The Suicide Squad:

Much different from the theatrical cut of Suicide Squad, and a lot better. James Gunn's direction is fittingly similar to his GOTG films, though this time without the PG-13 restriction and he went all out with it with the swearing, gore and nudity. New characters are highly entertaining, but I think the action is samey as how it is handled in the current era.

8.5/10

Bamboozled (2000):

A very unsubtle Spike Lee film satirizing black media in a very uncomfortable way if you can't stand the racial depictions. And I do mean it. It is very unsubtle and doesn't hold back on the racist stuff. If you're watching it, please have a very open mind.

It got great acting and a lot of interesting camera work used during meeting sessions, but the blackface stuff and minstrel shows depicted are... well, let me just say it was all awkward but since this is a satire film it kind of made less awkward for how far they go with it.

7.5/10

Censor: Started out as an interesting subject only to switch something more vague and confusing far removed from how it started. Story is about Enid, a film censor whose job is to watch horror films and slash the excessive parts out to receive the proper ratings, only for these films to awaken her obsession in uncovering the mystery of her sister's disappearance. The film had an interesting subject as I said, and that is film censorship. But instead of painting the censors as evil erasing art, this was about the censors being careless and passed a very violent sequence in a film blamed for increase of crimes and violence. And if that wasn't enough, the knowledge of Enid being responsible for that made her a public target of endless harassment and was treated as a bigger criminal than the real criminals just because she didn't censor enough in films thought to inspire crimes. This was in my opinion the strongest part of the film and would've made it an interesting commentary on video nasties and a different look at censorship than the tired evil censorship and the scariest for how real it was, but what comes afterwards is where it lost its steam. Following an unfulfilled commentary, the film switches to a mystery solving of Enid trying to connect the dots solving the disappearance of her sister who she believes still alive somewhere, and a series of horror films she was watching gave her clues of that. Not gonna say a lot about it, but honestly this was a big step down. The mystery did not interest me, and depending on how you'd look at it, it was very vague in execution and took us away from the more interesting subject that was completely set aside. 7/10

Monster Hunter: Not the worst of PWSA. Story is still mediocre, Milla Jojovich is still her self-insert character, but the monsters and action sequences were great and certainly beat Mike Dougherty's King of the Monster with its visuals and actually allowed us to see the monsters. 6.5/10

The Mighty Kong: The worst Kong film ever made, or at least the worst Kong remake and it's no wonder nobody talks about it. The writing is mind-insulting, unlikable characters (Jack is the worst), the animation's quality is inconsistent, the musical numbers, the sluggish pacing of the first and final acts with the very rushed middle act, and the mind-numbing ending. Even though it's 1h 13 minutes but it felt way longer to sit through than Peter Jackson's version. 2/10

Cruella: There's a lot to snark about and plenty of silly stuff, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed it. It's biggest fault honestly is tying it with 101 Dalmatians but if you took that out and you get a rather decent story. 7.5/10

Demon Slayer: Mugen's Train Doesn't need me to say to watch it if you're a fan of the series. It was highly emotional and some of the best action animation I've seen. The cinema's surround system made it even cooler. 8.5/10

Mortal Kombat (2021): I gave up on the idea of having a faithful adaptation of the first tournament. I mean why I should I when even the games can't pick its own continuity and the events of MK11 sure doesn't help with that, so I'll pretend this is yet another timeline as shown in MK11. It's a mediocre adaptation that doesn't have the same charm as the 90s film. The casting here was okay with the highlight being Kano, the rest felt so bored out of their minds. It got fatality special effects... okay... it got gore and violence... at least it's not overused or gratuitous as Scorpion's Revenge. I liked it was the most faithful version to depict the rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. They were not Shang Tsung's slaves, Bi-Han wasn't a disguised Quan Chi, and they both had a real fight between them instead of having random Kombatants kill each of them before they get a fight. The only downside here was making Sub-Zero Shang Tsung's soldier instead of being neutral. 5/10

Ape vs Monster: An Asylum film that is presented as a Godzilla vs Kong ripoff, though it is closer to being a Rampage ripoff. Scientist is a friend of an ape who got mutated after getting exposed to alien matter with a reptile mutated by consuming the same matter, and then stuff happens minus a mutated wolf. It's an Asylum picture so it got the whole Asylum checklist done: Terrible special effects, laughable script and terrible acting. But... the humans were actually more engaging and more entertaining than the human cast of Godzilla King of the Monster and Godzilla vs Kong combined, which says a lot. 3/10

Godzilla vs Kong: It gives what it promises: Godzilla vs Kong. The battles are some of the best among the 4 films, some characters were okay, other were awful. Despite going for 2 hours it goes by too quickly and it's over before you know it. 8/10

Zack Snyder's Justice League: The Snyder Cut is a vast, vast, VAST improvement over the Whedon cut it's almost a crime this was not the version we had originally. It's more coherent, no forced humor, it knows its tone and it sticks to it, and Cyborg's story is a huge plus. Like, Cyborg's plotline is the best part of the entire cut. Is it unnecessarily too long? I'd say a little. The epilogue did not have to be 30 minutes long, not every effect hit right, Wonder Woman's chant music was annoyingly overused, and I'm not sure what's the reason behind the aspect ratio. It's unfortunate we will never get a follow up to this. But for all its ups and downs, I'll pick this cut over Whedon's. Zack Snyder should be proud for accomplishing his dream project thanks to all the support and backing he received 8.5/10

Batman V Superman Ultimate Edition: To prepare myself for the upcoming Snyder Cut I went to see this version considering I only saw the theatrical version once. Now compared to the theatrical version, it does feel better. Despite running longer, the pacing feels better. Nothing felt too rushed or too padded, some subplots were expanded and made more relevant to overall narrative, but it still doesn't fix the issues I had with the original version: Wasting Superman's hearing in the capital, the setup of the fight, DoomZod, Lex Jr., and grandma's peach tea. 6/10

Finally watched a film this year...

