Freaky

Once I heard the concept for this film, I looked it up and was excited for it. First I really like Christopher Landons previous Happy Death Day films and it has Vince Vaughn in it so I avoided any trailer for it because I really wanted to be surprised.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film is it feels made for me. I love slasher films and this film is a love letter to slasher. This film just has fun with the tropes and cliches and puts it own spin on it. Some fun I noticed is there were certain elements that reminded me of the iconic slasher films such as Friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, Halloween, even scream and whilst others may say it's a rip off or unoriginal, I see it as a homage and an appreciation of  the films and genre.

That's another reason why I enjoy Christopher Landon. Now I would like to see him do another genre sometime but in the meanwhile, he can stay in the horror community because he just comes up with these interesting concepts that puts it's own spin on horror; with happy death day, it was a time loop slasher, with its sequel it went more sci-fi and with this film it's a body swap slasher and that makes me interested what else he'll come up with.

Okay I've delayed it long enough, it's time to talk about the cast. Vince Vaughn is perfect in this film. He's surprisingly turned into a very versatile actor with his more serious films over the recent years but this is his most versatile. When the film begins, this guy is terrifying. In fact when a new Friday the 13th film is announced, I want Vince Vaughn to play Jason because this guy has the built and screen presence for it and I never thought I'd be scared of the actor who was in Fred Claus.

But when he swaps bodies, he just goes for it and is the funniest I've seen him in a while and it's just fun see him act like a girl with the way he walks and acts around stuff. Also you know those situations where you need to prove you are who you are? Give this character an award for coming up with the most convincing situations as proof. Thats all I'm saying.

Kathryn Newton is also great in this film. It's very impressive when she goes from shy bullied teen to this scary sexy killer and she does a good job with making her performance scary whilst funny at the same time.

I also really liked the characters as well. The slasher genre is known for having really bad or pointless characters but with these ones, they have something about them that makes them standout for me. They also help provide the comedy which definitely works and there's one line that had me in stitches "you're black, i'm gay, we're both dead". I just love that line because it fits with the tone and genre with the film.

Finally and my biggest surprise are the kills. There are some very inventive and gory kills and I really wasn't expecting it since this is a horror comedy but weirdly enough the kill scenes feel tonally consistent especially when you see how far they go.

Moving onto the mixed aspect of the film and first it's a certain aspect of the concept that may divide viewers. When you have a 50 year old man in a teenage girls body, immediately that just puts a bad taste in your mouth but I do think this film draws a line with how far it goes with that.

Also whilst Kathryn Newton is great in this film, it's a situation where she gets better as she goes along because when she starts off as the killer, her scenes are so awkward to watch to the point where I started thinking the concept wasn't going to work. She literally spends scenes just looking at people weirdly and making it obvious something wasn't right.

Onto the negatives and I don't have many. First thing that comes to mind is this film tries to do the ugly duckling trope with Kathryn Newton and for me it doesn't work. She is a very attractive girl and even with how the film styles her, it's a little hard to buy that most of everyone sees her as very unattractive.

Also whilst this very does have fun with the cliches, there's other times where the cliches just become inevitable and at times I rolled my eyes at how apparent they are.

Finally I felt one of the police characters wasn't utilised as best as they could have been. I won't spoil who this character is or where they fit in the film but I just felt the film could have had more fun with the character.

But overall, this is a very fun and successful film from Christopher Landon and I'm excited with what he does next. I even think this could be a little bit better than happy death day but I may need to rewatch to find out.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Soul

Now this is a film I've had a bit of anticipation for. Pixar has a great track record for great storytelling and I was very impressed with the trailers as well. Before I go on, I will say that this is going to be a hard film to give my thoughts on because there's so much I want to talk about but I also want to keep this spoiler free.

Right off the bat, the best thing about this film is this is a very different Pixar film. It has quite an artistic direction to it at times especially when we get to the death life scenes and it just looks beautiful at times. It's gets very cosmic and just had a different feeling to it and the animation is just on another level. I love how far we've come where we can have animation where it is at the moment. 

The voice cast are also great. Jamie Foxx gives a great voice performance as the lead character. He has to provide passion, emotion and comedic performances for his character and he does a great job with it. Tina Fey is another standout in this film and her and Jamie Foxx have fantastic chemistry between one another. The rest of the cast are great but those two were the main standouts.

Something that really impressed me was how this film was able to develop the characters. With Jamie Foxx's character, You're able to understand his character with just visual effects and minimal dialogue and I love it when Pixar does that sort of thing. Tina Feys character gets a fantastic character journey that has a really fitting end and has fantastic emotional payoff.

I was also impressed how this film was marketed. When I saw the trailers, I enjoyed them but I wondered how the story would be constructed together and this film has a lot of twists in it that it's able to keep secret so that's an example of a good trailer.

But what makes this film a true standout and why I loved this film so much is because of the story. What I love about pixar is they're able to come up with bizarre concepts that should never make sense at all but instead are executed where they resonate with not just children but adults as well and this film is a true exception. I'm also going to make a statement and I believe Pete Docter is the best Pixar film director. He just brings such emotion but also tells fantastic stories in such different and compelling ways and three of his four pixar films are in my Top 3 favourites.

When you realize where this film is going, you can just connect with the story and the message it has with it. This film has multiple messages that can be interpreted in many different ways but for me, this is a film about discovering your purpose in life, what you're good at and how your one dream doesn't have to be the only thing you hang on to and that just meant so much to me.

I don't talk about my private life much but this film has so many elements that just means so much to me. I do these reviews as a hobby which I enjoy doing but my dream is to be an actor and how this film expresses your dream job or opportunity is realistic but also inspirational as well.

Moving onto the mixed aspect and first this film takes a while to get used to. I enjoyed it more once the film went on but when it starts it takes a little bit to get into and to get used to the characters.

Second are some of the twists, some people will be fine with the twists and others may roll their eyes and assume it's rinse and repeat of events we've seen before in other pixar films. I'm in the former of the category but I suspect others will be in the latter.

Finally it's how the film ends. I don't want to go into it too much but it feels like the film is going to end in a bold and brave way but instead feels a little too safe like they thought not many would appreciate the ending.

Moving onto the negatives and honestly after much thinking, I only have two. First there are a few moments that feel a little unclear and leaving you questioning how certain moments are able to happen. I can't say more than that without going into spoiler territory.

And my final negative is the villain. I found the villain to be incredibly annoying, quite forced in places and was just unnecessarily used as well. It felt like a short role that was extended for filler moments.

However besides those negatives, this is an outstanding achievement from pixar which will resonate with a lot of people and has some incredibly touching moments. This could potentially be the best pixar film ever made but I really need to think about it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Love and monsters

This is a film I had no idea was coming out but as soon as I found out Dylan O'Brien was in it, I needed to watch it. I'm a big fan of Dylan O'Brien. I loved him on Teen wolf and I love the maze runner franchise.

And right off the bat, I absolutely loved this film. This is one of those films that just felt was made for me. It has everything I love squished into one film; adventure, humour, monsters, action. Just my thing all over and that is probably the best thing about this film. If you're into that sort of thing, this film is just pure escapism and has fantastic worldbuilding. This film creates an interesting dystopian world that you'd probably like to explore yourself. 

I also really liked the concept and execution of the story. Combining a love story with a monster movie does sound very cliched and overdone but what this film does well with it is helps us buy into the relationships and chemistry of the characters and surprises us with other means of a love story. So whilst it's essentially a love story between a man and woman, it also becomes a love story between a man and his dog and being a dog lover, I can relate to that so much.

The cast is also really good. Dylan O'Brien is just a fantastic as he always is. It feels like he went back to his Teen wolf roots because he provides so much humour with his funny one liners and his non hero status. Jessica Henwick and Michael Rooker (who seems to be in everything these days) are also good in their roles with their limited screen time but my heart went towards the dog Boy in this film. Unlike other films, this film treats Boy like he's an actual character and not just an extra. He helps when he needs to, he has his own personality and best of all, he's just so adorable.

I also liked the main characters development along the films journey. He avoids classic action hero cliches and instead stays true to his own personality and fights for survival in his own unique way whilst becoming a stronger character as he goes along. And whilst the action isn't the forefront of the film, it's very nicely handled and well staged at times.

