The Predator

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The Predator is the fourth film in the Predator franchise. Shane Black co-wrote this film alongside Fred Dekker (the man who directed The Monster Squad). Black also served as the film's director. As much as I love Shane Black, and as much as I was anticipating this movie, it was a pretty mixed bag. The performances in the movie are good (Boyd Holbrook and Olivia Munn serve as standouts). However, some of the characters in the film feel underutilized. For example, Jake Busey appears in the movie as the son of Gary Busey's character from Predator 2. This was something that interested me in the movie when I had first heard about it happening. Ultimately, he only appears in one scene, and has no development to him whatsoever. A lot of the characters feel thin. The soldiers in this movie have quirks instead of personality. If they weren't played by people like Thomas Jane and Keegan-Michael Key, I wouldn't be able to tell you a thing about them. Hell, their names are brought up multiple times, and I struggled to remember which name belonged to which character. The humor was incredibly hit and miss, with more misses than hits (something I never expected out of a Shane Black script). Every time Keegan-Michael Key cracked a joke, I just didn't laugh. The action scenes are probably the best parts of the movie. They are actually very well handled. The characters that Holbrook, Munn, and Jacob Tremblay play are actually the characters who seem like they have the most development to them, and really were the only characters that I found myself invested in in any way. A lot of the reviews I've seen for this movie said it was a giant mess. I see where those reviews are coming from, but i don't know if I can go that far. It may seem like I'm bashing on this movie, and that's not my goal. I didn't hate this movie, I just didn't love it either. My feelings towards The Predator are more mixed than anything else.

5 / 10   

Sorry to Bother You

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Sorry to Bother You was something of an interesting experience to watch in theaters. I watched this movie  having occasionally seen ads, and never sure of what exactly the plot was going to be. It was enough to get my interest. It started off by going in what seemed like a normal direction. The film follows Cashis Green (played by Lakeith Stanfield) as he rises through the ranks as a telemarketer. For most of the movie, he seems like he's kind of just going through the motions. His girlfriend Detroit (played by Tessa Thompson) and his friends (played by Steven Yeun and Jermaine Fowler) are much more extreme with their personal beliefs, going so far as to quit their jobs until they get better pay. This kind of movie seems like one of you've seen multiple times before, but writer and director Boots Riley tells the story in a unique, almost drug trip kind of way. Without giving anything away. Once the character Steve Lift (played by Armie Hammer) enters into the film, this movie really takes a weird direction that I really didn't see coming. This movie has a pretty strong anti-capitalist leaning, but is easily the best movie since Fight Club to really tackle this subject. It's weird. It's surreal, but you can never really predict where exactly it's going to go or how it's going to get there, which is why I really do have to recommend watching this movie.

9 / 10  

The Lion King

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The Lion King is a story everybody knows by now. This movie is seen as the height of the Disney Renaissance, and is, therefore, a landmark film by all accounts. I was curious because this was the first time I had seen the movie in about five years. This movie is almost 25 years old, and it still holds up remarkably well. The flaws (however few there are) were a little more noticeable when I looked at this movie with a more critical lens. Some of the characters had their voices swapped when it came time for that character to sing, and it could be jarring. That said, the animation is still excellent. The songs are just as catchy now as they were when I was a kid. It probably helps that I watched it with an audience that knew all of the songs. There is a sad scene in the movie that still hits me, even after all of these years. The humor still really works, especially when it easily could have come off as forced. Instead, it feels fairly natural. Scar is an amazing villain (and Jeremy Irons delivers a perfect performance). The same could easily be said of James Earl Jones as the voice of Mufasa. Despite minor noticeable flaws, this movie still holds up years later as one of Disney’s greatest efforts.

9 / 10 

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

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Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) must deal with the fallout after a mission goes wrong. Hunt and his team are shadowed by CIA agent August Walker (played by Henry Cavill in what might be his best performance as of yet), who is essentially there to course correct. The team is tasked with breaking Solomon Lane (Sean Harris reprising his role from Mission: Impossible - Fallout) out of police custody. This is probably the best Mission: Impossible movie yet. This movie has a lot of callbacks to previous movies, essentially tying the whole franchise together. There's a character introduced in the movie called the White Widow (played by a scene stealing Vanessa Kirby). She is the daughter of arms dealer Max from the first movie. This is something I welcome because it really ties everything into being a part of a bigger universe, compared to the first five movies having more of an episodic feel to them. Once again Rebecca Ferguson as Ilsa Faust proves to be a standout. This movie fleshes out the character of Solomon Lane much more. I came out of Rogue Nation finding him to be fairly one-note, and not very memorable. In this movie, he's actually fairly intimidating and manages to go head-to-head in a fist fight with Ilsa. The humorous moments in the movie actually work. They could have easily come off as forced, but they work within the context of the movie. As usual, the action sequences (and Tom Cruise's dedication) are nothing short of amazing. This is a movie has to be seen, and I think is destined to be a classic of the action genre.

