 The previous 'Sonic' film took me some time to really warm up to, but it has since become something I enjoy. I originally had my hang-ups about adapting a famous property into yet another "fish-out-of-water" story like, 'Smurfs,' or 'Masters of the Universe,' in which our hero's extraordinary home world is left behind to spend the majority of the film on Earth, trying to get back. 'Sonic' did this as well, but at the very least, things weren't as simple as that basic plotline idea. Plus, we had the resurrection of Jim Carrey.
However, there may be a bias here with me and the 'Sonic' franchise because these games were a significant part of my childhood. If these movies had been released in the early '90s, when Carrey and the Sonic franchise were both in their prime, and I was still young, I'd have loved them and probably made them favourites among titles that still sit close to my heart today, like 'Ghostbusters' and 'Ninja Turtles.' But alas, we weren't even at 'Toy Story' yet, as far as CG animation goes, so here we are. The nostalgia particularly pops for me with this sequel, as it introduces the likes of both Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), whom I remember fondly from a couple of my games, particularly, 'Sonic Triple Trouble,' which I was addicted to. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The sequel, here, picks up eight months after the first film's events. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has been banished to a Mushroom Planet, and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is living the good life with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). However, Sonic becomes easily bored and, with his super-speed powers, acts as a vigilante hero for the town of Green Hills, Montana. This leads to an "Uncle Ben" moment from Tom, who tells Sonic to be patient and responsible with his powers after Sonic pretty much tears up a city block. Eventually, Tom and Maddie depart for Maddie's sister's wedding in Hawaii, thanks to one of Sonic's incredibly handy Warp Rings (I gotta get some of those). Of course, Sonic goes hog-wild with the house to himself, but he has no idea what's coming. Sonic's "party" is soon disrupted by Doctor Robotnik and his new "friend," Knuckles, the Echidna, who has a hilarious "Drax"-like personality. Both are out for revenge; Robotnik's is obvious. Knuckles wants to honour his extinct Echidna tribe by finding the legendary Master Emerald, allowing whoever possesses it to bend reality to their will. Of course, once Robotnik gets hold of this information, he starts a scheme of his own, along with his old assistant, Stone (Lee Majdoub), to help Knuckles find the Emerald and steal it from him. Sonic's only real help is from a kid who idolizes him: a two-tailed fox named Miles "Tails" Prower. Miles Prower is a fun play on words here and even a part of the character's original history, showing that the writers here did at least a little homework. And that's what I do enjoy about these movies. Most of the time, if there's something out of place about the film as far as an adaptation goes, I do a little of my homework and usually realize the movie is pretty accurate. They're also not shy about the design of things. For example, here, we see Robotnik floating around in a big half-ball machine straight out of the games. While these films give me a certain sense of nostalgia, as so much about them is very '90s, I can't deny there was a thing or two that irked me here. The cliche of dancing to get out of a sticky situation at a rough and tumble bar is in here, for example, feeling a lot like filler. Also, like its predecessor, the jokes and gags are very "Dad." But I can't just sit here and point out everything I don't like about it. The film is meant for a younger audience; it's harmless, and again, I can't deny that the child within me sees the appeal. I'll say again: I'd have loved these as a kid. 3/5
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 Through and through, I consider myself a Mario Man. But there was something special I couldn't deny about those 'Sonic' games I had for my Sega Game Gear. I didn't even go for much else when equipping my Game Gear with fun because I always knew I'd have fun with 'Sonic' games and their "Blast Processing" (which gave Sonic his incredible speed). It sure beat putting around in the OG 'Mario Kart,' and to put a cherry on top of it all, those 'Sonic' games had some amazing, catchy soundtracks.
Two animated series came out to add to the fun of the 'Sonic' games. They ran parallel, but one show was far better than the other. 'The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' was far more cartoonish, kid-friendly, and had several uncomfortable PSAs. The other, 'Sonic the Hedgehog,' provided an overarching story featuring characters who didn't exist in the games and told an environmentally conscious story without rubbing it in our faces. It was great! A Sonic movie should always have come from that concept for my money. But we got this instead, which many people still love. We start on Sonic's (Ben Schwartz) home planet, where he was born with super speed powers, and the land's native echidnas are constantly chasing him down for said powers. In his childhood, he was protected by an Owl named Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks), who, as far as I can tell, is brand new here. That might irk some, but the cartoon I loved did the same thing, so it wasn't a big deal for me. During one such chase, Longclaw uses a "Warp Ring" to send him through a portal to Earth so he can stay protected, sending a bag of rings with him. On Earth, Sonic grows up as a cryptid, often called the "Blue Devil." He suggests that he's living the good life, but this life of hiding has him lonely. As a result, Sonic throws a tantrum that causes a power outage throughout the quaint little town of Green Hills, Montana. Knowing he caused the blackout, Sonic tries hiding in Tom Wachowski's (James Marsden) garage, where he can get off Earth using one of his rings, away from the people who will now be looking for him. But when Tom busts in to discover Sonic, a mishap with the Warp Rings occurs, sending Sonic's rings through a Warp Hole to San Francisco. The loss of Sonic's rings sends him and Tom on a road trip to San Francisco to retrieve them. Why doesn't Sonic zoom over and grab them himself? He has no idea where San Francisco is or how to get there. In the meantime, the massive blackout Sonic caused has the government bring in Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey in what is arguably his resurrection), who eventually discovers Sonic is the source and could very well have the ability to supercharge his machines. Hence, their rivalry begins. The film all comes down to being a road trip chase movie, complete with Easter eggs for fans like me. The fact that it takes place in "Green Hills" is only the tip of the iceberg. There are relatively obscure references, too, like the "Mean Bean Machine," which is just a coffeemaker in the film. You even get to hear a bit of that classic Green Hills Zone music (if you know any music from the game, it's probably that theme). So, this is a pretty good choice for a movie that will appeal to the Genesis/Game Gear generation and kids who may be brand new to the 'Sonic' franchise. I wasn't as sure about the quality of this film the first time I saw it, but I have to admit that it has grown on me over time. With the help of Jim Carrey's comedic timing and showing us a lot of game familiarity, I credit the film for successfully executing the "fish-out-of-water" cliche. It's not just "Sonic on Earth". They do something with it, making him a cryptid and having him meet his arch-nemesis on Earth instead of someone just following through a portal. It's not quite the movie I wanted initially, but I'll be damned if I can't give this movie a bit of real kudos for doing a video game movie, perhaps not perfectly, but damn well. 4/5  Regarding the Disney Renaissance of animated features, one cannot deny the success of 'The Lion King.' It was always my favourite of the animated classics, and it is abundantly clear from the Box Office numbers this particular film provided that I'm not alone. It's the first of these Disney "live-action" (I mean, this is 99% CG, save, apparently, for the opening 'Circle of Life' sequence) remakes to reach the Top 10 box office opening weekends (domestically), and it still holds its spot at #10, at least for the time being.
Regarding plot, this is precisely the same story we know from the 1994 film. Simba (JD McCrary/Donald Glover), a lion cub and heir of his father, Mufasa (James Earl Jones), is excited about one day becoming King. However, his evil uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) plans to usurp the throne with the help of a group of hyenas, Kamari (Keegan-Michael Key), Azizi (Eric André), and their leader, Shenzi (Florence Kasumba); Shezi being the only hyena whose character remained the same from the animated version. Simba becomes exiled from his home at Pride Rock, and shortly thereafter, he meets up with a meerkat named Timon (Billy Eichner) and a warthog named Pumbaa (Seth Rogen), who both teach him how to live his life with "no worries." Hence, he does, turning his back on Pride Rock and his kingdom, choosing to grow up with a simplified life of laziness and bug-eating. But when things get bad back home, Simba's childhood friend, Nala (Shahadi Wright Joseph/Beyoncé), and a mandrill named Rafiki (John Kani) try to remind Simba about just who he is and where he's from to convince him to come back home. It's funny to think about how I criticized 'Beauty and the Beast' for its "copy + paste" technique when, even in that movie, they still tried a new thing or two. Even though I met 'The Lion King' with a lukewarm reception, as I got what I expected, I can say honestly that I'd get the same movie (save a character change or two) with the '94 animated version. Everything here is just a CG upgrade that works better on the big screen than the small one, and its look is unique. But that's all this has going for it. Where this movie dips for me is in the songs. The originals are better, both in sound and visuals, which may sound odd, considering a massive CG upgrade. For the best example, 'I Just Can't Wait to Be King' used to be bright, colourful, playful, and fun, but now it's just Simba and Nala running around with different animals. There's no "punch" to the sequence. 'Be Prepared' also comes across as half-assed, at least to me, a massive fan of the original song. The only real upgrade here is in Timon and Pumbaa's delivery of 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.' Otherwise, all songs in the original are better. The way I see it, if the original had never existed and this came out as a whole new thing, I would see it as nothing short of excellence. But with the original being such a staple of my early life, helping me get through some of my worst days at school, it's kinda tricky to see this adaptation of the story and not miss some of what the original had to offer, particularly during musical sequences, and even character personalities, which is the problem with using realistic animals for a story like this. A lot of the time, these characters are physically expressionless. My opinions on this movie are biased, as the original film was essential to my life. I can still go back to the '94 version of this story and get goosebumps as it surrounds me in great music, comedy, and nostalgia, like a cozy blanket. This adaptation could never have the same effect on me. This film is still good for what it is and introduces the story to a new generation. But in my humble opinion, there's no substitute for that original, which I can still happily watch today with a "Hakuna Matata" mindset. 3/5  Perhaps it was my trip to Hawaii over New Years Eve, 2012-2013 that really did it, but as far as more modern Disney animation goes, I have to say that 'Moana' is a film that absolutely stays on top for me. It's a great story that delves into a bit of Polynesian culture, full of cool, original ideas, catchy music, beautiful visuals, and some solid comedy. There are a few titles out there that I can watch that will make me want to revisit those breathtaking Hawaiian islands, and 'Moana' is one of them.
