Mafia Mamma has a solid cast but lacking execution.

An American mom inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy. Guided by the firm’s consigliere, she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations as the new head of the family business.

Mafia Mamma was the Regal Mystery Movie on April 3rd and well it wasn’t good. 

Mafia Mamma does have it’s positives the main one being Toni Collette who is having the time of her life while on screen, she completely steals the show and has such fantastic screen presence. Her chemistry with the rest of the cast is quite good as well, Monica Bellucci is pretty solid as well and much like Collette is a lot of fun. 

There’s definitely some decent shots here that are pretty neat mainly due to the location being in Rome, Italy. The movie does a surprisingly decent job using the location at times and compliments the movie well enough, the humor isn’t completely a dud as there are some decent jokes here and there that did get some laughs out of me. 

Having all that said the rest of the movie acts like the equivalent of a Netflix comedy just with a higher budget, a lot of the jokes are a miss (they make Godfather jokes too many times) and the movie strangely gets brutal with violence at some parts. There’s this one scene in particular that goes on for far too long and gets into the territory of being over the top but in a bad way with it’s violence. 

The final act of the movie tries to be this action type of movie but falls flat mainly due to the camerawork and being overall a bit on the forgettable side, it’s a bit of a shame because Mafia Mamma had the right ingredients to be quite campy and a lot of fun. While it’s not horrendous it is very forgettable. 

Mafia Mamma releases in theaters April 14th. 

4/10 D+

The Unheard is wasted potential.

After undergoing an experimental procedure to restore her damaged hearing, 20-year-old Chloe Grayden begins to suffer from auditory hallucinations seemingly related to the mysterious disappearance of her mother.

The Unheard is Jeffrey A. Brown’s second movie and much like The Beach House, this movie suffers from very identical problems. 

Lachlan Watson gives a strong performance in the leading and really showcases their acting ability quite well. The atmosphere of the movie is definitely there and at times there are quite a few thrilling and creepy moments that do get the viewer. The movie itself is also competently made with a lot of great shots that have detail to them. 

Unfortunately the rest of the movie suffers from dreadful pacing that when combined with a 2 hour running time completely puts The Unheard at a halt. The movie could have easily shaved off 20 minutes or so and nothing would really change at all, the ideas of the movie while really interesting really don’t have a lot of depth. 

It’s very clear the movie was trying to put in some extra meaning behind the whole idea of the auditory hallucinations and connect it with the disappearance of Chloe’s (played by Lachlan Watson) mother, but unfortunately those ideas aren’t explored to the full potential and leave quite a lot to be desired and even told. 

The Unheard is available on Shudder 

5/10 C

Mummies is a forgettable time

Three mummies leave their underground secret city in ancient Egypt and end up in present-day London to search for a ring that was stolen by a greedy archaeologist. However, their mission might prove to be a little difficult.

Mummies has Nickleback’s song Far Away as the credits song..yeah I got nothing to start with for this one to be quite honest. 

Mummies is not offensive but the movie really lacks charm and creativity, the characters are about as well written as a piece of cardboard. The jokes are the usual type of humor that constantly pops up in some of these animated movies. 

The world itself in the movie is poorly explored and really doesn’t lead into anything memorable at all, the voice acting I guess is fine enough the voice cast get the job done but none of it is very noteworthy or memorable. 

Honestly the main problem with Mummies is that it’s not memorable at all, there’s nothing here that brings the viewer into the movie or there isn’t anything that the viewer leave remembering the movie. This is the sort of movie you have on in the background and just completely ignore it. 

Mummies releases on VOD Platforms April 7th. 

2/10 F

Followers is a movie not worth following

Four very different students move into a house with all the usual social, financial and sexual anxieties that come with this exciting experience. They soon realize they are sharing their flat with a vengeful ghost from the 1990s called Dawn. Dawn wins them millions of followers on social media. The big-money sponsorship deals soon follow and greed becomes more powerful than fear. But the media attention awakens an old evil far more deadly than any ghost and the students must face the horrific consequences of their actions.

Social Media based horror/thriller films is a sub genre that I enjoy quite a lot, however there comes a time where some of these movies have very little to offer and recycle ideas from previous movies. That’s unfortunately what Followers does. 

Followers can be boiled down to “man is obsessed with earning followers so he does whatever he can to get a following” this was done far better in Spree (2021) and Deadstream (2022), I’ll give the movie credit for some decent shots every once and awhile but everything else here is just horrible. 

The acting combined with the writing is dull and has very little going on, it’s obvious this movie wanted to be some sort of social satire that makes fun of millennials and the whole idea of social media popularity. Mainly due to the characters being written as celebrity cliches and ignorant, which I guess the movie does that fine enough. The problem is during the second half when it tries to take itself serious and be a full on horror movie. 