And as this is a monster movie, you got to talk about the monsters and I loved what how they looked, how they were designed, how they were used and not overused but what also impressed me was essentially how they were created. I won't spoil it since I don't know if this was revealed in the trailer  but when we learn about how these creatures were created, when you stop and think about it, it's the most realistic and creative solution. There's also a few twists about certain monsters that is cleverly foreshadowed for the third act.

Finally there's a nice amount of emotion in this film that feels used enough to stay true to the tone and also contributes to the development of Dylan O'Briens character.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and the only thing is the use of Michael Rookers character. I really liked him in this film but he doesn't have a lot of screentime and there was times I actually missed his screen presence once he was no longer onscreen so I wish his role was extended quite a bit.

The only negative I have with this film is there's a couple of plot conveniences that  occur where things happen just because the script requires it and I wish the film had found a way to avoid that little tropes.

But overall I loved this film. It's fun, it's adventurous, it's has good monster action and it's just such a good time and I think this is definitely going to be in my top 10 of this year. Usually I get worried about films getting sequels to then but I would be up for this to get a sequel and even becoming a franchise.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Clouds

Clouds is a Disney+ original film and it's a film I was intrigued about but was unsure how it would deal with its subject topic whilst under the Disney brand. In case you're unaware, Disney have a brand to keep their content family friendly and whilst Clouds is a family film, I think it's a debate on whether it's family friendly because this is one of the most emotional and saddest films I've ever seen.

Starting off the positives, easily the best thing about this film is just how the main story is tackled. A young boy is diagnosed with terminal cancer and sets out to become a singer before he dies. That immediately becomes an engaging story and it could have come off as melodramatic but instead the story is explored very sensitively and fully relys on its characters to tell the story and not just the subject matter.

Speaking of the characters, I loved pretty much all the characters in this film. Zach, the main character, is just a great character to watch. He's someone who wants to appear all happy go lucky but deep down is scared about his future and that really gets you to care about him. He has some fantastic relationships with his family, friend and girlfriend who are all greatly utilised characters and it also helps when we have great actors portraying them.

Fin Argus is just fantastic as Zach, Neve Campbell is also in this film and she gives one of the best performances I've seen her do. Some other standouts are Sabrina Carpenter as Zachs best friend and Madison Iseman as his girlfriend and they both give such heartbreaking performances, it's impossible not to feel sorry for them. As I stated before, this film fully relys on its characters and their reactions to tell this story and it succeeds with flying colours.

The songs in this film are just beautifully written and performed with such heart and passion. I'm not a musical guy and I don't usually pay attention to the lyrics in songs as much but the songs performed in this film are just incredible and the lyrics are just beautiful and might I add just how catchy some of them are, especially when it comes to the sell known and YouTube sensation Clouds.

This film also has a satisfying amount of emotional payoff towards the third act. Along the films journey, it's a real emotional roller coaster and when we get toward the end of the film, there's a scene that happens that is heartbreaking, emotionally moving and satisfying all at the same time.

Finally, the biggest praise I can give this film is its the first film in over 10 years that made me shed a tear when watching it. There are only two films I have watched that made me cry; Bridge to Terabithia and Marley and Me. The fact this film got to me that much makes me love it even more.

Moving onto the mixed aspect of the film now and this is just to say this film is NOT for everyone. This is a very sad and emotionally driven film that not everyone will enjoy and certain people may find it hard to watch.

Onto the negatives and honestly, I only have one negative that is like a one percent nitpick and that is I feel at times, the film relied on the emotion a bit too much. There's times where it does feel a bit much and too directly in your face.

Besides that, this is just a beautifully made and emotional film that is a very strong contender for my number one film of the year.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Never Hike in the Snow

This is a Friday the 13th fan film and a prequel to the first film Never Hike Alone directed by Vincent Desantis. The first film is a great and well made film and I highly recommend it. It's easy to find on YouTube and free to watch. I actually wasn't sure if I was going to review this film but I had a lot of thoughts about it. I'm also a big fan of the Friday the 13th franchise in general and I like Jason as a character.

Starting with the positives for Never Hike in the Snow, without question the best thing about this film and the previous film are the filmmaking aspects. These films capture the tension and atmosphere you want from a Friday the 13th film. In this specific film, there's some well shot and lit scenes, especially when dark lighting is needed for tense Jason scenes. I also loved how each scene framed Jason as this powerful imposing figure.

I also like the setting for this film as well. I think it's interesting to explore Jason's whereabouts in a more brighter location. I admittedly prefer him in darker scenes but I do like him in these daylight scenes as it shows he scary he can be even during the day.

The cast of actors are very good as well. Thom Matthews is back as Tommy Jarvis and I'm interested to see what they do with his character in future films. Vincent Desantis acts as well in this film and he does a great job as well. Those are only two who I know but the whole cast in general are great.

Now let's talk about Jason for a minute. I've said it before but this version of him is scary. I like how he was designed, how demonic he looked, they keep his supernatural abilities very tamed yet you do get hints of how powerful he can be and the way he kills people, for a low budget YouTube film, is very affective.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and the only thing is there are a lot of plotlines in the space of the runtime and it feels a little overstuffed at times. Now I know Vincent Desantis is planning three more of these films so this could be rectified so that's why it's mixed for me.

Also this film states it's a prequel to Never Hike Alone but it feels like it's more of a sequel with the way it's staged and how Tommy Jarvis acts so I feel that should have been made more clearly.

Now as I move onto the negatives, I'm choosing to review this how I usually would with a studio professionally made film and I only have two negatives:

The first one is the runtime. Minus the credits, this film is 25 minutes long and it feels too short. Compared that the first film was just under an hour and with the amount of plotlines in this film, it feels like this needed around 15 or 20 more minutes for the plotlines to be spread out more.

Finally this film ends on a very odd note that can make you feel like you wanted more from it and you should have gotten more. When this film ended, the first thing that came to my mind was "wait? Was that it"? Just a little bit frustrating for me.

But overall this was a great follow up to Never Hike Alone and I'm really liking what Vincent Desantis is doing with these films and now he's continuing the Friday the 13th franchise. I'm excited to see where he takes this franchise.

⭐⭐

The Devil All The Time

When I first heard this film was coming out, I only needed to hear two names: Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson. The thought of these two, Spiderman and Batman, sharing the screen and doing a film together had me really excited and from what I've seen today, this is a film that is gonna have a lot of people.

To start off the positives, without question, the best thing about this film is the cast. I will go as far as to say this is the best ensemble cast of this whole year. Besides the big name stars who I mentioned before, this film has actors like Sebastian Stan, Jason Clarke, Bill Skarsgard, Riley Keogh, Haley Bennett etc. This is an extremely well casted film and these actors do an incredible job but I don't want to sound biased but Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson are the two best stars.

Pattinson does not waste any of his limited screen time and he just embodies his despicable character and the accent he provides, I read he did it without a professional linguist and if that's true, give that man an award now because his accent and performance is purely phenomenal and with Holland, he just becomes such a different actor that we've seen him before. He may have won our hearts as Spiderman but this guy will terrify you as this young violent individual (that's all I'm saying) and so far gives the performance of his entire career.

I also really like the storytelling of this film as this is essentially a character study told in a very different and dark way and the dark tone has a helping hand in making it feel coherent.

Finally I appreciate that this film was unpredictable and I always prefer it when I have no idea what will happen in a film or how it will end.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and really, it's me giving out a prior warning. As I said before this is a very dark and religiously thematic film and I can see this film dividing audiences. Some will love it for its boldness and dark storytelling and others will be put off by just how dark it is and find it distasteful. This film will not be for everyone.

With that said let's move onto the negatives and the first thing that comes mind are the religious themes. I'm not a religious person and this film primarily focuses on religion and faith and there's times where a lot of that aspects of the film just drew me out of it and I also felt it went too extreme with that subject matter. That's all I can say without giving major spoilers.

Also this film can feel like an audio book at times because this film is just filled with narration and while I didn't mind it at first, it ended frustrating me when it would tell us what's happening instead of letting me see for myself what would happen so I wish the narration was either brought down a bit or was cut altogether.

