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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
Who won? Legendary studios, & far from a minus one.
@somegeekguy
-Wow, I'm just as surprised as you are reading this right now, believe me. My expectations were kind of meh, me personally, Godzilla Vs Kong (GVK) was OKAY, nothing special, maybe about a 6/10
So who won this time in Godzilla X Kong & what is this New Empire?... well legendary studios of course!
After a victorious achievement for Toho... we all know what we've come for here at legendary studios, & the results are definitely not a minus one...
because this time we up the ante, and the people have spoken, we want this, legendary in this film is simply unlocking the massive cheese vault oozing into my optic stems, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire is a hyper adrenaline rush energizer, it felt like my brain waves digested a high voltage energy drink kicking every inch of my brain cells.
Dan Stevens is a solid comic relief along with Brian Tyree Henry. The jokes land a bit better this time around. The aura & creative decisions in this film have almost an 80's vintage vibrant feel, the music & color palette compliment each other perfectly along with cinematography.
My issues? Well... why does the movie have Monarch being okay with bringing anybody down to hollow earth? Reliance on slight jumpy exposition, small things that could have been explored a little more to leave more an impact. It's not perfect for those, however I will argue this film was a lot closer to striking close to being perfect than you would think a film of this caliber could do.
This is what happens when Cinematography, awareness, consistency & finding the footing on following Kaijus, gets the best of a cinematic experience, it's just as much a kaiju story as it is a human story & It's a Love Letter to the showa era & fans should be proud.
I've never been more invested in the actual story of the kaijus until this movie, expositions & humans don't ruin it either this time. It's not anything special, but what is special are what we are here for, & that's the Kaijus.
New Empire, by far, has the longest showtime for Kaiju action that I've ever seen in a monster flick. Beautifully shot cinematic camera scenes, there is one specific upside down shot unfolding to the right side up, just amazing camerawork
The gradual building blocks embedded in the story left exciting awe in entertainment & care of handling Kaiju moments. The humans are just enhancers for the monsters. Compared to GVK, they have a better direction here without getting lost.
It's a ride, took the issues of GVK & corrected it more, there's plenty of action if not more than you'd think... there's plenty of surprises, emotional character moments with humans/monsters, & although a not so perfect expositions still a solid fun plot/story following the elements at play... Godzilla X Kong was a lot better than I thought it was going to be & that's worth something.
7.5 / 10.
Drive-Away Dolls (2024)
It's entertaining as much as it is disappointing
I guess I can say that I wasn't bored the entire film, but I was entertained for the wrong reasons. This film has some personality going for it, which is a good thing, I love the transitions, editing & psychadelic 70's influenced edits intertwined in this film adding a lot of style & pazzas.
I will say though this film has a little too much style & not enough focus on getting into the grit of what this film was trying to achieve. It wants to be an over the top spoof, a thriller a drama & a lesbian self discovery sex story, it is just all over the place & when it comes to crucial information that the film should be spent building upon on those moments more... the film transitions to these 70's pshycadelic transitions, which again, I do love, but it took a chunk of the run-time for this film, and after the film ended you realize it was completely unneeded.
The acting is great, the directing is fantastic, editing is fine, sound transitions & visuals have a unique flair, the entertainment factor lies within those things, and slight over the top executions make you wonder what the hell is going on, rather than caring about what's going on, and that's where this film lies, by the time you're revealed what's in the brief case you realize this film the entire time is just an over the top joke.
I'm not against spoofs, Bottoms was one of my favorite films & it's a good comparison especially with the lesbian characters & spoof execution... it's just this film had no clear vision or balance for anything.
Like my reviews? Follow me on IG @ SOMEGEEKGUYS.
Madame Web (2024)
Movie featuring Pepsi & product placement
Horrible from beginning to end, the opening scene just reeks of awful predictability from story & plot to the core. You know exactly what will happen before it even happens, the script sucks & the dialogue is even worse. There is quite noticeable audio dub edited after the fact too. This budget is 80 million, not that budget matters, because no amount of money could have saved this train wreck, but I mention this because you can still make a good film on lower budgets, Shazam, the first one, had the same budget & delt with a lot of side characters too, it's miles better, Godzilla minus one had a extremely low budget too. But this 80 million dollar film not just effects but production, feels obviously cheap, it almost feels like watching a very long pilot episode to a CW tv show.
