Reviews

I absolutely adore Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy from the 80s/90s and the trailer and premise for this film made it seem like we were going back to that level of quality. While this movie isn't bad at all, it's definitely disappointing. There's some great stuff about it. The practical effects are incredible, the acting is over the top and goofy at points and the kills themselves are very well done. There is also a VERY well done scene with a lot of blood and an elevator that still sticks in my head months after I've watched it. When the film wants to feel like the Raimi films then it really is fun to watch however only half of the film is like that and that's my major problem with the movie. It feels like it wants to follow that goofy style but also wants to be taken seriously at points as well which isn't what these movies are known for. I applaud them for trying something different but I would have preferred if they wanted it to be taken seriously then they should have stuck to that for the whole movie because the switch from silly to serious was jarring and usually didn't work. I also wish they had done more with the setting. The film is set in a high rise building but it really only sticks to a couple of locations and doesn't make use of the whole building itself. With a film called Evil Dead Rise it would have been cool to see the characters fighting through floor by floor. It seems like I'm criticizing the movie a lot but I do emphasize that I did enjoy it but I just wish it had done certain elements differently because all the pieces are there but they just have other pieces that don't fit with the rest of the film. I'd still definitely recommend giving it a watch though if you like the franchise or just want a mostly goofy horror film.

Any season of a Star Wars show that came out after Andor would obviously come under a lot of scrutiny because of how good that show was but I still had high expectations due to the fact that this is The Mandalorian. Season 1 and 2 are great so it's really frustrating and annoying to say that Season 3 is honestly pretty bad and a massive disappointment. It feels like all the passion for this show was just sucked out of it between Season 2 and 3. No one involved feels like they actually want to be there. The cinematography went from really great to incredibly generic and the visual effects have suffered a major downgrade as well. Even the music is just okay to the point where once Ludwig's Mandalorian theme plays at the end it actually feels jarring. Everything just feels corporate and safe and it sucks because this was the only other Star Wars show that didn't feel like that. The season spends too much time wasting time instead of focusing on its central story. Reclaiming Mandalore is such a cool idea but this season is more interested in following filler episodes such as the episode with Jack Black and Lizzo which is probably the worst episode of any Star Wars show out there. When they actually focus on the story it's actually pretty interesting but then the finale drops the ball very hard. It's very anticlimactic and wastes any last bit of potential the season had. As much as it pains me to say it, even Pedro Pascal sucked this season. It's very obvious that he wasn't in the suit at all this season and his acting sounds like he just didn't care. At least we had The Last of Us to make me forget about this. Honestly the only good thing about this season is that I did enjoy two of the episodes and when they decided to use practical suits and effects then the show looked great but that was few and far between. If you REALLY like The Mandalorian then maybe check this out but you can honestly skip this and you won't miss anything.

This is easily Illumination's best movie but that really isn't saying much. It's not a bad movie by any means but it really isn't that great either. The story is honestly the worst part of the film. It's very cliche and generic. You can pretty much predict every single beat before it happens and it really leaves a lot to be desired. I appreciate that it's paced quickly but I do also wish it would take more time to flesh out its ideas and themes because at the end of the day it really is a "Do you remember this" kind of movie. That's not necessarily a bad thing for this movie though as the references do show that the people involved did care about Mario as a character and wanted to honor him compared to something like The Flash which does the same thing except to get people in seats and not for the betterment of the film. As much I as like the references, I definitely wish it was toned down a little bit in order to make a more interesting story. The characters are just okay as well. The performances from okay to pretty good. Chris Pratt's Mario is nowhere near as bad as I thought he was going to be but he was just fine. Anya Taylor-Joy was okay as Peach and most of the rest of the cast is okay. Jack Black as Bowser was perfect casting though and he was easily the best part of the film. The music was also very well done. It takes a bunch of classic Mario themes and gives them an orchestral and cinematic spin to them which I really appreciated. The soundtrack choices were god awful though and really took away from the scenes. Was playing "Take On Me" really necessary? The animation was also fairly good as well. It wasn't incredible but compared to Illumination's other films, it definitely feels like there was a lot of effort into making the film look good. As much as I have criticized this movie, I still think it's very fun. I did enjoy myself while watching the movie and even though I think it could have been so much better, I still walked out content with what I saw. If you like Mario then I'd probably recommend it but don't expect a masterpiece.

