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The Woman in the Yard (2025)
Don't Let Her In
I like Blumhouse's films even if some of them aren't that great, but when I saw the trailer for this film I was just getting generic horror movie vibes from it like nothing was being done with it, especially when I found out this was from Blumhouse; but the main reason I saw this was because it was known as Blumhouse's most hated film and that lots of people either hated it or liked/loved it, so from that I was at least intrigued to see why this was having so much divided attention. The Woman in the Yard (2025) was honestly not as bad as I thought it was going to be especially since there are good performances, heavy themes and topics, nice cinematography, a simple but intimidating entity, and some cool camera work with the movements and shadows; the issues involve plot holes, some messy execution in some scenes, and unexplained moments that could have been expanded on.
The performances were good, with there being a good enough family dynamic between the mom and the two kids, and the focus was the mom and her issues to keep going after the loss of her husband, which were intense but handled well; the mom is questioning what the woman in the yard is, and trying to keep he kids safe despite the teenage son wanting to do things another way and the younger daughter being oblivious to certain things going on. The kids as characters were not, though they can get annoying at times, I thought of it as the family trying to understand why someone is sitting on their property and coming closer somehow; the family dynamic is what drives the film because of the crummy situation they are in while living in a fixer upper house dealing with each other, so it helps to make the characters at least somewhat likable in order for the film to work more effectively.
The reveal of who/what the woman in the yard was surprising, leading to heavy themes about grief and depression, and under things under the surface that might turn people off when they watch this, but what was interesting was the idea of the woman in the yard and that they handled these heavy themes very well, along with some intense hard to watch moments; but, though I liked the themes and how they handled it, the issues involve the messy execution of the themes and ideas, plot holes once you know what is going on, and moments that could have been better explained. The last thing I liked was the cinematography and the one location we are stuck at, that being a fixer upper farmhouse; there were also effective uses of camera angles and shadows, and the way the woman in the yard was shot in the sunny landscape and shadows was well-done.
Blumhouse's The Woman in the Yard (2025) was honestly not as bad as I thought it was going to be especially since there are good performances, heavy themes and topics, nice cinematography, a simple but intimidating entity, and some cool camera work with the movements and shadows; the issues involve plot holes, some messy execution in some scenes, and unexplained moments that could have been expanded on. This wasn't an excellent Blumhouse film, but it wasn't terrible, it was just good enough, because it only turned out better than I was expecting, considering the marketing in the trailers; give this film a chance to see what it's hiding, but it might not be for everyone, so go in with an open mind or just skip this film entirely.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
Our lives are the sum of our choices
I have been on board with the Mission: Impossible franchise since the great first film, though the sequels Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) was not that good and Mission: Impossible 3 (2006) was just ok, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh film have been very good making this franchise a great action franchise; so, now that we are on the final film of the franchise twenty-nine years later, I am both excited and cautiously interested on how this eighth and final film will end the long running franchise. The final eighth film Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025) was a satisfying conclusion to the franchise with great performances, amazing action, cool cinematography, and stunts, along with great suspense and remarkably high stakes; the film has a couple funny moments, but it takes itself seriously building the drama because of the climatic finality of it all, so just expect not much humor like the other films and a long near three hour runtime that could have been trimmed a little.
Tom Cruise is still great as Ethan Hunt because he is still a likable character who does look a little worn out because of his long journey throughout each film but also trying to stay ready for action so he can save the day again from this big threat in his final mission thinking what is the right way to deal with this. The rest of the IMF team with Benji, Luther, and Grace were all just as likable as the lead character Ethan Hunt, with them having great performances and likable personalities with their unique skill set; the team dynamic of the film drives the film forward, so if anything big happens, you care if the team will survive and make it out alive; also, having Paris played great by Pom Klementieff was cool having help them out on the mission after the events of part one in the last film. Lastly, I will just add that I like the idea of the government or the rest of the world being against everything Ethan Hunt has done in the last seven films despite things happening for a good reason and are just accidental collateral damage.
The villain from the last film Gabriel played well by Esai Morales was still not a bad villain, with him having a past with Ethan Hunt that was introduced in the last film, though him serving the entity was interesting because of the influence of AI, but he can be intimidating too at times; but he did become an over the top character as this film went on with him being crazy in scenes or just over the top evil in other scenes. The action sequences are still great like the past seven entries in the franchise, with the great suspense and impressive practical stunts that you know Tom Cruise is doing for real, along with the film having high stakes; issues involve the near three-hour runtime, drawn out scenes, scenes that could be cut out, and that there could have been more humor like the last seven films; there are a couple moments that were funny, but the film mainly takes itself seriously and focuses on the finality and tension of the situations.
The final eighth film Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025) was a satisfying conclusion to the franchise with great performances, amazing action, cool cinematography, excellent stunts, and some emotional stuff, along with great suspense and remarkably high stakes; the film has a couple funny moments, but it takes itself seriously building the drama because of the climatic finality of it all, so just expect not much humor like the other films and a long near three hour runtime that could have been trimmed a little. This was a satisfying conclusion to the long running Mission: Impossible franchise ending twenty-nine years later, so this is for the fans of the franchise and for just action movie fans, so as someone who is both, I highly recommend this; it might not be better than three or four of the last entries, but it is still worth watching despite the issues, making this a great final entry.
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
The future favors the brave
Lately the Marvel Cinematic Universe has not been as great as it should be, with its recent films and shows being not that good or just ok, and the show The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021-2021) I did like but had a couple issues with but liked that Sam Wilson/Falcon was becoming the new Captain America; with the fourth Captain America film being his first film in the role, I want it to be good. The Marvel film Captain America: Brave New World (2025) was just ok at best with good acting, dialogue or script issues, weird uses of CGI and green screen, plot holes and things that are dissatisfying, and tie-ins to a Marvel Hulk film from seventeen years ago that gets wrapped up in this Captain America film; the reshoots and difficulties behind the scene are noticeable in this, whether its CGI, green screen, or rushed lines of dialogue from characters in certain scenes that stand out.
I still like Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America, and the dilemma he goes through on if he should be Captain America and if he should have taken the super soldier serum while trying to do his best in this role, that part of the movie I did like when it wasn't cutting back and forth between mining rights and a mystery going on despite knowing who it is. The new Falcon Joaquin Torres was ok, like he did not do much in the film except have some comedic banter with Sam Wilson and try to help in the action sequences before being out of the rest of the film; his character was fine but did not add much except comic relief. Lastly, Harrison Ford gives a reliable performance as Thaddeus Ross, trying to prove he has changed since other Marvel film events which was I also liked, but when it tries to prove he is changed or is doing something right, it reveals he did something wrong in the past until the end; I'll just add seeing him turn into Red Hulk in the third act was cool with a cool CGI design and look to him.
The villain is Samuel Stern/The Leader who was affected back in The Incredible Hulk (2008), though actor Tim Blake Nelson is giving an excellent performance, what the character does is not that great and despite his hatred against Thaddeus Ross is his motive, he did not prove he had a superior intellect like he is supposed to have by being bested at certain points and having a weak conclusion near the third act climax; also the inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito as Sidewinder did not do much except to give information or have some action scenes against Sam Wilson. The action scenes are cool and fun despite the noticeable CGI and green screen, but what is difficult to understand is that this film felt more like an The Incredible Hulk (2008) sequel by tying up the loose ends from that film in this in generic ways, along with plot holes and script issues with the dialogue; the reshoots and behind the scenes did a lot to this film to mess up the story and the espionage tone it was trying to copy from the Marvel film a while back Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
The Marvel film Captain America: Brave New World (2025) was just ok at best with good acting, dialogue or script issues, weird uses of CGI and green screen, plot holes and things that are dissatisfying, and tie-ins to a Marvel Hulk film from 17 years ago that gets wrapped up in this Captain America film; the reshoots and difficulties behind the scene are noticeable in this, whether its CGI, green screen, or rushed lines of dialogue from characters in certain scenes that stand out. This was not terrible, and it was not great, it was just ok, which was disappointing because I could have seen this being good but the reshoots and the fact that it felt more like a The Incredible Hulk (2008) sequel brought it down; this is not Marvel's worst but it is not their best, along with a lackluster after credits sequence, so this film might not be a high recommendation when the last three Captain America films were better.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025)
Death runs in the family
I like the Final Destination franchise, as in I like the first three films and the fifth film more than the fourth film The Final Destination (2009), despite it being an entertainingly bad film compared to the others; so, knowing that we are getting a sixth Final Destination film got me excited because this franchise can be a lot of fun and the premise to this sixth installment made it seem like something different will happen. I can say the sixth installment Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) was great by having good performances and characters, brutal bloody deaths, effective humor thrown in, suspense, good practical and CGI effects, and some more rules to death; also, this was Tony Todd's last performance as Bloodworth, and it his scenes were very touching with him having a speech in the film that could be taken towards him, his character, or the fans of horror or the franchise.
