Kill (2024) Film Review

A train to New Delhi becomes a combat battleground as a pair of commandos faces off against an army of invading bandits.

Kill is directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat who previously directed Brji Mohan Amar Rahe (2018), Hurdang (2022) and Apurva (2023). 

I knew very little about Kill going in, all that I knew before hand was that it was very violent and gory…which yes it definitely is. The film features some of the most brutal kills I’ve seen from any film so far this year. 

Like many other people have said Kill is if you took The Raid (2011) and the John Wick series and put it on a train. However Kill does things differently in terms of story and the way it executes it’s dialogue and filming. Lakshya is an excellent leading man that we follow and the rest of the cast are just as exciting, the setup isn’t anything brand new but it’s just enough to really make you care about these characters. 

Once the title card drops 40 minutes into the film things start kicking into high gear, while yes once the hijackers showed up is definitely when things start getting brutal. The title card drop opens a brutal door where violence is going to happen nonstop until the film ends. It ups the ante with so much blood and violence that compliments the film’s themes such as contextualizing violence the class divide between the heroes and villains, while we don’t get a whole lot of that in the dialogue. We definitely get that through the character’s emotions, actions and the spread of violence through the train. It’s quite interesting execution that really works well in this film’s favor.

Lastly you have just how well filmed the film really is, from the action scenes to how up in your face the brutality is Kill utilizes many different filming angles to make the film standout more. The atmosphere compliments the film well, incredibly suspenseful and has a brutal nature that never stops. There’s so much going on during the film’s final act that much like the train the characters are on, never stops moving until we reach the end. 

Kill is available on all VOD platforms!

9/10 A

Fancy Dance (2024) Film Review

Since her sister’s disappearance, Jax has cared for her niece, Roki, by scraping by on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Every spare minute goes into finding her missing sister while also helping Roki prepare for an upcoming powwow.

Fancy Dance is directed by Erica Tremblay which is her directorial debut. 

Fancy Dance is perhaps one of the most underrated films of 2024, it’s such a shame this one isn’t really being talked about as much as some other favorites so far this year. Because this is quite a strong one! 

Lily Gladstone as always is fantastic here, she gives one of the best performances of the year so far. It’s a truly touching, heartbreaking and beautiful performance that really compliments this story incredibly well. The story focusing on missing and murdered indigenous women who often get ignored which is sadly a very true thing that happens even today. The film itself really acts like a eulogy for those women and does it in such a heartbreaking way that it quickly gets to the viewer. 

The film is also moving…a powerful celebration of cultural identity and resilience, it balances these topics fluently, the performances from Lily Gladstone (as mentioned before) and Isabel DeRoy-Olsen really bring these themes front and center. The two have excellent chemistry and the writing just makes their conversations all the more interesting, the direction from Erica Tremblay (who is also one of the writers) is very natural and really captures the heartbreaking nature of the story. It’s an incredibly sad film yet there are glimpses of celebration as I said before, it’s the perfect blend to really tell a story such as this. 

As far as pacing goes the first 20 minutes or so are a bit slow but that’s nowhere near enough to stop Fancy Dance from being an incredibly engaging film, there’s a lot to this film that makes it standout especially with some of the places the film ends up going. 

Overall Fancy Dance is quite excellent, I really hope this film finds more watchers over time because this is truly a great one! 

Fancy Dance is available on Apple TV+

9/10 A

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (2024) Film Review

When their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name.

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who previously directed Bad Boys For Life (2020), Gangsta (2018), Black (2015) and Image (2014). Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is the fourth installment in the Bad Boys series and is a sequel to Bad Boys For Life (2020). 

The Bad Boys series has always been incredibly fun, you know what you are getting into when you go into one of these films and they always leave you with satisfaction. That’s just as much as the case with Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, a film that oozes with summer blockbuster charm but also adds a bit more to the mix to make this one memorable. 

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are both excellent here, they are the best they have ever been here. Whats very interesting about this film is despite the previous film coming out only 4 years ago you still feel like this is a reunion not the characters feeling that way but the audiences. Maybe it’s the energy the film itself gives off or maybe it’s just me, but this is felt during the first moments of the film and it’s quite pleasing. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence once again work incredibly well together and really just nail down why this series works so well. It’s the classic action filled moments with humorous ones that the script offers, Smith and Lawerence effortlessly deliver their lines and make this into such a fun ride.

