Jumanji: The Next Level

image source

Jumanji: The Next Level is one of those movies that came out last year that I missed. Well, I rented it on demand a couple days ago, and got a chance to watch it. After the events of the previous movie, Spencer (played again by Alex Wolff) has recovered the game, and has been attempting to repair it. His friends find out, and enter the game themselves. However, the game is still broken and pulls Spencer's grandpa Eddie (played by Danny Devito) and Eddie's former friend and business partner Milo (played by Danny Glover) into the game as well. One of my favorite aspects of this film is seeing the actors who played avatars in the previous film show off different personality traits. The action is still pretty fun, and the cast's chemistry is still really strong. The movie also has a similar flaw to the previous film in its antagonist. The villain this time around is still pretty weak. I like Rory McCann as an actor, but he feels underutilized. I would have to say that I think Jumanji: The Next Level is about on par with the previous film. It's a fun time that's worth a watch. It's not amazing, but it's some solid popcorn fun.

7 / 10 

Bloodshot

image source

Bloodshot follows a soldier named Ray Garrison played by Vin Diesel. Throughout the course of the movie, he learns that he was killed by a team of mercenaries along with his wife. He is resurrected through the use of nanites that have essentially been fused to his bloodstream. It doesn't take long before he begins to seek revenge. I feel like I can describe this movie in one word: Alright. There isn't anything in it that I found outright terrible. But, there wasn't much in it that I found amazing either. The acting ranges. Nobody's godawful, but there's really only a couple of genuine highlights for me. Guy Pearce, Eiza Gonzalez, and Lamorne Morris are probably the people I was the most invested in, both from a performance standpoint and a character standpoint. While I think Vin Diesel is fine in the lead role, he doesn't really do anything to stand out either. The action was fine as well. There were times where I do think the action leans into using CGI a little too heavily, but it was never anything that really bothered me either. I would say if it sounds like it might be your thing, give it a watch. I don't know that I can promise anything, but you never know. If this does not sound like it would be your thing, then go ahead and skip this altogether. This is a movie that I didn't hate watching. I was just invested enough. But, I don't see it being a movie with a ton of replay value for me either. 

6 / 10 

Upgrade

image source

Grey Trace (played by Logan Marshall-Green) and his wife are in a car accident. A group of men stumble upon the wreck, kill his wife, and leave Grey paralyzed. Several months later, A reclusive billionaire offers Grey an operation that will allow him to walk again by attaching an AI to his spine. Grey and the AI, known as STEM, soon begin working together to find the men who murdered Grey's wife. So, this movie came out in 2018, but I didn't get a chance to actually see it until a couple of days ago. I just gotta say, this is a movie that really lived up to the hype. I went into this movie knowing only some of the basic premise, making some of the twists and turns a lot of fun for me as I saw them unravel as the movie went on. The film is written and directed by Leigh Whannell (the same guy who wrote Dead Silence, the first two Insidious movies and the first Saw, and also wrote and directed Insidious: Chapter 3 and The Invisible Man). This film is a true showcase for his talents. As much as I really like the performances in the film, particularly Logan Marshall-Green in the lead role, it really is Whannell who feels like the star of the show here. The whole time, there's a sense of atmosphere, making the moment where Grey truly allows to unleash STEM feel as earned as it possibly can. The violence is brutal in the best way possible, and actually managed to make me cringe in a couple of spots. Trust me, that is not an easy thing to do, and I have the utmost respect for this film for actually making it work. Overall, this is one of those movies where pretty much everything about it stood to me in a good way. If you haven't seen it yet, then I highly recommend Upgrade.   

10 / 10 

Onward

I should preface this by saying: I saw this movie at the beginning of March, before things went crazy. I've had this review ready to go for awhile, and I just haven't been able to post it until now. 

image source

Onward is the latest film from Pixar. The movie takes place in a fantasy world where magic used to exist. The fantasy creatures that inhabit the world invented technology and simply use that because it’s easier than magic. Brothers Ian and Barley (voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively) find a a spell gifted to them by their long-dead father for them to see him for one more day. I love the world this movie sets up because it’s something I would have have never thought of, or considered. The humor really works well for me. One of my favorite things about the film is the biker gang made up entirely of pixies with anger issues. I also kind of love the idea of a centaur being so lazy he just kind of uses a car to drive everywhere. Because this is a Pixar movie, you also get those emotional moments, and those work really well. They are used effectively to help build the characters. In some respects, I didn’t necessarily see all of them coming. They work in the context of the story. The road trip and quest stories aren’t really anything new, I will admit. That said, for the story this movie presents, it works pretty well. I love the voice cast too. Naturally, Chris Pratt and Tom Holland are reliable in their roles. I also kind of love Octavia Spencer in the role of the manticore. The manticore is a pretty enjoyable character in and of herself. She used to be an adventurer, but gave it up to run a restaurant. Overall, the story might be somewhat familiar, but I don’t think it really matters that much in the case of Onward.

9 / 10 

Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning

image source

Yesterday was Friday the 13th. So, let's talk about what may be my least favorite of the Friday the 13th franchise, A New Beginning. In the fifth film, Tommy Jarvis has grown up into a twenty-something teenager. He's being sent to a half-way house because he has spent the better part of his childhood institutionalized after killing Jason Voorhees. Before too long, bodies start dropping. This movie has a pretty mixed bag when it comes to kills. It's clear that most of them were neutered, even if a couple of them are still fairly effective. It also doesn't entirely help that the nudity is increased. Yes, nudity is important to the Friday legacy, but the gore and the kills are the reason fans keep coming back. The worst thing about this movie is that it's just inconsequential. The movie's whole purpose to pass the torch of serial killer from Jason Voorhees to Tommy Jarvis. That isn't what ends up happening with the franchise, which just renders this film utterly pointless. I could point to mediocre acting, but that's already kind of pointless. The characters mostly uninteresting, as well. A lot of them are killed off almost as quickly as they are introduced, The killer reveal at the end is pretty awful too. There are plenty of red herrings that actually work better than the character they actually chose for Jason's interim replacement. It should also be noted that his motivations don't actually make sense in the context of the story. Just in case someone reading this hasn't seen Friday the 13th Part V, I won't give away the film's killer reveal. I just think it's important to note that very little about Part V works for me. In a marathon of this franchise, Part V really sticks out as the one you can easily skip and lose absolutely nothing. 

3 / 10