With most film franchises, the more films they make the worse they get with franchises like Mission: Impossible being the standout exception. The John Wick series can now be added to that list. Not only is this film fantastic, it's also easily the best film in the series. The John Wick have always excelled in their action scenes and this is no different here. In fact, the action here in my opinion is a series best which I was surprised to saying walking out of this film. Every set-piece is unique and creative in somehow. Whether it's Berlin's night club or literally most of the city of Paris, the action always finds a way to one up itself. Each scene is so amazingly well coordinated that it's kind of insane that this movie works at all. Some highlights from the action include the apartment fight in the third act and also the dreaded stair scene which will confuse people who don't know what I'm talking about but to the people who have... you know. It also helps that the directing and cinematography are great. Each shot feels meticulously planned out and other than doing what it needs to do, it makes the shot look beautiful as well. The apartment scene is in a top down perspective almost the entire time and it's such a great way to film the scene. Something else that I really liked a lot was the use of color. Each action scene feels like they have a unique color palette that helps each scene stand out from the previous one. The story here is also really fun too. It follows John Wick finally trying to get out of the business for good and his journey to do that. All the characters are really great additions. Bill Skarsgård makes for a really fun villain with some impeccable drip and Donnie Yen's blind character Caine also serves as one of the franchises best characters. I wouldn't be upset if he got his own spin-off. My only slight issue with it is that the film is 2 hours and 50 minutes and it really doesn't need to be that long and that none of the performances are amazing but that doesn't matter a whole lot to me for this franchise. I would very highly recommend this especially if you love action movies or the John Wick movies in general.

I really enjoyed this film! Creed III still doesn't quite match the greatness of the first film but it's definitely better than Creed II. Michael B. Jordan was absolutely excellent here and his performance was amazing. The story solely revolves around him and it's a very interesting story that follows an old friend from his past trying to come back up while he's trying to step away from boxing and become a behind the scenes person. It's a really fascinating dilemma that he has to deal with that's also quite emotional at points. Jonathan Major's Damien is easily the best antagonist of these Creed movies. His character works as a great foil to Creed. Tessa Thompson does a great job as well and I'm glad that it felt like she had more to do here than she did in the previous film. Mila Davis-Kent also was good as their daughter. Michael B. Jordan also does an excellent job at directing as well. For a first time Director, this was outstanding. The fight scenes are absolutely brutal and incredibly well shot and directed. You feel like you can see Creed planning out every hit he is going to make before he makes it and the cinematography complements that very well. I don't have any major issues with the film but Sylvester Stallone's presence is very much missed. Don't get me wrong I love that this film pretty much solely revolves around Creed but it would have been nice to have him in the film. I also think the music is kind of underwhelming in my opinion. Ludwig Göransson didn't compose the music for this film and it shows. It's almost impossible to replace and hard to replicate his specific sound so any other score regardless of how talented the composer is would still sound underwhelming which is the case here and it's a similar issue I have with Mandalorian Season 3 but it's much worse there. I would definitely highly recommend checking this film out if you really enjoyed the first film or want a really good sports movie.

DC has been on a recent losing streak lately (With The Suicide Squad/Peacemaker as the exceptions) but I really enjoyed the first Shazam film when it came out a couple years ago so I was looking forward to this. While it isn't nearly as bad as people are saying it is it is, it's still unfortunately a disappointment for me. It's similar to the first film and has similar elements but all of those elements are just worse here. The directing, visual effects, music and story aren't bad per se but they are very underwhelming compared to how much I enjoyed those similar aspects in the first film. It feels very bland and boring compared to the first in regard to those aspects. The villains also suck in my opinion. The performances are decent from Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu but I learned nothing about their characters and I didn't feel anything for them. Rachel Zegler was a fun addition though. The ending also really sucks and it's because they make a really bold and interesting decision and then almost immediately reverse it through a point and clap cameo. I still think the rest of the performances and chemistry are all great. Each actor, both superhero and kid version, is clearly having fun with their role and it was a lot of fun watching them interact. Jack Dylan Grazer and Asher Angel still do a fantastic job but I wish we saw more of Angel in the film. There were a couple scenes here that I think worked very well emotionally and some of the action scenes towards the middle and end of the film are pretty fun. Like I said, this film doesn't do anything egregiously bad but it doesn't do pretty much anything to stand out either other than the character's chemistry. You can probably skip this one if you want to but if you really liked the first film then you might enjoy this.

