Deep Water Review

 

First Thrash now this, is it gonna be shark season in 2026? Alright jokes aside, let's get to it.

Deep Water is a survival movie that's produced by Magenta Light Studios (who are also the distributor too), Arclight Films, Simmons/Hamilton Productions, Nostromo Pictures, Aristos Films, and DW Film Holdings. The screenplay was written by Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause, and Damien Power, with Renny Harlin directing.

The story is, it was all suppose to be a simple flight for passengers going from Los Angeles to Shanghai, but it that all changed when their plane is damaged and the pilots are formed to make an emergency landing in the middle of the sea. Now they all must come together to get help and more importantly survive the sharks that were drawn to the wreckage.

Initial Reaction

My reason for wanting to see this is as simple as it gets. It looked like it might be a fun turn off your brain movie. And I am not above seeing a popcorn flick.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The mix bag stems from our characters. Other than Aaron Eckhart's character, I didn't really care for some. Some of them either learn into decent enough well others are just plain one-dimensional. Then there's the special effects. The plane crash sequence looks really good. Definitely some top notch work there. Some of the effects are the sharks are good, other times you can plainly tell there was some pretty obvious CGI. It also doesn't help there was times when you could tell a green screen was involved. The other mix aspect was the kills. If you were expecting Harlin to bring the same brutal shark attack action he brought to Deep Blue Sea, well then you're only gonna get that in a small dose. Some kills are brutal, others happen too quickly, and some happen off screen. The last thing I'll touch on is the story. Now it'll come as no surprise but this isn't gonna break any new ground. It's a very simple, formulaic story. But I think it provides enough thrills that you can forgive it, if only slightly.

Pros

The only two real praise I can give is to Aaron Eckhart's performance. No this isn't one of his greatest performances ever, but he brings enough stoic heroism to keep you interested. The other is Harlin's craftsmanship. The guy really knows how stage chaos and bring you some thrills, even when working with a small budget.

Overall while I'd wish Deep Water was more like Deep Blue Sea where it embraces its shlock factor more, this can be worth viewing as a rental or streaming.

My final rating is, Okay.

So that's gonna do it for now. Come back on Monday, May 4th, for a brand new Fan Film Mondays. And we'll be celebrating May The 4th Be With You by reviewing the very first fan film I ever saw. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2025 Part Four - Shiver Me Timbers, G20, and Sinners - Quick Edition

Before I get into the review, there's two things I want to go over.

1) What do I mean by quick edition? Well this means is as suppose to those long reviews I do when reviewing multiple films at once, this is gonna be quick. I'll give tell you the story then my thoughts on it. No why I didn't see it, no what kind of movie it, or who produced/distributed. I'm doing this because if any of had review my delay post, then you'd know I wasn't feeling very well. Thankfully I got better but at the cost of this post. But I found a way around that. So if you prefer my more longer post, well I'm sorry but that's not gonna at least for this post.

2) I swear this is the last Popeye horror film from 2025. I don't what it was about 2025 that filmmakers felt like we needed three of these from month to month to month, but thankfully this is the last one...until 2026 decides to give us a new one.

Alright, now that I got all of that out of the way, let's get to it.

Shiver Me Timbers - The Story

The story is, it's the summer of 1986 and a group of friends are hoping to have a good time to see a rare meteor shower from Halley's Comet. However what they don't know is a meteor from this shower has changed a fisherman into a grotesque, superhuman killer. Now the friends must find a way to survive and live to see the next summer.

Shiver Me Timbers - My Thoughts

I've have seen all three of these Popeye horror films and I gotta say, this is the worst of the trio. I thought Popeye's Revenge was terrible, but this one dethroned that movie. I mentioned how the filmmaking in Popeye's Revenge was poor but this one takes the cake. Revenge looks like a B-movie, Shiver Me Timbers looks like a student film. The cinematography is atrocious. I'll show you with a screenshot.

