The Amateur

The new action/thriller movie, The Amateur, released this weekend, starring Academy Award winner Rami Malek.

This movie is the Geek version of John Wick, who uses technology and computers instead of guns and knives. Rami Malek has a interesting presence on screen that is different than would be expected out of a lead protagonist. I found his acting style to be an intriguing change of pace for this type of revenge movie.

Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) worked as a tech guy for the CIA, and receives tragic news. His wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), on a trip to London, is grabbed and killed by a group of terrorists. Charlie decided to use his skills to search out and kill the people responsible. The CIA sent killer Colonel Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) after him.

I enjoyed this revenge flick quite a bit. I really loved how Charlie was able to get these people by being smarter than anyone else. He was always two steps ahead of everybody. I do think they showed us too many of the deaths in the trailer. I understand why they had to show some of them, but I would have liked to have been more surprised by a few of the moments than I was.

I did really enjoy the conclusion of the film, which felt very unexpected considering what I had seen up until that point.

This may have been a bit too long and could have cut out some of the fat in the middle, but for the most part, I liked this watch. It was a little slow at times, but I found the differences a cool change in a revenge/spy movie.

4.1 stars

A Minecraft Movie

My teacher buddy Ambarlee stopped by my classroom Monday morning and she told me that she went to A Minecraft Movie over the weekend and she loved it. When I said I was going Wednesday morning and not looking forward to it, she said that she was watching her middle child and there was so much joy on his face that it made it so much better for her. Sadly, I had no child’s face to stare at when I watched this thing. I am sure I would rather be watching a child’s face than this movie.

According to IMDB, “Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected expert crafter.”

I do like Jack Black and Jason Momoa. They are reasonably likable characters here… well, at least, they are likable representation of themselves. I always enjoyed when Jack Black would break into song in A Minecraft movie. Black is a full-fledged entertainer.

After that, there is little in this movie that I enjoyed. I found the story repetitive and dull. The comedy missed way more than it hit. There were a few moments were I found myself laughing, but they were few and far between.

I was not a fan of the manner in which the story was told nor did I think the film looked that great. It absolutely had a feel like a video game where the background was cartoonish. I am not sure what the whole Jennifer Coolidge sections were about, though Coolidge is another actor that I like, but her entire story arc was unnecessary.

This was a dumb movie that especially young audiences might enjoy, especially those that have spent hours playing the game this movie was based on. This was not for me. I went in with a low level of expectations and the film struggled to reach them. A Minecraft Movie made a massive amount at the box office this weekend (though my Wednesday morning showing at Phoenix Theaters was empty except for me) and this will undoubtedly be a major success. I wish it was a better movie.

1.75 stars

Hell of a Summer

I realized this the other day. It turned out that the next movie review I was going to write would be my 2700th review on this site. I did write several years of reviews before EYG moved to Word Press, but those are gone into the recesses of the internet.

What would be the 2700th review on EYG? Yes, it was Hell of a Summer, the new film written and directed by Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk.

Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things was one of the few actors I recognized from the movie (although, there was also Fred Hechinger who was just in Kraven the Hunter).

A group of counselors go to Camp Pineway to prepare for summer camp and to discover that a masked killer was knocking them off.

Now this is not an original concept for a slasher movie. Plenty of them are set at a summer camp. However, this felt kind of like a bit of a satire of those movies as there was a lot of humor etched in the situation.

Yes, none of the characters were very well developed, but, again, you can say that in any of the slasher movies, and much of that was played for laughs.

The film was paced well and never slacked off. There were some funny bits and some characters who you really were cheering to get killed by the killer, especially Bobby (Billy Bryk). The story was simple and straightforward and checked all the boxes you would need for a slasher flick. Was it great? No, but it was an enjoyable enough film to pass the time on a Saturday afternoon.

3.2 stars

The Woman in the Yard

A new horror/thriller movie opened this weekend and it had an intriguing premise. Sadly, the premise kind of stopped at that point.

Danielle Deadwyler is an excellent actor and has appeared in some really juicy roles over the last few years. She has been one of the major snubs at the Oscars in the past, especially for her work in Till. You can see that she is acting her butt off in this movie, but the fact is, there just is not much for her in this film.

