Tag Archives: movies

They Will Kill You

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Happy Memorial Day. With the day off school, I am using today to catch up on a bunch of films, now on streaming, that I have not yet seen in 2026. The first film up today is a horror/action/comedy movie called They Will Kill You starring Zazie Beetz.

I had seen the trailer for this film in the theaters, but it only lasted like a week or so in the theaters and I did not get to see it. Honestly, I did not think I would miss it much. It did not seem to be my cup of tea. However, after watching the film this morning, I have to say that I was wrong. This was a heck of a good time.

According to IMDB, “A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of the building’s history of disappearances. She soon realizes the community is shrouded in mystery.”

That synopsis does not do justice to this story, which, admittedly, is rather thin and coincidental. Still, this is not one of those films where you go in expecting a deep and fully developed story. There was just enough background in the film to make the action and brutality to come understandable.

Zazie Beetz is sensational in her violent, bad ass way. After her first scene in her room inside the building, the shocking reveal of what was going on was out of nowhere and I was here for it.

The rest of the cast was fun, featuring some reasonably big names including Patricia Arquette, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Myha’la, James Remar, and Paterson Joseph.

I found much of the film very funny. Again, this movie does an admirable job of blending tones through the film. It has comedic beats that feel like they work well with the gory horror moments and the action/adventure moments. It is not easy to blend tones and more movies that try to do it fail than succeed. They Will Kill You is one that makes it look easy.

I wish I had seen this on the big screen. I think the violence would have popped all the more. Still, I enjoyed renting this on Fandango at Home and it kicked off today’s binge in a exciting and dramatic manner.

3.8 stars

Toy Story (1995)

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I was watching a YouTube watch along with Toy Story, the original from 1995 and I realized that I had never reviewed Toy Story (or Toy Story 2 or Toy Story 3) at EYG. With Toy Story 5 coming up later this summer, I thought this would be a great idea to watch and review these absolute classic films.

Spoilers: Toy Story is epic!

The arrival of Buzz Lightyear, a special action figure, in Andy’s room throws off the balance of power among the other toys, who are able to come to life when Andy is not watching. Cowboy Woody, who was always Andy’s favorite toy, felt the pressure of the new toy and reacted with a lot of jealousy, which put both of the toys in jeopardy.

This movie is so great. It is brilliantly constructed in the writing, so clever and funny. The movie is able to put these toys into situations that everyone could relate with and built some of the best animated characters of all time. The relationship between Buzz and Woody developed naturally and believably, and the remainder of the toys in Andy’s room added so much to the comedy and the overall storyline.

Tom Hanks is absolutely perfect as Woody, and I can’t think of another voice over actor that could be better as Buzz Lightyear than Tim Allen. The rest of the voice cast included classic actors such as Don Rickles, Annie Potts, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Laurie Metcalf, and John Morris.

The animation is spectacular. Everything looked so amazing that you believed that these toys were coming to life.

The showdown with the misfit toys, Woody and Sid was just tremendous. The writing on this was so wonderful and it showed Woody finally as the leader that he was and not the jealous toy wishing he was better than Buzz.

The Randy Neuman music is amazing too and the theme “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” could not be more perfect.

I am so happy that I was able to watch this on Disney + and I am looking forward to seeing Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 (which is one of my favorite movies of all time) again.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

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It has been seven years since we got a new Star Wars film on the big screen. That last film was the much maligned Rise of Skywalker, which most of the fanbase either disliked it or outright hated.

However, the Disney + show, The Mandalorian, has been popular over the first three seasons, and the announcement of the next movie being a continuation of the show received mixed responses. The character of Grogu, who was known first as Baby Yoda, was a phenomenon in pop culture and was suddenly everywhere.

With the new film, starring Pedro Pascal as The Mandalorian, we get a mixed bag of a movie with some positives and some negatives that does not feel like a return to the big screen for Star Wars. It really does feel like a TV season crammed into two hours of a film.

Start with the positives. I love these two titular characters and I love the idea of spending more time with them. However, if I had not already watched three seasons of TV, I might not understand what was going on. The film does not spend much time setting up the relationship between Mando and Grogu. It just feels as if they are expected to know it.

The action sequences are mostly excellent. The beginning sequence, in particular, was exceptional. I did enjoy much of the action of the film.

The CGI had its moments, but there were also moments of CGI that were not well done. Some of the green screen (or is it The Volume?) was painfully apparent and below what one would expect from this franchise.

