Top Ten Most Anticipated Movies of 2020

2020 is here and with it comes a brand new bunch of hopefully great movies. The following are my top ten most anticipated movies of 2020. This does not necessarily mean that I think all of these will be great. There are movies that I’m aware of that could easily be higher in quality than some of the ones on this list. But these are the ones that I’m most interest in seeing. Without further ado, let’s get into this.

10) Mulan

The Disney remake of the animated classic of the same title. Normally I’m completely against the idea of Disney remakes. I think that they have a propensity to be soulless cash-grabs with no purpose for existing. This however, looks interesting. Disney made the (I hope) wise choice of abandoning the shot-for-shot remake strategy and instead will create something new and different that’s also more culturally authentic. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

9)

The prequel to the two movies of The Kingsmen franchise. I like the Kingsmen franchise. I liked The Golden Circle even though everyone else hates it evidently. I like World War I (like, not actually like it. Wars are bad. But I like it in concept. Like as an idea. I’ll shut up.). Kingsmen movies are just plain fun okay? I’m not going to try to justify this. This is my guilty pleasure movie.

8)

A horror X-Men movie about a bunch of mutants in a mental hospital. Wow. This movie has had a troubled production history. I’m honestly less excited for this movie and more just curious as to how well it survived the process. I am still excited to see it. An X-Men horror movie sounds amazing and I’m honestly surprised they haven’t done it yet. Although it is PG13, which is disappointing, but I still think that at the very least this will be an interesting viewing experience.

7) Dune

The brand new adaptation of the 1965 classic of the same title. I thought the book was pretty cool, and I’ve never seen the 1984 movie, but I’m very intrigued to see where this movie goes. We’ve got the director of Blade Runner: 2049 and Arrival along with an amazing cast with the likes of Jason Momoa, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, Rebecca Furgeson, Oscar Isaac and Stellan Skarsgard. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.

6) Free Guy

One day a bank manager realizes that he’s an NPC in a video game. So, full disclosure... this might suck. But, if it doesn’t... GUYS, this’ll be a crap ton of fun. Yeah, this is my guilty pleasure part II, but who cares? I’m a sucker for Ryan Reynolds... and also Taika Waititi... and Joe Kerry and Lil Rel Howery. This better be good.

5) The Invisible Man

A woman escapes her abusive boyfriend only to find that he’s following and torturing her because he’s found a way to turn invisible. So remember that terrible movie a couple years ago called The Mummy? So this is what came out of that and hopefully it will be worth it. No blockbustery Dark Universe with big CGI monsters which was what that dumpster fire movie wanted to do. But awesome psychological horror. So can this movie please do well? I would absolutely love a psychological horror franchise.

4) Next Goal Wins

It’s a soccer sports comedy directed by Taika Waititi. That’s like all I know about it but that’s enough to get me on board. Also Michael Fassbender is pretty cool.

3) Morbius

When Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of his rare blood disease he inadvertently turns himself into a vampire. I don’t know why this made it so high on my list but the trailer just enraptured me. If you haven’t seen it, watch it, it’s crazy. I don’t know, it just looks fun and creepy and awesome and maybe even scary at some points. Also Matt Smith is involved and he can do no wrong.

2) Last Night In Soho

I don’t know anything about this movie other than that it is: a) directed by Edgar Wright and he’s awesome b) a psychological horror movie, which is fantastic, and c) Matt Smith is involved and he can do no wrong. I feel like that’s all the reason I need to show up for this.

1) Tenet

Christopher Nolan’s next film with some timey-wimey stuff mixed in. Could it be anything else? Christopher Nolan is, without a doubt, the best director in the industry right now and he’s the only one that can pull together a several million dollar budget for some crazy film that has absolutely nothing to do with any sort of pre-existing franchise. The cast has the likes of John David Washington, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh and Robert Pattinson. It seems to be in the vein of Inception which is my all time favorite movie. This is going to be awesome and easily one of the best movies of this upcoming year.

The Good Place Mondays Am I Right Review - CHAINSAW BEAR!!!

