At the Movies with Kane and BN

[Black Narcissus]

The Batman

This is a goddamn masterpiece.

The live action Batman film I've been hoping for and waiting for. First viewing last night another one later today. I'm still in awe. I know I will eventually rank the batmen etc, but this for sure gave me my favorite Gordon and Selina/Catwoman so far on film. Easy. Jeffrey Wright's Gordon has a smooth swager about him, and this by far the most interesting Catwoman so far, while also being an origin flick in a way for her. That score! The batmobile entrance from hell. The nightclub fight scene. I can go on. Is this better than the dark knight? I gotta be honest here...The Dark Knight is still the best cbm so far, including any of the marvel flicks, no other cb movie has ever captured that feeling of hype of Dark Knight, but this is definitely the better Batman film to me. Pattinson is magnetic. I'm sure plenty of those debates will go on here and elsewhere, but as a Batman fan, lightning hit more than once. Truly hyped for a sequel. Goddamn. One of the years best films. 5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Blacklight

This poorly made political action thriller is brought to you by Dodge. Dodge, when you're out of ideas to promote your car, so you fund a Liam Neeson flick.

It's pretty much what you expect from a low grade Liam Neeson action flick. It's a slapped-together production with a half-assed script that hilariously tries to invoke some kind of "All the President´s Men" message with the Emmy Raver-Lampman character. The action is really shoddy except for whenever cars are involved and even then, it became a pretty hammy car commercial. All the performances fall flat... even Liam Neeson couldn't deliver some compelling lines. Overall, painful to get through. It's one of those movies where I'm shocked it had a theatrical release even in Dumpuary.
1/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Fresh

Dating in the modern world with serial killer tendencies. What could go wrong?

I felt that this could've been more, but they kinda held back. The first 10 minutes or so are cliche and rough to get through, but this was mostly fun. This was my intro to Daisy Edgar Jones. She got them bambi eyes about her, she is like a better version of Felicity Jones. 3/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Adam Project

It's a scifi time traveling kid adventure film from Shawn Levy that tries to be Speilbergian but falls short of it. I do like the premise of it all but once it gets into it the story loses steam pretty fast. The main highlight of the film is Ryan Renolds playing off with his younger self played by Walker Scobell and a lot of those early scenes do work in pieces. Walker Scobell does nail down Ryan Renolds's mannerisms pretty well. Another thing that does kinda work is when Zoe Saldana shows up in the mix... Which is a shame because she's not in it a whole lot. And the last thing I did appreciate is some of the action sequences that felt real and felt like they've spent some money on getting it right. Other than that, it's a bit of a mess overall. Jennifer Garner was alright I suppose. Mark Ruffalo phoned it in so hard in this... it's probably one of his worst performances to date. And Catherine Keener felt lost in here and it doesn't help that we get some uncanny valley stuff from her. Overall, it's pretty generic outside of a few things.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

Fresh

They really found a new Anne Hathaway clone.

A really well done dark comedy/thriller that takes the romcom route and twisted it around. It's a little bit of American Psycho with The Voices and Maniac but through a mostly female pov. I absolutely love this trend where the credits don't show up until you're 30 minutes in and in this it works wonderfully. You do get some proper character development for Daisy Edgar-Jones (who is incredible in this) before things go haywire and they do a good job setting up the Sebastian Stan character who is totally having some fun here. Another big thing that really takes this up a notch is the style and direction by Mimi Cave who finds creative ways of shooting certain moments and taking advantage of the script's humorous tone. Overall, pretty fun for a thriller despite the horrors of the subject matter and it'll be interesting to see what Mimi Cave and Lauryn Kahn do next.
3.5/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Red Rocket

An out of luck former pron star returns to his deadbeat hometown, but most aint too happy to see him. I wasn't expecting this to be funny, but still haunting.