According t IMDB, “A mysterious woman repeatedly appears in a family’s front yard, often delivering chilling warnings and unsettling messages, leaving them to question her identity, motives and the potential danger she might pose.”

There were some decent scenes of peril in the film that was able to create some suspense, placing the family in jeopardy. It was all tied to an accident that turned tragic, but seemed to be meant to be a bigger deal and a bigger shock than it turned out to be.

The early part of the film had some good moments and I had hoped this could develop into something special, but the second half and ending were all just a waste of time and the very ending was too laughable when it was going for tense.

It was only around 88 minutes, yet it felt longer than that. There were some stylish flairs to the horror, but the second half really took the coolness out of the concept and turned it into a convoluted story that did not work.

Deadwyler does her best to save what is here, but even her efforts failed to improve this premise that failed to capitalize on its intriguing beginning.

2.75 stars

O’Dessa

Haven’t had a rock opera in awhile.

Well, there is one on Hulu right now starring Stranger Things star Sadie Sink. It is called O’Dessa and it is something. I feel as if I should sit with this one awhile.

Sadie Sink played the titular character O’Dessa Galloway, a young farm girl who takes her father’s guitar and set off to become a rambler, a traveling musician, like her father. Along the way, she met Euri Dervish (Kelvin Harrison Jr) and she fell in love with him. O’Dessa must overcome series of obstacles in the way of their love to play one song for the world.

There are things that this movie does extremely well and things that it does poorly. It is definitely a mixed bag for me. Starting with the positives, Sadie Sink is absolutely the star of this movie and she showed that she has a bright career after her days in Hawkins, Indiana come to a close. She has amazing charisma and displays a lot of talent, elevating the movie above what the script gives her.

That script is one of the weaknesses of the film as there is not much there below the surface area of plot and character development.

As I mentioned in my recent review of Disney’s Snow White remake, the music in O’Dessa is entertaining and, in the moment, I enjoyed it, but I am not sure that I will remember any of the songs and it did not inspire me to go buy it on Apple Music. So that is a push. I enjoyed listening to the music during the film, but it does not occupy a place in my head as great musicals would.

The post-apocalyptic world is an interesting mishmash of styles and imagery. Some areas felt like the world of “Fallout” while others feature technology and neon energy such as Blade Runner. It felt as if there should have been one or the other.

Regina Hall and Murray Bartlett appear as a couple of villainous characters that do not have much more than the villainy that they commit. Both are outstanding actors that bring more to their roles than what was on the page. The ending segment with Sadie Sink and Murray Bartlett was engaging and thrilling even if there was not a ton of depth to the characters. I truly believe that this is because of the skill of these actors.

Overall, I would give O’Dessa a slight positive as the best parts outweighed the weaknesses and the music is passable enough for an under two hour film. I do not think this will be a cult favorite though which is what it should have strived for.

3.1 stars

Riff Raff

I had a chance to rent Riff Raff . I had seen the film in the theaters, but I was unable to fit a viewing into the schedule and I was interested in it because of the cast. So when it became available on Vudu, I was excited at the chance to watch it.

The cast was extremely strong, featuring Ed Harris, Jennifer Coolidge, Bill Murray, Gabrielle Union, Pete Davidson, Lewis Pullman, Miles J. Harvey and Emanuela Postacchini.

Vincent (Ed Harris) was a former criminal who escaped from the life and found a new one with a new wife Sandy (Gabrielle Union) and her son from another marriage, DJ (Miles J. Harvey). DJ was preparing to go to college when Vincent’s other son Rocco (Lewis Pullman) and his pregnant girlfriend Marina (Emanuela Postacchini) showed up unexpectedly, with Rocco’s mother and Vincent’s first wife, Ruth (Jennifer Coolidge) unconscious and in tow. Rocco has got a problem that threatened everybody’s happiness.

This film is a dark comedy in the vein of Fargo, but I do not think the comedic element is exactly strong. I did enjoy the separate characters and their stories that the film develops. Some might claim the film is slow, but I thought the development of these people were one of the strengths of the movie.

