Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

★★★1/2

Before I proceed with my assessment, there are two things that need to be mentioned.

One, with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther 2 team, led by returning director Ryan Coogler, has an unenviable task of continuing the franchise without their star lead. Should they recast, and if not, how are they going to explain the absence of such a popular character as King T’Challa, the Black Panther? For that, I’m truly grateful of the work and effort they have done here, to honour Boseman in a movie that also needed to be popcorn entertainment.

Two, that many of us are still mourning two years after. Boseman’s friends and colleagues were probably already working on the sequel when it happened. They needed an outlet for their grief, and the film needed to reflect that in some ways, and it did. The tone of the film was more sombre and darker than the first. Grieving fans would also be expecting and appreciative of an acknowledgement of his loss in the film. The film was successful on this part.

These two components should be enough to make a great Black Panther sequel, taking into consideration the circumstances, and it has been for many people. I was saddened by what has happened, and I do feel with the rest of you. The movie is a great tribute to the star, and I am glad that everyone is loving it immensely.

So it might be irksome to hear any criticisms about the film. And I do have a few, despite my admiration and appreciation of what they have attempted to do. Apart from the great craftsmanship and work done by the crew behind the camera, the actors have all done exceptionally in front of it. Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba and many others did amazing work here. It seemed unfair that Letitia Wright had to shoulder the burden of the lead role and all the expectations and responsibilities that come with it. She is a real champ for pushing herself the way she did in this film.

But I wished Marvel would have given the team more time to come up with a tighter and more coherent story, because the end product felt like a patchwork of mismatching tones and intentions. It started off promisingly; it looked like we were getting a character exploration on Shuri, that we get to understand her as a character of her own, what makes her tick and what drives her. But then Marvel has to Marvel, so several new characters needed to be introduced and set up for future use, including comic book favorite Namor, who even got a lengthy flashback while Shuri only had brief wordless cutscenes from earlier films. Then we have Riri Williams here to promote her upcoming Ironheart series, and the return of (or a dropped-in-out-of-nowhere character if you’ve never seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series) CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine because they needed people to remember who she was when the Thunderbolts movie rolls out. There are some character moments for Shuri during the Talokan scenes, but it wasn’t enough. She has always been a peripheral character in all the films she has appeared in. Wright and Boseman did a great job establishing their relationships, but it was still surface-level stuff. Shuri desperately needed a Wandavision-like backstory, or like a flashback to her childhood with T’Challa to flesh out her relationship with her brother a little more, so that her grief would be a little more understandable, relatable and impactful when it culminated close to the finale. I find it puzzling that her arc was painted in quick and broad strokes, while the fish guy got more time for nuances.

I could be wrong about this. I was wrong about films like The Batman, The Dark Knight, and a few others, where my feelings changed for the better upon second viewing. But as it stands right now, and as much as I appreciate the work of these wonderful people who poured their hearts into this film, the movie still felt bloated and uneven at least to me, and I wished they had tightened the story a little more, and find a more coherent way to inject in all the future project tie-ins, if that is even possible.

But of course, the real burning question on everybody’s mind is:

Is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever better than Thor: Love and Thunder?

Yes.

And thus ends Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Barbarian

★★★★1/2

Mild spoilers

That’s it. No more AirBnB for me.

That’s all the synopsis I’m going to reveal, because they’re right about us needing to see this one for ourselves.

So, what’s good? It’s not really about the story, which is good, but the execution was better. And it’s refreshing to see someone finding different ways to tackle the horror genre and keep it (mostly) unpredictable.

My only complaint is that it still relies on people doing stupid things, because if not the movie would have been a lot shorter. But that’s genre conventions for ya. Also, the AirBnB lady, what the hell?? Did she even know??? Plot hole!!!

Still, good stuff.

The Wolf Man

★★★★1/2

Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) returns to England to help his father Sir John Talbot (Claude Rains) run the family estate after learning about the death of his brother. There he woos Gwen Conliffe (Evelyn Ankers) by taking her to visit a travelling group of Gypsies one evening, and guess which mythical creature he would come across that very night?

Thus, poor Larry becomes the titular Wolf Man and goes on a killing rampage. Or, was that all just in his head? Curt Siodmak’s screenplay was originally written to be a psychological thriller that was ambiguous about whether the werewolf was actually real or just a figment of Larry’s imagination. Of course, the end product turned out quite differently and literally, but the elements of that original screenplay remained. There are deliberate inconsistencies like the unexplained difference between Talbot’s hybrid form and the wolf form of his predecessor. Because Talbot could not remember the events that transpired during his transformed state, he suspects that he is the werewolf that he killed all those people but could never be sure. I never expected these from what I thought would just be a cheesy, unsophisticated horror movie from the 1940s.

The performances were very good. Apart from Bela Lugosi (doing a cameo as one of the Gypsies) who rightly played his part a little more unhinged, everyone else took the subject matter seriously and gave a grounded, subtle performance. Even Maria Ouspenskaya’s Maleva didn’t take the expected wide-eyed eccentric ethnic character route. Of course it’s still all a little tame compared to how we would do it nowadays, but it was a different time then, with different sensibilities.

The werewolf effects, albeit dated, are still fairly creepy and unnerving. The wolf man has also become a very famous and iconic horror figure, and was recently homaged in Marvel’s special short feature Werewolf By Night. There were some goofy moments with Chaney Jr’s performance as the wolf man that were unintentionally funny. There was one instance where he let out a dog-like bark. But the violence, though not explicit, was surprising brutal, and helped maintained a serious tone throughout the movie.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie for being more sophisticated than I expected it to be.

Interesting trivia:

• A lot of the werewolf lore that we assumed were based on existing myths, like the transference of the curse through bites and the pentagrams being the mark of a werewolf were actually made up by Siodmak for this film, including the “even a man who is pure at heart” Gypsy quote.

