I.S.S. (2024) Film Review

Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station when a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth. Soon, the U.S. and Russian astronauts each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary.

I.S.S. is directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite a director who’s done some genuinely great work such as Blackfish (2013), Megan Leavey (2017) and Our Friend (2019) so it’s a bit sad to see her latest film I.S.S. disappoint.

Granted I do think it has it’s positives, Ariana DeBose gives a strong performance as well as the rest of the cast, there some really good shots here and I think the ideas of the movie are pretty interesting. I will say if you go into this movie expecting a full on thriller like the trailer suggested, prepare to be disappointed because that is not the case here.

Instead you are given more of a dive into the characters, their feelings, actions and so on. It’s a nice slow burn setup that does have an interesting take on the space movie genre, about being careful who you trust especially in such a very limited space. It’s something that could have absolutely worked with much better writing and more interesting characters.

Outside of Ariana DeBose’s character Dr. Kira Foster (even then you could still make the argument her character wasn’t exactly incredibly investing) the rest of the characters really did not have a whole lot going on. Some of the tension that’s built throughout the movie is fine enough sure, but when you have a group of characters who are just not that written very well and have very little personality traits it starts to take away from the whole movie and slowly but surely take the viewer out of the movie.

It’s frustrating because I.S.S. is almost a good movie, the ideas themselves are just far more interesting than the movie and what’s being shown to the viewer, I think with more time in the oven with it’s characters and writing in general this could have made for a solid little movie.

I.S.S. is available in theaters.

5/10 C

The Kitchen (2024) Film Review.

In a dystopian future London where all social housing has been eliminated, Izi and Benji fight to navigate the world as residents of The Kitchen, a community that refuses to abandon their home.

The Kitchen is directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, the movie being the directorial debut of both.

It’s a shame The Kitchen is getting buried because while it is flawed and does fall into very familiar territory towards the end, I do think it’s incredibly solid showcase of acting and directing.

The cast really does a great job here, Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman in particular really standout and their acting really matches the type of atmosphere the movie is going for. The world building is also quite neat with some attention to detail thrown in there for good measure, the direction from Tavares and Kaluuya is also quite strong the two create such an interesting atmosphere that has a lot of heartfelt moments that capture the viewer’s attention.

As I said earlier the movie does get held back from falling into very familiar territory mostly the “found family” trope which works for the most part in the context of the story, but is a bit underwhelming at the same time. There’s a few ideas that aren’t quite fleshed out but luckily the rest of the movie holds the viewer’s interest especially when it comes to the camerawork that shows a lot of genuinely beautiful shots.

Overall The Kitchen is a decent movie, it’s held back by some missteps but the direction from Kaluuya and Tavares is quite strong both of which show a lot of promise in their directing careers.

The Kitchen is available on Netflix.

6/10 C+

Sunrise (2024) Film Review

When a former cop named Fallon returns to the scene of a horrific crime, the residents of a rural town discover the dark visitor is really a vampire who feeds on blood and fear. Befriended by a kind immigrant family, the instinctive killer soon faces a choice of revenge or redemption.

Sunrise is directed by Andrew Baird, remember how I said in my review for He Went That Way where it felt like it was done the night before a school project was due? Well it seems like I have to apologize to He Went That Way because Sunrise somehow manages to feel like a project that was started and finished one hour before the project was due.

What caught my attention was the cast, Alex Pettyfer and Guy Pearce are for whatever reason in this movie, what’s worse is their performances aren’t even good, it’s the very definition of phoning it in because you need a paycheck. The very first scene is some guy going on a rant about the melting pot in America, yeah for whatever reason there’s a lot of racism towards Chinese Americans in this movie none of which really have much to do with anything.

That seems to be a common theme with this movie show a bunch of scenes that have very little to do with anything, it’s very poorly put together and ends up being a jumbled mess that makes no sense at all. It’s supposedly a vampire movie and even the scenes with the vampire are terrible, again the scenes are so poorly together that it’s incredibly hard to make out what exactly is going on here.

