destroyerwod Reviews

Prom Dates (2024)

Superbad : DEI edition? Yeah well...

[6/10 · 18 September 2024]

I love teen comedies. American Pie is one of my favorite movie ever and so is Superbad. I also am someone that do not care one bit about recycled ideas. If something is cool, i don't mind other writers/directors doing their spins on it and making something similar, as long as i am entertained. You can call it the "Clone concept" or whatever.

This movie is clearly inspired by Superbad. But the twist is they are women. BUT WAIT !! THERE IS MORE !! And i think this is kinda where the movie got all over the place. This movie is a "DEI" wet dream as every decent characters has to either be a DEI character in some form or another, or they have to be "simps/allies" if they are white male. Otherwise they are just the worst of the worst.

I am not gonna spoil it but overall the movie is not "that over the top" in general until you meet some frat boys where it goes litterally into dumb and dumber territories and portray them in the worst caricature type of characters.

Even the female equivalent, "Vodka Heather", is shown as a "strong independant female" despite her bad addictions and her over the top character portrayal.

One of the worst aspect of the movie i felt was the character of Hannah, played by Julia Lester, wich somehow manage to score a bunch of peoples way out of her league with no efforts (they have a crush on her and she barely make a move). Look, i am not against the fat/nerdy/unatractive guy scoring the chick in these movies, but it need to be earned. Same for the female equivalent. They must go out of their way to make the opposite gender fall in love (or at least get attracted) to them.

Take for exemples American Pie The Book of Love, its pretty much the end goal of one of the character who is shown as being THE GUY who can't score at all. Love the movie or not, this character had their journey to the endgoal and it wasn't easy.

Hannah not only start the movie with a boyfriend who is madly in love with her, but she had several characters way out of her league hitting on her after barely even trying. That took me out completely at times, cause unlike Jess wich is considered "decently attractive" by society standard, she is not.

Even the character of Jess, played by Antonia Gentry, got to have her forced "DEI/Woke" moments about her being "black", or to quote Kumar in Harold and Kumar escape Guantanmo Bay, BARELY BROWN, and it feel so forced because its only there to give her some kind of "yeah but i had my issues too" background moment when she seem to be a popular chick in her school.

That said despite ALL OF THIS, the movie is not terrible by any means. I actually was interested in the story and where it was going and some issues with the characters, wich were mirrored from Superbad, were interesting to follow.

There is also a few gags and fun moments in the parties that gave me decent chuckles and i apreciated them.

Not gonna lie, i am a sucker for these movies wich take place in 1 or 2 night and have our characters going into crazy adventures. They don't need to be realistic but simply entertaining. And yes that movie was in these part. I was just annoyed how often it had to remind me of how woke it was.

But i suppose someone would say "but maybe this movie was not made for you, it was made for the LGBTQ peoples". Wich i can say 50% fair enough, but 50% that i am THE demographic for these teen comedies. I watch them all and usually enjoy them, even the worst ones. So my general consensus is the movie could had feature the same characters with the same general ideas, just simply tone down the woke agenda "in your face style" while also keeping it at the core of the story. Hannah could had still be a lesbian. Jess could had still been 1/4 black.

For exemple one of the gags with Hannah discovering she was a lesbian and trying to get another lesbian hookup was funny, but the character involved didn't need to litterally look like a pornstar type of hot. She could had been a way more average looking chick and the story wouldn't had been impacted the slightlest.

Jess boyfriend at the start of the movie litterally look like a male model out of a magazine. Sure he is a rich spoiled brat, but did he needed to be "that attractive"? To me this all felt forced. To empower the 2 main characters beyond what they earned.

What made Mcloving, Seth and Evan so good in Superbad was that they looked like super dorks way over their league. And your first impression is "no way these dudes will score any chicks". And the movie play well with that.

Anyway this review was long enough by itself. Overall i am gonna give Prom Dates a 6 out of 10 because it did entertained me and i never pressed pause looking how much time was left. But it has a bunch of issues that are either cringy or ridiculous wich mean i can't score it higher.

That said, as "woke" as it was, it never even reach close to the level of cringe that Black Christmas 2019 did (on top of that movie simply being a terrible slasher regardless of the woke stuff).

The Hamiltons (2006)

The core idea ain't bad but the movie BORED ME.

[4/10 · 16 September 2024]

About 2 years ago i bough a movie call "The Thompsons" out of a video store bargin bin sale. I wanted to watch it for my Halloween watchlist, but i realize in time it was a sequel to this movie. So i made sure to find and watch this one before.

Due to the box and description of the sequel, a tiny bit of the story was revealed to me, but i don't think it really impacted my viewing.

The main issue with this one is that even a very short 85 minutes or so, the movie move at a snale pace and always feel like its going nowhere.

You are kinda supose to sympathize with one of the characters but i didn't really did much and the rest of the familly were just extremely dislikable.

I will keep this spoiler free but i can say that the ending is the kind of "will satisfy some peoples, others will hate it". I sadly felt in the second category.

This was a snail pace movie that took forever to get where it was supose to go and when it does my feeling was "so that was that...ok". So unlike some peoples i didn't felt the ending was the payoff of sitting trough it.