If I had seen this earlier, it easily would've been on my top 10 of the year. Raw filmmaking at its finest. Simon Rex should've gotten an oscar nom. Suzana Son here is wonderful. She plays 'Strawberry'. Hell, her acting moment as she sings her version of 'Bye Bye Bye' is more than enough. She also very much so reminded me of the great 'Faye Reagan'. Salud to the brehs who know what i'm talking about.

An easy double feature with Zola.

 

[Kane52630]

The Outfit

It's exactly what you want in a 40s era gangster crime drama that's also a bottle film set in a tailor shop. Great first time directing by Graham Moore who uses the limitations of the single set to great effect and manages to keep it intriguing from start to finish. I like how they do spend the time showing you the process of cutting a new outfit together. It's one of those crime thrillers that constantly keeps you guessing and it always zigs when you think it zags. It's easily one of my favorite Mark Rylance roles and Zoey Deutch was also really good in here. There are also a couple of scenes involving Simon Russell Beale and Mark Rylance that I thought was brilliant. Also how it ends is so poetically well done. Overall, I really dug it and I wouldn't be surprised if someone makes a popular stage play out of this.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

X

Ti West literally came back to horror to stunt on the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.

It's a solid throwback to the 70s era of horror while trying to subvert a couple of horror tropes. The obvious comparisons to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre are there, but it's not as "in your face" as it looks. The setup does a great job of letting you know everyone before the madness starts and I liked the almost meta-commentary it has with filmmaking whether it be for making a horror film or making a porno. While it does have that A24 logo on this, it overall feels less like an "elevated horror" like The Witch and more of an old fashion grindhouse slasher by Ti West with some interesting ideas attached to it even despite the twist. Mia Goth was excellent and she pretty much carried the film especially when you figured out certain things. Jenna Ortega is in yet another horror film this year and she killed it yet again. Martin Henderson was also great and I feel like he was trying to mimic Matthew McConaughey which worked for me. Pretty good effort by Kid Cudi who disappears in the role and you almost forget that it was Kid Cudi. And Brittany Snow was also pretty good who's definitely going against type. The gore and the soundtrack in particular were also really well done and they did a great job on masking New Zealand to make it look like Texas. Overall, it's a fun comeback for Ti West and I can't wait to see the prequel movie.
4/5

 

[Kane52630]

 

[Black Narcissus]

Been on a few horror flick kick as of late. I don't know why. Vampires in general are my favorite 'monsters', so i'm always a sucker for them flicks. I will try to check out most that I can.

Livid

Made in 2011, but not released in US markets for streaming till this year. You can tell they kinda ran out of the money towards the end, but most of it was used for the most important scenes, which are damn great. A simple premise of breaking into a home and finding out whats inside. 4/5

All The Moons

Pan's Labyrinth and 'Let The Right One In' with a much lower budget and you end up with a really solid little flick.

3/5

The Innkeepers

Ti West did a hell of a job setting this up. He took his time and it was damn worth it. Sara Paxton is simply great here, she should've been the next 'it'' gal, but kinda missed her ride for whatever reason. Two bored hotel employees waiting for their place at work to literally close within days, both decide to look for ghost spirits one last time. 4/5


Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

This probably has some of the more iconic Christoher Lee Dracula shots ever film? This is also about turning an atheist into a believer, which is kinda hilarious. The imagery of a priest with a huge golden cross latched to his back, as he makes his way up to Dracula's castle for one last time is beautifully haunting. The captivating and sexy Veronica Carlson. One of the original 'Hammer scream queens'. She unfortunately past away earlier this year.

A fun 90 minute watch.

3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Deep Water

Incredible that someone made a movie that is pretty much the Sad Affleck meme meets a trashy telenovela.

