Review by Sean Boelman

Guardians of the Galaxy was a surprise hit, taking a relatively unknown Marvel property and turning it into one of the MCU’s most beloved. Now, nearly a decade later, we are going on our third outing with the unusual family unit. With visual and tonal shades of movies like The Fifth Element, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is visually and thematically rich, but doesn’t quite leave the impact that fans are expecting or hoping for.

Teased as the final mission of the eponymous superhero team, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 follows the group as they set out on a quest to save one of their own. It’s surprising that — even though this is the finale of the trilogy — Gunn and co. decided to keep it rather intimate rather than having them battle a threat that holds the fate of the galaxy in its hands.

Ultimately, the biggest issue with the film is that it struggles to find an effective tonal balance. Whereas the first movie — and to a lesser extent, the second — effortlessly mixed humor and heart, this finale of the trilogy attempts to take a darker tone to mixed results. Although many of the moments involving Rocket’s backstory are resonant, cutting them as flashbacks into an otherwise goofy adventure diminishes some of their impact.

The real shining star of this film is Rocket Raccoon, which should come as no surprise considering that he is the focal point of the movie from a narrative and emotional standpoint. Cooper’s voice acting performance is genuinely brilliant here, bringing a level of emotion to the character that one wouldn’t expect considering how he was mostly known for wise-cracking in the other two entries.

As for the rest of the returners, Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana really struggle here — their line delivery feeling surprisingly unnatural, Dave Bautista and Pom Klementieff are great, and Karen Gillan is doing her usual schtick. Will Poulter is added to the cast as Adam Warlock, and while he’s awesome in the role, the character feels somewhat wasted. And Chukwudi Iwuji is disproportionately great for how unevenly his role is written as the antagonist.

From a visual sense, this is likely the best Marvel has been in recent memory. The visual effects are polished and feel genuinely immersive rather than fake as many recent MCU outings have. There is also one sequence in the second act that has some of the most inventive and fun costuming and production design you will find in any film this year.

And of course, the soundtrack has always been a big part of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and this one mostly delivers. This entry returns to some of the more populist roots of the first “Awesome Mix,” but one would be lying if they said it didn’t set the tone for a fun adventure. Sure, the needle drops are on-the-nose and a bit sentimental, but what else do you expect at this point?

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a fun time, and while there are some moments that are absolutely brilliant, it doesn’t cohere as well as one would hope. It’s still good, but it never manages to capture the lightning in a bottle that was the first film.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters on May 5.

​Rating: 4/5

Review by Adam Donato

Review by Joseph Fayed

The Eight Mountains had its premiere at Cannes last year, where it won the Jury Prize. To some degree, I understand why it would have been awarded that honor. But for a film that deals with the passage of time, there were parts of this long-term friendship that should have been left on the cutting room floor. 

Pietro is a young boy who goes on holiday to the Italian Alps with his parents. While there, he meets Bruno, a boy around his age who is working on his family's farm. The two begin a friendship, but as Pietro begins school, the two fade apart. Many years later, after Pietro's father dies, he discovers he has inherited an old shack in the village. He also learns his father grew close to Bruno, who agrees to help him transform the shack. 

The story is divided into three acts: one recounting the protagonist's childhood, an update on their teenage/college years, and their adulthood when they reconnect. Their adulthood gets the most focus, showing what has changed for the two men over the years. One course of action the film takes is to highlight the connection to the Alps Bruno has always had, while showcasing what Pietro has made for himself in the city. While younger and older versions of the two leads are shown heavily, there is a significant gap in flashbacks showing how Bruno stayed put in the village in his teenage years. The film is slowly-paced and lets the two catch up as adults, so not spending enough time on this period in Bruno's life doesn't make sense. 

The last act shows how Bruno and Pietro deal with their lives going in opposite directions. One positive thing the clumsy narrative did right was set up a fitting conclusion. This is prompted by the supporting characters, who don't have much to do or say on their own, allowing the two leads to become more developed. Other than that, it seems roughly half of the film is long takes of the Italian Alps and characters climbing them. 

The Eight Mountains is the story of friendship lost to time and the Alps. Much like the Italian Alps, it takes a long time to reach its peak. Its protagonists are simply not interesting enough to watch two and a half hours of. It wraps itself up well, but that is only after quite some time of going back and forth between narratives that would have worked better in different films. Maybe the jury at Cannes last year was too in awe of the impressive cinematography, I certainly was at various points while watching this.  

The Eight Mountains is now playing in theaters.

Rating: 2/5​

Review by Dan Skip Allen

Review by Camden Ferrell

Citadel is the new television series from Amazon Prime coming out this spring. It is the second most expensive television show ever made, only behind the Lords of the Rings show that Amazon made as well. Already renewed for a second season ahead of its premiere, this is a high budget show that is unimaginative and sluggish thus far, wasting a rather talented cast and an unfathomable amount of money.
 
