Looking Back at the Films of 2023 Part Four - Air, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, and The Covenant

Alright, another edition, let's get to it.

Why The Delay?

If any of read the last part of my Knuckles review, then you would know this was suppose to be uploaded yesterday. Well yesterday the heat just kicked my ass. On Monday while my grandpa was going to work, I was mowing his lawn, giving him a helping hand what with his back and all, and afterwards when all was said and done I felt miserable. So I needed a brief cool off period.

Why Didn't I See Air?

Now I did want to see Air because Ben Affleck has been doing a lot of things post-Batman, although I still hope we see again if the SnyderVerse continues, but anyhow, but besides Ben Affleck, I'm also curious about bio-pics, and going off from the trailer it did look good. So what was the problem? Well my theater did have a showing but it was weeks after the movie came and the hype was gone by then.

What is Air?

Air is biographical sports drama movie, that was produced by Amazon Studios, Skydance Sports, Artists Equity, and Mandalay Pictures and distributed by Amazon Studios. Air was written by Alex Convery and directed by Ben Affleck.

The story is, Nike has developed a new brand of shoes, however things aren't going well and they're thinking about shutting down the basketball division. After seeing how big rookie player Michael Jordan is becoming, they think the best option will be for him to be their spokesmen and hopefully make their new shoe the hottest sensation.

My Thoughts

The Good: One of many great things about Air is the performances. While I have a track record of playing favorites, I truly want to give credit to all the actors and actresses. Not only were they just plain good, but everybody did a fantastic job just bouncing off each other. They all had great chemistry. I also loved the humor in this. You know I don't give away comedy bits, but I will say there was this one moment when Matt Damon's character is talking to someone on the phone, and the guy on the other line is just having the best profanity laced meltdown. It was hilarious! Then there Ben Affleck's directing. You can tell that Ben was pouring everything into this movie, he clearly loved this story, whether it was basketball, the Nike shoe, or both. The last thing I'll praise is the story. Now yes, they do prop up Michael Jordan, but that's like only 1% of the movie, the other 99% is mainly about the employees at Nike. It was about how they were all worried about being failures even though the firmly believe in their product. That is a story I think people can relate too. Whether it being something like clothing, art, music, film etc. You can understand about making something, believing in it, and hoping, praying it doesn't fail.

The Bad: I've got nothing.

The Okay: Nope, nothing here either.

Final Verdict: A Must Watch!

Why Didn't I See Renfield?

I can't blame my theater for not being able to see this. Cause I actually forgot this movie was coming out. Which is odd, because it was one of my most anticipated.

What is Renfield?

Renfield is a horror-comedy movie, that was inspired by the characters of Bram Stoker's iconic novel, Dracula. It was produced by Skybound and Giant Wildcat and distributed by Universal Pictures. Renfield was written by Ryan Ridley and Robert Kirkman and directed by Chris McKay.

The story is, in the early 20th century Count Dracula meets English lawyer R.M. Renfield and soon makes him his servant. Ninety years later, Renfield has grown tired of having to bring Dracula victims. Now, he wants to find a way to get of his grip forever.

My Thoughts

The Good: One positive is the comedy. Nicely done dark comedy, I loved it all the way through. Then we have the special effects. While some CGI was used, it looked great, I didn't even noticed for the most part. But the best was definitely the practical effects. They were flawless. Which now brings me to the performances. Nicolas Hoult was incredible and played off well with Nicolas Cage, speaking of Nicolas Cage, we was awesome. He went full Nick Cage and it was great, I wish we got even more on it. The last thing I'll credit is Chris McKay's directing. He did a fantastic job, I loved what he did with the incredibly violent action, although seeing this action was also a bit sad, because it just makes me wish we got to see his Nightwing movie before it got canceled, that way we could see more of his action sequences.

The Bad: I've got nothing.

The Okay: The only mix bag was the story. Now, the whole storyline between Renfield and Dracula was really good. The whole theme was abusive relationships and wanting to get out of them. That was very strong and interesting to watch. However, the story with Awkwafina and her cop story. It wasn't bad, but it did feel like a very standard cop vs. corruption story.

