MattFlix

Black Panther is the latest entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Ryan Coogler and stars Chadwick Boseman, Forest Whittaker, Andy Serkis and Michael B.Jordan amongst a whole host of other well known names. It directly follows the events of Civil War and sees T’Challa return to Wakanda to be crowned king where he is challenged by Eric Killmonger and the hardships of being King. Straight off the bat I have to say nowadays Marvel movies have to do a lot to impress me. Not to say they aren’t still great films, the MCU formula has become so consistent that I no longer feel like I’m watching a movie (a once in a while, flash in the pan type thing) but that I’m going to see the next episode in a really good TV show I like. For me, superhero fatigue has set in. Which is why my favourite superhero movie of last year was Justice League. It was by no means the best but I personally enjoyed that the most because it was different from the formula that not only the MCU is guilty of ...

The Greatest Showman is the brainchild of, and stars, Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum and charts his rise and the rise of the circus in the form of a musical. It also stars Zac Efron, Zendaya, Michelle Williams and Rebecca Ferguson. This is a movie that I've been wanting to see for months now and having seen it all I can say is, well, this is an advertisement of everything that is wrong about musicals. The Greatest Showman falls into the trap of having all its musical numbers come about out of nowhere and I hate to say by the time of the second number it's already dawned on you that this will be the status quo for the entire runtime. And as for the actual quality of the numbers, it's very bizarre. All of the songs feel like rejects from Eurovision. Modern pop that can be played regardless of the context of the movie, to be sold as a soundtrack. The choice of modern pop for the songs style seems out of place for P.T. Barnum and the 19th century and moreso bizarrely a del...

Call Me By Your Name is directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars Timothee Chalemet and Armie Hammer and tells the story of Elio as he slowly falls in love with a grad student Oliver over the course of a six week period in Northern Italy and is based on the book of the same name. First thing to say is that this film has a tremendous amount of realism in its depiction of not only same sex relationships, but of love in its wider senses. The biggest thing going into seeing this movie for anyone who hasn't already is that the fact that this is a love story between two men is completely superfluous to the narrative that Call Me By Your Name is trying to put across to its viewer. But as a bisexual man myself I found it incredibly refreshing to have a depiction of homosexual love on screen that is not only highly realistic (I remember being in Elio's shoes countless times) but also one that is never played for drama as homosexual relationships so often are in cinema. This movie is a cele...

Coco is the latest offering from Disney Pixar and follows Miguel, a young Mexican boy as he tries to follow his dreams of becoming a famous musician. Now Pixars offerings over recent years have been up and down. You get the highs of Inside Out and then the lows of the Good Dinosaur and Cars 3 so the studio that was once a solid hitter has seen better days. Speaking from a structural point of view, the first two thirds of this movie also fall victim to some of the more recent Pixar film flaws. Narratively speaking in the early parts of this movie it feels like the story is trying to hit too many themes of family, death, remembrance and doing what makes you happy. A lot of the first act feels like some severe pinball motions of being bashed around in the story whilst characters are being moved into place for the story to properly begin. Big moments in the story are based off of some reveals that to anyone who isn't a young child would spot instantly which left me almost shouting at ...