I love Jennifer Coolidge. I have been introduced to her work recently with The White Lotus and I enjoyed the character she was playing here.

Without spoiling things, I think the ending of this both worked and had several flaws to it. Most of what happened worked well for me, but there were some questions I had about how things happened and why things happened that did take away from it, in my opinion. I can’t go into too many details without spoiling it, but let’s just say that it did not leave me with the satisfied feeling I expected.

The strength of the cast pulled this up and I was engaged with the story as it developed. I wish there was another ten minutes at the end to make some things that happen make more sense than they did.

3.3 stars

Locked

I had not heard about this movie until I saw a mention of it on TikTok. Starring Bill Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins, this reminded me quite a bit of Phone Booth, with Colin Farrell, but with a car.

Eddie Barrish (Bill Skarsgård) was a man struggling to get his life on track. His van was in the shop and he did not have the money to pay to get it fixed and he could not keep his promises to pick up his daughter, Sarah (Ashley Cartwright) after school.

In an attempt to get the money he needed, Eddie was in search of a car that might be open where he could steal the money he needed. He was not stealing cars, just looking for stuff he could steal inside.

When he comes across a wealthy looking car unlocked in a parking lot, Eddie thinks he has struck it rich. That is until he realizes that he can not get back out of the car. He is locked inside. And a phone line from the car is ringing, demanding that he answer it.

When Eddie can’t take the ring any longer, he answers the phone to discover that the car’s owner, William (Anthony Hopkins) is on the other end and this car was a trap to punish anyone trying to rob it. William then tortures Eddie for several days in several hard to buy scenarios in an attempt for justice. Eddie does not know how deep the anger goes inside William.

I am of two minds with this one. While I like the idea and the execution, some of the things going down are hard to accept as possible. The electrified seats, the bullet proof glass, and the cameras everywhere were all accepted as part of the trap. I kept thinking that there had to be a way out of this car and that made it tough for me to accept the premise.

Bill Skarsgård, however, does a fantastic job as Eddie. Eddie goes through the ringer here, both physically and emotionally. This is one of the rare films that Bill Skarsgård has done where we can see his face, and he does not disappoint. His character is filled with all kinds of emotion and guilt over the life that he has chosen and his own failures as a man and a father. He clearly loves his daughter, even while letting her down consistently.

There just felt like there was something that did not work in this movie for me, and, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I think it was Anthony Hopkins. He is a master at acting, but I just did not feel like he was cast properly in this role. I found his dialogue to be clunky and all over the place, lacking that taut delivery of some of his other classic villains. The film want this to be a morality tale, but it takes too long to get to the reasoning behind the trap and I found Hopkins to be more annoying than sinister.

The drama is well done and the scenes with the car in motion are both ridiculous and suspenseful at the same time. There is a scene with a slow motion deflecting bullet that is kind of laughable, but most of the action is good.

I do think the performance of Bill Skarsgård is worth the price of admission alone. Locked felt too long, even at just over 90 minutes, but what worked in the film worked well.

3 stars

Disney’s Snow White (2025)

I have found most of the “live-action” Disney remakes to fall into the “meh/it’s okay” category. There have been a couple of good ones, some bad ones, but mostly average to below average. Snow White had been receiving a lot of bad word of mouth and online hate, so my expectations were extremely low.

I did not think it was as bad of a film from what I had heard. It’s not a great movie, and it might be pushing it to call it good as well, but I did not see the reason for all of the hatred this film has received.

The classic story is retold as Snow White was shown as a youngster with wonderful parents, the king and queen. Tragedy struck leaving the king alone. Gal Gadot arrived and married the king. When he went to war, the king did not return and Gadot became the Queen, aka the Evil Queen.

Snow White tried to help her people, but the Evil Queen sent the Huntsman out with her to kill Snow White. He could not do it and let her escape into the woods where she discovered the Dwarves.

Rachel Zegler was good as Snow White. I would go as far as to say that she was the best part of the film. The film had some heart and it told the story well. I thought most of the music was catchy or nice to listen to, even though I doubt I would remember them tomorrow and none of them are songs that I would buy on Apple Music.