Final Verdict: Good.

Why Didn't I See Evil Dead Rise?

Now this is one I can blame on my theater. Much like Air, they didn't have a showing until it was too little, too late. Which sucked! Because I love Evil Dead!

What is Evil Dead Rise?

Evil Dead Rise is a supernatural horror movie and the fifth installment of the Evil Dead franchise. It was produced by New Line Cinema, Renaissance Pictures, Pacific Renaissance, and Wild Atlantic Pictures and distributed by Warner Bros. Evil Dead Rise was written and directed by Lee Cronin.

The story is, estranged sisters Beth and Ellie have reunited and are spending time in Ellie's LA apartment complex. Things are normal at first but after an earthquake Ellie's son discovers one of three volumes of the Naturom Demonto, and he has unleashed the Deadites. Now, the family fights for survival and are hoping to find someway to escape from inside the complex.

My Thoughts

The Good: Much like all the other Evil Dead film we got great gory special effects. If there's one thing that this franchise never fails at, it's over the top gory effects. Then there's the scares. Once again we get a very claustrophobic feel, but what mainly scared me was nobody was safe. Almost everybody was in danger. Adults, teenagers, and even kids, everybody was in danger of getting killed or becoming a Deadite. The last thing I'll write about is Cronin's directing. He was really good, there was also quite a few times when he seemed like he was channeling Sam Raimi with some of his shots. And I mean that as the highest compliment.

The Bad: Nothing here.

The Okay: Now I did like the story for the most part. It was a fun edition to the Evil Dead series, the one downside the theme of sisterhood and motherhood. It was very generic.

Final Verdict: Good.

Why Didn't I See The Covenant?

There was no showing for it at my theater. Simple as that.

What is The Covenant?

The Covenant (or sometimes called Guy Ritchie's The Covenant) is an action drama movie, that was produced by STXfilms and Toff Guy Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The Covenant is written by Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson, and Marn Davies and directed by Guy Ritchie.

The story is, during the war in Afghanistan a unit is ambushed by the Taliban. Now, Master Sgt. John Kinley and his new interpreter Ahmed must fight through miles of grueling terrain.

My Thoughts

The Good: One praise to give is how Guy Ritchie perfectly handled a war movie. Now yes, Ritchie has broken away from his usual gangster/crime and/or action flicks, and gone on to do other genres. Sometimes it's worked like with the two Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr. and sometimes it hasn't worked like with Swept Away. Thankfully this is one of those times when it works. I would also like to praise our two main leads Jake Gyllenhaal and Dar Salim. Now unsurprisingly Jake gives an astounding performance, and I haven't seen anything Dar has been in other than this movie, but he did leave a good first impression. So while these two do great on their own, they especially do a fantastic job together. They had great chemistry from start to finish. Now we move towards the action. I did like but in a very different way. While I enjoy the more stylish action scenes, where it still elevates the story but it's definitely also a style, I also enjoy action where it's more for a dramatic sense. Where you're more fearful than excited. That's the action we have here. Whenever explosions and gun fire go off, you desperately want our main characters to survive. The last thing I'll praise is the story. One part of the story tells us the horrible things the Taliban did to interpreters and anybody else who had the courage to stand against the Taliban. We see the consequences of these actions, and it's aspect of the war in Afghanistan that we sadly, myself included, never thought of. So it's great to see a film touch upon that subject. The other subject the movie touches on comes from John Kinley and Ahmed. At first they're just two people working together, but after an attack Ahmed makes a sacrifice to save John, then John wants to repay him for saving him. So we have a gripping story of these two making sacrifices that in return turns into a brotherhood.

The Bad: I've don't have anything negative to say.

The Okay: Now while the movie does look good, but there was a quite a few times when the budget was shown. Some VFX just aren't good, however despite some noticeable moments, this wasn't enough to bring down the film for me.

Final Verdict: Great.

