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Saw X (2023)
Critic Approved and One of the Best Saw Sequels? Yep
8/10. So, who in the heck would have thought that it took 10 movies for the Saw franchise to be certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and critics to actually like it? Very strange and unusual but here we are.
This is one of the best Saw sequels and rivals Saw 2 surprisingly. Of course, it doesn't hold a candle to the classic first one. I have always been a fan of the franchise and liked most of the films.
What makes this film work is bringing the franchise back to the basics and giving the feel of the first 3 movies. The plot is simple and most importantly Jigsaw and Amanda return. Smart idea to put the events of this film between the first and second movies. The convoluted baggage and inconsistencies from the previous films are wiped clean. Definitely less of "where have they been the past several movies?".
It's fresh and different; in a good way. Surprisingly, some of it is heartfelt and adds a little of dramatic heft in the mix. It's the longest film in the franchise and actually takes its time building up the movie. Tobin Bell gives it his all in his ninth outing of the infamous John Kramer/Jigsaw. He shows a more vulnerable side to his character then switches to the creepy, morally ambiguous side.
Yes, it's still a Saw film so it's filled with gnarly traps, gore, blood, holy cow moments, brutal kills, Billy the Puppet, and the signature plot twist. The traps are quite effective, cool looking, and messed up. They have a grimy, nasty, industrial feel. The twist was well done and didn't feel contrived.
So yeah, go see the critic approved movie that is Saw X. Cue the "Hello Zepp" music, because that is the biggest twist of this bloody film.
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
Brilliant, Hard Hitting, and Powerfully Acted
9/10. Expertly crafted, powerfully acted, brilliantly edited, and filled with hard hitting, dense themes. Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon showcases his talents as an auteur, spellbinding filmmaker.
This slow burning, epic drama earns its three-and-a-half-hour runtime. Yes, I was quite concerned with the length also. But it's not really a problem and only drags on in a couple of scenes. The length allows Martin Scorsese to take his time and really invest in the story. This is his unflinching view of a horrific, true story about the gruesome murders of the Osage people. It's grim, gritty, and very sad. If you are looking for a fun, lighthearted ride with tons of action, funny one-liners, and a happy ending; then you are looking in the wrong place.
Leonardo DiCaprio gives his usual tour-de-force performance. He is my favorite actor, and he scores a huge touchdown with his role. He brings subtle nuances to his conflicted, complex character. Robert De Niro still proves his acting chops for his age. I haven't really heard of or seen Lily Gladstone in anything. Wow, her performance is captivating, amazing, and powerful. Leo and Lily deserve Oscar nominations for their performances.
This film is not an easy watch. There are a bunch of themes to digest and chew on for a while. There are many characters and gets a little hard to keep up with all the names. Luckily, the editing is very tight and keeps you invested throughout the long runtime. Martin Scorsese has been making movies for decades and is one of the very few who can pull something like this off.
Oppenheimer (2023)
Epic and brilliantly crafted.
9/10. Christopher Nolan proves once again that he is one of the most prolific filmmakers of our time. This biographical drama is brilliantly crafted, epic in scope, and has powerful storytelling anchored with a very well-rounded cast. The way he crafts this film on a terrifying subject is beautiful and intense.
The sound design is hard hitting and awesomely loud. Yes, you can hear most of dialogue and doesn't get drowned out like it did in "Tenet". Ludwig Goransson creates a haunting soundtrack to help the film feel alive and horrifying.
Cillian Murphy is mesmerizing in his powerhouse performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer. His acting is very expressive with his facial expressions and mannerisms. Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and especially Robert Downey Jr. Are all standouts as well. Hoyte van Hoytema cinematography is a wonderful sight to behold. They shot this with Imax cameras on real film as opposed to the overused digital format. Nolan wants you to experience this in the theater the way it's meant to be. Kodak also invented the first ever black and white Imax film for this movie.
It's not a completely perfect film. It does run for about three hours long, but it's well earned. It's a slow burn, densely filled drama that will turn off some of the mainstream movie goers. Some of the other big-name stars have a limited amount of screentime. Hopefully, this will be one of the front runners for the Oscars. Nolan painted a wonderful picture about the birth of nuclear warfare, atomic bombs, fear, death, and the possibility of destroying the earth.
So now it's time to give Nolan his long, overdue Oscar for directing. How he wasn't even nominated for "The Dark Knight" and "Inception" is baffling.
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Bloody Good Time!
8/10. Gleefully bloody, fantastic sound, gory, depraved, and well shot. Of course it doesn't match up to the original two movies and doesn't quite hit the brutality of the 2013 remake. But keeps the franchise fresh with a new setting and a great new cast.
It straddles the line between the underlining dark humor in the first movie and the brutality of the 2013 remake. Which results it in feeling a bit disjointed. It's layered with bouts of dark humor and great callbacks of the franchise. It's a worthy Evil Dead movie and fans should be pleased. It's not as funny or outrageously bonkers as the Evil Dead 2.