And this isn't any sort of pre-production or behind the scenes shot, this is actually in the movie. And this is just nighttime shot, you don't what to know how bad it looks in the day. And when we're not dealing with bad cinematography then we have bad editing. When we get to the big final fight, there's so many quick cuts and shaky cam that it'll honestly make you feel like your having a stroke. That's how badly that scene was put together. Then we have the characters. They're bland and there's not much to say. Other then they talk about college and other (and much better) movies. And when it comes to Popeye, holy crap. What is with these horror flicks and just making him a dollar store Jason Voorhees? All three films have done this. If you take out what little dialogue these horror versions of Popeye have, they'd just be a Jason Voorhees character...only not as entertaining. Then we have the acting. I'll give Popeye's post-transformation actor [Tony Greer] credit, he was pretty good just with his body language. But everyone else is soooo wooden. There's hardly or not emotion behind any of their lines. Lastly there's the gore. Some practical effects are okay, but when the CGI comes out, oh boy is an eye sore. PlayStation 2 graphics look better than what this movie has. And yes I know it's low-budget just like the other Popeye horror movies, but if I saw special effects this bad when putting the movie together, there's no way I would release it like this, I'd delay it till next year.

Oh and I just thought of something. I love how this movie is suppose to be set in 1986 but there's nothing to indicate that. They could've said this was set in the 90's, 2000's, 2010s, or even set 2020s and I would've never second guessed it.

Shiver Me Timbers - Final Verdict: Destroy It!

G20 - The Story

The story is, U.S. President Danielle Sutton was heading out to the G20 summit of world leaders. But things take a turn when terrorist Edward Rutledge takes over the summit and uses the world leaders as hostages so everyone will follow his demands to give their money in crypto currency. Now, Danielle must use her military skills to put a stop this and save everyone.

G20 - My Thoughts

Oh boy, where do I even begin? Let's start off with the fact the writers tried using current tech stuff without having much of an idea of what they're talking about. Anytime they enter the subject of crypto it all sounds like a bunch of gibberish. And they definitely don't know A.I. deep fakes, because when there's footage of the leaders saying stuff they didn't say we're supposed to believe Rutledge used A.I. when that's clearly not the case. A.I. has come a long way from the early days, but it still hasn't come to the point where it perfectly replicates people's movements and voices. Then we have our villains. When they're not being generically evil they're making stupid decisions. Reminder that Rutledge big plan is to make their crypto currency huge. But...here's the thing...HE HAS WORLD LEADERS AT HIS MERCY! He could be forcibly making these people do whatever he wants! But no we gotta focus on that crypto bro 😆. Keep in mind this isn't a comedy, it's supposed to be a very serious action movie. Lastly there's Viola Davis. Listen, she's a very talented actress and she's got the talent and awards to prove it. But nobody's believing she's this action star. Not only is she not in shape but when this was made and released she was in her late 50s. So when she's fighting men who are younger, twice her size, and in shape you not buying she's kicking their asses, you thinking the stuntmen are putting in the work to make her look good. The only real positive I can give is Anthony Starr as Edward Rutledge. He's trying to make this work despite the writing being really bad, so bless his heart.

G20 - Final Verdict: So Bad, It's Good.

Sinners - The Story

The story is, in 1932 twin brothers named Smoke and Stack have returned to Clarksdale, Mississippi after working for the Chicago mob for several years. The brothers were planning to use the stolen money to set up a juke joint, but when vampires plan to feed on the brothers along with other people. Now it's a fight for survival if the brothers ever want to make their dreams come true.