That's pretty much the only negatives I had. Overall this is a very well casted, brilliantly acted, dark but interesting film to watch that I really really liked watching and I want to see Tom Holland do more roles like this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Craft: Legacy

This was a film I was mildly excited for mainly because I liked the concept of a film exploring witchcraft. I also found out this is a sequel to the 1996 film so I watched that before I saw this one. I liked it but felt the story was unfocused and rushed and the characterisations were also very rushed at times. But this film makes the first film look like an all time classic.

Let's just get the positives out the way first and I really liked the lead actress who played Lily in this film. She's a very good capable actress who I'd like to see do more in the future. And it's always nice to see Michelle Monaghan in a film nowadays.

Now that's over with, let's get on with the negatives and wow this film is a mess. This is one of those times where I would love to watch the behind the scenes meetings to see what was going through the creative teams minds because this is a film that felt like it had too many visions centering on one story.

Without question, the biggest fault with this film is the marketing. The marketing was horrible for this film. First off, it's seems weird that a sequel to a 90s horror wasn't covered more. There was no official announcement (at least not to my knowledge) that the film was happening, barely any trailers and marketing posters. But what's also weird is the trailers marketed this film as a horror and when you watch the film, you do not get horror vibes at all.

Which brings me to my next problem. This films storytelling and tone is all a mess. This felt like a 10 episode Disney channel series squished into around an hour and 40 minutes. This film shifts between the genres of coming of age, to campy melodrama to even a bit of romcom inserted into it and never once does it feel like a horror film. In fact, this is the time I've seen a horror film and the horror elements feel out of place. This film feels like each scene was directed by different people.

And storytelling wise, if I criticised the first film for being a bit rushed, this film just accelerates through the plot. It literally montages through what feels like an hour of plot and character development which stops you from connecting with the main characters.

Onto some smaller details now, the characters are really forgettable or annoying. Like three male characters were introduced at the same time and once the next scene came on, I forgot what they looked like and I even got one of them mixed up with someone else.

There's other times as well where this film can be a little confusing with the spell casts. There's times where the witches cast spells in their minds instead of chanting them and you just don't realize it. There's one scene where one of the characters performs a love spell but watching the scene, it looks like she's pleasuring herself.

Finally, there's just some really distasteful ideas such as a masculinity cult and performing a love spell on a bisexual character where he's in love with another man. I am shocked that idea was even greenlit by the studio.

Overall this really is an appalling attempt as a horror film and I could spend hours just talking about bad this film is. It's officially in my bottom 5 of this entire year.

🌟

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

I was very late to The Babysitter fan club. I wasn't particularly interested in watching it but I saw the craze for the sequel so I decided to watch them both in the same night. I really loved The Babysitter. It was fresh, had a great cast and was just a lot of fun and I was immediately excited for the sequel.

Starting off with the positives for this film, easily the first thing that comes to mind is the cast. The actors who return just look like their having the time of their lives with this film. Robbie Amell is once again the standout just playing this wacky over the top yet charismatic maniac, Judah Lewis, even though he's a little older, is still able to capture our hearts as this young misunderstood kid who is traumatised by what happened to him, Emily Alyn Lind is great in her extended role and Jenny Ortega is a very nice addition to the film. The rest of the cast is great but those four were the standouts for me.

Also like the first film, you just feel this films energy from the very start of it. You get the sense of fun and never does it feel like it's taking itself too seriously. Like a party, once it gets going, it doesn't stop until it's over and that helps you get really invested into the film.

Finally, the comedy is back and it still works. Now I will say it's not as strong as the first film but you do get a good few laughs and the cast have great comedic timing.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and the first thing that you've got to talk about is Samara Weaving. Now a mild spoiler but she is in this film. She does appear but how she is used is quite underwhelming so for how much as I love her as an actress and her character in these films, I wish she was used more.

Also while I liked Jenny Ortega, I'm very mixed on her character. She's a good strong minded female who can hold her own but as the film goes on, it's very predictable on how she'll be used throughout the remainder of the film.

Onto the negatives and from what I've seen on social media, this is a very divisive film and I can understand why. Now I'm going to try my best not to reveal spoilers but this was a very very disappointing film for me for a number of reasons.

First of all, there is a mix of good and bad ideas that, for me personally, was executed all wrong. The good ideas involve disbelief, bringing back previous characters, redemption and besides the second one, they're not executed well at all. The bad ideas involve rehashed plot elements and the films main villain and that didn't work me at all. Particularly with the villain twist, the way the reveal played out and just how they styled the villain felt like they were used as a Samara Weaving replacement and it was that moment where I stopped enjoying the film.

With the rehashed plot elements, I really don't like it when sequels do this and though I understood why they did this, it's just so in your face with how they're executed.

There's also an issue with certain extended cues. The stylisation is severely overused in this film to the point where it feel director McG borrowed elements from a certain Edgar Wright film and a few minor characters have extended roles in this film and god are they really bad. They're annoying and so irrelevant to the plot to the point where if you edited their scenes out, it wouldn't affect the film at all.

Finally this is a bit of a nitpick but this film also has an overabundance of plot conveniences. What I loved about the first film were certain clever setups and foreshadowing but with this film, stuff happens with no explanation or without setup.

Overall this was a frustratingly disappointing film that really soured my mood for the rest of my night. There's one detail I want to elaborate on further involving Emily Alyn Linds character but at the same time, I don't want to spoil the film and any more than that will potentially spoil it for viewers.

🌟🌟

Honest Thief

Once I saw the trailer for this film, I really wanted to check it out. I love Liam Neeson and I love him in the action genre and this one was pretty decent.

Starting with the positives, what I liked most about this film is the cast. Liam Neeson is good enough in this film but I'll have more to say later on. Kate Walsh I haven't seen her in a lot stuff but she plays a very good character who makes smart decisions and is not pushed to the side as the damsel in distress love interest. Jai Courtney is good as the main villain and it's always nice to see Robert Patrick in this film as well. I also really liked Anthony Ramos character. He's not your cliched one dimensional villain who actually has some morals for what happens in the film.

The action is also very good as well. There's some good enough fight scenes when they happen, there's a good car chase scene and I really liked the final conclusion to the film. It requires the main protagonist using his set of skills (sorry I couldn't resist) to stop Jai Courtneys villain and it's a clever and humorous way to climax everything.

Finally, theres a really cute dog in this film and I just loved it when the dog made an appearance.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and the big thing to talk about is Liam Neeson. Now I love him and I enjoyed him in this film but I think it's time he stopped doing action films. Its clear he's getting older now and it's getting hard to buy him as someone who can handle himself in a fight. There's scenes where you see he's running like he's trying to keep up and it strains credibility when you later see him falling from buildings and scaling fences. Its frustrating I've come to saying this and the action franchise helped reinvent his career but like Harrison Ford doing another Indiana Jones film, I don't think I want Liam Neeson doing another action film unless it's a really good one.

Onto the negatives now and it's really the script for this film. I just couldn't buy the main characters motivations for handing himself in to the cops and even the way he does it. He meets a woman, wants to spend the rest of his life with her and decides to hand himself in for a life of honesty. That, for me, felt like a really weak motive and just raises a lot of questions. I think it would be more interesting if his girlfriend was his partner in crime who died doing a job and filled with regret and despair, decided to hand himself in after deciding there's nothing left for him. Or something along those lines.

Also he decides to call up the police station and confess all his crimes then. At first that didn't bother me but then it's clear they're not taking him seriously. Why not go down and provide them with evidence to convince them. All this just felt like first draft script that wasn't thought through properly.

Also the tone is very inconsistent. Its an action film but there's odd humour placed in and there's some really drawn out melodramatic scenes that makes this film feel like a romcom as well. The dialogue is also just really hard to take seriously as well during these sort of scenes we listen to liam Neeson tell his girlfriend he doesn't like her health cookies and how much he loves her.

Overall, this is a decent enough film that delivers what you're looking for but it's heavily flawed with bad script issues and tone inconsistencies.

