movietalkwithmuhammed's reviews

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was overly advertised as the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Phase Five. It also set to have Kang the Conqueror who was depicted to make Thanos look like a walk in the park. Marvel really puffed up what this movie was going to be, and it did not deliver.

Before reading any further, if you are a die hard MCU fan, then you will most likely disagree with my rating and review of this movie. That is okay.

About 90% of the movie takes place in the Quantum Realm, but it did not introduce anything new about it. It lacked any depth into strengthening its value and place in the MCU. It just seemed like if Ant Man and the rest of the main cast were fighting on one of the distant planets in Star Wars; it was just there with no build to the greater hierarchy.

The dynamic between Cassie Lang and her father, Scott Lang/Ant Man, was absolute garbage. If you rewind the clock, Ant Man was stuck in the Quantum Realm back when Thanos snapped his finger. He was gone for five years before luckily escaping, and that was lost time he could have had with his daughter. When they reunited, it was heart felt and full of emotion. That was the last of seeing their relationship. Then now Cassie had so much resentment towards her father, and it went unexplained. What happened from then to now?

Kang's character was a joke. He was not the threat marketing/advertising made him to be. He lacked conviction, and he lacked that villain presence that fuels fear. Even at the end of the movie, Ant Man himself was reflecting on their battle, and he literally brushed it off his shoulder like one would after tripping and falling then just simply picking yourself back up.

If anything, the end credit scene is what really setup for the future of the MCU. Honestly, it felt like what Dwayne Johnson did with Black Adam's end credit scene where he had Henry Cavill return for a Superman cameo. What is the point of that? Overall, save your money and wait for this to stream on Disney.

There was so much noise and distraction about this movie leading up to its release in theaters. At the top of that list was the criticism DC Comics and Warner Bros. For casting Robert Patterson as Batman/Bruce Wayne. But like I said, that is noise and distraction.

One crucial expectation to make clear about this movie is to differentiate between those viewers who love the comic books and the anime versus everyone else. This expectation was made clear to me after watching the movie opening day. The movie involves depth about both the heroes and villains. It is dark, calculated, and is a true Dark Knight. On the other hand, there is everyone else who is used to the Marvel/Disney mold for movies; it is all the same story but with different characters. The movies are bright, gloomy, and they all give you the same feeling walking out of the theater (except for Avengers: Infinity War when they finally took a risk but then quickly snapped it out of existence with Endgame a year later). This crowd will probably not enjoy The Batman.

This movie involved an incredible amount of depth in each of its characters. What I most enjoyed was the history of Thomas and Martha Wayne to the Arkhams and Carmine Falcone. Another aspect of the movie that I really liked was its offering of Gotham. Here it showed more of the city itself and how the corruption vined its way through the city.

Batman/Bruce Wayne: This Batman was intense. He was truly the Dark Knight. I was shocked at the minimal screen time that Bruce Wayne had. It was about 75% Batman and 25% Bruce Wayne. But I will say one characteristic he lacked was his ninja/shadow ability. There were many points throughout where crime was in progress and you could hear his slow, methodical footsteps nearing you. I understand it was there to add weight to the fear of Batman that the criminals had; however, I believe it takes away from Batman's skillset. I also was not a fan of the collar leading from his cape to his mask; it was just strange and did not blend well with his suit.

Selina Kyle/Catwoman: When comparing to previous actresses who played Catwoman, Zoë Kravitz's blows the rest out of the water. She was Catwoman at her truest form. She was nimble unlike any of the others. I enjoyed the Selina Kyle's origin here and how she fit into the bigger picture of the puzzle.

Riddler: This Riddler was more of Hush (from the 2019 Batman Hush movie). He was much more cynical, had nothing to lose, and had Batman right where he wanted him. Traditionally speaking, Riddler will be a step ahead of Batman, then Batman will quickly catch on and stop Riddler. Hush would take things a step further and even threw Batman off when it was revealed who he truly was. That is how Paul Dano's Riddler felt to me. When he was suited up, I saw him more as Hush than Riddler. But then when he was out of the "Riddler suit", I saw him more as the Riddler.

