soughtforscores

I was pleasantly surprised. I went into the movie expecting a gritty, painfully stupid action flick and came out with something that was honestly compelling and a little bit heartbreaking.

Without spoiling anything, there were two characters who were completely wasted and contributed nothing at all to the story, and there were a couple moments where the plot dragged a bit.

Still, this movie deals with some heavy topics, like depression, loneliness, and serious mental illness. And instead of making a mockery out of any of those things, it handles them with grace in a way few of the Marvel films do.

The performances were great, and while the villain might seem to some to be a bit "cheesy," I look at it more as an allegory. If you take everything literally, you're going to struggle. If you see the symbolism and the intent behind it and relate to it, you'll love this film. Plus, I think it's fair to say the action and fight choreography was a step up from a lot of what we've been seeing out of Marvel recently.

Thunderbolts* reminds me of a children's cartoon in the best way: taking heavy topics and making it understandable, digestible, and handling it in a way that even a child can relate to and accept.

And I can't wait to watch it again.

Foyle's War is an astonishing series. No mystery series comes close for me, and while I've watched a wide variety of WWII movies and TV shows over the year, few come close to even one episode of this series. Except for a few episodes that fail to deliver on the potential of the show, every episode lands beautifully, with visuals, music, and acting that is unbelievably good. Michael Kitchen plays a quiet, enigmatic detective who must answer the question of how he, of all the people who have been dirtied in the desperate fight for survival, can remain above it all. In short, he's a good man at a bad time, and watching that play out in the multi-faceted mysteries, many of which involve multiple antagonists and a good amount of WWII history, is fascinating. I can't recommend this series highly enough.