Dracula returns in a manner in which we have never seen him before in the latest horror film called The Last Voyage of the Demeter from director André Øvredal, known for 2010’s Troll Hunter and 2016’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

This story is adapted from a chapter of the original Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, detailing the voyage of a ship that transported Dracula from Romania to London. This film goes into more specific details of the crew of the Demeter and the victims of the ill-fated ship.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter creates a creepy atmosphere and goes all-in on some choices that were surprising and unexpected in the narrative. It basically took the character of Dracula and looked at it more as a monster that the crew of the Demeter were desperately trying to survive.

The film, for the most part, looked really great. Its dark mood was translated with the use of the shots on the ship and it built a hopeless feel with its claustrophobic setting. The full shots of the ship on the sea was consistently beautiful giving us the feel of how trapped the sailors must have been.

Most of the performances were well done. Corey Hawkins was the lead protagonist, Dr. Clemens, who had a strength throughout the film. The Demeter captain, Eliot was played by Liam Cunningham, who brought a soulfulness to this character, trying to maintain his leadership through a terrible loss. David Dastmalchian played Wojchek, the second in command. Dastmalchian never fails to be excellent. The young actor Woody Norman, who played Toby, has some difficult scenes to carry out and does an admirable job of it. I should also shout out the performance of Stefan Kapicic who has some of the best and most frightening scenes of the film.

Now, there are some problems with the film. It is about 15-20 minutes too long. There was a repetitiveness that comes from the length. Even shaving off about 10 minutes would have helped the narrative. The finale of the third act was not as well done as the remainder of the film. Some of it just felt like they needed to end with a big confrontation and it did not all work.

There was a lot of really positive things in the film, but a lot of it just does not tied together too well. One of the issues I had was that none of these people, even the Cambridge-educated doctor, seemed to be very smart. Maybe I brought my own Vampire-lore knowledge into the film and these people would not have the prior background knowledge I had about vampires, but it seemed as if there was enough physical evidence that occurred during the film that they could have formulated a better, more effective plan than the silly one they eventually came up with at the end.

The movie was the most effective when it focused on the psychological aspects of the situation instead of the action beats.

Still, I found it to be mostly entertaining, included a great character design for Dracula and some truly brutal moments that were bloody and a couple that hit hard.

3.2 stars

A movie that had been filmed five years ago was dropped on Netflix last week and had some initial success. Hidden Strike featured a team-up between John Cena and Jackie Chan.

According to IMDB, “Two ex-special forces soldiers must escort a group of civilians along Baghdad’s “Highway of Death” to the safety of the Green Zone.“

This is not a great movie. It is not the worst thing I have seen, but it definitely depends on the personalities of John Cena and Jackie Chan to get by and, unfortunately, the writing does not give them much help because some of the dialogue is eye-rollingly bad.

There is a lot of action, specifically with hand-to-hand fights featuring Cena and Chan. There is nothing here that we haven’t seen before and better.

There was a lot of poor CGI in this movie too with some very ugly work. Not only in the fighting sections, but some areas that were painfully obvious green screen.

The chemistry between the two main leads help to make this a serviceable thriller, but so much more could have been done with this film. There was a reason why it hadn’t been released until it was dropped on Netflix.

2.5 stars

When I saw the trailer for Meg 2: The Trench and Jason Statham used his legs to hold off one of the megalodons, I knew what kind of movie this was going to be. Sadly, the reality of Meg 2: The Trench did not reach that expectation.

In one of the worst movies of 2023 so far, this sequel truly is filled with nonsensical decisions, both on screen and behind the camera.

Jason Statham is back, now as a environmental warrior, trying to keep the oceans clean while the group he is tied with continues to investigate the Trench, the place where the prehistoric sharks live. When they headed down into the Trench on a mission to explore a section, they come across a giant megalodon and also discover an undersea base that they had no idea was there.

After an explosion set off by one of the film’s nondescript villains traps them under a landslide, the crew has to walk across the ocean floor to the station, hoping to avoid the Megs and other ocean faring monsters. This sequence is just horrible. It is hard to see a lot of what happens and it did not look like they were underwater at all.