It's my understanding that the film doesn't exactly nail it when it comes to Polynesian culture and folklore, but as a "tourist," I can say that 'Moana' certainly conveys the overall spirit of what I experienced in Hawaii. Some of the folklore consists of demi-gods like Maui (Dwayne Johnson), some of it is derived from stories about islands being living beings, and some of the Polynesian langauge and style is evident in the songs that are sung, namely one called "We Know the Way," presenting us with voyagers, searching for new lands. With all of that said, one should probably know that all locations within the film are fictional, starting with the island of Motunui, where a young Moana sneaks off to have a look at the ocean. While there, she adorably helps a baby sea turtle make it to the water, while birds are trying to get at it. With this, the ocean presents itself to Moana as a sort of living being, and chooses her to one day return the Heart of Te Fiti to its rightful place, and restore nature to the way its meant to be. The backstory to Te Fiti; a living island, and goddess of nature, was that the shape-shifting demigod, the aforementioned Maui, stole the Heart (a pounamu stone) as a means to gift humanity with the power of creation. As a result of this, Te Fiti disintegrates, and a volcanic monster named Te Kā attacks Maui. As they clash, Maui loses his fish hook, which empowers him, and the Heart sinks to the depths of the ocean. Maui is also banished to a deserted island, where he spends the next thousand years or so. Back to Moana (Auli'i Cravalho), she eventually grows up, and is meant to become the next Chief of Motunui. This means a lot of the relatively typical coddling from her parents, Tui (Temuera Morrison) and Sina (Nicole Scherzinger), who try to keep Moana away from the ocean, and never to cross the reef, where the ocean is apparently incredibly unforgiving. But one day, when blight strikes the island, Moana's Gramma Tala (Rachel House) reminds her that the Ocean chose her to restore the Heart of Te Fiti. So, Moana sets out on her adventure, despite her overbearing parents (father, mainly). As Moana sets off on her journey, a local chicken named Hei-Hei (Alan Tudyk) stows away, and provides a lot of the film's visual comedy, as this bird isn't quite right in the head. Of course, she also eventually meets Maui, whom she needs all the help she can get from. However, as a demigod, he's a bit reluctant to help, and all he really wants is off his island so he can go find his fish hook. Little does he realize that through helping Moana, he has to earn it - and the ocean is sure to remind him at every turn. As the rest of the film unfolds, one of the best credits I can give it is the absolutely beautiful animation, which has a range of variety to it, as seen in the song 'You're Welcome,' on Maui's tattoos, and the film's opening. On top of that, I'd say most of the songs are catchy, the characters are likeable, and I truly appreciate the imagination that went into the storytelling here. It may not be what I see as perfection, but its imperfections are few and far between enough that this is something I can sit back and truly enjoy when the mood strikes me. 4/5  A bit of a confession to the masses that a few people know about me is that when it comes to classically epic movies - you know, the kind that are often considered some of the greats, I don't end up watching them that often. I'll view them once or twice just to say I've seen them, but the collection of amazing movies out there I've only seen a handful of times, or even once, is pretty outstanding, and would shock people. 'Gladiator' is one such title, which I saw twice in theatres, twice on DVD, and I've left it alone for over two decades until now.
The great thing about being such a fan of film, yet having that approach to things, is that it allows movies to be "brand new" to me again, and I can enjoy them on that level I enjoyed them once in the past. Sometimes things like early CG can get in the way, but not in the case of something like 'Gladiator,' which overthrows anything bad about it (and there's not much) with a great story, bringing together bits of fact and fiction to create something truly epic, and arguably, one of the greatest films of all time. The whole thing opens up in the year 180 AD, where Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) leads Emperor Marcus Aurelius' Roman army to victory against Germanic tribes. As this puts Maximus in Marcus' favour, Marcus tells him of his crooked son, Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), whom he deems unfit to take things over. Instead, Marcus tells Maximus how he'd like him to take succession as regent, believing he would be a great leader who will be able to restore the Roman Republic. Upon finding this information out, Commodus gets understandably PO'ed, murders his father in secret, and proclaims himself the new Emperor of Rome. When he requests Maximus' loyalty, however, Maximus refuses, remembering what Marcus told him. That's when things go off the rails. As Maximus fails to pledge his loyalty, in turn, he eventually discovers the murdered bodies of his wife and family, and is eventually sold to gladiator trainer Proximo (Oliver Reed). The thing is, Maximus is not just some guy off the streets of Rome - he's a trained, professional war General, and has some skills. As Maximus keeps fighting through battles, mostly at Rome's Colosseum, his popularity rises, earning him the nickname "The Spaniard." But when Commodus organizes 150 days of gladiatorial games to commemorate his father, Proximo convinces Maximus that if he wants his freedom, he's gonna have to win over the crowd. His popularity may very well be the only thing that keeps him from getting killed, despite Commodus' dislike for him, as Commodus wants the respect of the Roman people. This is a film that still totally holds up, and I'd highly recommend checking it out again if you haven't seen it in a while. It's a friendly reminder that epic movies of the early 2000s could still be pulled off without needing a whole lot of CG, which, at the time, 'Lord of the Rings' was pulling off really well, but 'Star Wars' exemplified CG that hasn't aged very well. It was a mixed bag. But luckily, here, for cool scenes like the tiger brawl, they used real tigers and a teeny-tiny bit of CG and stuffed tigers for their deaths, and it still looks great. I remember this one getting all the accolades of the time, too. Twelve Oscar nominations, for example, winning five, including Best Picture. And if you go to IMDb right now, it is ranked as #34 in the Top 250 Movies of All Time. Any way you slice it, really, this is just one of those legendary titles that has gone down in cinematic history as something truly epic in every sense of the word. So go ahead and check it out if you've never seen it, and after you're done, ask yourself the big question; "are you not entertained?" 5/5  As the Sony-verse continued to unfold with its whole "Not-Sinister-Six" plan, I left 'Carnage' here with the same thoughts I had about its predecessor. The characters may not have been developed perfectly, but they looked great, were well-cast, and it's an easy movie to have fun with. Also, just like 'Venom,' while this didn't necessarily do well critically, the fans make it clear that it's not so bad, as long as you can let go of reality a bit. And you should for a character like Venom.
This one branches nicely off of 'Venom' and its stinger scene, in which we see Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) head into San Quentin State Prison to interview one Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson). And if you've ever been any sort of fan of Venom, you know exactly who that is. While the MCU is the "King of Stingers," I can at least say there wasn't any confusion about what this was meant to lead to. Kasady simply leaves us with the promise of "Carnage" whenever he manages to get out, and a lot of us looked forward to the next chapter. We open here back in 1996, where we meet a young Kasady (Jack Bandeira), communicating back and forth through holding cells with his love interest, Frances Barrison, AKA "Shriek" (Naomie Harris), who is more or less revealed to be a mutant, in so many words, to keep it nice and legal. She is taken from St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children, where she fell in love with Cletus, and forced to be separated and taken to the Ravencroft Institute, where she and her mutant abilities will be more secure. This leaves Cletus stewing for several years. In the present, Det. Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham) contacts Brock (who's still bonded with Venom, but keeping it on the down-low), telling him that Kasady wants an interview. Hesitantly, Brock agrees, and during their one-on-one, a little piece of Venom is taken from Brock, eventually bonds with Kasady, and Carnage is created. Their bond is almost perfect, and their motivation goes from prison-break and break-out Shriek, to much more sinister things, and it's up to Venom to put a stop to it. Meanwhile, there's a secondary plot involving Eddie's ex-fiancée, Anne Weying (Michelle Williams) and her engagement to Dr. Dan Lewis (Reid Scott). This is where I find the film kinda tries on the 'Spider-Man 2' concept on for size; his love interest likes someone else, lacks feelings for him, and it all boils down to his superhero life interfering with his normal one. It works out here, but in some ways, does feel like a copy. That said, I still mean it when I say I think this one is slightly more fun than its predecessor. For as much as I love the casting of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, I think it's safe to say that Woody Harrelson really steals the show here as Cletus Kasady. The man does "psycho" very well, and there's a real intimidation to his look at times. You can tell he's having a ton of fun with the role, and I love how much his character embraces the chaos that is Carnage, constantly letting his Symbiote take the wheel. On the flipside, they brought out the more fun aspects of Venom, which may have been a risk, but I remember "fun" Venom from the original Playstation game, so I embraced it pretty easily. When it comes to the Sony-verse movies, it's clear that 'Venom' is their bread and butter, while 'Morbius' and 'Madam Web' failed miserably. The 'Venom' movies may not have been perfect, but at least one could find some fun in them. The Symbiotes here, at least look good and don't need to peel back their face to show their inner celebrity every five seconds (Topher!), making them feel more familiar. For me, the 'Venom' movies are just a friendly reminder that sometimes the superhero genre just doesn't need to be taken seriously, as long as a good time is had. 3/5  The Sony-verse (as far as Spider-Man-related movies go) is a very hit-or-miss situation altogether. While the animated 'Spider-Verse' movies are entertaining, artistic, clever takes on stories about Miles Morales, giving Sony its own Spider-Man after Disney/Marvel took Peter Parker away. That's a whole situation I wish the hell I knew why Sony wasn't capitalizing on, but they decided to go a different route instead; the frankly overall disappointing route of trying to make some kind of a fake-ass Sinister Six for themselves.
