I’m currently watching Furious 6 which has Luke Evans popping up, and I’ve immediately had this pop into my head.
Disney, I know that your purging of shows today was pretty rough … but could you have least nerfed this one too alongside Artemis Fowl? Can guarantee you that at least half the stuff you got rid of seemed to have more artistic integrity than this ever will. At least they didn’t try to wreck one of your absolute greatest movies…
Watched on Blu-Ray
The fact that this one is the first to be a genuinely great action film in its own right is even more mind-blowing given how Justin Lin’s previous two films for this franchise were. Going from a natural extension of the first two’s campiness and a failed attempt to be a dark and serious reboot of the franchise to one that follows the template of ‘gonzo crazy action heist spectacular’ the series should’ve really…
Watched on Disney+
May not have the same level of artistry in its animation as Sith (though I loved how cinematic and enormous every shot looks and it captures the dark fairytale feel to a tee - the opening in the workhouse stylistically reminded me of Richard Williams’ The Thief and the Cobbler in its grandeur) but the story is more complex and mature. Amazed at how, after having similarities to a typical child-friendly adventure for the first half, this gets legitimately scary and downbeat in the other half as it tells its story on the loss of childhood innocence.
Watched on Disney+
Wow. Not only is this is a beautifully-realised story of a woman trying to escape her dark past via art (and it also uses a certain element from the climax to Colin Trevorrow’s Duel of the Fates script which I absolutely loved), but it’s another example of the Spider-Verse Movement of Animation (or at least that’s what I call it) revolutionising this format to extreme success. I haven’t even seen the other eight yet and I’d be willing to say that this is the best-looking episode of this series by light years.
