Thoughts on Sick (2023)

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WIP

Thoughts on Wolf Man (2025)

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WIP

Thoughts on The Invisible Man (2020)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

For this review, we’re taking a look at one of the best horror remakes of the past few years*. 

This one is going to take some backstory, so we have to start there. 

Originally, this was going to be part of Universal’s planned Dark Universe (basically, their answer to the MCU), with Johnny Depp already cast in the role. The series was set to begin with The Mummy, featuring Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, and Sofia Boutella of Kingsman fame as the titular monster. 

In reality, the series began and ended with that movie when it was eviscerated by critics and bombed at the box office. 

The shared universe concept was then abandoned in favor of standalone stories featuring the classic monsters. 

As for what I thought of it… here’s the short version: I thought it was okay. 

It’s actually one of the earliest reviews I ever did, so for those who want to learn more, feel free to go check out that one. 

Flash forward to 2019. Leigh Whannell gets brought on to write and direct a new version of the story, a reboot of the original 1933 film, but much like that one, it would also be loosely based on the original 1897 novel by H.G. Wells. 

One year later, the movie gets released to great reviews and box office success… and then its theatrical release gets cut short due to COVID plunging the world into Hell. Three weeks later, it’s made available to rent on Digital for those who weren’t initially able to see it. 

Now, five years since its release, he’s released his latest project, and I rewatch this to get ready for it. 

Folks, let’s see if this still holds up, as I present my review of what is inarguably Leigh Whannell’s best movie up to this point, The Invisible Man. 

The story follows Cecilia Kass, who’s been trying to escape an abusive relationship with scientist Adrian Griffin, who specializes in optical engineering. 

One night, she’s able to escape, but even then, he still haunts her. 

Two weeks later, while staying with her childhood friend and his daughter, she hears that Adrian has apparently killed himself and left $5 million to her. 

After making arrangements with his brother Tom, strange things start happening, and this leads Cecilia to believe that Adrian didn’t really commit suicide, and has found a way to become invisible. 

What Worked: First of all, the performances are fantastic across the board. Elisabeth Moss is outstanding in this movie. She brings a realistic sense of vulnerability to Cecilia, so you genuinely feel her plight. 

Aldis Hodge (the new Alex Cross) plays her friend, Detective James Lanier, and Storm Reid plays his daughter Sydney. Reid in particular is great. She’s one of the best young actresses working today, as anyone who’s seen Missing will attest, though I would also recommend Sleight as well. 

Though Harriet Dyer and Michael Dorman (who play Cecilia’s younger sister Emily and Tom, respectively) are both really good, I actually thought Oliver Jackson-Cohen (Mike Flanagan’s Haunting series**) was just as excellent as Elisabeth Moss in this movie. 

His version of Adrian is one of the best horror villains of the decade so far. He toys with Cecilia at every turn, and he is so unsettling, even when you do see him***. Any characteristic of abusers, he has, from gaslighting to victim blaming to lying. 

Without giving too much away, she gets to confront him, and what happens is nothing short of satisfying, given everything he had put her through. 

Where the movie really shines, though, is with the technical aspects. 

Up to this point (which isn’t saying much, because I haven’t seen all of his movies), I had viewed this as Leigh Whannell’s best movie, both in terms of direction and writing. 

It’s also well paced and has some of the best cinematography you can see in a horror movie this decade so far. You’re constantly on edge throughout the movie, and you never know where the Invisible Man could be. You know you’re doing something right when you can linger on inanimate objects for a few seconds and it makes sense for the movie. 

The technique for how the Invisible Man is done here is from a more logical perspective, so it’s also realistically plausible. 

Instead of drinking a potion or taking a serum, this version of Adrian is still a genius scientist, and because he specializes in optical technology, it makes sense. 

In this version, he wears a suit fitted with hundreds of cameras that reflect the light around him to make him invisible. It looks so cool in action. 

The best scene in the movie involves him and a bunch of people in a hallway. Be on the lookout for it. 

If you thought the sound design in Upgrade was excellent, you’ll love it as much if not even more here. 

The best aspect of the movie, though, is Benjamin Wallfisch’s phenomenal score. The final track alone makes it stand out. 

What Didn’t Work: There are some plot points that seem a bit excessive, namely parts of Adrian’s grand plan to ruin Cecilia’s life, which I won’t go into. 

Some of those plot points are a bit predictable as well, but other than those two things, that’s really it. 

Overall: The Invisible Man is one of the best modern horror remakes out there, one of the best horror movies so far this decade, and quite possibly Leigh Whannell’s best movie to date (his latest, though, I’ll get to soon, don’t worry). 

With a realistic depiction of a very sensitive topic, a solid script and direction, fantastic sound design, a phenomenal score, excellent performances (particularly Elisabeth Moss and Oliver Jackson-Cohen; Moss especially should’ve at least been nominated), it also provides a surprisingly sensible way of taking an iconic monster’s story in a different direction, and it really works. 

Acknowledging what came before also helps, and this even does that in a clever way in one scene****. 

What makes it even more impressive is something I alluded to in the Upgrade review: The fact that it looks as great as it does on a minimal budget. Though slightly higher than Upgrade (which cost $3 million), this still looks impressive. This cost $7 million, and it looks more like $10-12 million. 

It’s just as effective a commentary on abusive relationships as it is a horror movie. 

You may not be able to see the villain, but this movie, it must be seen. 

Where You Can Find It: At the time of this writing, you can find it on Freevee. Unfortunately, that means you’ll have to deal with ad interruptions, so if you can handle that, you should be fine. 

Next time, we go from witnessing one monster’s psychological transformation to witnessing another monster’s physical one. 

*It won’t be the last time we’re looking at this concept this year, but we’ll get to that later.

**The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor.

***Speaking of people you can’t see, if you manipulate the letters of his name enough, you get the name of another… I couldn’t resist on that one.

****If you’ve ever seen any previous depictions wearing bandages, they do that here. 

Thoughts on Upgrade (2018)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

Following my reviews for both Den of Thieves movies, there was the first big 2025 movie I was looking forward to that I knew I had to get ready for, the latest project from James Wan’s collaborator from Saw, Leigh Whannell*. 

Though I had not seen the first movie he directed (that being Insidious: Chapter 3), I had seen the two movies that followed, the first of which was this. 

Much like the first Den of Thieves, I hadn’t seen these two since they came out, but I remembered more that happened in these than I did from that. 

With all the hype that was there (at first; it seemed to have diminished more and more closer to release for reasons I’ll get to later), I knew I had to rewatch these, and I was so excited to do so, because I loved both. 

For now, though, let’s get to where my history with his directorial efforts started. 

Folks, we’re taking a look at one of the most overlooked sci-fi action movies of the past decade, with possibly the best performance to date from the lead. 

If you were to take John Wick and mix it with elements of RoboCop**, you’d have this movie. 

If that’s not enough, it did Venom better before Venom even came out***, and this better version is a gem known as Upgrade. 

Set in the year 2046, the movie follows auto mechanic Grey Trace and his wife Asha. Asha works for a company called Cobalt, which specializes in cybernetic enhancements. 

While returning a car to the home of one of Grey’s clients, tech genius Eron Keen, he shows them his newest project, a chip that can take control of one’s motor functions called STEM. 

On their way back, they get in a car accident, and get attacked by four men, which results in Asha getting killed and Grey being rendered quadriplegic. 

Grey then feels like he’s lost everything, but after a visit from Eron, he accepts his offer to have STEM implanted in him. 

Though there is a catch, Grey is able to walk again, determined to find the men responsible for the attack. 

What Worked: The cast, while not made up entirely of big names, has some people you might recognize. 

The biggest name, of course, is Logan Marshall-Green, who plays our main protagonist. If that name sounds familiar, it may be because of foreshadowing I provided when mentioning him in my Carry-On review. Here, though, he looks more like you’d usually see him. You may also recognize him from his small role in Spider-Man: Homecoming or more easily from his role in Prometheus. This is probably his most likable character to date, because he’s vulnerable, so you sympathize with him even before he gets STEM implanted. 

Then we have Betty Gabriel (Get Out, the upcoming Novocaine) as Detective Cortez, who is assigned to investigate the attack, and even though she becomes suspicious of Grey throughout the movie, I still really liked her. 

Then there’s Harrison Gilbertson (Need for Speed, Oppenheimer) as Eron Keen, and it says something when he’s more convincing as a tech genius than Elon Musk is in real life. I’ll put it that way. 

The other two most noteworthy are Benedict Hardie as the main villain, Fisk Brantner, and he’s perhaps the most interesting character in the movie. He’s also worth noting because starting with this movie, he’s appeared in every movie Leigh Whannell has directed. 

The last one worth noting is Simon Maiden as the voice of STEM. He has this calm demeanor throughout the movie, which makes him all the more intimidating as a presence. 

It also goes to show how unnerving the presence of AI can be.

Now for the technical aspects. 

The look of the movie feels so slick for the budget it has, particularly with the effects. It’s one of the more recent examples of low budget movies that look more than they cost. Other examples include The Terminator (6.4 million, looks like (for the time) maybe 10 million), District 9 (30 million, looks like 100 million if not more), and the subject of my next review (I’ll go into it there). 

The settings and vehicles alone look like they could’ve cost more to make. 

This is something I’ll definitely be bringing up in the next two reviews: The sound design is excellent, because in every one of his movies I’ve seen so far, Leigh Whannell always has it on full display. 

When STEM takes over or gives Grey full control again, you hear a very mechanical sound effect, and it’s always satisfying whenever you do. 

It’s hard to describe, so I’ll just say you’ll know when you hear it. 

It even catches you off guard with how they open the movie. Normally, you’d sometimes see opening credits before the title card comes up. They turn that on its head by actually just vocalizing it, and it’s brilliant. They do the production company credits, and then the title. 

There’s no actual credits accompanying it or anything like that, and they don’t do that for the end credits, because it would’ve been excessive to do that. It’s done just enough to where it works. 

It helps sell the futuristic setting, so I appreciate the attention to detail, which also shows in the gorgeous cinematography, Whannell’s direction and even his script. 

Speaking of the script, even the occasional dark humor works, providing a nice break in between the outright insane action sequences. It’s also a nice touch with a couple Easter Eggs that show up. One of them is a Saw reference. The other is in a scene where Grey is taking an elevator, and the camera focuses on some names next to the buttons. One of them is a reference to James Wan, so be on the lookout for it****.

In describing the action like that, I’m not exaggerating. 

Examples range from someone getting a kitchen knife put to their mouth and then pushed back to one person with a weapon implant having it turned against them in a pretty mind-blowing way. Both of these are cases where it’s even more brutal than it already sounds.  

What Didn’t Work: I don’t really have many issues here. At most, I have maybe two, and they’re more like nitpicks. 

One of them is how some of the character arcs are predictable. 

The other one is how it just kind of ends. It also doesn’t help that for the poster and even the home media release (Digital and physical both have this), they used a shot from the last scene. I’ll say this: Compared to some other movies (this especially happens with horror movies), they don’t outright spoil the ending here. The shot they use may not be a spoiler in this case, but it’s dangerously close to one. 

It’s not the worst case of this happening with these three movies in particular (the most egregious is coming later, and egregious might even be understating it). 

Other than that, that’s really it.

Overall: For my first time seeing a Leigh Whannell film, I couldn’t have picked a better one to start with than Upgrade. I felt that way when it came out, and I feel that way now after rewatching it. 

By the time I finished rewatching it, I realized how much I loved it even more than I already did when it came out. It’s among the best movies I saw in 2018, and it remains one of the most overlooked ones of the past decade in general. 

With an impressive and visually stunning setting on a minimal budget, excellent sound design and action, some solid direction, writing, and humor, and great performances led by what is Logan Marshall-Green’s best to date, I don’t know what else I can say other than, simply put, this movie is awesome. 

It also goes without saying that because of how unique it is alone, I can’t recommend it highly enough. 

Where You Can Find It: At the time of this writing, you can find it on Netflix. It’s absolutely worth checking out, because it’s one of those that deserves your attention. Regardless of how you seek it out, it’s more important that you do. 

Next time, we take a look at the first of his two most recent projects… and let’s just say that it’ll likely have many more puns than that (intended or not). 

*Fun Fact: Though the spelling of his last name was slightly off in the credits, he had a small role in The Matrix Reloaded. Look out for Axel, a character wearing a leg brace; that’s him. He would also appear in Enter the Matrix, which came out the same day the movie opened in theaters. 

**It was also described as a mix between The Six Million Dollar Man and Death Wish, which is also pretty accurate. That’s also foreshadowing something that’ll come around again two reviews from now. I’ll leave it at that. 

***It also did it with a significantly smaller budget of $3 million, and ultimately made $17 million, almost 6 times that, back.

****This probably led to James returning the favor by giving Leigh a cameo in Aquaman. 

Thoughts on Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

In my previous review, I didn’t need to tease the next one like the first movie itself did. More than likely, you already knew this one was coming. 

For this one, we enter the panther’s den, as I present my review of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera… and no, that doesn’t mean you should expect the band to show up. 

I should forewarn you, though, that there will be some spoilers for the first movie here, so if you haven’t seen the first movie, go watch it and then read my review, and (despite doing my best to refrain from spoilers for the latest release) I think it would help if you’ve seen this one as well before coming back. 

I should also note that I’ll be comparing and contrasting both (and especially considering I watched them so close to each other, there’s no way around that). 

For those who have seen both, let’s continue. 

The story begins with Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) joining a crew known as the Panthers for a heist at an airport hangar in Antwerp, Belgium. A red diamond and files are taken, and they make their escape disguised as a SWAT team. 

Back in Los Angeles, Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler), now divorced and on leave, is looking for answers as to how Donnie was involved with the previous crew as this new one is planning their next big heist: the World Diamond Center in Nice, France. 

Nick discovers Donnie is involved here, and after meeting up, Nick tells him he wants in. 

Unfortunately, with a new ally comes a new enemy, as the Italian mafia is after them for stealing the red diamond. 

