Will Martinez's Film & TV Blog

  It might be difficult to believe, but 2021 is near its close as we have only three months of films left for the year. I think 2021 has been a really solid year for films overall, but looking at the release date calendar for October, November and December, the last half of this year is shaping up to be very special as we have many exciting big budget blockbusters and potential Oscar players left in store for us film fans. Assuming the Covid pandemic doesn't mess things up again and cause more release dates to move once again, I'm going to practically be living at the movie theaters with these remaining months. With that out of the way, I figured I would run down the 10 films I'm most excited about while also singling out plenty of notable honorable mentions.  Keep in mind though: Since I was at the Toronto International Film Festival a few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have already seen Last Night In Soho, The Power of the Dog, Titane and Belfast amongst others so t...

  Copshop is definitely one of those films that has been flying under my own radar. I had seen a few ads start to pop up for it in the last couple of weeks while watching TV, but other than the fact that Frank Grillo & Gerard Butler both headlined this film, I was still getting the sense that this will be another throwaway action film that everybody quickly forgets about after its release. However, once surprisingly strong early reviews came pouring in and I also realized that director Joe Carnahan was helming this one, I knew this was one that I had to ultimately see. Carnahan has always been a solid director and certainly knows how to make a ridiculously entertaining action film. And while Copshop is no game changer by any means, I'm thrilled to report that it is indeed yet another ridiculously entertaining feature from the filmmaker. He's batting a 2 for 2 in 2021.  Something that stood out to me with this one that I happened to really like was just old school it felt. ...

  Just this past week, I was lucky enough to attend the Toronto International Film Festival for the first time ever. And one of those very big films I was fortunate enough to secure a ticket for was director Edgar Wright's latest genre bending film Last Night In Soho which was easily one of my most anticipated films of this entire year. Edgar Wright has long been one of my filmmakers in the world from films such as Baby Driver, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End), so to hear him now dive into a full on horror film and really branch out obviously really excited me. Not to mention the first teaser that was released is honestly one of my favorite trailers from the past few years. And now having seen it, I'm so happy to say that at least for my money Edgar Wright has delivered yet again a relentlessly entertaining and also wonderfully crafted psychological horror film that really illustrates how far he's evolve...

  I'm always very fascinated by whatever new film Nicolas Cages comes out with. From powerful dramas like Adaptation & Leaving Las Vegas to disasters like The Wicker Man & Season of the Witch, the man's career has been wildly inconsistent to say the least, but when he finds the right roles, he's always been one of the most interesting actors to watch and even easily one of my favorites. You simply don't know what kind of performance he's going to bring next and I guess that sort of unpredictability is one of the biggest reasons why I'm such a huge fan. His new film Pig has garnered a lot of praise in the past month, which certainly raised my interest. But having not even watched a trailer beforehand, I went into this film almost completely blind and I'm so glad I did because this film was nothing at all like I was expecting in any way.  On its surface, Pig very much sounds like a John Wick revenge style tale starring Nicolas Cage that's about a g...

  Out of all the new Marvel Cinematic Universe TV shows announced for Disney+, I was intrigued by the concept of a Loki centric series, but compared to other new shows on the schedule, it wasn't necessarily high on my anticipation list. I felt like Loki had such a fitting ending with Avengers: Infinity War, so what new directions could this franchise really take this character? Despite my initial skepticism towards the series, Tom Hiddleston as Loki has always been easily one of my favorite aspects of the MCU and I'm always excited to see him tackle this character again. It's safe to say though that within the really strong series premiere, all my expectations for this Loki show were completely shattered and thankfully the quality of the show only continued to go up from there with the remaining five episodes to create one exhilarating series. From start to finish, this (first) season of Loki was absolutely everything I wanted from a Marvel Studios TV show and so much more....

It's crazy to believe that Black Widow marks the first released Marvel film since Spider-Man Far From Home back in July of 2019. After going through numerous of release delays this past year during the global pandemic, the 24th feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally been released in both theaters and for premium purchase on Disney+. I've definitely been looking forward to this one, as the trailers have been solid and I'm always down to see more of Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. But I'm also a part of the mindset that a Black Widow film should've already been released many years ago, certainly long before the character was given her heroic death in Avengers: Endgame (spoilers for the 2 people on the planet that have yet to see that film). Regardless, it was honestly a great and very welcome feeling being back in a movie theater on a opening night with a huge crowd for a brand new Marvel film on Thursday. Thankfully, the film itself ...

  It's certainly impressive what a phenomenon the Fast & Furious franchise has become. What started out as a simple, lower budget movie about street racers has quickly turned into one of the biggest franchises of all-time. I've always had a soft spot for these films since the first film that released in 2001, guilty pleasures or not, but Fast Five in 2011 clearly help reinvent the series and was such a breathe of fresh air. Since then, each new installment has continued to up the ante to insane heights, and for me at least the results have been consistently entertaining. Safe to say I was certainly excited for this new sequel, especially with fan favorite Justin Lin returning in the director's chair. The trailers promised what looked to be the most most ludicrous Fast & Furious film yet, and by no surprise that's exactly what it is. These films make most cartoons look grounded in reality in comparison, and if you're someone who can accept that all logic has ...

  I'm not like a die-hard musical fan by any means, but In The Heights has definitely been long on my radar. Freshly coming off the huge hit that his Hamilton film turned out to be last summer on Disney+, this adaptation comes with a producing credit from Lin-Manuel Miranda (who also created the famous stage play), but stepping into the director's chair is filmmaker Jon M. Chu (director of such films like the wonderful Crazy Rich Asians and a few of the Step Up films) who is certainly no stranger to the musical genre. Chu definitely seemed like an inspired choice to tackle this source material that is clearly beloved, so I was certainly very curious to see how he could bring this to life on the big screen, especially after hearing plenty of stellar early reviews within the last month when screenings for the film began. And now having finally gotten the chance to see this myself, it brings me so much joy to report that this is absolutely one of the most rousing and exciting musi...

  The Conjuring franchise has certainly been one of the better modern horror franchises. When the first film released all the way back in 2013 with director James Wan at the helm, it was a breathe of fresh air and still is amongst the finest mainstream horror films released in the past 10-15 years. It was genuinely terrifying, but also had characters you can care and fear for.  The sequel was also surprisingly great and certainly one of the better horror sequels out there. As for this new sequel though that is now released both in theaters and on HBO Max, I've been a bit more skeptical about it as it's the first Conjuring film not to be directed by Wan, and also the lack of marketing from Warner Brothers themselves gave me the sense that they must have not had a lot of confidence in this one. Much to my surprise though, while The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It can't stack up to the sheer terror of the previous two installments, there's enough solid scares and perfor...

  Cruella is the latest live action retelling of one of Disney's beloved animated classics. This one is obviously inspired by the creation of One Hundred and One Dalmatians as it follows the early career of that original film's notorious villain Cruella de Vil, this time played by the incredible Emma Stone. With this new retelling, I have been somewhat skeptical mainly just because Disney's track record with these live action remakes has been hit or miss to say the least, and as iconic of a villain she'll always be, I can't say I've ever been terribly interested in learning about Cruella's troubled backstory. However, Emma Stone certainly seemed like a very inspired choice for young Cruella, and I'm also a pretty big fan of director Craig Gillespie (of such excellent films such as I, Tonya and Lars and the Real Girl). Trailers have been very promising and early reviews were very encouraging as well. And now having seen it, I can safely say Cruella marks ...

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...