Let’s talk about the positives of this movie….

Um…

Well…

It was mostly in focus.

To be fair, some of the film looked pretty good. It was not the greatest CGI I have ever seen, but it was not the worst either. There were some pretty apparent green screen scenes though.

The last 20 minutes or so had a fairly cheesy shark battle, which is what the whole film should have been about. Yes, the ending sequence in the third act was cheesy in nature, and some of the actors involved seemed to know that was what the film was, but some of the things that happened were so dumb and impossible that even for this type of a film, it was too much.

I will say that the scene with Jason Statham’s super strong legs did look a little better in context as there were some chains involved that I did not see in the trailer, so it is not completely inane.

However, what there was not too much of in Meg 2 was sharks. The first two acts of this film had a minimal amount of Megs in a Meg movie. There really was much more of plot involving the human characters and the espionage and betrayal of said human characters. The villains in the movie so just so cardboard cutout that they created zero tension or conflict. I think one of the villains (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) may have actually twirled his mustache once.

The dialogue of Meg 2 was terrible. Nobody talks like they had these characters talk. Then you throw in some of the most cringeworthy one-liners from Statham and some of the other actors, and it only fails even more.

Meg 2 was also almost two hours long, which was really 30-40 minutes too long. The first half was just boring and dragged along with these uninspiring and uninteresting characters that we have no connection with in a plot that had to do with illegal underwater mining instead of Meg fighting.

Then, if you saw the trailers for Meg 2, you have seen absolutely every minute of any scene with the shark that could be considered cool, even a little bit.

I did laugh several times, but I was laughing at the movie and not with the movie. There was no humor in the flick… at least, intentional humor.

As I was coming out of the theater, I heard a young boy, probably around 9 or 10, say that this was his favorite movie of the summer. I believe that because that is about the level that Meg 2: The Trench is fishing for.

0.75 stars

The WWE has always done solid documentaries about their WWE Superstars. Their latest venture debuted this week on Peacock and features a legacy performer who has been one of the top performers in the ring recently.

Cody Rhodes was a wrestler who spent the first ten years in the WWE, but reached a point where he could not see a path for him to escape the midcard in the company, and he chose to bet on himself by leaving the WWE and going out into the world of the independents, smaller organizations around the country/world.

This led to Cody, matching up with some other wrestlers (The Young Bucks in particular) and forming an alternative wrestling company in AEW.

Then, when his contract came up with AEW, Cody Rhodes made a return to the WWE at Wrestlemania 38, taking a new turn in his wrestling career.

This documentary does an excellent job of showing us who Cody Rhodes is and how he wound up getting to the point where he is one of the most over stars in the profession.

Cody spoke from his heart, an interview that was at the center of the doc, and displayed true emotion when discussing areas of his life and career that make him such a compelling figure to the fans.

One of the bets parts of the documentary was the discussion of Cody’s relationship with his father, wrestling legend “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. The relationship between Dusty and Cody was complex and comes across so real and genuine in the doc that it easily stands out as the highlight.

Another epic moment was the discussion of the moment when Cody tore his pec muscle during training a few days before he was scheduled to perform in a match with Seth Rollins inside a Hell in the Cell, a brutal cage match. The imagery of the bruised pec was one of the moments that define who Cody Rhodes is.

There were plenty of interviews with other WWE stars for the doc, giving their thoughts on Cody Rhodes including Randy Orton, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Triple H, Diamond Dallas Page, The Undertaker to name a few.

Cody comes off as a family man, whose family means the world to him and as a driven professional who wants to become the top of the wrestling community.

The doc does a great job of covering everything from his career, from his days wrestling in high school to his defeat at Wrestlemania 39.

4 stars

G’day, mate.

I had no idea this was an Australian production. I also did not know that Australian horror movie productions were so freaky and scary.

Talk to Me is the latest horror movie that proves that teenagers, especially older teens, do dumb shit.

