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Reviews
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Best sequel since Evil Dead II
Guys, the hype is real: EVIL DEAD RISE is AMAZING! It's leagues better than the previous Evil Dead film from 2013.
It has a really good script and fantastic performances from the whole cast, and it has characters you actually care about. You don't want to see anything bad happen to these characters, which is an important element that most horror movies don't even try to achieve.
Evil Dead II reinvented The Evil Dead and turned it into a bizarre horror-comedy that horror fans worship. Evil Dead Rise is more of a straight-up sequel to the original: brutal horror with the same twisted sense of humour, minus the slapstick comedy elements of Evil Dead II, although there are hints of that.
Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Why, Lord? Why have you forsaken moviegoers?
I honestly was looking forward to this movie but man, the anticipation wasn't worth it. It's the same movie as the previous version just waaay longer and more boring. Oh well. Hopefully Snyder's new Zombie movie will be better.
Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors (2018)
Trolls-get a life!
It's a cartoon made for children but grown men go out of their way to bash it because it's based on superhero comics and it offends them because it's with girls.
The Thing (1982)
Good effects: otherwise it's trash.
Good effects: otherwise it's trash. If you want trash, this is it. You want a story and you want real characters? Try literally anything else.
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020)
Better than 'Deadpool'!
'Birds of Prey' is a really wonderful time. In terms of the films that DC/Warner Bros has been making the last 20 years, this picture is one of most entertaining, if not one of the best.
It feels like the film that 'Deadpool' (2016) wanted to be but couldn't quite live up to. Taking a page from 'Deadpool', the film uses Harley Quinn as a fourth-wall-breaking narrator, but seems to make better use of it than 'Deadpool' ever manages.
'Birds of Prey' clever screenplay that hits all the beats that it should while doing so in fun and unexpected ways. It features a very strong cast, with Ewan McGregor and Margot Robbie giving career standout performances.
While the film is titled 'Birds of Prey' with the subtitle mentioning Harley Quinn, make no mistake: this is the Harley Quinn movie. For comics fans expecting to see a story centred on familiar 'Birds of Prey' characters, you will likely be disappointed. But for the fan of 'Harley Quinn' comics, particularly the Conner-Palmioti comics, you will be pleased. As faithful an adaptation as one can hope for.
Overall, for comics fans or casual viewers, this is one entertaining film.
Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
UGHH
Why do they even bother making games like this? Oh yeah: money.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)
Incredible depressing
What's left to say? It's incredible long, boring, bleak, senseless, and even depressing. The last 30 minutes is a long CGI fight scene that feels out of place with the bleak and depressing tone the film has before it. The fight scene is still bleak and grey-so much grey-with a feeling that the producers suddenly changed their minds about what kind of movie to make.
Please, save yourself the therapy: skip this one.
Oculus (2013)
Boring and uninspired
Despite having a rabid fan base, this is probably writer-director Mike Flanagan's weakest film. It feels more like a 10-minute student film that was stretched out to feature length.
Very weak screenplay and weak performances from actors that are capable of so much more-and a film maker we all know is capable of brilliance.
It disappoints from start to finish. Watch Gerald's Game or Hush instead.
Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
UGHH
Why do they even bother making games like this? Oh yeah: money.
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Missed the mark.
From a production standpoint: this film is bloody brilliant. Expert craftsmanship all around from the photography, editing, acting. I imagine this was a very difficult film to make and was handled with expertise.
The screenplay was very disappointing, however.
The racing scenes are fantastic, but most of the non-racing scenes are just cookie-cutter and uninspired. If the racing scenes weren't so thrilling and engaging, this movie wouldn't have a leg to stand on. There are certain themes and elements which James Mangold does so well-and you can expect to see them in this film-but they're never really explored with much depth. Themes such as fatherhood, sacrifice, independence in spite of authority, what a man must do to take care of his family, a child's expectations of their father; all of these are just lifeless, dead on arrival.
There's one female character in the film and she gets to sit at home and be the supportive wife to Christian Bale's character. That said, this is one of Christian Bale's best performances. He steals every scene he's in-but, unfortunately he only is ever given the same 3 beats to play. How many times can you watch him get angry when someone tells him he can't do something? Entertaining as it may be, it grows stale after a while.
The two-and-a-half-hour run time feels like three. Fantastic editing not withstanding, at least thirty minutes of the film could have cut. Cut this film down by thirty minutes, and you have a serious Oscar contender. Keep it the way it is, and you have a real letdown of what could have been one of the year's best.