Teens confront a legendary supernatural spectre that emerges from the cornfields of a small Midwestern town every fall.
After many delays since September 2021, Dark Harvest is finally released and it’s not exactly hard to see why this took so long to release.
I can see what director David Slade was attempting here with the movie but unfortunately that all gets lost with tons of bad performances and some very messy dialogue especially towards the end. The first half you can at least get an idea of what’s going on, as it does have some classic Halloween time type of themes that help the movie stand out a bit.
The creature’s design was decent enough but the parts with CGI completely take you out of the movie, honestly what hurts this movie the most is the second half. Which is mostly due to the movie really not focusing on it’s worldbuilding at all, sure we are given the rules but without much exploration of said rules the end result only puzzles the viewer. Events sort of just happen as the movie goes on with little to no context which admittedly can lead to some unintentionally funny scenes but not enough to save the movie.
There’s admittedly some pretty neat gore that I give credit where credit is due, but that’s really about it. Which is a shame because Dark Harvest had everything it needed to be a future cult classic during Halloween time. But with the movie taking itself way too seriously and a completely messy second half, it’s likely that Dark Harvest will be forgotten about.
The crew of the merchant ship Demeter sets sail from Carpathia to London to deliver a cargo of 50 unmarked wooden crates. However, they soon discover they’re not alone as Dracula’s unholy presence turns the trip into a nightmarish fight for survival.
The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is an adaptation based of “The Captain’s Log” a chapter that is from the 1897 novel Dracula. The movie is directed by André Øverdal who at this point in his career has directed some quite interesting films such as Autopsy Of Jane Doe, Scary Stories To Tell in The Dark, Troll Hunter (2010) and a few others. While I don’t think The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is one of his best films, there is still a whole lot to really like about this one.
The performances are all around quite great, nobody turns in a bad performance and sticks with the period gothic style that Øverdal is going for. The standouts are definitely Corey Hawkins who plays a strong leading man and really helps put this movie to the finish line, Aisling Franciosi is fun here and has decent enough chemistry with Hawkins. Finally there’s Liam Cunningham who plays Captain Elliot and narrates the story which is quite well done and does fit with what the movie is going for.
Dracula’s design is quite interesting and takes on an appearance more like Nosferatu which is always welcomed, some people might have issues with the design looking a bit too generic but it fits with the whole “monster attacking a ship” type of story which the movie is in the most classic way possible.
Øverdal’s atmosphere like in some of his other movies is very effective here, there’s actually one or two emotional moments that are genuinely sort of sad and you really start to feel towards these characters, it really fits with the period piece gothic atmosphere and look the movie is going for which it really does succeed.
The main flaws come in with the huge lack of character development and not a whole lot to the story, a lot of the characters on the ship really just serve to be killed off, there definitely are character moments for Clemens (Corey Hawkins), Anna (Aisling Franciosi) and Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham) and I said before there are a few emotional moments that are quite great. But in a lot of areas it’s still incredibly lacking, as far as story goes it’s a very simple story of a monster attacking a ship picking apart it’s crew one by one. There really isn’t a whole lot here, it does take a bit to get going and the story starts to run at a very slow pace but the final act is admittedly very fun.
Overall despite it’s flaws The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is a fun time, it takes awhile to get going and writing wise there really is not a whole lot here, but the acting, atmosphere and the fun final act push this one to the finish line.
The Last Voyage Of The Demeter is playing in theaters.
A knight is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, and the only person who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona, a shape-shifting teen who might also be a monster he’s sworn to kill.
Nimona was about to become Lost Media that we may have never been able due to Bluesky’s closure and Disney just not wanting to release the project. Luckily thanks to Annapurna Pictures reviving the project, DNEG Animation providing the animation and Netflix distributing it worldwide Nimona was released and it’s truly a beautiful film.
Nimona is one of those films where you can tell a lot of love was put into it in almost every single way possible, for starters the voice cast is brilliant the standouts being Chloe Grace Moretz and Riz Ahmed both give such fantastic performances and put so much power and talent into their characters. The characters Nimona and Ballister Boldheart are such fascinating characters who might feel a bit too traditional at first and may follow some common character tropes however you quickly realize that isn’t the case at all, instead what you get is two characters who have so much development put into them that truly make you care about the both of them.
The animation is absolutely gorgeous this is yet another case of being Spider-Verse inspired but it’s also another case of being completely different with it, the film focuses on shapeshifting which really blends well with the style use and the film itself is also based on a graphic novel which really makes the use of the animation quite appropriate. The whole shapeshifter theme is an allegory of embracing your true self which is quite a fantastic way of telling a beautiful LGBT like theme, heck Nimona is non-binary which is fantastic representation the film has no problem having any of these themes and I absolutely respect the film for that. Plus the film itself doesn’t have these themes for the sake of having them or wanting to just pander, these themes are important to the story and a lot of passion plus heart are put into these themes.
