Welcome To aBlackWeb

Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Abigail




Bloody Fun

PRAISE : The Writers of Abigail: Stephen Shields and Guy Busick must be huge fans of the film The Usual Suspects because the vibe of that movie definitely wraps itself around so much of this one. The story about a group of kidnappers who take a young ballerina hostage but get far far more than they bargained for is a fun blood soaked ride. I liked how the characters were set up and fleshed out as the movie moves forward. The late Angus Cloud as Dean was amusing to watch as he makes assumptions with antics some so funny I laughed out loud a few times. Then you have leader Frank (Dan Stevens), medical expert Joey (Melissa Barrera), computer whiz Sammy (Kathryn Newton), ex-military operative Rickles (William Catlett), dense-but-strong Peter (Kevin Durand).As Abigail Alisha Weir's performance comes to life in the second half as more is revealed about her character and she lets loose on the kidnappers. The cast seems to be having a good time as some familiar horror tropes play out but I thought they were really well used in certain frightening and gory scenes. I liked that they took something from legendary horror and made it their own.I enjoyed how the infused child neglect and abandonment around the edges of the movie. The music is also well placed in certain scenes. This is horror with a big sense of humor and I thought the blend really worked in a good portion of the scenes.

PROBLEMS: I thought the who will survive the carnage was to spelled out. I was definitely hoping for more originality when it came to the climax. Aside from one surprise I sat there saying we'll I mainly know how this is going to go because so much was said about a characters familial connection I knew exactly how it was going to end.

RIP ANGUS CLOUD

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8



The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare




Ministry Mission

PRAISE: There's a lot of fun to be had in this story about a top-secret combat unit, composed of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks,who go on a daring mission against the Nazis. Making Nazis who are far to chatty with their threats a memory is a thread in the film but it's the cast that definitely boost up any slow moments in the movie. Henry Cavill does a great job as team leader Gus March-Phillips there is a great running gag attached to his character and he may have a zany tongue out expression while taking out Nazis but he also has a serious side.Included in this wild bunch are Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer); his current protégé, Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin); arrow shooting strong man Anders Lassen (Alan Ritchson); and explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding) , Marjorie Stewart beautiful ,capable and unflinching(Eiza Gonzalez) and Frederich Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) cool,calm and collected. Sure there are a lot of humorous moments in the movie but the film definitely displays how brutal and ultra racists the Nazis were. Director Guy Ritchie pulls back on some of his usual flare and methods which was fine by me.
I'm glad he included all of the "little" problems that come with carrying out a secret mission which was definitely leaned into in the films finale. I can tell Ritchie and writers S Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson & Arah Amel wanted to tell a more straightforward story but with some added fiction doing so honors the real Ministry called Special Operations Executive (SOE), also known as Churchill's Secret Army.

PROBLEMS: I would have liked to have seen more close calls coupled with suspense it definitely felt like the movie pulled back on the aforementioned and how things could have played out in a more sinister way for a particular character. There are a few predictable moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½



Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver




Rebels with some cause

PRAISE : Picking up where the last movie left off this second part has a bit more going for it as characters are more fleshed out due to their back stories being told. I liked that the movie attempts to be more dramatic and trying to get the audience more attached to the characters as they evolve and try to be more than just wallowing in misery and regret.I've always said Director Zack Snyder can direct the he'll out of an action sequence and he does so here on a grand scale. I praise everyone who was involved in the CGI and SFX.


PROBLEMS: It's beyond obvious where the movie was edited and I find it obnoxious that the unedited version won't be released until August. I never found myself fully engaged or involved. There's a lackluster feel to parts of the movie.
Some characters are still sidelined until needed for some purpose. I do wonder if Snyders " true vision" releases will add anything to improve this or A Child of Fire.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½
 
Challengers




Tennis Temptress........well sort of

PRAISE: The sports muse thing has been done before in great movies like 1988's Bull Durham but in this story about three tennis prodigies — friends, lovers and foes — across the years through their triumphs and defeats, some shared is not on the same level as the aforementioned. What it gets right is a lot of the dynamics between the characters. Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Zendaya as Tashi Duncan do great in their roles . They look like great players on the court and I thought writer Justin Kuritzkes and
Director Luca Guadagnino did a good job of displaying how and why we end up in certain places in life and with certain people. Sometimes it's through unforseen occurrences,certain loyalties, lust , love, or dissapointment. A lot of scenes ring true about competitions in life , jealousy and really wanting something or someone just for yourself
I liked how the movie states how mainly everything in life is a competition and goes beyond the professional sport a person is playing. I started thinking about all of the professional athletes out there and what kind of support they are getting from their spouses or significant others. This is where Zendaya gives her strongest laser focused performances she's somewhere between loving and a steely coach.