For my money, the only half decent live-action movies that exist in the Sony-verse are the Venom films, starting with this new, but not bad take on the character. By the time this came out, a lot of us went with the idea that it couldn't possibly be worse than 'Spider-Man 3's take on the character. In the end, it pretty much completely divided audiences. Critically, these didn't do so hot, but fans (and myself) were at least able to cut it a little slack, because, hell, the character was just done really well. When a space mission that includes the quick name-drop of "Jameson" (Chris O'Hara) goes wrong, and their ship crash-lands on Earth, three of four "Symbiotes" (an alien organism that attempts to bond with a host) are quickly collected by Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who understands that successfully bonding with these things could be a next step towards our human evolution, allowing us to explore space, and potentially finds more planets to inhabit. However, a fourth Symbiote (Venom) manages to escape the wreckage. Meanwhile, Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) enters the scene to report on Drake, and give him a hard time with some top secret files. As a result, Brock loses everything, including His job, and his fiance, Anne (Michelle Williams), who happened to work for Drake's company. However, Dr. Dora Skirth (Jenny Slate), who works for Drake and realizes what he's doing with these Symbiotes, secretly invites Brock back to the lab to expose Drake's experiments. This is where the Venom Symbiote finds and bonds with Brock. It's revealed that the Symbiotes' general purpose (at least for this movie) is to invade planets, possess and devour their inhabitants, and move on. If Eddie helps Venom with this, he may just be spared. However, the pair soon find themselves in over their heads when the aforementioned fourth, escaped Symbiote (Riot) finds his host, ready to continue their alien goals, while Venom ends up finding a bit more of a human/righteous side to himself while bonded with Brock, and helps Eddie become the film's hero. The whole Venom storyline has more or less fallen by the wayside as far as trying to get a live-action version of it to be everything we want it to be. 'Spider-Man 3' screwed it up, and this storyline is just very different, with its own ideas and concepts. I was never too mad at it though, considering what was done with 'Spider-Man: Homecoming,' being an MCU original take on a much more popular character, and enjoying that just fine. Why should this have been any different for me? In the end, I can fully admit that I find this movie to be a lot of fun, and although the story isn't "correct," the character (I find) is done well. This is definitely not everyone's Venom, and I think it's safe to say that aside from the original comic book take on things, one should definitely refer to the 1994 animated series for the original story. That said, if you're new to the character, I don't think this is a bad place to start. While these films remain the best part of the Sony-verse, however, they're far from perfect, or even that wonderful. But if you're looking for a bit of a roller coaster ride, and are open to a few changes here and there, this is just fine for what it is. 3/5  When it comes to the horror genre, nothing does a better job at giving me the heebie-jeebies quite like the psychological category. If you truly wanna get a scare out of me, you've gotta make me ask "WTF?" I have such admiration for a film that can do something like that other than just show me a bunch of gore, or a bunch of ghosts or demons. I love horror movies as a whole, but psychological horror is a whole other level. I think 'Smile' is one of the best examples of such a movie I've seen in a long time.
The story here centres cleverly on a therapist named Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) who, one day, meets with an extremely distressed girl named Laura Weaver (Caitlin Stasey). Laura claims that some sort of evil entity has been haunting her ever since she witnessed one of her professors commit suicide in front of her. This entity shows itself as various different people who present her with a ghastly smile, haunting her, and foretelling her death. After a traumatic experience at the hospital, Rose soon finds herself caught up in what seems like it could be a similar situation. Beginning with one of Rose's patients, Carl (Jack Sochet) presenting her with his own ghastly smile and foretelling of her death, Rose slowly starts to lose her grip on reality. After the aforementioned traumatic experience with this smiling Carl fellow on top of it, her supervisor, Dr. Morgan Desai (Kal Penn) orders her to take a week off for a breather, concerned she may be overworking and not getting enough sleep. She does, after all, have to take care of mentally unhealthy people, so needs a good head on her shoulders for it. However, during her time off, Rose's hallucinations continue, and even sometimes come through to reality in some pretty nasty ways, causing Rose to question her own reality. Like a responsible therapist, she seeks some help from her own therapist, Dr. Madeline Northcott (Robin Weigert) who chalks it up to the tragic death of her mother (Dora Kiss) and the guilt she may be feeling because of it. But there's something about this entity that's haunting and terrorizing her that's a bit more real than that. This entity is a nightmare fuel concept that follows Rose around, presenting itself as people she knows and trusts, and constantly telling her how her "time is almost up." What makes this all the more terrifying is the idea of Rose's role as a therapist, which really turns the genre on its head, asking basically "what if the helper becomes helpless?" The more it pops into reality, the more it does things to frame Rose; a woman who knows about mental health and how to treat it. This thing alienates her from loved ones who simply think she's gone off her nut. I will admit that there's this common theme within horror about things being symbolic of grief, loss, regret and the like, and this isn't much of an exception. But what I truly did appreciate about this was putting a medical professional in that role in which no one believes her, and everyone seems to think she's gone crazy. Somehow it makes things scarier. But on top of that, there are moments in this movie, especially towards one hell of a climax, where things go way outside of the box, completely catching me off guard, but in a really good way. The ideas and concepts behind this movie are pretty terrifying, and for me, are solidified with that concept of "what if your therapist needed therapy?" but digs even deeper with the idea that she knows this is some kind of curse. It harkens back to old horror movies in which authority figures just plain won't listen to you. I really loved how this was executed, being mostly a psychological horror that got into my head, and morphing in about its last half hour or so into something that will totally catch you off-guard. It's one of the best all-around horror movies I've seen in quite some time. 4/5  When this first came out, I can remember there being quite a bit of controversy behind it. On one had, you had the "geek" argument that some other guy who wasn't their favourite was playing The Joker, as these things usually go. However, the film touches on some petty sensitive themes, such as mental health, and it almost looked like it was advertising that those with mental health problems will ultimately become violent. To those people, I really must say, it's straight up ignorant to come to such conclusions.
From my perspective, I saw this more as a sort of cautionary tale than anything else. When I say cautionary tale, however, my example comes not from the mental health perspective, but from this idea of Gotham pulling funding from Arthur Fleck's (Joaquin Phoenix/Joker) therapy sessions. This gives way to a very real concept in society, in that there are still places in the world where mental health has that "sweep-under-the-rug" stigma, shrugging it off. It's important to recognize that if you suffer from the wrong set of mental health problems, and you can't get the help you need, shit can happen. It's to be taken seriously! It's my opinion that this was a daring way to get it all out into the open, using the character of the Joker for familiarity, and to show the dark side of the problem. We ALL know who he is, and we're fully aware that he's gonna end up the most disastrous villain of Gotham City. With all of that in play, it seems easy to empathize with Arthur's character, and to some degree, you want to support him. But once he has your support, you see him start doing terrible things, and the film does a good job of holding up that mirror asking "still supporting him?" Try to imagine this as a film idea paralleling something more like Rob Zombie's 'Halloween', in that we're watching the slow development of a well-known fictional serial killer. Was it necessary? Not particularly. But one's curiosity does kinda make one wanna peek behind the curtain to see how the monster was created. To be honest, I wasn't really into this upon the first trailer, but curiosity on my all-time favourite villain's possible origin did eventually get the best of me, and I'm not sorry that it did. It was surprising how much I got from it. The highlight here, as one probably expects, is Phoenix's performance. Heath Ledger still hasn't been dethroned for me, but stiff competition is seen here. Phoenix's Joker is very "Ledgeresque", but he plays the much creepier side of things here, making it an unnerving thriller. Ledger still made you laugh over violent moments (the pencil trick is still awesome), but Phoenix plays things more like some sort of twisted performer, and by the end, he even gives Pennywise from 'It' a run for his money. Despite some controversy surrounding this upon its release, it has since gone on to be a bit of a cult hit, and I'm often hearing people now suggesting that character-wise, Phoenix is their favourite Joker. And for as much as one can't pry me away from Ledger and Nicholson as the ultimate portrayals of the character, I will give this guy full credit for perhaps being the deepest rendition of him, as opposed to the incredibly half-assed Jared Leto performance. Phoenix provides a fascinating Joker to watch. For myself, I think this carries a strong message with it about mental health and the steps necessary to take care of it. It's definitely an interesting take on a favourite character's origin, and for yours truly, it works extremely well. For something as dark and creepy as this gets, I do feel like to some degree this is also a bit of an important watch for the more ignorant-minded who seem to think things like anxiety, depression or the like can simply be solved by "smiling." 5/5  What can be said about my relationship with the original 'Beetlejuice'? The film came out when I was just five years old, and oddly enough, my only memory of it being in theatres was walking by the movie poster for it and pointing out the girl with the crazy hair (Lydia). In the meantime, over the next few years, I would tune into the animated series, which I kinda ate up at the time. It could be said that I was very much into the strange and unusual, because I, myself, am strange and unusual. Shows like this helped fuel my imagination, and I loved it!