Okay folks, that's a wrap. Come back on Saturday, May 4th, for my review of The Fall Guy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Knuckles Review

 

Knuckles is a television miniseries based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video games. It serves as a spin-off to the Sonic the Hedgehog film series. It's produced by Paramount Pictures, Sega Sammy Group, and Original Film and distributed by Paramount+. The series is created by John Whittington and Toby Ascher and consist of six episodes.

The story is, Knuckles is still adjusting to his new life on Earth. Soon Knuckles comes across deputy sheriff Wade who ask Knuckles to train him to become a true warrior. What both them don't know, is a group are after the echidna warrior's power.

Initial Reaction

Since both Sonic movies were surprisingly good, I decided to give this miniseries a watch/review.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

There are three mix bags with Knuckles, with one being the characters. Now both Knuckles and Wade are pretty good, I really enjoyed seeing them interact with one another. But then you our villains, those being The Buyer and Agents Willoughby and Mason. They were fine, but they definitely weren't as entertaining as Robotnik and Agent Stone. The absolute worst character was Wade's sister Wanda. I just couldn't stand her, she was annoying. Then we have the humor. Now at first it's really good. My favorite was Knuckles loudly saying how he imagines how he's gonna take down Willoughby and Mason. That had a good bit of dark comedy in it. But from episode three and onwards, the comedy becomes very hit and miss. The last thing I'll touch on for this section is the story. At first, Knuckles needing to find what he considers home while trying Wade is nicely done. But as the series progress it does eventually become Wade's story. Sure Knuckles is still there, but not as much as he should be. There really should've been another rewrite where Knuckles and Wade's stories could still happen, but still have a good balance to them.

Pros

One of two things I'll credit is the performances. While the material is okay at best, the cast still did a good job with what they got. Even if they played a character I hated. Then there's the special effects. There was a moment where things didn't look good, but for me, 99% of the time the effects were good, almost on par with the Sonic movies.

I've read how the Sonic fandom called this "the worst thing to happen". Apparently this fan base forgot all about Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric...and Sonic Forces...oh let's not forget Sonic '06, especially with this little moment.

Yes folks, that's Sonic getting kissed by a human female. Where around this time of the game's story Sonic was pretty much a corpse...so yeah, just let that sink in for a bit.

Anyways, the miniseries isn't perfect, but it's not god awful either.

My final rating is, Okay.

So that's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 29th, for part four of Looking Back at the Films of 2023. For that one I'll be reviewing Air, Renfield, Evil Dead Rise, and Guy Ritchie's The Covenant. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two Review

 

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two is an animated comic book movie based on the comic book event storyline, Crisis on Infinite Earths. It also serves as the direct sequel to Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part One and the ninth installment of the Tomorrowverse. It's produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two is written by James Krieg and directed by Jeff Wamester.

The story is, the Justice League along with other heroes across the multiverse are waiting for what's gonna happen next in the ongoing Crisis. Then get their answer when hideous shadow creatures appear and start attack, if that wasn't bad enough, frictions are happen within the teams. Will they come together or fall?

Initial Reaction

Having enjoyed the first part of this trilogy, naturally I would like to see what part two has in store.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

One of two mix bags was the pacing. While some parts of the movie do have some good pacing, there were times when things just felt slow. Then there's the story. Where Part One focused on The Flash, Part Two is about the characters of Supergirl and Psycho Pirate. Now I wouldn't have a slight problem with that if their origin stories didn't take up so much of the runtime. Sure we still do get plenty of Crisis, but it almost felt like we were going to head into Justice League: Warworld territory, where we barely get the main event. Again, thankfully that didn't happen, but Part Two really should've been like Part One, you can still focus on the primary character, but still evenly give us the Crisis.

Pros

One pro is the animation. While it's not my favorite style in the DC animated movie library, it's still pretty good. The last thing I'll touch on is the voice acting. While I still enjoyed the other cast members, I especially liked Geoffrey Arend as Psycho Pirate. He gave the character a very unsettling voice and it was awesome. It's a great villain voice.

