Movie Review: Mutiny

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

An enjoyable if very familiar action flick.

This is very much your typical Jason Statham movie, this time on a boat. The basic plot doesn't matter much; there are some horrible monstrous people, and Jason Statham kills them. 

At first there is a bit of story to set up the action that is about to come. However, once the story gets fully set up, the story becomes almost an afterthought. With such the movie lives and dies on the action scenes. Luckily the action scenes are pretty good. There may not be the creativity or spectacle of the John Wick movies, but we are given the bare basics of what we want from an action movie. The villains are easy to hate and there is a certain cathartic joy seeing Statham kill them. Statham has that old school action hero charisma that makes him a joy to watch. The pacing gives us action scene after action scene, without ever feeling tiring or overwhelming. 

The problem with this movie, however, is that it is so by the numbers that is one you will forget about a few weeks after watching. While the film is fun, there is nothing here that will make it stand out among the many similar films. Even as fun as the action is, it is not spetacular enough to stay in your memory either. 

  

This makes for an enjoy trip to the movies but nothing more than that. 

Movie Review: Buddy

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A horror comedy that is just as hilarious as it is unsettling. 

If you were to describe this movie to me, I would think that I would hate it. The idea of a Barney-like kids show mascot (an orange unicorn in this case) that snaps and tries to kill the kids sounds like a one joke premise that would get old very quickly. Amazingly that is not the case here at all. 

As this film starts it is a pure absurdist comedy. As an absurdist comedy, it is actually hilarious. The reason for this is simple. While lesser hands would simply use having a lot of gore in what should be a child friendly setting as the only joke, the filmmakers don't use gore as a comedic crutch. To be sure, this film can get very gory, but this is far from the only tool at the filmmakers' disposal. Before the first kill, this movie is still an excellent parody of these types of children's shows. It points out the absurdity of these shows in a hilarious way. Making these early scenes all the funnier is that, especially for any of us who grew up with such shows, it is not far from what these shows were actually like. Most great R-rated comedies are just as successful with their clean humor as with their R-rated humor and that is certainly the case here. This also makes the gore all the more entertaining as well. When there are plenty of scenes without this type of gore, it makes the scenes that utilize it all the more effective. 

After these early absurdly funny scenes, the movie did something that took me completely by surprise. It morphed into a quite disturbing horror flick. The backstory of how the kids got here, is quite disturbing. This is an example of the best type of horror, the type that gets creepier the more you think about it. 

For the rest of the movie, the film goes back and forth between dark comedy and straight horror. What is quite outstanding is how well these two elements are mixed. The filmmakers know just when to play the story for laughs and when to play it for horror. The creepy and the comedy mesh together perfectly naturally. Neither gets in the way of the other and there is never too much of either. 

An extremely pleasant surprise. 

Movie Review: Hot Spot

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

I have been a fan of Polish director and writer Agnieszka Smoczynska since her brilliant first movie, The Lure (2015). This film doesn't live up to her best work, but it isn't terrible either.

In the future the whole world is connected to an AI system to survive. When a cyber witch threatens the system, a detective is assigned to stop her. 

More than just your average AI storyline, this movie has a lot to say and says it all very well. This film delves into not just how much we rely on AI but how we sacrifice our humanity to it. The characters seem either robotic or animalistic, showing how their entire humanity is being controlled. It is when they disconnect that they are able to truly allow their emotions, yet they are so deeply controlled that they cannot function beyond primal instincts when disconnected. 

With such a talented filmmaker as Agnieszka Smoczynska at the helm, naturally this movie is overflowing with atmosphere. The world building is quite well done and there are moments that are filled with creativity that remind you of the director's best work.

Unfortunately, this movie does have lots of flaws in it. The pacing is far from great as it somehow manages to move at a slow pace, while still making many plot points feel rushed. Though I love Agnieszka Smoczynska's creativity there are times when the quirkiness can feel more than a little forced. There is also a tonal unevenness that is quite jarring at times as the movie goes from silly and fun to deadly serious and artsy. However, the worst flaw is the sound mixing. I don't know what happened here but often times the sound mixing makes it hard to follow anything the characters are saying as there is too much happening that is distracting from the dialogue.  

