At the Movies with Kane and BN

[flickchick85]

I'm not sure what a "fantasy movie draft" would entail, but I am intrigued!

 

[Black Narcissus]

NOBODY

This was such a fun movie. On par with the first John Wick movie for me. This also pace wise gets to the fun action moments a lot quicker, it felt that way to me. Bob Odenkirk is great and believable in the action scenes. Role was made for him. Christopher Lloyd kicking ass and taking names, RZA in what I call the best token black man friend role, at least he was badass here. I must admit that I did not recognize Connie Nielson at first, she doesn't get much to do but these type of films don't really ask for more. I hope we get a trilogy out of this. Also, I was kinda hoping for some kind of John Wick reference/mention, nothing big, maybe the gold coins etc, these characters could easily fit in the same world. I'd say the only real nitpick was the villain, but he served his purpose.

4/5

 

[Kane52630]

Sign me up, bald man.

I'm not sure what a "fantasy movie draft" would entail, but I am intrigued!

I got this idea from the The Big Picture podcast and it seems to be pretty fun.

It play out like a fantasy football draft. In this scenario, we have a group of 10 people (or less) and we select a year in film (preferably something in the last 20+ years) in which we draft movies snake order style that fit into several categories (IE Blockbuster, Horror, Animation, ect).

At the end of the draft we put up all the results into a poll and have everyone on the hype vote on who has the better selection of movies and they win that year. We continue on the next year and so on and we keep a record on who's won so far.

 

[Black Narcissus]

The Call

On NETFLIX

Korean Cinema with another one!

Connected by phone in the same home but 20 years apart.

I like how the director isn't obsessed nor interested into how or why this premise is possible. Is it time travel? Some kind of sorcery? It doesn't really matter here. If this would've been done by anyone else, we'd get a whole explanation as to how is this happening. Nolan would have pages and pages as to how this works. lol What keeps you hooked is the story and Intense, twisted, and well-executed moments, with two wonderful lead actresses. Horror elements start to creep on you with the usual brutal korean gore and blood. It takes its time to get there tho, first hour or so is pretty much the set up ever slowburning with just enough to keep you interested, but once it gets going, it runs to the finish line. I also didn't see any trailer/or read reviews, went in clean, so that helped a lot for me. My only real nitpick aside from some awful wig work, is the final/final moment.

Get on this train before Hollywood remakes it.

4/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

McCabe and Mrs. Miller

First watch.


Might be the greatest anti western of all time or just beautiful gibberish. I wasn't expecting this to be so funny. Altman decided to get rid of the old western cliches and approached the material with irony. This film feels odd. I don't know how else to explain it. Like, If Wes Anderson ever made a western it kinda be like this in a way, and that might not make sense.
Warren Beatty seems out of place as the lead, but towards the end of the film, it goddamn works perfectly.

4/5

Also, a side note. Shelley Duvall has a minor role, but even so, she had presence, she was a great, sad to think about what happpen to her. She deserved better.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Mortal Kombat

Spoiler free review/

Eh, when Kano is the best character in your reboot...something didn't go right. This was kinda frustrating cause the core foundation for a good MK film was here, probably with a much better director and writer. I'm kinda bummed James Wan didn't take a chance on this. Hell, Justin Lin could've done a hell of a job too. Not a fan of Cole Young at all. The guy that played Liu Kang absolutely nailed it! He should've been the lead. The gal who played Sonya was also pretty solid, not my ideal Sonya Blade hnnngh, but solid enough. I still prefer the original movie to this one. I also feel like this should've been a series. I think it would've given them more breathing room to properly set this up. A few cool moments here and there, but that's it. Action scenes ain't nothing new.

This wasn't bad, but not very good either.

This sets up a sequel of course. I would see a second movie, but ain't losing any sleep if it doesn't happen.

