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House Party (2023)
Brought Shame to the House Party Brand
I watched this after viewing House Party 4 and I can say that this was even worst and should lay this franchise to rest. This remake of the original House Party is one of the worst movies and worst remakes of all time. It was basically a parody of 8 Mile, the original House Party, Modern Family, and American Pie filled with bad acting filmed in what appears to be a storage unit made to look like a high school.
This is as bad as it gets. Everything was clearly done on a low budget with intent to make a huge cash grab from the name. This movie should never have been given the green light to go with a pathetic cast of no name bad actors and a terrible film crew to boot.
Yu yu hakusho (2023)
A lot of Potential Lost
I am a huge YYH fan, but this series left a lot to be desired. I had a feeling that it would short us in value with five episodes.
The pros: lots of action and fighting. The fight scenes are amazing, the special effects and music absolutely incredible!
The cons however are what take away from what made the anime series great and this one a complete miss.
1. Humor is missing. I feel like they had to get this done without offending anyone and a large part of it was to exclude the offensive humor of the anime.
2. Really bad acting. Some characters acting was horrific. Kuwabara especially. Others over did it. Botan and Hiei were the only characters to remotely seem like their anime version.
3. Storyline and plot was way off. They basically merged parts from different story arcs, but then completely skipped over the major character building that was special about each arc. They skipped the school arc with Kuwabara and Yusuke, Rando-Genkai Tournament arc, skipped through all of the early rounds of the Dark Tournament, skipped the Saint Beast story arc, and basically merged small parts of each one. You are pretty much looking at the arc with the stolen artifacts combined with the torukane compound arc skipped to the last round of the dark world tournament.
4. Many characters are missing.
I can go on and on. A lot is missing.
I gave the story a 6 of 10 because the fight scenes are very good and make up for the poor storytelling, but to disrespect the franchise with 5 episodes, boring dialogue, and no real plot is shameful.
They don't deserve a second season after this fiasco.
Nope (2022)
Sleepy Movie
This movie put me to sleep and I had to go and rewatch it to understand what it was about. The film starts off very good, but as the story moves along it really falls apart. Second time around I was falling asleep again.
The acting was not the problem. It felt like there was no chemistry between Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya. Keke delivered a great performance, but Daniel was a total buzzkill throughout the whole film. This is probably one of Daniel's worst acting performances in my opinion.
And like others have pointed out, you wouldn't really see what this film is really about until towards the end. The opening scene is great but the first hour is overall a major slow burn.
Halloween Ends (2022)
Thia Movie was Showing without Telling
I am glad that I watched this in theater because there is no way I could have stayed focused enough to catch all of the Easter eggs in this movie.
So this is supposed to be the third film of a trilogy, but the film leaves you confused which is not so much a problem with this movie but actually the entire Halloween franchise never really tells you, it shows you. That is exactly what this film did, it showed you the end instead of telling you what you should have known already which is the biggest downfall of this film.
The lack of a recap and backstory is where this film falls short. I see very little connection between this film and Halloween Kills other than Laurie Strode and her granddaughter Allyson Nelson. This film incorporates a lot of different aspects from the entire franchise, but more importantly from Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Halloween 4: the Return of Michael Myers, and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers.
The Halloween Ends plot focuses on showing you the alternate path of Michael Myers' ability to unlock evil in others. Remember Halloween 4 when Michael unlocked evil in the young innocent Jamie Lloyd that led her to stab her stepmom once she put on her mask? Myers does the same to the main antagonist in this film, Corey Cunningham. Myers unlocks evil in Corey after he suffered years of bullying for a mistaken murder he committed as a babysitter years before. Corey puts on his mask and becomes a killer, much like how Jamie Lloyd did in the end of Halloween 4, and how the children in Halloween 3 did once they were activated. Myers activates the evil in Corey as a sort of passing the torch which is what the Halloween franchise flirted with in Halloween 6 when Danny Strode was marked as the next candidate of the Thorn curse that gave Michael his powers.
