The Cinema Chronicles, Vol. 31: 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' and More

Brandon Vick reviews I Know What You Did Last Summer, Eddington, and Fantastic Four: First Steps on the latest episode of The Cinema Chronicles.

I Know What You Did Last Summer - 7:30
Eddington - 17:25
Fantastic Four: First Steps - 36:19

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hey, hey, Hey, it's the end of the month, which
means it's time for another volume of these cinema chronicles.
Right here on Nashville Movie Dispatch. I am your host,
Brandon vic I am a member of a Southeastern Film
Critics Association, board member of the Music City Film Critics Association,

(00:43):
and of course that good old resident film critic of
Nashville Movie Dispatch. I am here on a beautiful July morning.
It's not hot or anything. Trust me. I was thinking

(01:04):
before I started this show that I don't really know why. Well,
I sort of do. Stephen Colbert has been in the
news here lately because the Late Show is being canceled.
May of next years is its last show, and so
and there's all kinds of stuff surrounded by that which

(01:26):
I'm not going to get into. But I started watching
segments of his Colbert Questionnaire, and he has basically what
he says are the definitive questions that gets people to
immediately be able to look into your soul and know

(01:48):
who you are. And I was thinking about these questions
and like, I watched he let's say, I watched No
When Wilson, Will Ferrell, David Letterman walking Phoenix recently did it,
which his is probably the best, just because of how
uncertain he is about almost every question and he needs

(02:11):
a lot of context, and it made me laugh. He
is a very particular guy. But as we'll get into
later with one of the films when I'm covering today,
he is he's also one of the finest actors living,
so but one of them. So I think the first question,
and forgive me, I don't know them all, but I
the one is best sandwich. And I thought, man, that's tough.

(02:35):
But then I think, I think you don't. You don't
really go by like what is probably the most delicious, right, Yeah,
I think you go by like what, first of all,
what you enjoy, what you maybe grew up eating. I
think the younger Brandon would say just a simple old
baloney sandwich with mustard. But the new and improved and

(02:57):
grown Brandon would tell you peanut butter on keto breads,
preferably the five seed, not jelly. I don't mix that anymore,
all right, I'm grown, I got pubes. I have just
straight up peanut butter sandwich. So I think that's the best.
I think that's the best sandwich. Another one is if

(03:18):
you were on a if you were deserted on an island,
what song would you if you only had one song
to listen to, which one would it be? And he
prefaces by saying that it doesn't mean that it runs continuously,
it's just whenever you're going to listen to music, it's
only this song. And that, to me is a really

(03:40):
tough one because there's at least a few were like,
no matter what, when it comes on, it's meant to
be sung. But I really think I would go Georgia Satellites.
And the name has slipped my mind, but keep your

(04:02):
hands to yourself. That's it. That's it. There's just something
about it. I don't really want a slow song, not
if I'm already deserted on an island. I'm assuming I'm
not living my best life, so I need something just
to keep me up, keep me hopeful. So I think
that's the one I would go with. Another one that

(04:23):
he asked is the best action movie, and I that's
that's impossible to It's impossible to answer so many good
ones out there, so many classics that would be that's. Yeah,
that's just a really tough one. I I if I
could answer that, maybe I say all four John Wicks

(04:45):
put together, maybe I just go with John Wick one, two, three,
four huh. Another one that I and I hope all
of you are answering this as we go along. Another
one is your first concert, and I don't think I

(05:06):
know my first concert. Some people had some really good ones.
Beach Boys was one of them. I think that was
maybe lettermans Owen Wilson's was like the Rolling Stones Mine.
There's two pop into my head, and I don't know
which one was first. It was either seeing Alan Jackson

(05:28):
at Bridgestone Arena when it first opened, which I guess
would have been the Gaylord Entertainment Center the Geck for
US locals, or there used to be a spot called
Starwood that was like the only outdoor venue and it
was that's where a lot of people went. But I

