Belle is a beautiful and meaningful coming of age film about the positives of the internet.

A high school student becomes a globally beloved singer after entering a fantastic virtual world. She soon embarks on an emotional and epic quest to uncover the identity of a mysterious beast who’s on the run from ruthless vigilantes.

Belle is simply put one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year both visually and metaphorically, It’s a wonderful coming of age story that takes some Beauty and The Beast elements and executes them in a unique way, the voice acting is truly fantastic especially when combined with the engaging writing that really highlights how masterfully written the characters are. Suzy in particular feels incredibly relatable her journey in the film not only tries to discover who the “beast” is but who she is as a person, the film is also a wonderful piece showing how beautiful the internet can be when ignoring the bad parts about it. This is mostly shown from Suzy’s story and the animation speaking of which the animation is absolute perfection, it helps tell the story both visually and metaphorically. The music is truly wonderful as well that captures a range of emotions that compliments the whole film wonderfully. Belle as a film also understands how beautiful and actually necessary the internet and social media is, how we can help others (which is shown by Belle wanting to help “the beast”) and help heal us as well. Overall Belle is truly a meaningful film that really makes you cry tears of joy, this is a film that has so much charm and love put into it that you just can’t help but smile and cheer. This is a film I absolutely recommend checking out!

Belle is available on all VOD Platforms.

10/10 A+

Cow is a disturbing yet important film about the daily life of a Cow.

Chronicling the daily life of a dairy cow in an attempt to move humans closer to them. Hoping to see both their beauty and the challenge of their lives. Hoping to understand one dairy cow’s reality and acknowledging her great service.

Cow is one of those films where it’s sort of hard to describe, the plot summary is exactly what it is the daily life of a dairy cow, the first scene even starting with the birth of the cow the film follows which is named Luma. Throughout the film we follow Luma and director Andrea Arnold who’s on a mission to humanize Luma and get the audience to feel for the other cows as well. Arnold succeeds in ways that feel much more organic than what other movies would, she uses camera angels, a ton of moments with no dialogue and it’s just the cows. If you know anything that eventually happens to cows that is hinted at and shown in the film and the empty atmosphere makes it all the more horrifying to watch. Milk being forcibly out by machinery is shown, tattooing and drilling through the skin are shown. Arnold show’s how cows are treated from birth all the way till the end, by the near end cows like Luma are emotionally drained it’s absolutely heartbreaking to watch. Arnold doesn’t really give a answer to the film of “what can be done?” However the film does end with a hopeful light despite the scenery being very haunting. Overall Cow is a very strong film that definitely get’s the message across, it’s definitely a disturbing but very meaningful film that will stick with you.

Cow is available on all VOD Platforms.

8/10 B+

Operation Mincemeat is an incredible and bizarre World War II event told wonderfully!

Operation Mincemeat is set in 1943 as the Allies are determined to launch an all-out assault on Fortress Europe. But they face an impossible challenge – to protect a massive invasion force from entrenched German firepower and avert a potential massacre.

I’m not sure if I have said this before but one of my favorite parts of history I like learning more about is World War II, there’s so many stories that haven’t been told yet or haven’t been told enough. Operation Mincemeat is one of the most bizarre World War II events that is also one of the most popular deception missions in history, despite that however there’s only ever been two films made about it. The first film “The Man Who Never Was” a 1956 film that came to be because of a 1953 book of the same name. Then there’s film Operation Mincemeat which tells the bizarre story of a successful British deception operation of World War II to disguise the 1943 Allied Invasion of Sicily. What they did was, British Intelligence obtained the body of a dead man who died of rat poison (Glyndwr Michael), dressed him as an officer of the Royal Marines and placed items on him identifying as the fictions captain acting major William Martin. The film itself follows the events very well and truly makes for a very interesting film, the performances all around are fantastic particularly Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen who really gave some raw performances. The writing was quite strong as well, with many moments that really complimented this bizarre story very well. The only main criticism here is I do think some of the romantic drama scenes were a bit too long and weren’t really needed, it feels a bit out of place considering the plot of the film but they aren’t enough to hurt the film to the point where it becomes very noticeable. Lastly there’s the direction that remains quite strong from beginning to end, it really captures the bizarre nature of the film even if a lot of it is more in the background. We still feel the bizarre nature through everyone involved working behind the scenes of the event, overall Operation Mincemeat is a very solid film that tells a bizarre World War II story and how it came to be. I highly recommend checking this one out!

