Nightmare Alley is a hauntingly beautiful from Guillermo Del Toro!

In 1940s New York, down-on-his-luck Stanton Carlisle endears himself to a clairvoyant and her mentalist husband at a traveling carnival. Using newly acquired knowledge, Carlisle crafts a golden ticket to success by swindling the elite and wealthy. Hoping for a big score, he soon hatches a scheme to con a dangerous tycoon with help from a mysterious psychiatrist who might be his most formidable opponent yet.

Back when Guillermo Del Toro won best director for The Shape Of Water at the Oscars I was truly happy, I’ve always been a huge fan mostly due to him being one of the most interesting filmmakers currently working today. Nightmare Alley is the definition of a Guillermo Del Toro film although it is a remake of the 1947 film of the same name he manages to make it his own, the cast does a fantastic job Bradley Cooper is one of the big standouts here. He does something completely different from some of his other roles and it’s truly an amazing sight. The movie itself compliments this by showing a man who was once rational, to a power hunger man who wants money to someone who completely lost it. Bradley Cooper does a fantastic job of showing all three of these transformations in a very detailed and at times scary way. Cate Blanchett’s performance feels like a performance from the classic era of Hollywood took a time machine and transported itself to 2021. In other words the performance is incredible and hauntingly beautiful in every way possible, the rest of the cast is truly strong in Rooney Mara and Willem Dafoe (who I think was born for these types of roles) in particular. The film is hauntingly gorgeous, it’s a type of element that Guillermo Del Toro always masters at making the film look haunting but at the same time beautiful. His direction is also top notch, making the performances come off as genuine as possible while creating some real dramatized performances that feel intimidating to the viewer. It’s truly fascinating to see how much Guillermo Del Toro makes this film his own, from the different types of locations to the characters it’s absolutely wonderful to witness. The whole theme of seeing a man go from rational to completely unrecognizable truly fits Guillermo Del Toro’s style and he truly mastered it here, it’s even the little things such as a few mannerisms thrown in there that truly make this film go a long way. Overall Nightmare Alley is a film I highly recommend, truly fascinating and as I said multiple times hauntingly beautiful!

Nightmare Alley is available in Theaters!

10/10 A+

Wolf is a fun but flawed movie that could have been more.

Believing he’s a wolf trapped in a man’s body, Jacob eats, sleeps and lives like one — much to the shock of his family. When he’s sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of curative therapies. However, once he meets the mysterious Wildcat, their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, and Jacob must decide whether to renounce his true self for love.

The most I can really say about Wolf that it sure is different, I admire the movie for doing something completely different. Especially with the acting actually being not that bad, in fact George MacKay gives a surprisingly decent performance in a movie that you honestly would not expect at all. The movie itself is pretty entertaining at times and admittedly there are some so bad it’s hilarious moments, but the movie itself is actually quite well made. The filming combined with the location is a genuinely beautiful combination that works in the movie’s favor, unfortunately what stops this movie from being anything other than a fun time is the writing. It has that young adult book adaption type feel that was present back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which in some cases works but most of the time it doesn’t. Wolf is a weird case where it both works and it doesn’t, the relationship from the characters are genuinely interesting and seeing them interact with one another. There just feels like a lot of character development missing and at the end of it all while you kind of care for the characters you wish you could care about them far more. Wolf is an overall flawed but fun movie that could have been a lot better had there been stronger writing.

Wolf is available on all VOD Platforms.

4/10 D+

The Matrix Resurrections is a satisfying installment!

To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, Mr. Anderson, aka Neo, will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. If he’s learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of — or into — the Matrix. Neo already knows what he has to do, but what he doesn’t yet know is that the Matrix is stronger, more secure and far more dangerous than ever before.

I might not be the biggest Matrix fanatic out there, but when the trailer the newest installment in the series Matrix Resurrections I was pretty excited! Luckily it did not disappoint at all, right off the bat the film itself is very meta which presents several interesting ideas that work very well here. The cast all do a fantastic job seeing Keanu Reeves as Neo again is truly an amazing sight to see, the direction is very strong with a lot of dialogue that’s very bold. The character moments combined with the action scenes truly give this movie a lot of strength and makes it visually interesting. Speaking of which the visuals did not disappoint at all, what makes this one successful is that it trades in some action scenes for character moments that work to the film’s advantage. The film itself reads as a film where Lana Wachowski just doesn’t care what anyone thinks and makes a film, which I actually found to be quite great. It’s a very bold blockbuster that succeeds in a lot of categories! Overall The Matrix Resurrections is a fantastic film that I highly recommend giving a watch!

The Matrix Resurrections is in theaters and on HBO Max!

9/10 A

Being The Ricardos is another below average biopic.

In 1952, Hollywood power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz face personal and professional obstacles that threaten their careers, their relationship, and their hit television show.

