Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

This was a lot more boring than I thought it would be. I appreciated the movie calling out how many times explosions interrupted conversations in the first film, but I think the sequel greatly overestimates how much people cared about everything in the original that wasn't the mind numbing giant lobster monster-filled finale. Overall, it felt like most of the cast and crew knew this was a lame duck sequel for a franchise that was on its way out and treated in accordingly. Aquaman feels like a parody of the character winking and nodding through everything, to the point where you want to root on Ocean Master over our supposed protagonist. You also get major Thor vibes, which is a misplaced imitation considering how the last Thor film fell so flat. If you want to watch a fascinatingly bad DC movie from 2023, The Flash is still your go to. If you want to watch a movie that you will forget immediately despite having an OK time with it, venture to the Lost Kingdom.