The Crown Season 4

The Crown Season 4 (Peter Morgan, 2020)

Click here for the basics

Rating: DSQ=12, SP=6 / Can't Get Enough

Scale A=4, Scale B=4, Scale C=4, Scale D=3, Scale E=3

1970s, 1980s, Historical, Biopic, Royal Family

I continue to be blown away by this poignant, elegant, exceptionally emotional, and gorgeous drama series. Season 4 was full to the brim with tension and showed Queen Elizabeth at her most stubborn, competitive, and disconnected. The writers of this series truly know how to show each member of the royal family as the complex, troubled, confusing, and often lost human beings they are. And how all the rules and duties of monarchy really did create generations of chaotic and messy personal and public lives. The story of Prince Charles and Princess Diana is utterly depressing. Magnificent performances from both Emma Corrin and Josh O'Connor. And I was amazed at Gillian Anderson's brilliant portrayal of Margaret Thatcher. Wow. I, again, can't wait to see more.

Read my posts on Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

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Dune (1984)

Dune (David Lynch, 1984)

Click here for the basics

Rating: Q=4, P=4 / Average OJ

Scale 1=2, Scale 2=4, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Based on Book, Adventure

After seeing the new, fantastic Dune by Denis Villeneuve it was interesting to go back in time to the first cinematic version of the Dune story. The 1984 film is fun: colorful, silly, creepy, full of 80's sci-fi stuff, and definitely keeps you engaged. It has problems--from the film's preface, to the narrated thoughts of the characters (which works in a book but not on screen), to a lack of character development. It is a wholly different experience from the ethereal, immersive, and very emotional 2021 Dune.

That being said, though, I still enjoyed the escape. And I would watch it again.

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SPECIAL: Spider-man Films Ranked

Well, the next phase of my comic book/superhero film spree is Spider-man films. I hadn't seen any, weirdly, except for snippets of some of the Tobey Maguire films from my college days. So, who is my favorite Peter Parker? Definitely Tom Holland. No question. I much prefer his quirky sense of humor, his nerdiness, and his youth. And my favorite love interest? Well, I really disliked the overly sappy love story between Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. It does NOT work for me AT ALL. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone's relationship was more believable and I could actually stomach it. But I prefer how the most recent Marvel films wrote it for Tom Holland--best friend Ned and then some crushes on first Liz and then MJ.

Best villain? That is a tougher question. Probably has to be Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming with a close second going to Otto from Spider-Man 2. But all the villains in the franchise are kinda...weird. I find the back story and family relationships that Peter has much more interesting.

Below I've ranked the Spider-Man films in order from my least favorite to favorite. Rather than write about each one, again, I will just include my ratings this time.

8. Spider-Man 3 (2007)

Rating: Q=3, P=3 / Worst of the Worst

Scale 1=2, Scale 2=1, Scale 3=1, Scale 4=1

7. Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Rating: Q=4, P=3 / Thanks But No Thanks

Scale 1=2, Scale 2=2, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=1

6. Spider-Man (2002)

Rating: Q=5, P=3 / Thanks But No Thanks

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=2, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=1

5. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Rating: Q=5, P=4 / Average OJ

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=2, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

4. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

Rating: Q=5, P=4 / Average OJ

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=2, Scale 3=2, Scale 4=2

3. Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Rating: Q=6, P=5 / Average OJ

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=2

2. Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Rating: Q=6, P=6 / Average OJ

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=3

1. Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Rating: Q=6, P=7 / Comfy Old Standard

Scale 1=3, Scale 2=3, Scale 3=3, Scale 4=4

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