My wife fell asleep 10-15 minutes in. I liked it. It is unpredictable, so it keeps your attention. Great acting and cinematography. You find yourself wavering in your allegiance with the characters as the story moves on, and rooting for the unlikely ones. I saw a video review mentioning how it is an allegory of the Irish Civil War post-independence from the English. It is great even without knowing this. It is also one of those great movies that I wouldn’t watch again.
9/10

 

Babylon:
I'm surprised people chose to stay and didn't leave with the disgusting first act. Which, to be fair does not represent the remaining of the film, but still a gross way to start it.

The rest of it is what people came to see: A satire of the old age of cinema and the transition from the silent era to the talkies era and all the toxic celebrity lives it came with, which in my opinion some of the best parts.

8/10

 

Knock at the Cabin - 8.5/10, great performances (Bautista, most of all), quality cinematography.

Puss in Boots: the Last Wish - 9/10, top notch character designs and animation, fun story, fun characters, terrific movie.

My Bloody Valentine (1981) - 7/10, classic slasher action and good kills, bonkers ending that doesn't really make much sense, but doesn't detract.

 

Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania:

The comedy was lacking compared to previous Ant Man entries. I remember how the first and second were extremely funny and silly with what they had, but Quantumania didn't have that same punch and most of the laughs I got here were limited to chuckles. The plot was too serious and the stakes were too high. Ant Man worked when it was about small-scale heists and villains that don't create a big impact on the grand scheme of things. Kang was too big of a villain for the Ant family.

7/10

 

Just watched The Menu, very unique and interesting film. Great cast, cinematography, fun script and dialog. Don't wanna say too much so as to not give anything away, but definitely worth anyone's time. Solid 8/10.

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - 7/10

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania - 8/10

 

Antman and The Wasp: Quantumania 6.5/10.

More like Greenscreen mania. Shot like a Prequel era Star Wars movie. Written like a bad Rick and Morty episode starring Antman. It’s just an average comic book movie. The Antman crew and Kang were great but they are stuck in the middle of a CGI fest with pointless supporting characters.

 

That's kind of how I felt watching Black Panther 2. It was just a giant mangled mess of CGI and green screen and none of it as seamless as the people making these movies seem to think it is.

 

M3GAN:
While I'm one of the few who liked the 2019 Child's Play, this one was too close to that plot. Child's Play was expected to be a horror movie, but M3GAN was a better plot when it wasn't a Horror movie. All the parts with Cady bonding with M3GAN were genuinely cute and heartwarming, But when it switches to a horror story, that's when it went downhill for me.

6.5/10

 

Ant Man 3 - 7/10

Took my nephew to see this over the weekend. We both enjoyed it for what it was. Only thing we really didn't like was the terrible MODOK CGI.

 

M3gan

6/10. Far more tepid as a horror film, not enough substance to be much else, but it did move well.

 

I quite liked M3gan, but I think that was because I was primed to not like it, based on the reviews. Anyway,

I watched the movie Skinamarink, and I totally get why everybody hates it. It's slow, minimalist, super artsy, longer than it needs to be, etc. And yet, despite the fact that I kinda tune out 75% of what I watch these days, it had me completely focused and super creeped out the whole time. It was unsettling, like a primal childhood night terror that you barely recall as an adult, but for me it really tapped into that.

I'll give it a 7 out of 10, but I wouldn't recommend it, as I could easily see 9 out of 10 people turning it off out of boredom.

 

Immortals (2011):
First of, I did not know Henry Cavill was in this. I was just interesting in seeing this epic not knowing any of the actors beforehand and yet still one of the highlights. Can't say much about the rest of the cast as they were a mixture of boring and unfitting for their roles like Luke Evans as Zeus who didn't look or acted like any Zeus I know. Also no monsters, but the fight scenes were epic minus the final one.

5/10

 

The Conjuring.

Seen this movie praised a lot and... I couldn't get into it. There's some scenes that do pull off the scare factor really well. The family is pretty likeable and don't feel that much like your dysfunctional, full of assholes horror family. Beyond that it's just a sorta well paced possession/haunted house movie. One with a ghost I find really silly. The movie presents us with an offshoot of the Salem Witch Trials, making out the innocent victims of hysteria as actual baby sacrificing witches... not uncommon a trope in horror, but a very goofy one. I can't help but think of Hocus Pocus when it's brought up. Comedies are pretty much the only time I can get into it.

6/10

 

Skinamarink-I did like it. The uses of dark shadowy places, grainy old looking footage, and moments of quiet dread made for a perfect eerie atmosphere. The crackle-pop of film enhanced it. The kids sound adorable and are very sweet to each other.

Personal observations are:
It has a youtube analogue horror feel of sorts.

Maybe I'm just dense, but I didn't quite understand it.

My gripes:

The special effects for the reappearing/disappearing objects was hokey.

It dragged on way too long and seemed a tad repetitive at parts.

Attention filmmakers of all experiences; Yes we expect jump scares, but ear rape in a quiet environment does not make a good scare tactic. It hurts people's ears, irritates them, and takes them out of the immersion all at once. It's the equivalent of blowing an air horn next to your sleeping friend as a prank.

 

The Lego Movie 2 The Second Part
Haven't seen this since the theaters and it still holds up. Technically it was even better now that I could absorb even more. So heartwarming, so funny, and so much fun! One of those rare times the sequel is better than the original, well not by that much since the first one is still a modern day classic.
10/10

 

X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes:
A doctor invents an eye drop that allows him to see in X-ray vision for medical purposes and things goes wrong for him for many reasons. This movie could use a remake because the X-ray vision scenes weren't convincing even for a 1960s movie. But the acting and atmosphere were well handled and can get really scary.

7/10

 

Donnie Darko - 10/10

A rare movie that actually is exactly as smart and as deep as it thinks it is, albeit maybe not in the ways it intended. For a movie set in 1988 and made in 2001, it hits surprisingly hard in 2023. It helps that it's not nearly as self-serious and angsty as it feels like it should be from its reputation as an "emo" movie. All of the characters act like real people, most effectively in that everyone has this lingering sense of awareness and helplessness about the mad world that they live in. I really hope more people revisit this movie.

 

Plane - 7/10