Violent Night (2022)

Violent Night. A feel good Christmas movie that keeps the spirit of Christmas alive, then Santa uses a sledgehammer to smash the head of a bad guy.

Die Hard meets Santa Claus with a sprinkle of R-Rated Home Alone while simultaneously feeling like a Christmas movie.

The Christmas feel of this movie actually has a very wholesome relationship between Santa and the little girl hostage. Without her, this whole movie doesn't work. Santa has his own redemption arc and has get back his Christmas spirit while having to find his violent origin to save the day. This movie does a really good job of feeling like a Christmas while also being very gruesome with kickass action scenes. This is not a family movie and it's very bloody.

Downside, beside the little girl, the rest of the hostages you don't care about. None of them feel likable to me. The bad guys are bland and only serve as cannon fodder for Santa.

Overall, 9/10. I highly recommend. I could use a Santa origin story for sure.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Well, it was better than Thor: Love and Thunder. I thought the tributes to Chadwick were good. Other than that, the movie was kinda just boring and way too long. Shuri was a favorite for me in first film, but the role of Black Panther does not suit her. Should've just cast him. And female Iron Man wasn't good either. Just annoying. Of course, the race swaps to Namor and his entire origin and some other on the nose social commentary were cringe AF. Even without the wokeness, the movie is far inferior to the previous installment. How Black Panther dies is pretty stupid. Should let him go out like a hero instead of dying from not Covid.

There were some entertaining portions though. Had some spots where you could feel the sadness. Most of the acting was good, but way too much overacting. The actress who played the Queen was really good.

Overall, it's boring, too long, and the wokeness sucks. Disney Marvel kills another franchise as M-She-U Stage 4 ends with a flatline. 3.5/10.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Wanda in the Multiverse of Madness is a classic bait and switch that is a well acted movie with an underwhelming plot where the titular character takes a back seat in his own movie and continuity means nothing.

The writing is horrendous. Sacrificing a character to make another character look better is not good storytelling. Male characters are dumbed down and made to look terrible just to make to the female characters look good. It doesn't make any sense. Doctor Strange is the titular character, so the story is supposed to run through him, but the story completely runs through Wanda (main antagonist) and America Chavez (supporting character). Doctor Strange is essentially cucked the entire movie. He doesn't even defeat Wanda, she has a change of heart. These Hollywood weirdos can't seem to stop inserting woke identity politics and when they do, it completely kills continuity and makes no sense in the story. Oh yeah, capitalism is evil. Super powerful characters die when how they died should not have killed them. How does a statue kill Captain Marvel? Shredding Reed Richards won't kill Reed Richards.

The cameos are underwhelming and they completely disrespect a pillar of Marvel. Everyone wanted John Krasinski as Reed Richard/Mr. Fantastic, but he shows up and 10 minutes later is insta-killed by Wanda, same as Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Black Bolt. On par with wokeness, the females characters are the only ones that actually put up a fight against Wanda.

Wanda devolves as a character as well. All the progress she made at the end of WandaVision, she just goes evil because the Darkhold is corrupting her. It is such a cop out.

The only redeeming part of this movie, apart of the acting, is the horror elements from Sam Raimi. There were some very good horror scenes in this movie.

I could keeping going on, but this movie is woke garbage and that's not even the worst part. The story writing is nonsensical and it completely betrays the very fabric of the MCU. Welcome to the M-She-U. Rating: Trash..3/10.

X (2022)

A B-List horror flick with very minimal plot lines and does a terrible job trying to connect Christianity to the ensuing massacre. The preacher, who was the prior mentioned attempt, rambling on the tv the entire movie has no use to the plot except for a last ditch effort to connect him to the main character. I guess the killers calling the group a bunch of degenerates is the attempt to connect to christianity, but the wife's motivation is sexual sadisim/jealousy. The acting is average, but doesn't detract from the movie. Some kills are gory, but not to an extreme level. There isn't anything ground breaking about any of the kills. None of the characters are likeable, except for the guy who got killed off first, so I actually found myself hoping most of them would die. The movie does well in giving a creepy vibe throughout. Overall, the movie is below average. I wasn't not entertained, but definitely only see it if there is nothing else. 4/10.

