A bouncer with an anger-management problem goes on a revenge-fueled rampage after the murder of a friend.
When the trailer for Jolt was released online I wanted to be excited but knew this was going to be a trainwreck, while Jolt is not one of the worst movies to come out of this year so far it’s definitely one of the most forgettable and cliched. Despite dealing with a terrible script Kate Beckinsale gives it her all and does the best she can. My main two problems with this movie are the bunch of moments where Jolt tries to be funny and falls flat on itself and the camera work combined with the editing when it comes to the action scenes. Jolt does what Taken 3 did with the action scenes and editing which is make it as messy as possible so the viewer can’t tell what’s going on whatsoever. Sure every now and then the movie has a couple okay shots but they aren’t anything to write home about, as for the jokes the movie tries to thrown in….good god. Look I get action movies have their jokes and cheesy lines, but none of what was shown in this movie was funny or creative. It was a bunch of “a lot of other action movies have done this, let’s do it ourselves” I genuinely have no idea what they were trying to for here but whatever it was it failed.
A family man is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront the past.
The Tomorrow War is the end result when you try to make your movie as unnecessarily big as possible, it’s clear they were trying to go all out with this movie a lot of it didn’t stick. I’ll give credit where credit is due the action scenes were entertaining and I thought some of the monsters were pretty neat especially some of the designs. Despite Chris Pratt’s performance being almost identical to a lot of other movies in his career he wasn’t terrible, what ultimately hurts this movie is the very generic plot combined with the running time. The movie is 2 hours and 20 minutes and it’s unfortunately one of those movies where you feel the running time going by painfully slow, it doesn’t help that the characters aren’t interesting at the slightest and the writing doesn’t really do much for the movie at all. It’s just kind of there to tell a very generic story and to move it along to the finish line, it’s a shame because The Tomorrow War definitely had potential but it suffers from either lazy or safe decisions that hold it back from being anything good. Unless you are a die hard Chris Pratt fan I don’t recommend this one, it’s not one of the worst of the year (far from it) but it is one of the most forgettable.
The Tomorrow War is now available on Amazon Prime Video!
After his car breaks down, Glen spends one hell of an odd night with a married couple, setting into motion a chain of events that alter their lives plus those of several random strangers.
If you aren’t a patient person you are not going to have a fun time with Ultrasound, however if you are you definitely might. Ultrasound takes a bit to get going but once it does the movie ends up being a very solid Sci-Fi thriller, it’s a fun little puzzle that the movie makes the viewer try and figure out for themselves. The movie takes time to build up to the mystery and what it exactly is, so as far as build up Ultrasound does a fantastic job, with that said I do wish the acting was a bit better and some of the writing did feel very basic at times. Which does lead to some problems early on in the movie, however by the end the movie (for the most part) manages to make it up with a very interesting story. Overall not too bad, it’s definitely not going to be for everyone but if it sounds interesting to you check it out when it releases.
Mankind’s earliest settlers on the Martian frontier do what they must to survive the cosmic elements and one another.
Settlers was the last movie I saw at the Tribeca Film Festival and unfortunately it wasn’t a strong way to end it. There was definitely a lot of care and effort put into the movie but a lot of it just does not come together at all, it starts out strong with some very intense scenes as well as some great acting from Ismael Cruz Córdova and Brooklyn Prince who throughout the movie give fantastic performances. Plus the visuals combined with the cinematography were absolutely beautiful, the main problem is the rest of the movie. While it’s definitely not bad it’s nowhere near as interesting or investing as the premise makes it out to be, it’s sadly one of those sci-fi movies that have a ton of ideas but never executes them very well. The story doesn’t go anywhere, the movie itself feels like it starts to drag on for far too long and the last act falls into cliche territory. It’s a very frustrating movie because this could have been something great it has everything it needs but fails to uses it. The writing while not bad could have been better, it feels surface level at some parts. Overall Settlers is not a bad movie but it’s a very frustrating one, one that could have been really great had this been worked on better.
A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.