The story feels stitched together among the different moments of the script. There are things that happen in the film that show up out of nowhere and does not play much of a part in the film. There was a scene with a creature in the woods that helps out Grogu that feels like the character was going to be more significant than it turned out to be. It is possible that this character is known in the Star Wars universe and I am not recognizing the Easter egg.

The middle of this film was pretty boring and repetitive. There is only so many times that I need to see Grogu steal some food to eat.

Interestingly enough, they never once call the Mandalorian by his name Din Djarin, referring to him as Mando instead.

Sigourney Weaver is in the film, doing little. Jeremy Allen White voiced Rotta the Hutt, a character that debuted in the animated programs. Much of the dialogue of this film was not great and fairly surface level at best.

The best part of the film was the score by Ludwig Göransson, who has won an Academy Award. The score was very engaging.

The Mandalorian and Grogu is an okay movie. I liked much of the film, but I do not think that it elevated my enjoyment of any of the characters or the franchise. It was okay. I did not come out of this hating it, but there just is not anything that I feel needed to be on the big screen.

3 stars

Daily Countdown: Weird Al Songs #42

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#42

Jurassic Park

Title: “Jurassic Park”

Written: Al Yankovic / Jimmy Webb

Album: Alapalooza

Release: 1993

Parody: “MacArthur’s Park” by Richard Harris

Topic: Jurassic park, the movie from Steven Spielberg

Fact: Al reached out to both Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg for permission to parody the Jurassic Park film.

Weird Al has done many movie parodies in songs over the years including Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Spider-Man and Rocky. Jurassic park joined that list with this lead track from Alapalooza.

I remember when this album came out. I was at Wal-Mart, looking at CDs when I spotted this new Weird Al album. I had no idea it was coming out and it was such an awesome surprise.

Lyrics

I recall the time they found those fossilized mosquitoes
And before long, they were cloning DNA
Now I’m being chased by some irate velociraptors
Well, believe me this has been one lousy day

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone shut the fence off in the rain
I admit it’s kinda eerie
But this proves my chaos theory
And I don’t think I’ll be coming back again, oh no!

I cannot approve of this attraction
‘Cause getting disemboweled always makes me kinda mad
A huge tyrannosaurus ate our lawyer
Well, I suppose that proves they’re really not all bad

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone let T- Rex out of his pen
I’m afraid those things’ll harm me
‘Cause they sure don’t act like Barney
And they think that I’m their dinner, not their friend, oh no!

Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
What a crummy weekend this has been
Well, this sure ain’t no e-ticket
Think I’ll tell them where to stick it
‘Cause I’m never coming back this way again, oh no, oh no!

Source: Musixmatch

Remarkably Bright Creatures

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It has been a good couple of weeks for talking animal movies.

Last week, I was absolutely taken with Sheep Detectives and this week, I was able to watch the Netflix film starring Sally Field and Louis Pullman called Remarkably Bright Creatures. This featured an octopus, voiced by Alfred Molina (who coincidentally played Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man 2 and No Way Home) as the narrator.

According to IMDB, “Through unlikely bonds formed during night shifts at a local aquarium, Tova, an elderly widow, learns of a life-changing discovery that may bring her joy and wonder once again.“

Sally Field really came to work in this movie. Her portrayal as Tova was just so sweet and touching, but more than just that. She had a real emotional arc for her character and a tragic backstory that was impactful as could be. I was really impressed with her work in this movie.

I did not recognize Louis Pullman at first, but about midway through the movie, I thought to myself… “Hey, that’s Sentry… Bob.” He, as well, was fabulous, giving a depth to a performance with a character that could have been one note, but turned out to be extremely developed.

I also loved seeing Kathy Baker back on my screen. Kathy Baker was one of the stars of Picket Fences, a show that I loved, and it was just a nice surprise seeing her in this.

Alfred Molina’s narration was kind of odd, but it did provide some important relevant details as the movie progressed. Plus, there were some emotionally powerful moments with Marcellus, the name of the octopus that Molina was voicing. It took a little bit of time for me to get used to the idea, but by the end of the movie, this was an important role.

I enjoyed this story. Even though it did feel a bit scattered early on, it came together beautifully. I did enjoy the presence of Colm Meaney as Ethan. His character may have felt kind of unnecessary, but the film took time to actually give him a personality.

This was a lovely film with some solid characters and some excellent performances. It is available for streaming on Netflix and it is a worthwhile time.