(05:53):
I remember seeing Mary Chapin Carpenter and Keith Urban opened
for her, and so I think it was one of
those two. So I think what I've learned by going
over some of these is I'm glad I'm not on

(06:13):
TV answering these because I think people would have just
turned the television off and gone to bed like super early.
So but I was just thinking, man, what some of
these questions are like, Oh, yeah, what is what was that? Oh?
What is considered maybe the best sandwich? Oh? Another one,

(06:34):
which is is the probably the easiest question is window
or aisle aisle? Every time? I don't care what's going
on outside. I don't need to know what's going on outside.
But let me tell you, I need elbow room and
when my tummy starts to hurt, I need to get
up and run to the bathroom. I don't need to
be jumping over people riding on their groins. So but anyway,

(06:57):
I was thinking about that and thought, you know what,
I could answer some of these questions Colbert. And so
there you there, you have it. There you have it.
You know what. Uh. I think that's probably enough for now.
Let's get into the three films we're going to talk
about today. And I would like to start about this

(07:18):
comedy that I watched about a fisherman in a hook.
I'll tell you about it. Come on back. I know
what you did last summer. For those of you that
are of a certain age, you might remember there is

(07:42):
a movie called that from nineteen ninety seven starred Freddie
Prince Junior, Jennifer Love hewittt Ryan Phillippi, Sarah Michell Geller.
It had the be all end all gorgeous means of
the nineties, which uh, I don't even know if any

(08:05):
of them were famous at the time, but it certainly
did make them famous, if if anything, uh the I
actually watched this, the ninety seven version, I don't know,
maybe two or three years ago for how like in
the Spooky Season, and you know what it's it's it's
a it's actually it's a fun movie. But I have

(08:26):
realized it actually is not very good. It's the acting
and every it's not it's not very it wasn't done
very well, and so and I was kind of caught
off guard by it because, uh Scream, I don't know
if you guys have seen that one, but it still
holds up real well. So I guess I just assumed

(08:48):
that the other, like the next one in line, would
be I know what you did last summer, and it
was uh far less uh superior to Scream, which only
come out of you before. Keep in mind, and it
was written. Both movies were written by the same guy,
Kevin Williamson. Did not know that. In case you aren't

(09:09):
familiar with it. Let's go to Rotten Tomatoes says. When
five friends inadvertently calls a deadly car accident, they cover
up their involvement and make a pack to keep it
a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later,
their past comes back to haunt them and they're forced
to confront a horrifying truth. Someone knows what they did
last summer, and as hell ben on revenge. As one

(09:30):
by one the friends are stocked by a killer. They
discover this has happened before, and they turned to two
survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of nineteen ninety seven
for help. So this is via the Hollywood Reporter. The

(09:52):
director Jennifer Caitlin Robinson she actually first saw the nineteen
ninety seven movie at the age of nine, when a
babysitter brought her to the theater and was likely never
hired again. And while her mom was really really mad,
obviously the experience proved formative. She says, I'm a true
child of that time. I could lie and say that

(10:14):
I came up on really important films, like bro films,
but I was forged in ninety Cinema from Dawson's Creek
to Scream. Robinson was reared on writer Kevin Williamson's dialogue
and her twenty twenty two movie Do Revenge, paid homage
to the nineties films like Cruel Intentions and Clueless. So

(10:36):
this I Know What You did last summer is first
of all, everything right, everything is built around that car accident.
That accident is so weak as far as what happened
and why, And it doesn't even come close to warranting

(10:59):
the kind of guilt that this group feels. And is
this like big secret that they must keep no matter what.
I won't go into it. You have to see it
for yourself. But I slightly chuckled because when it actually
when that whole scene ended, I was I couldn't like that's, oh,

(11:24):
that's how they did it, Like that's what they're going with.
So we're not off to a good start. To put
it that way, the movie itself could care less, honestly
about any of these characters except those og ones that
we're about to talk about. I mean, there's there's there's

(11:45):
no depth. The friendships feel excruciatingly flimsy and forced. It is.
It just doesn't seem it doesn't seem real. Like nothing
seems actually genuine or anything like that. And what I know,

(12:05):
there's not gonna be depth or anything like like that's fine,
Like I don't need a whole thing about them, but
I don't know, you know, they're not even likable and
they're all kind of build around these just simple stereotypes
and it's just I don't know, it just feels like
lazy storytelling to me, Like I mean, and I'm not listen.