The director does a great job with the camera shots, tone of the film, and showing the graphic carnage on screen. It's quite creepy and a gory, bloody good time.
Missing (2023)
Great and suspenseful
8/10. Now that's I'm talking about. The internet gimmick footage has been heavily worn down recently but this film does it with proper execution and intensity. Despite a couple of plot holes; this movie keeps you at the edge of your seat with many twists, turns, and mysteries. Storm Reid brought the raw intensity to her role. It's a spin off from the surprising 2018 film Searching. I had my reservations that this wouldn't live up to it but it's on par or even better than the first one. Definitely a great watch. Oh, and time to give Javier a 5/5 on his profile. Really now, go ahead and give his profile a boost.
Renfield (2023)
Nic Cage is Dracula!
7/10. You wanna see a dumb, campy, bloody, vampire horror film with Nic Cage as Dracula? And a movie that doesn't live up to its potential mixed in with horror, humor, action, blood, guts, exploding bodies, and Nic Cage being Nic Cage but as Dracula?
Well, then this is the movie for you. Could have been much better though. But it's Nic Cage as Nic Cage being Nic Cage as Dracula if Dracula himself was Nic Cage.
Some of the editing is a bit choppy and some of the jokes miss the marks. But at least it has some good kills, heaping amounts of bloodshed, plenty of gory moments, and Nic Cage being Nic Cage.
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)
Awesome Pandemonium
9/10. I don't know how they did the impossible. Somehow the fourth entry in the John Wick saga is the best one. This movie has no right being as good as it is. Seriously, this film has some of the best action sequences, gun play, hand to hand combat, and practical effects seen in a while. The action/fight sequences are done in long takes, gleefully violent, gracefully over the top, relentless pandemonium, and a complete assault on all the senses. It's pure, unadulterated mayhem and fun.
The cinematography is gorgeous to look at with awesome shots thrown in. Biggest complaint is the movie is a little too long; almost three hours. But that goes by quite quickly even though it just drags in a couple of scenes. The fight choreography is something Jackie Chan would be very of to make. Keanu Reeves does a great job with his fight scenes and he is pushing fifty but acts like he is in his twenties. Bill Skarsgard (Pennywise from "It") pulls off a sadistic villain mixed in with great performances from Donnie Yen (his character is blind but still kicks ass) and Shamier Anderson with his beloved mutt.
It's not quite a masterpiece; but delivers a pure, adrenaline filled cinematic experience. The coolest sequence is the birds eye view of the fire dragon breathing shotgun shootout. The stunt team also deserves a big shoutout. Definitely go see this on the big screen and heavily suspend your disbelief. Then sit back and enjoy the frenetic, over the top, blood soaked ride.
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
So bad that it's just...meh.
4/10. So now someone made a micro budget horror movie based on an interesting premise. For 2023, beloved children's character Winnie the Pooh turns into a blood-thirsty, murderous creature. Also, Piglet is on this insane, low budget ride. Please keep in mind that this film was made under 100K.
It is a good, well made movie? Nope, it is not. Is it a so bad that its good movie? Meh, not really; only time will tell. It's a fun, twisted idea to turn beloved family characters into angry, gore hound villains though. Some of the kills are ok but were really held back due to the small budget. This film did have a couple of jump scares and some gory scenes. I'm trying to not judge this too harshly considering. Surprisingly, the music and cinematography were quite well done. The "masks" for the creature are quite goofy and comedic.
Biggest problem was that it is way too dark in much of the movie. Literally, there are a couple of scenes that are hard to tell what's going on. The characters you just don't care about, there are some awkward cuts, some of the character's decisions don't make any sense, the plot is quite dumb, and that low budget 80's horror charm wasn't there. I hope that for the sequel and their expanded horror universe; they get a bigger budget and better script polishing.
I support this type of film making and only hope it gets better on for the filmmakers. Honesty, my expectations were quite low and I just wanted to have fun watching it. It was kind of fun but felt like they should have had more fun and humor in it. Just set your expectations low and don't think too much about it.
The Batman (2022)
Gripping, grim, gritty, different
9/10. Matt Reaves really had to make an unique and great Batman film to stand out. He succeeded with it being very noir driven and an emphasis on Batman's detective work. Sure it might be a little long and takes a while to get going. Robert Patterson proves himself to be an awesome Batman. Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, and an unrecognizable Colin Farrell are great additions also. The music is awesome, the action scenes are exhilarating, the acting is great, the tone is fantastically gritty, and the cinematography is on point. Die hard Batman fans shouldn't mind the near 3 hour runtime. It was fantastic to watch and definitely warrants some repeat viewings. Not as good as the Nolan trilogy as expected but it's an admirable effort.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Absolutely phenomenal
9/10. Stunning, epic, emotional, nostalgic...just phenomenal watching this movie. Tom Holland pulls off his most mature performance of Spider-Man. The fan service in this is wonderful and plenty. Not going to spoil anything but this had me grinning, clapping, and cheering with the audience. Big Spider-Man fans will get a massive rush from this. It's emotional and a fun ride to watch.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
An improvement, but a lot still to be desired.