The main characters/the main family of the film were likable enough where you can get behind them, especially the lead girl Stefani Reyes, but also that the family dynamic of the film was a pleasant change of pace along with each family member having a funny line of dialogue here or there; the way the main premonition of the film ties into the family/the grandmother was interesting, and how it comes for them was interesting. The family getting picked off is the main draw of this film, so there are not that many other characters in the film, other than Tony Todd giving a touching final performance as this Bludworth character, the rest of the film focuses on the bloodline between the family members and the way Stefani Reyes puts it together is easy to follow and straight forward; also, I like how each member of the family is still mean to one another but there are still moments of them caring for each other no matter what happens next to them.
The intricate kills are brutal and bloody with a great mix of CGI effects and practical effects, though some of the kills were unintentionally funny or over the top sometimes, there are effective uses of suspense, especially in the main premonition of the film involving a sky tower; the CGI blood effects could get distracting, but I thought it added to the entertainment factor of the kills and how they are set up. The family bloodline of the plot is new and interesting having it do something different, but it still manages to follow the typical Final Destination formula from the other five films before this, which I am fine with; also, they do have more I guess lore behind the events of the previous films giving a new rule and some kind of explanation for certain things death has done earlier in the franchise that I thought was interesting and cool to get more behind it.
The sixth installment Final Destination: Bloodlines (2025) was great by having good performances and characters, brutal bloody deaths, effective humor thrown in, effective uses of suspense, good practical and CGI effects, and some more rules to death; also, touching final performance from Tony Todd as his character Bludworth before he passed away. The sixth installment in this franchise was and entertaining to watch, with there also being some scary suspense, which will make fans of this franchise satisfied; after liking this sixth film, I hope this does well enough where we can get a seventh installment after this.
Companion (2025)
Find someone made just for you
I did not know anything about this film because the teaser trailer was vague and the synopsis on IMDB does not give that much information about anything the film focuses on, so whatever reveals in the film is going to be a surprise; what got me interested in this film, other than the questionable teaser trailer, was that this film is by the same creators as the horror film Barbarian (2022) another film I did not know that much about going in but liked a lot after seeing it, so I was hoping to feel the same thing for this film. The thriller Companion (2025) was great with excellent performances, well-done suspense, lots of surprises and twists, great cinematography, a premise that is interesting and makes you ask questions about the world, and an entertaining dark sense of humor; I do not want to go too far into spoilers because I want you to go into this not knowing much, but I will talk about non-spoiler details involving the plot and keep anything involving spoilers vague to keep you in the dark about what happens.
This is in the main trailer for this film, so I am going to say Sophie Thatcher gives an excellent performance as Iris this companion robot made for romance purposes, once she learns about her existence and finds out about her settings and how to tamper with them, she does so much amazing stuff as an actor being scared, smart, upset, questioning, and being awkward but realistic at the beginning when it came to being in a relationship; when she does get some sort of upper hand in certain points, you are on her side the rest of the film. Jack Quaid also gives an exceptional performance as Josh who is just an awkward loser who has Iris as his companion robot for romance stuff, but at the beginning he already seemed controlling because of the way he talks to Iris, so once the reveal occurs and he becomes increasingly like a jerk who is actually involved in something bigger going on making him a weird character. Lastly, I am just going to say that there are other characters who are friends of Josh who also have something to do with a bigger situation going on, and each one of them are entertaining and have their own kind of character backstory so you can at least get behind them in many scenes.
The main trailer gives away the companion robot part of the plot, but while watching the film there are way more twists and turns throughout, they do this to keep the energy high or to keep it interesting/thrilling to watch because of the number of surprises in the film; the comedy of the film worked well with the rest of the film and the jokes were edited well so they were more effective and the film keeps you on your toes throughout the film so you do not know where it is going to go making the thriller part of the film fun to watch. Lastly, I will say that other than liking the pretty and nice-looking cinematography of the location a lot, I like some of the subtle world building this film does involving how the companion robots work and how they are used in the world along with keeping certain details vague without giving you too much information and details; also, the main plan or thing going on with Josh and his friends was interesting figuring out what they were doing and how they did it.
The thriller Companion (2025) was great with excellent performances, well-done suspense, thrilling sequences, lots of surprises and twists, great cinematography, a premise that is interesting and makes you ask questions about the world, and an entertaining dark sense of humor; I do not want to go too far into spoilers because I want you to go into this not knowing much, but I will talk about non-spoiler details involving the plot and keep anything involving spoilers vague to keep you in the dark about what happens from the beginning to the end of the film. I really liked this film and liked the topics it handles when it comes to relationships, who you date, or how any girls or women might act while having a controlling boyfriend/lover; this film might not be for everyone depending on if you like these kinds of films, but I highly recommend giving this a watch and going in knowing nothing about it, it will help with the experience and the many twists and turns it throws at you.
Dog Man (2025)
Part dog. Part man. All hero.
The graphic novel Dog Man series by Dav Pilkey this film is based on is cute and entertaining for children, now DreamWorks is doing an adaptation of the Dog Man graphic novels, just like how they made an excellent adaptation of the Captain Underpants graphic novel series also by Dav Pilkey with the film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017); because DreamWorks did an amazing job adapting the Captain Underpants graphic novels, I was excited to their adaptation on another graphic novel series by the same author. The DreamWorks film Dog Man (2025) is a fun and entertaining animated movie that has great voice acting, excellent animation, fun action, funny comedy, a nice message for families, and things people who are fans of the Dog Man graphic novels will notice and like seeing; the whole film looks and feels like the graphic novels it is based on just like the Captain Underpants film DreamWorks released eight years ago, making this film entertaining and funny to watch because of the visuals and sense of humor it has.
The lead character Dog Man does not say anything, so all we get is facial expressions and standard dog noises like barking or growling, and it works well throughout the whole film, and you know what he is thinking/feeling in certain situations especially when you know how he becomes Dog Man at the beginning of the film by learning about the connection he had with his owner/police partner; I liked the dynamic between Dog Man and the chief of police because they were both funny and they each had their own scenes that was either funny or emotional. There are not that many other characters in this film except for the chief of police voiced great by Lil Rel Howery who has a lot of funny moments in the film with him trying to prove he is not shown to be stupid but instead a good police officer when on duty, so he works with Dog Man very well but wants to show he is as good as him; the other character is a reporter named Sarah Hatoff voiced well by Isla Fisher who shows up throughout the film with some funny scenes.
The main villain is a cat named Petey voiced great by Pete Davidson who was throughout the film with him making contraptions to fight against Dog Man in many different was, which includes him breaking out of cat jail a lot and Dog Man trying to find him, but also you do get some backstory behind him after he makes an adorable clone of himself named Li'l Petey voiced in cute ways by Lucas Hopkins Calderon; Li'l Petey was adorable and him not knowing how to be evil like his creator was funny with there also being a great friendship between him and Dog Man. I loved the animation and visuals because it feels like the graphic novels it is based on with funny sight gags, details on certain objects or buildings, certain misspellings like how a kid would spell or say things, and visually fun action sequences with the overall very funny sense of humor kids and some adults will like; I will also add that the soundtrack score to the film is well-done, the film has effective emotional moments, and a good message about friends and family.
The DreamWorks film Dog Man (2025) is a fun and entertaining animated movie that has great voice acting, excellent animation, fun action, funny comedy, a nice message for families, and things people who are fans of the Dog Man graphic novels will notice and like seeing; the whole film looks and feels like the graphic novels it is based on just like the Captain Underpants film DreamWorks released eight years ago, making this film entertaining and funny to watch because of the visuals and sense of humor it has with how it states the obvious about certain things or dumb characters will act at certain moments. I was just as entertained as the DreamWorks's last film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), that is because they knew how to take a well-loved graphic novel series and make it into a visually pleasing and fun animated film that lots of families can enjoy; give this a watch if you are a fan of the graphic novel series or if you like DreamWorks's films in general.
Kraven the Hunter (2024)
Villains aren't born. They're made.
When it comes to the Sony Spider-Man spin-offs the Venom film trilogy is the best ones in this universe because it is fun and funny despite some issues with each one, but then you have Morbius (2022) which was just bland bad, and Madame Web (2024) was laughably bad and by far the worst one; what I have heard is that this Kraven film will be the last one of these spin-off films Sony will make, but what gave me little hope was that this film is rated R so hopefully it will be at least entertaining or fun to watch. The film Kraven the Hunter (2024) is an entertainingly bad movie but in a fun way which is why I will say that it is at least better than the last spin-off film we have gotten because the lead performance is not bad, the action sequences are fun, some good cinematography, parts of the story that could be interesting, and characters who have potential; there are quite a few issues in this film with some involving bad side characters, poor development for one of the antagonists, dumb moments in the story, and occasional odd sound design.