The Good Place is perhaps the smartest sit-com ever. Even ignoring the weekly ethics lessons and the constant curveballs, The Good Place is smart because when it writes itself into a corner, where other shows would cheaply revert to the status-quo, The Good Place tears down both walls and gets rid of the corner all together. It is unfortunate then that this fourth and final season feels like its scrounging for stories to tell. The script is as tight and punchy as ever but there’s a feeling that there isn’t actually much more to tell. This episode concludes in such a way that it feels like it should be the finale. Would it be a good finale? No. But I’m not sure how much more there is to tell or if this episode was even that worth telling to begin with. 

The episode follows Michael, Janet and Tahani as they try to teach the bad place architects how to create these new episodes and Chidi, Jason and Eleanor as they deal with their insecurities in their relationships. Don’t get me wrong, this is a good episode. It’s a pretty good Good Place episode too. There’s a solid theme of inadequacy throughout so it’s not like it’s just slapped together. But where other, better episodes of The Good Place would tie the themes together and the story and have everything in the episode really connected and then rip the rug out of the audience’s feet, this episode only connects the themes. Michael’s story and Eleanor’s story feel like they’re operating completely separately, and then their “big cliffhanger” is kind-of, not really gripping. Just like last week, it feels like the writers wrote a fine episode and then just added a weak twist because that’s what the show is known for now. Last weeks cliffhanger was that Chidi was “just the idea guy”, and this weeks cliffhanger is better, but not by much. 

That being said, there are still some great Good Place moments, seeing Michael and gang’s cringy instructional video was great and the various failed ways of testing Tahani including a chainsaw bear and a smaller, more relatable chainsaw bear is comedy gold. It just feels like there could be more. But The Good Place has proved me wrong before.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Enjoyment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tension: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Crisis on Infinite Earths Review - Wanna-be Endgame

Why is it that so many franchise finales occurred in 2019? We got Endgame, we got Dark Phoenix (which wasn’t a finale per se, but it also kinda was, it sucked nonetheless), we got Game of Thrones season 8, we got Toy Story 4, we got It Chapter 2, we got The Rise of Skywalker, and now, finally, we got Crisis on Infinite Earths, the sort-of finale for 8 years of CW television. And its... fine. It begins pretty great and ends pretty great and has a pretty nifty cliff-hanger in the middle and a pretty nifty resolution to that cliffhanger but everything else is kinda meh. 

I’m not going to go over the plot of all five episodes but perhaps the biggest misstep of the crossover is to kill off Oliver Queen in the first episode. Sure it works in the context of that episode but it really just makes him a minor part of the crossover that’s supposed to kill him off. Then the next two episodes just kinda meander around for a bit and then the multiverse ends. The whole crossover is obviously trying to emulate Infinity War and Endgame but it doesn’t quite get that to tell a good story you can’t just bank on cameos and call backs. Infinity War worked so well because Thanos had a very specific goal that would lead to him destroying half of all life and the Avengers were trying to stop him. The Anti-monitor only shows up briefly now and then, and his only goal is to just destroy universes. We don’t know how he does it, we don’t know why he’s doing it, and we don’t have any reason to believe that it can be stopped. So for episodes two and three go on little fetch quests throughout the multiverse, while the Anti-monitor is, you know, destroying WHOLE ENTIRE FUCKING UNIVERSES. And they kinda just don’t care about each other. 

And then the big cliffhanger happens, and it’s pretty awesome. Now that the “seven paragons” had been found, we could finally get onto some good guys fighting some actual bad guys like what we got in the first episode. And also Lex (Jonathan Cryer) sneaks in! Which has the potential to throw another wrench into the crossover. And, I mean, they almost do that. The fourth episode begins pretty great with Ryan Choi narrating what everybody has been up to for the past couple months stranded in nowhere and it’s pretty great. And then Spectre (Stephen Amell) and he speaks in this comically deep voice. Like, he just sounds stupid. But he gives Barry (Grant Gustin) an upgrade and now they’re able to go fight the Anti-Monitor at the dawn of time. But they’ll also stop by the Monitor’s backstory for a bit, which, you know, SHOULDN’T EXIST BECAUSE ALL OF THE MULTIVERSE HAS BEEN DESTROYED. Also there’s this finale’s version of the time heist where they glance back at moments of Arrow’s history. It’s fine. It’s no where near good. Then they all fight the Anti-Monitor and his shadow demons while shouting the cheesiest, stupidest lines. Also Ryan Choi is fighting these things with his fists? Sure. And then Oliver beats the Anti-Monitor and the multiverse is re-booted and everything is fine.