It wasn't until I was maybe about 7 or 8 that I finally got to see the movie at a friend's house, and it ended up being a fun comedy with elements of horror that allowed me to dip my toes into the horror genre ever-so-slightly. Other movies provided this for me like 'Gremlins' or, my all-time fave, 'Ghostbusters', but I never did reach the point of being able to enjoy all-out horror like my peers could because a lot of imagery just stuck with me, and I could scare pretty easily. But not only were movies like this fine for me, they helped shape me! I can actually credit 'Beetlejuice' here in many of the same ways I can credit 'Ghostbusters'. It helped ease me into scary stuff by making it more fun, it was something I could watch again and again, and keep finding new things to appreciate about it, and even helped with my love of Halloween - I even dressed up as Beetlejuice in fourth grade. And for those wondering about my greater love of 'Ghostbusters', I was Egon when I was 5, so it was covered. But, getting back to the point, this was always a title I've held close to my heart. Just for a quick plot summary, the film involves married couple, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) Maitland who find themselves the victims of a nasty car wreck. Upon returning to their beautiful, big, country home, the couple realize they've died, but haven't passed to the other side. Meanwhile, the Deetz family; Charles (Jeffrey Jones), his second wife, Delia (Catherine O'Hara) and Charles' daughter, Lydia (Winona Ryder) move into the now abandoned home, much to the Maitlands' dismay. The game soon becomes one of trying to scare the family enough to leave, but as nothing they do seems to be working, they ask for help from a freelance "bio-exorcist" named Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton - the title name comes from a game of charades within the movie). It's not long before things get completely out of hand once the "juice is loose," and the Maitlands start to have a change of heart once realizing how twisted Betelgeuse can be, and after befriending Lydia, who can actually see them, unlike everyone else. I would strongly consider this to be a movie of acquired tastes, though, and can't recommend it to just anyone. I have a soft spot for it due to it being very influential to my tastes growing up; I like when movies think outside the box, my love of horror comedy and giving a film a certain style. I'd even go so far as to say this might be THE best example of a Tim Burton original that shows you what he's all about, because there's a little bit of everything you'd expect from him here. But if you're not really a Burton fan, it might not work out. To this day, I still have a certain admiration for this film, although it doesn't hit quite as much as it used to. Regardless of how one may feel about it, though, one has to admit that there's something to be said about the overall originality of this movie, and I might even argue its contribution to goth style (thanks to Lydia) before goth really became a thing, circa the late 90s. It may not be for everyone, but for me, despite a dip in how entertained I am by it today, it still means a lot to me in a certain nostalgic way. 4/5  At the end of 2016's 'Deadpool', we got our typical-by-now post-credit sequence, involving Deadpool doing a take on the post-credit scene to 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', and ultimately teasing us that the film already had a sequel in the works with the casting of famed badass, and never-before-used Cable in mind. We were ready for it, and the rumour mill started up on who was gonna play Cable - most famously, Brad Pitt, but we'll come back to him in a bit. It was one of the more discussed topics among friends until they cast Thanos, himself, Josh Brolin.
I think everything worked out for the best in the end, but instead of talking about casting, maybe I should just get into the film itself. Riding on the coattails of the ultra-successful, R-rated 'Logan', this one actually opens with a dose of tragedy, and another great opening sequence with humorous credits, this time parodying the 'Bond' movies. Even though this all happens right at the beginning, and the film is on the older side at this point, I'm still not gonna say exactly what happens, but it does lead to Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) entering a deep depression, which makes him search for a greater purpose. Soon enough, Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic (Brianna Hildebrand) come back into Wade's life, in another attempt to recruit him to the X-Men. Wade reluctantly agrees, and is soon given his first mission; to try to help a destructive young mutant by the name of Firefist (Julian Dennison) before things go wrong. That particular "wrong" involves killing the headmaster of his orphanage (Eddie Marsan) who want to cure him, and consider his mutant abilities a sin. That murder will ultimately direct him down a dark path of destruction. We learn of this destruction through the aforementioned Cable, who travels from the future to "present day" (2018) to get to Firefist early, and prevent him from eventually growing up and slaughtering Cable's family. The kid then becomes Deadpool's go-to source for having a change of heart and ultimately doing the right thing by not only preventing his 'T2'-like murder, but also trying to set him on the right path. Although the jokes and gags here are plenty, this one is still quite a bit darker than the first, and a better glimpse into Wade's more serious side (small though that side may be). I might suggest that this chapter of the 'Deadpool' series might have been better for the time, especially with the introduction of 'X-Force', which was the original direction these films were heading. We were introduced to characters like Domino (Zazie Beetz), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Vanisher (remember when I mentioned Brad Pitt?) and of course, Peter (Rob Delaney). I may argue that things really did turn out for the best in the end, when these films took a different direction with 'Deadpool & Wolverine', but still, an 'X-Force' movie lead by Deadpool could have been a lot of fun! So this now kind of suffers as a bit of a hinge movie with different expectations by the end of it, but I will say that it's not something in plain sight. It's not like the movie left us with a major cliff-hanger for the upcoming 'X-Force' movie. Instead, we actually get a time-travel sequence that lends itself more to the direction they went with the series. One might call it a happy accident, but one might also just say that the concept of time travel opens too many easy doors. But that's the nice thing about Deadpool - either way you slice it, we're gonna have fun with it. It's hard for me to say whether I like this one of the first one better, but I do feel like the first had more going for it as a film the fans were clamouring for. That's not to say this wasn't effective, it's just that we've seen what DP can do at this point. On top of that, this now carries that "What if?" scenario involving 'X-Force' that we never got to see. But there's still enough here in fourth wall-breaking, jokes, gags, cameos and all-around action that it's a super solid and super worthy sequel to its predecessor. Just thank god 'Deadpool & Wolverine' picked up some of the missing pieces! 5/5  Going back to 2016, it just took one thing for us geeks to hear before we were foaming at the mouth like wild dogs in anticipation for this movie. And that was the R-rating! All we could do was imagine all the possibilities, and it delivered on all fronts. Fourth-wall breaking aplenty, sure, but also sex, violence, foul language, suggestive moments - everything that makes Deadpool awesome was there. We needed things set right after that Baraka-looking Deadpool given to us in 'Origins: Wolverine', and we GOT IT!
Cutting right to the chase, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) works as a mercenary for hire. After he meets the love of his life, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), life is looking better than ever, however, he becomes riddled with El Cancer, and soon desperate situations call for desperate measures. He agrees to an offer that he is told will not only cure his cancer, but give him the abilities of a superhero. Instead, Wade is subject to a torturous nightmare which eventually gives him the ability to heal from basically everything, and the ordeal leaves him deformed. This was all done by the hands of a dude who likes to call himself Ajax (Ed Skrein), and his assistant, Angel Dust (Gina Carano), and most of the film is centred on Wade's revenge against the pair for turning him into a freak. Armed with a killer sense of humour, a rapid healing factor, blades and bullets, nothing can stop him! Nothing short of Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), that is. In my opinion, the best way to look at it is that they're basically representing a PG-13 rating telling an R-rating what it should be doing while the R-rating doesn't really care. We've become accustomed to superhero movies thinking a bit more outside of the box by now, but just think about it being early 2016 at this point. The most well-regarded superhero movie at the time was probably still 'The Avengers', with 'Civil War' right around the corner, meaning Spidey wasn't even a part of the MCU yet. For the time, between the R-rating, fan service, fourth wall-breaking and Ryan Reynolds being awesome for helping to bring it all together, this was one of the best superhero movies of all time. Arguably, it still is. A couple more characters we are introduced to throughout the movie also help form what becomes Wade's inner circle; eventually what he calls his family. There's the lovable cab driver, Dopinder (Karan Soni), his bartender and close friend, Weasel (T.J. Miller), and his senior, foul-mouthed roommate, Blind Al (Leslie Uggams). While none of them are deeply essential to the plot, all of their back and forth banter with Wade/Deadpool make for some of the funniest moments in the film. Because the studio actually wised up and let the crew do what they wanted with the movie, its one that still completely holds up, and I'd argue set the bar just a little higher for things to come - namely a new batch of 20th Century Fox superhero titles with a darker tone to them. They were even playing with genres for a bit when you get right down to it. If this was a comedy, 'Logan' was a western, and 'New Mutants' was set to be a horror, originally slated to air in April of 2018, before 'Deadpool 2'. It would have been interesting to see where that all could have gone, but here and now, I'm kinda glad it didn't completely work out. Still, however, I can't help but give this film all the kudos it deserves for really, truly listening to its audience, and providing us with a winning product that didn't really seem to get on anyone's nerves with any kind of predictability, or cliched moments. The plot is incredibly basic for a typical superhero movie, sure, but I almost feels like that adds to the experience, as Wade is just cracking fourth-wall jokes throughout. It works for what it needs to be, and its a superhero movie everyone can enjoy, if only because its just so damn fun! 5/5  Way back in the late 90s, there was a whole slew of movies about natural disasters, becoming the "bar-setter" when it came to box office success. It's funny to think about what made a fun box office thriller before the turn of the century, but I do have very fond memories of the era. Whether I went with friends or by myself, I found my love of movies within this time by hitting up the theare almost every weekend. So there will be a bit of a bias towards this movie for me, if only because it reminds me of a simpler time.