Not once did I feel like some studio was in the back saying “put this this and that in” you can very easily tell this is from the heart which you honestly can’t help but smile at, Nimona is quite a fantastic film that I’m very happy was able to get released, it’s a film that I can easily see go on to be a classic in a few years. If you haven’t seen it yet be sure to do so!
The youngest of King Triton’s daughters, Ariel is a beautiful and spirited young mermaid with a thirst for adventure. Longing to find out more about the world beyond the sea, Ariel visits the surface and falls for the dashing Prince Eric. Following her heart, she makes a deal with the evil sea witch, Ursula, to experience life on land.
I’m going to skip over the whole conversation about Disney’s Live Action Remakes since I already briefly talked about it in my Peter Pan & Wendy review last month, anyway The Little Mermaid had me a bit worried. When the trailer dropped myself and a few others said that Halle Bailey would be the standout but mostly everything else would fall flat, it’s a common pattern that happens with a lot of these live action remakes. However as I said before in my reviews I like to be proven wrong when it comes to film and to my surprise…The Little Mermaid did just that.
The Little Mermaid is very flawed, the underwater parts don’t exactly look all that great as there are moments where the CGI is very noticeable. Javier Bardem gives a pretty poor performance as King Triton, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder is a very lifeless performance and Awkwafina as Scuttle is yet another addition to her bad performances post The Farewell. I’m not going to on a huge rant about the rap Awkwafina sings in the movie. I really don’t have that much to say about it, it’s bad of course but it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever heard. To be quite honest I found it more unnecessary and very unfitting than bad, it comes right out of nowhere and ends shortly after and is never spoken of again.
Now moving on to what really worked for the movie, let’s start with of course Halle Bailey who was the standout. Her film career is going to go very far and it really shows here, she captures the spirit of Ariel while bringing her own direction to the character, her acting really shines through when the film goes to the land portion of the film. Her screen presence is genuinely charming and she naturally connects with the rest of the cast, even if I didn’t like some of the other performances such as Awkwafina or Tremblay there is absolutely no denying that she connects with them easily.
Daveed Diggs as Sebastian took me a little bit to get used to, but he really did a great job. His version of Under The Sea is a whole lot of fun and he really does capture the character quite well, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula was also pretty solid obviously there is no topping Pat Carroll (voiced Ursula in the original) who delivered one of my favorite performances of all time. With that said I do think McCarthy did a pretty good job with what she was given, absolutely far better than some other depictions of iconic Disney villains (looking at you Jafar from Aladdin (2019). Finally there’s Art Malik who plays Grimsby, he’s genuinely fun and is just a very charming character. He’s a prime example of a fun side character that gets the job done quite well.
The music was surprisingly pretty great, I say surprisingly because yes while Rob Marshall director of Chicago (one of my favorite films) is in the director’s chair. This is Disney we are talking about, the music in these live action remakes have always been a hit or miss or some movies will have a few good songs and the rest would just be very forgettable. However that wasn’t the case here with The Little Mermaid, minus the previously mentioned rap. The rest of the songs are pretty well done renditions of the original songs, Under The Sea is a lot of fun, Kiss The Girl is one of the film’s highlights and Part Of Your World is truly fantastic due to Halle Bailey’s powerful singing voice. Which is why the music works so well the singing voices are truly great especially Halle Bailey who as I said before has a tremendous singing voice.
Lastly there’s Rob Marshall’s direction, his approach of “if it isn’t broken don’t fix it” is truly effective here, especially in terms of story. Rob Marshall’s touches on the music is absolutely felt here and he really does a fantastic job of connecting the cast to one another, there’s some genuinely well done moments of chemistry between Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King.
Overall The Little Mermaid (2023) is quite solid, it’s definitely flawed but it’s a genuinely fun little film that manages to be a lot better than a lot of the other live action remakes.
Wendy Darling, a young girl looking to avoid boarding school, meets Peter Pan, a boy who refuses to grow up. Wendy, her brothers, and Tinker Bell travel with Peter to the magical world of Neverland, where she encounters an evil pirate captain.
I’ve shared my thoughts on the whole Disney live action remake thing that Disney has been doing the last several years, while there are some that are genuinely good (Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon Cinderella, Christopher Robin and Cruella) a majority of them are just not good and serve the purpose of being made for a quick buck. Peter Pan & Wendy I was hoping would be decent enough since David Lowery did a very solid job with Pete’s Dragon (which honestly could be argued that it’s better than the original), while you do feel Lowery’s direction here it’s nowhere near as strong as it was in Pete’s Dragon.
