Reviews

Going into this movie, I wasn't expecting a huge masterpiece or anything but was hoping for something entertaining. Instead I found myself rolling my eyes at the myriad of things that they made the Siri/Alexa AI assistant capable of which was completely far fetched.

So the basic premise here is that Curtis(John Cho) is a guy who works for a company that is all about driving the adoption of technology into every day people's lives. We briefly get a quick glimpse of his family and their lives as they interact with each other and all manner of technology minus an AI assistant. Then one day, a group of "young" techies who have managed to achieve a breakthrough with AI & voice assistance technology comes to pitch Curtis and his boss on their new product called AIA, which they hope will achieve the same level of success as those produced by Apple & Amazon.

Lo and behold, a deal is signed, the AIA AI voice assistant is installed in the house and all kinds of great stuff initially happens until one day the AI decides it wants to pull the strings and call the shots. Sounds like a decent enough premise to start with...

For me, being a person who loves technology & also works in IT as a career, the concept sounded interesting. And then I saw how the writers completely made it seem like the AIA AI voice assistant was unrealistically capable of doing things that current technology such as Alexa/Siri/Google Assistant aren't capable of. Without anyone directly interacting with AIA, the voice assistant just takes things upon itself and just starts doing things without being invoked by any of the family members. Boy, if only Siri or Alexa were as capable of such rich interaction with users as is shown in this movie, would it be amazing(and scary as depicted).

My main problem with the movie is that while the central concept of AI overstepping boundaries is relevant, it's executed rather poorly. If real world technology worked as well as it is portrayed here, then yes, there would be a real concern. Aside from showing stuff like deepfake images being generated and voice manipulation, the rest of what is shown is more fantasy than anything else.

The performances of the actors portraying the family were decent but the rest of the characters were a bit much. Especially the ones that supposedly developed AIA.... Don't get me wrong, this is a Blumhouse film so I expect a bit of cheesiness but not in a movie that clearly wants us to take its concept seriously. Even M3GAN from last year got more right overall and even had some fun with what was essentially a silly topic. Here, I fear that the way technology is portrayed will give people unrealistic expectations of what is possible and fearing things rather than understanding how to protect themselves from its misuse.

I suppose I can't be too mad at this movie but it was a let down considering that I thought it would at least be a somewhat smart & clever thriller rather than really silly and goofy. Wait for this on streaming if you want to watch it.

I really hate how hit & miss M. Night's movies can be.... Ever since his early hit with The Sixth Sense, his movies are a mixed bag. Sometimes you get a really good story that unfolds fairly naturally without coming off contrived and other times you get the dumbest twists for the sake of trying to come off more clever and auteur than he really is. And sometimes you just know that some of his movies such as Lady In The Water, After Earth and The Last Airbender will be totally rotten stinkers!

In the case of Trap, it's a decent enough movie if you can totally turn off your brain and forgive all of the plot conveniences and the really in your face self promotion of himself and his family. My god, this guy just can't resist inserting himself front & center along with his daughter who is a legit pop singer. Really this should have been called M. Night's Shyamalan & Family, with the way it focuses front and center on his daughter throughout the run time. Don't get me wrong, I get it, the trick here is that this concert that the movie is centered around uses his daughter as a focal point but it just feels like he really tried to hard to insert her. Her singing is not bad and the songs are good, but my god, why does this movie so heavily involve her in the plot?

The other problem with this movie is that the plot asks the audience to overlook some really crazy things! From the trailer(s) we are told that this concert is a setup to entrap the killer known as The Butcher(Josh Hartnett) but every little thing that happens just seems to be so convenient.... Supposedly the police presence and everything is completely known and the place is locked down like Fort Knox, yet our main character easily gets around and goes where he isn't supposed to and is barely questioned or suspected of being out of place in areas where he clearly isn't supposed to be. The cat & mouse game on display would've been fine if our title character wasn't able to get around every obstacle so easily.... Man, this guy makes Solid Snake look like an amateur in training!

One of the saving graces is that there isn't really a twist here as per Shyamalan's usual tropes but what is there is a bit obvious. The movie is also shot and framed really well which is another hallmark of Shyamalan's, which is unfortunate because he has a decent plot to toy with. There was a good turn out at the Thursday night screening I went to so I guess that's somewhat good considering the fact that this is debuting in the wake of Deadpool & Wolverine! See it if you are a die hard Shyamalan fan who can't get enough of the director, his work and self promotion. Otherwise wait until this hits streaming or you'll find yourself in a "Trap" of your own making...

Upon hearing about this movie initially, I was very intrigued with it.... On the one hand I was trying not to see too much about the movie beyond the trailers I would see when attending other movies and boy am I glad that I was able to go in as blind as possible!

I admittedly am a little mixed on whether or not the trailer(s) do a good job of selling this movie. On the one hand, we are promised quite a crazy & insane horror film but with at least the last trailer I saw, I realized this is going to be more of creepy movie in the vein of Se7en. I don't think it's really a spoiler to say that but take it as you will, if you liked Se7en and other movies of its ilk than you will enjoy this.

As for the story, all I can really say is that it is very reminiscent of Se7en in the way that the mystery unfolds about the horrors being wrought upon the unfortunate victims. Maika Monroe turns in an excellent performance as the lead character who seems to be a bit of a savant FBI agent who winds up helping to make heads or tails of the current case of serial killings that has been unsolved thus far. The movie does a good job of slowly unraveling the mystery and it keeps you at the edge of your seat in a good way! There are many moments where the mood is so intense that you could cut it with a knife and the mystery unfolds quite nicely in a way that makes it easy to follow.

