Crimes Of The Future is a hauntingly beautiful film from David Cronenberg.

As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. Accompanied by his partner, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser showcases the metamorphosis of his organs. Meanwhile, a mysterious group tries to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

Crimes Of The Future is David Cronenberg’s newest film since 2014 and while this might not be his most gory or disturbing film, it still is disturbing in a few interesting ways. For starters the film has the classic Cronenberg style that is so loved from his films and it’s excellent to see it back in full force, it’s the dark and mysterious atmosphere that compliments the world the film is taking place in. With this world surgery is the new sex and the world itself compliments that with a lot of architecture that actually tells the story of the world. While some might argue that there wasn’t enough world building, the film builds the world visually in a more non traditional way, there’s tons of shots here that really speak for themselves. The cinematography tells a lot of the story with some gorgeous shots that are captivating, plus you have the characters who really represent the film in quite interesting ways. The performances from the cast are some of the best so far this year, Viggo Mortensen and Léa Seydoux have great chemistry between one another and give both terrifying yet raw performances as well. But the standout here is Kristen Stewart who most definitely represents the film’s world, she gives this hauntingly beautiful performance that is truly hypnotic in every single way possible. Whenever she appears on screen she takes full advantage of her time on screen and goes all out, especially combined with Cronenberg’s direction and the mysterious atmosphere it just adds more to Stewart’s character and performance. Cronenberg’s direction is masterful with every sense of the word, he paints a picture that is both mysterious and unsettling. Finally there’s the body horror scenes that are truly fantastic and very well designed as well, Cronenberg does something completely different here with the body horror which is make it connect to the people of the film’s world and why they are so into it. Crimes Of The Future is also the perfect film to start with if you want to get into disturbing cinema or Cronenberg’s work! Overall Crimes Of The Future is incredible and is something that you absolutely must see knowing as little as possible, hands down my favorite film so far this year.

Crimes of The Future is currently in theaters, it will release on all VOD Platforms June 21st!

10/10 A+

Jurassic World: Dominion is another weak installment in the Jurassic Park franchise.

Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live and hunt alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

Jurassic World: Dominion is the final film of the Jurassic World trilogy, while Dominion is definitely better than Fallen Kingdom by a lot that is really not saying much at all. The few positives come from DeWanda Wise and Jeff Goldblum (who’s actually a main character unlike in Fallen Kingdom) who try to give this movie as much life as possible, lastly there’s a few fun chase/action scenes that are serviceable but nothing to write home about. The rest of the movie however is one gigantic mess that is a very weak way to close the trilogy, the performances from everyone other than Wise and Goldblum are either terrible or soulless, it’s nice to see Laura Dern and Sam Neil return but they are restricted to a very weak script that becomes a gigantic mess and strangely don’t feel as important as they did in the first Jurassic Park. The “villain” is played by Campbell Scott who is honestly very forgettable, the villain serves little to no purpose outside of being included for the sake of being included. We know very little about him and the I guess twist of him being the villain is so predictable that the movie doesn’t even try to hide it from the first scene he’s introduced. The performance Scott is terrible and way too over the top, I’m not exactly sure what they were trying to go for here but whatever it was it did not work. Another huge issue with Dominion is that it’s an unfocused mess that can’t decide what it wants to be, does it want to actually be about the dinosaurs or does it want to be about these collection of characters rescuing Maisie? Which leads into my next point the movie is very formulaic as in it basically runs down like this…chase scene, dialogue, chase scene, dialogue until the movie decides to wrap things up and end. The writing combined with it being formulaic is incredibly tiring and becomes way too repetitive for it’s own good, overall Jurassic World: Dominion is a very weak movie to close the trilogy with. Between being way too unfocused and forgettable there’s nothing here that comes together and is just another addition to the terrible sequels of this series.

Jurassic World Dominion is currently in theaters!

3/10 D-

Hustle is a love letter to Basketball!

After a down-on-his-luck basketball scout discovers an extraordinary player abroad, he brings the phenom back without his team’s approval.