Infinite is one of those movies that got delayed numerous times due to COVID-19, apparently there’s rumors that the director Antoine Fuqua and Mark Wahlberg got pissed at Paramount when it was announced Infinite was going to go on Paramount Plus+ rather than theaters (don’t quote me on this it’s just a rumor) rumor or not Infinite is a terrible Sci-Fi movie that takes ideas from other far better films and completely fails on every single level. The only positive I can give this movie is Chiwetel Ejiofor gave a decent performance sure it was most definitely not his best but that is mainly due to the very poor script, which does give anyone any room to show their full acting ability. Mark Wahlberg is terrible and gives quite possibly one of his worst performances, the voiceover is very awkward and feels very out of place. The direction from Antoine Fuqua is also terrible, which is a huge shame because Fuqua is a very solid director (Training Day, Southpaw, The Equalizer and it’s sequel) even his not so good films like Olympus Has Fallen is nowhere near as bad as Infinite. It feels like it was made by an entirely different director, Infinite is one of those movies that adds nothing new to genre and ultimately feels like it was done without any care. Give this one a skip!
A woman wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there. As she’s running out of oxygen, she must rebuild her memory to find a way out of her nightmare.
Alexandre Aja has seriously been making a comeback and it’s absolutely glorious to see! While he did direct High Tension and the Hills Have Eyes remake (both of which I love) he did direct some not so great movies Mirrors, Piranha 3D, Horns and The 9th Life Of Louis Drax. He then came back in 2019 with Crawl which was quite fantastic and definitely one of the far batter killer alligator flicks. Oxygen is quite fantastic in several different ways, for starters Mélanie Laurent is absolutely fantastic in the leading role, her performance is incredibly raw and does sound like someone who is stuck in a small space who’s running out of time. Her performance really does bring chills down your spine, the writing from Christie LeBlanc is quite great as well although it’s a Sci-Fi movie LeBlanc’s writing keeps things surprisingly well grounded and makes a Sci-Fi scenario into something that feels very real. The direction is quite fantastic Aja really hit it out of the park when it comes to diving into Laurent’s character making the audience try and figure out what’s going on. The movie is very claustrophobic which really makes Oxygen all the more of a nightmare that you certainly do not want to find yourself in, it’s really effective when it makes the viewer feel what Laurent’s character feels mainly with different camera angles to add the claustrophobia effect. Overall Oxygen is a fantastic film that I highly recommend, it’s one of my favorite films so far this year and truly a Sci-Fi nightmare worth experiencing!
Aliens take over the body of a drug addict and take it for a joyride through Cape Town.
Fried Barry is definitely a very weird acid trip that’s quite entertaining! There’s so much going on in this movie between some very strange scenes and camera angles that feel incredibly raw it almost weirdly feels like a personal film, the acting was quite great Gary Green does a very solid job as the leading role and actually creeped me out quite a few times. The film itself heavily reminded me of Rolf de Here’s Bad Boy Bubby but Fried Barry is much different I just got the same vibe, there’s some humor that I thought strangely worked in the film. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air to see a recent very solid horror comedy, the direction from Ryan Kruger is really solid as well. He puts a lot of focus on the characters and dives into Barry’s character so that the audience can know more about him. It’s definitely one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen so far this year definitely check this one out.
A crew of astronauts on a multi-generational mission descend into paranoia and madness, not knowing what is real or not.
Does anyone remember when this came out in theaters? Voyagers was quietly put on to VOD Friday and I definitely see why there was barely any advertising, Neil Burger (director of The Upside, Limitless and Divergent) is back and like Divergent ends up being a sci-fi movie that could have been good but completely misses it’s mark. Like everyone else has been saying Voyagers is basically Lord Of The Flies only in space and nowhere near as good or interesting. Voyagers has some great shots that are quite beautiful, but between the acting and writing….yikes. Both feel incredibly flat and have no energy put into them, it feels like a huge chore just to listen to the writing. A lot of it is very unimaginative and feels like any given sci-fi movie but worse, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before which is quite unfortunate. As I said before the acting is also really bad, none of it gives the audience a chance to actually feel for any of the characters or makes anything happening on screen feel like this is worth sitting through. It’s a shame because Voyagers did have potential but sadly ends up being a giant sci-fi cliche fest.
April pretty much came and went! While April didn’t have the largest number of releases, May is when things get really busy. With more theaters opening up, release dates getting more common and being reveled, plus very few delays now. May is jam packed with releases I had to narrow it down to 18, so throughout the month of May definitely expect more and more reviews. Anyway here’s my most anticipated for May!
