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Reviews
Free Guy (2021)
How likeable is Ryan Reynolds!?
This movie was much better than I expected. It was enjoyable throughout, paced well, and cast exceptionally. The major strength of this movie is in how damn likeable this cast is. I'm not sure anyone could have done this other than Ryan Reynolds. I'd recommend a watch.
Fear Street: 1994 (2021)
Mediocre but enjoyable
This movie was enjoyable to watch, but missed the mark for me in the end. Horror movies often struggle with characters that make dumb or out of character decisions and this was no exception. Near the end, a few of the main cast do a dumb plan to save one of their friends. It could have very easily resulted in no loss of life had they abided by the rules set up not half an hour earlier, but instead the plan resulted in several unnecessary deaths. Horror is not a genra where all of the main cast is expected to live, but this seemed only as a purpose to add some gore to the climax. Overall, the ending was a bit of a let down, but I am excited for parts 2 and 3 later this month.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Exactly what you would expect
Professional film critics and casual movie lovers may find this movie lacking in character development and depth. They would be 100% justified, but also missing the point. If you love the MK games and want to see it unironically portrayed in live action with love and sincerity without changing what it is for wider audiences, then you will love this movie. If that isn't what you want, then so be it, you wouldn't be wrong for not liking it . I for one loved the over the top portrayals , ridiculous catch phrases, and gratuitous violence. Worth a watch.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Fun but a bit campy
This movie has a lot going for it. The performances are great all around. I never would have expected to see so much raw anger and emotion off of Kristen Wiig after seeing her all those years on SNL. The premise was surprising and pretty original. As a comic fan, I was familiar with the characters, but I was not familiar with the plot to the point it was incapable of surprising me. The vibe was mostly cheery and fun. My major issues are with the tone being a bit inconsistent and the movie having some weird plot holes. Some scenes are so campy that it takes you out of the movie all together. Others leave you scratching your head with the potential implications in the larger world.
Overall a good and fun movie, but tonally a bit inconsistent. I would recommend a watch!
The New Mutants (2020)
Better than expected
After the production hell that this movie went through, I expected to hate it. While no masterpiece, I did enjoy the movie as a whole. It was much more "teen drama" than most superhero movies, so some viewers may hate that. I felt the horror elements were well done though and I am honestly sad that we most likely wont see these characters again.
Overall, the acting was cheesy, the writing clunky, but I would recommend a watch nonetheless. I would say it was one of the better Xmen movies.
Aunty Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun (2020)
Not for everyone, but gold for me
This show is ridiculous in the best possible way. I would compare it to a weirder SNL or SCTV sketch with a Portlandia twist. A few of the jokes went on a bit longer than they probably should have, but in most cases there was some twist near the end that made the awkwardness worth it. Some viewers will probably hate this show as it is a very particular type of absurdist humor reminiscent of early YouTube sketch comedy. If you can get through and enjoy the first 2 minute sketch though, you will probably love the show!
Begin Again (2013)
"Lost Stars" won awards for a reason
Begin Again is a warm and happy Indie music video lasting nearly 2 hours. Nothing about that is bad in the slightest. This film features the best acting I have seen from Mark Ruffalo in his career (closely rivaled by Spotlight in my personal opinion) and you learn to really care for his character. Keira Knightley is also the best I have ever seen her, and has a much more beautiful voice than I expected from the Pirates of the Caribbean star. This film also features some passable acting by Adam Levine of Maroon 5. He was not the greatest actor in the film by any means, however, he holds his own remarkably well. The only negatives in this film for me was the cameo of a certain celebrity musician that solves several problems from afar for our heros in the film. This felt somewhat cheap to me, as the crime of convenience is one of my biggest pet peeves in cinema. At the end of the day, the strength of this film is the remarkable soundtrack. The music in this film is spectacular, and if you love music and movies "Begin Again" is worth a watch.
A.C.O.D. (2013)
Worth a Watch, but not for Laughs
After watching A.C.O.D. on Netflix I immediately logged onto IMDb to see what sort of ratings the movie had received from critics and other users. I was in fact very surprised that the reviews were not stronger for this movie.
I believe the main problem with this movie is that it must be listed as a comedy. A.C.O.D. is not the traditional comedy with one liners, slapstick, and crazy over the top situations, but is more of a drama dealing with the struggles of an adult living with the trauma of growing up the child of divorced parents. The protagonist Carter's character arc is quite engaging and mostly well written. Even things that he did that I felt were out of character seemed passable when his overall emotional state was considered. The movie was quite deep and could be potentially very meaningful to real life adult children of divorce.
Other positives of this film are in its acting and direction. Most of the actors in this movie were quite good. Adam Scott was typical Adam Scott, nothing new there. The direction was also quite good and I enjoyed the soundtrack.
If you plan to go into this movie expecting laughs though, you won't probably enjoy it as much as I did.
Ajin (2016)
Great New Amine, Great pickup for Netflix
So recently I marathoned the entire first season of Ajin on Netflix. Personally, I loved it. Basically the story revolves around this somewhat sociopathic teen who has some very strange powers that make him an outcast in society.
The positives of this story are mainly related to its plot and villains. The main two antagonists of this season have so little explained about there motives that it can be infuriating. At the same time this is a huge positive because I was on edge most of the season waiting to see what they would do. One of the villains particularly was pure flawless and unfiltered evil. If you watch the series, you will know what I'm talking about, and he is truly set up to be feared. The tone is also a strong aspect of this series. It stays fairly consistent and true to itself throughout. It is fairly dark. This show especially reminded me of Tokyo Ghoul, but felt less like a typical Shonen.
The negatives of this series lied mainly in numerous plot threads being left behind, although as stated before, I expect them to become relevant again in season 2. Another potential negative, and personal negative for me, was the art style. The animation in this show was very CG, and felt almost more like a video game cut-scene than an anime. While this style made the few fight scenes way more epic looking that they would otherwise, any scene with movement of multiple objects looked off putting. In conclusion, I would highly recommend this show. I gave it a 9/10 and am already excited for a season 2 I hope will someday come. In the mean time, if you are currently watching this show, or have finished it, some viewing recommendations I would give based on this series are "Tokyo Ghoul", "Parasite", and "Another". All have similar tones and are not too long.
I hope this review was helpful!