• Not sure if this is mere observation or directly from Siodmak himself, but the film is said to have parallels to Siodmak’s first-hand experiences of Nazi Germany, with the werewolf being a metaphor of Nazis attacking people who carry the mark of the pentagram.

• Both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, who played the original Universal Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster respectively, were considered for the role of Larry Talbot/ The Wolf Man.

• This one’s from me, but I may be wrong: this might be the first and last time Lugosi ever played a werewolf.

• Lon Chaney Jr’s father, Lon Chaney Sr played the Phantom of the Opera in the 1925 film. His onscreen father, Claude Rains also played the Phantom in the 1943 one.

• Apparently, Lon Chaney Jr. was giving his co-star Evelyn Anker a hard time on-set because he was upset that his dressing room was given to Anker as punishment for vandalizing studio property while being drunk. He was calling her names and sneaking up on her with his full wolf man makeup on.

Poltergeist

★★★★1/2

Mild spoilers

The 1982 horror classic tells a familiar tale of a suburban America family encountering strange ongoings in their new home. When their daughter mysteriously disappeared one night, they believed it has something to do with the house, and reached out to a parapsychologist to help them recover their missing child.

Poltergeist isn’t a typical haunted house flick. For example, house owners Diane and Steve Freeling were pretty quick in realizing that their house was haunted. The “ghosts” here do not conveniently disappear whenever someone else walks into the room. Even the paranormal investigators were skeptical and at one point considered if the occurrences were rigged. Pretty impressive to see a 40-year-old film subverting genre tropes and letting its characters behave intelligently.

As for the cast, they were great - solid performances all around. I was disappointed to learn that none of them were nominated for Oscars. Mr. Incredible himself, Craig T. Nelson, plays the dad, and it’s amusing how much the Parrs resemble the Freelings. The amazing JoBeth Williams, playing Diane, is the lead of the film. Zelda Rubinstein as medium Tangina Barrons delivered the film’s standout performance, a mesmerizing monologue scene within the film’s third act. Network’s Beatrice Straight played the parapsychologist and she was also good. Carol Anne, the girl in the iconic poster, was played by Heather O’Rourke, whose burgeoning career was sadly cut short by her untimely passing just a few years after the film premiered.*

I almost forgotten to mention the instantly recognizable, Oscar-nominated score by Jerry Goldsmith, a very hummable tune with eerie undertones, and I love how that fits the movie perfectly.

If I had to nitpick on something, it’d be the fact that the movie wasn’t frightening enough. It’s more sci-fi/horror than traditional horror. I can see why some horror fans may find it underwhelming and off-flavor. Nevertheless, Poltergeist remains a surprisingly innovative take on the horror genre that has also inspired many films and TV shows like Stranger Things, and is certainly worth checking out.

Side note: You may have heard of the rumour that producer Steven Spielberg forcefully relinquished directorial reins from Tobe Hooper due to some on-set conflict. Hooper was famous for directing movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Salem’s Lot and Lifeforce, and they couldn’t be more different than Poltergeist, a film that is more E.T. than Eaten Alive (also a Hooper film). You can see why there were such speculations. According to what I’ve read, at the very least Spielberg did have creative influence over the film, and he edited the film, and supervised the special effects and the musical score without Hooper’s involvement. Nothing unusual about directors not getting final cut though. One famous example would be Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, and I think he was locked out of the editing room at one point.

* Apparently, there is this thing called the Poltergeist Curse that purportedly caused the untimely deaths of five actors who were involved in the Poltergeist series of films. I was shocked to find out that the actor who played Carol Anne’s older sister, Dominique Dunne, tragically died in the same year the movie was released. Lou Perryman, who played Pugsley/Bluto in the first film, was murdered in 2009. Three other cast members including O’Rourke died of illnesses within the same decade.

Bullet Train

★★★1/2

Mild spoilers

Brad Pitt plays a former assassin who has a simple snatch-and-grab job on a bullet train in Tokyo, but unbeknownst to him the briefcase he is supposed to retrieve is also being pursued by other assassins and mysterious figures, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Joey King and a snake*. Some actors have been left unmentioned to preserve the element of surprise for you.

The Empire Spoiler Special Podcast beat me to it by saying that the movie resembles the Joe Carnahan flick, Smokin’ Aces, where it also boasts a large ensemble featuring a cast of familiar and new faces playing killers from different factions in pursuit of a common target. It was the first thing that popped into my head once I realized what Bullet Train was going for.

Director David Leitch, known for being the co-director of John Wick 1, and the director of Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, and Hobbs & Shaw, brings the stunt team from Nobody to work on the action in this film, which I believe are the same guys who worked on the John Wick films also? I could be wrong, couldn’t find that information on Google for some reason. Anyway, being one-half of the directing team responsible for John Wick, I was always looking forward to his solo efforts, but thought they were well-made films that were a little uneven in the the story and acting department. I think Bullet Train is his best solo effort where the story and performances are finally part of the highlights. Taylor-Johnson and Henry are the standouts here, and gets to play with some fun Tarantino-esque banter. Hiroyuki Sanada is as regal as ever, but I wished he had been allowed some humour to dabble with, as he seemed to be given the same dour role in every major movie he has been involved in. Brad Pitt plays a vanilla lead that underuses his talents, and almost felt like a supporting actor in his own movie. Like Smokin’ Aces, the story is playful but violent, and darkly comedic.

I wished it had a stronger central villain because that would have made it a four-starrer for me, easily. The film hyped up the Keyser Soze-like bad guy a lot, but couldn’t satisfactorily deliver on that expectation when he finally appeared. Also, Bullet Train doesn’t truly have an ensemble cast, but more of a string of fleeting cameos, with really only four central characters taking up most of the screen time. There are at least two characters in the film that are guaranteed to make you go “that’s all??”

Don’t get me wrong, this is still an enjoyable watch albeit one I’m not rushing to revisit soon, and is Leitch’s best if you were a little disappointed by his past outings.