It is an indy movie so i will try to not be "too harsh". I do think despite the unlikable characters, the actors did a good job. Some were actually meant to be unlikable. The direction was alright even tough it looked like they knew they didn't had much money and therefore worked with that. The result is it look fine, but nothing to look at twice.

Will i watch The Thompsons? Well i own it on DVD so yeah probably, but surely not this year. Maybe next year depending on what my Halloween watchlist look like.

Sadly i am going with a 4 out of 10 for this movie because i looked at the time remaining multiple times and i was bored for a decent part of it.

The Crow (2024)

Just has the wrong title. But its not a bad movie like peoples says

[6/10 · 16 September 2024]

So i am gonna be honest, right away from the reveal of the look and the "Jared Leto Joker" style, i was not into it. I really don't like the graffiti wall tatoo style and face tatoos are just the worst. Even the hair cut was pretty bad. After that, i wish he had more of a gothic look but that i could pass.

Ultimately the biggest issue the movie has tough is not the look but how it is simply not "The Crow". The only thing it borrow from the original movie is the general idea of "couple get murdered, man come back for vengeance" and you see some crows in the background. Thats about it.

If the movie had been its original thing, i think it would had scored a lot better. Because i can't say i disliked it personally if i see it as its own thing.

That said, the "love story" is not really that enticing as despite giving 30 minutes of the movie on that, to make you care for these characters, i still had the impression it was just 2 drug addicts into a love buzze. You know when teenager meet someone, fall madly in love for 3 weeks, do drugs and sex and then it quickly fade away.

The death scene was also very tamed compared to the original, despite the movie having an R-Rating. Not that the original was that graphic, but you know what happen and its a lot more brutal and horrible in my opinion.

That said once the movie pick up and we pass the "introduction", it is an overall entertaining revenge flick. It didn't had much of the gothic and grunge style of the original, but it still had beautifull cinematography at time with great scenery, music and aesthetics. The action scenes are very well done as well.

Overall for me, it was a fine movie to watch. Sure some aspects could had been better fleshed out like for exemple the vilain, but if you never saw the original and/or take this one on its own, its an entertaining action movie. They just had to use the name The Crow to bring peoples in seats and sadly it backfired badly as the fans of the original simply felt it "betrayed" the legacy of it, and the rest of the general audience was simply not interested enough.

My Soul to Take (2010)

This just does not land... Disapointing for Wes Craven.

[5/10 · 14 September 2024]

I heard about this movie for a long time and being from Wes Craven you know its no "cheap slasher" right? Right?

I had it in my backlog for years, picked it up at a video store for a couple bucks and told myself alright this is the year i finally watch it in my Halloween watchlist...

The movie had an interesting concept. What if a serial killer was a split personality that had no idea he was? (don't think about the movie SPLIT by M. Night Shyamalan... totally different). Then when that person died (or did he?) after an INSANE (to a ridiculous point) amount of punishment what if his soul gone trough 7 random kids born at the same time he died?

The idea is neat, but despite the many twist and turns of the movie, its never really exploited nicely.

The biggest sin of the movie is the teenagers being totally uninteresting and having barely any links to each others beside a couple of them. There is a pretty good introduction scenes where you lead to believe all these peoples are friends, but they are not. In fact the movie follow with some completely ridiculous out of the real world type of bullying that made me laugh.

Basically there is a "Queen B" for whatever reason (but you never get to know why she is) and she give her instructions trough another "popular girl" to the school bully to "give punishment based on numbers and said numbers are supose to be the force of the punch? Like im not making this up. This felt so ridiculous i rolled my eyes. I know school bullying is real. I dealt with it at some point in my life. But this felt RIDICULOUS and so out of real life.

Basically the interactions with the teens are so uninteresting and not one is developed enough to make you think "oh no they died...". I couldn't give a crap who died...

This would had been fine in a Friday the 13th movie where you don't care much and just watch for Jason to butcher as many peoples as possible in gruesome ways. But in a movie like this wich is supose to be in the same vain as Scream with a mystery and such, you are supose to care for the characters... but i did not.

Is the body count hight? Yeah... but the killer use a knife and there is no interesting original kills. Like i said its the same as Scream (but even that had a few original kills) yet in Scream you care cause its a mystery and you care for these characters.

Ultimately i don't think the movie "make no sense" or anything. It does play it a bit ambigious if i can say, but the general concept is easy to understand. Yet i didn't care because the characters were completely uninteresting.

Im sorry to say it because RIP Wes Craven, but how old was he when he written this? It kinda show. It look like a movie written by a senior who think he knows how high school teens behave... And what was up with the flip phones? Even in 2010 Blackberries were all over and the flips were old stuff. I guess you can blame that on the movie being filmed a few years prior... Still...

Overall can't say i liked that movie much... Its not a "boring" watch because stuff do happen, but you wonder all movie long why you should care for these peoples and ultimately you just end up being slightly interested about the killer himself rather than any protagonist.

Im not surprised this movie got bad ratings and i decided recently ill stop being so lenient to movies wich are barely ok... It get a 5 from me... average at best... Nothing is badly done, but nothing is really interesting. AVERAGE at best.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)

From what i heard, i was expecting terrible. But its ...alright for what it is?