🌟🌟🌟

Hubie Halloween

We have a new Adam Sandler film!!! Yeah I'm not sure if it's worth being happy about but I can say this; this film is just enough to help forget about this year as a whole.

Let's start off with the positives of this film and the best thing about Hubie Halloween is its a really entertaining film. It's never boring and it's what you're looking for if you're in need for some Halloween fun and surprisingly, Adam Sandler seems like he's putting some effort in.

Also I like the concept of a really nice guy trying to save his town from spooky going ons. It's right up my street and though I will elaborate on it later on, I enjoyed what I got from this film.

I also loved the call backs to his early (and best) films. It brings back a lot of nostalgia and I do wish he'd go back to those sort of films. He also reunites with a cast member who was part of my personal favourite film of his.

Onto the mixed aspect and the only thing that comes to mind are the jokes. Now they're are some genuine laughs in this film (Yes I said that right) and I found myself laughing a lot but there's also the usual Adam Sandlerisms in this film as well. Gross out humour and really cringeworthy and drawn out moments so when you watch this, don't expect to see anything new but also expect a couple of laughs.

Onto the negatives now and this biggest problem with this film is it lacks creativity. When you have a Halloween film with Adam Sandler, I was hoping for supernatural elements and inventive stuff but it's basically a slasher film turned into a comedy. No creativity at all, instead it gets more predictable as it goes on and although the film touches on a couple aspects of horror elements, it fails to fully commit to it and passes it off as a joke.

It also has the usual of annoying and bland characters who don't add anything at all to the film except eye rolling and cringeworthy moments. I also hated Adam Sandlers accent which got more annoying as it went on.

Overall whilst this is a fine serviceable Sandler film and is far from his worst film, it's certainly doesn't add anything new.

🌟🌟🌟

Saint Maud

I have a feeling this film will be very divisive amongst audiences because there is a clear difference between quality and entertainment. What I will say about this film though is I think this is the most unique film of 2020.

Starting with the positives, the best thing about this film is the acting from Mofydd Clarke. I have never heard of this actress before but I want to see her in more stuff because she has the capability to play lead roles and carry a film and leaving the audience intrigued. The other actors do a good job but Mofydd Clarke outshines them all.

Also the cinematography is just outstanding. How these scenes are shot, lit and framed at times is just incredible. This is a very well made film and the editing is also fantastic as it helps gives a hint of the lead characters backstory.

What I also liked about the film is its very unpredictable. I had no idea what direction it was going, I had no idea where it was going to end, I just could not predict it at any point at all.

Finally I appreciate the religious themes it tackles as it's heavily centred to the main plot and again, what I saw kept leaving me intrigued. I was never bored and everything that happened stuck in my mind.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and it's pretty much based on how I started this review off. This film is not for everyone. It goes so far with the religious aspects of it and there's a lot of unsettling scenes. People will see this as an artistic film where others will be soured by the lack of entertainment.

That brings me to my negatives and personally for me, I didn't enjoy this film at all. I was fascinated by it for its quality but on the side of enjoyment, it wasn't there for me. I wasn't the target audience for it.

And whilst I think Mofydd Clarke did a great job, I didn't like her character at all. She's the most annoyingly boring character in film history for me and there's scene where she tries to not to be so boring and for me, that just came across as odd.

This is also a film that was overhyped as the scariest film in years because I didn't find it scary at all. Unsettling, yes. Disturbing, yes. Scary, not at all.

Finally I wasn't a fan of the character Lily Frazer played. Her character felt like she stumbled into the wrong film by accident.

Overall whilst I was definitely intrigued by this film and it has many filmmaking qualities, I can't see myself watching this again.

🌟🌟🌟

Project Power

Netflix has been a great help to watch films but recent ones I watched weren't so good and I didn't want to do a load of reviews for bad films but luckily that changed with project power.

I think what I liked most about this film is the overall story and concept; A pill that gives you superpowers for a limited amount of time which could be anything. It leads to an interesting look at what could happen to the real world if this pill actually existed.

And speaking of the real world, the world building is just interesting to watch. How people adapt, become addicted, deal the pills and the overall reactions to the pills, how different sides respond to them.

And all that helps when you have a strong cast. All the performances are great to watch. It's nice to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt doing a film again and I love seeing Jamie Foxx in pretty much anything. They both play well developed and interesting characters and I really liked Jamie Foxx's characters main story. I was also really impressed Dominique Fishback. I don't remember her in much before and her character is just fun and interesting to watch.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and the only thing that comes to mind is the action. Now there are times the action is very well staged and looks really good but there's also times where it looks overedited and it looks like people are just flipping over.

Onto the bad now and while I don't have any big problems with the film, I did notice a few misteps. First of all, the tone is inconsistent at times. It can go from sad and serious to this odd comedic moments that feels very out of place.

And the final issue I had was some aspects of the CGI. There's one scene in particular where somebody takes a pill and turns into a giant muscular monster type person and the CGI just looks bad and very cartoonish.

But besides those two negatives, I really enjoyed this film and I would definitely recommend it. It's a fun, enjoyable and interesting film with some good ideas.

🌟🌟🌟

The New Mutants

This is the film nobody thought would ever come out. It's had more release dates than I've had roast dinners and multiple production issues so I honestly didn't think it would ever come out. And after seeing it, I kind of feel that would be best for the film.

Let's start with the positives however, the best thing about this film is Anya Taylor-Joy. She has the strongest screen presence, the most interesting character and is the strongest actor in this film. She has some really great moments throughout the film and I really look forward to seeing her in the future. The rest of the cast are really good but Anya is by far the best.

Also the CGI are very good and very effective in some scenes. Now I will be calling this back in the negative but from what we get of the visuals, it's really good.

There's also some really nice call backs to the x men continuity and I really appreciated that so this doesn't feel insignificant to the rest of the films.

Unfortunately we need to get into the negatives and this film is a complete mess. I am struggling to believe there was no studio interference because when you get to the 3rd act, it feels like a different film.

This film just cannot decide what it wants to be. It jumps from being a character study, to a horror film, to a generic superhero film. And even when it works well as a character study, it's incredibly reminiscent to Glass. Yes this film was already made before Glass but play these two films together, they are very similar films.

On another level, the film logically makes no sense. This one woman played by Alice Braga is in charge of a big facility, in charge of these powerful mutants and not one of them tries to overpower her and escape. It's just her and although she has powers, she is not as powerful as any other of the mutants. I noticed it pretty much as soon as the facility was established into the film and as it went along, my point just kept getting proven more and more.

Speaking of Alice Braga, she is seriously miscast in this film. She gives a good performance but I really don't think she fits the role at all. There's one scene where there's an incident, she's running towards the incident but the way she runs is so comedic, it feels like an unintentional comedy. I also think Maisie Williams was miscast as well. She loses her Scottish accent in places and when she transitions into her abilities, she feels like a screaming child; once again, making this film into an unintentional comedy.

This film also has some serious pacing issues. Once we get to the facility, there's so much dialogue and exposition, the main plotline doesn't start until it feels around halfway through the film. Speaking of the dialogue, it is either very predictable or weirdly cringeworthy.

Once we get to the 3rd act, this is when it feels like a very different film because it goes from being very confined to portal jumping and very CGI heavy. This is when I wonder if this whole sequence was a studio produced reshoot because I did read there was studio interference although I could have read wrong. There's also not a lot of chemistry between any of the new mutants, there isn't any team dynamics between them.

Finally and whilst this is a nitpick, it did bug me that they were watching Buffy the vampire slayer and it spoiled it for me a little. I'm halfway through season 2 and I didn't appreciate the spoilers in the upcoming seasons.

Overall, whilst I do appreciate Fox trying something different, this is a really dull, messy film that just failed to live up to the hype and it's really disappointing to me.

⭐⭐

Mulan

I wasn't really sure if I was actually going to watch this film because I'm not a fan of the Disney live action remakes but since it was released on Disney plus, I figured why not and I really really liked this one. Now before I go on, I just want to clarify something; I have never seen any adaptation of Mulan. This is the first time i have watched a Mulan film, I am aware of certain aspects of the original Mulan but I've never watched it so I basing this review on my watch right here.

