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Reviews
Insidious: The Red Door (2023)
I hate it had to end this way
If you've seen Insidious & Insidious: Chapter 2 congratulations! You've already seen this movie. Insidious: The Red Door is a very underwhelming finale to the once promising franchise. They start off with making Josh and Dalton forget the events of Insidious 1 & 2 which makes their relationship very awkward.
The reason why i say you've seen this movie before is because it's literally the first two movies without the coma & Josh being possessed. Dalton realizes he can astral project again and gets caught again. Josh goes into The Further and saves him...AGAIN. There's no explanation to The Further or the demon that constantly haunts Dalton. The only new information taken from this movie is that Josh's father could Astral Project & he died in a mental hospital. Other than that there is nothing new brought to the table. Showing the two assistants from the first movie, Elise & the red faced demon was not enough to cover up the fact that this is a horrible movie.
The Jump scares are lazy. They try to force a relationship between Dalton and Chris (terribly written character btw). It's just a lot of stuff going on that has very little to do with the main plot. I never thought i'd see a Bob Ross horror film until now. If you told me that the only way to stop the demons in Insidious was to PAINT i would laugh...until i realized you were 100% serious.
Save your money people.
M3GAN (2022)
It's exactly what you'd expect...but it isn't?
Going into this movie I could already see how it was going to turn out. I knew the entire plot without having to view the movie. It was everything I thought it would be. What i didn't expect was for the movie to be as entertaining. It's to be taken serious but also not too serious? Fits perfectly with the likes of Bride/Seed Of Chucky.
I found myself laughing during the movie more than I expected to and that's okay. The M3gan character was a refreshing change that was needed for this genre. She started off as innocent but quickly developed into the antagonist and did not shy away from her actions. Seeing her be accused of things and standing behind her actions made the scenes a lot better.
While the plot is predictable, early on I accepted that this film is not one to try and scare you. I found myself laughing more than jumping but it's cool. It's a fun horror movie. I'd rather that than no jumps and a blank face the entire time. Go see it. Definitely worth it.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
13 years for this?
13 years for the same exact movie is INSANE. Avatar: The Way of Water was supposed to be a highly anticipated sequel but ends up falling short of its expectations. Visually the movie is stunning. Zero Complaints there. The introduction to new characters seemed like it would take the film itself over the top. Boy was I wrong!
The movie has very little to do with the "Way of Water" as projected in the title. Yes a lot of the movie is spent in the water but there's nothing that ties the water avatars to the plot other than the fact that Jake and his family are seeking refuge. Once that's been established it's literally Avatar 1 all over again. They learn the way of the natives, a major loss occurs and then it's war. A simple plot with a bunch of scenes that don't really add to the quality of the film if you're looking for a great story.
Dead characters were brought back as avatars and did not capitalize off of the opportunity. The motive was to infiltrate the community to apprehend Jake & they had the perfect tools to make it a disguise/reveal moment but chose to have the Enemy Avatars act just like their human forms. A complete waste of an antagonist. I was very unimpressed with the direction they chose
Overall it's a beautiful movie. The plot is very lazy. Feels very copy and pasted. If you've never seen the first one....you can watch this one and probably think it's the greatest thing ever. For those who have seen the first one...This AINT IT.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
BEST MCU FILM TO DATE
I went into the theater looking for every reason to not like this movie. I was ready for a subpar sequel to a film I think is ridiculously overhyped. What I did not expect was a Cinematic Masterpiece.
From start to finish Wakanda Forever gives you everything you could ask for in its 2 hour & 41 minute runtime. Action scenes will have you on the edge of your seat. The Climax will have you emotional. This movie did a great job on making it feel like the viewer is apart of whatever is happening.
Cinematography is 10/10. Wakanda is always beautiful on screen but additional locations especially the one hosting the antagonist stole the show for me.
Letitia Wright led the way with her recurring role and made every scene count. Flawless performance from her & the supporting cast consisting of Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira & more. The way they took real life issues and portrayed them in the film really made the story hit close to home although it's being held in a fantasy universe. Tenoch Huerta's role as Namor could be the #2 MCU villain so far with Thanos still claiming the #1 spot. You were able to reason with his decisions and fully understand his point of view rather than the traditional "Over the top" villains that just act based on their strength level.
The plot was perfect. With the passing of Chadwick Boseman (RIP) This movie was able to exist with no flaws even with his absence. I could honestly say the movie may not have been as great if he were in it. And that's because he wouldn't have fit. They handled his passing in the movie in a way that set the tone & passed the torch to the rest of the cast to finish what they originally started.
Overall...Best movie I've seen all year. #1 MCU movie so far. Could arguably be in the top 10 movies of all time.
Halloween Ends (2022)
TOP 5 WORST HORROR MOVIE EVER
Alright. Lets get into it. Halloween Ends has to be the worst movie in the franchise and easily the worst horror movie of 2022. The characters were bland as hell. No one stood out in this movie. They were very easy to forget and dislike. Whoever wrote this film needs to stay out of the film industry. Let this be the last film you ever write.