This is an intelligent and thought-provoking story that is brought down by a flawed execution. 

Movie Review: The Wrong Girls

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

An uneven but quite funny, dumb comedy. 

In this film, a marijuana addicted college dropout (Kristen Stewart) is mistaken for someone else and ends up in possession of an experimental drug. When her and her stoner roommate (Alia Shawkat) take some of this drug, they find themselves on the run from some very dangerous people. 

This is not a sophisticated film by any means and there is no deeper ambition here than to get some silly laughs. With this it is definitely a success. This may not be constantly funny, and quite few jokes fall flat. However, when the jokes hit, the film gets really funny. Much of this is due to Kristen Stewart and Alia Shawkat's performances. These two make a truly perfect comedy team. They play off each other perfectly and it is such a joy to watch them together. When it comes to this over-the-top style of comedic performance, the result can either be funny or incredibly annoying. However, these two actresses strike the right balance of being annoying to other characters but never to the audience. If you put two lesser actresses in the leads, then the whole film wouldn't have worked. However, these two make the dumb low brow comedy quite funny. At the same time there is a real sweetness in their friendship. I was surprised to find myself soon really caring for these characters. 

As stated before not all the comedy works here. Like many high concept comedies this film starts out not that funny but gets funnier once the story truly gets underway. The girls being able to hear their cats speaking to them after taking the drug is a joke that gets old quick. These cats (voiced by Seth Rogan and Kumail Nanjiani) are never as funny as it feels like they are meant to be. 

This marks the feature length directorial debut for Dylan Meyer (who also wrote the film). I think it is safe to say we might have a very talented emerging comedy director with her. 

Not every joke hits but this film is still a delightful comedy. 

 

Movie Review: The Rivals of Amziah King

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent and surprisingly original movie.

In this film, a charming man who is brilliant when it comes to his job (he is in the honey business), and gifted bluegrass musician runs into his estranged foster daughter. The two quickly become reacquainted and he teaches her everything he knows about the honey business. 

This is a rare movie that never seems to be copying any other movie but instead just simply does its own thing. Watching this film, you can't really think of any other movie that it is like. This is a rare thing in today's age and even if it isn't perfect this originality should be appreciated. The film constantly changes genres, going from being a dark comedy to a serious thriller to an uplifting charmer. Because of this, you never know what is going to happen next. My story summary only covers the beginning of the story because midway through this film has a major twist that completely changes the story being told. Yet the surprises don't stop here, the story keeps you guessing what is going to happen next. At the same time the story keeps getting more complex. The characters themselves often make us unsure whether we are supposed to root for them or be disgusted by them. Yet regardless of what we are feeling towards them at any moment, they remain gripping to watch. The performances of Matthew McConaughey and newcomer Angelina LookingGlass add so much to this. That this is Angelina LookingGlass' first movie is shocking as she holds her own perfectly with the much bigger stars. 

Another reason to watch this film is the soundtrack. In one scene the foster daughter states that she doesn't listen to much bluegrass and doubts she can get into it. However, when the foster father's band starts playing, she finds herself completely immersed in the music. The same thing will happen to anyone watching this movie who thinks they don't like bluegrass. The bluegrass filled soundtrack is so energetic and immersive that it is hard for anyone not to get into it. 

This movie's flaws are not with the story or characters but rather with the filmmaking. The editing and the cutting between shots simply doesn't work. One gets the idea that director/writer Andrew Patterson is trying to make this film feel visually original as well. However, the result comes off as distracting and takes you out of the movie instead. There are also moments of gore here that seem to exist simply as cheap shock value. This just simply was not needed. 

Despite any flaws, this is a truly original movie that will truly win you over. 

    

Movie Review: Ice Cream Man

 

Michael's Movie Grade: D

A horror-comedy that is neither funny nor scary.