4.5 stars

Is God Is

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I saw a horror movie this morning that felt like it was not a typical horror movie. After that, I went to see Is God Is, which is a revenge flick that did not feel like a typical revenge flick. It was a good day for creative filmmaking.

The title made no sense to me at all. Is God Is? What was that? Honestly, I almost did not go to the film, because the title had me confused. However, once I noticed which film this actually was (I have seen trailers for this), I was excited to see it.

According to IMDB, “Two sisters embark on an epic quest for revenge; confronting a charged family history that will push them to extraordinary lengths.”

This was a story not just about two sisters, but specifically about twins. Kara Young played Racine and Mallori Johnson played Anaia, twins who had lifelong scars when their father had attempted to murder their mother by setting her on fire. I don’t know if the actor playing their father is known, so I am going to not mention him by name, but this actor created an amazingly horrific individual.

However, there was more than just the pursuit of their father going on and it made me question whether I should be pulling for Racine during this film. I loved the level of shades of grey in the script, which I feel gets overlooked in a lot of revenge movies.

I loved the way the film showed the “twin mind link” by putting what the twins were thinking, as if they had a telepathic connection between them. They just knew what the other was thinking, but it still ended up with a conflict between the sisters in the movie.

There is a great ensemble of black actors in this movie including Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, Mykelti Williamson, Erika Alexander, Xavier Mills, Josiah Cross, and Justen Ross.

The flashbacks to the horrible events of the past really worked to keep the motivation of the twins going as it seemed to start off as a road film before changing into a brutal revenge flick.

Kara Young and Mallori Johnson are outstanding together. You buy them as twins who are so tight that they know what the other is thinking, and, because of that, the third act hits even harder. I found the ending very satisfying.

4.2 stars

Obsession

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I looked for the classification for this movie on IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes, and the new movie called Obsession was listed as a horror movie. Certainly, this is a horror movie, but I thought this would be labeled as Horror/comedy and there was no mention of comedy. I found much of this film funny, and so I am surprised that it was not labeled as a Dark or Black Comedy.

Fact is I have never had a movie that I can recall that made me laugh so much only to make me ridiculously uncomfortable and uneasy.

According to IMDB, “After breaking the mysterious ‘One Wish Willow’ to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.“

Michael Johnston played Bear and Inde Navarrette played Nikki, our two main lead protagonists. Navarrette, in particular, really reached the zenith of performances as she seemingly embraced the absolute insanity of this character. She clearly did not hold back anything on this film. She was so unsettling which was remarkable.

Part of the film’s most unsettling elements is the sound design. Nikki’s screams were so unnerving and the music was done so amazingly that I could feel my suspense and anxiety hyping up throughout the movie. It was absolutely noticeable and purposeful, and it worked extremely well.

I was surprised how funny this movie was and how much I felt bad when I was laughing. The situation is a horrible one and it has so many tragic undertones, yet there are scenes played for laughs that underscore the pain and tragedy. I think this is a very difficult balance to maintain, and I think Obsession does it expertly well.

I do think there are some scenes that could be cut down to make the film a little shorter. However, I would not touch the third act of the film, which was just wonderfully put together.

There are some deep characters here doing things that make you see them in different manners. Our protagonist, Bear, does not seem to be a very good person, or at least, his choices seem to outline him as a selfish person.

I thought this was one of the best horror movies of 2026 so far and I look forward to seeing where the career of Inde Navarrette goes from here as this feels like a breakout performance for her.

4.4 stars

The Sheep Detectives

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This has to be a leading candidate for surprise of the year. I had seen the trailers for The Sheep Detectives and it made it look like a cute family film that had a definite chance to be really dumb. However, The Sheep Detectives is one of my favorite movies of the year. I know that sound bizarre, but it is 100% true.

According to IMDB, “Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.“

Hugh Jackman played the shepherd named George and kicked off this murder mystery with a lot of heart. Jackman was so charming and outstanding that you feel for this character even though you knew coming in that he was going to be the victim of this murder mystery.

The voice cast of the sheep was sensational including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brett Goldstein, Patrick Stewart, Chris O’Dowd, Bryan Cranston, Rhys Darby, Regina Hall, and Bella Ramsey.

The story was way more emotional than I ever expected it to be. There were moments of the film where I had tears in my eyes and even a few that rolled down my cheek. It was not only emotional, but it was very funny, clever, charming and had a murder mystery that was actually well designed.

I was not expecting this movie to be as deep as it was. I expected a silly family movie with some dumb talking animals. Instead, this film took the tropes of a murder mystery and broke them down, turning the genre on its ear. All that with talking sheep characters.