Operation Mincemeat is available on Netflix!

8/10 B+

Marmaduke (2022) wouldn’t be worth it if it was in the $5 bin at Walmart.

Messy and mischievous Marmaduke teams up with a legendary dog trainer to prove that he is the first Great Dane worthy of winning a trophy at the Westminster Champion Contest, a prestigious dog show.

Marmaduke is just truly baffling in the absolute worst ways I could ever think of, for starters I know this is a cliched question to ask but I feel it’s absolutely necessary here….who asked for this? Marmaduke is a comic strip which began from June 1954 to 2015, there was a live action movie in 2010 that was terrible and most people forgot it even happen. Out of nowhere (I believe last month) it was announced Pete Davidson would be voicing Marmaduke in an animated film after that there was silence until the movie was released. Marmaduke (2022) makes Marmaduke (2010) look like a masterpiece, for starters the animation is some of the worst I have ever seen. This is truly something that you would expect out of a straight to DVD animated movie in the $5 bin from Walmart or one of those Pixar rip-off movies like What’s Up or Ratatoing, but nope this was released by Netflix which makes this just more baffling, the characters and voice acting are horrendous how they got Pete Davidson, J.K. Simmons and David Koechner to do this I have no idea. The writing is a complete and total embarrassment there isn’t one piece of dialogue here that worked, everything is either painful to listen to, cliched, or fart jokes that are so painfully unfunny to the point where they are just gross. The characters are about as dull as you can get, I kind of liked Guy (Brian Hull) however he wasn’t enough to save the movie. He was pretty much absent towards the end of the movie so it really didn’t matter. Overall Marmaduke is one of the worst movies Netflix has ever released, this is what I think when I hear the phrase “graphic design is my passion” well in this case “animation is my passion” either way this was horrendous and should be avoided at all costs.

Marmaduke is available on Netflix.

Disgrace To Cinema F

Along For The Ride is another generic teen romance movie.

During the summer before college, Auden meets the mysterious Eli, a fellow insomniac. While the seaside town of Colby sleeps, the two embark on nightly quests to help Auden experience the fun, carefree life she never knew she wanted.

Along For The Ride is directed by Sofia Alvarez writer of To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, I wish there was a lot to say about this movie but there just isn’t. Along For The Ride is yet another Netflix Teen Romance movie that doesn’t bring anything new to the table, granted this one is far better than a lot of Netflix’s other teen romance movies but that’s really not saying much. The main leads Belmont Cameli and Emma Pasarow are quite great and actually have decent chemistry between one another, there are some genuinely touching moments that do standout and at least give the movie something to really work with. However what hurts Along For The Ride is it’s very by the numbers, this is exactly the sort of movie where Netflix tries to make a hot topic for Twitter, but like a lot of these movies they fade away from conversations after a week or even less. There really isn’t anything here that hasn’t been seen before, it pans out exactly how you think it’s going to and it really doesn’t do anything more.

Along For The Ride is available on Netflix!

5/10 C

The Twin is a cliched horror movie that brings nothing new to the table.

Following the aftermath of a tragic accident that claimed the life of one of their twins, Rachel and Anthony relocate to the other side of the world with their surviving son. What begins as a time of healing in the quiet Scandinavian countryside soon takes an ominous turn when Rachel begins to unravel the torturous truth about her son and confronts the malicious forces that are trying to take hold of him.

I was a bit interested in The Twin mainly due to Teresa Palmer being in one of the leading roles and Taneli Mustonen being in the director’s chair. His previous movie Lake Bodom was a fun little slasher movie that’s quite underrated and a lot of fun. Unfortunately that’s not the case with The Twin, it’s a very beat by beat creepy kid movie combined with haunting elements that at times do make for some interesting artistic choices. Plus the acting particularly from Teresa Palmer is actually not bad and really tries with a script that does not give a lot of breathing room, what hurts this movie quite a lot is the twist mainly due to just how predictable it really is. If you watch at least the first 10 minutes of the movie you will know exactly what happens, it’s a shame because the first couple minutes or so do set up for something interesting. Some parents grieving over their loss of one of the twins and decide to relocate is a very interesting setup, but unfortunately doesn’t lead into anything noteworthy. The filming and atmosphere are definitely there to give the movie some sort of appealing look to it, but that’s really where it ends. It’s horror trope after horror trope until the movie decides to end.

