Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Set a few years after 2018's Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes inspiration from Beast Wars as it has Optimus Prime and the Autobots teaming up with the Maximals to take on the Terrorcons in their attempt to help bring Unicron and devour Earth. The first of the mainline films to not be directed by Michael Bay, though he still serves as a producer, Steven Caple Jr.'s work is less frenetic and manages to feel smoother without too many large explosions in the action scenes. As for the writing, it still relies on the previous entries's use of globetrotting MacGuffins hidden under well known monuments. It's not terrible, especially with better character development for the human characters that help the Autobots, but it has gotten very tiring on relying on the same plot every time. The human characters, mainly played by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, are more well defined and don't feel too cartoonish compared to the Bay directed ones. Their chemistry between the Autobots work really well thanks to their performances and the vocal performances of Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman, and Peter Cullen once again reprising Optimus. There's a positivity to be had with the action scenes thanks to how clear it is with the cinematography and not being overly edited to death with constant cuts, but since you're so used to it coming from the previous films you almost miss it due to the camera not moving as much. Being set in 1994, you of course get highly memorable songs appropriate for the period, though too many are used from one scene to another. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts improves from the other Bay Transformers films, but comparing to Bumblebee it is sadly rather lacking. Over all: 78%

2023 top list so far:

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

3. Air

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

5. Creed III

6. John Wick: Chapter 4

7. Scream VI

8. M3GAN

9. Cocaine Bear

10. Knock at the Cabin

11. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

12. Renfield

13. Fast X

14. The Little Mermaid 2023

15. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

16. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

17. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1

Collecting the first thirteen comic stories written and drawn by Don Rosa, Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1 sees the many works that were done under him from 1987 to '88 through Gladstone Comics. The majority of them centered on Uncle Scrooge, but a few of them did focus on Donald and/or Huey, Dewey, and Louie. These stories include the iconic The Son of the Sun, which was not only Rosa's first professionally published story but immediately popularized him, the Beagle Boys centered Cash Flow, and Last Sled to Dawson centering on Scrooge's early days. Having been inspired by Carl Barks and his work on Donald Duck comics from the '40s to the '60s, Don's stories owe a lot to his predecessor. His writing has a lot of great wit, charm, and lots of good gags and comedic bits, while his artwork is well detailed. The stories are well told and it's easy to see how both the original and newer DuckTales were highly inspired by Rosa and Barks's comics. If Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1 shows how incredible Don's work from the first two years of his twenty year run are, then there's no doubt that the rest will be just as fun. Over all: 100%

Top list so far for 3rd set of comics:

1. Star Wars: Dark Empire #1

2. Deadman: Love After Death #1

3. Walt Disney's Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck: The Don Rosa Library Vol. 1

4. Hulk Vol. 5 #1

5. Avnegers: War Across Time #1

6. The Yellow Kid

7. Action Comics Vol. 1 #674

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

To paraphrase Mary Poppins, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a practically perfect film in nearly every way. Its animation being done in different styles in such unique ways is astounding, its story and writing an absolute blast, the performances from Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, and Jason Schwartzman are incredible alongside everyone else, the music is phenomenal, the references and tributes to Spider-Man's history is fun, and the over the top frenetic direction is impossible to forget. Lord and Miller have another hit to their astounding filmography, though one aspect that hurts the movie is that many of the animators suffered poor working conditions due to the many demands and the small amount of time for the release date. I do hope that with the revelations of what the animators had to go through that we could get a movie as incredible as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse but without the unnecessary behind the scenes trouble and time crunch that this one went through. Over all: 100%

2023 top list so far:

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

3. Air

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

5. Creed III

6. John Wick: Chapter 4

7. Scream VI

8. M3GAN

9. Cocaine Bear

10. Knock at the Cabin

11. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

12. Renfield

13. Fast X

14. The Little Mermaid 2023

15. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

16. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

The Little Mermaid 2023

Disney's latest live-action remake of one of their animated classics is The Little Mermaid 2023, remade from the 1989 film that launched Disney's Renaissance throughout the '90s. It tells the same story of the mermaid princess Ariel who falls in love with a human, despite her father's hatred towards them, and makes a deal with Ursula the sea witch to help her unite with the prince in the surface. Halle Bailey portrays Ariel with such incredible and wonderful grace, making her just as memorable as Jodi Benson. Rob Marshall, the director, manages to add a lot of warmth in this remake, something often lacking in them. Though it pales in comparison to the 1989, Marshall's theatrical roots does give it some gravitas with the memorable dance routines and strong performances. Its biggest aspect are the underwater scenes, and while it is no Avatar: The Way of Water it still looks good for the most part thanks to the CG effects looking at worst slightly decent and Dion Beebe's strong cinematography that works well in the surface as well. The script from David Magee is pretty descent, being mostly the same as the animated version though adding or changing some small things. Some of them are a bit dumbfounded and unnecessary like Ursula killing Triton only to be brought back a few minutes later, but stuff like making Ariel forget about the curse or giving Eric the curiosity about exploring the world are good. Alan Menken returns as the composer and adds more to the old songs alongside new ones with Lin-Manuel Miranda. "Part of Your World" is still a jaw-dropper thanks to Bailey, and the rest of the old songs all vary between passable to absolute bangers. The few new ones don't really work all that well, especially a rap duet between Sebastian and Scuttle. Although when Ariel is turned human and can't talk we do hear her thoughts through singing and they're okay. Besides Bailey you also have Jonah Hauer-King as Eric and they have strong chemistry, Javier Bardem portrays Triton with such gravitas, Melissa McCarthy steals it as Ursula, and voicing Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle to such great delights are Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay, and Awkwafina respectively. Realistically, The Little Mermaid 2023 pails in comparison to its predecessor, much like the other live-action remakes, but at least this one feels like there was an attempt to make it feel on its own while still honoring the past. Over all: 80%

2023 top list so far:

1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

2. Air

3. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

4. Creed III

5. John Wick: Chapter 4

6. Scream VI

7. M3GAN

8. Cocaine Bear

9. Knock at the Cabin

10. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

11. Renfield

12. Fast X

13. The Little Mermaid 2023

14. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

15. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania