Steve Brisbois

Look, I walked into this expecting a unique spin on Star Wars. I knew with the title “Visions” that these studios were going to come up with entirely unique spins; their take on Star War. Fine, I was actually kind of hype about it, but there is a very fine line between being off cannon and just goofy. This was like the ABCs of Death but Star Wars: a mixed bag of good, bad and ugly. The first episode had brilliant animation and a very unique concept. So unique, in fact, I actually wanted more. I let some goofy stuff by, for example: a katana-looking saber in a sheathe. Okay, maybe the sheath is made out of beskar. Don’t know why you’d have you lightsaber on the whole time, whatever. Cool, I really liked it. With that said, I actually was intrigued to continue watching the rest… Boy was I in for a big surprise. Look, Star Wars may be Sci-Fi fantasy, but it also has rules to follow. It’s the same issues we had with episodes 7-9. It’s one thing to be creative, it’s another to just tell some dumb story, breaking weird rules and timelines just to get your story out there. It’s like slapping a Coke label on a Pepsi bottle. Some of these episodes just completely skipped the feel of the Star Wars fantasy. Good music though. I didn’t hate all of them, but I could not finish a couple and I just skipped two of them entirely. By the end of the whole thing it just put me in a confused and bad mood. Again, I really really tried to be open-minded and I would say that there are at least five decent episodes, but batting 5/9? That’s basically been Disney with this license so far.

How do I review this without any spoilers? It was... Pretty good. I'd definitely recommend it as a horror fan. I absolutely loved the way this was filmed and the story line dives deeper into the roots of the Candyman persona... But that's the kicker... It's a persona. For those of you who are squeemish regarding the racial issues surrounding this series, it's not going to be for you. The originally Candyman was racially motivated as well so I don't know why some people are caught off guard about it. I honestly only had one issue about the racism portrayed in the movie and that was the final scene... Otherwise, it was a solid movie. I was a huge fan of Get Out, didn't really like Us, but this one was another solid film from Peele's studio. SPOILER ALERT! The BIGGEST issue I had with this whole movie is the absolute lack of the man-himself: Tony Todd. This man was a staple of my nightmares during my childhood; his chilling performance and voice still gives me chills. Well, they ditched the idea of Tony Todd being THE Candyman and decided to build a legacy of multiple Candyman personas with Tony Todd being the first... I'm still on the fence about it. Also that last scene where the cop just walks in a shoots the dude lying on the ground and then spins the racial thing in the car... I thought that whole thing was poorly written. They could've taken a more realistic approach than just rushing to its conclusion.

Updated: should’ve been called Mandalorian 2.5, but still awesome. The only reason I understand some mixed reviews is because this show mislead the fans that it was PURELY about Boba Fett (hence the title???). It’s not enough to review bomb it. I enjoyed every episode, but definitely need more Boba. (Warning: spoilers ahead) Cad Bane was sick, and Boba Fett killing him was totally cool - though I would’ve liked to see some more Cad Bane. It’s fine, student killed the teacher. Luke’s CGI was MILES better - lips weren’t quite there, but he could’ve fooled me a couple times as a real Luke-lookalike actor. Grogu being back was awesome, he doesn’t die in the Disney trilogy now! Mando was awesome as usual, but nothing beats Boba rolling up with a freakin RANCOR. 7 episodes is wack and I felt like Dave and John put more time and effort building a world around Mando than Boba. Look, Boba Fett has always been my favorite character ever… I got so much Boba Fett stuff in my house that it’s kind of embarrassing. With that said, Boba is a side character with an awesome story. I feel like that’s how they should’ve wrote it instead of “here’s a season about Boba Fett for like 3 episodes then we’re gonna do the rest for Mando season 3.” I do NOT like fans crapping on Dave or John because they’re the only dudes at Disney that seem to genuinely care about the Star Wars legacy. We’re getting great shows, great characters… the only miss about this season was the title.

I, like most, grew up and loved the Matrix trilogy. We can all agree, however, the ending to Revolution was weird (Neo becoming a battery? This is how mankind is saved?). Well, looks like we were all right because trying to make a sequel was very risky and it didn’t really pay off IMO. Didn’t have an issue with casting, I liked most of the cast. It was just the direction and the writing that was kinda meh. I think they could’ve gone farther by delivering more fan service rather than useless flashbacks to scenes people have seen hundreds of times. So much of this movie reminded me of Wes Craven’s a New Nightmare. Weird comparison? Think about it.

Really enjoyed this film and I’m glad to see Matt and Ben writing together. This film did a pretty solid job of depicting medieval France with a very dark story that is shockingly true (in many different parts of France at the time). I know some people weren’t a fan of the story structure and retelling of Lady Marguerite’s tribulations, but I do believe the “exhaustive” approach of reliving these horrors she experienced while putting the viewer in the heads of the two men, did it justice. We have two flawed men: one of jealousy and one of lust in a corrupt religious era of France where the clergy bent the rules and the Bible to those in power while women were essentially property. All the while, Lady Marguerite is caught in the crossfire of these two men, the court and the clergy. Take it as you will. I don’t think this is a film for everyone, and many history-nuts may not like the dramatization of the era (though I gotta thank Ridley Scott for demonstrating armor had a purpose and wasn’t made of paper), but it is a strong story that was unfortunately all too common back then. Also, young King Charles VI was depicted very well as they eluded to his mental health issues throughout.