The plot continuing from 2021's Halloween Kills was completely abandoned and replaced with Bonnie & Clyde meets "How to be Michael Myers for Dummies". A great portion of the film was about an entirely new character taking lessons (YES LESSONS) on how to kill from Michael Myers. On the Job training for the position of Michael Myers would be the perfect way to describe this. Rather than build this character to maybe establish future films around him they went the easy route and made him the typical misunderstood kid who gets bullied & has family issues. One day he gets tired of the treatment and he snaps and Boom now we have Michael Myers in training. I say in training because there are scenes where they are TAG TEAMING in kills. WHY.
They tried to force a love story with this film as well and I was highly annoyed with it. Everything felt forced and it seemed like it was moreso trying to romanticize the situation of people dying instead of focusing on the task of making sure Michael Myers is dead.
The ending was very lackluster. Fake Mike tries to do real Mike's job and failed. You know the rest. Real Mike comes in..They fight and he loses.
If I could give this movie 0 stars I would. Save your time. Don't do this to yourself.
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
Leave these old movies alone.
Another attempt to capitalize off of nostalgia results in millions of dollars wasted and an extremely mid movie to show for it. Visually this movie was very regular. Being that it's a predecessor of the 2009 movie I commend the consistency. Let's get to why we're here. This movie was absolutely unnecessary. It's literally the same movie from 2009 with a quite impressive Plot Twist that failed to lift this film from the grave it dug itself in. This went from a subpar slasher film to Spy vs Spy: The Movie 60 minutes into the film. Ditching the horror element entirely for shock value. Take away the plot twist and you have the exact same movie from 13 years ago. The movie explained she was crazy but we already knew that. No backstory of her upbringing or how she ended up in the Psych Ward. Waiting 13 years to tell us what we already knew is crazy. Leave the old movies alone. Stop being lazy and create something new for a change.
Bullet Train (2022)
Movie of the year contender
Bullet Train is by far the best movie I've seen so far this year. The action & comedy blend well and there are even some emotional moments within the story that bring it all together. Brad Pitt is the main character but Brian Tyree Henry's role as Lemon stole the show to me. Originally introduced as an Antagonist (one of many) his superior acting in both tense and humorous moments stood out in what I would call a breakout performance. Visually this movie is amazing. Effects aren't too over the top and the color grading was flawless. The plot itself was a very different approach than expected. The attempt to keep things as simple as possible but it only became more chaotic overtime. The random enemy cameos were dope as well. They were interesting enough to fit perfectly where they were without overstaying or wanting more. Overall this movie was a great one. Definitely recommend it !
Doragon Bôru Sûpâ Sûpâ Hîrô (2022)
Marketing Wins Again
It's always nice to see DBZ on a big screen. This would've been better as a extension to the never-ending Dragonball Super series instead of an actual movie. The visuals were Flawless. Introducing an older Pan was the best idea because she easily stole the show with every scene. The Plot unfortunately was very lackluster. It felt very forced and was written to force a situation that did not live up to its potential. The plan was to get Gohan back to his "Cell Saga" form. Even went as far as introducing "Cell-Max" as a villain. Cell Max had ZERO to do with Original Cell other than visual similarities. No backstory..no emotional ties to the story. The hype around this movie was Gohan's new transformation which maybe lasted around 5 minutes of screen time. There was no big fight between him and Cell Max to lead to the final blow. Just a transformation, Cell getting restrained and the final blow. The extra characters joining the fight made it a bit entertaining but it still fell short in my eyes. I'm not mad at the characters introduced at all. They are perfect for the series but deserved their own spotlight vs trying to fit with the initial plan.
Nope (2022)
Absolutely Not
From a visual standpoint this movie is amazing. The camera work is great. That's about it. The plot was insanely boring & there were parts that had zero to do with the main plot (The Monkey attack scene for example) that were the most interesting scenes although it wasn't necessary. The acting was cool but seeing those characters in other films where they've really excelled made it extremely hard to like them in this movie due to the lack of common sense that was written for their roles. THIS IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE. There was nothing scary about it at all. It was a "Get Rich Quick" themed movie. They had no type of game-plan to fight the Alien. The entire focus was put on how to get this on camera to sell it and make money. Due to the way this was written it made it very easy to root for the alien which provided one of my favorite scenes in which it showered the house with Blood and everything else it consumed. Would've loved to learn more about the alien other than the fact that it hid behind a cloud that doesn't move...that is until it randomly transformed into one of the worst monster designs I've seen in a movie. It went from a Flying Saucer to a Hot Air Balloon with ZERO explanation. The transformation literally came out of nowhere and was very unnecessary. It didn't need this new form to wreck havoc earlier in the movie but now all of a sudden it's mandatory when it's only 3 people left for it to hunt down ??? NOPE is the perfect title for this film because of the way everything played out. In my honest opinion Jordan Peele is now 1/4 on movies. "Hype Culture" will make this movie successful but if you eliminate his other work of art and go into this movie with a fresh mind you will be extremely disappointed.