(12:29):
Compared to the nineteen ninety seven version, I feel like
we at least had a better grasp on things and
what's going on in ninety seven. Now. The one thing
I'll give this one, the twenty twenty five version is
they they do kind of make a bigger deal about
the town itself, and I like the way they do

(12:51):
lean into the nineteen ninety seven of what happened and
does it plays It certainly plays a pivotal role which
comes which kind of comes to a head at the
at the end. But but the reunion between Freddie Prince
and Jennifer love Hew it is it's the obvious highlight.

(13:12):
This is via Indy Wire says, I know what you
did last summer director on the shocking twist ending, and
a few other surprises. But in this piece it says
one of the great delights of the new I Know
what you did last summer for fans of the original
is the movie's thoughtful, satisfying use of the first movie
stars Prince Junior don't just make a comfunctuary cameo appearances.

(13:34):
They're integral components of the plot. Co writer and director
Robinson securing Princeton, who had on board early, was key.
She ensured they were on board with the direction she
wanted to take before even writing the script. There were
some big swings with the characters, that's that's for sure.
So those were conversations I had early on with them,

(13:56):
Robinson told Andy Wyer on an episode their Filmmaker Toolkit podcast.
I didn't want to ruin. I didn't want to run
in a direction that one or both of them would
have disliked, which, hey, listen, good call. Considering what this
story would have been without them, it would have been worse.
In case anybody wants to know, it would have been
much worse. There are the scares are scar or scarce,

(14:23):
and it's just sort of like the average kills. Like
I was reading some early reactions about all these like
thrilling and gnarly kills, and I mean maybe a few maybe,
but I didn't really think they were really much to

(14:43):
to kind of ride home about it. I just didn't really.
I mean, it's kind of the way you think someone
would die from some fishermen with a hook. I don't
really know what we were expecting there the final twist,
so I'm not gonna reveal that here. That's probably the

(15:04):
only fun part about this whole thing and why you're
willing to sit through it. But the final twist is
interesting and apparently has become quite controversial, but I dug it.
It's about the only thing I dug. But as Robinson
said in that Indie wire piece, it's a big swing

(15:28):
that I will say doesn't completely reward you for sitting
through all this mess, though it's at least a real
risk that was taken by Robinson, and it's probably the
only one that was really taken. So again, I won't

(15:50):
reveal it, and I think I will say this. I
think a part of it you might see coming. I
don't know if one is going to be all that surprising,
but the next one is I think rather shocking, but
the motive I really liked. I think that I think

(16:15):
we could have added more leading up to it, but
the reason I it I I liked, so I'll just
leave it at that. Julie, who is played by Jennifer
love Hewett, one of the things she says is that
nostalgia is overrated, and I just thought that's pretty laughable

(16:43):
considering that's that that this is. That's all that this
legacy sequel has going for it. So it might be overrated,
but I wanted I would think Robinson in this movie
should also probably appreciate it. I Know What You Did
Last Summer twenty twenty five gets a vix Flix rating
of two out of five stars. And coming up next

(17:07):
a fun Wild West movie about COVID Eddington by writer

(17:28):
director Ari Astor. Let's get into the synopsis, even though
this doesn't even break the surface of what this whole
film is about. But this is a rotten tomatoes. In
May of twenty twenty, a standoff between a small town
sheriff Woking Phoenix and Mayor Pedro Pascal sparks a powder

(17:48):
keg as a neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington,
New Mexico, Eddington is a sharp and satirical modern western
that's well. First of all, it's intentionally divisive and has
high hopes in getting you reiled up. Astor listen, and