[6/10 · 13 September 2024]

I heard about this movie last year and some peoples saying it was one of the worst movie ever made and such. I really don't understand where these critics come from.

Number three on my Halloween watchlist this year, i was in the mood for something short that i could turn my brain off and just have a quick fun, and i got it with this.

Like sure, its not without faults. For instance the concept of the characters is barely used and for 95% of the movie, it could had been any generic slasher monsters and it would had done the same thing. None of the human characters were particulary developed or made me care much for them either.

But for 100 000$ this movie had some very decent kills, and ultimately thats what you want in a slasher movie before anything else... Not every kills landed. Some were "off camera" probably to reduce cost, but some were very solid.

I don't think any of the special effects were bad per say. Maybe at times the camera was a bit shaky and sure its not the best direction i ever saw, but for a 100 000$ b-slasher, i think it was more than alright.

Overall i enjoyed my 90 minutes watching this. Will it become a cult classic for me? Absolutely not. But it surely do not deserve the hate it got.

I try to keep one movie per franchise per year in my halloween watchlist so i will likely wait til next year to watch the sequel, but its one im interest to see.

Peoples had just too high expectations. I assume they either wanted a complete spoof/delirium movie, or something that looked like it was made with 20 millions. This is neither of it. Its threaten as a regular slasher with seriousness, it has its fair share of blood and gore, and its done on a very small budget. Take it or leave it.

Kung Fu Games (2024)

As generic as it can be ...

[5/10 · 12 September 2024]

So this was the last of the 4 movies released in a short span of time by this company name Tiger Style Media. I am assuming all 4 movies were filmed at the same time (or close to each other) so they could be released as a bundle kinda.

The last one was Lady Scorpions starring Martial Arts Legend Cynthia Rothrock but also Caitlin Dechelle wich is also starring in this one. I praised Miss Dechelle on her last movie for both fights/action and acting despite the shortcomings on the movie.

In this movie, altough she wasn't bad by any mean, she could not showcase anything. She had limited acting scenes and the fights were kinda underwhelming. And that goes for all the cast.

But i am getting ahead of myself. Lets start by the beginning.

So the cast is thrown into this "place" for lack of a better word wich is reminiscent of various movies where you see a bunch of peoples not knowing each others being thrown into a situation. Ok. They have to escape some kind of "capsule" and are thrown into an hostile environement where the first fight is waiting for them.

Overall the movie start as generic as it can be. It does give you more informations on all the protagonist as it move along, but its never enough to make you care for them by any means.

Remember the movie Predators by Robert Rodriguez? The third movie in the Predator franchise? They were a bunch of strangers thrown into an hostile environement and had to work together against the Predators... Despite that movie not being as good as the original, it still had its merit, and i got into the cast because i got to know them and care for them. In this one, i never really cared for anyone much.

Im not gonna go into details on everyone roles but more or less they all competent fighters who have to go from room to room to beat some bad guys and survive while being filmed and some voice tell them what to do. Yes this as been done to death. One of the movie that came to my mind while watching it was Tai Chi Master with Keanu Reeves.

There is nothing original in the story, its the same reharsh you seen before and just a pretext to some martial arts. The bad guy is extremely forgivable.

So you follow your cast of "heroes" and they fights, but yet you never really care that much for anyone as none of them appear that interesting. Mike the SAS veteran is probably the most compelling character, trying to rally everyone as a unit, but still i kinda didn't cared..

But what about the fights? Thats what matter right? Well they ain't anything special. They ain't terrible, but they never really look like they pack a punch. They just happen and look like some generic fight choreographies. This is no Isaac Florentine movie ...

Ultimately it kinda was a throw away movie that i just didn't cared... Even tough the stakes were high technically (they fough for their lives), there was no compelling bad guy, no compelling backstory to our heroes, no reason for me to wish they make it, and it sadden me to say it.

I have a feeling the peoples behind these 4 movies are passionate for Martial Arts and wanted to make something fun for fans like me, but it didn't really connected, despite a good effort from the cast.

I think the first thing to blame were the poor scripts, especially this one, but also a lack of vision in direction to make the fights hard hitting and compelling.

Looking back i think i was a bit too lenient on the other movies because of my love for martial arts or the cast (Cynthia Rothrock and Caity Lotz), and altough im not gonna change my ratings, ill give that one a 5 out of 10. Because its as average as it can be. And if you read this out of Letterboxd it will get the yellow heart but only because it didn't bored me, even if its very generic. But i can't give it a 6 out of 10 cause i feel it was the weaker script of the 4 movies.

Now maybe i am bold saying this, but i think i could make a better script in a few months. Im no director, no fights choreographer, no martial artist (exept on very amateur level), but i could write a compelling script with interesting characters. Maybe it wouldn't be the most original script ever, but peoples would care for these characters, and ultimately, its the biggest fault i saw in this movie, i just didn't care for them.

That said, i always welcome more Martial Arts movie, and as harsh as this review could seem (i had to be honest), i didn't hate this movie by any means. I hope this company make more, but please get better writers and don't hesitate to contact me, ill be happy to help you and for FREE !

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Fun but a bit convoluted

[7/10 · 11 September 2024]

The impression the movie gave me when i exited the theatre was that they had a ton of ideas for sequels, yet thought they may have only one chance to make a sequel for various reasons, and therefore threw them all in in the same movie. At not even 2h of runtime, this is a lot of "subplots".