You thought Morbius was bad, that film was bad because it did the bare minimum, this film doesn't even do the bare minimum, it goes beyond comprehension below that, it just enters a point of no originality or ambition towards creating anything. There isn't even a single superhero moment, even horrible films like catwoman or Morbius has superhero moments & action, this thing doesn't, you get instead visions of the future to potentially set up sequels.
This movie also has a serious problem of product placement, it's a long commercial, to be exact a long Pepsi commercial, I feel like Pepsi stopped the halftime show so they could invest in the product placement in this film. This movie was more important to them than the superbowl LOL it's just so over the top & obviously placed way too much in this film. Calvin Klein, Chase bank, the list goes on. This movie should be called superhero product placement the movie.
It's barely even close to a 1/10 the cool moments are seeing what we already saw in the trailer when she's seeing the future & you think it's happening now but then it goes back to the moment she realizes it's a vision, granted it's cool the first couple times but it gets old REAL quick. & it ends up getting annoying because it's abused way too much.
Thats about it, there isn't any redeeming things in this film, the acting isn't even good. I would say the 3 side character spider women that Dakota finds when they are together there was a potential spark. I saw the talent & potential, but they are failed big time by such a horrid script that the spark never even sparks, it's just like showing you the matches & gasoline & not setting the fire.
Madame M0RBIUS / 10.
Ted: Loud Night (2024)
cringe, forced & not even close to 90's narrative
The Jesus bits with Ted & Johnny was hilarious, but with that aside, this episode takes a massive plunder down the toilet, I like the idea of this show exploring other characters, and taking those risks to expand this story using other characters rather than just relying on Ted, this had potential to be the best episode of the season with the premise as well, it just gets bogged down in so much unnecessary political drama, it's not smart, it's not jokey, it feels much more preachy, they continue to over exaggerate toxic characters to fit into a political satire, meanwhile how the other character thinks are not over exaggerated and are just normal human beings.
Almost all of these political ideas in this episode & preachy presence just feels completely forced & controversial for the sake of it rather than creating a narrative revolving both sides with authenticity, this show just makes you want to put a barrel into your mouth & pull the trigger every time you hear the over the top obnoxious executed character of Matty, it's a complete forced execution as well that just blows itself out of proportion, if that's how his character is there's ways of doing it.
I thought I was supposed to be in the 90's, this thing feels like 2024 preachy toxic unnatural forced political satire that forces you to move your characters stance to the other without feeling human moments. Towards the end they try to redeem it with her sitting talking to matty but it just ain't it, this delivery ain't funny, the truck is obnoxiously unfunny as well.
81st Golden Globe Awards (2024)
Unplanned, unorganized & unfunny
Pathetic, Jo Koy bombs & how does he return the favor? Well, by making it worse, repeatedly reminding the crowd that "I didn't write these jokes" I thought he was joking the first time, but he kept bringing it up. REAL COMEDIANS who are bombing that hard will never throw their own team under the table, you're a damn comedian for Christs sake, improvise, do something, instead he stands up there using those same jokes, that he's blaming his writers for, (a couple are his too, yet he won't say it if it's his and the jokes don't land of course) he stands there and I won't even get into the Barbie & Taylor Swift situation, that was bad but just as a whole this entire golden globes was just cringey, unplanned & unorganized.
The winners & nominees are fine I suppose, no upsets or anything, I think everyone was awarded fairly & the speeches were nice.
I appreciate that there wasn't any forced agendas or politics in the room. It did feel like everyone was having a good time there & the atmosphere felt good, golden globes are always a hit & miss type of thing. The host was a miss, & it wasn't engaging as it could have been with the gags.
It's an award show, what more can you ask for? I mean, had the host been solid & decent with okay jokes this would have been a solid 6/10 maybe even a 7/10 but the host alone is what ruined it. Hopefully in the future Jo Koy can redeem himself & maybe plan a little bit better, because even if his writers were to blame or even if the golden globes gave him a short amount of time to prepare, 1 you don't take a risk like this for that short amount of time to prepare, 2 you don't bring your own team down, when Tom Bradys receiver messes up, he doesn't tell the people after the game during meetings that the wide receiver dropped the ball, he puts the blame on him 100%, as a leader & comedian you need to take some accountability. And 3 make better jokes man, these jokes were not funny & some were funny but just delivered badly by you to begin with. The Taylor swift & Barbie jokes were perfect examples of this, Taylor swift was an actual funny joke his delivery was awful, and then the Barbie joke definitely should have been restructured differently, if you knew your writing team wrote that joke why not rewrite it? But no he blames them.
