Happy New Year everyone!, The first month of 2017 is a very busy month with five films to review the first being Underworld:Blood Wars
Run Time:91 Minutes
Starring-
Kate Beckinsale,
Theo James and
Charles Dance
Plot-"Vampire death dealer, Selene (Kate Beckinsale) fights to end the eternal
war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her".
My Thoughts
I am a pretty big fan of the underworld movies (except for Rise Of The Lycans) and I was pretty excited when I heard a new one was in production. After seeing the new film I can say it was decent. It wasn't spectacular by any stretch but I will say it is my third favorite in the series (Behind Evolution and the original) Much better than Rise of the lycans and awakening though. The Plot wasn't that great but it was entertaining for the most part, the acting was okay, nothing special but a movie like this will not be totally judged by its acting prowess more about how entertaining it was, and it did a solid job of that. The way the film played out surprised me once or twice, which is rare considering all of the films I watch and I credit the film for surprising me a few times. The special effects in this film overall were a little underwhelming especially the werewolf transformations, It had a syfy channel vibe, which is never good for a film not on the syfy channel, which disappointed me for a film with a much higher budget than any movie made by the syfy channel, I will add that the Nordic Stronghold was beautifully done and I enjoyed that setting very much. While the plot provided a good bit of action and a few twists that surprised me, once the film was over and I took all of the story in, I did feel that the films overall story was disappointing, and one particular part that exposes the fate of a character from past films, did not sit well with me, but in retrospect I guess it made sens in the grand scheme of things, The ending in particular for me left much to be desired and there is a sequence during the final act of the movie where Kate Beckinsale's character hair changes color and I did not and will not understand why the color change was done, It really irked me and took away from the ending.The film in my opinion did feel a little short, I felt another 15-20 minutes would have been good, especially to explain some parts of the film that I felt were glossed over, which took away from the story.
Rotten Tomatoes Gave this film a 19% saying " Underworld: Blood Wars delivers another
round of the stylized violence that the series is known for, but --
like many fifth franchise installments -- offers precious little of
interest to the unconverted". I don't wholeheartedly agree with what they have said, I do understand that with a fifth film in a series it can become stale after a while, but I did not think this was the case with this film, i don't know if a sixth film will be done (especially with Beckinsale's character) but it could become a possibility, and I would see it. Overall this was for me a welcome addition to the Underworld Series and one of the better ones in the series, it wasn't great by any stretch but it was enjoyable with good fighting scenes and a plot that surprised me a few times with twists which is always a plus, I recommend it for fans of the series.
Rating
Good Fighting Scenes, Decent Plot that kept me interested throughout, Welcome Addition to the Series 7.1/10!!!
The Next film to Review is The Bye Bye Man
Run Time:96 Minutes
Starring-
Douglas Smith,
Lucien Laviscount and
Cressida Bonas
Plot-"Three friends stumble upon the horrific origins of the Bye Bye Man, a
mysterious figure they discover is the root cause of the evil behind
man's most unspeakable acts".
My Thoughts
This film came onto my radar fairly recently and I will say I didn't know what to expect when I saw this film, I had no expectations going in. After seeing the film I will say it was better than I thought going in. The premise of this film inst something completely new to the horror\supernatural genre but for me it has been a while since I have seen a movie like this and I welcomed it. The acting was surprisingly pretty good, especially considerations the cast was completely unknown to me. I had no gripes with the the overall acting of the cast. with this film being PG-13 as I always say this more often that that ruins horror films, and again certain scenes in this film would have made a stronger impression if the film was rated R (for example a character getting shot point blank with a shotgun and no blood showing up anywhere)./ Little things like that always annoy me with PG-13 horror films and it is disappointing,. The length of the film I felt was perfect, the story flowed together pretty well (I will add though that there wasn't much backstory on the Bye Bye Man's origins which is something I like to see, a good backstory always helps in my opinion). but it wasn't a huge deal, just something I would have liked to have seen. The special effects in the film were sub par to say the least, Syfy channel movie CG was prevalent in some of the special effects and that always sticks out to me as a negative, I know this film didn't have a bug budget but I have to point stuff like that out it irks me. The ending of the film for me sets up a sequel which i doubt will happen, but I wouldn't mind a sequel that delves more into the Bye Bye mans past and how he came to be, I would enjoy that.
Rotten Tomatoes has a 28% listed for this film with no official review, Overall this film was better than I expected, while nothing great, it was decent and worth seeing for matinee price.
Rating
Decent Film, Better than I expected. 7.3/10!!!
The Next Film to review is Split.
Run Time:117 Minutes
Starring-
James McAvoy,
Anya Taylor-Joy and
Kim Director
Plot-"After three girls are kidnapped by a man with 24 duel personalities they
must find some of the different personalities that can help them while
running away and staying alive from the others".