Halloween Ends is a masterpiece only if you have seen the first six films and already know the lore of the Celtic curse, Sam Hain, the Myers curse, the death of the Thorn cult who controlled Michael, and the Michael Myers origin. Without prior knowledge of those stories, this film will make zero sense to you. This film is not for the casual fans. If you missed even one of the past movies from parts one through six, then you won't catch the Dr. Loomis Easter Eggs and references made throughout the dialogue by Laurie Strode or understand the ending which mirrors the beginning of the franchise.
One thing I can tell you that is great in this film is the acting. All of the actors did an excellent job. The movie was visually perfect in theater. The music was more modern, so for the old heads out there you won't be too much into the modern music. I'm an old head myself and thought there were music themes that were a bit off premise, but that is why I consider this a masterpiece as well because this particular film took the approach of an off-premise story to show you rather than tell you the story.
The action in this film is lacking. Corey Cunningham and Michael Myers work in tandem with each other but for the most part there is not a great deal of gore like past Halloween movies. Most of the kills were quick kill scenes which is unlike the past movies where suspense is built through a slow scene as Michael patiently preys on his victim. The kills seem too rushed.
To end this review, my recommendation is if you have not seen past Halloween movies then you should watch all of them before watching this one because there is no other way you will understand the connections between them all.
Captain Marvel (2019)
Disney ruined another franchise
Just got back from watching this film. Nice visual movie effects but this movie's plot was awful. There are no positive words to describe this movie. It is just a really awful movie. If you're a Marvel fan, you'll be disappointed that Disney ruined another film they put their hands on. Don't waste your money seeing it in theaters. Wait til it comes on TV.
Bird Box (2018)
Sandra Bullock Delivers
Sandra Bullock delivers a stellar performance as does her supporting cast. This movie does an excellent job at building tension and keeping you glued to your seat! The directors used plenty of symbolism, especially biblical symbolism if you pay real close attention to some of the surrounding circumstances of some scenes and not so much the dialogue.
The pitfalls though comes with the actual storyline and plot. The plot was severely under-developed and the screenwriting is some of the worst I have seen in a horror movie. The characters were introduced well, but there was one major problem. That problem was the poor development of the villain or entity that was causing people to go crazy or commit suicide. You get a glimpse of what the villain might look like from one of the crazies and a theory by one of the characters early on, but there is no definite background or confirmed appearance or backstory on the entity.
There are a few other movies that are very similar to this movie but with a much better plot and more thorough development of characters and villains.
I would not recommend wasting 2 hours of time on this movie unless you're forced to on a Halloween night and you need a mild horror film to show to people not capable of handling the more hardcore stuff.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Lives up to its name
This film lives up to its name "Infinity War." This film is an action packed thriller with nonstop battle sequences and a few filler content along the way. The special effects and CGI is extraordinary.
There are two major downsides to this film. The first and obvious one is if you have not seen any of the past 30+ Marvel movies or read any of their comics then you're not going to identify too many characters and you definitely won't know their backstory. The second downside and the one that has me giving this film a six of 10 instead of anything higher is the total lack of plot development. The plot was so poorly developed that it even affected the character development in the film.
Thanos wants to wipe out lives but it never is fully explained why. He talks of his "destiny" and need to wipe out lives but there is no backstory explaining why. You are introduced to his relationship between him and his daughter but it is so brief that you end up with more questions than answers.
The film has too many plot holes throughout that leads me to tell people who haven't seen the movie to wait until the second Infinity War movie to come out before trying to watch this one because the abrupt ending and poor storytelling will leave you very disappointed.
Watchmen (2009)
Could have been better
This definitely was far from JDM's usual roles and he definitely bombed it in a bad way. Good thing his character doesn't last long otherwise I'd be cringing throughout the entire film instead of his terrible scenes.
This movie is basically a bunch of subplots thrown together to form a nearly three hour movie. You can't really figure out what the main story is. You just have to connect it all together. Honestly, this would have been much better as a trilogy or even a TV series. The subplots were all red herrings that took away from the main story of the world being on the brink of annihilation.