(18:10):
I mean, this is one of the biggest comments I'd
give him. He's a shitster and probably the greatest pandemic
set film that is equally brilliant and bleak. This is
a part of the Indie Wire review and I just
wanted to share it because it really hones in on

(18:32):
I think, what what Astor is doing, what Eddington is
and just how much of like the set of Balls
on Astor to do something like this. So this is
Indie Wire review that I think was first done at

(18:53):
the can Film Festival. Eddington is the first major Hollywood
movie that's been willing to see the COVID pandemic for
the hllacious paradigm shift that it was as the moment
when years of technologically engineered polarization tore a forever hole
in the social fabric of a country that was already
coming apart at the seams. For other few other filmmakers

(19:16):
would have had the chutzpah required to make a No
Country for Old Men riff that hinges on mask mandates
and the murder of George Floyd, and we should probably
all be grateful that none of them have tried Addington,
the tagline for which reads hindsight is twenty twenty only
wields it's what's the opposite of nostalgia? Specifically as a

(19:37):
means to an end. It might set the scene with
a little remember how it felt to wait and line
outside the pharmacy fun? Excuse me, but Astor's blinkly funny
and brilliantly plotted assessment of how fucked we've become since
then since then Soon leverages those fun memories into a
far mo far more probing story about the difficulties of

(20:01):
sharing a town between people who live in separate realities.
How did we get here? Is it worth it? These
are two questions that are asked by Walking Phoenix's sheriff
named Joe Cross, quite early in Eddington and it is.
It's the two questions that you'll keep asking throughout the film,

(20:24):
all the way to the closing shot. It's an uneasy film,
as you could kind of maybe get a grasp on
from that Indie Wire review that I just read with
a ton of unrest, as the town and its inhabitants
deal with the virus, virus and social injustice. There's the fear,

(20:45):
there's the paranoia, the hysteria, the tension is all of
it is on the rise. And while Cross is who
we follow the closest and bear witness to his at first,
his good intentions spinning into something much more terrifying everyone.
Everyone's life in the film is in some form or fashion,

(21:08):
spiraling out of control. This is continued from the Indie
wy review. Virtually everyone in Astor's COVID Western is a
victim to one extent or another, even if some of
them have a lot more blood on their hands by
the end of it than others. There's no need for
false equivalencies in a film whose characters are all powerless

(21:29):
to disentangle the Internet from the fabric of their personal lives.
So I'm hugely impressed by how Astor was able to
take this group of characters and connect them all in
some strange yet poignant way, each of them supplying a
significant step in the escalation of it all, also while

(21:53):
providing a variety of perspectives and opinions and conspiracies that
you may or may not agree with. But that's but
that's the point here. There's also these kind of preconceived
notions that get tossed out as we dive further into
characters motives and or intentions and the fallout from all
of that. Let's start with Phoenix. When it comes to performances,

(22:18):
they listen. The man's an incomparable actor and he once
again proves that him and Astor are a perfect perfect pair.
As Cross, he he is a decent man who generally cares,
and that's shown in one and in one of the
first few scenes and one of the almost as soon
as we meet him. But he is in a constant

(22:43):
state of trying to calm things down, and it I
would say, mostly backfires practically every time. It is amazing
how he is when we first meet him to who

(23:05):
Joe Cross is by the end of the film. Pedro
Pascal is great. He has his own agenda as the mayor,
but is also I think again, just like Cross, I
think is generally trying to make a difference that I
but I do think he knows how to play the
political game, and that's even more apparent when Joe gets

(23:27):
goes his hat in the in the mayor race. Emma
Stone in Austin Butler. So Emma Stone plays Phoenix's wife,
and they kind of play more into kind of the
conspiracy theorist thing because the mom who Emma Stone, the

(23:48):
woman who plays the mom, Emma Stone's mom, sorry, is
getting our information from maybe just from other places that's
not mainstream, but the effect that that has, and then
that kind of leads her down this rabbit hole where

(24:09):
she's introduced to Austin's Butler's character. And I wish they
were in it more. I was intrigued by what they added.
I'm just a little unsure about as far as like
the overall approach, the execution of what they truly mean
to the story. They have a purpose, that's not my complaint.

