Went into this with low expectations but I was thoroughly surprised at how much I enjoyed this spinoff. While I thought the Sandra Bullock movie was really god-awful and a joke with a cool premise, this delivers on not only giving you more context and takes it seriously but also placing the "antagonist" at the center of the movie which was a cool decision. The religious slant in this was an interesting choice and I thought how they incorporated some of the interpretations made sense. The acting and the production budget were an upgrade over the previous movie and I thought the menace was done much better. Mario Casas and Georgina Campbell were pretty good here and I thought what they do at the end was interesting. The only thing holding this back for me was some of the pacing in the middle and I thought the movie had a strong start but a somewhat weak finish. Overall, I enjoyed it so much more than the first one. 3/5
Shout out to Shea Whigham for being the only man who successfully tried pursuing Ethan Hunt, Dom Toretto, and The Joker.
Despite not being as tightly written as Fallout, it was really fun for a part one of two. The set pieces practically take over whole sections of the movie over the advanced tech plot which seems pretty apt for 2023. The set pieces that stood out the most for me were the Abu Dhabi airport section, the chase in Rome, and the train sequence at the end.
Tom Cruise remains the single constant of all these movies and his stunts were great in this. The same goes for Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg for being pretty much the same as before. Hayley Atwell, who's also fantastic in this, pretty much emerges as the new character that gets a lot of focus. We do get some of Rebecca Ferguson and Vanessa Kirby but it was interesting how they were used and they were great as well. I thought Esai Morales was good but it was obvious what they wanted to do with his backstory. I really dug Pom Klementieff who plays the cool henchwoman but I will say I wish we had more of her. Overall, considering it's a part one we don't get the full story or any real resolution which is expected but that being said, I thought it could have done a little more with the plot. Overall, it's a great summer movie from start to finish but it will leave you wanting more. 4/5
Taking your bromance to the next level by playing Super Mario Bros together after you finished your penis funeral sounds like a lost episode of The League.
It's a sci-fi mumblecore comedy by Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn that has a lot of interesting ideas that ultimately didn't click as well for me. It's definitely a covid inspired survival movie by only having Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown stuck in a biodome at the end of the world. The dialogue and the mumblecore of it all stays somewhat interesting even though you kinda know where it's headed and the themes it presents. This almost feels like an episode of Room 104 but stretched out to 90 minutes. Overall, it's a movie that could have been much better if it gave something more or if it was shorter. 2.5/5
It's still insane they thought "Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World" would be a suitable movie title.
This was a pretty basic sports biopic that details George Foreman's life from growing up in poverty up to his comeback to the boxing ring in the 80s/90s and winning the heavyweight championship. They do pretty much all the conventional biopic cliches from the overacting, the extremely sentimental moments, the crazy timeline jumps, and even having the guy playing Foreman as an adult, Khris Davis, also play him when he was 16 years old. The only people that really stopped this from being really awful are George Tillman Jr's direction and Forest Whitaker's performance as Doc Broadus. Because under different hands this could have easily been one of those terrible faith-based movies with terrible performances. I thought the section in the middle with Muhammad Ali was actually pretty good. Also, I thought Khris Davis did a decent enough job holding his own while playing Foreman. Overall, while it's miles better than something like Sweetwater from this year, it's still your average sports biopic that does all the things you've seen before. 2.5/5
Oddly not the movie I was expecting this to be despite the general plot of a guy and his Afgan interpreter trying to escape Afghanistan while taking down the people that did him wrong like The Covenant from this year.
Where the Covenant has its hands in American jingoism, this is more in line with spy action films like the Bourne series or Body of Lies where it's a lot more geopolitical and complex but works as a mid-level action movie. They do a better job than most showing the various intelligence groups from different countries, the homegrown militias/terror groups, and a journalist all collide with each other. Whoever wrote this movie obviously knows there's more to the Afgan region than most movies try to attempt. Also, while you can tell they shot this movie in Saudi Arabia, it's still an improvement over shooting it in America so it works to its advantage.
While Gerard Butler is the star of the movie, they don't make it solely about him for the most part which was refreshing. Navid Negahban who plays the Afgan interpreter and Ali Fazal who's pretty much the Pakistani Jason Bourne are the two most interesting characters in the movie. Travis Fimmel was also kinda interesting. What brings the movie down is it gets a bit too convoluted, some of the action scenes felt like a video game, and the journalist plotline almost gets forgotten. Overall, while it's got its problems, I thought this was better than I was expecting. 3/5
Richard Gere is one of the greatest actors of his generation, the camera loves him, but his bad rep has followed him all through out his career. I mean, the man had that awful but hilarious rumor of him and a gerbil emergency room story. Bunch of hollywood folks from actors to producers hate him till this day, so his ''great'' output is a lot lesser than the other actors in his age bracket. When he is on, he is on, owns the goddamn screen. This is often a forgotten gem from the 90s.