Look I understand this movie quite clearly had a low budget but that does not excuse the movie being edited so atrociously that you can’t understand what exactly is going on. It’s hard for me to even really discuss, all that I know is that the acting is terrible, the direction is nonexistent and the story is a giant mess from start to finish. Worst movie of the year so far.

Sunrise is available on all VOD platforms.

Disgrace To Cinema F

He Went That Way (2024) Film Review.

Accompanied by his pet chimpanzee, a celebrity animal trainer picks up a hitchhiker, only to discover his passenger is a cunning young serial killer.

He Went That Way is directed by Jeffery Darling who sadly died due to a surfing accident in March of 2022 (R.I.P.)

I’m going to be completely honest here, the only reason I watched this one is because of Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto being involved. Which they both happen to be the best part about this…that doesn’t mean they give good performances. Because the script is a gigantic mess and is what basically kills this movie right from the start.

The dialogue that’s presented is terrible, absolutely ridiculous a lot of the time and incredibly unfocused that you really have to wonder how long did this movie spend in the writer’s room? The tone is another huge part of what kills this movie, for a movie that’s supposedly based on an account of serial killer Larry Lee Ranes (although the movie changes the name to Bobby Falls) where he encounters animal trainer David Pitts (who actually survived) the movie is quite ridiculous and not in a good way.

One moment the movie is goofy and the next it’s trying to be serious, it’s very jumbled mess that never seems to figure out what it wants to be or how it wants to tell the story. Heck at times the random fake Chimpanzee is more interesting than everyone else involved, the editing is also quite poor to the point where it loses the viewer within minutes.

I really don’t know what else to comment on here, He Went That Way is atrocious with seemingly nothing to say or even really show. It’s sloppily put together and really feels like the equivalent of a school project put together at the very last second.

He Went That Way is available on all VOD platforms.

2/10 F

The Beekeeper (2024) Film Review

One man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after it’s revealed he’s a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.

The Beekeeper is directed by David Ayer who’s directed Suicide Squad (2016), Fury (2014), End Of Watch (2012), Bright (2017), The Tax Collector (2020) and a few others.

The Beekeeper is a heavily flawed movie and at times is the very definition of a January movie, but there’s so much fun to be had with this movie that it really makes up for it. Jason Statham does what he does best shoot through tons of bad guys like a tank and gives some quite entertaining action scenes as well, Josh Hutcherson’s performance is incredibly goofy that he steals almost every single scene he’s in.

The action scenes are genuinely quite great and the moments that are trying to be serious end up talking about Statham’s character Adam Clay’s love for bees is a comedy goldmine, it’s the exact type of movie that isn’t trying to take itself way too seriously. The bee puns get incredibly goofy but never annoying (maybe I’m a bit biased here since I do love puns).

The first 20 minutes or so of the movie I will say is a bit forgettable and does seem like the movie is going to be yet another forgettable January action movie. However the movie quickly gets a lot better as it goes on and creates plenty of humorous moments, the movie does attempt to try have a few emotional moments but those really don’t come together all that well due to the movie prioritizing the action scenes and the hilarious dialogue. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this case since you kind of get what you expected, but it does beg the question of why those emotional moments are even here.

Overall The Beekeeper is David Ayer’s best film in awhile, it’s a very flawed movie that I probably won’t revisit anytime soon but it was very entertaining and hilarious. As long as you don’t go in expecting this masterful action movie you should have a good time.

The Beekeeper is playing in theaters.

6/10 C+

Echo (2024) Series Review

Maya Lopez’s ruthless behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown; she must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace the meaning of family and community.

Echo is a new installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s the tenth Disney+ MCU series and serves as a spinoff to Hawkeye (2021).

I’m one of those few people who enjoyed Hawkeye decently enough, my opinions on it have changed since then and I don’t think it’s quite the 9/10 series I was making it out to be, but I still think it was solid enough and worked mostly due to the performances. While I did enjoy Echo as a character in Hawkeye I always thought making a series about her was very out of nowhere, but that’s not to say there wasn’t any potential.

