Worst Movie 2017!!

Every year I see more than enough bad movies, here are the worst of the worst for 2017.

1.xXx:The Return Of Xander Cage

Rating-5.0/10

Release Date: January 26

2.Resident Evil:The Final Chapter

Rating-4.5/10

Release Date-January 27

 3.Rings

Rating-6.0/10

Release Date-February 3

4.Fist Fight

Rating-5.2/10

Release Date-February 17

5.The Circle

Rating-6.0/10

Release Date-April 28

6.Alien:Covenant

Rating-5.0/10

Release Date- May 19

7.The Mummy

Rating-5.5/10

Release Date-June 19

8.Flatliners

Rating-4.0/10

Release Date-September 29

I have seen some stinkers this year but one trumped all others and that was.....

 This maybe surprising as I gave Flatliners a worse rating and Resident Evil :The Final Chapter was terrible but my anticipation for Alien:Covenant was very high. I was a huge fan of Prometheus and looked forward to this film so much and it was so bad and such a letdown, I recommend no one to see this film. Lets see what terrible films 2018 brings!!

Best Movie 2017!!

Another year in the books, I have seen some good films this year but only one can be the best. here are the nominees.


1.Split

 Rating-8.2/10

Release Date: January 26

2.John Wick:Chapter 2

Rating-8.3/10

Release Date: February 10 

3.Get Out

Rating-8.6/10

Release Date-February 26

4.Power Rangers

Rating-8.8/10

Release Date: March 24

5.It Comes At Night

Rating-8.5/10

Release Date:  June 9

6.War For The Planet Of The Apes

Rating-8.8/10

Release Date:  July 14

7.Annabelle:Creation

Rating-8.0/10

Release Date:  August 11

8.IT

Rating-8.6/10

Release Date:  September 8

Very good choices here. But there is one that for me stood out the most which was.....

My Anticipation for this film was sky high and for me this film hit all the spots I wanted it to. I am still hoping for a sequel to happen as I loved the direction this film went, lets see how that plays put. 2017 had some very good films in it. looking forward to 2018!.

December 2017!!

The Last Month Of The Year brings with it one film to review Jumaji:Welcome To The Jungle.

Run Time:119 Minutes

Post Credit-None

Starring-Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan and Kevin Hart

Plot-In a brand new Jumanji adventure, the tables are turned as four teenagers are sucked into Jumanji's world - pitted against rhinos, black mambas and an endless variety of jungle traps and puzzles

My Thoughts 


Like many I am a huge fan of the original Jumanji and when news of a sequel was announced I was very leery of this. I can say after seeing the film it was better than I thought it would be it was actually pretty funny and enjoyable. Both sets of casts worked very well together, The Rock and Kevin Hart for me worked much better together in this film then in Central Intelligence they had good interplay and some good jokes between them. Jack Black was a standout for me, he did a great job playing a teenage girl trapped in a middle aged man's body, his mannerisms ans voice tone was great. Since this film took a comedic turn what it came down to for me was it funny and overall I would say yes it was, I chuckled more than a fesa times and that is rare for me to do especially when seeing a film at the theaters. I will say the CG was a little cheesy in parts and looked really bad and the run time could have been a little shorter but overall it flowed pretty well.Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 83% saying " Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle uses a charming cast and a humorous twist to offer an undemanding yet solidly entertaining update on its source material". I agree with this. This film took a different approach to the original Jumanji film but that was not necessarily a bad thing, this was a solid film, with good laughs a cast that worked well together and is worth seeing once.

Rating

Solid film, good laughs, better than I expected worth seeing 7.5/10!!

November 2017!!

The Month of November has two films to review the first being Thor:Ragnarock

Run Time:130 Minutes

Starring-Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Idris Elba

Post Credit-2 (one before credits roll and one after credits finish)

Plot-"Thor must face the Hulk in a gladiator match and save his people from the ruthless Hela". 

My Thoughts

Anyone who has read my review for Thor or the sequel Thor:The Dark World will know I was not a huge fan of either film. When the third film was announced, I knew I would review it but my expectations were not very high, a big and positive change was that Natlie Portman would not be returning as Jane Foster, she is a good actress but in the previous two films her character added nothing to the films and I know I am not the only one who was glad to hear she wold not be returning. I am pleasantly surprised  to say that Thor:Ragnarok is the best film in the series to date. The tone in this film in comparison to the first two is much lighter, which worked well. the Jokes for the most part were good, but i feel that a few fell flat when the film tried too hard to be funny in my opinion, but overall it was a nice change of pace.The plot of this film interested me much more than the plots in the first two film, and the main reason for that is the villain Cate Blanchett for me stole the show as Hela, she is a great actress and her ability to transition to a villainous role in a MCU film just shows how good she is, her performance as Hela really added to the film and I enjoyed every second her character was on screen. the rest of the cast did a solid job but Ms.Blanchett was easily the standout. The pacing of the film flowed together well and that lead to a nice smooth film where for me the 130 minute run time flew by which is always a good thing I really enjoyed the scenes between Thor and Hulk .  The special effects as expected were top notch and some of the set pieces were a sight to behold, the planet Sakaar was really well done and I applaud the visual effects team for the job they did. Thor is one of the marvel characters I know nothing about really when I heard about the first film back in 2011, all these years later I know more than I did back then and what I like about standalone films for characters I do not know much  about is learning  as I experience these films as they come out, its all new for me and I enjoy that aspect of it. One weak spot for me in this film was the ending it made sense in the grand scheme of the film but overall I felt it wa sa little weak. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 93% saying "Exciting, funny, and above all fun, Thor: Ragnarok is a colorful cosmic adventure that sets a new standard for its franchise -- and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe". I agree with everything said for the most part especially about this being the new standard for future Thor films. Overall this was easily the best film in the Thor series and I recommend it for any Thor or MCU fans who want to see a solid Marvel film

Rating


Easily Best Thor film. Visually very pretty, mostly good comedic timing and Cate Blanchett at her villainous best. 8.0/10!!!



