Huda’s Salon is a decent telling of a true story.

A young mother who is married to a jealous man goes to Huda’s salon in Bethlehem. However, this ordinary visit turns sour when Huda blackmails the mother to have her work for the secret service of the occupiers, thus betraying her people..

Huda’s Salon is actually based on a true story, something I wasn’t aware of until I watched it. The true story is very devastating with a lot of acts of cruelty and betrayal it’s even more harmful for the people who are caught in the middle of it. The film itself does a fine enough job of telling the story, but as many have said it feels very undercooked. The first act of the movie does a fantastic job of telling the viewer about the situation, how it happened and what each person is thinking. The writing is also quite great as well as thrilling, the last half of the movie is when the movie starts to hold back. There are powerful moments during the second act but they just aren’t strong enough to carry the rest of the movie to the finish line, with that said the movie isn’t bad. The acting is really strong and the atmosphere of the film is spot on. It just feels like the movie was setting up for something massive but ends with a softball.

Huda’s Salon is available on all VOD Platforms.

6/10 C+

Three Months is a solid coming of age film with strong chemistry!

On the eve of his high school graduation, Caleb learns he’s been exposed to HIV. While he waits three months for his results, he finds love in the most unlikely of places.

Three Months is a gay coming of age story that’s really solid, what holds this movie together is mainly the cast and their chemistry between one another. Particularly Troye Sivan (who I was very unfamiliar with, apparently he’s an Australian singer who got noticed on YouTube) and Viveik Kalra (who was previously in Voyagers and Blinded By The Light) the chemistry between the two comes off as very authentic and leads to some quite powerful moments. The writing is overall pretty strong, there are some very familiar beats the movie hits but that really isn’t enough to hold back this movie from telling a very touching story. Brianne Tju (Scream TV series, I Know What You Did Last Summer TV series and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged) gives a very strong performance here and is by far the strongest performance I’ve seen from her. Three Months does take a bit to get going as the set up is a bit familiar and something we have seen before, but what follows is a very solid little movie that has strong chemistry, characters and a sense of rawness to it.

Three Months is available on Paramount+

7/10 B

Lucy and Desi is a solid documentary about the iconic Hollywood couple!

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz form an unlikely partnership to become one of the most prolific power couples in Hollywood.

Going to keep this relatively short because there really is not much to go over. But I got a hell of a lot more out of Lucy and Desi than I did from Being The Ricardos, while the documentary is surface level and doesn’t break any new ground for documentaries. It’s still a very nicely put together documentary that lays out all of the information for the viewer, the interviews of the people who knew Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz are both very captivating and interesting to listen to, the movie goes through the ups and downs of the iconic comedy couple’s relationship over the years. It tells us how they felt, what they were thinking and what inspired them to keep moving their careers along, it’s actually a pretty inspiring documentary at times and really does a pretty solid job of telling the couple’s story. If you are a fan of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz you will definitely appreciate the documentary!

Lucy and Desi is available on Amazon Prime Video!

7/10 B

Blacklight is a lazy Liam Neeson action thriller that doesn’t do anything new.

Travis Block, a shadowy government agent who specializes in removing operatives whose covers have been exposed, uncovers a deadly conspiracy within his own ranks that reaches the highest echelons of power.

It’s baffling to me how each and every year these Liam Neeson action/thriller movies range in quality, it’s like flipping a coin sometimes you will get a movie that’s pretty fun (The Commuter, Non-Stop) and then other times you will get movies that are complete garbage (Taken 3 and The Ice Road). Blacklight falls down the terrible movie route for multiple reasons, as usual Liam Neeson is at least decent but he’s been doing these types of roles for years so it’s really not a surprise. The rest of the movie however? It’s a combination of the exact same plots we have seen in the other movies, what’s even more embarrassing is this feels more in line like one of those Bruce Willis VOD movies. The rest of the performances are terrible, the action scenes are horribly done, especially when combined with the lighting and the editing which turns it into a complete and total mess. It’s amazing that in the year 2022 we are still getting action films that release in theaters with piss poor action scenes that you can hardly see. Blacklight really feels like something that should have been a straight to DVD release but instead decided to go in theaters instead. I’m not exactly sure what else I’m supposed to say here, Blacklight is the exact same thing as Neeson’s 20 other last movies but far far worse.

Blacklight is available on all VOD Platforms.

1/10 F

The Scary Of Sixty-First…a Jeffery Epstein conspiracy movie.

Two roommates’ lives are up-ended after finding out that their new Manhattan apartment harbours a dark secret.