Be warned that this a slow burn horror along the lines of Se7en and other similar films. There is a mystery to solve here and there many tense moments but the movie never goes for the cheap jump scare. Just the investigation of the serial killings and all of the clues that are uncovered along the way are enough to keep you drawn in and this alone gives the movie an extremely creepy vibe that makes you wonder what will be uncovered around the next proverbial turn.

My only real complaint is that near the end, the movie essentially mansplains the plot in one big exposition dump. I think perhaps there could've been a better way to more organically give the audience everything needed to understand the entire story, with some well placed flashbacks to slowly provide information and allow the audience to piece it all together. Aside from this, the movie is overall excellent and engaging from the very beginning!

Go see this with a decent crowd at the theater! Hopefully the audience you see it with will be as respectful as the one I viewed it with, which made it a joy to watch. Nobody laughed or made a lot of noise during the movie except for the parts that were a bit unusual and that made this fun to watch with a group of other people. I also thought it was a nice touch to have the end credits scroll in reverse which is perfectly in line with the zaniness of the movie. You will not be disappointed by this gem of a film!

When I originally saw the teaser trailer while browsing through content to binge on Netflix, I came across this and thought it looked alright. The visual effects and Jennnifer Lopez were enough to catch my attention at the very least, and so I figured this couldn't be any worse than the other stuff Netflix puts out on their service...

The basic story is your usual megalomaniacal villain(Simu Liu) is an AI cyborg that intends to wipe out humanity because it has deemed us to be the ultimate problem. Take every trope from Robocop/Terminator/sci-fi action film, throw in a dash of A. I.(the Spielberg movie) and you've got Atlas! This is such a paint by numbers movie that it's not even funny.... Opening with a cool showdown with a big burly mid-boss type of character? Check. Show cool high tech visuals of the city and some tech that really don't play any role in the plot? Check. Introduce genius intellect character who is a rebel who knows more than everyone and somehow saves the day despite going contrary to everything they are told that would normally result in most characters dying? Check. Big action climax where the hero somehow wins because they were saved by another throwaway character at the last minute? Check.

My main issues with this movie center around Jennifer Lopez and the way her character is written.... Talk about an abrasive & annoyingly written character! I swear that she literally goes against all advice and common sense and yet somehow manages to survive situations that would kill most characters and end the story. Sure, I get it, being the rebellious "antihero" type of character, she has to go against everything & find her way in order to finally overcome everything and defeat the bad guy but this is just over the top. I nearly turned off the movie because of how incredibly irritatingly stupid her character was. The rest of the characters are very throwaway and just there to provide enough dialog and actions to move the plot forward.

All in all, this movie just goes to show how Netflix and streaming has absolutely replaced the low quality crap that used to get put out on DVD/VHS and land in video rental shelves. The only difference here is that the visual effects are a bit better and you don't have to go to your local Blockbuster or video rental store to find something to watch that may or may not be disappointing. I will say that towards the end, I found the bond that finally developed between Smith AI & JLo to be decent but it took a lot of time and crappy story to get there but at least it's there! If you're bored or need something on in the background while you play a video game or do something at home, this will do. Otherwise, stay away unless you enjoy this type of sci-fi/action movie...

I really wish I was coming here to say that Monkey Man lived up to the hype presented in the trailer. What I originally saw being presented was a movie about a fighter in a monkey mask that fights in both an illegal underground fight circuit & a bunch of very bad people that wronged him somehow. The trailer mostly had a lot of great and crazy action shots and had me thinking I'd be in for a rollercoaster thrill ride of nonstop action! This was not the case for me...

The basic premise of the story is that Dev Patel plays a guy named Kid who seems to be getting by in life fighting in an illegal underground fight tournament where he is paid to take tons of brutal punishment and make the "real" fighters look good. As the story goes on, we find out through flashbacks about how Kid was very attached to his mother who would tell him stories about Hanuman, a great & legendary warrior who was half human and half monkey.

We eventually find out that Kid's mother was murdered by Rana Singh, the chief of police, who is the top lieutenant to Baba Shakti, while they were invading the homeland area that Kid and his mother lived. Because this occurred when Kid was very young, it has stuck with him until now and has made him quite numb, or so it is implied.

Ok, not that bad of a premise right? Unfortunately what I just mentioned as being the hook of the story isn't revealed until a little over halfway through the movie. Prior to this bit of story being unveiled, it was unclear why Kid was allowing himself to take beat downs in the underground fight circuit or why he was trying to get a job working for a lady named Queenie. Up through this point, it isn't at all clear why Kid is doing what he is doing which left me frustrated because there was no rhyme or reason to what was happening.

The action & fight scenes when they happen are very kinetic, energetic and brutal.... When the camera isn't shaking like crazy as other reviewers have mentioned. This was very irritating to me because as I mentioned earlier, when they actually show the fights clearly, the choreography is quite amazing and bone shattering. The other problem presented is that the action elements aren't spaced out well throughout the story. After the initial fight at the underground fighting circuit, nothing happens again until Kid has his first encounter with Rana at the club. And then after that action sequence it slows down again before picking back up just as the 2nd act winds down and the 3rd act begins. Honestly, I have no real issues with actions scenes being spaced out through a movie like this but the good ones have a good ebb & flow where things steadily build up until the climax.

The overall story, once I was able to put all the pieces together is decent. I think however Kid's motivations needed to be made a little clearer from the start, with more and more information being given as things progress. As it was presented, it was frustrating because it is unclear why Kid is doing what he is doing and everything seems random.

