Hypnotic is a heavily flawed but fun ride.

When a detective learns that his missing daughter and a string of high profile bank robberies might be connected, he must go on a mind-bending journey to find his daughter and stop the secret government agency behind the madness.

Hypnotic was the May 1st Regal Mystery Movie and of the ones I’ve went to (I missed the ones for Missing and Sisu) this is definitely one of the better ones. There’s definitely a lot to like about Hypnotic and I applaud Robert Rodriguez for doing his own thing.

The performances can be a bit of a mixed bag at times, I like seeing Ben Affleck take on different roles especially these types of roles. With that said I wouldn’t call his performance good but I will say that it’s pretty entertaining at times, the supporting cast such as Alice Braga and William Fichtner are pretty solid especially Fichtner who does give an intimidating performance.

The many ideas of the movie are decently executed during the first two acts, as both acts are very engaging. There is definitely some questionable editing that makes some scenes a complete and total mess, but for the most part it tells a pretty engaging story. Character development is pretty nonexistent here, sure we are given some information about the characters but we are never really given a backstory, who they really are or why they are doing certain things.

What hurts this movie mostly is the third act that is way too fast paced and ends very abruptly, granted there are moments during the third act that are very unintentionally hilarious. But it isn’t quite enough to really save it from being a mess.

If it sounds like I didn’t go into much detail with Hypnotic it’s because the movie is hard to really talk about without spoiling. And I really don’t want to do that because I do think the several twists in Hypnotic are interesting and definitely should be seen going in as little as possible. Overall I definitely liked Hypnotic a bit more the more I thought about it, it’s not anything I don’t think I will ever come back to but it is something worth looking into.

Hypnotic releases in theaters May 12th

6/10 C+

Sisu is a show don’t tell entertaining ride from beginning to end.

During the last days of World War II, a solitary prospector crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-Earth retreat in northern Finland. When the soldiers decide to steal his gold, they quickly discover they just tangled with no ordinary miner.

Sisu is if you took Mad Max Fury Road and John Wick and asked the question “what if it took place during near the end of World War II?” You would get Sisu a movie that admittedly shares a lot of the same elements as John Wick but still manages to be a complete blast.

Jorma Tommila plays Aatami Korpi a solider who is now a miner and is feared among many rival soldiers some people calling him “immortal” which is quite accurate because this guy picks apart this group of Nazis one by one. Tommila gives a very intimidating performance and really captures the atmosphere the film is going for quite well, the cinematography when combined with the location are very beautiful and makes for some very interesting action scenes. We get to explore around the many battlefields, it has this eeriness to it that is actually quite effective.

The action scenes are quite fantastic, filled to the brim with gore and lots of pretty strong kills that really make the film a very entertaining ride. The action during the last 10 minutes or so does get a little too silly but I guess it does fit the whole “this man is unbeatable” idea, outside of Aatami Korpi the other characters don’t get much in the way of development. The main villains are Bruno Helldorf played by Aksel Hennie and his subordinate Wolf played by Jack Doolan. The performances from Hennie and Doolan are both very good, the characters however are just ultimately higher ranked Nazis. They aren’t that much different from the ones they are leading, except just lasting much longer in the movie.

Overall Sisu thematically might not have a lot going on as it is very straightforward and honestly tells you from the trailer what you are getting, but it is very fun film that is really solid. It’s not going to reinvent the action genre but it is yet another solid one from this year.

Sisu is available in theaters.

8/10 B+

The Covenant is a solid war thriller with solid performances.

During the war in Afghanistan, a local interpreter risks his own life to carry an injured sergeant across miles of gruelling terrain.

Of the two Guy Richie films that have been released this year The Covenant and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, The Covenant is by far the better of the two.

While The Covenant is not based on a true story the movie does state that there have been situations where interpreters have put themselves on the line of danger to save injured sergeants. First and foremost the performances from Jake Gyllenhaal who plays John Kinley and Dar Salim who plays Ahemd are both quite fantastic here, the bond between is truly fantastic and while yes it’s a cliched question in movie the whole “how far would you go to save someone who saved your life” thing works here.