What Worked: A lot of what worked in the first movie is retained here. Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. still play off of each other very well. 

Also returning from the first movie are Meadow Williams as Holly, Merrimen’s widow, and Michael Bisping as Connor (who appeared at the end of the first movie to tell Donnie about the diamond exchange across from the bar he was working at). Williams is good for the time she’s in it, but Bisping has the more interesting character. 

The biggest of the new cast members is Evin Ahmad (best known as the title character on Netflix’s Who Is Erin Carter?) as the leader of the Panther crew. She’s also one of the most interesting of the new characters. 

I also appreciated that they escalated the threat from a group of thieves to the Mafia. 

They also added a bit of humor here, which the first one didn’t really have, and it still worked for me.

The biggest surprise was the fact that 50 Cent came back to produce this movie, considering what happened before. 

Though not quite as great as it was in the first movie, the action here is still really good, particularly the big heist here and the car chase, both of which you may have seen parts of in the trailer. If there are two scenes with big stakes, it’s those. You still feel tense (particularly during the heist scene) to where you’re thinking at any moment, any one member of the crew could die. 

The sound design is as much of a highlight as before. 

One thing I can mention is more of a standout here is the cinematography. Because the scale here is more global (outside of Los Angeles, it’s more Europe-centric this time around), it gives this movie a huge advantage. 

Speaking of advantages, while the direction and script are as solid as before (Nick even gets a similar line that’s the selling point here, and it’s just as awesome), another improvement this has is that it’s inspired by an actual heist. There was a diamond heist in Antwerp back in 2003. Having a heist that really happened as a template is a huge benefit here, and it might not be the last time they’re doing it. I’ll come back to that in the Outro. 

While still not perfect, the pacing is better. 

What Didn’t Work: The conveniences of the heists themselves are definitely more obvious here, and the same goes for the plot holes. 

The stakes aren’t as consistent, and though we do see them escalate for the crew, we don’t really get to see that regarding others. 

While still good, the score and editing don’t stand out as much. 

Going back to the pacing, this unfortunately has the same issue as the first movie. It actually felt more prominent here. Both are close to 2 and a half hours, and both could’ve been trimmed by maybe 10-20 minutes. 

This is more of a narrative issue for me, but while there was a diamond heist hinted at, I was expecting this to immediately follow up on that. While they did to an extent, it was not in the way they hinted at. 

It may sound like I thought the first one was better because I’m comparing them so much, but again, I can’t help but do that. 

If anything, they both have their advantages and disadvantages, some of which I didn’t even point out last time. 

Overall: Even with its problems, much like the first one, I thought Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was still a lot of fun. 

A large amount of what worked in the first one still works here, with some aspects of this one standing out more, but, again, there remains room for improvement. 

I will say, though, that this sets up a third one in a clever way, and I have no doubt there’ll be more, because after how long it took between these first two movies, they’re more determined to not take nearly as long. Plus, ideas are already being pitched and other heists are being considered to use for more stories. 

So far, people like these movies, as evidenced by the fact that they do really well (especially for January releases, and they’re both among the better ones). This has given Lionsgate* a much needed #1 hit after 14 months of bomb after bomb after bomb, as their last hit was The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes… which came out in November of 2023. 

As it is, I’ve really liked what we’ve gotten so far, and after hearing they’re planning more, I would conclude with shockingly the only other joke I’ve managed to incorporate into the review: Much like Chris Rock with G.I. Jane 2, I can’t wait to see it**. 

Where You Can Find It: At the time of this writing, though there probably aren’t as many showtimes that would be convenient for you as there may have been opening weekend (if there are any left now), it’s still currently in theaters. 

Whether you’re able to right now or having to wait for streaming or home media, it’s still worth checking out. 

Next time, we look at the first of three movies with various levels of enhancements… all from the same director.  

*I should note that though STX Entertainment released the first movie, and were supposed to release this one, they ultimately picked it up. 

**And yes, even though people have largely forgiven Will Smith with Bad Boys: Ride or Die doing so well last year, they also can’t help but find new ways to make those jokes. 

Thoughts on Den of Thieves (2018)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

It’s a new year, and with it comes a new slate of movies (and maybe even more than that on here…). 

Anyway, I hope to be more consistent going forward, but to do that, I’ll also need to be steadier with my output rather than try to rush something out just to cover the latest project when it’s released. 

Thankfully, this is one of those times where it’ll be easier. 

For my first review of this year, I’ll be covering a pretty overlooked action thriller, and one where the scenario at play seemed largely realistic at that. 

It has some people you may recognize in it, too. 

Folks, instead of lions*, we’ll be entering a different kind of den, as I present my review of Den of Thieves. 

The story begins with a group of ex-Marines hijacking an armored truck in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the heist not only ends with a shootout with the police resulting in several casualties (including one of the crew), but also with the truck being empty. 

A team of Sheriff’s Department officers, led by Detective Nick “Big Nick” O’Brien (Gerard Butler), starts their investigation, with his prime suspect being recently parolee Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber, who ended up being one of the better parts of the Halo series**). 

They start by interrogating bartender Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). Though he tells them he was their getaway driver and he knows of a sizable amount of money they stole, he also says he is unaware of their ultimate goal. 

Despite releasing him, they still track him, discovering that they plan to steal from the Federal Reserve… but not for the reasons you may expect. 

What Worked: As simple as it may sound, the plot is still very engaging throughout, and how it progresses makes it feel like you’re witnessing them plan something bigger, and then in the third act, you get to see it actually play out. 

Plus, the main heist itself feels largely realistic. It feels like these guys really thought everything out. Normally, some of it would be elaborate, but it makes sense here. A good example would be that at one point, once everyone else has left the room, an EMP is used to take out the cameras to buy time for the next part of the heist to be executed. 

As convenient as it may seem with how many close calls there ultimately are, you’re still tense throughout it, because you feel at any moment, someone could get caught, and yet they never do. 

The cast’s performances are really good, particularly from Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. On both sides, everyone plays off of each other very well. Even Pablo Schreiber and 50 Cent make for pretty good villains. A couple other people worth noting are Brian Van Holt*** as one of the members of O’Brien’s team and Lewis Tan (who would be in Deadpool 2 a few months later) in a small role as one of the guards at the Federal Reserve. 

The action is great, particularly the big shootout in the third act. That sequence alone feels like the one in Heat at times, so it’s understandable that it would be one of the influences. 

There are genuine stakes during those scenes, and you know before anything happens that people on both sides are more than likely going to die. Sure enough, a lot of people die, innocent or not (even if they don’t always show it). 

That leads me to my next point. The sound design is a standout here. The third act is one where you want to make some noise. 

Further evidence of that comes with Cliff Martinez’s score and the editors, one of whom is Joel Cox, best known for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood, including the recently released Juror No. 2. 

Much like the thieves and their plans, you can also tell with the amount of detail and effort put into this movie that writer and director Christian Gudegast was passionate about getting it made and released. The direction is so solid that you wouldn’t know this had been in development for around 14 years, because you wouldn’t be able to tell. 

The script is pretty good, too. Even if some of the dialogue is typical of cop and robber characters, there are some great lines in this, particularly one during the interrogation scene with Donnie: “You’re not the bad guys. We are.” That line is so good it was basically the selling point in the trailer, and it’s just as satisfying in the movie. 

There are also some surprises here, the biggest of which sets up the second one in a really good way. 

What Didn’t Work: There is a small pacing issue in the middle, so they could’ve trimmed it down a bit. 

Some may find the aforementioned conveniences with the main heist to be too absurd for them, but they made sense for me. 

There is also a subplot that while I get why it was there, I don’t think it may have ultimately been needed. In fact, one could argue that it felt like something out of a different movie, and I would understand. 

There are occasional plot holes as well as somewhat predictable moments. 

In terms of issues, though, that’s really it for me. 

Overall: Den of Thieves is one of those movies where I hadn’t seen it since it came out, and there wasn’t a lot I had remembered from it because it had been so long, but then upon rewatching it, it ended up being better than I remembered. 

From the cast to the action, a lot of it ended up really working for me, though there is room for improvement in some areas. 

Even so, it’s a very entertaining action movie, and a solid crime thriller as well. I would go so far as to say I find this to be one of the better January movies. 

Starting this year, I’ll be adding a new section. Even though I’ve done this sort of thing before, starting here, it’ll be official. 

Where You Can Find It: At the time of this writing, you can find it on Max (through Prime Video or on the service itself), but if you want to watch it and then catch the second one while it’s in theaters, you have to do it within the next week, because after that, they’ll remove it. In terms of when they’ll bring it back, my best guess would be in time for the home media release. 

For alternative options, it seems to be popular on TBS and TNT, probably because of the timing with the release of the second one. 

Regardless of how or when you check it out, it’s definitely worth it. 

I would tease the next review, but it’s pretty obvious what it’ll be on this one. 

*It’ll take time for me to get to it, of course, but I do have Mufasa: The Lion King on the List, don’t worry. 

**I thought he did a pretty good job as Master Chief (at least in Season 1, I haven’t seen Season 2 yet). 

***The main reason I wanted to mention him was because he happened to be in the feature directorial debut of Jaume Collet-Serra (who just directed Carry-On, the subject of my previous review), which was the House of Wax remake in which he played two roles (yes, the same version with Paris Hilton). 

Thoughts on Carry-On (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

I know it’s been a little while (once again), but I had to get a Christmas review out before too long. 

Regardless, this marks another first, as it’ll be my first time covering a Netflix movie (or streaming release in general). 

Though they don’t always have the best quality product (particularly in terms of their original films), there have been exceptions, and this is one of them. 

I was interested in this not just because of the plot or setting, but because of the talent involved. 

Without further ado, let’s get to it, as I present my review of Carry-On. 

The story follows Ethan Kopek, a TSA officer working at LAX who is aspiring to become a cop. Since failing the academy, however, he has been disillusioned. 

On Christmas Eve, his girlfriend Nora encourages him to keep going. Despite that, Ethan gets his supervisor to assign him to baggage scanning, in the hopes that he can prove himself for a promotion. 

All seems normal enough, until at one point during his shift, he is given an earpiece, and then contacted by a ruthless mercenary who merely calls himself the Traveler. 

The Traveler then gives him an ultimatum: allow a case containing a deadly nerve agent to go through the scanner, or people start dying. 

What Worked: As simplistic as the plot is, it works for action thrillers like this. It’s really effective here, in fact. 

For a movie that’s just under 2 hours, it goes by at a very fast pace, like some of the best action thrillers, set at Christmas or otherwise. 

Some of them even come from the same director as this film, the underrated Jaume Collet-Serra*. 

For example, when this wasn’t reminding me of movies like Die Hard or Speed (the parallels are there, which I’ll get to later), this did remind me of Non-Stop a couple times. 

Now, I’m not knocking it for that, because it does feel almost like a throwback to 90s action movies, like the aforementioned Speed. 

Plus, with someone like him onboard (no pun intended), you can expect the sense of fun you’d get from watching those movies. If there’s one consistency with him, it’s that. 

He has one of the most varied filmographies you can see today. A lot of his work I’ve at least liked, but some of which I’ve loved, like The Shallows. 

I even really liked Jungle Cruise and enjoyed Black Adam.

He’s one of those directors today where whenever I hear what their next project is, I’m at least interested to see it, even if I’m not instantly hyped for it. 

Therefore, the plot had me intrigued, but his involvement is where it had my attention. 

Then when some of the cast was announced, my interest piqued even further. 

Our hero is played by Taron Egerton, who you may recognize from the Kingsman films or from his fantastic portrayal of Elton John in Rocketman. 

He’s one of those characters where he gets in over his head while just doing his job, and Egerton makes him so likable to where you root for him due to the sense of urgency on display. 

The most surprising aspect of the cast is the one credited last, so I’ll save him for last. 

Next up, we have Sofia Carson, who’s mostly known for family friendly projects from earlier on in her career, as Nora, and for her first big thriller**, she did a really good job here. 

Then we have Danielle Deadwyler (who had just recently garnered critical acclaim for her role in another Netflix film, The Piano Lesson) as Elena Cole, the detective investigating the weapon. 

Similarly to Carson, she’s mostly known for one genre, that being dramas in this case, but I still found her very convincing as a figure of higher authority, especially considering this is her first big action movie. However, aside from dramas, she has done thrillers and horror to a degree, and her next movie (where she’ll be working with Collet-Serra again) you could say is a bit of both. 

Speaking of actors who are convincing at playing figures of higher authority, we then get to someone who has a thing for doing it, as we have Dean Norris (who a lot of people recognize from Breaking Bad) as Ethan’s supervisor. 

When I say he has a thing for doing it, I’m not exaggerating. Most of his filmography consists of either cop or military roles. For evidence of that, he’s led a SWAT Team at least twice, technically three times if you count The One. 

It goes without saying that he’s good at it, and this is no exception, difference in authority type notwithstanding. 

The last two cast members that are most noteworthy are the ones that I had no idea were in this until I saw it, and didn’t even recognize them as I was watching it. 

The first is Theo Rossi (who was most recently seen on The Penguin), as the Watcher***, the Traveler’s partner who tracks Ethan’s every move to make sure he doesn’t make even a single wrong one. 

He’s definitely good at playing henchmen for the main villain, as evidenced by his role on Luke Cage. He’s one of those actors that when he has that role, he’s so unsettling doing it. 

The one that caught me off guard the most of the two was actually Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus, Spider-Man: Homecoming) as a Homeland Security agent who’s also part of the investigation. 

There were ultimately three reasons I knew I had to mention him, and I’ve already established the first two, the second being that he was in two movies I’ve previously covered. 

The third reason was that he happens to be in one movie that I’ve been eager to cover since it came out, but just haven’t yet****. 

Now for perhaps the biggest surprise of them all. He’s mainly known for playing it straight, with either a know-it-all or constantly stressed demeanor, but with a deadpan way of going about it. 

He doesn’t just play it straight here, it’s completely serious. 

For the Traveler himself, we get Jason Bateman going against type. His performance and the character are actually all the better for it. 