I will start by saying that Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter gives the best performance of the film, because you do understand his past and him not wanting to be a crazy person in a way like his father, but he was cool to watch in action sequences; there is also some kind of connection you feel between him and his brother Dmitri Kravinoff played fine by Fred Hechinger, who does not do much in the film except be the emotional side of Kraven's past other than their mother and move the plot along. The character Calypso Ezili played ok by Ariana DeBose does have a connection to Kraven and how he became who he is but also is mainly just there to move to the next plot point in certain scenes; her scenes go from being a bit silly to being too bland while also knowing about Kraven's father in the process so she can help out in some way by the third act climax. Lastly, I am just going to say that I wanted more development on the brother or Calypso to at least have me care about someone during any intense moments or just in any action sequence that occurs, but then again, the one of the main antagonists are not that great in terms of knowing something about them.
One of the main antagonists is Aleksei Sytsevich/Rhino played by Alessandro Nivola who I did not care about and the only thing you know about him is that he hates Kraven and Kraven's father, and he uses a serum to have hard skin and be strong; when he becomes his full Rhino form, the design is close to how the comics portrayed the character but it misses out on some small details and the CGI design around the face and body looked off and it made me laugh because of how silly it did look during an action sequence near the third act. The other antagonist is Kraven's father Nikolai Kravinoff played well by Russell Crowe who is the cause of terrible things that occur in Kraven's past, who takes hunting very seriously, and he is too hard on his two sons on how to be a good hunter and to be a man; the main thing I noticed is how there is nothing else to him except that he will make up excuses for certain things and complain about how a real man is supposed to deal with a problem, but then he is dealt with quickly in a sort of satisfying way.
The action sequences are fun to watch and bloody/brutal to watch which is why I like that this is rated R, but also, I do remember some action/chase scenes that were entertaining to watch, along with some parts in the story that was interesting, but that is what leads into the issues with the film; the film has bad performances from side characters, bad dialogue that was done in ADR, a script that had a mix of interesting ideas and bad lines of dialogue, and lots of dumb moments with multiple things that do not make sense when it comes to defeating a villain, how the lead character is developed by the end of the film, along with another villain character from the comics named The Foreigner who is played ok by Christopher Abbott but is only there to get to help out the main villain and use his powers a couple times. I know there are people saw this film and hated it or thought it was boring, but though I agree the film was bad, I did not think the film was boring and was thoroughly entertained by it because what would occur in the film would be stupid but it was still fun in some way, which is why this film did make me laugh at quite a bit at the dumbest moments like these weird abilities that Kraven somehow gets despite not being in the comics.
The film Kraven the Hunter (2024) is an entertainingly bad movie but in a fun way which is why I will say that it is at least better than the last spin-off film we have gotten because the lead performance is not bad, the action sequences are fun, some good cinematography, parts of the story that could be interesting, and characters who have potential; there are quite a few issues in this film with some involving bad side characters, poor development for the antagonists, dumb moments in the story, and occasional odd sound design. This is better than Madame Web (2024) despite it still being bad, but I would watch this again as one of those guilty pleasure films that I can put on and be entertained by, while also notice certain things being setup by the end of the film that I know is not going to be followed up on; you can skip this if you do not like these Sony Spider-Man spinoff films, but if you do like them, you might have some fun with this.
Moana 2 (2024)
The ocean is calling
I liked the first film Moana (2016) by Disney, so I was interested in a sequel that could expand on what the first film started, but what did worry me was that this film had a lot of stuff going to get it released; the film was originally a show for Disney+ which meant the plot would work for a whole season of a show, but it was turned into a sequel to Moana (2016) out of nowhere, so this film depends on if the premise can still work as a theatrical film release. The sequel Moana 2 (2024) was ok and not that bad like some people have said because the voice acting is well done, the animation is excellent, the premise is interesting, the songs are fine, and some of the comedy is ok; the issues with the film revolve around how the film feels like an entire season of a show condensed into a one hour and forty minute film, rushed development, callbacks to the first, and things that do not make sense that include missed opportunities involving the story.
Once again Auli'i Cravalho does a wonderful job as Moana with her being older and a Wayfinder looking for other people on different islands, which is why I will say that I like her development from the first film to here and how she is expected to certain things told by the ancestors but in reality does not know too much about what is happening; the only thing I will say is that there is a bit character development that was rushed that I did find out of nowhere. Dwayne Johnson is still entertaining as Maui, and I like the friendship between him and Moana, but he does not meet up with Moana until halfway through the film once certain things are brought to light and we get a better understanding of what the objective is; when he shows up, he is entertaining and funny at some certain moments, including in some action sequences near the third act climax. Lastly, the crew Moana puts together to come with her on her journey was ok, but they did not have much to them except for one character trait that works like a quirk of some kind; when this was originally an animated show, this would have had multiple episodes to develop them, but there is not enough time in a full animated film like this to make us care for them.
The main villain, who is just someone working for a bigger villain, is this bat demigoddess named Matangi voiced well by Awhimai Fraser who was a cool character and all, but she does not have that much big a role except gets in the way of the main characters at one point and have a quick song number; the bigger villain Matangi is working for is this storm god named Nalo who does not like humans and does not show up in the film while instead he has a bunch of storms attack the lead characters, which makes it a bit disappointing that we do not get to see this character after lots of build up and talk about him. Though the songs were not made by Lin-Manuel Miranda in this film like last one, the songs were not bad because there are at least three or four songs I remember liking, but the rest are forgettable despite not being bad; the animation is excellent, but the main issue relies on how this film is condensing a show into one hour and forty minutes because of the rushed development, rushed songs, missing opportunities in the story despite it being interesting, and there just being unnecessary callbacks to the first film.
The sequel Moana 2 (2024) was ok and not that bad like some people have said because the voice acting is well done, the animation is excellent, the premise is interesting, the songs are fine, and some of the comedy is ok; the issues with the film revolve around how the film feels like an entire season of a show condensed into a one hour and forty minute film, rushed development and song numbers, callbacks to the first, and things that do not make sense that include missed opportunities involving the story. Though I still like the first film more than this, I would say that this is not a completely bad sequel, other than the issues with the execution and changing it from a show to a film, it could have been worse compared to any other Disney sequels in the past; this was not as bad as some people are saying it is, so I would suggest watching it at least once if you are a fan of the first film.
The Killer's Game (2024)
Winning is all in the execution
This film is based off a book with the same title by author Jay R. Bonansinga, which I have not read and did not know anything about, so the way I saw it from the trailer is that it looked like an action comedy with a good enough premise and well-known actor in the lead role; after watching it, I can start by saying that this film is not completely bad but instead is entertaining and fun enough to watch. The action comedy The Killer's Game (2024) has good performances with a mix of over-the-top performances, fun action, occasional funny moments, an investing romance for the lead character, a well-executed premise, and good choreography in the fight sequences making the film at least entertaining or fun to watch; the issues I had involve uses of CGI, a villain that is not the film that much, formulaic execution in the action sequences, and an ending that felt a bit rushed.
Dave Bautista gives an enjoyable performance as Joe Flood with him being likable enough, so you are on his side throughout the film when he is fighting people or trying to protect his love interest when it comes to his job as an assassin, along with feeling for him in some kind of way when he gets his false rest results; I actually did like the romance between Joe Flood and the love interest Maize played by well by Sofia Boutella, that is because they spend quite a bit of time developing their relationship near the beginning before the plot starts going, they only time the romance did not work was in a scene in the middle of the third act/third act climax. The last thing I will say here is that the rest of the characters are just the villains and Joe Flood's assignment giver played well by Ben Kingsley, but he is not in the film that much and is only in some small scenes of him talking to Joe Flood about his current situation.
The antagonists are Antoinette played by Pom Klementieff and a bunch of assassins who all have something to do, but Antoinette is not in the film that much except for some scenes to keep the plot going, and the assassins that are after Joe Flood are all over the top in their own way with them getting taken out quickly, except for one assassin played by Terry Crews who gets more screen time compared to the others; the film was also brutal and bloody when it came to the entertaining kills, despite the blood being CGI which make it a bit distracting at times, I still was entertained. Most of the action sequences were well-done with good cinematography and stunts, along with there being a fight scene here or there that could have shortened the number of cuts used between shots, but I was still had some fun with it; the comedy of the film was ok because there were occasional funny lines of dialogue that worked well with the action, but what makes the film feel formulaic is how the film executes its action sequences and how each assassin appears to fight Joe Flood, along with an ending that felt rushed with some of the romance forced in that did not fit the third act climax.
The action comedy The Killer's Game (2024) has good performances with a mix of over-the-top performances, fun action, occasional funny moments, an investing romance for the lead character, a well-executed premise, and good choreography in the fight sequences making the film at least entertaining or fun to watch; the issues I had involve uses of CGI, a villain that is not the film that much, formulaic execution in the action sequences, and an ending that felt a bit rushed for no reason at all. This film was a fun and entertaining enough action comedy that you can watch at least once and forget about afterwards, or it is just one of those action films you can play in the background; like I said before, I would recommend this film if you wanted an entertaining action film to watch, but I am not going to watch this again and I could mostly likely find better action comedies to watch.