BUT NOT ACTUALLY!!!

Yeah, the Anti-Monitor is not actually dead so they fight him in this new universe and then they shrink him a lot and everything’s actually okay. They really just wanted that fifth episode didn’t they?

I jest, but actually the fifth episode is pretty great. Thank god for Legends of Tomorrow writers who actually know how to write good dialogue. This is perhaps the only episode of the crossover that actually managed to pull some emotional resonance out of Oliver’s death. And they did the same thing two years ago with Martin Stein. Honestly, the CW should just quit all other shows and pool their resources into Legends because it is easily the best show they have. Also Beebo shows up. I don’t know why he showed up. But I loved every minute of his cuddly goodness. 

Now back to the ranting.

Then, because every character is now on “Earth Prime” they set up a super-hero (name still pending) in remembrance of Oliver’s death. Barry just kinda brings every one into this large warehouse that he owns and shows them a kinda cool table so they all sit around it and smile for a bit. Like I get it’s supposed to be sweet and also satisfying for all the DC fans that have been wanting a good live-action Justice League for a while, but THEY’RE LITERALLY JUST SITTING AT A TABLE WITH SHOTS OF THEM SMILING. IT LOOKS LIKE A COMMERCIAL FOR FANCY TABLES!!!!! THAT’S IT!!! 

So yeah, Crisis on Infinite Earths. It’s dumb. Like don’t get me wrong, there’s some real clever parts and some obvious thought went into a story outline and everything else is dumb. But it is enjoyable and definitely worth the watch, especially if you’ve already put in the work of watching literally all the episodes before this for all the series.

Personal Rating: 6/10

Enjoyment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Depth: ⭐️ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Story: ⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆ ☆

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Tension: ⭐️ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

The Lighthouse Review - What The Hell Did I Just See

So yeah, I watched The Lighthouse and even thought it came out three months ago, I have thoughts on it so here we go. I’m not sure how to describe The Lighthouse. It’s the kind of movie where your watching it and you’re unsure if it’s really good and smart or if it’s just a long stretch or random, crazy moments. I choose to believe the former. Robert Eggers knows exactly what he’s doing when he shows us a mermaid vagina.

The Lighthouse follows two lighthouse keepers (Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson) as they work a lighthouse far away from the mainland. And they begin to go crazy. And they see a mermaid vagina. Sorry, I really can’t get over that mermaid vagina thing. It kinda just grabs your brain and says, “Fuck you, I’m in charge now”. Which I guess works really well within the context of the movie, as Pattinson you know, gets super horny on the island without anything to bang, and that kinda leads to him going crazy. So yeah, that’s the plot, two lighthouse keepers go insane and there’s mermaid vagina.

Everything in this movie is working perfectly throughout. Like, there are absolutely no weak points. Dafoe and Pattinson are excellent and at the top of their game and Eggers adeptly proves that his 2015 directorial debut The Witch, wasn’t a fluke and that this guy knows what he’s doing. The set and cinematography is just as excellent as the rest of the movie. The whole thing is shot in black and white on 35 mm film at a 1.19:1 aspect ration giving the whole thing this very claustrophobic feel and also making it all look like it actually took place in the time period it was going for. It’s clear that the set designers and costumers didn’t cut any corners, even though they could have been able to since it’s all shot in black and white. I’ve read that the everything was accurately colored, and the amount of detail that apparently went into the mermaid costume that only showed up for a couple shots is insane. Yes, that includes the vagina. Everything in this movie is so insanely detailed even though most of it the audience won’t even notice.