Well, at least this film is a leaner, meaner, funnier fighting machine than the first. But the first was a disappointment. So it's best not to have the greatest expectations going into this film. Venom 2 does double down on the humor, relationships, overall wackiness of the franchise, and Venom causing carnage(lol). Tom Hardy is better than ever and Woody Harrelson knocks it out of the park. Naomie Harris is also great but underutilized in this movie. It has a short run time but the film benefits from the length. Yeah, it has its typical superhero overblown CGI fest ending. But it's funny and fun while being very noisy and messy at the same time. Just stick around for the post credits scene as it's a game changer!
Tomb Raider (2018)
Solid and fun.
8/10. Solid adventure movie. Alicia Vikander pulls a strong and great performance as Laura Croft. It's plot is very thin but it's very entertaining to watch and a more grounded Tomb Raider film.
Anon (2018)
Half baked and squandered potential
5/10. Very interesting premise that goes nowhere. Lots of potential but all of it's ideas are half-baked that results in a bland sci-fi drama. Squandered so much potential and good story telling. Some parts get boring and drags on.
The Package (2018)
Derp derp
5/10. Too stupid is as too stupid does. Not the worst gross out comedy but a couple of funny parts. Just it's so stupid.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Disappointing
6/10 Sigh, it's disappointing. It does have great direction, good horror elements, and Bryce Dallas Howard is a very beautiful lady. But the cloning plot twist is complete asinine to the franchise. At least it's better than the 3rd one, but that's not saying much. Seriously needed more Jeff Goldblum.
Fantasy Island (2020)
Complete missed potential
5/10. Well, it has a nice beach setting, beautiful woman, and a twisty story. But it could have benefited from having more scares, cutting the length, tightening the pace, and a hard R rating. Not much going on here really. Disappointing consider its from Blumhouse.
Artemis Fowl (2020)
Awful and sloppy!
3/10. A complete misfire from Disney. I've never read the books but the film badly lacked a cohesive story line and the scenes didn't flow well at all together. Other sins are excessive narrative dumping, boring characters, cringy acting, no magic, a waste of a director's talent, etc. What's up with the Hagrid rip off?
Truth or Dare (2018)
Yeah, it's straight up not a great movie.
5/10. It's not really scary and more unintentional comedic. It's a bad movie that should have a strong cult following a few years from now. Time to play drinking games with your friends and be prepared for a wonderful, stupid, asinine ending.
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)
A very mixed bag
6/10 .Tried to hard to mash genres together. Basically put horrror, sci-fi, mystery, and action in a blender and resulted in very mixed results(lol pun intended). No where near as good as the first two Cloverfield films. Honesty there is barely any connection to the first movie and obviously was made to be a stand alone film.
Toy Story 4 (2019)
Amazing yet still unnecessary.
9/10. Ok, so it's very touching, funny, beautifully animated, and fun. Always great to see the Toy Story Crew back but still didn't really needed to be made. Still an awesome movie but doesn't quite compare to the first 3. The third one wrapped it up perfectly. In this one some of the other toys didn't get a lot of screen time. Still very enjoyable and many laughs to be had. Ole Sporky is going to be a hit and it's awesome seeing Bo Peep back in action. The animation was absolutely gorgeous and top notch. Pixar somehow pulled this off despite the pushed back release dates and behind the scenes drama. Anywho, go see it folks! I've loved these movies since I was a young one.
Halloween (2018)
Solid, classic throwback.
8/10 So the question on everybody's mind is will this movie work? The answer is a surprising yes. It's well made, has scary moments, and many throwbacks to the ground breaking original. Jamie Lee Curtis is back and is as strong and great as ever in her iconic role. The music and intensity will keep you glued to seat. Has some flaws here and there but serves as one of the best Halloween sequels.
The Hurricane Heist (2018)
Nope, just nope.
2/10.
This god-awful, dumb, stupid, horrible acted c-film disguised as a b-film tries to be a a-film but ends up as an f-film. This could have been fun and so bad it's good but it takes itself to seriously and is very boring. Definitely one of the worst if not the worst movie of 2018.
Alone in the Dark (2005)
This movie straight up sucks!!!
2/10. This movie straight up really sucks!!!! Like really really bad... just save some pain in your life and avoid this like the Black Plague.
Upgrade (2018)
Interesting low budget, action body horror.
I was hoping that I wouldn't be let down by this movie...luckily I wasn't. The action scenes are uniquely shot with interesting camera angles and has a clever story. The characters are kinda thin but it's a fun movie with some twists and moments of biting humor. Recommended to check out this sci-fi action horror.
Action Point (2018)
Very stupid but entertaining at best.
7/10. Let's see here... you want an incrediblely stupid movie that allows yourself to completely turn your brain all the way off. Then you might want to check this movie out. It's not as daring nor funny as the previous Jackass films, but there is some joy to be had by watching this. That's it pretty much, just don't expect much.