An archaeologist embarks on the historically important excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938.
The Dig is pretty great, I really did not know much about the movie before watching! It’s a straightforward movie that’s about an important excavation, the acting all around was very solid Carey Mulligan being the standout who really shows her talent here and does a pretty great job. The cinematography combined with the setting of the film gives it a beautiful look and captures the feeling of going out on a important excavation, the direction from Simon Stone is also quite great. Stone captures quite a lot in each scene and manages to make them unique in their own way, I do feel the pacing does drag towards the final act and could have been 10 minutes shorter. But that doesn’t take away how beautiful and quite great The Dig is! A very solid Netflix Original and I can’t wait to see what Simon Stone does next!!
7/10 B
A summer in rural O‘ahu takes an exciting turn for two Brooklyn-raised siblings when a journal pointing to long-lost treasure sets them on an epic adventure with new friends, and leads them to reconnect with their Hawaiian heritage.
I don’t quite understand why Finding Ohana was 123 minutes long but oh well, the movie itself is a very serviceable family movie. It feels a lot like The Goonies, ET and a few others, the acting is decent enough that gets the job done for the most part. The problem is the jokes, the pacing and the writing, the jokes very rarely hit a lot of it is the type of humor that just isn’t funny. The pacing really becomes a problem towards the middle of the film, it comes to a full stop and feels like it goes on and on. The writing is just not good, tons of cliche characters, way too predictable and feels like a chore to sit through. Which is a shame because somewhere in this movie there is a decent family movie but it’s crowded by way too many flaws that ultimately make this movie a clone of other family movies. It’s nothing particularly bad but it’s one of those Netflix originals that will be quickly forgotten about.
In Whithren, a line of women pass a recurring dream through multiple generations.
The Wanting Mare is a very interesting little movie, that brings you into it’s own little world. A world that’s definitely interesting to visit, it’s one of those films that feels very bizarre and you question “what the hell is happening” but at the same time you are intrigued. The fantasy and sci-fi elements are really interesting and quite welcoming, they bring something new to the table. The acting and writing have this sort of fantasy feel to them that makes the movie’s own identity which is very unique, it captures this imaginative feel. While you are watching it also feels like you are in a dreamlike state, it’s a very interesting experience that you will definitely think about after watching. The direction is quite great combine that with the cinematography and you have a beautiful film, go into this one blindly!
7/10 B
Evelyn, a young widow haunted by the recent suicide of her husband Joseph, is falsely accused of being a witch by her Landlord after she rejects his advances.
Question….What happened to Neil Marshall? Remember when use to be really great? Dog Soldiers and The Descent were great films, he seriously had a lot of promise as a director. Then Hellboy (2019) which was easily one of the worst of 2019, when I heard he was making another movie I was really hoping he would make a comeback…sadly that’s not the case. The Reckoning is a horrendous movie that often forgets what it’s set out to do, the “burn the witch” genre has been done to death numerous times and here it combines every last cliche in the book, what seals this movie’s fate is the garbage writing. A lot of the writing makes little to no sense and it keeps having to remind the audience about simple plot devices that we are already fully aware of, the acting is just as terrible with little to no direction and every single one of the actors and actresses failing to bring any sort of energy in their role. There is one or two “it’s so bad it’s hilarious” moments but that is truly not enough to save this mess of a movie. Avoid this one at all costs.
Jody, a lonely teenage girl, joins forces with Hannah, a disgraced track coach. Together, they spend a summer training for The Pinnacle Games, the biggest track and field competition on the East Coast.
Strider is a simple but yet very inspiring film, I’m not even into running yet I felt very inspired. Strider has a simple setup that I feel anyone can get behind, some of the standouts include Yelena Friedman and Maggie Alexander both of who give very raw performances that really make the film more authentic and relatable, the chemistry also really works between the two. It’s a beautiful type of chemistry that’s captured in the most authentic way possible! The setting of the film adds to it as well, it’s quite great and gives the film a sort of personality! It’s writing is straight to the point, it knows what it wants to be plus knows what it’s going for as well and sometimes that’s all you really want from some movies. This is a nice movie to put on in afternoon can’t wait to see what Mark Lewis does next!