There is actually handful of things to like here, most notably some of the performances and the filming, David Lowery does what he does best and makes the film very stunning, while Neverland can be dark a lot of the time it does make that up with some quite strong visuals and beautiful shots. The performances that standout here is Jude Law as Hook, Ever Gabo Anderson as Wendy and Alyssa Wapanatahk as Tiger Lily
Jude Law really sells it as Hook he can be intimidating but also be goofy which actually does a pretty solid job of capturing the character, he honestly seemed like he was having an absolute blast playing Hook so that probably helps as well. Alyssa Wapantahk does a pretty solid job as Tiger Lily, while it’s not a performance to write home about she does a very decent job of capturing the character. Finally there’s Ever Gabo Anderson who’s definitely going to be a future star, she does really good job capturing the character of Wendy and ends up having some of the best scenes of the movie.
Where Peter Pan & Wendy falls short is memorability there’s a lot of scenes here that don’t really have anything of note going on, Alexander Molony is just not a very good Peter Pan, while he isn’t flat out bad he doesn’t really bring anything new to the character. His performance is more dull than anything else and technically gets the job done but that doesn’t make it good.
It’s also quite clear when the direction of the movie seems very lost, I hinted at earlier at that while there are some very beautiful shots here Neverland is still very dark and dreary, I’m not exactly sure what is making recent Peter Pan adaptions have this idea that Neverland was a depressing place, Neverland is an adventurous, lively and whimsical place where you never grow up. Although I will give credit Neverland does look far better here than it did in Pan (2015), at least with this movie you have Lowery’s direction and style.
Overall Peter Pan & Wendy isn’t something I would call bad, it just has a lot of flaws that sadly stack up and ultimately hold this movie back. It’s far better than a lot of the recent Disney live action remakes and it’s a huge improvement over Pan (2015) (then again that’s not exactly hard when you have a scene where the pirates randomly start singing Nirvana’s It Smells Like Teen Spirit).
A modern action adventure road story where a 17-year-old girl named Suzume helps a mysterious young man close doors from the other side that are releasing disasters all over in Japan.
Going into Suzume I knew very little outside of Makoto Shinkai being the director who’s previous work is very impressive particularly Weathering With You and Your Name both of which are very fantastic films. Suzume continues to show how incredible Shinkai is as a filmmaker and really surprises the viewer as well.
The voice cast are all fantastic here and really deliver some very beautiful moments especially during the final act of the film, what makes the film standout quite a lot is that it pulls you in fantasy combined with some coming of age and road trip movie elements. But then slowly starts to introduce some reality type of elements such as losing a loved one, by that point the film has pulled you in making the viewer be treated to some very crushing scenes that are filled with emotion.
As always when it comes to Makoto Shinkai’s work the animation is absolutely stunning, it’s a combination of reality and this dreamlike world that takes the viewer on an adventure while never letting go. There’s so much detail to the animation and the character’s as well that really bring the film together and only bring the viewer closer to the characters.
There’s many creative ideas here that are very well developed, Shinkai takes ideas or plot points we are familiar with such as the road trip premise or the coming of age genre and completely makes it his own. We also get to meet several characters even if some of them aren’t in the film for very long, the humor and Suzume’s interactions with the characters makes up for that. When the film reaches it’s final act it starts to introduce a lot of hard hitting themes that can be very relatable to the viewer and is quite a beautiful way to bring the film together.
The film has the theme of struggling with loss, how we cope with loss and that letting go can be okay, Suzume as a character goes through this and is absolutely well written. She’s a character that easily connects to the viewer mainly due to just how masterfully written she really is.
Overall Suzume is a beautiful blend between fantasy and realistic elements that all come together to create a beautiful film.
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers embark on an epic quest to retrieve a long lost relic, but their charming adventure goes dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people.
Before I start it should be noted that I have next to no knowledge about Dungeons & Dragons, I only know it by name and that they made three previous garbage movies based on it.
Anyway Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves I guess sort of serves as a reboot to the three movies I just mentioned. Dungeons & Dragons (2000), Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of The Dragon God (2005) and Dungeons & Dragons 3: The Book of Vile Darkness (2012) were a trilogy of movies that came out and well they were pretty bad, so fast forward to 2023 and there’s finally a solid Dungeons & Dragons movie?
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is definitely a huge surprise, there’s a lot going for it here and you would think would not work all that well but mainly due to the cast and a lot of the classic fantasy elements, there’s so much that works here.