Being The Ricardos is what happens when a movie that is a very very below average gets constantly pushed to get spotlight. I was already dreading to watch Being The Ricardos after I heard how it’s a biopic that does nothing interesting, sadly that’s how I would sum up this movie. While Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem aren’t bad at all, they are not giving some of the best performances of the year that the movie and many sites are leading you to believe. Nicole Kidman was heavily miscast as Lucille Ball and it’s very easy to tell just by watching her performance for at least 10 minutes, the best performance was J.K. Simmons who gave this movie some sort of character. The writing felt like a huge drag, Sorkin’s writing this time around felt way too cluttered with so many ideas being thrown into the movie and proceeding to see what sticks. There’s a few interesting bits such as the camerawork which feels like it’s being filmed in a dressing room type of feel and it works actually pretty well considering the topic of the movie. What ultimately kills this movie is the 2 hours and 5 minute running time like a lot of biopics it over stays it’s welcome and goes on for far too long, it also starts to fall in typical biopic movie cliches and does absolutely nothing new. I really don’t know what else to say here, which is very concerning seeing how this might be a best picture nomination at the Oscars, in a year that I felt was a very strong year for film. The fact a below average biopic that has nothing to say and feels incredibly lifeless is being celebrated over Pig, The Green Knight, Nine Days and a few others is very sad. Give this one a skip.

Being The Ricardos is available on Amazon Prime Video!

4/10 D+

Benedetta is Paul Verhoeven at his absolute best!

A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair, but it’s her shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its very core.

I definitely understand that Benedetta is not going to be for everyone, however the film is an absolute fever dream and I truly love it for that. First off the acting is so strong to the point where it’s horrifying in several scenes, the filming is shot in this very raw style that makes it as if you are there in person watching what’s going on. The main theme in the film is sex which the movie does a pretty great job of showing and explaining the several different parts to it, Benedetta really reminds you of those weird B rated horror that were released back in the 80s despite not being a horror film itself. Which I feel like is one of the strongest parts about it and why it’s so successful as a film. Paul Verhoeven just throws whatever he can into this film and usually that backfires in a lot of other movies but not here, In this case it adds to each of the scenes and make them all the more interesting, disturbing and downright insane. I won’t say anything else because this is truly a film you have to go into knowing as little as possible, as I said at the beginning Benedetta is not for everyone but if it sounds like your type of thing you will absolutely love it.

Benedetta is available on all VOD Platforms!

10/10 A+

Hawkeye is strong series with fantastic characters!

Former Avenger Clint Barton has a seemingly simple mission: get back to his family for Christmas. Possible? Maybe with the help of Kate Bishop, a 22-year-old archer with dreams of becoming a Super Hero. The two are forced to work together when a presence from Barton’s past threatens to derail far more than the festive spirit.

Hawkeye is the fifth Disney+ Marvel series, it explores Jeremy Renner’s character Clint Barton or Hawkeye which does a fantastic job of doing exactly that. It’s the first time where I actually cared for Barton as a character something that has been completely missing for years, we also get some new characters which leads to one of the best casting choices the MCU has done thus far…Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop. I’ve always loved Hailee Steinfeld as an actress and she always brings in a fantastic performance and here is no exception, she completely nails it as Kate Bishop. From the humor, mannerisms and wanting to be a hero she does a perfect job, what’s even better is when Florence Pugh as Yelena enters the series. I had my problems with Black Widow and is definitely one of the weakest parts of Phase four so far, however Pugh’s performance as Yelena was the main positive and here is no different. Pugh and Steinfeld both work incredibly well together, sure when they are both in different scenes they are already fantastic but when put together they truly give some of the best moments in the series and some of the best of Phase four thus far. It also helps that Yelena is given character development which was definitely needed after Black Widow, Alaqua Cox as Echo was another huge highlight of the series, what’s even better is Cox is a deaf actress who playing a deaf character. Echo is given a solid backstory that has a lot of questions but that remains to be seen in her own series she will be getting (hopefully comes out soon!) lastly there’s Vincent D’Onofrio who reprises his role as Kingpin, although he’s not in the series that much when he does finally appear the build up is incredibly worth it, it’s some of the best build up I’ve seen from the MCU in quite some time and truly feels earned. The writing this time around is actually really great, where as lot of the MCU films and some of the series have a huge problem with balancing the humor and serious moments. Hawkeye actually manages to balance the two really well, there’s a lot of character moments for Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Florence Pugh and Alaqua Cox that are very effective and push the characters forward. The humor is actually quite well done it’s genuinely surprising given how bad Marvel humor can really be, but here there’s genuine charm put into it. Overall Hawkeye is an incredibly strong series that really makes you excited for what’s to come next for Kate Bishop, Hawkeye, Yelena and Echo, I truly hope the future shows follow in the footsteps of Hawkeye because this was great!

Hawkeye is available on Disney+

9/10 A

The Hand Of God is beautifully tragic film that gives some of the best acting of the year.

In 1980s Naples, Italy, an awkward Italian teen struggling to find his place experiences heartbreak and liberation after he’s inadvertently saved from a freak accident by football legend Diego Maradona.