Onto the positives and the best thing about this film is the production. Now I don't know if this was filmed in a studio but it really looks like it was filmed in actual locations. You believe this is a Chinese community at war and it all looks brilliantly realistic. It even looks like they used practical stunts rather than CGI and they did not waste their budget. I thought this film just looked brilliant and beautiful at times.

Speaking of how it looks, the cinematography captures the action scenes perfectly, particularly that war sequence in the middle of the film. It reminded me of a PG-13 battle version of game of thrones and for Mulan, it actually worked. There's other places in the film where the cinematography just looks really impressive but that war sequence was just incredible.

Speaking of the action sequences, the action is also handled pretty well. Especially for the actress who plays Mulan, it doesn't look like they used stunt actors. (although they may have done) From what I saw, the actors actually used hand to hand combat which I always love when actors do that and the final battle between Mulan and Bori Khan is staged and handled really well.

The lead actress who plays Mulan gives a very impressive performance. With everything Mulan has to go through to prove herself and how she develops along the way, I thought she handled the role really really well. The rest of the cast are also really good and some of them have very good development arcs which surprised me a little.

And finally there's quite an emotional weight to this film. I won't reveal where but there are places in this film where you really feel the emotion between certain characters. Also this may be an unpopular opinion but there's certain changes that I'm aware of from the original version that I think worked really well. Again I won't reveal what the changes are but for the type of film this is, for the genre and how realistic it looks and is, the changes made I feel were the right ones.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film and it's the main plot for me. Again I am aware of the main story in the original version and it worried me. The story of Mulan changing her appearance to look like a boy just sounded so dated and watching it, I still felt the same way. Now I appreciate the film for sticking to its source material but with all the changes it made, I felt that's the one change I would have liked to have seen. I just don't like the idea or story of a woman having to change her appearance to fit in.

Onto the negatives and I'll be honest, there's not a lot. I really enjoyed this film but there were some things holding it back. First, I didn't care much for the love story for Mulan and Honghui. For the film I was watching, it just didn't seem necessary adding the love story in it and I just didn't think there was much chemistry between them.

Finally and this is a nitpick but with how beautiful this film looks, there's one scene where it looks really bad. It looks overlyprocessed and CGI heavy and looks out of place with the rest of the film.

Besides those two, this is a brilliantly made remake of a beloved Disney remake and this is how these remakes should be made. I really enjoyed this film.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Unhinged

I actually had no idea about this film until a couple of days ago. I didn't watch a trailer, I read a little of the premise and I only knew Russell Crowe was in it so I pretty much went in blind and it's very entertaining.

To start off the positives, the best thing about this film is it knows what it wants to be. It doesn't overcomplex it's main plotline, it doesn't overstay it's welcome, it wants to entertain and deliver thrills and it does that.

The acting is also pretty good. Carin Pistorius delivers a intensely great performance and Gabriel Bateman is another standout. He's one of my favourite rising stars right now and I look forward to everything he's in. Russell Crowe gives an intimidating performance as Tom Hooper but I'll get back to him soon enough.

And finally, this film doesn't feel generic. It feels like a thriller that intends to avoid typical cliches and there's times where it can surprise us so I appreciated that.

Onto the mixed aspect of the film is the messaging in the film. When the film starts off, it feels like it's sending out a message about dangerous drivers and that's how the main plot starts off and it does that to an extent but it doesn't fully commit to it. Tom Cooper is pretty much the cause of the films events for being an idiot and when the film does focus on dangerous drivers, it's completely irrelevant to the story.

Onto the negatives now and there's quite a few. I'm not sure if this will be a hot take but whilst Russell Crowe gives a good performance, he feels a bit miscast in this film for a few reasons:

1. His character is completely one dimensional and underdeveloped. He has a really weak motivation for targeting the main character in this film and whilst you could argue his mental state could be sufficient to his motive, the film doesn't explore his character enough and his character is irredeemable when he's willing to murder a child in this film.

2. Tom Cooper is very overpowered in this film. I just struggle to believe overweight Russell Crowe can beat people up easily, overpower younger fitter people, can survive car crashes that kill other people easily as the plot goes along.

3. Russell Crowes casting ultimately feels like a safe route to market the film to bring in more people. I would have preferred it if they casted a more unknown and physically capable actor rather than overweight cranky Russell Crowe.

Finally, this film just relies on suspending your disbelief. Now in places, there is some clever writing in this film but other times, there's some frustrating moments that can easily be called our. For example, Tom brutally beats up someone in a diner and no one pulls him away or stops him. There's a lot of people in that diner and everyone is scared of an overweight cranky old man. Or the amount of car chases in this film and no speed cameras catch them and no police attempt to pull them over. That really got to me whilst watching this film.

Overall whilst it has a lot of flaws, this is an enjoyable film that delivers the thrills that you want from this genre.

⭐⭐⭐

Tenet

This year has not gone the way we planned at all and I honestly didn't think we would get any new theatrically released films this year. However now cinemas are open, I went yesterday for the first time in six months to see Tenet and it was a great experience.

Without question, the best thing about this film is you can feel it's a Christopher Nolan film literally as soon as it starts. With the camera looming over a certain area and when that score starts to play, you feel Christopher Nolans mark on the film and you feel his ambitious and powerful direction throughout the film.

What I also really liked about the film was his execution of the concept. Because of all the secrecy of the films story, I'm gonna be respectful towards it and not reveal any spoilers or at least try not to. But what I will say is he finds a way to execute the concept with it realistically embodied in the real world and without it looking extremely cartoonish. Christopher Nolan is very good at taking concepts like this films one and transforming them into big movie blockbusters. It feels like he's the only director in this world who can do that and that makes me excited for his future films.

And as this is a Christopher Nolan film, you've got to talk about the cast and once again, he's got a very strong cast on him. John David Washington is proving to be a real chip off the old block in regards his father and a real rising star. I really enjoyed his performance in Blackkklansman and he gives a fantastic performance in this film. Its really nice to see Robert Pattinson return to more worldwide films since he's been doing more indie films since his twilight days but he's also great in this film. Elizabeth Debecki and Kenneth branagh also give great performances as well.

There's also some really great sequences and stunt work in this film. Once again, I'm not going to give any details but the stunts we see are very Christopher Nolan-esque and it's hard to tell if they were practical stunts or filmed in a studio. My money would go on the former.

And finally, the visual effects are just incredible. Everything that happened in this film looked so believable and it's really hard to imagine how this film was made without any special effects. Its one of those situations where you think "making this film must have been so boring in compared to watching it" and I say that as a really good thing.

Onto the mixed aspect in the film, it's actually in regards of Michael Caines addition. It's nice to see him in appear in films but whilst he had a good screen presence in this film, he's not in it much at all. In fact, he's only in it for one scene and by the end of the film, you actually forget he was in it so it makes me wonder if it would affect the plot if you cut him out of the film.

Another mixed aspect are the action scenes; now at times they are very were crafted, staged and well choreographed but there's times where they look really odd or they're edited quite choppily.

Now onto the negatives; now before I go on any further, I just want to say I am not saying there's anything wrong with this film or Christopher Nolan does anything wrong. I am just talking about how I felt about my experience with this film. Whilst I enjoyed the concept and the execution, watching this film ended feeling like a chore because the entire time, I kept wondering what the story was. And that was the big problem for me. This film can get extremely confusing at times and that is due to the fact I struggled to understand the main story. Even when the concept of Tenet is being explained, I had trouble processing what was being said.

Now there's times where I was on board and following the film quite well but very quickly, it became very confusing again and that stopped me enjoying the film all the way through. This is a film where I think I'll need to rewatch it but maybe with someone else so I can see what they think and they can help me out if I'm having trouble following it.

Also now this is a bit of a nitpick but it bothered me that John David Washingtons character didn't have a name. It confused me when I saw he was just credited as the protagonist and I wondered maybe there was a reason why his name hasn't been revealed. And by the end of the film, he had no name and I just felt it was very odd. Especially when during the film, several people ask his name and he shrugs it off by changing the topic.

