PRAISE: Writer/director Ryan Coogler has so much to say in his new film Sinners it's almost an overwhelming experience. The story about 2 brothers trying to leave their troubled lives behind, they return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. I liked how Coogler slowly but surely added layers and history to the characters in the film. Michael B Jordan is definitely the standout in a duel role but the cast is so outstanding that includes Cast: Li Jun Li, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Jayme Lawson, Wunmi Mosaku, Jack O’Connell, Miles Caton, Hailee Steinfeld, and Yao. There are some extremely effective moments between the characters filled with stories of regret, loss and love. The sins the characters carry with them,those that try to cover for the sins committed with spirituality either from back in the day or the present featured in the film. A great job is done with the horrific imagery that includes fade away shots and gore. Coogler places legendary vampire lore in all the right places. I think the last time I tapped my foot to the music and was equally pushed to the edge of my seat during a scene was 1998's Blade.There are nice nods and tributes to various cultures through music and dance. The salty dialogue and raw emotion blend well together and is lifted by the reliable and then some cast. I enjoyed both after credits scenes but so many people left before the second scene and i started thinking it should have been placed right at the films final scene.
PROBLEMS: I thought some moments were overly convenient and are used just to get an emotional feeling from the audience. I wish the opening foundation scene of the film had been different. I have to start taking my own advice and stop watching the trailers for movies because the trailer for this film gave far to much away.
PRAISE : This is the type of movie that makes you feel every minute of it. The monitoring of what could be a hostile and deadly situation. One that surrounds you with boredom and being on edge while maintaining some type of sense of humor. The pain,of injuries the shells hock and panic. All of this is strengthened by a great cast including: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Ray ,Will Poulter as Erik ,Joseph Quinn as Sam, Charles Melton as Jake, Cosmo Jarvis as Elliot, Kit Connor as Tommy and Michael Gandolfini as Lt Macdonald
The story about a Navy SEAL team that, in 2006, got pinned inside a house in Ramadi, Iraq during the American occupation never really let's up. It is beyond involving .I felt i was right in the cramped quarters with them feeling all types of anxiety. Hats off to the sound design group that captures every intense moment and blends in the heaviness of thunderous bass. The closing shots are sobering and then some. Its right up there with 2013's Lone Survivor
PROBLEMS : NONE. Warfare is one of the best movies of 2025
PRAISE: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, and J.K. Simmons all return in the sequel to the 2016 movie, this time around the Brothers Christian and Braxton find themselves in the middle of the mystery of who killed Treasury Chief. It's interesting to see both brothers deal with what's going on with each other mentally. Christian with his autism and Braxton with his own set of problems. At the core of both men is loneliness. How that loneliness factors in the movie leads to scenes that are sometimes funny and heartfelt and it was highly enjoyable to watch . Affleck and Bernthal both look like they are having a great time whether they are at each other's throats,hanging out or expressing the distance between them that is both literal and figurative.
For the most part the multiple story threads that include human trafficking, trauma,the complexities of the mind and the loss of family really worked. There are a couple of action sequences that really worked for me.
PROBLEMS:The villains in the movie are mediocre at best. Cynthia Addai-Robinson's role is gradually widdled down to that of a scolding mother. Some of the action sequences play out in basic ways and at times it felt there were no real stakes as if the movie rolls back on what could have been something moving and motivating. The movie travels down some predictable paths.
Praise : This movie is gritty, bloody,intense and relentless x 100.
It's the kind of movie that never let me really breathe. Tom Hardy is Walker, a cop who the movie is establishes as walking the fine line between being corrupted and actually being a good cop,estranged father to caring just enough. He is placed right in the middle of a gang like murder and the mayhem starts up again after a action packed opening. I found myself having fun through most of the carnage as various characters find themselves in all types of trouble and they are portrayed with as much believability as the script allows by Forrest Whittaker, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell , Quelin Sepulveda,Luis Guzman and Michelle Waterson-Gomez. The action sequences are filmed in insane ways. From cramped quarters to in your face kills and oh the kills are fun and dwelling. When characters pop up to do the bidding of their bosses it was fun to wonder what their skill set would be.
PROBLEMS: The foundation of the film and the core of the characters are ultra clichéd as if to say who cares we just needed enough to get to the blood soaked action. There's some horrible green screen scenes especially towards the ending.
PRAISE: No Avengers,No Defenders,The West Coast Avengers are barely a thought at this time. So who can the world depend on to stop an unstoppable menace. The Thunderbolts*
made up of anti heroes with a capital A. Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker either dealing with their own personal problems or new lanes in life are at times able to capture that great rhythm of the former Avengers and Avengers films of the past. Dealing with personal trauma and wounded psyches and blended with action is when the movie started to become effective for me. As Yelena Florence Pugh stands out the most. Shes dealing with anguish but she still has a soft spot to do the right thing.I thought some interesting things were done with the specific powers of one of the characters. Also some terrific visuals were attached to a character. I did have questions about how certain story threads would be resolved and I did enjoy the resolution for most of them.