(24:30):
I just kind of wish maybe this was explored more
or maybe we could find more of kind of more
meat on the bone for them. Michael Ward, who plays
one of the deputies, is terrific. I think his character.

(24:51):
I think it means a lot for his character because
he is he is one of I would say the
few black people that live in Eddington, much less have
have has a badge. But uh, he gets caught up,
especially within the George Floyd outrage and is being pulled
into different directions. And in the film, what's being asked

(25:15):
of him is no one else is put in that situation.
And then what happens as protests and this uneasiness is
on the rise and and what that does and how
it changes opinions, and it changes perspectives on the people

(25:37):
that you know. You know they haven't changed, you know,
the situation has changed, but that person hasn't changed. But
I also and it's just it's sad and fascinating how
that can still change a person's mind and opinion on

(25:58):
that person. And Michael Michael Wart's character in this is
Very Much, very Much is is kind of that is
used as as a symbol for all of that. As
a person who has enjoyed ari Aster, I know that

(26:19):
by the time we get to the third act there's
going to be some crazy shit. I kept waiting for
the wheels to come off as this film entered its
third act, and there is a part where it sort
of does. But I think it fits perfectly within the
narrative that Astor has crafted. It's a world that excuse me,

(26:39):
it's a world that he it. It goes hand in
hand with the world that we are living in in Eddington,
which resembles a lot like ours, and then there is
this final image that's shown as the as the credits rule.

(26:59):
I just want to say, it doesn't really reveal a
whole lot. I'm going to say spoiler, but there's really nothing.
It just kind of says that what it ends on
without it doesn't reveal much. But I will say spoiler
just in case. But in a recent interview with Indie Wire,
ast stress that he saw the pandemic as an inflection

(27:19):
point that merely accelerated an inevitable series of events. Our
brains were already broken by technology in media polarization twenty
twenty just provided a lethal dose of social isolation that
permanently destroyed the societal norms we have been living with
for the past century. So that's his take as far

(27:39):
as especially where kind of I guess sort of the
inspiration for Eddington, but then it gets to where it
says when thinking about the film's ending, Astor encouraged viewers
to separate the signal from the noise for all of
the fiery drama that happens in the third act, which
does include murder, terrorism, and some nudity from Phoenix. The

(28:04):
only act of lasting historical consequence is the data center
from fictional Solid Gold Magic Art Fight and It's Fight
and then the and It finally being built in Eddington.
The finale offers a neat bookend, as the film opens
on the site of the proposed data center, but it

(28:25):
also illustrates just how pointless all of the characters suffering was.
These people destroyed their marriages, friendships, businesses, and homes for
the sake of a politically divisive content they watched on
their phones, but anybody looking at the town from the
outside would only see another victory for a big tech company.

(28:48):
That hit me like a ton of bricks after watching
it and reading that, and I suggest, whether you've seen
it or not, revisit this podcast and listen to that
again after you see it. It goes on to say
Astor says, I would say that the film begins and
ends on a hyperscaled data center being built. And if

(29:09):
you ask me what the film is about, I might
just tell you that it's about a data center being built,
and all of these stories are really just data to
be processed by this thing, to be turned into what
is coming The film is set during your crisis, and
it's about a bunch of people in crisis, but meanwhile,
there's this other crisis incubating in a lab. Goes on

(29:33):
to say, Astro drove that point home with his aggressive
portrayal of smartphones throughout the entire film, from excessive shots
of characters doom scrolling to a brilliant shot in which
the entire movie takes the form of a horizontal smartphone.
Eddington is constantly painting the devices in our pockets as
evil interlopers. As the characters mow through data while posting

(29:54):
and consuming divisive slop, it becomes clear that their entire
life are being processed through their phones at the expense
of their humanity. I was interested in not having those
screens kind of blend in and become naturalized, but rather
to have them stand out. And I guess one goal
was to almost make you sick with it. It's something
that is pervasive, but not in an invisible way. Astro says,