Now thats not to say i didn't enjoyed the movie because i did. The esthetique is great, being both very Tim Burtonesque and close to the original, with a perfect gothic/Halloween atmosphere, and Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse is as great as always.

The movie keep the overall exentric and over the top tone of the original movie, wich is great, as you don't feel you completely changed era when it comes to special effects or creatures designs. The only thing that feel completely new is the use of smartphones wich obviously were not a thing in 1988, but they are used overall sparringly and fit the year the movie is set in.

As i mentioned in intro, the movie has a lot of characters and a lot of subplots, and i feel some of them were hits while other were misses. Monica Bellucci is both beautiful and haunting as Dolores and the scenes she is in are well done, sadly the character to me felt kinda useless and didn't bring anything to the movie. One of those "they had an idea and needed it in because they may not have another chance" impression i had.

The first movie has a musical, so it was expected to see one in this one. I felt personally it was overlong and not just as catchy as in the first movie.

But overall i enjoyed the sequel. It may not be as original or as "great" as the first one, but then again i watched said original movie as a kid, i also had toys from it, so it could be nostalgia speaking.

Watch this on Halloween or close to it with your familly and you gonna have a good time.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

A beautiful story

[8/10 · 11 September 2024]

I came on this movie a little bit out of nowhere, i was just looking for what was coming next for Kathryn Newton, an actress i really enjoy and for some odd reasons realized i didn't saw that one. I looked up the trailer and it felt in my alley as a teen romance with a time loop addition. Being on Prime Videos made it easy to find, wich i was surprise the service didn't recommanded to me yet.

This is one of these movies that throw you into context right away, as it start already in the time loop. But the movie plays on that later and despite giving minimal backstory at first, it all made sense later on.

There is a bit of comedy, but its really more a romance and how the characters interact. Yet i found myself absolutely interested all movie long and not only wanted to know where it was going but was also interested in all the present moments of every day that repeated itself.

The 2 main characters had good chemistry and there is just a little something about Kathryn Newton.s character Margareth that is kinda like at the perfect line of cute, quirky, mysterious and charming.

I am not gonna say more, its a movie to discover by yourself if like me you enjoy beautiful romance stories.

The Thing (I) (2011)

Its actually well done

[7/10 · 9 September 2024]

So first im gonna start by adding a little bit of context. I am someone who is totally open to sequels, prequels and remakes. If i enjoy a movie, im usually open to get more out of it even if it don't do anything "new". I just enjoy movies. This one is a prequel officially but play also in structure close to a remake.

Now for the 1982 movie, i saw it way back, i do remember enjoying it decently, but it was never a huge cult classic for me that i would rewatch again and again. So overall i was going with an open mind on this one on both side of the spectrum. No big expectations, either as "will it live up to the original" or as "i didn't like the original so hope for a better one". I am kinda in the middle.

Apparently there was a lot of studio interference and the director even lost the will to make movies, saying he wouldn't work for an Hollywood company again. One of the notable changes i could see was replacing the animatronics/practical effect creatures by CGI. Also there was some reshoots and probably more "issues".

Yet the movie turned out to be pretty good in my opinion. Personally i enjoyed the CGI creatures, they look grotesque and they could do a lot of designs and creepy "morphs" with the CGI.

There is many bodies in the movie and the actors did a good job. The whole "is he, is he not" was overall well done.

Now its a movie you have to suspend your disbelief to make it credible. Its one thing for the thing (pun non intended) to copy human tissues but dressing back as the host, being able to speak its language, know others by name, while then turning to something completely feral in its "real form" or whatever it is, well yeah ... don't think too hard about it. But that could also be applied to the original movie as well, and nobody has an issue with it.

Personally i had fun with it. I always enjoy Mary Elisabeth Winstead, and she was a solid lead once again in this. I guess i can officially declare 2024 "spooky season" open as this will be my first movie of my 2024 horror marathon run.

Sisters (III) (2015)

Raunchy Teen comedy, but swap the teens with adults. This was hillarious.

[8/10 · 7 September 2024]

I must have had this movie in my backlog for years, but somehow i guess the cover with 2 women in their 30s and a rather generic title was not exeptionally inticing. Then i decided to watch the trailer on youtube because i really didn't knew what to watch yesterday to go along my beer. And well it looked promising.

Then honestly i laugh my ass off with this movie. It was made in 2015 so about 2-3 years before this genre kinda died (it seem to slowly trying to come back recently) where the politically correct can take the backdoor and movies just wanted to be funny and go over the top. Just how i loved them.

The chemistry between the sisters was great, the build up/light drama parts was good, but its really when the actual party get on that its no hold bared and it goes wild !

Its not a deep movie or an exeptionally written story, but its very funny and just pure fun, and thats what i like with my movies. I had a very good time with that one.

Geostorm (2017)

Thriller + Disaster movie with a good lead

[8/10 · 6 September 2024]

Honestly i will never understand why movies like these get such low score as 5 out of 10. Maybe i am too much of a movie passionate, but for a movie to get a 5 from me, it need to have major issues. I hardly ever give movies a 2 or 3 unless they have barely any redeeming qualities.