In this film, an ice cream man gives kids some demonic ice cream that turns them into zombies that kill all the adults in town.

This premise could have easily resulted in some genuine scares or some real laughs. Unfortunately, in place of these we simply get loads of gore. As soon as the story gets underway it becomes pretty much nothing but gore. The humor comes completely from kids killing people in gory ways and turning this into childish games. This is a very one joke idea that quickly wears out its welcome. Perhaps in a short film this could have been funny but in a feature film it is simply tiresome. As horror this doesn't work because with the constant gore there is no time to stop and build any sense of dread or suspense causing it to be simply not scary. 

Adding to this is that the characters are all one note horror movie tropes that always feel more like plot points than real people. 

There is one moment that kind of worked for me and this was a parody of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. Unfortunately this was just one moment in an otherwise dismal excuse for a horror film and a comedy.

Stay away. 

Movie Review: Motor City

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+ 

An enjoyable but very flawed action flick. 

In this film, a man is framed for an illegal drug haul by a criminal who steals his girlfriend while he is in prison. When the man gets out of prison he hunts for the man who ruined his life.  

This film greatly resembles Silent Night (2023). Both are action movies with revenge plots, and both tell their stories without the benefit of dialogue. Yet I personally feel that Silent Night did this much better. In Silent Night the lack of dialogue felt natural, and you almost forgot that there wasn't any dialogue. Here the lack of dialogue feels instead like a gimmick and honestly comes off as a vit distracting. You are constantly aware that the filmmakers are trying to tell this story without dialogue. The filmmakers seem to be trying much too hard to not have the characters speak. There are moments where the actors are doing over the top mugging to have the characters communicate without speaking. In silent films the characters mouths still move, even though we don't hear what they are saying. This feels more authentic and believable because they are communicating like people, even if we can't hear what they are saying. What we have here instead feels forced and gimmicky.

However, there is still quite a bit to enjoy here. The action scenes are exciting and a lot of fun. They are over the top and violent in the most fun way possible. The film has a wonderfully stylistic neo-noir look that gives this film a delightfully atmospheric pulpy feel. The movie also benefits from a very strong soundtrack that effectively uses various 70's tunes in a way that causes the movie to really come to life. 

Despite being overly gimmicky, there is some fun to be found with this stylish action film.  

Movie Review: One Night Only

 

Michael's Movie Grade: D-

An R-rated romantic comedy that is neither funny nor romantic.

In this film, pre-marital sex has been outlawed in the U.S. However single people are legally allowed to have sex one day a year. A man (Callum Turner) and a woman (Monica Barbaro) go out looking for romance on this night, while everyone around them are simply only interested in sex. 

I can't get over how stupid the concept for this movie is. The premise is completely nonsensical and doesn't even make sense in the context of a raunchy comedy. In the film's defense it never treats this insane premise as some serious commentary but rather just as a set up for the story. Still, to me at least, when such a premise sets the story in motion, I find myself constantly taken out of the movie because the stupidity is simply too distracting. 

Perhaps this could be forgiven if the film was either funny or romantic. However, it is neither. I don't think I laughed once during this movie. It seems to mistake being over the top and very vulgar as being funny. However, it simply tries too hard to be both those things that it never is actually funny. The romance on the other hand feels way too rushed. The romance is never given enough time to be fleshed out in any way. Because of this it never feels like any character believably falls in love with another. Therefore, when such a thing is supposed to have happened it feels completely forced. 

 Don't waste your time with this. 

Movie Review: Her Private Hell

 

Michael's Movie Grae: D-

An incoherent mess of an art film. 