Uncharted (2022)

Based off the Naughty Dog video game franchise starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Victor "Sully" Sullivan. Both the lead actors were excellent, but too much of Mark Wahlberg in Sully and it's hard to imagine Tom in that role. I can definitely see room for growth into their game counterpart as this is an origin movie so I forgive this aspect. The action sequences were top notch, but again, but it was toned down for what Uncharted was in the video game. The movie looks fantastic and some of the scenes are stunning. I have a love for treasure hunting/archaeological movies, so I did find great enjoyment in the story. Overall, this is an excellent adventure movie and that alone is worth price of admission, however, it does not feel like Uncharted for the most part. With that being said, you do leave feeling thoroughly entertained. As an adventure movie, 8/10. As an Uncharted movie, 6/10.

Blacklight (2022)

Blacklight is a standard action flick that doesn't do anything that is original. I left the theater feeling neither impressed nor disappointed. It tries to go into some intellectual commentary about people, but again, it's nothing that hasn't been done before. Liam Neeson's character is pretty much the only redeemable thing about the film. He isn't some super agent and does well playing a guy close to retirement. His daughter is unbearable and it feels they tried to make her the voice of reason. Every opinion she has is a bad take on the situation. Overall, there are some entertaining aspects to it, but the movie is mostly just boring. 4/10.

Jackass Forever (2022)

Jackass is disgusting, painful, graphic, and hilarious. The only question that matters, is it entertaining? You are damn right it is. I was laughing hard and cringing. Jackass delivers like Jackass does. I recommend.

Moonfall (2022)

Moonfall is much better than I thought it would be. It is essentially 2012 meets Independence Day, which is not surprising considering they are all directed by the same director. The story could have been executed better than what is was, but it was super entertaining and I felt I could overlook some of the flaws. The CGI is essentially visual porn. The main characters played by Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry and John Bradley are great as usual in their roles. Michael Pena is great as always. He is such a likable guy that it carries over for me into his roles. The rest of the cast is hit and miss. The story is intriguing and the concept is original and unique. The use of conspiracy theories always is a fun concept for me. Everyone loves good a conspiracy theory. They set up a sequel that actually makes me want to see a sequel. I recommend specifically on the entertainment value. 7.5/10.

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Doctor Sleep. It's well known that the original movie was hated by Stephen King, but was loved by the audiences. This director had to balance honoring the film that it is succeeding while also honoring the source material written by King. Let me just say, he nailed it.

The story is amazing. It clearly shows the aftermath of the original movie and shows you where the characters are and how the original movie affected them. It dives into the lore of that universe and tells you how things work. To me, that is my favorite part.

The heroes of the story are top notch. Flawed, but you can relate to them. Ewan McGregor as the Dan Torrance, the kid in the original. It shows you how good of a man he has become after the struggles he had his whole life. He becomes the hero that the hotel cook knew he would be. Ewan is just stellar in his performance. Always puts on a good show, but he was was on another level in this.

The little girl, Abra Stone, is legit a BAMF. It is not one of those Mary Sue cases, as it explains very clearly why she is so powerful. When she talked massive shit to her enemies, you believed it. The actress, Kyliegh Curran, honestly stole the entire movie for me.

The villains' motivation is clearly defined and it starts their arc off right away that these people are evil, if people is what they even are. The movie does a good job of making you hate these people. Rebecca Ferguson plays the lead villain and her performance is nothing short of phenomenal.

Now about that ending though. Fans of The Shining will not be disappointed. The ending is one giant fan service to the fans, so you can probably see where they are going at the end. Honestly, even without that ending, the story was so fulfilling in it's own right and the characters are so well developed that when it does get to the ending, the fan service is like having your cake and eating it too.

Overall, this is my favorite movie of the year so far. When the credits rolled, I verbally said, "Wow". I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. It explains everything well and the characters are developed well. It's a 10/10. I highly, highly, recommend this movie. I also recommending watching The Shining as well, so it's fresh in your mind and you can appreciate the movie more.

Joker (2019)

Joker. Wow. I don't know where to begin. My mind is blown. I felt so bad for the Arthur. A guy suffering from severe mental illness who honestly just wants to be happy. Seeing the slow deterioration of his mental health due to society's mistreatment, plus just bad break after the other, how could one not snap. I mean, I started rooting for him by the end and just take out all the people who did. Speaking of the end, by that time, he is the Joker. Joaquin Phoenix is just amazing and I can see an Oscar for this performance. For those expecting/wanting a ton of action, this is not the movie. It is a character movie that moves slow. The one criticism I was having with this movie was the relationship of Arthur and Sophie was that it seemed out of place, but how that turns out completely explains why. I didn't think I wanted to see this movie when it was announced, but now I am saying you need see this movie. 10/10.