I'm kind of getting tired of the MCU's constant stream of quantity over quality and this film is just another example of that problem slowly getting worse and worse. It's probably the most visually interesting of the trilogy only because it has more colors than the first two films combined. He actual visuals and cinematography aren't great though. Everything here feels very unmotivated and bland. It doesn't feel like there is a purpose to any of the shots and they are just going through a checklist of basic shots to get for the scene without feeling creative or interesting. The visuals effects range from okay to just bad. Clearly they didn't spend enough time on them and it really shows here because almost every shot has a lot of visual effects work done on them. There is no sense of size or space in these shots especially towards the end where Cassie Lang is over 10 times the size of MODOK but you really couldn't tell if you just watched the clip and not the whole scene. The story is kind of interesting? They definitely had a really solid first draft that just needed a little more work done but instead of doing that, they just took that first draft and ran with it so a lot of ideas and concepts feel underdeveloped and uninteresting. This could have been solved with a rewrite or two but clearly Feige and them don't care about actually doing that work. Most of the performances are good. Paul Rudd is still doing a great job and Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas are good as well. Jonathan Majors did a great job as well but with everything that came out after this film came out, the less said the better. Shame that he screwed up his career just as he was taking off. Bill Murray was kind of awful though here but thankfully his scene is short. Kang as the villain was the best part of the film. He was fun and engaging and his plan was interesting but his final scene is awful. For an all powerful being, he goes out really poorly. The humor is all over the place. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's unbearably unfunny. There really isn't a whole lot here to like but it's mostly just boring and not bad like Thor 4 and Black Widow. You can honestly probably skip this one unless you really wanna see Kang.

For years video game adaptations have always been considered to be the worst of the worst but in recent years they have ever so slowly started to get better and better so when I heard Last of Us was getting a show then I just assumed it wouldn't be great. Then, I played the game and absolutely loved it so much that it's now my favorite video game of all time and that got me more excited and I'm glad to say the show surpassed any and all expectations I had for it. It stays true to the game while also being just different enough to make it stand out from the game as well. Pretty much every episode is great or perfect in my opinion. They do an amazing job at fleshing out more of the outside world beyond the main characters which the game doesn't do. It makes the situation seem more real and terrifying. The production design is absolutely incredible. Each set feels very lived in and abandoned. The creators definitely used that massive budget for the show and it really does show. The writing and directing for every episode is top notch and all the performances are incredible too. This is definitely my favorite performance from Pedro Pascal and while I definitely prefer Troy Baker's Joel from the game, Pascal does an incredible job still. Bella Ramsey was perfect as Ellie and was pretty much copy and paste over from the game in performance. The guest actors all did an amazing job as well with Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett from Episode 3 being some of the best performances ever in a TV show. In fact, Episode 3 is not only the best episode of the show, it's genuinely one of my favorite episodes of a TV show ever. My only real major complaint with the show is that the Riley episode wasn't fully necessary. It's a great episode and the ending is amazing but I feel that episode should have just been intertwined throughout the show instead of getting its own dedicated episode as it does grind the show to a halt. This is easily the best video game adaptation out there and is likely to not be beaten for a very long time. I'd highly recommend this show to anyone who loves the game or just wants some good television.