There is no use in me giving any sort of a story summary here because the story is too big of a mess to effectively describe here. The story somehow manages to be too simplistic and incoherently complex at the same time. The result is a movie that constantly tries to prove itself as something artistic yet has nothing to actually say. So do not go into this film trying to find the deeper meaning underneath all incoherent weirdness. There simply isn't any. I love art house cinema and that is why I hate movies like this. They give artsy a bad name and make many movie goers believe art films are a bunch of pretentious slop like this. This may be Her Private Hell but that doesn't mean it has to feel like Hell for the viewers as well. There is only so much visual randomness, poorly defined characters, painfully pretentious dialogue and incoherent storytelling that one can take. This movie may be under two hours, but it felt longer than some four-hour movies I have seen. I kept waiting for it to end but kept being disappointed whenever the story continued. Even the visuals, which even some of the film's harshest critics like, are simply too much. There is too much going on visually that after a while it simply gets tiring to look at. 

A great cast (lead by the always wonderful Sophie Thatcher) and a truly wonderful musical score (by Pino Donaggio) can't even come close to saving this mess of a movie. 

Movie Review: The Odyssey

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent big screen epic. 

Christopher Nolan has always been a filmmaker who has not been afraid to take chances. However, adapting The Odyssey may be one of his riskiest ventures yet. Still the result paid off with flying colors. While this may not be a fully faithful adaptation, it manages to capture the story's epic scale. This movie feels larger than life. It looks like an old school Hollywood epic in all the best ways possible. It is rare to find a modern movie that truly has this larger than life feel and that is exactly what this film does. That Nolan relies heavily on practical effects of course plays no small role in this. This alone would be reason enough to recommend it. Yet there is still much more to recommend here. The action scenes are excellent, and the best Nolan has done since Dunkirk. There is a strong emotion center here. The scene in Hades as a scene towards the end of the picture hit all the right emotional marks. What surprised me though is how well the horror scenes worked. I did not expect this movie to dip as far into the horror genre as it did and here Nolan proves himself to be an excellent horror filmmaker. The Cerci scene made me feel incredibly uncomfortable in a way that even some real horror films never have.

The casting is often excellent but sometimes misses the mark. Matt Damon is perfect as the lead, making this character feel larger than life and yet still human at the same time. Elliott Paige is fantastic in a smaller but important role. He is very much responsible for the film's most emotionally impactful moments. Anne Hathaway is great as the queen, and you forget you are watching a well-known actress. Samantha Norton is terrifying as Cerci. However, Tom Holland and Robert Patterson seem out of place here, like their characters don't belong in a period epic but instead in a modern-day story. There is nothing wrong Zendaya's performance. However, she is too recognizable as Zendaya, and the script gives her too little to actually do. Since most of the time when she is on screen, there is no opportunity for her to stretch her acting muscles, we are always aware we are looking at Zendaya instead of seeing the character. 

With so many characters, there is little time to flesh many of them out. This can make some characters feel more like plot devices than actually people (especially Robert Patterson's bully). The movie can also feature bits of clumsy dialogue that are disappointing in an adaption of a classic work of literature.  

This may not be perfect. However, it is a great movie going experience, especially if seen on a big IMAX screen. 

Movie Review: The Invite

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

A painfully unpleasant comedy. 

In this film a married couple (Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde), who are constantly fighting, have their neighbors (Penélope Cruz, Edward Norton) over for dinner. However, the night goes in unexpected directions. 

Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with the very funny raunchy comedy, Booksmart (2019). With this being another R rated comedy, I was looking forward to a raunchy and funny good time. This was the wrong thing to expect. The last thing this movie provides is a good time. For what is supposed to be a funny comedy, this is a bitter mean-spirited movie. Though comedy can be used to look at serious subjects, this is something that needs with a lot of care and needs to use comedy to make these uncomfortable subjects feel more approachable. That is not true at all here. Much of this movie is simply spent watching married couples bickering. Considering the reviews this movie is getting, I must be in the minority. However, I just don't find watching married people yell at each other and saying nasty things to each other funny. There were comedic ideas here that could have been funny (such as the discussions of the neighbors' lifestyle) but the comedic potential is ruined, when anything that might be funny simply turns back to mean spirited bickering. I felt very uncomfortable listening to these arguments to the point I just wanted to get up and leave the theatre multiple times. I did not enjoy spending a single miserable moment with these characters. This is something that hurt the movie even past its comedic moments. Towards the end the film asks you to take its story more seriously. Yet any emotional moment simply falls flat when you don't care about these characters. There are even times when this movie tries to make a commentary about marriage and relationships. Yet in the end, everything it says is so obvious that a person who has been single their whole loves has even heard it a million times. 