Anyway. I wanted to watch this one for a while but for weird reasons never got to it. I supose i was expecting it to be too much of a slow burner but it is not. Its mostly a thriller at its core, but there is plenty of disasters/action scenes and the visual effects are pretty solid.

Sure, is the story a tad over the top? Yes. But its science-fiction, so its not a big issue. Maybe the movie would had benefited from being set a little bit in the futur, because it does seem way too advance for the time its set in. If i got it correctly, the movie open in 2019 and then jump to 2022. It was released in 2017. I don't know if they really expected the world to be that advanced in 2022, but we are in 2024 and kinda far from it. We struggle getting a space shuttle to launch correctly even.

But like i said this whole "the futur is now" aspect does not really change much of the core of the movie. Overall its a good story with good values and the leads are all fun to follow, especially Gerard Butler who once again does a great job.

Honestly i kinda wish i saw it in theatre back then, must have been impressive.

Lady Scorpions (2024)

Happy to see the Lady Dragon get a lead again but...

[6/10 · 5 September 2024]

This movie was my most anticipated of the 4 pack that this company is releasing back to back, mostly because it star Cynthia Rothrock in a lead role for the first time in a while. And on that regard, the movie didn't disapointed, as she is truly the lead (or co-lead) and have plenty of action scenes.

Is she still as able to move at 67 like when she was 20? Obviously no, but i was really surprise how well she could do for her age. She is still in incredible shape.

The co-lead Caitlin Dechelle, who plays her daughter in the movie, is a real martial artist and stunt actor, so of course her on screen fights were pretty good. Her acting was also very fine, especially for someone who has not starred in many movies (but instead doubled the stars). Even the kid actress, wich i can't find the name here, was good.

This one was for me the best of the 3 movies so far that i watched as they released. The story was more engaging and seem to have more stakes, even tough there is more holes in it than a swiss cheese. The vilains are very cliché and the plot seem completely out of the late 80s or early 90s, but somehow maybe because it dealt with a kid as hostage and violent criminal, it drough me in more.

Im not gonna spoil anything but i was left extremely confuse by the ending tough. Not sure if they want to set a sequel or they ran out of budget but i was like "wtf" and it took a point out of the movie for me.

Overall its an entertaining movie for Martial Arts fan, and its good to see Cynthia star in a few movies before its too late. I mean i can't see her being able to do fight scenes at 75 or 80, at least being credible doing so. So im gonna enjoy it while its still possible.

I rated the previous 2 movies released recently by this company 6 out of 10, and i would had given this one a 7 if not for the ending, so its gonna be a 6 again. But its the best of 3. Now the one left is starring Caitlin Dechelle on her own, and from what i seen in this one, it should be at least entertaining action wise. We will see in a week or 2.

Borderlands (2024)

I guess its the dumb fun that i enjoy from movies !

[8/10 · 3 September 2024]

So first disclaimer is that i never played the video game. As a gamer, i do know what they are, i seen videos, even a friend play once while i was there, but thats about it. I never played them myself because i am not really that much into looter shooters or this kind of graphic style. But i know a bit the characters and i did bough some stand alone extension on Xbox about Tiny Tina, but its still in my backlog.

So i saw the movie as a person that love movies, dumb action and "adventures". Therefore i can't comment on how accurate it is to the games, if it respect the characters and such. Its something that is usually important for me as a video game fan if i played the game, but in this case i just can't.

As a movie, i totally loved it ! Yes its very dumb, yes its start very abruptly and kinda made me think it could had been 30 minutes longer setting the characters better. But once the "band" has assemble, the adventure they go trough was for me very fun.

I heard it was originally very violent (its Eli Roth after all) and it has gone trough extensive reshoot to make it PG-13. I do hope the Rated R cut eventually release, i would be very curious to see how different it is. But as it was, i enjoyed the humor, i think every characters was able to stand out enough. The robot "Claptrap" was extremely funny and Kevin Hart well...its Kevin Hart. I like his style.

The stand out tough was Tina wich was charming but obnoxious at the same time, yet never too much to annoy me. I just enjoyed the portrayal by the actress. Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis were also very fine.

Personally i rate movies on entertainement and how much fun i had with them, not for the technical aspect. And Borderland is a movie i think i would had watch often as a kid if it released back then. Even as an adult i had lots of laugh and enjoy the ride, even if the story itself was kinda throw away. It was the adventure, not the destination that counted.

Therefore ill go with an 8 out of 10. Yes im know to rate movies a little higher in general than most peoples (to get a 5 and under, a movie need to either bore me hard or make me cringe) but if i have fun with a movie, it deserve it in my opinion.

The Lockdown (2024)

A decent effort but with some issues. Good action, need better writing.

[6/10 · 1 September 2024]

After "The Art of Eight Limbs" i noticed there is a few more Martial Arts movies coming from the same company in a short ammount of time.

I was really interested in this one because not only is it about prison fights (huge Boyka fan here) but it also star Caity Lotz wich i really enjoyed in the Arrowverse.

Well this movie do a few things right, and a few things wrong. There is a decent ammount of time spent on the siblings and the love and care they have for each others. The story with their father is layout quick and he is immediately presented as a selfish POS.