The Voices (2014)
Hearing voices can be murder
The premise and the poster for this film was what got my attention and got me to watch this, along with having actors like Ryan Reynolds and Anna Kendrick in this as a plus, but also, this film is one of those early films before Ryan Reynolds became more well-known after the first Deadpool (2016); after watching this dark comedy, I can say that this film is weird and I have a mix of positive and a couple negative thoughts relating to the writing, direction, or the ending. The dark comedy The Voices (2015) is entertaining enough with the random or weird directions it takes but for positives it has good performances, off and on funny dark humor, weird and random moments that weirdly contributes to the comedy, good CGI for the talking mouths on the cat and dog, and backstory put into the main character made me a bit more interested in Ryan Reynold's character; for negatives, it comes around to some humor not working, the comedy and dark intense stuff work well together up to a point, and an ending that was a bit confusing at first but understood it a bit more after watching the film.
Ryan Reynolds gives a good entertaining performance as Jerry who is a likable nice guy slowly going insane and psychotic, because I did understand his struggle trying to be normal and ignore his cat and dog talking to him constantly telling what path he should take regarding the situation, and when he does take a dark turn, it is by accident or he is slowly becoming more insane with murderous intent; the cat named Mr. Whiskers and the dog named Bosco are both voiced by Ryan Reynolds with them having different sounding voices, and the talking animals can be funny sometimes and they are pushing Jerry in different directions with the dog wanting him to be normal and the cat wanting him to go down a dark path. The rest of the characters is just Jerry's coworkers and his therapist trying to help him with his condition, though I did not care that much for any of them, especially the coworker named Fiona who stands him up for a date, but there was one coworker character which I did like who is named Lisa played by Anna Kendrick; Lisa was the only one I liked seeing with Jerry and working off each other.
The main character Jerry is the antagonist of the film because of him going back and forth between trying to be normal or being a murderous crazy person, but also, I like how they show how Jerry sees the world around him and how different and darker it is compared to how laid back and bright he thinks everything is; the film is brutal and bloody, but I did like the progression of Jerry throughout the film and he tries to deal with certain situations, leading to an ending I thought was weird for a film like this. The CG mouths on the talking animals were good and there were some occasional effective funny moments and serious moments, but some small moments where the humor would distract from the intense or dark turns it takes in the plot, along with an ending I was not expecting and was wondering how it led up to it; the main thing I liked was Jerry's struggle in trying to be normal but is being forced down a darker path.
The dark comedy The Voices (2015) is entertaining enough with the random or weird directions it takes but for positives it has good performances, off and on funny dark humor, weird and random moments that weirdly contributes to the comedy, good CGI for the talking mouths on the cat and dog, and backstory put into the main character made me a bit more interested in Ryan Reynold's character and what made him decide to take drastic bloody measures; for negatives, it comes around to some humor not working, the comedy and dark intense stuff work well together up to a point, and an ending that was a bit confusing at first but understood it a bit more after watching the film. This film is not bad, I did like and think Ryan Reynolds's performance is what stood out to me the most because of how well he portrays this character, but I do not think I will watch this film again, because though it was not excellent or perfect, I did enjoy it; this why I say this is worth watching if you like the premise or Ryan Reynolds as an actor.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
New Friends, Old Enemies.
The stop-motion studio Aardman is one of the best stop-motion studios out there besides Laika Studios, because Aardman has given us multiple great films like Chicken Run (2000) or mainly the film that follows the great shorts called Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005); now Aardman has made a new Wallace & Gromit movie for Netflix along with a new voice actor for Wallace after the great original voice actor Peter Sallis passed away, so when going into this. I was interested in seeing how the new voice actor was going to do in the role and excited to see a new Aardman film. The Netflix film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2025) was a great return for these characters with excellent stop-motion animation, an investing story, an entertaining villain, and a good twist near the end that connects to a previous Wallace & Gromit short from 1993; there is not much to say about this movie, other than the fact that this movie is and entertaining and enjoyable animated movie.
The new voice actor Ben Whitehead who voices Wallace does a respectable job in the role sounding close to the original voice actor, which is why I bought that this character would be too invested in making inventions to do simple everyday things, so it also shows some concern when he makes a smart gnome to yard work and Gromit is against it; Gromit does a lot for Wallace making him a great character, and having to do most of the investigating when these smart gnomes start turning evil and doing weird or unexpected things, along with him liking things to go back to basics instead of relying on inventions for everything. The other characters include Chief Inspector Mackintosh, and an excited new police officer named PC Mukherjee who both are trying to figure out who is responsible to this crime wave involving multiple burglaries and smart gnomes that makes them think Wallace is involved; also, the chief is involved with the arrest of Feathers McGraw long ago while the rookie is taking this case because she is looking for action.
The antagonist from the short Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (1993) returns to be the villain in this film, and it was entertaining to see Feathers McGraw return for revenge against Wallace and Gromit but also to try and get the blue diamond again, because his plan in this movie is funny on how it is executed, creepy because of the evil smart gnomes he uses, and just plain evil because of all the stuff he does in the film that executes his revenge; the smart gnomes he hacks and uses to falsely accuse Wallace of being evil were creepy and funny in many scenes of the film which made both them and Feathers McGraw threatening. The stop-motion animation was once again excellent, especially since Aardman always puts a lot of effort in their films, but also because there are lots of details on the characters, backgrounds, and objects/vehicles throughout the film; the animation works with the comedy of the movie and there is quite a bit of pretty cinematography and fun little action sequences, especially in the third act climax.
The Netflix film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2025) was a great return for these characters with excellent stop-motion animation, an investing story, an entertaining evil villain, funny comedy, and a good twist near the end that connects to a previous Wallace & Gromit short from 1993; there is not much to say about this movie, other than the fact that this movie is and entertaining and enjoyable animated movie, especially if you like stop-motion films. This new movie was great, and I like it as much as the shorts and the film from 2005, so I will recommend giving it a watch on Netflix; if you love stop-motion animation and Aardman's films like I do, then I can see a lot of people liking and enjoying this.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
Speed vs Power
I have thoroughly enjoyed the first Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) film, I liked the sequel film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) more than the first despite liking the first film, and I liked the spinoff Knuckles show that kind of connects the second and third film together; this new film introduces fan favorite character Shadow the Hedgehog and is mainly based on the game Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) with some inspiration from the game Shadow the Hedgehog (2005); I was of course excited to see how this would handle Shadow's story and how many comparisons to the game Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) there were going to be since I have played quite a bit of the original video game. The film Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) was the best one in the Sonic film trilogy with its great acting and voice acting, fun and fast action, funny humor, effective emotional and serious moments, excellent use of fan service, and wonderful uses of the lore from the games; what might bother people is the changes in Shadow the Hedgehog's story, but I still thought it was effective keeping it close enough to the games in a satisfying way.
Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, and Idris Elba are still great as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, especially now that they are a team with each one of them having their own personality traits that contribute to the film by having Sonic learning to work with others and be a team which goes well with the story, along with him having more funny lines of dialogue; Tails is the brains of the team making gadgets and making the plans, and Knuckles is the muscle of the team who also has funny lines in the film making them and Sonic great to watch go on this adventure. Though they are only in the film for a few scenes because this focuses more on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles this time, I still like James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Tom and Maddie in this film just like the other two films, because they do make a difference to the plot, and they do have funny moments in the film; but, what I have liked about in the other two films is what I liked in this, which is the family dynamic between Tom and Maddie and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles because it adds to a couple of intense or emotional moments and it gives Sonic some motivation while on Earth.
We get the introduction of fan favorite character Shadow the Hedgehog now voiced perfectly by actor Keanu Reeves, and I thought he was awesome in the film, with him wanting revenge on G. U. N for what happened to him, Maria, and Gerald Robotnik and for being imprisoned for fifty years; his backstory has been changed a bit which could bother some people, but I thought it was handled very well making it fit well with what the Sonic film universe eventually having him go up against Sonic, and I bought the relationship between Shadow and Maria which was emotional and a bit dark. Jim Carrey has returned to play Ivo Robotnik/Eggman but also his grandfather Gerald Robotnik, and many scenes with them was funny with Gerald being eviler than Eggman and them both using their smarts in weird but comedic ways; this film still stays true to what the game Sonic Adventure 2 (2001) did with the Eclipse cannon, but also this film has so much fan service from the game that made me love the film more and have more fun. Lastly, the action scenes/chase scenes were excellent with how fast paced they were, how each member of the team gets something to do, and how Sonic and Shadow will fight each other leading to awesome fight scenes and an amazing third act climax; also, the film has effective dark, emotional, and comedic moments.
