Onslaught Review

 

A former army sniper dealing with PTSD must defend her trailer park home and daughter from government program super soldiers who have gone rogue and are killing everyone in their way.

Adria Arjona plays the sniper Celeste, and she does a good job with both the emotional acting and action sequences, although her character does feel a little thin and could’ve been developed more, like her PTSD is set up and then not really addressed until the climax out of one other sort of mention.

Dan Stevens and Rebecca Hall play a Nazi scientist who is responsible for the super soldiers and his wife, and while both aren’t in the movie a whole lot, Stevens' character does have a unique visual look, and they both do a pretty solid German accent.

Reginald VelJohnson plays another war veteran at the trailer park who helps Celeste fight the soldiers. It was nice to see him again in a movie, and he’s very down-to-earth and likable in the film.

Michael Biehn makes a nice cameo. Again, I wish she had been in the movie a little bit more, but it is always nice when he pops up.

I enjoyed the score; it used to be well and was very reminiscent of the 80s. John Carpenter

I liked the use of bright, almost neon lighting for the cinematography that, with the grainy look, gave a nice texture to the shots

The action was pretty cool and had almost a fun slasher feel to it.

Drew Starkey plays a government cleaner, and the film can’t decide if he’s supposed to be comedic relief or a legitimate threat, plus while Starkey gives a solid performance, his character in the end doesn’t really contribute much to the overall plot and just kind of feels there so they can meet a certain run time.

The final showdown felt like it was over a little too quick, like there was a ton of buildup throughout the film, and then the final conflict was over before you knew it.

Onslaught has a lot of style and fun parts in an over-the-top action kind of way, but the story and characters were a bit too thin. It's a fun watch, but it could’ve been something special with a little bit for your script, but what it is is still an enjoyable flick. I give it 3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️—not exactly a cutting edge, but still axe-cellent 😂

Resident Evil (2026) Review

 

An organ courier must make a late-night delivery on a snowy road to Raccoon City and quickly gets into trouble with zombies and strange morphing creatures.

I would describe the film as a horror comedy; it leans more on the horror side, but Zach Cregger did a great job at threading the humor through the whole film and gave a nice balance of both.

Although screw Zach Cregger, because he put some effective jump scares in the movie, like how dare he make me jump out of my seat lol.

Austin Abrams plays the main character Bryan, a 20-something slacker, and the character is kind of a dumbass, but Abrams' performance, the humor, and the writing still made the character sympathetic and likable, despite Bryan’s continuing goofy shenanigans, lol.

The sets were well detailed and had a lot of ambience, and the cinematography was very stark and gave everything this bright but grimy look, definitely added to the creepy body horror feel of the film.

The plot is following Bryan as he in almost real time tries to deliver medical supplies to Raccoon City Hospital, so the plot is very straightforward, but there are a good amount of twists and turns that the audience will be surprised and entertained by throughout.

There is a good mix of practical and CGI special effects, both of which look pretty good, and the creature design isn't anything too crazy but is cool and well done throughout

The movie has a brisk one-hour and 34-minute run time, and it’s able to keep moving while not feeling rushed and allowing some nice character moments.

We meet a few different scientists from the umbrella corporation (the company responsible for the zombie/creature outbreak), and they too bring a good mix of humor and seriousness to the film, and they all have fun or interesting chemistry with Bryan.

I liked the soundtrack; it had almost a heartbeat sound to it and reminded me of The Thing (1982) soundtrack.

I thought the climax was fun, and I can see different people having different feelings about the ending. It's nothing too surprising, but I definitely thought it was an interesting way to wrap up the story.

Now I have not played much of the games, but I did see the movie with my buddies, and they mentioned there were a few Easter eggs in the background, so if you’re a fan of the games, keep your eyes out.

Resident Evil (2026) is a very enjoyable film; it has scares, laughs, creepy creatures, and some surprising heart. It may not have the story or characters of the game, but it nails the tone and atmosphere. It has a little bit of everything and is a nice soft launch for the spooky season. I give the film four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Zach Cregger had some serious… Braaaaaainnnnns 🧟‍♂️🧠 making this 😂 

Buddy Review

 

A group of kids realize they are trapped in a 1990s children’s show and must try to escape their seemingly malevolent capture, a giant anthropomorphic talking unicorn. Meanwhile, a suburban mom questions her sanity as she starts to believe she had a third child that everyone has forgotten.