There is simply neither enough laughs nor depth to make it worth sitting through this unpleasant mean-spirited movie.   

Movie Review: Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

An uneven but sometimes hilarious comedy.

In this film, a young couple in conversation talks about who their celebrity sex passes (a celebrity they would be allowed to have sex with without it being considered cheating) would be, just for fun. The guy decides that he would have sex with Jennifer Aniston and our heroine, Gail Daughtry, decides she would have sex with John Hamm. When the guy actually ends up having sex with Jennifer Aniston, Gail decides she needs to find a way to have sex with John Hamm. 

This movie is full of proudly juvenile humor. The dumb and silly comedy comes fast and furious. As soon as one gag end, another one follows it immediately. With these constant gags throughout, naturally not all of them hit. In fact, as this film starts, it seems like it is going to be painfully unfunny. It is always hardest for a comedy to be funny, while it is setting up its story. Yet there are still constant gags in the story's set up and nearly all these jokes really fall flat. However, as the story gets going the movie gets funnier. This starts happening gradually with more and more gags working as the film went on. When it got to the last act, I was laughing out loud regularly. As much as the humor can really fall flat at times, when the movie is funny it is completely hilarious. That the humor gets better as the film goes on is heavily due to the cast of eccentric characters (especially John Slatery playing himself). As the movie's story becomes a sex joke filled retelling of Wizard of OZ, our main character meets more friends who join her for her journey. Zoey Deutch as the main character is very purposely over the top with her wide-eyed wonder and naive optimism. This type of character is frankly funnier, when given someone strong to play off of. When a strong supporting cast is given to this character, it is no wonder that she gets funnier. This main group of characters plays off each other so well and this is where the best humor often times comes from. When the humor drifts away from this group and on to other characters (the mail man as the narrator is painfully unfunny) and celebrity cameos, that is when it falls flat. 

While a lot of the humor doesn't work, this is still a comedy that made me laugh out loud multiple times.  

Movie Review: Jackass: Best and Last

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

Crude, juvenile, stupid and a heck of a lot of fun. 

The last film for these lovable overgrown frat boys is a mixture of footage from the previous movies as well as the TV show and new stunts filmed for this movie. These stunts both old and new appeal perfectly to the immature middle schoolers in all of us. Some of them are so crazy, we wonder how these guys could have possibly lived through the last 26 years. Others are full of pure gross out humor that works because these guys are so dedicated to the bits that it is hard not to get caught up in their immaturity. The best bits are often a delightful mixture of pure gross out comedy and dangerous stunts. There are also some practical jokes on others as they go out. I admit I find these less funny or entertaining than the dangerous or gross-out bits. However, the theater was laughing very hard along with these practical jokes, so I am in the minority there. 

However, what really makes this movie and this franchise as a whole work is the loveable people performing these stunts. Often times the banter between them is funnier than the stunts themselves. We have really grown to love and care about these guys over the course of these five movies and the TV series that began it all. It is almost sad to say goodbye to these people who have grown to feel like friends to us. They themselves actually get pretty emotional about this themselves. In-between the old clips and the new stunts are scenes with them reminiscing about the last 26 years. There is a real sweetness to these scenes where we see just how much these guys love and care about each other. One doesn't expect to feel touched watching a movie where a guy sits in a porta potty which is flung into the air by a giant slingshot and finds himself covered in crap, but here we are. It is hard for a movie where a good portion of it is simply a clip show to stand out. However, these scenes give it a bit of a unique feel. 

A strong ending to this franchise. 

     

Movie Review: The Death of Robin Hood

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A-

A compelling and thoughtful revisionist take on the tale of Robin Hood. 

