Sonic the Hedgehog 2
7/10
The kids had fun & it was enjoyable enough. But despite the movie looking & feeling even more like the games, it seemed to be lacking something that part 1 had. Also, all the extended scenes of the bride-Zilla could’ve been cut or trimmed way down. That scene just kept going & going & it’s like, when are we getting back to our main characters?
Still a fun movie, just not quite as tight as part 1. Oh yeah, and loved Tails in this.

 

The Black Phone

Not as creepy or terrifying as I wanted but it is a movie where you can root for the victim in the story. Plus Scott Derrickson being a horror veteran himself knows that the less you know about an antagonist, you can trust the audience to make a scary backstory in their head which is the case for The Grabber. Being adapted from a short story in an anthology novel is also a quite a feat since you're plucking out one simple tale and turning into a feature length film. Don't see that get done quite often.

The child acting is pretty incredible here and you do get a grasp of them as to who they are in their lives. The supernatural element doesn't always work for me due to convenience it serves for the plot but most of the fear is piled on escaping the Grabber and what he intends to do with his victims. So the movie was still a good watch.

7.5/10

 

Finally got to watch Babylon my god Margot Robbie is so hot 10/10

 

You People - 0/10:

This was the most unpleasant, mean-spirited, distasteful movie I've seen in a long, long time. Shame on everyone involved for being involved.

I know Eddie was just playing a role, but I don't like him mean and he's downright cruel at times in this movie. I get it, he's a dad who's worried about his daughter's future and she seems to be marrying a loser, but that's enough to tell the story. Bringing racial and religious issues into it just made it incredibly worse. It was bad enough as it is, but to add two deeply fundamental issues into it and try and turn them into jokes...FFS, no. It was incredibly crass, tasteless, and completely pissed all over the point the movie should be making.

I can't say much more than this as it will violate board rules and I'm not getting banned or warned over this stupid movie. I am, however, warning YOU not to watch it. It's one of those rare times in which the audience and the critics agree (the audience hated it more, actually!) and they're 100% right.

When you're watching it, you *do* laugh because some of the dialogue is hilarious...in that moment. Especially the awkward and uncomfortable scenes. You're laughing because it's a mix of "wow...they went *THERE*" and "Hah. Hang on, the punchline and message is coming, you'll see. Just be patient, hang on." It doesn't, though. There is no message, so it never comes. There is no punchline worth laughing at. When you get to the end of the movie, you're *ANGRY* they went there, you're mad at yourself for laughing, you're mad at them for making it into a joke, you're mad that the movie is offensive and pointless in the end and that the film (as well as the audience) *IS* the punchline, but the joke was never actually funny to begin with.

The issues presented in the film are deadly serious and have wide-ranging implications and affect people's lives on a daily basis. That's not funny, that's something that should be addressed and handled with tact and a deft hand. This film should've been about making peace (the ending was shoehorned in), but instead, it was about making people of all melanin levels feel uncomfortable in their own skin, begging to crawl out of it and the room and to never look back.

The dialogue was horrible. There's a certain word (y'all know it) hurled around like you wouldn't believe. It would make Tarantino drench with sweat because he didn't get a chance to use it that much in one of his movies. And doggone it, we all know he *LOOOVES* using that word in his movies. It wasn't quite this bad: "I would like a hot (word) dog, my (word). And yes, I'd like my change in (word) dollars and cents, please. Thanks, (word). You're one of the good (word), you know that?" but dang close. It was clearly thrown in so they could say it as often as they wanted in ways they wanted that were outright stupid and offensive. Reminded me of when Oprah was interviewing Don Cheadle and this topic came up and she said she hated that word and he said it's his word, he uses it (I disagree with neither side, both have valid points. It *is* his word, she has every right not to like it), and man...her head would've exploded by the end of this film. Honestly, the goo left behind would've exploded as well. Don might even be like "Guys. You're wearing it out."

The cast were excellent, their performances were quite good. I don't want to give the impression that they were terrible as they were not. Eddie made you hate him, the mark of a good performance. Even though he was awful, he carried the scenes he was in. Same with Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. If it wasn't for them, the film would have less than the zero that it does. Gosh, I'd have probably burnt my TV down for having shown me the film at that point.

Aside from the cast, this was just a terrible film and our two love leads had ZERO chemistry together, you couldn't even imagine them being together, let alone trying to get married. It was utter bull and offensive bull at that. Please do not give Netflix your viewership on this one, please.