The last film to review for the month of April is Justice League.

Run Time:121 Minutes

Post Credit Scene-Two (one before credits roll and one more after credits roll)

Starring-Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot

My Thoughts

I want to start by saying I am not the biggest DC fan, it has more to do with me not actively looking into the lore of the characters in the DC universe. I was still somewhat excited to see this film when it was announced. I will also say that my expectations for this film were not very high (DC struggles to make good films for some reason in my opinion). Now having seen this film, I have to say it slightly exceeded my expectations, that is not to say this was a great film but it was better than i thought it would be. The cast did a solid job overall the standouts for me were Jason Momoa as aquaman (looking forward to the standalone film next year) and Ray Fisher as Cyborg (also looking forward to the rumored film coming out in 2020) I did like that the Flash played by Ezra Miller was the comic releife of the group which was needed as the other members were mostly super serious, its needed for balance and the flash did a good job of that even though for me he was a little too silly at times. them standing out has more to with the characters as a whole and how they played them not entirely due to the acting ability but they both did a solid job in that department as well. I am not a fan of Ben Affleck as Batman and my dislike for him as Batman continued with this film, he is not convincing as Bruce Wayne for me, he wasn't terrible in this or BvS but i just cant see him in this role. Superman and Wonder Woman played by Hnery Cavill and Gal Gadot respectively did solid jobs to round out the Justice League. My main problem with DC films that I have seen thus far is that the villains for me don't feel powerful enough (Marvel has this problem in some of their films as well)  and that takes away from the film, the villain in this film wasn't the worst I have seen in superhero films in recent memory but he didn't feel powerful enough for the entire justice league to struggle with him, that is just my opinion on the matter. The plot of the film wasn't bad and flowed pretty well, I do with Aquaman and Cyborg had more screen time as I felt they had the leas time on screen out of the justice league (except for superman for obvious reasons). But I understand with a film like this there is only so much screen time to go around. For a film with a budget of  $300 Million the CG was pretty sub par, I have seen films with half the budget of this film witch much better special effects, it gets really bad in some parts and honestly I do not see where the $300 million dollar budget was spent, the films looks good in some spots but from what I saw the film could have been made with a lower budget considering what the end product. I did like the interplay between the
 characters they all played off each well and I look forward to the next Justice League film (rumored for 2019). Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 39% saying " Justice League leaps over a number of DC movies, but its single bound isn't enough to shed the murky aesthetic, thin characters, and chaotic action that continue to dog the franchise". I agree that the characters were not fleshed out enough (that is what marvel did better in my opinion most of the avengers had a stand alone film before the first avengers film. Only superman and Wonder woman have had stand alone films for the justice l;league which hurts the character development and backstory). Overall this film as I mentioned was better than I expected, and for me that is a good sign, but DC needs to do better with its character development and villain selection.


Rating

Better than I expected, Looking forward to future releases in the DCEU, worth seeing especially for DC fans. 7.2/10!!!



 

October 2017!!

The Month of October brings one movie to review "Jigsaw".

Run Time:92 Minutes

Starring-Starring-Laura Vandervoort, Tobin Bell and Hannah Emily Anderson

Post Credit-None

Plot-"Dead bodies begin to turn up all over the city, each meeting their demise in a variety of grisly ways. All investigations begin to point the finger at deceased killer John Kramer".

My Thoughts

I an a fan of the "Saw" franchise and have for the most part enjoyed all the films in the series. I was eagerly awaiting this film when it was announced. Unfortunately the film was overall pretty bad. starting with the plot it has become apparent to me that this series needs to stopped the filmmakers are stretching with the plots, the last few in the series where already teetering on the line for me and this film goes even further. the plot tried to hard to be misleading and had a "whodunnit" feel to it which for me didn't work very well and lead to an overall bad experience. the acting in the "saw" series was never great but the acting in this film was worse than i thought it would be, the characters in the main cast not being likeable at all didn't do any favors. The traps in this film was another aspect of the film that for me fell really flat, One aspect fo the "Saw" films I looked forward to was some of the inventive traps used, this film the lack of imagination was very apparent and to me it honestly felt like the filmmakers didn't even try to really be inventive which was disappointing. honestly this film was a huge letdown for me and I don't really want to expand on my feelings about this film., I cannot recommend it to anyone even fans of the other films in the "Saw" series. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a  38% saying "Jigsaw definitely won't win many converts to the Saw franchise, but for longtime fans, it should prove a respectably revolting -- if rarely scary -- diversion". It was a waste of time for me, there was nothing really good I can say about this film. If I try really hard to say something positive is that the film is relatively short (92 minutes) which was good. this film in my opinion had a chance to at least be decent but that was not the case and couple in a very weak ending in my opinion and it just piles onto a bad movie experience.

Rating

I cannot recommend this film, even to fans of the "Saw" franchise, I say skip at all costs. which is hard for me to say as i was really looking forward to this, I think the  series should be retired permanently at this point. 5.0/10!!!

September 2017!!

The Month of September brings with it three films to review. the first being IT.

Run Time: 135 Minutes

Post  Credit Scene: None (Voice Line at the end of the credits).

Starring-Bill Skarsgard, Javier Botet and Finn Wolfhard

Plot-"In a small town in Maine, seven children known as The Losers Club come face to face with life problems, bullies and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise".