Don't go into this movie expecting a typical Robin Hood film. This is not a swashbuckling adventure starring a young dashing Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks. Rather this is often a quiet meditative film that is more interested in delving into the psyche of the main character than providing an action-packed spectacle. Even when we do get action scenes there is very little fun to them. Instead, these scenes are unforgivingly brutal and hard to watch. Still, this is keeping very much with the theme of this movie, rather than being gore for the sake of gore. The brutality serves a purpose here. It is here to rid our minds of any sort of romantism. Instead, we are thrown into a world where violence, even if it is at first well intentioned, deeply changes a person for the worse. We see Robin Hood as an old man (played marvelously by Hugh Jackman), who does not view himself as a hero but instead as a person whose entire legacy was built on nothing but violence and bloodshed. After some early brutal scenes, the rest of the film is very quiet and introspective causing us to go into dark places that we normally wouldn't associate with a Robin Hood story. While this film will definitely divide movie fans and critics for years to come, it leaves a devastating emotional impact and lots of food for thought. 

Director/writer Michael Sarnoski (Pig (2021), A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)) not only dismantles and deconstructs the tale of Robin Hood but also creates a powerful cautionary tale about violence and when fiction and romanticism override the brutal truth. 

I am not saying this movie is for everyone. It can be unrelenting in its unpleasantness, and the pacing will probably be too slow for those used to big blockbusters. Others will simply have a hard time accepting such a dark take on such a beloved figure. Yet if you are willing to give yourself over to such a challenging movie that asks a lot of its audience, it is an extremely rewarding experience.   

Movie Review: Obsession

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

A well-made but incredibly predictable horror movie. 

In this film, a young man has a massive crush on a close female friend but is too scared to tell her. One day he comes across an object called a One Wish Williow, which is said to grant one specific wish. Not believing that this will work he uses one and wishes that his friend loved him more than anyone else in the whole world. The wish comes true and at first seems like a dream come true, but her obsession with him gets darker and more twisted. 

The basic storyline is a great twist on the classic monkey paw storyline. It is instantly relatable as many of us might have wished for the same thing he did, only to regret making the wish shortly after. And if we ended up in the same situation he is in, we too would try to shift the blame from ourselves and try to live out our fantasy regardless of how creepy things become. That is the truly disturbing thing about this film. We see darker parts of ourselves that we often try to deny or suppress brought to the surface. This movie also delivers some great scares. The jump scares here are incredibly effective, and the first one definitely made me jump out of my seat. Many scenes revolving around the friend turned girlfriend, Nikki, are legitimately disturbing in the best way possible (though the scenes revolving around the cat were unnecessary). 

However, there are many things that keep this from being the great movie it should have been. The main fault is its predictability. You figure out how this film is going to end well before it happens. The last act can start to make an audience member grow impatient as it takes its time to get to this very predictable ending. Some other scenes that are supposed to be shocking are also incredibly predictable. The movie also tries to inject a lot of dark humor into its storyline, but this humor is very rarely funny. I also felt the whole movie could have been stronger if we knew more about who the main female character was before the wish was made. This could have given the movie a much stronger emotional connection. 

I enjoyed this movie, but I still don't think it fully lived up to the hype around it. 

    

Movie Review: Power Ballad

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A pretty good dramedy. 

In this movie, a former boy band member who is struggling to create a solo career (Nick Jonas) spends a night jamming with a wedding band singer (Paul Rudd). The wedding band singer sings a chorus of a song that he wrote himself. Months later, the former boyband singer records that song and doesn't give any songwriting credit to the wedding singer. When the song becomes a massive hit, it causes the wedding singer to go on a downward spiral. 