All that being said, Monkey Man is a solid but flawed film. The bones for a good story and movie are there and the action choreography when it can be clearly seen is also solid, it just wasn't executed well. With this being the case, the movie is still good and a nice and fresh take on a well worn story of revenge. Definitely not the worst movie I've seen but certainly a very frustrating one to watch given the promise of the trailer.

Long story short, this movie should remind all Americans who watch it about how good we have it here in the United States. Despite a lot of the problems our country has, one thing we don't have to deal with is a terrorist group like the Taliban going around & imposing their will on the general populace by going door to door and hunting dissidents or anyone that opposes their beliefs.

The story is your typical military story about a soldier who is deployed to Afghanistan as part of a unit whose responsibility is to seek out IED factories and wipe them out. As part of this job, they hire a few of the locals who aren't sympathetic to the Taliban and are willing to provide translation service as well as guidance.

One such guy, Ahmed, does exactly this and then some. At first John doesn't trust him and dislikes the fact that Ahmed doesn't strictly follow his orders. But Ahmed isn't disobeying because he's trying to undermine John so much as he is trying to help him by doing the little things such as offering up money to someone who we knows will talk or even questioning a supposedly safe alternate route that will in actuality lead into an ambush. Ahmed is the kind of guy who doesn't just literally do his job but goes a little above and beyond the call.

This aspect of duty is very important as Ahmed sticks with John despite an incident that occurs where they are ambushed at an IED factory and the entire team except for the two of them go down. When the Taliban finally catches up to them and subdues John, Ahmed doesn't just turn the other way and starts to run, instead he pulls John's ass literally out dangerous territory despite the incredible odds of making it out alive!

That's right, at any point, Ahmed could have most certainly abandoned John for certain death and saved his own skin but instead he does the "right" thing and brings him back to an American military base where he is medically treated and returned to the US.

Upon recovering in a hospital back in California, John slowly comes to realize how he was saved from a deadly situation despite remembering nothing about it. His every waking hour is shortly haunted by the realization that Ahmed saved him from certain death by literally dragging him across several miles of desert & mountain terrain with the Taliban chasing after them. John feels a lot of guilt over this because he finds out Ahmed is still in Afghanistan, albeit on the run with his family since the Taliban have put a bounty on his head for helping to save John and defying them.

Shortly after this, John tries to do everything he can from California to ensure Ahmed & his family's safety but is turned away at every step due to bureaucracy. In the end he mounts a rescue mission against all odds to extract Ahmed & bring him to the US where he will be safe from the Talibans who are hunting him.

As I said earlier, this gives you a lot of perspective. Ahmed didn't have to save John & risk his own life, especially in enemy territory where the two of them were vastly outnumbered. The fact that he did so at the risk of both of them dying is truly admirable. It also goes to show the contrast between life in Afghanistan with the constant threat of the Taliban compared to a fairly safe and mundane life back home in California.

The takeaway that many should have, especially those that live in a country like the US, is that for the most part their daily lives are safe. There may be some crime and other atrocious things that happen in our society but it's nothing like what a person living in some place like Afghanistan would face. We generally don't have to worry about our government or any other militia group trying to force us to believe what they do or follow their ways. Unless we choose to put ourselves in harm's way, our lives for the most part are safe.

All this to say that I don't think life in America isn't without its faults or issues. But at the end of the day, our lives are fairly safe and mostly banal which is really a good thing. This movie is a good reminder of how the majority of us who live in a first world nation are mostly lucky enough to live in relative safety and not have to look over our shoulder or fear that we'll be hunted for holding beliefs that oppose what another group thinks. At least not yet anyway, and as long as we appreciate this safety and freedom we have, we need to fight to hold onto this way of life.

Again, this is definitely a good movie to show someone who is ungrateful for living in relative safety & security. The next time you find yourself complaining about the "long" wait at the drive through or in a store, always remember that things could mostly certainly be a lot worse!

The movie overall is a very basic paint-by-the-numbers thriller with mostly entertaining action and fun. What made this a bit lame however is that the main character, Eden, wants so badly to have a congressman to write a letter of recommendation for her so she can get into a particular college, that she keeps pestering his son at school despite being turned down. Nothing really wrong with that right? Eden isn't from a well to do family or filthy rich and wants a small favor, however even after being turned down the first time she keeps pleading & pleading...

She even invites herself to the son's party which is themed devils & angels and even gets her best friend to distract the congressman's son's best friend so she can pester him even more. Sorry, but what an irritating thing to keep doing. Persistence can be a good thing but when you can't take no for an answer, it's a little hard to feel much sympathy for the character once the inevitable chaos ensues.

What winds up happening is that Eden's best friend winds up getting hammered & the congressman's son's best friend finds her passed out in a room and starts taking selfies with her on a phone which has video evidence of a crime they committed and tried to cover up. On top of all that, the idiot friend even accidentally leaves the phone behind which of course leads to the incriminating video to be partially seen.

See what I mean? There are so many little things about the plot & writing that are just so hard to not roll your eyes at. This is the most basic of plots and with a lead character that is hard to root for because she just becomes an annoying pest.

At least the movie is only 90 minute's & doesn't spend too much time patting itself on the back and dragging things out. Overall, when the action happens it is entertaining but the plot just feels a bit contrived. Perhaps if I didn't find Eden to be so annoyingly persistent about getting her letter of recommendation after being told no so many times and going through extreme lengths to get her way, I'd have liked this a lot more. As it stands the movie is ok, but not something I'd recommend unless you are really bored and having nothing better to watch or do.