The action scenes continue to get bigger in these films along with the variety of different shots. You have your usual fun action scenes you would expect in a summer blockbuster, you have drone shots that are incredibly neat as well as filmed beautifully and you have your crazy stunts that are quite impressive that bring you to the edge of your seat. It’s very reminiscent of the energy that Bad Boys II (2003) had which is very welcoming and chaotic in the best ways possible. 

The plot is honestly nothing to write home about it’s a story of being framed and probably goes about how you expect it to. But the film makes up for that with incredibly fun action scenes, strong performances from Will Smith and Martin Lawerence and just overall being a very likable film that knows what it is. 

Bad Boys: Ride Or Die is available on all VOD platforms.

8/10 B+

Thelma (2024) Film Review!

Thelma Post is a 93-year-old grandmother who loses $10,000 to a con artist on the phone. With help from a friend and his motorized scooter, she soon embarks on a treacherous journey across Los Angeles to reclaim what was taken from her.

Thelma is directed by Josh Margolin which is his directorial debut. 

Thelma just might be one of the sweetest and endearing films of 2024, what seems like a silly revenge story on the surface actually ends up being a film that actually has a few themes here that work incredibly well. 

Before we get to that let’s talk about the performances all of which are fantastic but the one who makes the film is June Squibb. Her performance as Thelma is so endearing, easily connects with the viewer and honestly an excellent portrayal of a grandmother. The chemistry she has with the cast feels incredibly natural and really does give off this cozy feel almost like you are listening to someone’s grandmother speak. It’s impossible to walk out of this film without a smile on your face and that’s mainly due to Squibb’s performance. Fred Hechinger’s performance as Daniel who plays Thelma’s grandson is also really excellent. A lot of the film’s best moments is with Thelma and Daniel just speaking to one another, catching up on each other or Daniel making sure Thelma is okay. It all feels very natural. Richard Roundtree is also quite great here, he has excellent chemistry with June Squibb that are easily some of the films best moments.

Which also lead into the film’s main theme…getting old. Hearing Thelma talk about being old with most of her friends who are either dead or have moved on with their lives is honestly some soul crushing stuff. I mean sure getting old is a part of life it’s going to happen to everyone, but when you hear this come from Thelma a character who is shown to be kind, doing anything she can to protect her family and tries to remain positive throughout the film. It really starts to get to you as a viewer, perhaps it’s because of the very well written script from Josh Margolin but this is actually very beautifully executed. 

The humor combined with the film’s revenge story (which starts due to a scam) is quite excellent, I do love that the film makes sure to balance humor and the many touching moments. It helps the film be more natural in its execution and just results in a blast of fun. There’s a little bit here for everyone which is the best move this film could have possibly done. 

Overall Thelma is excellent, it takes a regular revenge story and flips it on its head by including so many touching moments that really dive into getting old. Very endearing film be sure to give this one a watch!

Thelma is available on all VOD Platforms. 

8/10 B+

My Spy: The Eternal City (2024) Film Review.


JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear scheme aimed at the Vatican, which disrupts a high school choir trip to Italy.

My Spy: The Eternal City is directed by Peter Seagal director of Anger Management (2003), Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), 50 First Dates (2004), My Spy (2020), Grudge Match (2013) and a few others. 

Out of any movie to get a sequel I’m willing to put good money down that My Spy wasn’t one that people were demanding. The first My Spy was a fun little action comedy that went to VOD platforms during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a fine enough movie that while forgettable got the job done. So it’s very interesting to me that Peter Seagal who directed the previous movie returns and does a worse job than before. 

Dave Bautista is once again pretty okay here, he’s by far the best part of the movie much like he was in the previous movie. The rest of the cast are fine enough they just don’t bring anything exciting to the table, the jokes this time around are slightly worse than the last movie. Very forgettable and at most result in a chuckle, granted none of the jokes are painful just very cobbled together. 

Speaking of cobbled together what really kills this movie is the plot and the many plot lines that follow, for some reason they decided to take a simple bonding story from the first movie and turn it into a whole plot heavy movie with an espionage action plot that oddly gets very convoluted. It’s the type of movie where you really scratch your head and say “who was this for?” It wants to go for the same family type feel the first movie did. But every now and then you get jokes here that aren’t exactly family friendly. It’s a very confused mess that never really figures itself out. 