You can see in the trailer he litterally get his own kids in prison because it will serve his interest. So right away you supose to hate the guy. The movie didn't spend enough time to develope his story either before or after this. And the other vilains are mostly token vilains.

The fights themselves are very decent (without being exeptional either), but the emotional aspect didn't got me engaged enough for them to serve their part. I would say especially in the third act, the movie had me scatching my head a bit.

Basically the very structure of the movie needed some tweaking to get me invested more. I can't really talk about all the issues i had with the script because it would involve spoilers and i want to keep this review spoiler free.

I will say it was a bit better than The Art of Eight Limbs mostly because of the leads being more likable, but it did suffer on the same issues when it comes to the Martial Arts aspects. Basically choreographies well done, but lacking emotions and engagement in the story around them.

The next release by this company will be a Cynthia Rothrock movie, and she has not done one like that in ages, having only small parts and cameos in her recent movie appearance. So im very curious to know how it turn out and will surely review it.

I do apreciate this company putting out martial art flicks wich are not release that often these days, but they really need to refine their scripts in my opinion before filming. Otherwise they do decent stuff with something that seem like a small budget. This movie is good enough for a one time rental but thats about it.

The Union (2024)

Ghosted did it better ... but it had its moments.

[6/10 · 28 August 2024]

Remember the movie Ghosted with Chris Evans and Ana de Armas? Well this is kinda like that exept this time the clueless ordinary man brough into the world of espionage is not a One Night Stand but an ex lover from her college days.

What made Ghosted funny was the comedy aspect, how clueless and funny Chris Evans was to his counterpart badass female action spy. Despite having 2 big names for the leads in Mark Whalberg and Halle Berry, i didn't got that kind of vibe much. Their best scenes happen in mundane settings and not in action.

The biggest problem with this movie is the script wich is extremely weak at times and ask us to just roll with it. The Union as an organization seem to be the top of the cream, the biggest organization of spies, yet at times they seem so incompetent and at other time you just see the same peoples again and again and you wonder where they get all this intell while then just being so clueless a few minutes later with no backups.

As other reviewers as said the action is well done tough, high production quality when it comes to filming, fights and chases.

Overall i don't think its a terrible movie, it was enjoyable thanks to the action and JK Simmons had some funny lines , but it needed a script doctor to fix the overall plot especially when it comes to the espionage stuff.

The Killer (2024)

A fine action movie, but a bit lost in the shuffle.

[7/10 · 27 August 2024]

I do recall having seen the original movie in the early 2010s as i got a DVD combo wich had both that one and Hardboiled. Quite honestly i recall very little of it. It didn't made that much of an impact on me.

So this is with a completely fresh mind that i watched this one. Overall i think it was a fun action movie, with some cool action sequences, a lot better as a whole than Woo's last movie that i saw (Silent Night) but ultimately came a bit short compare to John Wick movies, Nobody or The Beekeeper.

The gunfight action is John Woo signature and overall this movie deliver well in that regard. Its not as entertaining as the style of John Wick and nowhere near a spectacle, but then again considering this is a streaming service movie (i watched it on Amazon Prime Video myself) it was pretty solid.

The hand to hand action was fine. I think a little bit more could had been done, but i assume Nathalie Emmanuel is not really a martial artists and she is a bit new to this action genre. Her roles in Game of Thrones or Fast and Furious were not action women. So with that in mind the movie delivered enough of it to leave me satisfied.

Did she end up credible in the "badass assassin" role? Overall yes. She has her own catch phrase and nickname to tag along in the vein of "Babayaga". I would be totally cool with this movie having a sequel. From what i saw on IMDB it could become a show call "The Killers" ? No idea if this will actually happen or not.

The story was fine. It had its twist and turns and the supporting cast was good enough, especiall Omar Sy.

One thing of note for the native english speaker tough. I ended up watching this movie in its original english language as french dubbed was not an option for this one on Prime, but several scenes are completely in French (France accents). It make sense as the movie is set in Paris and obviously French characters would talk to each other in french. For me, as it is my native language (altough not my accent), it didn't bother me. But if you don't speak french, be prepare to read a lot of subtitles.

Incoming (2024)

Superbad Spiritual Successor?

[8/10 · 25 August 2024]

I absolutely loved Superbad back in the days. This movie follows a similar formula and either the screenwriter was a fan of Superbad and wanted to pay hommage or he just wanted to make something similar.

Don't get me wrong, there is no "Mclovin" in this. You won't see peoples renaming their characters or gamertags online as "Koosh" or "Benj". Its not as "epic", but its a solid effort.

One of the things i particulary loved about this one is that even tough it use the instagram/influencers modern stuff, its a movie that does not hold back and try too hard to remain "woke" or such.

Yes there is some "diversity" in there, but it is very on the side and its never pushed to be annoying. And all the raunchy stuff from the 2000s and early 2010s is well present. Its not the most raunchy or vulgar movie ever made, but for a 2024 one, its very surprising.

The characters are likable and it was one "party night" i had fun with, wich kinda reminded me of the good old days of not only Superbad but stuff like Harold and Kumar, 21 and over or Take me Home Tonight.

I wish studios would give us more of these types of movies, as i personally really miss them.

