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Reviews
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021)
G.I. No
Just another reboot/remake/rehash/whatever of an old intellectual property that tries to capitalize on the diversity of it's actors, much like the Mortal Kombat reboot released earlier this year.
We get nothing about the origins of G. I. Joe, Snake Eyes' induction into the team, or Cobra's origins. Just a generic, "gritty", MCU-styled action film that doesn't respect the source material and features characters who only look good and are charisma vacuums.
The Stephen Sommers films (which were terrible) did a better job depicting Snake Eyes as the lethal, stealthy, and charismatic mute he truly is.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood (2019)
Confusing and frustrating
This is my first foray into Wolfenstein as I have never played these games for as long as I have been alive, and it's nothing short of rage-inducing.
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a first-person shooter that plays like an RPG with it's grinding, leveling system, enemy teirs, and heavy/light ammo mechanics. And of the little that I do know about Wolfenstein I'm certain that the mainline games are fairly linear shooters with none of these gameplay elements.
The gunplay feels good and the ability to upgrade your weapons is neat, but it's second to none compared with the enemy durability. They absorb damage while eating through your health and armor, even with your guns upgraded. To add insult to injury the upgrades you apply to your weapons transfers to theirs as well, giving them an unfair advantage. And to add to the frustration the enemy AI has heightened senses, making stealth difficult.
Then there is the game map. You're given a minimap and a marker to direct your characters through their objectives. But often times you'll get lost and run around in circles if you don't have a keen eye for your surroundings.
Now for my closing statements. I have heard and read people express their dissatisfaction over this game's protagonists, from them being females and supposedly pushing identity politics, to not being able to play as the male lead (B.J. Blazkowicz) from previous games, to the supposedly cringe nature of the playable character's personalities and interactions.
And honestly I don't care about any of that. It's the half-baked gameplay mechanics, even with the subsequent patches to make difficulty and gameplay simpler, that I take issue with.
Glass (2019)
Not for the faint of mind
Much of the discontent towards this film arises from the fact that it is marketed as an action thriller, when it is a psychological film about a man who orchestrates situations to achieve a desired outcome.
The first twenty minutes of Glass builds up as a crossover sequel to Unbreakable and Split, following the exploits of Kevin Wendell Crumb/The Horde (played by James McAvoy) and David Dunn/The Overseer (played by Bruce Willis) and their brief confrontation in an abandoned factory where a group of abducted girls are held hostage, only for the narrative to take a complete turn when a psychiatrist reveals herself and has the authorities lock up the two men in a mental institution.
From here we are reintroduced to Elijah Price/Mr. Glass (played by Samuel L. Jackson), the ACTUAL protagonist and friend-turned-foe of David Dunn from Unbreakable. Elijah Price is a mass killer obsessed with comic books who employs terrorist methods to awaken what he perceives to be latent abilities in gifted individuals.
And his story is more of a cat-and-mouse game in which he tries to outwit psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple (played by Sarah Paulson), who is part of a secret society that monitors, pacifies, and eliminates exceptional individuals, and her attempts to gaslight the three main leads into believing that they don't have superhuman abilities.
Glass eventually builds to a climax between The Overseer and The Horde, and an unexpected plot twist which angered many moviegoers, although Price achieves his goal of revealing the existence of superhuman individuals to the world. Personally, I enjoyed it for the ideas it tries to convey and the very limited budget M. Night Shyamalan had to work with.
Because Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson are renowned Hollywood actors with very expensive salaries, their roles in this film were relatively short to accommodate it's small budget. Although James McAvoy hammed it up brilliantly with his portrayal of an abuse victim with split personalities who manifests a cannibalistic persona in the form of The Beast.
Triple Threat (2019)
Amazing cast but a forgettable script
Triple Threat features some of the greatest martial arts actors of the past and present decade like Tony Jaa, Scott Adkins, Iko Uwais, and Michael Jai White. All of them showcasing their trademark martial arts skills on the big screen.
Unfortunately, this movie doesn't live up to it's ensemble hype. There was a lack of character development, the plot was paper-thin and inconsequential, and the chemistry of the three main leads was tenuous, although that's probably due to the language barrier and cultural differences between them. Tony Jaa, Tiger Hu Chen, and Iko Uwais are at their best when they're doing films for their respective national markets.
Death Race: Beyond Anarchy (2018)
A fun but by-the-books direct-to-video sequel
Death Race: Beyond Anarchy is not a bad film by any stretch, but it lacks the schlocky, insipid charm that made it's predecessors entertaining. The story is also lacking, since there are no real stakes for the protagonist to overcome other than winning the Death Race against the resident Frankenstein, who is not intimidating as a main villain.
Where Beyond Anarchy excels is in it's stunt cinematography, and the racing is no longer confined to a remote prison location, this time taking place out in the open, like in Roger Corman's original Death Race 2000. The look and feel of the film also has something of an anarchic, Mad Max vibe to it, although it wears it's influences on it's sleeves.
