Category Archives: Doc’s Movie Reviews

Clown in a Cornfield

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I saw this listed at Cinemark and my mind immediately went to movies like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. Clown in a cornfield? It seemed so ridiculous. However, the reviews were mostly positive, surprising me. I decided to give it a chance.

According to IMBD (by way of Bloody Disgusting), “Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start, But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half. On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out as quick as they can. Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.” Synopsis from Bloody Disgusting“

I was torn by this movie. There were parts that I thought were really dumb and, if you excuse the pun, corny. However, it was heads and shoulders above the type of movies that I expected it to be lke.

The film did start off by introducing a group of young teen characters that I hated and led me to look forward to seeing them killed by a clown. As the film progressed, I learned that the unlikable characters were part of the story, not just a slasher movie trope. I started to believe that the writing was more clever than I initially thought.

The story had some interesting moments, but was very messy in a lot of spots. I am not sure everything came together well. There were some holes in the story, especially the ending. Without spoiling anything, something at the end confused me so much that I was questioning myself that I must have missed something.

Clown in a Cornfield is not a bad film. It was an enjoyable enough watch as it moved along quickly. I think I went in with low expectations and I had a good enough time with it. I did like how the film changed up several of the expected horror tropes. This was fun at times.

3 stars

Thunderbolts *

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The newest Marvel Studios film arrived in theaters tonight and took a risk. It featured a group of b-list characters from other films and TV shows and put them front and center. And it was glorious.

Yelena (Florence Pugh) was feeling alone and depressed with the state of her life. She was tired of just receiving another mission from Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus). When Yelena accepted one final mission for Valentina, things go astray. She met up with a group of ragtag mercs including John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) who all had missions to eliminate the others.

However, while they were there, they also met Bob (Lewis Pullman), a mysterious figure that did not remember why he was there.

Add Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Red Guardian (David Harbour) and the Thunderbolts are together.

This was great. It felt like a different style of Marvel movie. Sure there was action, and it was great, but the writing and the story was rich and complex. We saw details behind these characters that you do not usually see in the MCU. These people were broken and they were going through the motions trying to find a purpose.

The allegory for mental health is clear as several of these characters could be considered depressed from the way their lives have gone. It really is a well balanced story, with character development, humor, action, and some of the best chemistry the MCU has seen in awhile.

This cast is just tremendous with the material they were given. Florence Pugh is a movie star. She is such an amazing actor and this is an amazing performance. I understood everything that she was feeling and Pugh was able to show the whole range of emotions for the sister of the Black Widow. Lewis Pullman is exceptional as Bob, aka Sentry. He is one of the most original characters in the MCU and I think the future is really bright for him.

David Harbour is unbelievable in this film. He provides some of the best comedic lines of the film, but there is an argument to be made that he is also the heart of the Thunderbolts. He is not just a buffoon. He is more than that.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus got some very meaty stuff to do in this film. This is easily the best she has done since entering the MCU in The Falcon and Winter Soldier on Disney +. I would also say that Wyatt Russell’s work as John Walker really built on the job he did on that TV show.

It was over a two-hour movie, but, for me, it flew by. I could not believe that we were arriving in the final scenes of the movie as it just did not feel like that much time had passes. It was wonderfully directed and paced by Jake Schreier, who directed the Netflix series Beef.

The final act of the film was considerably different than the normal MCU film and I found it to be extremely emotional. I loved how they wrapped up this story.

There are two post credit scenes that you must not skip. The first one was a fun scene but the second one elicited applause from my audience.

I love the Thunderbolts* (and the meaning of the asterisk is revealed) and this was such a great film. These characters are nowhere near the peak Marvel characters, but it goes to show you that if you have good writing and a great cast, you can accomplish anything. This is a fabulous film that I am excited to see again.

5 stars

By the way, the IMAX theater I was in had a countdown before the movie like it always did, except this one was all about the Fantastic Four, including the music from the trailer. I literally had goosebumps when the countdown finished and all it included was the numbers 10 to 1. It was special.