The film Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) was the best one in the Sonic film trilogy with its great acting and voice acting, fun and fast action scenes/chase scenes, funny humor, effective emotional and serious moments, excellent use of fan service, and wonderful uses of the lore from the games; what might bother people is the changes in Shadow the Hedgehog's story, but I still thought it was effective and worked well with what the Sonic film universe had set up, especially since it still keeps it close enough to the games in a satisfying and enjoyable way. I say will say that this is the best of the Sonic film trilogy, though I like the first film and like the second film more than the first, I thought this third film was better than the other two; each film in this trilogy got better and better with each film being fun and enjoyable to watch, and each film giving more and more lore from the games giving us a fantastic video game adapted trilogy that is great for Sonic the Hedgehog fans.
Nosferatu (2024)
Succumb to the darkness
This is a remake of the old movie Nosferatu (1922) which was based on the novel Dracula by author Bram Stoker, I have not read the book, but I have seen the old 1922 movie and thought it was fine for something long ago, so having a remake especially one by director Robert Eggers was going to be interesting to see; I will just start by saying that I liked this remake and thought it visually great to watch, but I can't see myself watching it that often. The remake Nosferatu (2024) was a visually pleasing and dark film that had excellent performances, beautiful cinematography, cool practical effects, disturbing and unsettling moments, great directing and writing, and a creepy antagonist; there are a couple intense moments I guess you could say that might turn people off while watching the film, and though it was a little hard to watch, it still had something to do with the plot, along with the two hour and twelve minutes runtime making this not the most rewatchable.
All the performances in this film are excellent, like Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter who goes to Count Orlok's castle because of a real estate deal for him to buy a house in town, he gave an exceptional performance, and you can feel the growing sense of fear when he is at the castle; the best performance would be from Lily-Rose Depp as the wife Ellen Hutter, because throughout the whole film she has to play insane, infatuated, normal person, and loving wife all at once and she does an excellent job, especially when she has to do insane things or weird love scenes because she is giving it her all despite how intense they are. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emma Corrin as Friedrich and Anna Harding who are friends with Thomas and Ellen also give great performances, with them trying to help with certain things that occur to Ellen Hutter but get effected in the process leading to dark and disturbing moments in the film later. Lastly, in terms of other characters, Willem Dafoe as Prof. Albin Eberhart von Franz gives a satisfactory performance; despite having a weird voice, he still gave a believable performance as this person who has some knowledge on Count Orlok and warns people about him rising again many years later, which leads to a big moment by the third act.
Actor Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok was great as in when you see him in full view near the end you cannot recognize him at all which was amazing to see, but also the whole film he is in the dark shadows or is shown in dark silhouettes which led to some cool looking camera shots and eerie scenes; the voice of him was intimidating and all throughout the film he was giving off a dark, gothic, and creepy feeling which made the film not necessarily scary but at least creepy and disturbing to watch. I will start by saying that the cinematography of this film is excellent, with it having great wide shots of the scenery including the main town, Orlok's castle, or shots of the landscape while Thomas is travelling, along with snowy shots of the town or landscape that were pretty in that dark gothic sense; the film was not scary to me but I thought it was creepy and disturbing to watch, especially since there are quite a few intense scenes that could be hard to watch depending on the type of audience member who can handle it. Lastly, I will just add that this did have similarities to the original 1922 film with it copying small scenes but also focusing and expanding on ideas from the original that were only hinted at in a subtle way, like the pain of a Plague in the town.
The remake Nosferatu (2024) was a visually pleasing and dark film that had excellent performances, beautiful cinematography, cool practical effects, disturbing and unsettling moments, great directing and writing, and a creepy antagonist; there are a couple intense moments I guess you could say that might turn people off while watching the film, and though it was a bit hard to watch, it still had something to do with the plot by doing something dark that fits the theme, along with the two hour and twelve minutes runtime making this not the most rewatchable film. It might not be as rewatchable as could have been, but I still like it for the new take on the story with the beautiful cinematography and great performances; not something I will instantly go back to, but if you can handle what occurs in this, then I will recommend giving this at least one watch because of the effort and dark visuals put into it.
Terrifier 3 (2024)
You better not shout, you better not cry
When it comes to the Terrifier films by Damien Leone, the first film Terrifier (2016) was not bad, the sequel Terrifier 2 (2022) was better than the first, and this now trilogy of films are known to be brutal and bloody with its kills and Art the Clown becoming more of a horror icon, along with it slowly revealing more lore about Art the Clown; with this one I am hoping to get a bit more explanation or just more lore on Art the Clown and I am going in expecting brutal, bloody, and somewhat creative kills. The third film Terrifier 3 (2024) was better than the first and about as good as the second film with it having good performances, brutal kills, a little bit more lore behind Art the Clown, Art the Clown being an entertaining character, great practical effects, and unsettling moments that worked well with the Christmas theme; the small issues I have with this one are the same as the issues I had with the second film, where there were a couple editing issues and there were a couple unnecessary scenes that could have been cut out.
I thought Lauren LaVera as Sienna was cool in the second film, but I thought she was great in this, with her trying to forget about Art the Clown and the events of the last film but is having trouble, and I liked how she is doing her best to ignore the random hallucinations she sees but deep inside she senses that Art the Clown is back somehow; once her and Art the Clown meet again, it was cool seeing her get passed any guilt she has and is going to stop at nothing to get rid of him, along with them having a lot of build up throughout the film before they go up against each other. The rest of the characters include Sienna's brother from the last film and Sienna's cousin Gabbie, with the brother being in college and getting over the events of the last film, and the cousin is a bit nosy/clingy when it came to Sienna and what happened to her in the last film; the performances of both of them were good, though the brother and the cousin do not have much to do, they have some kind of contribution to the plot in some way.
Just like the last two films, David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown is great to watch because he is funny, disturbing, and unsettling with him being brutal in his kills and not saying anything, which lets the actor use his mime skills; every scene Art the Clown was in he would start as being funny then he would go into disturbing territory, and along with him is the deformed Victoria who does a lot of weird and gruesome things, making the both of them unsettling. The kills are brutal and bloody just like the other two films, and because this has a higher budget than the second film, you can see all the great uses of practical effects when it comes to blood effects or how they execute the brutal kill; just like the last film, throughout this film I did not know what was going to happen next, which kept me on edge the whole film because I was not sure what direction this would take, even for seemingly normal sequences I was awaiting for something to happen despite being surprised or creeped out. The last thing I will say is that there are a few more hints of Art the Clown lore in this building on what was given in the last film, and the only issues I have includes scenes that could have been taken out to shorten the runtime a bit, because there were occasional scenes that had nothing to do with the scene before it.
The third film Terrifier 3 (2024) was better than the first and about as good as the second film with it having good performances, brutal kills, a little bit more lore behind Art the Clown, Art the Clown being an entertaining character, great practical effects, nice cinematography, and unsettling moments that worked well with the Christmas theme; the small issues I have with this one are the same as the issues I had with the second film, where there were a couple editing issues and there were a couple unnecessary scenes that could have been cut out. If you liked the other two Terrifier films like I do, then go on ahead and give this a watch, but for those who are thinking about watching these films for the first time, I would suggest preparing yourself just in case you cannot handle the excessive gore and disturbing moments; if you can handle the intense moments, then I would highly recommend giving this a watch, especially if you love slasher films like I do.
Dear Santa (2024)
Satan or Santa
The trailer for this movie made it look like it was going to be bad or just average at best, but much like all bad trailers for films, I kept an open mind on what I was going to get from it by seeing it for myself while also hoping for at least a good Christmas comedy from it; after watching it, it was not perfect but it was better than what the trailer made it look like, because I thought this movie was enjoyable to watch and funny at times despite any small issues I might have. The Paramount+ Christmas comedy Dear Santa (2024) had some good performances with a likable enough lead character and entertaining enough Jack Black character, comedy that was between funny and awkward, fine magic effects, a fine Christmas message thrown in, and there were cameos I did not expect; the issues involves some of the humor, the performances of some side characters being over the top or unlikable, and the movie could have been a bit shorter in order to work with this premise.
Actor Robert Timothy Smith gives a reliable performance as the lead character Liam Turner, with him just wanting to ask out the girl he has a crush on and wanting to keep his parents together, he was a likable enough character who accidentally writes a letter to Satan and is trying to seem crazy in front of people; I like that he learns to stand up for himself and change as a character in some kind of way, but I will just say that his parents were idiots and did things they should not do if their son is saying/seeing weird things. Jack Black as Satan gives an entertaining enough performance as this entity getting the letter and assuming the kid summoned him, but despite trying to take Liam's soul by giving three wishes, he most often is there to explain some rules and help Liam with his wishes but both him Liam worked well together in a weird way that makes it believable enough for why Satan is sticking around. Lastly, as a quick thought, there cameos in this that were weird seeing, like Post Malone, and then having actors like Keegan-Michael Key in a small role for no reason at all when anyone could have played his character as this doctor.
