RageLite review - High School Musical

2020 – f*ck this year so hard

COVID-19 has changed the game, it may take a very long time for things to go back to normal, even with better testing and other measures coming into force. Physical distancing will likely be part of the new normal, making the film industry, which relies on having butts in seats, a really shaky area. The one plus has been the rise of streaming services. Some of the year’s films have been released on-demand and some directly onto streaming services.

Disney+ came out in the UK just as I had to go into self-isolation. I had paid for a year upfront and got into a few things, this year I did a full retrospective on Austin and Ally and I plan to do full retrospectives on other series, one of which is coming very soon. I also plan to cover a few series episode by episode: the Mandalorian, the Marvel stuff when it eventually comes out, and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

But to cover that show, I first really need to cover High School Musical itself, and since the motto of 2020 seems to have been “we’re all in this together” however disingenuous that may sound, I feel like it’s a good way to round off 2020.

RageLite review - Frozen 2

It’s just past Christmas, so time to cover the long-awaited sequel to the global phenomenon that became wildly over-hated, Frozen 2.

I get that in many circles it’s cool to hate Frozen but I could never bring myself to. It’s a very different twist on the classic Snow Queen story, fitting right on the Disney brand with memorable songs and gorgeous animation. And sure, some of Hans’ actions, particularly in the second go act completely contrary to his overall plan, but I do like they the twist on the classic Disney trope and that it conveys a message that love at first sight is not a healthy idea to obsess over.

Frozen 2 came out 6 years later but we weren’t starved for Frozen content in that time, just content that’s actually good. It’s somewhat encouraging that pretty much all of the major players from the last film are back for this one.

The film was another financial hit for Disney, earning nearly $1.5bn at the box office, and has had a good reception with both critics and audiences. So why then am I putting it in the mini review category as opposed to doing another guilty pleasures review? Is it laziness/busy-ness? Well partly, but let’s take a look?

Pixar Playlist #14 - Monsters University

Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it, the Pixar Playlist 

OK, so I liked Monsters Inc, it was a perfectly fine movie with some creative ideas and a lot of charm to it. Can they recapture that charm with this prequel, Monsters University? Spoiler alert: no, no they cannot…

But that’s not to say there wasn’t effort put in, the production crew visited various colleges and some spent time in a Fraternity house to research college life. This film also was the first to use Global Illumination, a new lighting system they’d developed to essentially automate the process, so they didn’t have to insert shadows frame by frame.

Once again, the film had a $200m budget and made a decent profit, with a $743m box office haul and it came out favourably with critics too, with an 80% Rotten Tomatoes score. So why am I down on it? Let’s take a look.

Netflix Retrospective - Dragons Race to the Edge Season 4 episodes 10-13

We conclude our look at season 4 now, and the Dragon Hunters have been losing a lot this season as Hiccup turns the tide, but the tide is a fickle thing so let’s see what changes in the next 4 episodes 

Netflix Retrospective - Dragons: Race to the Edge Season 4 episodes 7-9

Let’s continue our journey to the Edge with Season 4 episodes 7-9

Praise4Media #69 - Spider-man: Far From Home

Spider-man, Spider-man
Don’t wanna go cause he’s spider-man
Turned to dust, snapped to life.
Mentor goes to the afterlife 

Look out, off goes the Spider-man!

One thing I’ve praised about the MCU’s Spider-man is their willingness to offer new elements, most of the supporting cast are original or have been drastically changed from the source material. That being said, putting such an emphasis on Peter’s relationship to Tony Stark is a double-edged sword, especially when the sequel takes place after an event which kills him off. 

Jon Watts is back in the director’s chair and 2/6 of the writing staff of the last film are also here, Chris McKenna, who alongside the Spider-man movies also co-wrote the Lego Batman Movie, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and Ant-man and the Wasp, and Erik Summers, who has a similar resumé.

The film had a bigger budget, nearing $200m and, in part riding the wave from Avengers Endgame became the first $1bn Spider-man movie. And has pretty favourable ratings with both critics and audiences (90% average 7.44/10 and 95% average 4.63/5 respectively) so where do I stand, I guess it’s on guilty pleasures so I must like it to some degree but let’s analyse and make fun of it anyway.

RageLite review - Shazam!

Note - This episode is almost a week late, my apologies. 

The year is 1939, and creators C. C. Beck and Bill Parker create a character for Fawcett Comics named Captain Marvel. He was a big hit, becoming the most popular superhero of the 1940’s, even getting a film adaptation, but in 1953, a lawsuit alleging that the character was a copy of Superman, no accounting for accuracy there, lead to Fawcett Comics ceasing publication on this character. In 1972 they licensed out the character to DC Comics (the guys that sued them, that’s gotta sting) and by 1991, DC had purchased the rights outright. But when your main competitor is Marvel, who have a Captain Marvel of their own, it ultimately is no surprise that another name became the name associated with the hero, so much so that in 2011 they dropped the use of the name Captain Marvel altogether. So, the new name, Shazam!

Shazam! Is a very different beast for DC but then, it looks like DC is shying away from the shared universe and connected narratives and more towards experimentation with different genres and story arcs. For better or worse, Joker would not have come out if not for that. Shazam is a story about a kid getting super-powers, it’s wish fulfilment, a power-fantasy, it’s cheesy.

In the writers chair is Henry Gayden, whose only other writing credit is Earth to Echo, and Darren Lenke, no stranger to comedy with credits like Shrek 4, and the Goosebumps films.  David F Sandberg is an interesting choice for director as he’s done more around horror than action. The film made $388m on a $100m budget and got solid review scores, 90% average 7.26/10 with critics and 82% average 4.2/5 with audiences.