I only got into the Scream franchise about a year and a half ago and I've really enjoyed it ever since and this is honestly probably the best Scream film since the original. It's not a perfect movie by any means and I do have my fair share of issues with it but I still really enjoyed it. There was no way this film was going to beat the original but the aspect of the Scream movies that I like is that they don't try to. Scream is a franchise that tries to one up itself but also knows that the first film is just too good to beat and this one definitely one ups itself compared to the previous film. The main characters are a lot more interesting and fleshed out here than they are in Scream (2022). The location change to a city makes for a more interesting setup compared to the other sequels and the surprise twist is half predictable while also still subverting my expectations. I was able to guess the killer but their motive was a really interesting twist. The kills were all really fun as well. They aren't extremely creative and some characters survive a lot being thrown at them but they were still fun none the less. The performances are all good. Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera and Mason Gooding were all just as good as they were in the previous film. I do feel that Courtney Cox just felt kinda pointless here. I get the commentary they were doing with legacy characters but she still felt very forced in. It would have been nice to have this film not focus on any of the legacy characters especially since Neve Campbell didn't return for this. This film doesn't do anything exceptionally great but it's still a very fun time and a welcome addition to the franchise. If you like the Scream movies then you'll probably really enjoy this one.

I've decided that I'm going to start reviewing shows seasons that come out during the current year so here's the first! Full disclaimer that Rian Johnson is one of my favorite Directors of all time so I do have a partial bias to anything he makes which applies here. Johnson has finally settled into his own grove now in my opinion. With the release of Knives Out, Glass Onion and now this, it's clear that Johnson feels very at home in the mystery genre and I think it's perfect for him and while this isn't perfect, it's still great. It has a really interesting setup and payoff system where we see the crime being committed in a cold open and the rest of the episode follows Charlie figuring out what happened and resolving the crime. You'd think that that happening every episode would get old and it starts to during episode 3 and 4 but after that, it flips that twist on its head as well but choosing to omit information and reveal it during Charlie's attempt to solve the crime and the twist was always great. Besides episodes 3 and 4, there really isn't an episode that I think is just good. 3 and 4 are good episodes but pretty much every other episode is incredible. All of the actors do a great job especially Natasha Lyonne as Charlie. She gives a great performance that just gets better and better with each episode. All of the guest characters are great as well. Adrien Brody was really great but Ellen Barkin and Cherry Jones were definitely the strongest of the guest performances. Almost all of the technical aspects were great as well. The show has a great film look to it even though it wasn't shot on film and serves as a good homage to old detective shows from the 60s and 70s. Almost every shot looks immaculate and all the guest Directors did a great job as well. Rian Johnson directed several episodes of the show and those episodes in my opinion were the best directed but none of the other Directors did a bad job either. Honestly, the weakest part of the technical aspects are the visual effects which 90% of the time didn't look very good but they only use visual effects when absolutely necessary. I would highly recommend checking this show out if you like murder mysteries.

Episode Ranking: 1. Exit Stage Death (Ep. 6 - 9/10) 2. Escape From Shit Mountain (Ep. 9 - 9/10) 3. The Orpheus Syndrome (Ep. 8 - 9/10) 4. The Hook (Ep. 10 - 9/10) 5. Time of the Monkey (Ep. 5 - 9/10) 6. The Future of the Sport (Ep. 7 - 9/10) 7. The Night Shift (Ep. 2 - 9/10) 8. Dead Man's Hand (Ep. 1 - 8/10) 9. The Stall (Ep. 3 - 7/10) 10. Rest in Metal (Ep. 4 - 7/10)

I have never seen the film Searching before but I was very much aware of it and the style of that movie. Seeing this kind of style for the first time was definitely fun. The style is easily the best aspect of this movie while also being very creative. It's fun to see a whole story played out through only phone screens, computer screens and security cameras. You'd think this would hinder the story but it does the opposite. It makes the story much more interesting. Sure it's a very typical story but the presentation makes it great. Watching an entire story through different screens was always great and some of the transitions they do with those screens were great as well. My personal favorite was when the camera slowly panned out to show someone was watching Storm Reid's characters screen from their computer. That sent chills down my spine when I saw that. There were lots of fun and interesting twists that also make the story better as well especially towards the end. The characters were also great as well. Storm Reid gave a really great performance here and so Joaquim de Almeida. Their chemistry and interactions were really enjoyable and also one of the best aspects of the film as well. It's definitely a typical story but the presentation, characters and twists make this movie really great. I would definitely recommend checking this out if you want a mystery movie told in this way.