Overall, this is a well crafted, visually stunning and ambitious film which is not necessarily Christopher Nolans best but it's still an impressive, well made film that I wish I enjoyed me if I didn't spend the entire time being confused.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Eurovision

From the moment I first heard of this film, I honestly just rolled my eyes and assumed it would be another Will Ferrell over the top man child film and from what I saw, it pretty much is that.

There are some positives however. First and foremost, the best thing about this film is Rachel McAdams. She plays the most likable character and she has a great screen presence. Also she has got a fantastic singing voice. Now granted, I have no idea if any auto-tune was used but if there wasn't then wow she has got one hell of a voice.

The songs are also very good and catchy. They're not the best written songs but they are very catchy and are good at getting stuck in your head and when the final song is played in the 3rd act, it's a situation where you just get caught up in the moment and can't help jamming away.

Finally and it's not often I do this sort of praise but I really liked the production to this film. I don't know if they filmed in a studio or at an arena for the Eurovision scenes but you really believe they're at an actual arena especially with all the sound design and lighting.

Unfortunately we've got to talk about the bad and the biggest problem with this film is Will Ferrell himself. His character, like a lot of his film characters, is very unlikable and pretty much every scene he's in just brings the film down and makes Rachel mcAdams seem inferior. It did not surprise me at all when I found out he wrote this film. You can tell it's a typical Will Ferrell film.

This is quite frustrating for me because I do like Will Ferrell, I do think he's a good actor but I also feel he is his own worst enemy because he comes up with these great ideas for films but he's obsessed with his outdated style of comedy, he makes the film worse.

Watching this film, I really felt Rachel McAdams could have carried this entire film on her own. This is the second time I've watched a Will Ferrell film and thought "I really believe there is a great film in here". In fact I want to make a prediction: I reckon if this was a drama starring Rachel McAdams with a hint of comedy in it about her character achieving her dream, this film would almost definitely make my top 10 of the year maybe even top 5. I know I'm spending a lot of time on this but I just wanted to get it off my chest.

Also this film just isn't funny at all. There was only one scene that made me laugh, the rest of it just made me roll my eyes or cringe and spending of cringe, the dialogue is just awful. There's a sense where Will Ferrell stuffs something down his pants and says "I need to make my ding dong look bigger" it's lines and attempted humour like that that shows that Will Ferrell needs to change his humour up otherwise in 10 years time, we may hear very little from him.

Overall while this isn't a terrible film, I can't say it's a good film either. With a different script and direction, this could be a major hit but at least we have some catchy songs and a great performance from Rachel McAdams.

⭐⭐

Onward

 This is a film I wasn't necessarily interested in but since there are no new films coming out any time soon, I decided to check it out and for the most of it, I actually really enjoyed it.

Starting with the positives, this is just a simple fun adventure film that knows what it wants to be and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

The voice acting is also fantastic. Tom Holland and Chris Pratt are perfectly casted as Elf Brothers Ian and Barley, to the point where you look at the characters designs and personalities and I just cannot imagine anybody else voicing these two.

As this is a pixar film, most of the stories they come up with are always emotionally satisfying and connect with audiences and they don't stop here. The main story is a very heartfelt one that will connect to a fair amount of young people out there and the emotion is used really well throughout the film.

Finally, this is a very funny film. A lot of the jokes work really well and I was laughing the whole way through.

On a mixed aspect, it took me a while to get used to the world building. Now usually I always love the world building in a pixar film but for this one, at first I felt the characters quite randomly placed in the film but as it went on, I got more used to it and enjoyed what they did with it.

Now onto the bad and the big problem is the 3rd act. I don't know what happened here but I just didn't connect with it at all. It felt like somebody else stepped in to direct it. There is a very forced action scene placed in that although was foreshadowed in the film earlier, I feel could be edited out and wouldn't affect the film at all and the look of the villain is the most laughable design I've ever seen.

Also how the main story concludes, I found it to be very anticlimactic and personally I feel cheapened the emotion throughout the film. In a way, it reminded me of how I felt about last year's Glass, I understood where the makers were going with the film but it's not the direction I would have gone with.

Besides my thoughts on the 3rd act, this is a very enjoyable fun family film that I do recommend and though it's not pixars best film, it's certainly one of the better ones.

⭐⭐⭐

Scoob

I used to be a massive Scooby doo fan when I was a child. It was a huge part of my life and though I'm mixed over the first Scooby doo movie, the second is a real guilty pleasure for me and when I saw the first trailer for this film, it made me excited that I was going to get the Scooby doo film I wanted. That's where trailers can be misleading.

On the positive side, the best thing about this film is Scooby and Shaggy. They have a brilliant friendship and have so much chemistry with one another. I loved watching their origin story and it put a real smile on my face. Also this is a really funny film with some funny one liners and clever metahumour.

On a mixed aspect is actually fred, Daphne and Velma. Now they also have great chemistry with shaggy and Scooby and they're personalities are captured perfectly but once they come into the picture, the film feels less fun.

Now it's onto the negatives and the rest of this film is a complete mess. Now I loved the first 10 minutes of this film and even tho I put fred, daphne and Velma as a mixed, I still enjoyed watching them with shaggy and Scooby. Unfortunately after the first 10 minutes, the film just falls apart. I can believe I'm about to say this but I actually got angrier whilst watching it. It basically gave me everything I didn't want from a Scooby Doo film.

This film simply does not know what it wants to be. It goes from being a faithful Scooby doo adaptation, to a adventure film, to a superhero film and it gets messier as it goes on. The film also has some mean spirited messaging that really drew me out of the film. It does get resolved towards the end but watching it at that moment really killed it for me.

The biggest problem with this film though is it tries to set up a hanna Barbara universe by cramming in all these associated character and it just doesn't feel right to me. Blue falcon is annoying and unlikable and dynomutt is quite bland to be honest. I didn't even like it when Captain caveman appeared but once dick dastardly appeared and i realised where this film was heading, that's when I started getting frustrated. I wanted a Scooby doo film with the gang solving mysteries, capturing bad guys in masks, venturing into creepy places etc not a hanna Barbara Scooby doo/superhero film (this coming from a superhero geek).

Also the tone to this film is very inconsistent. It can't make up its mind whether it wants to be funny and light hearted or dark and emotional. We also do get an unmasking scene but it just feels so forced and random. Finally we have a simon Cowell appearance which is just embarrassing. Simon Cowell is so outdated so I don't know what the writers were thinking.

Overall, whilst it has some touching moments and great chemistry amongst the main characters, this is a film is a mess that gets messier as it goes on. It gives me everything I didn't want for a Scooby doo film, it doesn't feel like a Scooby doo film and actually the Scooby Gang start to feel out of place in their own film once the 3rd act starts. This is by far the most disappointing film of the year for me.

⭐⭐

Dolittle

I never really had any intention to see Dolittle at all. I didn't like the trailers and I just didn't feel a good vibe about it and then the reviews were worse than I thought so I decided to stay away from it. However since we've had no new films recently, I watched Dolittle and I'm just glad I have the opportunity to do a new review.

On the good side of this film, the best thing about it is it absolute entertainment fest. From start to finish, it succeeds its aim to entertain the audience and it doesn't outstay it's welcome. It's a fun, fast paced film that's has some very funny humour at times. Some of the humour really surprised me and one specific line at the end actually made me laugh out loud.

On a mixed aspect of the film is actually Robert Downey Jrs performance. He's a brilliant actors and is enjoyable throughout this film but he makes the odd choice on putting a Welsh accent. It's convincing at times but at other times, he accidentally breaks out of the accent so I think it would be better if he used his own accent or a simple English accent.

Now onto the negatives and unfortunately, I wish Robert Downey Jr had a better post Endgame film. This film is a total mess. First I just did not like the story to this film. Besides the fact it was so predictable, it felt more like a pirates of the Caribbean voyage spinoff than a doctor dolittle film and I don't think the film fully explained why it had to be Dolittle to find a cure to save the queen. It just had to be him because he's the main protagonist to the story which for me is just lazy writing.

Also while some of the humour does work, at other times it really doesn't and it also uses some really lazy kick to the balls humour which I really don't like and towards the end, some really unfunny fart jokes which, once again, is just lazy jokes for me and speaking of the final act, where they go with it is just bizarre especially adding a dragon into the mix which I just thought was too out of place for the film. Doctor Dolittle can speak to animals and since dragons are mythological, I really don't think it made sense to add that into the mix.