Because there are are some decent parts to the series, for one thing the acting is honestly pretty solid. Alaqua Cox gives a solid performance as Maya Lopez her interactions with the other characters are genuinely touching at times the moments with her and Vincent D’Onofrio are among some of the best moments. The two really do a great job of creating tension, speaking of which Vincent D’Onofrio once again does a fantastic job as The Kingpin, although he’s only in the series for a few episodes every time he appears on screen he knocks it out of the park. It really does get you excited to see the future of where he is going to take this character.

There are also some solid sequences that are genuinely touching as well (particularly in Episode 3), they is definitely an attempt to make these moments standout among the overall amount in any MCU Disney+ series and I think this series does an okay job with that.

That’s where it ends for me however because there are way too many missteps that can’t be ignored. For one thing the series is 5 episodes long, meaning character moments, the writing and the build up to the final episode all move at a very fast pace that ends up getting very sloppy which again is frustrating because there was some level of attempt to create something interesting narratively.

The other problem is the power switch, a choice that that does not make any sense at all narratively and doesn’t fit with the source material. This happened once before with Mrs. Marvel which while that decision was also quite bad at the very least the series was still entertaining, Echo is unfortunately not very entertaining and is quite dialogue heavy which would be fine if it were at least compelling. But that’s not the case here, as I said the fast paced really rushed moments that would otherwise be very important for the characters making for a very weak payoff.

Finally as a series I really don’t think it succeeds with making Echo an interesting character, sure we are given details about her native roots but we aren’t shown a whole lot of it. And I hate repeating myself here but the pacing completely destroys her character moments, it’s all rushed and sloppily put together to make a very disappointing final episode that isn’t quite on the same level as embarrassing as the one in Secret Invasion (2023) but it falls very flat unfortunately.

Overall Echo had a lot of potential, it had the right ingredients just the wrong way to fully execute them. Which is a common problem with a lot of these MCU shows and is probably only going to get worse.

Echo is available on Disney+

4/10 D+

Destroy All Neighbors (2024) Film Review

A struggling rock musician finds himself in a living nightmare when he accidentally kills the neighbor from hell.

Destroy All Neighbors is directed by Josh Forbes who previously directed Contracted: Phase II (2015).

I honestly had no idea what to expect with Destroy All Neighbors and after watching I’m very stumped on if I liked it or not, but I think I appreciate the movie more than I like or dislike it. There’s absolutely no denying that the makeup which has this 80s throwback feel to it is phenomenal Alex Winter as Vlad is very unrecognizable and truly does a fantastic job, the practical effects are a lot of fun combine that with a ton of gore and it’s quite a wild ride.

The first bit of the movie is what slows it down a bit, a lot of it is the tradional main character suspects the neighbor of being evil type of plot, but with a not very interesting main character. Jonah Ray gives an okay performance (bad a times) but his character is very lacking in anything to really like about him. The second half of the movie is when things get insane, the movie goes from being a bit dull to something bizarre.

Which is the movie’s secret weapon..be as bizarre as possible and for the most part that works, however that does sacrifice a lot of the writing and acting which outside of Alex Winter is very okay at best. The movie tries to use a lot of humor and while there are a few chuckle worthy moments the movie is not nearly as funny as it makes itself out to be.

I definitely think Destroy All Neighbors is one of those movies where you are either going to love it or it does nothing for you.

Destroy All Neighbors is available on Shudder.

4/10 D+

Self Reliance (2024) Film Review

Tommy receives an invitation to win $1 million by playing a game where he must outwit hunters attempting to kill him. He realises the hunters can only attack him when he’s alone, but none of his friends and family believe the game is real.

Lots of streaming films came out this week, Netflix released Lift, Amazon Prime Video released Role Play, Shudder released Destroy All Neighbors and Hulu released Self Reliance. Luckily Self Reliance is a lot better than Lift and Role Play.