*Yes, there’s a subtle Snakes on a Plane reference in the movie by the filmmakers. But now it’s a train, geddit? Snakes on a train? LOL, snort!

The Batman (2022)

★★★★★

Mild spoilers

A huge lesson I learned from my theatrical experience of “The Batman” is not to watch a movie when you’re tired. I came out of the show not too enamored by the film, even though I did acknowledge that it had many good scenes and performances. Somehow, they didn’t coalesce into a good movie in my fatigued eyes. Many weeks later, I managed to re-watch it on a 4K Blu-Ray, and I finally realized I couldn’t be more wrong. It went from “meh” to one of my top films of the year!

As a reboot of the Batman film franchise, “The Batman” had to do something to differentiate itself from past reiterations. Roughly there had been four: goofy (West), Burtonesque, campy (Schumacher), and realistic (Nolan). They decided to give what fans have been clamoring for all these years and made this one a detective story. More precisely, a horror-tinged, serial killer detective story. It references Seven a lot; from the glisteningly grimy, rotting aesthetics of its rain-soaked world, to its crime-fighting pairing of an angsty white young man and a cool-headed older black detective with a divine voice. Said older detective even has a scene where he reads a disturbing passage from a serial killer’s journal. There’s even a scene with a head in a box. The pair are in pursuit of a serial killer known only as The Riddler, who leaves cryptic clues in each crime scene that allude to a grander purpose. Yep, it’s practically a remake of Seven!

The cast ranges from interesting to great. Colin Farrell’s Penguin was the biggest worry for me because he had to perform under a lot of latex and fat suit, but he turned out the best, most charismatic performance in the entire movie, and is easily the best onscreen Penguin by far. Zoë Kravitz had the enormous pressure of several preceding iconic Catwoman performances, but she successfully made the role her own. I also liked Jeffrey Wright’s pre-Commish Lieutenant Gordon reacting to everything like a blue-collar cop would. I didn’t think Andy Serkis’ Alfred worked on first viewing, but on subsequent re-watches I finally appreciated his nuanced take, which felt jarring because I got too used to the larger-than-life roles he usually does. And then we have Robert Pattinson. I thought his Batman/Bruce Wayne worked and I kind of liked it. Amusingly, no one seemed to notice that he was still doing his Edward Sullen man-of-few-slow-spoken-words thing. He was almost as pale-looking, and there’s even a moment where he cringes away from sunlight. Batman as an almost literal vampire is actually rather clever, but forgive me if this was already done a hundred times in the comic books. I thought John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone was an unusual casting choice but he was effectively creepy. Peter Sarsgaard was great but he has a pretty small role. Paul Dano as The Riddler was reliably great to a point, but I’ll get back to this later.

Great direction and creative choices from Matt Reeves, who I shouldn’t have doubted after really liking his Cloverfield and the “of the Apes” films. I think he only managed an ok mystery-detective story here, but as serial killer thrillers go, it’s pretty good. His visual sense? Even better! Handling of the actor’s performances? Exquisite. I was shocked at how short his filmography was when I Googled for all of his films. Hope he gets a lot more work moving forward.

My apologies to Michael Giacchino too, whom I once chastised in the comments sections for ripping off Star Wars’ The Imperial March for Batman’s theme (which funnily the IMDb trivia section for The Batman actually acknowledges) but there were other wonderful themes throughout the film too. The wailing violins gave them a pretty obvious horror vibe. They also reminded me of the brilliant Bram Stoker’s Dracula score by Wojciech Kilar. My favorite is definitely Catwoman’s theme, which first appears in the “Don’t be Voyeur With Me” track.

Now, the quibbles. Let’s come back to Dano, who always puts out fine work, until he went a little too Jim Carrey. I know the character has been telegraphed very early on as an unabashed exhibitionist, but what he did in one pivotal scene was borderline comical, and he was supposed to be frightening. Another one: “savior” Batman is a nice idea, because he certainly needed to do more than just beat up criminals, but the Gotham Reeves and his team created was so utterly nihilistic that this optimistic development in Batman’s character felt a little out of place. Lastly, I need to mention that special cameo at the end. Though tastefully done, it still reeked of interference by studio heads too eager to mimic Marvel’s M.O. of planting sequel baits, which wasn’t needed here at all. Why make a superhero movie entirely in your own style, then throw in stuff to remind your audiences about your biggest competitor?

Overall, for one of the most oft-rebooted superhero franchises, I’m glad to say that they managed to pull it off yet again. It’s a visual feast with great performances that I have been enjoyably re-watching with no signs of fatigue yet. For that, I think it’s only right that I give it a 5-star rating, even though it’s not a perfect film. I acknowledge that I was incorrect with my negative assessments in past comments, but one that I’m more than happy to be very wrong about.

Heat

★★★★★

No spoilers

This is one of those unanimously regarded greatest-of-all-time films that a film lover couldn’t possibly dislike. If you didn’t like Heat, we can’t be friends anymore. I’m kidding, I’d still love you, but I’d be highly suspicious about your taste in movies. It’s not snobbery, but it’s like if you took your friend to an award winning restaurant you liked that has really good food, and he said that it was worse than McDonald’s. Everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion, but it doesn’t mean we have to forgo our standards.

Heat has a great story: It’s about a highly-professional group of criminals led by Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) who rob armoured trucks and banks with precision and zero casualties, until something went wrong in their recent heist, and attracted the attention of Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), a sharp hothead who runs the LAPD armed robbery division. But it’s really a human tragedy about karma and making bad choices. It’s fascinating to see these relatable criminal characters presented with opportunities for a way out, yet be undone by mere moments of poor judgment. But the film doesn’t gloss over the fact that these people will kill cops and innocent bystanders if they get in their way. I was surprised to learn that Heat was a remake of director Michael Mann’s earlier TV movie “L.A. Takedown” and was based on a real-life case of police officer-turned-TV-producer Chuck Adamson, who did pursue a criminal named Neil McCauley. Adamson also created the highly-acclaimed television series, Crime Story that starred Dennis Farina and was produced by Mann.

