Transformers: Rise Of The Beast is a heavily flawed yet fun installment to the series.

Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth.

Transformers: Rise Of The Beast is directed by Steven Caple Jr. (Director of Creed II) and is the seventh installment in the Transformers live action films series this one is a sequel to Bumblebee (2018) and a prequel to Transformers (2007). After Bumblebee released in 2018 I was quite excited to see what the series would do next, Bumblebee is by far my favorite of the series and was quite honestly a very strong film. 

Rise Of The Beasts is definitely a huge step down from Bumblebee but that doesn’t mean it‘s bad, there is a huge amount to really like here. Starting with the voice performances all of which are quite well done particularly Peter Cullen who once again absolutely nails it as Optimus Prime and shows that he completely owns the live action version of Optimus Prime. Peter Dinklage plays Scourge who gives an intimidating as well as fun performance as the villain, Michelle Yeoh as Airazor is quite great and Pete Davidson as Mirage is surprisingly a whole lot of fun and brings a lot of heart to the film. 

Unfortunately Anthony Ramos and Dominque Fishback aren’t particularly great, they do the best they can with what they are given. But Fishback really isn’t given a whole lot to do other than just to move the plot forward and read symbols, while I do like what they were trying to do with Ramos’s character it just doesn’t get a whole lot of development to really matter in the end. 

The action scenes are quiet great and get the job done, they are always entertaining with some atmosphere thrown in with a lot of admittedly very neat moments that do help the movie shine through, the Maximals outside of Airazor and Optimus Primal are largely given a backseat here, it’s a bit of a shame since I loved the Beast Wars cartoon growing up, but at the very least they were actually there and joined in the final battle. Speaking of taking a backseat Colman Domingo as Unicron is a bit wasted, while he was great in his performance he is really not in the movie all that much. I understand why they took the route they did with Unicron, but that doesn’t make it exactly great either. 

The final act kind of falls into the typical blockbuster beats with one moment in particular that is incredibly stupid (having to do with Anthony Ramos’s character) and the ending is just flat out bad I won’t spoil it here but it comes right out of nowhere and I truly can’t help but feel like this was a last minute studio decision. 

Overall Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is quite enjoyable, it’s heavily flawed but it’s entertaining enough to give a pass. If you can ignore some writing flaws and such you will have a decent time with this one. 

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is playing in theaters. 

6/10 C+

Master Gardner is a solid story of redemption.

A meticulous horticulturist is devoted to tending the grounds of a beautiful estate owned by a wealthy dowager. When he’s told to take on her troubled great-niece as an apprentice, his life is thrown into chaos and dark secrets from his past emerge.

Master Gardner is the final film in an unofficial trilogy Paul Schrader has been doing with First Reformed and The Card Counter being the other two films. While I don’t think Master Gardner quite reaches the heights of the previous two films it’s still a really solid film that has so much to love here. 

The performances all around are quite fantastic Joel Edgerton gives a haunting yet remorseful performance of a man trying to move on with his life, Sigourney Weaver gives yet another fantastic performance that really shows her acting talent and Quintessa Swindell who gives one of the best performances so far this year and is the driving force of the narrative. 

The chemistry between the characters is quite fascinating especially Narvel Roth (Edgerton) and Maya Core (Swindell) between the character moments the two share and blending their stories together is quite interesting to really listen to. The camerawork is quite well done as well, between the camera movement and the placement of the camera it helps establish these characters and their conversations which drags the viewer into the conversation. 

Master Gardener struggles with a script that is for the most part excellent but does have some very overwritten dialogue that can really get in the way of the film’s message, the ending is bit on the weaker side mainly due to the choices being made not fully coming together despite that however the ending isn’t anything I would call terrible. 

Master Gardener is available on all VOD platforms. 

7/10 B

Flamin’ Hot a false story with a not so flaming result.

Richard Montanez, the son of a Mexican immigrant, was a janitor at Frito Lay when he came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. His creation, inspired by the flavours of his community, revitalises Frito-Lay and disrupts the food industry.

2023 has this interesting trend of films based off of brands which include Tetris, BlackBerry and Air all of which have been quite fantastic films and are some of the highlights so far this year. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for Flamin’ Hot, not only is it below average but the story itself isn’t true at all. 

