Josh's Media Reviews

Wednesday, 7 May 2025

Thunderbolts or New Avengers Review

Thunderbolts Review

So, I saw Thunderbolts last night, and here's my review of it. I liked it. I thought it was a good film, and I had a fun time watching it. It had good action and some funny moments, too. This film does tackle mental health, and unlike Moon Knight, it does a better job at it.

. Now, the film cast all did a great job playing their characters.

Now Sebastian Stan, as always, did a great job playing Bucky, aka Winter Soldier. Now, Bucky, I understand why so many fans want him to finally get his own movie and his moment. I get it. I want that too, but he's not the film's main character, but he's still really good in the film and always fun to watch. I agree that Bucky needs to get his own movie or show. Just give Sebastian Stan, who has been with Marvel since Phase One, his due.

Now, Florence Pugh did a great job playing Yelena, and I have to say, after years of playing her character, she's really cool in the film. Florence gives one of the best performances in this film, and this film is more from her point of view as she does have problems with her past, which the film addresses. Yelena was funny in the film, and she was one of the best characters in the film.

Now, Wyatt Russell was excellent in this film. He played a lovable asshole, but you can't hate him. Following Falcon and Winter Soldier, John is now the US Agent and is still angry about losing Captain America. However, all the hate John gets is stupid because I stand by the fact that John Walker did nothing wrong, and he does get called out for what he did in Falcon and Winter Soldier for killing that terrorist, but everyone in this film has killed somebody. Still, it bothers me that John got hate for killing a terrorist who murdered innocent people.

Now Hannah John-Kamen returns as Ghost in the film, and she's good in this film, but I find her boring. She still has some good moments in the movie, but she's just there. Initially, Lawrence Fishburne would be in the film, but he was cut.

Now Bob, aka the Sentry, is played by Lewis Pullman, the son of Bill Pullman. He does a great job. He's one of the best characters in the whole film, and he nails it as the Sentry.

Sentry is Marvel's "Superman," but he's also a Superman with mental health problems, such as his inner battle with the Void. This film did great with the Void arc and his mental health problems. This film does a good job of dealing with mental health and guilt from your past mistakes. Most people don't like agendas being shoved down our throats, but this is how you properly do it. You show and have it fit the story perfectly. I love the jokes they make with Bob, and Sentry's costume in the film is very comic-accurate. Sentry was one of the best characters in the movie, and Lewis Pullman nailed it. Initially, Steven Yeun was going to play the role of Bob, aka Sentry, but he dropped out. Steven would have been good, but Lewis was a better choice, and I can't see Steven playing Sentry. I want him to play someone else, but he is Invincible.

Now, Julia Louis-Dreyfus does a good job playing Valentino, and man, she does a great job playing a very unlikeable character. As OXE's involvement with the Sentry program explains why Bob is a test subject, she's trying not to get impeached for her crimes.

My girlfriend pointed out that Valentina's hair looks like Tulsi Gabbard's, and it's true. I think they are making fun of Tulsi, who works with Trump.

David Harbor was funny as usual in this film, but sometimes his jokes got annoying. He's still one of the funniest characters in the film. I like how his relationship with Yelena is one of the main focuses of the film, and the film shows how much he loves his daughter and wants to be with her.

Overall, I liked this film. It was good, better than Brave New World. The cast did a great job, and the story was good, too.

I give this film an 8 out of 10. Go see it because it's a fun movie.

Do I think it's as good as James Gunn's Suicide Squad? Yeah, it is.

Now, I know it's not the Thunderbolts most fans—me included—wanted to see on the big screen, like we wanted either of these teams.

Zemo led an original team and was supposed to appear in the film, but he was cut.

Or Red Hulk's Thunderbolts, which would have been so cool to adapt.

These teams would have been great to see on the big screen because let's face the MCU Thunderbolts team is mostly anti-heroes or C-list characters. However, this film did a great job with these characters, and the team was very likeable.

Now here are some spoilers so don't look!

The revelation that The Thunderbolts movie is a New Avengers film.

I grew up with the New Avengers comics, which got me into the Avengers. I was hoping for a more faithful team roaster like this.

However, we will likely see another Avengers team like this in Doomsday because Sam Wilson is not happy about the Thunderbolts calling themselves the New Avengers. Also, when they reset the universe, we'll likely get a proper New Avengers film. I think Sam's Avengers team will likely be Spider-Man, Daredevil, Kate Bishop, Shuri/Black Panther, and Shang Chi.

This makes you wonder why they didn't just make a New Avengers film, but I guess they wanted to surprise everyone and reveal this as the New Avengers movie.

Taskmaster is in the film, but she is killed off in the first ten minutes. Those trailers lied to you. She's not in the movie, but she dies. I'm glad they killed her because many fans didn't like what they did with Taskmaster, and it's not the character fans grew up with.

If you read my post about how Marvel should have made the Black Widow film, they should have made her the Red Widow instead of Taskmaster. If they had done that, it would have worked. I have nothing against the actress; it's just that Red Widow would have been a better character for her to play.

Fans wanted Anthony Masters, the real Taskmaster, but even if they went with him, he just wouldn't fit this group of characters. I believe Marvel is course-correcting the Taskmaster because they saw how fans didn't like what they did, and this could be a sign they are bringing in the real Taskmaster in a future MCU film.

