Docteur Qui

They can take years to make and release this for all I care. It's the final season of the best show on TV, after this there's no more ever! Make it good and let me savour it!

They can take years to make and release this for all I care. It's the final season of the best show on TV, after this there's no more ever! Make it good and let me savour it!

They can take years to make and release this for all I care. It's the final season of the best show on TV, after this there's no more ever! Make it good and let me savour it!

Afterlife, the fruitless exercise in nostalgia that completely missed the point of the irreverent original and turned it into a cross between The Force Awakens and an Amblin film from the 80s. At least the 2016 one tried to capture some of the SNL/improv-heavy, slapdash feel of the first one, even if it ultimately didn't work.

Afterlife, the fruitless exercise in nostalgia that completely missed the point of the irreverent original and turned it into a cross between The Force Awakens and an Amblin film from the 80s. At least the 2016 one tried to capture some of the SNL/improv-heavy, slapdash feel of the first one, even if it ultimately didn't work.

So let's get the obvious out of the way. The Matrix Resurrections is not quite as good as the original. It is good, though, at least as good as Reloaded was. It makes an awful lot of fun at its own expense (and it pokes fun at the current sequels-and-reboots machine Hollywood's got going). There are great parts in amongst good parts. The only souring note for me was the post-credit scene, which was basically making fun of the audience for sticking through to see it. Deadpool had such a scene and pulled it off much better IMO. Despite that, I think it's a solid film. 7/10.
 

Don't choose to watch an MCU film if you're looking for drama. Watch an MCU film for escapist entertainment. 

I thought the moment that Doc Ock is in the prison and is getting questioned about Osborn a really good scene. Especially at the moment when he snaps and you just for a second see that the crazienis is in there. Loved that.

To me the seams were always there from the beginning. Besides the obvious lower quality films present in the series, this is how Marvel has literally always been for me. It's pure entertainment. Don't think too much about it and there's no problems. I'm not a fanboy of them, as there are many I've only seen the one time, but they're fine. 
 
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy this one as much. I honestly expected to feel more like you're describing, but it really did it for me in the theater. I don't know how I'll feel watching it on home video, but yeah.

Oh man, those types of scenes (any scene with 2-3 Spider-men talking) was the best stuff in the movie!  I thought it was all so effortlessly enjoyable
 
 
Easily, yea
 
That guy is great, made me want to watch more of his movies

Yeah, I saw your other post too. I just prefer the operatic and symbolic way that Elfman composed his themes rather than the "jack of all trades master of none" approach that I personally feel Giacchino often falls into with his themes. He's good at making them work for all purposes, but the consequence of it is I often don't remember the melodies all too well, or if I do they often just don't resonate with me and feel a bit too much like he's trying to emulate other composers. With some exceptions such as The Incredibles, Star Trek, and Up. 

I cry nerd tears every time 12 reveals himself to River and she figures it out. It is so sweet. 

I watched The Husbands of River Song last night while I was wrapping presents.
 
Not counting any of the regeneration specials (Time of the Doctor is amazing) this one just knocks it out of the park on almost every level.
 
River: Does sarcasm help?
Doctor: Wouldn't it be a great universe if it did?
 
Doctor: My grasp of the universal constants of physical reality has been changed... ... ... forever.
 
It's a light-hearted romp through and through and then it hits you with that ending!
 
River: And if I happen to find myself in danger, let me tell you, the Doctor is not stupid enough, or sentimental enough, and he is certainly not in love enough to find himself standing in it with me!
Doctor: Hello, Sweetie.
 
Fortunately unlike past Christmases I got the end and turned off the TV. I have a bad habit of following this special up with Silence in the Library / Forest of the Dead (or at least the ending) and wind up weeping into my bourbon.
 
He had his ups and downs to be sure, but Moffat could get it done.

Honestly I struggled a bit with this one. I really wanted to like it, but like many others I'm becoming increasingly fatigued with the Marvel Factory Production Line and this did nothing to jolt me out of it, unlike WandaVision (Loki didn't do much for me, it had a lot of promise but just never reached its potential).
 
It was just quip after quip after quip, sandwiched between near-operatic moments of melodrama. When Maguire came through the portal I just felt nothing. Maybe it was the knowledge that he would definitely be in it, as it was the worst kept secret in Hollywood. But he was my Spider-Man, and Raimi's second film of the franchise remains the best of the whole genre, and I barely blinked when it happened. On one hand I might be getting too old for these movies, but on the other hand the thrilling Into the Spider-verse did everything that this film did but with some real style and panache, and I felt a bit of that childlike awe and wonder watching that one. The plastic and dull MCU aesthetic really pales in comparison.
 
Willem Dafoe stole the show, he was really great hamming it up as both sides of Osborne, and Alfred Molina was pretty fun as well. But the rest of the villains may has well have not been there. Cumberbatch snoozed through every line, and while I know Doctor Strange has always been a bit of a prick he was downright unpleasant in this film. For a movie that puts so much into the idea of responsibility it was baffling to see how much blame and guilt he put on Peter for a spell that he himself royally botched. The whole "look what you made me do" vibe was pretty tone-deaf in my opinion.
 