This is a cold and calculated villain who will not let anyone get in his way. When they do, he doesn’t hesitate to have them taken out, even when he has to do it himself. 

He’s almost always one step ahead, and you’re tense the whole way to see how Ethan’s going to figure a way out of his situation. 

There are times where you do see him, and he’s great in those scenes, yet I thought the most effective parts of his performance were when you were just hearing him. 

He and Taron Egerton both had the best performances to me. 

Now for the technical aspects. 

The script, while not perfect, is decent enough on its own, as you can tell effort was put into it to combine the advice he was given on TSA guidelines with creative liberties taken for the sake of the narrative. 

I will say this regarding it: It does have characters making largely smart and sometimes even clever decisions. 

Lorne Balfe’s score, while not one of his best, is still pretty good. Even the song choices work for the most part. 

The action, though, is where it really delivers, particularly in the third act. 

For a PG-13 rating, there are some moments where it does get relatively graphic, but not to where it’s pushing the rating to its absolute limit (like to where it’s about to push over into an R). It’s just enough to show that there are consequences for every decision you do or don’t make. 

What Didn’t Work: Going back to the script, its faults are not just the parallels to movies like Die Hard or Speed, which I’ll get to momentarily. 

For example, there are small amounts of humor. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t. 

The same can be said for the song choices to an extent. As previously stated, they work for the most part. 

There is one where it felt like it was meant to be played for laughs (“Last Christmas” by George Michael), and yet it feels so out of place in that scene. 

It’s played during a scene with two characters in a car. It starts with something that I won’t spoil, it leads to a fight in the car, and then the car crashes, and the song is playing throughout that whole moment. 

Not only is it not subtle at all, it feels unintentionally hilarious. I’m not exaggerating here, either, when I say this has one of the fakest looking car crashes I’ve ever seen in a movie. I thought the one from In Time was bad, and I’m still going back and forth on whether this is close to that. In regards to topping it, though, I’d say not quite. 

Aside from that, what effects they do have are at least decent. 

Now for my two biggest issues (besides the obvious). 

The first is there are some plot holes in here. There are a couple of examples I can give without giving too much away. 

1: Whenever the villains take people out, not once do they get caught or found out. There would be security cameras everywhere. 

And 2: Not once do they consider the option of tracing the Traveler’s own calls. It is true that Ethan would disobey his orders by contacting them himself, which he does try to do a couple times, but it’s also possible for the authorities to trace his calls and Ethan still would not need to do anything.

My point is this: The villains were good enough with the material provided, but the material itself could’ve been stronger. 

Then again, we probably wouldn’t have a movie if they considered everything. Plus, even the movies this is meant to be a throwback to have those aspects to them. 

My other issue is that there are some points that are very predictable, including the Traveler’s motivation, ultimately. 

Now we get to the elephant in the room… the parallels. 

Though this is trying to be its own thing, and it largely is, there’s no way around noticing parallels to those other movies, particularly Speed and of course Die Hard. 

With Die Hard, the Christmas setting is a given. Ethan is a bit like John McClane, and Nora is his wife Holly. Elena Cole is basically Sergeant Al Powell to where both come in halfway into the movie. In a way, it has some parallels to Die Hard 2 as well, mainly with being set at an airport on Christmas Eve. 

With Speed, Ethan’s more like Jack Traven than John McClane in that he’s younger. The villain directly talks to the hero with specific instructions. He has a weapon at his disposal that can cause significant damage. 

With both, they’re good men who are both good at their jobs and just want to help, but they’re caught in a situation they have to figure a way out of without getting themselves or others killed. 

I could go on, but we’d be here all day if not longer. Plus, I’m trying to keep spoilers to a minimum. 

I will finish with this one, though: They all conclude in satisfying ways. 

Overall: With a solid cast, particularly Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman being a surprisingly good villain, Carry-On, while not the least bit original, does have enough going for it throughout its runtime that it’s still very entertaining for a Netflix movie, especially for those looking for something to watch for Christmas or even New Year’s. 

It has engaging yet occasionally elaborate sequences, and a constant sense of tension, thanks to an equally solid director and a decent enough script to still make it all work. 

Even with the amount of problems I had with it, especially the parallels to other movies, as blatantly obvious as they were, they weren’t distracting me from enjoying the movie on its own. 

In fact, I had a fun enough time watching it to where after I finished it, I was thinking that if it weren’t for the competition that would’ve come its way (particularly with the likes of Mufasa and Sonic), it might’ve had a chance of doing well had it been released in theaters. With a $47 million budget, which is very modest even today, a theatrical release could’ve drawn more attention to it. 

Even without that, though, how it performed seemed to have done that enough for being released on streaming, earning more views in the week of its debut on Netflix than any of their other movies released this year. I would say it justified that, because of just how fun it is. 

I considered having my next review be the one I would’ve done after Van Helsing, but I’ll more than likely have to hold off on that, so we’ll have to wait and see what it’ll actually be. 

For now, though: 

We had a better year

Where entertainment could thrive

So I hope to see you here

In 2025. 

*I believe it’s pronounced “Jah-muh” (I’d heard different ones for years, but it wasn’t until when Black Adam was coming out that I had heard what seemed to be the official one). As soon as I had an opportunity to start covering his movies, I knew I had to address that. 

**The last movie she was in that I was even aware of was 2020’s Songbird, which, despite having a bigger cast, was slammed by critics for not taking advantage of the established premise. 

Spoiler Alert: It came out during (and was based on) the most recent time where the world went to Hell. Those who have been following the site long enough will immediately know where I’m going with this, so I don’t need to say anything else. 

***Insert What If…? jokes here.

****Its director also happens to have a movie about to come out. I’ll put it this way: He saved one of Universal’s most iconic properties from itself by putting his own spin on it. Hopefully, he’ll end up pulling that off twice. Basically, that’s two or three shameless plugs in one review.

Thoughts on Van Helsing (2004)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

I know I’ve been absent for some time now (again), but I was determined to come back for my Halloween review, and after some consideration, I decided to settle on this one. 

It celebrated its 20th Anniversary earlier in the year (the same day as the 25th Anniversary of a previous project from the same director), so I figured why not do it for Halloween. 

As I hinted at in my previous review, this is a tribute to a more well known portion of Universal’s catalog. 

Any horror fans or fellow film enthusiasts will immediately get where I’m going with this. 

This serves as a tribute to their era of classic monsters, some of which show up here (namely vampires, werewolves, and mad scientists and their experiments). 

Folks, we’re going monster hunting with Wol- I mean Hugh Jackman, as I present my review of Van Helsing. 

The story follows Gabriel Van Helsing as he goes about on his mission of eliminating evil from the world on behalf of the Vatican*. 

After encountering Mr. Hyde in Paris, he is assigned to protect the last two surviving members of a gypsy family** from Count Dracula and kill him before he can kill them. If he does, they will forever be in Purgatory. 

Not only that, he also seeks world domination. 

However, to do that, he has thousands of undead offspring that can only be brought to life through experiments formerly conducted by Dr. Victor Frankenstein, thereby making Frankenstein’s Monster the key to achieving his goal. 

What Worked: The cast largely give solid performances (the biggest exception I’ll get to momentarily). 

Hugh Jackman has some of the charm he brought to Wolverine here, particularly with some of the banter he has with his companion***, a friar named Carl (played by David Wenham, who had just appeared in The Lord of the Rings and would gain further recognition upon appearing in 300). 

It does feel like some of the exchanges you’d hear between James Bond and Q (fitting, because Hugh was apparently in the running to take over from Pierce Brosnan at the time). However, that’s an aspect of another issue I’ll get to later. 

Kate Beckinsale seems to be having fun with the material as Princess Anna, especially considering she was able to fight vampires and werewolves again so soon after Underworld came out. 

Will Kemp, who plays her brother, Prince Velkan, also gets some good moments (most of which I can’t spoil due to a huge plot point). 

There are two performances that genuinely stand out. 

The first is David Wenham as Carl, who is the comic relief character. He doesn’t make jokes for the sake of making jokes, he does them at times where it fits the character.  

It’s also mostly banter between him and other characters, which is where it’s most effective. 

The best performance in the movie comes from Shuler Hensley as Frankenstein’s Monster. He has a genuine motivation, and is the most sympathetic character. 

It’s worth noting that he also served as the body double for Mr. Hyde for the sequences with him (accompanied by the vocal talents of Robbie Coltrane). 

Speaking of that, the technical aspects are where this movie makes up for its shortcomings. 

There are a lot of fun action sequences (especially considering Chad Stahelski and David Leitch contributed to the stunt work here), but the production design, cinematography, and score hold up the most. 

Most of the effects have aged well, and it also helps that Industrial Light & Magic was the main effects house utilized. I do also appreciate that they went practical whenever they could by using techniques like makeup and miniatures.

When it comes to the production design and cinematography, this movie is visually stunning, particularly the opening, which is shot in black and white. 

The score, though, is one of the best parts, and it’s also among the best work of one of my favorite composers, Alan Silvestri. 

It’s also largely consistent in terms of pacing. 

What Didn’t Work: I’ll get my biggest issue out of the way first (well, one of them). 

Richard Roxburgh is a good actor when given the right material. This was during the time when he was given the weakest scripts to work with. It started with Mission: Impossible II and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen****, and then he went from this to Stealth, which an argument could be made had the worst dialogue of them all for him. 

While I am saying this is better than his performance in Stealth, the majority of his performance here as Count Dracula is unintentionally hilarious. 

His delivery here is so laughably bad that you could put Nicolas Cage (who would later end up playing Dracula in Renfield) or Tommy Wiseau in his spot, and it wouldn’t make a difference. 

I will give his version this: How he shows up in the third act is awesome, and I do appreciate that they saved showing it for that. 

His brides (one of whom is played by Elena Anaya, who you may recognize as Doctor Poison from Wonder Woman) are hardly given anything to do except attack people and die. 

When it comes to the effects that haven’t aged well, those in two of the three brides’ death scenes really have not. They’ve aged so poorly that I can’t decide whether or not they’re worse than the dated effects in the original Blade. The same goes for the look of the offspring when they show up. 

I can say that they’ve aged better than the look of the Scorpion King at the end of The Mummy Returns, but only slightly. 

The worst effect, though, is actually at the very end of the movie. 

Going back to most of the characters, they’re among the bigger casualties of the script. The brides, Anna, and Velkan barely have anything to do. 

Though I do admire that Stephen Sommers wanted to show respect to a beloved era from Universal’s history while also putting his own spin on it, it doesn’t completely show. 

As I just stated, the script is one of the biggest reasons why. Not only are the characters largely sidelined from a narrative perspective, but there are also two other things that drag the movie down. 

The first is a thing he has a habit of doing, which is over-exposition. He tells more than he shows. There are times where you really notice it, like when Van Helsing is sent to find Anna and Velkan. 

The second is a result of that, which is the fact that there are big plot holes here. 

For example, in that same scene, he’s being told the purpose of his superiors, which is information he should already know. 

This is also an example of the fact that one of two things needed to happen. This could’ve benefitted more from having a cowriter or bring someone in for rewrites to punch it up. 

His direction is fine, and I do like his sense of scale. 

However, as a result of that, there is one other big issue that I have, and he also tends to do this: The runtime. 

At 2 hours and 11 minutes, it does feel a bit long. I did feel the length a couple times. 

Overall: While it does have its share of problems (and it may have sounded like I hate this movie, which I don’t), Van Helsing does also have a lot going for it. 

It has a solid cast, very fun action, effects that largely hold up, excellent production value, a phenomenal score, and decent pacing, which make up for the weaker effects and the narrative and script setbacks.  

To be fair, there’s really two ways you can view this movie, and I’ve just provided the objective version for review purposes. There’s also the subjective version, which is looking at it from the perspective of viewing it as an over the top, campy, fun monster movie (and which works better, and mainly how I saw it). 

In fact, there’s one movie I very much view from that mindset, which I hope to cover pretty soon. 

In closing, while I don’t love this movie as much as some others do, I do appreciate what it set out to do, and it largely does succeed at that. 

There are people who view this as a Guilty Pleasure movie, and to a degree, it is, I just don’t have as big of an attachment to it. 

If you can forgive the tricks that are thrown your way here (and I can), then the movie itself is a treat to watch, and I ultimately still found it to be an at least decent choice for this year’s October review. 

Next time, we’ll look at a Halloween movie that’s a bit more recent, and features someone who has also fought Count Dracula… once I’ve put up my Christmas review.

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

*In a manner of speaking, unlike Charlie Sheen, he’s an actual Vatican assassin. 

**Ironically enough, one of the other movies I had considered also involved a gypsy at the center of the conflict. 

***I almost said “sidekick,” but then I realized I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of an F-bomb from Bela Lugosi. 

****That, from what I’ve heard, has similar issues to this.

Thoughts on The Fall Guy (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

For this review, we go into the subject of what is actually a first on here: An adaptation of a TV show. 

Not only that, this serves as a love letter to a division of Hollywood that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition: stunts. 

This comes to us from David Leitch, a former stuntman turned director. He made a name for himself by co-directing the original John Wick (though only Chad Stahelski received credit). He then made his solo debut with Atomic Blonde, which happened to be the subject of one of my earliest reviews. 

He followed that up by taking over for Tim Miller as director for Deadpool 2, and directing the Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw as well as Bullet Train (from which one cast member appears here, but more on that later). 

Now here he is directing an adaptation of an 80s TV show that happens to focus on the profession he started in. 

Folks, grab your crash pads, air bags, fireproof suits, or really any stunt gear you can find, as I present my review of The Fall Guy. 

The story here follows Ryan Gosling’s character Colt Seavers, who has been the longtime stunt double for renowned action star Tom Ryder (played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson). 

After a stunt goes wrong, Colt is left with severe injuries, and he leaves both his career and girlfriend, camerawoman Jody Moreno (played by Emily Blunt), behind. 

Flash forward 18 months, and Colt is now working as a valet, while Jody is working on her directorial debut. Colt gets a call from the producer that Jody wants him, only to find out that she’s still mad with him. 