My Thoughts 

I am a pretty big fan of the original IT film, I was anxiously awaiting this film when it was announced that it was in development. I can say that this film in my opinion surpasses the original in every way, which I did not think I would be saying. Starting with the acting, it was phenomenal by the entire cast, with relatively unknown child actors as the main cast, I am always a bit leery, but in the case of this film, my worries were not needed.  There was not a bad performance in the film and I applaud the entire cast for a fantastic Job all around. What I really liked about this film was that the director did a great job of giving each main character a background that the viewer was able to see on screen (which is always a plus of having a longer film). It let the viewer form a connection with the characters which was a welcome sight. The plot of the this film was very similar tot he original film which was a good choice, I am glad they didn't differentiate too much from the source material. The pacing of the film flowed together really well and the 135 Minute Run time flew by and that is the sign of a good film in my eyes. Pennywise the clown the iconic villain in the film was portrayed accurately in comparison to the original film. with the advancements in  technology since 1990 pennywise was able to terrorize the main cast in new ways that were pretty well executed. I will say some of the CG wasn't crisp and it was very noticeable which took away from some scenes but the film only had a budget of $35 million so I cant nitpick that much, as I have seen films with the times the budget of this film with worse  CG. One more thing I really liked was the comic relief moments mostly provided by Finn Wolfhard which was a nice break. For me the film wasn't scary, but I don't really find scary movies scary, its a subjective matter, I am sure to others this film will be very scary to them. The ending of the film sets up the second part of the story perfectly and going by the box office numbers it should be green light very soon. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 86% saying "Well-acted and fiendishly frightening with an emotionally affecting story at its core, It amplifies the horror in Stephen King's classic story without losing touch with its heart". I agree this film was well acted and overall was one of the best films I have seen this year, I was anticipating this film and it did not disappoint, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to see a well acted movie with a good plot and great character development.

Rating

One of the better films I have seen this year 8.6/10!!! highly recommend.


The third film to review for the month is Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

 Run Time:141 Minutes

Starring- Taron Egerton, Mark Strong and Julianne Moore

Post Credit Scene:None

Plot-"When an attack on the Kingsman headquarters takes place and a new villain rises, Eggsy and Merlin are forced to work together with the American agency Statesman to save the world".

My Thoughts 

I enjoyed the first Kingsman film and I eagerly awaited the release of the sequel after it was announced. Sequels to action films are always a tricky situation, usually what happens is the plot is  down and the action is upped which creates for a ho hum viewing experience. unfortunately that was the case for this film, the first film had a decent plot behind it coupled with solid acting and a good villain which is essential for a good action film. that is where I want to start Julianne Moore was the main villain in this film she played the role of Poppy and for me she was not a good villain, first off she wasn't very unlikable which is needed  in a film like this, until her grand plan was revealed i didn't mind her character at all and didn't see her as ruthless or evil at all she always had a smile on her face throughout the film which I assume the director wanted to make her seem like a gentle, nice woman who hid her evil side inside, which was a bad choice and overall she just didn't work for me at all and it took away from the movie a lot. The acting in this film was solid by the man cast and I had no complaints, no stand out performances but nothing terrible either. The plot was another weak point in this film,  it felt like they were grasping at straws with the plot, it wasn't the worse I have seen in a action movie but it was far from the best. It felt a little outlandish to me which is hard for me to say in a action movie, overall I would say the plot was very weak. The action scenes in this film were very well done and was a huge bright spot for me and probably was the best part of the movie. One aspect of the film I was glad made a return was the jokes, what i enjoyed about the first film was that there were some pretty good jokes in it, and that continued, I want to add that there are some scenes with a particular Music Legend which are all very funny for the most part, and Laughed a few times. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 50% saying "Kingsman: The Golden Circle offers more of everything that made its predecessor so much fun, but lacks the original's wild creative spark". I agree overall with this, the film had more action than the first film, but lacked behind in every other department compared to the first film and that is a shame, I really looked forward to this film and expected a better film or at least on par with the original, that was not he case. I still would say this film is worth watching in theaters if you enjoyed the first film or want to see a  solid Action film. hoping a third film gets made.

Rating

Not as good as the original, but still a solid film 7.2\10!!

The third and last film to review for the month is Flatliners.

Run Time:110 Minutes

Starring-Nina Dobrev, Ellen Page and James Norton

Post Credit-None

Plot-"Medical students experiment on "near death" experiences that involve past tragedies until the dark consequences begin to jeopardize their lives". 

My Thoughts

When you see as many movies as I do yearly, there are bound to be bad movies, in the case of flatliners this was worse than bad. it was a train wreck, I will keep this short and sweet. Under no circumstances can I recommend this film to anyone, those who saw the original should skip this at all costs. the film had bad acting, bad pacing, bad special effects, cliche after cliche and to top it off it had a terrible ending. I honestly do not want to spend anytime talking about this price of garbage any further. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 3% saying "Flatliners falls flat as a horror movie and fails to improve upon its source material, rendering this reboot dead on arrival:. this film was a waste of space and I wonder why it was made, pass on this and save your time and money, this was so far the worst I have seen this year and one of the worst I have seen in recent memory.
.

Rating

Skip at all costs, nothing redeemable about this film whatsoever 4.0\10!!!

August 2017!!

The Month of August brings two films to review. The first Being "The Dark Tower".

Run Time:95 Minutes

Starring-Idris Elba, Katheryn Winnick and Matthew McConaughey

Plot-"Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world".