It’s a new month!! January surprisingly flew by rather quickly, February is going to be very busy film wise! We have the last few movies from 2020 getting their wide releases (Minari, The Father and Nomadland) plus we have a lot of potential award season films (Judas And The Black Messiah, Malcolm & Marie, I Care A Lot, Falling, Billie Holiday (Actress wise) Land and The Mauritanian) and much more which I’ll go over briefly about each movie and how they are getting released! One more thing I despite already seeing Malcolm & Marie, Minari, Nomadland, The Killing Of Two Lovers, Land and The Night Of Kings I have still put them all on the list. Because I am still excited to see them again (I’ve been dying to rewatch Killing Of Two Lovers, Nomadland and Malcolm & Marie) plus I do want to give the films the attention they deserve! With that said let’s take a look at the list!
Let’s start out with the noteworthy releases
Nomadland which is the front runner of this year’s Oscar’s season is being released in select theaters AND on Hulu February 19th I will be doing another review of the film once it comes out! Make sure to see this one!
Minari is being released in theaters February 12th and then being released on demand February 26th, this is another one you must see. It’s doing pretty well nomination wise and will more then likely be nominated for best picture at the Oscars!
The Father is being released February 26th in Theaters which is the last film I need to see and review before I finalize and post my Top 100 Best Films of 2020 list! I’ve heard it’s a very heavy film Anthony Hopkins has been getting nominated across the board for best actor! Definitely excited to see this one!
Saint Maud is finally being released, it’s had several delays but it’s finally coming out on Epix February 12th I’m assuming other streaming services will follow. From what I’ve heard it’s incredible, it’s been on my radar for so long so this raises my excitement.
We have a few films from January getting their VOD release dates. Supernova which releases February 16th on VOD and Wrong Turn which releases February 26th on VOD!
Malcolm & Marie is my number one most anticipated mostly due to how much I loved the film when I saw it January, it’s truly an incredible film that I think audiences are going to love. It’s my favorite film (not counting the Sundance films just yet) of the year so far! Zendaya I’m almost sure will snag a best actress nomination!! It releases on Netflix February 5th!
Speaking of Netflix let’s talk about all the streaming service exclusive films on the list going from the top to the bottom.
Judas And The Black Messiah releases on February 12th on HBO Max and in theaters as part of Warner Bros 2021 HBO Max deal! Which will be the second film, it’s getting a lot of award buzz as I briefly mentioned! I’m actually seeing it at Sundance early tonight! So I’ll definitely have a review out before then!!
Billie Eilish The World’s A Little Blurry releases on February 26th on Apple TV+ I’m a huge Billie Eilish fan so it is sort of biased that it’s high up on the list. But it does look genuinely great!
I Care A Lot releases February 19th while To All The Boys: Always and Forever releases February 12th on Netflix! I Care A Lot has Rosamund Pike that alone gets me excited!
Shudder has two releases on this list Nightmare Wakes which is out February 4th and Shook which is out February 18th!
Hulu is releasing The United States Vs Billie Holiday February 26th
Finally HBO Max is releasing their third film of the 2021 deal Tom and Jerry which is out February 26th looks like fun!
The Killing Of Two Lovers is out February 23rd in theaters. I saw this back in December and let me tell you it’s fantastic!! Truly one of the best films you will see so far this year!!
Land I saw yesterday at Sundance it’s releasing February 12th in theaters. It’s a film I definitely recommend checking out! I’ll have my review out for it soon!!
There’s a few films that are getting limited releases this month and then VOD/streaming dates next month which are Night Of Kings which is releasing February 26th in theaters and virtual cinemas) and on VOD March 5th. Then there’s Cherry which is releasing in limited theaters February 26th and on AppleTV+ March 12th
Everything else!
Dead Pigs February 12th (Mubi)
The Reckoning February 5th (VOD)
The Glitch In The Matrix February 5th (VOD)
Little Fish February 5th (VOD)
Willy’s World (Nicholas Cage time!!!) February 12th (VOD)
PVT Chat February 5th (Theater) and February 9th (VOD)
Falling February 5th (Theater and VOD)
The Vigil February 26th (VOD)
The Mauritanian February 19th (Theater)
Jumbo February 19th (VOD)
And that’s all!! February is going to be a busy month between writing Sundance reviews and other releases such as Palmer, The Little Things and a few others!! I hope this list helps and something interests you!!