With that said, Death Race: Beyond Anarchy got very little exposure, even for a direct-to-video film. But it's cheap entertainment that will keep you relaxed and glued to your screen throughout it's two-hour runtime.
Midnight Movie (2008)
A canary in a B-movie coal mine.
I don't know how I didn't catch wind of this movie ten years ago when it was initially released, since I am a fan of low-budget horror films.
The plot of 'Midnight Movie' centers around a slasher film in the vein of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' titled "The Dark Beneath". Whoever watches the film is prone to being chased around by the fictional serial killer Ted Radfords (Arthur Roberts), who is somehow able to manifest himself in the real world.
Because he is a fictional character within the confines of our realm, he is unable to killed. Although this doesn't stop most of the theater staff and theatergoers who watch this movie from being picked off one by one. And in very gruesome fashion.
After the main protagonist, Bridget (Rebekah Brandes) and her younger brother Timmy (Justin Baric) end up the only survivors of the serial killers rampage, they find themselves dragged into the movie world of "The Dark Beneath" where they are forced to escape his clutches while trying to find their way back to the real world.
Overall, I thought 'Midnight Movie' was serviceable, since not too many films of this caliber get us invested in the main characters. The actors, especially the lead actress, gave good performances, and the practical effects were very convincing. I'd recommend 'Midnight Movie' to people who have nothing else to do and are looking to kill a little time.
The Night Comes for Us (2018)
Yet another action film directed in the style of The Raid
Much of the same cast from The Raid 1 & 2 reunite in 'The Night Comes for Us' to deliver some brutal beatdowns. Especially it's two most famous stars, Iko Uwais, who portrayed the police officer and main protagonist Rama, and Julie Estelle as the elite assassin Hammer Girl.
Both actors would go on to film 2016's Headshot where they portray rivals in the same gangster film scenario. And in 'The Night Comes for Us' our lead actor, Joe Taslim, also collaborated with Uwais in The Raid: Redemption, among a handful of other actors from the franchise.
Some people will enjoy this film for the level of entertainment it provides, and the continued collaboration of actors from The Raid films. But in my opinion it hits many of the same beats as it's spiritual predecessors with little of their substance. Just bloodshed and beatdowns all around.
Although I like Iko Uwais' screen presence, and it's interesting to see him play the role of an antagonist. Julie Estelle, who often portrays his nemesis in the films that they're in together, is given a more heroic role this time. And Joe Taslim is an ex-gangster seeking redemption by protecting a young girl who survived the massacre of a village he took part in destroying.
The Scorpion King: Book of Souls (2018)
What a franchise looks like post-mortem
The Stephen Sommers Mummy franchise, for all intents and purpose, is dead. There hasn't been a decent installment since 2008's Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, and the direct-to-video sequels to it's Scorpion King spin-off have been nothing short of terrible and unnecessary.
Yet, I'll concur that Book of Souls is an improvement over the last two Scorpion King sequels in terms of plot and cinematography, capturing the feel of The Mummy films. But not enough to revive long-term interest in a franchise that has since been relegated to the DTV ghetto. Especially when these films shuffle lead actors like it shuffles cards.
Dredd (2012)
Criminally underappreciated
Dredd is a simple action film with a simple premise that suffers from the legacy of a horrid 1995 Hollywood film adaptation to a British cult comic (2000 AD). It's a shame a sequel never saw the light of day, since Karl Urban was superb in his portrayal of Judge Dredd.
The Purge (2018)
This show needs to be Purged.
I guess four films worth of carnage and politically divisive propaganda wasn't enough. And it's not like the first three films weren't entertaining by their own merits, but I don't see a need for a television show about The Purge. We just got a new film not too long ago. What's next? A video game?
I tried to get into this program, but the premise of the The Purge works much better as a brisk-paced set of Action-Horror films where average working-class people try to survive a night of mayhem and lawlessness. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
The First Purge (2018)
Liberal dreck that panders to racial tensions and racist depictions.
Whereas the previous Purge sequels portrayed working-class protagonists, white and non-white, that audiences can relate to who try to survive the night of the annual Purge, this prequel panders to stereotypes and racial hatred.
Gang members and drug dealers are not the saviors of the black and Hispanic communities, but the elements that have us living in fear. Yet this movie goes out of it's way to depict them in heroic fashion, because the people who write this stuff are either gravely misinformed or are purposely trying to mislead audiences about the living conditions in the ghetto.
I don't know what happened with the production of 'The First Purge', but it is a tremendous drop in quality from the previous films in the franchise. The performances are unconvincing, and this film fails to set out what it was meant to do, which is to depict the social conditions that lead to the establishment of the New Founding Fathers and their creation of the Purge.