He is then informed that he was brought in because Tom has gone missing, despite being the lead actor for the movie. 

With Jody’s film (and possibly her career) on the line, Colt sets out to make things right, no matter how many crazy shenanigans may come his way. 

What Worked: Even for an action comedy, this has one of the best casts I’ve seen so far this year. 

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have great chemistry, and despite mounting pressure, you want everything to work out for them. 

Aaron Taylor-Johnson gives another great performance, despite not being in the movie as much. 

The supporting cast, though, had some of the bigger highlights for me. 

I really liked Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once*) as Tom’s assistant Alma, and Hannah Waddingham as Gail, the producer of Jody’s movie, I thought was hilarious**. 

The biggest surprise (and a welcome one at that) was actually Teresa Palmer as Tom’s girlfriend and costar. I didn’t realize that was her until I saw her name in the credits, and this ended up being the first movie I’ve seen her in since Hacksaw Ridge.  

As for my favorite performance in the movie, the best one to me was Winston Duke (Us, Black Panther) as Colt’s best friend Dan, who’s the stunt coordinator. 

Not only is he hilarious, but he also has a lot of charisma. 

David Leitch’s direction here puts this at least on par with Bullet Train as his best-directed movie so far, and I’ve at least really liked all of his movies, and even loved some of them. 

It’s also benefited by the excellent cinematography from Jonathan Sela, who’s worked with David Leitch ever since he co-directed the original John Wick. 

The stunts themselves, the biggest selling point of the movie, are very impressive. 

They even set a Guinness World Record, which is actually addressed at one point in the movie that I’ll get to later (and don’t worry, it’s not a spoiler). 

Drew Pearce’s script is also very solid, and really funny, particularly with the references and the meta jokes***. 

I’m glad they didn’t go too on the nose and have a psychotic studio executive (like in Tropic Thunder) or a CEO who wouldn’t know a megaphone from a saxophone. I felt they very easily could’ve done that, and I actually appreciated that they didn’t. 

What Didn’t Work: I really only have two issues, and they’re more like nitpicks. 

The main one is that some plot points are predictable, but the other one is that it’s 2 hours and 6 minutes, and I felt they could’ve shortened it a little bit. 

However, they didn’t bother me that much. 

Overall: The Fall Guy is the perfect kind of movie to kick off the Summer Movie Season. It promises a fun time, and it absolutely delivers, and then some, particularly for action fans or just film fans in general. 

It still delivers for general audience members, even if not as many turned up for it as expected (and I’ll get to that in a moment), and even if they don’t automatically get all of the references and jokes. 

With great performances, solid direction, writing, and cinematography, and some of the best stunt work you can see right now (and fittingly enough, in a movie about stunts), it serves as a love letter to those who risk their lives for our entertainment. 

Not only that, it also serves as a call to action for the higher-ups in the industry they serve to give them bigger recognition. As it is, and right now continues to be, they don’t get nearly enough. Action fans, and film fans in general, have been clamoring for this for years, and it continues to be long overdue. 

If the first half of the credits (where they show a behind the scenes montage of how they did the stunts in this, and even mention the record they set) does not convince them enough, I and so many others at this point more than likely don’t know what will.

The Summer Movie Season kicked off with a bang with this movie, at least from a critical standpoint. 

From a financial standpoint, though, not so much. 

Even though it opened atop the box office, it still underperformed (so basically, it’s bombing), and it recently arrived on Digital due to how Universal’s release policy works now. If one of their movies doesn’t open to at least $50 million, they release it on Digital two weeks later. This opened to a little over half. 

It really is a shame, so if it’s still in a theater in your area, I would say go check it out. 

Even if you want to just check it out on Digital, or wait for streaming or physical media, regardless of how and when you see it, this deserves way more attention than it’s gotten. 

Be sure to stay through at least the first half of the credits, as there is also a hilarious mid-credits scene. 

Next time, we go from a tribute to stunts to a tribute to something a little more well-known from Universal’s catalog. 

*Let’s just say I have a lot to go into on certain aspects of that. Some of them I considered mentioning here in the Side Notes, but they ultimately would’ve distracted from the review already in progress. 

**She’s also getting more work, as she was just in The Garfield Movie (which has now come out, since this review was so late) and she’s about to be in the next Mission: Impossible film (which has its own share of problems going on (including the title, which shouldn’t have been one to begin with), but I digress). 

***That’s another way of saying self-aware or self-referential. It’s the type of humor that Scream in particular is known for. Basically, it’s the type of humor that’s just short of breaking the fourth wall like Deadpool is known for. They don’t stop the movie to make a joke like he would, and then go back to the narrative. It’s not like that, as there is a difference. 

Thoughts on Dune: Part Two (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. 

In the previous review, we looked at the first part of a modern adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert, which may have influenced Hollywood to take us to a galaxy far, far away. 

For this review, we’ll be looking at the second, which not only expands on the world established in the first movie, but it also gives you more of what you wanted from the first movie. 

Part One focused on the world-building, with some action here and there, but this has more of the epic scale and especially more action. 

Folks, we go back to the sands of Arrakis, as I present my review of Dune: Part Two. 

Before I get started, I have to provide a warning. 

While I will do my best to not give too much away in reviewing Part Two, in order to provide proper context, I will have to go into some spoilers for Part One. 

Therefore, if you haven’t seen Part One, go watch it, read my review of it, and then come back. 

For those who have done so already, and want to jump right in, let’s get started. 

Picking up right where Part One left off, Paul Atreides has joined with the native Fremen with the intent of helping them take back Arrakis. In order to do so, he must learn their ways, from how they speak and move to riding the Sandworms… all while on his own personal quest for vengeance against the Harkonnens for wiping out his family. 

He is also still having visions, though they’re even darker than before, yet are all part of a greater prophecy. 

Meanwhile, Lady Jessica has become the new Reverend Mother for the Fremen, and sets out to convince the more skeptical side that the prophecy is true. 

While all that’s going on, the Harkonnens are losing their grip on the spice fields, so the Baron chooses his younger nephew Feyd-Rautha to take over from his older nephew Rabban. 

However, they may not be the only threat standing in everyone’s way. 

What Worked: As I stated last time, the performances are top-notch across the board. Even the new additions get time to shine, but I’ll get to them momentarily. 

The returning cast (basically everyone who survived the last movie*) all get great moments and some character development that I didn’t see coming. 

It takes time for some to show up, but when they come in, they’re used in very satisfying ways. A great example is when Josh Brolin’s character, Gurney Halleck, comes in. There’s even some humor to that moment. 

Speaking of humor, there’s a lot more of it in this one compared to Part One. The majority of it comes from Stilgar, portrayed again by Javier Bardem. 

In my review of Part One, I said that he was basically an extended cameo. I also meant to mention that he was pretty much playing it straight whenever he was in it. 

In Part Two, he has much more to do, and the humor that does come from him is mainly deadpan, though there are times where he does show expressions. I was really surprised how much it was actually effective. 

Chani definitely has more to do, because she has a much bigger role in the story this time. Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet have fantastic chemistry with each other, and you really want things to work out for them. 

You also get more character development from Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica and Charlotte Rampling as Gaius Helen Mohiam (the Reverend Mother of the Bene Gesserit who tested Paul)**. 

If you thought the Baron and Rabban were despicable in Part One, even more so here. Stellan Skarsgård and Dave Bautista (especially the latter) are unsettling in this one. 

Shockingly, the most unsettling performance comes from one of the new additions, and he was the biggest standout for me. 

Austin Butler (yes, the very same one who played Elvis) comes in as the Baron’s youngest nephew, Feyd-Rautha. 

To say he is intimidating is an understatement. He’s that and so much more. He’s vicious, he’s brutal, and he is scary. Not only that, he is unrecognizable. 

He’s basically the sci-fi equivalent of Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight. Ironically enough, that was one of the influences, and while watching the movie, it’s easy to see why. 

He stood out so much in this movie that it’ll be difficult for any other villain to top him as the Best Villain of the Year. 

Now for the rest of the new additions. 

First we have Christopher Walken as Emperor Shaddam IV, who rules both the Known Universe and House Corrino, which was at least mentioned in Part One. He is fantastic here, and it surprised me how he played it completely straight rather than over the top like he usually does. 

Then we have Florence Pugh as his daughter, Princess Irulan, and Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring, another Bene Gesserit character who’s brought in when we first meet Feyd-Rautha. 

They’re both excellent… for the time they’re in it, and I’ll get more into that later. 

In the meantime, I’ll go into the technical aspects. 

Although the world-building was largely used for Part One, there is some expansion done, and I really appreciated how some of the storytelling that was mentioned there is actually shown here. For example, the parts with the Emperor and House Corrino, they were mostly mentioned by name, and this time we actually see them. 

The parts that were not mentioned in Part One were saved for Part Two, and I did also appreciate that sense of balance that comes from that. You mention and show some parts and then save others for later. If you want to bring a story with such an epic scale to life, that’s how you do it. 

Speaking of which, the epic scale in Part One was merely a taste of what was to come. It’s on full display in Part Two, particularly with the visual effects, the direction from Denis Villeneuve and the cinematography from Greig Fraser. 

It shows in the action, and there’s much more of it here, particularly in the third act. 

The big fight between Paul and Feyd-Rautha alone is worth the price of admission. You’ll be on the edge of your seat for that whole fight. 

The thing most noteworthy about that fight goes to show how epic a moment it is. The same thing was done in the first encounter between Batman and Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, for example. 

Listen for this when you see it if you haven’t already. 

The moment the fight starts to the moment it ends, there is no music. The only sounds you hear are of them trying to kill each other. That’s it. 

That scene is therefore also evident that the sound design throughout the whole movie is handled way better than it was in Part One, probably because there was a lot more action. It’s also paced way better.  

The visual effects, direction, and cinematography make for some gorgeous shots in this. Other than the third act, whenever we go to different worlds like Corrino and especially Giedi Prime (the Harkonnen homeworld), it really stands out. 

The score even benefits this time. 

Last time, my biggest issue was with the score, where within the movie, it was so overwhelming at times to where you could barely hear the dialogue, especially with the background vocals. 

Thankfully, the background vocals are dialed back this time. They’re still there, of course, but they’re not nearly as loud. 

The track that’s used more prominently is actually the love theme for Paul and Chani, which they even play in the credits. 

The last thing I wanted to mention that really impressed me is how they managed to tackle two otherwise very touchy subjects, one of which was even difficult for me in my Escape From New York review. 

It tackles politics and religion, and it’s actually interesting and makes sense within the context of the movie.  

What Didn’t Work: I really only have one minor issue here. 

I briefly mentioned Florence Pugh and Léa Seydoux, and even Christopher Walken, and that’s because as great as all of them are in this movie, they’re barely in it. 

It’s the same issue with Chani and Stilgar in Part One. Princess Irulan, Lady Margot, and the Emperor are barely in this. 

If this was to build them up for the adaptation of Dune Messiah that Denis wants to do, I can understand that. 

As it is right now, with how successful these adaptations have been so far, particularly this one, only time will tell when we’ll be able to know for sure. 

Overall: As excellent as Part One was, Dune: Part Two not only expands upon what it established, but improves upon it in practically every way. 

Whether you liked Part One or not, Part Two is still a more satisfying experience, so hopefully you’ll get some enjoyment out of it. 

It gives you more of what you wanted from Part One, and then some. 

With the best cast, the best direction, the best visual effects, the best action (really the best of everything) so far this year, Dune: Part Two is the definition of an epic sci-fi blockbuster, and you should see it as soon as you can.

I would recommend watching Part One before you see Part Two, because it makes it even more satisfying. 

Of course, I highly recommend seeing this on the biggest screen you can, but if you’re unable to see it in theaters and have to wait to see it at home, the only advice I could give is to make sure you have the best quality TV and sound system. It’s one of those movies you watch for when you want to really make some noise. It’s made for that. 

After this movie, Denis Villeneuve wants to do one more movie, which is an adaptation of the second book, Dune Messiah, but he wants to wait until the right time to do it.  

With how popular this is, people want to see more, and I’ll just say this: Take all the time you need, and then bring it all home. 

Next time, we go from a modern book adaptation to a new TV adaptation. 

*Well, almost everyone. There was one cast member that (along with one new addition, that being Tim Blake Nelson) filmed scenes, but they ended up being cut. 

As for who the missing returning cast member is, I’ll just say this. He’s in a movie I’m looking forward to talking about once it comes out in a few weeks, so I’ll mention him there. 

**I didn’t mention her last time because I knew she would have more significance here. 

Thoughts on Dune (2021)

Image courtesy of hdqwalls.com

Hello, everyone.

For this review, we’ll be looking at the first part of a modern adaptation of the classic sci-fi novel by Frank Herbert.

It was so influential, in fact, that an argument could be made that it inspired Hollywood to take us to a galaxy far, far away.

Folks, get ready for a modern epic (even more so in the next review), as I present my review of Dune*.

The story is set far into the future, where for the longest time, the brutal House Harkonnen has been controlling the desert planet known as Arrakis. The planet is home to a resource called “Spice”, which allows for quick and safe travel through space.

One day, the Emperor appoints Duke Leto Atreides, the ruler of House Atreides, to take over for Baron Vladimir Harkonnen.

Leto accepts, finding more benefit in having full control over Arrakis and having its natives, the Fremen, on their side.

Unbeknownst to him, the Emperor has lured him into a trap.

Meanwhile, Leto’s son Paul has been having horrifying visions of the future, and not only does the only way to conquer his fear lie on Arrakis, but also something greater he doesn’t yet fully understand.

What Worked: The performances are top notch across the board.

Timothée Chalamet shows how vulnerable Paul really is without going into over the top territory. It may seem subdued, sure, but you do still get that sense of vulnerability and overwhelming responsibility that lies ahead of him.

His father understands that feeling, and Oscar Isaac does a great job selling that.