Finally the characters especially the new ones don’t really add much, Craig Robinson and Anna Faris are trying their best but with such a limited script that gives very little to work with they sort of have no choice but to be sitting ducks. 

Overall My Spy: The Eternal City is very typical streaming movie shovelware, it exists solely on the chance that some people who liked My Spy (2020) may watch it, definitely not one of the worst movies of the year but it’s one you are going to forget almost immediately after watching.

My Spy: The Eternal City is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-

Despicable Me 4 (2024) Film Review

Gru welcomes a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who’s intent on tormenting his dad. However, their peaceful existence soon comes crashing down when criminal mastermind Maxime Le Mal escapes from prison and vows revenge against Gru.

Despicable Me 4 is directed by Chris Renaud director of Despicable Me (2010), The Lorax (2012), Despicable Me 2 (2013), The Secret Life Of Pets (2016) and The Secret Life Of Pets 2 (2019). This film serves as the fourth installment of the main series (sixth overall film in the franchise and serves as a sequel to Despicable Me 3 (2017). 

By this point everyone and their dog knows what the Despicable Me franchise is, it’s arguably at least in the top 10 moneymaking modern franchises. The films range from being pretty cute to bad. Despicable Me 4 is quite honestly more of the same thing from other entries, which might not be bad for fans of the series but will quickly become tiring for everyone else. 

I really have to give Steve Carell so much credit for sticking with this series for so long, because he is once again one of the best parts about it. Some lines in this movie that would be otherwise terrible end up being somewhat funny due to Carell’s delivery. The rest of the voice cast are solid although do not have anything really special about them. 

One thing I will say this movie does a pretty good job with is Gru’s character, we get to learn even more about his past and old rivals as well. Even if this has been done before in earlier entries and spinoffs, they still manage to come up with at least something somewhat interesting. The subplot about the minions becoming superheroes is forgettable, sure there’s a few funny moments but it’s not anything that’s going to be fondly remembered. 

Honestly the best way I could describe Despicable Me 4 is a kid on a sugar rush, it’s very fast paced and could be enjoyable largely depending on the viewer. It could be a fun sugar rush for some people or it can be a very dull one to get through. 

Overall there really is not a whole to say about Despicable Me 4 it’s a below average sequel that’s completely harmless for kids. It gets the job done for the most part but at the end of the day is just another Despicable Me movie.

Despicable Me 4 is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024) Film Review

When Bikini Bottom is scooped out of the ocean, Sandy and SpongeBob head to Sandy’s home state of Texas and enlist her family to help save Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs and the rest of the gang.

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is directed by Liza Johnson director of Return (2011), Hateship Loveship (2013) and Elvis & Nixon (2016) 

Look I’m not the target audience for this movie and I haven’t really cared about SpongeBob for awhile now, but I really have to ask what exactly happened here? For all of Sponge On The Run (2020) faults at the very least it had some fun moments and the characters were fun as well. This movie does not do any of that and instead makes baffling decision after baffling decision. 

For starters for a movie that has Sandy Cheeks in the title it really is not about her, yes she is the main character but we only get a brief backstory and the movie itself really does not do all that much with her family. Who seem like fun characters but we are given very little information about them or spend any time developing them into fully fleshed out characters. I’m not expecting a character piece written about each of the members of the family but at least let the viewer spend a lot more time with them. 

The movie itself is very ugly, I’m willing to put good money down that the 85% of the budget went into getting celebrities such as Wanda Sykes to be in this movie. The animation isn’t even the worst part…it’s when the movie attempts to combine live action and animation together you get some of the most horrifying results you will see in a movie this year, it’s so ugly and horrifying that it makes any of the Spy Kids movies look like Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022) in comparison I really wish I was kidding. 

The writing is abysmal and quite honestly some of the worst I’ve heard in a movie so far this year. Any charm that Spongebob as a series had in the past is nowhere to be found in this movie, I have heard modern SpongeBob has been a decline in quality for awhile now but I have to imagine it’s far better than whatever this was. 

Overall Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is hands down the worst Spongebob movie and it’s not even close. Abysmal, ugly, annoying and downright horrendous this makes it an easy contender for worst movie of the year.

Saving The Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie is available on Netflix. 

Disgrace To Cinema F

The Exorcism (2024) Film Review

A troubled actor begins to unravel while shooting a horror film. His estranged daughter wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.

The Exorcism is directed by Joshua John Miller director of The Mao Game (1999). 