Cocaine Bear is definitely a weird movie to rate. If you look at it from one view then you get a weirdly paced and odd film but from another view then it feels intentional. The reason I gave Cocaine Bear a score like this is because I do think a lot of the "unintentional" humor and comedy from this scenario is actually intentional. I believe that Elizabeth Banks knew exactly what she wanted this movie to be which was a very goofy over the top comedy and she made exactly that. It isn't a perfect movie by any means in fact it has a decent amount going against it. The acting is okay for the most part. There really isn't a standout performance nor are there any really bad ones. I enjoyed seeing Alden Ehrenreich and Ray Liotta act together though. The cinematography and music are very pretty generic and don't do a lot to make the movie stand out. The story is definitely simple and basic but it's the humor and the Cocaine Bear itself that makes this movie work. The humor works most of the time and the goofy story definitely adds to that. As I mentioned earlier, the goofy story definitely feels very intentional and it was fun seeing a bunch of different characters react to the bear even if they aren't super developed. The Cocaine Bear itself is easily the best aspect of this movie. The bear itself is hilarious and all of the kills it makes are really well done and creative. This is definitely a movie that you shouldn't take too seriously if you want to enjoy it. That's the best way to view it and I would definitely recommend checking it out.

I have only seen M. Night's bad movies like Avatar, Old, and The Visit and this was definitely better than all of those movies but I still don't really like it that much. It's not a bad movie per say but it's just very empty to me. I have no strong feelings for or against the film. It's all just VERY mediocre to the point where it honestly feels like anyone could have directed this. There are shots that feel like they are out of an M. Night movie but they are few and far between. There are definitely good things about this movie which is mainly the performances but other than that, pretty much nothing stands out. Dave Bautista was great as always. He did an amazing job at playing what essentially is a gentle giant here. Ben Aldridge also did a great job as well and his performance was honestly the best of the entire film. Rupert Grint also made a really great comeback performance and I really hope he is cast in more movies after this. All of the other performances were good but those 3 were the standouts. The actual story here is interesting but told in the most boring and slightly underdeveloped way. Some of these characters have an emotional sendoff but you know pretty much nothing about their relationships and who they are to care about what's going on. The iconic M. Night twist that he likes to throw into all his movies is here but it's just okay. The twist is told through an odd line and then never talked about again. The dialogue was also really weird as well. The movie is adapted from a book and some of the dialogue sounds like it comes from the book and not from a script and you can tell. The cinematography and music are both fine but very unremarkable. There really isn't more else to say because of how bland this is. I would only recommend if you're a die hard M. Night fan. If you're not then this isn't worth it in my opinion.

On an enjoyment level, this movie is probably a 9/10. It's an absolute blast to watch all the way through and sometimes that is definitely intentional especially towards the end. The kills are absolutely hilarious and creative and there are moments here that made myself and my entire theater burst out laughing. It's definitely a movie that you should turn your brain off and enjoy because none of the film really makes any sense and sometimes this feels intentional and sometimes it isn't. My biggest issue with this film though is that it's clearly a film that's intentionally supposed to be goofy and not make any sense but sometimes the movie feels like it wants you to take it seriously. It obviously isn't like this for the whole film but it definitely feels like half of this movie is supposed to be taken seriously and the other half isn't. That's why I'm giving a mixed review for this because when the film wants to be taken seriously then it just falls flat on its face. The scenes, writing and kills are all too goofy to be taken seriously and they should have stuck with that goofy tone all the way through. The performances are okay. They aren't terrible but they aren't amazing either and that's the same with the cinematography and music as well. I would honestly definitely recommend checking this out just for how funny it is. It's worth the price of a ticket.

One of Dreamworks best movies and honestly one of my favorite animated films of all time. The Last Wish is just amazing all around and I'm really happy now that more stylized animation is being used by other studios in a really cool way. This movie was one of the last movies that I thought was going to be really good but I'm very happy that it went above and beyond what I thought it was going to be. The story is pretty cliche and generic yes but it's everything around the story that makes this film so good. The animation is incredibly. The Spider-Verse style works very well for this film and it still stands out from Spider-Verse in its own unique way. The characters and their own respective arcs are great. There really isn't one weak character here. Puss himself gets some excellent development and his journey of grabbing with the concept of death is very emotional and well written. Kitty Softpaws also has a really good arc and chemistry with Puss and Perrito has some really great moments. All of the villains here are great. Goldilocks and the 3 bears all have a good arc and Jack Horner is one of the funniest characters ever included in an animated film and works amazingly well as the irredeemable villain but the real standout here is Death. Death is probably one of if not the best Dreamworks villain. To have Death be personified and built up the way it is in the film is just something else. His interactions with Puss were always amazing. The humor was great as well. Pretty much every joke from Jack landed and all the other jokes were really great as well. Everyone involved with this film felt like they really cared about the characters and the story and that's what makes the film so great. I would highly recommend checking this film out as it's genuinely one of the best films of 2022 and one of the best animated movies ever.