The same is true for Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Paul’s mother. When you also factor in that she’s a member of a group that has very powerful mental capabilities, she feels the most vulnerable out of anyone in House Atreides.

For the heroes, the best performances in the movie for me were actually Paul’s mentors, Gurney Halleck and Duncan Idaho, played respectively by Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa.

Duncan in particular gets some great moments, and with the small amount of humor here, most of it comes from him.

For the villains, we have three major members here, and I’ll go from the one with the least screentime and work my way up.

We have David Dastmalchian (who’s getting even bigger now; he even had a small role in Oppenheimer last year) as Piter De Vries, their Mentat**. He’s unrecognizable when you see him, and he is very unsettling.

Then we have Dave Bautista as Glossu Rabban, the Baron’s nephew. He’s the most brutal one, and not just because it’s him in the role, but this is Dave’s best performance outside of Guardians of the Galaxy (yes, even more so than something like Knock at the Cabin, and he was great in that).

Now we get to the Baron himself. Not only is this Stellan Skarsgård’s best performance in years, but the Baron is one of the coldest, most calculating villains in a long time.

Just his voice alone will unnerve you.

He was one of the best performances in the movie in general for me.

Now we get to the technical aspects.

Even though this is half a story, the storytelling we do get is very effective. It establishes the lore that Frank Herbert created (and his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson later expanded upon following his passing), and it provides a sense of world-building on such an epic scale. I always appreciate when movies go the extra mile to do that, whether they’re adaptations (examples of that being this and The Lord of the Rings) or not (examples of that being Star Wars (the Original Trilogy), The Matrix, and John Wick).

Speaking of Star Wars, there are some parallels in here, but given the fact that Frank Herbert’s novel was a huge inspiration, it makes sense for them to be there. Some would even argue that this is the modern day equivalent of what the Original Trilogy was then.

You can also tell that director Denis Villeneuve had passion in making this movie, as he was a huge fan of the book and this was always a dream of his when he became a filmmaker.

The same can be said for Hans Zimmer in providing the score. Being a huge fan of the book as well, when he heard about this adaptation, he jumped at the opportunity to do it.

On its own, the score is really good. In the movie itself, it works for the aforementioned epic scale, but there’s an issue with it that I’ll get to momentarily.

The last two technical aspects to talk about basically go hand-in-hand with each other: The visual effects and the cinematography by Greig Fraser.

With all the recognition it got at the Oscars that year (10 Nominations (including Best Picture) and 6 Wins), those two awards were rightfully earned, and Best Visual Effects in particular usually has some stiff competition***.

As much as I loved all of the competition it had as well, I understand them giving Best Visual Effects to this (even more so now upon rewatching it to get ready for Part Two).

These effects and the cinematography make the scale feel even more epic than it already is.

Ever since he shot Rogue One, Greig Fraser is proving himself to be among the best cinematographers working today. He’s also shown that in TV as well, as following Rogue One, he worked on three episodes of the first season of The Mandalorian, including the pilot.

Then following that, he did this, won an Oscar, and did even bigger projects.

What Didn’t Work: While I do still really like this first part of a two-part story, I do also have some issues with it.

For one thing, there’s a pacing issue here and there, but because world-building is a key aspect of this first part, I understand that there might be more downtime and quiet moments than action.

That is the case here, so there’s a sense of imbalance from a narrative perspective.

Some characters are also not given much to do, the biggest examples being Javier Bardem’s character Stilgar, who leads the Fremen tribe, and Zendaya’s character Chani, who Paul has also been seeing in his visions.

With someone like Javier Bardem, you’d think he’d have a big part in the movie. You’d also think that with how big of a personality Zendaya is now, she would have one of the most significant parts in the movie. Then you see the movie, and they’re barely in it.

Stilgar is basically an extended cameo, and Chani is only in the movie for seven minutes.

My biggest issue with the movie, though, is actually with the score.

As legendary a composer as Hans Zimmer is, my problem with the score here is that it can be so overwhelming at times to where you can barely hear the dialogue, especially with the background vocals.

Though I stated it’s fine listening to it on its own, it’s regarding that aspect of it.

Within the movie, though, aside from it being occasionally overwhelming, it does work for the type of movie it is, and the last time the main theme was used was effective for me.

It was used properly there, in that it gets you excited to see more.

Overall: Dune does for epic sci-fi what The Lord of the Rings did for epic fantasy. It takes its time with world-building, gives you a compelling narrative and equally compelling characters brought to life through fantastic performances.

It’s gorgeously shot, and has some of the best visual effects in recent memory.

Though it is lacking in the action department, and some characters are sidelined, the dedication to properly translating such a legendary novel is very much on display, even if this only covers the first half of it.

Speaking of that, I also give them credit for not outright greenlighting Part Two to capitalize on the decade-old trend of adapting one book across two movies. They waited until they were able to ensure they could, and then once they knew it was successful enough, they did.

This made people excited to see more, and then almost three years later, they got it.

Next time, the Spice will continue to flow.

*Yes, I know there was an adaptation in 1984 by David Lynch, and I’m sure there are some who want me to cover that, and some who prefer sticking to this newer version.

I’ve seen parts of it before, and what I saw didn’t really do much for me at the time.

However, after having seen the whole story for this new version, I’m slightly interested to check it out (slightly being the key word here).

**In the Dune universe, they’re basically human computers, as actual machines (computers, robots, AI, or what have you) have been forbidden ever since a machine uprising happened.

If that sounds familiar, let’s just say that it’s in something that started in 1984. I hope to at least start covering that pretty soon, if not still at some point this year.

***And also, keep this in mind: Its competition was Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Thoughts on Escape From New York (1981)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

For this review, I cover the subject of my first Flashback Cinema Screening of the year, and I picked a great one to start with.

This comes to us from John Carpenter, and has Kurt Russell as one of the most iconic action heroes of the 80s* with a very straightforward plot.

For those reasons alone, I had been interested to see this one for a long time, and when I heard it was being shown in my area, I knew I had to go see it.

Folks, for the second review in a row, we’re going to a very contained space, except the people here are more dangerous.

Thankfully, we have a badass hero to help us out, as I present my review of Escape From New York.

In 1988, while fighting against a collaboration of the Chinese and the Soviets, the U.S. government turns Manhattan into a maximum security prison in the hopes of also combatting the 400% rise of crime.

Once you get in, you can’t get out, as not only is the island walled off, but it is also heavily guarded.

Flash forward to 1997. The President is being flown to a peace summit when Air Force One is hijacked.

With a briefcase cuffed to his wrist, he is put into an escape pod that lands in Manhattan as the plane crashes.

After the crash, police are sent in for a rescue attempt. Unfortunately, they are warned that the Duke of New York has captured him and will kill him if they try any further attempts.

Meanwhile, ex-Special Forces Lieutenant Snake Plissken is actually about to be sent to the island for robbing the Federal Reserve.

However, Police Commissioner Bob Hauk gives him an offer: Successfully rescue the President within 24 hours and he will be granted a presidential pardon.

What Worked: In addition to Kurt Russell, you have a great supporting cast. You have Lee Van Cleef as Hauk, and it’s surprising to not have him as a villain, as he commonly portrayed villains, particularly in Westerns.

You also have Ernest Borgnine (yes, Mermaid Man himself is in this) as a taxi driver named “Cabbie,” who was not only funny, but I also thought he was the best character in the movie.

Then there’s the Duke, who is an excellent villain brought to life through an equally excellent performance from Isaac Hayes**. Though Cabbie was the best character for me, Isaac Hayes was the best performance for me. He’s awesome in this movie.

Though he’s not in it as much, Harry Dean Stanton (who you may remember as Brett from Alien) is really good as “Brain,” the Duke’s adviser who once worked with Snake.

We also have several actors who would collaborate with Carpenter in some capacity.

The ones most noteworthy are Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog) as Brain’s girlfriend Maggie, Charles Cyphers (Sheriff Brackett from Halloween) as the Secretary of State, and the two biggest ones who also worked with him on Halloween: Donald Pleasence (Dr. Sam Loomis) as the President and, though uncredited, Jamie Lee Curtis (who provides the narration that opens the movie).

Donald Pleasence was another big standout for me. As iconic as Loomis is, he’s still great here.

Now for the technical aspects.

It goes without saying that John Carpenter’s direction is excellent. The same can also be said for the very tight script that he cowrote with Nick Castle (the original Michael Myers himself), and the cinematography by Dean Cundey, who also shot Halloween.

The things that stand out the most, though, are the score (composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, who worked on the Halloween franchise even after Carpenter left), the sound design, and the production design. They all really enhance the action. Then when the theme kicks on to close out the movie, it makes the experience all the more satisfying. In fact, the theme stood out so much that it was still playing in my head even as I wrote the review.

It might be one of my new favorite 80s action themes now, it’s that good.

The sound design is really good, especially in the second half. It stands out most in a scene where Snake has to fight in a death match with one of the Duke’s men, and then in the third act where it goes pretty much all out.

The production design in particular holds up very well. For a movie that cost 6 million, it looks like at least 20 million, which ironically enough, is around how much it’d be worth now.

It may look like New York, but for the majority of the movie, it’s actually miniatures and matte paintings***. When you see the streets and bridges, though, it’s in different areas.

They even had to improvise for the displays of the environments to keep it within the budget. Rather than using computers, they still found a way to do it practically.

What Didn’t Work: Granted, these may be nitpicks, but at the same time, they can’t go unaddressed, either.

I’ll get the biggest one out of the way first. While as a whole, the movie itself does hold up, you still can’t help but acknowledge how it’s a product of the time. For example, the plot itself is absurd and of course it totally would not happen. However, 80s and 90s action movies had a thing for that, and I knew that going in, being so accustomed to seeing that.

You also can’t help but notice a couple real world parallels, one of which is political. Now, I hardly delve into politics in movies unless either: A: It’s a political thriller, B: It has political satire, or C: It’s based on real world political events, true story or not. Other than that, I don’t touch it at all.

This is a rare case of that third exception. John Carpenter’s script first came about in the aftermath of Watergate, and on occasion, you can tell, and yet the movie around it is still entertaining. As long as you do it like that, then I’m fine with it.

The other parallel is from a purely cinematic standpoint. It’s the irony in the sense that in this movie, Air Force One is hijacked in 1997, and then in the actual 1997, Air Force One came out, and that was the conflict of the whole movie.

However, if you can at least go into this knowing that it’s a product of the time and yet it’s held up pretty well, you should have a fun time.

Overall: Escape From New York is an excellent action movie, and while its plot is certainly not believable (especially now), it’s still compelling.

With a well crafted script, great performances, exciting action, and a very clever use of practical effects, it really shows how John Carpenter is more than capable of branching out beyond horror even if he’s mainly known for it. This shows that he can do action and sci-fi, too.

It also shows that Kurt Russell was capable of branching out from comedy, which he was mostly known for at the time. Snake Plissken alone made him an action icon to where he’s his favorite role, and it’s easy to see why. He even brings a bit of humor to the character, and it really works.

If you haven’t seen Escape From New York, go check it out however you can, especially if you love 80s action movies.

Having also grown up on 90s action movies, it made me interested to see if my area will eventually have the sequel, Escape From L.A., even if I’ve heard it’s not as good.

Although, speaking of sequels…

Next time, we go back to this decade for a more modern adaptation of a classic sci-fi novel, the second part of which recently came out.

*He’s so iconic, in fact, that he basically inspired another icon of pop culture in Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.

**Therefore, the fact that we have Mermaid Man and Chef from South Park in the same movie made me more eager to see it, having been born in the 90s.

***Fun Fact: A director I’m planning to cover at least a couple movies for this year (one being one of my favorites) worked on the matte paintings.

Thoughts on I.S.S. (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

For this review, we look at our first sci-fi movie of the year*. This interested me because of two things: The plot and the cast.

Now, I’ve seen movies with scenes set in this location, but it’s a very rare occasion where it’s set there for the whole movie. The last time I saw this happen in a movie was 2017 with the sci-fi horror film Life (with Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds, among others) and before that it played a significant part in 2013’s Gravity.

Now, we’re going there again, as I review I.S.S., and where I stand on this one… let’s just say this is going to be interesting, especially given the response (particularly from audiences) that I’ve seen so far.

The story follows a team of astronauts and cosmonauts that are living on the International Space Station.

Unfortunately, after receiving word that global chaos has broken out, they now have one simple order: Protect the station however they can so what’s happening on the ground stays on the ground.

What Worked: The cast is really good. Our main character, Dr. Kira Foster, is played by Ariana DeBose (who was just in Wish, and will next be in Matthew Vaughn’s latest film Argylle), and though everyone else plays off of each other very well, she gave the best performance in the movie for me.

Plus, her character is the most consistent at making smarter decisions, and throughout the movie, she’s the most compelling because of that.   

Chris Messina (The Boogeyman, Birds of Prey) plays Gordon Barrett, the Commander of the team, and though he’s not in it much, I thought performance-wise, he was just as good.

The same can overall be said for John Gallagher Jr. (10 Cloverfield Lane, Underwater) as the other American astronaut, Christian Campbell. There are times where you don’t like him, but you understand why.

Then we have the Russian cosmonauts, one of whom was my second favorite character in the movie.

Their side of the team is led by Weronika Vetrov, who is basically their counterpart of Kira. She makes mostly smart decisions, and there is a particular aspect to her part in the story that I won’t go into here. Even so, Masha Mashkova (who made her American debut in For All Mankind) does a great job conveying both those aspects.

Though I really liked her, my second favorite performance in the movie was actually Pilou Asbæk (who was just in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and can also be seen in Overlord and Ghost in the Shell (the latter of which he was the best part of)).

He plays Alexey Pulov, who is the most sensible of their side of the mission, especially compared to his brother Nicholai, played by Costa Ronin (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Before I go on, I should also say that how I just described Nicholai was the best way I could without giving too much away.

For the technical aspects, we have Gabriela Cowperthwaite (best known for the documentary Blackfish) directing and Nick Remy Matthews (best known for Hotel Mumbai) as cinematographer. They give us a gorgeous looking movie here.

