Cinema Civilian

*This review will contain spoilers for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark . Full disclosure, I did not grow up with the stories this film is based off of. I do enjoy short story horror, but have yet to read these works. With that in mind, I still feel this is a film worth discussing. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is the first horror movie in a while to actually get my blood pumping, the most recent prior being IT Chapter 1 , whose sequel is mere weeks away. The pacing and effect of several of the books effectively created an amazing sense of dread, often with no true giveaways about where the scares would come from. Probably the best example of this was in Augie's attack (Big Toe Stew), where initial build up makes you believe the scare will be quick, but rather turns into a long, slow build to a rather effective jump scare. What made this scene especially good is that they chose to show the corpse before the actual scare, allowing the extremely-creepy character design to

*This review will contain spoilers for Mary Poppins Returns Many decades ago, Mary Poppins arrived on Cherry Tree Lane to amaze and enchant the silver screen. Now, Disney has released a sequel, but is it as incredible as all those years ago? In my opinion, this film manages to capture the essence of the original impeccably. From the high energy magic to the blurred lines between reality and imagination, the feel is absolutely astounding, and accurately captures the essence of the original, but with a few changes. Set 15 years after the original, Michael Banks, now a father of three, is about to lose the beloved family home from a loan. This places him in some paths similar to those of his father, including snapping at his children. The arrival of Mary leads the family on a path of discovery and growth, all the while educating the viewers on remaining optimistic in dark times, as there's "Nowhere to go but up". Emily Blundt plays a different, almost slightly cold

*This review will contain spoilers for Wreck It Ralph 2 I really enjoyed the original Wreck It Ralph. The successful immersion of the world and a strong message of recognizing and accepting yourself for who you are were done with enough imagination and simplicity that children of all ages could understand and learn from it. I can honestly say the same for this film, but in a few different ways. The way I see it, this film has a lot more to it than meets the eye, and deserves some discussion. First, the film accurately illustrates a semi-raw, yet kid friendly internet. While the film does explore ideas such as the Dark Web and Pop-up scammers, they are simplified and treated with respect. To fully comprehend it, let's compare the Dark Web from Wreck It Ralph to the Piracy App from the Emoji Movie (Yes, I have watched it). The Emoji Movie, quite tragically, reduces issues of viruses and illegal activity to mere comedy moments, even going so far as to say the worst thing to co

*This review will contain spoilers for Incredibles 2. 14 years ago, The Incredibles amazed us with a compelling story of family and self-identity set in a superhero universe. After viewing the film, I couldn't wait for the sequel. Now, we finally have it, and it is fantastic. Incredibles 2 takes a similar relationship to its predecessor as Toy Story 2 did, with a secondary lead facing several of the same ideas in the first film. In The Incredibles, Bob constantly sneaks around his wife to continue to be a hero, and now Helen is the one doing hero work while Bob watches the kids. This role reversal works incredibly well, and leads to some fascinating development for everyone involved. Furthermore, Helen even saves a speeding train, a direct homage to the opening of the first film. One major strength of this film is the recognition and respect for the original film. We see "archival footage" on the news using footage from the interviews at the beginning of the firs

*This review will contain spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War Ten years ago, an idea began which sought to create a massive cinematic universe capable of holding its audience... And now, that journey begins to come to a real head. Avengers: Infinity War is the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has now spanned an entire decade. While the universe has its weaker films, Marvel has managed to create an intriguing, and self-sustaining storyline throughout all the entries. And now, we can all sit back and watch the sun rise over a grateful Earth as the Avengers, now joined with almost every hero in the MCU, defeat the Mad Titan once and for all, right? Well, as those of you who have seen the film by now, this was definitely NOT what happened. This is one of the first Superhero films I have actually seen where the good guys actually lose. While many expected this, we may not have anticipated the full scale of what would happen at the end of this film. While it i

*This review contains Major Spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi I remember watching the closing moments of The Force Awakens, and I was really hyped for the next installment, as Luke was going to return to the screen. The trailer's foreboding dialogue had me intrigued by the thought of where they might be going... Would Rey turn to the dark side?... Has Luke turned dark?... Who is Snook, and how does he fit in the the overall story? And then I saw this film... And it wasn't at all what I expected it to be. While the film itself captures the style of the cinematic series, it runs into some significant challenges with its story, and what should have been significant moments got crossed out in favor of a side story that wasn't necessary. This film has too many self-contained stories that don't have much interconnection. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, unless the side stories take up time that should be given to more prominent problems. I was excited t