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)

First things first, the cast is great. The main four and the addition of Zoey Deutch was top notch. She gave a stellar performance of a dumb blonde. They added a new type of zombie which was a great addition to the zombie lore. The story is fine, but let's be real, we watch it for zombie kills and humor. There is a funny callback to the previous movie about a certain death of an iconic actor. Stay for the mid credits scene, it is well worth it. Overall, a solid movie. 8/10.

Shazam! (2019)

Shazam! You can tell when a studio is confident in their film when allowing reviews 2 weeks before it's wide release and DC Films rightfully should be confident. This is one of DC's best movies to date. If this is the direction DC is going, then they are trending upwards big time. Shazam's origins is exactly how a kid would react, go about discovering his powers, and learning to be a hero. The movie pokes fun at some superhero tropes, most notably a scene with Mark Strong and Zachary Levi during the final fight. The jokes are funny and land every time. I haven't genuinely laughed in a DC movie like that in a long time. CGI is excellent. The movie keeps it's comedy roots with Shazam, but also keeps it a bit dark as well. Blends both the dark of the DCEU and comedy of Shazam very well. I believe there was some nods to Black Adam, but they never actually say Black Adam.

Let's talk about Shazam! Zachary Levi is the perfect embodiment of the character. His acting in on point and he plays a 14 year old kid who gains superpowers perfectly. I thought he did a better job playing a kid than the teen actor did. The teen actor, Asher Angel, does a very good job as well. For me, when he is Billy Batson, he is a bit unlikable. However, as soon as he transforms into Shazam, he is the best character. Shazam is not over powered. He struggles to fight the main bad and still hasn't discovered his full potential by the end of the film. His character has great character development with more room to grow.

Now, my favorite character in the film is the best friend of Billy Batson, Freddy Freeman who is played by Jack Dylan Glazer. His acting is phenomenal. He can play the comedic part and dramatic part perfectly. Honestly, he steals the entire movie for me.

Mark Strong as the main villain, Doctor Sivana, was was legit scary. His first scene after getting his powers actually caused some horror movie level anxiety. Mark Strong is at his best. They show his motivation, but his is essentially a stock supervillain origin and craving power motivation.

The rest of the cast is great as well. The kids were funny and they all get do some special stuff in the film that I didn't think would happen until the sequel. Story was pretty simple, not much risk taking, but it does it's job. Overall, the film was top notch and is a well put together film, both in the filmmaking aspect and the fan aspect. I highly highly recommend this film. 9/10.

2 credits scenes. One sets up a sequel that I'm not quite sure who the character was. 2nd one is a joke, which is a nod to DC fans. There is also a Superman cameo, but you do not see Henry Cavill's face. Hope that doesn't mean he is out as Superman.

Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel. First things first, the tribute to Stan Lee at the very beginning introduction was absolutely lovely. It pulled at my heartstrings. The Marvel Studios opening theme, but instead, it shows clips of Stan Lee's cameos.

Do you need to see it to understand End Game? Doubtful. First end credits scene is from End Game and the second one at the very end is not important.

With that out of the way, it is a lot better than I thought it would be. I am glad to report that. Ending fight scene was visually cool. De-aging CGI of Sam L. Jackson was spot on. You couldn't even tell it was CGI. The CGI overall is pretty good. Overall, the acting was sufficient. This is more of a fresh faced Fury than the one we know, but that is gonna happened due to the fact this is his first encounter with aliens. Ben Mendelsohn was great and the show-stealer, Jude Law and Sam L are great as always. And that is all I really have to say about that.

There are a plethora of plot holes that could have been explored such as how did so and so get this item. A big plot hole is that this is the first time Fury dealt with aliens, so how does that explain him saying the events of Thor was the first time he knew of aliens? This movie has plot holes that affect previous installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is as if the writers and directors haven't watched a single MCU film prior to making this. The comedy was mostly a miss. It wasn't cringe bad; I just didn't laugh for most of it, from all the characters. The audience in the theater did laugh at many of the jokes. They cheapen how Nick Fury looses his eye. It was a joke on the internet about how he loses his eye and that's exactly what they did. They cheapen how the Avengers got their name. It would make sense, in universe, but disrespects the legacy of the Avengers. They seem to be retconning previous story elements to shoehorn Captain Marvel to lead the Avengers post Endgame. Soundtrack was decent, but then the song by No Doubt in a fight scene made it worse. The fight scene itself was good though.