I should specify that the sheep are not talking to humans like a Disney film. To the humans, they sound like sheep, but they speak to each other.

The film also has a storyline weaved into the story about prejudice/bigotry within the sheep community. Again, it was a story beat that I just did not expect, and it was not just a throwaway beat. It became a major part of the overall plot.

Brett Goldstein was hilarious doing the voices of Ronnie and Reggie, two rams always looking to butt heads.

This was based on a book Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann.

There is no way this movie should be as fabulous as it turned out to be. I am currently placing it right around the same place as Project Hail Mary and that just does not make sense. However, if you see this movie, you will understand why. I had such a great viewing experience with this movie that I came out of it feeling so great.

5 stars (…no really)

Edit: I forgot to mention about the live action actor here. They all do a remarkable job in this film including a small but vital performance by the awesome Emma Thompson. Nicholas Braun, Molly Gordon, Nicholas Galtizine, Conleth Hill, Hong Chau, Tosin Cole, and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith all bring a great energy to the film and help create the fabulous story.

Mortal Kombat II

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I was not a fan of the last Mortal Kombat movie. There was one in 1995 that fell into the category of so bad, it’s good, and there was one in 2021 that I gave 1.7 stars. So to say that the bar was set low for me would not be an understatement.

Mortal Kombat II is much better than those previous movies, though I still did not love the movie. It was definitely entertaining if you are looking for a bunch of fun and exciting fights. The story is not much more than that. The story is about what you would expect in a Mortal Kombat video game.

According to IMBD, “The fan favorite champions — now joined by Johnny Cage himself — are pitted against one another in the ultimate battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.”

The fights were fun. The one on one match-up were very much like the video game Mortal Kombat. Even though I did not play the video game much, I recognized the features of the game on the screen.

These fights were wonderfully choreographed and laid out. The CGI looked really good. The kills were creative and, in several cases, brutal and gory. This is absolutely the best part of the film.

I did enjoy having Karl Urban in this film as Johnny Cage. Karl Urban is always fun and he played Johnny Cage awesomely. I have to say I kept seeing him as Butcher from the Boys, and they share several characteristics, albeit without an accent.

The movie does a good job about knowing what kind of movie it is and providing that. This is never going to be a great movie, but it is a stylish, fun flick with some good action. It is not much more than that.

3 stars

Lord of the Flies E3, E4

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Spoilers

“Simon”

“Ralph”

These two episodes were remarkably dark and heartbreaking as the community on the island took a turn into one of savagery and chaos.

Jack started out that third episode coming to Ralph’s camp and offering everyone meat. They had killed a pig and invited all to come share it at their camp.

It was a terrible mistake to go.

Simon had told them that it was a trap, and it absolutely turned out to be a mistake to attend.

Simon was the focus of episode three, and that really made me nervous for him. When he wound up being stabbed to death by Jack’s camp when they mistook him for “The Beast,” I remembered that scene from previous variations of the story. It really was a tough thing to watch and seeing Simon’s body drift away into the sea was heartbreaking.

The death of Piggy was even worse. In this version, Piggy is hit on the head with a rock thrown by Roger, but he is not killed immediately. In other versions, including the novel and the movie, this blow to the head lead directly to Piggy’s death. Here, Ralph is able to get Piggy out of the camp and into the jungle. Piggy survived for awhile, but it was clear that his time was nearing an end. The extra time between Piggy and Ralph made this moment even more painful to watch. Seeing Ralph dig a grave for his friend was another tragic moment.

I was not overly clear on the “Beast” in this version, but it did turn out to be a parachuter who had died, entangled with his parachute. The kids’ imagination and own fears made this to be even worse.

I do not love the ending of the show, which feels fairly faithful to other versions I have seen. The arrival of the British naval officer, attracted to the island from the smoke of the fire that was set to flush Ralph out of his hiding place by the Hunters. I want to know more… what happened to the boys? To Jack? To Roger? These are murderers, as Piggy said at the beginning of episode four. We saw the break down of civilized from the boys and I wish to know consequences for their actions. I did not feel for Jack, whose shocked stare was the last imagery we saw of him. He had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing, but he consistently chose the path of cruelty.

Piggy had wanted to give Jack a chance to do the right thing, after a raiding party arrived in episode three and stole his glasses in the middle of the night. He was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it only led to tragedy.

