Rick Gebhardt

VIP

6

First off, don't go into this expecting a pure action film. It's not. A few moments of action supplement the combination of a heist story that morphs into a survival story that takes turns giving commentary on greed, post-military life, and the value of violence. The cast is superb and the film is gorgeously shot, accentuating the film's themes. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the somewhat trite final scene. Barring that, I was engaged from beginning to end.

This was a goofy, gory, and surprisingly fun mess of awesome. The 2 hours and 15 minutes flew by. The majority of the jokes land, the violence is appropriately bonkers, the twists neither brain-dead dumb nor too out of left field. And the cast (and guest appearances) are perfect in their roles. The action set pieces totally work and the final big bad is perfectly ludicrous. I genuinely would put this towards the top of DC's crop of superhero films and think it should be supremely enjoyable for all superhero and action fans.

This was a wonderful, mindless horror-comedy that had just enough splatters and low-brow comedy to satisfy genre fans. The plot may be threadbare, but the stellar cast helps make it work. There's a perverse catharsis to be had in seeing teachers take out their anger and suppressed aggression on a bunch of (zombified) asshole kids. And there are a couple one-liners that are delivered perfectly. "Look! Carnage!" will be something I think to myself whenever I watch zombie flicks going forward.

Goodness, what a perfect conclusion to the Daniel Craig era Bond. After Casino Royale, none of the sequels quite hit the same for me. Some got close, but some were quite weak. Until No Time to Die. Despite Rami Malek's slightly bland villain, everything else was perfect. Huge action set pieces, Craig giving a perfect performance, great supporting characters, and even some truly emotional beats make this a top notch Bond film, even with a nearly 3 hour running time. This was a near perfect 007 film.

Mumblecore art-house psychological horror your jam? Not sure many will raise their hand, but if you did this should be a go-to. For a 90 minute film, it unfortunately dragged in a few spots, but there were some great moments of contemplative beauty, dark humor, and existential dread. I'd caution against watching this unless you are specifically looking for something really out there, because it's a unique experience that may come across as unwatchable to some.

Story-wise, I was fully engaged...but it was sometimes hard to do between the awful Boston accents and Casey Affleck mumbling his way through most scenes. Thankfully there were enough twists, turns, and misdirection to keep my attention. The moral quandries presented throughout should stir some inner dialog about what's the best choice amongst only bad options.

I might just be burnt out on superhero films... This was a slog to get through. It seems like half the movie was unnecessary and bolted on for...reasons? There's no reason this needed to be almost 3 hours with the very basic plot we follow. There a multiple characters who are just...here. And the action was fine but really nothing amazing. I really hate how bored and disinterested I was through a lot of this film...

I'm not sure why there's so much hate for this film, but I loved it. If you enjoyed the grimdark mysteries that were huge in the late 90s (think Seven), you'll feel at home with The Little Things. The underlying mystery is engaging, but leads us to an interesting conclusion that is surprising, unexpected, and...believable. It also is very morally "squishy", leaving a lot of space to contemplate the various actions of our leads, who were all great. Leto may have been trying a little too hard, but he gave an engaging performance. Malek and Washington were great, as expected. I genuinely enjoyed the heck out of this film.

Maybe if I saw this when I was the same age I was when the originals came out I'd like it? But nearly 30 years later I'm struggling to figure out the appeal. I have a feeling this film traded too heavily on the nostalgia triggered by fans of the originals since, without that, this comes off like a direct to streaming, low budget continuation of the series that also is trying to be a passing of the torch of sorts? But I'm really struggling to see this attracting a new wave of fans. I was sad that there weren't many laughs to be had and that I just wasn't engaged.

This film desperately wants to be the next Donnie Darko. At times it gets the same off-kilter feeling and menacingly dark undertones, but the "story" gets a bit too muddled in the final third, leaving some wild assertions unexplored. I was ultimately satisfied with this as a whole (and enjoyed the trip it took me on), despite it tip-toeing very close to the edge of becoming an incomprehensible mess.