PROBLEMS: I had hoped the movie would dive more into a characters psyche because I really wanted to see the character shaken up more. I wish the movie had completely committed to its dark moments. I definitely had some unintentional laughs especially at the first appearance of a character which reminded me of a cheesy 1987 super heroe movie. A few dull let's get it on with it moments pop up here and there.
I knew I was in for a so bad its almost good and kind of watchable time when the actions that took place in the first 5 minutes of this flick didn't make any sense. There's tons of bad dialogue and the delivery of the dialogue is just as worse. The stars of the flick David Bautista and Mila Jojovich amazingly keep straight faces throughout this flick based in a post apocalyptic world.Amara Okereke provides some nice eye candy as Queen Melange. A lot of the kills were pretty good and elaborate and the same goes for the action sequences. Some of the CGI and set designs were on point, actually reminded me of the animated He-Man and The Masters of the Universe series. I laughed at the multiple times the characters kept hitting the sheets with multiple people. The flick is such a grab bag of genres jammed together it was laughable and drawn out for no reason.
PRAISE: Nothing like a cramped quarters on a plane or train action movies. Not only because it's impressive what a Director can do with the aforementioned but the actors as well. This story about A mercenary taking a job of tracking a high-value asset known only as "The Ghost" on an international flight impressively doesn't play around with misdirects especially when it was tied to a quick reveal i didn't see coming. High praise to Josh Hartnett as Lucas Reyes and Charithra Chandran as Isha to all of the work they put into multiple hand to hand fights and action sequences. There was enough information provided for me to care about both characters. This is a movie in which I had to embrace the silly moments. When the action is taking place along with some great visuals when it comes to certain characters the ride was fun. There were some funny jokes about first and business class seating. There are good,cartoonish and gory kills throughout the movie that i enjoyed.
PROBLEMS: I was dissapointted that the movie hits the pause button a few times for exposition. It definitely was lacking the frenetic non stop pacing that was in the trailer. I couldn't help but question how a character pulled something off for so long while being very public.
The market is so overstocked with horror movies i can appreciate a horror flick that doesn't take itself to seriously. The setting of this flick is about as corny as those small town CW or Hallmark shows that are filled to the brim with clichés. The movie only provides the back story for a couple of characters, so I knew most would be fodder for the Killer Clown. I think people will partially enjoy this as a spoof of slasher horror movies like I did. There were some good kills and some incredibly dull ones. The flick gave me intentional laughs and unintentional ones. The script and the characters completely forget about the whereabouts of other characters. I can see what the movie was trying to do but it's mixed tones stopped working for most of the movie. It makes me wonder if it would have stuck to one path would it have worked more for me.
I really wish I could sit in for some of the brain storming sessions for movies and TV shows that have been done over and over again. Oh our ex CIA, Covert Operative or Assassin on the run idea is different because we will throw in some obsession, only one kid, and some estrangement. I can say Omar Sy and Kerry Washington do the best they can with the screenplay but it's hard making generic and bland look good. There are some fun moments with the cast including good turns from Jahleel Kamara ,Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Method . Their moments are funny and cute and at least lifted me out of the boring fog of the movie. The movie loads up other characters but doesn't really do anything with them but I can actually here the director say,just sneer a lot, point ,aim and shoot. I couldn't help but laugh at how a fight scene was zoomed in on because an actor likely didn't want to get hurt so they didn't want to catch the fake punches on camera. Mark Strong as the villain is the same old Hey you were once the best but now i have to kill you villain ive seen in 6 other movies like this one.Last but not least I really wonder how much Lionel Richie was paid for this movie. I wonder if the check from this was bigger than his checks from American Idol.
PRAISE: One would think after 25 years the Final Destination horror movies would have run out of steam. But it's just the opposite extending it's life even into comic books. With this new movie that proves there is a lot more creative and gory fun to be had. The set up for the story is very good and involving as I wanted to know as much as the character Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juan),wanted to know about her bloodline. I loved how the movie plays with a lot of things from old sayings ,not listening to warnings or rules and that good old sixth sense. The movie leans heavy into the aforementioned especially when it's coupled with some of the most involving bloody and gory visuals that are creative with a capital C. This movie is definitely not for the faint of heart and if the viewer has a fear of heights. I liked how some sensitive parts of the movie are handled with a huge sense of humor. Tony Todd's part in this movie is ultra sobering and then some.