(30:17):
I didn't try to make phones look cinematic, but I
did try to make them sinister. So Eddington uses the
craziness of the pandemic to turn the mirror on ourselves
to show just how fragile we are and also just
how easy we can be manipulated. Talking about what the

(30:38):
cell phones and see how like these algorithms are formulated
and what's being fed to us and what we are liking,
what we respond to, and it is it's amazing. I
think a lot of you know, information has come out
since the pandemic, so I think algorithms and everything is
kind of a more of a known. But there's also

(31:02):
where there are some situations that happen within the movie
and then you end up seeing it within the context
of a cell phone and on social media, and they
are completely taken out of context. There's a there's there's
a kind of a clash between Cross and when he
comes in and and and the mayor by with Pedro

(31:25):
and that uh, there's a homeless man in the bar,
but in the way what actually happens, and then later
on when you see it kind of cut edited, thrown
on social media with a totally different kind of agenda
and a purpose for it. And the fact is is
like that happens all day, every day, And the thing

(31:47):
is is that most of us take it for what
it's worth when we shouldn't and so again, so relevant,
but also so clever in what ast is trying to
say and how he's getting that across. It's something that

(32:08):
I don't every single person will be able to identify with.
I also don't want anyone to think this is just
a bummer of a movie, because the film is also
darkly comedic, with a few scenes that instantly actually pop
into my head. In one involves a kid talking to
his parents about the Black Lives Matter and movement and

(32:34):
kind of diving into that and explaining how he sees
that movement, and the reaction from his father is hilarious,
and I'm also pretty sure those exact conversations and reactions
have occurred in households across this country. With Eddington, I

(32:57):
don't think anyone is left unscathed. It's utterly fascinating, frightening
and fucked up because whether we like it or not,
it's the world that we live in post COVID. Enough
time has passed for Astor to dissect what the COVID
lockdown unleashed and the aftermath of it all. It's I mean,

(33:21):
it's triggering basically from the get go. There is a
New York Times piece called Hollywood's Master of Dread is
afraid of everything. It has said that Astor conceived a
lot of the film while traveling through small towns in
New Mexico, where he grew up. Many of the people
he talked to, he said, were full of passion and

(33:43):
conviction and genuinely wanted to see the world improve, But
they also often saw reality in ways that were totally
contrary to how Astor understood it. That disconnect erodes the
reality of nearly everyone in Eddington, and then Martin Scorsese,
a long time astrofan, says, externalizes the emotional violence behind it. Eddington,

(34:09):
Scorsese says, dives right into the side of American life
that many people can't bear to look at or even acknowledge.
No one wants to listen to anyone else, which is frightening. Eric. Listen,
we are scaring Martin Scorsese. Okay, is that not a
sign to say that let's just simmer down. So when

(34:35):
the dust settles and we see what's happened across and
the others, as well as the town as a whole,
we again come back to how did we get here?
Is it worth it? I saw this with our buddy Brett,
and he gave this a four out of five on
letter Box, ending with ten years ago, this movie would

(34:58):
have felt too extreme. Now it feels too close to
home now. How fucking scary is that, folks. I really
didn't expect Eddington to be my favorite Astro film, but
here we are. With each of his films, it's lost
half a star for me, starting with four stars for Hereditary,

(35:18):
three and a half for Midsummer three for Bo's Afraid.
But I think he's back in a really big way
from Bo's Afraid, which I was not a huge fan of,
even though Walking Phoenix was phenomenal. I just it became
too much for me. But I'm just astonished with now

(35:40):
ast and crew were able to make it all work
so well. Such a gargantuane dose of reality, and it
makes us miss the days when things at least felt
more safe and more sane. Addington's getting a vix flicks
rating a four and a half out of five. One
of the best films of thee And when we come back,

(36:03):
MCU's First Family with Well Dang Pedro Pascal the Fantastic
four First Steps. This is what Marvel's third movie of