Remember that movie with Nicolas Cage about Nicolas Cage being Nicolas Cage that was released a year ago? Remember how that movie was supposed to indulge us in the zanier side of his personality and sold us on a movie that seemed to be balls to wall insanity like Deadpool was a few years ago? Well, Cocaine Bear IS the movie that Nicolas Cage movie should've beeen AND more!

Just by the title alone, you're already thinking about flat out outrageous the whole concept is going to be and you'd be right! Yes, this is actually BASED on an actual event that happened where some drug runners discarded several pounds of cocaine out of a small prop plane as it was crashing and a bear did find the cocaine and got high as a kite.... But that seems to be about where the similarities end, at least I believe that to be the case!

This movie takes off from that premise and just goes for the gusto and tells the most outlandish and craziest story you could tell, given that premise and boy am I glad that they did! It was very smart of the filmmakers to go all out and then some because that is really what anybody would expect with the words Cocaine & Bear in the title. Does that not make you imagine the craziest crap out there? When I found out that Lord & Miller of 21/22 Jump Street fame were producers, I knew this would be a good time. They know how to take an already crazy premise and dial it up 2-3 more notches but make it entertaining.

So basically the various story threads involve a couple of kids ditching school to hike up to a waterfall in a forest reserve, a drug dealer/runner in search of drugs he has promised to deliver, some idiot delinquents, law enforcement & a park ranger in desperate need of love.... Is that enough craziness for ya? If it sounds like a lot of story threads that is because it is, but they help move things along and give a reason for all of the events to occur.

The movie is definitely a dark comedy but with a light-ish tone to it, nothing gets too dark or deep and depressing which is good and prevents the movie from getting bogged down. There is quite a bit of gore and light horror elements to it but things lean more in the lighthearted direction more than anything else. The bear is obviously CGI but is done in a way that comes off believable and looks realistic enough without being too uncanny valley. And of course it's most likely due to the VFX masters: Weta FX!

Props must also go to Elizabeth Banks who turned things around after the disastrous Charlie's Angels reboot which she also dug her own grave when promoting it. It seems like she has learned to not toot her own horn too much & tell the audience how much they should appreciate what she is putting out there. There is no doubt that she has talent as witnessed here and a few of her other past efforts in directing but for sure this is a standout as many of the cast are not big names aside from the late Ray Liotta, Kerry Russell & O'shea Jackson Jr. Who is on the come up! It helps that the material sells itself but even then, I believe that it takes the right director to ensure that things don't go sideways as it can sometimes be easy to botch what should be a slam dunk.

All that being said, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this movie if you want several good belly laughs and have a sense of humor that isn't easily offended. It's not the most offensive thing out there but it's definitely not for anyone that thinks things need to be a certain way or certain subjects should be avoided, so if you're easily offended or don't like tasteless humor this isn't for you. Lastly, there are a few mid credits stingers so don't forget to stay for those as they make for a fun way to wrap up the various storylines presented!

I like films and movies in general and horror is one of my favorite genres. Lately I've been getting into the more low budget films where the filmmakers rely on creativity over showing off the budget on special effects and past their prime actors looking to still be in movies. A lot of the ones I've seen in fact have fallen into the "so bad it's good" or cheesy and over the top category that you can't help but have fun because everyone involved with the film clearly was while making it!

Unfortunately this is a train wreck that absolutely needed more time to be polished. The worst part about this is that you can see that there some solid foundations in some of the way the shots were setup & the premise is a decent one to build from. The problem is that this looks like it was executed by someone who is learning to make movies, which is fine, but it probably should've gotten more time in front of other filmmakers that could've pointed out the obvious flaws.

One big flaw that this movie has is that the narrative is difficult to follow. Scenes that should establish who the characters and help the audience follow what is happening with them as the story progresses is non-existent. Characters literally pop in & out of thin air and things happen to them but you don't see how the story takes them from point a to b. In additions to this, the movie is impossibly dark to the point where you literally can't see anything except random things meant to represent the characters and objects they're holding or moving around! Several scenes were just so dark that you couldn't tell where the characters are in relation each other or the scenery. Movies are a visual medium, you need to see what is happening or at least have an inkling of what is unfolding even if you're not supposed to see things clearly!

The plot about Winnie-the-Pooh and the other forest animals turning feral after Christopher Robin left them to be an adult was a good starting point but ultimately went nowhere. Why did Pooh & Piglet wind up torturing or killing people if they became ravenous from hunger instead of eating them? Why is Christopher Robin just barely in the movie, while the focus is on a bunch of other characters that we literally know nothing about?

Clearly you can see the inexperience of the director on display here as some scenes and shots are well done while others are absolute trash. I'm sure given enough time they will improve with more movies under their belt but they need someone to help guide & mentor them so that they can make a movie that is watchable. Sure, this was a micro budget effort but it's advertised like it has more money behind it than it really does. If this guy had a solid fundamentals I'd be complaining more about the story than how everything is presented! And the presentation doesn't require fancy cameras or special effects, you just need good clear shots and narrative flow which don't require a ton of money if given the time to do it right!

Lastly, I heard that there is already a sequel in the works? How in the hell did this piece of garbage manage to get a sequel greenlit and Zack Snyder had so much difficulty getting more movies made in the DC Universe?! That tells me that somehow there is someone with money that has more cash then sense and somehow got talked into making more of this...

I will definitely & absolutely NOT recommend this movie for anyone in any form! Not even if you're high or drunk, this is just a pure waste of time that you will never get back.

