The Equalizer 2

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When a good friend of his is murdered, Robert McCall (played by Denzel Washington) goes on a path of revenge to find the killers. Up to this point, he has been trying to keep himself on the down-low. I will give a fair warning that this movie moves at something of a slower pace than the first film. One of the things that struck me (and sort of rubbed me the wrong way) was the fact that the trailer revealed the friend’s death. I admit that this isn’t the fault of the filmmakers, so much as the fault of whoever put the trailer together. This movie has a twist villain (and I guessed who it was pretty much right away). I won’t give it away in case anybody hasn’t seen the movie yet. The action feels pretty visceral. It almost seems like you feel every bone crack, every gunshot, and every knife slice. Washington as McCall is a force of nature as he usually is. The man actually has some pretty powerful moments. The best one in my opinion is the “What do you see when you look in my eyes?” scene. It helps that Washington and director Antoine Fuqua have worked together multiple times. The movies they have worked on together include the likes of Training Day, The Magnificent Seven, and the first Equalizer movie. I appreciate that the movie kind of wants to explore McCall as a character. I feel like I know more about his backstory through this movie than I really did watching the first film. This is the movie that looks into his past relationships more. The first film told us he had a past, and that he had past relationships. This is the movie I think told us more about who and what his past and past relationships were. There are some points where it could feel like the movie repeats elements from the first film. I also think this handles those moments better than the first film. At points, this movie could feel a little long. However, when I tried thinking of things I would cut out to shorten the movie up a little bit, nothing came to mind. A lot of the film felt necessary. The movie’s multiple subplots were actually wrapped up (and helped build McCall as a character). Overall, The Equalizer 2 has its problems. At the same time, I think I preferred this film to the original. 

8 / 10   

Van Wilder

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Van Wilder (played by Ryan Reynolds) is a party animal who has spent the better part of a decade staying in college. His father (played by Tim Matheson) cuts him off, telling Van to come with his own funding. Student journalist Gwen (played by Tara Reid) is tasked with getting an interview with Van for the school paper. Over time, Van and Gwen start falling for each other, which upsets Gwen's asshole boyfriend, Dick (played by Daniel Cosgrove). A rivalry begins between Van and Daniel. This is a simple story that we've seen played out before. Van Wilder doesn't do it great, but it does the job well enough. There are two things that this movie hinges on in order for it to work. One of them is the performance by Ryan Reynolds (something of an unknown at the time this movie came out), and he does a really good job. The other is the chemistry between Reynolds and Tara Reid. Their relationship has to be believable. Surprisingly enough, it is. Tara Reid sort of surprised me in this movie. Reid has never exactly been the strongest actress in the world, but I actually liked her in this movie. This movie also randomly has a pre-fame Aaron Paul in it. He doesn't really have anything to do with the story. But, it did make me laugh to see him in the movie, and I just felt like bringing it up. I do think this movie is decently funny for the most part. It didn't really make me burst out in laughter very often though. A lot of this comes from the movie's tendency to lean on gross-out humor, almost treating it as a crutch. I also had this sense that some of the jokes didn't really age particularly well (this movie is from the early 2000s). I still got some laughs out those jokes, I'll admit. This movie also falls into the trap of using my personal least favorite cliche (the break-up/misunderstanding). It feels forced within the context of the movie's story, and actually just feels like a set up for more conflict. It seems to happen in every romantic comedy ever. This movie doesn't really do anything new with this cliche. The whole thing does fall on the side of predictability (this was just the only time it actually bothered me in any way). Overall, I enjoyed Van Wilder. It has its flaws, but I am glad I watched it. 

