Alixxx

Marvel making a black and white horror special is exactly the kind of risk I wish they'd take more often. Unfortunately, it doesn't all work. The black and white often felt more like a filter than true monochrome cinematography. When it clicks though, it really clicks. Jack's transformation reflected in the background instead of shown head on was easily the standout moment. I wasn't sold on the werewolf design at first either. It looked a little too much like a man in a suit, but then the close up changed my mind. Giving him such expressive, human eyes made him feel far more tragic than monstrous. By the way, Ted (yes, Ted) stole the show. Marvel should make more weird one-offs like this and fewer films that all look the same.

Somehow I'd already seen the two sequels years before this, and honestly, I only watched it* *now because I discovered Cillian Murphy is Scarecrow. Those glasses? Whoever put him in them deserves a raise. Unfortunately for Christian Bale, I think he grew into Batman later down the line. Bruce never fully clicked for me, partly because I kept seeing Patrick Bateman playing dress up, and partly because the Batman voice was clearly still loading. Gary Oldman and Michael Caine, though? Nobody else needs to audition ever again. As for the production design, Scarecrow’s mask with the hallucinations was genuinely unsettling. Those maggots can get in the bin. The final fight scene nearly sent me to sleep, but I appreciated the darker psychological focus on fear and the fuller origin story beyond yet another alleyway shooting. And a special shout to the Batcave, Henrhyd Falls, near my hometown. Batman's officially Welsh.

I went into *Casablanca* knowing it’s considered one of the greatest films ever made, and honestly? Yeah. It is. No hesitation. The black and white cinematography is beyond beautiful, and I couldn't fault a single performance. What really blew my mind, though, was that this was made during WW2. People were sitting in cinemas watching a film about refugees, resistance, and sacrifice while the outcome of the war still wasn’t certain. The cafe drowning out the Nazis with *La Marseillaise* gave me literal goosebumps. I can’t imagine how that must have felt at the time. All I know is how it felt today, and that is that it's incredibly powerful. It’s romantic, political, and bittersweet in exactly the right way. So yeah, I get the hype. May it last forever.