When I say "simpler time," here, I'm not so much talking about my life as I am the box office, and what made a hit. This was before superheroes got good, predates 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Harry Potter', and it marks a time when I remember people just being more forgiving about the execution of a fun, popcorn action movie. And really, that's all 'Twister' should be viewed as. These movies aren't without faults, but they do remind us of a time we could just strap in and go for a ride. It's still how I try to watch movies today, although it doesn't always succeed. Truth be told, this was one a dear friend showed to me at his house shortly after it was released on VHS (it's what predated DVDs for all you kids), so I missed it on the big screen. But it, combined with the release of 'Independence Day' earlier that year, is probably (arguably) the beginning of the 90s disaster movie era, and I definitely caught the bug. The whole concept of "Man vs Nature" was always something I liked, and it was cool to see something a bit more grounded and "real," which added to the fear factor of everything. Kicking the whole thing off with a fairly devastating scene involving one Jo Harding's (Alexa PenaVega) childhood, the movie begins with the experience that would turn her into the adult storm chaser she would become (Helen Hunt). Leading a team of other storm chasers and scientists, she hopes to one day be able to deploy an invention they have dubbed "Dorothy," which will be able to study wind patterns and such with little sensors and make storm predictions much more accurate. Said design comes from the mind of Bill (Bill Paxton), Jo's estranged husband. He has since gotten out of the storm-chasing game and become a weatherman due to his uncanny ability to read the skies. He has also settled down and gotten engaged to a reproductive therapist named Melissa (Jami Gertz). Bill brings Melissa with him for some reason to get his and Jo's divorce papers signed, but upon meeting up with Jo, Bill gets sucked right back into the game, especially knowing that his vision of Dorothy has been made and is ready to be tested. Bill, Jo and the rest of the team (which includes the likes of Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Alan Ruck, among others) also get a fair shake of competition with a jerk named Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes), who ultimately stole Bill's ideas for Dorothy, and hopes to beat them to the punch. Otherwise, a lot of the film involves storm-chasing, going one by one, conveniently according to scale of the twisters they chase, with a grand total of five, and perhaps providing a bit of predictability after the second tornado. While the film may not be quite as riveting or exciting as it once was, since so much more has been released since, there's still an obvious "something" to it. The release of '24's long-gap sequel of 'Twisters' released to some pretty solid box office numbers, all things considered. Is nostalgia the main factor? Or has it just been that long since we've had fun with tornadoes that don't have sharks all up in them? Either way, I do consider this a mild classic in its own right. It's by no means perfect, and often absurd, but nevertheless still kinda fun. 4/5  By now, I think it's probably safe to say that the Minions are typically seen as one of two things - adorable, innocent and fun or irritating, invasive and simply there for the cash-in. I tend to lean a little more towards the former, although with the full realization that indeed, these little yellow fellows are money makers and that's generally the reason these films get any sort of mileage anymore. At no point was it more obvious than the two years between the last 'Minions' movie of 2015, and 'Despicable Me 3' of 2017.
Thankfully, this one managed to come along after a respectable five year hiatus, and actually make us care about Gru (Steve Carell) again for the first time since probably 'Despicable Me 2'. While the Minions do play their titular part as expected, the story is much more about, well, the rise of Gru. It's actually a pretty good example of a trailer that delivers all the Minion madness we've come to expect from these films, but the final product ends up much better than we thought it was going to be. And it fits quite nicely in between 'Minions' and the first 'Despicable Me' - arguably the lowest and highest points of the series, respectively. Here, we go back to 1976 when Gru, at just 11 years old, aspires to one day become a supervillain. His first step to success was to hire the Minions to assist him in his work. From there, Gru eventually receives an invitation to audition for the five remaining supervillain members of The Vicious 6; Belle Bottom (Taraji P. Henson), a disco-themed villain who has replaced their former leader; Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), said former leader; Jean-Clawed (Jean-Claude Van Damme), who has a big lobster claw for a right arm; Svengeance (Dolph Lundgren), a roller skating champion; Stronghold (Danny Trejo), the obvious brute; and Nunchuck (Lucy Lawless), an old nun and master of the nunchaku. Due to Gru's young age, he's taken as a joke rather than any sort of contender for the 6th member. However, in the same room lies the famous Zodiac Stone. In an attempt to prove himself worthy to join the group, with the help of Minions Kevin, Stuart and Bob (again, all Pierre Coffin), Gru manages to steal the Zodiac Stone, giving it to a Minion named Otto for safe keeping. But when Otto trades the stone for a pet rock, a chain of events begins to unravel to truly test Gru's talents. When considering these movies, I have pretty much felt that over time, since the original, they have been taking a bit of a downhill turn. It really did turn into capitalizing on cuteness rather than bringing in any sort of real character development or, again, the contrast the first movie had. I keep bringing that up in this series' reviews, I know, but it (and even the second to some degree) did such a good job of making us smile while also wondering if the movie really "went there" with some of the dialogue and imagery. There as a soft edginess to them. Thankfully, this actually brings some of that back, and things feel as fun as they once were. I think the two thing that truly fuelled this movie for me were a combination of things within the film and unassociated with the film. This movie came along in July of 2022, so even though things were a bit safer for us at the time, Covid was still around, and a lot of us were always looking for ways to brighten our day. With that five-year gap, despite the Minions getting a bit out of hand before, speaking for myself, the were welcomed back into my life with open arms. I never did hate the little guys, even if they got to be a little much. Within the film, on the other hand, the biggest thing the film has going for it is probably its voice-casting. It felt like quite the large coming together of famous names to cover some interesting characters, and I haven't even mentioned that other voices include Michelle Yeoh, Will Arnett, and the return of Russell Brand as Nefario and Julie Andrews as Gru's Mom (who I've somehow never mentioned until now). On top of that though, the film also provides a good and fun origin story for Gru, and things feel a bit more like they used to. I might even go so far as to rank this my second-place choice of the series. 4/5  For my money, this chapter of the series pretty much parallels the first 'Minions' movie as far as overall quality is concerned. This may not rely on almost pure cuteness like 'Minions' did, but it does fall under the category of all-around "staleness" that just about any third part of a series suffers. 'Minions' already kind of overwhelmed us, and there wasn't exactly a big break between movies to give us any sort of breather. So in many ways, this just felt like more of the same, especially when the Minions get a full side-plot here.
For as fun as the Minions are to me, even I have to admit that things started to feel like a bit of an overdose at this point. At least the Minion plot line in 'Despicable Me 2' was still a part of the main story. This was more of a matter of letting them do their own thing, which is what the 'Minion' movie was for. Having said that, I'm not entirely sure that I'd have loved a heavier focus on the main plot either. All in all, I probably consider this one the worst of the bunch. I don't think it's horrible or anything, but I mean, unless you're a kid, it's still kinda bad. Felonious Gru (Steve Carell) and Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) are now a married couple, and adopted parents to Margot (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Nev Scharrel). The pair now work for the AVL (Anti-Villain League), and live a life of adventure. Their current mission is to recover the Dumont Diamond (biggest diamond in the world), which has been stolen by former child actor villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker), who is trapped in the 80s, and spends most of the movie just dancing around and listening to retro tunes. When they fail to actually capture and bring in Bratt for the umpteenth time, however, they are both fired by newcomer Valerie Da Vinci (Jenny Slate) - there to replace Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan) as head of the AVL. Gru and Lucy come home with the bad news, and while the girls are concerned, the Minions are ready to celebrate Gru's potential triumphant return to evil. When he refuses, however, most of the Minions, led by Mel (Pierre Coffin, once again voicing them all) walk out on him. This is where the story splits in two. The main story involves Gru eventually meeting his long-lost twin brother, Drew (also Carell). Drew is a goodie-goodie who has ultimately disappointed their villainous father, and wants Gru to teach him the ways of villainy. Gru half-way agrees, but uses the stealing of the Dumont Diamond back from Bratt as a cover so that he and Lucy could potentially get their jobs at the AVL back. During all of this, Lucy tries to fit in as a good mother, as she's still very new to the whole thing. Meanwhile, the Minions land themselves in jail and have their whole "prison escape" side story going on, AND we get a third story about Edith and Agnes literally looking for a unicorn that some random guy tells them about. It's really just a way to bring back the cutest and funniest scene in 'Despicable Me' ("he's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!") and capitalize on it. And between all three of the stories, the Minions in prison is about as dark as it gets for any kind of contrast to all the cutesiness. Once again, the original wins for that concept. Above anything else, there's a lot of this where it feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Trey Parker wanted to do this so his daughter could see his work without it warping her fragile little mind, and that's fair. But I have to admit that the whole time, all I could hear was Randy from 'South Park', and it still feels incredibly out of place. all in all, I think its passable for all the kids watching, but as an adult, despite a few honest giggles throughout, I have to consider it the weakest of the batch. Thankfully, we'd get a decent breather between this and 'Minions 2'... 2/5  If one were to take the time to try to pinpoint when exactly the Minions got to be a bit too much for some people, I would probably point to this film in particular. It follows the formula of so many cinematic failures by putting the "funny character(s)" front and center. It always seems to take away from the charm of these character(s) we got from the beginning by offering up too much of them. Sometimes they hit, but most of the time they miss, and this is one such example. This was when "Minions" started to get plastered on everything!