Tom & Jerry:

To put it politely, it wasn't great. It was pretty obvious Tom & Jerry weren't going to be the main focus, lot of cringe jokes and cringe music, most of the slapstick were copied from the old shorts and you will recognize them from them. The cartoon animation was actually better looking in the low quality leaks since it looked like cel animation. The cel-shaded animation is not bad but you can tell it's CGI as opposed to the animation from Roger Rabbit to put as an example.

5/10

The Little Things - The Little Things is a new crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek who are a former detective and current detective trying to solve a series of murders of young women with Jared Leto playing their prime suspect. The movie is extremely well done with a ton of suspense and tension to keep you on the edge or your seat nearly throughout its entire run time, especially thanks to its incredible musical score. In fact, it gave me a very Se7en feel with how the movie played out despite not being a Neo Noir. All of the actors do an incredible job with their characters and the film dives into directions that keep you pondering how the series of events are going to play out. The only negative I really have towards it is it feels a tad incomplete in the long run, though I can't say what due to spoilers. It is definitely worth checking out and kicks the 2021 movie run off to a great start! Overall, I give it a solid 8/10.

WW84 - 4/10

Soul - 10/10

Ninja Scroll - 9/10

Perfect Blue - 10/10

The Matrix - 10/10

American Werewolf in London - 9/10

The Re-Animator 8/10

Wonder Woman 84:

It wasn't as bad as some may have put it, but it was a little too long. There's certainly some padding going. But overall, it was okay. From a WWI setting to stopping an evil businessman can be seen as a downgrade. Barbara was another tired "nerdy friend turned evil for attention" that we've seen so many times already. It wasn't awful, just okay.

7/10

I've watched a ton of movies since I lost posted, but haven't had the motivation to come here. Home Alone 2, It's A Wonderful Life (first time ever), Krampus, A Christmas Story, A Muppet's Christmas Carol, 2009's A Christmas Carol, When A Stranger Calls, April Fool's Day, and Motel Hell.

Glad to see you enjoyed Ready or Not. It was one of 2019's surprises for me.

The Pursuit of Happyness:

If I had to choose between Will Smith in action flicks or drama, I think he is better as a drama actor. When he's acting as an action star, there are times he gets a little corny. As a drama actor, that's where he bring the best of his talents.

9/10

Gave Mothra a rewatch. Other than the blue-screen effects during Mothra's rampage and some fake looking tank models, it still holds up thematically. Though I do question how was Nelson not arrested way sooner seeing he basically kidnapped citizens of another country.

Q: The Winged Serpent:

Wasn't that good. The monster barely got a presence or acknowledged by the characters and instead it focuses on an unlikable protagonist with an evil cult side-plot. The effects weren't that great either.

4/10

Candyman: Day of the Dead:

A slight improvement over Farewell to the Flesh. They didn't abuse the fake jump scares, Candyman is portrayed a little better without the love thing of last time (at least not as much as getting incestuous), there was more psychological horror in attempting to fight Candyman, some of the kills were memorable despite being the same hook stabs.

The side characters could've more depth into them. For example the cultists felt very last minute, and the "good cup" needed more screen time as a supporting character. Also, why is there another Caroline when the last film did the same thing? Glad this did not end up as a running thing if the series was longer.

6.5/10

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh:

Not as good as Candyman. Tony Todd is still as chilling as he was in the first film, though him falling in love with his great-great-grandaughter who is named after his lover is a little icky and makes him creepy for the wrong reasons.

There were many fake jump scares, especially in the first third before his reveal. Like, way too many it gets tired. The kills were also not that great looking. There wasn't much creativity with them.

5/10

Exorcist III:

Still as scary as the first time I saw it. If Patton wasn't George C Scott's most famous role then Lieutenant Kinderman should've been it because I believe this is his best acting job. And of course, Brad Dourif. I'll pick the Gemini Killer over Chucky any time soon.

9/10

Exorcist II: The Heretic: This film is less bad and more confused on what it wanted to be. I think a proper search on Pazuzu's origin in Ancient Mesopotamia and what it wanted to achieve could've been a better story, because Africa and Ethiopia was an odd choice for a setting considering its origin. It tried too hard to be scary but most of it was too silly or annoying with the random female screeches they kept playing. Regan was also wasted here as she barely did anything worth a damn. 3/10

The Exorcist:

Gave it another watch. Now I don't know if it's me being desensitized, but I didn't see it as scary as the first time. Ironically the one scene I still could not get to watch without getting extremely cringed at was where they poke Regan's neck and let her blood spray all over her. But for the rest of the film... didn't have the same effect.

6/10

Ready Or Not (2019):

Dammit do I regret not seeing this in theaters because if I did I'd totally put this in my top 10 best films of 2019.

So the film is about a woman who marries to family of lunatics who play a game of death with whoever marries to one of their members, and it's all hell from down there. It's a dark comedy, so prepare to laugh more than shocked, and it's really funny with its share of funny twists here and there.

9/10

Invaders from Mars (1986):

Directed by Toby Hooper, the aliens have great designs and effects, but I think I'm preferring the original 1953 version. The original had a creepier atmosphere despite being one of those cheep B-movies and the Martians were guys in suits. The original was also better paced. The remake is 20 minutes longer and it shows how unnecessary that is with the climax taking way too long to get through.

6.5/10

I've only seen the original, parts of the second film, which were dreadful, the remake, and the prequel to the remake.

Leatherface:

The prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre telling the origin of Leatherface and his family. Watching it gave me Rob Zombie Halloween vibes, but thankfully it's not as obnoxious as that one. But again, it tries to give the killer of the franchise a sympathetic backstory instead of being messed up from birth, which is something the reboot continuity did better.

The film breaks the usual formula like Texas Chainsaw 3D, however that doesn't stop it from getting boring at times, but at least the kills weren't fake looking here.