Funny enough I was watching Primal Fear for the first time because of the Rewatchables podcast. That was some good 90s Hollywood courtroom drama/thriller. I almost bought the Edward Norton character until that reveal.
I just know somewhere Allan and Lego Robin would obviously be best pals.
This was simply incredible and I can't believe Greta Gerwig got away with it between the feminist themes and the corporate bashing. This was basically The Lego Movie and The Flintstones meets Pee-wee's Big Adventure and Life Size. Just from the jump, Gerwig did a fantastic job creating Barbieland on a surreal and tangible set design level where it does remind me of how the live-action Flintstones movies used to look like. Barbieland does operate like a kid's playset with a kid's sensibility which was really cool. I also like how while they do a fish out of water story and go to the real world, they don't immediately abandon Barbieland until the end. It still remains a big part of the story. It's also shot incredibly well where the lighting is perfect but not flat and the colors do very much pop. The music/dance sequences were also incredible.
I thought the cast was also really well and dense with a lot of smaller well-known actors (and singer) in the supporting roles. Margot Robbie was excellent as Barbie which was expected but they do so much more with Ryan Gosling as Ken that you didn't expect going in. The comedy works a lot more with Ken than it does with Barbie and how both characters evolve from being in the real world was interesting and I'm sure it's when certain groups will absolutely despise it. It also becomes meta in the best ways. And if I have one critique/nitpick from this movie, it does flow really well until Greta Gerwig pulls a Spike Lee towards the end and almost halts the movie for some heavy-handed preaching to the choir. It doesn't ruin the movie for me but I feel like they could have done it better with some subtlety. Overall, a lot of fun with some top-tier filmmaking. It's exactly what you want in a summer blockbuster with mass appeal no matter who you are. 4.5/5
When it's your turn for public speaking so you imagine everyone naked but it backfires so hard.
Incredible and dense. This was such an unconventional biopic drama about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the start of the nuclear age with the Cold War. It's a movie less concerned about giving you the step-by-step of how they got the Manhattan Project up and running like the movie Fat Man and Little Boy, but more concerned about Oppenheimer himself and what makes him tick as a person when it comes to his social circle, his communist political beliefs, and his personal relationships. This movie feels like the necessary bridge of what America became between the heroics of WWII and what would become the Cold War and the Red Scare.
It's also much like the movie JFK, a movie that is mostly a boardroom/talky almost political thriller that has multiple hearings and multiple sides to history. And also like JFK, it's got one of the most stacked casts in history. Cillian Murphy was great in the lead and much deserved recognition as an actor. The other big actor in this that rivals him is Robert Downey Jr who is phenomenal and reminds everyone how great he always was. There are some others that really stood out in this like Josh Hartnett, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, David Krumholtz, Emily Blunt, and Benny Safdie. As for the cinematography and the IMAX, it's indeed awe-inspiring especially when you get to the trinity test. There are some scenes that do feel very haunting and disturbing without being crass. And the music by Ludwig Göransson and sound editing do a lot of the heavy lifting. They also set up a more complex moral dilemma and ethics than you expect. My only complaint is while I admire how for a 3-hour movie, it moves fast and never lets up, some of the pacing in the first half felt too fast-paced and the editing felt a bit too choppy for my liking. Also as for the IMAX, I still don't like how Nolan switches up the aspect ratio too much in a single scene. Overall, it's definitely one of the best movies of the year that has more to say about our time right now than most movies try to attempt. 4.5/5
ngl I had to pause the movie so I can go to my fridge and get me some bottle of water for hydration.
This movie simply rules and I'm kinda shocked it came from Netflix of all places and not an official theatrical release. It's pretty much a blaxploitation conspiracy thriller in the vein of Sorry to Bother You along with some John Carpenter vibes with They Live, but done with a more comedic tone that reminded me of movies like Black Dynamite and Undercover Brother. It's also got some inspiration from movies like It Follows and Groundhog Day which was nice. Juel Taylor who wrote and directed it did an amazing job creating the world that this movie lives in where it seemingly takes place today, but it's still stylized from the 70s as if it never left. I thought they did a good job balancing the comedy and the dramatics well enough. John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, and Jamie Foxx were all phenomenal in this and they really elevated the material with their performances, especially Jamie Foxx who hasn't been this good in a while. I loved all the visual flair in this where they make it look like it was shot on film from the 70s and the soundtrack/needle drops are some of the best of the year. Overall, this is a certifiable cult classic in the coming years. It's a rare win for Netflix for making a movie that was actually good for once and I cannot wait to see what Juel Taylor does next. 4.5/5
To be at that highway when that truck threw out all those beanie babies and have an eBay account...