This high concept drama seemed extremely promising, and did start off relatively well, but by the midway point and beyond, things started to drift about aimlessly. I went from invested in the concept and the impacts it would have on life and society to bored, disinterested, and just waiting for the end (which takes too long to get to). Some of the comedy is just...weird and doesn't seem to fit. There seem tobe themes about being in the moment, anti-consumerism, and environmentalism...but there isn't any cohesive message. I feel bad that such a great premise ended up as wasted as it was.

Nothing is subtle in this flick, and by the time the climax concludes you'll wonder how this thing went off the rails as bad as it did in the final third. The concept of the movie seemed interesting, but you're not really given any back story on why anything was happening, so the mystery element fails. The characters are caricatures with no nuance. The climax is just a mess, goofy as hell, and a laughable conclusion that you just don't care about. I'm sorry I wasted my time on this.

For the first 2/3 of this film, Come True was setting itself up to be a shoe-in for one of the best of 2021. But then the climax sputtered...and ended on a laughably bad scene that was quite dumb and also very unnecessary. Honestly, if the movie ended at the height of the climax it would have been flawed, but still full of discussion worthy scenes, themes, and topics. Shared dreams, collective memories, the boundaries between dreams and reality, horrifying nightmare images...there's a ton of great stuff here, but it's overshadowed by the ludicrous ending. I still absolutely love portions of this film, but as a whole it is a bit of a miss.

The comparisons to Saved will be numerous, but that's likely just because there aren't a ton of Jesus camp/school comedies out there (which kind of blows my mind because there's so much material that could be mined). This quick, little film has a lot of funny moment AND points out the hypocrisy & gaslighting that is standard practice in too many christian settings. I loved it, but at the same time had a few too many PTSD flashbacks to my own church camp experiences, reminding me again why I ran so far away from all that. Christian or not, there's a ton to like here and you'll probably only dislike it if your identity is a little too tied up in your evangelical belief system.

Coming of age stories are usually a slam dunk with me. I'm generally pretty forgiving of anything in the genre, but Kajillionaire dove a bit too far into the "quirky for the sole purpose of being weird" end of the pool. There were some great individual moments here and there, but not enough to make me love this. That and the final "heist" drove me nuts simply because there is no conceivable way it could have been completed in the silence needed to do it.

I'm kind of surprised that there are so many negative reviews for this. Maybe not many people wanted a "what if Superman was actually horrible?" film in the form of a horror flick. I was pleasantly entertained and the biggest criticism I have is that the ending feels wide open for further storytelling that I wished I could dig into. I suppose The Boys helped fill that void, along with comics such as Irredeemable, but this feels like there could be some real good storylines to dig into in a sequel.

Note up top: I watched the extended cut, not the theatrical cut, so who knows if that made a big difference. Anyhow, even after all of the terrible reviews, I thought I should give this a watch before I sat down with Birds of Prey and, well... I didn't hate it. The film is really two halves--the intro to the team in the first half and the "mission" in the second half. The first half was really fun, but the second half felt... small... for a superhero/villain story. That and the Joker was completely unnecessary to the whole film. I liked most of the leads--Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and even Will Smith all inhabit their characters quite well. The action is entertaining enough and the banter passable. There are some truly badass moments for a few characters (especially Davis' Amanda Waller). If the second half of the film had been a bit more engaging, I think this would have actually been a pretty great movie. As it is, it's flawed, but an actually fun watch.

Making every scene & every interaction as brutally slow moving & achingly wooden as possible does not make your film "artsy". I'm a bit overwhelmed at the praise heaped on this film because I was not invested in it or the characters at all, instead I found myself crushed with boredom. Space is isolating. Yep, we know. Putting criminals in close spaces for some experimental trip towards a black hole and using them for reproductive experiments is likely not going to have great results (surprising, right?). But instead of intense interactions that it should trigger... it's just glacially paced, sullen conversations punctuated by a quick violent outburst here or there. The more I try to pull out something deeper or figure out how to appreciate this film a bit more, I just get more frustrated with everything it wasn't.