PROBLEMS : There is a lot of hype about the "threesome" that takes place in the movie but it definitely pulls back on it and adds some turns that I and likely other people who watch this movie won't get on board with or find predictable. While some of the scenes including club beat music worked at times it drowned out what the characters were saying in some scenes. I definitely didn't like the climax of the movie. I kept wondering why they just didn't let things play out in which they were with some good camera work and pauses but they added a few things that made it seem like a parody.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Fun and Falls

PRAISE: I definitely have memories of the 1981 The Fall Guy TV series starring Lee Majors but this movie definitely tries to make it it's own thing with a story about stuntman Colt Seavers springs back into action when the star of a big studio movie suddenly disappears. Simultaneously trying to reconnect with the woman he loves.
I thought it was funny how this movie has a similar story thread to 2023's animated Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match . Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt have good enough chemistry so much so I found myself rooting for their coupling. I think the movie is not only a great tribute to stunt people but to all of the behind the scenes people that make a movie happen. There are a lot of great nods to classic movies and TV shows.
It was fun recalling oh that sound effect is from that TV show. I remember that song from this movie. There is a fight sequence that I thought had a great comedic pay off.
The movie definitely leans more into a romantic comedy than an all out action movie.
There's one action sequence in which I was hoping a couple of things would happen visually and it comes to fruition in a great way. A lot of the fight scenes were fun and filmed in a few unique ways.

PROBLEMS: When the pacing slows down it really comes to an almost complete halt.
Sure a lot of things are cute and a nice wink to the audience saying do you see how meta this is? Oh did you see what we did there? ...like I said cute but those scenes went on far to long. At times I wondered if the movie was just paroding things in some way like how things play out when it comes to a villain in a movie or are these scenes really written this badly. Definitely a couple of predictable moments and outcomes for a couple of characters.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Unfrosted



Pop Culture Craziness

PRAISE: Right out the gate Jerry Seinfeld hit me with nostalgia as the first frames of this parody movie about the competitive food war between Kelloggs and Post start to roll. Seinfeld gets some things right as he includesa lot of nods to toys,crazes, fake comic book ads and politics of the mid 1960's and gives them comedic flavoring. Some of the sight gags and references to the competitive nature of companies that sometimes produce nearly similar products really worked for me. There's a who's who of Hollywood in this including Amy Schumer ,Bill Burr · Fred Armisen · Christian Slater · Tony Hale · Dean Norris · Maria Bakalova · Peter Dinklage · Jack McBrayer and that's just naming a few . I'm actually shocked Seinfeld didn't include more of his comedian buddies in this. Seinfeld even includes some of the latest political scandals through some funny lines and visuals. The movie actually reminded me of how much I miss the show Mad Men.

PROBLEMS: After about 45 minutes the humor and fun became very spotty. Some scenes and situations felt like filler to me just to get the movie to the over 90 minute mark. There was more of a Saturday Night Live this skit is going on to long feel to certain scenes. Theres a monotone reading of some of the lines by the characters that was so noticeable i started to unintentionally laugh. There are a couple of odd and cringey moments Seinfeld attempts to wring laughs out of but fails.There are plenty of scenes that have no connection to how things play out in the movie. At one point a character asks: Is this overkill? I said yes yes it is !!

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6





Cash Out





Not worth a full review. I only watched this because I was curious about what kind of movies John Travolta is making these days. He still can bring something to a movie even one as bad as this.This was a mainly boring movie about a couple of heists that go left due to betrayal and the incompetence of this supposedly elite group of thieves. So much bad dialogue and nearly lifeless performances. I didn't even recognize Quavo at first I did laugh at some of his lines during a heist. I laughed at how ridiculously things played out.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 2
 
Breathe





There are a few good things in this post apocalyptic movie. Jennifer Hudsons performance and her consistently yelling out salty dialogue. The art work and CGI of a completely devastated New York ,some good kills/deaths and Sam Worthington turning in a crazed performance. Other than that it's a basic oh I want what you have and do whatever I have to get it scenarios. One characters heart is in the right place but makes a terrible, head scratching decision. The pacing is pretty bad with characters just literally sitting around.
All of a sudden a character conveniently knows how to do something that kept saying they couldn't do the entire movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 4
 