According to the official synopsis, “When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and opens the door to the spirit world forcing them to choose who to trust: the dead or the living“

This movie was very tense and filled with suspense and real scares, and it did it with a limited number of jump scares (if any at all). The scares come from the characters and what is happening to them, not just something jumping out from the dark.

The cast is excellent in portraying these horrors throughout. The cast is led by Sophie Wilde, who played the main protagonist Mia, Alexandra Jensen as Mia’s best friend Jade, and Jade’s younger brother Riley, played by Joe Bird. These three carry the heavy load of the film and they do an excellent job with it.

I absolutely believe that these kids do this hand thing, welcoming spirits into their bodies, in order to film it and put it on the internet. I have seen way too many challenges that get picked up by this age group on YouTube or TikTok to find it hard to accept.

I did have some difficulties in the details of the plot, as some of the rules that are laid out are not very sensical. I would also say that the wrap up of the storyline is a touch messy for my tastes.

The visuals of the film are very well done, look great and do their job as a way to be scary or disturbing.

The film also goes out of its way to give these character backgrounds, especially Mia whose tragic background is vital for the film to work.

Talk to Me is a solid film from A24 from first time directors Danny and Michael Philippou. They deliver a atmospheric film with disturbing imagery and some excellent acting from the young cast.

3.75 stars

I got a chance to see an early showing today of the new animation film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The Turtles have had many feature films in their franchise over the years, but this is the first time we get a full length animated film.

The Turtles were young teens who were craving to be above ground and out of the sewers among the humans despite their father, Splinter (Jackie Chan), hating the humans. The Turtles decided to attempt to stop major criminal Superfly (Ice Cube) so the world would see them as heroes instead of monsters.

There was quite a large and very accomplished group of voice actors involved along with the couple that I have already mentioned. These voice actors included Nicholas Cantu, Brady Noon, Micha Abbey and Shamon Brown Jr (who were the Turtles) and John Cena, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Ayo Edebiri, Rose Byrne, Giancarlo Esposito, Maya Rudolph, Post Malone, Hannibal Buress, and Natasia Demetriou.

The best part of this new film is clearly the animation style. The film must have been inspired by the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse films, Mutant Mayhem has amazing artistic frames with bright colors and awesome backgrounds. I did have some problems with the fight animations, especially in the third act big battle because they had so many mutants involved (as well as other characters) that it felt like it was difficult to see what was happening. It reminded me of some of the big battles in Transformers franchises at times.

One of the things that I really enjoyed was the idea that the Turtles were actually portrayed as teenagers. This is something that they have never really done before and this was a new take on these characters because of it.

The story of the movie was okay, but it was not the standout aspect of this film. There was some good humor and the film re-contextualized these characters for a new generation. It ended on a perfect note for a sequel too.

4 stars

Ron Perlman is back as a retired assassin who has taken up a bakery business, but is forced back into action when his son leaves his daughter with him and then gets killed. It is a revenge story mixed with the loving family relationships (sort of).

This film is not very good. I did like Ron Perlman and Emma Ho, who played Perlman’s granddaughter Delphi, together. They had a sweet chemistry and they did work well as a pair. Emma Ho did a nice job despite not speaking for most of the movie because of a trauma she had suffered a few years prior. This is easily the best part of the film.

Otherwise, the character of “The Baker” was very much like multiple characters we have seen over the years with not much new added to the mix.

The story was as you would expect. I have seen this done dozens of times, and most of them better. There are so many implausible moments that it overwhelms the good parts with Perlman and Ho.

Harvey Keitel is here playing the same character he plays in most of his movies. He is totally wasted. However, Keitel does appear in the most bizarre and unexpectedly silly mid-credit scene that I won’t spoil, but will have you trying to figure out why the creative people behind the film tacked this on.

Things happen without explanation and the entire plot was just tossed out to see what stuck. As I said, Perlman and Ho were engaging together and I wish there was more substance to that part of the story because they certainly could have elevated this movie to something more than just a clichéd revenge film.