The production value is one of the strongest parts.

I also loved how it was set aboard the titular location throughout the whole movie. For me, it’s very rare for it to have such prominence in a movie, even if it’s merely for a large portion of it. The music reflects the sense of paranoia and isolation of being in such a contained area very well.

What Didn’t Work: My main issue is with the pacing. To put this into perspective for you, this movie is 95 minutes (including 6 minutes of credits, so really 89 minutes).

The first act is very strong, it sets everything up very nicely. The second act is fine, but it feels a bit off. However, when the third act hits, it feels so rushed, and you can really tell.

If this had another half hour or so, it would’ve flowed more smoothly in order to more properly develop the narrative and the characters.

In other words, it wasn’t too long, and yet it wasn’t long enough at the same time.

Overall: I really enjoyed I.S.S. despite its issues, so this ended up being another January surprise for me. With good to great performances and excellent production value, it’s an effective thriller that doesn’t overstay its welcome with what time was given to tell the story (even if it wasn’t enough).

Ultimately, after seeing it, I find it pretty underrated. While I wouldn’t put it on the level of something like, say, Underwater, I still think it deserves a bit more credit because of what it does succeed at, much like how I felt that movie did and still does.

Since it’s pretty much on its way out of theaters now, I’d say when it hits streaming, feel free to check it out. If nothing else, see it for the look of the movie and the cast.

Next time, we go back to Earth… only a conflict has already happened, with the President caught in the crossfire, but thankfully, we also have Kurt Russell being a badass.

*This is the first case of an occasion I’ve been meaning to talk about in a review. Despite the fact that the pages for it on sources like Wikipedia and IMDb say this is a 2023 movie, even though general audiences ultimately get it in 2024, this’ll more than likely lead to some confusion for anyone reading this, so I wanted to clear this up for you.

If this isn’t a rule I’ve previously established, I’m establishing it now. If a movie premieres at a festival one year (the reason why it says 2023 is because of that; this premiered at Tribeca in June of 2023), but gets a wide release at least one year later (as is the case here, having been released in January of 2024), then the year of its wide release is how I will count it. Now, if it premieres at a festival and gets a wide release the same year, then I will count it as having come out during that year.

There is at least one exception to that, but when a more fitting subject comes, I’ll mention it there.

Thoughts on The Beekeeper (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

As was the case last year, the first two movies I review this year end up being a horror movie and an action movie.

Much like Plane last year, this one ended up being surprisingly good. However, this has one edge over that: It has a better known director behind it with David Ayer, who gave us End of Watch and Fury*. He’s also known for writing Training Day and cowriting The Fast and the Furious.

Here, we get Jason Statham doing his version of John Wick (minus the gun fu, though there is still a connection involving that, which I’ll get to later).

He’s not doing jobs no questions asked, fighting sharks, being part of an 80s action tribute, or even working against (nor ultimately with) Dominic Toretto and his family**.

This time, he’s handling hives and taking lives, as I review The Beekeeper.

The story here follows Adam Clay, a beekeeper working for Eloise Parker, a retired teacher who has been taking care of him for a long time on the Massachusetts countryside.

One day, everything seems fine, until Eloise falls for a phishing scam, which affects her so much she commits suicide.

Clay finds the body, and is at first arrested by an FBI agent who also happens to be Eloise’s daughter Verona, but later released.

Though she tells him that the scammers responsible have been difficult for the FBI to track down, he still wants to go after them, so he calls for help from an organization called the Beekeepers.

What Worked: The acting is very solid. Of the five movies that he’s been in over the span of a year (counting this one), this is a step up for Jason Statham, particularly from the last one, which was The Expendables 4***.

This felt like he got to be the type of character he’s known for and people love him for (gruff demeanor, but determined nonetheless to make things right), so it was refreshing to see that again here. It was equally refreshing to see that sense of self-awareness he occasionally brings to his roles. This feels like he somewhat knows the plot is absurd, and he’s just having fun with it, complete with one-liners.

Emmy Raver-Lampman, who plays Verona, is believable as an FBI agent and as Phylicia Rashad’s daughter. You can tell at times she has as much determination as Clay in bringing these scammers to justice.

Phylicia Rashad, though she is not in it much for obvious reasons, is still good for the time that she’s in it.

It was nice to see Jeremy Irons in an action movie again, and it was surprising that he wasn’t the villain in it this time.

The villain here is Josh Hutcherson of Hunger Games fame. He was good at playing a scammer, but as a main villain… I’ll get more into that later, I’ll put it that way.

The last one I can really talk about without giving too much away is someone I was really surprised to be able to see in a movie again (nostalgia for Tarzan notwithstanding), and that’s Minnie Driver as the Director of the CIA.

Though she’s not in it much, either, she does have some significance from a narrative standpoint, and I like that. She’s there to help provide the backstory of who the Beekeepers are and what they do.

David Ayer’s direction is really good, and he definitely knows how to film action. The bigger surprise from a technical perspective, though, was actually the script from Kurt Wimmer (who also produced alongside Ayer and Statham).

The script, while by no means groundbreaking, is easily among his better scripts, and definitely the best project he’s worked on in a long time. This is a huge step up from The Expendables 4, but in terms of what he has contributed to, this might be my second favorite, behind Equilibrium, which he wrote and directed****.

It goes without saying at this point, but the plot here is simple, but effective.

I also thought that the title ultimately has more than one meaning within the context of the movie. Though it was an action movie trope, I still found it to be pretty clever.

The action is a lot of fun, and there are some satisfying kills, including one that they unfortunately gave away in the trailer. It stings when they do that (sorry, I had to fit in at least one pun).

Speaking of that…

What Didn’t Work: I don’t really have much in terms of issues, but there were still some things that really stuck out to me.

There is a plot twist here, but it doesn’t feel like anything new. In the context of the story itself, it makes sense, but it’s so absurd by that point that you have to just go along with it.

While I did say that Josh Hutcherson was good at playing a scammer, I couldn’t really buy him as a main villain. It didn’t take me out of the movie because I was having so much fun with it already, but what I just stated about the plot twist can be applied to that as well.

The biggest issue I have is how I mentioned that there was one kill they gave away in the trailer. That’s really the only creative kill in the movie, and they show it in the trailer. If you’re going to do that, at least have a good amount of them in the movie. Some can be shown in the trailer, but the rest have to be saved for the movie. As it stands, nothing since Violent Night has done that.

Though it sounds like I’m not giving it credit for having a creative kill because it was spoiled, I’m giving it credit for still managing to have one.

The reason why is it did what Night Swim did not: It took advantage of the opportunity to have them. If the movie has at least one (in spite of what I just stated), I’ll still give it credit as long as it’s in the marketing and carries over into the movie.

I would’ve loved to see more, but I do think overloading it with them might’ve detracted from the overall plot and tone, so since it’s not that kind of movie, I can understand and let it slide.

Overall: The Beekeeper is a lot of fun, especially for a January action movie. You get to see Jason Statham tear people apart in ultimately satisfying ways, and a very good supporting cast, with a very straightforward plot, solid direction from David Ayer, and a surprisingly decent script.

Though it doesn’t have much in the way of creative kills (let alone a better villain), it makes up for it by still being fun.

It’s one of Jason Statham’s better action movies in a long time, so if nothing else, see it for him and the action.

You’ll more than likely get your money’s worth, regardless of when or where you see it.

Next time, we witness Americans and Russians going at each other on the ground… but from space.

*Yes, he also gave us the first big-screen adaptation of Suicide Squad, but what we ended up with was not his fault.

**I would add “helping track down Gabriel Yulaw,” but I already covered that.

***I’m not calling it by how they marketed it (number within the title). For me, at least, it’s lazy, it’s annoying, and it’s stupid when they do that. It was like that last decade when they were doing it quite a bit, and it still is now. Plus, it’s really only worked once for me, because one movie last year did it in a way that was subtle and clever. Even so, both that and The Expendables 4 (which is another movie I didn’t completely hate like a lot of people did) are each for their own review.

****That movie has gun fu in it (also known as gun kata, even in the movie), and the style used in it is actually one he created. In a way, without that movie, we wouldn’t have ones like John Wick.

Thoughts on Night Swim (2024)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

I am back with my first review of 2024, and as was the case last year, it’s for a horror movie (and with the same distributor and production companies involved, too).

This is an interesting case, though, as it’s the first time that I’ll actually be covering a horror movie adapted from a short.

As I hinted at last time, this comes to us from Universal, who managed to make the ocean scarier than we already believed it to be back in 1975*.

This time, they aim to make a swimming pool scary.

Before I get started, I will be mentioning the short here and there for context purposes, as I did see it before the movie.

However, you don’t have to worry so much about spoilers for the short, because it is only 3 minutes long, and there’s not much to go by there compared to the movie.

Though pools are not as unsettling as the ocean can be, there are still some potentially frightening aspects to being near them or in them.

Folks, you might want to have some gear ready anyway, as we dive into my review of Night Swim.

The story follows the Waller family as they move into a new house with a pool in the backyard. The father, Ray, is a baseball player forced into an early retirement due to illness, and so he hopes that the pool will help with physical therapy in addition to being something fun for his children. Unfortunately, the pool harbors a terrifying past, and then something deeper comes back to haunt them.

What Worked: Given how this is the first horror movie of the year**, I went in with minimal expectations. The trailer looked interesting, and it had at least a couple people I recognized in it.

The biggest name is Wyatt Russell (Kurt Russell’s son) as Ray, and for me, he had the best performance in the movie. He does really well at showing his character’s plight, and at showing concern for himself and his family.

As his wife, Eve, we have Kerry Condon (who you may recognize as the voice of F.R.I.D.A.Y., the second AI assistant of Tony Stark, as well as from shows like Rome and Better Call Saul). I also really liked her here, and the children I didn’t mind, either.

Basically, the acting was fine, and the cast made the most of the material they were given.

There were two things that stood out to me.

The first is Bryce McGuire’s direction. For his feature debut (he also wrote and directed the short), there were some very impressive shots here.

I did also like how the lights would go off and back on as a sign that what’s in the pool is coming for you. It worked in the short, and I thought they did fine enough expanding upon it a bit here.

The second thing is Mark Korven’s score. While not as good as his score for The Black Phone, it is still very effective.

What Didn’t Work: The plot, while interesting, isn’t given potential to have more done with it. The biggest example of this is what makes the pool here so frightening. Now, of course, I will not give away the twist. I’ll just say this: There’s a frightening concept behind it, which I felt could’ve worked if there was better execution.

In fact, they could’ve hinted at it in its entirety in the marketing, and it wouldn’t have made any difference. I’ll get back to that towards the end.

With the big reveal that we do get, though, the biggest issue is that it doesn’t make sense. Again, I can’t go into it, but in addition to not making sense, it felt like one of the easiest ways to get out of a corner they wrote themselves into. When it happened, I thought, “That’s the best you came up with?”. After that, it also felt rushed.

In other words, the script itself needed more work, particularly the third act and the dialogue. Though there were a couple instances where the dialogue is just shockingly bad, it’s mostly generic horror movie dialogue.

The twist wasn’t predictable, because they kind of foreshadowed it with a character who’s only in one scene early on in the movie. The thing that was most predictable, if anything, was the ending.

Now for what horror fans would come to see… I’m going to have to disappoint you. In terms of scares, this does not stick the landing. The first two acts had some moments I thought were fine, but the third act deflates all of that. As with M3GAN, this is PG-13, and as I said with that, it holds it back from going all the way. If this was R, it more than likely would’ve.

Plus, if it was R, it could’ve taken advantage of the biggest opportunity a plot like this could offer, which is have creative kills in it. Even if some were so absurd that they made me laugh, I still would’ve given them credit for that. For example, if they did something like use the Polaris cleaner as a weapon, there’s a few ways they could’ve done that.

Unfortunately, because it’s PG-13, this doesn’t have that. For horror movies, being PG-13 can work (the Quiet Place films and Lights Out (which was also based on a short), for example), but this is further evidence that it doesn’t always work.

It also could’ve benefitted from having an original idea for what’s beneath the pool, or something familiar with a unique spin on it.

Not only is what we get unoriginal and not scary, but I’m not exaggerating when I say this: I’ve had a pool before, and I’ve seen scarier things while cleaning the skimmers than what you see in this movie.

It doesn’t help that they decided to give some of it away in the second trailer (not all of it, thankfully; I was also expecting that going in***).

They did this with M3GAN’s second trailer, where a lot of the third act was given away, and they did a similar thing here.

Basically, this is another case of how marketing largely still goes unevaluated, despite constant, neverending complaints that trailers now keep spoiling the movie more often than not.

Overall: While it sounds like I despised Night Swim (like a lot of people have), given the positives I do have, I didn’t.

If nothing else, it’s more wasted potential than something that I would have as an easy contender for a Worst Of List.

As a movie, I thought it was okay, but when I see potential for a movie to do more, and it’s not fully reached, I have to address as much as I can without going into spoilers.

Therefore, I ultimately felt more let down than outright angry coming home from the theater.

As mentioned earlier, there are some things I would say to see it for, provided you were actually going to.

If anyone reading this was (and still is) interested to see it, if you really have to go to the theater, go ahead, but for everyone else, you’re better off waiting for it to hit streaming.

Next time, we see Jason Statham performing a different kind of sting operation… one that puts even Nicolas Cage to shame.

*In a sense of irony, Jaws served as one of the inspirations for this, as did at least one other movie… that I will get to later.

**January’s almost always like this. There’s hardly any instances where the year starts right off the bat with something good. While I could go on, I don’t want to repeat myself. Otherwise, I would be making the same points I pretty much established when I reviewed M3GAN last year, so for anyone unfamiliar on why January is often not a great month for movies (particularly with horror movies), just go to that review for those points, and then come back.

***There were at least a couple other things I was expecting going in, but I would have to go into spoilers for that.

Thoughts on Silent Night (2023)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. While I had planned to get this up before Christmas, I ultimately was not able to.

Even so, I was still very much eager to do this one, for several reasons.