Sinners - My Thoughts

Let's get into the real good stuff. Starting with how the movie looks. The cinematography is absolute gorgeous and does a fantastic job capturing the 1930s look and feel whether through smaller details or some top notch set pieces. I'd also like to praise the atmosphere. We get a nice build up to the vampires but even before then there also seems to a gritty feeling throughout the movie, and if you know me you know while I like my lighter movies I also love when a movie nails a darker tone. Now there's the story elements. Yes there is a more racial theme going on, at first I was dreading that because as we all know modern Hollywood seems to be obsessed with that stuff because they want to look morally superior and get a couple pats on the back from terminally online activists. However I think Sinners does it better because it's not trying to beat over the head with that theme, especially since the story as much more going for it. Such as how music brings people together even when your from a different time period. But we also have other themes such as temptation, human flaws, and guilt. Then we have the acting from both Michael B. Jordan and Jack O'Connell. Michael B. Jordan has to pull double duty by playing the twin brothers and he does a terrific job. He's able to bring the characters two very different personalities whether it'd be with drawl variations, facial expressions, and body language. Then there's Jack O'Connell as Remmick. He provides both charisma and intimidation, and sometimes he's just entertaining to watch no matter what evil his character is committing. The only downside is the pacing. The first half is a lot of setup and the ending does feel like it's dragging, and with both those elements there'll be times when you can feel that 2 hour runtime.

Sinners - Final Verdict: Great.

So that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this version of Looking Back and if not don't worry because the next part will be more traditional. With that being said, due come back on Saturday, May 2nd, for my review of the newest shark survival movie, Deep Water. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2025 Part Four Has Been Delayed

 Hey guys, so yes, originally you were supposed to have the next part of the Looking Back at the Films of 2025, but sadly plans had to change.

The reason being I'm currently not feeling good right now. Usually I'd tried to fight it off but right now it's best if I get some rest and take a break for the time being.

So instead of Monday I'm gonna try to shoot for Thursday. And if I'm not feeling well by then then I'm canceling it. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Anyways, I hope this update was helpful.

Road to Avengers: Doomsday - Iron Man: Doomquest

 

We're once again back on the Road to Avengers: Doomsday. Only this time we adventure outside of the Fantastic Four and instead have a story of Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom.

Iron Man: Doomquest is a 1981 storyline published by Marvel Comics and can be found in issues #149-150 of the 1968 volume of Iron Man. David Michelinie wrote the story while John Romita Jr. was the artist.

The story is, after finding out some of his electronics have been being sold to Latveria, Tony Stark aka Iron Man plans to go to Latveria and confront Doctor Doom. But as the two are caught up in their fight, someone takes advantage of the chaos and send the two past in time. Now, enemies must put aside their differences if they want to go back home.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

The one of two mix elements is the story. First let's go over the good stuff. The dynamic between Iron Man and Doctor Doom was a great aspect. They maybe two brilliant minds in suits of armor, but once you read their dialogue and thoughts, you notice just how different they are beyond just your plain good and evil. Not to mention but they interactions, banter, and fights are very true to their characters. But the slight issue stems from the lack of balance. While Iron Man is still involved in the story one way or another, when reading these two issues back-to-back, this definitely leaned more towards Doctor Doom then Iron Man. His arrogance and tragic hubris shine in these issues. I mean sure it's great that it shows Doctor Doom is capable of being a villain outside the Fantastic Four, but if you're an Iron Man fan you'll be pretty bummed out your hero didn't get enough of the spotlight.

My other mix feelings come from John Romita Jr's artwork. Now Romita Jr. still provides some great splash pages, great details to characters and buildings, and everything's very clean and smooth. Having said that I don't think I'm gonna remember a lot of the art in this storyline. Sure it's looks good, but a lot of stuff didn't leap out of the page for me. Now I can't solely blame JRJR for this. Because during this time Marvel Comics was still going by a very strict "house style". Artists back then couldn't really express their style too much because the editors at the time wanted everything clean, dynamic, and standard. Say what you will about JRJR's more blocky style, but I would much prefer that then something that blends in with everything else.

• Positives

So do I have anything truly and 100% nice to say? Yes, yes I do. While the pacing is the greatest thing ever, this is still a pretty quick read to get through. You can read these right now and next thing you know, you're done.

Now I don't hate these issues by any means, I still did enjoy this story for what it was. It's just there were somethings I didn't agree with.

Having said that, I'm gonna give this storyline a rating of, Good.