Citadel is a global spy agency that has fallen. The agents have had their memories wiped, and a new agency is coming to power.  Mason and Nadia are two agents who must remember who they are in order to take down this new threat in a worldwide adventure full of action. The premise isn’t particularly creative and feels like a standard spy thriller, but it still had potential to be riveting with the right treatment and execution. 
 
From the start, the show makes no attempt at ambition, reveling in mediocre writing and setup that doesn’t feel inspired at all. The dialogue feels overly expository and full of cheap banter that you’ve probably seen in plenty of movies in the past. The show has also failed to subvert expectations, merely following the path of least resistance. This creates a story that is more predictable than one would like.

One of the few things interesting about this show is its cast. It boasts a pair of charming and visually pleasing leads in Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. While both are decent enough in their individual scenes, they have decent chemistry together that can help the show get past its slower and forgettable moments. Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville play smaller supporting roles in the show, but both bring their reliable acting chops with them. It’s nothing remarkable, but it’s a silver lining in an otherwise mediocre and subpar spy thriller.
 
When a show of this nature lacks in its narrative, one would hope that it compensates for this with exhilarating action. There are a handful of decent set pieces in these episodes, but there isn’t anything that really justifies the price tag this show carries. The action isn’t as dynamic as you’d expect from a talented cast and crew, but it should still moderately quench viewers’ thirst for combat.
 
When all is said and done, one can’t help but feel disappointed by Citadel. It’s a genre that is ripe for energy and subversion, but it doesn’t really deliver on either. Madden and Chopra Jonas are decent enough leads, but it can’t make up for the lack of quality material they’ve been given. It’s not a bad show by any means, but it is undeniably forgettable. It’s a show that people might forget about by the time season two rolls around.
 
Citadel premieres its first two episodes on Prime Video on April 28 with new episodes premiering on subsequent Fridays. Three of six episodes reviewed.
 
Rating: 2.5/5 

Review by Tatiana Miranda

In the hiatus between seasons of Bridgerton comes the limited Netflix series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Similar to its source material, Queen Charlotte is centered around the romantic exploits of the people of the ton, only the story is set about 40 years earlier. As the title suggests, the series recounts the fan-favorite Queen Charlotte's romance with King George III. Much of the series also depicts the evolution of the ton in terms of the integration of different races, which had been mentioned in Season 1 of Bridgerton, yet never properly developed.

Loosely inspired by the real-life king and queen of the UK, Queen Charlotte and King George III are not necessarily the focus of Bridgerton. In the popular Netflix series, Queen Charlotte is the bossy but loveable leader of the ton. Meanwhile, her husband is only mentioned in passing or shown infrequently. His absence is attributed to his mental illness, which is inspired by rumors of the real king. In this spin-off, fans get to see the beginning of their relationship and understand more of Charlotte's personality and motives.

As mentioned briefly in Season 1, the marriage between Charlotte and George signaled the introduction of titles — such as Lord and Lady — for people of color in the ton and, therefore, a sense of integration. While it makes sense to establish the fact that the world wasn't always as progressive, it puts Queen Charlotte into a narrative box that it doesn't excel at developing. Because the series jumps straight into the marriage between George and Charlotte, it doesn't give a lot of time to establish the ton's layout before what George's mother refers to as "The Great Experiment." 

Although the topic of racial prejudice is discussed in relation to Charlotte's interracial marriage and Lady Danbury's entry into polite society, a lot of factors, such as Charlotte's heritage and Lord and Lady Danbury's wealth, are contrary to the mistreatment they face from the ton. Since it is meant to be a big deal for the ton and a major driving factor in Lady Danbury's backstory, its lack of development is distracting. ​

King George's "madness" is another predominant part of the series that lacks proper development. While the real King's mental health issues are undiagnosed, many professionals suggest that he may have had manic episodes as a result of bipolar disorder or porphyria. Queen Charlotte takes more creative liberties, instead giving him episodes more closely resembling schizophrenia or dissociative identity disorder. ​

This change was likely made to add more narrative hardship to Charlotte and George's love story, similar to Simon's and Antony's parental issues and trauma from Seasons 1 and 2 of Bridgerton. Because of its heavily narrative use, the depiction of George's mental state comes across as an unrealistic and poor representation of mental illnesses. 
​
When it comes to Bridgerton, Queen Charlotte feels more like an intermission rather than a part of the narrative, as its development of secondary characters will likely have no impact on the plot of the upcoming third season. Many flash-forward scenes to the present day of Bridgerton fall flat in comparison to the romance between Charlotte and George. Overall, Queen Charlotte excels in developing the background of several key characters from the main series, yet it fails to properly develop the world and the future of these same characters. 