Finally, some of the CGI for the animals is really dodgy at times. Some really look like they were brought out of a cartoon and with the animals that did look real, as cute as they are, you can just tell they're CGI animals so it's quite distracting.

Overall as fun and entertaining this film is, it's a messy and disappointing follow up to Robert Downey Jrs career.

⭐⭐

The invisible man

I have had a great feeling about this film since I saw the trailer. I loved the idea, the concept of the story and the complexity it all sounded and I can confirm this is a film worth seeing.

Now in all honesty, I can see this film becoming a future cult classic just simply because it's a very iconic film and what helps that is the incredible cast. Elizabeth Moss delivers a powerhouse performance as a abuse victim who is struggling to get her life back together and as the film explores her mental state, she is just so convincing as this broken, damaged woman. Oliver Jackson-Cohen shows how intimidating he can be in the small amount of screentime he has and the rest of the cast have a nice presence and are mostly extremely likable.

What I also liked about the film is how it explores the aftermath of the abuse this woman has suffered. It takes a nice brisk pace to show how an abuse victim can feel once they're out of this sort of relationship and how it mentally affects you. You can tell the cast and crew wanted to get it right and director Leigh Whannell does that with such sensitivity and realism.

What Leigh Whannell also does brilliantly is create such tension and avoids a lot of horror cliches. There's no cheap jump scares, he makes one scene all tense and cranks up that tension to 100 to the point you cannot take your eyes off the screen and he also doesn't rely on jump scares to bring horror to the film. That restaurant scene is still stuck in my head.

But what I also loved is he takes fill advantage of the camerawork. He leaves it filming in big empty spaces to make us believe something will happen to, once again, build up the tension and with some incredible sequences, it's all filmed in one take. There's no quick edits to trick the viewers or anything.

Now on a mixed aspect of the film, at times it feels like this film doesn't know what it wants to be and it changes genre within each act. The first act is a horror film, and the second act is a psychological thriller with some black mirror-esque styled scenes added into it. Now I say it's mixed because I personally don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. However it is very noticeable and at times distracting from what you think you're going to be expecting.

Now it's time for the negatives: first of all, my biggest frustration was the story mainly focuses on the aftermath of the abuse story it's tackling. I would have liked the movie to have shown the origin story of how the couple first met, how the abuse developed and show us how it came to the events we saw in the film. In fact, watching the film, I spotted a lot of places where flashbacks could be taken place to show us the realities of the abuse but instead we got told about how bad it was and that left me quite disappointed.

Also some of the plot twists were quite predictable and one of them I wish they hadn't have done for a number of reasons: first it's too underdeveloped and if it wasn't for the final act, it could have killed the whole film for us. Second, it makes the film more convoluted than it really needs to be and at times made the storytelling feel very clunky afterwards. Third, it's a twist that just felt forced and not a lot of sense.

Despite all that, this truly is an iconic, incredibly tense and powerfully acted film that I'd highly recommended to everyone and is a clear example in this day and age, it's still possible to create a horror film that has some original scares.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Harley Quinn: birds of prey

My anticipation for this film has been fairly low since Suicide squad was a disappointment and i just didn't know how I felt with the trailers I saw and once I saw it, I thought it was good. Not great but good.

Without question, the best thing about this film is Margot Robbie. She gets the chance and freedom to really go for it and show what she can and she fully embraces the character of Harley Quinn. The film brilliantly explores her unpredictable personality and it does well to make her different from other comic book characters and it also feels like the writers are making this up as they're going along and in a weird way, that helps the film work.

Another great thing this film does is establish and develop the characters. We know exactly who these characters are and whenever they're onscreen, they become more interesting and memorable as we learn more about them.

We also get one of the best villains in the DCEU in the form of Black Mask. Just like Margot Robbie, Ewan McGregor is given the freedom to really go all out to make the role his own and it works. He is the perfect opponent for Harley Quinn as they both share the same psychotic unpredictable personality and there's also some scenes where he actually becomes quite intimidating.

And finally the action is incredible. I think this film has the best and most stylised action in the DCEU. There's no trick editing. We actually see the action for what it is and once again, there's no holding back with it. The action is brutal, fantastically choreographed and whilst I imagine there were stunt actors involved, you can really believe the actors are performing their own stunts.

Now it's time for the negative and I did have a few problems with this film. First, for me the structure felt very uneven. It felt like we were watching 3 different films. In the first act, it's a harley Quinn film, in the second act it's a birds of prey film and in the 3rd act, it's the harley Quinn and birds of prey team up movie. For me this film worked best as a Harley Quinn solo film and if they had turned into a trilogy instead of a Harley Quinn solo and birds of prey team up film, that would have worked much better.

I also feel it would have been better to make another film to help develop the characters chemistry together because whenever the titular characters are all together, I didn't feel their chemistry with Harley. The birds of prey are all dark and serious whereas Harley is dark but carefree. When she's with the birds of prey, she feels seriously out of place and her witty childish carefree attitude just loses dynamics with the birds of prey.

And as much as I loved the villains, they were also a disappointment. Whilst this film really doesn't hold back, with the villains it really feels like they're being held back a lot. Victor Zsasz is clearly mentally unstable but thats all that's scary about him. He's not a physical threat and though he reveals he's killed in his life, we barely see him kill at all and with black mask, I would have loved to have seen a lot more of him in future films but instead he gets killed off in the final act which really disappointed me.

He really had the potential to be a big enemy for Harley for future films and it really felt like there was more to explore with him. I also felt the film underutilized the relationship between black mask and Victor Zsasz like there were hints at where they were going with in their relationship but instead they never fully explored it.

Overall, now whilst I had some big problems with this film, I also felt it was a very stylized, funny and entertaining film which exceeded my expectations.

⭐⭐⭐

Sonic the hedgehog

Where to begin with this film. When it was first announced a sonic movie was being made, I rolled my eyes and assumed it'd be a pointless cash grab and a really bad film and there was plenty of evidence.

First previous cartoon to live action films have been very abysmal and I saw no reason why this should be any different. Second, previous video game adaptated movies are also not very well received and has been a recurring curse (besides detective pikachu). Third, there was a major backlash to the original design of Sonic and although they fixed it, I didn't think it would attract audiences and showed signs we have another bad film ahead of us. I even prepared to write a very bad review for it.

So imagine my surprise when I watch it and it's making me laugh and I'm actually enjoying what I was watching. I thought this was a great film for a lot of reasons. First the actors actually look like they are enjoying their roles. Ben Schwartz sounds so enthusiastic as Sonic and he never ever sounds bored. It sounds like he's just saved up this ball of energy and once he started recording his voice for Sonic, he just released it all on that day.

Also Jim Carrey was equally just as fantastic. He provided his usual charm and wit but most importantly, he brings his brilliant overacting and this time, he brings his best overacting performance probably since Liar Liar. Jim Carrey hasn't done a highly marketed and anticipated film in 6 years and with this bring his comeback movie, he knocks it out of the park and I hope he makes more films much sooner.

Finally James Marsden is nice and funny as the lead character and it's fun to watch him and sonic banter it out, annoy each other and having a great friendship together. I loved their chemistry together.

Another great thing about this movie is I actually felt how passionate director Jeff Fowler was making this film. He clearly knows what he wants to do, he knows what this film wants to be, he doesn't make this overcomplicated or hard to follow. He just wants this to be a fun, funny and entertaining film which he successfully makes.

Now because I just had a lot fun with this film, I don't have many negatives at all. The most are just nitpicks like at times Sonic and James Marsdens friendship seems very rushed and at times you need to suspend your disbelief where people mistake Sonic as a little boy in a costume.

And yes the story isn't entirely original and is quite formulaic but with a film like sonic, you don't need a complicated story so I think it worked well enough.

Overall this is just a fun, entertaining film with a fantastic cast and I'd love them to make a sequel. This is probably gonna be my new favourite guilty pleasure film.