4/10.
Echo: Chafa (2023)
Messy first 30 minutes, must watch Hawkeye before you watch this
Creators behind this show kept saying "you don't need to watch anything before this to know what's going on" or whatever, but that's baloney, this thing is a mess without watching Hawkeye, the first 30 minutes alone just feels like a complete recap off of Hawkeye.
The action is fun & worth while & adding new additions, but if this thing was going to regurgitate used scenes from the tv show Hawkeye I would highly just recommend watching Hawkeye. Because even I was confused watching this show in the first 30 minutes.
Good writing should be embedded as the story continues, I'm sure there was a much better way at doing this first episode than to just cram in so much scenes we already seen before & just adding new ones. It kind of feels lazy, all they needed to do was start it off when echo is injured and riding that bike, boom that's how you start this show, but no...
Anyways, that's my huge nit pick with this pilot, it shouldn't have done that, as the show FINALLY begins, we get a solid story here.
The Little Mermaid (2023)
Target audience is all over the place
Spent tickets on this and excluding Halle Bailey, it's just a constant devoid of soul, sure the cast is well acted & performed & I did appreciate the new additions how it wasn't a scene from scene remake. But the best parts of this movie is everything that it borrows from the original. There's just 1 moment that it expands that feels good & that's the prince Eric song, and I did like how him & Ariel get more time. However you do feel the plot/story being prolonged in the process. It doesn't flow as good as it should. These are slight nit picks, but Haley Bailey is just amazing as Ariel, she has the voice & charm, her & Eric shine. With that aside a lot of other things are a let down. Melissa McCarthy had some good moments as Ursula but it's just another lacking depth version, her version of unfortunate souls was just lacking anything interesting, no dancing or wit either, in fact not only this but the musical parts of this movie felt completely bland. This version of Under the sea felt like a cheap drunk Karaoke commercial, the production does not mesh well either & looks occasionally ugly to look at. And I think that's where this film fails big time, I didn't believe Ariel was "part of this world" it felt half baked even in direction, is this A remake? A reimagining? Or a carbon copy? It felt so desperate at trying to appease the adults who grew up with the original making it more realistic, while also appeasing the kids, & also appeasing the modernization with some obvious & questionable changes. If you're going to change an icon like Ariel & race change her, that's fine, I love that & support that, but I feel there was a huge missed opportunity here, this film would have succeeded if it was a reimagining & focused on a darker tale, because the tone on this film is just all over the place, a darker & realistic approach would have been cool, maybe with a darker spin to these songs, times it felt that this movie wasted at copying the original was time it could have spent being unique & the creatures looking way too realistic didn't make me care for them one bit, rather than trying to be all these things at once it should have focused on being one or the other.
Someone needs to nail these remakes to a 4.5 / 10.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 22: Guns for Hire (2023)
What in the scooby doo mystery was That? this is not the way
Horrible, lack of originality and completely tonally out of place, everything down to the aesthetics is just misplaced & does not feel like a mando episode at all. I appreciate the attempt to try & try something new the use of comedy has been common even in S1 of mando, we had bill burr, so I'm okay with comedy, it's just the execution... and this episode fails at the execution, why does the entire story feel cookie cutter, I feel like I'm watching a predictable scooby doom mystery. The episode has some sort of interesting plot points that could have worked had the characters worked, but it just didn't, they suck & so does the way the execution was for this episode, it wraps up nice I suppose with a good 4 minutes to spare but other than that this entire episode is skippable.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: The People vs. Emil Blonsky (2022)
Okay... now I agree with what everyone was saying.
Coming from a DC fan, and coming from someone who originally thought the show was somewhat watchable based on the first couple episodes... this just does not go well. Starting off from the pointless prior episode that went nowhere with a dumb cliffhanger... the show then picks up with she-hulk doing what the ending revealed.