7/10

And I finally watched all current films of the franchise. Here's my ranking from best to worst:

1- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

2- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

3- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)

4- Texas Chainsaw 3D

5- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

6- Leatherface

7- Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3

8- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The Next Generation

Texas Chainsaw 3D:

The most refreshing sequel since part 2 as it break the tired formula of the previous 4 films. Leatherface is finally doing his own thing without his family to boss him around or steal the spotlight while he sits in the sidelines doing nothing.

One negative I have to give it though is the CGI blood. While the reboot films were disgustingly gorey, at least it looked real and almost practical looking. The gore and blood here are so fake looking it's close to what you see in fan films, not a high-budget film.

7.5/10

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning:

Okay, now this is the best entry since the original. While it carries the issues of overusing gore and gross-outs, the characters are written well and they don't come out as annoying or stupid you want them dead, they are very likable here you want them to live, so it makes the struggle much stronger.

As a prequel though, it didn't add much that hasn't been done already. It still goes with the same narrative of the previous films, so it's not that unique, but its execution make it stands out.

8/10

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003):

Is it better than 3 and 4? Absolutely. Is it better than the original? Not really.

It got the same issues that Slashers had in the 2000. Over-relying on gore and gross-outs and being too noisy with the kills. Casting was fine, but R. Lee Ermey will always be a win.

6/10

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The Next Generation / The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre:

And I thought part 3 was bad, this was worse. Heavily retreading on the first movie and the characters, good God the characters... way too annoying with even worse actors.

Also how big is the Sawyer family anyway if we're keeping getting new members with each film?

And for a horror icon, I noticed Leatherface barely does anything in these films. The real horror are his crazy family members, not him. He's just a grunt doing whatever they do with barely any noticeable nuance to him.

2.5/10

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3:

It was bad. Being a let 80s/early 90s film I had the feeling it'd be bad. The massacre started at half-point of the movie, a lot of it was shot in the dark so you can't see much, and then you have the kills that looked like it was edited by the same guys who ruined the kills in the Friday the 13th franchise. Also was not a fan of Leatherface's design.

Once dinner time started it got better, but at that point there was barely much left to do in the runtime.

I did like Benny though.

3/10

Antrum: The Deadliest Movie Ever Made:

A documentary-style film about a horror film said to be cursed. It first presents the documentary portion about the history of Artum and incidents related to it, then they show the film in its entirety, then they resume the documentary part on the symbols found within the film.

The Artum film itself is about a boy who had to put his dog down, his sister said she didn't go to heaven because she was a bad go, the boy gets nightmares, so his sister takes him to a "hell forest" or so to speak to save her soul.

I wouldn't say it was good though. It was an unsettling film, but the payoff was rather weak.

6/10

I've watched a string of incredible movies in 4K over the last week. All of them get a 10/10 and that includes The Shining, Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, and The Birds. Well okay, I think The Birds is actually a 9/10, but still fantastic nonetheless.

Lost Continent:

AKA the one where Caesar Romero climbs rocks for 20 minutes of the movie. One of the worst and most boring movie I've ever seen in my life.

2/10

Shin Godzilla: Still the best Godzilla movie and the most "Godzilla" out of all movies since the 1954 movies and still the best Godzilla depiction in its true essence. 9/10

Underwater - Not a bad movie at all despite having Kristen Stewart in it. It is slightly predictable as it follows normal horror movie tropes, but overall, it was an enjoyable film that does provide some good moments of suspense. Furthermore, it's a movie for anyone who loves to see Lovecraftian influences in their films as this is full of them. The only thing missing was someone having a completely mental breakdown in that Lovecraft style, but still worth watching nonetheless. I'm giving it a solid 7/10.ching nonetheless. I'm giving it a solid 7/10.

The Godfather Part 3:

It's not as bad as some people put it. It was easier to follow than part 2, but there was a sense of blandness in it that I can't quite know what it was. Maybe because it was made in the 90s and that's why it looked a little off next to parts 1 and 2.

7.5/10

The Godfather Part 2:

I often hear it is superior to the first part, but I'm going to say otherwise. While the cast killed it again with their performance, I thought the plot was slow and was a little bit all over the place with the flashbacks at the earlier parts of the film.

8/10

The Godfather:

Another film I see it popping out in popculture but have no idea what it really about other than gangsters.

So it's a movie that revolutionized gangster films, and I can see how. The characters are taken seriously and realistically instead of the stereotypical funny Italian-American gangs, the kills are a lot simpler instead of high octane action moments, and the acting in general is great.

9/10

The Karate Kid Part 3:

A huge downgrade from part 2. The villains are way over the top silly you can't take them seriously, Daniel got so stupid he screws up everything he does to help, the tournament is full of bullshit moments with the final insult being Daniel saying he's scared of his opponent who is just a bully when he just fought a no-rules death match against someone who wanted to kill him just the previous movie.

Now some ideas in it could've worked if it was by a better writer. The conflict between Daniel and Miyagi was one of them, Kreese needed more presence because he barely does anything despite the plot being about him wanting revenge, not his friend. Also felt it was odd none of the previous Cobra Kai students were available in a plot revolving around the revival of their dojo.

4.5/10

The Next Karate Kid:

Yeah, I know this one is not fondly loved, but I honestly like this over part 3. It is the silliest of the 4 movies, but I think Julie was written better than Daniel in his 1st and 3rd movie combined. She is more understandable and her character growth is more convincing.

Sadly the more sillier parts are still hurting the movie. Michael Ironside and his goons are very comically evil and the 2nd half is filled with its silly moments like the out of nowhere Zen magic.

But if I'd choose between this and part 3, I'd choose this one over it.

5.5/10

The Karate Kid Part 2:

I might be in the minority here, but I prefer this movie way over the first. It didn't recycle the first movie, it gives Miyagi his spotlight to the point you think Daniel didn't even need to be here, Daniel himself is written far better and makes him a likeable character, the antagonists are far more engaging and threatening than the high school bullies, and the final fight felt like a fight with hard hitting blows.