6 / 10 

Once Upon a Deadpool

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Once Upon a Deadpool does something I never thought would ever work. It actually makes a genuinely believable way that Deadpool could be PG-13. Much of Once Upon a Deadpool is just the PG-13 version of Deadpool 2. It’s the wraparound story that makes this movie work better than it probably should. In case you don’t know, the wraparound for this movie is that Deadpool has kidnapped Fred Savage in an attempt to retell Deadpool 2 by reconstructing the bedroom set from The Princess Bride. In many ways, Savage acts as every fanboy with nitpicks, and he actually addresses a lot of the complaints that came out with Deadpool 2. I do have to admit that Once Upon a Deadpool is inferior to the original version of Deadpool 2. The reason is because, while this movie proved that Deadpool could work in PG-13 form, he’s still better served with an R rating. Sometimes, the trimming feels a little distracting. When it comes to the swearing, they find a clever way around it (Deadpool personally uses a bleeper that he just happens to have). But, the more violent moments are where things get distracting. It always comes across as though they are trying to cut corners. At times, it feels like these moments lose some punch in my opinion. Nowhere did I find this more evident than in the X-Force scene. Do I think Once Upon a Deadpool is worth a watch? Yes I do. Do I think you absolutely need to go out and see it in theaters? No I don’t. One of the sentiments I have heard about this movie is that it might have been better served as a special edition on Blu-Ray, and probably didn’t need to be a theatrical release. While I am glad I saw this film, I do have to echo those sentiments.

6 / 10 

Batman: Gotham By Gaslight

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So, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten the chance to review one of the DC Animated movies. The conceit of Gotham By Gaslight is something akin to a ‘what if’ story. This one deals with the idea of what if Batman fought Jack the Ripper. This film really has fun with the idea. It was interesting to see the changes given to some of the characters within the Batman mythos. I can’t go into spoilers with those characters, really. After all, who wants to give away the twists in murder mystery? The animation is pretty solid. I don’t know if I see it as some DC’s best animation work, but the effort is still there, and it should be recognized for this reason. I’ll admit that I wasn’t actually aware going in that this movie carries an R rating. But, I think the movie is actually better for it. The voice cast is generally pretty solid. Bruce Greenwood is almost on par with Kevin Conroy in terms of voicing Batman. I also loved Anthony Head as Alfred in this film. It truly makes the dynamic between Bruce and Alfred feel timeless in my opinion. I was a bit surprised by Jennifer Carpenter as Selina Kyle. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s a good actress. The last time I heard her lend her voice to a comic book character (Black Widow in Avengers Confidential: Black Widow/Punisher), it just wasn’t something that worked for me. But, she actually worked for me in this movie, and I have to respect that. I’m almost disappointed that there isn’t really a chance to fill out this world a little bit more. This movie is based off of a one-shot comic with the same name. The movie does take some liberties as an adaptation, and they don’t all sit right with me. Without giving too much away, the big thing that didn’t sit right with me—even before looking up the story of the graphic novel—was the reveal of Jack the Ripper. I didn’t necessarily hate it, and I did just kind of accept it. However, that doesn’t make it any less of a flaw in my eyes. This is especially true when I thought to myself “what if it was this character instead?” Overall, I enjoyed Batman: Gotham By Gaslight, despite some of its rockier moments. 

6 / 10 

Santa's Slay

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Santa's Slay is one of those movies that feels like it belongs in the same vein as the likes of Silent Night, Deadly Night and the remake of Black Christmas. The film stars Bill Goldberg as an evil version of Santa Claus. In this film, Santa was more of an antichrist figure. He was forced be good for 1000 years after losing a curling match (yeah, it's that kind of movie). When 1000 years are up, Santa goes on a killing spree, murdering anybody he deems naughty (or anybody he feels like, really). Bill Goldberg is clearly having fun in his role, even if he doesn't give a particularly good performance. This is true of every cast member in this movie. Goldberg aside, the cast member I truly think embodies this opinion of mine is Dave Thomas as Reverend Miller. This character is your stereotypical sleazy, hypocritical priest figure, and the man seems to be having fun every time he's on screen. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is one where he is asking his congregation to pray for and forgive a bunch of dead strippers (especially because the reverend was at the strip club the night before). It feels like it's kind of the right blend of stupid, dark, cheesy, and a little bit sleazy that this movie relishes in being, and is all the more entertaining for it. This may just be one of the strangest casts I've ever seen in a movie. The cast includes Emilie de Raven (Claire from Lost), James Caan, Chris Kattan, and Rebecca Gayheart from Urban Legend. The kills range from OK to legitimately creative. Some characters die because they shoved into things really hard. But, my favorite kill in the movie has to be one where a man is impaled to the wall with a menorah (this is the kind of genius level of stupid I want out of a movie like this). The movie also doesn't take itself too seriously-something I appreciate given how ridiculous this movie's premise is. If you enjoy off-kilter Christmas movies, bad Christmas movies, or bad movies in general, then check out Santa's Slay. You might find some legitimate bad movie fun in watching this. 