Again, the comedy in this show just does NOT land, and again the 4th wall breaking is just mega cringe, I don't care about the main character and nor do I care about trying to care, because at this point it's just such freaking preachy and cringey with the writing.
This show would have been better if it was animated. Like what if. Feels like I'm watching a live action recreation of an animated show except the terrible writing and rushy flashy 30 min run time just doesn't hold enough to care about.
Another thing... why is it we have to be virtue signaled 24/7 of every scene that they have to keep reminding us that she-hulk is a woman, I'm all for women empowerment but why can't it be written better than this crap? Feministic and such degrading to the character.
This feels like a parody and slap in the face to the mcu, and the original classic hulk TV show.
Also the effects on she hulk in this episode look slightly rough, she was okay in the first two episodes but now it feels a little weird. Maybe it's the suit she wears with the green CGI just making it not look so good. Everything else looks okay I guess...
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: Superhuman Law (2022)
It's like watching half baked lazy marvel filler
Nothing really even happens... I mean truly and I don't understand why these episodes are so short, there's barely anything that happens like yeah she's trying to adjust to her life and stuff but that's it. Watching this show feels like watching lazy marvel fillers... this type of time on a show would work better for animated tv shows that actually show more story in one episode and can do more. This is live action and we need time to care about what's going on.
I gave it a 6/10 because me personally I thought the first episode wasn't the best either but it was watchable with a story worth telling. I did like the dynamic between hulk and she hulk but now it's just nothing going on. And this one being a 6/10 I guess having her progress to working as a lawyer for another firm had moments, I'm definitely giving it a VERY light 6 if not a 5. This is not the best, first episode had better moments, this just felt like consequences for the first episode followed by weak progression.
With a cliffhanger that is weird.
Also the writing is just not good, the first episode had cringey preachy type of writing... that was didn't like either but it was able to keep me interested.
This one doesn't have cringey preachy writing but it has lazy writing like the beginning part of the episode with the cringe actors. Idk what it is...
Ms. Marvel: Time and Again (2022)
What is going on with these special effects???
What started off as a ok show just turns into such a over the top show, with consequences that go so minor to none. There's barely ever even anything to really latch onto anymore compared to the first handful of episodes
The effects throughout the series has been very rough but I'm willing to just watch the show and judge it for what it delivers as long as it's not distracting... but the effects here are VERY distracting. Such terrible effects they have during the climax of this episode it's just terrible I think justice league (joss wheedon cut) had better effects than here... I couldn't even take the scene serious especially when the people that die turn into terrible stone cgi skeletons it was like watching a parody of the MCU.
The ending wraps up nicely I guess. But I just couldn't care at all for the tension this episode tried to build. Just crowds of people moving and screaming with such an unearned climax. The ending wrapping things up are nice and wholesome and make up for it.
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
Start was rough but it gets better. I was surprised
Very solid movie. Had very low expectations, this was probably better than the original... The cast at times and direction fell slightly flat but the story I would say was very intriguing. The movie somewhat flips on itself in a way I wasn't expecting. And it doesn't feel rushed, it felt earned. I thought this was a sequel at first but I didn't realize it was a prequel. I was wondering why it was called "first kill" makes sense. Maybe a different title would have fit personally.
Some things feel a bit floaty on how the executed things but other than that I'd say the cast does a decent job but the story holds it a little bit.
Seems cliche at first but it's a very nice treat once you see the direction this movie goes in.
Much better.
House of the Dragon: The Heirs of the Dragon (2022)
Don't hold game of thrones accountable. This is gr8!
I've GOT still left a real bad taste in my mouth.
I won't hold this show accountable though.
This episode was great. The story, execution and pacing was nice. I like the thrills and surprises as well, I don't understand some minor bad reviews saying this is "woke" I don't understand it's not woke at all... they must not have watched she-hulk recently lol this show is far from that.
It has a very nice narrative. Some characters I would say might need to grow more in future episodes. There isn't a character I latched onto just yet. Idk what it is. But hey, it did a great job at executing what this episode was trying to map out for the show as a whole. It did so thrillingly as well...
Also the tension between characters added some thrills in the moment and ideas of what the motives of these characters are to come. The way the show ends was nice with a very devastating outcome to why it had to be this way. Very nice and sad twist. Characters that have to come to realizations and make decisions they never wanted to do. All in one episode.