Havoc

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I did not know anything about this movie until I pulled up Netflix yesterday and saw it there. I remember seeing some thumbnails on YouTube from several of the reactors/content creators that I like who had done responses to a movie called Havoc. I did not put it together until I saw it on Netflix.

It starred Tom Hardy, who was a big star for a Netflix film.

According to IMDB, “The story is set after a drug deal gone wrong, when a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.“

This one was not my favorite film. Tom Hardy did a great job in his role, but that was about where it ended for me. The story was convoluted and the film was nothing much more than just a whole bunch of gunfire. It was brutal and bloody. I am not sure how Tom Hardy made it through all the bullets without being killed.

There just was not much to this story and, if you only want to have a bloody shoot out film, this will be the one for you. However, for me, this was not a film that hooked me. I was bored during a lot of this film and, even with its short time, it felt like a longer film than I would have liked.

2.4 stars

The Legend of Ochi

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A24 is an active and extremely busy movie studio, releasing all kinds of different movies. One of the newest releases from the studio is a fantasy/adventure that plays like a fairy tail in The Legend of Ochi.

Shot on location in Romania, The Legend of Ochi looks beautiful and the creatures known as the ochi are amazingly constructed in one of the best uses of practical effects in years. The creatures, in particular our little lead character, are marvelous and shows that you can still create something stunning and effective without a bunch of CGI.

According to IMBD, “A young girl named Yuri is raised to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. However, when she discovers a baby ochi left behind by its pack, she embarks on a perilous journey to reunite the creature with its family. As Yuri ventures deeper into the forest, she faces dangerous challenges and learns valuable lessons about courage, friendship, and the importance of protecting nature.”

The performance of young actor Helena Zengel is very impressive as Yuri and she effectively carries the bulk of this film on her shoulders. She does an admirable job interacting with the puppet ochi as it travels around on her back and in her company.

There are two well known faces involved in the film. Willem Dafoe played Yuri’s father Maxim and Finn Wolfhard is Petro, a boy who is taken in by her father. Dafoe is his usually wonderful self as this father whose anger about his life is transferred into his hatred for these ochi creatures. He trained these children that are in his care as a military unit to hunt the ochi.

I did like the background story of Maxim and I thought his arc of the movie was very soldi. He had some great scenes with Emily Watson, who played Dasha, Yuri’s absent mother.

There are some weird things happening here, but it had that ET feel combined with a A24 horror film. The Legend of Ochi was a fun film with a nice story.

3.8 stars

The Accountant 2

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The first Accountant movie with Ben Affleck was fine, but not one of my favorite movies. I never thought it needed a sequel so when the announcement of The Accountant 2 was made, it did not make my list of anticipated movies.

I do believe that I liked this movie more than I did the original, but there are plenty of flaws here. Honestly, there is only one thing that made this an enjoyable time at the movie theater: The relationship between Be Affleck’s Christian Wolff and his brother, Braxton, played by Jon Bernthal.

According to IMDB, “When her former boss is killed by unknown assassins, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is forced to contact Christian Wolff (Affleck) to solve the murder. With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax (Jon Bernthal), Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle. As they get closer to the truth, the trio draw the attention of some of the most ruthless killers alive — all intent on putting a stop to their search.“

I have a definite idea that had Jon Bernthal not been in this movie, I would not have liked it. I did not find the plot to be engaging, and it was fairly ham-fisted. The action was fine, but nothing that we haven’t seen before.

The key to this movie was the exceptional interaction between two actors at the top of their game. Affleck and Bernthal had remarkable chemistry and every moment they were on screen together was electric. Especially the scenes where they are not shooting things up. It almost had an action buddy cop type of feel for The Accountant 2, and I was here for that.

It did feel too long, but the scenes with the two leads really pulled this forward. I should also shout out the work of Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who made for a solid third in the story.

