Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 and 2 (2021) Movie Reviews!

When a dark power enshrouds the Earth after a total solar eclipse, the scattered Sailor Guardians must reunite to bring light back into the world.

I’m going to keep this short because while I have seen a huge chunk of episodes of Sailor Moon my knowledge of it isn’t anywhere near as good as some other people, thank you for understanding! I was more so interested than I was excited when it was announced Sailor Moon would be getting a movie cut into two parts and is going to be on Netflix. The first part is unfortunately not that great, between feeling surprisingly very soulless and weirdly paced part one heavily relies on nostalgia which is the biggest problem. Relying on nostalgia can only get you so far until your audience starts to catch on, the animation is at least decent and the characters are still quite great. But as I said the pacing and structure are a complete and total mess there are scenes that strangely feel like they go on for far too long and never go anywhere. I understand that it was split into two parts so maybe that explains some of the pacing and story structure but it’s still very noticeable and holds this movie back.

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 1 is now available on Netflix!

5/10 C

Once again I’m keeping this short because as I said in my Part 1 review while I have seen a lot of episodes of Sailor Moon my knowledge of it is nowhere near as good as some other people! Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 is an improvement from Part 1, for starters while the animation was good in the first part. Part 2 I feel has much stronger animation in fact that’s the highlight of Part 2 it’s very interesting to look at and quite beautiful in a lot of scenes, the characters are really great and the pacing is nowhere near as bad as it was in Part 1. There are definitely moments where the story structure could have been fixed but for the most part it’s nothing bad, Part 2 also doesn’t heavily rely on nostalgia which is very refreshing it does it’s own thing and moves on. Overall Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 is nothing incredible but it’s a decent movie that’s a good time killer.

Sailor Moon Eternal Part 2 is now available on Netflix!

6/10 C+

A Quiet Place Part II (2021) Movie Review!

Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

A Quiet Place Part II has been one of my most anticipated films for a long while now, the first film which released in 2018 was one of my favorite films of that year and was a huge favorite from a lot of people. A Quiet Place Part II is one of those horror sequels where you can easily argue that it’s better than the first film, before I start this is going to be a NO SPOILER REVIEW! A Quiet Place Part II is everything a sequel should be, it ups the ante from the first film such as the thrilling atmosphere which is still present and as terrifying as ever. It expands on the world building we see more locations and more people, how some people are dealing with what’s going on. The film focuses on Millicent Simmonds who does a flawless job in her role, she delivers on every single level, I absolutely love with what they did with her character she truly brings so much raw energy into her role to the point where it kind of brings you to tears. Cillian Murphy is also a very nice addition to the cast, he also brings an incredibly raw performance that is quite powerful, I also couldn’t help but feel this movie had a lot of The Last Of Us vibes to it which is a huge positive (especially scenes with Murphy and Simmonds together they look like they can be a really good Joel and Ellie.) Like the first film the sound is used brilliantly with tons of quite and tense moments that will definitely have you on the edge of your seat wondering “what will happen next” it’s effective on every single level, one thing that I noticed that was truly fantastic was the editing, it’s incredibly fast paced and truly incredible to the point where I found it brilliantly done. There’s something about it that really makes the film all come together and makes it that much stronger in every single way possible, the action scenes are also incredibly well done especially when combined with the editing and sound, I feel like A Quiet Place Part II gives some of the most raw and powerful action scenes I’ve seen in a film in a long time. John Krasinski truly does his homework when it comes to creating a horrifying and thrilling atmosphere, every single moment in this movie you are on the lookout because anything can happen. It’s masterful filmmaking that you really do not see all too often, Overall A Quiet Place Part II is an incredible film that I’m so glad turned out the way it did! It’s one of those horror films that honestly makes you proud to be a huge fan of the genre (for those that don’t know my favorite genre is horror!) I highly recommend checking this one out easily one of the best films of the year!

A Quiet Place Part II is now in theaters!

10/10 A+

Cruella (2021) Movie Review!

Estella is a young and clever grifter who’s determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. She soon meets a pair of thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they build a life for themselves on the streets of London. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella.

