Movie Review: Violent Night

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

A real yuletide treat with all the R-rated violence to fill your heart with Christmas joy. 

This movie may be simply dumb fun, but it is just the kind of dumb fun that I love. Though admittedly it takes this movie a little bit to get going, once it gets going it is simply delightful. For those of you who don't know the basic plot of this movie, Santa Claus beats the heck out of some bad guys to help protect a little girl who believes in him. The violence here is not for the squeamish, but that is just what will endear this film to many others. What makes it work so well for me is the over-the-top cartoony-ness to all this violence and the fact that there is a wonderfully dark sense of humor to much of the action here. The filmmakers know just why someone will go to see a movie with this plot and so they just have a lot of fun with the action scenes and if you see this film in a theater, you will see just how well this pays off. The most violent and bloody moments are the ones where you will hear the most laughter and that is just the way it should be. This especially pays off during a scene that is the best Home Alone homage you will ever see. If you see this movie, you will recognize this scene immediately. Yet beneath all this R-rated violence and dark humor, this movie has a surprisingly warm heart. This film is really about Santa Claus becoming cynical and forgetting why he became Santa in the first place, until he meets a little girl who believes in him and the spirit of Christmas. This could have made for a really charming family film, if that is what the filmmakers wanted to make. Even if this is not that family film, it still has a few moments that make you feel warm inside between the blood and guts. One might say that this is an R rated Christmas film with the heart of a G rated Christmas film. Holding this all together is a wonderful performance by David Harbour as Santa Claus. He somehow manages to feel like both an action hero and the real Santa. 

My biggest complaint about this movie is the villains. They are simply not as memorable or fun as they should be. They are simply generic villains. Even the humor revolving around their characters often falls flat. There are also some story points that do feel quite rushed (dang it, I want a full feature length movie about this Santa's backstory). 

This may not be a movie for everyone, but if you are the type of person a film like this would appeal to (which I apparently am), you are in for a lot of fun. 

Movie Review: Black Widow

 

Note: I saw almost all of this film. I watched it in a movie theater, and there was a power outage during the climatic battle. Because of this I did not actually see how it ended but saw pretty much the whole movie and since I avoid spoilers in my reviews, I am going to write this review anyway. I may make another post with my comments on the ending when I see it. 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent Marvel movie that makes for a welcome return for the movie franchise. 

Black Widow is my favorite type of Marvel movie and one I am glad to see they are still making. That is to say, it is a smaller scale movie and one that works equally as a standalone movie. You don't need to have seen any previous Marvel film to understand and enjoy Black Widow but if you have, you will see many ways that it ties in. While I have nothing against the bigger scale movies or the ones that feel like a chapter in a larger story, sometimes this is the type of film I want to see and I am that these films are still being made. The story is pretty simple and nothing especially original but since the Black Widow doesn't have its sights on being anything more than a fun action movie this is no problem. 

Despite any unoriginality in the story, I simply had a ball watching this movie. Marvel Studios knows how to entertain and they certainly show that here. With a great dose of humor and action this is a blast to watch. In the humor department, the co-stars steal the show from our main hero. Natasha's sister and father get an incredibly amount of laughs. This is heavily due to the great performances of Florence Pugh (I like her more with each new movie I see her in) and David Harbour. Both have fantastic comic delivery and even get laughs out of some weaker jokes. The father may be a dumber character but unlike most dumb dad characters, the humor does not come from this but rather from the incredible amount of fun and the lack of pretentiousness behind him. When we see him in prison simply having the time of his life there,  we are not laughing at him but with him and honestly that makes all the difference. The sister is a fantastic character all around and her sarcasm and willingness to make jokes at the most dangerous times, clearly endear her to us. The bickering between her and Natasha is very funny, from her calling at Natasha for making fighting poses each time she lands to her calling Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, "the big ones," when talking about the other Avengers. Yet when either character needs to be dramatic and serious, Florence Pugh and David Harbour also pull off these scenes perfectly while still remaining perfectly in the same characters they play in the comedic scenes. Both of them also have amazing chemistry with Scarlet Johansson. The action scenes are everything you could want from a Marvel movie. They are exciting and simply tons of fun. They also look incredible on a movie screen and make a perfect showcase for the MCU's return to theaters. 

Unfortunately this movie suffers from a weak and quite boring villain. He doesn't receive much screen time and what there is of him is simply not that interesting. 

All and all, this was just what I wanted from the MCU's big screen return and a welcome return to smaller, somewhat self contained storytelling after the Marvel streaming shows (Though I did love Wandavision and enjoy Loki). 

-Michael J. Ruhland