(36:27):
twenty twenty five, and then if I'm not mistaken, I
don't think anything comes out until next July for the
New Spider Man movie. But hey, good news, This Fantastic
four movie is the best Fantastic Four movie ever. And
I know what you're thinking, Yeah, no, shit, have you

(36:50):
seen those other ones? So let's get let's hit rotten
tomatoes real quick. Set against the vibrant backdrop of the
nineteen sixties inspired retro futuristic world Marvens Studios, Fantastic four
First Steps introduces Marvel's first family read Richard's Mister Fantastic,

(37:11):
Sue's Storm, Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm and Human Torch, and
Ben Griham and the Thing as they face their most
daunting challenge yet forced to balance their roles as heroes
with the strength of their family bond, they must offend
Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his
enigmatic Herald Silver Surfer. And if Galactus is planned to

(37:33):
devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren't bad enough,
it suddenly gets very personal. So this is directed by
Matt Schapman. This is I think it's a stellar sci
fi adventure that's pretty fantastic on practically every level. Marvel's

(37:54):
First Family is of course about family. It's the heart
of the movie and bring the emotional weight to the story.
First of all, like Superman a few weeks ago, this
one does not have an origin story, And honestly, I
don't mind it. I'm cool with it. I don't need
to know how they did all of it. They did.

(38:15):
They do a nice little run through at the beginning,
and then the movie actually starts four years after their
cosmic mishap and when they got their fun powers. You
also don't need to have watched the hundreds of other
Marvel stuff to understand this one or keep up. So
thank god, this actually is just stands on its own,

(38:37):
which is refreshing as far as the story itself. There
are times where the flow does fill uneven and it
is stepping right into that standard MCU machine. The structure
of it all going through kind of that same old routine.

(38:58):
But the asked so Pedro, Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, you know
those other people, Joseph Quinn from Stranger Things and is
Eban Moss backrack Backrock anyway, He's from the Bear. Uh.

(39:18):
They're all great. Uh, the chemistry between them is uh
is great. They bring there's the charm, there's the humor,
there's the vulnerability. It's all. I would say, almost all
of it is different from the other portrayals that we've
seen in those other movies. Vanessa Kirby, I think is

(39:44):
a standout. She is becoming a mother in the movie,
which plays a huge part, as well as Reid becoming
the dad. And you know, he's he's kind of to
set up to try and figure everything out and must
you know, whatever problems there is, he can find a solution.

(40:06):
He has to. You know, there's a there's a great
scene where he sort of says he has to think
of the worst possible outcomes and then how to fix it.
And when you're talking about you know, your family, that's
I mean, you know, I mean, how how scary. I mean,
that's about as frightening as it as it gets. Joseph

(40:27):
Quinn's Johnny Storm I I really, I really liked. He's
obviously some of the uh as, some of the funner
delivery line deliveries, and then the bear Eben Moss, I'll
just say Eben Moss. He he plays the thing. So
most of it obviously is voice work, but I really

(40:54):
liked what what he does with with the thing and
uh storm and things kind of chemistry in there. They
have some pretty little fun banter stuff. So they all
work really well together and they fit really really well.

(41:16):
And the style of the movie that retro sixties sort
of like the Jetsons is wonderful. I can't really remember
the last time a Marvel movie had this sort of
like impeccable production design, but this one definitely brings it

(41:37):
and it's able. It really separates itself from a lot,
if not all, of the Marvel stuff that has come
before it. So the story, again, it has its it
has its missteps, but the cast what they're able to
do with these characters, especially since they are kind of
going to be leading the way I think from from

(41:57):
here on out with the beginning of Phase six and
that chemistry, I think without it you have nothing, but
they they have all of it. And then you're talking
about the style, I think is really where that's the
movie's superpowers. The visual effects mostly they it mostly has

(42:19):
superb visual effects. I think the weirdest part where I
really it really caught my attention on this could have
been better is the part where read where read in
Storm where they're when people are carrying their baby, it's