Those of you who know me or have followed me for awhile now know I am not a fan of what Disney has been doing with these live action remakes/other movies like Maleficent. The last live action remake I remember actually really liking was The Jungle Book, everything else has really ranged from terrible to just passable (I really don’t count Christopher Robin I feel like that is entirely different movie on it’s own it’s a fantastic movie by the way) and seeing how not so good Maleficent was I had very little faith in Cruella….that was until more and more came out about it. Such as the director of I, Tonya and the writer of The Favourite being involved it then started to become very promising and I really have to say they pulled it off. First off let’s start with the cast because that’s one of Cruella’s strongest areas. Emma Stone does a fantastic job as Cruella when it was first announced she would be taking the role it sounded like a very odd choice but she really made it work. She does a fantastic job of bringing the character to life it’s quite fascinating, Emma Thompson does a really good job as The Baroness sure it might be sort of a generic role but she really makes it work, Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser I have to say were both fantastic they were genuinely funny and were really into their roles they played a very different take on Horace and Jasper which keeps things interesting and fresh! The costumes, production design and cinematography are all absolutely beautiful and definitely some of the strongest parts of the movie, it shows unlike a lot of the other live action disney movies Cruella actually has style to it and it’s own personality where as the other movies have a lot of the exact same style and have nothing to differentiate from one another. The writing does have it’s flaws such as having some incredibly stupid moments, however there are the campy moments that the movie fully embraces that I can’t help but love. It’s a ton of fun to see a movie embracing the campy feel in certain scenes combine that with Emma Stone’s energetic performance as Cruella and you have yourself a truly fun movie that is surprisingly really great! Cruella is something I highly recommend watching, I truly hope Disney keeps this up and from this point forward tries to give the future live action remakes or villain origin stories their own identity.

Cruella is now in Theaters and on Disney+ (premier access)

8/10 B+

Plan B (2021) Movie Review!

Follows a straight-laced high school student and her slacker best friend who, after a regrettable first sexual encounter, have 24 hours to hunt down a Plan B pill in America’s heartland.

Plan B is one of the biggest surprises so far this year, this is Natalie Morales’s second directed film (first being Language Lessons which I saw back at Sundance it just hasn’t gotten a wide release yet very good movie though!) and let’s just say that Morales is a director to definitely look out for because she does a fantastic job here! Plan B is sort of similar to Unpregnant but does things a little differently, it’s definitely more on the comedic side but at the same time balances the comedy and drama which I thought it did really really well. It also has a lot of Booksmart elements into it which again I thought the movie made it’s own, Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles were both fantastic in their roles! Both have a beautiful chemistry and both gave surprisingly raw performances that you really get invested in, the movie gets more and more bizarre and quite hilarious as it goes on. Resulting in some very memorable moments that really deliver, as I said earlier Plan B is one of those movies that balances comedy and drama which was quite interesting, it does take some time to get going at the beginning but once it does it’s one hell of a fun ride from there! I highly recommend checking out Plan B, it’s definitely going to be one of the most underrated films of 2021!

Plan B is now available on Hulu!

9/10 A

Most Anticipated Movies Of June 2021!

Sooo what happened to May? Because it flew by pretty quickly! June has a lot of interesting offerings and even has a lost media release that is coming out!! So let’s get into it!!

Let’s start from the bottom and work from the top! Up first we have a few movies that look decent enough such as..

Caveat – June 3rd (Shudder)

Undone – June 4th (VOD)

Summer of 85 – June 18th (Theater)

Batman The Long Halloween Part 1 – June 22nd (VOD) this one seems like a very interesting Batman movie, this could easily be a huge miss but I’m hopeful!

Next from here on out we have movies that I’ve been really excited for!!

Holler – June 11th (VOD)

Werewolves Within – June 25th (Theater) : I’m going to be seeing this one at the Tribeca Film Festival (I’ll get into more detail at the end of the list) I’m really excited to check this one out!!

False Positive – June 25th (Hulu) : Once again another movie I’ll be seeing at the Tribeca Film Festival! Been waiting for a long while for this one excited to see it!

The Sparks Brothers – June 18th (Theaters) : I saw this one back at Sundance and let me tell you it’s worth it, Edgar Wright brings so much style and energy into the documentary it’s quite amazing. I truly recommend seeing this one if you can.

