‘Apokolips War’ 1s a knock off ‘Avengers: Endgame’ >» Amovie review of DC’s 2020 release Jane Diokpo Contributor kwrew xv DC's garbage. I have a conspiracy theory that the vast majority of people praising it were either held at gun point or paid off to do so. Justice League Dark: Apokolips War has ridiculously generous scores and reviews online that are misleading; the movie got an 8/10 from IGN, a 100 percent on rotten tomatoes, and a Google audience rating summary of 4.8/5. It seems that only IMDB had any sense when rating the movie by giving it a7.8/10... but quite frankly, even that is too high a mark for such a criminally mediocre movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a die-hard DC fan—but this was just an atrocity. Here I was thinking the DC live action curse would never touch the DC animated movies—I guess I was wrong. The entire movie seems like a poor and shallow attempt for the DC cinematic universe to have its own Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame moment. They cram almost every DC character they can into the movie like tuna, just like Marvel did with its own characters for its own movies, except Marvel actually knew how to execute it properly. With Justice League Dark: Apokolips War it feels like 2020 release Justice Leaque Dark: Apokolips War was hot DC was desperately grasping for straws on how to replicate Marvel and incorporate its own “impressive” congregation of characters into a movie. Even by the name Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, it indicates it isa shameless reference to Avengers: Infinity War. Unfortunately, DC keeps trying to copy Marvel and they have failed yet again. I ponder if they will ever learn their lesson that it never works. After mediocrities like Suicide Squad and Justice League, you would think they would have gotten the memo by now. Countless DC fan favourites are included in the film, but they may as well have not been included at all because most of them accomplish nothing. Sure, they assist in fighting bad guys, but they’re barely given any time to do much else. Most only get about five seconds of screen time tops before being killed off. So, viewers are left to wonder “What was the point of DC boasting that multiple characters would show up if the only reason they show up is to die?” The movie also has excruciating dialogue. The characters speak as if they all have spots on SNL and their edginess feels forced. Justice League Dark: Apokolips War has no substantial plot. It might as well have been released on April Fool’s Day because the plot is a joke: nonsensical and pointless. Many irrelevant details are shoved in—leaving you wondering what to focus on. The ending is equally insulting because it contradicts the point of the plot in the first place and trivializes everything. One of the characters does the equivalent of pressing Ctrl+Z and everything goes back to normal—not that there’s anything Levee's Jazzy black bottom > ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ movie review Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist wkweK KY hadwick Boseman is one of the most important African American actors in modern history. He played famous African Americans like Jackie Robinson and James Brown in biopics and also played as the Black Panther in the Avengers film series. As he was filming Black Panther, he was just diagnosed with stomach cancer and many people didn’t know about his condition until he died last summer. While Black Panther 2 is yet to be released, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom would be the last film that he completed filming. Academy Award winner Viola Davis’ character is the main character in the film, but it feels more like Boseman’s character is the main character. The film—based on a play by August Wilson—shows his great acting style. In 1927, Ma Rainey (Davis) is “the Mother of the Blues” and her band tours around the country. While the northern part of the country begins to be more inclusive, she and her band are in Chicago doing a recording session. Her band arrives at the studio first with Levee (Boseman) arriving late and Ma Rainey arriving after with her daughter and nephew. Levee, who plays the trumpet, has ideas that will give the people what they want, though the rest of his band mates do not agree with his proposals. In the film’s one hour and 30 minutes running time, the viewer experiences the downfall of a blues ensemble. Promotional image for 'Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ Image for Justice League Dark: Apokolips War' via IGN wrong with that since Marvel’s Tony Stark did the same. The difference is that with Endgame, it feels deserved. In Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, it does not feel earned due to poor execution which renders the entire movie pointless. It seems as though DC half-heartedly created the whole story because they knew they could just press undo right at the very end. In conclusion, I wasted one-and-a- half hours of my life which I will never get it back. If you want to try DC’s animated features (since the live actions are god awful), look elsewhere. DC has made far better animated movies, so don’t make yourself suffer like I did. The first 30 minutes is the band rehearsing while they are waiting for Ma Rainey. Ma Rainey was barely seen during the entire film, but we see a lot of Levee doing monologues. Both Davis and Boseman were unrecognizable, especially with Ma Rainey and her makeup. Boseman looked frail as though he was losing weight for the role. He was putting himself in the blues scene in the 1920s and was optimistic portraying Levee. Davis also had a great singing voice in the film. Ma Rainey’s character was like a diva because she likes to perform her songs the old way, and drinks three bottles of Coca-Cola before performing. The film also talks about musicians presenting their music how they envisioned it and new musicians trying to get their work out and create new styles of music. The end of the film is like a punch in the face. There were zoom-ins throughout the film, though I am not sure if they were actual or digital zoom ins. Boseman is probably going to win an Academy Award for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and before that I was thinking that he was going to win one for Black Panther 2. Despite that he could have been in more films, this might be his best acting in his entire career. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is available now on Netflix.