Heat has an awesome cast that includes Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Ashley Judd, Danny Trejo, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert, William Fichtner, Natalie Portman, Hank Azaria, Tom Noonan, Xander Berkeley, Jeremy Piven, Henry Rollins and Tone Loc (gasping for air!) Kilmer, Voight and Judd were the standouts, but I thought Trejo really impressed with his very small role here. This may even be his best performance. But we’re really here for the legendary team-up of acting legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. I remember the stupid younger version of me feeling disappointed that they were only briefly onscreen together when I first saw the movie in 1995, but now I can’t think of a better way to utilize these actors in the film. They were together a lot more in Scorsese’s The Irishman, but Heat still remains as their best screen pairing. It is such a treat to watch these two perform with each other, arguably in their prime.

Superbly and stylishly directed by Michael Mann (who also wrote the script) and shot by cinematographer Dante Spinotti who also handled the cinematography on the Last of the Mohicans and L.A. Confidential. Together they created a Los Angeles of grey skies and metallic blue cityscapes. Even the actors seem to be constantly dressed in monotones. It’s stylish to look at and yet doesn’t feel artificial, or interfere with the realism and grittiness of the story. Great music by Oscar-winning composer Elliot Goldenthal, and the sound design is legendary for that well-known shootout scene. It’s mind-boggling to think that Heat did not even get a single Oscar nomination in any category.

Overall, Heat is a thrilling cinematic experience from start to finish, with an alignment of talents that made it more than just another cops-and-robbers flick, but a must-watch film even if you’re not a movie aficionado who’d appreciate the rare pairing of two acting giants. It is also a film that gets better throughout time, as age and maturity makes you appreciate the nuances in the story and performances a lot more.

Once you’ve watched the film, check out the trivia section on IMDb or watch it again with Mann’s commentary. There are many, many cool trivia to discover, like did you know Ted Levine was supposed to play Waingro, or that Val Kilmer took over his role from Keanu Reeves?

Nope

★★★★1/2

Some spoilers; come back later if you wish to watch this film cold.

Sorry for being late to the party. For whatever reason, they decided to show Nope two weeks after the major film markets of the world had already seen it. So, this is going to be very old news to you, but Nope… is dope.

Horse trainer O.J. (Daniel Kaaluya) discovers some of his horses are missing, and suspects that UFOs are involved. O.J.’s sister Emerald (Keke Palmer) suggests that they try to capitalize on their problem by capturing high-quality footages of the UFO. Little did they know of the danger that they’re putting themselves on until the true nature of the UFO is revealed. Directed by Jordan Peele, who made the Oscar-winning film “Get Out” and also “Us”.

This is a very entertaining movie, in the way horror movies are. There are several scenes where bad things are about to happen to a large number of people. There’s also this one scene involving the lights in O.J.’s barn that was nail-bitingly creepy. The movie is also pretty funny, like how they made good use of its title in some tense situations. The first half was a little slow and quiet, but that’s just the filmmakers lulling you and bringing your defenses down so that the shocks land harder later on.

The UFOs: I thought I was going to see yet another generic UFO in a Hollywood flick, but Nope actually has an original take on that topic. It was very eerie to see the UFO darting across the sky, even in the daytime. I like how it also has unique interactions with everything on the ground that you may not have seen in other alien encounters films before.

Initially, I didn’t understand the point of Steven Yeun’s character’s subplot, but that’s because I didn’t realize that Yeun’s character already knew about the alien long before O.J. did. It did feel like they dispensed very crucial plot information a bit too quickly, resulting in me and a few other people literally missing the plot. Perhaps it’d no longer be a problem after a second viewing. Yeun’s story is also one of the few places Peele sprinkled some social commentary on, which has become his trademark.

Overall, “Nope” is a great retooling of the alien encounters genre, has quite a few tense and horrific moments, and is one of the more original films you can find out there. One of my favourites of the year.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Hardcore Henry

★★★★

Presented entirely from the literal point-of-view of an amnesiac man named Henry, the movie begins with Henry waking up to find his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett) attaching a robotic leg onto his stump. They are in a high-tech lab, and a bad guy named Akan and his mercenaries are on their way to kill them both. Action ensues, Henry and his wife gets separated, and a mysterious person named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley, the star of District 9) appears out of nowhere to help Henry rescue his wife.

I know Hardcore Henry resembles very much like a first-person-shooter computer game (think Doom, Half-Life, Call of Duty, etc.) but I’ve got a feeling this was pitched to the studios with the popularity of found footage horror films in mind, but now it’s for the action genre. Unlike the movie adaptation of “Doom” starring Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban, Hardcore Henry fully commits to the game’s first-person-perspective from start till finish, and I find it fascinating that they were able to roll with that for 96 minutes and still manages to keep the story compelling. They were smart not to make the entire film one continuous take like Sam Mendes’ 1917, so there are cuts to make scenes move quicker, although I don’t remember there were any significant time jumps in any of the cuts. Hardcore Henry’s story is still, at its core, moving in real-time. Even though Copley’s Jimmy is Henry’s sidekick of sorts, Copley is actually the true lead actor of the film and has the most screen time. We never really see Henry’s face or even hear him speak. Copley also got to play multiple characters with a variety of accents, which adds a lot of fun and humour to the proceedings.

The POV approach helped make the generic action sequences looked fresh and exhilarating. We’ve seen action heroes jump off buildings, but when was the last time you saw it happening through their eyes pre-, mid- and post-jump in one single take? There are many sequences like this throughout the movie, but the best one for me was the one with Henry climbing the side of a building, and continuing to an incredible rooftop chase later.

