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Eternals

I think it was last year when I went to watch Eternals in the theatre. I consider myself to be a casual fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I try to keep up with their new shows or movies if I had the time and resources.

It was two years after the MCU released Avengers: Endgame so I was wondering what else the MCU can offer. The whole Thanos situation and Infinity Stones were practically resolved so I was curious what plot the writers are brewing for “Phase Four” of the MCU. I watched the Loki TV series and am currently halfway through the WandaVision series. Not long after I viewed the newly released Black Widow movie, it was said that a new MCU movie titled Eternals will be out in November. Hearing that news, I was pretty interested. Loki's TV series was surprisingly good and Black Widow is pretty decent. I am not an avid Marvel comic reader so I really went in blind during the Eternals viewing. I didn’t know any of the characters but by the trailer itself, they all look very stunning.

I went out of the theatre feeling confused and a little bit underwhelmed.

The visual effects are amazing. They really should’ve put more or at least of the same budget range for Black Widow’s VFX. I cringed when I saw Yelena get blasted off the ship with the weird, seemingly low-budget background CGI of the sky and debris. The VFX and CGI for Eternals are amazing in contrast. I guess that the team for Black Widow might’ve gotten understaffed.

The plot of Eternals is actually pretty decent but that’s me talking after reading the wiki page for Eternals. If you had to read the wiki to understand more about the lore of a movie, that should be telling you something. Everything seemed too fast-paced, I’m sure it’ll be much more coherent had the higher-ups of MCU chosen to create Eternals as a TV show than a movie.

The characters were bland, and the romance between Sersi and Ikaris felt forced. Dane was really underused and was only kept in the dark for the underwhelming reveal of his role as the Black Knight. The plot felt rushed and incomplete, I found out some of the details were also wrong after further research, video essays, and reviews of people who are much more knowledgeable about the MCU.

Summing it all up, I’d say I’ll give the movie a six out of ten. It’s not bad but it’s not up to par with MCU’s phase one to three movies.

Watch Eternals trailer here.

(Image from: https://awsimages.detik.net.id/visual/2021/11/01/eternals.jpeg?w=650)

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Everything Everywhere All At Once

I went to see Everything Everywhere All At Once in the theatre. I was intrigued since it was rated 8.3 by IMDb and a whopping 90% by Rotten Tomatoes. I’m not exactly the type that would judge a movie by its ratings but can’t deny that sometimes these audience ratings could’ve saved me from wasting my time on bad movies. Morbius is a good example of that but others may say otherwise. I mean, everyone has different tastes and I won’t be that person to force my opinion on others.

So I went and bought myself a ticket to watch the movie.

And dear God, it was one of the best movies I’ve ever watched.

Doctor Strange is one of my favorite superheroes and his debut movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was pretty good. He’s just generally my favorite since Benedict Cumberbatch truly caught my eye with his acting in 2010’s Sherlock TV show. I guess I’m a bit biased in a sense. Doctor Strange has a similar eccentric aura to that of Sherlock Holmes and that made me like the movie more than I thought.

Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness however disappointed me quite a bit. Don’t get me wrong the VFX was absolutely breathtaking and some shots were just plain beautiful. The piano battle between Doctor Strange and “Evil” Strange is my favorite. It's weird and strange, excuse my pun, but it was beautifully directed by the famous Sam Raimi.

The overall plot, however… It felt hollow. It felt more like a Scarlet Witch movie than a Doctor Strange sequel. America Chavez felt more like a plot device than an actual character and I just can’t find myself getting attached to any of the characters.

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a total contrast to that. I walked out of the theatre feeling absolutely awed. It absolutely captures the dynamic of an Asian family and their take on the multiverse was just magnificent. In Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness, I had to force myself to keep up with all the “multiverse” knowledge. It was a bit messy, I found it hard to concentrate. EEAAO, as some might simplify, delivered all the knowledge and jargon nicely in a comical manner. It was easy to follow through and despite being comical, it was an absolute emotional trainwreck. I loved every minute of it, everything was relatable and hits close to home.

To close this off, I would give EEAAO a nine out of ten. I would absolutely recommend others to watch it. It is fun, exciting, intriguing, mysterious, and touching all at once.

Watch Everything Everywhere All At Once trailer here.

(Image from: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTHXTAyUUAMAfd4?format=jpg&name=large)