While I very much enjoyed Part One, as for Part Two while I didn't hate it, I definitely don't see myself rewatching this anytime soon.

My final rating is, Okay.

Hopefully Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three is much better. I mean it's gotta be, it's the grand finale. That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 27th, for my review of the Knuckles miniseries. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver Review

 

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver is a space opera war film and the direct sequel to Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire. It's produced by The Stone Quarry and Grand Electric and distributed by Netflix. Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver is written by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad, and Shay Hatten and directed by Zack Snyder.

The story is, Kora and the rest of the surviving warriors prepare to take their final stand against The Imperium. It'll be an intense battle for freedom, and one can only hope Kora and her alliances will win.

Initial Reaction

My reasons are simple. It's the sequel, and that's all you need to know.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

Two gray areas. One being the same issue as the first movie, that being you know things were cut out for the sake of a PG-13 rating. There were a couple of deaths that I know for a fact were way more violent than what this movie was presenting. But once again despite that it isn't too bad, noticeable but nothing that'll infuriated you. Now this probably does tie in with the editing, but let's treat like it's own thing, but the pacing. There were times when things moved smoothly, no complaints at all. However there were times when scenes did feel a little slow. Thankfully not snail's pace slow, but still slow.

Pros

One thing I'll give credit to is the character development. Now I didn't mind what we got in Part One: A Child of Fire, I thought the character was pretty good. But here, they are very developed. We get to know more of their backstories and such. And because I got to know more about them, I actually sad when one of the two died. Seriously that was a bummer. I'll keep the last three praises short, because it'll feel like I'm repeating myself for my review of Part One. First off, Tom Holkenborg's score. He once again killed it for the movie. My favorite was The Land We Breath. It's a truly beautiful song that was playing during the harvesting scene, and I couldn't get enough of it. Then there's the man himself, Zack Snyder. More specifically he's directing. Knocked it right out of the park, yet again. He's visual style just continues to impress, and don't see him losing his touch anytime soon. Which brings me to my last praise, the action. While I'm curious what Snyder can pull off in a less explosive atmosphere, there's no doubt he can bring the action. I especially loved the big war in the village. It was dirty, gritty, and above all else, awesome. Oh and if any love Jimmy (the big robot for any of you that didn't see the movie), he gets a badass action that really made me root for him.

While there are issues, I still want to know what version of the movie some of these naysayers saw? Cause the one I saw, even with its flaws, was still pretty awesome.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 25th, for my review of DC's newest animated movie, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Two. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Velma Review - How the Hell Did This Get a Second Season?!?

 

First off, let me just say this is the one and only time I'll ever talk about this show. It's gotten enough attention from bigger names than mine. Second off, with the second season arriving I'm going to be discussing the build-up to this show, reviewing it's quality, tell you about the backlash, and then, tell you how this even got a second season. Let's begin.

Velma is an adult animated mystery show based on the Scooby-Doo character, Velma. It's produced by Charlie Grandy Productions, Kaling International, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Max. Velma is created by Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy.

The story is, while trying to solve the mystery of her mother's disappearance, Velma soon stumbles upon another mystery regrading the strange murders of the local teenage girls. Velma comes to realize that both these crimes share a connection.

The Build-Up

Know maybe it was just me, but outside an announcement I didn't hear much. Things changed when this image surfaced.

Yeah, to say this image wasn't well received would be an understatement. Now I didn't agree with every single comment, but I do agree this image wasn't the best one to use. Sure we already knew it was gonna be an adult oriented, but the pic did give the impression that it was trying too hard.

Later on images of what Shaggy, Daphne, and Fred were released and here's what they look like.

Now Velma's race swap wasn't a shocker, the first image pretty showed us she was gonna look like Mindy Kaling, but you'll notice something very different about Daphne and Shaggy, oh my bad, I meant "Norville". Yeah, it's very clear that we were gonna get a show that was primarily based on getting ESG/DEI money. Also, why is Fred in a different art style compared to Daphne and Norville? That always bugged me.

Then the teaser trailer was released.