The downside to the POV gimmick is that some of the action got repetitive really quick, especially in the finale. There are only so many imaginative kills you can create for a horde of henchmen, so there will be some repeated deaths for each henchman, but because you can’t cut away from Henry’s point of view, you will have to sit through every one of them. Also, if you get motion sickness easily, you’re going to have problems with this one as you would with movies that use handheld cameras extensively. There have been reports of audiences almost falling over balconies or throwing up during a show. Lastly, the main villain is also rather generic and uninteresting, save for an out-of-nowhere but cool power set that is never explained. And because Henry is without a face, or a voice, or even any character traits, the only compelling character(s) left are Copley’s.

Overall, this is still a fun and unique twist to the action genre, if you have the stomach for it. I’d also say that this is easily one of the best video game adaptations that is not based on any actual game. And I’d recommend this over the Doom adaptation any day.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Copshop

★★★★

A stranger in a stolen police car (played by Frank Grillo) deliberately gets himself arrested and locked up in a small town precinct. Unbeknownst to the police officers there, the man is being pursued by a ruthless assassin (Gerard Butler) who is determined to use any means necessary in order to get to his target. Standing in his way is Officer Valerie Young (Alexis Louder), who is trying to figure out what is going on as the body count piles.

If you’re looking for a decent and small little crime thriller set in a single location, you can’t go wrong with this one. Because there are no big explosions and set pieces, the film focuses more on the characters, and it’s very interesting to see how things play out among these assorted bunch of characters, and in ways you sometimes never expected. I like these kinds of crime stories where the right decisions aren’t always the best. It’s very much reminiscent of those crime films I often see from Hong Kong during its filmmaking heydays.

I was surprised to learn that Joe Carnahan was the director, the guy who did the perennial favourite The Grey and other fun ones like Smokin’ Aces and The A-Team remake. Grillo and Butler are fantastic in their roles - this isn’t one of those “slumming it for the paycheck” situations. Louder is the “new face” and held her own against these veterans, but she has actually been working for a while, with bit roles in Black Panther and the Watchmen series, and more recently alongside Chris Pratt in The Tomorrow War and The Terminal List. There’s a fun, showy, psychotic role by Toby Huss, whom I’ve never seen in anything else before, but he was the scenery chewer in this one.

My only complaint is that the budget of the film is really showing the seams at times. The precinct is obviously a set. Though very nicely decorated, but there’s something about the way it was lighted that gave it away a bit. Colour grading can be a bit of a cliche look nowadays, but this movie could have used a bit of that.

Nevertheless, it is still a very enjoyable gritty thriller with surprisingly good performances and a story that tries to be less predictable than a lot of other stuff out there.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Prey

★★★★1/2

Since the plot is pretty straightforward, I will not mention too much except that it’s no secret this is a new Predator movie set in 1719 America centering on a Comanche girl.

As a connoisseur of action badassery, this one has my big seal of approval. My initial worry that this might be a cheap exploit of a long established franchise is highly unfounded. Although nothing groundbreaking or surprising in the overall plot, but the setting and the story of the Comanche girl makes it fresh, and it feels like someone in Hollywood finally realised that they have been writing way better Predator stories in comic books for decades and adapted one of those stories. Prey isn’t an adapted property, but it sure reminds me of those comic books and that’s a good thing. The action, the tension, the body count and the gore, it delivered on every one of them. The original Predator was more horror than action, and Prey understands that’s what make it special, and adheres to the formula perfectly. The finale doesn’t feel as epic as Dutch’s showdown with the ugly mofo, but it need not be. Prey’s ending is absolutely satisfying in its own way, and is more fitting for its clever heroine. I will watch this again. Anytime.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Overlord

★★★★

No spoilers, but the movie doesn’t really have any twists

During World War II, a group of paratroopers are on a mission behind enemy lines to blow up a German radio tower, unbeknownst that the Nazis are conducting strange experiments in a secret lab below it.

Overlord is a good war movie. It takes itself pretty seriously on that front. If this had been based on true accounts of the experiences of paratroopers during the war, this would have been a very decent one. But since this was marketed as a horror movie, it’s no spoiler that our heroes will face off a few monstrosities conjured up by the aforementioned laboratory. The problem with this movie is that there were too little of the horror elements. This isn’t the Wolfenstein movie adaptation you were waiting for. If you removed that element entirely from the film, it still works perfectly as a war film. According to IMDb, the original script actually had more horror action, but they toned it down in the script rewrite.

Don’t get me wrong, the film is really well put together, even the horror parts. Nice VFX and practical effects. It is relentlessly thrilling and nerve-wrecking. There are a few really cool long takes that predates Sam Mendes’ 1917. The acting performances were pretty good, and you can tell that director Julius Avery knows what he’s doing. My big gripe was that the pay-off in the end wasn’t satisfying enough and felt too small-scale.

After the movie ended, I was wondering who the “overlord” was because he never appears or was mentioned about. Thanks to IMDb trivia, it’s actually the real-life code name for the Battle of Normandy. Sorry, spoilers if you haven’t seen world history.

Some familiar faces here. Wyatt Russell plays the co-lead and leader of the squad. You’ve seen him as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bokeem Woodbine is a character actor that you’ve seen in a lot of movies like The Rock and Spider-Man: Homecoming and he has a small role here. I was surprised to see Joseph “Eddie Munson” Quinn from Stranger Things 4, but don’t too excited as he only has a few lines. Pilou Asbæk, who is Batou in the live action Ghost in the Shell, is the big baddie. The protagonist is actually played by Jovan Adepo, who has been in Denzel Washington’s Fences, the Watchmen series and the recent mini series adaptation of The Stand. I read that there were other actors from Game of Thrones, but I haven’t seen that show, so I don’t know who they are.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

The Spoiler-ific Companion Piece to The Gray Man Review

Spoiler-alert! Here are some random thoughts about The Gray Man.

• Ricardo Hohl Jr (a friend on Facebook) pointed out that there were quite a few similarities to the Schwarzenegger film Commando. The following are some that I can think of:

  • The hero has to escape from inside a plane.

  • The hero has to fight and kill at least one person from his outfit.