The Hand Of God is one of the most meaningful and powerful films of the year, it’s a film that explores what life is like after so many hurtful experiences. Such as losing loved ones who you deeply cared about, it’s enough to break a person, what gives this film even more power is the acting. The acting from each of the cast members is some of the best acting of the year, there’s tons of emotions, power and a lot of care put into these performances that truly make this film shine. The cinematography compliments all of that with gorgeous shots, engaging shots of the actors interacting with one another and matching the mood of the scene in question. The film shows the journey of someone who’s been through many hurtful experiences and gives us the question which is “how would you cope after being through this?” Each person has a different way of coping through experiences, which the film shows that perfectly it keeps things as realistic as possible. What completely steals the show is the use of the song “Napule é” a beautiful song used for a gorgeous film that really hits you in the gut, the direction from Pablo Sorrentino is fantastic here. He captures the journey of someone who’s been through a lot incredibly well and makes sure to put in as much detail as possible. Overall The Hand Of God is a brilliant film that I can’t recommend enough, definitely give this one a watch!

The Hand Of God is available on Netflix!

10/10 A+

Resident Evil Welcome To Raccoon City fails as a adaption to the Resident Evil franchise.

Welcome to Raccoon City, once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corp. The company’s exodus left the city a wasteland, a dying town with great evil brewing below the surface. When that evil is unleashed, a group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night.

Resident Evil and live action movies have never been good friends, the Paul W.S. Anderson Resident Evil movies were trying to go for something completely different rather than follow the video game franchise which I guess is okay except they weren’t good. Then the announcement of a more faithful adaptation to the franchise was said and I got my hopes up, the problem? It’s directed by Johannes Roberts director of the two 47 Meters Down movies, The Other Side Of The Door and The Strangers Prey At Night (which I actually thought was okay.) The movie itself feels like it was made for TV and someone saw a few cutscenes of the first games online and decided to make a movie. The biggest issue with this movie was that it tried to tackled both the first game and the second one, Resident Evil is not the type of franchise where you can just skim through it and hope for the best. There’s so much detail, character growth and important moments that are completely missing because of this. The acting is dreadful and the portrayals of each of the characters are incredibly awful, it’s definitely not the actors fault it’s mainly due to how incredibly lazy and just downright awful the script is. For a movie that’s 1 hour and 47 minutes long this feels like an eternity, it’s not fun, it’s not interesting, the atmosphere is all over the place and doesn’t feel like Resident Evil at the slightest. The movie does show a few big moments from the games, however they aren’t done well at all as I said before it feels like they just watched some cutscenes online and decided to make the movie. It doesn’t explore much context behind the moments or any development, it’s truly one of the laziest ways to go about making an adaption that’s claiming to be more faithful to the franchise. Overall Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is horrendous and is downright worse than a lot of the previous movies, at this point they can do one of two things actually try and learn the source material or don’t bother making another movie at all.

Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is available on all VOD Platforms!

Disgrace To Cinema F

Antlers has the atmosphere but doesn’t explore it’s themes!

A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, discover a young student is harbouring a dangerous secret that could have frightening consequences.

Antlers was another one of those movies that was caught in the whole delay-a-thon during the beginning of COVID, it finally released in October of this year and ever since then I heard nobody talk about this movie outside of “it was disappointing.” Which after watching it “it was disappointing” about sums up the entire movie, but we will get to that first I’ll mention the positives real quickly. The acting I thought was pretty great Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons and Graham Greene were definitely the standouts (Jeremy T. Thomas was fine but really nothing special), the atmosphere was definitely there. It had a very creepy feel to it where something could happen at any moment, lastly there’s the cinematography which was quite beautiful and has some genuinely haunting shots that add to the atmosphere. Antlers completely falls flat when it comes to exploring themes, the movie itself presents a lot of interesting ideas however it doesn’t explore them at all. It acknowledges the ideas are there and that’s about it, you have several themes such as abuse, poverty and the whole Wendigo mythology that’s shown for about 5 minutes but never actually discussed. The writing needed to be a lot stronger as well, while it isn’t necessarily bad it’s definitely on the weaker side. It needed to have a lot more interest and power to it which is unfortunately not there. Overall Antlers is a huge missed opportunity, had this movie actually explore it’s themes and had a rewrite I genuinely think this could have been a really good film.

Antlers is available on all VOD Platforms!

4/10 D+

Silent Night is a entertaining Christmas horror movie!

A couple invite their closest friends to join their family for Christmas dinner at their idyllic home in the English countryside. As the group comes together, it feels like old times — but behind all of the laughter and merriment, something isn’t quite right. The world outside is facing impending doom, and no amount of gifts, games or wine can make mankind’s imminent destruction go away. Surviving the holidays just got a lot more complicated.

I like to think Silent Night is this year’s version of “Better Watch Out” a surprising Christmas horror movie that came out of nowhere. The premise itself is very interesting which is facing an environmental apocalypse, you know the stuff you would NOT want to happen ever especially during Christmas. Keira Knightley does a solid job in her role she ends up being one of the stronger parts of the movie, Silent Night unfortunately doesn’t really explore it’s themes thoroughly as it does lose steam towards the end with being a little bit too predictable. However the movie is genuinely funny and the cast makes it work pretty well, some jokes are going to be a hit or miss depending on the viewer. But it’s a overall decent Christmas horror movie that I recommend giving a watch.

Silent Night is available on all VOD Platforms!

6/10 C+