Richard Montañez made 90% of the story up the only part that is true is that he eventually became an executive of Multi-Cultural Marketing at Frito-Lay, everything else in between Montañez’s upbringing and when he gets promoted is false, which is a shame because to some viewers this is definitely inspiring heck there are moments where I found it to be quite inspiring myself. 

But what about the rest of the movie? The acting at the very least is solid enough Jesse Garcia does a solid job as Richard Montañez and connects to the rest of the cast quite well, Dennis Haysbert also gives a solid performance even if he plays a very traditional mentor figure Haysbert has the charisma and acting power to make it work. 

The writing unfortunately is where the movie falls a bit flat, there’s a lot of typical biopic cliches that are very noticeable. Seeing a janitor become an executive is inspiring but it’s a type of story that has been seen numerous times before, even if you took away the fact that 90% of the movie is based off of a lie it would still be a very generically told story. 

It’s a bit of a shame because the movie itself isn’t necessarily terrible, there’s a lot of genuinely  great moments with great acting and some character bits that are once again pretty inspiring. But when you really boil down to it Flamin’ Hot isn’t anything special and not something you will ever come back to.

Flamin’ Hot is available on Hulu and Disney+

5/10 C

Brooklyn 45 is a film that approaches the concept of horror of wars cleverly.

Best friends since childhood, five military veterans gather to support their troubled host, and the metaphoric ghosts of their past become all-too-literal.

Brooklyn 45 is directed by and written by Ted Geoghegan director of Mohawk (2017) and We Are Still Here (2015), I didn’t know anything about Brooklyn 45 going in and it’s a nice little surprise.

Brooklyn 45 is a single location type of film that has a group of military veterans holding an impromptu séance in the parlor of a Brooklyn brownstone at the close of World War II. The film itself does pretty good job of bringing in the horrors of war into the mix, it gives the characters development with each of them having their own character rather than feeling like the exact same. 

The performances are quite solid with Anne Ramsay and Kristen Klebe being the standouts who give very genuine performances and capture the atmosphere of the film, speaking of which the atmosphere can go from being a cheerful reconnection to a haunting reminder of war in split second which absolutely works here. Geoghegan also does quite a good job of exploring similarities of the past and present especially when it comes to the characters. 

Which I do think has to do with Geoghegan penning the screenplay with assistance from his late father who was a disabled Air Force veteran who later on became a history teacher, so that really gives the film this personal type feel to it that is actually quite genuine. Geoghegan really approaches the horrors of war element quite cleverly and executes it in a way that’s quite grounded. 

There are some B movie tropes that the movie does rely on that can feel a bit out of place, but when you have story that’s both engaging with it’s writing and characters that ultimately lead to a really solid film you definitely something quite interesting. 

Brooklyn 45 is available on Shudder. 

7/10 B

Nefarious (2023) is atrocious

On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer tells a psychiatrist that he’s a demon who can possess his body. As the evaluation ends, he also tells the doctor that he will soon commit three murders of his own.

Nefarious is directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon both of which directed Unplanned and wrote some of the God’s Not Dead movies. From the trailers you would probably write this off as another demonic possession movie that looks horrible….well you are right about the horrible part but the movie pulls a lot of the awful Christian movie elements as well. 

For starters the acting and writing are both horrendous, it’s quite clear they are trying to go for a Silence Of The Lambs type of plot which fair enough those types of plots tend to be interesting. That’s not the case here, the performances from Sean Patrick Flanery and Jordan Belfi are dull and the interactions between the two fall flat almost immediately. 

Funnily enough Nefarious suffers an exact same problem that Left Behind: Rise Of The Antichrist suffered from and that’s sacrificing writing and storytelling with preaching to the audience about topics that have nothing to do with the movie. There’s a scene where Nefarious (played by Sean Patrick Flanery) goes on a long tangent on why being pro-choice is evil, saying that diversity is the fall to society (what?) and so on. It’s completely nonsensical and comes right out of nowhere. 

Everything else about the movie is very forgettable and simply outclassed by far better films, there isn’t anything here that’s insightful at all as the movie claims there is. It truly does feel like the movie thinks it’s saying something important or profound when all it really did was spout some topics that had nothing to do with the movie and mixed it with possession movie cliches. 

Nefarious is available on all VOD platforms.

Disgrace To Cinema F

Fool’s Paradise is a dull satire on Hollywood.

A down-on-his-luck publicist discovers a former mental health patient who looks just like a misbehaving movie star. He soon becomes an unlikely celebrity when he gets thrown into the bright lights and behind-the-scenes bustle of Hollywood.