For one thing Self Reliance is actually trying to say something, even if that something and its ideas don’t fully come together in the end due to a very rushed and unfocused ending. The performances are actually quite solid Jake Johnson who is also the director, writer and one of the producers of the movie gives a charming performance that’s actually quite funny at times. Anna Kendrick is also charming and while not one of her absolute best performances she does really make it work, her chemistry with Johnson is very solid leading to some strong moments where the two bounce off of each other quite well.

As a director Jake Johnson shows a lot of promise here, there’s some genuinely funny moments that uses the movie’s main premise quite well and the characters actually do feel like a group of friends at times. The movie on the surface has a thrilling sounding premise but the movie’s main focus is the humor which works most of the time, I definitely think if some scenes were more thrilling they would work far better than the end result.

Unfortunately Self Reliance is held back from the final moments of the movie, it’s a very weak ending that honestly feels rushed, the movie builds itself to be a lot more than it really is in certain scenes only to end on a whimper of ending. It’s unfortunate because this was very close from being something really solid, everything else that came before the ending was genuinely fun and while not anything to write home about still manages to keep the viewer’s attention.

Overall Self Reliance isn’t a bad movie it’s just one that could have been so much better with more time in the oven.

Self Reliance is available on Hulu

5/10 C

Lift (2024) Film Review

A master thief is wooed by his ex-girlfriend and the FBI to pull off an impossible heist with his international crew on a 777 passenger flight from London to Zurich.

Lift is directed by F. Gary Gray director of Friday (1995), The Italian Job (2003), The Fate Of The Furious (2017), Men in Black: International (2019) and a few others.

Lift is yet another addition to the long line of an overproduced Netflix Original movie that does absolutely nothing throughout it’s runtime, this is basically if you took Ocean’s 11 or any of the other movies in the series for that matter and made it unengaging, dull and horribly written. Plus when you throw in every single heist movie cliche in the book and doing absolutely nothing fun with them you have yourself a very forgettable movie.

The performances are serviceable but there is absolutely nothing to the characters, they are incredibly one dimensional with little to no personality. Kevin Hart is bland in the leading role, Hart’s comedy isn’t very funny to begin with but somehow the script gives him even less to work with than usual. The best performance is Gugu Mbatha-Raw who while not anything noteworthy at least tries to bring some sort of development and the chemistry between her and Hart isn’t bad it’s just very underdeveloped.

The team of characters as I said get very little in the way of development, we are given a few facts about them and a few scenes of them interacting with each other which of a lot of the time is little quips that are trying to be funny but completely fall flat. Much like some of Netflix’s other overproduced action movies such as Red Notice and Heart Of Stone, there is absolutely nothing here that hasn’t been done before. This is the very definition of a movie that’s put on a streaming platform that the viewer watches and completely forgets about within a few hours.

Lift is available on Netflix

2/10 F

Role Play (2024) Film Review

A young married couple’s life turns upside down after secrets are revealed about each other’s past.

Role Play is a prime example of an already not very good movie getting completely broken from it’s third act.

Kaley Cuoco is solid here, she gives yet another fun performance. Even if I’m not always a fan of the movies she’s in she does manage to give the performance life and that’s no exception here. David Oyelowo is also pretty solid as well, his character is quite bland but he manages to make it work for the most part.

Role Play starts out with a plot we have seen plenty of times before a hired killer leading a double life and keeping her family in the dark about it. This concept has been done numerous times before and definitely done better as well, as I said earlier it’s mostly Cuoco and Otelowo who keep this movie from completely falling apart during the first two acts of the movie.

However after that the movie crumbles, between an absolutely ridiculous motive, very poor action scenes, a lot of unfunny humor and just incredibly painful dialogue during the third act. Role Play falls so hard on its face that it never gets back up. It’s a shame because there were some decent ideas during the first bit of the movie that whether intentional or not was still at least interesting. Taking this whole double life aspect and having symbolize the marriage of Emma (Cuoco) and Dave (Otelowo) is at the very least something, but we aren’t given any meaningful development on that and instead get a horrendous ending.

Overall Role Play is terrible, there’s decent enough ideas here that might have been done countless times before. But there was still potential to do something great here, but that potential is never met here.

Role Play is available on Amazon Prime Video.

3/10 D-