There is no antagonist in this movie, it has an interesting premise involving a misspell of a Santa letter, the only antagonists in this are people Liam must try and stand up against during the holidays, so I will just start by saying the comedy in the movie was off and on for me because of the kinds of jokes in this can be a bit too childish or awkward; when the comedy works, the film can be funny at times, just not funny in a dying laughing way. The film does have a message by the end that does work fine with what the movie was, and certain things about who Jack Black's character really is and why he is doing what he is doing was ok; the issues I have, other than some of the humor and characters, it is that for this premise I thought the movie could have been a little bit shorter because it did feel like some scenes were to fill the runtime for no particular reason, along with some characters being forgotten about despite focusing on them or talking about them throughout the film.
The Christmas comedy Dear Santa (2024) had some good performances with a likable enough lead character and entertaining enough Jack Black character, comedy that was between funny and awkward, fine magic effects, a fine Christmas message thrown in, and there were cameos I did not expect; the issues involves some of the humor, the performances of some side characters being over the top or unlikable, and the movie could have been a bit shorter in order to work with this premise. This movie was better than I thought it was going to be because I enjoyed it and was entertained enough to say give it one watch, this is not an excellent movie hence the issues; not terrible, and not amazing, just enjoyable enough.
Red One (2024)
The mission to save Christmas is on
All I know about this film is that it is a Christmas movie with big name actors and a premise that involves Santa being kidnapped, but what I noticed about other reviews on this film is that a lot of people are hating on this film for some reason; after watching it, I will say that it is way better than all the negative reviews have been saying about it, but that doesn't mean it does not have some issues in there involving its predictable formula. The Christmas film Red One (2024) was enjoyable and fun enough to watch with good performances, fun action, an interesting villain, some predictable moments, occasional plot holes, good enough effects, some funny moments with some cheesy moments, and there is a good Christmas message; though the film would occasionally have predictable moments with some generic moments, there was at least enough creativity in this film to make this fun to watch, so I would say that people are being a bit harsh on this film.
Both Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift and Chris Evans as Jack O'Malley worked well together, with Callum Drift being part of the E. L. F division at the North Pole working for Santa and is supposed to be the best bodyguard, and Jack O'Malley being at the top of the naughty list who is dragged into helping find Santa because he might have information on how to find him; Callum and Jack have their own arcs that are nicely handled, they both work off each other well, and they were most often funny together. The rest of the cast includes Lucy Liu as Zoey who is the leader of M. O. R. A at the North Pole, and J. K. Simmons as Santa who is the one who gets kidnapped and is barely in the film; despite giving performances and having some kind of part in the plot, they are both not in the film that much, but Santa has some cool things about how he delivers presents and Zoey has good moments in the film.
The villain of the film is this Christmas Witch played by Kiernan Shipka who would go back and forth between a reliable performance and an over-the-top performance when acting evil, and despite thinking she was a weird villain, she was intimidating enough with cool powers and a plan involving getting rid of naughty people; there were also other mythical creatures like Krampus that were done well, and the comedy of the film went back and forth between being funny and awkward. The action sequences, though a bit of noticeable green screens and average effects, they were fun and entertaining to watch with it being either fight scenes or chase scenes depending on the situation and what Christmas magic they will use; the CGI was fine, and the uses of practical effects were not bad, the film feels familiar with it being predictable at times, and there is some uses of creativity with how they use Christmas magic or how they work with certain mythology.
The Christmas film Red One (2024) was enjoyable and fun enough to watch with good performances, fun action, an interesting villain, some predictable moments, occasional plot holes, good enough effects, some funny moments with some cheesy moments, and there is a good Christmas message; though the film would occasionally have predictable moments with some generic moments, there was at least enough creativity in this film to make this fun to watch, so I would say that people are being a bit harsh on this film. Despite it being predicable at times with occasional plot holes, the film does have a nice Christmas message in it at least with it just being a fun Christmas film in general; I do not think this will be a Christmas film that will be rewatched all the time, but I do think people were too harsh with this film, and I do recommend watching this at least once.
Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015)
You can't save them. All you can do is watch.
This is supposed to be the sixth and last Paranormal Activity movie in the franchise that did not need to be a franchise in the first place, because the first two films were good enough with the third and fourth film being ok at best, and the film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) was not that good; all of the films before it has done the same thing despite the last film trying to do something different, so I don't have the highest hopes for this movie. The sixth and last film in the found footage franchise Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) was not good and ruined what was at least scary about the other films because of it having generic performances, a disadvantage of being in 3D, idiotic characters, plot holes and continuity issues, a demonic entity you can fully see now, and a magic ghost seeing camera that makes no sense; the way it tries to connect with the others could have been interesting, but instead just lead to an ending that did not have much finality to it.
The main family we follow are just like the other people we have met in the last five films, and following the same formula of their house having an entity in it by not believing in it at first, doing idiotic things, filming everything with a camera for no reason at all, and eventually trying to do something about the demon even if it is too late; what I do not believe is that the husband just finds a custom built camera that can see the demonic force in their house, along with him not showing footage he has to his unbelieving wife throughout the whole movie until the third act. The wife does not do much in the film much like the husband and the performances for them both were ok at best, but I will say that the child performance for the daughter was not bad and was believable in many situations involving the demon using her do certain things for him, or just doing weird things that the parents don't do anything about and ignore completely.
What ruined the film and what the previous films have been doing for a long time was that you can see the demonic entity on camera, and it just looks like some kind of black mass or the Venom symbiote from Spider-Man, which made the film less scary and just funny to watch this blob move around the house; the demon's plans make no sense because of how it uses the daughter to do things for him despite being able to do it himself, along with how the demon will do certain things and the parents either brush it off or the demon cause damage in the house drawing attention to himself. The movie was not scary because we can see the demonic entity, the 3D effects were bad with bad CGI, and the characters were idiots who did not know anything about their house despite just now moving into it; the connections the other films were interesting by making it come full circle, but by the end I did not care anymore and I lost interest.
The sixth and last film Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension (2015) was not good and ruined what was at least scary about the other films because of it having generic performances, a disadvantage of being in 3D, idiotic characters, plot holes and continuity issues, a demonic entity you can fully see now, and a magic ghost seeing camera that makes no sense; the way it tries to connect with the others could have been interesting, but instead just lead to an ending that did not have much finality to it and I lost interest while the credits were rolling. If you like these Paranormal Activity films, then go ahead and watch this because you will like it, but if you are getting tired of these films like I am, do not bother watching this; just watch the first two or three films, and you will get effective enough scares and something that had effort put into it.
Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014)
Once marked it is already too late
Since the good enough Paranormal Activity (2007), each sequel after it has gotten ok or just not as good as the first because the found footage formula it follows is all the same, making me want to see something done with it that is at least done well to keep me interested in this film franchise; so, with this film, it's supposed to be a one-off from the past films, but I bet it will somehow connect to the others in a way that either makes sense or in a way that makes it confusing. The found footage film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) was not good despite the different direction it takes because the performances were average and annoying, the effects were off and on between being cool or silly, the plot includes what we have seen before, and the connections to the other films would be hard to follow with the way it connects being unbelievably stupid by the end; the film has occasional entertaining moments and interesting moments in the plot involving the marked main character, but it still did not work well.
The main character Jesse was an ok lead, with him getting a camera as a graduation present and filming lots of stuff that occur, which is because both Jesse and his friends were doing dumb things that got annoying, along with them trespassing in their neighbor's apartment leading to Jesse getting marked; the idea of Jesse slowly getting turned demonic could have made the film interesting, but because I did not care about the character and because his progression felt rushed, It did not work and it got a bit silly when he starts using these weird powers. The rest of the characters are Jesse's friends and family or people to give information on the demonic entity, so there is not much to say about them, except that they are all idiots who will eventually get killed off or will cause dreadful things to happen; if the characters were likable or not annoying to watch, then the film could have been a bit better despite the many issues it has.
The found footage is used well for the most part despite there being random moments of them filming nothing with the camera, and the dialogue in the film could have been better; the invisible entity has infected Jesse and is mainly just using him or giving him abilities for no specific reason, but this film does have entertaining dumb moments with him using these abilities, which could have been an advantage to the film but instead felt too silly for something like this just and was unbelievable. There were occasionally out of nowhere moments I did not expect and the ending of the film did surprise me in a sense because of the direction it was heading, but the way they connect it to the first film was one of the worst parts of the film; lastly, I will say that the found footage element of the film worked fine in this, but the issues I found in this involved the characters not being that smart and the new direction they were heading being not that great.
The found footage film Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014) was not good despite the different direction it takes because the performances were average and annoying, the effects were off and on between being cool or silly, the plot includes what we have seen before, and despite the new direction it still follows the same found footage formula as the other films; the film has occasional entertaining moments and interesting moments in the plot involving the marked main character, but it still did not work well. I thought the film was bad, but I will give it credit that it tried to do something different, it just did not work out well; so, if you are losing interest in this franchise, then this film is not worth watching; just can watch the first three or four films and you won't miss anything.