With a movie about songwriting, naturally the songs are very important to if the movie works. While the songs here may not be as incredible as they are sometimes treated, they are quite good. They are very nice and pleasant to listen to and while the lyrics may lack much depth, they aren't bad. I can picture How to Write a Song Without You becoming a hit song and people singing along to it. Though I actually admit I prefer the other songs the former boy band singer wrote himself (and which didn't become hits). However, I often find my favorite songs on albums to be the album tracks, so this probably says more about me. The songs themselves are co-written by Gary Clark and the film's director (and co-writer) John Carney. The duo had previously written songs for Carney's previous film, Sing Street (2016). Incidentally, Clark had been a member of the 1980's pop band, Danny Wilson, and Danny Wilson is the name of the boyband singer here. 

The movie does a great job of exploring the two main male characters. There is quite a bit of depth to them, and Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas give truly great performances. Though these characters often do the wrong thing, we relate to them and understand what makes them do it. This keeps a strong emotional connection to these characters throughout the film. 

Unfortunately, the other characters are very underdeveloped. We know pretty much nothing about the other members of the wedding band or the wedding band singer's wife and daughter. This becomes a major problem as the film goes on. It becomes clear that much of the heart of this movie is supposed to come from the love he has for his daughter. Unfortunately, his daughter receives little screen time and in the screen time she has we barely learn anything about her. Because of this, the emotion that is supposed to comes from the scenes revolving around this relationship often simply isn't felt by the audience.   

For a dramedy, this movie also is never that funny. Some of the humor made me smile or chuckle but I never once really laughed, while watching this. 

While I won't give anything away, the ending is fantastic, hitting all the right emotional notes. 

Movie Review: Scary Movie

 

Movie Review: B-

While it may not fully live up to the hilarity of the first Scary Movie (which is still a wonderful comedy), this is still a very enjoyable comedy.

With this sixth entry into this franchise (just one behind Scream, which the first movie was a parody of), the Wayans Brothers, who starred in and wrote the first two films, return here as both stars and writers. 

This film is just what you have come to expect from this franchise. There is simply one joke after another with no time to rest between them. These jokes are dumb, crude, violent and self-referential. With the sheer number of jokes from start to finish, it is only natural that not every joke hits. However more of them hit then don't. There are many moments here that made me laugh out loud. Some of the horror movie parodies are truly hilarious. The Weapons parody was especially hilarious. There is also some very funny slapstick humor here. All the scenes in the hospital are top notch slapstick. However, there are still gags that simply fall flat. Some of these gags go on for much too long. The church scene starts off kind of funny but loses steam as it goes on along. By the end, what started off as a funny scene simply stops being funny long before it ends. There are also times when this movie tries too hard to be politically incorrect or offensive. These gags are rarely funny and simply seem to be just there for shock value (the ICE gag is admittedly funny though, as is one "offensive" murder scene). Considering this franchise was always more concerned with making fun of horror movie tropes and being quite crude rather than actually being offensive, this feels especially unnecessary. 

The ending really didn't work for me here. It is not only not funny, but it seems simply like the Wayans Brothers venting, making it too bitter and mean spirited for this type of comedy. The storyline can also be a bit of mess (some scenes really make no sense in hindsight), but no one is watching this for the story, so that is a minor flaw. 

The first entry is still the best film in the franchise (I am also a fan of the second and third entries) but even if it can't fully live up to that movie, this is still a fun comedy.  

Movie Review: Backrooms

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

An eerie and atmospheric horror film. 

In this movie, a man discovers a series of backrooms behind a wall in his furniture store. 

For the first two-thirds or so of the movie, it plays like an old school horror movie. There is barely any blood or gore and though we get the feeling that something is watching our main character, we are not allowed to see what is actually watching him. Here we see horror filmmaking at its best. Rather than relying on cheap jump scares or gore, this film focuses on creating a sense of atmosphere and dread. Exploring some almost universal fears (confined spaces, being alone and what you can't see), this movie manages to be scarier than many horror films that tend to focus on jump scares or disturbing images. If you were to head home by yourself after this movie, you might just find yourself looking over your shoulder, every time you hear a noise. 