It's an erotic thriller that forgets it's an erotic thriller so we get a series of repetitive scenes of Ana de Armas's character cheating on Ben Affleck that does nothing to move the plot. The dialogue is pretty atrocious especially when they have to say something tertiary like what they do for work or snails. And even when it does become a thriller in the last 10 minutes of the movie, it completely becomes hilarious to watch. Any positives I have about this is that the cinematography is indeed pretty incredible and Ana de Armas is the only one trying in this even in a trashy telenovela way. Overall, while I didn't hate it, it's very much dull and unintentionally hilarious.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Kimi

A solid modern day techno-thriller that is set in the pandemic from Steven Soderbergh that kinda combines Rear Window with Enemy of the State. Soderbergh does a phenomenal job using the pandemic to his advantage in the story and using what is essentially their version of Amazon's Alexa to explore corporate coverups and tech privacy concerns. I like how they made all the tech jargon as authentic as possible. It's got some of the best aesthetics visually and the cinematography (along with the editing) by Soderbergh was very interesting and fresh. Zoe Kravitz was phenomenal in this as an agoraphobic tech worker for the company and she does a great job showing off subtle ticks and quirks that adds character. All that being said, my only issue is when it gets to the 3rd act, it becomes slightly more conventional and "popcorn movie-y". Overall, I really dug it. It's one of those Soderbergh movies where he thrives in limitations and close space.
3.5/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Manhunter

A much needed rewatch.

Nobody edits cheesy music with sex scenes like Michael Mann. Unpopular opinion of course, but Brian Cox performance as Lecter has always captivated me more than Hopkins. I've always liked William Peterson. His career has been a weird one tho, he started out working with both Mann and Friedkin, he is mostly now known for them CSI shows, but the dude with these top directors always delivered. Actress Kim Greist did this and 'Brazil' and pretty much retired soon after.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Been on a few horror flick kick as of late. I don't know why. Vampires in general are my favorite 'monsters', so i'm always a sucker for them flicks. I will try to check out most that I can.

Livid

Made in 2011, but not released in US markets for streaming till this year. You can tell they kinda ran out of the money towards the end, but most of it was used for the most important scenes, which are damn great. A simple premise of breaking into a home and finding out whats inside. 4/5

All The Moons

Pan's Labyrinth and 'Let The Right One In' with a much lower budget and you end up with a really solid little flick.

3/5

The Innkeepers

Ti West did a hell of a job setting this up. He took his time and it was damn worth it. Sara Paxton is simply great here, she should've been the next 'it'' gal, but kinda missed her ride for whatever reason. Two bored hotel employees waiting for their place at work to literally close within days, both decide to look for ghost spirits one last time. 4/5


Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

This probably has some of the more iconic Christoher Lee Dracula shots ever film? This is also about turning an atheist into a believer, which is kinda hilarious. The imagery of a priest with a huge golden cross latched to his back, as he makes his way up to Dracula's castle for one last time is beautifully haunting. The captivating and sexy Veronica Carlson. One of the original 'Hammer scream queens'. She unfortunately past away earlier this year.

A fun 90 minute watch.

3/5

Have you seen Abel Ferrera's The Addiction? Not horror per se, more of a metaphor for drug addiction, but it's an interesting take on vampires and worth checking out.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Heat

A rewatch.

Still the greatest heist shoot out ever shot on film. Mann talked about wanting to one up the heist shoot out from the wild bunch. Not an easy task at all, but goddamn if he didn't do it. A sequence that has both inspired and been mimicked in many other flicks after. I always still foolishly believe Deniro will drive till the sun is up with his gal, but revenge is hell of a drug, every single time.

Cause she has a great ass!

 

[Kane52630]

The Lost City

A solid mid-size budget adventure romcom that they really don't make anymore. This feels like a throwback film and even more so... The movie takes a more meta approach to something like Romancing the Stone and Cutthroat Island. To come as no surprise, it's one of those movies where you know exactly where it's headed, but the execution of it all still works. The chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum carries the movie and you also throw in a mustache twirling villain from Daniel Radcliffe who's chewing scenery. Brad Pitt easily has the best extended cameo in the movie where it totally plays into the meta-ness of the plot. While not every joke lands perfectly, a lot of it does enough to keep it going. They also don't give a whole lot of plot time to Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Patti Harrison who you thought might have a bigger role here with the way it started. Overall, it's a wild shame that this is actually a better and more accurate Uncharted movie than the actual Uncharted movie. It does exactly what it's supposed to do while having an adventurous time doing it.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

Morbius

Morbius, the movie that answers the question...."What if Avi Arad was still in charge at Marvel?"

