Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) is another weak installment to the series.

Influencers looking to breathe new life into a Texas ghost town encounter Leatherface, the legendary killer who wears a mask of human skin.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series is one of the main slasher franchises that have struggled for years to have tons of good installments. Outside of the original film from 1974, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) (the first two I named being some of my favorite films of all time) this series has not been very good in years. I was hoping Texas Chainsaw (2022) would at least be somewhat of a step in the right direction, that was not the case unfortunately. The positives are by far the death scenes which are quite brutal combined with the gore, the two make some really gnarly scenes that are quite a lot of fun. Elsie Fisher is the other positive, she definitely tries her very hardest with a script that’s rubbish a lot of the time. Mark Burnham does an okay job as Leatherface but I can’t help but feel that a lot is missing from Burnham’s Leatherface it’s more than likely that his family weren’t pulling the strings this time around. Which I get the movie wanted to try something different in fact it could have been interesting to see Leatherface without his family but the execution is way too generic and really doesn’t do much. What destroys this movie is two major problems the first one being the writing, I was really hoping that the “your cancelled bro” was just one line and that was it….while there aren’t lines on the level of garbage like that one. A lot of it was begging for a rewrite, the characters are horribly written, the story is done in the most generic way possible and at times it really felt like one of the writers got their ideas from Twitter of all places. The other major problem is how this movie used the legacy character of the series Sally, in case you do not remember Sally was the lone survivor of the original, I don’t have a problem with legacy characters at all. Halloween and Scream have proven you can use legacy characters correctly. What I am against however is using a legacy character for the sake of using one, Sally does nothing to add to the movie. If you were to take her out of the movie not much would change at all. It really comes off like they had no idea what to exactly do with Sally so they stuck her in there and called it a day. Sally also does not have the same impact as Sidney Prescott or Laurie Strode have, the acting is also nothing to write home about. The acting is definitely not as bad as it was in some of the other movies but that’s really not saying much. it’s a shame because I do think there were ideas to be explored the movie just didn’t bother to and instead went with something way too familiar and nothing new at all. Overall Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) is another terrible installment to the series, it’s definitely not as bad as I thought it was going to be however there was so much wasted potential here.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is available on Netflix.

3/10 D-

Sundance Review: Emergency blends comedy and heavy subjects in a unique way.

Ready for a night of legendary partying, three college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unexpected situation.

Emergency definitely surprised me, it’s from Carey Williams who had a movie at Sundance last year called R#J (which still has yet to get a release date) I thought it wasn’t a very good take on Romeo and Juliet and was a bit of a mess. However this is one hell of a improvement, The most successful thing about Emergency is the blend of comedy and serious moments or when the film tackles racism. One does not out do the other it’s such a perfect balance that really works for this film, as far as performances there’s a lot of great ones such as RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon and Sabrina Carpenter (who gives a much different performance than she usually does.) they all do such a good job of really capturing the atmosphere of the film and dive pretty deep into their performances, the movie does have a lot of Superbad elements to it which works quite well here. Carey Williams takes those elements and makes something new with them, speaking of which Williams’s direction is truly fantastic. He actually makes the film quite raw at times which really surprises the viewer, there’s a lot of great characters bits throughout the film and ends up being a very entertaining yet quite intense ride. The final act is quite fantastic both when talking about the film’s themes and build up! Overall Emergency is quite fantastic, this is definitely something I recommend checking out when it releases!

Emergency will release May 20th in theaters and May 27th on Amazon Prime Video!

9/10 A

Sundance Review: TikTok, Boom doesn’t tell anything new about the popular app.

With TikTok crowned the world’s most downloaded app, these are the personal stories of a cultural phenomenon, told through an ensemble cast of Gen-Z natives, journalists and experts alike.

TikTok, Boom was by far the weakest documentary I watched at Sundance, basically this documentary covers all the controversies that TickTok has been in such as the whole situation with China, the Trump rally being taken over, Trump threatening to shut down TikTok, the BLM hashtag being silenced because of a “glitch” and so on. There is absolutely nothing new here at all that wasn’t on the news, sure the documentary does a decent job of talking about the controversies but if you go into this already knowing everything that has happened with TikTok you are not going to get anything out of this. The best thing I can say about it is at least it was sort of refreshing to hear the perspective of some other TikTokers who aren’t Addison Rae, Bella Poarch or some of the others. But that doesn’t make it an interesting documentary, I guess it ends on a nice message but it doesn’t make up for the rest of the movie being a slog to get through. You are better off just reading news articles about the controversies surrounding the app rather than sitting through the documentary.

TikTok, Boom currently has no release date.

3/10 D-

Sundance Review: Alice is a better Antebellum but that’s not saying much.