I don't particularly care for the political, social, and amoral tone of the movie either but I understand the purpose of using it. The action scenes were pretty cool and short-lived. The film has romance and what appeared to be unintended or possibly intended dry comedy.
Anyways the Watchmen have been around for a long time with their roles being passed on from one political era to another or from one social generation to another. I'll let you interpret that, but either way they are supposed to be humanity's keepers until one of the watchmen goes rogue (or not depending on how you see it). You should definitely understand American exceptionalism and compare the Watchmen as operating within the culture of a police state, hence the whole Who is watching the watchmen tag you'll see early on.
There is a lot of symbolism in the film so I definitely recommend watching it more than once but the more you watch it the more your view of the film's quality will decrease because the plot is masterfully represented in a symbolic way but the screenwriting is so bad that you don't catch the actual story unless you watch it more than once or is a fan of the comics and understand the actual story.
Black Panther (2018)
Really Marvel ... You Can Do Better
No consistency in this film. Wakanda has great technology and people dress well in some parts but then look half poor and half rich in other poverty-appeared areas. So much technology but primitive weapons. This really made no sense, but that basically sums up most of the movie.
The movie itself is longer than it needed to be, and it was god awful boring. This is probably the worst Marvel movie they have ever made. No humor, poor character development, and the plot is not clear until 70% into the movie.
The cinematography was also inconsistent. At one point I thought I was watching Men in Black, another resembled The Fifth Element, and another resembled King Arthur. Video quality quickly went from one scene looking like a movie you expect to see in 2018 with amazing CGI then the next few scenes look straight out of an 80s film.
The film bounced around areas with no real purpose. One moment in space, then in the jungle, then in Korea, then back home. Why was T'Challa bouncing all over the place? This needs to be better explained. His backstory is also almost nonexistent except for his one battle in the beginning over what exactly between the two tribes? Leadership? Food? What? This needs to be explained more clearly.
The lack of clear explanation of anything is why I can't give this movie anything more than a 3. That is being generous.
Sons of Anarchy (2008)
Show follows the rules of karma too much
You know it's a bad sign when a show keeps the same intro through the first four seasons and through its peak seasons.
Sons of Anarchy developed the story and characters very well and never broke them away from their typical nature. I applaud the writers on maintaining that aspect.
The show focuses on the life of Jax Teller and his business and personal relationships.
I noticed the show becomes very predictable after a while. They go based on the what goes around comes around karma. Each season focuses on bad deals, betrayals, suspected deals with the police, attempted hits, kidnappings, accidental killings, prospects getting killed constantly, etc. After a point if you don't see a murder then it didn't happen, because the show avoids cliffhangers.
For the most part I think the show fell apart with the murder of Tara Knowles and hanging on way too long to Gemma Teller. Gemma and Unser should have been killed a long time ago around season 3 or 4. I just about nearly quit watching the show, because I got fed up with how despicable and untouchable Gemma was and the complete lack of knowledge the writers had about the Justice system and police investigations.
Klay Morrow really made the show worth watching along with Tara, Opie, and Piney. When you kill off characters you put your story at risk of falling apart and this is exactly what happened. Likewise a story can also fall apart by holding onto a bad character way too long.
Men in Black³ (2012)
Secrets Revealed
I would have given this movie a 7.5 of 10 so I rounded it up to a 8. Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones / Josh Brolin) team up again for another mission. While television previews indicate that they are trying to save the world again it does not tell you much of other plot details.
Agent J travels back in time to save both the world and his partner who is targeted to be assassinated. The beginning and end of the movie is in present day while the rest of the movie is based in 1969 New York. Tommie Lee Jones does not actually have much film time outside the first 10 minutes of the movie and last few minutes.
Agent J on his journey discovers what truly happened to Agent K to cause him to become the old grumpy guy he is, but also some personal details regarding his childhood which led to his chosen profession in the future. Between Agent J and the young Agent K they team up to correct the past from being changed so there is a future.
I watched this movie in 3D which in my personal opinion was a bit of a headache and not of great quality. The movie quality itself was good, and the plot was definitely original, but I wouldn't watch it in 3D and I would not recommend to friends to watch it in 3D.