 

[Kane52630]

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Enjoyable but disappointing which I kinda knew going in. Most of the problems I had with this is the script that decided to do a prequel to the tournament that doesn't really go anywhere with characters that aren't really fleshed out outside of a couple of them. And I'm totally fine with them adding a new character that is the audience avatar, but they don't do much with Lewis Tan as Cole after his introduction which I liked. I will say I thought it started off very strong with the origins of Scorpion and Sub-Zero and it's a shame that energy and time wasn't put into the rest of the film. What you get is a movie that is mostly fan service that finally does the stuff all MK fans have wanted to see in live action: the action/gore/fatalities and references to the game and lore... which as a MK fan, I had fun with all that stuff. I really enjoyed how Simon McQuoid directed it (who's a first time director) and how it was shot was another highlight for me. Some of the effects are really well done and almost couldn't tell what was CG and what was practical. I thought most of the performances was fine and Josh Lawson as Kano kinda steals the movie where he's the comic relief (or the Johnny Cage) of the movie. Overall, it's a mixed bag of enjoyable video game madness, but I don't think it's really on the level of the original film.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

I forgot to add this to the review but everyone should watch The Night Comes For Us if you want to see amazing full on deathmatches.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Basic Instinct

A rewatch.

I had not seen this in a very long time and even then only seen it once. This is a masterful directed film by the great Paul Verhoeven. Sharon Stone is so damn sexy here, but her great acting makes her character believable. I don't think any other actress could've pulled this off. Michael Douglas is good here, but his age gap was kinda noticeable, but outside of that, his scenes with Stone were really damn good. We all come to see Stone here, but I was oddly more attracted to Jane Triplehorn here this time. I don't know why. She kinda had a Lois Lane type air about her here. I also pretty much forgot and laughed when this movie pretty much skips over using DNA evidence. The now famous interrogation scene alone should've been enough for an Oscar nom for Stone, but they probably thought this was too trashy at the time. This is Hitchcock on cocaine and I love it.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Maybe the movie was written before DNA profiling was a common thing. I'm not sure, but in 80s and maybe even in early 90s it was new and probably not that widespread.

I didn't care for Stone much, tbh, but Tripplehorn is so cute in this.

 

[Kane52630]

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

A phenomenally fun family road trip/action film that has something of substance to say. Lord & Miller with Sony's animation department continue their incredible streak of delivering some of the best animated films that uses well inventive animation and designs to tell some great and fun stories. With this one, they were able to tell a coming of age movie that also becomes a family road trip... that is also a fun robopocalypse movie. It's very clever, witty, and quick on their feet with a ton of humor that works, much like the Lego Movie or Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. Plot wise it's like they combined all the best attributes from National Lampoon's Vacation, The Croods, I Robot, and Into The Spider-Verse and put them into a blender. It's got plenty of contemporary things to say about the society's relationship with technology and the family dynamic. The voice cast was great all around and having Eric Andre play the Mark Zuckerberg/Jeff Bezos character is perfection. Overall, without question it's one of the best films of the year let alone animation and it's a real shame I didn't see this theatrically.
4.5/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Those Who Wish Me Dead

This kinda reminded me of some 80s/90s type action thrillers. Particularly 'Cliffhanger', the Sly Stallone classic. lol

Character motivations are thin, and the whole past trauma moments felt too heave handed, but well acted on Jolie's part. Aidan GIllen and Nicholas Hoult play the two henchmen, and the material doesn't really give them much, but they are fun to see in these roles. Jon Bernthal really can't catch a break in his collaborations with Sheridan. Heh. Action and suspense moments were solid, but slightly elevated due to how great Jolie has always been in action stuff.

A solid 7.

