Ralph Breaks the Internet

While I haven't seen the entirety of the original Wreck-It Ralph from 2012, I still knew enough of the basic plot to be able to watch its sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet. When Ralph tries to help Vanellope find a new way of playing her racing game, it results in her game breaking and leading the two to go into the internet to find a way to fix it. A lot of the film relies on humor and commentary based around the online community and does it way better than what The Emoji Movie attempted to do. While it does take liberties of how long the entire film takes place in, such as how fast the online videos are posted and the amount of views it gains, you can't help to ignore due to how fun the film is. The best part of the film is when Vanellope ends up in a website devoted to Disney, runs into various Disney owned characters, and hangs out with the princesses. Ralph's animation is, as typical with Disney, beautiful and amazing, while the voice acting, from returning actors John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman and new actors Gal Gadot and Taraji P. Henson, is strong and powerful. Over all: 100%

2018 top list so far:
1. Halloween 2018

2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?/BlacKkKlansman (tie)

3. Incredibles 2

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

6. Ralph Breaks the Internet

7. Bohemian Rhapsody

8. Solo: A Star Wars Story

9. A Quiet Place
10. Deadpool 2

11. Black Panther

12. A Star Is Born 2018

13. Ant-Man and the Wasp

14. Ready Player One

15. Bad Times at the El Royale

16. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

17. Ocean's 8

18. Isle of Dogs

19. Game Night

20. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

21. Venom

22. Thoroughbreds

23. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

24. The Predator

25. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

The sequel to the 2016 Harry Potter spinoff, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald sees Johnny Depp's dark wizard escape his imprisonment so as to unite his followers against the non magical world while being pursued by Eddie Redmayne's Newt Scamander and Jude Law's younger portrayal of Dumbledore. Most of the main cast return, as well as new characters and all of their performances are really good. Just like past films in the franchise, the effects to depict the magical world are amazing and breathtaking. However, this entry is the weakest out of all the films I've seen as it has way too many plots going on, some just start out of nowhere while another is going on, and they don't feel like many concluded so as to lead to sequels. What made the first Fantastic Beasts so special was the chemistry between the four leads, which is missing as the four are hardly together and the character of Queenie makes some odd and out of character decisions. The writing doesn't help as while J.K. Rowling writes some really good dialogue and certain revelations work, many of them come out of nowhere and the way certain plot lines occur and intersect don't fit very well, probably due to wanting to add more than the first film and writing the script like one of her novels. David Yates returns as director which, while doing a very good job, there are certain odd camera angles and placements that feel distracting. While small, some of the dialogue and interactions between Newt and Tina is a bit cliche due to their relationship and misunderstandings. Despite these problems, Crimes manages to be entertaining even when you notice the various plot and story issues. Many of my favorite scenes are those involving Grindelwald such as his escape and the warning as to why those with magic should take over as Depp's performance really sell them. Over all: 92%

2018 top list so far:
1. Halloween 2018

2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?/BlacKkKlansman (tie)

3. Incredibles 2

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

6. Bohemian Rhapsody

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story

8. A Quiet Place
9. Deadpool 2

10. Black Panther

11. A Star Is Born 2018

12. Ant-Man and the Wasp

13. Ready Player One

14. Bad Times at the El Royale

15. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

16. Ocean's 8

17. Isle of Dogs

18. Game Night

19. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

20. Venom

21. Thoroughbreds

22. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

23. The Predator

24. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Bohemian Rhapsody

Named after Queen's signature song, Bohemian Rhapsody is a biopic dealing with the band's lead singer Freddie Mercury from when he first joined in 1970 to their performance during the Live Aid concert in 1985. While it does take certain liberties to the actual history and certain moments are focused more on others, you can still appreciate what everyone involved went through such as the title song not being released for being too long, the band member's relationship, and Mercury's party lifestyle leading to his AIDS diagnosis. Rhapsody tells its story rather well, even if it doesn't offer a unique and new way of telling it while also feeling like it just goes from one scene to the next. The direction throughout does not change in any way as Bryan Singer was dropped as director during filming and replaced by Dexter Fletcher. Whenever they show how the band came up with some of their best songs, the idea and preceding montage of making it are the most fun. The strongest aspect is definitely the performances by everyone involved, especially the chemistry between the Queen members. Rami Malek, especially, as Mercury is the defining aspect of why this film works as he captures everything that made the singer so interesting, tragic, and extraordinary. The fact that the ending has the entire Live Aid Queen performance playing just as long as the actual performance took is bold and makes you appreciate Mercury's work even more knowing this was after his diagnosis. Over all: 100%

2018 top list so far:
1. Halloween 2018

2. Won't You Be My Neighbor?/BlacKkKlansman (tie)

3. Incredibles 2

4. Avengers: Infinity War

5. Mission: Impossible - Fallout

6. Bohemian Rhapsody

7. Solo: A Star Wars Story

8. A Quiet Place
9. Deadpool 2

10. Black Panther

11. A Star Is Born 2018

12. Ant-Man and the Wasp

13. Ready Player One

14. Bad Times at the El Royale

15. Sicario: Day of the Soldado

16. Ocean's 8

17. Isle of Dogs

18. Game Night

19. Venom

20. Thoroughbreds

21. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

22. The Predator

23. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

The Astonishing Ant-Man (2015-2016) #1

The first of two free promotional digital comics for Ant-Man and the Wasp as well as the first to focus on the title character, The Astonishing Ant-Man (2015-2016) #1 takes an interesting look at not only Scott Lang's family troubles but his attempt at creating a security company with his superhero persona front and center. At the same time, an old nemesis of Lang's is convinced to use a new app that's specifically designed to send out super villains at specific heroes to kill him but backs out when he learns how expensive it is. The art on this comic, while not outright terrible or bad, isn't something that's so amazing to look at and feeling a bit unfinished. Lang's narration throughout the comic helps explain what's been happening as we see the things goings on is well done, though the dialogue balloons sometime fill too much of the pages. Though it does payoff well when the last page shows that Lang has been narrating inside a jail cell as he has been arrested, again. The joke of someone from Silicon Valley making an app that sends villains to kill heroes and they having followers is hilarious, especially when considering how close Ant-Man was close to dying due to how much it cost. Over all: 80%
Top list so far for 2nd set of comics:
1. Free Comic Book Day 2018: James Bond 007-VARGR
2. Free Comic Book Day 2018 Invader Zim: Floopsy Bloops Shmoopsy
3. The Adventures of Superman Vol. 1 #500
4. The Unworthy Thor (2016-2017) #1
5. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #5
6. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #6
7. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #4
8. Thor: God of Thunder Vol. 1 #1
9. Wonder Woman Free Comic Book Day 2017 Special Edition (2017-) issue #1
10. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #2
11. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #1
12. Incredible Hulk (1999-2007) #92: Planet Hulk Part One
13. Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II #3
14. Wonder Woman (2006-2011) #1
15. The Astonishing Ant-Man (2015-2016) #1
16. Star Wars: Rogue One Adaptation #1
17. Tate's Not At Comic Con Local Indy Anthology #8