In yet another entry in this year's "movie centered around brands and IP", this might be the weakest one so far. It started off with the three women that revolve around Ty Warner who helped create the beanie babies but it eventually becomes solely about him. It's the most straightforward biopic of the bunch and while they do try to make it interesting by having a non-linear narrative, it's still pretty generic. Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, and Sarah Snook weren't bad in this, but I thought the clear standout was Geraldine Viswanathan who continues to do no wrong. I did like when the movie eventually go into the corporate toy world and the 90s of it all, but there are not enough interesting moments in this to really stand out. Overall, while I didn't hate it, it was pretty much disposable content. 2.5/5
Just me doing the Leo pointing meme every time they filmed anywhere in the French Quarter.
This was a movie, I guess. I never saw the 03 film or went on the Disney ride. This was definitely made for a younger audience who never got into horror before and it's definitely got some Disney Channel movie vibes despite the stacked cast and multi-millions of dollars poured into it. It's got a pretty straightforward plot and you know where it's headed the moment they introduced the 2-3 different plotlines.
LaKeith Stanfield simultaneously was good and different but also wasted in the role. It almost reminded me of when he did The Photograph with Issa Rae. I thought while Owen Wilson was doing his same old schtick, it worked in the context of the movie. Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Rosario Dawson weren't bad but they weren't utilized as well as I hoped and I feel like the humor didn't land 100%. I thought the kid was actually really good and I liked how they got someone who's actually freaked out by the things that happen in the movie. As far as the rest, the plot just felt stretched out and while I did like the last 3rd of the movie, there wasn't enough in it. I will say the best part was the scene where Winona Ryder showed up. Overall, while I didn't hate it, it was just there. 2/5
I don't know what's scarier, a supernatural spirit in the form of an embalmed hand that possesses you and make you see ghosts or someone having the Crazy Frog theme as their ringtone in the year 2023.
This was pretty well done especially for a couple of guys who used to do comedic horror youtube videos. It's a movie that immediately hooks you in with its premise and it only goes nuts from there. There are definitely aspects of this movie that will remind you of It Follows, Final Destination, Hereditary, and even Smile from last year. That being said, the horror side of things is used sorta sparsely but it hits whenever it is needed. That being said, I do wish the movie went crazier with the horror.
Most of the movie is centered on Sophie Wilde as Mia and her performance is simply incredible. The rest of the cast was also really good and they do a good job on the relationships between all the characters. The comradery aspect of the movie is what really holds everything together so when things do hit the fan, it hits pretty rough. The ending is what everyone will be talking about and it's one that I sorta saw coming but it was really well done. Overall, a really damn good debut that I know will bring similar success as Zach Cregger did with Barbarian and Parker Finn with Smile. 4/5
It hasn't been 24 hours since I watched this and I've already forgotten almost everything that happened.
This was not good and more importantly, this doesn't even feel like a "movie". This felt like an extended episode of a Justice League cartoon with no context of anything leading up to this or any context in the middle of watching it and it leaves on a cliffhanger. It's basically three vignettes that deal with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman stuck in 3 different timelines. They got three separate writers and yet they all have the same generic dialogue that they probably got from ChatGPT. The writing isn't as atrocious as Green Lantern: Beware My Power, but this was super boring to sit through. I feel like with the Tomorrowverse, every other movie has been not bad, and unluckily for this one, it's the bad one. Overall, I'm sure the series will have a better time with their Crisis on Infinite Earths animated movie but this one is a stinker. 1.5/5
Brownie Tuesday would definitely be a K-Pop band that I never heard of until they showed up on tumblr randomly.