⭐⭐⭐

Richard Jewell

This is a film I have been anticipating since I saw the trailer. As I've said before, I love biopic and his seemed like an interesting watch and for the most part, this really was a great watch.

Let's start with the good and the big thing is the casting is brilliant. Paul Walter Hauser is perfect as Richard Jewell. He manages to capture his awkwardness and naivety perfectly and his actually looks a bit like him. Sam Rockwell, however, is the best thing about this film. He's charismatic as ever and delivers a powerhouse performance. Kathy Bates is also a nice addition and Jon Hamm does well as the cop wanting to jail Jewell for the bombings.

I also love the production to this film. You instantly believe this is set in 1996 especially with the camerawork used by reporters and you can tell Clint Eastwood really wanted to get this right because he's really goes into real detail how Richard Jewell discovers the bomb, how it affects his life afterwards and how his life changes once his labelled as a suspect and I thought Clint Eastwood did a great job at capturing all of these moments and the bomb discovery and explosion scenes were brilliantly filmed. You could feel the tension and anxiety once that bomb was discovered.

However whilst I was impressed with the movie, there one real disappointment and that is I really feel this should have actually been a film about Sam Rockwells character Watson Bryant. He's a much more impactful and interesting character whereas Richard Jewell is quite frustrating, annoying and at times quite boring.

In fact when the film goes in depth in exploring Jewells life in the aftermath of the bombing, Jewell just makes the scenes quite boring. Bryant is trying to Jewell out and he just becomes more and more unlikable as it goes on and that's a big problem when your main character, who the film is named after is the worst thing about it.

Overall this is a really well made with brilliant actors and performances but unfortunately the character of Richard Jewell just brings this down quite a few notches and I can't imagine myself rewatching it again.

Just Mercy

Now this is a movie I've had a good feeling about ever since I saw the trailer. I am a huge fan of biographical movies and this seemed just suited for me and best of all, I was right to feel good about it.

It's only very early of the year but I feel I have just watched the best movie of 2020. We have a long way to go but I seriously doubt any film will be this one. This is a seriously powerful and impactful masterpiece that had me captivated by it's themes.

First we need to talk about the incredible performances from Michael B Jordan and Jamie Foxx. Jordan brings a lot of determination and charisma to the role he plays and Jamie Foxx delivers such a heartbreaking performance of a broken man who has just given up on all hope. From the moment, we see how broken his character is, you instantly feel sorry for him and root for him to get justice.

But the real star is the subject of the themes used for this movie; racism. There are a lot of hard hitting scenes in this movie that are actually very harrowing. This movie does something very brave and doesn't hold back on how serious racism was in the 80s. It could have played it safe but instead director Destin Daniel Crettin goes with the more realistic route and shows just how real and raw racism was back then.

There's one scene where Jordan's character arrives at a police station and is forced into a strip search where he feels humiliated and with the use of fantastic cinematography, as the camera zooms further to his face, we seen it in his eye's how humiliated he feels and that for me was a really hard scene to watch.

I had such a great time with this movie, I honestly cannot find any flaws or nit picks at it. I was captivated from beginning to end and by the end of the film, we feel a great deal of relief as Foxx's character gets the justice he deserves and Jordan's character wins his first case.

Just Mercy is a brilliantly directed and made masterpiece with such compelling performances and tackles racism sensitively and realistically and does this true heartbreaking story justice.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Grudge

I have anticipated this movie for a while when I saw Sam Raimi produced it but I did have doubt. Most movies released in January aren't generally well received but I was staying hopeful but then I saw it and god what a disappointment it was.

This is a perfect example on how not to make a horror film. Everything about this film is generic and predictable. It is filled with horror cliches and jump scares which weren't even jumpy or scary themselves. There is no atmospheric horror elements in the film, even the main house setting doesn't seem that scary. What's worse is there's no logic within the film and is very lazily written.

Also there's one scene where a man is possessed by the movies ghost and murders his pregnant wife and for me, that was so unsettling to watch so it pushed the boundaries a bit too far.

However I can praise is the acting and characters. The characters seemed very interesting to watch but what overshadows that is the storytelling and amount of screentime that's used for them.

Now I can appreciate it's taking homage to the original films by exploring several families lives in different time periods but I would have liked it if it just centred on the main character and her son. When you add in too many interesting characters with a limited amount of screentime, it leaves you wanting more and we didn't get that and what doesn't help is the really clunky storytelling and how the scenes are edited together.

Overall this is a dull abomination of a horror film filled with predictability, bad storytelling and just really lazy jump scares and horror elements.

⭐

Bad Boys for life

I was very hesitant whether another bad boys movie should be made. The first one was good but not exactly great and the second film was very messy so I had plenty of reasons to worry for this movie and I honestly didn't think it'd be that good and if it was well received, then it would be on par with the first instalment at least. So imagine my surprise when I start hearing fantastic things about it especially when it's hailed as the best film in the series and after seeing it, I have to agree.

What this movie does better than the first two is really delve into the relationship between Mike and Marcus. In the first film, they had great onscreen chemistry but I found it hard to believe they were friends and the second film, they spent so long at each other's throats, even when they made up, I struggled to feel their same chemistry. In this film, I could buy their friendship and feel their chemistry.

Another thing this film does really well is extend Mike and Marcus's development as characters. Mike wants to be a hot shot cop and Marcus wants to retire and be a family man and we get to understand it from their point of view which leads to some really beautiful performances from Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.

What also impressed me was the story was extremely compelling and really interesting to watch. I won't reveal to much but there are plenty of twists that will shock you. I can't remember their names but the two directors of this movie really knew what they were doing. They directed the story really well and the action scenes were really well choreographed and very believable and the development of the main villain was very well done. You could understand everything from his point of view.

Finally we need to mention the humour and it is a lot funnier than the first two movies. This is the first film where I was actually in stitches laughing rather than the odd chuckle or one big laugh with the previous two films. As well as dramatic and compelling, this is also a very funny film which makes me dread what Michael Bay would have done if he had touched this film.

Now I wasn't crazy about the AMMO subplot. At times they seemed to be inferior to the main story with Mike and Marcus and at times underused but honestly that's just a bit of nitpicking because I can easily get over that with the quality of this film.

Overall this is a fantastic addition to the bad boys franchise that redeems itself and proves you get make a great film out of an average franchise and shows with the right material, will Smith and martin Lawrence are brilliant actors.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jumanji The Next Level

When a third film was announced to Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle, I was excited but curious how they could continue the story. Then the new cast was announced and I became more and more excited and for me, the film is entertaining and funny throughout but I felt it wasn't as strong as the others.

Now before I go on, I just want to clarify something. This is a 3rd film sequel to Jumanji and Jumanji: Welcome to the jungle. There is no reboot. They are all in the same universe just a different cast with a big time gap.

Now let's start with the good and by far the best thing about this film is Kevin Hart. He is comedic gold. His scripting and acting is phenomenal in this film. He portrays Danny Glovers Milo so perfectly and realistic. You instantly believe he's Danny Glover trapped in Kevin Harts body. The rest of the cast are great but if I had to choose a runner up, it's got to be Awkwafina. She is so believable as Spencer and another character her avatar incaptures later on in the movie.

Another great thing to movie does is it keeps the lighter and adventurous tone and provides such great comedy. This is definitely one of the funniest films this year. I also like we explore different locations of the world of Jumanji.

Now I have one mixed aspect for this movie and it's we don't see much of Danny Glover at all. He's in the movie for about 5 minutes and that's it. I felt he deserved to be in it for at least a little longer but at the same time, I don't remember him being marketed in the film much so perhaps that's probably why.

And finally it's time for the negative and the big thing here is I felt this movie wasn't as new and refreshing as the last film was. In fact, it basically repeats the same storyline as the last movie did but makes slight changes. Also some of the deaths are written really oddly like they're only written for the avatar to lose their lives which is good to provide comedy but it doesn't provide much for the plot.

There's also a subplot involving water that can be used as a body swapper which is an interesting story and can help the team plotwise but I didn't feel it was used right in the movie.

Ultimately this is still a funny and entertaining imstallments to the Jumanji franchise with some disappointing moments but not enough to be considered bad.

⭐⭐⭐