My only complaint about is the the language of the Okinawa people. It felt off that almost all of them talk in broken English between each other instead of Japanese if only for us (and Daniel) to understand them.

8.5/10

The Karate Kid (1984):

Since I recently saw all the Rocky films I thought I might do the same to the other iconic sports/martial arts series.

Sadly, it didn't age that well. Daniel was supposed to be this character we are meant to sympathize with, but it's kind of hard to do when he was too arrogant for his own good and that's what caused his problem with the Cobra Kai kids. He was too hot headed and even was the aggressor at at least 2 instances. He's not this pure goody good kid as some would see as.

And then you have the fighting, and it didn't look that great either. Felt extremely choreographed and the hits barely had any force or impact with the exception of 2 moments where I felt the "Oof" behind them.

I know it's a classic, but it's not that perfect.

7.5/10

Whiplash:

If you think your teachers were bad, be glad they were not this abusive. This movie is few inches away from being a horror movie. Fletcher got a point for breaking your limits, but being this mentally and physically abusive is not the way to make the best humans without losing themselves in the process.

Now if it was any other film, Fletcher would come out as a one-dimensional bully without any shred of sympathy, but not only JK Simmons gave it his best here, but the movie shows us why the way he is and you get to understand his character, but understanding him doesn't change how wrong and destructive his methods are.

8.5/10

Grudge Match (2013):

A.K.A. Rocky vs Raging Bull. Supposed to be a comedic take on the 2 but it's less slapstick/dirty comedy and more slightly funny but takes itself seriously. It's not a parody, just a funny boxing movie starring Stallone and De Niro.

7/10

Raging Bull:

Do not go to this expecting Rocky. This is a different kind of boxer movie where the focus is on the life and self destruction of a boxing champion instead of the fights.

It's a Martin Scorsese movie starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, but they play the opposite of their usual roles. The movie is slow and takes its time getting to the point so it could bore you until mid-way through where things starts to escalate.

7.5/10

Creed 2:

Maybe I expected more considering its hype, but I think it was mostly okay. I expected to see more of the tension between Ivan and Rocky or more with Adonis, but I think it needed more considering their history together.

By this point, I think the series became a cliche-fest. Even though this is a new chapter for a character other than Rocky, but I think it ran its course. At this point they're just repeating everything Rocky had done, just from a more modern aspect.

Adonis' story seems like it reached its end anyway. Not only he carried Apollo's legacy, but managed to avenge him as well. That's as good as an ending for him.

7.5/10

====

Series ranking:

1- Rocky

2- Rocky Balboa

3- Creed

4- Rocky 2

5- Rocky 3

6- Creed 2

7- Rocky 4

8- Rocky 5

Creed:

This is what Rocky 5 should've been. Rocky becomes a trainer for a young boxer who respects him and turns to a legit fighter instead of the backstabber he had there.

I liked how Adonis was portrayed here. He went to Rocky with full respect and not based on grudge or resentment for letting Apollo die. though they did the scene a little later. Though I would drop the affair part out of this. We see in Rocky 2 Apollo having children of his own so I wonder why they didn't use one of them instead of an illegitimate child.

8/10

Rocky Balboa:

The best Rocky film since the first one.

9/10

Rocky 5:

There is a great story to be told here, but sadly it got undermined by some bullshit ideas.

The first one is of course the unseen accountant who I guess was there all along and swindled Rocky of all his fortune. There was no need for it. And if it had to happen then it should've been Paulie because I expect him to do it. The struggle could've been just on the brain damage and trying to move from the boxing life.

Next is Tommy Gunn who I think was a wasted potential. I did like the character but they ruined him by making him go work for Not-Don King and betray Rocky after all what he did for him. I didn't mind the parts where he was taking all of Rocky's attention because it was a good plot, but reducing him to the pupil who betrays his teacher wasted his character, especially that he was trying to be an honest boxer and wasn't Duke's pawn just to make the betrayal happen. The movie could've been just about Rocky rising from the fighter to the teacher without any of this, but I guess that's what's Creed is for.

The ending though, I think it was fitting. Not only Rocky goes back to his old place, but to his roots as a street fighter and bests his ungrateful pupil and the man who orchestrated it..

5.5/10

Rocky 4:

Yeah, this wasn't as good as the previous 3. The first 3 movies had grounded setting and very realistic in tone, but the setting of part 4 felt like it came out of a comic book. Normal boxer vs a super boxer is a little comic-y.

Then you have the whole Cold War stuff and James Brown's performance that totally dates this movie in comparison. The Cold War is even worse since it made the USSR conflict too over the top making it another point in saying it was like a comic book. Even the training montage felt like it was trying too hard to 1-up the montages seen in previous movie.

Apollo's death though, I might call it impactful and emotional, if the fact they didn't kill a main character just a movie prior. So repeating again underplays the impact.

Now Ivan Drago, he was the polar opposite of Clubber Lang (no pun intended). Lang was loud, rude, too personal in his fights, and was not given enough backstory as to why he was the way he was. Drago was calm, stoic, treated his fights like it's part of his job, and was given enough story to understand him and what makes him the way he is.

Of course, I know this part will play a bigger part in Creed 2, but I'm judging it as it is for now.

6.5/10

Rocky 3:

What I consider the first real sequel as opposed to part 2 that continued after part 1.

There are some minor flaws, but they're very minor they don't affect the enjoyment of this movie. Mr. T was fantastic and made Clubber Lang such a scary man despite not having a clear character or motivation to antagonize Rocky that much beyond thinking he was nothing but a showoff.

8/10

Rocky 2:

It did feel like a natural continuation of the first film. Rocky gets full of himself thinking he got the hang of life now, but reality hits him hard forcing him to go back to the ring.

One thing that I wished the movie did better was the ordeal of Rocky's vision. They kept telling us he's blind of the right side but nothing really did show how it affected his life. With the cue cards it showed he couldn't read well, and with the car it looked like he just didn't know how to drive well. We didn't see POV shots showing us how Rocky normally sees and not enough accidents to show us. You could take the whole eye thing out of the movie and it barely changes anything.