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes



Nearly perfect Planet

PRAISE: Seven years after War of The Planet of the Apes I'm beyond satisfied that even though this assortment of Planet of the Apes films have been passed on to different writers and directors since 2011 Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes boldly states these films continue to be exciting, charming and involving. The story in this POTA chapter a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past. I think this movie flawlessly connects the previous movies to this present movie. While simultaneously bringing closure to the previous movies and pulling me into what is to be a new set of movies. High praise to the entire cast including:Noa (Owen Teague), Soona (Lydia Peckham), Anaya (Travis Jeffery) Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand),and Raka (Peter Macon)for their voice work, expressive motion capture displaying joy,anger and raw emotion. Freya Allan also does quite well as the human Mae. The film is in the capable and then some hands of Wes Ball. He directs some really great action sequences with suspense around the edges. Throughout the movie there are strong messages about twisting words for power and dominance and using the bad parts of history to also do the aforementioned. The motion capture work is still on point and looks incredibly flawless. Another strong thread in this story is the near selfishly caring about ones own survival this comes into play several times and I thought it was really effective. When it comes to the set design I was trying to tell what was practical and what was CGI,that's how great it looked,maybe I should watch a making of video of the movie but then again just enjoy the wonder of it all. There are great nods to the original Planet of the Apes movie.

PROBLEMS: I do feel like something that was touched on when it came to a certain faction was pushed to the side and was dissapointted when it wasn't explored more.
There are a few predictable moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8½
 
You Can't Run Forever



Sensational Simmons

PRAISE: If you are a big J.K Simmons fan and you would like to see him as an unflinching, murdering psychopath/sociopath this is the movie for you. I really enjoyed this movie about a serial killer who chases an already off balance young woman through the woods. Simmons performance definitely helps raise this film to different levels as he is cold as ice and makes jokes and quips as he goes on his murderous rampage. As the young woman he's pursuing named Miranda Isabelle Anaya does a pretty good job . The character is dealing with her own inner demons as she also attempts to avoid her pursuers bullets. No one quite does a "I'm Done With You Stare" like Simmons. I thought how a couple of story threads were put together was really well done,with slowly but surely reveals about the main characters. Good use is made of the scenic and wooded areas in the movie.

PROBLEMS: The movie definitely stalls at times and I wondered if it really needed to be an hour and fourty two minutes. I guess I can assume how a story thread came to be ,but I thought it was a major turn and was dissapointted when it wasn't explained.

Scale of 1 to 10 an 8



Back to Black




Biopic with Blandness

PRAISE: I believe Amy Winehouse was an old soul who was only here for a brief period of time to give people her songs...that five minutes to forget your problems that she spoke of and then she was gone. If I was to take the reincarnation view of her life I would say she was here during that era of classic jazz which she loved and came back briefly to display her love for it.
The best things about this movie are the amazing sounds of her soulful voice and the voice of Marisa Abela,who portrays Winehouse. She truly gives it her all in the performance. Also quite good are Lesley Manville as her grandmother Cynthia and Jack O’Connell as the charming and devilish love of her life Blake.

PROBLEMS: The movie fails to capture Winehouse's true love of music and why she wrote songs the way she did. It feels like the movie loads up on footnotes right to the very end. Sometimes when an entertainers family is deeply involved in a biopic they try to omit things that would make their actions towards her obvious demons and addictions look like plain old obliviousness . Why did her management and music studios behind her let her go out and perform in her condition? So much is left out about why she turned to alcohol even though the film lamely nods to a couple of things. Sure they touched on Blake's part in enabling her but it's summed up quickly. People will be better served watching the documentary about her life 2015's Amy.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6



The Strangers part 1 2024




Short on Strangeness

PRAISE: This movie at least had me from the beginning with its creepy town setting filled with creepy people foundation.
The 2008 version left me with a bleak and haunting feeling. I did like that this movie supports my stance on one of the reasons why to NEVER stay at an Airbnb. The story this time around is about Maya (Madelaine Petsch ) and Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) who are traveling across the country when they take a wrong turn and all of the usual tropes fall into place. Director Renny Harlin comes up with some creepy fun moments. Some work and a couple actually reminded me of the Killer shark bit from Saturday Night Live.

PROBLEMS: The decision to make this movie the start of a trilogy waters down a lot that happens in the movie which is very short. Something like this would work better as a series. There's just a repetitive feel to it because it's saying to me oh we have to hold back because possibly the good stuff will come in the next two movies.
There are a few to obvious turns and predictable moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5
 
TNT JACKSON



Definitely one of the best bad movies i have ever had the pleasure of watching. Praise to Jeanne Bell as Diana "TNT" Jackson and a ton of fun and crazy action sequences all done in B to D level style. Keenen Ivory Wayans must have watched this for inspiration for a couple of action sequences in his blaxploitation parody film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

Just for pure laughs i give it a 10 but yes on a bad scale it's a 4
 
Back
Top