I’ll tell you one thing that wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card it’s another Russell Crowe exorcism movie, funnily enough this film was actually announced before The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) had work done on it. Speaking of which I thought The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) was a very silly horror movie that while yes is filled to the brim of cliches is still a lot of fun. So it’s very baffling to see absolutely dull The Exorcism is in comparison, it’s a huge night and day difference that becomes very noticeable almost immediately when you start watching. 

Russell Crowe, Chloe Bailey and Sam Worthington try their best with the script they are given but there really isn’t a single moment where their performances don’t feel either phoned in or just flat out terrible. The story being told here is basically regurgitated from other exorcism films in the horror genre only somehow done even worse. Combine that with uninspired family drama that goes absolutely nowhere and you have yourself one of the most boring movies of the year. 

The movie lacks any sort of atmosphere mostly due to the movie heavily relying on jumpscares that are so lazy and predictable you can see them coming from a mile away. At times you get a few interesting shots (that is when you can actually look at the movie, why is the lighting so terrible?) but that’s quickly ruined due to how much this movie jumps around with it’s poor editing. 

I really don’t know what else I can really add except The Exorcism is very poorly put together and just another bad exorcism movie. 

The Exorcism is available on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F

Chestnut (2024) Film Review

A recent graduate becomes entangled in a relationship with a man and a woman during the summer after college.

Chestnut is directed by Jac Cron which is her directorial debut. 

I admire the attempt of this movie and what it was trying to do, but unfortunately the movie ultimately leaves the viewer asking the question “what am I supposed to take away from this movie?” 

Natalia Dyer and Rachel Keller are really great here, this is definitely a case where you have really strong performances that deserved a much better script. A large problem here is the script is incredibly lacking in emotion. There are hints at genuine emotion at times that do help the movie get somewhat off the ground, only to completely fall back down during the next scene. 

It’s a shame because in the technical department Chestnut delivers quite decently, it has some really nice neon lighting combined with the Philadelphia backdrop. There’s some genuinely beautiful moments here that really do shine, unfortunately the movie’s beauty can’t quite push it to the finish line especially when the movie fails to deliver a meaningful emotional punch. 

The movie attempts to explore bisexuality which the approach it goes with isn’t necessarily bad it’s just not really saying anything, it’s a usual story about a love triangle and that’s really as far as it goes. There isn’t any meaningful discussion or nuances, which is frustrating because there were moments where you could see the movie almost making an interesting point only to abandon it. 

Overall Chestnut is admirable attempt but falls short in the script category. 

Chestnut is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Divorce In The Black (2024) Film Review

Ava’s husband, Dallas, leaves her heartbroken as he deserts their marriage. Dallas’ malicious actions unravel as Ava gets a chance to find true love with her destined soulmate.

Divorce In The Black is directed by Tyler Perry who has directed the Madea series, A Fall From Grace (2020), A Jazzman’s Blues (2022), Mea Culpa (2024), Acrimony (2018) and many others. 

Two Tyler Perry films in one year? Well considering how fast he does this movies it’s honestly no surprise (I mean Perry claims that A Fall From Grace was done in 5 days). Mea Cupla was bad enough but what if I told you that Divorce In The Black could arguably be worse? 

There’s a few scenes here that are unintentionally funny so I’ll start out with those. The first one being conveniently right at the opening with a 7 minute long funeral scene that goes from being typical to down right bizarre, I honestly don’t think anything could have prepared me for what actually unfolds. It’s absolutely ridiculous, there is little to no direction at all and it really seems everyone just decided to do their own thing in the worst ways possible. The only other hilarious moment is just a line that is very poorly delivered which it’s “Do you want to lose your job bitch?” in context it’s kind of whatever but the way it’s delivered and the dramatic finger pointing is what makes it funny. 

Everything else about Divorce In The Black is very typical Tyler Perry garbage, a very drawn out (2 hours seriously?), uninteresting story that has a bunch of characters that are about as investing as watching paint dry. The editing is somehow the worst it’s ever been in any of these movies, the score is completely forgettable and fails to bring any sort of tension to the movie and the dialogue once again shows that Tyler Perry completely fails to make his characters compelling. 

Honestly what else to say here? This movie is pretty much every single Tyler Perry movie combined into one terrible mess that luckily is quite forgettable. Definitely one of the worst of the year. 

Divorce In The Black is available on Amazon Prime Video! 

1/10 F