I would say, more goes on in the story, plot aspect in the pilot for this show compared to GoT pilot.
This was a drag8/10.
House of the Dragon (2022)
We'll see
I can definitely understand the 9/10 ratings at the moment but I will say for me this was
Solid, nothing too crazy but hey,
8/10 is good.
It's the first episode. My rating can go higher depending on how this season and of course if they actually end it good...
I admit... GoT still left a real bad taste in my mouth.
I won't hold this show accountable though.
The story, execution and pacing was nice. I like the thrills and surprises as well, I don't understand some minor bad reviews saying this is "woke" I don't understand it's not woke at all... they must not have watched she-hulk recently lol this show is far from that.
It has a very nice narrative. Some characters I would say might need to grow more in future episodes. There isn't a character I latched onto just yet. Idk what it is. But hey, it did a great job at executing what this episode was trying to map out for the show as a whole. It did so thrillingly as well...
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: A Normal Amount of Rage (2022)
It's good. Not perfect but good.
Coming from someone who had low expectations I'd say
Give it a chance, beginning is Bleh but picks up after say 5 minutes.
The bond between the main character and another was very nice and added a lot of depth to the episode that I didn't see coming (maybe because I avoided every trailer)
I feel we needed just a little more time, idk why these MCU shows are so fast, I feel they could have wrapped up this episode nicely but it felt like they just wanted to package it, tie it up and put a bow call it a day... which is fine I guess because it's still an enjoyable episode I just wished it would have relaxed a bit more and dive deeper into the main character and the side characters too.
It somewhat feels like it rushed right into things. But maybe it's needed based on the simple fact or reveal of what the main character feels about the responsibility she supposedly doesn't want.
So I guess I can understand the pacing in that scope.
Solid, fun start to a show.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)
She-Hulk is a ok entry, not perfect, but it does enough
*Rating may change up or down over time review is based on the pilot* **RATING HAS WENT DOWN FROM 7/10 TO A 5/10 SO FAR UP UNTIL EP 4**
Please just read my review, I was going in this show with low expectations but I have reasons to my rating I put here. *I'll explain why it dropped a little as well*
Let's just start by saying I had my hopes very low for this show. I think wandavision and loki have been the highest points of this MCU and hawakeye/Falcon/moonknight we're okay.... Ms marvel kind of was disappointing so I didn't really know where this MCU show would go after.
Then in comes She-hulk, started off a little too fast for my taste, kind of rushes into things, but I feel once we get the full scope of how she gets these powers it's really nice to see it unfold afterwords.
Also let me say the EFFECTS ARE AWESOME. Ms marvel had some garbage effects and I wasn't too convinced when I saw the trailer to this, they looked very weird. But based on the first episode these effects were very nice. I think she Hulk looks fine in CGI and the effects are just well done for a TV show. Let's be honest it can be worse like CW.
I feel like they did put a lot of attention to the show but some things they didn't really focus on which is disappointing like who she hulk TRULY is as a person and why she wants to endure this stuff. Sure she kinda has no choice because she didn't ask to have these powers but I want to know what drives her... (again, this review can change if the show gets better or expands upon this)
*went down a bit because it just kept getting lost in its own merit, just not that funny becomes uninteresting, and just very degrading at times, felt like a chore, sucks because I thought the pilot was fine, it wasn't the best but I liked the dynamic between him and her and I thought it would be more of that, but she hulk alone just can't hold this show together at all, and the cheesy comedy doesn't help it at all.
Better Call Saul: Saul Gone (2022)
This is how you end a show
Beautiful, emotional, surprising and gut wrenching.
I was hoping a certain color pallet would have turned into another color pallet (I think you know what I'm talking about) and maybe wrap up just a tad bit more in a knot between certain characters but it does an amazing job at portraying it nontheless.
I'm so happy to have put the time that I did in this show. Amazingly written and tied up perfectly:
Prey (2022)
It's a beautifully made film that keeps going,
This is probably the most "easiest" movie to watch. And I say that in a good way. Not necessarily having to turn your brain off. But just the run time and action was well spread and worth while, felt like it got somewhat lost in itself in the middle I would say, but it does a good job at just simply flowing like any movie should. It doesn't feel as if it's rushing or going to slow it's a very well paced film. And it's not just a horror movie, it's a cultural movie, I felt as if I was part of the tribe. The progression was amazing and ending was fun, kind of crazy how fast a plan can come out in so little time though and also how a character knows just exactly how a item works from the predator... found that part slightly silly but since the movie did so well at everything else I was able to kind of find it believable,
All in all movie was shot wonderfully, the action was great just as much as the progression of characters and utilizing the runtime and the movie just flew like butter. Definitely a rewatch earned in the future.