This was a fun raunchy road trip comedy for Asians that definitely reminded me of The Hangover and Girls Trip but I found the melodrama aspect to be way more interesting. I thought the cast worked really well between Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, and especially Sabrina Wu who plays Deadeye and they pretty much stole the movie. I will say I thought a couple of the comedic setpieces didn't work as well as I hoped but there were plenty of funny moments that did work like the train sequence. But whenever the movie is centered around Ashley Park's character finding her birth mom, it does elevate the film from just an okay raunchy comedy to something more. Overall, I dug it a lot and it's a damn shame it didn't do too well at the boxoffice. 3.5/5
It's one of these old-fashioned indie character dramas with big name stars that are only built to become Oscar bait, but I thought this was kinda awful especially when you get to the laughable resolution. I thought on the performance side, Kate Beckinsale, Brian Cox, and Ernie Hudson were pretty decent. It's the plot of a father who's on house arrest after being in prison trying to make amends with his daughter becomes not only very formulaic, it's pretty uninteresting whenever they meet. The movie goes on a checklist of generic things and moments that's been done before in other movies and even tv movies. All the emotions felt manufactured and written pretty basic but then you get to the lead singer of All-American Rejects who's easily the worst thing in the movie and who feels like a Saturday morning kids show villain. Overall, despite some decent moments, this was a dud. 2/5
Between this and Cats, Jason Derulo must have a spidey sense of finding the most horrendous movie projects of all time to be in.
It wasn't even 20 minutes before I had to stop and contemplate if this is the worst biopic I'd ever seen. This movie is about Neil Bogart who was a record producer that was the head of a record label that help launch a lot of notable artists like Kiss and Donna Summer. Where this movie falls completely down the vanity project tunnel is Timothy Scott Bogart who is the son of Neil Bogart and he's the director, writer, and producer of this movie. This whole project is just to make it seem like Neil Bogart was a misunderstood genius, can do no wrong, can see into the future like it's a superpower, and is actually the guy who's solely responsible for creating the popularity of Disco and 70's rock and roll and without him, those artists would be nobodies.
That part aside, this movie is full of bad wigs and cheap Party City costumes with some awful greenscreen and effects that look dated 10 years ago. They also completely missed the mark of getting actors to look like the artists. The movie plays it genuine and sincere, but it plays off like a bad SNL parody that goes on for over 2 hours and even they got two SNL cast members. The movie uses every biopic cliche in existence between the number of bad montages/narration and the sappy melodramatic moments. It's as if they don't realize they're making a parody. All the performances were pretty terrible. It's also shocking and sad to see Michelle Monaghan and Jason Isaacs be in this who are so wasted. The only person in this movie that actually made me go "Well that wasn't so bad" was Wiz Khalifa of all people as George Clinton. Overall, this should belong in the pantheon of awful biopics and music biopics. 0.5/5
An interesting concept for a movie that fell short for me. It's a movie that really copied Severance's aesthetic like the cinematography even down to sharing some themes of mental health in the workplace, but it doesn't nearly have the amount of intrigue or well-developed side characters. The movie is all centered on Jon Hamm and his Travis Bickle-like narration and that gets pretty stretched thin by the time you get to the 3rd act. I will say I thought Sarah Gadon and Danny Pudi were interesting enough but they don't get a whole lot to do. But overall, this was a movie that could have been better if it had more to say besides one character. I think the movie probably works best as a short film where it's able to tell what it's telling without dragging anything out. And you're also better off watching Severance again. 2/5
How did Desus Nice or The Kid Mero not pop up in this movie, I will never know.
Loved it. Finally someone managed to create a TMNT movie that actually embraces the fact that they're real New Yorkers and implement it into the overall plot. This is also the most teenage/contemporary TMNT movie that feels relevant to this very day with an animation style that invokes the Spider-verse in a positive way. The script is very funny and heartfelt and the voice cast of the Turtles actually sounds like teenagers for once. I also love the rest of the cast including Ayo Edebiri who's been killing it recently as April O'Neil, Jackie Chan as Splinter who is perfection, and Ice Cube as Superfly who brought that same energy from the Jump Street movies. This also has a killer soundtrack of 90s east coast hip-hop and an incredible synth score by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross both of which I loved. Much like Spider-Verse, it's a movie for kids and teens but also for super fans and people who grew up knowing about the property. Overall, one of the best movies of the year. It's been a banger year for mainstream animation between this and Spider-Verse. 4.5/5
Ben Wheatley if you're being held hostage against your will by Warner Bros just blink once for no, twice for yes.