Once again, young boys are among the worst out there and without a strong hand, they will become savages. That’s the take away here, right?

This was an emotional adaptation of a dark and brutal novel. The performances were really strong, and the adaptation was excellent. The episodes are each about an hour long and can be viewed on Netflix.

The Devil Wears Prada 2

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Twenty years ago, there was a movie released in theaters called The Devil Wears Prada, a film I did not see until the DailyView in 2021. Now, a legacy sequel has been released with most of the important parts returning to the screen. This included four of the main actors as well as the director and writer of the first film.

Director David Frankel and co-writers Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren Weisberger are back together with actors Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci is The Devil Wears Prada 2.

I liked the first film. I found it to be a fun watch. I went into the sequel with some apprehension. I had heard a couple of down reviews plus sequels over twenty years after the original came out rarely have a high success rate.

However, I found the film to be an entertaining movie with some powerhouse actors elevating what could have been a floundering film. It is far from perfect of a movie. It is overly long and the story itself is a touch iffy at times, but I still found myself engaged by the combo of the actors playing their iconic characters.

Meryl Streep was the best of the quartet in my opinion. She brought more humanity to the “Devil,” Miranda Priestly, the fashion icon who was the basic antagonist of the first film. In the sequel, Miranda was much more like a co-protagonist with Anne Hathaway’s Andy.

Another standout of the cast was Stanley Tucci, as Nigel felt like the heart of the film. Tucci played him with such a kindness and a soft spot that when the film once hinted some anger from him, I was very unhappy. Emily Blunt’s character, Emily, was my least favorite of the four of them as she really seemed to be a caricature of a person and not a real live one, though I did enjoy several of her scenes with Hathaway.

In the end, I liked this sequel. I do not think it was as good as the original, but it was much better than I had anticipated and Meryl Streep is still the best out there.

3.4 stars

The Plague

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I had heard a lot of positive things about the film, The Plague earlier in the year, but it never came around to the theaters in my area. So when I spotted it on AMC + on Prime, I decided to give this a watch.

The film is a psychological thriller/horror film directed by Charlie Polinger and starring Joel Edgerton and a cast of teenagers.

I think the theme of this movie is that middle school aged boys are horrible, cruel and just disgusting people.

According to IMDB, “A socially awkward tween endures the ruthless hierarchy at a water polo camp, his anxiety spiraling into psychological turmoil over the summer.”

This was not what I expected this film to be about. It was a rough watch, especially since I am a middle school teacher and seeing how cruel these kids were to each other, it is something I can relate to in my own life.

There were some questions I had, but I think those all require spoilers, so I will just have to say that I am not sure what I saw was really what I saw during a chunk of the movie.

The main protagonist of the film was Ben, played by Everett Blunck. The young teen Blunck does a really good job dealing with the pressures of trying to fit in with the crowd, while still feeling empathy for those that were being ostracized. It was a strong performance with plenty of layers for this young boy to play. The main antagonist for Ben was Jake, played by Kayo Martin. I swear that every time I saw Kayo Martin, I pictured Justin Shenkarow from Picket Fences. Kayo Martin could easily be his brother, though Shenkarow is much older now. I really disliked the character of Jake, so Kayo Martin did an excellent job of providing the conflict within this group of children. He felt real.

The film is a slow build and does feel longer than its 1:38 run time. Still, the performances are all great and the tension is top notch. There are things that are happening that I am confused by, which kept me on my toes. Maybe I was looking too deeply into it (the Wikipedia page did not make any references to my concepts), but I was glad it was a film I finally was able to see.

4 stars

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters S2 E9

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Spoilers

“Ends of the Earth”

So it seemed that Kentaro has caught the stupidity gene from his sister Cate. Maybe it is genetic after all.

Kentaro has come up with a hairbrained idea that they can go back in time and save their father, and that is why he is doing everything that he has done with Isabel. Honestly, these two deserve each other. I used to not mind Kentaro that much and I was hating Cate, but now the roles have switched completely.

I’m not 100% sure what the motives of Isabel are. Why are they manipulating poor Titan X who just wants to take care of her egg baby? Is she planning on using her to open a rift to use as her personal time machine? That plan feels as if there are a few holes in it. Like gigantic, titan filled holes.

Lee and Keiko have come back together and found the rift on Skull Island where Billy had been sending messages to for years before his death. It kind of reminded me of LOST when messages were being sent in the tubes that wound up in one of the hatches. However, Billy was using the rifts to send a message to Keiko, making Billy’s remaining years really sad and maybe even a little pathetic. Romantic too , I guess.