I've always been a big fan of Steven Spielberg. His films like Jurassic Park, Schindler's List and especially the Indiana Jones trilogy. While The Fabelmans doesn't reach the levels of any of those films it's still a really great edition to his filmography. On the surface, The Fabelmans can seem weird. "Why would you make an autobiography about yourself" is what someone might ask and while "pretentious" might be the first thing that comes to your mind, The Fabelmans doesn't feel that way. The film honestly feels more like a Spielberg therapy session than a Spielberg biopic. It feels more like Spielberg coming to terms with who his parents were and why they mean so much to him especially his Dad and how they influenced him into making films. As with most of his films, Spielberg's directing is great and it feels much more personal than it has since probably the late 90s or early 2000s. The cinematography as well is gorgeous at points and the performances are mostly all pretty top notch. Paul Dano, Seth Rogen and Gabriel LaBelle all did a fantastic job here. Michelle Williams was good but her performance was more mixed in my opinion. Sometimes she was really good and sometimes she was just a bit much. John Williams's score was great as well. Nowhere near his best work but still some really good and nice music. I would say that the film doesn't become truly great up until the last 30 minutes. Everything else before that is good but it definitely can feel slow for good portions of the film. Once we get to the High School prom though is when the film becomes great. It has some really great and emotional scenes along with an absolutely hilarious cameo from David Lynch and a really fun final frame. I don't think this is anywhere near Spielberg's best films but it's still a great edition to his filmography and I would definitely recommend checking it out.

There's a great film hidden within Babylon somewhere but unfortunately, Damien Chazelle wasn't able to fully realize it. Damien Chazelle is a director that I absolutely love and there's nothing wrong with the directing here at all but this was too long and felt like it didn't really get to a point. There are tons of really great scenes scattered throughout the film but it doesn't flow together very well at all. There are whole sections of the film like Tobey Maguire's section which while interesting doesn't feel like it fits into the film at all. In fact, most of the climax feels kind of forced and the ending scene while interesting also feels weirdly placed. I like the homage to cinema but it feels like a good scene in the wrong movie. Some characters just kind of feel thrown in like Jovan Adepo's character. He has some really great scenes but those scenes don't really affect the story at all. I also feel that watching the trailer beforehand may have given me the wrong expectations. The trailer gave this Wolf of Wall Street vibe to it but the movie is not like that at all. I wish it had more of that intense vibe to it. While this review has been mostly negative so far, I still think that everything around the story is great. The directing is great, Diego Calva is great and so is Margot Robbie. Brad Pitt is good in this but some scenes feel like he was only there for the paycheck. The music and cinematography are absolutely fantastic with the score especially standing out. The music helps keep the pacing feel much faster than it is and it truly elevates the film. The production design and editing are both phenomenal as well and I wouldn't be upset if Babylon won the Oscar for Best Production Design. I still think Chazelle is an amazing Director who has a LOT of potential but I definitely left this feeling disappointed. If you like Damien Chazelle then I would still say that this is worth checking out.