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story premiers on Netflix May 1. All six episodes reviewed.

Rating: 2/5

Review by Sean Boelman

The Watergate scandal might not exactly be what one associates with comedy — dramas like All the President’s Men being the more common storytelling approach — but White House Plumbers is refreshingly in its humor. Although the HBO show might not dig as deep as one would hope, it’s certainly well-made and nothing short of entertaining.

The series tells the story of the “White House Plumbers” and its leaders, E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), who were the masterminds behind the attempted Watergate burglary, and were responsible for bringing down the Presidency they wanted to protect. This is one of the most public blunders ever made in politics, but this show manages to keep things fresh by showing a perspective we might not have known.

Surprisingly, the series is a mere five episodes long, when there was much more story to tell. The first two episodes focus on other operations of the Plumbers — such as the burglary of a psychologist’s office in an attempt to discredit Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg — and the final three focus on Watergate and its aftermath. It could have been interesting to see even more of the Plumbers’ activities.

One of the most unique things about this show is that it takes a comedic, farcical approach to a topic often treated very seriously. It makes sense — there is an absurdity and ridiculousness to these events — and the tongue-in-cheek nature lends a satirical feel to the series. The creators are trying to create a parallel between what happened in the 1970s and what is happening today, and while it doesn’t always work, it’s an absolute zinger when it does.

The show arguably works best as an acting showcase for Harrelson and Theroux who are both fantastic. Theroux is hilarious as a Nazi sympathizer, and Harrelson is perfectly duplicitous and sly. Although the cast also has some other great actors — Lena Headey, Domhnall Gleeson, Ike Barinholtz, and more — Harrelson and Theroux just have such a commanding presence that no one else gets a chance to shine.

The character work is also really intriguing, because these are characters that aren’t particularly likable. No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, the Watergate scandal is one of the most despised events in history. Still, the show turns Harrelson’s Hunt into a character who is much more nuanced and even pitiable, albeit thoroughly flawed.

David Mandel (Veep) directs the show in its entirety, and does an excellent job of giving the show a feeling of time and momentum. The production design and costuming are strong recreations of the 1970s. And the operation scenes — particularly the Watergate burglary — blend comedy and intensity quite well.

White House Plumbers brings an interesting perspective and comedic tone to events that everyone knows and hates. Although it could have spared to be an episode (or three) longer, sharp writing and strong performances by Harrelson and Theroux keep the show entertaining.

White House Plumbers debuts May 1 at 9pm ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max, with new episodes airing subsequent Mondays. All five episodes reviewed.

Rating: 4/5

Review by Adam Donato

Review by Cole Groth

Good shark movies are incredibly hard to come by. I’d argue that it’s just as hard to find a shark thriller that isn’t terrible, and that’s where The Black Demon comes into play. With a false promise of a terrifying shark but a surprisingly interesting script, this film isn’t quite good, but it’s refreshingly not bad.

Josh Lucas stars as an employee of a massive oil company who takes his family on an idyllic vacation in Mexico. Things quickly turn sour as his family gets stranded on an oil rig with a ferocious shock who tries its all to protect its territory. Over the 100-minute runtime, they have to find ways to survive the threat, which grows deadlier with every passing minute.

The immediate biggest problem with this is that the shark doesn’t appear in the film very much. Throughout the whole runtime, it appears for a collective of maybe two minutes, making it feel like a very underwhelming threat. Characters spend most of the time talking about how dangerous the “black demon” is rather than actually showing it to us. When the shark does appear, it’s menacing, but it’s mostly too little too late, and audiences will feel frustrated by the lack of its titular villain.

Toward the movie’s end, audiences should be able to piece together that the “black demon” that everybody refers to isn’t a shark. Writers Boise Esquerra and Carlos Cisco take the villain to an environmental approach, with the demon being the product of the oil rig Paul works on. Environmental metaphors can be done well, and while this one subverts the shark thriller genre, it’s too on the nose to be anything but silly.

As far as acting goes, this is surprisingly solid. Josh Lucas, Fernanda Urrejola, and Julio César Cedillo give it their all, and the script is quite good from a dialogue perspective. I was expecting to cringe throughout most of the runtime, and while there are still a few eye-rolling moments, it’s mostly relegated to the expository stuff at the beginning.

While there are some shining moments in The Black Demon, it doesn’t blend very well. The lack of any shark action can be somewhat balanced out by an otherwise decent drama, but it doesn’t help that it’s a rather dull experience. There’s not much of a reason for this to be longer than 90 minutes. It’s a very simple premise that feels stretched out for no reason. We’re told way too much through sloppy exposition when any viewer truly wants to see action between Paul and the shark. It’s not quite a bad experience, but those expecting anything more than a moderately entertaining time will be disappointed.

The Black Demon releases in theaters starting April 28.

Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by Jonathan Berk