This goes back to the pre-MCU day of comic book movies where things are greenlit without much thought behind them. It uses the Incredible Hulk playbook for the main plot and substitutes in flat characters with zero character development after they're established. The movie boils down to two dudes fighting over an argument that didn't need to happen. I will say it starts off kinda promising and with Jared Leto's performance, it does set up some kind of expectations and I will say I did like the look and the cinematography of it all. The only problem is you can feel scenes were deliberately edited out which means the plot just hops over to the next thing without any context. The movie takes every shortcut possible to get to you the ending CG slomo battle and ends on a whimper. Matt Smith is kinda all over the place as the main villain and he doesn't give you enough to give a s**t about. Adria Arjona was not bad, but they kinda make her run around only to be the damsel. Jared Harris was barely in it and it makes you wonder why he said yes to the role. And finally, Al Madrigal and Tyreese feel like they're in a completely different movie that doesn't involve superheroes where they're playing two FBI agents just running behind on every moment. As far as Michael Keaton goes, it's completely baffling what they did to him... It's almost as if Sony is purposely f**king with Marvel Studios. Overall, while it's not the worst superhero movie... it is by far the blandest and forgettable one. It's closer to something like Fan4stic or Green Lantern than Catwoman or Steel.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Windfall

The most chill and awkward home invasion ever.

It's a slow-paced Hitchcockian thriller done in a very off-kilter and awkward way. There are some obvious Fargo undertones with the way everyone reacts to certain things and it makes for some interesting and unusual interactions. There's a point where it literally becomes that meme of a burglar about to rob a couple only to watch a movie on the tv. The director Charlie McDowell follows the same kind of bottle film format as his previous film The One I Love. The plot really boils down to character drama conversations between the three leads and how they ultimately resolve the situation that also tackles some hot topic issues. Speaking of the leads, it's got great performances by Jason Segel, Jesse Plemons, and especially Lily Collins who continues to be impressive. Overall, I really enjoyed it and while it's not for everyone, it's an easy laid-back watch with some crazy moments.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

The 355

Maybe I was too harsh on Ocean's 8 and the Charlie's Angels reboot...

For an action spy flick that has a solid group of talented female stars, Kinberg and the writers really dropped the ball on making this work. This was as generic and predictable as you can get with the recycled premise and lousy execution. Probably the biggest sin this movie has is the hand-to-hand action scenes that were poorly shot and edited together. It takes all the bad lessons from the Bourne movies and put them on display which is a shame because some of the stars like Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong'o clearly did some training on the choreography. The plot takes itself too seriously even with all the silliness they do here. There's a lot of awful dialogue that you've heard countless times so you don't really care for anyone in here except maybe for Penélope Cruz who plays the only human and down to earth character. Overall, painfully mediocre. It's one of those concepts that should have worked on principle, but sadly it took every wrong route and got lost.
1/5

 

[Kane52630]

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Calling it now, if Multiverse of Madness does not have a scene with two rocks having an existential conversation on life, bagels, and taxes, it's gonna suck.

The Daniels and A24 have done it again. This was a phenomenal, ridiculous, and ambitious sci-fi black comedy that uses its absurdity of the multiverse to tackle a family drama that also covers generational trauma and existentialism. The style is definitely unique and it's probably only comparable to something like The Matrix, Scott Pilgrim, and even Rick & Morty. It's by far the best use of Michelle Yeoh's ability whether it is acting or showing off her martial arts and she totally owns every scene she's in (which is pretty much every scene in this movie). There are also some incredible performances by Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis who all have some significant moments here. There are so many bizarre set pieces that would never be in consideration in any other movie, but The Daniels manage to make it all work and it makes for some great comedy. Overall, for me, this is what filmmaking is all about. It's by far it's one of the best films this year.
5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Ambulance

