28 Years Later: The Bone Temple review

 

Picking up where the last film left off, we follow two simultaneous stories: one is Spike dealing with the craze and murderous cults known as “The Jimmy’s,” and in the second, we follow Doctor Ian as he befriends and studies the alpha zombie he has nicknamed “Samson.”

Bone Temple is a little different in tone than the last film; where that was more adrenalized and action-oriented, this film goes for a more creepy and almost introspective feel. But it’s still good at retaining the overall tone of this world and capturing similar creepy images as the other 28 Days films.

Ironically, the heart of the film is Ian and Samson's odd friendship and how it develops over the course of the film. It does play with tropes you’ve seen in other zombie movies, with the “the zombies are evolving or getting smarter” type of ideas, but the way it’s executed in Bone Temple is interesting and enjoyable to watch.

The other big standout in the film is Jack O’Connell as the head, Jimmy; he goes from being very reserved and intimidating to surprisingly comedic and more psychologically complex than you would expect. He’s not that bad a guy, I mean, once you get past the murdering imaging stuff, but hey, it’s the zombie apocalypse; who’s gonna be perfect lol?

Another great performance, though she isn’t getting as much attention as Jimmima, is Emma Laird. The actress brought an interesting energy to the role, and the character seemed to have more complexity going on underneath than was expected. Unfortunately, she’s not in the movie as much as I would like, but what time she has, I thought, was a definite standout.

Alfie Williams is solid again as Spike; his character doesn’t get as much to do as in the last film and spends most of the screen time just looking scared and wanting to go home, but given the type of hot water he’s in, you do wonder how he’s going to get out of this and if he’ll even survive.

Spike does befriend one of the other Jimmys, who is hesitant about what’s going on (played by Erin Kellyman), and I wish their friendship had been developed a bit more; it all just happens pretty quickly, and given everything that happens, I feel like more could’ve been done with their friendship developing, and they have two different ideologies about the situation they’re in.

The scenes with the Jimmys can get pretty intense and brutal, not like Terrifier levels or anything, but they can be rough to watch at certain parts. There were definitely a couple moments where I was thinking, “Man, can we cut back to Ian and Sampson and get some levity with those guys?” lol.

The special effects and gore are solid throughout; it runs the gamut from being some of the more fun zombie action gore to some pretty intense and uncomfortable scenes.

I loved the soundtrack in the film; there was a lot of cool 80s and 90s music, especially one standout scene with basically one of the most fun Iron Maiden concerts you will ever see lol.

Nia DaCosta did a great job at recreating the feel of this universe and had some pretty cool stylized and artsy shots, while also making the whole film feel grounded and very gritty.

I have to say, whoever did the prop for Jimmy’s teeth in the movie deserves a raise, because there is not good oral hygiene in the zombie apocalypse, and Jimmy has some of the nastiest, most yellow, corn-looking teeth. I’ve ever seen. It’s a small detail, but it adds to the creepiness of his character in a surprising way, especially when he’s acting all nice and smiling; it’s very unsettling.

Without spoiling anything, I like how they set things up at the end for the next movie; it was clever and a nice surprise.

I also got to see with my buddy Jake, that’s always great 👍

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a solid zombies flick; it plays with the genre’s tropes well, and while some scenes get quite brutal at times, the film has plenty of gore and great performances to entertain throughout. I give Bone Temple a low 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Here’s hoping the third installment sticks the landing and doesn’t… bite 🧟😂.

Primate Review

 

Lucy brings some friends to her Hawaiian cliffside home for vacation, until the family’s adopted pet chimp, Ben, is infected with rabies, then things quickly turn deadly, and the group must fight to survive…

The movie does not start off with the strongest dialogue; the script tries very quickly to establish everyone in their relationships to one another, and so you get a lot of clunky lines that are trying to establish exposition, like “You know I got your back, best friend” and “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, sister.” And I will admit there are some odd lines throughout the film, like “Boy, I had some bad gas station sushi last night,” but once the actual family gets together, their interactions feel very natural and sweet.

My favorite actor in this was Troy Kotsur (who played the dad in CODA); his character of the dad is very likable, and he brought a lot of emotion to the role that wasn’t necessarily on the page.

The movie has a great location, very tropical and peaceful looking, and the filmmakers are able to get a lot of cool shots out of it.

The characters in this are like the ones you’ve seen in any other slasher movie; they’re young, they want a party, they do drugs, and they get horny. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. But the cast is solid, and when things get intense, the actors are good at emoting “scared and tense” facial acting.

So Ben the chimp is clearly a guy in a costume, but the filmmaker shoots it in a way that it isn’t too obvious, and the actual prosthetics for the face are very well detailed and convincing. Plus the more ravenous Ben gets, the more creepy, distorted, and slimy it gets (like whoever was in charge of the mouth slobber did a very effective job lol). It definitely adds to the atmosphere of the movie.

I feel like this goes without saying, but I wouldn’t go into this movie looking for realism. Because whatever strand of rabies Ben got turned him into a full-on slasher villain. He’s got a tablet where he’ll type ominous things into, or he’ll jump from somewhere for a bigger jump scare, like he goes full Michael Myers at certain points.

The special effects for the kills are really effective and well done for a small-budget film. Like that opening kill definitely had me going “god damn,” and throughout the rest of the film, all the attacks definitely have a visceral effect that will definitely get people squirming in their seats.