Just to be clear right off the bat, I never saw the original Firestarter that was released in the 80s nor did I read the original Stephen King book.... With that out of the way, I didn't mind this new film by low-budget horror/genre studio Blumhouse. Is it the most thrilling or exciting horror/thriller? No, but I do like that Blumhouse didn't go over the top and make an ultra schlocky & gory movie and kept things low key.

The movie opens with us seeing Charlie as a baby and accidentally invoking her powers of setting things ablaze and nearly burning down the house. During the opening credits we see a montage of both her parents played by Zac Efron & Sydney Lemmon talking on video about their experiences going through a clinical trial when they were both in college with music by horror master John Carpenter and his son Cody.

If you've watched the original 80s film with Heather Locklear & a very young Drew Barrymore as the titular firestarter, you know where this is going. Basically the family is trying to live life on the down low and staying out of sight lest they attract the attention of DSI, the company that experimented on them and gave them their powers. In comes Gloria Reuben as the new CEO of DSI who wants to get her hands on Charlie for experimentation and all the usual villainous things and you've got a complete story.

Zac Efron turns in a surprisingly decent performance as the dad trying to protect his daughter from those who would exploit her and teaches her to keep from going off the deep end. Ryan Kiera Armstrong does an alright job in portraying a young kid who isn't quite aware of her gift/curse and how there are people out in the world that would exploit her and push her to the limit.

Now, I've seen quite a few videos and reviews talking about how this movie is very bland and the story is overly simplistic but I disagree. I'm actually glad that Blumhouse and the crew didn't try to overly complicate the original story which is so typical of modern cinema. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind creative liberties in remakes but sometimes the filmmakers are better off keeping things simple and straightforward.

As I mentioned earlier, I also didn't mind that this was low key overall and didn't feature big set piece spectacles which would've been out of place on a story focused on a young girl coming to grips with possessing powers she doesn't understand and on the run from an evil corporation that would sooner weaponize her for their own ends. That being said, I think this could've worked as an over the top horror/thriller where they just go for it and go all crazy with the horror, gore and scares but this is fine. There is no need to turn this story into a comic book-style movie when the original wasn't.

Should you go see this in the theater? If you got Regal Unlimited or AMC A-List this is definitely one worth spending money to see at the cinema if you have time and have seen the other big wide releases. If you're more of a homebody you can catch this on Peacock too. If you're looking for a silly over the top horror/thriller that is meant to be a crowd pleaser than I'd say skip this as this is not that movie at all.

I had a really hard time convincing myself to stay and finish this movie when I saw it. The story & plot itself is silly, which I expected based on the trailers and how paper thin the setup is but visually this was headache inducing.

The basic plot of this movie is that Jake Gyllenhall & Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are brothers who go on a bank heist that goes wrong. The crew they rob the bank with gets picked off one by one by the LAPD until something goes sideways as the brothers try to make their escape. Due to an unfortunate mishap, both brothers are forced to commandeer an ambulance and make a run for it. One long car chase ensues with lots of crashes, screeching tires, bullets flying and explosions.

Again, this is fine because I expected it from the trailers. Also it's a Michael Bay directed film, so I expected it to be mostly style over substance and spectacle.

Unfortunately the movie is visually shot with non-stop shaky cam & drone-like aerial and swirling shots. And I mean NON-STOP. It's like Michael Bay & his cinematographer shot gunned a 6-pack of Red Bull, snorted a Ziploc full of cocaine, busted out a smartphone and turned off all visual stabilization and started shooting while running.

There are almost no shots where the camera isn't swooping up or down or rotating around people or things and shaking like crazy. It made it difficult to follow the action. Even in an early scene where Jake & Yahya's characters are talking, the camera is constantly revolving around them!

Perhaps if Michael Bay controlled himself & shot this movie in a way where it was easier to follow the action and the camera wasn't constantly moving, I'd like this a lot more. Nothing could be more mind numbing or boring than watching a camera shake or move all over the place for nearly 90 minutes! I get that some of things being done visually are the director's trademarks but it's dialed up to 11 and just non-stop.

I wouldn't recommend paying to watch this unless you absolutely have nothing better to do. The story is too silly and visually this movie is too much of a mess to be entertaining in my humble opinion. Go watch Sonic the Hedgehog 2 or Morbius instead...

Seeing the trailers for this movie for the first time, my first thought was "why would they make this? What is there left to do that would make this thrilling?". Given my surprise at seeing the trailer, my first reaction really was that the studio was beating a dead horse & really reaching for a story that reached its natural conclusion in the first and only entry. Thankfully, I am happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised & entertained by this movie when the end credits rolled.

The reason that I say that this sequel didn't really have any new stories or ideas to present is because the first movie highly relied upon the novelty of a blind man turning the tables on a group of home invaders. All of what made the original movie such a treat was that we didn't expect the blind guy to be a twisted bad ass. If the studio and filmmakers gave us a slight variation of that same story again for a second time, I guarantee that it would fail miserably because the novelty of the situation and the twists involved would be re-treading the same exact familiar ground. Instead, I'm glad that the blind man was put in the position of the home invading thieves of the first film and was basically the protagonist of this film along with the very young & talented Madelyn Grace as his daughter.

The movie opens shortly after the events of the first film, although this time we see a younger version of Madelyn Grace's character Phoenix laying face down in the middle of the street. We then flash forward several years and we see Phoenix on the run in the wilderness, being chased by someone & the dog from the first film. She finally comes up on an open car with a gun laying out on the seat and grabs it, only to be grabbed from behind by the blind man.... But he has no intentions of hurting her nor does his dog, because he is actually Phoenix's guardian and is attempting to teach her survival techniques.