Another visual masterpiece from James Cameron. The Avatar films have been ones that I see for the visuals themselves and not the actual story and once again, the visuals are absolutely incredible. I'm glad that Cameron decided to hold off on making this movie until the technology was there because it really shows but it can be weird at times. Whenever the characters go underwater, it feels like the film was shot on the world's best IPhone. I mean that as both a positive and negative. The visuals look amazing but the frame rate is different and makes it feel weird. As beautiful as the underwater scenes are, it can be jarring when we go back to the surface as the frame rate is different. As with the first Avatar as well, the story is okay. In fact, the story is a little bit worse here as it feels like a 2 hour movie stretched to 3. The characters and acting are kind of all over the place here quality wise. Some of the acting is good like Zoe Saldaña and Kate Winslet but other actors like Sam Worthington aren't doing a great job but Sam Worthington's character is great here but Kate Winslet's doesn't feel important (for now). While the story is just okay, I'm not going to an Avatar movie for the story and I'm going for the visuals and since the visuals are so good then I feel satisfied with the movie. If James Cameron keeps making visually spectacular movies then I'll keep showing up. If you enjoyed the first Avatar or want a visually breathtaking movie then I would definitely check this out.

Triangle of Sadness is a strange case because the 3 acts are separated in such a way that they feel like 3 shorts with the same overarching story. The first act is pretty good. It does a good job at setting up the relationships between the main characters and both Harris Dickinson and Charlbi Dean give great performances and their characters are fun. Act 2 is 100% where the movie peaks for me. I firmly believe that every scene that takes place on the Yacht is a perfect 10/10 from me. The entirety of Act 2 is absolutely hilarious from start to finish. Every joke lands, the gross out humor helps with the chaos of the situation and the performances are all great especially Woody Harrelson and Zlatko Buric who easily have the funniest scene in the entire movie. If the movie had ended after that then I would have given this a higher score. Act 3 is good but not great. It's a good ending but also somewhat disappointing knowing how good the scenes were before it. It's still pretty funny just nowhere near as funny. The ending does do a great job at wrapping everything up though that provides a good final laugh and hit home the themes of the film. The final act not being as good as the rest of the film definitely lowered the score for me. The cinematography is consistently great throughout the entire film and definitely helps add to the jokes and the same goes for the music and directing as well. I would highly recommend checking this film out but if you have a weak stomach then a good portion of this movie may not be for you.

One of the most underrated films of 2022. If you are easily grossed out then this movie definitely won't be for you but I really enjoyed this. Luca Guadagnino does a great job at showing the themes of finding your place while adding an interesting twist in the form of cannibalism. All of the performances here are great with Taylor Russell giving easily the best performance of the film. Her performance was wonderful and I'm very excited to see what she does next. Timothée Chalamet did a really great job as well along with Mark Rylance giving an amazing performance but playing a despicable character. The story is definitely very interesting but there's a cute love story thrown in between all the cannibalism moments although it can definitely drag at points. The use of blood and gore was done very well. I thought some scenes were gonna be a lot worse but what makes those scenes truly unsettling is the sound design. The sound design is what really makes those scenes truly unnerving but you also can't keep your eyes off the screen at the same time. This movie has moments that are incredibly engaging and then moments that were a little too slow but by the end of the film it was very much worth it. The ending is scary, sweet and emotional all at once which I won't spoil why. The cinematography was amazing throughout especially towards the end where we get a lot more absolutely stunning wide shots. If you can handle gore and lots of blood then I would highly recommend checking this film out.

The behind the scenes drama was infinitely more interesting than the actual movie itself. This was a movie I was very much looking forward to checking out but I kind of wish I hadn't watched this now as it was an absolute bore to get through. There are some good even great aspects about the movie but it's overshadowed by the INCREDIBLY boring story. The story is just Florence Pugh noticing weird things for most of the runtime and finally doing something about it in the last 20 minutes but none of the weird things are developed enough or interesting enough. They showed a crashing plane in the first part of the movie but then do absolutely nothing with it and it's never brought up again. I twist was incredibly stupid and bland. They pull the rug out from under you and the actual reveal is just boring and disappointing. It has an interesting idea somewhere in there but the way they presented it was not interesting at all. I also had an issue with the music. The actual songs and music they use is good but they just never let up. It sounds like they looked up the Top 20 songs of the 1950s and threw all of them into the film. As soon as one needle drop stops another one starts and it gets old after a while. There are some good things about it. Florence Pugh gives a great performance and she is easily the best part of the movie and Chris Pine gives a good performance as well. The production design is great and the cinematography is good as well. Harry Styles performance wasn't good but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was gonna be. If you really like these actors then maybe you might get something out of it but I would highly recommend passing on this.

