Malum is a bad shot for shot remake of Last Shift.

A rookie police officer takes the last shift at a newly decommissioned station in an attempt to uncover the mysterious connection between her father’s death and a vicious cult. Throughout the night, she finds herself barraged by terrifying supernatural events while unveiling the truth behind her family’s twisted past.

So far this year there’s been a few remakes that have felt solely made for a quick buck and completely fail to measure up the original particularly House Party, Cube and White Men Can’t Jump. Malum is a remake of the 2014 film Last Shift, what’s interesting is Last Shift and Malum are directed by the exact same director Anthony DiBlasi. 

I liked Last Shift quite a bit, it’s not anything special but it’s a fun little movie that was very thrilling and actually quite creepy as well. So what happens when you try to do almost the exact same thing shot for shot but completely falls flat? You get Malum a remake that does not add anything new to the original except a more glossier look to it which really does not end up mattering all that much. 

The gore is decent enough and the atmosphere is definitely there, the acting is just nowhere near as good as it was in Last Shift, which is a huge problem already part of what made Last Shift great was Juliana Harkavy’s performance which was actually quite raw and brought the viewer into the film. Jessica Sula in Malum does not have the same effect, outside of a few moments where she does a decent job. Her performance just does not capture the spirit of the original at all and isn’t where it needs to be, the rest of the cast aren’t anything to write home about either. 

There is honestly not a whole lot else to say about Malum, I absolutely do not understand the mindset of remaking Last Shift a film that is only 9 years old and a film that nobody was exactly demanding to be remade. And perhaps I never will, what I do know is if you have seen Last Shift you have already seen Malum. If you are planning on watching one of the two be sure it’s Last Shift. 

Malum is available on all VOD platforms. 

3/10 D-

Quick Review: Simulant (2023)

A humanoid A.I.’s attempt at winning a grieving widow’s heart puts it in the path of a government agent trying to stop the rise of machine consciousness.

Simulant is Sci-Fi movie number 72 about AI and it’s threat to humans, I wish I had something clever to say but there isn’t exactly a whole lot to say here. 

Alicia Sanz gives a fine enough performance and works with such a bland script to give the best performance she can, everyone else lacks charisma that is needed to make this sort of story interesting. The main problem here is Simulant tries to do so much in 96 minutes yet feels like nothing is being said, it’s a lot of typical Sci-Fi tropes that every once and awhile show some cool shots and that’s really about it. 

Towards the end of the movie it has no idea what it wants to be and leaves so much more to be desired, it truly feels like someone who has a project due the very next day and started working on it the night it’s due. There could have been some interesting bits here had the script been better written and wasn’t a complete and total mess. 

Simulant is available on all VOD platforms 

2/10 F

How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a film that calls for radical action.

With the climate crisis at a dangerous point of no return, a group of brave environmental activists come up with a daring plan to make their voices heard and disrupt an oil pipeline.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline is directed by Daniel Goldhaber who previously directed CAM (2018) a really strong horror film, Goldhaber takes on something completely different that is very hard to get right. Often times films that attempt to talk about the environment and try to make a call for action do one of two things, they either don’t add anything to the conversation or they tack it on at the last minute. 

How To Blow Up A Pipeline let’s you know right from the title that it means business, right from the beginning the film is filled to the brim with suspenseful atmosphere that easily brings the viewer into the film immediately. The cast is truly phenomenal here, each of them are given their time to shine and really show their talent, Ariela Barer gives one of the best performances so far this year, she truly gives a raw performance that completely captures the type of atmosphere the film is going for. Sasha Lane also gives quite a strong performance here as well. 

The film itself is a call to action, it educates in a very passionate way about why these characters are calling for something to be done. It’s done in such a masterful and creative way, the scenes of the plans being discussed definitely remind me of Ocean’s Eleven but the film does it in it’s own way. There’s also moments where we get to personally know these characters, outside of their planning and the activism we get to know each of these characters background, what made them take action, what their goals are and so much more. 

It perfectly captures the anger and frustration that people have when the system flat out refuses do any meaningful changes at all, combine that with a very suspenseful atmosphere that perfectly captures each scene and you really have a striking piece of film, the score is also brilliantly used, it only adds to how masterfully made the film really is. Like the atmosphere it completely matches each scene, it’s loud, booming and thrilling. 

Overall How To Blow Up A Pipeline is a brilliant film that calls for radical change, the film does not hold back at all and isn’t afraid to share the frustrations of people even if they are fictional wanting meaningful change. 

How To Blow Up A Pipeline is available on all VOD platforms. 

10/10 A+

Reality is a thrilling and powerful film about the interrogation of Reality Winner.

A former American intelligence specialist was given the longest sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation.