We then see Phoenix and the blind man at home, with her cutting his hair and asking about her past. Phoenix is told that she was found laying in the street & passed out in front of a house that was burning down. He took her in under his wing and cared for her since then and has basically adopted Phoenix as his daughter. Of course the young girl is hungry & curious for more details about her unknown past and also yearns to be released from the lonely confines of the house they both live in and wants to be around other kids her own age. Later in the day, a friend of the blind man stops by to pick up some plants that he is selling and has a conversation with him about how Phoenix is doing and finds out that she has been asking to go into town. The friend convinces the blind man to let Phoenix come into town and so he lets her accompany the friend and she winds up meeting and briefly having fun with a few other kids at a park. Just before she heads back home, she encounters a strange man while using the restroom & from there the meat and potatoes of the story begins...

It turns out that the man in the restroom wants Phoenix for some reason & tails her back to the home. Without spoiling things or giving away more, the story turns into a story about the blind man's efforts to protect Phoenix from being kidnapped by the group of men who followed her home.

If you've watched the first movie, you will be surprised to see that the blind man is now in the role of the protagonist and thus the "hero" of our story. It is a bit of an interesting twist to have him play this role in the story rather than being the antagonist because it does wind up setting up some thrilling situations and set pieces which don't disappoint. If you've seen the original Don't Breathe, it won't come as any surprise that the blind man can outwit the numerous guys out to get him but it is fun and entertaining to see how it all unfolds. Because the blind man and Phoenix are put into the position of being the victims, we do see a relatively fresh spin on things from the first movie where the blind man was the one doing all the stalking.

At first glance, the story does seem a bit hokey and contradictory to the first movie but mostly because it takes a bit of a left turn in making the blind man the sympathetic character this time around. If you just discard the fact that the blind man was the villain in the first film, everything else as a whole with the story and events of this film mostly works and is solid. Again, I don't think this movie would've been half as entertaining or fun if it just re-did & re-enacted the same story beats and sequences from the original film. It would fall very strongly into the been there done that category and not very well.

With all of that said, is this a great sequel? No, but it does the job just fine in providing more of the same thrills as the original movie without feeling like it is an exact carbon copy with everything amped up as is par for a sequel. If you enjoyed the tense cat-and-mouse games that were being played in the first movie, you will equally enjoy this movie as they find inventive ways to play the same game again with the roles reversed. Do I recommend watching this in the theater? Yes, it comes as a strong recommendation if you enjoyed the original. In my opinion, this is one of the more solidly produced movies put out this summer and something that won't disappoint if you want a decent fun & thrilling night(or day) out at the movies!

As a whole, I like horror/thriller movies that take place in a single location such as a creepy house like this film.

The movie starts out with 2 young boys who are hanging out before a baseball game they are supposed to play in. While killing time & playing a game of catch, one of the boys, Bobby, tosses the ball a bit out of reach from Kevin who goes chasing after it. Subsequently both boys get kidnapped and are brought to a desolate house in the middle of nowhere and they are both forced to fight to get free.

Overall, the thriller elements are mostly solid. The tension throughout the movie is pretty thick and fairly constant, not knowing which corner the kidnappers will be hiding behind. However, then we come to the very obvious down falls of the story which for me let some of the air out of the movie.... Time and time again, we see Bobby manage to get the upper hand on one of the kidnappers but he just makes the most horrendous situations which makes things hard on himself.

For example, there is a scene where we see Bobby hiding under the bed and sees one of the kidnappers open a safe in the wall and deposit money. The kidnapper subsequently goes to take a shower in the adjoining bathroom and Bobby quickly comes out of hiding and goes to the safe where he eventually finds an envelope filled with pictures of Kevin that he starts looking through.... I'm sorry, why would Bobby bother staying in the room looking at the contents of an envelope with his back exposed to the kidnapper who is showering in the adjoining bathroom?? Most people, including a kid in a situation like this would most likely book it and find a new hiding place rather than leaving themselves exposed to attack.

In another situation, we see Bobby take a baton from the cop that was killed by the kidnapper and runs away and hides in the basement. The kidnapper goes searching for Bobby and picks up the gun from the dead cop and eventually winds up in the basement where she is ambushed and handcuffed to a water line. Ok, fine.... Except that Bobby immediately runs away with the kidnapper's keys and gets shot in the leg! What makes this scene so cringey is Bobby did have a pretty decent amount of time to pick up or kick the gun away while the kidnapper was distracted by suddenly being handcuffed, but nope!

Bad decisions such as these are peppered throughout the movie, that it just pulls you out of the moment. Sure, Bobby is a young-ish kid & probably has no bloodlust or desire to intentionally hurt people, but you can't tell me that he wouldn't have taken opportunities to disarm his attacker or ensure that he's not leaving himself in harm's way. Sure, I get that some of the decisions by the writers was meant to add tension but I think the movie would've been stronger if the obviously smart, calm & fairly collected Bobby made better choices to ensure his survival and chances of escaping. I would have preferred to see things fall apart for Bobby despite working so hard and making smart choices as that would make for more believable tension.

Despite some of these issues however, I found the movie to be decently entertaining. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a mildly entertaining thriller and doesn't mind turning off their minds and overlooking a few obvious IMHO flaws.

I'll be honest, when I heard Disney was making yet another movie based off of their Disneyland rides, I wasn't looking forward to it. Except for Pirates of the Caribbean, every other film based off of a ride they have made felt like it was forced and lacked any charm as well as great storytelling. I'm happy to report that I was wrong this time!