Did you love that whole joke about Judy Jetson still being white? Get it? Because the race swapped character is glad a character didn't get race swapped! HA! Comedy gold! Yeah, the jokes just get worse from here folks, and I haven't even gotten into the story yet.

Review

Now I'm gonna split this into two pieces. One for characters and another for the story. Let's get to it.

The Characters

Velma - Let's start off with our title character. Holy shit! I don't who this girl is, but she's NOT Velma. This "Velma" was just an unlikable asshole. She's always insulting people one or another, she always thinks she's intellectually superior to everybody, and above all else, she's just a terrible person. The very first action we see her do on the show, is sneak up behind Daphne while she was already in a fight with another girl, then hit her with a cane. You could argue she was doing it to help the other girl, but no, "Velma" primarily did it because she thinks Daphne's a bitch. What a likable character. And let's not pretend otherwise, this is clearly Mindy Kaling's self-insert. You could tell because not only was she voicing the character and the design looked like her but in Velma cosplay, but also Velma is treated like the smartest person ever on the show and there's the whole thing of the entire mystery gang falling in love with her, I'll get into that later. Oh and I almost forgot, this Velma eats fries from the vacuum cleaner and dumpster. To think, when promotions were going on, Mindy said this Velma was gonna be an icon for young gay women.

Daphne - This verison of Daphne is a Mean Girls rip-off. Which I don't understand why they did that? Yes Daphne was the more popular, trendy one as a way to counteract Velma's more dorky, booky type girl, but she wasn't mean spirited (by the way if you see reviews for this show, get use to seeing and/or hearing that word), despite being the popular one, she was still nice. And when she's not a mean girl, she's a drug dealer. The reason why she's selling drugs is so she can get enough money to find her birth parents. Which doesn't make any sense. Because she's got two parents who love and spoiler her and would do anything for her, and their both detectives! Sure they're dumb detectives, but they would still have connections to investigators who are better than them. So Daphne could've easily asked them for help and boom, problem solved. There's a good possibility that I'm wrong, but it felt like they only made her a drug dealer, to not only be "edgy", but so they gave the character something else to do, other than be a Mean Girls wannabe and be one of three of Velma's love interest.

Norville - Simp. I'm not using that word incorrectly like many other people do, no, this guy is a simp for Velma. Everything he does is to simply get with Velma, nothing else. He's even willing to put himself in harms way for the end goal to be in a relationship with Velma. The only reason he gets involved in the mysteries is because of Velma. There have been times when Shaggy and Velma have been together as a couple, Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated comes to mind. But the funny thing is Shaggy was in relationships with women because he was just he's usual food loving self, he never pathetically worshipped the ground the woman walked on.

Fred - What. Did they. Do. To my boy! I don't know what the original Fred did to piss off Mindy and her ilk but they can't stand this guy. Not only did they make him so incapable of being his own man, to the point where he needs somebody else to cut his food for him, but for some reason this Fred is obsessed with his self-image even when it comes to social media. I mean it, the first time we see him he's taking a selfie and posing like a male model. And of course, he treats everybody else like garbage, because God forbid we have one likable character. Much like every other character in this show, I don't understand this decision. Fred wasn't a jerk, he was actually pretty wholesome and was a great friend. Oh and this Fred has a tiny baby carrot size dick. If you ever watch this show, don't know why you would torture yourself like that, get use to that "joke".

The Story

Now at first, the story is about Velma searching for her missing mother, but then she has to solve that mystery to solve why young girls are being murdered by having their brains removed. Soon Velma finds out a secret government project is somehow connected to her mother. Later it's learned her mom was working with the doctor of the project, and their lab is located underneath the Jones' mansion. They later find the lab but almost killed by a collapse, but are luckily saved by Velma's mom. But then there's a whole new mystery as to why her mom can't remember her disappearance and why her memories are gonna be gone forever in three days. When they finally do get her memories back, she says she's the serial killer, but Velma notices her answers all seem mechanically, and comes to the conclusion she's hypnotized. Velma figures out the hypnotizing is connected to the murders, and also figures out the killer is no other than...Fred's mom, I'll get to that problem later. After finally escaping, Norville unintentionally kills Fred's mom (I forgot what her name is so I'm just calling her that) and Velma twerks over her dead body while Fred kneeling right next to said dead body, most likely traumatized for life. Once again, Velma is so likable.