2 stars

I watched the first Haunted Mansion film starring Eddie Murphy about a year and a half ago during the DailyView here on EYG. It had a terrible word of mouth and a low Rotten Tomatoes score, but I did not hate it. I went in with ow expectations and enjoyed it fine. It wasn’t a great movie, but it did not come off as the horrendous film that I heard it was.

I wasn’t sure if Disney needed a new version of Haunted Mansion, but here we go anyway. This time I went to the theater and I had a similar reaction to this film. I enjoyed it enough though it was not a brilliant film.

Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) and her son Travis (Chase Dillon) moved into a mansion and they realized that the place was haunted and the ghosts would follow them and make them come back. Gabbie looked for help from Father Kent (Owen Wilson) who went to find Ben (LaKeith Stanfield).

Ben had developed a camera that could reportedly photograph spirits because his deceased wife (Charity Jordan) was a tour guide who showed haunted sites.

The problem was, once anyone entered the mansion, they had ghosts following them and haunting them until they came back, sufficiently trapping them in the house.

There were two more characters brought in to help with the attempt to figure out what to do. One, Tiffany Haddish played medium Harriet and Danny DeVito played Bruce, expert on local mansions who always wanted to see this one. The ‘Dream Team’ as Father Kent labeled it had to work together to try and discover what paranormal shenanigans was going on in the haunted mansion.

The ensemble cast was the strength of the film. Haddish, Stanfield, DeVito, Dawson, and Wilson were all very funny and worked well together. The film also gave time to the characters, trying to give them more than just a plot driven movie. I really appreciated the attempt to give each character (or most of them at least) more depth than you would expect. There were even some solid emotional moments that were more effective because the characters had some heft to them.

The CGI was fine, but nothing that I would write home about. The side ghosts were scary designs that would probably frighten younger kids, but would be fine for teens.

The story was a little messy, and the film was probably too long. There were some stretches in the middle that dragged a bit and could have been edited down 10-15 minutes to make the pacing sharper. However, the beginning and ending was pretty decent and moved at a good clip.

The story arc is around grief as several of the characters had to deal with loss, especially LaKeith Stanfield, who did a fantastic job in this role.

Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis appears too as the classic Haunted mansion character Madame Leota. Jamie Lee felt a little over the top in the smaller role.

There was also a section that felt like it was AI in the middle of the film, dealing with information about what had happened. I am not sure if it was AI or if it was animated, but I did notice the section.

Haunted mansion felt like a throwback to an 80s/90s special effect/ghost movie much like Michael J. Fox’s The Frighteners or Arachnophobia. It had fun moments with a great cast. It might be a little long, but the cast is enjoyable enough to make up any of the drawbacks.

This is better than the Eddie Murphy version and should be a good time for families, especially with slightly older children.

3.4 stars

The new film, They Cloned Tyrone, a sci-fi/mystery/comedy arrived this weekend on Netflix. The film is a satire of the Blaxploitation genre from the 1970s as well as the manner in which black people are exploited by governments and the more powerful.

They Cloned Tyrone starred John Boyega as Fontaine, a drug dealer, Jamie Foxx as Slick Charles, a pimp, and Teyonah Parris as Yo-Yo, a sex worker. The three of them become involved in a secret conspiracy to continue experimenting on people in an attempt to find peace in America.

This is a weird movie with some much deeper moments than I expected. It sounded as if the film was going to be one of those dumb comedy films that try too hard to get someone to laugh. However, this had much better characters and had some real thoughts on its mind about themes that it wanted to cover.

I’m going to get this white guy criticism out of the way. I do not like to hear the use of the N-Word as often as it is used in movies like this. I understand that I am not black and it is a word that is used in different context in situations like this. I just don’t like the word.

Having said that, the best part of this film is the performances from the lead three actors. John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris are outstanding, both separately and together in every scene they are in. The interactions among the three of them are quick, clever, funny, standing out in the film.

Kiefer Sutherland played a role that I am not going to spoil, but he is exceptional as well.