This is also the type of movie that can have so many interpretations that people will be talking about for years. The movie is ambiguous about everything that happened, is happening and will happen up to the point that you’re not sure if anything is real. So yeah, this movie is not for everybody, if you want a straightforward movie. Do not watch this. But if you’re down for an ambiguous, disturbing film then you definitely shouldn’t miss this.

P.S. I still can’t believe that it’s only been nominated for best cinematography.

Personal Rating: 10/10

Enjoyment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Tension: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Doctor Who Spyfall Parts 1 and 2 Review - A Promising Start To Series 12

I was not the biggest fan of season 11. It just didn’t quite feel like Doctor Who. I like Jodie Whittaker but besides the premiere episode, it never really felt like she was in charge of situations and besides maybe Graham, I never really got how any of the companions relationship with the Doctor functioned. Not to mention that sometimes it felt that the writers were trying so hard to say an important political message that they seemed to forget to write an engaging story. Ah well, at least this new season shows promise.

Don’t get me wrong, these first two episodes still have a lot of problems, especially in the second half, there’s still not really a strong relationship between the Doctor and her companions and once again Yaz is just kind of... there. However, the reintroduction of [SPOILERS] the Master (Sacha Dawhan) really spices up this new season and gives it a clear sense of focus. Finally the Doctor might be back in the forefront with an actual adversary to face and I really enjoy that thought.

Let’s get into specifics. The two-parter starts off with a cold-open with some spies being attacked by these things, all pretty much in the same way. Like, I get the idea is that all of the spies are being attacked, but just seeing one being killed would be just as effective. Then, all of the companions getting kidnapped by MI6, which despite some very clunky dialogue, works pretty well. Then we’ve got the car scene where something takes over the car, which is dumb and inconsequential. And that pretty much encapsulates my feelings about the episode, some really cool stuff and some really dumb stuff. You’ve got the Master chasing the Doctor all throughout time, which is awesome, and then you get the companions kinda just wandering around and shooting at things with their shoes, which is dumb. And then right as the companions’ story gets interesting, the Doctor conveniently shows up and deus ex machinas the Master’s plan away.

For the most part the first episode works much better, the companions are actually well utilized, Yaz actually gets an important moment and the whole mystery is very engaging. Besides some dumb stuff in the beginning, the episode is actually quite well done and, despite the strange way he is revealed, the Master revelation creates an explosive end to the episode that made it impossible not to be excited for next week. Then the second episode began strongly with the Doctor showing up as a recording to save the companions lives as if Chibnall was going to get into some real timey-wimey stuff that is often the most exciting part of Doctor Who. And then the Doctor and the Master were jumping around time which had it’s weak parts, but was mostly very awesome (until the Master was bested by a couple Nazis, like really? A couple minutes you were haphazardly shrinking people and now you can’t handle some solders from the early 20th century?). But at the same time, the companions weren’t really doing anything. Except for that one moment where they all talk about how little they know the Doctor it all kinda just passed forgettably and inconsequentially. And then the Doctor shows up suddenly and reveals that she went back and time and messed up the Masters plan. Just like that. 

Spyfall part 1 was a pretty solid story, then Spyfall part 2 kinda fell apart under the pressure of the first one. Honestly, Chibnall should have probably looked over the script one more time and cleaned it up a lot more. But still, it pays off because of that end reveal that will hopefully expend the whoniverse and give Whittaker something to really chew on and make her Doctor great in this upcoming season.