I’ve always liked Charlie Day he is incredibly charming as an actor so I was definitely interested to see his directional debut Fool’s Paradise and even with Charlie Day’s charm there isn’t enough here to make the movie work. 

The main problem with Fool’s Paradise is a huge lack of trying to stand out, satires on the Hollywood industry have been done before in mass. It would be one thing if Fool’s Paradise added something new to the conversation or executed it differently, that’s not the case here unfortunately. A lot of it is very unfunny with a few jokes that pop up every now and then that do get a few laughs, every other joke is very messy dialogue. 

The movie itself is also pretty repetitive, by the first 30 minutes of the movie it really starts to feel dragged out. At that point it becomes a “okay we get it” type of scenario, the performances are overall fine enough but none of them are really anything to write home about. I will say that the bright colors mixed with the cinematography is actually pretty nice to look at, so at the very least it has that going for it. 

Fool’s Paradise is available on all VOD platforms. 

4/10 D+

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a masterfully told second chapter.

After reuniting with Gwen Stacy, Brooklyn’s full-time, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is catapulted across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. However, when the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles finds himself pitted against the other Spiders. He must soon redefine what it means to be a hero so he can save the people he loves most.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a sequel to the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a film that was and still is incredibly groundbreaking, it opened a lot of doors and inspired several films that have used a very similar animation style such as The Bad Guys (2022) and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (2022), it was also quite a fantastic film that grew a huge fanbase very quickly and is often regarded as one of the best comic book films ever made. 

Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse had some huge shoes to fill and not only did it surpass expectations the film is one of those sequels where it could be argued that it’s even better than the first film. For starters the voice acting is once again phenomenal Shameik Moore as Miles Morales is like last time excellent, he completely captures the character and even goes further with him when it comes to character development. There’s so many moments that truly make Miles such an incredible character and why he’s become such a beloved character so quickly. Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen is also excellent here, we get to see more development of her character and the bond between Gwen and Miles is just absolutely beautiful and quite touching as well. It’s the little details of their characters that truly shine in this film, other performances that really standout include Bryan Tree Henry as Jefferson Morales, Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales, Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker, Jason Schwartzman as The Spot, Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie or Spider Punk and Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara or Spider-Man 2099. All give fantastic performances that contribute something truly special to the film in their own way. 

The animation style is truly fascinating, not only has it stepped it up from the last film but it also includes many other different styles as well, which make for some very entertaining scenes. The Spot is truly an interesting villain and although we don’t exactly get a whole lot of information on him, we do get just the right amount to tell how quickly he can go from a villain who’s a laughing stock to quite an intimidating villain that wants destruction. Oscar Isaac does such a fantastic job as Miguel O’Hara he’s intimidating and completely makes the character his own in every single way possible, the interactions between him and Moore are truly some of the very best moments of the film that I truly can’t wait to see more of in the sequel. 

The film itself is a huge love letter to the Spider-Man character, there are tons of little references that are quite exciting to see and does it in a way that doesn’t take away from the film’s story, I’ve shared my frustrations in the past about films completely relying on easter eggs, but Into The Spider-Verse does not do that. Sure they are there but the film doesn’t rely on them to tell the story, the film uses them in a way that can both be exciting to viewer while moving the story right along without needing to focus so much on them. 

The writing is truly fantastic with a lot character moments and development that help evolve the characters it truly does feel like the next chapter of Miles Morale’s journey, there’s a beautiful balance of humor and serious moments which include some quite fantastic lines from Shameik Moore. The film also ends quite well, while I can see some people having an issue with the way the film wraps up and it could come off as not feeling complete and relying too much on the next film. I don’t actually mind that all too much here, it ends at a quite strong moment that really does a fantastic job of setting up the next film. 

Overall Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is a fantastic film that surpasses its predecessor, it takes what was so great and loved about the first film and does even more with it. One of the very best so far this year. 

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is available in theaters. 

10/10 A+

Blackberry is a fascinating rise and fall telling of a titan

The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone.

BlackBerry is a film about the history of the BlackBerry line of mobile phones, it serves as a rise and fall story and quite an interesting and great one. 

The performances from Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton and Matt Johnson (who also directed the film as well as being one of the writers) are phenomenal and some of the best so far this year, there’s this balance of humor and dramatic moments that blends so well together that it makes the story itself fascinating. BlackBerry sort of takes the route of what Air (2023) did only that I would say this one is a bit more comedic which works perfectly. 