Hustle is a huge surprise, I was ready for it to be another generic sports drama that would be forgettable almost immediately after watching. While Hustle does follow certain familiar beats from other movies of the genre, it’s the attention to detail and the overall craft that makes this one standout. First off Adam Sandler’s performance is quite fantastic, he plays an NBA scout who discovers a fantastic player who is played by Juancho Hernangómez who is actually an NBA player in fact the film is filled with NBA players! Giving the film a more raw approach and making this sort of a celebration to basketball fans, Sandler and Hernangómez’s chemistry is quite fantastic here and really gives the film more power and a very grounded approach. The same can be said with the writing, it’s such a raw and beautiful approach that captures several interesting moments between the players and Sandler’s discussions. There’s tons of heartfelt moments that you can’t help but love, sure the outcome is predictable but the film is incredibly well crafted and Sandler’s performance invests you into the film. Overall Hustle is a very solid sports drama that even if you aren’t a fan of basketball I still highly recommend checking this one out!

Hustle is available on Netflix!

8/10 B+

Fire Island is a wonderfully raw time!

A group of queer best friends gather in the Fire Island Pines for their annual week of love and laughter, but when a sudden change of events jeopardizes their summer in gay paradise, their bonds as a chosen family are pushed to the limit.

What makes Fire Island so great is that it’s just a blast of fun, it’s about a bunch of friends just hanging out together and having normal conversations with one another. While going through situations friends normally do, the cast really makes this movie particularly Joel Kim Booster and Conrad Ricamora who have fantastic chemistry and really do a great job of making their conversations feel grounded. In fact the chemistry between everyone in the cast is really strong, some characters definitely could have used a bit more development but from what was given there was a chance for earth character to get some moments to shine. There’s some really strong humor that works well, especially when combined with Joel Booster’s writing that really creates a humorous as well as a meaningful piece!

Fire Island is available on Hulu!

8/10 B+

Quick Review: Erzulie (2022)

A reunion between 4 friends quickly goes awry when they find themselves face to face with Erzulie the swamp mermaid goddess.

Erzulie is a movie that could have easily not worked, luckily the team behind the movie put in a lot of effort and just made an overall fun time. For a straight to video and a very low budget horror movie this actually doesn’t look half bad, the cast are quite fun and the idea of the movie is decently executed well. It does start to get a bit repetitive towards the end, however that doesn’t stop it from being an overall good time.

Erzulie releases on all VOD Platforms June 14th

6/10 C+

Dinner In America is a surprisingly heartwarming coming of age story.

An on-the-lam punk rocker and a young woman obsessed with his band unexpectedly fall in love and go on an epic journey together through America’s decaying Midwestern suburbs.

I’ll tell you what I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a film where the first 30 minutes are very rough and all over the place, only for the rest of the movie to be genuinely touching and meaningful. Dinner In America is directed by Adam Rehmeier (who directed The Bunny Game) and under this punk like movie there’s a heartwarming coming of age story, what completely makes this movie is Emily Skeggs and Kyle Gallner’s chemistry that is genuinely beautiful. The film does a really great job of developing the characters and brings so much heart into them, the first 30 minutes are rough mainly due to script issues and not enough going on. Parts of it feel way too edgy for it’s own sake, but luckily that disappears after the 30 minute mark, there’s some genuinely charming scenes as we get to see Patty’s (Skeggs) and Simon’s (Gallner) relationship grow into something special. The film found a way for both characters to have equal investment and stakes to add to their relationship, finally there’s the original song that’s admittedly very catchy. Overall Dinner In America is a charming little movie that’s a heartwarming coming of age story, get by the first 30 minutes and you are in for a treat!

Dinner America is available on all VOD Platforms.

8/10 B+

Dashcam is a huge step down from Rob Savage’s previous film “Host”.

Two friends embark on a horror-fueled road trip and livestream the most terrifying night of their lives.

To say Rob Savage’s film Host (2020) was a film that surprised many people would be a huge understatement, the film came out in July of 2020 4 months after the COVID-19 lockdowns occurred here in America. The film would go on to be one of the best films of 2020 and would inspire a lot of other zoom style movies. So I was excited to hear Rob Savage would be working with Blumhouse for a three film deal, Dashcam being the first one. The filmmaking is by far the strongest part about it, there’s some very atmospheric moments that are genuinely creepy plus the performances are pretty decent but are admittedly nothing to write home about (which is a shame considering the performances in Host felt very raw). What really hurts Dashcam is the narrative behind the movie, it seems like the whole idea or joke of the movie is that Annie Hardy plays herself in the movie where she is a anti-mask, anti vax and conspiracy theorist apparently this is her actual beliefs as well I’m saying apparently because I still don’t know whether she genuinely believes in this stuff or this was an elaborate marketing scheme to get people to watch the movie. Whatever the case might be the first 15 minutes were a pain to sit through, a lot of it reads like if someone was having a back and forth argument on Twitter, the movie does get better as it goes on but narrative wise the movie is just such a mess. The whole bit of Annie Hardy being so terrible starts to get old, Amar Chadha-Patel is decent enough and really tries his best with what he is given but it really doesn’t amount to anything really interesting. Like Host the movie takes place on computer platform only instead of Zoom it’s a streaming website which is used very well. Dashcam sets up interesting ideas but never does anything interesting with them, the most it does is point at a main character who is terrible and laugh for 76 minutes. After 10 minutes it stops being funny and gets way too over the top with the reactionary politics, yes there are people like Annie Hardy (character in the movie) that exist, but is it really that funny to laugh at for 76 minutes while being a complete mess narratively? Overall Dashcam is a disappointment and a huge step down from Host, while it’s definitely not the worst attempt it’s not something to ever look back at. This may work for some people but unfortunately this did not work for me.