Personal Rating: 7/10

Entertainment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Tension: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

The Mandalorian Season 1 Review - Let’s Be Honest, You Came to See Baby Yoda

For those of you who have somehow avoided the shadow of Baby Yoda that has been cast over this planet since November 8th, 2019, The Mandalorian is the first of the big Disney + original tv shows to be released. It follows a certain Mandalorian, a warrior creed that never takes off their masks, in his adventures across the outer-rim of the galaxy. The eight-episode story begins when the Mandalorian, called Mando by what seems to be the entire universe, accepts a special bounty from a vestige faction of the empire to capture some mystery character. His target, of course, turns out to be Baby Yoda, referred to as “The Child”. Baby Yoda, being the Baby Yoda he or she is, is so cute that the Mandalorian decides that he can’t let the empire do whatever have it so he goes into hiding with that adorable little green merchandise-seller. Along the way the Mandalorian meets many different characters and does various odd jobs before finally taking his original employer head-on in hopes of finally allowing space Kermit baby to live in peace.

The production design is excellent. Despite it being a TV show, you can tell that Disney spared no expense in making it and that they wanted it to be as enjoyable as possible. It also really feels like something new, this isn’t some formulaic money-maker that Disney will be churning out for us to mindlessly consume. You can tell that actual thought and care went into everything, they’re not just saying “Oh, look! Star Wars!” and expecting that to be enough.

The season itself, because it’s structured as a western where Mando pops into a place does some stuff and leaves, really only has four essential episodes to watch, but every episode is a fun ride and worth your watch even if they do seem a bit inconsequential. That inconsequential-ness is most apparent in the finale, which struggles from the empire not feeling like that much of a threat, especially since they unceremoniously kill off who seemed to be the main bad guy (Werner Herzog) and switching him out for a much less intimidating Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). At least the fact that he survived the final fight and now has a darksaber might make him a worthy adversary in the next season which has already been confirmed. 

The acting ranges from great to kinda forgettable. Pedro Pascal is terrific as the Mandalorian and the amount he manages to express while not talking and wearing an unresponsive mask is astounding. Baby Yoda is terrific as always, he or she’s yet to turn in a bad performance. Taika Waititi is fantastic as the droid IG-11, although he’s not allowed to Waititi out quite enough. Carl Weathers is fine as the bounty hunter contractor, he doesn’t really do anything extra-ordinary, and that kinda follows for the rest of the cast too. None of them are particularly engaging but they’re fine enough and don’t embarrass themselves.

The greatest strength of the Mandalorian is that it represents what, at least personally speaking, the Star Wars franchise should be now. The Skywalker Saga never really needed to be more than just the original and perhaps a film or two explaining Anakin Skywalker. What Star Wars should be is a universe, with an endless amount of stories able to be told there. The Mandalorian indicates that this is where the franchise is going, and for this reason it should be watched.

In the end, the Mandalorian isn’t something to get Disney + over, but it’s enjoyable and engaging and it has Baby Yoda, so it’s definitely worth your time.

P.S. The opening scene for the finale was the strangest, most bizarre thing ever and not at all what I expected to begin a season finale. That being said, it was also the funniest scene yet to be seen in the Star Wars universe.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Entertainment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Depth: ⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆ ☆

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Tension: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Cuteness: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Little Women Review - A Celebration of Family and Ambition

Now, I’ve never actually read Little Women by Louissa May Alcott, but I have vague memories of seeing a play of it when I was little and I’ve just now skimmed the Wikipedia expert so I guess I’m an expert now.

There’s a lot to love about this new adaptation about Meg (Emma Watson), Jo (Saoirse Ronan), Beth (Eliza Scanlen) and Amy (Florence Pugh) March. The movie cleverly intertwines both the past and the present, contrasting the cheerful youth of the four sisters with the more dreary present. The flashbacks are all coated with warmer tones giving a sense of coziness to the girls memories in sharp contrast to the cold blues of the present. Little Women is not the first movie to have flashbacks in a different color tone than the main story, but Greta Gerwig manages to make all the colors come from the natural environment, making both the flashbacks and present day feel very real despite looking very different. 