Post Credit Scenes: None ( audio at the end of the credits)

My Thoughts 

I will start by saying that I have not read the books in this series, But I was looking forward to this film very much after I saw the trailer for the first time. I am a fan of dysotopian films and this film caught my eye with that being a central theme. Unfortunately the film fell flat for me, first off I will say the acting overall was solid and the main cast was pretty good. Not one actor stood out but for me Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey played off each other well, I expected these two to carry the film and for the most part they both did good jobs. I will say Matthew McConaughey plays a good villain and I enjoyed seeing him in this role. The Plot for this film wasn't exactly exciting I was intrigued by the plot in the trailer but actually seeing it play out on the big screen it was underwhelming. The main plot points when revealed didn't feel like it was enough for what was going on in this film. Another issue with the plot I had with this film was that there was not much attempt made to really make the viewer feel for the audience and that led to me feeling no connection for any of the characters which takes away from the overall viewing experience especially in the case of a film like this where the characters are the main focus. The film didn't use much special effects which is always nice to see in this day and age, the battle scenes were well done and didn't feel cheesy or anything and I actually enjoyed them overall. A big gripe for me with this film was the run time (94 minutes) the film felt rushed and I feel overall it suffered because of the time constraints, if the film was maybe 15-20 minutes longer that could have allowed fore better character development which would have made the film better. A direct connection with a film feeling rushed is the ending and for me the ending of this film was another let down, the final battle between Elba's and McConaughey characters was inevitable but the execution of the final fight was not well done in my opinion and a bad ending can  ruin any film for me . This film for me had potential to be pretty good but as is the case with many films it missed the mark and that is unfortunate as I mentioned earlier I was really looking forward to this film. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film an 18% saying " Go then, there are other Stephen King adaptations than these". which is a pretty dismissive of the film. Overall I would say maybe see this film if you have time to kill, I have seen much worse films this year, but this is by no means a good film. If you are a Stephen King fan I would suggest to see this, I don't know how faithful this is to the novel but that would be a choice someone who has seen the novel would have to make.

Rating

Not the worst film I have seen this year, but not a good film by any stretch, Felt it could have been much better. 6.8/10!!!

The Second and last film to review for the month of August is Annabelle:Creation

Run Time:109 Minutes

Starring-Stephanie Sigman, Miranda Otto and Talitha Bateman

Post Credit Scenes: Two 

Plot-"Several years after the tragic death of their little girl, a dollmaker and his wife welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home, soon becoming the target of the dollmaker's possessed creation".


My Thoughts

Let me start by saying I didn't see Annabelle in theaters, the film did not interest me at the time. I did catch the film on HBO at a later time, and I felt i made a good choice by skipping the film, it was boring and not very interesting to be honest. The conjuring universe that is being built really intrigues me and I want to see all of the films in the universe and how they all connect. Annabelle:Creation was much better than the original and  if I am being honest it was one of the better films I have seen this year,which I did not think I would be saying prior to seeing the film. Anyone who is unfamiliar with the  conjuring  and Annabelle films should see those first as they introduce the Annabelle doll.Without giving much away the doll was created by Samuel Mullins (Played by Anthony LaPaglia) as a gift for his daughter when the daughter is killed in an accident the film kicks off from there.The acting in this film was very good by all main members of the cast there wasn't a weak performance by any of the cast which again surprised me, I expected going into the film that the mostly unknown cast would show its lack of experience and be riddled with bad performances, but that wasn't the case and was a pleasant to see, I will add that some cliched decisions by some of the cast had me shaking my head but its expected in a horror film. The setting in this film was perfect for how it played out, it was set in the 1950's and all the action took place in a big farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere in a small town that lent perfectly to some good jump scars (if jump scares get to you) overall this was the perfect setting for this film. A big plus for me was the fact that the run time was 109 minutes, I am always discouraged when any film in general is on the shorter side (90 minutes or less) I am of the mindset that a longer film (if done well) is always the way to go and in this case it was perfect.  There are a few Easter eggs in this film that link into the Conjuring universe, I wont say where but keep a close out for them, it  was welcome surprise to see some Easter eggs, there wasn't much I didn't like about this film, it was well done and a pleasant surprise I didn't see coming, the ending is a bit odd but it serves its purpose of tying everything together. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 68%saying " Annabelle: Creation adds another strong chapter to the Conjuring franchise - and offers further proof that freaky-looking dolls remain reliably terrifying". I agree this was a very strong addition the  conjuring franchise and I eagerly await "The Nun" coming next year and "The Conjuring 3". I recommend this film highly to anyone who is a fan of the other conjuring films and wants to see a very good film with a solid plot and solid acting.


Rating

Very good film, Highly Recommend 8.0/10!!

July 2017!!

The Month Of July Brings With It only one Film To Review but it is a film I have heavily anticipated. The film is  "War For The Planet Of The Apes".

Run time: 140 Minutes

 Starring-Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer and Andy Serkis

Plot-"A nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar become embroiled in a battle with an army of humans".

My Thoughts 

I want to start by saying I was a big fan of Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes  and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.  I was eagerly anticipating the third installment in the series, I can say now that it met my expectations. What always got to me about these films is the plight that the Apes go through, they just want to be left alone, but unfortunately that can never be the case as certain factions of humans (in this film the humans are led by Woody Harrelson) keep hunting them down to exterminate them from the world. Let me start with the acting, once again Andy Serkis does another fabulous job as Caesar the leader of the apes, in this film Caesar looks much moor weary then in past films and age has crept into his face as this conflict with the humans takes it toll on him, Andy Serkis was the perfect choice for Caesar and he has blown me away in every film in the series and continues to do so, all of the actors who played the Apes did a great job, I want to give a special mention to Steve Zahn for his portrayal of Bad Ape a new character in the series, he did an awesome job and i even chuckled a few times which was a nice change of pace in a film that has a very serious tone.  I want to give a shout out to WETA Digital for their incredible motion capture work, the emotion that is captured on the faces of all the Apes in this film (and the past two films) is extraordinary, even without most of the apes being able to speak the emotion still comes through perfectly and I applaud WETA for their work. On the human side of things Woody Harrelson was the perfect adversary for Caesar, I genuinely disliked his character in this film which for me means that a great acting job was done by Woody, and he did a fantastic job in this film playing the villain (depending on what side you sympathize with). Woody is an underrated actor in my opinion and doesn't get the credit he deserves, all of the roles I have seen him in he does a great job in he brought it again in this fiolm. One other standout for me on the human side was Amiah Miller  as Nova her character joined the apes side but does not speak the entire film, for such a young Actress she did a really good job conveying emotions with just her eyes and body language it was very impressive to see. The Special effects in this film were as expected top notch some of the best I have seen in recent memory and didn't take away from the film at all. The plot of this film for me wasn't the best of the three films, I did like that it continued to focus heavily on the ape side of things and I almost got emotional more than once in this film, there are some very sad moments in this film on both sides that almost got me. The audience does get certain spots to see the human side of things (specifically with Woody Harrelson's character) which I did enjoy very much, Overall the film flowed well and the 140 minute run time for me felt a little short, I would have been perfectly happy with a 3 hour plus film considering how big this film is for the entire planet of the apes story line and not just the past two films, the ending for me was weak and my only real grip with this film, I expected more and with a title such as "War for the planet of the apes" I expected a big battle between the apes and humans, that was not the case and i was a little surprised that did not happen  but I am okay with it, just felt the  ending of the film could have been better, it does set up a potential fourth film but honestly a fourth film is not needed, but with Hollywood who knows. Overall this was a great film and i thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish and to anyone who wants to see a great film with a strong emotional connection i say see this. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 95% saying "War for the Planet of the Apes combines breathtaking special effects and a powerful, poignant narrative to conclude this rebooted trilogy on a powerful -- and truly blockbuster --note". I agree this was one of the best films I have seen in recent memory and it met my expectations and if this is the last film in the series what a way to end it.