The first two acts are very well done especially when it comes to atmosphere that truly is thrilling and I really have to say for a first time directing a war movie Guy Richie does a really good job of nailing down the atmosphere of war, it might not be up there with some of the greats such as Hacksaw Ridge, 1917 or All Quiet On The Western Front. But it honestly doesn’t need to be, Richie made the atmosphere his own and made it quite interesting.

Unfortunately The Covenant does suffer from two major flaws the first being the third act, while it isn’t awful as it does keep some thrilling moments which were previously in the first two acts. It doesn’t have a whole lot of development unfortunately, we are introduced to some characters who get about 7 minutes of screentime and then are pretty much never seen again. The action scenes during the third act are nowhere near as thrilling as they were than the first two acts, it turns into an action scene you would expect from over the top action movies. Which yes I get there’s going to be action scenes but I can’t help but feel like that it takes away from the quietness and atmospheric feeling that was in the other two acts.

Lastly there’s the messaging of the movie, while the movie does have a very good intentioned message that interpreters are important and should be talked about more (which I agree with) when it comes to the War in Afghanistan, it honestly doesn’t explore all that much about the interpreters. Outside of Dar Salim’s character Ahmed we aren’t given a whole lot of information about interpreters and how important they are, it’s only at the end of the movie where some text shows up and then the credits show army soldiers being buddies with interpreters. It’s a shame because I do think the topic of interpreters gets very overshadowed and nowhere near as much attention as it should.

With that said I do think The Covenant is a solid movie with some really strong acting and Guy Richie trying to do something a bit different with the war movie genre. There’s a lot to like about this one.

The Covenant is playing in theaters.

7/10 B

Ghosted (2023) is a disaster

Cole falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie, but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

I said in my review for You People (2023) that over the years I’ve been much more positive when it comes to bad movies especially in my reviews. And I still stand by that (even if that was just a few months ago) I can recognize that there was some level of attempt in a lot of movies that I reviewed not favorably…however Ghosted is one of those movies where it truly breaks the camel’s back because this is quite honestly one of the worst looking movies I’ve seen in a very long time.

Let’s start with the acting Ana de Armas and Chris Evans have no chemistry at all, it’s completely dull has no personality to it, tries way too hard to balance some serious moments and comedy but completely falls flat on it’s face. The performances are not good either Chris Evan’s is for whatever reason trying to be Ryan Reynolds 2.0 and Ana de Armas is given very poor material to work with.

The writing absolutely does feel like it was written by an AI, it honestly baffles me that someone read the script and gave the okay, there’s cameos that are incredibly pointless, humor that insults the viewer’s intelligence and a bunch of plot points that have been done far better elsewhere. What really kills this movie however is the action scenes and the camerawork, there’s so many unconvincing shots of Ana de Armas and Chris Evans together it truly looks like they weren’t on set together at all. The level of just not caring is truly incredible with this movie, heck the fact this was directed by Dexter Fletcher director of Rocketman is truly beyond parody.

Ghosted goes through every single predictable plot point you can think of and executes them in the worst way you can think of, what makes this even worse is that the movie itself is incredibly dull and devoid of any personality. At least with some bad movies they do have a personality where you can somewhat be entertained by them, but here? Nothing at all!

Ghosted is available on Apple TV+

Disgrace To Cinema F

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always has the nostalgia but not much else.

The Rangers come face-to-face with a familiar threat from the past. In the midst of a global crisis, they are called on once again to be the heroes the world needs.

Power Rangers has been a long running series to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show they released a special on Netflix which is Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always. I grew up with The Power Rangers even if my first exposure to the Power Rangers was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, but there was a fair number of seasons that I really liked as a kid Lightspeed Rescue, Time Force, Wild Force and of course the Mighty Morphin series.