So the characters get trapped in a pool with Ben watching them, and the movie is good about setting up the scenarios of “how are they going to get out of this one?” and the movie did a good job of making me sit there going, “Yeah, how are they going to try and think their way out of this?” Now there was nothing mind-blowing, and there were some helpful conveniences, but in the moment I was definitely interested to see what the characters would come up with.

Yeah, there are two characters added who really are just there to add to the body count who are not very smart, but there was one laugh I got out of it, and one of the characters' kills was one of the more intense of the movie, so that was very effective.

I like the soundtrack; it definitely had a throwback 80s since “John Carpenter” feel, but it had a nice style to it and worked in the scenes well.

Again, there were a couple scenarios where the characters are trying to evade Ben, and you think he’s about to get them or they’re trying to get away, but he keeps getting closer to them that I thought were pretty creative and quite effective and had some fun visuals to them.

So Primate is a killer ape movie. I feel like by that premise alone you’re either going to be with the movie or not, so recommending it is definitely up to the viewer's discretion, but as far as a movie about a killer ape goes, I would describe Primate as solid. It isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, and for most people it’ll be a one and done, but the filmmaking is capable, everyone in the cast and crew does their best, and there are some effective sequences when it comes to the gore and scares. So I would say this movie would just be best enjoyed on a lazy Saturday when you just want to watch a fun popcorn movie. I give the film somewhere between a low and regular three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ depending on how you feel about “Killer Monkey” movies, but either way I can definitely say the movie does know how to go… Bananas 🍌 😂

Wicked: For Good Review

 

Wicked: For Good picks up sometime after the first film and follows the Wicked Witch and her battle against the wizard for the freedom of Oz and her relationship with Glinda and Glinda wrestling with her own feelings between her loyalty to the Wicked Witch and her new position in the Emerald City as “Glinda the Good.”

Small nitpick right off the bat… The film could’ve done better at establishing how much time has passed between films. Like, they say it’s been “12 ocean cycles” since the Wicked Witch escaped, so I thought maybe it had been 12 months, but then I heard my friend say in the play it’s supposed to be four years, so I don’t know how long it’s been? I wish we had gotten a better indication about how much time had passed.

The best thing about the film, in my opinion, is the special effects and the color palette. This film is very bright and vibrant; it’s like an Easter party exploded in pastels lol. The film has a great deal of spectacle, although some sequences do feel a little bit wooden and undershot. Like, I thought the final big emotional number between the wicked witch and Galinda felt very undershot and kind of flat. It’s supposed to be like this big sweeping emotional number like defying gravity was, and I’m sure the filmmakers wanted to make it feel more personal between the characters, and that’s why they filmed it the way they did, but unfortunately it takes a scene that should’ve been more grandiose and just makes it feel a bit too undercooked.

I am no expert in musicals, but I thought the numbers were good. I’ve seen that some people aren’t as impressed as with the first, and while I agree they aren’t as catchy as some of the first one, I thought as a continuation of the story, the music fits with the other film perfectly.

I feel mixed on the characters. I think Grande and Arrivo’s performances are very strong and passionate, and Jeff Goldblum brings a lot of devilish charm as the wizard, but the wicked witch’s sister felt very rushed and almost manic in her emotional decision-making. Michelle Yeoh's character is fun in a conniving villain sort of way but felt underdeveloped as far as motivation. Plus, her resolution was very rushed and doesn’t make much narrative sense given exactly what she can do.

Unfortunately, one of the places the film wavers is the incorporation of the original Wizard of Oz characters into the film; they feel rushed and almost out of place with the rest of the story. It’s like the movie can decide if it’s going to be a direct tie-in to the original film or if it’s going to be its own thing like Maleficent or Cruella. It tries to have its cake and eat it too, and unfortunately the two melt together like peanut butter and oil.

Like certain characters have these big setups, but absolutely no payoff; some feel like an afterthought, and some feel like they needed much more explanation.

Also, they don’t spend a whole lot of time on the wicked witches’ “fight for animal freedom,” like it was a big driving force and set up in the first one, but it doesn’t play as big a role in the story as I expected.

This also affects the pacing as well; certain plot elements felt like they went on a bit too long, and others felt like they could’ve used more screen time. I do think the film is entertaining enough throughout to keep people’s interest, but the more you think about it, the sloppier the story seems.

I have mixed feelings on Jon M. Chu’s direction. Like, he’s good with the big crowded scenes, and I think it gets pretty creative with some shots like “the girl in the bubble” musical sequence. But others feel rather flat, like the final scene between the Wicked Witch and Glinda. It’s written and feels like this big emotional scene between the two characters and kind of a payoff to the whole story, but the way it’s filmed feels so underutilized that it takes away some of the emotional payoff from the scene.

I think whoever the costume designer is has a very good chance of winning the Oscar this year; the costumes are very well detailed and distinct, and for so many different background characters, they come up with a lot of interesting patterns and designs.

I wouldn’t say Wicked: For Good is a bad film; it’s creative, and you want to see how everything concludes, but it definitely doesn’t live up to its own potential as a sequel to the first film or as a tie-in to the bigger Wizard of Oz mythos. I give Wicked: For Good a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ it’s more like “Wicked: For OK”, but that’s not as catchy a title lol.