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 27th, for part four of Looking Back at the Films of 2025. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy Review

 

It's Saturday night which means it's time to review a brand new movie. Let's dive in.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy or simple just The Mummy, is a supernatural horror and another reimagining to The Mummy franchise. The movie's produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions and Wicked/Good with Warner Bros. acting as the distributor. If the name didn't give it away, Lee Cronin both wrote and directed.

The story is, Charlie and Larissa's eldest daughter Katie was kidnapped by mysterious stranger. Eight years later they daughter has returned but she's found in a sarcophagus and has been mummified yet somehow still alive. Soon, Charlie and Larissa will learn that their once innocent daughter is now possessed by ancient demon.

Initial Reaction

My simple reason for wanting to see this movie is because I was curious. I was curious how Lee Cronin was gonna tackle The Mummy. I really dug what he did in Evil Dead Rise, so I figured he bring new elements to this franchise as well.

Cons

The biggest con to this movie was the lack of Mummy elements. I mean they're there. We get to see some lore behind the ancient evil, the people behind it who worship or fear it, and Katie is mummified, but when watching this movie I got more of an Exorcist vibe. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing had this movie gone by another title, but since it has The Mummy as it's title, ya can't help but feel like the movie has an identity crisis.

Middle Ground

My only mixed feelings was with the story, or to be more specific the parent element to it. I get what Lee Cronin was going for. Despite Katie's appearance and some HUGE red flags, the mom and dad just wanted to bring their little girl home since she was gone for eight years. The story is touching on themes of grief, loss, and the fear of their child has been changed even though they've returned to them. But man, sometimes it's hard to get into the story when the parents make some very questionable choices. Sure there's the possibility Katie is now the spawn of Satan, but mom and dad are pretty certain it's okay to leave her with her younger siblings. So I do admire the story's thematic ambitions, it's just some of the character choices can be a little frustrating.

Pros

The biggest praise I can give this movie is it's special effects. Their the movie's biggest highlight. Ya got Katie's mummy appearance where she looks all decayed and nasty looking, other good body horror moments, and plenty of gore to go around. I reminded me very of Cronin's Evil Dead Rise. So if you liked the elements of that movie, then you'll like what happens here. The last thing I'll credit is the acting. The cast truly ground the movie and can make the stakes, especially the family stakes, very convincing. But I gotta give the most praise towards Natalie Grace as Katie (the Mummy one, not the child one). She was incredible. She killed it when the character had to give an eerie vibe or whenever she had to go full blown demon mode. She was spectacular in this and I hope she gets the chance to star in more projects.

So overall Lee Cronin's The Mummy isn't bad, it's just an okay movie. I didn't hate after I was done watching, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's a wrap. Come back on Monday, Apr 20th, because of that day we return to the Road to Avengers: Doomsday! Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Scary Movie (2026) - Scary Movie 3 Review

 

Alright, we're back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026). Only this time we don't have the Wayans Brothers, so that begs the question. Will this be any good or are we looking at a dud?

Scary Movie 3 is a parody and the second sequel to the franchise. Where as the first movie spoofed Scream & I Know What You Did Last Summer, the second making fun of haunted house films, this one spoofs the movies The Ring, Signs, among others. Production was done Brad Grey Pictures with Dimension Films being the distributor. Craig Mazin and Pat Proft wrote the screenplay while David Zucker directed.

The story is, Cindy now working as a local reporter has come across a cursed video tape that when watched will kill you in seven days. Meanwhile George and his widowed pastor brother Tom have discovered crop circles and learn that aliens are coming. Soon, they realize these two are somehow connected and they need to find out how to put a stop to both.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Much like the previous Scary Movie flicks the humor can be a mixed bag. Let me praise some of the good stuff first. Now initially I was worried going into this the quality would drop significantly because as previously stated the Wayans Bros. weren't involved in anyway and I also found this was rated PG-13 while the previous two were rated R. But thankfully the movie is still pretty funny. Under David Zucker's direction Scary Movie 3 has a vibe similar to his previous works like the ever classic Airplane! We truly do get some very funny moments, my absolute favorite being a character's funeral going horrible wrong. However there were moments that I couldn't really get behind. Sure the 8 Mile parody had it's moments but that along with some Matrix Reloaded spoofs kind of felt tacked on. Sure the previous two Scary Movie movies had jokes about other films in there but they were mainly just one and done gags not part of the plot.