Right off the bat if you are someone going into this special hoping it stays with continuity with the series you are going to be almost immediately disappointed, Rangers who in the series quite clearly gave up their powers have them without any explanation. As for everything else though? You get that here, there’s a large amount of nostalgia and tons of character moments that are quite fun as well.

It has the same cheesy acting that the show had and follows what made the show so likable in the first place, the one glaring issue that does hurt this special however is that the special effects somehow look worse than they did back when the show first premiered. It’s probably due to kind of missing what made the original series so charming, a lot of the effects here just don’t quite fit the Power Rangers. I understand this was a route they were bound to take but it’s just not that appealing to the eye.

I do think it’s an overall decent celebration to the series, I can’t say that I didn’t have a fun time with the special. There’s just not a whole lot too it and the effects are very distracting.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is available on Netflix.

5/10 C

Creed III is a film filled with tension.

Still dominating the boxing world, Adonis Creed is thriving in his career and family life. When Damian, a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy resurfaces after serving time in prison, he’s eager to prove that he deserves his shot in the ring. The face-off between former friends is more than just a fight. To settle the score, Adonis must put his future on the line to battle Damian — a fighter who has nothing to lose.

Creed III is the third film in the Creed series and ninth overall film in the Rocky series..and it’s one of the absolute best of the franchise!

Creed III has a very simple setup and does take a bit to get off the ground (not in a bad way) but it makes up for that with atmosphere that is very tense and gets the viewer hyped for the eventual fight scenes. The performances are all quite fantastic especially Michael B. Jordan who once again kills it with his performance as Adonis Creed and Jonathan Majors as Damian Anderson who is quite a fantastic villain as well as being very intimidating as well.

The tension that builds between Creed and Anderson is very thrilling and striking, it lasts throughout the film and eventually comes all together once the match begins. The match itself is thrilling and filled to the brim with this powerhouse strength that brings the viewer into the action, Michael B. Jordan wasn’t kidding when he said a lot of the action scenes were anime inspired. Because that is absolutely shown here (if you are a Dragon Ball fan such as myself there’s one in particular that you will instantly see), Michael B. Jordan is in the director’s chair this time around and his direction is absolutely phenomenal. Between the filming of the action scenes, the tense dialogue and the character’s development Jordan really does a phenomenal job of bringing the viewer into the film.

Creed III also combines what made the first two Creed films so incredible and turns it up into eleven, it magnifies the action and atmosphere to the point where they are both gigantic and hit every high note, the film itself wraps up wonderfully and has such an exciting ending as well!

Creed III is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A

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+

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+

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+

The Park is bland in it’s execution.

After a virus kills all of the Earth’s adults, rival children battle for control of an abandoned theme park.

The Park is pretty much if you took any of those Young Adult dystopian film adaptions that were popular in the 2010s and mixed it with some horror elements. That might sound like a neat idea on paper but unfortunately there’s a lot lacking that ultimately hurts the movie.

It should be noted that the cast does a solid job in their respective roles, there aren’t really any standouts but they all blend in their talent quite well so it works either way. The filming combined with the location is quite neat as well, it does match the type of atmosphere that the movie is going for.

The movie falls apart when it comes to writing and story in terms of story it’s about what you expect from a dystopian movie, all of the adults are wiped out due to a disease so now they kids need to learn to survive. In this case they battle for a abandoned park. There’s nothing wrong with that to be clear, but it really doesn’t do anything to really standout very well. Writing wise there just isn’t much here unfortunately, while there are some decent character moments that try to connect the audiences with the characters. It isn’t nearly enough to save the movie.

The Park also suffers from a very bland third act that sort of just ends, the movie definitely needed a bit more time to be cooked in the oven. As 80 minutes wasn’t enough time to get it’s ideas off the ground. Overall The Park is definitely not a bad movie, there was clearly a huge amount of effort and passion put into it, the ideas of the movie just don’t fully come together unfortunately.

The Park is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C