'Kraven the Hunter' Reviews: Film "eerily resembles the cobbled together emptiness of the worst 2000s superhero time-wasters"

         On December 13, 2024, Columbia Pictures released 'Kraven the Hunter', which has failed to impress critics, earning a score of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes along the way. "Kraven the Hunter is the action-packed, R-rated, standalone story of how one of Marvel's most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared." The ensemble cast includes Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, and Alessandro Nivola. But what did the critics say?

        Chris Bumbray of JoBlo's Movie Network notes, "It’s gotten to the point now that when you see the Sony logo before an “in association with Marvel” banner, you can’t help but cringe. The live-action films the studio has made based on Spider-Man’s rogues gallery have been pretty terrible, with Morbius and Madame Web ranking among the worst superhero films ever. The fact that the Venom trilogy was mediocre is something of a triumph for the beleaguered slate of films, but for a while now, the director of Kraven the Hunter, J.C. Chandor, has been promising this would be different. I went into the movie with decently high hopes, as I’d seen twenty minutes of footage a few weeks ago before interviewing Aaron Taylor-Johnson (look for our interview soon), and liked what I saw. I also think Chandor is a great director, having been a fan of all of his previous films, in particular A Most Violent Year and the underrated Triple Frontier. Sadly, the film is a total mess in a way the isolated bits of footage I saw earlier didn’t reveal. Like other movies in the Spider-Verse, it feels made by committee, with any of the interesting elements Chandor brings to the film having been washed away in a sea of re-shoots and (I presume) re-edits. The script is a mess, with it never clear just exactly why Kraven hunts down evildoers and if he profits from it (his sprawling jungle hideaway and private pilot makes it seem like he does), with it loaded with corny dialogue that I find it impossible to believe comes from the pen of co-screenwriter Richard Wenk (known to be a very solid scribe)."

       Jesse Hassenger of AV Club was more impressed, stating, "While all of the previous movies in this barely-series seemed scrambled together in a panic, Chandor’s movie seems scrambled together with a great deal of confidence and a bit of style."

Photo by Brands&People on Unsplash

        Avi Offer of NYC Movie Guru writes, "Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a hunter who gained superpowers as a teenager, breaks out of prison and seeks revenge against Rhino (Alessandro Nivola) and other gangsters who are trying to take over the Russian crime world that he dad, Nikolai (Russell Crowe), a Russian gangster, leads in Kraven the Hunter. The screenplay by Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway is a convoluted, clunky and tedious mess that becomes increasingly preposterous and silly. The flashbacks are poorly integrated as they show the origins of Kraven's superpowers when he somehow obtained them after a lion bit him and a young girl gave him a magic potion to drink. He reunites with that girl, Calypso (Ariana DeBose), years later when she works as a lawyer. Before you know it, she joins him on his quest to battle Rhino and his sidekick (Christopher Abbott). The action scenes are poorly shot, the CGI effects are subpar and the editing feels choppy at times. Moreover, the dialogue is often stitled with some unintentionally funny lines that almost rival Madame Web, but not quite. Levi Miller plays the teenage version of Kraven while Fred Hechinger plays Kraven's estranged half-brother, Dmitri. Russell Crowe, Allessandro Nivola and Ariana DeBose deserve better material. If you could imagine Spider-Man crossed with John Wick minutes the pizzazz, thrills and fun, it would look something like this."

       David Crow of Den of Geek says, "The movie is so vacuous, so bereft of life in spite of its many desperate and quality actors trying to quicken the cadaver with wasted energy, that it eerily resembles the cobbled together emptiness of the worst 2000s superhero time-wasters."

'House of Spoils' Reviews: "Delicious food, darkened bruja folklore, and Ariana DeBose? House of Spoils is a complete meal"

         On October 3, 2024, Prime Video released 'House of Spoils', which has earned a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "From Blumhouse, House of Spoils follows an ambitious chef (Ariana DeBose) as she opens a restaurant on a remote estate where she battles kitchen chaos, crushing self-doubts... and a haunting presence who threatens to sabotage her at every turn." The ensemble cast includes Arian Moayed, Barbie Ferreira, Amara Karan, and Mikkel Bratt Silset. Read the full review round-up below.

        Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com says, "Jason Blum is a powerful, underrated force in the industry, but I wish he would empower his chefs to cook more interesting horror movie meals." Adding, "At one point, a restaurant critic (Amara Karan) destroys our heroine by telling her that her food has no risk, no soul, and no voice. I wouldn’t go quite that far in describing “House of Spoils,” but it’s fascinating to watch a movie that criticizes how creative people can be hampered by their refusal to take risks in a film that does exactly that."

Photo by Dyan Freedom on Unsplash

       Matt Donato of Daily Dead notes, "Delicious food, darkened bruja folklore, and Ariana DeBose? House of Spoils is a complete meal, albeit smaller bites. Filmmakers Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy lose themselves in witch’s brew of naturalistic psychological horrors, filtered through the cutthroat business of restauranteurship. Don't expect The Menu — Cole and Krudy find salvation in soil borne worship that connects with Mother Nature's literal roots. There's so much power in thematic ideas, yet storytelling feels restrained in unfortunate ways. Cole and Krudy replicate Chef's Table cinematography as immaculate dishes head to tables, juxtaposed against unappetizing rotten visuals. However, there's an apprehension that leaves the audience still craving something more."

       Belen Edwards of Mashable writes, "House of Spoils juxtaposes the lush world Chef enters with the cold, hyper-masculine cooking world she came from originally. It was her mentor and former boss Marcello (Marton Csokas) who made that claim about chefs tasting blood. He also asserted that cooking takes balls, a kind of masculinity Chef tries to emulate in her interactions with her co-workers, much to Lucia's disapproval. The sous chef describes fine dining as a "big swinging dick club" and decries some of Chef's "macho posturing." Contrast that with Chef's new gardening focus, which she and Andreas describe as "wild, feminine." In leaving the highly masculine world of her former workplace behind, is Chef discovering and embracing a new part of herself, one she didn't cultivate in favor of molding herself to the standards of other big shot male chefs?"