Art of Eight Limbs (2024)

Fights were decent, story needed a "script doctor" to beef it up.

[6/10 · 23 August 2024]

This movie kinda popped a bit out of nowhere for me as i never heard of it. I checked the trailer and it looked to have some cool fights and im always up for a a Martial Art movie.

The biggest issue with the movie is despite the stakes being high in a "situation point of view" (chemical weapons that could fall in the hands of terrorists), the movie never really seem to emphasis on it and kinda look "cheap" when it comes to the CIA and spy stuff.

That wouldn't really be an issue if the biggest emphasis was on the tournament, the martial arts, and there was emotional engagement. The problem is there is not much.

We are only presented 3 fighters, from France, China and our main character from USA. Add the Muay Thai champion from the compound and that only make it 4 fighters. Not much of a tournament if you ask me.

The movie does pop some fights here and there to pace the rhythm and altough none was bad per say, once again i never really felt the emotional engament or the main character being in true danger.

I understand this movie was probably filmed with a tiny budget on location and they couldn't really afford more expensive CIA stuff and such, but they should had really tweak the script better to really make us the viewers connect with the characters and give us more emotional fights and "badass" attitude from the main character.

Ultimately it "entertained me" enough to be on the positive side of the scale but its one i have no interest to rewatch or buy to add to my collection. I am giving it a 6 out of 10 and if you read this on Letterboxd, it barely get the yellow heart by the skin of its teeth.

Jackpot! (2024)

Movie does what it aim to do. Its fun

[7/10 · 19 August 2024]

The premise of this movie is not completely original, as its been done before, but usually in a more "violent style" if we can say. Normally these are more in the action/horror type of movies.

This one emphasis on comedy. So even tough everybody try to murder the lead, and there is some "violence", its always done i a comedic type and perfectly suitable for kids.

The movie works mostly because John Cena is very good at comedy and he has good chemistry with his co-star. I somehow have mix opinions overall on Awkwafina. I think some movies she is funny, others she is obnoxious. In this one she was funny and as i said above, as a duo with Cena they worked great.

Overall its a lighthearted movie that should entertain you and its on a streaming platform so no extra cost for you. It fill its role very well.

Ted (2024)

Pretty fun but suffer from 2 issues of current medias

[8/10 · 14 August 2024]

I had no idea this was a thing until i stumble on it randomly. I enjoyed the 2 movies back then, so i was exited to watch this. This is when the first issue showed up for me. This is so short it can be watched in a few days and then you done. This is not an issue only related to Ted of course, but its something i am kinda getting tired of.

Back in the 90s or early 2000s the sitcoms (or even most shows) had a minimum of 22 episodes, sometimes even more. They managed to create tons of funny stories with limited ressources and cast, and you really felt you had entertainement for hours upon hours. I understand Ted is animated in CGI and he is the special effect, therefore it may cost more than a regular sitcom, but this show was not even 10 episodes...

I just started it a couple days ago and now im already done. Its like i just got to start knowing and liking these characters and now i have to wait to know if it will even be renew because quite often shows are not, as there is so much competition between TV, streaming services etc these days. I think a minimum of 13 episodes should be a requirement for a show.

Now that being said, what was the other point? Well the show is set in the 90s yet somehow seem to forget it is at times, using a little bit too much of current day wokeness words and situation. But that is minor and didn't bothered me "too much".

Now that the negative is behind, i can say i overall enjoyed the show. The Halloween episode was one of my favorite, probably because it gave us something "new" pairing Ted and Blair. Blair was the stand out character for me. There is just something with the actress that is charming, even if normally her character personality would not suit well for me (she is the wokest of the house). I can't even explain it well.

The actor who play John did a decent job. Obviously filling the shoes of Mark Wahlberg is a big task, and i didn't knew this actor at all before, but as the show went on he grew on me.

Like i said above, i would love more of this show. I hope its renew and i hope they get more episodes for a season 2.

Twisters (2024)

A modernized "remake" done right

[8/10 · 14 August 2024]

The peoples in charge said its not a reboot or remake, but a "stand-alone sequel". Personally i taught it looked pretty much like a remake as it follow a lot of the beats of the original both in term of characters and movie structure, while putting its own little spins to make it a tiny bit different. I am not saying this in a bad way. I actually enjoyed the movie.

Characters were likable, especially Glen Powell's character (the dude is fastly becoming one of the new male darling in Hollywood) and the story, despite following a lot of the beats of the original, changed a couple things enough to have a few surprises and keep us on the edge of our seats a few times.

The visual effects were well done, wich is logical as its been 30 years pretty much since the original. The movie do require you to suspend your disbelieves many times to actually make it more flowing as a movie story, and i don't really mind that personally. I don't watch a disaster/fantastic movie to point out the real life incoherances.

Overall this is the definition of a pop corn blockbuster movie. Its entertaining. I personally regret a bit not having seen it in theatre as it must had been pretty impressive on the big screen but it was this or Deadpool and Wolverine, as i can go so often. Im sure you understand my decision.

Alien (1979)

A review from 2024 taking both past and present in consideration

[7/10 · 13 August 2024]

As crazy as it may seem, i never saw the original Alien or even its sequel, altough i did came across Alien 3, Alien Resurection (wich was the new movie when i was a teen and on age to watch this and my first in the franchise), and a few spin-offs later like Alien Vs Predator 1 & 2. So only Aliens left for another day.