Matt Johnson’s direction is quite great, like with the acting the blend of humor and dramatic moments make for some genuinely funny scenes that truly do work, the moment when the competitor the IPhone comes in is when the film hits the viewer with the BlackBerry phones downfall, it shows the complete demise such as sales for the BlackBerry tanking, SEC raiding REM after learning that Balsillie (played by Glenn Howerton) hired engineers in 2003 with illegally backdated stock options and quiet scenes that show that they admit that they can’t compete with Apple. 

It’s truly fascinating how it all plays out and if you grew up owning a BlackBerry kind of hurts to see, granted I owned a BlackBerry years ago (back in high school) and had it for not very long. But it’s still fascinating and kind of sad to see what was once a very popular brand quickly turn to dust, the rise and fall element of the film is truly incredible. You can feel the absolute fear that BlackBerry is feeling and if they don’t figure out something soon it will be over. 

To really tie everything together the films says at the height of BlackBerry’s success the phone made up 45% of the market and is now 0% in present day, it’s a powerful way to close a rise and fall story in every single way possible. 

BlackBerry is available on all VOD platforms. 

9/10 A

The Boogeyman has great performances but could have been more.

High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister, Sawyer, are still reeling from the recent death of their mother. They’re not getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who’s dealing with his own intense pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their house seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

The Boogeyman is directed by Rob Savage (director of Host and Dashcam) and is based on the 1973 short story of the same name by Stephen King. Originally The Boogeyman was supposed to be released on Hulu but due to positive test screenings they decided to release in theaters. 

The Boogeyman is a movie that starts out quite great, Sophie Thatcher and Vivien Lyra Blair give excellent performances and are by far what keeps this movie afloat. The movie is atmospheric when it needs to be and there’s a few genuinely creepy moments that are quite effective, especially when combined with the location. Thatcher and Blair have this excellent sister bond that is very touching and is the heart of the movie, there’s some genuine moments between the two that really help the movie build this bond. 

The movie is held back from a huge issue that really keeps this from being something that could really standout and that’s the writing. The movie attempts to try and connect trauma with the Boogeyman and while that is a clever idea, it unfortunately doesn’t do that all that well. A huge problem with a lot of modern Stephen King adaptions is they want to say something interesting but either don’t do it at all or go about it in such a surface level way. It also doesn’t help that whole idea of connecting trauma with a monster has been done far better elsewhere. 

A lot of the typical Stephen King cliches are present here and quite frankly have no business being here at all, the bully characters serve very little to the plot other than to get the viewer to believe they could be potential victims of the Boogeyman, finally the movie is based on a short story and sometimes short stories do not need to be extended into a film. This is one of those situations where you can easily tell this is a short story extended into a film, it’s nice to extend your ideas from your short story. However sometimes it’s better to leave it alone if you aren’t going to do much with it. 

Overall I don’t think The Boogeyman is a bad movie, it’s very well acted, there’s a genuinely touching bond between Thatcher and Blair and some atmospheric moments combined with creepy ones. The movie could have just went a lot further with it’s idea and said a lot more. 

The Boogeyman is available in theaters.

6/10 C+

Shooting Stars is a decent telling of LeBron James’s high school sports career.

The inspiring origin story of a basketball superhero reveals how LeBron James and his childhood friends became the No. 1 high school team in the country, launching James’ breathtaking career as a four-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.

Shooting Stars biopic sports movie based on LeBron James’s 2009 memoir of the same name, the film focuses on the high school sports career of LeBron James. 

There is not a whole lot to comment on here and that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this case, LeBron James’s story is told actually pretty well here. There’s some very decent acting and the chemistry of the cast really makes the movie shine through quite well, Mookie Cook who plays LeBron James is definitely the standout by far as he does give a genuinely touching performance. 

As for the rest of the movie it’s pretty okay, Shooting Stars is admittedly barely different than a lot of other sports biopics. But at the very least this one has a lot of heart in it, which you can tell from the writing. The dialogue isn’t anything groundbreaking or anything, but it is honest and has heart in it. There’s definitely a handful of moments that are a bit too dramatized and could potentially take the viewer out of the movie. However with what director Chris Robinson put together this is certainly not a bad attempt at telling LeBron James’s story from when he was in high school. 

Shooting Stars is available on Peacock. 

6/10 C+