None of the horror elements work at all..The jumpscares are very tiring, there’s no atmosphere and tension plus the movie throws in a few twists that make very little sense at all. 

if you want social media based horror movie that has very similar ideas and is executed far better I recommend Spree (2020) or Deadstream (2021). 

Followers is available on all VOD platforms. 

2/10 F

Most Anticipated Films Of April 2023!

April usually serves as a dumping ground for studios to put films that didn’t quite make the summer movie season. This year however it’s a pretty packed month, it’s by far the most packed so far and has some really exciting films to look forward to!

18. Clock – April 28th (Hulu)

17. Big Shark – Out in limited theaters, will expand during the year.

16. Paint – April 7th (Theaters)

15. The Cube (2023) – April 11th (Screambox)

14. The Black Demon – April 28th (Theaters)

13. Nefarious – April 14th (Theaters)

12. The Covenant – April 21st (Theaters)

11. Chevalier – April 21st (Theaters)

10. Living With Chucky – Out Today on Screambox

9. Renfield – April 14th (Theaters)

8. R.M.N. – April 7th (Theaters)

7. Suzume – April 14th (Theaters)

6. Showing Up – April 7th (Theaters)

5. The Super Mario Bros Movie – April 5th (Theaters)

4. Sisu – April 28th (Theaters)

3. How To Blow Up A Pipeline – April 7th (Theaters)

2. Evil Dead Rise – April 21st (Theaters)

1. Beau is Afraid – April 21st (Theaters)

Tell me what you are excited for this month!

John Wick: Chapter 4 is a masterfully crafted action film.

With the price on his head ever increasing, legendary hit man John Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Japan to Berlin.

Having a consistently incredible films in a franchise is incredibly rare, there’s very few franchises that can say that all of their movies are really good. One of those that can proudly say that however is the John Wick series, starting in 2014 this series has always been fantastic and always steps it up with each entry. John Wick: Chapter 4 takes everything that came before it and takes it to a whole new level that is jaw dropping. 

First and foremost John Wick: Chapter 4 is one of the most beautiful action films since Mad Max Fury Road, the visual style is absolutely insane and is one of those films where every single scene has so much going on for the eye to look at. The action scenes in particular are incredibly stunning especially with the very clear action where you can see the stunt work just be completely unreal, the attention to detail with each shot of the action scenes is truly great as well. You can see some of the henchmen try and get up while John Wick is fighting other henchmen and it’s all shown in such a clear way that really brings the viewer to the fights. 

The acting is phenomenal here Keanu Reeves once again absolutely nails it with his performance as John Wick, what’s especially interesting is he doesn’t have that much dialogue, which quite honestly fits the character well. In a lot of ways Wick tells the story through his actions and completely nails it. Bill Skarsgård is quite threatening and immediately makes it known he means business, Donnie Yen and Shamier Anderson are both fantastic as well. There’s a very interesting long scene that has Wick, Caine (played by Donnie Yen) and Mr “Nobody” (played by Shamier Anderson) it sort of serves as a way to compare the three and their goals plus their flaws. The supporting cast is also quite great Rina Sawayama, Hiroyuki Sanada and Scott Adkins are all fantastic and really play their parts really well. 

The main set pieces of the film are Osaka, Berlin and Paris each bring something completely different to the film and really highlight it well, the action scenes in each of the three are very different and have their own unique styles. Berlin has the club scene that is truly one of the most insane and beautiful action scenes I’ve seen in awhile, it starts out with an intense and thrilling performance from Scott Adkins as Killa who’s very intimidating, then it spirals into madness that truly is exciting. The Osaka action scenes serve is a very powerful opening of what’s to come in the film, while it’s not as crazy as some of the other action scenes it’s still beautiful and filled to the brim with energy. Then you have Paris which really combines everything the film has done before and moves it up to eleven.

Overall John Wick: Chapter 4 is not only the best of the franchise but one of the best modern action films, it takes everything that makes the action genre so great and really makes it even more grander in scale, atmosphere and aesthetic. 

John Wick: Chapter 4 is in theaters. 

10/10 A+

Tetris tells the bizarre true story of how the distribution rights were gotten.

Henk Rogers discovers Tetris in 1988, and then risks everything by travelling to the Soviet Union, where he joins forces with inventor Alexey Pajitnov to bring the game to the masses.

I don’t think a single person who didn’t have any knowledge of the backstory of how the rights were obtained for Tetris would expect it to have something to do with The Soviet Union, Communism and espionage. I most certainly didn’t and the movie really goes all out to tell this incredibly wild story. 

Right from the start Tetris has a lot of style to it, Jon S. Baird does a really solid job of implementing 80s retro style visuals during certain moments of the film, they aren’t just there for nostalgic purposes they are there to tell the story while giving the film it’s identity. 

The performances are all quite fantastic but the standout is by far Taron Egerton who completely nails every moment and really captures the whole bizarre story of how the distribution rights for Tetris was obtained in his performance. He really reflects that with his actions and emotions that truly create a fun and entertaining ride from beginning to end. 

