The Accountant 2 Review

 

This movie is false advertisement… It's called The Accountant 2, but only 1 account ever shows up. Where is the 2nd lol?

I only saw the first one once when it came out, which was like eight years ago, but as far as catching the audience up and reminding them of things that happened in the first one, the second does a good and effective job.

Jon Bernthal was my favorite thing about this movie; he was very charismatic, funny, and unpredictable with his performance, not to mention the chemistry he and Ben Affleck share, which is also great.

Ben Affleck put a lot of hard work and nuance into the role; this character of Christian Wolff is definitely one of his best.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, and J.K. Simmons were all great in supporting roles.

I liked the direction; Gavin O’Connor did a great job balancing humor, drama, and action.

I liked how down-to-earth and well-choreographed the gun battles were; if you're an action fan, you’ll definitely get some good moments out of these scenes.

The plot is definitely convoluted at points; like, overall, I got it, but there are a lot of coincidences at points, where I had to remind myself how people were contented and who was involved.

They expand on a story element from last time, which I thought was the weakest and the most unbelievable part of that… Well surprise, they pushed the unbelievable part further. I mean, I can say it is well-intentioned, but come on, guys, I know you can’t really do that. You guys are trying to tell this gritty crime drama, and at certain points I feel like I’m watching an X-Men movie.

The cinematography and soundtrack are solid, and there is a good use of humor sprinkled throughout, but it doesn’t take away from the drama.

So despite a convoluted and sometimes unbelievable story, the cast, humor, action, and overall filmmaking pushed this quality higher… I give it an enthusiastic three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Sinners

 

We see into the lives of twin brother Mississippi gangsters and their attempts to open a club… Only have vampires attack opening night.

OK, let me warn everybody about something before seeing this movie… The commercials are lying. They’re making the movie look like this is going to be the next Jordan Peele movie, like From Dusk Till Dawn meets Green Room with prohibition gangsters… And really it’s not; it’s more like a character drama with vampiric elements.

The best thing about the movies is the acting. Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, JacK O’Connell, Delroy Lindo, Omar Benson Miller, Li Jun Li, and Lola Kirke all gave great performances in pretty well-developed, likable characters.

Absolutely loved the cinematography; great use of darkness and light. Almost every shot of this movie is stunning.

A lot of great music, both played in the film and from the soundtrack. My dad was a very big blues fan, so I always appreciate seeing good blues music in films; it reminds me of him. I liked how they worked blues and the history of blues into the movie.

Ryan Coogler has some masterful camera work, both in setting up shots and in how we move the camera, not to mention his ability to get great performances out of actors, so shout out to him for all that.

For good and for ill, the film kind of reminds me of Paul Schrader’s Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist, it’s very well-made and has some interesting concepts and characters, but the “horror” doesn’t really work because it’s not scary, or at least filmed and presented in a way to make things as scary as you would hope or make you feel tense. Unfortunately, a lot of the vampire stuff just plays into a lot of clichés with some pretty flimsy explanation and dialogue when it comes to certain parts… Not to mention at least one or two pretty dumb character moments, or let’s say “interesting creative choices.” There is only one scene that I think really was creative and unique, but honestly, it was more of a throwback to a John Carpenter movie than anything else. Personally, I kind of wish this wasn’t a horror movie and more of a regular thriller, because I think it would’ve played better if the threat outside wasn’t supernatural.

I don’t know where else to put this, and it’s kind of a weird thing, but… I think what feet are to Tarantino, cunnilingus is to Ryan Coogler 🤷‍♂️️. Do with that information what you will.

Also, this movie did not need to be two hours and 17 minutes; like, it just goes on and on and on when really if it was a tighter film, it would’ve packed more punch… Not to mention they put a really good scene as a midway credit scene, and it’s like a full almost 5-minute scene. Why they start the credits before showing that scene I have no idea, but don’t leave when the credits start playing because there is a nice little scene at the end, so wait until you see the title before leaving.

So I won’t say Sinners… Sucked 🧛‍♂️🩸😂 I was a little let down by this one, mostly because I was hoping for a really cool horror movie, and while what I got was good, it just felt a little bit elongated in certain points, and unfortunately, the horror elements didn’t live up to the quality of the rest of the film. Honestly, Sinners, as both positive and negative, it feels like Ryan Coogler got a $100 million blank check to make a movie any way he wanted and put a bunch of different ideas and concepts and styles into one film, which I appreciate and applaud the passion and creativity… Unfortunately, maybe he was just too close to the project and had too many ideas because this script could use some editing and refining to bring everything together in a more satisfying way, so it just lacks a certain pop…

I give it a low three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️. The film definitely has its moments and positives, but the lack of horror and almost too many elements felt too messy for my taste, but I could see this movie connecting with other people, so to each their own.

Drop Review

 

Drop feels like a modern Hitchcock techno-thriller, with some fun humor mixed in.

The entire cast gives great performances; I was really impressed with the leads (Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar). Quick side note, I think that Sklenar dude would make a great Batman, so if James Gunn read this (I’m sure everyone in Hollywood reads my stuff), keep an eye on this guy lol.