I decided for this review i would review it 50/50 on both its "classic" aspect as well as how it hold up in 2024. The first thing that comes to mind is the creature are no secret anymore. We seen them countless times and we know what they are, so the mystery aspect and how it can impact the movie is something harder to judge. I do think its many forms and "evolution" is well done.

My biggest issue tough, and its no secret if you read any of my other reviews, is the pacing. The movie is very slow. The first hour is basically a set up and a lot of it could had been cut out without impacting the movie, even the suspense and atmosphere. That said, if we go in the 1979 shoes and what they could do with special effect and how these could be considering very advance for the time, i guess for a first viewing it was something phenomenal.

I have to take into consideration that Star Wars was released 2 years early tough, and spaceships and stuff like that was already done, so the miniatures and cool effects were not the first. That said, Alien do bring a more "realistic" aproach on the concept, obviously with a 1979 vision (old computers, screens etc).

Ultimately i do have to admit the movie did bored me at times a bit during the first hour, maybe because i already knew what was this creature, so its really hard to judge it for that specific part.

But i do think tough that in the second hour, the horror element and pacing was a lot better. Some peoples could complain the movie is "too dark" and you can't see much of the creature and the violence, but i personally knew about this and had no problem with it.

Overall i think the movie aged perfectly fine when it comes to special effects, overall story, characters, atmosphere, but do can feel a tad long during its first hour.

I am happy i can finally say that i saw it, and i do feel if a teenager would start by this one instead of the more modern ones, once he pass the look of the computers and tech wich is obviously ultra retro, he could have a very good movie with genuine scares and suspense and kinda forget its that old.

Im gonna go for a 7 out of 10 for a 2024 viewing with MY personal experience. It was enjoyable, but there was not much surprise for me sadly. But i did felt on the edge of my seat a few times during the more suspenseful scenes, so the movie wins at what it aimed to achieve.

Beautiful Wedding (2024)

What happened to this sequel? First one was A LOT better.

[5/10 · 8 August 2024]

I watched the first movie not that long ago. I love martial arts movies and i also enjoy romcoms, so mixing the 2 was in my alley. But the fighting aspect really took second wheel and it was mostly a romcom. So i was not surprised to see that this one would probably not include much fighting in and that didn't bothered me.

The issues with the movie is completely different. First of all this sequel goes full Adam Sandler toilet humor style, but fail at it miserably. I love an Adam Sandler comedy. I love toilet humor. Yet what they put in this one was simply obnoxious and not funny. It detracted too much from the characters and the relationship between Abby and Travis. Maybe its because it is not what i expected (or wanted) for a sequel to Beautiful Disaster, while on the other hand i know what i sign for if i watch Adam Sandler, but honestly i just feel the humor was ...bad.

Somehow they brough back the "bad guy" from the first movie yet they gave him the "General Hux threament" from The Last Jedi. He becomes a mockery.

I never read the books, so i have no idea what happen in them and if this follow the story or not by the author, and this story COULD had been good if it was better written in the movie. It simply was not.

One redeeming aspect is Virginia Gardner incredible body in bikinis and other sexy attires (sadly no visible nudity from her despite the movie having its fair share of T&A) wich was pleasant on the eyes. Otherwise i don't know if i should be at least happy to have seen these characters i liked in the first movie once more, or be offended of what they did with them.

Sadly this is not a very good movie, or even just a good one, and i can understand the very low score by other reviewers. I will give it a 5 out of 10 myself just because it had a few moments. But if they gonna make another, i do hope they switch back to the style of the first one. From my understanding there is 3 books but 2 of them are covered by the first movie.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

Fun, somewhat stylized movie

[8/10 · 2 August 2024]

Im not that familiar with the director. I know he is a big name but i can't say i watched a ton of his movies. This one tough has a solid cast, was free on Amazon Video (with subscription) and i saw a positive review by Snarky Jay on Youtube, so it was a no brainer to watch it.

So even tough its based on actual World War 2 events and real peoples, i would say the bulk of it is fiction in term of the events. But the way the movie is made is clearly assumed that way to make something fun.

It is pretty violent, with colorfull characters and some light jokes thrown in the mix. Pacing is pretty good too alternating between dialogues and action sequences.

Overall i would definately recommand it.

My Spy The Eternal City (2024)

Nice familly friendly "buddy comedy"

[7/10 · 28 July 2024]

I watched the first one a few years ago and altough not a movie that i found "exeptional", it was a perfectly fine familly friendly spy centered movie.

Sophie, the little girl from the first movie is now a high school teenager and because of that she obviously could do a lot more when it comes to action scenes or such.

The plot is a bit generic and cliché, and use every tropes you gonna see in spy/action movies that are for a familly friendly public, including bad guys being corny at times, making unecessary speeches instead of finishing the job, and other things like that. But if you are fine with these tropes in other movies, you should be here too.

Movie definately has its dose of humor and overall has a good balance between action, comedy and familly relationship stuff.

Just like the first, its a movie i had fun watching. If you liked it, you should like this one too. I would definately watch a third one with Sophie now being an adult if they decide to make one in a few years.