I Carry You With Me – June 25th (Theater)

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It – June 4th (Theaters and HBO Max) : This one originally wouldn’t had made the list hadn’t the recent reviews been pretty positive. I’m pretty excited now being a huge fan of the first films. I really hope this one delivers!

The Amusement Park – June 8th (Shudder) : This was the one I was talking about when I mentioned lost media releasing. Apparently this is a lost George A Romero film that was never released. The film was produced back in 1972/1973 but is only now going to release in 2021. I’m unsure if I will count it as a 2021 one film given that it was made back in the 70s. I’ll let you guys know what I decide. But I’m very excited for it, it’s not everyday a studio decides to release lost media so this is a huge step in the right direction.

Luca – June 18th (Disney+) : What do you want me to say? It’s Pixar!! After the fantastic Soul I’m definitely excited for Luca which looks really really promising!

Gaia – June 18th (Theater) and June 25th (VOD) : I saw this one back in March at the SXSW film festival, it’s a very beautiful mix of In The Earth and The Last Of Us, truly a fantastic film that I highly recommend!

Censor – June 11th (Theater) and June 18th (VOD) another movie I saw in January at the Sundance Film Festival! I can easily see Censor being on the top of many people’s favorite horror movies of 2021! It’s such a creative movie with a very unique premise that delivers! Be sure to put this one on your watchlist.

Zola – June 30 (Theater) : This is one of the many movies that was supposed to come out last year but unfortunately did not due to COVID. It was stuck in release date limbo for what felt like forever but finally got a release date awhile ago! It’s based off of one of the most popular Twitter threads in Twitter history. The movie looks just as wild as the thread itself so I’m very excited

In The Heights – June 11th (Theaters and HBO Max) : Finally we have my most anticipated film of June! I’ve been waiting for this movie for awhile, early reviews are absolutely beautiful and the film looks just incredible! This year is going to be very busy for musicals, In The Heights being one of the best looking ones!

As I said earlier I will be doing the Tribeca Film Festival I currently have 24 movies I plan on seeing (there might be more) so keep an eye out for reviews! With that said I’ll have my reviews for A Quiet Place Part II, Cruella and Plan B out tomorrow!

Four Good Days (2021) Movie Review!

A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse.

Four Good Days is a movie I have been waiting awhile to see, it was stuck in release date limbo for awhile but finally came out on VOD last week (at the time this written) it took a bit for me to review this movie because Four Good Days has a lot of great things going for it and a lot of things that could have been better. Mila Kunis is hands down the best part about the film, she truly delivers a very raw and powerful performance that at times made the movie hard to watch due to how well she plays someone with a drug addiction. Glenn Close also does a very solid job as well giving a strong performance. The writing has a lot of powerful moments that are quite horrifying mainly due to them being incredibly raw and situations that do actually happen. What does stop Four Good Days from being even better however is it’s predictability there are a ton of scenes that you can predict easily which is quite unfortunate, it takes away from some of the power the movie has, however Four Good Days is still pretty solid! And while it is formulaic it still leaves an impact on you that’s mainly due to Mila Kunis’s performance, give this one a watch!

Four Good Days is now available on VOD!

7/10 B

P!nk: All I Know So Far (2021) Movie Review!

A behind-the-scenes look at P!NK as she balances family and life on the road, leading up to her first Wembley Stadium performance on 2019’s “Beautiful Trauma” world tour

This is sort of hard to review but I’ll try my best. P!nk All I Know So Far focuses on P!nk and her relationship with her daughter which is touching and absolutely beautiful, it’s one of those documentaries where you get to see more into a celebrity’s life that feels raw and meaningful. A lot of the film is behind the scenes and home videos which again keeps it more interesting, P!nk really shows the audience how she keeps a balance between family and her career as it can be hard to balance the two. It’s a very wholesome documentary, it’s almost like those old family videos your family made when you were younger. It does surprise me how Amazon did very little advertising for this documentary because it is quite interesting. As far as filmmaking there really isn’t anything mind blowing but I feel in this case it really doesn’t have to be. If your a fan of P!nk you are most definitely going to love this documentary!

P!nk: All I know So Far is now available on Amazon Prime Video!

7/10 B

The Unholy (2021) Movie Review!