The plot can be a bit convoluted, but I loved how the characters, especially Yo-Yo, approach the situation as if they are trying to solve a mystery and the references to Nancy Drew is both funny and ironic. There is a definite pulpy feel to scenes in They Cloned Tyrone.

The film does take a little time to get going, but once the three characters wind up together trying to figure out what had happened to Fontaine and what is going on around the neighborhood, the movie flies.

Teyonah Parris will be starring in The Marvels later this year as Monica Rambeau and, if this performance is any indication, she is going to be awesome. She showed that she is a rising star with this role, really fitting in well with John Boyega and the amazing Jamie Foxx.

They Cloned Tyrone takes some big swings. Some of them miss, but more than not, it is wildly successful and creatively effective. Director Juel Taylor went out on the limb in his directorial debut and you can tell that he is not afraid to break the mold.

3.75 stars

The second segment of the Barbenheimer double feature was a film that had no right to be as good as it was. I mean… what were the odds that I was going to like a Barbie movie?

As it turned out, the odds were pretty good.

Greta Gerwig, director of such great movies as Lady Bird and Little Women, directed the adaptation of one of the oldest and most iconic toys in Barbie, and she did it in a highly entertaining, funny, clever and one of the most visually stunning movies of the summer.

Everything seems to be perfect in Barbieland for Barbie (Margot Robbie) and all of the other Barbies. Every day is a party, a trip to the beach with Ken (Ryan Gosling), Ken (Simu Liu), Ken (Kingsley Ben-Adir… honestly it is a little difficult to see him and not think about Gravik from Secret Invasion) and a party at the Dream House.

However, Barbie suddenly has a thought of death, something that no Barbie ever thinks about, and it disturbs her, but that is not all. Her feet go flat. She starts to show some flab on her thigh. Her world was falling apart.

Barbie went to see Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) and she explained that Barbie had to go to the real world and find the kid who was playing with the doll and get her to fix it.

Whereas you might think that this is just a surface level comedy, you would be wrong. There is actually quite a bit of depth to the story going on here. There is a lot of clever and insightful writing involved that is not only very funny, but also has things to say about someone being who they are and the expectations individuals face.

Margot Robbie is spectacular as the stereotypical Barbie and Ryan Gosling is brilliant as the oft-ignored and put upon Ken. Both Barbie and Ken have distinct arcs to their story and really carry this movie. Gosling steals every scene he is in.

The film is not only for fans of Barbie, but also for those people who hate Barbie. The film certainly has sections dealing with women power/feminism, but it also looks at the story of Ken, being beneath Barbie and how that affects him.

The costumes and sets, especially in Barbieland, are gorgeous and are awesome to look at.

The music in the film is hot. I have to say that the greatest song of the whole film is Ken’s song in the third act.

There is a large cast, many of which are playing Barbie. Some of these actors could have received a little more to do, but they all take advantage of what they are given to do. Other actors in the film include America Ferrera, Arianna Greenblatt, Helen Mirren (as the narrator), Rhea Perlman, John Cena, Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, and Michael Cera as the non-Ken doll Allan.

However, Will Farrell, who played the Mattel CEO, was wasted. His first few scenes were interesting and had some funny bits, but his part of the rest of the film was dull and dumb. It was underwhelming and anticlimactic. His entire section of the film could have been removed and the movie would not have lost anything.

Barbie is a deconstruction of the roles of men and women in society, with social comment without being preachy. It is clever and funny. Witty and engaging. And all of the Barbie types shown in the film are real Barbies. Barbie is way better than I thought it would be.

4.5 stars

I have not been a fan of Christopher Nolan. I believe he has been overrated by all kinds of critics. Of his movies, I did not like Interstellar (about half of it I liked), Inception, Tenet, The Dark Knight Rises or Dunkirk, which I know is a hot take.

However, the buzz around his new biopic Oppenheimer (and the combined Barbenheimer) was high and I will say that I was anticipating the film.

The film tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) and how he, along with a group of scientists, created an atomic bomb and the fallout of the use.