The music is very well done and placed, once again Holding Out For A Hero makes an appearance and much like it’s other uses in other films and even trailers it’s quite great. It blends in really well with the whole retro style and gives the film the extra layer of entertainment while just being an absolute delight to listen to. 

But what makes Tetris standout is how it tells this bizarre story, it tells it from visuals at times and traditionally. Combining them both into one clean and clear narrative that is truly exciting, the movie also does go over the whole communism, Soviet Union and espionage parts of the story that are quite important. 

The story behind Tetris is very bizarre yet a fascinating one, this is the sort of thing you would never think about and just sort of assume the rights were gotten by normal means. I’m glad they made this into a film definitely recommended. 

Tetris is available on Apple TV+

8/10 B+

Prom Pact is a surprisingly charming high school movie.

It is the height of prom season, but high school senior Mandy Yang has her sights set on a singular goal: attending Harvard. When she finds out she has been deferred, she is determined to do whatever she can to get herself off the waitlist, even if that means asking the one person who represents everything she abhors, all-star jock Graham Lansing, whose father is a powerful senator and Harvard alum.

Every once and awhile you get a Disney+ Original movie that doesn’t completely feel like Disney Channel original movie in disguise, Prom Pact definitely surprised me for this particular reason, it definitely seemed like it was going to be yet another high school movie with Disney paint over it. 

While yes Prom Pact does have the usual elements that a lot of high school movies have, there is something here that a lot of these movies often miss…charm, there was clearly a lot of love put into the movie especially with the cast. Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Milo Manheim are both fantastic and give genuinely charming performances that the viewer can easily connect with, even some of the side characters are great Margaret Cho does a pretty good job with some decent comedic timing. 

The story itself as I said before is very much in line with a lot of other high school movies, but luckily it is entertaining the whole way through. If you have seen one high school movie you probably know what to expect, but as I said before the charm is what makes this one standout. The message of the movie is great and the execution on sharing that message is pretty well done, the writing has it’s hiccups but for the most part they really kept some of the interactions as natural as possible. 

Overall Prom Pact is by far one of the better Disney+ originals and is even something I would recommend checking out. 

Prom Pact is available on Disney+ 

7/10 B

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is solid with Lovecraft inspiration.

An ancient evil awakens and only Bruce Wayne can save 1920s Gotham City.

As far as recent DC Animated movies go, Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is certainly one of the better ones, at the very least this one has more going on other than being a huge Saturday morning cartoon. 

The main premise here is that it’s a Lovecraft inspired Batman story, which is quite interesting and for the most part the movie does it quite well. The characters are different from how they are usually portrayed and they fit the Lovecraft style well, there are moments where some characters most definitely needed a ton more development (more on that in a bit) but I will say they got the aesthetic and the actions of the characters down decent enough. 

The animation much like the characters matches the Lovecraft style the movie is going for, again there are a few hiccups and the animation can come off as just serviceable as well. But it definitely gets the job the done and at the very least has more character to it than a lot of the other recent DC Animated movies. 

Story is where this movie mainly falls especially during the final act of the movie and parts of the second act, there is way too much going on and you can really see how quickly the movie loses focus. As I hinted at earlier character development is a huge issue here, they introduce way too many characters and only about 3 of them get development. At the very least the voice cast does a solid job of making the characters very entertaining and fun to listen to, there’s some genuinely great moments that mainly work due to how committed the voice cast really are. 

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is very flawed but for the most part it’s decently made, it’s not something I don’t think I’ll ever go back to but at the very least this was a solid attempt at trying something much different. 

Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham is available on all VOD platforms. 

6/10 C+

Murder Mystery 2 is a small step up from it’s predecessor.

Now private detectives launching their own agency, Nick and Audrey Spitz land at the centre of an international investigation when a friend is abducted.

Murder Mystery 2 is a sequel to Murder Mystery which came out in 2019, a movie which I wasn’t a huge fan of. While I found the chemistry between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston to be charming and it had some comedic moments, outside of that it was a very bland Netflix comedy. Murder Mystery 2 I actually found to be a step up from the first movie but that doesn’t really mean much when the movie itself suffers similar problems that the first one faced. 

Once again the chemistry between Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston is really great, they definitely get a lot more room to tell more jokes and they definitely take advantage of that well. While not all of the jokes land there’s a decent amount of them that actually work well, the acting was decent enough and there were a few action scenes that combined comedy and action actually pretty well. 

The main issue comes from the mystery itself, unfortunately it’s not very engaging and ultimately doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you think about it for more than a minute. A lot of the side characters are just there to serve as suspects and have no real character to them at all, Murder Mystery 2 is also one of those sequels where it’s very similar to it’s predecessor in almost every single way and does very little to change the formula. 

Murder Mystery 2 is available on Netflix. 

5/10 C