Happy Death Day 2U

POSITIVES…

  • Definitely made for fans of the first “Happy Death Day,” who will appreciate how this movie acknowledges the previous entry, and how it expands on the story.

  • Embraces the silly but fun premise, and goes for broke in how far they can go with it.

  • Jessica Rothe is once again incredible in the role of Tree Gelbman. The way she just throws herself completely into her character is absolutely the most entertaining thing about this film.

  • Rachel Matthews as Danielle Bouseman gets to shine a bit more here. Especially in one particular scene involving keys.

  • The big montage death sequence. Fun stuff.

  • I liked that it had a lot more heart and emotional scenes than what I would have expected.

  • I appreciated the fact that while it shares many similarities with the previous entry, the style, tone, and direction felt completely like a different movie.

NEGATIVES…

  • Some people will be disappointed that this is much less a weird sci-fi horror slasher movie, and much more into the weird sci-fi thrilling fantasy aspects.

  • Because of all the different plot directions this movie goes, there are just some story beats that don’t really work as well as they should.

  • The story relies on several plot conveniences that just to move things along, which isn’t exactly a complimentary thing for me to say.

  • So much suspension of disbelief is required. Maybe a little too much?

  • Kinda loses steam before the movie reaches the final stretch, and might make you feel a little impatient and frustrated with the progress of the narrative.

  • Slightly less fresh, less funny, and less exciting than the previous film. Just slightly though.

P.S….

  • If there is a third movie, what would the title be? Happy Death Day Tree? Happy Death Day 3-peat? Happy Death Day 3D?

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Alita: Battle Angel

POSITIVES…

  • Alita herself is essentially the main reason to get really invested with watching through the whole movie. Witnessing how she reacts to everything that is thrown at her is part of the fun in watching this.

  • The fight scenes! There are several awesome fight sequences in this movie, and is the other driving factor in how enjoyable the whole thing is.

  • A particular one-on-one fight scene also had the most incredible conclusion to it, that I don’t think you’ve ever seen in a live-action movie. Simply amazing!

  • Sequences involving the futuristic roller derby were also a lot of fun to watch.

  • The whole plot involving Alita and Hugo is also one of the more compelling things about this movie, probably more so than the plot involving Alita and Doctor Ido.

  • I appreciated the mish-mash of many different sci-fi / action / fantasy ideas here that resembles the kind of outrageous creativity usually found in manga / anime. Hopefully people beyond the niche audience for this will also appreciate it.

  • This movie is rated PG-13, and it’s incredible how many violent things happen in it anyway.

  • As a huge fan of the manga “GUNNM” AKA “Battle Angel,” I was really happy with how this adaptation turned out. Arguably the second best Hollywood adaptation of a manga / anime property right after “Edge Of Tomorrow.”

  • I liked how this movie handled the world building. Iron City comes to life.

  • It ends in a way that made me really want to see a sequel.

NEGATIVES…

  • It ends in a way that made me really want to see a sequel, and I don’t think it’s getting it.

  • I never did get used to Alita’s big giant eyes (admittedly enough, the movie implies why they are that big).

  • Alita’s CGI face itself always seemed odd throughout the movie, and it’s likely due to the uncanny valley issue.

  • The opening scenes were a bit shaky, due to too much heavy exposition sequences.

  • Some (or a lot) of the dialogue can be quite clunky.

  • There’s a lack of real development with the supporting characters, and that includes main characters played by Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, and Mahershala Ali.

  • There’s also a lot of plot that the movie is juggling here, and you’re going to have to give it some leeway in how successful it actually was in hitting the landing.

P.S….

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The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

POSITIVES…

  • Continues the adventures of our favorite Lego characters from the previous movie!

  • A premise and plot that seems outrageous enough to keep your attention!

  • More random yet clever humor!

  • Pop culture references and character cameos!

  • Songs! There are new musical numbers to capture your fancy!

  • It has more thematic things to say that makes the movie worth checking out!

  • In a three act structure, the third act here is pretty darn strong!

NEGATIVES…

  • Despite the laudable thematic intentions of this movie’s premise, it’s just not quite as entertaining or as fun as the previous entry.

  • Some of the clever moments of this movie, only seem like clever moments, but are really more just uninspired cleverness. It’s trying too hard at times.

  • Once again, your suspension of disbelief will be tested here.