Now at the first the mystery is just fine, nothing to really roll your eyes over, but it falls apart when the person committing them is Fred's mom. It makes no sense. I'll forgive the fact we barely see her, that can be chopped down to her keeping a low profile, but this doesn't work because there were no hints to indicate that Fred's mom was the killer. And no, the lab being under the Jones' mansion doesn't count. You need more than just that. But when we're not dealing with the case, then we have Velma's love life. Now having romance in a story isn't always a bad thing, it just depends on the quality of the story, too bad the quality of this story sucks. We don't care about Velma's relationships. Once again, this Velma is a terrible person, we don't want to see her happy with someone else. She doesn't deserve it! But even if we try our damnedest to ignore that fact, some of the romance aspects also don't make any sense. Daphne just all of sudden falls for Velma in the second episode, even though in the first episode they couldn't stand each other, and why would Fred fall for her? Sure he learned about inner beauty, but all Velma has ever done to him was insult him on every level, and almost put him in prison for crimes he didn't do. I know this Fred's an idiot, but even he should know not to being anywhere near her.

Then there's the humor....uuggghhh. The jokes in this show are beyond awful. None of them land. The show's adult humor is everything you fear it to be. It's almost every sex, drugs and violence joke cliché you can think of. So much so, ya would've thought this was a terrible parody of adult animation, but it's not a parody, it's 100% legit. Not too mention, but these "jokes" have barely any space between, so there's no breathing room. And if they're not relying on sex, drugs, and violence to be the punch line, then it's pop culture references and memes. The latter of which I'm sure didn't become outdated by the time the season one finale wrapped up. Then when it's not pop culture and memes, it's meta and fourth wall breaking. Those wouldn't be a bad thing, but the show uses them so much, even Deadpool would be telling them to knock it off.

The Backlash

The critical and audience reception universally negative. A lot of people have even said it's one of the worst shows of the 2020s, and some people have even said they couldn't get the either the first or second episode. The funniest thing to me about this backlash was even the wokes hated it, and Mindy and her group were clearly trying to pander to that group what with the race swapping, the same-sex relationships, and the heterosexual white guy [Fred] always getting unnecessarily bashed. Somehow the Velma show brought groups of all walks of life together in hating it. Pretty impressive when you think about it.

How Did This Get a Second Season?

So, with the poor quality and poorly received reviews, how in the blue hell did this show get a second season? Now some people blame hate watching but I don't believe that's the case. People hate watched Disney Plus' Willow series and that was canceled after one season. People also hate watched Netflix's live-action Cowboy Bebop series and that got canceled after one season.

So what happened? Well there's two luckily causes. One, this was a contractual obligation. Warner Bros. had no choice but to give Mindy and her team a second season because they signed on the dotted line and agreed. So while  season one was airing on Max, production was being worked on for the second season. Then there's the second probability, that being season two was meant to be part of season one, but WB split them up. You'd think that be ridiculous but then you turn to Netflix and their biggest culprit, that being their infamous reboot of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Some of you are probably wondering why would they do the whole split thing? It's simple really, it's cheaper.

Glimmer of Hope?

Let's end this on something that could be a possibility of good news. On Mar 22nd, Max uploaded a video titled "What's New in April 2024", with a snippet of season two of Velma included. I bring this up because I said that was uploaded on Mar 22nd and the second season arrives on Apr 25th, that's four weeks apart. And the trailer for season two wasn't released until Apr 15th, which is ten days away from the season premiere. This lack of marketing speaks volumes. It seems Warner Bros. has given up on the show, which in return could lead to it rightfully being canceled.