In The Earth I saw back in January, last week it got it’s theater release now it’s getting it’s VOD release which is May 7th highly recommend checking it out!
Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street is another film I saw at Sundance back in January and it’s also getting a VOD release May 7th. If you want a really good history on Sesame Street this is definitely something worth checking out. Or if you just want the nostalgia factor you will get it here.
Sound Of Violence I saw back in March from the SXSW festival, a very different slasher movie that’s a whole lot of fun. It releases on VOD May 21st.
The last one of the movies on the list I’ve already seen is The Killing Of Two Lovers which I saw back in December of last year. It’s a fantastic movie that highly recommend, it releases on May 14th on VOD and Theaters!
Let’s skim a few of these movies
Together Together releases May 11th on VOD
Pink All I Know So Far releases May 21st on Amazon Prime Video
Plan B releases May 28th on Hulu
Blast Beat releases May 21st on VOD
New Order releases May 21st in Theaters
Four Good Days releases May 21st on VOD
Cruella surprisingly looks very promising, it has a lot of talent involved which gives me hope that it could actually turn out to be a very solid movie! It releases May 28th on Disney+
Those Who Wish Me Dead is the next movie in the Warner Bros and HBO Max deal, it looks like a solid movie that I truly hope is pretty good! Releases May 14th on HBO Max.
Oxygen is directed by Alexandre Aje who previously did Crawl, this one seems pretty decent!! It releases May 12th on Netflix!
Woman In The Window was stuck in limbo for quite awhile until it finally got it’s release date May 14th on Netflix, it looks really promising!
Army Of The Dead is a movie that has been in talks ever since Zack Snyder’s Dawn Of The Dead Released! Now it’s finally coming out and it seems like a ton of fun!!! It’s out on Netflix May 21st
Finally there’s the 3 theater releases I’m really excited for!
Profile is said to be a lot like Searching, it was stuck in release date limbo for quite awhile (since 2018) until very recently, it’s out in theaters on May 14th! The trailer looks really interesting as well, definitely one of my most anticipated of the year!
Spiral: The Book Of Saw I’ve been excited for ever since the first trailer was shown last year, I’m a huge fan of the Saw franchise and this one looks just as interesting as some of the other movies. It releases May 14th in theaters.
Finally there’s A Quiet Place Part II a movie that I’ve been excited for awhile now, I absolutely loved the first film and this one looks just as interesting! This has potential to be another fantastic horror movie sequel!!
A stowaway on a mission to Mars sets off a series of unintended consequences.
Stowaway is a very serviceable Netflix Original movie and really not much else. The cast does a decent job Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette being the standouts, Daniel Dae Kim and Shamier Anderson both do a solid job as well. The visuals are great combined with a solid atmosphere that does give the movie some beautiful scenes. What ultimately stops Stowaway from being anything other then decent is the running time and the pacing, it has a 116 minute running time that could have easily been trimmed down. Take out 15-20 minutes of the movie and it wouldn’t change a thing, the pacing is very slow and the movie itself does become a chore to sit through once you reach the final act. Not much else to say here, a decent first time watch for a movie I don’t think I’ll ever revisit again.
6/10 C+
A crew of hardy road workers, led by a bickering Father and Son, must survive the night when they accidentally awaken an ancient Irish vampire.
Chris Baugh (director of Bad Day For The Cut) is back with Boys From County Hell and I have to say this wasn’t too bad. It’s another decent modern Vampire movie that manages to combine the humor with the atmosphere and actually do it quite well. It does take awhile to get going which ultimately does hurt the movie, there’s a ton of scenes that really did not need to be there. However once the movie gets going it’s well worth it, it’s a lot of fun with some pretty great scenes and vampires! Sure it might not be super original, it does use a lot of elements from other better films. But at least Boys From County Hell has fun while doing it which can’t be said for some other movies, in terms of acting and writing it’s nothing crazy. It’s better then expected but nothing really noteworthy which is perfectly fine in this case. Overall it’s a decent vampire movie, I still prefer Jakob’s Wife by a lot (when it comes to Vampire movies that came out this year). But I still recommend giving this one a try if your a fan of the genre.
Jerome Reviews... 