10 / 10  

The Happytime Murders

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In a world where humans and puppets co-exist in everyday life, the world's first puppet cop, named Phil Phillips, is now a private detective who had been disgraced as a cop. When someone starts killing the cast members of a puppet-led sitcom called The Happytime Gang, Phillips must team up with his old partner (played by Melissa McCarthy) to solve the murders. This movie was a solid way to kill 90 minutes. I honestly found it genuinely funny, despite being torn apart by most critics. There were some moments where I genuinely belly-laughed, though I will admit there weren't a ton of those. That said, I did laugh a lot throughout. I also actually bought the chemistry between Melissa McCarthy and the puppet, which is something that can easily be difficult to do. The sense of humor leans heavily into raunch territory, which is going to be off-putting for a lot of people. This is something that could have backfired, but it really worked for me. Some of the jokes with Joel McHale did get old after awhile because they just felt like variations of the same joke. The Happytime Murders worked in a lot of the areas where it should have worked. The performances worked for me. The mystery worked for me. Occasionally, some of the jokes don't land (which is typical for a comedy). This is a movie I recommend seeing, but only as a rental, and not in theaters.

7 / 10 

BlacKkKlansman

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Colorado Springs detective Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington) sees an ad in the newspaper for the KKK. He calls the telephone number, and ends up infiltrating the infamous organization (even going so far as to become a member). Because Stallworth himself is black, a fellow police officer (played by Adam Driver) impersonates Stallworth in real life. The investigation is meant to expose the organization as they are currently (circa 1970s) trying to sanitize themselves and become more mainstream. This idea is something that is completely insane, and is completely true. Amid Stallworth's investigation he develops an over the phone relationship with the grand wizard of the Klan, David Duke (played by Topher Grace), as well as the man who runs the Colorado Springs branch of the Klan, named Walter (played by Ryan Eggold). Stallworth also develops a budding relationship with an outspoken activist (played Laura Harrier). The movie has very heavy political message. I don't know if I necessarily agreed with everything that was said, but I also understood where Lee (and the overall story) was coming from. That said, this is an incredible movie. Acting-wise, everyone brings their A-game. John David Washington shows a lot of his father's level of talent, and even channels his mannerisms at several points in the film. Topher Grace is excellent as the grand wizard of the Klan, expertly showing that the man is stout in his beliefs. There are a lot of humorous moments in this movie that is otherwise a drama, and they could have easily come off as tonally jumbled, but I think Lee handles them in just the right way. The very end of the film could be off-putting for some, but I do think it helps show that racism is still very much an issue, and probably won't go away anytime soon. This is a movie I recommend watching. It's a really good flick, even of some of the modern political references can be a little jarring, and not entirely needed.

9 / 10  

Ready Player One

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In the year 2045, humanity has reached a breaking point and spends most of its time in virtual reality as a way to escape the far more bleak real world. Gaming guru James Halliday (played excellently by Mark Rylance) created the virtual world known as the Oasis, and hid an easter egg within, prompting players and their avatars to search the world of the Oasis to find said easter egg. Director Steven Spielberg gives this movie his usual high standard visual flair. The effects in the movie are phenomenal. It takes something special for a movie to hook right from the opening second, but I was on board with the film as soon as Van Halen's "Jump" began playing (perfectly foreshadowing the movie's phenomenal soundtrack to come). Everyone performance in the movie works (even some of the film's smaller performances). You believe the friendship between protagonist Wade and his in-game best friend, Helen aka Aech. Ben Mendelsohn has become a go-to actor for villains in the past few years. He and Hannah John-Kamen both play excellent antagonists. The standout in this movie has got to be Olivia Cooke for me however. This woman has come a long way from her work in the movie Ouija. The easter eggs littered throughout this movie are amazing, and are actually woven into the story very well. They could have easily felt forced, but they didn't. As much as I loved this movie, there is a minor flaw I have that I would like to address. Occasionally, the movie does rush through some explanations, when going through them a little bit more could have made the writing a little tighter. Other than those few and far between dips in the storytelling, Ready Player One was absolutely one hell of a recommended ride.

9 / 10