8/10

Rocky:

Giving it a rewatch in trying to go through all the Rocky movies this time around. Still one of the best movies.

9/10

Leave Her to Heaven - 10/10

Spider-Man - It's a pretty good first attempt at making a live action Spider-Man movie. I really love how they are able to give us origin stories to both Spider-Man and Green Goblin and weave them into each other with fluid precision. Willem Defoe is just phenomenal as Norman Osborn as is JK Simmons as Jameson. Both of them feel like they were born to play those roles. Unfortuantely, everyone else is more of a miss than a hit. Tobey Maquire just looks too old to be playing a teenage Peter Parker, but he does pull off the nerdy side to Peter quite well. It's his Spider-Man side that needs some work as he barely ever quips and when he does, it doesn't feel natural. Also, Kirsten Dunst does not have the pizzazz to pull of Mary Jane and Jame Franco is way too laid back to make a good Harry. The action is pretty good and Danny Elfman's score kicks ass kinds of ass. Thankfully, the good outweights the bad to make a really solid adventure.

Spider-Man 2 - This one seems to get a lot of love and I'm not exactly sure why. Don't get me wrong, it's a great movie, but I'm not sure I can say it is better than the first one. Dunst does an even poorer job of portraying MJ here than she did in the previous one and she seems to be extremely selfish this time around. On the other hand, Franco has improved as Harry, though that's probably because he's playing a strung out version of the character. Maquire is pretty much the same as he was in the last one, albeit a bit more whiney, even less quippage, and I'm not sure I really understand how he can will his powers to not work, but okay. Molina is a fantastic Doc Ock that is hindered by having to be a sympathetic villain and of course, they kill him off because Peter revealed his identity to him, so that is lame. It does feature what is hands down the second best live action Spider-Man fight to date with the battle on the train. Sadly, I'm not a fan of the Evil Dead scenes Raimi did with Doc Ock in the hospital as it just feels way out of place along with all of the face up screaming that goes on afterwards. Regardless, like with the first one, there is so much good here that it is easy to ignore most of the negatives.

Spider-Man 3 - Oh boy, and here is when the train ride derailed as if Peter failed to stop it in the previous film. Now the Editor's Cut does bring in a few new scenes that do improve a few bits, it removes a few like that awful scene where the butler tells Harry Spider-Man did not kill his dad, but for the most part, it does nothing to make this movie not feel like it is three separate movies merged into one. There are too many plotlines going on and the last act feels like an entirely different movie. I have no who thought it was a good idea to do those news report segments during the final battle, but they are awful. Add on top that Harry's plot is too rushed and makes little sense (like why didn't MJ say, "Hey Pete, Harry has his memory back and is blackmailing me to break up with you, so just go with it."). The Sandman plot seems like it is supposed to be the film's main focus only for it to get sidelined and Sandman becomes an afterthought. Don't even get me started on that piss poor version of Eddie Brock (who was named dropped in the first film but is now the "new guy," what?) and Venom.

This movie should have been about Sandman and Peter's quest for vengeance, learning the error of going too far. The next one could have been on Harry unable to cope with Peter being Spider-Man and hires a man to take up the identity of Hobgoblin, only for him to fail, which entices Harry in the next film to become Green Goblin. Then have Venom show up after that with Peter getting the symbiote suit while he was dealing with Harry.

Well whatever, it's pointless to go on about what should have happened. In the end, the first two Raimi movies were solid while the third one is a mess. It's pretty much the Batman & Robin of the Spider-Man movies, though better than that. They're fun comic book films and like with Batman, no one has been able to top Elfman's score thus far.

Parasite (2019):

Is it Oscar-worthy? Maybe. But it is an interesting movie even if it wasn't attached to the Oscars. You watch a low-class family taking advantage of a high-class family who weren't the brightest and the question you get is how long they'll be able to keep this charade. This type of story would often be presented as a comedy but things goes way darker than you'd expect here. I say check it out.

8.5/10

The Invisible Man 2020 - This was the first new movie I have blind bought in about 7 years and damn was it worth every cent. It's absolutely nothing like the book, and yet it manages to be BOTH a social commentary and horror movie at the exact same time. It was suspenseful, intense, full of a lot of twists and turns that kept the rollercoaster ride going. I actually wish we had gone to see this in the theater now as it was that good. 10/10

Inside Out - 10/10

Monsters, Inc - 9/10

For me, the thing that saves Annihilation from being a complete waste of time is its soundtrack.

Anyway,

Uncut Gems - It was an enjoyable piece that seemed quite different for Adam Sandler, and yet, he did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, the narrative itself was a slight mess, creating a disjointed tale with a character who was an utter and complete asshole, making it hard to route for him. Still, it was interesting. 7/10

Wall-E - 10/10

Ratatouille - 9/10

Brave - 7/10

Up - 9/10

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation:

I saw the reviews, I heard the horror stories, but man was it worse than what I expected.

It's amazing how one of the best live action video game movies gets a sequel that ends up as one of the worst live action video game movies. There are not enough words to describe how awful this is.

Everything in it was a huge downgrade. The narrative is dumber, all the new casting choices are awful, especially Brian Thompson as Shao Kahn that I despise with a passion. The music was boring, the fighting choreography switched from natural raw martial arts to excessive wire-fu, pointless jumps and twirls, and heavy reliance on CGI special effects, and these effects, good God the effects were total sh!t! Even by 1997 standards they were crap from the unnecessary chroma key used in the sky to the most disgusting CGI creatures I've ever seen in my life.

Everything in the movie was so cheap one wonders if this was meant to be a Straight-To-Video movie instead of on the big screen. Unless there's a better explanation, that's what I'll believe for now.

Some fans may take the first MK movie as a "So Bad It's Good" movie, but Annihilation is a "So Bad It's Awful" movie. It's an irredeemable piece of garbage and I'm thankful Midway/NetherRealm Studios never took anything from it to their future games.