A girl inexplicably gains the power to heal the sick after a supposed visitation from the Virgin Mary. As word spreads and people flock to witness her miracles, a disgraced journalist visits the small New England town to investigate. However, when strange events start to occur, he soon wonders if these phenomena are the result of something more sinister.

The Unholy is one of the most forgettable and cliche religion horror movies in recent memory, The only positives I can give this movie is the cinematography and Jeffery Dean Morgan who really tried his best with what he had. It’s one of those horror movies that relies heavily on jumpscares and does nothing else, combine that with some very bizarre writing choices and you have yourself a complete mess of a movie. It doesn’t help that it feels like a 2 hour movie when it really isn’t, the characters have no development at all and nothing to set them apart from other characters in other movies similar to this one. I will say some of the ideas were interesting but completely failed on every single level when it came to execution. It didn’t help that the movie itself wasn’t interesting, it’s a premise that’s been done before just in piss poor writing. I really don’t have much else to comment here, if you have seen at least one religion horror movie congratulations you have already seen The Unholy.

The Unholy is now available on VOD!

2/10 F

Quick Reviews: Blue Miracle and Skull: The Mask (2021)

To save their cash-strapped orphanage, a guardian and his kids partner with a washed-up boat captain for a chance to win a lucrative fishing competition.

Like a lot of Netflix Original movies Blue Miracle is very forgettable, it’s based on a true story which is very nice. But the main problem comes in when you realize this is just another underdog movie only that it’s a true story. The acting and writing are alright, there really isn’t anything mind blowing here. This is the type of movie where you see it once and then almost immediately forget what you just saw. Really have nothing else to say here.

Blue Miracle is now available on Netflix!

5/10 C

A supernatural serial killer based on pre-Colombian mythology hunts for revenge in the metropolis of São Paulo.

Skull: The Mask is one of those movies I wanted to love so badly but the flaws really stick out like a sore thumb, it’s very unfortunate because this movie does have some great qualities. The gore being the highlight with some pretty creative kills that do add up to being quite incredible, the major problem here is even at 90 minutes long the movie feels WAY too long. The pacing absolutely destroys the movie and brings things to a slow halt, the acting and writing aren’t too bad but they aren’t great either. Skull: The Mask I think would have worked far far better if it was a short film, because while the premise is interesting as the movie goes on it gets very tired and less interesting. Definitely not a bad movie but not something I would recommend!

Skull: The Mask is now available on Shudder!

4/10 D+

Army Of The Dead (2021) Movie Review!

Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

Army Of The Dead is a film that’s been in development hell for the longest time, first being announced in 2007 in 2019 Netflix acquired the distribution rights from Warner Bros and then it was just a matter of waiting for it to finally release. I’m a huge fan of Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead so I was naturally very excited for this one since the topic of wanting a sequel or another “Of The Dead” series by Snyder has been a topic in the horror community for years now. Army Of The Dead while I don’t think is as good as Dawn Of The Dead is still a very entertaining film that does a whole lot right. Dave Bautista is fantastic here, he does a really great job in his role and is easily one of my favorite roles by him. Everyone else seems like they are having a blast with the film and they are all pretty decent as well, it’s a very interesting cast that delivers really really well! Snyder’s direction is quite solid as well, he gives a entertaining yet thrilling type of atmosphere that’s a whole lot of fun but also has you wondering what’s going to happen next. The music I really have to say was quite great, a lot of the songs were creatively used during scenes that matched the mood or scene in question. The action scenes were quite great as well, sure the CGI might have not been exactly amazing but I feel like that was part of the charm and it strangely works here. The CGI tiger for example I thought was really neat and would always give you a “oh man!” moment whenever it would appear on screen. As I said earlier Snyder really knows how to entertain his audience and the writing, action scenes and the story are example of it, the running time I thought was going to be a major issue when going into the film. Luckily that’s not the case here it was the fastest 148 minutes, it’s mostly due to how entertaining the film is plus you get so invested into the suspense as well that you don’t even notice the running time. Army Of The Dead is the definition of “time flies when your having fun”, overall as I said like 20 times during this review Army Of The Dead is a blast of fun but it’s also genuinely really great as well. I really hope there’s a follow up or Snyder does another one of the “Of The Dead” series cause I feel this is when Snyder is at his best!

Army Of The Dead is now available on Netflix!

8/10 B+