The movie, like the story, centers around the second oldest sister, Jo, as she grows up over the seven-some years that the movie covers. Jo is tomboyish and generally opposed to playing the feminine part that society wants her to play. The movie begins with her struggling as a writer in New York, writing harsh and violent stories in an effort to make her writing relevant in a world of men. Despite managing to sell many of her stories, she is told very early on by a fellow tutor at the home that she works at teaching children, Friedrich Bhaer (Louis Garrel), that her stories simply aren’t good. The movie never admonishes her dislike of traditional femininity, but over the course of the movie she learns that it is possible to embrace her life as a woman and all that entails while still maintaining her sense of identity. Ronan excels both at her hard resilience against the marital institution and all other misogynistic institutions and the softer, more sensitive side of Jo that loves her sisters and eventually 

Little Women ends up being both a celebration for both women who fight against society and push for greatness and women who choose to live a domestic life with a husband and kids and women who choose to live both lives. The movie begins with Jo’s publisher saying that if she is going to write a female protagonist that she has to be either married at the end or dead and it’s treated as if it’s another example of the suppression of women’s stories. Then, at the very end of the movie, when Jo has brought her new novel, an autobiography or memoir finally allowing Jo to embrace her domestic side, to be published, the same publisher insists that if Jo needs to marry off her protagonist, an extension of Jo herself, saying that marrying the protagonist off isn’t patriarchal, it’s romantic. Once again there’s a hint of misogyny, but Jo amusedly agrees to the marriage as the movie intercuts to her chasing her recently discovered love Bhaer to the train station. 

The rest of the sisters build off this film in their own ways. There’s a flashback early on in the movie where each girl through some way or another announces their passion and what they want to do with their lives. Meg wants to be an actress, Beth wants to play music and Amy wants to be a painter. Out of the three, Florence Pugh is easily the strongest as Amy. Amy has similar ambition to Jo, but also loves elegant life and realizes that she will have to marry rich in order to provide for her family. Pugh manages to turn what would otherwise be an annoying, selfish character into a real person who’s attention seeking as most younger siblings are while also ambitious and yearning for genius or something that could let her make her mark in a world of men while also being very aware that she’ll have to marry some rich man simply to have money that she can take care of her sisters and family with. Pugh becomes almost a second lead to Ronan, rivaling her in depth and growth in character. Unfortunately, Emma Watson and Eliza Scanlen get less to do with Meg and Beth respectfully. Emma Watson plays Meg similarly throughout the entire movie and although there is some sort of sub-plot of her learning to settle for domesticity with her husband John Brooke (James Norton), it doesn’t quite feel that she’s grown from the experience or changed at all. Scanlen does a fine enough job portraying Beth but unfortunately, the movie doesn’t do quite enough to endear us to her besides the occasional nice thing that she says followed by all the sisters saying that “Beth is the best of us”. The fact that Beth never quite comes into her own as a character diminishes the emotional punch of her death somewhat and makes her appear as more of a narrative device to allow Jo to embrace domestic life more. Nevertheless, Scanlen portrays the shy warmth of Beth very well and, what the script lacks, she is able to make up.

The rest of the supporting cast fares about as well as the sisters, with a few shining while a few others disappoint. Timothée Chalamet excels as Laurie, playing both the lazy, rich boy along with the endearing neighbor and love interest. Chris Cooper does a fine job as his grandfather Mr. Lawrence and Meryl Streep turns in a very entertaining role as Aunt March. It’s Laura Dern however, that proves to be the weakest, not that she isn’t trying, but it is simply hard to believe her as the mother to the four girls. As for Bob Odenkirk and Tracy Letts, they play such insignificant roles that you wonder why they’re in the movie at all even though Amy needs a love interest and the sisters need a father. The movie might have benefitted from cutting them all together, because as it is it’s asking the audience to have some connection to characters that almost don’t exist.

In the end Little Women will be very poignant for some and a enjoyable enough use of two hours for others. This isn’t a movie that’s going to blow a lot of people away, but what you’re left with is a well crafted story of family and femininity that gets better and better the more you think about it.

P.S. Emma Watson really struggled with an American accent, I’m not normally the type of person to pick up on these things but it was painfully obvious at many points.