Reality is a film based on the FBI interrogation transcript of Reality Winner who leaked an intelligence report about Russian interference in the 2016 Untied States Election, the report itself indicated that the hackers accessed voter registration rolls in America with an email phishing operation. Reality Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in prison the longest someone has ever gotten for releasing intelligence to the media. Tina Satter also staged this as a play called Is This a Room.

Reality is a fascinating film from beginning to end, right at the start at the film the viewer is greeted with the atmosphere. It’s dark, suspenseful and very cold as well, the entire script is the FBI transcript of the FBI interrogation of Reality Winner as mentioned before, which is quite a clever move as it makes the film that much more suspenseful and adds many layers of atmosphere to the film. 

Sydney Sweeney gives a fascinating performance as Reality Winner, it’s quite honestly one of the best performances so far this year. Each moment where the script requires Sweeney to show a range of emotions within a few seconds of each other she does that flawlessly, Sweeney is still very early in her career and to see her take on such a heavy role this early on and master it completely is truly remarkable. 

The film takes place entirely at Reality Winner’s house which adds to the atmosphere, the FBI agents who are played by Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton are both phenomenal here. They capture a lot of the mannerisms that a lot of FBI agents who interrogate typically use during interrogations, they do this so masterfully to the point where it’s quite terrifying at times. Especially when we get to the last bit of the film where they completely break down Sydney Sweeney, the film also calls out the hypocrisy of the government making the argument that nobody in power would get this long of a sentence or even not get a sentence, which is not hard to agree with. 

Reality is incredibly suspenseful film with a unforgettable performance from Sydney Sweeney and highlights the important story of Reality Winner. 

Reality is available on MAX 

10/10 A+

Air a fun and interesting look at how the Air Jordans came to be.

Sonny Vaccaro and Nike pursue basketball rookie Michael Jordan, creating a partnership that revolutionizes the world of sports and contemporary culture.

I can always admire a film and it’s team when they take a story, real life event or concept that sounds very uninteresting and make it incredibly fun and interesting…that’s the case here with Air. 

Air is a film based on the true events about the origin of the Air Jordan a very popular basketball shoeline, which a Nike employee tries to strike a deal with Michael Jordan. The story itself is very generic business stuff, something that turning into a movie while trying to make it interesting and genuinely fun would be a very hard task. Luckily Ben Affleck plus the cast and crew manage to take the story and do something quite great with it. 

For starters the casting is one of the film’s highlights, everyone here does a fantastic job Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina and Viola Davis are definitely the standouts here, Viola Davis continues to show why she’s one of the best actresses working today. Her performance as Deloris Jordan (Michael Jordan’s mother) is truly fascinating and quite raw as well. She always brings this powerhouse touch to her performances and that is definitely shown here. Chris Tucker and Chris Messina are both genuinely hilarious in their respective roles, finally there’s Matt Damon and Ben Affleck who really work incredibly well together. The two really capture the whole business type of feel in their performances that makes the movie all the more grounded. 

Ben Affleck’s direction is another main standout, there’s a lot here that could have easily been just admittedly some very well done scenes with not a whole lot to them, however Affleck includes humor and turns people who are when you really boil down to it very generic businessmen that audiences could write off very easily into people who actually become quite interesting as the film goes on. Alex Convert’s script really helps the film stand as it does have some dramatic moments that move the film along at a nice pace and the script also manages to avoid a lot of common biopic tropes. 

Overall Air is definitely an interesting film that took a very uninteresting subject and made it into something fun and investing! 

Air is available on all VOD platforms. 

8/10 B+

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a touching documentary.

Follows the life of beloved actor and advocate Michael J. Fox, exploring his personal and professional triumphs and travails, and what happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a documentary about the career of Michael J. Fox and his struggles with Parkinson’s disease. 

The documentary starts out with Fox’s career and his rise to stardom, it’s a very quick and easy to digest way to understand his story, the rest of the documentary focuses on his struggle with Parkinson’s disease and how it affected his career. 

The best word to describe this documentary is inspiring! Despite the disease, Fox’s spirit and energy are incredibly inspiring the humor he adds during the interviews are warm touches that bring the viewer in. It’s always a delight and really connects the viewer with Fox, it has this family member or a friend sharing important details about their life with you type of feel. It’s a very personal approach that really makes the documentary much more powerful. 

As far as filmmaking goes the use of archival footage is quite strong, one use In particular was when Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson’s but before he announced it to the public, knowing what we know now it’s absolutely soul crushing to watch especially when it’s also shown that he tried to hide his symptoms. 

While Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie might have a lot of common knowledge, I do think what makes the documentary standout is Michael’s interviews and the personal approach to the documentary. It doesn’t feel like yet another celebrity documentary that’s manufactured and made for a quick buck. This one is very genuine in it’s approach, plus it helps that Michael J. Fox’s story is a very fascinating one. 

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is available on Apple TV+

8/10 B+

The Black Demon…where’s the shark?