  • The female supporting actor has a scene where she uses an explosive projectile weapon.

  • Evans’ sociopathic, mustached villain is reminiscent of Bennett. He even has a knife battle with Gosling in their final showdown. Both Bennett and Hansen died from a fatal injury to the chest.

  • Both finales involve rescuing a pre-teen girl held hostage in a large mansion.

• Evans called Gosling a “Ken doll”. If you know, you know.

• There is a scene with a jeep with a henchman poking out of its sunroof with a machine gun who looks like Al Leong. This is funny if you know who Al Leong is.

• Empire FB group member Gregory Webster pointed out to me that the film is based on a series of books by Mark Greaney. Based on the synopsis, the film seems to deviate quite a bit from the source.

• Though some people have been complaining about the “terrible” script, there are still some cool lines and comebacks like “it’s just another Thursday,” “boring”, and “please remove yourself from my personal space!”

• Things I’m looking forward to in Part 2:

  • Sierra One, Two, Three and Five.

  • The “Old Man”, revealed to be none other than Six’s dad, so that they can shoehorn in a Star Wars moment. How did he survive being shot and killed by Six? Unclear. But I’m sure they’ll find a way.

  • I haven’t read the books, but I bet Six’s brother is also a Sierra.

  • Denny and Suzanne getting their due comeuppance.

  • Dhanush’s Avik San returning to kick ass in style.

  • Lloyd’s twin brother, also played by Evans, plotting his revenge against Six. He’d be meaner and crazier than Lloyd, but without a mustache. It’s stupid, but it’d fit naturally in this trope-ridden world.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Spoiler-free review, here.

The Gray Man

★★★★

No spoilers

The Gray Man is an action movie directed by the Russo Brothers. They’re also the director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, so my anticipation for this one is pretty high, probably because I haven’t seen their previous movie, Cherry, which not many people liked. Stars Ryan Gosling as a CIA assassin who disobeyed orders during a mission and goes on the run. Believing that he possessed important information that could implicate his employers, they sent mercenary-for-hire Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) to kill him.

This isn’t the smart spy thriller I was looking forward to. I was waiting eagerly to have the rug pulled under me, but I knew it wasn’t to be after the umpteenth action thriller trope was being introduced. It’s really just an unsophisticated action movie designed for spectacle and crowd-pleasing moments.

What it does right are the action stuff. No shaky cam here - everything’s meticulously choreographed and shot. There are two major set pieces that are going to please the action aficionados, and a number of smaller ones, mostly hand-to-hand melees that may not have the creative glee John Wick’s fights have, but they’re still very entertaining. Gosling handles the action scenes well, and I enjoyed his nonchalant attitude whenever a situation’s escalating. Evans is having a blast playing an absolute bastard who is also pretty funny. I was surprised to see Ana de Armas here as I’ve forgotten she was in the movie. She probably kicked the most asses here out of all the movies I’ve seen her in. Yes, a lot more than even No Time To Die. She was great. The cast also includes Jessica Henwick, Billy Bob Thornton, the guy from Bridgerton, and the little kid from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

I’m disappointed that this came from the Russos, whom I expected to offer more from the story perspective, but for some reason they opted the safe and familiar route instead. It’s not a total loss, as the movie is still a very enjoyable, albeit generic action film. The two set pieces alone are worth the price of subscription.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, Big Movie Freak.

Minions: The Rise of Gru

★★★

Picking up where we left off with the Minions and their newfound master Gru at the end of the last movie, The Rise of Gru shifts the focus back on the protagonist of the Despicable Me movies. Set in 1970s San Francisco, an 11-year-old Gru aspires to join the villainous Vicious 6 gang, but will his disaster-prone Minions help or hinder his goal?

I never thought that I would have anything interesting to say about this one, but this latest installment of the Despicable Me/ Minions films managed to surprise me on a couple of things. There are the many Chinese references, for example the Chinese zodiac, San Francisco Chinatown and the Chinese New Year parade held there, Michelle Yeoh’s brief appearance, and the iconic Bruce Lee yellow jumpsuit. There was also a joke on Kungfu Panda’s “inner peace”, and another one stolen from Shrek 2. Even a googly eyed rock made an appearance, very likely a nod to Yeoh’s most recent film. They should have opened this during the Chinese New Year celebration. It would have been on-theme and could have done particularly well in the Southeast Asian region.

The problem I have with this movie and its predecessor is that they both have this constant barrage of slapstick gags that became really tiresome to watch. There are no build-ups and pay-offs, just Minions punching each other, and yelling and shrieking throughout the entire runtime. The Rise of Gru is slightly better than its predecessor because at least the A-story is about him. The Minions have always worked better as comic reliefs in the Despicable Me movies, but what do I know? The first Minions movie made a billion freakin’ dollars in 2015!

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Resident Evil (Netflix series)

★★★★

Directors: Rachel Goldberg, Bronwen Hughes, Rob Seidenglanz, Batan Silva

Writers: Andrew Dabb, Jeff Howard, Tara Knight, Garett Pereda, Mary Leah Sutton, Shane Tortolani, Lindsey Villarreal, Kerry Williamson

Resident Evil is the latest adaptation of the super popular “survival horror” video game series that has spawned numerous movies as well, including the one just released in November last year. Confusingly, this series isn’t connected to that one, or the Milla Jovovich films. I guess everyone’s into the multiverse game now. No, I’m kidding. This one doesn’t have a multiverse thing attached to the story. I hope not.

The good: Unlike the film franchises, this one has a team who actually knows how to make a proper show. The story’s a lot more sophisticated, the performances are top notch from most of the cast, particularly Lance Reddick, Ella Balinska and the two young actors Tamara Smart and Siena Agudong. Despite having the same far fetched elements of the game, including all the weird science lab monsters that evil Umbrella Corporation could conjure, the show treats the story very seriously. There are quite a few exciting, pure horror set pieces to enjoy, if you can look past the occasional giant monsters and one out-of-nowhere gunfu sequence that reeked of a studio executive’s mandate, even though I liked it. For the uninitiated, this is a pretty high-quality-looking sci-fi horror streaming series that has a bizarre but passable post-apocalyptic zombie storyline.