Overall, I thought this was a solid action movie with a great lead pairing between two exceptional actors. These actors elevated the material around them to a level where I found myself engaged instead of checked out.

3.7 stars

2073

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I came across this on MAX and I thought it would be an interesting sci-fi movie. It is not.

I’m not really sure what it is. It is some kind of weird blend of documentary, post-apocalyptic wasteland and history lesson.

It is also one of the most depressing movie I have seen in a long time.

We are shown Ghost (Samantha Morton) from the year 2073, who spends nearly her whole time on screen doing a voice-over. There is not much of a narrative structure to the 2073 story. Ghost tried to determine how the earth got to this point.

At that point, it goes back in time, using real life news footage to try and explain how the world fell into such a horrendous future. It looked at real life politicians, world leaders, AI, and the billionaires, blending them into the structure of the story that leads to the destruction of this movies’ fictional future.

This British docudrama feels much like those films made by Dinesh D’Souza, except from the other side of the aisle. It seems like there is more fearmongering in this film so, even in the manner in which it may be calling out important pieces, it undermines its own argument.

And the sci-fi section is just not compelling enough to balance out the news reel footage. The filmmakers took a big swing, but, unfortunately, this does not work. I found this to be depressing, and, worst of all, not entertaining. Even those movies that are meant to show the downside of the human condition have to be a compelling watch. This just is not.

1 star

Sinners

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Ryan Coogler has been hugely successful as a director. From his debut with Fruitville Station to his forays into the MCU with Black Panther to his entries in the Rocky franchise with Creed, Coogler has been a winner. Coogler decided to tackle the vampire genre with his new film Sinners, but there is so much more than just a vampire flick.

Conceivably, you could call this a Vampire musical. I was not expecting that.

According to IMDB, “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.”

I can see some people feeling that this movie is slow, and there is no doubt that the film takes the first hour or so of the run time to do lots of background. It absolutely takes its time to get to the vampire, and, while I was sitting in the theater, it did feel its length at times, what came after was worth it, and that first hour or so did make a difference with the deaths that followed.

Michael B. Jordon was wonderful in this dual role, as Smoke and Stack. You felt the connection between the twin brothers and Jordon does such a good job that there were a couple of times I questioned that it was him doing both parts.

What I did not expect was how much this was tied in with music, particularly with the Blues. Some of the musical numbers were amazingly complex and choreographed and a couple of them were downright surreal. I watched the one dance routine with spirits from the past, present and future with a shocked disbelief.

One of the best performances came from the debut of Miles Caton, who played Sammie. His character really made me think about Robert Johnson and the legend surrounding his life and career. Sammie was a phenom on the guitar, but his music seemingly brought forth the vampires. Caton was an impressive actor in this film.

The story was brutal and emotional, pulling on heartstrings of the different characters, providing pain and anguish as well as some joy of the music and being together.

Sinners is a challenging watch, but it is a worthwhile one, marking yet another win for Ryan Coogler.

4.3 stars

Drop

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Drop is a Hitchcockian-type film set in the world of cell phones.

According to IMDB, “A widowed mother on her first date in years, who arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.”

Is this overly ridiculous? Yes. Is the story difficult to believe? Yes. Are there a ton of coincidences that had to happen for things to work out as they did? Of course. None of that bothered me. I was entertained.

I did enjoy the chemistry between Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar. Was Sklenar’s Henry the most patient and understanding man in the world? Absolutely. I would have been so out of there way before this.

This was, for the most part, a one location setting for the film and the restaurant made a solid place for this adventure. I thought there were a lot of fun secondary characters who could be the antagonist and a bunch of them that were red herrings.

There was some dark reasons behind Violet’s past, which was a tough to watch at times. I did like the back story that we got.

There felt like there was a lot of reasons why this movie should not have been very good, and yet I found myself really enjoying it. I suspended my disbelief and found myself entertained.

4 stars

The Amateur

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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