Will Martinez's Film & TV Blog

The new HBO limited series Mare of Easttown has become quite the topic of conversations the last month or so to say the least. Until just a couple weeks ago, I honestly knew very little about this new miniseries other than that it starred the amazing Kate Winslet in the lead role and was on HBO. However, as the weeks went by, I saw more and more people raving and discussing this show almost religiously which obviously very much peaked my curiosity. I finally sat down a few weeks ago to see what all of this fuss was all about and binged the first five episodes. I'm not exaggerating when I say I was instantly glued to this show from the first opening ten minutes alone and never once did this show lose my attention. It's one of the most riveting seasons of TV that I've seen in quite some time, whether it to be a miniseries or not. So much of Mare of Easttown just absolutely floored me. On its surface, it's very much a crime drama with a murder mystery at its center. And wi...

  The first A Quiet Place that released in 2018 was certainly an unexpected surprise. It took me by storm not only because of its original concept, but the fact that it was also director John Krasinski's (who of course also starred in the lead role) first venture into the horror world. The final product ultimately resulted in one of the more creative and thrilling horror films of the past ten years, I loved pretty much everything about it. Now in regards to this new sequel, I was a little skeptical at first because the first already is a perfect standalone and also the track record for horror sequels to put it generously has never exactly been very encouraging. However, the trailers for this one have been outstanding, so my excitement level for this one has certainly been very high, so I was one of many disappointed people when this sequel was one of the first films pulled from its original release date last year (March 20th, 2020) all thanks to the Covid pandemic of course. One ye...

Army of the Dead is the latest zombie film from visionary filmmaker Zack Snyder that will also be releasing on Netflix this upcoming Friday, May 21st. This new film is also currently right now showing in a select number of theaters around the country, so I was able to get the opportunity to see this one on the big screen this past weekend. I've been looking forward to this one for quite a while, because even though he's one of the more divisive directors around today, I generally do appreciate much of Snyder's work. And in particular, his first zombie film which was the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake is still one of my favorite films of his career, so I was real intrigued to see him dive back into this genre. It certainly brings me great pleasure in reporting that this film is not only another winner for Snyder, but also easily one of the most purely enjoyable films I've seen all year. I can't think of another genre of film that has been more oversaturated in both fil...

  Spiral marks overall the ninth installment in the Saw franchise and the first one to be released since Jigsaw in 2017. This new sequel sets place in the same universe, but with a slightly new twist to it, this time with a new Jigsaw killer. I'm not necessarily like an avid fan of the Saw universe by any means, but I do really love that 2004 original film, and I've even enjoyed a few of the numerous of sequels (Saw II, Saw III, and Saw VI to be more specific), so I have actually been really looking forward to this film. The trailers have had the promise of at least something of a new direction for the franchise, but mostly it was the casting of two high profile names such as Chris Rock & Samuel L. Jackson that really grabbed my curiosity with this one. Seeing both of these actors involved certainly adds more gravitas than the average Saw sequel would come with. And now after seeing Spiral, I can say it's more of the same and doesn't necessarily offer much originali...

  Wrath of Man is the latest feature film from English filmmaker Guy Ritchie (director of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Snatch, and Disney's live action Aladdin) and also marks his fourth collaboration with action star Jason Statham. As a fan of both Ritchie & Statham, I certainly had some hopes for their latest team-up, especially with Ritchie freshly coming off the hugely entertaining The Gentlemen which was released just last year. The marketing has been pretty surprisingly minimal, but with a theatrical release just this past weekend, this also officially kicks off the summer movie season which besides a few exceptions was of course non-existent just last year in the amidst of the pandemic's early days . For that reason alone, I was just really happy to be back in a theater for a new major release. On its surface, Wrath of Man sounded exactly like what I have come expect from any Ritchie & Statham team-up. But, while the film certainly doesn't shy away from the expec...

  The Falcon and the Winter Soldier marked the debut of Marvel Studio's second original streaming series for the Disney+ service. As far as Marvel's upcoming project goes, this one was always very high on my anticipation list as for my money the previous Captain America films are amongst the best achievements the studio has ever made, so of course I was excited about the prospect of seeing Sam Wilson/The Falcon take over the Captain America mantle from Steve Rogers, while paired up with Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier in a buddy cop style spy thriller. And while certainly not without its faults, I'm very glad to report that (the first season I think? Marvel hasn't exactly cleared that question up yet) The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is all around a hugely entertaining, smart, and often thrilling series that much like WandaVision proves to be a positive step forward for Marvel's venture into the TV world. I've always been a big fan of both Anthony Mackie and Se...