Anyways, that's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 20th, for my review of Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes - War for the Planet of the Apes Review

 

Well, here we are, the final part of the Road to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a sci-fi action film, the sequel to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, thus making it the third installment of the reboot series. It was produced by TSG Entertainment and Chernin Entertainment and distributed by 20th Century Fox. War for the Planet of the Apes was written by Matt Reeves and Mark Bomback and directed by Matt Reeves.

The story is, it's been two years since the events of the battle in San Francisco, and Caesar and his apes have been forced into a deadly conflict with humans who are being lead by a ruthless leader. After suffering unimaginable losses Caesar is struggling with his darker instincts, and these instincts will lead him to a journey that will decide the fate of both apes and humans.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

The only slight issue stems from the pacing. While some scenes have perfect timing, there were a few times when things felt too slow.

• Positives

One pro to the movie is the special effects, more specifically, the effects on the apes. For Rise, I mentioned how good they looked even if there are some iffy moments, with Dawn, there was great CGI but there were also some not-so-great CGI. With War, no. The CGI looked spectacular throughout. I dare say this is the best the apes have ever looked.

Once again I give praise to Matt Reeves' directing. I don't know what else to say other than to repeat what I said in my Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and what I said it's clear that Matt Reeves is putting nothing but his best with each shots.

Each film in the reboot series has had nothing but a story, mainly with their characters. And War for the Planet of the Apes is no exception. The story is really strong with Caesar (of course because main character and all) and the villain, Colonel J. Wesley McCullough, or simply The Colonel. First with Caesar. At first I was wondering where else could they possibly take his character? Then the revenge story came into play. First it's pretty standard. The tragedy happens and Caesar goes on the warpath. But it's very scary because he's slowly turning into the last movie's villain that being Koba. But instead of just Caesar being effected by his want of revenge, not only is he suffering, but so are his fellow apes including his own family. Basically Caesar goes through what's called a "fall arc" or "negative character arc", whichever term you prefer to use. Caesar's arc is he has fallen, he's lost not only his power but his people have turn their backs on him. So now Caesar once again has to rise. It's a good story for him and the ending while sad, does give Caesar some form of happiness. Then there's The Colonel. While he does have limited screentime, what we do see is nothing short of amazing. His backstory is he saw how the virus that first appeared in Rise mutated. Instead of killing us it has now turned us primitive, and one of the people he saw infected, was his own son who he had to kill out of mercy. Now that is a very sympathetic backstory, but make no mistake, he's still a ruthless man. While being motivated by fear of the virus, the events of this world has caused him to view this as a fight for survival. But what I found most interesting about his character is, while he doesn't by any means like the evolved apes and he was clearly saddened by his son's death, he's not taking this personally. He even states this during a confrontation with Caesar by saying "You are impressive. Smart as hell. You're stronger than we are. But you're taking this all too personally. So emotional!" So yeah, The Colonel is good villain.

War for the Planet of the Apes is a good conclusion to the reboot series. Sure, I found a slight issue and many people probably have more issues with it than me, as far as third chapters in a trilogy go, this is one of the better ones.

My final rating is, Great.

Now I'm both curious and worried how they'll possibly top this with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes? Oh well, just gonna have to wait until May 10th to find out. But that's all for today. Come back on Thursday, Apr 18th for my review of.....Velma. Oh boy, that's gonna be a painful one. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Classic Film Night - Escape from New York

 

Escape from New York is a sci-fi action film, that was produced by AVCO Embassy Pictures, International Film Investors, Goldcrest Films International, and City Films and distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures. Escape from New York was written by John Carpenter and Nick Castle and directed by John Carpenter.

The story is, in 1988 a massive war has forced the United States to turn Manhattan into a maximum security prison to address the 400% increase in crime, the island is now walled off and under heavy police surveillance. Now in 1997, after the President has been captured by terrorist, the U.S. has given the rescue job to ex-Special Forces and current federal prisoner, Snake Plissken.