Hilariously terrifying while also still managing to surprise me with its twists. The Menu falls in line thematically with films like Whiplash in that they both deal with the obsession of one's craft but here it's with food instead of music and I feel that works very well for this story. The story itself is very interesting and engaging for almost the whole way through. There are moments in the first act and throughout most of the film where the story stops and focuses on the conversation between certain non main characters. While this does work to show how privileged they are it does grind the film to a halt every time it does this along with the ending being a little weird which I will not spoil. I do really like how the film ends but there is one little moment with it that I wish could have been different. I really loved how food was used to help tell the story and not just the backdrop for it. I mean this both literally and figuratively but it's definitely an excellent choice to actually use the food itself to show where the characters are at in the story and the danger some of them are in. The performances here are all great. Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicolas Hoult and Hong Chau all did an excellent job here and all of their characters are really funny and some of them terrifying at the same time with Hoult being the funniest character in the film. The film also has a great sense of humor too. Almost all of the jokes got a laugh out of me and some of the jokes were told in a very clever way through the use of the food itself. This and Grand Budapest Hotel show me that Ralph Fiennes is a great comedic actor. The cinematography, editing and production design were all fantastic. The island set looked magnificent and every shot looked wonderful and very aesthetically pleasing. Mark Mylod's direction is great and I really hope he starts to direct more interesting films like this. If you are a fan of these actors or want a more unique and interesting story then check this out as soon as possible.

Knives Out is one of my Top 10 favorite films of all time so I went into Glass Onion with VERY high expectations and not only did Glass Onion surpass those expectations, I would say that this is on par with the original film almost to a point where I have difficulty saying which film I like more because both are brilliant in their own ways. Rian Johnson did a magnificent job of creating a brand new story here with a bunch of fun characters. All of the characters here are great in their own way. They play off of each other very well and they are developed well enough to care about what they are doing. The characters in the first Knives Out are fleshed out just a little bit more but they are still amazing here. Every actor here was bringing their A Game. Daniel Craig is still doing a fantastic job at playing now one of my favorite characters in film history Benoit Blanc but the rest of the cast is amazing as well with Janelle Monáe and Edward Norton doing a fantastic job with their characters especially Monáe. The writing and story are fantastic. Johnson did a great job at weaving a fun story that has many layers to it like the title of the film suggests. Every idea and setup that Johnson throws in there gets payed off in some way by the end of the film and every single payoff is wonderfully hilarious or very well written. Speaking of humor, this film is hilarious. There are a small handful of cringy jokes here and there but almost every joke here landed. I liked how this film's aesthetic falls into a season like the first film did. Knives Out has a special Fall vibe to it that I adore and Glass Onion has a Summer vibe to it that I also adore. I definitely see myself watching both during their respective seasons. I would VERY highly recommend checking this out as this is easily one of my favorite and one of the best films of the year and you don't need to context of the original film to understand this so check this out as soon as it drops on Netflix.

Del Toro once again drops another banger of a movie. Coming off of Zemeckis's film, this is the Holy Grail. First off, the stop motion animation looks absolutely spectacular and is easily the best animation from a film that I have seen all year. I desperately hope this wins Best Animated Film at the Oscars this year. Del Toro made a great decision when he decided to set the film against the background of the start of WWII and the rise of fascism as the film's core message talks about staying true to yourself regardless of what other people or leaders think of you or how you look. The story does take some creative liberties here like removing anything to deal with donkeys and pleasure island and instead replacing them with an Italian Youth Camp which accomplishes the same goal and after having a bunch of Pinocchio adaptations recently a change of setting is very much appreciated. The voice acting from everyone is great especially Ewan McGregor, David Bradley and Gregory Mann. Mann and Bradley especially have some great chemistry together and Mann has a beautiful singing voice. All of the characters are interesting to follow especially Christoph Waltz's Count Volpe who was one of the more interesting characters presented here. The score from Alexandre Desplat is whimsical and wonderful while also having that dark element in there which compliments the tone of the film greatly. The humor also tends to land a lot here as there were many jokes and moments that got me but the film also leans into its darker setting a lot as well with some very heavy scenes here and there. This is easily the best animated film to come out of 2022 so far so definitely check it out.