The film's end credit scene shows the New Avengers getting a distress call from space, and it's a spaceship with a big 4 on it. So the Fantastic Four are coming, and this gives away that their reality will get destroyed by Galactus or Dr. Doom. Setting up Doomsday

So that's the spoilers.

Let me know what you think and hope you like the movie.

Sunday, 4 May 2025

Beef Review

So I saw Beef, one of the best shows I've seen in a long time. I know this show came out in 2023, but I never got a chance to finish it. I finished it, and this show was incredible, Steven Yuen, aka Invincible, and Alison Wong are amazing in this film. I can't get over how awesome this show was; the twists and turns are shocking. I find it funny how this Beef started between these two after some road rage. This is a great show, and I highly recommend it. I heard they are planning a second season. Still, they should do different characters instead of the same ones because the ending of the season was great. Danny and Amy's story ended well and I don't see a reason for a season two with them. I rather they do something new with new characters in the same situation.

I give this show a 9 out of 10.

Thursday, 1 May 2025

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith Review

My review of Star Wars Episode 3

Revenge of the Sith

Celebrating 20 years of this excellent film.

So, to celebrate 20 years of Revenge of the Sith, the best prequel film, I know we've all hated the prequels in the past, but now we hate what Disney has done. I won't get into that topic; I will discuss Revenge of the Sith. Revenge of the Sith is the best prequel film it's how Anakin becomes Darth Vader, and it's so epic let me tell I still remember fans hating Hayden as Anakin after his poor performance in Attack of the Clones because, let me tell you, he nails it in this one.

He won Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards.

In fact, everyone was amazing in this film like Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L Jackson, Frank Oz, Jimmy Smits and Christoper Lee all do a great job.

The film is set years after Attack of the Clones and the Clone Wars series. What I love about this film is the action and the character development, and I love how the film opens with a big battle in space. One of my favorite scenes with Anakin and Palpatine is when he tells him the story of Darth Plagueis, and that scene, to me, is one of the best scenes. It explores the lore of Star Wars.

Of course, I have seen the memes of Anakin being clever, realizing that Palpatine is the Sith Lord. I also loved the lightsaber fights. Revenge of the Sith has the best lightsaber duels, like Anakin vs Obi-Wan and Yoda vs Darth Sidious. I also love the scene with Anakin becoming Darth Vader, and the march against the Jedi Order is actually sad you feel for Yoda when he sees the Jedi being killed. I was sad when Mace Windu died because he was one of the best Jedis, but he felt his death could have been better. I always felt that Boba Fett should have been the one to kill him, but Clone Wars did address that story arc, and who knows, maybe Book of Boba Fett will bring back Mace Windu. Also, General Grievous was one of the coolest villains in the film, and we all saw Clone Wars. How awesome he was, and in the expanded universe, he does come back to life. The movie's score is incredible, and it was written by John Williams.

One great scene in the film is when Anakin and Padme fear the future since they have a baby and the Jedi can't marry and have children well until Luke changes that. Also, the ending of that scene of Anakin shedding a tear is powerful as he makes his choice.

Anakin joins Darth Sidious, and the scene when he gives him his name, Darth Vader, is just one of the best scenes.

The fight between Anakin and Obi-Wan was among the best lightsaber battles ever. Say what you want about Lucas, but he delivered an epic fight for his last Star Wars film. The fight was epic, and we loved the high-ground jokes and memes.

What was great about that scene was when Obi-Wan yells he was the chosen one and that he was supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them. That he loved Anakin as a brother and Anakin just screams he hates him and we see him burn and it's gruesome to watch.

In the end, Anakin is still the chosen one and does bring balance to the force, as George Lucas explained, but sadly, as we know, Disney messed that up and made it Rey who brought true balance. I don't consider that canon though because that was bad writing.

That Rey movie does not look good, honestly if you want it to be good get a good story teller, not an activist.

Vader Rises.

The film's ending is dark because the republic has been disbanded, and now it's an empire with Darth Sidious as the Emperor and Padme die, and their children, Luke and Leia get separated.

Anakin becomes Darth Vader, and when you see him put on the suit, it is both epic and tragic as Darth Sidious lies that Anakin killed his wife. We see the Death Star being built and Darth Vader standing with his master as they plan to conquer the galaxy.

However, there is hope that last shot of the movie is Owen and Puru with a baby, Luke, as they look at the sunset, as it shows there is still hope as the light side will return. I love this film, and it is the best prequel film out of all the Star Wars films; they recently released the film. It shows Disney what Star Wars should be. Star Wars has become a franchise that is hard to dislike or like because of how divided the fans are because of how Disney made Star Wars. Again, I don't want to get into that debate, but it's hard to like or dislike anything about Star Wars without it turning into a big fight.

Someday Star Wars will get back to what it once they get rid of Kathleen Kennedy and also I think the solution is pull multiverse create a separate timeline for fans who didn't like the Disney Trilogy and prefer the Expanding Universe or there is the idea of rebooting Star Wars. This what they should do to please it's fans they keep demonizing because there are toxic fans but the fans who love Star Wars and just don't like what Disney is doing is not toxic, it's passion.

I give Revenge of the Sith an 8 out of 10, and it's one of my favorite Star Wars films. The best Prequel film and it's hard believe people love the prequels now after what Disney did.