 

[Kane52630]

Batman: Soul of the Dragon

Pretty well done all things considered especially for DC Animation. It's a mostly fun throwback to the 70s blaxploitation/Kung Fu era of cinema with a boarder scope and scale that uses DC's characters that fit well as a Elseworlds tale. Storywise, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it does pay homage to many films from the 70s. Really dug the voice casting overall like Michael Jai White, Kelly Hu, Mark Dacasocs and especially David Giuntoli voicing Batman which was pretty inspired and fresh. Animation wise, I mostly dug it in a direct to video sense, but I really enjoyed the character designs. It's great to see that Sam Liu has truly moved away from the DCAMU-verse and started in a new fresh direction. Overall, I had fun with it.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Justice Society: World War II

Really enjoyable. It was awesome to see them finally incorporating the JSA into DC animation again and using it to lay the some foundation in their rebooted animated universe by taking place in WWII. Following Superman Man of Tomorrow, the character designs and animation for JS WW II was refreshing. Really enjoyed the voice casting especially Matt Bomer as Barry Allen and Stana Katic as Diana and thankfully there's some decent dialogue that doesn't feel halfbaked and lazy. Overall, really well done.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

Disappointing. It's essentially a Saw movie that takes the perspective away from what's been done before and tries to push a police drama that is super cliched and halfbaked. Chris Rock does have some good intentions in bringing in a 'police accountability' storyline, but the movie never quite accomplish their goals. What Spiral does instead is soft rebooting the Saw franchise that is counting on multiple sequels. The performances outside of Sam Jackson, Max Minghella, (and maybe Chris Rock) are all what you expect in a Saw movie after the original, pretty one note. As for the gore and traps themselves, they were also pretty disappointing because none of them took the time to establish each game/trap. It was all rushed to get to the next thing. What you end up with is a boring Saw movie with a bad twist which is the last thing you want in a horror movie. Overall, while I don't hate it, it's such an odd movie even by Saw standards and one that could have been so much better if they had better writing or took the time to deliver some torture horror.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

Jakob's Wife

A somewhat decent low budget campy Vampire flick that stars scream queen Barbara Crampton. This was clearly inspired by from previous vampire flicks like Fright Night and Salem's Lot as well as some Mario Bava/Argento movies. It's exactly the kind of movie they would play at a film festival at midnight where it's not of amazing quality, but in the correct environment it can be enjoyable. I did like the choice of using the Nosferatu vampire design as the big bad and I like their attempt at some social commentary. Also, I did not know that was CM Punk which took me by surprise. Overall, for a low budget horror flick, it's got its upsides even if a lot of it is cliched and trite.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Oxygen

For a claustrophobic thriller about being trapped in a high tech enclosed hospital bed, it mostly achieves what it was going for even if it took the majority of film to get there. It's directed by Alexandre Aja who I mostly enjoy his films and it's got a solid lead with Mélanie Laurent who really deliver the emotional moments. My only issue as I watch this is it's hard to not compare it to Rodrigo Cortés's Buried which does a much better job with premise without all the high tech aspect to it and done on a much smaller budget. For me, that made the first half very underwhelming because you're just waiting for the reveals to happen because the claustrophobic aspect doesn't really work as keeps going back to flashbacks. However, once it gets to the reveals in the 3rd act, the film gets a lot better and a lot more interesting. Overall, it's a somewhat solid scifi thriller that saves its self with its 3rd act.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Army of the Dead

Zack Snyder Presents: Portrait Mode

This is pretty much Zack Snyder going back what fit his sensibilities by making a zombie heist film that is full of gore and action. The movie puts together a decent enough ensemble even if most of them are pretty one note characters. While some of them have their moments to shine, Dave Bautista (and maybe Ella Purnell) is the only character in here with a bit more depth. One big problem I have with this is the film is way too long and overstays its welcome. It should have been an easy and brisk 90 minute feature. It's got several moments where it pauses the momentum and quickness of the movie and while I did enjoy the smaller moments, it takes away the immediacy of the film. Also, apparently Snyder has a new fixation on blurred backgrounds because every character shot looks like it's stuck on portrait mode. What the movie gets right is this is essentially Escape from NY meets Resident Evil (with a little bit of Land of the Dead thrown in) vibe and when the action hits, it's really well done. Overall, while the pacing is way off, this was a fun zombie flick that does some inventive things and it's probably my favorite thing Snyder has done since that Owl movie which isn't saying much.
3/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

The Woman in The Window

Someone please check on Amy Adams!