As I promised yesterday here’s in update!! I saw plenty of films yesterday and I also have one film (R#J) that I saw this morning. I still got 7 films left for today, 8 films tomorrow and possibly a few on Wednesday. Anyway here’s what the ranking looks like at the moment.
I’m really happy with what I’ve seen so far, a few noteworthy ones like On The Count Of Three I’m especially happy about, truly a fantastic film that I recommend when it comes out. Prisoners Of The Ghostland is incredible, Nicholas Cage is great! It’s been on my radar for the longest time and I’m really happy with the way it turned out.
We now have some terrible films on the list which are the last 3 John And The Hole, R#J and Mother Schmuckers.
Don’t even get me started on Mother Schmuckers, I wasn’t expecting to give a disgrace to cinema rating but here we are! I’ll go more in depth in my review but if you are participating at Sundance please be sure to avoid it at all costs it’s not worth the 70 minutes of disgusting, edgy and repulsive humor.
As I said full reviews will be starting to come out once I finish Sundance! Which I’m really looking forward to writing all the reviews!!
Keep an eye out later for my most anticipated films of February 2021!
Hey everyone!! The reason due to lack of reviews is because I’m currently doing Sundance and so far I’m really enjoying it! It’s my first time participating, I’ve seen quite a few fantastic films (at the time this was written I’ve only seen one bad film)
I will be posting full reviews of each of the films I’ve seen throughout the festival!! Here’s my ranking as of right now!
By the end of the festival (last day is February 3rd) I should be somewhere between 30-35 films!!! Which is going to be loads of reviews! So definitely stay tuned!! I’ll post another update in the middle of tomorrow!!
A family takes in an injured Magpie that makes a profound difference in their lives.
There really is not a whole lot to Penguin Bloom, Naomi Watts gives a fantastic performance that is definitely the best thing this film has going for it. As well as some beautiful cinematography that shows off some beautiful shots of Australia, plus some sunlight shots that give it this extra warmth and cuddly feeling. When it comes down to it the film is just your typical feel good movie, it never really tries to be anything more then that which does work for this movie. It’s based on a true story which is actually quite interesting I do recommend giving the real story a read, the writing has some decent moments especially with Naomi Watts. One issue I do have is I do feel the pacing is sort of all over the place, which tends to be a problem with a lot of these feel good movies. The pacing comes to a halt towards the end which does ultimately hurt the movie. But overall Penguin Bloom is a decent movie, If you are in the mood for a feel good movie that may make you cry check this one out.
Families were terrorized at the orphanage. Someone wants them dead, apparently with black magic that is very deadly. She has a grudge and she was also born because of the sins of the orphans who formed her into the Queen of Black Magic.
The Queen Of Black Magic is Shudder’s second film in their lineup for the first 3 movies of 2021! Kimo Stamboel is directing solo this time usually he directs with Timo Tjahjano (who I do think is the better director) Stamboel does a pretty decent job with this movie but it does have it’s flaws. I will say that the filming is very well done and captures the atmosphere quite well, it gives off a very haunting atmosphere where anything can happen at any given moment. The gore is quite great and easily the best thing about this film, it’s brutal and does quite a lot with the gore as well! The kills are quite great they are creative in their own way and add a lot to the movie, with that said the movie does take awhile to get going. It has a very slow start that will turn people off, but this is one of those films where you must be patient. The characters are actually not too bad, they all at least have a personality although I would say the movie introduces way too many characters at once. Overall The Queen Of Black Magic isn’t too bad, the gore really makes the movie worth the watch.
6/10 C+
“Woodstock teen, Rosie, mourning the first anniversary of her younger sister’s death discovers the mysterious man who sexploited and bullied her sister to commit suicide is back online
I liked the idea of where #Like was going, I tend to really like these Internet horror and thriller movies. The first part of the film heavily reminded me of Hard Candy (fantastic film by the way), which is probably why the first part of the film is the standout for me. Everything after that just got progressively worse, a lot of the twists and turns made this film very silly and really did not make a whole lot of sense. I do think Sarah Rich did the best job she could with a completely empty script, which is a shame considering the build up from the first part of the movie was actually interesting. Instead it turns into a thriller with nothing special going for it.