Pretty rough. It's an overproduced B monster action movie that is already spinning its wheels by the time you get to the 2nd act. The first Meg had pretty flat characters aside from Statham and here it's no better even though you have Cliff Curtis. The plot is kinda nonsense and it's borrowed from all the worst shark movies like Jaws the Revenge and Sharktopus only done on a huge budget. The human villains are Z-grade and also don't make a whole lot of sense but they only exist to be eaten by the Megs. The only part that kept me from not totally hating it was when they got to the end and you see Jason Stratham riding a jetski while shooting explosive harpoons at three Megladons. Aside from that, this movie stinks. 1.5/5
This was damn good. It's a loose/modernized adaptation of the opera by the same name, but this was an excellent musical drama that is also very hypnotic to watch visually which might not be for everyone. It's all built on great dance choreography, cinematography, an operatic score, and the chemistry between Melissa Barrera and Paul Mescal that really works. Also, the movie visually almost reminds me of movies by Almodóvar or Nicolas Winding Refn. In regards to the plot, while it's kinda thin, it works in a very Romeo & Juliet kind of way with how they use the US/Mexico border. While the dialogue was strategically minimal, I thought performances by Melissa Barrera, Paul Mescal, and Rossy de Palma were really good. Overall, I really loved it just on a vibe level alone. It's one of those movies that is hard to recommend to anyone but if you're into watching something different, it's definitely for you. 4.5/5
Great movie despite whatever the review aggregator says. It's an old fashion classic horror flick set around the chapter where Dracula secretly travels on board to England with the boat crew members getting taken down one by one. It's a movie with a ton of atmosphere and dread. André Øvredal really went back to the old Universal Monster/Hammer Horror films era with this movie where they're not trying to make some slick modernized self-referential horror that doesn't take itself seriously. The majority of the movie is centered around this ship crew and their dynamic with each other as a creature is hunting them down much like Ridley Scott's Alien. Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, and David Dastmalchian were pretty good in this. I also absolutely love Dracula's design which harkens back to the original Nosferatu design and I thought his evolution as it gets stronger was cool to see. They really made him a true creature of the night and Javier Botet did a great job with it. If I have any complaints, it would be that it might be a little repetitive at certain parts, but it's hard to knock it against it because they're following and expanding the chapter from the novel. Overall, I dug it a lot, it's a true old-school gothic horror that almost never gets made anymore. 3.5/5
Not even joking when I say this movie did the "Are Ya Winning, Son?" meme unironically.
An incredibly predictable sports/teen/biopic movie that is filled with cliches but was still super entertaining to watch. It's about Jann Mardenborough who was a gamer that became a professional race car driver through a Gran Turismo competition. It's interesting to watch this as technically a video game movie because of how Gran Turismo works in relation to everything. The movie feels like a throwback to other sports movies like this from years ago where it's got a level of cheesiness that you buy into like a lot of high school sports movies. Archie Madekwe plays the lead and while I thought he was pretty decent, David Harbour was the secret sauce in this. His charisma really helps this movie where he kinda plays the Mr. Miyagi role. Orlando Bloom was also in this and I thought he was fine, but I thought it was cool seeing Djimon Hounsou in a non-superhero movie role again who plays the father. The racing scenes are actually impressive and refreshing and it's no surprise because Neill Blomkamp directed this. I absolutely love how clean and crisp the cinematography is especially when it comes to the racing and I like how they are able to show you a hud just like the games. It also sounds incredible especially if you're watching it on an IMAX or Dolby screen. Overall, while the story is very typical and sometimes generic, the movie still works despite it all as a fun video game/sports movie for teens. 3/5
Alternate title... Task Failed Successfully: The Movie
This is yet another stale streaming spy action film that has zero personality or cleverness. They just feed all the better Mission Impossible and James Bond movies into an algorithm and this is what it sh**s out. With this movie, they really went all out on ripping off the later Mission Impossible movies. Gal Gadot is no Ethan Hunt and she doesn't really get a whole lot of dialogue to work with aside from a few phrases. She once again tries to surround herself with better actors who do all the talking for her. A lot of the world they built here feels half-baked and uninteresting in context with the plot. Jamie Dornan feels so lost in this and Alia Bhatt, who is big in India, can't even pull off a convincing spy double agent. They also have Matthias Schweighöfer who once again plays the techy guy in a netflix movie. I will say I thought the cinematography was not bad and having them shoot on real locations is a big improvement over crap like Red Notice. Overall, a boring mess. This belongs in the streaming dump of action movies next to The Gray Man and Ghosted. 1.5/5
This was a lot of fun. It's a lighthearted coming-of-age action comedy that revolves around Miguel who never fought before trying to pick a fight at school with the help of his friends before he moves. This definitely has vibes of Scott Pilgrim, Polite Society, and Vampires vs. the Bronx because of the director, Oz Rodriguez. While I will say as a indie film, it is a little rough around the edges similar to Vampires vs the Bronx, the chemistry between his friends and the really well-done fighting montages are what keep this movie moving. The screenplay by Shea Serrano & Jason Concepcion (who are great podcasters btw) is great and incredibly specific to their lived-in experiences. It's a movie for people who grew up loving action movies and had a nerdy friend group that always talk nerdy and give each other sh** about it (both about movies and sports). Overall, it's yet another solid Hulu movie that deserves your attention especially if you're into fun action movies. 3.5/5
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