We got both Godzilla and Kong cameos. Godzilla wrangled Titan X to Skull Island and was happy. Kong- not so much. Kong does not like people around his island. It sure seems that Kong is going to bring the hurt to the invaders in the finale next week.

The penultimate episode of this show brought some good action and some tense moments. It went back into the past once again with flashbacks which are always welcome. This show has consistently been more entertaining in the past than it has been in the present. It seemed that Kurt Russell’s Lee has come to his senses after a couple of episodes of lunacy. I guess it is understandable that you go a little cuckoo when you have spent time talking to past self.

I hope the finale next week brings it hard, because the second season has been up and down for me and I would love to end on a strong note.

Over Your Dead Body

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Jason Segal and Samara Weaving co-star in this dark comedy about a couple whose relationship has been pushed to the point where both of them plot to murder the other.

Taking cues from films like War of the Roses, Over Your Dead Body takes the violence a step farther and gives us a film that has meta vibes to it as well.

Jason Segal is Dan, who is a less than successful director reduced to doing commercials while longing for the days of helming his one feature length film. Samara Weaving is Lisa, the pretentious actress who is involved with the theater and seemingly critical of her husband’s work.

The car ride to the cabin that they were heading to for the weekend showed well how these two had drifted away from each other and how they held a lot of inner (and outer) antagonism toward the other.

There are some scene of real humor in the film, many of which came in the form of violence and gore. I have to say there is a vomit joke, which you know I hate, but that was the only moment that I was not fond of during the film’s run time.

The film also featured actors Timothy Olyphant, Jake Curran, “Natalie” from Yellowjackets-Juliette Lewis (I tried to place this actress through the whole film, and I never was able to figure out where I knew her from until I got to IMDB), Paul Guilfoyle, Keith Jardine and Danusia Samal.

Jason Segal has been exceptional over the last few years on Apple TV +’s Shrinking, and this gave him a chance to do something different, while still keeping those traits of why we love him as an actor.

While there is nothing new and exciting about the story, the performances are great and the movie does not fail to elicit laughter. There are several tense and awkward scenes that really work in the context of the film and director Jorma Taccone brought the best out of the actors.

This is a very fun film of martial disharmony.

3.75 stars

Michael

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Critical reviews for Michael were surprisingly low this past week, bringing out all kinds of comments from the online community. It was as low as 28% on Rotten Tomatoes. Last time I looked, it was around 38% and I found that difficult to believe.

So, with expectations tempered, I went to Michael this morning in Cinemark XD, and I came out of the film having had a good time. I understand the reason why some critics did not enjoy this one though.

This is the story of Michael Jackson and his rise to fame, through the making of Thriller. Michael (Jaafar Jackson) had issues with his abusive father Joe (Colman Domingo) as he was singing with his brothers in the Jackson 5 and attempting to go solo.

Jaafar Jackson is excellent as Michael Jackson. Jaafar Jackson is a cousin of Michael Jackson in real life and you can see the family resemblance. He carries himself very well and his performance does show off the talent and beginning of the eccentricities of the character of Michael. I was also impressed with the performance of Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson. I hated that character throughout the entire film.

The music is sensational. I do not think that anyone can say anything negative about the music. I suppose if someone hated Michael Jackson’s music, this would not be a film for them, but, if they hate Michael Jackson’s music, why would they go to a two hour + movie of Michael Jackson.

The reason, I am guessing, that most critics were not fond of this film was because of the story. It was not much of a story being told. Some of the real problematic moments of the movie were touch on at times (there was a scene with Joe and young Michael in a discipline situation that was hard to watch), but they do not go into a great deal of depth. Michael was portrayed as about the greatest guy possible, and, if you are looking for the controversy, you will be disappointed.

The story is basic music biopic 101 and it does not go into much more than that. However, the music is so great throughout the film and the performances are right on target that this film becomes one that is entertaining despite the flaws that it might have in the writing. There were literally a few moments of music that had me near tears from the nostalgia of it (particularly the Motown 25 performance).

I should also shoutout what a great job Juliano Valdi did as the young Michael. The first part of the film featured Michael in the Jackson 5 and Valdi had some real solid work in the film. The aforementioned discipline scene was for Valdi and he nailed that brilliantly.

Michael Jackson fans will love this movie and it definitely implies that this is a first film featuring the King of Pop. If you are looking for a deeper story, you may feel slighted.

3.8 stars