Movie Reviews from Chris

  ★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Madame Web (2024) Runtime: 116 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for violence/action and language. It might be a coincidence in my schedule to have watched Madame Web after Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire. Despite having drastic differences - one being a "science-fiction" film and this being a "superhero" film - both are pretty much on par with each other in terms of quality and enjoyment (perhaps to a lesser degree for this one) and share a similarity: full of potential and unique ideas, but ultimately wasted. Amidst the wave of strongly negative reviews that have circulated around the internet and audiences, Madame Web is far from an absolute disaster but still isn't anywhere good. Directed by S.J. Clarkson, writers Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless and Claire Parker forget that a narrative is vital to the movie, simply throwing their characters in the same scenarios repetitively until the final act. Madame Web opens in a Peruv...

★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023) Runtime: 133 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, sexual assault, bloody images, language, sexual material and partial nudity. I've got an interesting challenge for you: get a tally counter and press it every time director and co-writer Zack Snyder's unimpressive emulation of Star Wars uses slow-motion. It's a trademark of his films, most of them which come off as unnecessary and overly frequent. But it'll be fun continuously hitting that tally counter. Originally pitched as a Star Wars movie over a decade ago, but never getting off the ground, you can observe the blatant similarities to that beloved film franchise: the opening, which features our protagonist looking at the planets and stars in despair, the plot which involves fighting an evil ruling force, as well as visits to bars where we encounter various creatures and bounty hunters. Rebel Moon is visually magnificent, accompan...