2/10

Mortal Kombat (1995):

Went back to this movie after watching Scorpion's Revenge recently, and I still think it's one of the best live action video game adaptations it's almost hard to believe it was made by the same Paul S W Anderson who gave us the worst live action video game adaptations ever second only to Uwe Boll.

For years I heard fans say otherwise just because it lacked the signature MK violence, but in term of the plot, cast, cinematography and fighting choreography, this was very good to the point of having several of its elements integrated to the main games and other future adaptations.

Even without the violence, the martial arts displayed here were very good and almost authentic with few wire works here and there. Liu Kang vs Reptile is still the best fight in the entire movie just for its duration and the raw rage displayed by the characters.

Are there drawbacks? Certainly. The biggest of them is how they reduced the two most famous characters of the franchise: Scorpion and Sub-Zero to Shang Tsung's slaves instead of being their own characters. Scorpion got his spotlight in the recent movie, but Bi-Han was still wasted anyway.

The other drawback was the pacing during the tournament itself. Once it started then all there was fights after fights with no breathing room or character buildup until Goro's display of strength when Raiden told everyone about their fears and JC decided to challenge Goro head on.

The visual effects didn't age that well. While Goro still stood the time, but the puppet head wasn't that perfect and there were shots where you can see the seems. The CGI effects were the worst as they were so terrible including Reptile's lizard form and locations.

But it still a great movie. Even when you ignore that it's based on a video game, it's still an excellent martial arts movie.

8.5/10

I've watched a shit ton of movies recently. Jaws, which is always perfect. Predator, absolutely fantastic. And then all of Phase 1 and 2 to the MCU along with half of Phase 3. I'm not going to go into details, but the MCU is full of so much good stuff with a few stinkers. The Winter Soldier is still the best while Dark World is just an atrocious movie all around.

Wonder:

A story about a deformed kid trying to get used to school life between making friends and harsh bullying. It's not that harsh in tone as you'd might expect from it, also I thought the kid didn't look too ugly to be called an ugly.

Also Star Wars character cameos.

8/10

The Invisible Man (2020):

This was better than what I expected. This movie was very good they should've started the "Dark Universe" with it instead of Dracula and the Mummy. And looks like they learned their lesson from the 2 times by making it its own thing instead of forcing it to be a set up piece to establish upcoming movies.

The horror and paranoia were spot on and I liked how they handled this "Invisible Man" by making it so mysterious even for us the audience.

8.5/10

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge:

Another retelling of the first first Mortal Kombat game but with Scorpion as the main character.

In some points, it fixes some of the issues of the original Mortal Kombat movie with the violence and action scenes and making Scorpion and Sub-Zero actual characters instead of being mind slaved by Shang Tsung. But since Scorpion was the main character here, it relegated the rest of the characters to be placed on the sidelines with little to no development. Basically the character dynamic of the live action movie was far better than what we got here.

The worst offender here was Sub-Zero. Considering his relationship with Scorpion and being a crucial part in his story, he barely had anything to offer. Scorpion had more interaction with other Lin Kuei than the one he was targeting.

Maybe they'll fix some of this in an upcoming sequel but I'm not going to get my hopes up until they announce it.

7.5/10

Scoob!:

What a waste of a movie. I was promised a Scooby Doo movie, not "The Blue Falcon Jr. Guest starring Scooby Doo and other random Hanna-Barbera Characters".

Scooby, Shaggy and Dynomutt were the only characters I liked in it. Everyone else was terrible in this. the humor of Scooby and Shaggy was what you expect from the characters, and Dynomutt was pretty much voicing my thoughts on the entire thing. The rest of the Mystery gang and other characters were walking caricatures and pop-culture cringe humor.

The new voices didn't do it for me. They weren't good as the traditional voice actors of the characters. Shaggy was fine, but the others weren't recognizable.

The character designs were also not that great. They looked like some sort of Dreamworks and Illumination hybrid designs with the bare minimum to make them look the characters, with the exception of Scoob who looked dead on to his traditional design.

5/10

Capone:

Josh Trank's latest film giving his take on Al Capone's final days. The movie is weird at some points, disgusting at other points, and then there's Tom Hardy's weird accent and makeup. Seriously, you're going to have a hard time taking Hardy seriously as the character with his hammy performance. But I was really into the "weird" parts of the movie which what you'd expect from a story about an infamous dying man.

7/10

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn):

Glad I didn't go to this movie because I'd force myself to watch what I paid for, otherwise I'd totally walk out of it.

3 things that are good in it: The egg & cheese sandwich, the hyena, and sticking to one tone instead of Suicide Squad's mess. Everything else was utter garbage.

The Deadpool-style narrative was painful to sit through, the plot was padded for too long, they turned Renee Montoya to a joke, Cassandra Kane was a pathetic load instead of being the kickass fighter that she's known as, Huntress and Black Canary were generic trashy "Badass girls", and Black Mask makes Tommy Lee Jones' Two-face from Batman Forever subtle in comparison.

It's been a long time since I felt wanting to get my time back and I sure regret wasting it here.

3/10

Speckles the Tarbosaurus: Not bad for an Asian movie. CGI is weaker than western animation companies, but I was really into the story to not take me out of it. Though one issue I had with it is the voice acting. Despite having Veronica Tailor and Christopher Daniel Barnes, 2 well known experienced voice actors, their performance was unusually dull the entire movie. Every line in moments that are supposed to be dramatic, they act in a "Dull Surprise" mode and it's really jarring to hear. 7/10

The Good Dinosaur: Watched it in preparation for a future video. The movie is a tad weak in execution, I'll give it that. The concept of the dinosaurs living for millions of years without getting hit by the meteor was a wasted concept because other than the farm and the ranchers, nothing in it really showed real evolution. It's just dinosaurs getting a little smarter and humans are now animals. Beyond that it was a standard dinosaur movie with clashing visuals and derivative ideas. 5/10

King Kong Lives:

This had potential to be good. Granted, it opened with a farfetched premise of Kong somehow surviving the previous movie and giving him an artificial heart to revive him for some purpose, it did grasp my attention and I was really into the story of Kong and Lady Kong acknowledging how campy it is, but when the plot changed to another generic monster movie with the army and separating the Kongs apart it was really boring until they reunited again and my interest was back up.