The cast is quite strong here in particular Chris Pine, Justice Smith and Sophia Lillis are really solid. They all work well together and bring a charming and this sweet type of atmosphere to their group that you can’t help but smile at, Edgin Darvis’s (played by Chris Pine) story might not be anything new especially when it comes to the fantasy genre. However what does make it standout is how it’s done, it’s a sweet and heartfelt story that makes you really care for Edgin and want him to succeed on his quest.
The action scenes are quite well done, they aren’t going to break any new ground but there is absolutely no denying that they are filled to the brim with energy and really gets the viewer excited as well. The major thing I am pretty surprised they did pretty well with was the thing that I was mostly scared was going to take up most of the movie…the humor, the movie actually does a fairly decent job at balancing the humor and the character moments.
There’s some genuinely funny dialogue here that actually works quite well and adds to the overall sweet and heartfelt atmosphere of the movie, the one liners do get old but luckily they aren’t enough to stop Honor Among Thieves from being a genuinely fun time.
While Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves won’t break any new ground in the fantasy genre, it does offer something truly fun and very charming.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves releases March 31st in theaters.
A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again.
I wish there was a lot to say about Slumberland a $150 million dollar budget Netflix original directed by Francis Lawrence, but to be quite honest there really isn’t. The movie at least looks a bit more appealing to the eye when compared to Red Notice and The Gray Man, but that’s mainly due to the fantasy elements here that actually do give the movie some sort of life. Jason Momoa puts on a very different type of performance here that is genuinely charming, Marlow Barkley also gives a charming performance as well, for a Netflix child actor performance this is definitely one of the better ones. The main issue comes in story wise where it plays out way too similarly to a lot of fantasy movies, the whole “person discovers a new land full of creatures” has been done far better before, what’s very unfortunate here is Francis Lawrence’s direction is just nonexistent here, maybe it’s because this is entirely different from what he usually does but a lot of what makes his direction interesting is just not here. The raw emotions in Catching Fire and Mockingjay Part 2, the strong chemistry in Water For Elephants, the sense of building a strong atmosphere in I Am Legend and so on. It often times looks like the movie is going to try and do something interesting but quickly goes back to playing it way too safe. Every now and then you get some charming moments with Momoa and Barkley but otherwise this is very forgettable and definitely overstays it’s welcome with a nearly 2 hour running time. Overall despite my many complaints Slumberland isn’t exactly terrible it’s rather forgettable and just sits there as another addition to the forgettable Netflix movie pile.
Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of an epic battle when they’re swept away into an enchanted school where aspiring heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance between good and evil.
I like that Paul Feig is continuing to try and tackle different genres instead of sticking with comedy, because he did a surprisingly excellent job with A Simple Favor, so I was a bit curious what he was going to do with The School for Good and Evil, long story short this movie is complete and total mess, this is what you would get if you took every young adult adaption movie from the early 2010s and blended them together. You would get this directionless Frankenstein monster of a movie that has no idea what it’s trying to do, Michelle Yeoh is the standout here and she’s pretty much shelved throughout the movie. Getting very little screentime compared to everyone else, speaking of which everyone else does an okay job. There aren’t any flat out bad performances but there aren’t any good ones either, a lot of them are just there and I guess get the job done. The writing is filled to the brim of melodrama, typical young adult movie cliches and very weak world building. Lastly there’s Paul Feig’s directing style that really doesn’t do anything for the movie, there’s attempts to throw in some comedy but it’s more of that young adult movie adaption humor that is often dull. Lastly what really seals the movie’s fate is the pacing combined with the running time why this movie was 2 hours and 27 minutes I will never know. But it did not do the movie any favors at all, the pacing was truly dreadful and the build up was just not worth the end result.
The School Of Good And Evil is available on Netflix.
When a struggling single mother befriends a mysterious woman who has supernatural powers, she sees a lucrative opportunity to make some fast cash. However, their crime spree soon draws unwanted attention as the cops start to close in.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon is an interesting little movie, that while story wise it really isn’t anything special it makes up for it with a lot of other elements that go together quite nicely. The cinematography combined with the setting of New Orleans is truly a lot of fun and adds to the movie’s overall atmosphere, the performances are overall pretty solid particularly Jeon Jong-seo and Kate Hudson who have great chemistry and really steal every scene they are in together. Craig Robinson is also a fun addition as well, the direction from Ana Lily Amirpour (director of The Bad Batch and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night) is really fantastic here, we get more character development than we usually would when it comes to films like this. There’s some character driven moments that are very investing and really drag the viewer into the film, Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon might be Amirpour’s weakest film mainly due to the story feeling a bit too recognizable, but it’s still a very entertaining movie that I do recommend giving a watch, it’s a solid introduction to her work.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon is available on all VOD platforms.
Jerome Reviews... 