• Positives

The pacing is good. I won't go another further than that because I'll just be repeating what I've said from the first two reviews. So yes, much like the previous ones, the pacing is handled well.

But I will continue to praise Anna Faris. Once again she's great as Cindy Campbell, continuing to deliver that ditzy but lovable character we've loved since the first movie. She also has great chemistry with Simon Rex giving romantic but goofy romance, but mainly goofy. Then you have great performances like Charlie Sheen who despite not being in this too much, still gives us good laughs with a lot of his delivery being deadpan reactions or laugh out moments like when his character is having one last moment with his dying wife. The cast whether it's Regina Hall or a scene stealer like the late, great Leslie Nelson also do a tremendous job with the material regardless of how big their roles are.

So yeah, I actually really enjoyed Scary Movie 3 far more than I thought I would. It still isn't perfect but definitely felt like an improvement from Scary Movie 2. Although that may not be a fair state considering Scary Movie 2 was rushed while this one was given more time to breath during it's production stage. Regardless, this is a fun watch.

My final rating is, Good.

Alright that's all for now. Sorry I uploaded this so late, but my dad needed help with raking leaves and thanks to the slight rain making everything humid thus making everything hot and unbearable, by the time I was done I needed to take a long break before writing this review. But hopefully you'll come back on Saturday, Apr 18th, for my review of Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Thrash Review

 

Alright Netflix is giving us a shark. Will be a huge hit that'll become a classic like Jaws? Doubt it, but hey as long as it's fun.

Thrash is a survival thriller movie that's produced by Sony Pictures and Hyperobject Industries with Netflix being the distributor. Tommy Wirkola both wrote and directed.

The story is, a coastal town has been hit by category 5 hurricane thus making the streets completely flooded. But the residents of this town will quickly realize it's the storm that they should be trying to survive, but the swarm of hungry sharks.

Initial Reaction

Now originally there wasn't a long term plan to review this. Not because I wasn't interested but because I didn't know about this until like Tuesday or Wednesday. At first I wanted to see because it looked like it could be a fun shark movie, but then I found out it was directed and written by Tommy Wirkola, and he brought my newer favorite Christmas watch traditions [Violent Night]. So now I truly wanted to see it more then ever.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

One grey area is the characters. They're very basic people. You got the kids, you have your character with a troubled past, and so on and so fourth. I didn't hate them by any stretch, well expect maybe the foster parents because they were awful people, but other than those two I didn't hate these characters. If anything they served their roles just fine. The other mix bag was the special effects. Now the hurricane and flood were great. They felt very immersive. The CGI on the sharks however aren't exactly bad but I don't see anybody overly praising them. The effects are slick and look better underwater, but when it came time for the sharks be in the light, you can tell it was CGI. Nothing I found laughable like with an Asylum or SyFy original movie, but you know it was CGI.

Pros

I give credit for the use of humor. I don't know what was going in with Tommy Wirkola's mind when he was writing this, but given his track record use tongue-in-cheek absurdity mixed with action and gore, I think even he knew this movie was gonna be a very pulpy B-movie so he added in some humor. Which again, I didn't find bad, especially since there were some pretty funny moments sprinkled throughout. Another praise I'll is the pacing. This is a breeze to get through. It starts off with a nicely slow build up but once the disaster strikes that's when the shark attacks begin and the thrills and humor never stop. Lastly I'll give credit to the performances. Nobody is gonna win any awards for this, but everybody did provide a sense of fun and energy to their roles, so whether it'd be the acting or shark kills I can't really say I was bored when watching this.

Thrash is by no means a perfect movie. However I think if you want to sit down and watch some turn off your brain popcorn flick entertainment, then give this a chance.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 13th, cause of that day we're going back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026) with my review of Scary Movie 3. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.