5 / 10 

Bad Times at the El Royale

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Bad Times at the El Royale centers on a group of strangers staying at a hotel as they go through their various lives. Along the way, secrets and betrayals are revealed and discovered. It is a world where not everybody is what they seem. These characters include a priest (played by Jeff Bridges), a vacuum salesman (played by Jon Hamm), an aspiring singer (played by Cynthia Erivo), the hotel’s only employee (played by Lewis Pullman), and a woman whose secrets may put everybody in jeopardy (played by Dakota Johnson). This is a movie that had me hooked from the very first second. A lot of that comes from Drew Goddard. This is the same man who wrote Cloverfield, The Martian, and World War Z. He’s also worked on television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Lost and Alias. He also directed and co-wrote The Cabin in the Woods. Goddard is multi-talented, and has worked in multiple genres. The performances in the film are incredible. While Dakota Johnson came off as miscast in the Fifty Shades movies, this is a movie where I truly feel she shines and gets to show off how talented she actually is. Jeff Bridges has a truly heartbreaking monologue where he discusses the fact that his memory is going. But, the true standout of the film is easily Chris Hemsworth. Hemsworth is the main antagonist of the film, a charismatic cult leader named Billy Lee. Hemsworth himself is a charismatic actor, and he uses this to his advantage to turn in a truly sinister performance. The set design is solid too, and a lot of this comes from Drew Goddard’s directing. The movie’s visual flair truly pops. The hotel was built on the state line between Nevada and California. The movie also makes sure to flesh its characters out as much as possible. You are given every reason to either love these characters, hate them, or—in some cases—a little bit of both. I mentioned in my review for the movie Terminal that that movie felt like Vaughn Stein copying Tarantino’s style while only understanding it at surface level, and not having the talent to make the movie as clever as Stein clearly thought it was. In my eyes, Bad Times at the El Royale is Terminal fully realized. It has the talent, charisma, writing, directing, and style to pull a Tarantino-esque film nearly perfectly. 

10 / 10 

Silent Night

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Released in 2012, Silent Night was a very loose remake of the cult classic Silent Night, Deadly Night. This film keeps the killer Santa aspect, but changes literally everything else. The film follows Deputy Aubrey Bradimore (played by Jaime King) when she is called in to work on Christmas Eve. We learn that this is Aubrey's first Christmas without her husband, who had since died. So, this is one of those movies that feels like it was made for me. I love slasher films, and off-kilter Christmas movies. I am happy to report that this movie was both. As much as I respect the sleazier original for trying to explore the film's killer in-depth, I actually think the remake is a genuinely better movie. Yeah, it is more of a generic slasher film, but I can't really complain about that. For one thing, we don't learn the killer's motive until the very end of the movie. For the most part, it's kept a mystery. The kills are incredibly mean-spirited, and I kind of love that. It feels perfect for a slasher movie set around Christmas. Jaime King, Malcolm McDowell, and Donal Logue are the best performers in the movie. In many respects, they feel too good for this movie. As for everybody else, they are about what you expect from a cheesy slasher flick. Malcolm McDowell kind of hams it up. The thing is, his character is this old man who seems to think he's more like Clint Eastwood than he actually is, and it's always entertaining in my eyes. Jaime King does do a strong job from a dramatic standpoint. Donal Logue has a great monologue near the end of the movie where he lets loose about his grievances with Christmas, and it actually kind of works. I also love this movie's send up to the "naughty" and "punish" catchphrases from the original. In this version, the killer never talks. So, he marks his victims by sending them lumps of coal. This is such a clever touch to add in my opinion. I also kind of dig the killer's look in this movie. It feels like just the right update for the original.  I can't say that Silent Night is a great movie. However, it's not bad. It's perfectly good. But, considering this was a direct-to-video remake of an '80s cult classic, I can't really fault it too much for that. 

7 / 10