The Twin is available on Shudder.

3/10 D-

We Need To Talk has some decent comedic moments but lacking in character.

A self-absorbed celebrity gamer, who speaks to millions of fans every day, has to figure out how to talk to the people in his life before he loses them.

We Need To Talk is surprisingly not that bad, there’s a lot of decent bits such as the premise actually being decently executed and some of the jokes are actually pretty okay, the more dramatic moments don’t really work well and feel a bit out of place. Mostly due to the movie really establishing itself as more of a comedy early on, the acting is not too bad here Johnathan Fernandez and James Maslow are definitely the standouts and deliver some quite great moments. What ends up hurting the movie is mostly the writing, while the premise is done decently, parts of it such as bringing a stereotypical kid who curses at you on Xbox Live feels very outdated. The ending is also very rushed and just sort of ends when it could have touched upon a few more plot points. Overall We Need To Talk isn’t bad, it’s enjoyable for it is but it’s not something to ever go back to.

We Need To Talk releases May 13th on all VOD Platforms.

5/10 C

Quick Reviews: The Ravine, They Talk and Escape The Field (2022)



When an unspeakable crime rocks a peaceful community, family and friends are left to wonder if they overlooked the murderer among them or if there might be more to the story.

The Ravine attempts to try and make the characters a bit more interesting by focusing on grief, anger, forgiveness and so on. But unfortunately falls flat mainly due to the execution landing in generic straight to VOD thriller territory, the cast is actually pretty decent and really tires their hardest with what their given. Particularly Eric Dane who’s easily the best part about the movie, there’s definitely some moments that actually work. With that said The Ravine is just slightly better than a lot of straight to VOD thrillers with some good performances and not much else.

The Ravine is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

Sound engineer Alex (Jonathan Tufvesson) accidentally records mysterious voices: disturbing messages from the afterlife that warn him against imminent and terrifying danger.

They Talk has an interesting premise that does have a decent scares, but the rest of the movie is unfortunately wasted by bad dialogue, poor acting and doesn’t really elaborate on it’s ideas. It’s a very typical straight to digital horror movie that feels way too long and never really goes anywhere unfortunately.

They Talk releases tomorrow on all VOD Platforms.

3/10 D-

Stripped of their possessions, six strangers wake up in a remote, endless cornfield with six items — a gun with a single bullet, matches, a lantern, a knife, a compass and a flask of water. As mysterious sirens blare in the distance and traps appear at every turn, they soon realize they’re in a mysterious cat-and-mouse game with an unseen evil, and survival depends upon solving a diabolical and deadly puzzle.

Escape The Field is what happens when you take Escape Room and In The Tall Grass mix them together and somehow make it incredibly dull. If you have seen any type of movie that has “certain amount of strangers need to work together or have to escape wherever they wake up to” plot line you have already seen this movie. It’s very beat by beat and does absolutely nothing to change it up, the acting isn’t as bad as you would expect and the location itself is pretty neat but that’s where the positives end. Escape The Field is forgettable and is outclassed by so many other films exactly like it.

Escape The Field is available on all VOD Platforms.

3/10 D-

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is a very satisfying new direction for the MCU!

