The Blackening is a dark horror comedy directed by Tim Story. It is a satire of horror movies and racial stereotypes while being both suspenseful and outrageously funny.

A group of former college friends receive an invite for a reunion/party at a cabin in the woods on Juneteenth. Unbeknownst to them, the party is a cover for a trap meant to kill them all.

This ensemble cast was excellent and worked so well with one another. The main cast included Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg and Jermaine Fowler. This cast took their characters and avoided the simple stereotypes while developing the characters very successfully considering the short time of the film.

There was a great amount of self-awareness in the movie, playing up on the horror movie tropes. They even go as far as to make references to other movies such as Scream.

The movie does have some things to say about the plight of black people as well as the selfishness of a group of people. The message of the movie never threatened to overwhelm the entertainment, which is not always the norm. This group of people were not innocent in this and you can understand the reasoning behind what happens to them. However, you cannot help but cheer and root for them to make it through the challenges and games that they are being forced to undertake.

One of my favorite jokes in the film, subtle as it was, was when Diedrich Bader’s park ranger character, Mr. White, is referred to as a ‘white savior.’ by one of the cast. That was hilarious and a great example of how smart this movie’s dialogue and writing was.

I found this extremely intelligent and hilariously funny. I was thoroughly entertained by the film that moves at a brisk pace and never felt boring.

4.4 stars

The latest Pixar animated movie left me all wet at first, but I did warm up to it as it went along…

Yes, I am ashamed of those puns.

Elemental featured the story of Ember (Leah Lewis), a young girl of the fire people living in a land where the other elements- air, water and land- live together, who is trying to convince her father Bernie (Ronnie Del Carmen) that she is ready to take over running their family store so he can retire.

However, during the important sale at the store, the pipes of the store burst, flooding the basement. The water also pulled in Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a local building inspector and a water person, who writes a bunch of tickets that would lead to the store’s closure. Ember chases after Wade in an attempt to stop him from turning in the tickets.

As they work together, Ember and Wade realize that there is a spark between them, despite being apparently incompatable.

I came into Elemental with very little anticipation. Though I always enjoy Pixar, this film was just not doing much for me. Then, it did not help that the film had an animated short featuring Carl and Doug from Up called Carl’s Date. I disliked this short a great deal. It was dull, repetitive and just not funny. It kicked off the afternoon in a poor manner.

The film then started and I had a real difficult time getting into the film. I was not enjoying the story, the characters felt way below the line of the usual Pixar work and I just did not like what I was watching. I was counting the time waiting for this to be over.

Of course, the animation continued to be absolutely gorgeous and at the high level of quality of Pixar movies. It could easily be considered a work of art. The character designs were good. I loved the way Ember’s nose moved like it was a flame.

As the film moved on, I started to become a little more engaged with the relationship between Ember and Wade. By the time the third act was underway, I was liking what I was watching more than I did before. It had won me over with its charm.

Elemental was a mixed bag for me. The story and the world did not grab my attention at first, but I did eventually found it entertaining. It was beautiful to look at for sure. It is a borderline recommendation for me.

3 stars

Extraction 2, the sequel to one of the most successful Netflix original movie from the streamer, dropped today on Netflix starring Chris Hemsworth, once again playing Tyler Rake.

However, at the end of the last movie, we thought Tyler Rake might have died. At the beginning of this movie, we see how close he actually came. Pulled out of the river, Tyler was operated on in a desperate attempt to save his life.

Tyler came out of the operations injured and weakened, destined for retirement. When Idris Elba came to see him with a mission request, Tyler found the boring and low-intensity life he had been living went out the window.

Extraction 2 elevated the action of the previous movie to a remarkable level in the sequel. Chris Hemsworth is a wonderful lead character, right at home with the fighting and gunfire. Although I have to say that during one fight when Hemsworth reached for a nearby hammer on the ground, I got excited.

The action of this movie was brilliantly conceived and executed. The first scene of Tyler Rake going into the prison where the family he was trying to extract was amazingly shot. It looked like a constant one-shot, though it was not. It got to be fun as I was looking for the hidden cuts during the scene. It was flawlessly edited together to make an anxiety-ridden scene.

There were three main action set pieces of Extraction 2 and they were all different enough to keep them fresh. Director Sam Hargrave sets up the action with some excellent shots and creative ways to highlight the gunfire that can become repetitive.

The film also tosses some emotional moments, especially when dealing with Tyler Rake’s son and the family that he was hired to rescue.

Other actors in the film included Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Tornike Gogrichiani, Andro Japaridze, Olga Kurylenko and Idris Elba.

I had a lot of fun watching this movie. Chris Hemsworth does a great job with what his character is supposed to do and the action is extremely well shot and outlined. It’s a great streaming film.

4 stars

I have been looking forward to this documentary since I first heard about it. Stan Lee is one of my idols. He helped shape my childhood and helped make me the person I have become through his imagination and creativity. His influence is massive for me.

So a documentary on his life streaming on Disney +? Well, I was all in on it.