As for Brie Larson's Captain Marvel, honestly, she was great in the beginning. Snarky, quick witted, funny, and actually had a personality that we didn't see in the trailers. It, then, just stops and she becomes that character in the trailer. She has character development and is not good at every thing right off the bat. She learns how to control her powers so when she goes OP in the end, it's not out of nowhere. She does get her ass handed to her. There is hope for this character, just not in this one. As for Brie Larson's acting, I think she phoned it in for most of it. She was Kirsten Stewart level wooden. Thing is, she had flashes of great performances during this film so I know she can perform, but then it goes bye bye. Russo Brothers may be able to fix this, but Brie Larson just doesn't fit the character well.

Here we go, the politics. I didn't want to look at it through that lense, but the movie marketing kind of forced me to. Yes, there is feminist drops everywhere, but it isn't a constant beating over the head. Captain Marvel herself doesn't seem to be a feminist, well, at least, amnesiac Captain Marvel isn't. She was born in the 1970's, so obviously, I can see some of that being true, but I will say they were cringe. Smile more, etc etc. It was the stereotypical sexist men, but I can overlook that since doesn't affect the movie. What does affect the movie is when you dumb down or belittle the male characters to make the female characters look strong. Spoilers...For instance, how is a 90's earth woman gonna lecture a technologically advanced alien on astrophysics? How is calling a woman a young lady an insult? Not even taking it into account that is said by an alien. It is that kind of stuff that affects the movie. You don't need to sacrifice other characters to make the women look strong. Every male character suffers from this.

Overall, it is below average. Not bad, not good, nothing spectacular, nothing we haven't seen. Despite the length of the bad over the good, I stand by my opinion of the movie is better than I thought it would be. It has times of greatness and for the most part I enjoyed it, even with the many eye rolls. I am not gonna recommend or not recommend. If it interests you, go see it. If you can't stand politics in movies, then I suggest sit this one out. 5/10.

Justice League (2017)

Ladies and Gentleman, the Pinnacle of DC's movie franchise and the fifth installment into the yet to be titled and unofficial name "DC Extended Universe," the Justice League is finally here. After two viewings, a lot of my opinions changed, so let's cut to the chase.

Criticisms - The out of place Josh Whedon jokes brought this movie down a bit. If you are into that stuff, you will love this movie. The pacing was too quick. Warner Bros. mandating it to be under two hours hurt the film. It needed more time to slow down the pace and introduce the backgrounds of the characters in greater detail. The plot of the movie is the basic plot you would see in a standard Marvel movie. Bad guy wants to destroy the world, good guys fight bad guy. These were the weak points of the film, but nothing that hurt the fun factor nor was it overwhelming and took away from the movie.

Sustains - STICK AROUND FOR THE 2 POST CREDIT SCENES, THE HYPE IS REAL!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!! The characters are what make the movie. The chemistry is just perfect when they are together. The action is amazing, but the best scenes are when the league is sitting around talking and planning, especially when they are in disagreement. Steppenwolf is intimating as hell. Dude is straight up beast. Great villain, clear motivation. Scary dude. It is not as light hearted in tone as originally thought. It is lighter than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but when you add light hearted characters to the mix, of course, it will be less dark in tone. I think it was a great blend of seriousness and light, but still mostly serious in tone.

The Leaguers themselves. Aquaman is here. He steals the movie for me. Jason Momoa kills it. No complaints for Aquaman at all. Perfect. Aquaman hype is real. 13 months until his movie. Side note - Amber Heard as Mera is in a brief scene, but my goodness is she stunningly gorgeous. She did a fantastic acting job and her voice was very sexy.

Ezra Miller as The Flash? Yes! Yes! Yes! The Flash is a funny, lovable character. At first, I thought the The Flash was a bit dumbed down, but he really isn't. For him, he is young and naive. I would chalk up any dumb moments to him being excited/anxious about what's going on because everything that happens in Justice League is nothing he would have ever experienced or thought of experiencing ever in his life. You will see what I mean. Excited for his next movie.

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman? Yeah, y'all already know. Gorgeous, funny, and a badass. She is struggling still with the events from the her standalone movie, 100 years ago, and shows great character development. What else is there to say, she was great again.