The plot is not anywhere near as simplistic as I just laid out. Like many other Nolan films, the narrative of the story is told in a disjointed, non-linear timeframe. At times, it was a challenge to know what time period it was showing. They did a lot of black and white shooting for the most recent timeframe (which was the Senate confirmation hearings for Lewis Strauss). This storytelling technique requires the audience to keep their attention on the screen, so that is not a bad thing.

The acting in Oppenheimer is absolutely top notch all around. Cillian Murphy has to be considered an early favorite to be nominated for best actor at the Oscars next year with his performance. He brought such a humanity and soulfulness to this man who could have been difficult to get to know. The expressiveness of each expression and his eyes was utterly fantastic.

Robert Downey Jr., who played Lewis Strauss, is another actor who should probably be in contention for a statue next year. Downey Jr. loses himself in this role and, before long, you do not see RDJ anymore, you see this manipulative politician out for a touch of revenge. Emily Blunt is a powerhouse as Kitty, Oppenheimer’s wife. She spends much of the film in the background, but when she gets the chance to step forward, man does she step forward.

I loved Matt Damon as General Groves too. He delivers one of my favorite lines of the movie that was also in the trailers when he asks about the chance of them destroying the world when they pushed the button to the bomb. “Near zero” was the response and Groves preferred the idea of “zero” instead.

The visuals of the film were breathtaking. I watched this in IMAX and I absolutely recommend that you watch this on as big of a screen as possible.

The score of this movie was amazing. It beautifully illustrated everything that was happening on the screen. The sound of every explosion or loud noise literally shook the seat that I was sitting in. I can’t imagine watching this in some kind of 4D version because I am sure that the moving seat would completely destroy you. Each second of the sound effects were worth it.

Unfortunately, as we have seen with some other Nolan films, much of the dialogue of the actors gets drowned out by the score or was muffled and difficult to understand. This is truly the one aspect of the film that is worth criticizing.

As I said, I have believed that Christopher Nolan has been overrated. This, however, is a brilliant movie with unbelievable filmmaking. I think this is probably Nolan’s greatest movie ever. While I personally prefer The Dark Knight, there is no denying that this is a one-of-a-kind movie with phenomenal acting, special effects off the chart, a complex and well-organized story and a score that does exactly what you want a score to do.

This is one of the best movies of the year.

5 stars

As I was going to the theater at Cinemark, the ticket-taker asked me what the premise of this movie was about. I told her that I had no idea. She laughed and said the last guy who went through said the same thing.

The fact of the matter was that I have never seen a trailer or had zero idea what this movie was about, but I came mainly because I like Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates as actors.

A group of women in Dublin were trying to win tickets to go to the Grotto of Massabiele in Lourdes. The women, Lily (Maggie Smith), Eileen (Kathy Bates) and Dolly (Agnes O’Casey), wanted to go to Lourdes for a miracle (each of them had their own plans).

One of their friends died and her daughter Chrissie (Laura Linney) came back for the funeral after being away and estranged for 40 years. Lily and Eileen had their own issues with Chrissie, making the entire situation very awkward.

All three women, along with Chrissie, received tickets to Lourdes and they went to visit the Grotto as well as deal with old wounds and trauma from years before.

The strength of the film is easily the cast. Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Laura Linney are masters on the screen and Agnes O’Casey steps right up with these three legends. Stephen Rhea and Mark O’Halloran added some strong supporting performances as well.

There were a lot of plotlines involved in the main characters that were addressed with the trip. It felt like one of those movies that had plenty of stories in the film that you knew would get werapped up during the runtime.

However, it did feel like a lot of what the main stories were based upon did not work. It did not feel as if I understood the main relationships for much of the film and I did not understand why there was such anger directed toward Laura Linney’s character by the others. Then, sadly, when they dealt with this, a good chunk of what happened or the reasons behind it felt left out.

There were also some moments that were left unresolved or some moments that became resolved that did not feel as if it earned that resolution.

It was entertaining enough, again thanks to the wonderful cast, but the movie is nothing much more than a Lifetime movie that hopes to pull on your heartstrings.

3.2 stars