Tag Archives: American Cinema

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – There were sad tears, happy tears, and ugly cry tears, as Vol. 3 did one of the hardest things in cinema. It landed a hat trick.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

A Hero Walk.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review –

I don’t think I have ever walked into a film with such trepidation. Honestly, the last couple of MCU films has left me with a pause. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was missing the madness. Thor: Love and Thunder is fun but shallow, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was messy, and I have no idea what happened with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It was getting to the point where I would probably stop seeing them in cinemas. However, I love the previous films so much that I had to give it a go, and I am glad I did.

So to set the scene, as we saw in the Holiday Special, The Guardians have taken up residence on a rebuilt Knowhere. They may have a base of operations, but there is still a lingering pain from the events of Endgame, and it is not the first time they found Peter (Chris Pratt) passed out drunk. But after working together as a family to put him to bed, the quiet of Knowhere is shattered by a golden man as Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) takes the team apart before fleeing, wounded but not before hurting Rocket (Bradley Cooper). But when they go to heal him, they discover a kill switch on Rocket’s heart and must dive into his past to save him.

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Ghosted – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While there is potential in the idea we have here, nothing seems to stick, becoming quite frustrating in places.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this film.

Chris Evans with a shocked look on his face.

Ghosted Review –

When I come into a film, I try to avoid bringing outside baggage, namely any other opinions, with me before I start watching. My own experiences and thoughts, you can’t help them, but with others, that is something you can work on. However, every now and again, there comes a film that you simply cannot avoid the conversation because it permeates everywhere. Today we look at just such a film, and unfortunately for Ghosted, they did not help themselves with some of the most baffling promotion I have seen in a while.  

So to set the scene, on the outskirts of Washington DC, Sadie (Ana de Armas) decided to ditch her therapy session and drive up to the mountains. In a small town, she comes across a farmers market where Cole (Chris Evans) is working, and it is love at first snark. When Cole would not sell Sadie a plant because she would probably kill it, they ended up having some fun together, a night together, and a big move. Followed by Sadie 100% ghosting her [insert title of film reference here]. But when Cole discovers Sadie is in London, he decides not to do the weird stalker thing, but the grand romantic gesture thing, travelling 5000 miles to say hello to the woman he has seen once, and he knows where they are because he accidentally put a tracker on her. But instead of that romantic moment, he is captured, knocked out by assailants, and then subjected to a little light torture.  

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Well, this film shows that nostalgia is limited, even when wearing rose-tinted glasses.  

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Running from an explosion.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always Review –

I was at the perfect age when the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was first released. I watched through the first couple of seasons before losing interest sometime after the movie. It was enough to get to come back and watch the film reboot a couple of years ago, and I think I may have been the only one who liked it. Well, when they announced that there would be a 30th-anniversary movie bringing the old cast back together, I was happy to hear it. A little less so now that I have watched it.  

So to set the scene, back in 1993, the great sorcerer Rita Repulsa (Barbara Goodson) escaped. It was only through the powers of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, chosen by Zordon, were they were able to defeat her. 30 years later, Rita has returned as Robo Rita and strikes down the Yellow Ranger as Zach (Walter Emanuel Jones) and Billy (David Yost) look on in horror. A year later, Zach is trying to help raise Minh (Charlie Kersh) when Rita returns, and this time, she wants to take out all the Rangers.  

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Evil Dead Rise – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A good case study of what happens if you go to max-intensity right from the start and stay there.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is something at the end of the credits but not something you need to stay back for.

Warning – This movie contains scenes that may cause distress.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A sinister smile.

Evil Dead Rise Review –

At the start of this year, I set myself the challenge to explore cinema that is more outside of my comfort zone, and one area that I don’t have a lot of experience in was Horror. I have dabbled here and there, but I know that I have barely scratched the surface of the diverse genre. When I heard there was a new imagining of the classic series Evil Dead, it felt like an excellent place to jump in.

So to set the scene, Beth (Lily Sullivan) is a guitar technician constantly on the road until she makes another mistake. When this happens, she always goes to visit her sister Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), who lives with her children Danny (Morgan Davies), Bridget (Gabrielle Echols), and Kassie (Nell Fisher) in a bank that was converted into units. After realising that Beth has been out of her family’s lives for too long, the kids go off to get some pizza so the grownups can chat. But when an earthquake hits, a chasm reveals the old bank vault under the car park. Danny takes it upon himself to explore and disturbs something he should have let lie.

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Air – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is both a well-acted and constructed film while also being one of the weirdest premises that I have ever seen for a biopic

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Ben Affleck looks out a window

Air Review –

There are many feelings that you may want to elicit from your audience as they walk out of the cinema. It could be triumph, anger, joy, or even deep sadness. But today was a new one because I had never felt peculiar and odd when I walked out of the cinema before. A feeling of ‘well, that was fine … but what was that for?’. Well, this is the film that we look at today.