There were a lot of cool, crazy camera angles and interesting lighting choices, which is always a big plus for me. Also, good editing; it flowed well.

There were a lot of smart twists and turns the characters made, and well, in that respect, I should’ve seen something coming. I was definitely surprised how other things worked out.

I liked a lot of the jokes in this; they felt very natural and real, not to mention funny lol.

One of my favorite character actors, Reed Diamond, was in the film, and I really liked his performance. I was really impressed with Violet Beane. I’ve seen her in things before, but she was really fun in this, so I hope to see more of her based on this role. And there was an actor in this named Jeffrey, self, who is also very funny, but ironic because his character was very self-obsessed lol.

Most of the movie takes place in one location, and it was a great use of that location, in both style and spite of being in the same room for almost an hour and a half; it never felt boring, and it had a lot of texture.

Without spoiling anything… It

It took me a while to realize that what the character was going through was being mirrored in the actual plot of the film, and how that was unrolled and presented I thought was really clever and cool, so that’s like the biggest compliment. I could give the film, also, and how once she confronted what she was going on on the inside, it affected things in the plot.

There was one or two things that happened in the climax that I thought were stretching believability, but they weren’t too bad.

I wasn’t a big fan of the climax… I’m sorry, the second climax. Because the movie is pretty much over, but it’s like the producers saw the film and were like, “Put a __ at the end,” even though there is no real reason for it, and let me just say, without spoiling anything… worst assassin ever. That being said, it is well shot and has some cool action bits and camera moves, so the filmmaker didn’t… phone it in lol. I just thought it was unnecessary and pretty ridiculous in parts with the writing and character decisions and some leaps in logic… I tried to give a compliment, but I made it sound worse lol.

So I was very pleasantly surprised by this movie. I loved a lot of the acting and humor and twist and filmmaking. Just maybe skip the second climax and go right to the epilogue when you watch the movie because I think they’ll actually improve your viewing experience… I give Drop a low four out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Warfare Review

 

So I just saw the movie Warfare, a war film that follows a group of soldiers who get ambushed on a mission and try to survive when they get pinned down, and at the beginning, they tell you the entire film is only based on their memories.

So the movie is all about this one mission, so the movie starts when the mission starts, and then when it’s over, the movie ends… This has its advantages and disadvantages.

So right off the bat, you like these guys. The movie starts with them, like, watching a music video and just kind of having fun and goofing around, and it feels very natural and silly, and these guys are having a good time, so it really puts you in a good mood. Then we see them on their mission doing their thing, and it feels very authentic, and this is where my only real criticism of the movie comes in…

The first 20 minutes or so can feel a bit unattached. By that I mean, they don’t go into exact details about what the mission is; you just see them like establish a base and then wait for something to happen, and when they’re getting the base, it’s in the middle of the night and it’s hard to see everyone because everyone is in shadow, and then for the next 10 or so minutes everyone’s just sort of sitting around doing their job and looking at each other, and honestly, you’re not even sure who the main character is supposed to be. Now they do sprinkle in some funny characters, bits, and humor—nothing laugh-out-loud, but just things that put you in a good mood—and at this point, you’re not sure who these characters are or even their names, so it can be a little hard to connect with them because they’re such blank slates. You do kind of figure out what their roles in the group are, but again, it takes about 20 minutes before you even learn people’s names, so for that first 20 minutes, I can see it being difficult for certain viewers to connect since we know so little about these people and what’s even going on.

That being said, once the attack happens… This movie rockets up like Apollo 11. Everything in this movie is great from this point on: the acting, the camera work, the cinematography, the action, the special effects, the sound design, the pacing, and even working in small moments of humor to help break up the tension… Everything just clicks into place, and I would say it’s on the same level as the opening of Saving Private Ryan.

I usually try and give shout-outs to actors who I think gave really standout performances in this movie, but I think everybody did, so just go read the cast list for this, which I have to say is pretty stacked.

I would say the movie does get pretty intense at some point, so if you’re very sensitive to gore, I would say brace yourself, or maybe this movie isn’t for you, but it’s not too bad; you’re more of just like seeing injuries than anything else.

I also liked at the end when they showed the actual people the actors were based off of and the actual soldiers visiting the set and interacting with the actors; it just really added to the realism of everything.

But the summary, despite my worries at the beginning, this movie really impressed me, and the entire casting crew put an incredible amount of hard work and detail into everything, and it really pays off… I give this movie four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

A Working Man Review

I saw the new Jason Statham action movie, A Working Man with my Uncle Donald, and here is my thoughts…

In this movie, Jason Statham has some special skills he got in his military past, and now he’s going to go kick a lot of ass to save somebody.

Jason Statham is a solid, lean man. Do you know how to be intimidating and do action well? There is a reason he’s in so many of these.

David Harbour and Michael Peña both give solid performances in supporting roles, and the actress who plays the person Jason Statham is trying to save had some unintentionally funny moments that I thought were cute. Also, Jason Statham’s character has a daughter, and the actress, for being such a young kid, did a good job, and she and Statham had some nice chemistry together.