Over the Christmas holiday, Jules reflects on the year.
I didn’t think the first Euphoria special could possibly be topped but wow this second part might just have. The second part focuses on Jules played by Hunter Schaefer who pretty soon we will be calling Emmy winner Hunter Schaefer because she did an incredible job here. Schafer really shows her full potential and brings an emotional performance, combine that with some very raw writing and you have yourself a one of a kind experience. There’s a ton of scenes here that are worth talking about but the two I feel very strongly about, let’s start with the opening. The opening sets up the mood for what the rest of the special is going to be like, Lorde’s Liability plays and you see all of the moments of Rue and Jules in Jules’s eye. It’s really a beautiful scene that hits you really hard, it’s filled with emotions and sums up Rue and Jules’s relationship without saying a single line of dialogue. The second scene of course is the scene with Billie Eilish and Rosalia’s song Lo Vas A Olvidar, not only is the song itself beautiful but the scene itself is mesmerizing scene. It captures a montage of Jules and Rue seemingly happy, then towards the end things change a bit. It gives you mixed emotions which in this case works, the whole special itself actually does feel like you are there with Jules listening to what she has to say. Which is quite incredible, it really makes you feel for her and believe everything she’s going through. I don’t want to give anything else away so I’ll stop here, but trust me when I say this is absolutely worth it! Like the first Euphoria special I will be counting this on my ranked movies list, it’s definitely one of the strongest so far this year highly recommended!!
After receiving life-altering news, a couple finds unexpected support from their best friend, who puts his own life on hold and moves into their family home, bringing an impact much greater and more profound than anyone could have imagined
Our Friend is directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite the director of Blackfish and Megan Leavey (a very underrated movie) which was definitely I was looking forward to this one! It’s a very solid movie that does capture life itself at times, a lot of it really reminded me of Manchester By The Sea (although not as good), Dakota Johnson is definitely the stand out she really gives a raw and strong performance that really shows her talent. This movie is by far one of if not Jason Segel’s best performance in awhile, like Dakota Johnson he gives a very raw performance where it doesn’t feel faked. The same can be said for the rest of the cast as well, Casey Affleck also does a pretty good job. His role In Our Friend did heavily remind me of his role in Manchester By The Sea so it does sort of feel identical. But he still manages to do a very solid job in his role, the writing is a highlight it really brings this authentic and believable feel to the film which in the end really makes this movie standout. Directing wise Cowperthwaite does a fantastic job, she really shows that she wants to make things authentic as possible which is important due to Our Friend being based on a true story! Overall Our Friend is a fantastic film, definitely one of the best of 2021 so far. Check this one out!
After unearthing a gem that controls an evil monster looking to destroy the Universe, a young girl and her brother use it to make him do their bidding.
Steven Kostanski is quickly becoming a director to look out for, I really loved The Void and I thought Leprechaun Returns was a solid comeback for an overall bad franchise. Psycho Goreman takes elements from The Void and does something a lot different, imagine a Power Rangers like show but with gore and a monster as the main character….you have Psycho Goreman! It strangely works as well, there’s a lot to praise about the film! First off the designs of the monsters and the gore is incredible, it really brings you back to the 80s and it’s very much appreciated. They have great detail and the designs of the characters help describe them as well, the story is simplistic and goes toward the “what the hell am I watching?” route but in a good way, the film itself feels like a Saturday morning cartoon but in the best way possible. Matthew Ninaber does the voice for Psycho Goreman and he does a fantastic job, his voice combined with the character give really great results. The major flaw I do have with this movie is Mimi played by Nita-Josee Hanna she’s a truly annoying character and the lines given to her are just not that great. I get what the film was going for however since it does feel like a Saturday morning cartoon I’m guessing they were trying to go for having an annoying character like a lot of cartoons are meant to have. But that really does not translate well into live action, that’s only my guess of what I think they were trying to do but either way the character really does hold back the movie. The humor is also a hit or miss at times the movie is genuinely funny with some clever jokes and then other parts the jokes really don’t land quite as well. But overall Psycho Goreman is some of the most fun I’ve had with a film so far this year, it does have it’s flaws that do hold it back at times. But the film is definitely something I recommend checking out especially if you are looking for something really fun to watch.
Jerome Reviews... 