So to set the scene, it is 1984, and while the general Nike brand is doing well, their basketball division is in the slumps. No matter what they do, they can’t outperform Converse or Adidas, grabbing a measly 17% market share. It is so bad there is a strong suggestion they should shut this down entirely and focus on jogging where they make bank. Well, Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) has the plan to fix that. It just happens to be targeting the unobtainable Michael Jordan (Damian Delano Young). But Michael’s mother, Deloris (Viola Davis), his agent David Falk (Chris Messina), the other two companies, and even Sonny’s boss Phil Knight (Ben Affleck), might have a different view on the matter.

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The Super Mario Bros. Movie – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While frustrating in more places than it should be, it shines when it lands on the fun.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and end-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a screening of this film

Bowser arrives.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review –

When this film was first announced, you could feel a general odd bemusement permeate through the internet, with relocations back to the last time they tried this in live action [a film that I have fond remembrances of, but that might be just the distance of time and youth as I have not seen it in decades]. That amusement was only highlighted when the lead cast was announced. A feeling that was only slightly abated when the first trailers landed. However, 2023 has been the year for good video game adaptations, so maybe this could work … maybe.

So to set the scene, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are two brothers that have just started their own plumbing company in Brooklyn and Queens. They are trying to make a name for themselves when a water main bursts, and only they can fix it. But as they go underground to find the source, they stumble across a giant green pipe lying open. What harm could that do? Was the thought right before both brothers were sucked into a new world, one full of mushrooms and the other dark and foreboding.

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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An enjoyable film that captures the chaos of a DnD session right down to the nat-20 dice rolls.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

The party enters the arena.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Review –

Between a combination of Critical Role finding a moment in the streaming space and the wave of nostalgia birthed from Stranger Things, it has rarely been a better time for Dungeons & Dragons. Many people started their own DnD campaigns, and I am not immune to that, so what do you do? Well, you bring your party to the cinemas and experience a one-shot.

So to set the scene, we open in prison surrounded by an icy wasteland. Two prisoners were Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a bard and his best friend Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a barbarian trying to get a pardon by explaining their tragic backstory. Or … you know, you could do a little prison break. Because when Edgin was captured, he left his daughter Kira Darvis (Chloe Coleman) in the care of his party member Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), rogue. Only Forge is now the Lord of Neverwinter and might have turned Kira against the group.

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Shazam! Fury of the Gods – Movie Review

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TL;DR – When it is working, it is a delightful blast of a film   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

The whole family in super form.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review –

When the first Shazam! film came out. It was at this odd moment for the DCEU. There had been a hard pivot away from the dark and brooding movies like Batman v Superman towards something a little lighter. And I, for one, liked the change. While Shazam! and Aquaman were not perfect films, there were at least supremely entertaining. But I wondered if lightning could strike twice because, much like last time, Shazam has to do some repair work after a string of failures.

So to set the scene, since Billy (Asher Angel) was given the powers of Shazam (Zachary Levi) by the last council of the wizards, also called Shazam (Djimon Hounsou), he has tried to be a superhero. However, he is still just a kid; if ever there is an imposter syndrome, it is this. However, life does not give him the time and space to process this change because the two daughters of Atlas, Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Hespera (Helen Mirren), have returned to Earth. They are there to rectify their position and see Billy and his family as a threat and an affront to everything they stand for.  

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65 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – There is a scaffolding of a good film here, but not the substance needed

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a sequence during the credits

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A dinosaur footprint in the mud.

65 Review –

Many things can capture my attention, and “Adam Driver Fights Dinosaurs” might be one of the quickest ways to do it. I knew practically nothing about 65 before walking in, but that tagline was enough, even when I heard it was not being screened for critics. Now that I have seen it, maybe I should have been a touch more hesitant.

So to set the scene, 65 million years ago, other species were exploring the galaxy. One such was Mills (Adam Driver) from the planet Somaris who takes a 2-year extended mission guarding some colonists so he could make enough money to save his daughter Nevine (Chloe Coleman), who is sick. However, along the route, the ship runs into an undocumented meteor swarm and crashes into an uncharted planet. But not just any old unknown world, because this is Earth and dinosaurs still rule the roost, and Mills and the only other survivor Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), have to fight for survival.   

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Till – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a heartbreaking film that soars thanks to a stunning performance but also struggles to stay out of its own way in parts.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Mamie watches the train leave.

Till Review –

I am not sure there is anyone who is going to see this film that does not know what happened to Emmett Till on that awful day in Mississippi. The question is, how do you come to a movie when your audience already knows every terrible beat coming? Till’s answer to this question is to make every moment land with the force of a hurricane.

So to set the scene, it was Chicago in 1955, and Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler) is taking her son Emmett Till (Jalyn Hall) shopping for a new wallet and shoes because he is about to spend some time by himself down in Mississippi with his cousins. Mamie is concerned because he has never spent that amount of time away from her, and the South is not a safe place to be. But Emmett is having a blast with his cousins until he accidentally ‘offends’ a white woman Carolyn Bryant (Haley Bennett), and soon some white men come into his uncle’s (John Douglas Thompson) house and drag him out of bed.

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