So, like, the first half of this movie is like a pretty standard revenge action movie. He’s got beat-up criminals in order to get closer and closer to his target… Then things get odd.

So they’re a bunch of different criminal factions in this (bikers, Russian mob, heavy metal meth heads, two Guy Ritchie knockoff goons), and they’re all kind of bumbling. Like, how they became mafia kingpins, I have no idea. But the first half of the movie tried to be a grounded action, revenge, crime film, but then all the bad guys turned into Batman reject villains because everyone’s wearing these eccentric outfits and acting all crazy and mustache-twirling in these neon-lit rooms all the time, throwing weird parties where everybody’s dressed like they’re in the 1700s if designed by Joel Schumacher, deeds for no reason. No joke, two of these villains are basically the Mad Hatter and The Penguin, down to the hats and everything. It just gives things a weird tone when Jason Statham is playing; it’s so serious, and they’re dealing with something serious like human trafficking, but he’s got to deal with all these cartoonish villains.

The middle half of the movie is also a bit muddled because Jason Statham has some sort of plan in place to get close to these guys and fake buying drugs, and honestly, you don’t know what it’s accomplished, and you’re like wondering why he’s wasting time with these other mobsters when he’s trying to get to this girl?

I will say two of the kidnappers, I think their brother and sister, were kind of unintentionally funny in there, buffoonish over-the-top villains. Theresa, the actress who played the sister, must’ve been having a ball because she was hamming it up like a pig wearing a bacon suit.

I wish there was a little bit more action in the movie. What they had was good, and there were some cool set pieces, but for a nearly 2-hour movie, I wish there had been some more action pieces.

Something weird I noticed was towards the end. They showed a couple of different shots of characters walking in the woods, and the moon was in the background each time, but the moon was literally like the size of the side of a barn. Like you’re looking at this thing, expecting it to crash into earth, which scientifically if the moon was that close we’d be experiencing all kinds of weird natural occurrences and disasters, so I’m just sitting here thinking… why? Like, I’m assuming it was a creative decision, but such an odd one to have the moon take up half the screen.

I did get to see the movie with my uncle Donald, who, he and I went separately, wanted to see a movie, and then just happened to run into each other at the same theater and showtime, so that was a funny coincidence.

I can’t say I didn’t have some fun moments with the film, whether it was some action or some acting or an over-the-top villain… But like a party girl on her 21st birthday, this movie is kind of a mess—entertaining, but a mess… I give this film two stars ⭐️⭐️ but an enthusiastic two stars because if you’re going to be weird, just go for it, and this movie definitely goes for it lol.

Death of a Unicorn Review

 I recently saw Death of a Unicorn, and here are my thoughts…

On the way to a weekend-long job interview for an eccentric billionaire family, a lawyer and his daughter hit and suddenly kill a unicorn and must deal with the family's selfish plans in order to not jeopardize their future financial security…

The heart of this movie is the relationship between the father and daughter characters (played by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega), and despite you getting frustrated with Paul’s character at the beginning (which is my design), you feel for both characters and understand both of their responses to the situation they find themselves in.

My favorite part was Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant are my favorite part of the movie; they may start out the film reserved, but by the halfway point, they start chewing scenery like they’ve been stranded on an island for a week, haven’t eaten, and are now at a buffet…

and it’s fun to watch lol

For a lower-budgeted film, the special effects on the unicorn and in general are pretty impressive. Everything is well detailed, and in the second half, without spoiling anything… They know how to get a reaction out of the audience with those effects.

I’ve noticed a trend recently. We’re a lot of horror movies/black comedies that satirize and make commentary about the rich and powerful (Ready or Not, Knives Out, Parasite, Triangle of Sadness, Brightburn, The Menu, Succession, Pig, White Lotus, The Boys), and spoiler alert… This is another one. It doesn’t really add much new to the table that the other movies haven’t done, and while it could be a little heavy-handed at points, the actors who play the family are very good and give some fun dialogue and actually have a bit more heart to them later on than you would expect, which I appreciated.

Also shout out to Anthony Carrigan, Jessica Hines, Sunita Mani, and Steve Park. They may not have the most developed roles in the film, but with what they’re given, they bring a lot of humor and laughs to the film with their characters being overwhelmed and tired by having to deal with this crazy family and their extravagant requests.

I liked the look of the movie; it isn’t anything that stands out too much, but the fancy cabin mansion in the woods, paintings of medieval royalty, and all the fancy equipment just gave the film a unique charm as far as set design.

The movie had some fun twists and turns, and while I’m sure you can predict where it all ends up while you watch it, and you kind of wish Paul Rudd’s character had more of a spine and talked to his daughter more and she explained herself more, it is all enjoyable while you watch, and there are a few surprises. I appreciated it, so walking to the movie, you have more positive than negative.

I’ll give it somewhere between a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ and a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s a movie I can see different people having different reactions to depending on their sense of humor, but overall most people would enjoy it.