  • There’s an unsuccessful attempt to capture the magic of “Everything Is Awesome.”

P.S….

  • Those star weapons are really really cute.

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Cold Pursuit

POSITIVES…

  • Liam Neeson fits in perfectly with this type of movie premise. It’s what you expect, and he delivers.

  • However if one actor deserves the credit for best stand-out performance here, and owns every scene he is in, it’s Tom Bateman, as Trevor “Viking” Calcotte. Now there’s a villian you’ll love to hate.

  • The whole cast is great in this too, from William Forsythe, Tom Jackson, Emmy Rossum, Julia Jones, Domenick Lombardozzi, to Benjamin Hollingsworth.

  • Director Hans Petter Moland has given us a violent revenge story that turned out to be more a dark comedy than an action thriller, and that’s a good thing.

  • The story moves along in such a way that I couldn’t help but anticipate what’s going to happen next.

  • I gotta love the non-sequiturs and offhanded dialogue, in between all the crime and death scenes.

  • There are quite a lot of awesome dark humor throughout that just livens up a movie filled with so much grim deaths, all the way until the very last shot of the movie.

  • This movie might be compared to films made by the Coen Brothers or Quentin Tarantino, and that’s because it deserves such a flattering compliment.

NEGATIVES…

  • Those looking for the typical action revenge thriller, might be disappointed.

  • Those looking for even more violent scenes that what was shown, might be disappointed.

  • A movie filled with multiple converging storylines and a huge ensemble of characters, is bound to struggle juggling everything perfectly, and this one is no exception.

  • Expect some plot convenience and nonsensical moments.

P.S….

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Velvet Buzzsaw

POSITIVES…

  • No surprise here, but Jake Gyllenhaal once again completely throws himself into his character, and steals every scene he is in.

  • The rest of the cast is great in this as well, and it’s a fantastic set of actors. Rene Russo, Zawe Ashton, Toni Collette, Natalia Dyer, Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen, plus John Malkovich. Each one of them added some nice touches to the overall story.

  • I like the premise that Writer/Director Dan Gilroy has given us here. It’s uniquely fun, weird, fascinating, and has some thrilling plot turns.

  • There’s a thematic idea that’s worth discussing about.

  • The horror aspects are also nice additions to moving the plot along.

  • I’m sure people in the art-community will get a kick out of all the satirical inside jokes that other movie goers won’t get.

NEGATIVES…

  • The art-community doesn’t exactly get a glowing image by what we see in this movie.

  • There’s definitely a sense of pretentiousness and obnoxiousness with the characters, which isn’t exactly an appealing thing to sit through in the movie.

  • Sometimes the plot feels all over the place, with no real sense of proper storytelling.

  • For a movie about a visual medium, the look of this movie feels un-cinematic for some reason.

  • No matter how creative the ideas in this may seem, this somehow still feels like a throwaway movie that isn’t completely fully developed.

P.S….

  • I can only imagine what this premise would be like if done with comic books or graphic novels… unless that’s already been done…

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Watch It On NETFLIX

Miss Bala

POSITIVES…

  • First reason to bother seeing this movie for… Gina Rodriguez. She’s pretty good in this as Gloria, and absolutely carries the whole thing.

  • Second reason to see this movie. Ismael Cruz Cordova as Lino. The whole character dynamics between Gloria and Lino is one of the more interesting things about the story.

  • Third reason to check this out. The premise itself is worthy of attention. Especially considering it covers subject matters about drug and weapon smuggling, corruption, kidnapping, sex trafficking, plus other topics worth talking about.

NEGATIVES…

  • Being that this is already a remake, this isn’t going to win any originality awards.

  • Despite the fact the movie tackles some tough subject matters, the overall tone feels a little “too safe” for some reason. The tension needs to feel more ramped up than where it currently is.

  • Marketed as a big action thriller movie, but it really isn’t.

  • Some typically expected plot tropes, and conveniences, only emphasizes how average this movie really is.

  • Not a big fan of the last plot resolution.

P.S….

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Reign Of The Supermen

POSITIVES…

  • Fans get to see this comic book story and the four specific “Superman characters” brought to animated life here.

  • There’s a lot of bits involving the Superboy character that I thought were really fun to see.

  • The scenes involving Wonder Woman were definite highlights.

  • Lex Luthor had an interesting character arc.

  • Had some generally entertaining moments.

