Eternals: I see why this is the lowest rated MCU movie. Aggressively mediocre and even plain dull at times. Moments that were supposed to be tender or dramatic made me feel absolutely nothing. The only highlights for me were Kumail Nanjiani being Kumail Nanjiani and a single voice line in the post-credits scene. It seems I was right to be skeptical about what Disney was trying so hard to sell. I have higher hopes for other upcoming MCU entries, though.

I'm currently watching Westworld S3 on 4K blu-ray.

Technical details first: 4K HDR is a complete waste for West World. It looks pretty much exactly the same on Blu-ray. HDR is non existent and the show has a deliberate soft look making 4K kinda pointless.

As for the content, I'm not really digging this season. The questions posed are very interesting and well thought out, yet the execution makes it more confusing than it needs to be. It's a bad sign when I'm starting to enjoy the intro music more than the actual content... Another one played out.

And watching Dr. Death, the undoctored story, now that's scary stuff!

Splice

A pleasant surprise. Went in expecting D grade schlock and found a surprisingly well crafted horror film that tackles issues beyond just the age old "don't mess around with science" cliché.

Resumed rewatching some Marvel Studios films. Last week, I've rewatched Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Shang-Chi. Enjoyed them a lot!

Just finish Arcane: League of Legends
Excellent and I highly recommend. Had no expectation going in and 10min in I already was hooked. Finished all 6 episodes that released at the time and finish the final 3 episodes today. Love animation style and the story and characters was all great. I really don't have anything negative to say about it. I never played league of legends so I cant comment if it follow lore etc. For those who never played the game the story 100% understandable and I did not feel like I was missing anything that I needed/should know but I was told by friends who have played there was plenty of Easter eggs in the show and they seemed very happy with the show also.

Watched No Time to Die with anticipation last week and.. well, I'm a little disappointed. Starts off really well in the first 20 minutes and then falls apart. The conclusion was also haphazard and meh end for Daniel Craig's Bond. Worth a watch though I don't rate as highly as the other films.

Also recently watched Dune. Which though a slower paced film, I loved. Not got around ever watching the original though its a good start to a saga. Visuals are amazing as is the acting. Can't wait for the sequel.

Series wise, not much. Tried watching Cowboy Bebop (Netflix's live action) and what a utter disgrace this is. John Cho though a decent B actor lacks all the charisma and energy of Spike. The action and choreography so bad and the rest of the cast was just horrible and cheesy. For those interested just stick with the anime and don't waste you time with this 'adaptation'.

Hearing about a new director's cut of Rocky IV motivated me to rewatch the franchise. Some films were better than I remember, others not so much. Balboa and Creed in particular were better this time around. The choreography and photography on the latter is phenomenal. Hard for me to rank them numerically, but by tiers:

Tier 1: Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky Balboa, Creed
Tier 2: Rocky III, Rocky IV, Creed II
Tier 3:
Tier 4: Rocky V

Glad to see Creed III was announced earlier this year and scheduled for release one year from tomorrow. No Rocky (what?!), but MBJ will be making his directorial debut. Looking forward to it.

My favorite fight movies are still Cinderella Man and Warrior, though.

The Hunter (2011)

One of those movies that sounds terrible on paper but becomes more than the sum of its part thanks to strong acting and direction. Another one that greatly exceeded my expectations.

That's the one with Willem Dafoe, right? Yeah, good slow burn thriller.

Yeah that's the one. Best performance I have seen from him.