Stan Lee, the documentary by David Gelb told us, in his own words, the story of Stanley Lieber, a comic book writer who helped revolutionize the industry and who helped create a mythology of today with some of the most recognizable characters in all of pop culture.

Stan Lee nearly narrated this entire doc from clips of him giving interviews and other public appearances, and this gave us a real insight on the ‘character’ of Stan Lee, the larger-than-life, braggadocio whose super heroes helped inspire a generation.

This documentary focuses on the positives of Stan Lee’s life. I would not go as far as to call it a ‘puff piece’ but there were areas of Stan Lee’s life that was just barely touched upon that could have made this an even more enjoyable documentary.

For example, the documentary truly popped when it played a clip of a radio show where Jack Kirby, Stan Lee’s longtime collaborator and one of the most successful and prolific comic book artists of all time, was being interviewed and Stan called in to wish him a happy birthday. The conversation between the two icons got away from the host and the conflicts between Stan and Jack came out. Those few seconds of the doc were as compelling as anything and I would have loved to hear more about that.

They also touched on the conflict between Stan and Steve Ditko. This, along with the conflict with Kirby, was based around the credit on who actually created certain characters. Was it the writer who came up with the idea or was it the artists who created the visual concept? Again, this idea was brushed across in this doc but really could have been the center of a major piece of the doc. It is a section that I would have loved to hear more about.

Stan also mentioned a time when Marvel Comics had been sold and he went from having a lifetime contract to having a two-year deal. He said he was not happy about that, but the doc does not go into much detail or specifics on this.

While the documentary did not dive into the controversies of his life, the doc was very entertaining dealing with the positives of Stan Lee’s life. His story of the creation of the Fantastic Four, about how the Spider-Man character became published, the creation of Black Panther all were fascinating, and hearing them from Stan’s own words made it all the more special.

This was a fun reflection on the parts of Stan Lee’s life that led to the iconic Marvel Comics. While I would have loved to have some of the doc go into more depth with the ‘warts’ of the man, what we got was still engaging and entertaining. Much like Stan Lee himself.

3.75 stars

The Flash has been in development for years. Finally, the movie has arrived with an unbelievable controversy and with some people claiming that it is the ‘best comic book movie ever.’

I’ll start with the controversy. I have to address it. Ezra Miller has had an insane path over the last several years, leading an abusive stretch with others. I am really trying my best to separate my thoughts of the creative person from the content, so my review will not detail my thoughts on Ezra Miller’s real life craziness.

So, on to the review.

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) uses his super speed to travel back in time to save his mother (Maribel Verdú) from her untimely death, which causes the universe to go seriously wonky and all kind of changes happen. Barry goes on a quest to try and right the wrongs he did, along with a younger version of himself, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) and Kara (Sasha Calle).

Okay, first off, this is not the best comic book movie ever made. Period. That does not mean I did not like The Flash, because I did. But this movie is fun, but very messy.

Let me start with what I liked. Ezra Miller did a great job as Barry Allen, in particular as the older Barry Allen who had more experience. They had a confidence and a swagger that fit the character very well. Miller did a great job playing two distinctly different characters, as well. Honestly, they did such a good job that I never thought about it being the same actor playing two roles.

Michael Keaton was sensational as the older Batman. Keaton looked as if he was having a blast returning to a version of a role that he played in 1989. He was absolutely the standout character in the film and his re-introduction was epic.

Sasha Calle was a wonderful addition as Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl. She brought a character that was nowhere near a Kal-El and a character whose brutality made a lot of sense considering the situation that she had found herself in.

Some of the emotional scenes that we got between Ezra Miller and Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen were extremely well written and directed. They had some powerful moments together and brought a heart to the movie.

Then there were several parts of The Flash that I thought were a mixed bag, some good, some bad. One of these was the special effects. Honestly, the first 10-15 minutes of CGI in this movie (I’ll say one word… babies) was some of the worst special effects we have had in a major movie in awhile. It was really a turn off in that scene. However, there were also some CGI in The Flash that was amazing and awesome. The speed force and the way the Flash was shown using his speed were beautifully rendered. There were times when one Barry Allen was carrying the other Barry Allen and it was totally seamless. CGI was truly a coin flip for the movie.

I found the cameos and Easter eggs that were plastered throughout the film were great and a lot of fun. Some did not always look as great as it could be, but the film absolutely played on the nostalgia (‘member-berries). However, there felt like some of the nostalgia was too forced, especially with the dialogue for Batman/Bruce Wayne. Is there a reason Michael Keaton had to repeat so many lines from his original movies? We get it, we remember. That felt too ham-fisted at times. Still, the best cameo came right at the end of the film (no spoilers, of course), but this felt like a giant middle finger to everyone and I was here for it.