My one big complaint is that it doesn’t “feel” like Resident Evil. Although this show is far superior than last year’s film adaptation in every way, I have to admit that the film is a lot more faithful to the game than the series. The games at their core are really haunted house stories with sci-fi horror elements, with the zombie horde forcing players to go deeper into a labyrinthian mansion to find a way to escape. The game (made by Japanese developers) also has a strong gun fetish, providing players with a large assortment of semi-automatics, machines guns, and grenade launchers to kill monsters with. It’s an ASMR of cartridge reloads and guns cocking. None of the adaptations have been able to capture this unique blend, including this one.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Thor: Love & Thunder

★★★1/2

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

We are already way past the point by a few movies where making a synopsis for a Marvel film would inevitably spoil any other Marvel film that came before that you haven’t seen. I will only say that this one takes place after Avengers: Endgame (2019, #22 film/show) and not Thor: Ragnarok (2017, #17 film/show). And I don’t think a synopsis like “after the defeat of Thanos, god of thunder Thor goes on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find new purpose in his life after seceding his throne to Valkyrie, but returns to New Asgard to find a reconstructed Mjolnir in the hands of a new master, ex-girlfriend Jane Foster” is going to be of help to any newcomers. Yes, the MCU has literally become homework.

To the initiated, Thor: Love and Thunder is the direct response to the enthusiasm over Ragnarok’s revision of the Thor sub-franchise, meaning more Flash Gordon-esque goofy, irreverent humour and Thor behaving like a buffoon while saving the universe. I wasn’t a fan of that in Ragnarok; it was enjoyable and refreshing, but I’ve always preferred the space regal drama. So it’s amusing to now see people complaining online about the very thing they enjoyed and wanted more of from Ragnarok and wanting Thor to go back to the Branagh version, which they also once said was boring or going stale. Personally, I still think this is the right direction for Thor since there really isn’t a more compelling direction that they could go with the character that will appeal to mass audiences. The other inevitable move would be to end the run of films and put Thor on the bench with the other reserves like Hulk and Hawkeye.

Love and Thunder is still a fun and funny film. I won’t deny I didn’t have a few LOL moments, especially with a pair of animals and an unexpected (to me) cameo from an actor I’ve always liked. Christian Bale was great as Gor the God Butcher albeit underused, unsurprisingly. There are touching moments, and even cleverness in parts. Nice to see Natalie Portman return to do something more than just ogle at Hemsworth’s pecs.

Some complaints. The plot felt pretty inconsequential, especially when you are made to feel unsympathetic towards the beings who are under threat in this story. Some people complained about the story being a “fetch quest” akin to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Many movies have been fetch quests, and I have no issues with that plot contrivance, except when it feels like an afterthought. There’s a difference between characters being motivated to advance to Point B, and simply being told to go to Point B for no compelling reason other than because the story needs to progress.

That said, I don’t think the sky is falling on the MCU. The Marvel movies have always been entertainment for mass audiences that occasionally elevates above expectations in terms of storytelling and acting performances. Unfortunately, Love and Thunder isn’t one of those occasions, but it is still an expectedly enjoyable outing.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+ series)

★★★1/2

No Spoilers

Directed by Deborah Chow

Writers: Joby Harold, Hossein Amini, Stuart Beattie, Hannah Friedman, Andrew Stanton

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a 6-episode series on the Disney+ streaming service that tells the story of the titular Jedi Knight ten years after the events in Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, and several years before the story in Episode 4: A New Hope begins. The Star Wars films are heavily referenced in this show, so prior experience with the Star Wars films, or at least Episodes 1 to 3 will be beneficial towards your enjoyment of this series. Since you need to be subscribed to Disney+ to watch this series anyway, every Star Wars films will be available to you on the channel to catch up on. (I can confirm that the animated series and spin-offs are not mandatory viewings, though there are minor references.) Mild spoilers from hereon if you have not seen the films.

After the execution of Order 66, Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) has gone into hiding on Tatooine for the last ten years while keeping an eye on a young Luke Skywalker from afar. An unexpected call from former ally Senator Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) prompted Kenobi to abandon his post to conduct a search and rescue for a very important person. Hot on his trail are the Inquisitors, Jedi hunters trained by Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) himself.

After having gone through all nine Star Wars films, and not even counting the spin-offs and other Disney+ series, I can finally say that I’ve surrendered myself entirely to the unending plot holes and continuity errors in the saga. There have been so many of them that it’s pointless to get upset but just roll with it. The Obi-Wan series might just be the biggest offender of the bunch; creating many situations and character interactions that jar with future events that have already been featured in earlier films or series. If you’re a stickler for such things, you’re going to have a field day with this one.

It also suffers from a bit of bloat, especially in the first three episodes. They could have made this a flab-free feature-length film by trimming down or eliminating certain scenes.

Some of you thought the action was bad, but I thought they were ok. What caught my attention more were the strange moments when characters could have easily overcome obstacles but didn’t, but it really depends on how much of it that you noticed. For example, the guard post thing completely went over me until I saw the memes, though I’d argue that architectural and design flaws are part and parcel of the Star Wars universe.