Dr Stephen Strange casts a forbidden spell that opens a portal to the multiverse. However, a threat emerges that may be too big for his team to handle.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is the newest film of the MCU, without beating around the bush a major problem that myself and many others have had with some of these movies is they rarely feel like the directors are given the creative freedom. There’s definitely the exceptions such as the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies, while some of the other movies are still great I wish the directors had more creative freedom. Luckily Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness allows Sam Rami to go absolutely wild with this one, for starters the acting all around was really strong particularly Elizabeth Olsen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong (who’s finally given a lot to do since his debut in the first Doctor Strange) and lastly Xochitl Gomez who plays America Chavez. While America Chavez definitely needs to get a lot more development from what was presented the movie gets your interest in her character and I’m very interested to see where they go with her. The Sam Rami style kicks in with just about everything else, there’s a lot of callbacks to The Evil Dead films with a few particular scenes using close up shots that are wildly entertaining. There’s a few body horror elements that work very well, the writing has a lot of that Sam Rami style to it. Even if the writing isn’t always the strongest in some areas there is this sense of it bringing you more into the film than a lot of the other films in the MCU, plus the build up was incredibly worth it and does finish the film off with a complete bang. Doctor Strange’s character is a lot more fleshed out here than he was in the first movie, we get to see a lot more of his relationship with Christine (Rachel McAdams) and how he feels about it, (the way their relationship is handled here heavily reminds me of Peter Parker and Mary Jane from Rami’s Spider Man films) Wanda is also done really well here, it’s a great continuation of Wandavision and wraps up a few plot lines very nicely as well. The action scenes are some of the most detailed and entertaining of the franchise to date, there’s a whole lot of different directions the action decides to go so it’s refreshing to see something a bit different with each action scene. Lastly it’s the most I’ve been entertained from a film from the MCU in quite awhile (besides No away Home) while at the same time trying something completely different and not following the exact formula of these movies. Overall Doctor Strange in The Multiverse Of Madness is a ton of fun and shows that the franchise can evolve quite well, if the franchise takes this approach there can be truly some great films ahead.

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is available in theaters!

10/10 A+

Moon Knight is solid and has interesting concepts but needed more time.

Steven Grant and mercenary Marc Spector investigate the mysteries of the Egyptian gods from inside the same body.

Moon Knight is the newest of The MCU Disney+ shows, it’s one of the ones that I’ve been actually looking forward to for awhile now. Moon Knight does a lot great and a lot that it could have improved on, I’ll start with what stood out…for starters the acting this time around was quite strong and that’s mainly due to the cast, Oscar Isaac, May Calamawy and Ethan Hawke are just phenomenal and brought some very interesting characters to life. Oscar Isaac playing two characters Marc Spector and Steven Grant who might look like the exact same but actually have different personalities and work quite well. Oscar Isaac is truly one of the biggest reasons the show is held together he puts his all into it and the results are excellent, May Calamawy plays Layla El-Faouly who may not get the most development but she is still a pretty solid character mostly due to Calamawy’s performance and I do hope her character gets expanded on later down the line. Ethan Hawke is the villain of the series known as Arthur Harrow which is by far one of the most interesting villains of the MCU by far, Hawke does a pretty fantastic job in his role and gives quite a different role than he usually does. I don’t think Harrow reaches his full potential as a villain (I’ll get to why in a bit) but for how short the series was I do think Hawke worked with what he was given. Some other positives are the filming which is probably the best looking MCU Disney+ series since Loki, there were some pretty neat action scenes that gave the series it’s own personality there aren’t many but when they do happen they are quite satisfying. Finally Moon Knight gets credit for not relying on cameos or other characters from the MCU, the show sticks with it’s new set of characters and that’s it. Other characters don’t randomly appear for no unexplained reason, there’s no cameos the series does it’s own thing. Now here’s what is holding this series back from being really strong, first and foremost we need to point out a problem that a lot of people have started noticing….the 6 episode format ever since Falcon And The Winter Soldier every show has been 6 episodes outside of What If (but What If is an anthology series so even if it was 6 episodes it wouldn’t had really mattered much). The 6 episode format is a huge gamble sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t It worked for Loki and Hawkeye (although there’s an argument to be made that it didn’t), it didn’t work well with Falcon and The Winter Soldier and it sadly did not work for Moon Knight. Moon Knight has a ton of interesting concepts that are pretty solid and are quite different from a lot of the MCU but a lot of them just aren’t expanded upon quite well and that’s mainly due to the 6 episode format just not giving enough time to develop them, I hinted at earlier that was the main issue with Arthur Harrow he’s a very interesting villain he’s just not given enough time to get the concept fully developed. Moon Knight clearly wants to tell a much bigger story but doesn’t have enough time to do that, from what was presented I do think it was pretty decent. The Egyptian god elements are very interesting and give the story a darker tone which is always welcome and I do think the characters are more interesting development wise when it comes to the MCU. Overall Moon Knight is a decent series that could have been so much more had it was given more time, I am interested to see where they go with the characters and do hope they are given far more development down the line.

Moon Knight is available on Disney+

7/10 B