Pr8dator /10
(7.5/10 to be exact, maybe leaning more towards a 7 just found a pun I couldn't miss out on)
P. S if this was not English and had actual language used from the tribe it would have been awesome, not saying it would have been better but just awesome touch, not also trying to eliminate the American language, as I am American, just would have liked it, I heard there is a dub version but I can see why they chose English to be more appeal towards us. But I do have a feeling the idea and vision the director wanted was to have another language... but yeah just that.
Better Call Saul: Waterworks (2022)
Poetic, devastating & emotional
The 3 words I can use to describe this episode. It has been an amazing journey up until this point. We see the distress and emotional strain on our characters and the responsibility/accountability for some actions. I've been waiting long for a particular moment that this episode will reveal to the audience as we all have. It's very emotional and a breath of fresh air. The episode has amazing cinematography as usual and the intensity and emotional buildup only gets more gripping. Phenomenal job from the team and I'm excited to really see how they plan on tying everything up afterwards.
Better Call Saul: Breaking Bad (2022)
This is the moment Breaking Bad Better Call Saul
Return to formation for Saul breaking the barrier he was meant to do.
It's all here folks, watching the show since it's first episode Uno up until this point has been "quiet a ride" everything that we predicted and saw happen the writers find a way to pull the rug from under us. All while having it make sense into the narrative of the story this show was out to be.
This episode was a downward spiral, a pinnacle and love letter to the franchise as we know it, from the opening scenes before the BCS theme we have something you will certainly be in a real nice treat for.
The way this episode progresses it's narrative going forward was very nice and story perfectly makes it all worth while. You have the dynamic between characters with excitement and thrills we have been waiting for.
Ted Lasso: Do the Right-est Thing (2021)
What is this garbage episode?
A 7/10 is me being generous. Why are they forcing Dumb stuff In this episode? We want comedy, this isn't even good. Show was good and funny and now it's just a weird drama with laughs thrown in here and there. Where are the jokes and charisma from season 1? First couple episodes were nice but this just misses the mark.
Not good and the political BS was just all up in the koolaid.
Ms. Marvel: Destined (2022)
What is with the writing in this episode?
I've been noticing the ratings being low on the show overall but I've given the show the benefit of the doubt... episode 1 was solid had some issues but I was fine with it. Episode 2 the same but this one is just tedious, the writing is awful. Why do we need to be reminded 3 scenes in a row from 3 different characters about 1 same thing that they're looking for "a brown, Muslim person" just so annoying and not sure if they're using it to be funny but to me it seems like identity politics. Damage control is looking for this person because of what they have done. Jesus Christ. I'm black and this I just find annoying and lazy writing. There's a lot more interesting about this character than then being stereotyped by the writers the entire show. Explore the culture like you did in the first episodes and stop victimizing the characters 24/7.
Better Call Saul: Nippy (2022)
Intense, thrilling, fun & crazy
Here's the thing... James McGill, Slippin' Jimmy, Saul Goodman & Gene Takovic... they're all the same person, just grown more into the embodiment they truly are. A cocoon of a human being if you will.
Gotta say I was hoping it would have maybe continued something we were all hoping from how the last episode ended.
Maybe just having that ending from last episode linger on my mind for a week was getting to me when anticipating what will happen after that here, but with that aside this episode is fined dined and sixty nined literally lol
Anyways, the entire episode was captivating on what it was trying to establish, there is a slight change in the cast which I would say was personally distracting, as I was having a hard time drawing the lines, however it wasn't too distracting. As the story and everything surrounding the episode were so captivating that I was able to subvert what I was used to.
Fun Episode, feels more like an epilogue to be honest, the episode prior fees as if it wrapped everything up already but you can tell there are slight loose ends which this one is definitely needed as it may continue something we have been wondering for a long time...