Penguin: I could not believe that was Colin Farrell as Penguin. He really changed his image to fit into this role. However, I do not think it was worth the cast. At least for me, I did not get that full Penguin vibe when comparing to the anime Penguin.

I highly recommend watching The Batman. It will please the comic book and anime lovers. For everyone else, try not to compare it to a Marvel movie and appreciate it for its true worth.

The latest installment in the Scream franchise was way too predictable, the plot was overexplained, and it really did not have any horror suspense.

Within the first 10-15 minutes of the movie, Ghostface was quickly and easily identified. After that, it was just a matter of time for the "big reveal" at the end of the movie. It really took away from any interest in the movie because now as a fan, the ending is already laid out. Now it is just a matter of time to get there and see it happen.

The plot was too predictable to the point that it felt like this movie was made for an audience that cannot think for themselves. After the first murder victim, all the friends met at the house to talk about what was happening. Mindy Meeks-Martin;s character, played by Jasmin Savoy Brown literally laid out the entire plot in a monologue. It was like a spoiler was embedded in the movie's content as part of its early on scene. That is poor writing and directing. It bothered me that after that point, everything that was happening had to be thoroughly explained.

Scream really lacked any characteristics of a good horror, suspenseful, mystery, thriller movie. What took away from those aspects was the fact that the movie was predictable and overexplained. A viewer does not have to be a Scream movie series expert for this one to be predictable. One thing they kept on mentioning in the movie was this one is a "requel" (a reboot mixed with a sequel). It was made in a way where you did not have to watch any of the four previous installments because of all its predictability and overexplaining.

Overall, this movie is not theater worthy. It is more so of a let's scroll through Netflix and figure out what to watch.

The Fast and Furious franchise has become something terrible. Its foundation was amazing with their first two movies. The movies were all about the cars and family. But sadly, it has turned into some of the most unrealistic storylines imaginable. Honestly, I do not consider F9 to be a Fast and Furious movie.

Really the only things I enjoyed about this movie were the story behind Toretto's father being brought to life and John Cena's performance as Jacob Toretto. Although it is eight movies late, Toretto's father's story was finally brought to life on screen; previously in the first movie, it was only briefly talked about between Dominic and Brian. Cena's performance as Toretto was greater than I expected. I was worried that he would turn "WWE" in the movie, and I did not want to see that although I am a fan of WWE. It happened in Fast Five with Dwayne Johnson where his turning point was when he told Toretto that he would ride with him; at that point, his character went from being Hobbs to being The Rock, and I did not like that.

It is so disappointing to see such a great movie franchise steer so far away from its roots. It is no longer about the cars. Is it too much to ask for a car being built on screen as the Supra was in the first one? That aspect is so important because a lot was learned about the characters involved. Now building cars is not even a thought. The movie just went from country to country with new cars with crazy tech in each cut. The movie took place in what seemed to be two days. Where are you getting all these new cars from and how are you replacing them so quickly? Come on.

The action sequences were so out of this world that it was not believable. You mean to tell me a country's military is shooting at you point blank and they all miss. But then you can turn around with a pistol and randomly take down half their squad? Get out of here. Another one that got me was let us be shot at by missiles from a military aircraft and then jump out of the truck with not a single scratch. Get out of here.

Han's return was so ridiculous. The trailers should not have shown that; in fact, the trailers revealed way too much for this movie. There were a few people in the theater that briefly clapped when Han returned, but it really was so poorly presented in the movie that it felt like "oh, I guess he is back... cool".

Universal had a whole extra year to work with this movie because of the pandemic, and it still produced crap. They need to stop with this "agents saving the world" and go back to their roots. Make things about the cars again. Let's see a good race like the opening scene to 2 Fast 2 Furious. Make things about family and the relationships they build together. With the way this franchise is turning, I do not know if I will watch any future installments they produce.