The filmmakers did a great job, not only with recreating the look and tone of a late 90s show, but also with how well they’re able to flip back-and-forth between it feeling wholesome and too uncomfortable to be scary.

Keegan-Michael Key plays Buddy, and he also does a fun job, switching from funny to darkly comedic to very intimidating, almost like from Barney to Robert De Niro in Cape Fear.

I was very impressed with all of the child actors, who all had a great amount of range, going from broad and silly to too intensely scary in a second.

Cristin Milioti plays the suburban mom, and she’s very good at playing unhinged and paranoid but also very sympathetic and really loving at times.

It was nice seeing Topher Grace pop up in this; he plays Milioti’s husband, and he’s good at being funny and snarky, and I thought Grace brought a lot of empathy to the character.

Clint Howard has a small role in the film, and this is one of his weirdest roles I’ve ever seen… And for Clint Howard, that’s really saying something lol, but I have to give him props for committing to a role

I thought the climax felt a little rushed and sort of teased a sequel setting up a sequel, but I thought the very end had a fun Twilight Zone twist ending kind of feel that was simple but very effective.

Buddy is a very different but creative movie that has a lot of creative people working on it in front of and behind the camera that juggles a lot of different tones and a great cast who give strong performances. It's not perfect, but it’s still very good.

I give it four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, but before I warned, it does get pretty BUD-arre at points 😂

Coyote vs Acme Review

 

After years of trying to catch the roadrunner and failing due to defective Acme products, Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme corporation with the help of a small claims lawyer (played by Will Forte).

I would describe this film as Who Framed Roger Rabbit meets John Grisham‘s The Firm, but with Looney Tunes characters. Now those projects are three very distinct tones, and I was very impressed with how the movie is able to blend all three pretty seamlessly into a cohesive and enjoyable whole.

Growing up, my two favorite Looney Tunes were the Tasmanian Devil and Wile E. Coyote, so it’s nice to not only see Wile get the spotlight, but also for a character who only talks using signs, the film really nailed his character and added a surprising amount of depth and sympathy for Wile while also feeling true to his original concept of “coyote wants to eat tasty bird." Also, if you were wondering if my other favorite tune makes an appearance, I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say… I left the theater happy.

I also appreciated how other popular Looney Tunes characters were worked in; they each played a role in the overall mystery that felt very organic to the story and made good use of their personalities. Also, this isn’t a huge thing, but there is something I’ve always kind of wondered about Granny that this movie finally answered, so I appreciated that.

The CGI in the film is very good; it’s clearly CGI, but the way it’s animated, the cartoon characters feel two-dimensional and tangible in this world, not to mention they make a few deep-cut character callbacks with some of the tunes who show up in the background that I appreciated. Now there are a few shots and a few characters that do look like impressive early PS3 graphics, a little stiff and bulky, not to mention you can clearly tell which characters were created just for this film, but overall it’s not really distracting, and you’re able to stay submerged within the story throughout.

I’ve always felt Foghorn Leghorn is an underrated Looney Tune, so it’s nice to see him in a fun villainous corporate executive role.

I was pleasantly surprised with Will Forte in the movie, not just because he gives a funny and sincere performance, but because growing up, I usually did not care about the human characters in Looney Tunes movies, like I’m there for the Tunes lol, but his story of an underdog, who is scared to try things because he’s scared of losing and how his character's arch ties into Wile and about never giving up, I thought got pretty deep at times, and I never thought I’d say a movie about the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote was “emotionally sincere” lol

John Cena plays Acme’s lawyer Buddy Crane; he is very funny at playing an overly slimy dude, a bro version of a lawyer.

I like how powerful they showed the Rose Runner; like, I’m half convinced he could survive a nuclear explosion lol.

I like and appreciate all the Looney Tunes references throughout the film, like the use of the Looney Tunes theme and naming the lawyers after famous Looney Tunes creators (Avery, Jones & Maltese).

Lana Condor plays Will Forte's niece, and she’s going to film more of a straight man all the whacking around her, but she brings a lot of heart and motivation for the Forte character.

Coyote vs. Acme is my biggest surprise of the year; it takes a premise I’ve seen joked about throughout my life in many forms and makes something pretty unique and heartfelt, without forgetting about the comedy in honoring the characters. I give the film an enthusiastic four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and like the coyote falling off a cliff. I’m glad this movie is making such a “big bang” with audiences lol