I had the same thing happen in my childhood with 'Ninja Turtles', so in some ways, no big deal. The only thing about the Minions is that they are solely reliable on their cuteness. They speak Gibberish (or "Minionese," as it has now been established), and their original purpose was to be a good dose of background/side comedy relief. So to do a whole plot about their origin might feel like a bit of a stretch for some. Having said all of that, while I am totally guilty of falling for their cuteness, I still think they work better as they were originally intended. There's just too much sugar in this, and you might end up leaving with a cavity. The film kicks off with narration by Geoffrey Rush, explaining that Minions evolved from single-celled organisms and became little yellow tic tac-looking beings with eye-magnifying goggles. These little guys who have since become known as "Minions" serve only one purpose - to work for the biggest baddie in town. Admittedly, this makes the opening to the movie kind of hilarious, as if there's one thing the Minions do really well, it's to accidentally kill their master in the silliest and most mundane ways. For example, Dracula gets nailed with sunlight just because the Minions try to wake him up with a surprise birthday party. After going through boss after boss after boss, the Minions find themselves without purpose, and the begin life anew inside a cave. They reside there for years, until 1968, when eventually, a Minion named Kevin (Pierre Coffin, who also lends his voice to the rest of the Minions) decides to set out with a couple of other volunteers, Stuart and Bob (Stuart being a little more "voluntold"), to find a new master and regain purpose in their lives. This takes them to New York City, where they learn of "Villain-Con", which will be taking place in Orlando. With any luck, they'll find their new boss there. For a little bit, it turns into a road trip movie, but eventually they reach the Con, where they come across the likes of supervillain extraordinaire, Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), whose primary focus is the Queen Elizabeth II's crown. Could she end up being the Minion's primary boss? Anyway, now that I've told you half of the entire movie, it kind of goes to show how little there is to it all. Plus, we all know who they end up working for in the end, anyway. Really, this is nothing more than a "bridge" movie that probably should have just come straight to video. For me, this is about as cutesy as I can take from these little yellow dudes. It's fun in its own way, but I can't help but see how blatantly they ripped off their own characters, as Kevin, Stuart and Bob who are essentially Minion versions of Margo, Edith and Agnes, respectively, with their personalities. It's practically cut-and-paste. Further criticisms of mine include the overuse of Beatles gags when there's plenty more British pop culture to pick from, and Scarlet's God-awfully annoying husband, Herb (Jon Hamm) who was just far too over-the-top for my taste. When considering this series as a whole, one can quite honestly watch the first bit of "educational" material to this movie, then just make a jump to 'Rise of Gru'. Although the movie is funny, cute, and has quite a bit of genuine laughs for the right audience, it's ultimately a bit of a throw-away for the series, and altogether relatively pointless. It's a bit of harmless fun, and there's nothing particularly wrong with it. But It's something to watch, if at all, on a Sunday afternoon on your small screen at home. 3/5  While 'Despicable Me 2' manages to bring back the charm of the first movie, at the end of the day, it still manages to be an overall predictable love story that uses the Minions to its advantage quite a bit more, now that they've been found to be a success. Having said that, these are family movies about a growing family, and if the first movie involves Gru adopting the girls, the next logical step might be to have Gru fall in love, and provide the girls with a mother figure. So while it's predictable, it's still perfectly fine, and I don't hold that against it.
All things considered, at the time, I still came out of this movie with a smile on my face, as the film provides a good balance of humour and heart. Ultimately, the word I'd use to describe all of these movies is "cute," and while this chapter is no exception, it's still not as good as the first, in my opinion. Aside from perhaps a bit of predictability, as I've already mentioned, I feel like this fails to have the darker tone to it that the first one does, where the cuteness balances things out. This is kinda just straight-up "cute." As we pick things up, it's Agnes' (Elsie Fisher) 6th birthday, and Gru (Steve Carell) hosts a princess-themed party for her, hosting several of her friends, along with sisters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove) and Edith (Dana Gaier). All in all, life has gotten good for Gru, as he now fathers and loves his three girls, and he's gotten into making jelly with Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), who is okay with what they're doing, but really ends up missing being a villain with dastardly plans, complete with the darker lifestyle that comes with the territory. One day, Gru is captured by AVL (Anti-Villain League) agent, Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig), and brought to the head of the AVL, Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan). Ramsbottom (heheheh, "bottom") informs him that a potent mutagen, PX-41, has been stolen from a lab in the Arctic Circle, and his help is needed to try to retrieve it. Hesitant at first, with more responsibilities as a father, Gru eventually agrees to the task when he learns about Nefario's plans to leave and work for a villain again. Gru teams up with Lucy in an effort to close this case, and as any 'Despicable Me' fan knows by this point in the game, this is the movie in which the pair eventually fall in love, and the girls get a mother figure in their lives. In the meantime, the culprit here (and villain of this chapter), El Macho (Benjamin Bratt) who stole the PX-41 ends up using it to build himself an army to take over the world, using Gru's minions for the process to some pretty damn funny results, and this time, Gru and the family have to try to rescue them. Looking at the film critically, this is another one where I feel like anything I'd be complaining about it far too nitpicky for it to matter. After all, this was a movie made with kids in mind, which is another reason I can't get mad at the Minions (they annoy so many people). I'd have been into them as a kid, if only for their gibberish speaking and slapstick humour. Again, I get where critics come from, but hell, Minions are innocent fun, and when I was a kid, 'Ninja Turtles' were on EVERYTHING! It just goes to show that things don't change much over time. I think 'Despicable Me 2' is good for what it is, and a worthy sequel to the original, even though it can't quite live up to its charm. Really, at this point, this just ends up being the backstory to how Gru met Lucy. It's padded with some decent humour from both the Minions and the girls (namely Agnes), which makes it fun, but one can almost see those Minions teetering here, and soon splitting audiences. Altogether, though, the movie is fine, and I have no real complaints. Another cute, but predictable, chapter in a cute series. 3/5  There's a decent-sized list of animated movies out there now that lend themselves to the "cheering up" process. They're films we can watch that move us in that certain way that forces a smile onto our faces, no matter how we're feeling. 'Despicable Me' was really the first time I came to actually think about it as a sort of "category," although many of my favourite films could always do it ('Ghostbusters' never fails me). But when I saw this in theatres, despite the fact that I was in my late twenties, it had that effect on me.
As time has gone by, and the franchise has gone a bit sequel-crazy, squeezing every last dime out of those Minions, I've come to realize that people are very split about this universe by now. Most of that is blamed on the Minions, but I have to admit that for myself, although I have no Minion merch, I do still love the little guys. I get that people find them annoying, but for me, it all reflects the fond memories I have of this first chapter, which none of the series' sequels have quite lived up to yet. We meet Felonious Gru (Steve Carell), a proud super villain, who devises a plan to steal the Moon with the help of his assistant, Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand) and his army of Minions. Their motivation comes from a rival villain named Vector (Jason Segel) manages to steal the Great Pyramid of Giza, and hoping to outdo him as the better villain. In order to obtain the Moon, Gru will need a shrink ray, which actually exists in a nearby research facility. Of course, however, Vector beats him to it, and the plan turns to stealing it from his impossible-to-infiltrate base. Enter three orphan girls; big sister, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove); tomboy middle sister, Edith (Dana Gaier); and adorable little sister, Agnes (Elsie Fisher). Gru notices them going door-to-door, selling cookies to raise some money for their orphanage, and eventually ends up adopting them and using them in order to carry out his evil plans. However, as the film continues, Gru ends up bonding with these girls, and learning that there are more important things in the world than villainy. While the all-around plot might not sound incredibly exciting, the film still has a whole lot going for it. At the time, the Minions were these weird little "I-dunno-whats," and I still remember trying to wrap my head around what they were supposed to be. Eventually I just accepted them as a bit of very random comedy relief, adding to the overall cuteness of the film with their gibberish and antics. Personally speaking, these little guys still work for me, but again, I do understand where people come from who have had more than their fill. While the Minions are fun (especially when they were something never-before-seen), what really makes the movie for me is the contrasting relationship Gru ends up having with the girls, especially Agnes, who is actually the most adorable thing in this movie, even as an almost stereotypical little girl. She's the essence of pure innocence, and definitely has the best line in the movie, in my humble opinion ("He's so fluffy I'm gonna die!") Between her and the Minions, I feel like it's pretty easy to find your smile, watching this. On top of how innocent, fun and cute the movie is, I further have to give big credit to the voice acting, namely from Carell, Segel and Brand, whose voices you can hardly recognize. The contrast of Gru's character helps make the film a bit less sugary than I'm making it out to be as well, having some of the funniest almost dark moments in the movie. I think I'll always keep this first chapter close to me heart for my own reasons, but it probably won't ever be matched in quality as far as any sequels are concerned. This was truly unique for its time, and in my humble opinion, still very much worth the watch, if only to brighten one's day. 5/5  As some of my readers know, I loved 'A Quiet Place' well enough to make it one of my favourite movies of 2018. In a time of seemingly repeated horror themes, it did such a great job with building intensity, keeping me on the edge of my seat, and it provided a damn near perfect example of how more often than not, less is more when it came to horror. The scariness didn't lie in the creatures themselves, so much as the overwhelming stress that comes from having to constantly keep quiet in order to survive.
For a brief recap (along with some potential spoilers), the film centred on a family, in the midst of some sort of monstrous invasion. The creatures they have to hide from hunt their prey by sound, so to survive this world, one mustn't make a sound. It doesn't help, however that wife and mother, Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is pregnant and ready to pop, daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) is deaf, and son, Marcus (Noah Jupe) is basically afraid of his own shadow. Sadly, husband and father, Lee (John Krasinski) is eventually killed, and the whole thing ends with Evelyn going through a sort of bad ass transformation, becoming the ultimate protector of her family. This one picks up immediately where the last one left off, but not without an intro, sort of telling us just how this all began. We don't really get any answers other than knowing the creatures came from the sky. The family of three and a half sets out on a journey here, looking for other survivors, now that Evelyn can handle a gun, and more importantly, Regan's discovery. She learns that using her hearing aid at a high frequency is an effective distraction to use against these creatures, especially when amplified. On their mission, however, Marcus ends up critically injured and the family is rescued by their former neighbour and friend, Emmett (Cillian Murphy). Emmett gives them shelter for the night, but insists they leave in the morning. During their stay, they tune a radio into clear music, suggesting there must be survivors out there somewhere. This prompts Regan to head off on her own, despite Marcus' objections, using her hearing aid as her main defence. She believes that if she can reach the radio tower the signal is coming from, she can broadcast her hearing aid's noise so that it can be weaponized by other survivors against these creatures. Ultimately, this leads to the overall intensity of the film in which the family must separate, each finding themselves in their own pickles. Evelyn sends Emmett out after Regan, and Regan convinces him to help her find this tower. Meanwhile, Evelyn has to head out for supplies, leaving Marcus alone with newborn baby, Beau (Dean Woodward). So you pretty much have three survival stories going on at once, and while one can definitely see some of these character pushing through and surviving (namely Evelyn), one will still get tensed up by some of the situations these characters find themselves in. While the first film did a good job with the family sticking together, this one asks how well they fare while they're apart. It all kinda adds up, and the suspense throughout the film is pretty damn solid. Can Regan find survivors with Emmett? Will Evelyn be able to survive on her own in order to help her children survive? Can Marcus take care of Beau despite having a brutal injury, and being afraid of everything? The separation of this family gives the film that extra dose of dread, and this worthy sequel is every bit as atmospheric as the first film. My only real nitpick is that one might get a bit of a 'Walking Dead' vibe from this, especially in that this one is a bit more about the people and whether or not you can trust them. I guess it could also be said that things end on a similar note as the first film, but involving different characters. Having said that, it's also a good way to develop these characters. If I had to pick a favourite thing about the film, it would be somewhere between the consistent intensity of the film, and the perpetually silent acting, which I understand is quite a bit harder than it looks. As far as relatively recent horror/thrillers go, these first two 'Quiet Place' films are definitely a couple of personal favourites, and would make a fine back-to-back for a night of thrills and chills. 4/5  I still recall this coming out at an interesting time. The previous year, we had Jordan Peele of 'Key & Peele' directing an instant classic in horror called 'Get Out', and as time has passed, that movie can kind of speak for itself. Even in ignoring all the Oscar hype behind it, everyone talked about it. Considering 'A Quiet Place' was helmed by comedic actor John Krasinski, I had similar predictions for it. To some degree that came true, considering its sequels. But I may argue that this original film works best as a stand-alone.
