Mind you, I haven’t seen any of her previous work, but I doubt Eternals is a good representation of her talents. The best this film has going for it are its genuinely talented (if underused) cast and some pretty spectacular special effects typical of M.C.U. movies.

Definitely not a perfect storyline and could have certainly used a third season to wrap everything up after that cliffhanger series finale. Nevertheless, it’s a unique and compelling take on angels and a fine example of how to take existing material - the Legion movie - and transition it into something almost completely different. The visual effects for angelic flight is quite impressive and still looks great even today. Overall, it’s an imaginative series and it’s a shame and a tragic waste we didn’t get to see it through to a proper conclusion. Another promising premise cut short prematurely by Syfy’s budget.

This show is something special . . at least for now. The CW has an unfortunate track record - particularly with Arrowverse shows (with the exception of Batwoman, which was garbage from the beginning) - of starting out relatively strong and declining in quality as the seasons progress and run out of coherent narratives (or changes showrunners, as ongoing shows do far too often). With it being in its first season - and considering HBO’s involvement behind the scenes - it’s difficult to gauge how consistent (i.e., how unlike a typical CW/Arrowverse series) the show’s characters and storylines will remain going forward into season two. And now to address the ex-elephant in the writers room: Nadria Tucker. There’s nothing I can really say about her that hasn’t already been said on twitter or YouTube. I imagine they hired her for her work on Syfy’s Krypton only for her - as she described it - to start flagging them for MeToo jokes and trying to race-bend the Kents, among other things. Sufficed to say, she was swiftly fired; and although she’s been accepted as a social media martyr, she’s also become an example of who not to hire (particularly if you’re actively trying to break the woke mold).

Definitely a show that deserved - at the very minimum - a second season. I’m not too enamored with The Omen series, but I did have a basic knowledge in that I saw the 2006 reboot. This series is best seen as purely a sequel to the original movie and I personally accept FX’s continuation as canon. I recently rewatched it on Hulu and it does feel like it relies too much on audiences’s preexisting knowledge of who Damien is or going into the story a bit too fast in the Pilot episode. Regardless, it’s a compelling show with a likable protagonist.

It’s definitely what I expected from the Fast franchise; another dumb action flick with a humorous attempt at self-awareness which ultimately goes nowhere meaningful. The lead characters take themselves way too seriously and we get plenty more of Vin Diesel’s loud bulldog acting.