The Scary Of Sixty-First is a Jeffery Epstein conspiracy thriller….yes you read that correctly, I was a bit shocked to see a movie even try and attempt to do this so soon. But I wanted to give this movie a fair shot and unfortunately it’s really not that good, there’s ideas in here that could have worked but what’s holding this movie back is mostly the acting and writing. Both of which are very poor and really don’t give much to the movie, a lot of it is also very forgettable as well. If you took away the whole Jeffery Epstein premise this movie would be like any other thriller. There really isn’t much else to comment on here, I only recommend this if you are curious otherwise don’t bother.

The Scary Of Sixty-First is available on Shudder!

3/10 D-

The Weekend Away is another Lifetime like Netflix “Thriller”

When her best friend vanishes during a girls trip to Croatia, a woman races to figure out what happened. However, each clue yields another unsettling deception.

Yet another Netflix original that feels like it should have been put onto Lifetime, that’s right it’s another bare bones “thriller” that does very little to stand out from a very crowded genre. The performances are incredibly dull, the story is a “seen that and done better” type of deal and the writing is embarrassing. The Weekend Away has no idea what it wants to be, the first half of this movie plays out like a drama with barely any thriller elements and then the second half plays out like a thriller. I really have nothing else to say other than The Weekend Away is a giant waste of time.

The Weekend Away is available on Netflix!

1/10 F

The Batman (2022) is a masterclass of talent that brings something new to the iconic character.

Batman ventures into Gotham City’s underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.

As always before I start it must be said this is a SPOILER FREE review, I’ve been waiting for The Batman ever since it was announced, especially it was revealed that Robert Pattinson would be the new Batman. Pattinson has shown over the years how talented he really is so I was definitely interested to see how great he would do here. Especially when you bring Matt Reeves into the mix who previously finished the Planet Of The Apes trilogy with Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and War for the Planet Of The Apes there’s bound to be something fantastic results. There’s a lot to talk about here so let’s start with the performances and characters, Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne and Batman is simply put brilliant casting, his portrayal of the iconic character just might be my favorite of any Batman film, he takes the character and does something completely different with the character. Although we don’t really get a whole lot of Bruce Wayne we still do learn a lot about him, we learn about his feelings towards Gotham, the pain he’s going through and his relationship with the other characters. Plus we learn a lot about his backstory, through Pattinson’s narration and through some of the other characters. What really makes Pattinson’s Batman work here is his acting and emotion he puts into the role, that’s complimented well by the atmosphere which I will get to in a bit. Zoë Kravitz is really strong as Catwoman, like Pattinson she takes her character and does something completely different, the same can be said with pretty much anyone in the film. Paul Dano as The Riddler is horrifying he’s a mixture of Jigsaw and the Zodiac Killer which absolutely works here. It brings a terrifying atmosphere to the film something that really caught me off guard, then there’s the rest of the cast Collin Farrell as The Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon and Andy Serkis as Alfred all of which did a fantastic job. When it comes to the worldbuilding of Gotham this film does the best job, The Batman (2022) doesn’t waste a single opportunity to explore and develop Gotham. We learn about it through Pattinson’s narration, the other characters and just by looking at it which leads to the cinematography. The cinematography tells a lot of the story without the writing having to do all of the work, it’s incredibly detailed in every single way possible there’s so much to look at in each scene. The atmosphere is dark but done a lot differently, The Batman goes for a horror/thriller type atmosphere which works, sure there’s a ton of action scenes but even then it still matches the atmosphere. The characters themselves and the atmosphere compliment each other really well, they both have this sense of rawness to them which I actually think is what makes these characters so effective. Especially The Riddler who they completely changed and gave such a disturbing type feel to his character. With Batman they gave him also a raw type of feel but one that feels like he has no idea how to help out, which goes well of the film taking place a few years into Wayne being The Batman. The direction from Matt Reeves is absolutely phenomenal, he brings so much talent and atmosphere to the film, he truly knows how to build a world and have each scene tell a lot more than what is being shown. The score from Michael Giacchino is booming, there’s one particular scene that especially highlights how much it stands out which I will not spoil because this scene was just that incredible! Overall The Batman is an absolute masterclass of talent, there is so much to this film and a whole lot that I am still thinking about (saw it on Tuesday.) despite the several Batman films The Batman brings so much new to the table, it takes an iconic character and brings several different ideas and elements to the table. Hands down the best film so far this year definitely check this one out.

The Batman releases in theaters tomorrow!