The first was that it was the first Hollywood movie for prominent action director John Woo in almost 20 years (the 20 year mark came on Christmas Day, as that’s when his last Hollywood movie, Paycheck, came out).

The second was that it had a lot of the stunt team from John Wick: Chapter 4 working on it, who mainly joined because they wanted to work with him.

The third was actually the part that intrigued me the most about it, and it was that it would have no spoken dialogue in it (you’d hear radio signals and things like that, but that’s really it). When I first heard that, I thought that while it did intrigue me, at the same time, I thought this could either make or break the movie. Judging by how it ultimately turned out, it did not work out for a lot of people.

However, the fact that it was set around Christmas was a bonus for me.

Santa gave us a Violent Night, and now it’s time for a Silent Night.

The story starts in 2021, and we follow electrician Brian Godlock (Joel Kinnaman) as he lives a peaceful life in Texas with his wife Saya and son Taylor. However, on Christmas Eve, a gang war has erupted, they’re caught in the crossfire of a drive-by, and Taylor is killed. Brian immediately tries to go after them, but this results in a gang leader shooting him in the neck and leaving him to die.

While he does survive, his vocal cords are damaged, and though Saya tries to support him, Brian’s only focus is avenging their son.

Brian’s ultimate goal: Train himself to fight so he can go after the gang members responsible on Christmas Eve the following year.

What Worked: Though there are hardly any big names in this, there are at least a couple you might recognize.

As mentioned earlier, Joel Kinnaman is the lead here, and I appreciated that he wasn’t playing a character with a position of authority again in this. In the RoboCop remake (which I actually find pretty underrated, by the way) he was a cop, and in the Suicide Squad films, he led the titular teams.

Here, he’s just a normal guy that gets caught in a bad situation, and I like that.

The other somewhat recognizable name here is Scott Mescudi, better known as Kid Cudi. Though you may know him more for his music (particularly his debut single “Day ’n’ Nite”*), he has also had some film roles in recent years, like Need for Speed and Bill & Ted Face the Music (where he played himself), and I really liked him in both.

Here, he plays Detective Dennis Vassel, who wants to help in the murder case, but Brian ultimately chooses to do things his own way.

While Harold Torres does a great job as the villain, Playa, there is one other name worth noting, and that is Catalina Sandino Moreno, who plays Saya. Between her and Brian, you feel vulnerability the most with her, because she understands her husband’s motivation, and she feels more concerned for him as a person, and she conveys that really well.

Though she’s not as big a name as Kinnaman or Cudi, she could certainly make a name for herself given her next project also has a John Wick connection, albeit a more direct one. She’s among the cast of the upcoming spinoff, Ballerina, and of course I’m looking forward to that.

The biggest name of everyone involved, however, is John Woo himself.

While he may not be as prominent now, he was in the 90s and the early 2000s, so he did make a name for himself by the time he did Paycheck.

He’s made quite a few Hollywood movies you might at least be familiar with, namely Face/Off and of course Mission: Impossible 2 (the weakest of the series, but I don’t think that’s his fault so much as I think it’s the script, but I digress).

In regards to the lack of spoken dialogue, in a way, it’s following the biggest rule of storytelling (“Show, Don’t Tell”) in the literal sense.

The music is used to help tell the story instead, and the action sequences shown to the audience help represent it.

The score, courtesy of Marco Beltrami, is pretty good, as while it’s not remarkable, it is very effective in the action sequences and the more dramatic moments.

Speaking of which, the action sequences are a lot of fun, and you can tell they’re very much inspired by the John Wick films, even if they’re not quite as brutal as those can get.

It also shows in the editing from Zach Staenberg, who is no stranger to working with Keanu Reeves, either, as he also edited one of my favorite movies, The Matrix, and in fact edited all of the first three films.

One more thing worth noting: About halfway through, I realized what this felt more like to me, but I’ll get to that at the end.

What Didn’t Work: The biggest issue comes with the big selling point of the movie: The fact that there is no spoken dialogue.

While I appreciate wanting to have it be distinct from the other films in the style of John Wick, like Atomic Blonde, Extraction, Nobody, and even Bullet Train, there is a huge consequence that comes with the execution here.

It ends up being somewhat mixed. There are times where it does work (like in a scene early on where Vassel visits Brian in the hospital, and leaves his card; I did like it in scenes like that), and then there are times where it doesn’t (like in a scene where a nurse is speaking to Saya; in fact, you can very clearly see their mouths are moving).

It could’ve worked better if there was dialogue here and there. You can have silence, sure, but in the scenes where it worked.

If it was only Brian who didn’t speak, I would’ve been fine with that. At least he had a reason for not speaking, and that’s because he couldn’t, which makes sense.

Other than that, it could’ve benefited from having at least some dialogue throughout the movie.

Overall: Though it’s pretty much come and gone from theaters now, I would say give Silent Night a chance. I should forewarn you: Do not expect an all-out action movie like you might get from John Woo’s previous films.

There’s a little more to it than just action. Sure, you get plenty of it, and it is very satisfying to watch, but here’s how I ultimately felt it’s best viewed as, and therefore what I feel is the best way to look at it.

If you view it as a Christmas revenge film, it’s more effective in that sense.

Though the cast do fine without dialogue, they could’ve stood out more with at least a little bit, because you can only take a novelty so far before it starts wearing thin on the audience. If you’re aiming to go all the way, you have to really know what you’re doing with it.

If you do view it as an action movie, however, and you go into it with that forewarning having been provided, it’s entertaining enough, particularly for a Friday night viewing.

It also does work as a Christmas movie, but it doesn’t quite reach the level of Violent Night or of course Die Hard. It might’ve had those issues been worked out.

I can definitely say two things: 1: If you want to see the phrase “Actions speak louder than words” on display, this is your movie, and 2: While some may not agree, for me, this is a satisfying enough comeback for John Woo to American audiences, and I hope we get to see more from him again.

Next Time: Universal makes going in the water frightening again.

In the meantime:

Entertainment had it rough this year

But we always look forward to more

So I hope to see everyone back here

In 2024.

*Which you may remember from either Watch Dogs or more likely the Moon Knight trailer.

Thoughts on Elemental (2023)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone. I know this is pretty much last-minute, but there were a couple more reviews I wanted to put up before the end of the year, and this was one of them.

I had been looking forward to this going into this year. Unfortunately, I was unable to fit it in while it was in theaters, something I regret even more now.

Even so, I knew I had to fit it in before the year ended, so I fired up Disney+ (no pun intended, and this movie has a fair amount of them) and I finally saw it… and I am so glad I did.

It also turns out this is my first time reviewing a Pixar movie, which happens to be their latest.

If you couldn’t tell by the hint I gave last time, this does indeed do something better than M. Night Shyamalan ever did, and that is portray the elements in a believable way.

Folks, prepare for something that while it’s not quite groundbreaking, it is still a solid choice for a family movie night, as I present my review of Elemental... and try to keep my puns to a minimum while doing it.

The story is set in Element City, which inhabits different areas occupied by the four elements: Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.

Ember Lumen is a fire element that works at her family’s shop in Fire Town. Her father Bernie is planning to retire and pass ownership to her once she’s ready. One day, he gives her that chance, but her temper flares up so much that she breaks a water pipe.

The basement begins flooding, and water element Wade Ripple arrives. Unfortunately for the Lumens, he’s a city inspector, and it’s not long before the order is sent off to shut them down.

It’s also not long before a bigger conflict emerges, but in between, Ember and Wade slowly discover they have more in common than they thought.

What Worked: First of all, it being Pixar, one thing to expect right off the bat is for the animation to be great.

This is some of the best animation from them I’ve seen in years. This is one of those movies that has “visually stunning” all over it. Not only is it elaborately bright and colorful, it is gorgeous.

Every area of Element City feels distinct, and there are some very clever ways they address the properties and weaknesses of each element.

It also benefits from the humor. While there are puns, it’s the overall charm of the movie that makes them work. With a lesser script, they would’ve been obnoxious and lazy.

The funniest parts for me were actually how it utilizes the rom-com tropes (this is partially a romantic comedy), and even though I personally am not a fan of that genre as a whole, it worked because it felt so organic to me.

The heart of the movie, however, comes from the voice acting. The chemistry feels genuine between Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, who voice Ember and Wade, respectively.

Another standout was Ronnie del Carmen*, who voices Bernie. You don’t like his demeanor at first, but you understand why he feels the way he does (more on that in a second), and del Carmen conveys that very well.

You also get some great performances from Wendi McLendon-Covey as Gale (an air element serving as Wade’s boss) and Catherine O’Hara as Brook Ripple, Wade’s Mom.

There are at least two scenes where you notice another thing Pixar is known for. They’re known for incorporating heavy themes in their films, and you definitely feel that here.

The biggest one is how it touches on xenophobia and racism, and it’s not a heavy-handed message, it’s subtle. It’s part of the narrative, and that’s it.

Everything is elevated through Peter Sohn’s direction and especially Thomas Newman’s fantastic score**. You definitely feel Sohn’s passion for this in his direction, because this was also somewhat personal to him.

What Didn’t Work: This was more of a nitpick for me, but it does a couple of rom-com tropes that I’m really not a fan of, and those moments were kind of predictable, but that’s really it.

Overall: Elemental is an animated movie that I’m glad actually did get more attention while it was in theaters, and I’m just as glad that I saw it before the year ended.

With top-notch animation, fantastic voice acting, and great storytelling, it’s some of the best animation I saw this year.

While not quite as good as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (in time, that review will come), I did like it more than Wish (which as divisive as it unfortunately was, I personally loved; I also plan to review that sometime), and it’s still among my favorites of 2023.

If you missed out on this while it was in theaters like I did, it’s on physical media, Digital, and on Disney+, so either way, it’s right there for you, and absolutely give it a watch.

Next time, we go from a movie where elements come alive to a movie that literally shows how actions really do speak louder than words.

*Who has actually worked with Pixar in some capacity since Finding Nemo.

**I also wanted to mention that the song “Steal the Show” by Lauv is really good as well, I just couldn’t find a way to incorporate it within the review.

Thoughts on Hours (2013)

Image courtesy of wall.alphacoders.com

Hello, everyone.

Though I meant to upload this review (or at least watch the movie) after Thanksgiving (the 30th, to be specific), I knew I had to get started within the next two weeks, as December 13th of this year had some significance to it as well.

Ten years ago, on November 30th, the lead of this movie tragically passed away. Then two weeks later, on December 13th, the movie itself was released in theaters, although it didn’t receive a wide release.

Therefore, I was not able to see it until it hit DVD a few months later.

This movie ended up being one of his last, and I felt like now was the perfect time to pay tribute to him, especially given how in the years since, I had heard stories about how he was one of the nicest guys in real life. After hearing one particular story that a scene in this reminded me of, it made the fact that he was no longer with us hurt even more.

As if the franchise he was known for wasn’t proof enough that there’s no greater theme than family, this proves it even more.

Ladies and gentlemen, today, we’ll be looking at one of the best performances from Paul Walker with Hours.

Set in the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, the story follows Nolan Hayes, a father whose wife Abigail is expecting.

Before the storm hits, she goes into labor five weeks early. Unfortunately, she dies in childbirth.

The doctor tells Nolan that the baby is in a ventilator, but she has to be in it for two days before she can breathe on her own.

Further complicating the situation is the fact that the hospital has started flooding and the ventilator is not portable. As a result, he and the baby cannot be evacuated.

Making matters even worse, once the power has gone out, after finding an old generator, Nolan can charge it, but the battery only lasts for three minutes… and the problems only escalate from there.

What Worked: While there are other people in the movie, there are only two major names in this.

This feels almost like a one-man show kind of movie, so it’s all on Paul Walker to carry the movie, and he does. His character is very sympathetic, and you really want to root for him to get through the predicament.

While Genesis Rodriguez is really good as Abigail, almost all of her performance is within flashbacks (other than the opening and what’s probably my favorite scene in the movie; I won’t say what it is, but you’ll know when you see it).

However, within those moments, you do get to know the relationship Nolan had with her, and I do appreciate that it’s mostly shown rather than used for exposition.

The plot is very compelling, brought to life through really good writing and direction from Eric Heisserer, who would go on to receive a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Arrival.

One thing that I can definitely give this credit for is the fact that it incorporates a natural disaster that actually happened, but it does so in a way that doesn’t feel manipulative.

In other words, it does it right: It uses it as the backdrop for the story (as mentioned earlier), and that is it. It doesn’t exploit a disaster like a more recent movie I reviewed did*.

For a thriller, it’s very effective. You can view this as a drama, sure, but if you look at it as a thriller, it works better.

It’s also paced very well for a movie that’s a little over an hour and a half.

What Didn’t Work: While it made sense to have the flashbacks in there, I think it would’ve been more effective to have a little bit more time spent with Abigail before she’s rushed into the hospital and ultimately dies.

It goes right into that after the title comes up following the opening credits (which are very brief, I should add).

It felt very rushed in doing that, and it can seem very confusing to be thrown right into the situation without at least getting to know the characters.

While I do really like Benjamin Wallfisch’s score, it doesn’t stand out among his best, especially compared to some of his later works, particularly the work he did on Blade Runner 2049, Shazam!, and The Invisible Man (which I do think is his best to date), and I even liked his score for The Flash.

In saying that, though, there are moments where it really works, particularly in the tense and emotional moments.

Overall: Hours is not only a great drama, it’s a great thriller as well, and one that really does deserve more attention. If you want an excellent performance from Paul Walker, you’ll definitely find it here.

You can also view this as a disaster movie to an extent, since it is set around one. However, while it is set around one, it’s one that actually happened, but thankfully, it handles that setting properly, and I respect that.

While it’s not a perfect movie, this certainly has one of Paul Walker’s best performances, so if nothing else, see it for that.

Next time, we go from a movie about a disaster to a movie with certain aspects to it that M. Night turned into one.

In the Intro, I began the tribute, and so I will conclude it to close it out.