This mess and that Ron Howard movie have been awful choices for her, even worse, she has been meh in both. This was simply awful! You want to talk about a great cast being wasted, this is it. Sweet lord. Also, I've never been that high as a director on Joe Wright, always felt like he'd deliver a good movie, if he got out of the way of the screen writer or if the screenplay was so good, he'd have to be a bloody idiot to mess up with his usual techniques, eh. Hitchcock's fat body would roll over in his grave if he saw this. No real suspense either, this mf tells you who the real killer is right away, it also don't help when this ''actor'' is damn awful. He seemed to be doing a young Joaquin Phoenix impression and it became a front runner for a razzie. Again, I don't want talk about privilege here, but when this actor gets to be in the same room with these types of heavyweights, and he delivers this, one has to ask themselves who the hell is this dude's father? No way he got in that room based on talent.

1/5.


Army of The Dead

This film delivers on what the trailers portrayed. A dumb, fun, bloody zombie movie. Nothing else and nothin' more. I do feel like this could've been shorter in the running time, there is a great high energy cut in here some where, but let us not talk about cuts! Bautista was really damn solid. The best character for me was the french coyote, I wouldn't mind seeing some kind of prequel with her as the lead, you could tell she went through a lot before these zombie events. Reminded me of 'Escape From New York' and The Dirty Dozen', with Snyderisms mixed in. I do feel like a lot of folks especially on this site are bit harder on this flick cause most of them are sick of the Snyder fandom and whatnot, like I've never seen Snyder say this was gonna bring something different to zombie genre etc, but tis' is what it is. A good weekend watch on Netflix.

A very fun and solid flick.

3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Those Who Wish Me Dead

Taylor Sheridan's undefeated streak had to come to an end eventually. This film is essentially a TNT movie that you'd watch on a lazy weekend afternoon. It's way more schlocky than advertised and it's got an uneven tone and story. Despite it being an Angelina Jolie movie, the film focuses on a few main characters that aren't well developed. The plot is straight out of the 90s and it never feels self aware that they're doing a typical thriller. There are a few things that worked in this movie. It's got a somewhat decent cast overall, but Jon Bernthal & Medina Senghore stood out as my favorites. They really should have focused the movie on them. As expected, It's really well shot and directed and some of the action towards the end of the movie is really well done. Overall, it's a big step down from something like Hell or High Water, Sicario, and Wind River, but there's some entertainment value if you're just looking for a straight generic thriller.
2.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Woman in The Window

Between this and Hillbilly Elegy, are we gonna typecast Amy Adams as the crazy Karen now? And a followup question, are macbooks that delicate?

Without going too deep into it, this movie is all style over substance and I'm kinda shocked that Tracy Letts is responsible for this Rear Window knockoff script if you even call it that. It's unbelievable how much talent is wasted in this. None of the characters are that engaging for you to care, so the film floats around for a while until you get to the big reveals (which aren't that big). The only aspect to this movie that got my attention was the cinematography and the directing which is keeps you interested at the very least. Other than that, this is exactly the kind of movie you'd expect play on Lifetime with a slicker look to it. Overall, a massive dud.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

In the Earth

Really enjoyed this. It's Ben Wheatley going back to his horror route where it's seemingly a horror film on the surface when it's actually something else (and it's pretty psychedelic). With how it's filmed and the plot mechanics of the story, the film felt like he combined Annihilation with some sections of The Last of Us pt 2. Unlike Songbird, it was made with the current pandemic in mind that works extremely well with the plot. I really enjoyed the performances by the main two leads in here, Joel Fry and Ellora Torchia, but the movie really belongs to Reece Shearsmith who steals every scene he's in. Overall, it's an phenomenal film that touches themes of isolation in a very weird horror/sci-fi way. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this really worked for me.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