The Jungle Cruise opens up with us listening to MacGregor attempting to make a pitch so that they can get access to an arrowhead being held by the Royal Society of explorers. MacGregor has been enlisted by his sister Lily, played by Emily Blunt, so that they can get ahold of this artifact so that they can find a mystical tree with magical healing petals which are supposed to cure all kinds of ailments which she intends to use to do research for cures of all kinds of disease.

We eventually discover that Lily does indeed get ahold of the arrowhead & has started off on a journey to South America in search of Nilo, a person that she believes can help her find the mystical tree. It is at this point that we are introduced to jungle cruise tour guide, Frank, played by Dwayne Johnson, who is currently ferrying a group of tourists through the riverside. Lily reluctantly decides to trust Frank who is in serious need of money & off they both go in search of the mystical tree and its magical healing petals!

Both Dwayne Johnson & Emily Blunt as the primary leads of the show are both very likable and make for an entertaining show. Dwayne Johnson does a great job as usual and uses his great charisma & charm in playing the somewhat cynical con artist with a heart of gold. I liked that he was able to pull off the Disneyland ride's famous corny dad jokes and silly sense of humor without being cringey, while also playing the big buff action hero with a heart! This movie role plays to his strengths very well. Emily Blunt also does a great job playing the tough as nails, ball busting female role very well and perfectly plays off Dwayne Johnson's goofy character.

Jesse Plemons as the German aristocrat, also in pursuit of the same mystical tree with the magical petals is also played very well too. He does a great job playing the villain as both an over the top mustache twirling bad guy, with just enough silliness that the character doesn't come off overly serious given the kind of film this is trying to be. Jack Whitehall as Lily's brother MacGregor also does a great job of being the diva-ish sidekick but also fits in well with the tone of the film.

Overall, I thought the story being told in this film was very strong without being overly complicated for a family friendly summer blockbuster. Far too often lately, I've found that a lot of supposedly fun summer blockbuster movies try too hard to be clever with a convoluted story that the audience really doesn't care for. The filmmakers did a great job in delivering a light-hearted and fun adventure that tells just enough story to make us care but without going overboard. Although this movie is rated PG-13, I think most families will be able to enjoy it overall due to the action sequences not being overly intense as would normally be expected nowadays.

I highly recommend this film for anyone that wants to go see a fun, silly, action packed adventure with lots of charm. If you are at all familiar with Disneyland ride you will also get a lot of enjoyment out of the callbacks to the corny dad jokes that are told by the ride operators and the overall silly tongue in cheek moments too. Bravo to Disney for going back to the basics and telling a solid story that perfectly matches with the beloved Disneyland ride that everyone knows and loves!

After the end of the original movie, it was pretty obvious that there was going to be a sequel that continues the story. This is the sequel to that movie.

Right off the bat when the movie starts, the first movie and its events are re-capped which I thought was nice. And then this movie starts to basically pick up from there and starts getting into the story with Zoey, one of the survivors from the first movie, talking to a therapist. Ever since Zoey survived, she has been constantly looking at everything around her with paranoia as if she's still mentally stuck in an escape room. She mentions to the therapist that she has been thinking about taking a break & getting away, which she is encouraged to do and does so with the other survivor from the first film.

From this point on, things happen & we eventually see both Zoey & Ben wind up in what turns out to be the first of many escape rooms and we meet other survivors from other escape rooms run by the company Minos. We then watch as the group attempts to work together as a team to solve the puzzles littered throughout each room they encounter, with a few of them meeting their end along the way as expected.

As an overall movie, I thought this was a decent entry, if not a bit predictable. Right from the start, I guessed that it was highly likely that Zoey & Ben would survive so that there could be a third film and of course that turned out to be the case. I also predicted that the movie would drop lots of numerous, not so subtle hints that all of the events are leading into a third film. Most people seeing this will most likely quickly realize the Escape Room series was intended to be a trilogy. I don't really mind this, but I do wish that it felt less like they were using this movie to setup the next one and told a more complete and self contained story.

Thankfully the overall acting was decent & most of the characters were likable enough. I also thought that most of the puzzles they encountered in each room were interesting, although I really disliked the one that took place in an underground bank. I thought this was the weakest and left the least amount of time for us the audience to puzzle our way through the clues they encountered. Otherwise, the rest of the movie seemed good enough.

When the third movie finally comes, I do sincerely hope that it tells a satisfying story and wraps everything up rather than setting up the next one. I also hope they don't run this franchise into the ground by endlessly releasing sequel after sequel after sequel as this will quickly get old. Go see this if you were a fan of the original, I think you will be mostly satisfied given all of this movie's flaws.

From beginning to end, this movie was complete & utter garbage. The story overall is like the rest of those others that feature friends going on a trip and then having everything unravel... The difference here is that it all unfolds in the most ridiculously implausible ways that you wonder what the writer/director of this movie was thinking!

The movie starts out with 2 young girls being dropped off at a bus station that are on their way to a music festival. We shortly find out that one of the girls lied to the mother that dropped them off & that they never had any tickets for the bus ride to the festival they were going to. The plan was to actually hitch a ride with a few other friends who are going to the same festival, but of course this doesn't go as planned as the 2 girls are now stranded with no bus ticket or a way to get to their destination. In fact, the bus that was there when they arrived just left.