Personal Rating: 9/10

Entertainment: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Depth: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Comedy: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Tension: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆ ☆

Acting: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ☆

Directing: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jumanji: The Next Level Review - Sloppy but Satisfying

SPOILERS BELOW

     The first Jumanji movie was a simply enjoyable movie. There wasn't a lot of complications or deeper themes to it, the characters were all pretty one-dimensional and the story was very simple. And because of this, the movie worked perfectly. That's not to say there weren't problems with it, but none of them actively took away from the movie. The simplicity of the movie allowed the creators to sharpen every little aspect of it to make what might  be the most enjoyable movie possible given the story. All the characters got put into just the right avatar to move their arc forward, the multiple lives of a video game setting to forward the "you only have one life" concept was pretty clever, and you could tell that every single actor was having a blast. Also we got Jack Black pretending to be the popular, blonde, high school girl which is perhaps the greatest thing ever. Jumanji 2 (or 3 I guess?) doesn't quite stick the landing quite as well. And this is most likely due to both the two year time frame to create the movie, and a more ambitious plot.

     Where Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, had a very basic high schooler coming into their own plot, The Next Level tries for (vaguely) more complicated themes about getting old and losing connection with your friends. And to the movie's credit, you can see a rather good set-up to explore those themes. Spencer (Alex Wolf/Awkwafina/Dwayne Johnson/boy this movie does not want to make naming the actors for these roles easy) is struggling moving on from high school and the distance that creates between him and his friends so he retreats back into the childhood comfort of playing video games instead of addressing these problems. Then you have Grandpa Eddie (Danny DeVito,  Dwayne Johnson, Awkwafina) as a cautionary tale to Spencer if he follows this path. Eddie has not been able to move on from working at the restaurant that he co-owned with Milo Walker (Danny Glover/ Kevin Hart) and is now a grumpy old man who resents his old age, resents the new restaurant that took the place of what once was his restaurants, and resents Milo Walker for forcing him into retirement. Heck, Spencer and Eddie even have the same two avatars during the movie. 

     All of the actors bring their A game once again and appear to be having even more fun than originally. The weird green water plot device, although strange and relatively inconsequential to the plot (we'll get back to that), does allow all the actors to just go crazy. Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart are having an obvious blast playing elderly people having no clue what's going on. Karen Gillan mostly sticks with what she had in the original, but she has a fun scene as Fridge, even if it is short-lived. Awkwafina seamlessly inserts herself into the Jumanji cast, playing both Spencer and Eddie flawlessly. Nick Jonas doesn't really have anything new or exciting to do but he does his job fine enough. Oddly enough, it's Jack Black that seems to have the most trouble out of the cast, but that's really only in comparison to his phenomenal work in the first one. His Fridge, simply isn't quite as engaging as either Kevin Hart's or Karen Gillan's and definitely is nowhere close to matching his Bethany. 

     The biggest problem with the movie is that it simply isn't as tight as the first one, Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain/Jack Black/Karen Gillan/Kevin Hart) seems to only be in the movie because he was in the first one, and, although Spencer is supposed to be the main character, he's missing for most of the first act of the movie. This confuses who the lead is for the movie, sometimes it seems to be Martha (Morgan Turner/Karen Gillan/Jack Black), sometimes it seems to be Eddie and sometimes you have no idea who it is. Additionally, the body swapping gimmick, while amusing, did not really add anything to the plot. The only reason why it was in there was so that the star cast could have amusing, new characters to begin with but let them play their normal characters again for the climax, which doesn't make much sense because the whole point of the first (or second) Jumanji movie was to allow them to play amusing, new characters so now that they seem to be tied down to specific characters it kinda takes away from the inherent fun of the Jumanji franchise that Sony has set up for us. Maybe it's not that big of a deal, but the way I see it, there really was no narrative reason for the characters to go back to their avatars from the first movie, and there is something more inherently exciting in never knowing who to expect Jack Black or Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart or Karen Gillan to be playing every time a new Jumanji movie comes around. If we know that eventually we'll see The Rock return to the nerdy shy character it takes away a bit of the fun. Although if Jack Black wants to play Bethany in all the movies from now until the end of time that's fine with me.