Rating

One of the best films I have seen in recent memory,  highly recommend it 8.8/10!!!

June 2017!!

Summer is in full effect and the Month Of June brings two films to review, the first being It Comes at night.

Runtime: 91 Minutes

Starring-Riley Keough, Joel Edgerton and Carmen Ejogo

Plot-"Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son, but this will soon be put to test when a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge".

My Thoughts 

I didn't know what to expect when I saw this film, but what I can see is that it was very good and I highly recommend it. First off the story isn't exactly something fresh but basically a virus has spread across the nation and a family has taken to the Forest and resides in a house cut off from the rest of the world. What really struck me was the atmosphere in this film it was so engaging, there wasn't any snazzy special effects or anything like that but the practical effects used were so well done which was pleasing to see. Watching this film and the atmosphere that it created, rally made it feel like this family was all alone in the forest its a tribute to the director and the way the scenes were shot that really made this immersive.The acting in this film was also top notch, Joel Edgerton was so good as the father of the family who trying his best to protect his wife and son, I have seen him in a few other films (he was the standout in my 2015 film of the year "The Gift") and once again he has done an awesome job here.The big surprise for me was Kelvin Harrison Jr as Travis the son, he is a relative newcomer to the movie scene but after his performance in this film, I look forward to his future projects, while he didn't have the most amount of spoken dialogue in this film he did such a good job conveying his emotions with this face and non verbal language which was very impressive. The entire main cast of this film did an awesome job and there is a scene with Kelvin Harrison Jr, and Riley Keough in the kitchen where the interplay between them was so good excellent job by the entire cast. The cinematography was great in this film and I applaud the entire production team.  One aspect of this film that really stood out to me was the directors ability to create tension between the two family's once the second family is established in the story, the whole time watching the film once both family's are introduced it really felt like the tension between them was on a knife edge and it was really nice to see how it all played out in the end. There was not much about this film did not like about the film. One thing that did bother me a a little was with the length of the film being relativity short (91 minutes) I would have liked to see a little more backstory to exactly what the virus was and its beginnings, but I do understand that the aspect of not knowing exactly what it was adds to the mystery of this film. it still would have been nice though, one other aspect that bothered me was the ending, following the clues throughout the film, the ending was predictable. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 86% saying " It Comes at Night makes lethally effective use of its bare-bones trappings while proving once again that what's left unseen can be just as horrifying as anything on the screen". I agree overall with this, I also want to add that it was nice that this film did not have a traditional monster it was definitely more of a thriller than a horror film and it was great, I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants to see a good thriller, with superb acting, great cinematography.


Rating

Very good film, great acting, Very good pacing, Great cinematography. Overall very good film 8.5/10!!!



The Next and final Film To Review Is The Mummy

 Runtime:110 Minutes

Starring-Tom Cruise, Annabelle Wallis and Sofia Boutella

Plot-"Though safely entombed in a crypt deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient queen whose destiny was unjustly taken from her is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that defy human comprehension".

My Thoughts 

I have seen enough movies to get a gauge of if a movie will be bad from the opening few minutes and for the most part my sense is usually right, In the case of this film I knew after the first 10 minutes that this film would be extremely underwhelming. And after seeing the film play out it was a bad film, which saddens me to say. I was a huge fan of The Mummy and The Mummy Returns and I was eargly anticipating this film when it was announced, I will say that I had a slight cause for pause when Tom Cruise was cast in the lead role, I am hot a huge fan of him and I felt that he would be out of place in this film. I can say that my concerns held true, Tom Cruise did not fit in the role at all. I wonder why he was cast (the only reason I can come up with is that the studios wanted big name to help sell the film) which is fine but cast a big star that actually fits with the film, throughout the film he just didn't not fit with the tone of the film and it was hard to watch  at times. The plot of this film is very different than the original from 1999, which was expected this was reboot and not a remake, but for me it was a weak story overall, and was not engaging, I honestly felt to call this a mummy film was a stretch. The Villain played by Sofia Boutella wasn't a terrible a villain it was just that the weak plot made her seem less menacing than I felt she needed and she felt less like aa mummy and more like a seductress who wore a mummy costume and had some powers. The Acting overall was subpar, not one performance stood out for me in this film, Tom Cruise was probably the worst of the main cast (he just felt out of place as I mentioned earlier and from his performance it felt like he knew this want a role for him). The special effects for a film with a budget of this size ($125 million) was just okay, not great, there was more than one scene where the CG looked really bad and that is unacceptable for a film of this stature. There was not much about his film, that I liked, one of the few things that I did like was that there was a nice Easter egg that links back to "The Mummy" which I enjoyed seeing, other than that I did like that this film sets up Universal's Dark Universe, unfortunately the film was a terrible opening to this monster universe of films that will be streaming out over the coming years. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 17% saying "Lacking the campy fun of the franchise's most recent entries and failing to deliver many monster-movie thrills, The Mummy suggests a speedy unraveling for the Dark Universe". I agree overall with this, the film was just misstep after misstep from the cast to the plot to the villain everything about his film just seemed to be missing that extra layer of  polish. Considering the amount of hype I had for this film and how it turned out, I would say this is the worst film I have seen this year and I did not think I would be saying this, I cannot recommend this film to anyone.