Cyborg wasn't too bad. Nothing really made me excited for him, but he was good. Nothing bad to say about Cyborg.

Originally, I had a big problem with Batman. I thought he was out of character and not very "Batman" like by telling to many jokes and not doing much against the big bad. However, Batman doesn't say as many jokes as originally thought. Sure, maybe he says a few more than normal, but nothing I felt that was too out of character. Affleck does another fantastic job. Bats is still pretty savage.

Do I wish Batman did a bit more against the big bad? Absolutely. My inner Batman fanboy wants him to solo Steppenwolf, but looking at it from a strategic standpoint. It makes sense why he was less involved with Steppenwolf and concentrating on fighting Parademons. Flash saved the civilians. Cyborg was focused on something that prevented him from fighting which is why Bats fought the Parademons. Aquaman and Wonder Woman fought Steppenwolf. All were focused to get attention away from Cyborg. It made sense this way.

I think we all knew Superman was coming back, but let's just say he is fantastic. His first scene is, honestly, my favorite scene in the entire movie. Say goodbye to brooding Superman. I loved brooding Superman, but this new one, that's Superman. Henry Cavill is Superman.

Overall, if the movie didn't try to do to a bunch of unneeded Josh Whedon jokes and we were allowed to get 15-20 more minutes of film to help with the pacing, it would have been damn near flawless. Don't get me wrong, 90% of the jokes were funny, but I felt they were, at times, unneeded and took away from the seriousness of the situation. However, it is a really enjoyable and fun movie to watch. There is very little to criticize about this movie. The heroes have great chemistry together. All the actors do great jobs as their characters.

Overall score: 6 out of 10. I recommend to everyone.

Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)

Independence Day: Resurgence tries to recreate the magic of the first film, but ultimately falls short. They tried too hard and forced jokes to capture the charm of the first film. The unnecessary jokes in situations where jokes shouldn’t be said left you with no sense of danger after serious situations. During some dialogue, I caught myself thinking, “That’s so cliché.” They do give back story, but you never had a connection to the characters and when some characters inevitably die, there is no emotional impact. It’s hard to recreate what Will Smith did in the first film without having Will Smith.

There were many positive things about the film. I absolutely loved the concept and execution of the story, probably because I’m a fan of alien invasion movies anyways, so I’m biased in the regard. It got me excited to see the next installment. The visuals of the film were amazing. Everything about the alien ship was visual eye candy. The destruction was superb looking. The action sequences were done well. As much as I criticized the corny dialogue, more often than not, the jokes worked and gave everyone in the audience a good laugh.

Bill Pullman, who plays the President Whitmore from the first film, was decent. I have seen him put on great performances in his other movies, so I know he can be better, but he doesn’t quite have the charm he did in the first film. They attempt to recreate his epic speech, but it falls short. Something was missing from him in this film that was a little disappointing.

Maika Monroe plays Patricia Whitmore, the daughter of Bill Pullman’s character. She actually did well in the beginning of the film, but when it got to more dramatic scenes at the end, she was weaker in her performance. Overall, she was solid.

Jessie Usher plays Dylan Dubrow-Hiller, the son of Will Smith’s character. He does have a few scenes where he is fine, but his overall performance was, well, let’s just say there is room for improvement. He just wasn’t that good.

Liam Hemsworth, Thor’s little brother, plays Lieutenant Jake Morrison, a pilot in the ESD (Earth Space Defense), puts on a pretty good performance and gave one of his better performances.

Brent Spiner plays Dr. Brakish Okun, the guy in the first movie that was possessed by an alien and you thought died, which gives me hope for a Will Smith return. He was funny and brought a lot of energy to his scenes.

Jeff Goldblum does an excellent job in reprising his role. William Fichtner was great as usual. Sela Ward is good for the limited time she has on screen.

The highlight of the movie was Travis Tope who plays Charlie Ritter, a pilot and Jake’s best friend. I can’t think of a single scene he was in that he didn’t do a great job. He was able to play the comic relief and was able to do the more dramatic scenes.

Overall, Resurgence was an enjoyable movie. Will Smith was obviously missed and I would be happy with any excuse they make up to bring him back if he wants to return. There are things that it got wrong, but when it got things right, it got it right. The positives outweigh the bad and if you enjoy the movie, then it did its’ job. I do recommend seeing this movie. Score: 7/10.