The Dwarves were not one of my favorite parts. I thought they looked terrible, creepy as all get out as they were all CGI. The animals looked better, but the Dwarves just had that weird look on their faces all the time.

I did not think Gal Gadot made a good Evil Queen. This is the type of role that she would not handle well. She looked amazing, though.

The overall look of the film was not great. It felt fake and much of the CGI was disappointing. The background was not as beautiful and elegant as it should have been and I am not sure where they spent the reported 250 million dollar budget.

So while this was nowhere near as bad as the internet wants you to believe, I would still place it firmly in that Disney Live Action “meh” category I talked about earlier. I am not sure that there was a real reason (outside of making money) for this film to have been remade.

2.8 stars

The Electric State

What do you expect for a budget of $320 million? A good movie?

The Electric State, based on a 2018 graphic novel, is one of the most expensive Netflix movies ever made, and to be fair, you can see the money on the screen with some tremendous special effects. However, there is not much of anything else in the film and it just lacked any kind of heart, any type of spark.

Joe and Anthony Russo directed the film, reteaming with writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely from their MCU days. They worked together on Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Those are classic Marvel films. This one is not those.

According to IMDB, “With humans isolated in their VR helmets and a continuing battle against a strange breed of monstruous drones in the wake of a technological meltdown, a teenage girl named Michelle and a robot travel the West Coast of the U.S in search of the girl’s missing brother.

One thing for sure, this movie has an astounding cast. Starring Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, the film also featured either live action or voice over performances from Stanley Tucci, Woody Norman, Woody Harrelson, Alan Tudyk, Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, Tuc Watkins, Giancarlo Esposito, Ke Huy Quan, Colman Domingo, Anthony Mackie, Hank Azaria, Rob Gronkowski, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Greg Cromer, and Kurt Loder.

Despite the loaded cast, this movie was a slog, taking pieces that we have seen from other films and mashing them together into a lesser contraption.

I immediately was pulled out when one of the characters was Mister Peanut. Yes, Mister Peanut from Planters. The character design of the robots, almost all of the robots, was so childish and cartoonish that I had no connection to them at all.

The biggest problem with that is that the robots did not fit with the tone being set up in this movie. Had this been a satire or a straight up action/comedy, maybe these robots would have worked, but this movie tried to be a serious film with sprinkling of humor throughout, and it did not work. Had this movie really embraced the ridiculousness of the film, it might have been a much better movie.

While there is a great cast, there is not any characters with any depth to them at all. They are all, with the possible exception of Millie Bobby Brown, one-dimensional characters that lack any real development through the film. Chris Pratt played the same character that he has played in many different movies. How are you supposed to give character development to Mister Peanut?

Electric State missed the mark badly. It had a chance to do something new and different, but slipped back into the most cliched story you could expect and just could not nail the tone. It tried to be too many different things and failed at all of them. A real disappointment. Hope the Russos do a better job with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars over the next few years.

1.2 stars

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

I do love the Looney Tunes. However, to be fair, Bugs Bunny is my favorite character. I was wearing my Bugs Bunny shirt when I went to see the new WB Animation movie The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. I knew that Daffy Duck and Porky Pig were the leads of the flick, but I was still hoping for a Bugs Bunny cameo. Unfortunately that did not happen.

Despite the disappointment over the lack of the rascally rabbit, I had fun with the feature-length animated film. There were some moments that I did not love, but, for the most part, this was a good time and the Looney Tunes remain a classic cartoon.

According to IMDB, “Porky and Daffy, the classic animated odd couple, turn into unlikely heroes when their antics at the local bubble gum factory uncover a secret alien mind control plot. Against all odds, the two are determined to save their town (and the world!)…that is if they don’t drive each other crazy in the process.”

The early years with Daffy and Porky being raised by Farmer Jim were wonderful. The way the movie presented Farmer Jim was something special. I found every minute of Farmer Jim to be hilarious, and the different animation style on the character was perfect.