In the last act. this film completely changes into something more philosophical and cerebral. The tonal change doesn't completely work as it can feel very abrupt, almost like we entered into a completely different movie. This act starts by examining something that we heard the main character talk about very early on. To suddenly make this the focus after it had been seemingly suddenly dropped and moved on from makes the tonal change even more abrupt. Yet the themes discussed and brought up in this final act are very intelligent and thought provoking. Unlike many horror films, this will not only leave you with a sense of dread but also a lot of food for thought. And the more thought you give to this final act, the more intriguing and smarter it becomes. The ending will especially leave you with a lot on your mind. However, I must admit that this final act has some pacing problems and can feel longer than it needs to. There is also the fault that when we actually see the “monster,” it simply looks more silly than scary. 

While far from perfect, this is a legitimately scary and thought-provoking horror film.     

 

Movie Review: Tuner

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

Documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher's first fictional film is a wonderful thriller. 

In this movie, a piano tuner (Leo Woodall) with a hearing condition that makes him hear noises extra loud, discovers that this condition gives him a gift for opening safes. When a group of safe robbers discover his ability, they offer him a chance to make more money opening safes for them. At first, he isn't interested. However, when he needs the money to help his hospitalized friend (Dustin Hoffman), he feels he has no choice but to help them. 

This is a masterfully made thriller. The story starts off as a slice of life tale about piano tuners. Yet even these early scenes are very engaging due to strong characterizations, smart dialogue and some funny humor. The story slowly becomes more dramatic and tense. This build up makes it so that each suspense scene builds upon the last and becomes incredibly tense towards the end. It also makes it so that when each suspense scene comes, we are fully engrossed in the story making the tension all the more effective. 

One element that very much surprised me here was how strong the romance was. Often times the romantic scenes feel shoehorned into a movie like this. Luckily that is not the case here. The romance is actually kind of sweet and leads to some of the film's most emotionally effective scenes. 

This is not only a well-written film, but the technical filmmaking is also fantastic. For a movie that revolves around sound, the filmmakers know exactly how to use this for their advantage. There are many times that we are allowed to hear things the same way our main character does with certain sounds muffled or amplified at the right times. This puts us in the main character's shoes and has us experiencing everything with him. This use of sound is also perfectly to help create the suspense. One scene involves our main character opening a safe in a very noisy environment. Without this use of amplified and muffled sounds, this very tense scene would lose what makes it so effective. The movie also has one of the greatest uses of crosscutting I have seen in a current movie in quite a while. One scene cuts back and forth between a character playing piano and a tense situation for our main character. The timing of when these cuts as well as the emotional connection between what is happening in both places makes this a perfect example of suspense filmmaking. It also helps that the piano music we are hearing perfectly matches the emotions we should be feeling as an audience. 

While I won't give away the ending here, I will say it is perfect. It may not wrap up everything neatly, but it ends the film on its most emotionally powerful moment. This leaves you feeling the full weight of the movie's impact right when the end credits start to roll. Afterall the main goal of any work of cinema (from popcorn movies to arthouse cinema) is emotion and this is the main takeaway anyone should have from a movie.

A must watch.  

 

 

Movie Review: The Furious

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent action flick.

This film's basic storyline about a man setting out to find and take down the people who kidnapped his young daughter will be quite familiar to pretty much anyone who watches movies. And it is also true that you will know exactly where this movie is going at many times. However as familiar as this movie is in many ways, it still exceptionally well done. 

The action scenes are phenomenal. Perfectly blending martial arts films with a John Wick level of destruction and violence, these scenes are a joy to watch. They feel larger than life at many times and each new action scene seems to build upon and top the last. In the style of the best action movies, the action is not just violent but also quite creative. This creativity and playfulness run throughout and no action scene ever repeats the ones before it. The fight chorography is perfect, and every action scene is perfectly shot as well. Any real action fan will love this movie. 

The characters may not be complex, but they do their jobs very well. We care about the characters we are supposed to care about and hate the characters we are supposed to hate. Because of this we actively root for our heroes and hiss our villains throughout. 

The story while familiar unfolds at a fast pace and is never once boring. 

A treat for action fans.