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
It's closer than you think
I liked the first two Paranormal Activity films fine, but I thought Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) was just ok because it did not do that much different except give more context about the events that occurred in the two films before it; the only thing that got my attention with this fourth movie was that it was an actual follow-up sequel to the first, unlike the second and third film which were prequels to the first. The sequel Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) was an ok enough follow-up to the first with the same found footage formula as the other three with some new stuff, but there were average enough scares, ok creepy imagery with the invisible entity, dumb characters, and some illogical things that do not make sense that was a little annoying; there were a issues in this mainly using jump scares instead of natural scares and moments that did not make sense in terms of what was happening.
The main girl named Alex played by Kathryn Newton was fine but was just a generic character who is finding certain information on the demon entity we already know about, along with her doing dumb things in bad situations or at times making assumptions early on that does not help her out later; the boyfriend of Alex was not bad because he was at least on the main character's side about weird things happening around her house, with him also helping at times until the end of the film. The child actors for the son of the main family named Wyatt and the weird kid named Robbie, though the performances were not bad, they felt like any normal or weird kid we have seen before like with Robbie interacting with the entity and trying to get Wyatt to see it; though both were average, a certain reveal involving them occurs later on, and I will say I was intrigued by where it was going for a short while to the end.
The found footage is coming from cameras in the house or from computer cameras, which were used well for the most part despite having a weird reason in being turned on, and the certain way a certain character could hack into the computer cameras and look at the footage was a bit stupid; the invisible entity does what it has done in the last three films and the practical effects for when it is interacting with stuff is not badly done, but this film had dumb moments like using an Xbox 360 Kinect to know if the demon entity is in the room with them, which could have been interesting but instead felt too silly for something like this just like all the other stupid stuff in the film. There were occasionally out of nowhere moments I did not expect and the ending of the film did surprise me in a sense, along with moments that somehow tie into the events of the last three films; lastly, I will say that the found footage element of the film worked fine in this, but the issues I found in this involved the characters not being that smart or ignoring serious occurrences that are happening in the house.
The sequel Paranormal Activity 4 (2012) was an ok enough follow-up to the first with the same found footage formula as the other three with some new stuff, but there were average enough scares, ok creepy imagery with the invisible entity, dumb characters, and some illogical things that do not make sense that was a little annoying; there were a issues in this mainly using jump scares instead of natural scares and moments that did not make sense in terms of what was happening even if they try to have some explanation for it. I thought the film was average, with it having a bit of cool imagery and intriguing moments despite having dumb characters; so, for those who at least liked the last three, you might like this one depending on if you are still on board with these films and the familiar formula they follow with each film.
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
It runs in the family
I did like the first film Paranormal Activity (2007) enough to recommend it, and the second film Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) was not bad, so now the third film is a full prequel taking place in 1988 giving more information on how it all started; after watching this sequel, I will say that I thought this film was fine, not as good as the other two and it has issues. The third film Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) was an interesting enough prequel film that gives more information on how the three films connect to one another while also following the same found footage formula as the other two, but there were ok enough scares, ok creepy imagery with the invisible entity, dumb characters, and some illogical things that do not make sense for the timeline it takes place in; there were a bit more issues in this mainly involving the ending and the film using jump scares instead of natural scares.
This focuses on young Katie and Kristi's family in 1988, so the reasons for the demon haunting them were both interesting and dumb because of how it is executed on camera; the mom's boyfriend was the one I was off and on about believing in the Toby demon entity or recording things just because he can until the weird occurrences start happening, but he was dumb in when he should get out of a situation involving the demon, because he does do things he shouldn't in this situation. Lastly, the child performances for young Katie and Kristi were not bad, with them interacting with this invisible entity in a believable enough way, but there are certain things that should freak them out but do not; there is more information on how this demon entity character that was a bit interesting and how it connects, but the film still feels like how the other two played out.
The practical effects are still good like the other two films, but this film was not scary or had any unsettling moments but instead had moments that were more visually interesting; the way the demon entity drags someone, interact with objects and doors was nicely handled but could have been done differently since it has been done before. Not seeing demonic entity named Toby because is a way to make the film scary in a sense, so it was effective when it is suddenly revealed it is making the kids do something weird or mess with the parents, along with there being cameras all around the house each night showing more footage but the type of camera and quality of the camera did not makes sense for the time it takes place in; lastly, I will say that the found footage element of the film worked fine in this, but the issues I found in this involved the characters not being that smart or doing dumb things to lead to an average ending.
The third film Paranormal Activity 3 (2011) was an interesting enough prequel film that gives more information on how the three films connect to one another while also following the same found footage formula as the other two, but there were ok enough scares, ok creepy imagery with the invisible entity, dumb characters, and some illogical things that do not make sense for the timeline it takes place in; there were a bit more issues in this mainly involving the ending and the film using jump scares instead of natural scares. The film was ok, but I did not find it scary or anything, but the film had some cool imagery despite having an average ending; so, for those who liked the last two, you might like this one if you are fine with the found footage element.
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
Nothing can prepare you for what's next
I did like the first film Paranormal Activity (2007), though it did not terrify me like people said it would, I still liked the use of the found footage element and how it did its scares, so having a sequel to it makes sense since the first one was successful and was cheap to make; after watching the sequel, I had the same thoughts I had when I saw the first film, just now with an occasional issue. The found footage sequel Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) was good like the first with the ways they use the found footage element on the film and using a bigger house, there being fine scares, some creepy imagery with the invisible entity, and the main thing I still like is that we don't see the demon entity; though I like it about the same as the first, there were a couple issues I found while watching it compared to the first film, especially since a lot of people know this takes place before the events of the first film.
Mainly, there are essentially just the main family involving Katie's sister Kristi, her daughter and husband, and the young son Hunter, so it consists of one being an unbeliever and the other two being reasonably freaked out about what is happening; the husband Daniel was the one I was off and on about believing in the demon entity or just making illogical assumptions about weird occurrences, but when he does start believing, he does try to do something about it at least. Lastly, Kristi acts how we would in this situation by being freaked out, trying to deal with the demon, and trying to protect her young son the demon apparently wants; there are more hints on how things could connect to her and the progression of her character, along with there being connections to the first movie and how things come together in a way that does at least make sense.
The practical effects and work that was done on the film was well done with there being some unsettling moments and a couple good scares; the way the demon entity drags someone, interact with objects and doors was nicely handled and was a little disturbing. I still like that we do not see the demonic entity because it makes the film scarier in that sense since what you cannot see is scarier than what you can see, so it was effective when it is suddenly revealed at times that it was next to them or somewhere in the room watching them, along with there being cameras all around the house each night showing more footage because of the weird events that would happen; lastly, I will say that the found footage element of the film worked as an advantage because it was a way to make the film feel real, but the issues I found in this involved the characters not using logic in their accusations about what the demon is doing and the film took quite a while to get going when the film started.
The found footage sequel Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) was good like the first with the ways they use the found footage element on the film and using a bigger house, there being fine scares, some creepy imagery with the invisible entity, and I liked how they used the demon entity; though I like it about the same as the first, there were a couple issues I found while watching it compared to the first film, especially since a lot of people know this takes place before the events of the first film. I liked the film but did not find it terrifying or anything like others might have said, but the film had effective creepy imagery and an unsettling ending with easy-to-understand connections to the first film, so for those who liked the first, give this a watch and you might like this.
Paranormal Activity (2007)
What happens when you sleep?
This film and the movie The Blair Witch Project (1999) are what started the horror movie genre known as found footage, and despite what I have heard from many people who have seen the very first Paranormal Activity (2007) have said it was the scariest thing they have seen at the time, but after I watched I didn't think it was as scary as people have said; but despite it not being completely scary, it does not mean I did not like it. The first film Paranormal Activity (2007) was good with the ways they use the found footage element on the film, the occasional scares, some creepy imagery with the invisible entity, and the main thing I liked was that the demon entity could not been seen; when it comes to this film or the sequels is that you will be bored if you have low attention spans, but for those who can hang on beginning to end, this film is worth watching at least once.
Mainly, there are essentially just the main couple Micah and Katie and rarely will you see anyone else, so I will just say that these two characters consists of one being an idiot and the other being reasonably freaked out about what is happening; Micah was the one I thought was as an idiot because of how he does things he shouldn't do when having an entity like this in their house, along with recording pointless things and ignoring things Katie says, but I will say he does have his moments where he is a good boyfriend so I can't completely hate on him. Lastly, Katie acts how we would in this situation by being freaked out, trying to call a professional, and trying to deal with the demon problem by trying to get rid of it; there are hints on how things could connect to her and the progression of her character till the unsettling ending was well-done, along with certain things that occur that has you questioning things about her.
What I looked up in the trivia was that this movie was filmed in ten days, and despite knowing what kind of film this is, it was impressive for a first-time director to film this in a short amount of time because of certain things that occur because of this invisible entity like someone being dragged or something being moved on camera; the practical effects and work that was done on the film was well-done with there being some unsettling moments and a couple good scares. I like that we do not see the demonic entity because it makes the film scarier in that sense since what you cannot see is scarier than what you can see, so it was effective when it is suddenly revealed at times that it was next to them the whole time, along with it mainly focusing on the bedroom each night because of the weird events that would happen; lastly, I will say that the found footage element of the film worked as an advantage because it was a way to make the film feel like real events of sorts.