Dashcam is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

Hollywood Stargirl outsings it’s predecessor!

Stargirl goes on a journey out of Mica and into a world of music, dreams and possibility.

Hollywood Stargirl is sequel to Stargirl (2020), Stargirl (2020) was a decent enough but it did feel like a Disney channel original movie. However Hollywood Stargirl is a huge improvement sure there isn’t anything that drastically changes but it’s the little things that really help this movie. For one thing Grace Vanderhaal’s performance this time around is an improvement, while I definitely think she wasn’t bad in the previous movie she wasn’t given enough to work with due to the script. Luckily here she’s given a lot more breathing room and is able to show a lot more of her talent, Tyler Jackson Williams gives a strong performance plus the rest of the cast do a great job as well (always great seeing Uma Thurman). A lot of the Disney channel original movie feel from the first movie is gone in this movie, sure there’s a few moments that do feel like it but those are very far and few in between. Once again Vanderhaal sings beautiful and truly shows her talent with her powerful singing voice, the story is charming and actually pretty relaxing as well. It’s a sweet little movie that knows what it wants to be, it’s a very likable movie that has a wonderful cast and a lot of strong writing bits that work quite well. Overall Hollywood Stargirl might not have too much meat on it’s bones, but it’s enough to bring interest from the viewer and entertain an audience with some great acting, music and writing.

Hollywood Stargirl is available on Disney+

7/10 B

Unhuman is a teen zombie movie not worth sinking your teeth into.

A secondary school field trip turns into a living nightmare as seven misfit students band together to fight the undead.

Unhuman is the fifth EPIX and Blumhouse collaboration movie (I hadn’t realized that Torn Hearts was from EPIX or Blumhouse meaning that is by far the best one and so far the only good one). Unhuman is a teen zombie movie directed by Marcus Dunstan (directed The Collector and The Collection) and it’s a nothing special about it one, the performances are fine enough the best one being from Brianne Tju who actually did a decent job. There’s some nice kills here and there but it’s not anything you haven’t seen before, the third act is a complete switch and goes off the rails which I’m all for movies doing but it has to at least make some sort of sense. Unfortunately for this movie it doesn’t especially with the editing that becomes way too over stylized and a lot of surface level writing that quickly makes the viewer lose interest. As a whole it’s a very below average zombie movie that makes some very strange decisions (the third act) that has a very rough first act, a decently fun second act and a nonsensical third act.

Unhuman is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

Interceptor has it’s moments but falls short.

One Army captain is forced use her years of tactical training and military expertise when a simultaneous coordinated attack threatens the remote missile interceptor station of which she is in command.

As far as Netflix original action movies go, Interceptor is definitely one of the more competently made out of the bunch. There was some genuine effort to make this one great, but unfortunately it falls into a lot of similar problems the other Netflix original action movies suffered from. The few things that this movie does well are some of the action scenes, the hand to hand combat is genuinely impressive and actually pretty well done. The acting isn’t that bad, everyone involved definitely tries their hardest Elsa Pataky’s performance is definitely the standout mainly due to her commitment. The problems the movie suffers from is mostly in the writing department, there’s a lot of cheesy one liners that are at first nice to see since they are kind of a staple to the action genre. It grows old pretty quickly, besides that the writing in general is not strong at all. It’s a very paper thin plot that really doesn’t bring anything new to the genre and uses a lot of basic action movie elements in a very basic way, overall Interceptor has a lot of great moments that are held back from being even better due to the writing. If you are an action film enthusiast you may get something out of this one otherwise I wouldn’t rush to watch this one.

Interceptor is available on Netflix!

4/10 D+