So now the plan turns into hitching ANY ride to their destination and of course the 2 girls wind up jumping into a BMW with a driver that nearly ran them over... Supposedly the BMW belongs to the parents of the driver & one of the guys steps out to apologize and make up for almost running the girls down by offering them a ride.

From here the story quickly goes downhill, with the girls eventually finding out that the car is actually stolen and they wind up in a horrible accident which flips the car over. Now the 4 of them must come together to find safety and escape from the shadowy owners of the car who are now looking for it.

Ok, so that didn't sound all that bad right? Unfortunately as great as it all sounds on paper, the execution is horrendous. The 2 girls which are supposed to the protagonists are portrayed as very vapid & immature. The 2 guys that picked them up in the car are basically portrayed as douchebags. The scene featuring the actual car crash that really sets the story in motion is the most horrendous & unnecessary and overly drawn out CGI sequence which just makes things drag on THAT much longer. Even the subplot about all the little events that lead up to this moment are facepalmingly bad!

The worst thing that the writer/director did with this movie is draw out every little detail & added to much melodrama to every little thing that happens. For a good portion of the movie, we are forced to hear the characters unnecessarily whine & drone on about whose fault it is that they are in this terrible situation that you just want them all to die since they are so insufferable!

Avoid this movie at all costs! It's a total waste of time and trust me when I say you will regret being subjected to everything that happens.

I rarely feel very compelled to rate bad movies unless they are so bad that I need to tell people to avoid it. This movie is a waste of time & money!

If there is anything redeeming I can say about this movie is that it has an interesting concept but it's poorly written and executed. The idea that your deepest fantasies and desires can have dark consequences is something the original TV show explored but with less of a focus on the horror aspect.

The problem this movie has it that the overall story doesn't make sense. The way this was put together makes me wonder if the filmmakers were drunk & high and when they wrote and directed this mess. The story starts out well enough but quickly devolves into literal nonsense. The movie tells both the guests of the island and we the audience that only one fantasy can be had and it needs to be played out to its end no matter good or bad. However, because the filmmakers felt the need to be clever, this is quickly discarded for a nonsensically cheap twist that even a five year old would scratch their head at.

What's even worse is that they don't even begin to start trying to setup the ending twist(s) until a little over halfway through. Add to this, when the twist occurs, several characters have to mansplain it to everyone because it literally makes no sense whatsoever.

Whether or not you saw the original TV series or its remake with Malcom McDowell, DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE! You literally could write your own version of how this story plays out and it would probably wind up being better than this turkey that never should've made it past the pitch to the studio to convince them to release it.

Considering the source material & the concept they had, this movie could've been a fun and campy time but instead it's just flat and lifeless. It's as if everyone involved bought into the concept & premise initially but suddenly lost their enthusiasm the way this turned out.

The basic premise of the movie is that a young boy who is really into the Banana Splits show gets tickets to see a live taping for his birthday. Just before the taping of the show begins, the Vice President of programming tells the producer that today's show will be the last one because it's being canceled in order to be replaced by other content. The guy in charge of maintaining the animatronic robot puppets gets wind of this and decides to re-program some of them with murderous intentions. The live show taping goes off without a hitch and everything seems fine until one of the robots seemingly accidentally knocks over one of the human cast members. Oh, I forgot to mention that some of the audience members are told that if their ticket has stars on the back of it, they will get to meet and greet the cast members after the show.

During the meet & greet, some of the audience members who had agendas start trying to capitalize on the situation. For instance, there is a father who brought his daughter with the intention of introducing her to the show's producers to help jump start her acting career. When he initially finds that nobody at the meet and greet is of any real significance, he sneaks off to try and find a producer or show executive that he can showcase his daughter's talents to so that he can convince them to put her in the show. There is also a plot line featuring a young adult couple, with one of them being fans of the show since childhood who also decides to sneak off and go exploring around the studio. It is from around here that the robot puppets slowly start to go haywire and kill some of the people that attended the show and whatnot.

Ok, sound good so far? Yeah, I thought that sounded like it would be good too until I actually watched the movie itself. The intro of the movie starts out as the original show does but much flatter and with less life. The supposedly robotic puppets who you can tell are obviously being played by people in costumes are overly stiff and seem like they just don't want to be there. Considering that the original show was more lively and the actors in the suits were more animated this was a sign of how bad the rest of the movie would be. For God's sake, couldn't they have played this up a little more and just went for it in a very tongue in cheek manner??

Even the initial scenes with the family are dull and lifeless too. It's almost as if nobody realizes they are being filmed and that what they are doing is going to be in the final movie shown on screen. The pacing was also really slow and lifeless too. It was as if the real producer still of this movie had no idea to with this and lost their enthusiasm. The kills and gore were ok but also very horribly done, again, like nobody really cared to make it seem like they cared about making a good movie.

So what would I have done better? As I mentioned earlier, I would've played this up as a goofy-ish satire. I would lampoon the fact that the original show was obviously meant for young kids and made it lively and went over the top for the majority of the film. It felt like if they had gone for more goofy campiness, this would've worked out far better. Think of Piranha 3DD which was very over the top and goofy and everyone seemed like they were having a blast being silly. This is how this should've been played.

My recommendation: if you must see this, rent it. Everyone but the most hardcore horror & Banana Splits fans will be disappointed. It's not the worst movie I've ever seen, there were some moments that made me chuckle but not enough. Again, if they had went for that angle and made it silly, I would've enjoyed it a lot more. The overall production values are nice, it looks like a movie that was done with a decent budget and looks like something made for theaters but that's really the only other good thing I can say. What a shame that they had an interesting twist of a concept but just didn't execute it well!