My Thoughts

Alright the first obvious thing I want to get out of the way is Kurt Russell. I don't know what it is, but whenever he stars in a John Carpenter film he's awesome. He was great in this, then The Thing, and later on Big Trouble in Little China. And even though I don't hold it high regard, Kurt was even pretty good in the sequel for this movie Escape from L.A.

Now let's move onto the cinematography. With the movie primarily being in a disastrous looking New York, the crew does a spectacular job capturing the look. Every part of this futuristic NY, is very grimy and dirty. The cinematography perfectly captures not only the look but also the tone of the movie.

Which now brings me to the special effects. Despite being made 1981, the effects haven't aged a day, they still hold up very nicely. Which is pretty amazing considering the movie was made with a $6 million dollar budget, but the effects would've made you think that this film had a budget of somewhere between $50 million or $60 million.

The last thing I'll praise is the action. Now I have read and heard some have a slight criticism regarding the action, saying how it's not as crazy as it could've been. But for me,I thought it was still fun. And I also think that was the point for two reasons. One) the movie's very dark, so instead of the violence being something you're looking forward to, like say a Die Hard, a Terminator, a Bad Boys, or a John Wick, they treat the violence as something far more bleak. Two) Snake was only given a limited amount of time to complete his mission. So it'd make sense that he'd either shoot and run, or finish the fight as quickly as humanly possible. Cause he has a literally ticking clock.

Guys, Escape from New York is not a great John Carpenter film, or action film, but a great film all around.

My final rating is, A Must Watch.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 15th, for the last part of the Road to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, with my review of War for the Planet of the Apes. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Underrated Films - A Scanner Darkly

 

A Scanner Darkly is an adult animated sci-fi thriller film, based on Phillip K. Dick's 1977 novel of the same name. It was produced by Thousand Words, Section Eight, Detour Filmproduction, and 3 Arts Entertainment and distributed by Warner Independent Pictures. A Scanner Darkly was written and directed by Richard Linklater.

The story is, in the near future America is virtually losing the war on drugs, especially with the new and powerful drug, Substance D. Not only has the government combat this war with high-tech surveillance, but agent Bob Arctor has gone undercover to spy on his housemates and figure out which one is the biggest customer.

Why The Delay?

So if any read my Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire review, then you'd know that this was suppose to come out on Monday, Apr 8th. Now I do have plenty excuses. I was dog sitting, I also got caught up in the excitement regarding the eclipse, and I had to help my folks with their camper. But the simple and honest truth is, I forgot. Simply as that, I forgot I was suppose to do a review on Monday, and for that, I apologize.

Why It's Underrated

The reason why this is underrated is the time old aspect of this slipping under everybody's radar, mine as well. I didn't even know this movie existed until I was scrolling through Tubi.

My Thoughts

One great thing about the movie is the animation. It's really good, the rotoscoping used here is absolutely incredible. But, and this strictly my opinion so don't take it as a fact, but for me the art style does take some time to get use to. It's very....odd? If that's the right word. But given the subject matter maybe that's what they were going for.

Another great thing about the movie is the performances. Robert Downey Jr. is, of course, incredible, the character of Barris. Downey Jr. does a fantastic job capturing Barris' paranoia and also his somewhat there intelligence. Then there's Keanu Reeves. For this he's far more subtle and detached. Which made him perfect to play Bruce Arctor, because that's pretty much the character.

The best thing about the entire movie is the story. While there is some sci-fi elements here, they're not the primary focus. This is very a character focus story. We see the consequences of drug use, but not in a way where it's an over-the-top, overzealous PSA. We see what happens with Substance D, and see the character's slowly lose themselves. To the point where it damages their minds and it becomes left brain vs. right brain, and along with that, they don't know what's real and what's not. Not to mention there's a really good twist, but don't worry, regardless of how old the movie is, I won't give it away.

A Scanner Darkly is a fantastic movie about drug culture and just how dangerous it is. This is truly a well made movie, and I'm glad I came across it.

My final rating is, A Must Watch.

That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 11th, for my Classic Film Night review of, John Carpenter's Escape from New York. And don't worry, I'll be sure to remember that one. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.