NEGATIVES…

  • It being generally entertaining doesn’t save this movie from being somewhat average to below average.

  • Remember how I said that Superboy had a lot of good stuff? Well there is one particular scene involving him that I thought didn’t make sense at all, and one other particular plot point that felt like a wasted opportunity.

  • Speaking of characters. Lois Lane was just poorly written in this.

  • I question the direction that they are taking Lex Luthor here. Especially by the end of the film.

  • Plot conveniences and some plot points that goes nowhere, ruins the movie a bit.

  • The whole thing overall just felt like a typically uninspired superhero comic book story, with not much to say, and not enough to make me care about what happened.

P.S….

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The Death Of Superman

POSITIVES…

  • I found this particular story to be better told than the original comic book version that it’s adapted from.

  • Part of this movie’s strength comes from the relationship between Lois and Clark / Superman. That’s the emotional core that drew me into this.

  • The pacing worked for me here, with its gradual build-up of the Doomsday character, and the things he did before he eventually encountered to Superman.

  • Successfully includes the rest of the Justice League heroes into what is essentially a Superman-centric story, with some choice highlights involving Wonder Woman, and Batman.

  • Lex Luthor gets to shine here, being all Lex Luthor.

  • The fight sequences were also good, and they properly conveyed a sense of danger.

  • Wasn’t scared to be all hard PG-13 here.

NEGATIVES…

  • The final scene showed that this movie was too scared to end it the way it should have ended. Kinda ruined that final emotional weight that this movie earned.

  • A couple of scenes took some suspension of disbelief, with me scratching my head as to why certain things had to happen.

  • Another movie that has to have some plot conveniences to move things along.

P.S….

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The Kid Who Would Be King

POSITIVES…

  • As a family friendly fun fantasy adventure movie, this is absolutely top notch!

  • Writer / Director Joe Cornish pours out a lot of creativity into several scenes that were just wonderful to watch on screen.

  • The cast is great in this, with Louis Ashbourne Serkis (Andy Serkis’ son) doing a great job in a very charismatic leading role of Alex.

  • Extra props to Angus Imrie! This actor is such a big scene stealer, and is hypnotizing to watch his portrayal of the younger looking Merlin. Patrick Stewart is expectedly great as the older looking Merlin, but Imrie is just simply brilliant in this and one of the main reasons to see this movie.

  • I could never get tired of scenes involving the sword being stuck in stone.

  • The plot progression and pacing is excellent in this, and never once did I feel bored. If anything else, I was constantly filled with wonder and excitement, as I anticipate what’s going to happen next in the story.

  • I really appreciated the overall theme of the story. It’s very apropos to modern society, and only makes me want to encourage everybody; especially kids, to see this film.

NEGATIVES…

  • Not exactly the most original idea of a movie. Derivative in ways that you expect it to be.

  • Blame it on the fact this is suppose to be family friendly, but during scenes that depict danger, you never really feel like the characters are in real danger.

  • There are moments that definitely force you to suspend your disbelief.

P.S….

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Polar

POSITIVES…

  • Mads Mikkelsen is cool, badass, and not afraid to show some vulnerabilities here as well. He’s easily the best thing about this movie.

  • The rest of the cast has some good moments to showcase their talents, with specific highlights coming from Vanessa Hudgens, Katheryn Winnick, and a Matt Lucas who looked like he was having way too much fun hamming it up on screen. Even Richard Dreyfus has a nice role in this as well.

  • It’s hyper-violent and has decently good action set pieces. There’s definitely a specific target audience that can appreciate that.

  • I really liked the final scene of this movie. It made me like the movie more than I would have without that scene.

  • This movie is almost like a throwback to the simple action thriller flicks of the past.

NEGATIVES…

  • Unfortunately this movie retains most of the bad elements from those past action thriller flicks.

  • Comes off more like a 13 year old boy’s juvenile fantasy from what he believes he wants from an action movie. Lots of bloody violence, plus lots of nudity and sex. Tired tropes that do not necessarily make a movie better.

  • The commonly used adage of “all style, no substance” would describe this film pretty well.

  • Let’s just say that this doesn’t exactly have the best use of women characters here.

  • I’m generally disappointed by the fact that this should have been better.

  • I also found myself frustrated and annoyed by certain scenes that came off as obnoxious, unnecessary, and embarrassing.

P.S….

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You Can Watch This Now On Netflix