Rating

Huge Letdown, Nothing in this film worked, if this is the quality to expect from Universal's Dark Universe films, I expect they wont be around long. 5.5/10!!

May 2017!!

The Month Of May brings with it three movies to review.the first being Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2

Run Time: 136 Minutes

Plot-"Set to the backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' continues the team's adventures as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill's true parentage".

Starring-Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Vin Diesel


My Thoughts 

I was a fan of the original Guardians Of The Galaxy and eagerly awaited the second film in the series, that would hopefully expand on the guardians universe and the bonds between the team itself. I can say that overall I was let down by this film. What really bothered me was that this film tried to hard to be funny when it did not need to be and there were more than a few moments where I felt a scene was ruined by a slapstick moment or one of the characters saying something meant to be funny that wasn't. What i enjoyed about the first film was that the timing of the comedic elements was very good and it flowed well together, that wasn't the case for this film for the most part, I wont say it was completely off the mark, I did chuckle a few times as well and I do like that the guardians films are for the most part the light hearted franchise in the MCU (marvel cinematic universe) but i felt tit was overdone with the comedic stuff. Visually this was a beautiful film and the $200 million dollar budget was well spent, there were more than a few different worlds that were shown on screen and each one was done beautifully and it really added to the movie  to see such beautiful backdrops throughout the film. The acting in this film was solid overall, Chris Pratt was is usual wise cracking, sarcastic self that we have known to expect and it works for this film, The rest of the main Guardians teams did a solid job and I had no major com,plaints from any of the performances. Two performances that did stand out to me  for different reasons were Karen Gillan as Nebula and Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesha. Nebula's character in this film really had an expended role as compared to the original and it was nice to see emotion from her especially in scenes with Zoe Saldana's character, the scenes with the two of them really stood out and I look forward to exploring the relationship between those two as more guardians movies come out. For Elizabeth Debicki as Ayesa her acting performance was solid but what really caught my eye was the design of her character, I applaud the visual effects and makeup team for an outstanding job, she really stood out in this role and was very eye catching. For me the villains in this film were lacking from a standpoint of making a connection to me of really wanting them to not be successful against the Guardians, when a movie does it right you really dislike the villains and pray for their downfall as you grow to loathe them more and more as the film goes on, that wasn't the case for m in this film, regardless of the different villains encountered in this film, I didn't really ever dislike them enough to want to see them defeated and for me that took away from the film. One of the best things I lied about this film was the character development of almost every major character, they all had a moments in the film where the audience had a chance to learn more about the past of a particular character and how it shaped them into the current version of themselves, I love a movie that does character development right and this film did a masterful job in that respect and i appreciated it. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film an 81% saying " Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2's action-packed plot, dazzling visuals, and irreverent humor add up to a sequel that's almost as fun -- if not quite as thrillingly fresh -- as its predecessor". Overall I think the first film was a better movie overall, but that does not mean this was a bad film, it was good but not great, but I would recommend it to anyone who was a fan of the first film or is a fan of the MCU as a whole. P.S. there are five post credit scenes make sure you watch all of the end credits.




Rating

Good film, Not great, the original is a slightly better film in my opinion but this is worth seeing 7.5/10!!.


The second film to review is King Arthur:Legend Of The Sword.

Run Time:126 Minutes

Plot-"Robbed of his birthright, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword from the stone, he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy - whether he likes it or not.".

Starring-Annabelle Wallis, Charlie Hunnam and Eline Powell

My Thoughts 



I am sure most people are aware of the King Arthur story, as a lover of history myself, the king Arthur story always fascinated (aseptically the knights of the round table). When I heard news of this film I was anticipating it pretty heavily, then it was delayed last year until 2017, which I was disappointed about but it did not dampen my anticipation to see this film. Now having seen the film, if anyone asks me if I would recommend this film it would be a hard no, I wanted to like this movie and while viewing it I gave it every opportunity to impress me and that this could be a good movie, sadly that never happened, this was a bad film overall and it pains me to say that. The acting first off was sub par overall to say the least, Charlie Hunnam was actually a good King Arthur and I did like that he threw in a joke here and there to offset the mostly serious tone of the film (which i expected) and I will also mention that Eric Bana was good in his limited amount of screen time but he is always good in his roles no matter how much screen time he has. but other than those two the rest of the cast did not leave a positive impression on me, in particular Jude Law as Vortigern the main villain in this film. to me he came off as whiny and not menacing in any way shape or form, by the end of the film I thought to myself "This is the guy that Arthur has to get ride of?" he struck me as a spoiled brat who didn't get his juice bottle and that did not sit well with me. The budget for this film was a staggering $175 million and with a budget of that size I expect top notch visuals throughout the film,  the practical effects were very good but the CG overall was poor, it was so easy to spot the CG in the fight screens in particular, it was syfy channel worthy at times with the wavy some things on the screen moved around and it took away from the film as a whole for me and added  to the overall bad viewing experience. The story in this film dragged with heavy pacing issues this film was over 2 hours long and honestly this film could have been 100 minutes and it would have gotten the same story across, there were many times when a scene would be going and I would say to myself "why is this in here it didn't add anything to this film whatsoever" and this happened way too many times.  The ending of this film was really a huge letdown, as expected we get a final fight between Arthur and Vortigern and to say it was anti climatic is a understatement this adds to the overall feeling of the main villain not being very tough and for me if the ending scene of a film is going to be a  1v1 fight it better be good, this fight was not.  Rotten Tomaotes  gave this film a 28% saying ": King Arthur: Legend of the Sword piles mounds of modern action flash on an age-old tale -- and wipes out much of what made it a classic story in the first place". I agree overall with this, the idea behind the film was a good idea but it was not properly executed in my opinion and the film suffered greatly, the ending does leave room for a sequel but unless major changes are made i would say not make it. I cannot recommend  this film.