Garfield was surprisingly good in this. I didn't love the Judd Apatow-esque bantering scene between the three Peters, but the most affecting moments in the film were surprisingly Garfield's.

I got really tired of Giacchino's Spidey theme in this one. It really is such a paint-by-number hero theme, and its limitations are even more glaring heard next to Elfman's in the same film (as brief as that was).
 
For all his strengths I feel like Giacchino still hasn't mastered the art of variation. Almost every statement is exactly the same, every phrase as predictable as the last. Pretty apt for the whole MCU though I guess.

The Monk trilogy had the potential to be something really incredible, but Moffat has revealed that his mother died while he was writing series 10 which directly impacted that block of the show. I can't imagine how difficult that must've been while doing such an insanely demanding job. Had it not happened the trilogy could've ended up as one the most ambitious and interesting things the show ever attempted. There's a lot to still like about it though, especially the wonderful Extremis. 
 
 
That always reminds me of the terrific game No-One Lives Forever 2 and the hilarious cubed henchmen:
 

If you haven't seen any Spider-Man films from the last 20 years, don't bother. It won't make a lick of sense, and none of the emotional beats will land for you.
 
But if you have to watch one, I'd go with Raimi's Spider-Man 2. Or Into the Spiderverse.

Lol, "most-hated" it was not. One of the most divisive, absolutely. But they are not the same thing.

I got really tired of Giacchino's Spidey theme in this one. It really is such a paint-by-number hero theme, and its limitations are even more glaring heard next to Elfman's in the same film (as brief as that was).
 
For all his strengths I feel like Giacchino still hasn't mastered the art of variation. Almost every statement is exactly the same, every phrase as predictable as the last. Pretty apt for the whole MCU though I guess.

I got really tired of Giacchino's Spidey theme in this one. It really is such a paint-by-number hero theme, and its limitations are even more glaring heard next to Elfman's in the same film (as brief as that was).
 
For all his strengths I feel like Giacchino still hasn't mastered the art of variation. Almost every statement is exactly the same, every phrase as predictable as the last. Pretty apt for the whole MCU though I guess.

I always thought Elfman's theme had already described every major trait of Spider-Man. His over 3 minute Spider-Man suite for the main titles practically tells the entire story right then and there. The Spider-Man theme starts off unassuming and soft, much like Peter was, then gathers strength with the drums and orchestra, almost simulating a Spider crawling across it's web (or Peter crawling a wall), goes through many dark variations in the first third reflecting Uncle Ben's death and the dark events of Spider-Man's life, then we get a full, sweeping, heroic statement of the theme at 1:43, with constant running strings simulating the feeling of web-swinging, and the full melody and counterpoint indicating that Spider-Man has come into his own.
 
Elfman even perfects the suite with Peter Parker's theme coming in right after Spider-Man's theme hits its peak, giving off the feeling that no matter how well Spider-Man does, Peter's life and responsibilities will always be impacted. The responsibility theme itself is perfect already, with the melody slowly collapsing, just like the weight of responsibility does, yet ending with a final rising note to illustrate how Peter overcomes his problems no matter what. We even get innocent sounding variations of Peter's theme at the end of the main titles of the first movie, characterizing at his naïve, immature side. I'm not saying Elfman was consciously thinking all of this when writing his theme, but it certainly characterizes the movie spectacularly anyway. 
 
This isn't a criticism of Horner, Zimmer, or Paesano either. I just don't think any composer can top the level of characterization that Elfman fit into his theme in the very first movie. It's like whenever Williams tried to use other themes, or compose new themes for Luke. He already nailed in the first time so it just feels like an absurd, wasted effort. Or when Zimmer composed new Batman themes. Even his more melodic efforts just pale in comparison to Elfman's or even Nick Arundel's. I do think Elfman should have made his own theme a bit darker and more varied in Justice League though cause that didn't work too well either. 

The Monk trilogy had the potential to be something really incredible, but Moffat has revealed that his mother died while he was writing series 10 which directly impacted that block of the show. I can't imagine how difficult that must've been while doing such an insanely demanding job. Had it not happened the trilogy could've ended up as one the most ambitious and interesting things the show ever attempted. There's a lot to still like about it though, especially the wonderful Extremis. 
 
 
That always reminds me of the terrific game No-One Lives Forever 2 and the hilarious cubed henchmen:
 

I got really tired of Giacchino's Spidey theme in this one. It really is such a paint-by-number hero theme, and its limitations are even more glaring heard next to Elfman's in the same film (as brief as that was).
 
For all his strengths I feel like Giacchino still hasn't mastered the art of variation. Almost every statement is exactly the same, every phrase as predictable as the last. Pretty apt for the whole MCU though I guess.

If you haven't seen any Spider-Man films from the last 20 years, don't bother. It won't make a lick of sense, and none of the emotional beats will land for you.
 
But if you have to watch one, I'd go with Raimi's Spider-Man 2. Or Into the Spiderverse.

The problem with his Spider-Man theme is that it could be any young superhero. It is melodic but not descriptive to the character. Elfman (Responsibility), Horner (growing gift) and Zimmer (web-slinging) all covers a distinct trait of Spider-Man.