Oilman Paul Sturges’ idyllic family vacation turns into a living nightmare when they encounter a gigantic megalodon shark that will stop at nothing to protect its territory. Stranded and under constant attack, Paul and his family must somehow find a way to get back to shore alive before it strikes again.

Look at this point when a Shark movie is announced I don’t go in expecting anything good, the last really good shark movie was The Shallows (2016), there’s a been a few fun ones here and there but with the Shark movie genre it’s accepted that 90% of them are made for a quick buck. 

The Black Demon seemed like it could have been genuinely fun especially from the trailer, however outside of a few scenes with the shark that are decent. This is yet another shark movie that for some reason doesn’t focus on the shark, instead of dull character development that other shark movies have focused on The Black Demon tackles climate change, global warming, oil being bad and evil corporations. 

Which isn’t a bad thing to tackle, those are subjects that should be absolutely encouraged for filmmakers to tackle, the problem here is that The Black Demon isn’t subtle about it at all and adds nothing new to the conversation. This falls in the line of simply saying “evil corporations are evil” “climate change dangerous” you get the idea. Outside of that the writing is atrocious combined with some incredibly poor acting, there’s attempt to be dramatic with the characters but due to poor development and a lack of an atmosphere it doesn’t work at all. 

If there’s a huge positive to come out of The Black Demon it’s that it is very forgettable, it blends in with the other horrible shark movies quite well so it will leave your mind a day or two after viewing. 

The Black Demon is available on all VOD platforms. 

2/10 F

Follow Her is a forgettable social media/influencer horror movie.

A struggling actress responds to a mysterious classified ad and soon finds herself trapped in her new boss’s twisted revenge fantasy.

Follow Her is another social media/influencer horror movie and unfortunately this isn’t a good one. 

There’s a lot of ideas here that are quite interesting and could have easily worked, I’ll give credit where credit is due the first half was genuinely interesting. It’s a cat and mouse type of situation that has a decent amount of suspense, while also creating a genuinely thrilling atmosphere that is effective. 

Everything that follows  however really falls into a lot of the cliches of the influencer and social media horror sub-genre, it’s really not saying anything new with the whole “how far will you go for internet fame” or “influencers lie for fame” and there’s parts where it wants to tackle misogyny but once again doesn’t exactly say anything about it. It’s essentially trying to enter a conversation but says things that have been repeated over and over again at this point. 

The acting is tolerable and the writing does have it’s interesting parts during the first half, but this is yet another example of a lot of wasted potential.  

Follow Her is available on all VOD platforms. 

4/10 D+

Follow Her is a forgettable social media/influencer horror movie.

A struggling actress responds to a mysterious classified ad and soon finds herself trapped in her new boss’s twisted revenge fantasy.

Follow Her is another social media/influencer horror movie and unfortunately this isn’t a good one. 

There’s a lot of ideas here that are quite interesting and could have easily worked, I’ll give credit where credit is due the first half was genuinely interesting. It’s a cat and mouse type of situation that has a decent amount of suspense, while also creating a genuinely thrilling atmosphere that is effective. 

Everything that follows  however really falls into a lot of the cliches of the influencer and social media horror sub-genre, it’s really not saying anything new with the whole “how far will you go for internet fame” or “influencers lie for fame” and there’s parts where it wants to tackle misogyny but once again doesn’t exactly say anything about it. It’s essentially trying to enter a conversation but says things that have been repeated over and over again at this point. 

The acting is tolerable and the writing does have it’s interesting parts during the first half, but this is yet another example of a lot of wasted potential.  

Follow Her is available on all VOD platforms. 

4/10 D+

Most Anticipated Films Of June 2023!

And just like that we are now in June, man May flew by! I still have 5 reviews of films I watched in May that still need to be posted (I will be doing that very soon). While May wasn’t as strong as April film wise there was still a lot to like and it did finish on a high note.

June is definitely more packed with tons of releases each week there’s bound to be some films that end up being fantastic, here’s my most anticipated of the bunch.

13. Prisoner’s Daughter – June 30th (Theaters)

12. Quicksand – June 23rd (Shudder)

11. Flamin’ Hot – June 9th (Hulu)

10. God is A Bullet – June 23rd (Theaters) and July 11th (VOD)

9. Stan Lee – June 16th (Disney+)

8. Revoir Paris – June 23rd (Theaters) and July 25th (VOD)

7. Nimona – June 30th (Netflix)

6. Transformers Rise Of The Beasts – June 9th (Theaters)

5. No Hard Feelings – June 23rd (Theaters)

4. The Boogyman – June 2nd (Theaters)

3. Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse – June 2nd (Theaters)

2. Asteroid City – June 16th (Limited) and June 23rd (Wide) 

1. Past Lives June 2nd (Limited) and June 23rd (Wide)

And that’s my most anticipated for this month! Which films are you looking forward to this month? Any in particular that you think will end up being really good? Let me know!