The film really is of two parts. The first part is dealing with the dangerous chewing gum, and the second part switches things up and has to deal with a planet wide emergency, both situations featured Daffy and Porky smack dab in the middle.

The voice acting was solid from a group of voice over actors that may not be known names, but who had plenty of experience to bring great work. They include Eric Bauza (both Porky and Daffy), Candi Milo, Peter MacNicol, Fred Tatasciore, Laraine Newman, Wayne Knight, Ruth Clampett, Kimberly Brooks, Keith Ferguson, and Peter Browngardt.

The Looney Tunes certainly have a place in today’s animated films and this should show that. I want Bugs Bunny next time, though.

3.75 stars

Novocaine

The new action/comedy Novocaine was released this week starring The Boys star Jack Quaid. Quaid played a character that could not feel any pain and winds up in the middle of a bank robbery.

This movie was extremely violent and Jack Quaid does a wonderful job as our lead protagonist. It was impressive how much you could relate to Quaid’s character Nate Caine considering he had this ability to not feel any pain. Everything that Nate said made sense to me and I could understand why he made the choices that he made.

Amber Midthunder played Nate’s love interest, Sherry. They had great chemistry in the film and you could believe that Nate goes to the extremes that he does when Sherry gets snatched by the bank robbers.

There were some truly brutal moments in the film, bad enough that some of them reminded me of the animated Invincible, and if you know anything about that show, you know that it is very gory and bloody. Novocaine seemed to take inspiration with some of the things that they did to Nate or the others in the cast.

It was funny several times when Nate would be injured and he would not feel anything. This is a SPOILER if you have not seen the trailers, but Jack took a swinging spiked ball to the back and just looked at it and said what was that. I t was funny.

Some parts of the story require suspension of disbelief, but I do not have a problem with that when you have a character who can not feel pain. The writers used this in several very interesting ways, in ways that I never would have thought about.

Jacob Batalon, who played Ned in the MCU Spider-Man movies, played Nate’s online gamer buddy, and, though he spent much of the time in the movie on the phone where we do not see him, his presence is welcome and his comedic timing is excellent. He worked very well with Jack Quaid despite not sharing much screentime together.

Novocaine was an enjoyable film with plenty of comedy and plenty of violent action. It feels a little long, but there are many great moments inside of the 110 minutes.

3.8 stars

The Night of the Zoopocalypse

I went to a new animated film today called The Night of the Zoopocalypse, and it was a good time.

It featured the voice acting by David Harbour and a bunch of people I have never heard of before. Gabbi Kosmidis voiced Gracie, a wolf, who meets up with David Harbour’s Dan, a mountain lion, after a meteor crashed in the zoo, unleashing a virus that turned the animals into zombie-like creatures.

One of my favorite characters was Xavier (Pierre Simpson), a lemur who would injure himself intentionally so he could spend the night in the zoo hospital, allowing him to watch movies on the TV. He would speak in meta manner throughout the film, while not necessarily breaking the fourth wall, comparing the events that happened to the animal survivors in movie terms. He was funny.

The animation was good, and the character design, especially of those animals that had been transformed by the virus. They were weird and yucky looking creatures that moved in original way. It offers a nice intro to the younger audience into the horror genre.

Sure the overall story was pretty typical, I found little about it that bothered me. The characters were likable enough and it had a nice message. David Harbour is always a plus. Based loosely on a Clive Barker short story called “ZOOmbies,” Night of the Zoopocalypse was an okay to spend a lazy, no-school Monday afternoon.

3.4 stars

Mickey 17

Academy Award winning director/writer Bong Joon Ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, Okja) is back with his new film released this weekend after several delays, Mickey 17, based on a novel named Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton. Mickey 17 is a mix of sci-fi/dark comedy/drama/satire/fantasy-adventure. Unfortunately, these genres are not combined well and are at odds with the others more times than not.

Mickey 17 tells the story of a man named Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who, in order to escape earth and a loan shark who is after him, volunteers to be an expendable, a person they give the bad jobs to and, if something tragic happens, they clone the expendable and replace his memories.