Rating

Disappointing in almost every aspect, overall bad acting, bad pacing,m, bad special effects, and ran too long. 6.4/10!!!



The third and final film to review for the month is Alien:Covenant

Run Time:123 Minutes


Plot-"Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, the crew of the colony ship Covenant discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world -- whose sole inhabitant is the "synthetic" David (Michael Fassbender), survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition".

Starring-Michael Fassbender, Billy Crudup and Katherine Waterson

My Thoughts

Prometheus was one of my favorite films from 2012, I thoroughly enjoyed that film and eagerly awaited news of a sequel that would continue the story from that film. when news of  a sequel was in the works, I was excited. when the title of the film changed from Prometheus 2 and was changed to Alien:Covenant I was very weary, My worry was that this film would be more alien centric than a proper sequel to Prometheus. Once I noticed  in the casting that Micheal Fassbender and Noomi Rapace (my favorite character from the first film) were coming back. Now onto the film itself, to say this film was hugely disappointing would be a huge under statement. Nothing worked in this film for me. from the boring story to the cast of characters that left no impression with me to the cliched ending setting up another film in this franchise, nothing worked and this was so far the worst film I have seen this year (didst think i would be saying that about his film when I made up my watch list for this year. The pacing of this film is all off, it felt like the writers wanted the audience to make a connection with the large cast of characters we meet in this film, and that is fine and dandy if it is done right, that was not the case for this film. none of the new characters in this film had any real substance to them and if a movie like this is going to start off really slow and try to build a character driven connection first and foremost, this needs to be done the right way. my biggest problem with this pacing of this film is that it was overall boring, nothing really happens in the film until way past the 1 hour mark (the film is 2 hours and 23 minutes) couple that with the terrible characters and i struggled to stay awake until the action really got going. The acting wasn't great either, Micheal Fassbender was easily the standout performance of this movie, and I expected that but I was hoping that some of the cast would at least show up and have some good supporting roles but that was not the case for me. honestly the only good aspect of this film I enjoyed was the visuals and the kills. Visually this film was incredible the scope and scale was magnificent and I applauded the visual effects team, they did a great job in that regard, what was even more impressive was that this film didn't have the biggest of budget ($97 million) I have seen plenty of films with twice the budget where the visuals didn't look nearly as impressive. Anyone who is familiar with Alien films knows how brutal the kills can be and thankfully this film as no different, the kills were very brutal and I enjoyed that they kept true to the alien films of the past, Other than that I didn't like anything about this film, I was excited to see how they film would carry on the Prometheus story line and while we do find out hat happens to the Prometheus story line, for me I expected more and I felt letdown with how that part of the story played out. Rotten Tomaotes  gave this film a 73% saying " Alien: Covenant delivers another satisfying round of close-quarters deep-space terror, even if it doesn't take the saga in any new directions". I disagree greatly with this, this film had so much potential to be great but it was honestly the worst film I have seen this year so far and that disappoints me greatly to say that. I cannot recommend this film unless you are a fan of the alien series and enjoy the kills or if you were a fan of Prometheus and want to see the ending of that story line, otherwise skip this.


Rating


So Much potential, nothing about this film was good other than the alien kills and the visuals. skip it 5.0/10!!

April 2017!!

The Month Of April only brings with it one film to review "The Circle".

Run Time: 110 Minutes

Starring-John Boyega, Emma Watson and Tom Hanks

Plot 

"A woman lands a dream job at a powerful tech company called the Circle, only to uncover a nefarious agenda that will affect the lives of her friends, family and that of humanity".

My Thoughts 

This film came onto my radar late in the game, I read the synopsis of the book and once I saw who the cast was, I was excited to see how this movie was in comparison to the book. this is where my enthusiasm ends, this film was a massive letdown. With a cast of this magnitude a decent movie would be expected, but that wasn't the case in the least,. it honestly felt like everyone in this movie phoned it in (with special exception to Karen Gillan in her role as Annie) other than that, the rest of the cast was pretty bad. I don't know if this was down to the script or the director or other factors, but for the most part it has to be something to do with the film itself, as many of the actors in this  film have more than once shown to be very good actors in the past. Emma Watson in the lead actress role as Mae, was overall boring and did not find her likeable (among other things her accent slipped out more than a few times) it didn't feel like to me that she really cared about his role and her performance showed as much. Tom Hanks didn't have a huge amount of Screen time but when he was he had a very Steve Jobs feel to him and I honestly felt like I was watching Tom Hanks play Steve jobs and that is not what i expected to see when I went to watch this film, another performance to me that didn't feel like the actor really cared for this role. John Boyega's character (Ty\Kalden) in the book is supposed to have a pretty entrenched relationship with Emma Watson's Character, the film basically glossed over all of this and it was a huge disappointment and when the film ended and I saw that the film chose to differ this much with the book, I knew then and there t his film was one of the worse I have seen this year. The only quality of this film I lied was how it showed that over dependence on technology and being transparent and wanting to know everything through social media can be a bad thing for society overall. Other than that I didn't like the film at all, the ending was terrible in my opinion and it made me dislike Emma Watson's character even more than i did throughout the run time.Rotten Tomatoes gave this film an 18% saying "The Circle assembles an impressive cast, but this digitally driven thriller spins aimlessly in its half-hearted exploration of timely themes". I agree this film was terrible and the worst I have seen this year so far, how the writers could overlook such a big plot point as the relationship between Watson's and Boyega's characters is beyond me.