However, if you can put all that aside, there are loads to like and enjoy about Obi-Wan Kenobi - The Series. Ewan McGregor is in great form, reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He gets a lot more opportunities to flaunt as his character has more emotional and powerful scenes than in any of the films. I wished it was the same for Hayden Christensen, but Anakin is more of a cameo here. It is Vader that got more of the screen time, and he dominates every scene he’s in. It’s great to hear James Earl Jones’ menacing voice again, intoning new lines. Vader shares villain duties with new character Reva (Moses Ingram), an Inquisitor who hunts Obi-Wan for an unclear agenda. She is a fascinating character in retrospect, but was unfairly maligned by impatient viewers who saw each episode as they were released weekly. An older, more experienced actor could have done the role better, but Ingram did a satisfactory job - it wasn’t the train wreck fussy fans have been complaining about. Her subplot is necessary because it helps add a little intrigue and mystery into a show where we already know where the other main characters’ stories are going. Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse were given more than just glorified cameos as Owen and Beru, and I really liked what they did with these characters. Plus, that Owen meme is especially exquisite. There are other spoiler-ish character appearances which I will not mention here, but what was misunderstood as fan pandering has become very endearing moments after the last episode’s credits rolled, and I really liked all of them and their performances.

Most importantly though is how they handled the central conflict between Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader, and I have to say it was fantastically realised. I like how there wasn’t an ounce of fat in the script. Every line was designed for maximum emotional impact. There were callbacks, but there were also resolutions. The caveat here is that the emotional resonances wouldn’t be as impactful to newcomers as it would to ardent followers of the films.

I would still recommend this as a must-watch for Star Wars fans, but passers-by might be baffled by the reception that this average episodic Disney+ actioner is getting. The strength of the show relies very heavily on your affinity towards the Star Wars films, but fans will find it emotionally rewarding.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Top Gun: Maverick

★★★★★

No spoilers

I have only seen the original once decades ago. I only remember the bare gist of the plot. There’s a bunch of hotshot Navy pilots. Something happens and someone dies. The song Take My Breath Away played while some people are having sex, or a bunch of sweaty naked men were playing volleyball, or both at the same time, I can’t really remember. There was a jet fighter battle, the heroes blow up the bad guys, the end. Stars Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise’s smile. You can see that I had a lot of expectations going into the sequel. But I came out of Top Gun Maverick with a list of things that I didn’t expect to discover in this film.

First, I didn’t expect this not to be a blatant sequel cash grab. It is still obviously a sequel cash grab, but a blatant one wouldn’t have cared about the story. This one did. The mission was intriguing and thrilling. Maverick has an emotional character arc. The whole training bit was not boring at all. They even bothered throwing in a twist or three. And I even liked the love story. I was not expecting to get the feels, but there were a few moments that got my eyes welling. Yeah, the sequel to Top Gun made me want to un-ironically cry, the world has gone mad!

I also didn’t expect to like the characters, especially Maverick who I thought was going to be the same smug and cocky guy from the first film. But he has aged and is a little different here, and Cruise did a phenomenal job portraying him. Also, I was more than ready to dislike Miles Teller and Glen Powell’s characters, who also seemed like smug a-holes at first, but now I’m fans. Connelly’s great, so was Hamm, the supporting cast, and a few others for you to discover yourselves.

Also did not expect a large chunk of the aerial sequences, the main selling point of the movie, to not be fully CG. They could have just saved the money and went 100% green screens, but they actually shot a ton of footages of the actors strapped into in real jet fighters doing actual aerial maneuvers that their facial reactions to the intense G-force were actually real! I’m pretty sure there were a number of CG shots but they blended in with the practical shots seamlessly that I didn’t notice. There’s something about shooting things practical that your brain just instinctively knows it’s real, and it adds realism to the sequences, which also heightened the thrills and excitement. It also helped that the action finale was very well thought out and was properly set up throughout the film in such a way that even us, the audiences could understand the tasks and the stakes at hand when it finally happens.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing really groundbreaking to be found here. But it’s just such a very well put together blockbuster film, and I haven’t felt such sheer enjoyment for a film in this way for a long time. It’s a high recommendation from me for sure.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

★★★★1/2

No spoilers

Laundromat owner Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) must grapple with a multitude of issues, including potential eviction from her premises, being emotionally estranged from her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), feeling disappointed with husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and being a disappointment to her father Gong Gong (James Hong). But things are about to get worse when another Waymond from another multiverse (also Ke) appears to recruit Evelyn to fight in a multiversal war and save the world.

It’s interesting that there are two separate movies about the multiverse (the other one being Dr Strange 2) playing at the same time right now that couldn’t be more different in feel and approach. But they both have protagonists with a third eye on their foreheads. It’s like they’re each their own multiversal branch-offs. I’m a Sam Raimi fan, but even I have to admit that the title Multiverse of Madness would have been better suited to this far more bonkers Michelle Yeoh flick. The multiversal concept is more creatively utilized here whereas Raimi’s film only conservatively toys with it.

Fret not, this isn’t a stuffy arthouse treatment, but a surprisingly fast-paced, genre-leaning, effects-laden sci-fi actioner with a strong dose of family drama at its core. So, not only do you get to see Yeoh bringing her action chops, but flex her acting ones too. I still think her best performance was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but she gets to do more here, and it’s a blast to see that.

Another great highlight is the “return” of Ke Huy Quan playing a lead role as Yeoh’s husband Waymond, most well-known for his role as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s hard to believe that he has done very little acting in almost 40 years, because he so effortlessly juggled a myriad of alternate Waymond characters like a pro, including one that could have been a Tony Leung role in a Wong Kar Wai flick. His character struck close to home for me, but that’s a discussion for another time.

It’s no secret that 93-year-old legend James Hong is in this film also, and no, it isn’t just a fleeting cameo, but there was one other casting that was a genuine surprise for me, and she was terrifically funny and was completely relishing her role. I won’t spoil it here for those who don’t watch trailers and follow entertainment news. Stephanie Hsu also did a decent job here having to go toe-to-toe with so many acting legends during the dramatic moments.

The only very minor gripe is that the Daniels (directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert of Swiss Army Man fame) piled on the silly or gross-out humour a little too much, that they sometimes took the wind out of a few dramatic moments.

Nevertheless, this is still a very heartfelt, adult story about family, nestled within a visually frenetic and funny film where sex toys can be used to access the multiverse. For people who griped about the lack of originality in blockbuster films, it’s time to walk the talk and watch this film instead. Highly recommended!

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.