Alice, an enslaved person yearning for freedom on a Georgia plantation, escapes through the woods and stumbles through time into the year 1973. After she meets a disillusioned political activist, she confronts the lies that kept her enslaved.

To address the elephant in the room yes the plot is very similar to Antebellum (2020), with that said I found Alice to be a bit better than Antebellum but that is honestly not saying much at all. What makes Alice better is Keke Palmer’s performance, Keke Palmer is the type of actress that brings so much power to any role she’s given. Alice also does get better towards the end of the movie, with a actual pretty fun ending that wrapped up the movie nicely. However the movie wastes so much time during the first act and a majority of the second act being focused on unfunny jokes, very tiring elements that seem to repeat throughout the movie and very uneven writing that doesn’t blend well with the tone the movie is going for. The writing flaws in particular are what kill this movie, it was really baffling to hear some jokes being told (you know the obvious oh she’s not from this time period so she doesn’t know what this means or what this is), while the movie was trying to take itself seriously at the same time. I really don’t have anything else, it’s a not as bad Antebellum that’s just not interesting at all.

Alice will release March 18th in theaters.

3/10 D-

Sundance Review: Babysitter is a confused mess.

Like with Tribeca I’m going to review the films I saw at Sundance from worst to best (27 films).

Cédric (42) loses his job after a sexist joke that goes viral. Encouraged by his brother — a well-meaning nerd — he embarks on a so-called therapy to free him from sexism and underlying misogyny. Meanwhile, his girlfriend Nadine, exasperated by his narcissistic introspection, is herself in need of dreaming and adrenaline. The hiring of a mysterious and liberated babysitter, Amy (22), will help her get some fresh air and shake up the family balance.

Babysitter is the worst of the bunch by far, if you remember Sundance 2021 you might recall a movie called “Mother Schmuckers” (that still has not been given a wide release) well Babysitter has a very identical style to that movie. But Babysitter at least has more to say, it tries to tackle misogyny and toxic masculinity but it honestly does not work here. Babysitter does it in this way that is incredibly painful and obnoxious, I’m all for filmmakers to be incredibly weird with their films, however this movie was weird for the sake of being weird. I completely understand what it’s trying to go for but between the style, the look of the movie looking like it’s something out of a bubblegum commercial and the acting that was incredibly obnoxious. It turns into a complete and total mess that completely loses the viewer, the only reason I would even consider recommending this to someone is if they want something that must be seen to be believed.

Babysitter currently has no release date.

1/10 F

Scream (2022) is a fantastic addition that adds evolves the series!

Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, Calif., a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.

It’s quite amazing to me how constantly good The Scream franchise is. The first film is a classic, the second is a very solid sequel, the third movie is actually not as bad as I remembered it’s a flawed but fun film. The fourth film is one of my favorite films from the 2010s. Scream (2022) is a love letter to the franchise in the best way possible, for starters there’s tons and tons of references from the past films that feel earned. It’s a huge celebration to the series, the acting is another constantly great part about this series. Where as some other slasher series struggle in the acting department, Scream has managed to give some great acting scenes and here is no exception. The highlight is Jenna Ortega who does a brilliant job in her role while yes as I said earlier Scream has always had good acting, but Ortega truly brought something new to the table and actually manages to outclass even the veterans of the series. The humor is absolutely phenomenal here, it tackles toxic fandoms and truly does a great job with it. It balances the comedy and serious moments of the film, which is something this series has always been really great at. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett who previously directed Ready Or Not truly do a fantastic job here, they both capture everything that people love about the series and turn it up to eleven. The kills are much more brutal this time around making for some pretty intense and thrilling kills, the rest of the cast is quite great here Melissa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown and the three veterans Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette! It’s great seeing all of these characters together, lastly the film itself is just a huge blast. It’s some of the most fun I’ve had with a horror film in awhile and truly shows that this series always has a trick up it’s sleeve! Overall Scream is a fantastic film that would have made Wes Craven proud, it’s a huge tribute to the series that I can see evolving even more in the future!

Scream is playing in theaters!

10/10 A+

The Matrix Resurrections is a satisfying installment!

To find out if his reality is a physical or mental construct, Mr. Anderson, aka Neo, will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. If he’s learned anything, it’s that choice, while an illusion, is still the only way out of — or into — the Matrix. Neo already knows what he has to do, but what he doesn’t yet know is that the Matrix is stronger, more secure and far more dangerous than ever before.