This one acts quite a bit similar to something like 'The Matrix' in that regard. The first title is pretty much gold, but the sequels leave more to be desired. More on those with those reviews, but I can remember feeling a certain intensity in the theatre when I caught this that has been pretty hard to match since. It's a film that does very well with keeping the suspense going, and the sheer silence of everything makes it all that much more eerie. And when the jump scares finally do come, they work out pretty well for the most part, not being so cheap in their executions. Sometime in the near future, things have been taken over by strange creatures. Monsters that would give your typical zombies a real run for their money. They are never really explained and wrapped in mystery, but they're nasty as hell. As for their look, they sort of remind me of a miniature 'Cloverfield' Monster. They're closer to human-size, although bigger, and much faster. These creatures hunt by using sound, which means that if you want to stay alive in this world, you can't make any, and I mean ANY of it. The protagonist family of the film even paints marks on the floor that don't creek so they can walk safely. Said family of five are the Abbots, who are trying to survive in this post-apocalyptic creature-run world. While Krasinski portrays the father, Lee, his real-life wife, Emily Blunt portrays his on-screen wife, Evelyn. Along with them is their three children; Beau (Cade Woodward), Marcus (Noah Jupe) and deaf daughter, Regan (Millicent Simmonds). Being deaf in real life, Simmonds also adds some authenticity to her role. Having said that, the character is a little bit of a brat, and not exactly the most likeable character in the family, despite the plot focusing on her a lot. This was one of those great turnaround horror movies for its time, giving us something that wasn't one of four extremely common things; ghosts, demons, found footage or home invasion. We have something nice and original here that, quite frankly surprises me hasn't been done before. I mean, the ultimate way to make your movie suspenseful, in my opinion, would be to make it a very quiet movie with those jump scares just lingering around the corner, but not necessarily happening, or happening when you don't expect it. For the most part, this movie nails that idea, so in many ways, this one is right up my alley. I have to say, the suspense throughout the film works incredibly well when we start to get to know and care about these characters. It kinda reminds me of a good episode of 'Walking Dead' where we focus more on the developing characters, but that threat is always there. What adds to this, though, is the need to be silent at all times, which brings it to another level. I mean, silence is required in 'Walking Dead' as well, but they can at least talk without having to use sign language. Here, well, the movie has it's title for a good reason. This follows in the footsteps of 2017's 'Get Out', and the trend is carried on with 2018's 'Halloween', in that they were created from comedic minds who seem to understand that there's some unexplored territory in horror. In their own rights, all three of these titles boast original horror movie ideas that dare to stray away from the typical (even the first of the new 'Halloween' trilogy had something to it, even though we knew we've seen it all before). The trend seems to have died off a little bit, but I would still be curious to see whose comedic mind could come up with what for horror in the near future. 4/5  I think in some ways it could be argued that 'Inside Out' represents a period of resurrection for Pixar. Before this, you had 'Cars 2', 'Brave' and 'Monsters University'. And while I do have a certain appreciation for 'Brave' and 'MU' ('Cars 2' was just kinda bad, I'm sorry), these movies still lacked the sense of heart, soul and humanity that movies like 'Up', 'Toy Story 3' and 'WALL-E' delivered, and what Pixar became truly known for. 'Inside Out' brings back the idea of Pixar films delivering a sort of maturity while still being kid-friendly.
This is one of those films where, over time, certain flaws about have been pointed out to me. For example, the idea for it is not 100% original, considering a show that existed years ago that everyone has since forgotten called 'Inside Herman's Head'. How things work in the world of Riley's (Kaitlyn Dias) head are also not necessarily perfect, but for me, the ideas this movie has trumps any sort of nitpicking I can give to it. It's definitely a favourite Pixar title of mine, and that's mostly due to how clever I think it is with its ideas and concepts. We are introduced to Riley, age 11, and the various emotions who, shall we say, "pilot" her brain; Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Bill Hader) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). They control Riley's emotions and create Riley's "memories"; coloured orbs that stack up to fuel various personality islands like "Hockey Island", "Friendship Island", etc. All is well for a while, but things change pretty quick for Riley when she moves with her Mom (Diane Lane) and Dad (Kyle MacLachlan) to San Francisco. Inside Riley's head, Sadness keeps touching happy memories and making them sad, which to me is an interesting way of showing us how missing and longing works here. An accident occurs when a joyous "core memory" ends up in the middle of a squabble between Joy and Sadness, and the pair are accidentally sent to the vast memory bank of the brain. Riley is then stuck with Anger, Fear and Disgust driving her personality, while the lack of Sadness and Joy create what seems to be some kind of numbness in her. Now it's up to Joy and Sadness to return to Headquarters with the "core memory", which came with them during the squabble. The simplicity of it is that if they can get her happy core memory back into headquarters, Riley can be happy again. Or at least, that's how Joy thinks of it. However, she soon learns that Riley's brain is a heck of a lot more complicated than she believed. Meanwhile, in headquarters, Anger, Fear and Disgust do their best, but without Joy or Sadness in the picture, Riley seems doomed to unhappiness and bitterness. I have to appreciate a lot of the ideas they have throughout the movie, like the idea of Riley's imaginary friend, Bing Bong (Richard Kind), or the mysterious realm of abstract thought, which brings with it some pretty interesting animation. They also get into things like how Riley dreams, what happens to memories we forget, how the imagination works and more. Pixar really took care here, translating the inner workings of one's brain into an animated adventure. It feels like further proof that Pete Docter is possibly the best director Pixar has. For me, it really felt like Pixar made a triumphant return with this. It's a movie that can make one think, and realize the necessity of one's own emotions - even the negative ones. It's quite honestly a rather beautiful movie, and it does what Pixar does best by pulling on those heartstrings. It doesn't end with anything too tear-jerky, but it does end with a healthy dose of relatability, once again humanizing these characters for us, making us care, and ultimately bringing Pixar back to its roots. 5/5  Here's an interesting example of a film with interesting timing. Released in the beginning of 2020, this happens to be one of the last films I saw in theatres before everything shut down, thanks the that horrible C-word (and I don't mean the one that's often okay to say in Britain). So, I guess it could be said that I have a little bit of a soft-spot for this, as it stands as a reminder to me that sometimes we just want to be entertained, even if the film is a little off the wall. 'Bad Boys' was always a good example of such a thought.
I even remember that at the time, I was looking at this as one of those rare, hidden gems that could be found within the deep, dark pit that is the January/February dumping zone. It's the same every year, lately (save maybe for 2021 and 2022), but as long as one has their eyes peeled for them, these not-so-hidden gems can be found. 'Bad Boys for Life' was definitely one of these, and provided another rarity in reaching into our nostalgia and not messing it all up! I mean, here we have a title that probably should have sucked, just based on what it is - a third title that no one was really asking for at the time, cranked out about fifteen years too late. And when you look at the critic's consensus for 'Bad Boys II,' it's a little bit surprising that they have decided tho push forward with the 'Bad Boys' franchise. But I'll be damned if they didn't grasp at our nostalgia and fully succeed. I might consider this the weakest of the bunch at this point, but it's still about as fun as a 'Bad Boys' movie ought to be. Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) come speeding back into our lives, and we welcome them with open arms. Honestly, I remember feeling it when I was sitting there in the theatre, as if to say "I didn't realize I missed this." Just as we fondly remember the pair, Mike's still confident in his driving skills, while Marcus reluctantly goes along for the ride, on the edge of vomiting all over that sleek interior. The perfect scene to snatch us back up after so long of a wait. After a bit of fun chaos, we find out Marcus has a newborn grandchild, and during a celebration, Marcus mentions retirement. This pretty much goes against Mike's thoughts of being partners forever, calling back to their mantra - "we ride together, we die together, bad boys for life" (pulled from 'Bad Boys II'). Before they know it, their friendship is tested, when a case very personal to Mike pops up, and Marcus refuses to get back into things, and become the family man he wants to be. There's actually quite a bit that happens in between all that, I'm not gonna lie, but this is one of those movies that's full of interesting surprises along the way, so no spoiler territory here. More will be revealed in the review for 'Bad Boys: Ride or Die.' Interestingly, in its own way, even for a balls-to-the-wall 'Bad Boys' movie, things get pretty deep here. It was actually a great film for developing both Mike and Marcus, as it peels back some never before seen layers to them, humanizing them a bit more than they were before this. Directorial team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (credited as Adil and Bilall) had to have been fans of those original films, as they do a solid job here in keeping the R-rated heart of 'Bad Boys' alive, but making it their own thing. I think if you liked the first two, this one will be just as entertaining. That said, I still love the action-fest that is 'Bad Boys II' a bit more than this, but remember that I go against other critics on that. It's a good resurrection to the series here, and Adil and Bilall do these Bad Boys justice. 4/5  I think this is a good opportunity to get something perfectly straight about my opinions on Michael Bay. I've felt for quite some time now that Bay has always been a pretty damn great action movie director as long as he keeps his hands out of the cookie jar that was my childhood with things like 'Transformers' and 'Ninja Turtles'. If he takes the director's chair on something more original, like the 'Bad Boys' films here, or even 'The Rock', and to a lesser extent, 'Armageddon' (say what you will about that movie, the cast is still its best feature).