Which is where the 17 comes from in the title. The seventeenth version of Mickey is the one we are with during the brunt of the beginning of the film. Then something unexpected happened and they wind up creating Mickey 18, even though Mickey 17 was not yet dead.

While I feel that there were several problems with the movie, I did not hate this. In fact, I am kind of on the fence about it. Some of the stronger parts of the film is certainly the performance of Robert Pattinson. His work as both Mickeys was extremely strong, as he was able to create two distinct characters, even though they were meant to be the same person. I am not sure why Mickey 18 turned out to be as different from Mickey 17 as he did, which was something the film did not go into.

The first part of the film was very intriguing. I liked the sci-fi elements to the story, especially the ones between 17 and 18 in the early part of the film.

The film looked great. The CGI was spectacular and you could see the wonderful eye of director Bong Joon Ho.

However, the film was not that funny, with most of the humor falling flat. I did not enjoy the performance of Mark Ruffalo, who was clearly doing a satirical take on Donald Trump. I am not a Trump fan, and I believe there is plenty of area available for parody, but this was just so over-the-top and blatant that it lacked any subtlety at all. Plus the character played by Ruffalo is such a one-note villain that it felt too cartoonish for the rest of the film. Toni Collette, who played the wife of Ruffalo’s character, was better, but she was similarly one dimensional. Her whole obsession with “sauce” made little sense in the overall film.

Several characters and moments were introduced only to never really have a payoff. I love Steven Yeun (Walking Dead), but his character was inconsistent for me and his storyline felt like it was added to get Steven Yeun into the movie. It felt like it could have been removed completely without any massive change to the story.

It was also 2 hours and 17 minutes long, which is not a bad thing necessarily, but it did feel its length during the film. The last part of the movie was chaotic and strange and I am not sure how well it worked. I do like the big swings with the oddity of a film that this is, but it just did not feel to be a cohesive narrative with a consistent tone.

I think some of the ideas in Mickey 17 are extremely great and could have made a better movie than what this turned out to be. For me, I came out of the theater with a meh feel after having some high hopes heading in. As I said, it is not a bad movie. It does not come anywhere near Parasite or Snowpiercer.

2.9 stars

Love Hurts

I think Ke Huy Quan is as charming and engaging of an actor as you are going to find. I loved him in Everything, Everywhere All at Once and the season two of Loki. Unfortunately, Love Hurts is a mess. I’d go as far as to say that this is not Love Hurts… but instead, Love Stinks.

According to IMDB, “A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.”

There were some fun fight scenes. The story, though, was about as dumb as it comes and there is not one real character in it. Because of all that, the film, even among the biggest action scenes, felt very boring.

1.5 stars

Dog Man

With a day off school for weather, I had a chance to watch Dog Man on Fandango at Home (Vudu). Dog Man was a movie that I was avoiding at the theaters because it just did not look like something that would intrigue me. The trailers did nothing for the film in my opinion and, even after some positive reviews, I did not care to watch it.

So when I rented Dog Man, I was not especially anxious to see it.

I have to say, this was a movie that I found much more enjoyable than I ever expected it to be.

The film kicked off with the origin of Dog Man, and set up his rivalry with the evil cat, Petey (Pete Davidson). With pressure from Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri), Dog Man was chasing Petey, and every time Dog Man would catch him, Petey would escape from the Cat Prison. Everything changed when Petey decided to clone himself.

The script of this movie was pretty good, as it told the story of what was going on, but also reveled in a ton of meta filmmaking. There were tons of jokes about the movie, the style, the animation, and about the tropes that were actually quite funny. They were jokes that worked much better in context than they did during the trailers, which always seemed to be painfully unfunny.

The look of the animation was original and creative. I thought this looked really good and kept my focus on the screen.

I am sure that the target audience for this movie, of which I am not one, would find this incredibly entertaining. I would go as far as to say that I was entertained as well. This had some jokes for me as an adult mixed in with the jokes for the youth. They worked well together.

It is very sweet, maybe even too sweet at times.

I am happy that I was able to watch Dog Man. It was much better than I thought it would be. I would highly recommend it to any families out there looking for some funny family fare that everyone will enjoy.

3.6 stars