Rating

Do not recommend, Unenthusiastic Performances form most of the cast, Major Plot point from the book skipped by the writers, Bad Ending, No Likeable characters, Skip it!! 6.0\10!!!

March 2017!!

The Month Of March Brings with it two films to review, the first being The Belko Experiment.

Runtime:88 Minutes


Starring-Adria Arjona, Sean Gunn and Michael Rooker

Plot-"In a twisted social experiment, 80 Americans are locked in their high-rise corporate office in Bogotá, Colombia and ordered by an unknown voice coming from the company's intercom system to participate in a deadly game of kill or be killed".

My Thoughts


This film came onto my radar late in the game, but once I saw the trailer I knew I had to see this film, it instantly caught my eye. What initially got me with this film was the setting, for me personally I haven't seen a film that deals with mass murdering in a office setting. After seeing the film, I have to recommend it pretty highly, the film played out exactly like I wanted it to, it was visceral, unforgiving, violent, anon stop action once it going and had a few moments that made me laugh, which was perfect to lighten the highly tense atmosphere throughout the film. The acting was solid, the entire cast did a good job portraying the roles of office co-workers thrown in to a "game of death" with each other. The Plot while not entirely new, for me was relatively fresh and i enjoyed it, it was kind of like "the purge" meets "the cabin in the woods" meets "the office" and surprisingly it flowed together perfectly. The run time initially i thought would feel a little short, 88 minutes isn't a long run time for a film of this nature, but the run time was perfect, the story was told and even though most of the characters are expendable, the audience gets a chance to make a connection with some of them, which is always nice to see. There was not much about this film I didn't like, but the ending was a little cliched and it was something I have seen in many films (was really like the cabin in the woods in this regard) but it was expected and I wont gripe too much about it. other than that  i had no major problems with this film, one more minor annoyance was that the film did start off really slow and the buildup was boring as well, but this is very subjective, but once the carnage kicked in it was totally enjoyable. Rotten Tomatoes  gave this film a 47% saying "The Belko Experiment offers a few moments of lurid fun for genre enthusiasts, but lacks enough subversive smarts to consistently engage once the carnage kicks in". I don't agree with such a low score, for me this was a very solid film that I enjoyed very much and I recommend to anyone who is a fin of the purge films or "The Cabin in the woods" or any film in that type of genre.

Rating

Enjoyed the film thoroughly, very good, recommend! 7.8/10!!!!


The Last film to review for March is one I personally am heavily anticipating Power Rangers.

 Runtime:124 minutes


Starring-Elizabeth Banks , Bryan Cranston and Becky G.


Plot-A group of high-school kids, who are infused with unique superpowers, harness their abilities in order to save the world".


My Thoughts

Anyone who knows me will know that I  love power rangers (specifically Mighty Morphin Power Rangers). I have been heavily anticipating this film for a long time since it was announced to be in development. I can say that I really enjoyed this film, what I really liked was the character development that this film had, with a run time over two hours (124 minutes) I was hoping that a good part of the film would be used for allowing the viewer to make a connection with the characters, which is essential for an origin story such as this. For me it really gave the film a solid base to build up from, I will add though that Kimberly (Naomi Scott) and Zack (Ludi Lin) didn't have as much character development as the other three but I understand it would be hard for all 5 characters to have the same level of character development while keeping the film progressing at a decent pace. The plot was similar to the original show from the early 90's and was easy to follow along and flowed pretty well. The cast overall did a really good job with special mention to Elizabeth Banks as Rita, she was excellent and really gave off a very creepy and evil vibe every time she was on scree. and RJ Cyler as Billy for me he was the best of the five actors playing the rangers, he had the perfect balance of comedic scenes and serious moments. One aspect I enjoyed of this film that I didn't really expect was the timing of the comedic scenes, this film did a really good job of breaking up the tense moments with a little comedy and i chucked more than a few time, which I did not expect to, and I really enjoyed that. The CG in this film was top notch, this film had a decent sized budget ($100 million) but I have seen many films with higher budgets that looked worse than this film, it was really well done and the fight scenes were also very well done and didn't look too cheesy at all, which is hard to do, I applaud the visual effects team. The suits I know were a point of contention for many online, but I will say that after seeing them in the film and not just in pictures or in the trailer, I can say that they looked pretty good, I will also add that the suits aren't used a lot in this film and i was totally fine with that. I will add that anyone going to see this film that is expecting non stop action, will be disappointed, the action honest really pick up till the final act of the film, but for me it wasn't a problem but for some expecting a lot of action will be let down in that department. Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 46% saying "Power Rangers has neither the campy fun of its TV predecessor nor the blockbuster action of its cinematic superhero competitors, and sadly never quite manages to shift into turbo for some good old-fashioned morphin time". I disagree with this review, I enjoyed this film very much it was a perfect first film in the series and a good reboot for the franchise. Overall this film was very good and exactly what I wanted to see, I had very few problems with this film, my biggest was the lack of character development for Zack and Kimberly, if i had to nitpick I would say the soundtrack wasn't the greatest but other than that I recommend this film for anyone who as a fan of the original power rangers or anyone who wants to see a good action-adventure film, there is also a mid credit Scene to watch for that sets up the sequel perfectly.










Rating

Exactly what I wanted to see, Recommend it Highly 8.8/10!!!!