The first film Paranormal Activity (2007) was good with the ways they use the found footage element on the film, the occasional scares, some creepy imagery with the invisible entity, and the main thing I liked was that the demon entity could not been seen; when it comes to this film or the sequels is that you will be bored if you have low attention spans, but for those who can hang on beginning to end, this film is worth watching at least once so you can understand the impact it has had. I liked the film but did not find it the most terrifying thing I have seen like others have said, but the film had effective creepy imagery and a deeply unsettling ending, so for those who have not seen it, give it a watch.
Transformers One (2024)
Built like brothers. Forged into enemies.
When it comes to the Transformers movies, I did not like the live-action films directed by Michael Bay that much and the two live-action films Bumblebee (2018) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) were good and the closest to accurate live-action interpretations of the show; I was excited for this new film because it was animated, and an origin story, along with this being the first animated Transformers film since The Transformers: The Movie back in 1986 that was part of the old animated series. The animated film Transformers One (2024) was excellent with great voice acting, fantastic animation, fun action, likable lead characters with comedy that is mostly funny, and the origin story part of the film is investing from beginning to end; I will say that the first trailer for this film made it look ok, and the second trailer got me more interested and excited for it, after watching the film, I am glad it was way better than what I thought it was going to be.
Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry were great as Orion Pax and D-16, I liked their friendship throughout the film with them both looking out for each other, and once they start having different ideas about how to be a leader to lead the city of Iacon to the future once certain things are revealed later on in the film; Orion Pax took risks and would get into trouble but learns and knows what is right which D-16 saving him from situations, and D-16 looking up to the primes and Sentinel Prime up to a point, and eventually getting more intense after being revealed the truth about his life. I thought Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 was not bad and I thought he was a little bit off and on when it came to his humor since he is the comic relief at certain times, but luckily it does not go to too far with because they will hold back once an emotional moment or intense moment occurs; lastly, though she does not do much in the film, I liked Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1 who was occasionally funny and was entertaining to watch in action scenes.
All I will say is that the villains include Sentinel Prime, voiced well by Jon Hamm, and these cool looking beings known as the Quintessons, and I do not want to go too in-depth in what they are doing in the film, but I will just say Sentinel Prime is an entertaining and unlikable villain; there are other bots in the film like Soundwave, Shockwave, the character Starscream voiced well by Steve Buscemi that have things to do in the plot later in the film. Though the comedy of the film was funny, I loved seeing how Orion Pax and D-16 slowly split apart going on different sides and eventually shows them turn into Optimus Prime and Megatron in such an intense and visually pleasing way, especially since the animation is fantastic; the action sequences are fun to watch, the film balances the humorous moments with the intense moments very well, leading to emotionally impactful moments and a satisfying ending.
The animated film Transformers One (2024) was excellent with great voice acting, fantastic animation, fun action, likable lead characters with comedy that is mostly funny, effective intense and emotional moments and the origin story part of the film is investing from beginning to end; I will say that this film is what Transformers fans have been waiting for, with it having what people wanted to see and having a compelling origin story about how the rivalry between Optimus Prime of the Autobots and Megatron of the Decepticons came to be. This film was incredibly good, and I highly recommend giving this a watch if you have not already, especially if you are a Transformers fan, you will love this film because it gives you what you have been wanting for a long time since those live-action films came out; Transformers fan or not, this is still a fun, entertaining, investing, and funny film to watch.
Piece by Piece (2024)
Turn up the volume on your imagination
I liked the other Lego movies that came before this from Warner Brothers, but despite liking the films The Lego Movie (2014), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), and the sequel The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019) Warner Brothers lost the rights and now Universal has the Lego rights; what got me interested in this film was that it was a documentary about Pharrell Williams's life told in Lego animation, so it depended on if this concept was going to work or not in order for this film to be good. The Lego movie Piece by Piece (2024) was an entertaining and enjoyable film with an interesting life story of Pharrell Williams, excellent Lego animation, well-done songs that already exist with some new songs, and well-done voice acting; the film was one hour and thirty-three minutes long and I was never bored while watching it, and the Lego animation made the experience more vibrant and fun to watch.
All the "characters" in the film are real celebrities like Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg, etcetera voicing Lego versions of themselves telling certain stories they had when they met Pharrell and liked the music he created, so there is not much to the characters, which is why it focuses a lot more on the Lego visuals and what Pharrell's story is about; regarding Pharrell's story, I found it interesting on how he started as a kid who was called weird to eventually making music for famous pop/rap artists, making his own songs, and just being a well-known person he is today. Lastly, other than the Lego animation showing his life very well, it will also occasionally go back forth between showing the events of his life and showing Lego Pharrell talking to the Lego version of the director of the film interviewing him and other people which done well and still felt like a real interview despite the Lego animation showing it in between the many visuals.
One of the main things I thought was excellent was the Lego animation, because it was great in showing pretty and creative visuals that replicate how Pharrell sees the world, and it was great to watch just like seeing Lego versions of celebrities, pretty locations with details in a lot of Lego buildings, and the visuals include nice shots of outer space and creative occurrences; the Lego animation did surprisingly well with the Lego animation, and made more invested in his story along with wanting to know more about how he got over certain problems he had in his life when moving up in the world. Last thing I will say is that Pharrell Williams fans will like this film and like the visuals of the Lego animation, for me, I am not a big Pharrell, but I still like his stuff, and the Lego animation added on was nice to see despite already finding his story interesting already.
The Lego movie Piece by Piece (2024) was an entertaining and enjoyable film with an interesting life story of Pharrell Williams, excellent Lego animation, well-done songs that already exist with some new songs, well-done voice acting, and the film was well put together with how they also used old audio from the past and animate over it; the film was one hour and thirty-three minutes long and I was never bored while watching it, and the Lego animation made the experience more vibrant and fun to watch. To end this off, I had an enjoyable time watching this documentary animated film, with the Lego animation making it even more nice to watch with pretty visuals and a nice message; if you like documentaries, Pharrell Williams, or Lego movies, then you will like this.
Venom: The Last Dance (2024)
'Til death do they part
I did like the last two films Venom (2018) and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) because they were fun, funny, and entertaining to watch despite some of the issues I had with them, so getting to this conclusion to the trilogy I am expecting it to be at least entertaining to watch; after watching it, I can say I liked it as much as the other two, with it also being fun, funny, and entertaining to watch with some issues that stood out to me. The concluding third film Venom: The Last Dance (2024) was a good ending with good performances, funny and awkward comedy, fun action, plot holes with occasional awkward dialogue, occasional random moments integrated into the plot, and some touching moments between Eddie and Venom; the issues I had with this film stood out to me but I still had fun watching the film, but I will also say that if you did not like the other two Venom films, then you might not like this one.
Once again, I like Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock with him dealing with being on the run since the ending of the last film because of certain events, and the whole road trip feel to the movie with Eddie and Venom was one of the better parts of the film along with the relationship between them; I still like the dynamic between Eddie Brock and Venom's relationship on how they will argue, deal with certain issues/situations, or just have occasional conversations about them being on the run from symbiote hunters and special forces. The rest of the characters involve a family Eddie and Venom meet on the road with the dad played by Rhys Ifans, though I thought there was quite a bit of time spent with them for no reason, but then I thought it was a way to show humanity in the film to show what is at stake; the other characters include special forces leader Strickland played well by Chiwetel Ejiofor who does not do much except to look for the symbiotes, and there was Dr. Teddy Paine played by Juno Temple who did not do much except to have a little backstory that does not go anywhere.
This is in the trailer, so it is not a spoiler, but other than the special forces looking for Eddie and Venom there is the King in Black named Knull who needs Venom to get free, because he does not do much in the film, we have these symbiote hunter monsters that have creepy designs and kill people in brutal ways; though this film is PG-13 like the other two films, this one gets away with a bit more subtle uses of gore and brutal violence that does help make the film entertaining and close enough to an R rating. Despite the action sequences being fun to watch and the relationship between Eddie and Venom being great, there are certain plot holes and things that occur that does not completely make sense, along with the comedy going back and forth between being funny and being awkward or cringey; I did like the road trip aspect of the film, along with comic accurate moments with symbiotes and Knull, and everything in the film lead to a heartfelt conclusion that I liked and it did make me want to cry a bit.
The concluding third film Venom: The Last Dance (2024) was a good ending with good performances, funny and awkward comedy, fun action, plot holes with occasional awkward dialogue, occasional random moments integrated into the plot, and some touching moments between Eddie and Venom; the issues I had with this film stood out to me but I still had fun watching the film, even though Sony will likely not fulfill the King in Black storyline involving Knull and other stuff involving the symbiotes. Despite the issues, I still had fun watching this film and thought it was nice ending to this Venom trilogy; if you liked the other two films, then you will enjoy this third film, but for those against these films, you will not like this.