Another up and down aspect was the humor. Some of the jokes worked really well, but other times it felt out of place. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that I want always serious comic book movies like the Snyder films, but some of this worked and much of it didn’t. Part that I did not like was the way young Barry Allen was portrayed. He was so obnoxious and played as a moron for much of the film. I know it was meant to show older Barry Allen what he had been like and to let him understand how others had seen him, but it felt too much. Young Barry felt stupid and I did not get that from previous films.

I will say that I hated the post credits scene at the very end of the film. It felt totally unnecessary and just not funny.

It also is unclear after this movie what the direction of the DCU is going to be. This felt much more like a goodbye to the previous films/universe instead of something that was going to kickoff the next round of movies. This was loosely based on the comic run called Flashpoint (which had an awesome animated DC movie back in 2013). The only set up in this film was.. ‘hey, multiverse!’ The multiverse concept has been done better in Across the Spider-Verse, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and the MCU.

I had fun with The Flash. Do not go into the film with the expectations that it is going to revolutionize the comic book movie industry, because it is not up to that standard. It is fun, with some solid actors who looked to be enjoying themselves, and a sprinkling of emotions in all the right spots. It is not the best DCEU movie, nor is it the worst. In fact, I would place it in the upper half of the DCEU films, and I believe that The Flash gives you permission to move on.

3.5 stars

I loved the Transformers as a kid. I loved the TV cartoon and I remember buying Transformers toys. Then the Michael Bay movies came along and I was excited. Unfortunately, they turned out to be some of my least favorite films ever. Legitimately, I believe Transformers: The Last Knight might be my least favorite movie of all time.

The last Transformers movie was Bumblebee, which was the first one without Michael Bay’s fingerprints all over it, and it was one of the best. Sadly, it did not do well at the box office so I was afraid that the film series would head back to the giant stupidity of the previous films instead of the solid work of Bumblebee.

Here come Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. This included characters from the 1990s animated TV show Beast Wars along with a low number of the Autobots. While I do not think this new Transformers movie was up to the level of Bumblebee, this was way better than any of the first five in the franchise and presented a breath of fresh air for the Robots in Disguise.

Set in 1994 after the events of Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts featured Noah (Anthony Ramos), a down on his luck former soldier who was struggling to find employment to help his mother and his ill brother Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez). After failing to get an honest job, Noah succumb to criminal activity and tried to steal a car. Of course, his luck is terrible as he tried to steal the Autobot, Mirage (Pete Davidson).

Meanwhile, Elena (Dominique Fishback), a young museum intern, studied a falcon statue with weird markings on it. When she accidentally broke the statue, it revealed the Transwarp Key, an object that was taken by the group of Maximals, led by Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), years before from their home planet when forces of the planet-sized Unicron, who consumed planets, tried to find the key. The key would open portals around the universe and allow Unicron unfettered access to any planet of his choosing. Unicron’s led henchman was named Scourge (Peter Dinklage), who had been searching for the key since. When Elena activated it, the signal alerted Scourge to its location.

The signal also brought Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the few other Autobots to it, trying to find the key which would allow them to go home to Cybertron.

Okay, so… that is a lot of synopsis. And I just scratched the surface. Though it feels convoluted when I am writing the plot out, the film does a decent job of explaining things for the audience so they were not lost. At least, I was not lost, though I have a knowledge of the lore so perhaps someone not as familiar with the Transformers may be more confused.

There have been several issues I have had with the previous Transformers movies. The first one is the human characters. In previous movies, the human characters were terrible characters that simply took up time that should have gone to the Transformers. Here, Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback do a very good job of being vital and not ridiculous like in previous films (The film had Mirage make a great joke about Marky Mark…aka Mark Wahlberg, who was in previous Transformers movies).

Second issue I have had before was the fact that I could never tell which giant robot was which. All of the Autobots looked the same except for Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. The rest were dull and poor characters that were undistinguishable from the others. This is much better since they keep the Autobots to a limited number including Prime, Bumblebee, Mirage, Arcee and Wheeljack. The Maximals were much more original in their designs so they stood out better (although when they transformed into their robot forms, they were much less so). Optimus Primal and Michelle Yeoh’s Maximal character Airazor are the two Maximals that standout in this film. However, the villains were absolutely interchangeable, even Scourge not standing out of the crowd.

Previous franchise films had just stupid humor/jokes that were not funny. The humor in this film was kept to a minimum and usually worked well.

The writing has been truly stupid over the previous movies and, while this film’s writing isn’t remarkable, it is much better. There are several cringeworthy moments in the third act though that bothered me. The third act was decent enough as not to have ruined what they were going for, though it did feel like too much of a step back.

The mid-credit scene was great and looks to take the franchise into a very intriguing path that I would be all for. No spoilers here.

As someone who hated the Michael Bay Transformers movies, I am on board with this new path the franchise is on. This movie is not a brilliant film, but it easily clears the bar set by previous entries in the series. While not as good as Bumblebee, keeping the number of Autobots down helped this film and it is always cool to hear Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime. This film kept the really stupid things at a minimum and avoided most of the traps that ruined previous movies. I am cautiously optimistic about the future of the Transformers movies.

3.5 stars