My Thoughts
Split was a film I initially was not going to see, but I saw the trailer and decided to give it a chance. I am very happy that I decided to see this film. This was a very good film, James McAvoy stole the show, this was one of the best performances I have seen in recent memory, I will say I have not seen many of his films (Wanted was my previous favorite of his). this performance was brilliant though. His ability to play so many different characters and convey the differences between each one was a sight to behold,I was skeptical that all of their different personalities that he would play in this film would actually feel like separate characters, But he did a amazing job. I could go on and on about James McAvoy's performance, but without droning on about it I will just say his performance alone was worth the price of admission and I applaud him, he was brilliant. the rest of the main cast did a fairly good job, no complaints. The plot of the film was solid it played out well over the duration of the film, I did not know much about Dissociative Identidy Disorder (DID) and while this film obviously portrays the illness in a dramatized way, it was interesting to see how this illness can affect people. I will add that pne of the main characters has a fair amount of flashbacks in the film and I felt they didn't really add much to the film other than to make a connection at the end, I understand they were shown to build a connection with the viewer and to get a sense of how this character is in the movie, but it didn't really add much for me, another gripe I had with the film is at a certain point two of the three main girls in the film disappear for a good chunk in the middle and you rarely see them, and they focus on just one of the three girls, for me I would have liked to focus on all three girls equally, overall it didn't take away from the film but it would have been a nice plus for me. M. Night Shyamalan is a fairly scrutinized director in Hollywood, most of his movies for me have been underwhelming (I did enjoy Avatar:the last Airbender I know I am in the minority), this was overall a good film and I hope its a sign of things to come from M. Night.
Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 76% saying "
Split serves as a dramatic tour de force for James McAvoy in
multiple roles -- and finds writer-director M. Night Shyamalan returning
resoundingly to thrilling form". I agree that James McAvoy was this film and if you want to see a great job at acting, I recommend this film highly, its also a good movie overall.
Rating
James McAvoy steals everything in this film, brilliant job by him. any fans of a good thriller or suspense film should see this 8.2/10!!!
The Fifth film to review this month is xXx:The Return of Xander Cage,
Run Time:107 Minutes
Starring-
Vin Diesel,
Nina Dobrev and
Samuel L. Jackson
Plot-"Xander Cage is left for dead after an incident, though he secretly
returns to action for a new, tough assignment with his handler Augustus
Gibbons".
My Thoughts
Every year I see good films, but in all of the good there are bad films. and xXx:The Return of Xander Cage falls into the latter category. I was a fan of the first xXx film back in 2002, I wasn't a huge fan of xXx:State of the union in 2005, mainly because of the soundtrack and the plot. But I was excited about this film when I heard that it was being made, I like Vin Diesel as xXx in the original and I was looking forward to seeing him reprise his role. But after seeing the film I feel everyone involved dropped the ball, from the acting to the plot to the cheesy music, this film was just bad in my opinion, and I felt it could have been much more. The Plot wasn't interesting and after 25-30 minutes I knew how this film would play out and it played out exactly how I thought it was, very predictable. and the acting was below average by everyone involved, none of the character were likeable especially the "Good Guys" and by the end of the film I wanted the bad guys to win so i would not have to endure the terrible acting anymore. The music was a particular bad part of this film it was so bad, I don't know who made the choices for the music but something needs to be done, that was one of thew worst soundtracks I have heard in recent memory. Honestly I could not find anything good about this film other than the decent fight scenes, and the lack of special effects which was refreshing to see. I do not recommend thus film to anyone unless you have time to kill and want to see a sub par film.
Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 43% saying "
xXx: Return of Xander Cage should satisfy fans of the first two
installments, but its preponderance of set pieces can't quite make up
for a tired storyline that fails to take the franchise -- or action fans
-- anywhere new". As someone who saw the previous films, I disagree with this, the film is not enjoyable to anyone who has seen the other films, this film was a waste of time, and i am shocked that it only took 4 films for me to already have a candidate for worst film of the year.
Rating
Nothing redeeming about this film, waste of time, I do not recommend to anyone 5.0/10!!!
The last movie up or review is Resident Evil:The Final Chapter
Run Time:106 Minutes
Starring-
Milla Jovovich,
Iain Glen and
Ruby Rose
Plot-"Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution,
humanity is on its last legs after Alice is betrayed by Wesker in
Washington D.C. As the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's
final stand against the undead hordes, Alice must return to where the
nightmare began - Raccoon City".
My Thoughts
I have been a fan of the resident Evil Movies since the first one back in 2002, they are cheesy films and I like them for what they are, the films are far from great but they are entertaining. When this film was announced I was excited to see how the end the series which has spanned 6 films. After seeing the film I have to say this was one of the worst in the series, which is saying a lot considering none of them are great. This film was non stop action but not much else, the acting was bad overall, the plot was terrible and got more confusing as the movie went along, I felt the writers knowing this was the last film in the series tried to put to much into the movie all at once and for me it lead to the film being all over the place. I cant say much good about this film honestly, I felt this film brought the series to a close with a whimper, the ending really didn't sit well with me at all. I feel the series could use a reboot (which honestly after the third film they could have stopped there, the films just got more outrageous after that). It was nice to see some familiar characters from past films in this film, but that was one of the few positives I could fine, this film really was nothing but non stop action which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the film was trying to tell a story and tie up loose ends an it did such a terrible job at that. the overall experience of seeing this film was a major letdown. I do not have really anything else to add about this film, its not worth seeing in my opinion even fans of the previous films such as me, I cannot recommend this to anyone honestly.
Rotten Tomatoes gave this film a 41% saying "
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter may
prove mind-numbingly chaotic for the unconverted, but for fans of the
venerable franchise, it offers a fittingly kinetic conclusion to its
violent post-apocalyptic saga". I agree the film was full of mind numbing and non stop action but there was literally nothing else redeeming about this film and as I mentioned before the final entry in this long running saga was such a disappointment, I will add the ending of this films leaves the door open for a 7th film (which I am highly against) just end it here.
Rating
Cannot Recommend this to anyone, the film couldn't even close the series out correctly pass at all costs. 4.510!!!