10/10 A+

Livid is a decent follow up film to Inside (2007).

Lucie (Chloé Coulloud), Ben (Jérémy Kapone) and William (Félix Moati) search an old woman’s home for a hidden treasure and they encounter a series of supernatural events that change them forever.

So a little history lesson because this is needed, Livid is film directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury directors of Inside (2007) this film was meant to be their follow up film but never actually came out until yesterday, it premiered at a bunch of film festivals back in 2011 and was dormant until Shudder bought the rights to the film. Why it never came out until now who knows..anyway let’s talk about the movie itself. Livid is a very interesting little movie, there really isn’t much story going on here it’s more of an artsy experience with some very strong gore. The acting is actually quite decent as well, particularly from Chloé Coulloud who gives a pretty raw performance, the atmosphere is very well done with some very creepy moments combined with the score that gives the viewer a haunting type feel. Livid is unfortunately one of those slow burn horror movies that has a ton of ideas but doesn’t properly explore them, I’m not against films leaving audiences to figure out scenes for themselves but when a huge chunk of the film is like that and it fails to do it in a interesting way that’s when several flaws come in. The plot also did lose me about halfway through, Bustillo and Maury obviously wanted to capture the magic that they had in first film “Inside” (2007) (which is one of my favorite films of all time) however Livid just doesn’t reach the heights of “Inside”. Sure there’s tons of gore and some disturbing moments, but due to the story being way too surreal it falls apart in the end. I definitely think Livid is a far better film than anything Bustillo and Maury would go on to do which would be Among The Living, Leatherface, Kandisha (although Kandisha is decent enough) and The Deep House. Despite my issues Livid isn’t a bad movie, it’s just something that could have been a lot better if you are fan of Bustillo and Maury I recommend checking this one out. Just don’t go in expecting this to be as good as Inside.

Livid is available on Shudder!

7/10 B

Quick Reviews: Against The Ice and After The Pandemic!

Exploring Greenland’s vast landscape for a lost map, two men must fight to survive. Based on the true story of Denmark’s 1909 polar expedition.

Against The Ice is another Netflix Original Movie misfire. The movie is based on a true story that is quite interesting, there’s some decent shots, the acting is fine enough and the first act was overall solid. What hurts the movie is it takes a true story and turns it into a run of the mill survival movie, which leads to a lot of lack of tension and some very baffling editing. With that said there were some comedic moments between the cast who genuinely had some great chemistry between one another, it’s just a huge shame that wasn’t shown in a better movie. There really is not much else to say here, if you like survival movies you might like this one. But you will probably get little to nothing from this one.

Against The Ice is available on Netflix!

5/10 C

A deadly virus sweeps the world, killing 90% of humanity. Five years later, the survivors face an enemy that is more dangerous than the virus.

Honestly After The Pandemic could have easily been a lot worse, there are some genuine moments between the two main leads and there’s a few touching moments. With that said the rest of the movie struggles to keep the viewer’s interest, the acting is very below average, the writing falls flat and the story is well based around the COVID-19 Pandemic. Which at this point is already getting to be a very tired premise, After The Pandemic unfortunately doesn’t do anything new and is just an overall very below average micro budget movie.

After The Pandemic is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

Most Anticipated Films Of March 2022!

Hello friends, we are now in a new month! Picking out the films I’m excited for this month wasn’t too bad. I have already seen a few films that I do highly recommend checking out which are After Yang, Fresh and All My Friends Hate Me!

1. The Batman – March 4th (Theaters) 

2. X – March 18th (Theaters)

3. Everything Everywhere All At Once – March 25th (Theaters)

4. Where is Anne Frank? – March 18th (Theaters I believe if it comes out on VOD platforms I’ll be sure to include that in my review!)

5. Mothering Sunday – March 25th (Theaters) and for the love of god just release already!

6. Windfall – March 18th (Netflix)

7. Umma – March 18th (Theaters) take this one with a grain of salt, while Sony did say that it’s coming out in March there has been very little information about it.

8. Topside – March 25th (VOD)

9. Turning Red – March 11th (Disney+)

10. Master – March 18th (Amazon Prime Video)

11. Deep Water – March 18th (Hulu)

12. Calendar Girls – March 8th (VOD)

13. Olivia Rodrigo Driving Home 2 U A Sour Film – March 25th (Disney+)

14. You Are Not My Mother – March 25th (VOD)

And that is the most anticipated films of March list! What are your thoughts? What’s your most anticipated films for this month?