Jim Jarmusch has done some good films in the past. The cast of this film is bonkers (so many great stars). The film deadpans the zombie genre. There's some fourth wall breakage. You'd think this would all add up to a great watch. You'd be very, very, very wrong. Entire chunks of this film add nothing to the narrative. Bits are there for the sake of being bits, but don't seem to gel with other bits or the movie as a whole. Characters are just... there. The climax is way out of left field, yet you won't care because you'll be so bored by the time you get there. The few good bits just don't pay off or make it worth sitting through 90+ minutes of mostly mundane, boring scenes. This feels like a giant heap of potential completely wasted.

After seeing the cast for this film, I thought it had to be a slam dunk or, at the very least, have a fair share of good chuckles. I hate it when I'm wrong. Such a solid cast was wasted on a mediocre sketch that was stretched to 90 minutes. A few places the movie felt like it could take off...but then it crashed back to mediocrity. Color me very let down.

So they really, REALLY leaned into making Thor an idiot now, eh? I guess they sort of had to in order to truly embrace Taika's style, and they make it work, but because everything was so silly some of the more grounded scenes didn't have the weight they should. All that being said, I had a heck of a fun time watching this. The action was fun, the jokes generally work, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves. Just don't expect a plot that really matters or makes a ton of sense. Kick back and indulge in some cartoonish fun.

This was heck of a lot of fun. There's a solid amount of dark humor, some goofy and gory deaths, and Samara Weaving being both personable and badass. The premise might seem a bit forced and some motivations eye-rollingly unbelievable, but they actually pay it off in the end, and I loved that they did. Horror fans should eat this up.

This is billed as a thriller/horror flick, but the vast majority of the film focuses on the dynamics of the two couples and the dysfunctions in their relationships. It's not until well over halfway into the film that things start the amp up and the actual home invasion elements don't really come into play until the very end...and then it is very abruptly over. This weird pacing is what holds back an intriguing premise acted out by a very great cast.

First, it should be noted this film is gorgeous, especially if you watch the 4k imax version on a truly large screen. Unfortunately, the visuals are only one aspect of a film. The characters were fine, if mostly one note, the action decent, if uninspired, and the plot an ok framework, even if it seemed half-finished. This would have benefited from being a Disney+ series instead of a single movie. The ending leaves you feeling unfulfilled and the various sacrifices lack weight. The one thing I did really enjoy was the "Superman vs the Justice League" action scene...err, I mean the Eternals fighting themselves scene. Beyond that and the visuals, there wasn't a ton I latched onto. I'm hoping they do more with some of these characters in the future, but as a standalone film, this wasn't great.

This had potential to be a wonderful "passing the torch" film, but it is ultimately a misfire as the climax completely undercuts everything from the first 2/3 of the film and depends solely on cashing in its nostalgia chips. It also doesn't help that there's so much recycling of the original Ghostbusters film. There are a few fun scenes, but this is mostly a throwaway that will make zero sense to folks who aren't already fans of the originals.

Considering I didn't love Mandy and many Lovecraft inspired films end up a mess, I kept my expectations in check for Color Out of Space. I'm not sure if that contributed to how much I enjoyed this, but any way you look at it, this is a wonderfully entertaining horror flick with some fun monster effects, unsettling performances, and a consistently menacing vibe. To top it off, the soundtrack reinforces the mood and is a huge contributor to off kilter tone. Moody horror fans should absolutely adore this.

I know there's not much that actually came out in 2020, but even without that caveat this was easily a favorite of this year. Brandon Cronenberg has created a heady mix of sci-fi, body horror, and espionage lathered with numerous questions about identity and self. I left this film feeling full of questions, as well as a bit squeamish as it pushed on some my existential buttons. I would recommend this, quite highly, especially if you're looking for something that might keep your head spinning for a few days.

Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, and Dan Stevens all together in a film by Noah Hawley... how could you go wrong? You could start with Portman's not-so-great accent attempt. Or you could dig into the climax, or lack thereof really. The stylistic choices made in the filming style, some of the deep questions pondered, and the generally engaging first 2/3 crash back to earth when you reach the credits and feel...a lot of ambivalence towards the last 2+ hours. It feels like there's a huge amount of potential here, but it just didn't quite come together.