Among all the movies that release each year, there are always 3-5 movies that I most look forward to. For 2021, Mortal Kombat is one of those movies. I mostly anticipated how Warner Bros. Was going to bring this universe of characters back to life.

This movie was short considering that it is under two hours in length. I believe that it was done to play it safe and jump right to what probably most audiences want to see, the fights. Do not get me wrong, I absolutely appreciate an action-packed sci-fi movie. But I also do desire strong character build. The issue with this movie's length is that it can only allow so much development and growth in the characters. Both sides had at least 6-7 characters to be familiar with, and that is too many characters to connect with in under two hours. Among all the villains in the movie, only two had any type of character development. Sub-Zero had the most development, and he was followed by Kano. From all the champions or defenders of Earth, Cole Young was the only character with focused development.

Scorpion too had some character build, but I felt he really deserved a much bigger presence. The movie gave the impression that his character was going to have a similar story presence to the 2020 animated movie Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge.

It is time to move on to the fighting. Each fight was shorter than what I would like to watch, but each fight was mind-blowing in its own way. One thing that Warner Bros. Really nailed right was the character cast and their acting/fighting abilities on the big screen which mirrored the characters in the video games. The one character that most impressed me was Max Huang's Kung Lao. Kung Lao's introduction brought me to the edge of my seat because it was so unexpected. The one fight that I most enjoyed was Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero; I like both characters, but I have always been a fan of Scorpion and his Shirai Ryu ninja clan. The movie was inevitably leading to these two fighting to the death, both fights between the two met all my expectations.

If Warner Bros. Continues this story in the future, I hope that it provides more appropriate connection between the characters and the audience. Each current cast member depicted his or her perspective charter exceptionally well, and I would hope to see each return. Moreover, if they do continue this series and introduce Johnny Cage, can you please cast Chris Evans to play him?

I really enjoyed the concept of Bloodshot. He is a US soldier that was relentless and determined to complete his mission. He has some characteristics of a cross between Wolverine and The Punisher. Like Wolverine, Bloodshot is a soldier who went through genetic enhancement, and in Bloodshot's case, it is in the form of nano technology that gives him the ability to instantly heal and super strength. Like The Punisher, Bloodshot has the tactical training to take down an entire security team without breaking a sweat. But the name Bloodshot was not suitable for the character; I would have been more content with another name for him.

The story was fantastic, and it was not too much. The trailers made it seem like Bloodshot would have his memory erased more times than what actually happened. I liked this better because it essentially was not frequently resetting the story. The entire movie was action packed, and it was fulfilling to get more of that than anticipated.

RST, the company that developed Bloodshot, had an interesting take on who they had. Each member was scientifically modified and enhanced. My favorite was the character Jimmy Dalton. He an enhanced soldier with two prosthetic legs and has super speed. His chase against Bloodshot had me on the edge of my seat and it surpassed any of my expectations.

Dr. Emil Harting (played by Guy Pearce) was an almost exact replica of Pearce's role as Aldrich Killian in Iron Man 3. I like Pearce as an actor, but I wish the producers, directors, and creators of Bloodshot had a better developed character for Dr. Harting. It just gave way too many Iron Man 3 vibes when he was on the screen.

As a kid, I would always watch the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series. My first video game was Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis. Needless to say, I am a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog and I was really pumped and ready for this movie!

I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. I really enjoyed how Sonic was given a back story on his home planet. That was a different side of him that was really interesting to see. He was really talkative, but it was in an exciting, curious, and comedic way. The visual effects of how Sonic looked and moved were on point; I have no complaints there. On the other hand, I was not too happy with what was done with his notorious Spin Dash signature move. The Spin Dash looked amazing, but it sounded underplayed.

Dr. Robotnik was entertaining. I was hoping to see a little more of him on screen though. I am hoping if there is a sequel, there will be more of a clash between both Dr. Robotnik and Sonic.

The movie was humorous, but it was more kid humorous than it was adult humorous. Although Sonic the Hedgehog was more a part of the 90's culture, this movie was designed more so for today's kids.