I might not be the biggest Matrix fanatic out there, but when the trailer the newest installment in the series Matrix Resurrections I was pretty excited! Luckily it did not disappoint at all, right off the bat the film itself is very meta which presents several interesting ideas that work very well here. The cast all do a fantastic job seeing Keanu Reeves as Neo again is truly an amazing sight to see, the direction is very strong with a lot of dialogue that’s very bold. The character moments combined with the action scenes truly give this movie a lot of strength and makes it visually interesting. Speaking of which the visuals did not disappoint at all, what makes this one successful is that it trades in some action scenes for character moments that work to the film’s advantage. The film itself reads as a film where Lana Wachowski just doesn’t care what anyone thinks and makes a film, which I actually found to be quite great. It’s a very bold blockbuster that succeeds in a lot of categories! Overall The Matrix Resurrections is a fantastic film that I highly recommend giving a watch!

The Matrix Resurrections is in theaters and on HBO Max!

9/10 A

Being The Ricardos is another below average biopic.

In 1952, Hollywood power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz face personal and professional obstacles that threaten their careers, their relationship, and their hit television show.

Being The Ricardos is what happens when a movie that is a very very below average gets constantly pushed to get spotlight. I was already dreading to watch Being The Ricardos after I heard how it’s a biopic that does nothing interesting, sadly that’s how I would sum up this movie. While Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem aren’t bad at all, they are not giving some of the best performances of the year that the movie and many sites are leading you to believe. Nicole Kidman was heavily miscast as Lucille Ball and it’s very easy to tell just by watching her performance for at least 10 minutes, the best performance was J.K. Simmons who gave this movie some sort of character. The writing felt like a huge drag, Sorkin’s writing this time around felt way too cluttered with so many ideas being thrown into the movie and proceeding to see what sticks. There’s a few interesting bits such as the camerawork which feels like it’s being filmed in a dressing room type of feel and it works actually pretty well considering the topic of the movie. What ultimately kills this movie is the 2 hours and 5 minute running time like a lot of biopics it over stays it’s welcome and goes on for far too long, it also starts to fall in typical biopic movie cliches and does absolutely nothing new. I really don’t know what else to say here, which is very concerning seeing how this might be a best picture nomination at the Oscars, in a year that I felt was a very strong year for film. The fact a below average biopic that has nothing to say and feels incredibly lifeless is being celebrated over Pig, The Green Knight, Nine Days and a few others is very sad. Give this one a skip.

Being The Ricardos is available on Amazon Prime Video!

4/10 D+

Benedetta is Paul Verhoeven at his absolute best!

A 17th-century nun becomes entangled in a forbidden lesbian affair, but it’s her shocking religious visions that threaten to shake the Church to its very core.

I definitely understand that Benedetta is not going to be for everyone, however the film is an absolute fever dream and I truly love it for that. First off the acting is so strong to the point where it’s horrifying in several scenes, the filming is shot in this very raw style that makes it as if you are there in person watching what’s going on. The main theme in the film is sex which the movie does a pretty great job of showing and explaining the several different parts to it, Benedetta really reminds you of those weird B rated horror that were released back in the 80s despite not being a horror film itself. Which I feel like is one of the strongest parts about it and why it’s so successful as a film. Paul Verhoeven just throws whatever he can into this film and usually that backfires in a lot of other movies but not here, In this case it adds to each of the scenes and make them all the more interesting, disturbing and downright insane. I won’t say anything else because this is truly a film you have to go into knowing as little as possible, as I said at the beginning Benedetta is not for everyone but if it sounds like your type of thing you will absolutely love it.

Benedetta is available on all VOD Platforms!

10/10 A+

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is both compelling and a solid addition to the MCU!

Martial-arts master Shang-Chi confronts the past he thought he left behind when he’s drawn into the web of the mysterious Ten Rings organization.

Shang-Chi was definitely a surprise for me, from the trailers they really played this like your typical MCU origin story that was going to just sort of exist and that would be the end of it. That is not the case with Shang-Chi in fact it does far far more than just being an origin story! The cast does quite an incredible job Simu Liu, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Meng’ er Zhang and Michelle Yeoh especially! Speaking of which Tony Leung Chiu-wai is great as the villain which is Mandarin. He’s one of the better MCU villains that actually got development although it could have been a bit more. The action scenes are what really make this movie, particularly the combat which a ton of scenes use martial arts. One scene in particular (if you have seen it you will immediately know which one I’m talking about) is truly beautiful, the filming, the acting and marital arts. It all adds into that scene to truly make it standout and turn it into something the MCU really hasn’t done before, Shang-Chi also does have a lot of heart as well as there are some very touching moments between the characters. Writing wise the first two acts in particular are very strong, some of the best of phase four in the MCU so far. The flaws come in with the final act which while it’s definitely not bad, it feels a little bit rushed at times and sort of falls apart in a lot of moments. The CGI has it’s weird moments where it’s quite great while in others it doesn’t look so great. But overall Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a huge surprise for me, director Destin Daniel Cretton did a very solid job with this film! Definitely check it out!

Shang-Chi and the legend of the Ten Rings is now in theaters!

8/10 B+