And shame on Kenya Barris and Jonah Hill for writing this, shame on them both.

 

I don’t know why, but I always mix up Jonah Hill with T.J. Miller. Maybe because they were both on How to Train Your Dragon together.

 

The movie was as offensive as TJ Miller is. So you're not far off the mark, here.

 

The Howling-It was a werewolf movie. It was okay I guess.

Encino Man-I love this movie. 7/10

The Wolfman (original)- It was a werewolf movie,it was fine. I liked Larry Talbot and Maliva. 6/10

 

Knock at the Cabin: 7/10

Interesting, but I was hoping for a more spectacular final act.

Oh, and Bautista's cranial's texture is disturbing.

 

Black Panther: 6/10

The movie just goes on and on and on. There are like 6 different stories in it and none of them are woven together very well.

• There's Namor and all his back story baggage.
• There's Riri's under cooked story
• There's Nakia's story
  
• There's Okoye getting fired thing - which stuck for like whole 5 minutes. Seriously, WTH was even the point??
• And let's not forget the whole CIA "will they, won't they, oh wait they already did" sitcom with Ross and Fontaine. Which , if we're being honest, couldn't have been completely removed and no one would have cared, But Disney's gotta keep pushing that upcoming Thunderbolts story.
  
• And there's Queen Ramonda's grieving mother which BTW
  Spoiler

  killing her off was just about the worst mistake this franchise could make! She's a friggin' amazing actress! Why squander her in the movie and then, like a bad Whedon script, kill her off just to give the protagonist a cheap motivation. Now they've got no Boseman and no Basset, leaving us with only Shuri to carry this series? Noooo!!
• And then of course there's Shuri becoming Black Panther. Even though she's never shown any sign of martial arts training and she never went through the ceremony to earn the right to become the Black Panther as demonstrated in the first movie. There were at least three other people in that movie that were better suited to become the next Black Panther than her but she gets all the powers because she's royalty. [sarcasm]Oh great another story where somebody born into wealth who didn't earn anything gets all the power. How exciting [/sarcasm]

 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (74) First time watching any of these films. It was grimy, uncomfortable, and made some weird as hell noises. I did kind of crack up, when the well meaning truck driver decided to get the hell out of there after Leatherface stood back up from cutting his own leg. I don't understand why he did some kind of bizarro dance with his chainsaw in the middle of the street? Two of the people she was with were stupid. It was a good film, the camera work was excellent.

 

Black Adam 3/10

A thinly veiled attempt at smashing Black Panther and Infinity War together. Some of the performances were fun and others were monotone, but the writing, direction, and plot did not do it for me at all. Watching this sober was a mistake.

The Menu 9/10

A breath of fresh air. In a sea of overdone franchise sequels and remakes, The Menu is a lighthouse of delightfully sick plot and wonderfully twisted characters. No one's safe, no one's a hero, but the film revels in them getting exactly what I was too polite to admit they deserve. I had a ball. Couldn't stop chatting about it all the way home.

 

Shuri got the powers because she busted her ass with science to recreate the formula in her lab after Kilmonger burned the plants. Hell, the spirit of that same man showed up and basically made her front up to the fact that she's grabbing for the formula because she's angry and hurt and wants someone to pay for it. And then from what I observed, did not show up to contest any challenge to being the Queen of Wakanda, electing to instead go and spend time with her sister in law in the Caribbean. As for martial arts training, she's the daughter of royalty and some of her best friends are the Dora Milaje: martial training is a given.

Also, M'Baku for Black Panther and King of Wakanda please. I need more that wise and glorious man in my life.

 

Also, she fought in the battle against Killmonger and fought in the final battle with Thanos's army.

 

But did she use martial arts? All I saw of her was using her weapons which is not the same as her fighting style as the Panther.

 

Good point. She may have martial arts/combat training but since they were never depicted prior to her becoming the Black Panther, her taking on the mantel simply does not feel earned.


You People = 6/10

Not as bad as I thought it would be (based on the RT score and reviews). I found it entertaining enough.

 

Toy Story 4

Mmmmm yeaaaaaaaaaah I can see why people are so critical of this one. It's easily the worst of the Toy Story movies. The biggest criticism I have is they just toss aside any past characterization for Woody and Buzz just to serve a purpose in various scenarios. They clearly had an end game in terms of plot and instead of writing a fluid story they just piece things together and try to make them work. As a kids movie it's fairly average but as a Toy Story it's just meh.

6/10

 

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