Paul Walker may have been known for Brian O’Conner, but there was so much more to him than just that character. It’s a shame that it took until after his passing for people to slowly start to realize that.

For evidence of that, other than Hours, I would also suggest Joy Ride, which came out the same year Fast & Furious started. He’s also great in that, and I’ve been hearing good things about his performance in Running Scared (which I hear is very underrated as well). There’s another one I’ve been meaning to check out for sometime, but I won’t say what it is… for now.

Regardless of what you see, I not only wanted to review this for its Anniversary and to pay my respects, but I also wanted to show that he had more to him than people may realize.

In closing…

Dominic Toretto may live his life a quarter mile at a time, but Paul Walker made his roles last a lifetime.

Paul Walker

9/12/1973 - 11/30/2013

*David Gordon Green, take notes. It’s one thing to use archive footage (which this does, and that’s fine), but it’s quite another to actually use it as the catalyst for the events to follow over the course of the movie (no joke, folks; his movie did that, I just didn’t put it in the review because that could have been considered a spoiler at the time).

Thoughts on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

For the longest time, I’ve gone without covering either a prequel or a reboot*, but my rule for them still applies. If it’s a prequel (as the case is here) or a reboot that has a franchise of its own, then I can cover them without needing to cover any other movies first.

Today, we witness the rise of a President with an aptly cold-hearted name, as I present my review of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

The story is set 64 years before the events of the first film. We see a young Coriolanus Snow become a mentor to a young woman named Lucy Gray Baird, who has been chosen as a Tribute (participant) in the 10th Annual Hunger Games, where she has to literally fight to survive.

What Worked: I thought Tom Blyth did a really good job playing a younger version of the series’ main villain.

In fact, what really surprised me is how Snow was portrayed from a narrative standpoint here. He wasn’t a monster from the beginning like the main series would have you believe. For the majority of the movie, you actually sympathize with him, and so it’s all the more tragic as he slowly begins his descent into madness.

It’s even more evident with how he bonds with Lucy Gray, played by Rachel Zegler of West Side Story fame, who’s great in this. As controversial as she’s become in recent months for reasons I won’t go into here**, at the same time, I cannot deny her onscreen talent. Not only is Lucy Gray charismatic, but she’s also compassionate and (mostly) pure hearted***.

Other than her, the people he’s closest to are his cousin Tigris (who later appeared in the main series as a stylist and ally to Katniss) and their grandmother.

In contrast, the people who are perhaps the most cold-hearted throughout the movie are Dr. Volumnia Gaul (the Head Gamemaker) and Casca Highbottom (the Dean of the Academy that Snow attends), played respectively by Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage.

Going in, I thought Viola Davis would be just a mad scientist type and play it up to where she seemed out of place. Shockingly, she’s not. Other than a moment or two where she goes up a couple notches (but no further than that), she’s cold and calculated, so she does play it straight.

As for Peter Dinklage, he’s mostly at odds with our main protagonist. Those are among the more compelling moments of the movie when there’s not any action going on. He’s particularly great in those scenes.

The one that stood out to me as the best supporting character in the movie was Jason Schwartzman as Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman, the TV host for the Games, presumed to be an ancestor of Stanley Tucci’s character from the main series, Caesar Flickerman, who would have the same position much later. Plus, after hearing him give such an unsettling performance as The Spot in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse earlier this year, a character like this was a welcome surprise. He was charismatic, and he was the main source of humor, which really worked for me.

The rest of the cast is really good, even though most of them aren’t in it much (though it was nice to see Burn Gorman from Pacific Rim in this; he plays the leader of the Peacekeepers, who are basically the military).

As for the technical aspects, Francis Lawrence (who has directed every installment since Catching Fire) has great direction again here. In fact, this probably has the best action since Catching Fire.

Outside of this franchise, he has shown a sense of scale with his other films, namely I Am Legend and especially Constantine.

It’s further complemented by Jo Willems’ cinematography, which is also the best since Catching Fire (he’s worked on every installment since as well).

The script, written by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt, is solid.

Where this movie really shines, though, aside from the action, is the score composed by James Newton Howard, who has worked on the whole franchise.

For me, it stood out the most in the action sequences and the third act.

There is music outside of the score, of course. The fact that Lucy Gray was the one who first sang “The Hanging Tree” was a nice touch. As for the one I’m sure everyone is waiting for, I’ll get to that in a moment.

There were a couple other references, and the one that stood out to me was how they ended the movie, which was something I didn’t think would be in it.

What Didn’t Work: I’ll get the biggest point of contention out of the way first. That would be the runtime. This is over 2 and a half hours, close to 2 hours and 45 minutes. I get that there was a lot in this story, but I think there is only one reason why they chose to have it be as long as it was.

It would be so they didn’t have to split it into two movies again. At the same time, I appreciated that they did not do that.

This was paced so well for the first two acts… and then came the third act, which is where my problems mostly come from.

The third act, up until the last couple minutes, feels like a different movie. It made it feel narratively inconsistent. The tone remained intact, but the narrative progression was impacted more anyway.

Other than that, there was one character that’s barely in the movie, and after something happens, they’re never shown again. They’re addressed in a line of dialogue later, and that’s it.

My other issue is going back to the music. Rachel Zegler’s songs were good. However, Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Can’t Catch Me Now” is okay, but forgettable compared to some of the songs made for the other movies. Then again, I don’t really follow modern music, so that’s probably why.

Overall: For a prequel and a villain origin story, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a satisfying one in both regards. While not as good as Catching Fire, I did like it more than the first one and both Parts of Mockingjay (I do still like them, though, despite their problems).

Though my issues with this one didn’t take me out of the movie, they stood out so much to where they held it back from being the best one of the series.

Ultimately, however, I would say that if you really like these movies, you might really like this one.

Next time, we go to a different kind of Tribute.

*For those wondering, I’m not counting The Exorcist: Believer, because legacy sequels don’t count. If the movie in question is a direct sequel to the original installment in the franchise and negates everything in between, I treat it as such.

**It’s mainly because they don’t relate to this movie, but one of her upcoming projects.

***Though I had heard this was quite faithful to the book going in, I hadn’t read it, and I’m just going by the movie here.

Thoughts on The One (2001)

Image courtesy of IMDb

Hello, everyone.

In my last review, I closed by stating that the next would more than likely be a treat in one form or another rather than hinting at what it would be. If you couldn’t tell by the subject, I actually was still hinting at it, albeit indirectly.

Today, we see the concept of the Multiverse over two decades before it became a trend. Here, it’s more simplistic, as we have one character on a quest for power, and another being the only one left in his way before he can achieve it.

There’s a first time for everything, and it turns out this is such an occasion. This is the first time where I’ll be covering what film enthusiasts like myself call a Guilty Pleasure, which is essentially a term for a movie being dubbed “So Bad It’s Good” (a prime example being The Room), and this movie has unintentional hilarity all over it. If you’re interested upon reading this review, I’ll also mention where you can find it at the end.

For times like this, I’ll be adding a new section to the review, and you’ll see what it is when I get to that.

Folks, you are indeed in for a treat with this movie, as I present my review of The One.

For those unfamiliar, a Multiverse is composed of multiple parallel universes, where there are more versions of you than you know. You’re who you are in your own, while there are many different versions of you that each occupy their own.

You can open and close wormholes to travel to them, but this is monitored by the Multiverse Authority, who can only use them for procedure purposes.

Gabriel Yulaw is an MVA agent who goes rogue and starts hunting down every other variation of him in order to absorb their energy and be “The One”, where he’s essentially an unstoppable being with godlike capabilities.

Upon taking out Lawless (the 123rd), Yulaw is taken into custody and sentenced to life. However, he escapes and travels to the universe where the last variation is.

That variation is Gabe Law, a deputy sheriff who has been experiencing strange and sudden increases in strength, speed, and mentality.

He discovers that he and Yulaw are equal in every way, and though two MVA agents are also there to help, Gabe is the only one who can face him and keep the multiverse balanced.

What Worked: Jet Li does a great job at conveying the duality between Gabe and Yulaw*.

Not only that, the fights between the two of them do look quite convincing and don’t come across as unintentionally hilarious (though a fair amount of other aspects do, but I’ll get to that).

His love interest is played by Carla Gugino (who you may remember as the Mom from Spy Kids or the original Silk Spectre from Watchmen). Though she has multiple versions as well, she does best as T.K., Gabe’s wife. You can tell she’s as concerned as he is about what’s happening.

The two agents, Harry Roedecker and Evan Funsch, are played respectively by Delroy Lindo and Jason Statham.

They’re the ones playing it somewhat straight, particularly Lindo. As for Statham, he’s great at playing the “hot shot, loose cannon” type, and the two of them do get some good moments, as they play off of each other really well.

The action, as elaborate as it is, is a lot of fun, and James Wong’s direction (not James Wan; totally different) is solid even outside of those moments. It’s very effective when there are breaks from the action.

I appreciated how this pretty much went right into the action, and I knew what I was in for within the first five minutes… because it’s already gotten to it within the first five minutes.

The choreography was good**, even with the cheesy sound effects added onto them.

I also did like the distinction between universes, as much as we don’t get to see a lot of that. The biggest example is early on in the movie, we’re at a universe where Al Gore became President, and then later we get to one where the real outcome still happened.

What Didn’t Work: My main issue (legitimate, anyway) is that there was at least one plot hole that I noticed.

When Carla Gugino first shows up as Yulaw’s girlfriend***, she isn’t really given anything to do other than break him out. After that happens, she’s never shown again for the rest of the movie.

While most of the story is predictable, that didn’t really bother me as much.

What’s A Bit Of Both: Now we get to the part I’ve been waiting for. There’s so much in this that’s unintentionally hilarious.

I’ll actually start with the dialogue. A lot of it is laughably bad. Early on in the movie, Yulaw starts running and a cop goes, “He’s going O.J.!” and the cops start chasing him. Out of context, it’s bad, but in context it’s so bad you can’t help but laugh at it.

There are two examples I especially wanted to highlight in reviewing this movie. The first is a scene where Yulaw has stolen a van, and he’s playing with the radio, not knowing Roedecker is in there with him. The timing of when Roedecker reveals himself and Yulaw’s reaction is priceless.

The funniest one is actually at the very end of the movie. The last line of the movie is one of the funniest final lines in any movie ever.

If you thought the sound effects were cheesy throughout the whole movie, it’s most evident there.

One other thing before I move on to my next point: Not only is it jarring to see Jason Statham with hair in this, but he also has a hilariously bad American accent.

The visual effects have not aged well at all, to the point where you also can’t help but laugh at those moments.

The funniest thing in terms of the action is shortly after the radio scene. Yulaw is confronted by the cops, including two motorcycle cops. I’m not making a word of this up: He takes their motorcycles and basically swings them around like nunchucks as he’s taking them out.

One that’s also hilarious is the escape scene. An explosion happens to shatter the glass in the walls of the room he’s in, and as it goes off, “Down with the Sickness” by Disturbed starts playing. At one point, he grabs a gun as two guards come in, and not only does it look like they’re entering to the beat, but the same goes for when he shoots them.

Speaking of that, we now get to the portion of the movie I was most eager to talk about when I got to reviewing it.

If there’s one thing I genuinely love about this movie, it’s the music. Trevor Rabin’s score is really good, but the soundtrack is even better.

The first action sequence kicks off with “Bodies” by Drowning Pool. Not only is it their best known song (and one of my favorites), but those who grew up in the 2000s like myself will remember how often they used it.

During that time, they used it a lot, especially in trailers. There were mostly times where they’d use this in the trailer, but have them on the soundtrack with a different song usually made for the movie (such as Daredevil and The Punisher).

Instead of doing that, they just use songs off their debut album “Sinner”. They use this in the opening, and then they play the title song twice, the second time being in the first half of the credits.

They also play Papa Roach three times, with “Blood Brothers” for the final battle (and the second half of the credits) and “Last Resort” for the end of the movie.

The latter is worth noting because it’s one of those times where you can say it both does and doesn’t fit the movie. It does in the sense that it’s a rock song in an action scene. It doesn’t in the sense of what the song is really about, and due to it being a heavy and sensitive subject matter, I won’t go into it here.

One last thing, and this is practically a nitpick on my part.

Though no soundtrack album was ever released (yet the score was), no matter what the Internet may tell you, there aren’t any other songs used in the movie besides what’s listed in the credits. I know because it tricked me into believing that, and it’s a shame it wasn’t true. There were three other songs that were claimed to have been used in the movie, all of which I like: “Awake” by Godsmack and “Papercut” and “One Step Closer” by Linkin Park. The latter was used in another movie, but that’s for another review.

If you can’t tell, this is mainly a nitpick for me because of the missed opportunities right there.

Overall: Since this is my first time doing a Guilty Pleasure movie, I need to address something.

In terms of what makes a movie a Guilty Pleasure, there’s two things that you need to do before watching it. You need to know what you’re in for, and you especially need to have the right mindset. Otherwise, you won’t be able to enjoy it the way I and so many others do.

Now, if you want a Multiverse movie that isn’t too complex to follow, or an action movie that you just want to laugh at, look no further than The One.

When there’s some good aspects and some bad ones, yet it’s mostly in between, you know you’re in for a treat.

It’s not a great movie, but it’s dumb and fun at the same time, which is another way to put it when describing this particular type of movie.

With solid performances, elaborate but still fun action, competent direction, and of course great music, it’s the cheesiness around it that makes it fun to watch because of how dumb it is.

If you’re interested in checking it out, it’s on Netflix at the time of this writing.

Next time, we go from the Multiverse to a post-apocalyptic setting that still involves a fight for survival.

*He also briefly appears as each of seven of Yulaw’s victims shown in photographs during the trial scene.

**Fun Fact: Ke Huy Quan (Short Round himself) assisted with that for both this movie and the first X-Men. He had been doing that for the most part up until last year when he came back to acting (fittingly with another Multiverse movie, which won him an Oscar).

***She isn’t addressed by name in the movie, and as for why T.K. doesn’t have a name for those initials to stand for, I have no idea.