Despite what critics have to say about this particular chapter being the lowest rated on the batch with a super-rotten rating of 24%, I am personally stuck on how insanely fun the movie is, and it serves as a friendly reminder that Michael Bay is out to entertain us the way action movies were always made to. To be fair, "there's no way that you could perpetrate that amount of carnage and mayhem and not incur a considerable amount of paperwork." as the great film 'Hot Fuzz' reminds us. But to also paraphrase the film, this is a movie made for someone who just wants to switch off that brain of theirs. Taking place eight years after the first film, Miami PD detectives, Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) investigate the trafficking of ecstasy, looking out for a huge career bust. However, while usting up a Klan meeting in search of the drugs, a shootout occurs, Mike shoots Marcus in the butt, and we soon learn that in the background of all this, Marcus is intent on changing his job up to something a little safer, and leaving Mike as his ride-or-die partner. In the meantime, unbeknownst to Mike and Marcus, Marcus' sister, Syd (Gabrielle Union) works undercover for the DEA as a money launderer for the Russian mafia, headed in Miami by drug lord Hector Juan Carlos "Johnny" Tapia (Jordi Mollà). Of course, when family gets involved, "shit gets real." Marcus not only had to watch out for his sister while trying to bring down a drug lord, but also unbeknownst to him, Mike and Syd are secretly a bit of an item. So as one can probably tell, a lot of the comedy comes from Marcus' mystery here. I think just to be fair, I should mention that even in the era of 2003, there are a few jokes and gags here that one can't necessarily get away with these days, and there's some degree of homophobia going on here. But IF you can see this as a product of its time, and look past some of the more unfortunate material, as far as action movies for the sake of action, this has got to be one of the best. Not only does it feature one of my favourite all-time car chase sequences, but it's also where I fell in love with single-take action sequences. Of course, I cannot talk about this film without talking about Reggie (Dennis Greene), introduced here for the first time as Marcus' daughter's first date. In one of the funniest scenes in the series, Marcus and Mike test Reggie's character, and you kinda feel bad for the poor kid. That said, his character goes through some of the best background development over the next couple of films. I will be sure to mention him in the next couple of reviews for the series, as he just adds to the fun of it all. So, while there may be a detail here or there that wouldn't necessarily fly these days, I feel like I can still recommend this to those who are looking for some high-octane action. You can definitley back-to-back the first two, but know that they both stand on their own all the same, and while the first is more substance, this one's all about style (but like, in a good way). Just go into this knowing full well who was sitting in the director's chair, and it can be a super fun time! 4/5  For as much as I actually enjoyed the most recent of these films for what they were as decently done bits of nostalgia, I can honestly say that they really don't have anything on the first two Michael Bay flicks for me. And oh yeah, I say that knowing full well that 'Bad Boys II' is the lowest-rated among them. Hell, that one's actually my favourite, but we'll get to all that in that review. For now, let's go in the way-back machine to 1995. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were established comedy TV superstars with their respective shows, and ready to move on up.
As it turns out, the casting for this new concept for a different take on a buddy cop movie couldn't have worked out better. The film introduces us to funny but fierce family man, Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) and smooth-talkin' lady magnet, Mike Lowrey (Smith); a couple of renegade cops whose foul language and violent attitudes were perfect for us 12-13-year-olds back in the day who were actively watching 'Fresh Prince' and 'Martin' at the time. So yeah, I fondly remember some parental units having a time with this, and that's just part of what makes it classic. Lifelong friends, the pair have become narcotics detectives for the Miami PD, under their Captain, Conrad Howard (Joe Pantoliano). Upon their biggest career bust of $100 million worth of Mafia heroin, they, and the rest of the department come to work one day to find the evidence cleared out from the evidence vault. Unless they can recover said heroine in the next 72 hours, Internal Affairs, headed by Alison Sinclair (Marg Helgenberger), threatens to shut down the whole department. This leads Mike to seek out one of his informants, Maxine Logan (Karen Alexander), to look for suspects who have suddenly become rich, leading her, along with her friend Julie Mott (Téa Leoni) to be hired as "escorts" by former crooked cop, Eddie Dominguez (Emmanuel Xuereb). Soon enough, the party is crashed by Dominguez's French drug kingpin boss Fouchet (Tchéky Karyo) and his henchmen, almost immediately leading Mike and Marcus into murder territory along with their efforts to relocate the stolen heroin. As Julie becomes a surviving witness, wires become crossed on the identities of Mike and Marcus, providing some comedy throughout most of the movie in which Marcus has to try to pose as Mike, and vise-versa, to some pretty comical results. It's funny, I'm not generally for a lot of bickering in movies, but there's something about Smith and Lawrence's back-and-forth in these movies that one can't help but love. I think more than anything it's the couple of times they use their anger for each other on other people, which not only gets funny, but somehow kinda badass as well. What I liked best about checking this out recently for the first time in years is that it provides one hell of an interesting time capsule. This was before Smith became a box office draw of immeasurable proportions, and it's also when Martin Lawrence was in his prime. To top it all off, I just remember this being a hard-R-rated movie for the time due to its violence and language, and being one of those movies a guy like me almost had to sneak around to finally see. I got to it upon its video release, but I've always hated the fact that I never got to see it on the big screen... maybe one day. Is it worth going back and checking out now? Does it hold up? Well, it was 1995, so there's a few bits and pieces of it as far as tech and police-working technique that's more than bloody likely dated to all hell at this point. That said, I really must say that this was something that helped define Michael Bay's overall style, and it was all so much better when it was still in the 90s. It's high action, swearing, violence, explosions, and fast camera work at its finest, and as a classic action flick, I can still highly recommend it! 4/5  While it was never at the tip-top of my list of action series from the past, the fact of the matter is, somewhere along the way, the 'Mad Max' series picked up one hell of a following. All throughout the 90s and early 2000s, I can recall several references and quotes from peers that gave it a known cult following, even if I wasn't part of the cult.
Eventually, as with a lot of movies these days, we also felt the need to revisit it with some nostalgia. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't, but this is definitely a case of things working out for the best! If you were to ask a 'Mad Max' fan what their favourite 'Mad Max' movie was before that, the odds seem to work out that it teeters between 'Road Warrior' and 'Thunderdome'. 'Fury Road' decided to capitalize on the idea of 'Road Warrior', but bring in some new and interesting things that are perhaps reminiscent of the car chase sequence in 'Thunderdome'. Of course, the highlight here being some random dude, bounding around on bungee cords, wailing away on a flame-spitting electric guitar. It's imagery that's so messed up and weird but altogether bad ass that we don't even question it. It's just pure "metal"! Another thing 'Fury Road' brings in is female lead, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). She takes a group of innocent girls away from the clutches of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne), a tyrannical madman who rules over a section of post-apocalyptic Australia. He has full control of the populous' water, and the flow of "mother's milk" which is, well... mother's milk, being harvested as a hot commodity for trade in these times. The girls Furiosa takes from Joe are his "wives", meant for the sole purpose of breeding... and one of them is pregnant. The chase for this pregnant woman and a potential son for Joe is pretty much what fuels the chases in the film. Along the way, of course, a wandering Max (Tom Hardy) joins the party in all his awesomeness, and lends aid to these women. They are also eventually joined by a psychotic worshipper named Nux (Nicholas Hoult), convinced that one day Joe will take him with him to the gates of Valhalla. He has one of the more interesting character arcs throughout the film, and his makes for an interesting B story. While Max is still a main character, the film does a decent job of still focusing on the characters of Furiosa and Nux, and providing some good storytelling amid all of the incredible practical action. While the action is largely what makes this movie so awesome, I can honestly also say that I care more about the characters in this chapter as opposed to anything before this. So when the action takes its breaks, I'm never bored and focused on these new, likeable characters almost more than Max, himself. I'd say the best way to view this film is to think of it as one long car chase with slight breaks in between, providing one of the best practical action movies in recent history! However, I will say this about it - there is a bit of a "Big Screen, Big Deal" thing going on with it. In other words, it was a film that rocked my socks on the big screen in 3D, and while it's still fine on my TV screen at home, it just isn't the same. 'Avatar' is probably the primary example of such a film in said category, and I have to say, this has its similarities as far as its effect goes. However, this still has a lot to be admired about it based on some of its original ideas, heart put into old ideas coming back, and of course, a complete smorgasbord of practical effects. If it ever finds its way back into theatres, even though I can still recommend it either way, as probably one of the best action films in recent history, you should definitely go out and catch it the way it was meant to be seen. This one is hands down my favourite of the batch. It's like some sort of heavy metal roller coaster! 5/5 |
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