This movie was campy compared to the previous movie and the effects took a nosedive after the impressive looking operation scene. coupled with the boring midsection then it's no wonder this wasn't a fondly remembered Kong movie. Though on the other hand, this movie felt like a Western attempt at creating a Showa Toho Kaiju movie. It got the campiness and cheapness it almost passes as one.

But yeah, I don't think I'll watch it again.

5/10

King Kong (1976):

Saw some reviews of it in the past but this my first time watching it. It's mediocre at best. Kong's suit and facial animation are okay, but everything else is a bit on the bland side. The characters are selfish and unlikable, so you can't really root for them to live, and a it lacks a lot of the spectacle that made the original and further remakes so memorable.

6/10

Marriage Story:

Incredible acting, a realistic look at the harsh path of divorce, but the characters may turn off some of the viewers for being unsympathetic people trying to look sympathetic

8.5/10

One Missed Call - I watched this one probably about 12 years ago and quite enjoyed it. My thoughts this time around? I still really enjoyed it, however, it does suffer from being about 10-15 minutes longer than necessary as there are a few scenes that drag on a bit. Nevertheless, once the film moves into the abandoned hospital and gets its inner Silent Hill on, it really picks up and flies by. Of course, the ending is a tad too convoluted for its own good, but the negatives aside, you have a pretty soild horror film with a lot of neat ideas and terrific moments of suspense and tension. 8/10. I only had time to watch a couple of the bonus features, which were pretty meh. The TV show footage from the movie and the recording of the girl torturing her sister were boring. The Alternate Ending was dumb.

One Missed Call 2 - Well they really phoned that one in, didn't they? This felt like some bad American remake of One Missed Call with how much it tried to repeat the same beats as the first one while also lacking atmosphere and have the characters try to find the original origin of the ghost call because apparently the ghost from the first movie was just another ghost from 100 years ago in Taiwan in diguise or some convoluted bullshit like that. I really have no idea exactly what happened, it just did. Granted, it's not the worst J Horror film ever, but of the ones I have watched in the last few weeks I'd say this barely ranks higher than Spiral. I'll give it a 6/10 since I think that is what I gave Spiral. The 3 minute short film feature on the disc was better than this one.

One Missed Call Final - What's the best way to make a horror movie be utterly boring? Have every character in the film be an outright despicable human being to the point that you couldn't care less if they lived or died. Even the teachers were unlikable jackasses in this thing. Not to mention the plot just blantly ignored the whole thing about the coal dust girl from the last movie. This whole thing was just awful as it had no suspense or atmosphere whatsoever. In fact, I felt like I was watching some cheap Syfy Channel made for TV film. I'm going to give this thing a generous 4/10 and that's really just because of the Candid Mimiko bonus feature on the disc that was far more entertaining that the movie itself.

Citizen Kane: Finally saw "The Greatest Movie Ever Made", which was about a dead rich capitalist who said one word and the entire world is in frenzy searching for the meaning of the word because he's a rich capitalist. A movie so "great" everybody ignores the most glaring plothole of all times and no one dares to point it out because it is "The Greatest Movie Ever Made". But sure, it was interesting. 8/10

Sonic the Hedgehog: As everybody said (I predicted it myself), the story is not special. We've seen this "Alien/creature from another dimension meets a human buddy and go on a trip" plot many times already, but it works really well here. Under normal circumstances I'd say Sonic was annoying who wouldn't shut up, but it was accurate to his character so I'm not complaining here. As I said the story is not new, but what makes it so entertaining is the acting and Sonic's personality and energy. Jim Carrey channels his 90s self so damn well it gave me flashbacks when I saw him for the first time with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. This movie is one of those "It shouldn't be this good" kind of movies. Normally this would be a box office bomb and a laughingstock. But it surprisingly worked so well. And of course, we can't ignore the effort of the studio for fixing their mistake. If they haven't, the movie would either be hated or liked for the wrong reasons. Shame the studio went under. 8.5/10

Just Mercy: A legal drama starring Michael B Jordan retelling the story of lawyer Bryan Stevenson. Well acted and emotional. 8/10

Parasite - Just excellent all around despite expecting it to be a horror movie. 10/10

Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker:

This is like Return of the Jedi, if it sucked. Easily the least good 3rd part of all trilogies. Say what you will about The Last Jedi, but that had a tighter script and a much clearer vision. Rise of Skywalker is all over the place with many moments that makes you go "Wait, what?!"

I will say the thing I liked best in it bringing the ST gang together because that was one of things I greatly missed from TLJ; seeing Rey, Finn and Po together in one journey instead of getting scattered everywhere. Everything else felt like a halfassed attempt to "fix" the faults of TLJ and most of it didn't click with me.

5/10

Alita: Battle Angel:

I couldn’t see it during its run and had to wait till later to see it. Now that I saw it, I thought it was great. Alita’s personality was so much fun, and I wish she stayed more as the normal teenage girl before her shift to the battle angel.

As far as an adaptation, I can’t answer that since I’m not familiar to the source material. But as its own, I think its faults are treading to the usual cyberpunk formula that I’ve seen several times in other media like in Ghost in the Shell, Metropolis or even Robocop. The amnesiac cyborg, the cybernetic part thieves, the totalitarian government, the bounty hunters, the walking tank battles. I guess it’s just how the cyberpunk genre is, but I’m pretty sure you could write one without going to these recurring parts.

But Alita is what drives this movie and that what made it work here.

8.5/10

Knives Out:

A bit of an advice: If you are still bitter about Rian Johnson's take on Star Wars then stay away from this because you won't take it for what it is.