     In the end, Jumanji: The Next Level is a worthy follow-up to the original (or the sequel), even if it's more uneven and is not quite as funny as the original. Still the actors are having as much fun as always and it will always be a joy to see actors playing against their type. The magic of Jumanji is still there, even if not everything else is.

P.S. The horse was nice for a one-joke thing, one that I wish wasn't spoiled in the trailers and promotional imaging, but wasn't very interesting other than that.

P.P.S. The after credit scene sets up an interesting concept for Jumanji 3 (or 4). However, if they fully follow through with it, I'm unsure how they plan on bringing their star cast back.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Entertainment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Depth: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Story: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Comedy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tension: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Acting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Directing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Doctor Sleep Review - 2/3 of a great movie

Doctor Sleep Review

You don't know where your standing.

With that line, the Doctor Sleep turns what could have been a great climax, into a complete mess. Let's be clear, we all knew that this was not going to be as good as The Shining. Now, normally I would say that that shouldn't really matter, and that we should just take the movie for what it is. The problem is, is that the movie is unwilling to do that. So instead we end up with a movie that was banking too hard on people's love of The Shining to get them into the theater, that the movie ruins it's own story needlessly.
That's not to say that this is a bad movie. The first two thirds, although a bit chaotic at times, are actually pretty good. Ewan McGregor and Rebecca Ferguson are both great in their parts. Ewan McGregor nails an older Danny Torrance haunted by his experiences at the overlook hotel and Ferguson plays Rose the Hat with a lot of humanity and at moments you almost root for her to win until she suddenly switches into very creepy mode as soon as it is demanded of her. Honestly, most of the movie, the first act especially, would not have worked at all of these two actors had not brought their a-game. The other actors are passible. I can't exactly call them out for bad performances. The supporting cast all perform their roles as they need to be played, even if they do miss out on the emotional connection sometimes. The other lead character, Abra, played by Kyliech Curran, does about as well as can be expected from a child actress. The only real problem I have with the casting, is not a fact with the acting specifically, but rather the fact that the entirely wrong actors are playing them. Because, well, they decided to recast all the main characters from The Shining for flashbacks and hallucinations. And, except for Carl Lumbly playing Dick Halloran, they are all pretty awful, the worst being a character that appears later on who brings a near-insulting take to a famous character. And I get that this is neither Star Wars nor Marvel, and that facial reconstruction was very likely out of their budgetary restrictions, but just cut all that material please, because it looks and feels awful.
In general, the first two acts of Doctor Sleep, despite a couple missteps that are not impossible to ignore, have two great performances, an engaging story and several interesting ideas but feels like it should have been directed by Stanley Kubrick. If he wasn't dead, that is. From what I can tell, most of the movie follows pretty close to the book, albeit with a lot of cuts, and then suddenly swerves in the third act. As a result, most of the aforementioned interesting ideas are never really tied up in the end, and it feels like those scenes were just added in because they were part of the book, which then doesn't make any sense why they followed the book so closely in the beginning when the ending is so wildly different. I mean, I know why. They wanted the movie to connect more with The Shining so that they could sell more tickets, so they completely re-wrote the ending. Does that mean I think they should have stuck with a re-telling of Doctor Sleep? No. There are plenty of problems with the first two acts that could have been fixed, and despite the stumbling, I liked where the third act was going. So that's why I said that this movie should have been directed by Stanley Kubrick. If he had done to Doctor Sleep what he had done to The Shining, we could have had a really good film on our hands. Instead, what we're left with is a confused film that was too scared to venture too far away from it's source material, but also really, really wanted to be The Shining Part 2 instead of Doctor Sleep.

P.S. Also, is it just me, or was the movie way to fond of cross dissolves? It definitely felt like a third grader was editing the movie and found out that they could add transitions between scenes and got really excited but for some reason was only allowed to use the boring transition.

Personal Rating: 7/10
Entertainment: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Depth: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
Story: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Comedy: ⭐☆☆☆☆
Tension: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Acting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Directing: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