A Quiet Place Part II

John Krasinski delivers a phenomenal continuation of where we left off in part 1 and expands the world of what happened before and after the events the first film. Where the first film felt congruous with Ridley Scott's Alien, Part II feels more in line with James Cameron's Aliens in terms of horror, action, and expanded world building. It also changes focus from the parents to the kids which worked extremely well thanks to Millicent Simmonds (and Noah Jupe, but this was clearly her movie). She steps up after the set up in the first film and they do a great job teaming her up with Cillian Murphy which draws all kinds of Last of Us comparisons. I thought Emily Blunt had some really solid moments especially in the first half. Djimon Hounsou wasn't in it enough, but I thought he was good. And there's also an interesting Scoot McNairy role that took me by surprise. I will say as the plot and characters expands, you get 2 or 3 plotlines simultaneously go on as the movie progress which allows for a faster pace especially in the 2nd half. Overall, while I think the first film is near perfect and air tight, Part II does a little more that explains some stuff, but keeps some of the mystery and resolve at bay. The movie pretty much uses the zombie playbook and because of that and some other things, it might feel repetitive. Still, it's extremely well done as a horror movie that has wide appeal.
4/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Cure (1997)- Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa

When David Fincher and Bong Joon-ho both call this one of the greatest films of all time... you better add this to your list.

An emotionally repressed police detective with a mentally unstable wife. Takabe investigates a series of bizarre murders in which each victim is killed in the same way, with a large "X" carved into their neck, but the perpetrator is different each time. In every case the murderers are caught close to the scene of the crime, and although they readily confess to committing the crimes, they never have a substantial motive and cannot explain what drove them to kill.

I know this came out around the same time as 'Seven', but this felt like a psychological and much deeper approach to the serial killer material. With 'Seven' one is in a way waiting for Pitt and Freeman to connect the dots and catch Spacey, here the serial killer's character is far more advance and in a melancholic mental state to his methods. This was jarring, unsettling, very uncomfortable watch, while not being as violent and bloody as Seven. Felt that bolt of chills on my arm as I was watching certain scenes, as seeing them for the first time. That feeling of seeing now cliche moments in other flicks and series, but seeing the inception of said moments here for the first time, which no doubt inspired dozens of flicks etc. Hell, the essence of this is all over another masterpiece in Bong Joon-ho 'Memories of Murder', and he not only took from this but doubled down. This is often regarded as a lost classic of the 90s. I hope more folks can watch this for the first time.

5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Cruella

I'm pretty shocked on how well this turned out. The director Craig Gillespie pretty much made The Devil Wears Prada as a big budgeted superhero (or villain) origin movie. Conceptually, this movie is an amalgamation of Devil Wears Prada, Batman Begins, Joker, and weirdly enough Jack Nicholson's Joker for Emma Stone's portrayal as Cruella Deville. The biggest props I have to give this film is the overall production design. Everything from costumes, makeup, set designs, style, and especially the music that knows exactly when to have a needle drop. You can tell Craig Gillespie and his crew was gave a lot of effort in this. While the plot is extremely familiar like previous stated, they were able to keep it fresh and sharp with the visuals and the performances. Emma Stone was great and it felt tailor made for her strengths as a performer and so was Emma Thompson. I also dug Joel Fry and especially Paul Walter Hauser who continues to be great in everything. The pacing is also really well done especially for a 2hr+ runtime. The humor is also really well done and having it be rated PG13 adds a bit more bite (pun intended) than your usual disney live action movies. I thought it was interesting how they dealt with the whole dalmatians part of the story. Overall, while it might not be for die hard fans of the source material, this was way better than I originally thought it was going to be. It's honestly right up there with the live action Jungle Book movie for Disney.
3.5/5