All in all... it's fun, very thrilling too. I enjoy the aspect that the episode decided to go in here. Maybe it continues in this same direction they are going with the next episode as well... We will have to see. 9.5/10.
Better Call Saul: Fun and Games (2022)
Don't let the other reviews misguide you
*No spoilers ahead*
Kim had Fun playing Jimmy's Game.
Mike & Gus are in the Game of Cartel Fun.
This episode was great, deserves as much high praise as the last 2 as well. I believe it is maybe not as high because of the Gus situation but I'll get to that momentarily
Let's start by saying the episode really just highlights how far all these characters have come and what they are going through after such traumatic events. It really does tie up lose ends. What I took from the episode was just what they do with these situations and they tie up lose ends swiftly and in a way feels like a finale...
Mike is conflicted with a situation himself that needs resolution, in a way I would argue what happens kind of comes up in the other places he shows up in, specifically El Camino *slight spoiler for that movie* I won't say who he says it to or what he means but when he replies and says "making things right... that's just one thing you can not do..." it definitely shows here in this episode an example of this that I won't get into... but you see where it goes. It definitely highlights the moral of the story as well. Mike is poison in the game... just as much as Gus is poison to whoever he allows in his personal life while building this empire he is building because it will hurt his loved ones... and just as much as Jimmy and Kim somewhat are for each other... I'll get into that right now actually...
So the Kim and Jimmy situation. We have seen up to this point how far these characters have been. We have seen the downfall and rise yet downfall and rise of such a rollercoaster of a relationship, I never knew where it would go, and I would even argue this episode does a great job at still establishing this. However maybe the answers you're looking for will be met here, I won't say what happens but it's a nice treat for the audience on what does happen. I will say it's a nice meaning and execution to the "FUN AND GAMES" title, and I would argue highlights what Mike said to Jimmy prior with the good old "you're in the game" or "she's in the game" and Saul goes "she's NOT in the GAME" but we know now, as she experienced something traumatic with Howard as did Jimmy, but this is like the first big thing for Kim. It's great to watch how it all unravels... and this GAME, has been FUN... for Jimmy, and you can argue with kim, doing what it is they did with Howard... was a game and was fun... with that being said I won't say much other than it was a well established execution to this part of the plot.
Now let's get into the Gus situation, without spoiling anything, he has some great scenes that dive into the true intentions of his character on a personal level, you will have to watch it to find out and his arch here was a VERY nice touch. Things for his story are tied up, and I feel like maybe the direction they took this in here weren't needed for some people and from what I've seen are maybe the dry area of the episode. But anybody with a brain the size of a bird would know that the intent and delivery of this has always been there, it was more of a matter of when, the seeds were here and we see it grow but only very very slightly and it definitely makes sense towards the story. As for everything else in his arch this episode I'd say is tied up well too. Somewhat open ended, but it's well... maybe the open ended idea is what people don't like which is understandable but with that being said I definitely think for a spin off they do more than a better job in wrapping this together. Maybe the next episodes tie it up a lot better, who knows, I'm just assuming this is it, and if it was I'd be satisfied for sure.
All in all... the last 2 episodes were more explosive thrilling and exciting... this one was more of a consequential episode, if I had to describe it in three words like I did the last ones... I'd say impactful, emotional and exhilarating.
Oh and the last 5 minutes of the episode had me in shock value... I remember watching this episode with the last 5 minutes with my mouth open and the way that it tied into the last 5 minutes was perfect. It also was the longest 5 minutes I ever watched. It felt so surreal and I would argue literally MAKES the episode.
Fun and Games I would rate a high 9.8/10.
Better Call Saul: Point and Shoot (2022)
Point towards a decision and shoot your shot.
It's a game of CAT and MOUSE only this time the cat and mouse roles are flipped a couple times. Everybody's mind is scrambling about and pointing their shot whether that's for redemption or to find a window in the other persons shot. It's fascinating really.
Lalo is unpredictable, Saul and Kim are tormented, Mike and Gus are fed up. So much elements and set pieces coming together to create a episode that is full of chaos, sorrow, thrills and excitement. Plan and Execution was a perfect full circle and visually amazing episode and this one only adds more to the impact that episode left. Episode left me in awe, every shot from the opening shot of tension building up to what happened in the episode prior. The shots and camera angles in this episode were top dollar.