Michael Bay Presents: Grand Theft Auto in Puke-Vision

This was essentially Michael Bay trying to mimic Tony Scott or any other 90s crime thriller that uses the Speed/Die Hard format. You also get to have Michael Bay take advantage of the COVID lockdown in LA and have most of it shot on location during the daytime. And lastly, you also get Michael Bay discovering drone cinematography for the first time and shooting incredible angles that would never be possible with a normal setup. All that being said, it should have been an easy slam dunk for a Michael Bay movie like this but unfortunately, it was riddled with terrible mind-numbing editing and a bad script that keeps meandering (even more than usual for Bay's films).

I will say I did like some of the character setups at the start of this, but they quickly throw that out the window when the main plot gets going. It's a lot of unclever cliches with the plot and even with some of the action, it feels pretty standard. What does keep this movie afloat as much as it can is Jake Gyllenhaal's batsh** insane performance and to a lesser extent his chemistry with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Eiza González almost feels like she belongs completely different movie where there's more character drama going on. Outside of Olivia Stambouliah, almost none of the side characters were interesting. And the over 2 hr runtime kinda kills a lot of the momentum and logic of the plot. Overall, while there are some crazy things I did enjoy about it, the headache-inducing editing keeps me far away from loving it.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

Umma

It's a shame that this had some potential of doing something new by using a Korean American family story as the horror centerpiece, but unfortunately, it runs into a lot of pretty cheap tropes and bad dialogue. It almost feels like the predictable horror aspects got in the way of the drama they're trying to showcase about generational trauma and the culture clash. And even then, the performances are all over the place and even Sandra Oh couldn't save it. The cheap tv quality production kinda tells you everything about this horror film. Overall, while I didn't hate it, it's a dud that could have been great.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Infinite Storm

A somewhat mediocre survival thriller that tries to expand upon itself with a little bit more depth. I will say it started off promising enough, there's plenty of mood and atmospheric scenery of Mt. Washington. Once it get into the survival thriller aspect, it does become a bit by the numbers. There's not a whole lot of interesting dialogue that keeps it running. The movie then gets into Naomi Watts backstory and it's pretty obvious where it is headed. It has a lot in common with something like Robin Wright's film Land, but without some of the directing chops that make it stand out. I will say I did like how it ends and it's a shame that what drama they brought felt too little too late even though I did like the performance by Naomi Watts. Overall, while there are some pretty to look at moments, it's a survival thriller that lacks thrills and ultimately felt jumbled together.
2/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

Went down the rabbit hole of a few Michael Winner flicks. He is mostly known for directing the original 'Death Wish'...plenty of more Charles Bronson flicks etc, hell, he even has a flick with Brando, which I will check out at a later time.

Firepower

This felt like a bad ripoff of bad James Bond movies, but it works some how. James Coburn is such a badass. Sophia Loren can look like a mummy, but my god if she aint sexy.

The Sentinel

This was like a cheaper low budget mesh of The Omen and Rosemary Baby. The plot doesn't make sense at all, but one is still captivated by Cristina Raines. She later quit acting to become a nurse, according to her bio. This flick is packed with a great old actors and a bunch of now known actors who for many of them was their first role. A young Chris Walken barely has a line or so! Cristina Raines...Another name to that time machine list! Bald @C. Lee knows what I mean.

 

[Kane52630]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Kudos on the Ugandan Knuckles meme reference.

It was alright. This does fall in line with a lot of sequels where "doing the same thing only bigger" was the only thought process. Having Tails and Knuckles in here does change things up but not by much even though it was great when they all team up. Jim Carrey continues to be the best thing about these movies and even though the jokes doesn't land as much as the previous film, there's enough that landed to keep it going. James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, and Natasha Rothwell become side plots with some significant screen time. It's got a ton of easter eggs to the original games like the locations they go here which was cool. Overall, not bad but not great. I prefer the first one over this.
2.5/5