This movie is a clever take on the crime mystery with several moments of Johnson's expectations subversion with plenty of placed foreshadowing and Chekhov's guns here and there and luckily I managed to remember most of them for when they were used.

Daniel Craig is by far the best character and stole the movie from everyone. He was like diet Bond with the wit and detective skills but without his gadgets and every time he's on screen you know it'll be good. If you're going to watch it for Chris Evans then be wary he doesn't show up until like and hour later, but he was the second best character.

My complaints about the movie are the usage of contemporary and political references used to establish that everyone is an asshole but really, there wasn't need for them and their usage was forced and resulted in cringy jokes, but luckily the movie is not filled with them and and it's not the entire mood of the it. It can come across as just another timeless mystery movie as long as you forget the forced politics discussion.

It's an entertaining mystery movie and I'd recommend it if you love these stories.

7.5/10

Doctor Sleep:

The directing tried its best to replicate Kubrick's directing, but it wasn't quite the same.

Now I'm not sure if the hotel was entirely built up from scratch or they used greenscreen backgrounds, but it was dead on just like the Overlook. Of course I'm pretty sure diehard fans will work their way to point out every mistake and inconsistency between the movies so look forward to that.

The casting was strong and everyone gave a solid performance, especially the girl who played Abby.

There's no dull moment. The scares aren't as strong as The Shining but you will get enough of those.

The first half of the movie is a bit of slow in the build up and in a way like two stories unconnected to each other, but everything comes together quickly and the pacing picks up from there.

8.5/10

Terminator: Dark Fate

4/10

The Addams Family (2019): If you're familiar with the Addams Family, then you know what to get here. It's the traditional Addams-style of humor that embraces the macabre and every sort of dark humor. The runtime felt a bit short so some subplots felt rushed and others dropped quickly. The marketing made this movie felt like a Wednesday-centric movie, but you also have the Pugsley side plot which was needed because to be honest Pugsley didn't click right as a character to me in the older adaptations and was more like a joke to make Wednesday shine more, so I really appreciate making him relevant and making me care about him. 8/10 P.S.: Why Snoop Dog of all people?! P.S. 2: Thing with a foot fetish...

A Quiet Place: The pacing was too quick I was shocked to find that I reached the ending. I guess this is what happens when there's very minimum dialogue to focus on. Suspense was great, though I didn't like the alien designs that much. Felt very generic insect looking. 8/10

Get Out: Wow was it good. Like, really good. The suspense and paranoia are top notch here. But I'll admit, I thought the "racism" was a little bit on the nose here. Maybe if it was set in the 60s for example it would've worked perfectly instead of contemporary USA. 8.5/10

It Follows:

So let me get this straight: Having sex makes you cursed to be stalked by a shape-shifting entity that is invisible to everybody else and if it catches you it rapes you to death? So the enemy is a walking STD?

Yeah, this is one of those weird movies... nice music though...

6.5/10

Under the Skin (2013): This movie is not for everyone. It's an abstract and artsy movie instead of a traditional dialogue-heavy 3-act structure. The dialogue here is minimum and it contains loads of bizarre, erotic imagery even though they're supposed to be scary. 7/10

Trick 'r Treat: Not many Halloween movies explores the roots of Halloween, so this one's for you if you're interested in that aspect. I liked the anthology structure, but you might feel some parts weren't long enough like the "The Principal" which I found too short 8.5/10

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:

Good songs, a nice little revenge story, but it's movies like these (and Child's Play 3) that I prefer to shave at home. Strangers with blades on my face are things I never get comfortable with.

8/10

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008): People said this remake was good, but I didn't like it. The original was a very good anti-war movie, but here they turned to some pro-environment movie that turned the aliens to entitled assholes who think the earth is better be destroyed for the sake of the environment with a stupid "Technology is bad" ending. I want to say Keeanu Reeves is the saving grace of this movie, but his character was not likable to call it that. The effects are dated and the McDonald's part was so forced. 3/10

Zombieland: Double Tap: The humor is still there, it still made me laugh at a lot of its jokes including the "You-Know-Who" reference and unexpected cameo while still making fun of the zombie apocalypse without making it stupid. 8.5/10

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House of 1000 Corpses:

So I've been seeing this clown character a lot but couldn't tell which movie he belongs to. It wasn't until later that I found its name, only to hear the news of the passing of the actor.

This movie was weird. That's the best way to describe it. It's a weird exploitation movie that doesn't have a clear point beyond showing the gore. I thought Spaulding was the main villain so I didn't expect the evil redneck family to be the main villains here while he was taking a backseat to the whole thing, so I was disappointed for not getting to see more of him.

6.5/10

The Devil's Advocate: The build up takes a lot of time you'd think you're watching a normal court drama, and when it switches to horror it feels like a different movie with weird payoff Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves are on an opposite terms of acting it's a bit laughable 7.5/10

Candyman: You know, when someone says "Candyman", a normal looking black guy with a hook hand in a pimp coat is not the first thing that comes to mind... Anyway this movie is good. I knew this character is a talking slasher and I expected something closer to Freddy's attitude, but man is Tony Todd's voice scary it's almost otherworldly. 8.5/10

Night of the Living Dead (1990): Excellent remake, but I feel the original cast gave a better performance than here. Barbara was an improvement though. 8/10

Let the Right One In:

Okay, how many vampire movies have I seen already? This one was another one I was recommended to watch and it's also the first Swedish movie I've ever seen.

Story is not that unique. It's a boy who befriends a vampire girl living next door, however instead of having the girl murdering random people (mostly), they show us her father being the one doing the killing to bring her the blood. It would be a nice change and shows us the girl in a more sympathetic look, but it was dropped to have her being a monster. There wasn't much scares here and the focus was more on the romance between the boy and the girl and the troubles they were having with one having to deal with bullies and the other dealing with her condition believing it to be an illness instead of being a vampire.

Not sure how the American adaptation is, but this one I'd say was a okay.

7/10