PROBLEMS: There is an extremely predictable thread in the story. Some parts of the movie are to on the nose about what's coming for the characters.
PRAISE: This may be one of the quirkiest,blunt and funniest movies I've ever watched. Right from the start I knew something was off about Craig Waterman greatly portrayed by Tim Robinson when he displays a lack of empathy. Then he meets local weatherman Austin Carmichael portrayed Paul Rudd, who is also a narcissist but not on the same level as Craig. They seemingly become fast friends but the varying levels of being on the same page factor soon goes down a crazy path. This is what happens when you're too eccentric for even a group of eccentrics. This is displayed in the movie in some darkly humorous ways. Watching the character Craig i just kept hoping he wouldn't do certain things and that's part of why the movie becomes more involving as it goes along . Sprinkle in some things that shouldn't be happening in Craig's family life with his wife Tami (Kate Mara) and teenage son, Steven (Jack Dylan Grazer) plus some other stand out extremely funny moments and the movie becomes this enjoyable oddity. It asks the question of how much does one want friends in their life or are you better off on your own. As a producer of the film Rudd inserts a great running gag in the movie. His character has his own problems and hang ups and as the films final moments play out i was totally on board for the last shot in the movie.
PROBLEMS: The movie hits the repeat button several times. I wish a few other characters had been fleshed out. I also wish something i found extremely inappropriate had been discussed.
Scale of 1 to 10 an 8
Hurry Up Tomorrow
Pretty basic story about a singer going through turmoil for various reasons.
This movie reminds me of the movies I used to get high to or fall asleep on when I would go to one of the independent movie theatre's. When the synth music would start ,drawn out scenes of random shots of mountains or people partying and the only thing that would wake me up would be if someone started screaming in the movie. This is a big time vanity project from The Weeknd, AKA Abel Tesfaye. With extreme close ups of his face and being in some kind of distress over a woman or losing his voice. Plus going down a memory lane of his music. The acting in this flick is very stalled and blank. I did like the music in the movie though and the movie provided some great unintentional laughs. Tesfaye would have been better off making a concert movie with some backstage scenes and interviews.
This will definitely go on my worst of 2025 list.
PRAISE: The American James Bond,Ethan Hunt and his IMF team return one last time to save the world. It's still the same formula: Tom stop this deadly thing ,we will have to risk our lives to retrieve something impossible to get to and at times the formula still works in this movie. I will always appreciate and respect not only the time and effort Tom Cruise has put into this franchise. Not only at the sacrifices he likely makes but taking one of the thrones as one of the ultimate stunt people. I did enjoy a couple of revelations and how this movie ties everything together and none of it felt forced. There's a full circle moment that i was hoping for and thankfully got.I enjoyed how Ethan did his best to not only keep his team under control but also various tension filled situations. I also enjoyed how the government was getting pushed to make hard decisions in situations that were tension filled and then some. Of course when a franchise reaches its end all bets are off and anything can happen and I thought it was handled well in this movie. Praise to the cast including: Hayley Atwell as Grace,Ving Rhames as Luther Stickell, Simon Pegg as Benjamin 'Benji' Dunn,Pom Klementieff as Paris and Esai Morales as Gabriel. Plus a host of familiar Hollywood faces. Getting back to Esai Morales he looks like he is having the greatest time ever as the villain especially in the films third act which is the most thrilling and involving.
PROBLEMS: A couple of the action sequences weren't the edge of your seat nail biters the makers of this movie wanted them to be. There are some hokey,questionable parts of the movie i couldn't completely get on board with.The movie oddly keeps showing it's hand as if its saying hey here's a preview of whats to come killing the suspense factor several times. I was dissapointted that something that was partially touched on in the last movie was barely talked about in this movie.
PRAISE: The creators of Karate Kid: Legend’s manage to jam a lot into the movies quick 90 minutes. Its another chapter in the Karate Kid universe about Li Fong (Ben Wang) who relocates to New York City with his mother Dr. Fong ( Ming-Na Wen...still stunning) where he makes fast friends and foes. I was happy that the movie wasn't as moody as I thought it would be. Its charming due to a multitude of likeable characters and a tone that leans into a sense of humor just enough and it deals with trauma and PTSD just enough to make a good balance. There are some fun sequences as Li gets double training from his old master Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Mr. Han, and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio). The movie does make some efforts to switch things up a bit which I appreciated.
PROBLEMS: There is zero suspense in this movie. I knew exactly how things were going to go down though i did like the scenic backdrop of the Karate matches. There is definitely a couple of one note characters. One in particular was just laughable to watch. Even with the efforts the movie makes to create something new it can't get past being clichéd and producing been there done that carbon copy moments.
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