(42:41):
really it looks really strange. I get why it might
look a little off when like the thing is carrying them,
but it seems like any time that baby is so
I guess the problem is with that damn baby, and
maybe they should have done a little more work with
them villains. The villains always seem to be a uh

(43:04):
kind of a weakness uh for Marvel movies. When it works,
it really works. And when I think of when I
think of them, I think of like Michael B. Jordan
and Black Panther. I think of Michael Keaton and and
Spider Man. But Galactus is voiced by Ralph Ineson. He's

(43:27):
worked with Robert Eggers. His voice. When I grow up
and my balls drop, I hope to have that kind
of voice. Uh. Probably won't happen, considering that when I
call people on the phone, they say yes, ma'am. But
and then there's Silver Surfer played by Julia Gardner from Ozart.

(43:47):
I liked. I liked what they brought to to the film.
I like the I'd like these two villains. Silver Surfer,
as people probably know, not quite just a straight up villain,
but I liked her story and sort of what she uh,
what she's able to add to how this all fits,

(44:11):
why Galactus is doing this, why he's coming for Earth
eight twenty eight. I think it is been Galactus. Galactus
is kind of like the main event. He's the big
I mean, is basically a space god. And you know,
I'm sure, I mean, part of the reason why I

(44:31):
saw it in imax was to see him and that
and listen his introduction and stuff is really cool. But
I we gotta. We got a couple buddies and our
sobros slack and one is Sean obviously from a six
one five film, and he said about Galactus looks great,

(44:56):
feels imposing, but I feel like he's barely in the
to make a lasting impression. And then he said, I
love everything about Galactus, the look, the actor playing on,
but I feel like there was a void in his presence.
And then our buddy Zach said Galactus needed some Thanos gravitas,
And I agree with both of these gentlemen. I think

(45:20):
that for what Galactus stands for and what he is
and the threat that he brings, you don't really feel
it like his physical presence is I mean astonishing, But
when you actually as the movie plays out, and this

(45:42):
is actually less than two hours, it's it's sort of
a little bit of a letdown because it's you. I
think that's just when you build something up and you
kind of have the intro that you have to him
and what he is capable of, and then kind of
how it plays out in that last twenty minutes where

(46:02):
obviously there has to be that final showdown, it's a
bit like, oh, okay, well, I thought he would have.
I just thought he would be more impactful and more effective.
And so with kind of to piggyback off of what
Sean and Zach said, yeah, I did kind of feel

(46:24):
like they dropped the ball a little bit with him,
because I think you really could have done something huge
with him. And I'm assuming this probably isn't the end
of Galactus, but this is the first time we have
seen him, and I thought it would kind of be
played up a little a little more, especially like I said,
when you first see him it is. It is pretty

(46:48):
damn cool. And Michael Giacchino's I'm sure he's Italian. There's
the way I said it. His score is first rate.
It's very effective. He's done Pixar stuff, he's done Star
Wars stuff, he's done Marvel stuff, He's done it all.
It really kind of adds to the overall kind of

(47:12):
wonder of what this film brings, especially within Like I said,
it's characters in its setting, but also the risk that's
at hand, the danger that awaits. It's also very much
of a highlight of the Fantastic for the First Steps. Honestly,

(47:33):
I think this one is a solid kind of restart.
It provides some hope for Phase six. I think between
You Know This and Thunderbolts, the MCU is beginning to
kind of finally feel exciting again. And I think, even
more importantly, I think it's just in time for Doomsday

(47:54):
to disappoint. I'm just kidding. I think Fantastic four First
Steps gets a vix Flix rating of three and a
half out of five, and that is going to do
it for the July edition of these Cinema chronicles Right

(48:16):
here on Nashville Movie Dispatch again, I am your host,
Brandon Vic. You can follow me at sir Brandon V
on Twitter, Sir Brandon on Letterboxed. If you got it
and you know what, we'll do this again next month,
same time, same place, and until then just go see

(48:40):
a damn movie. O