Tag: Film Review

REVIEW: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Letitia Wright’s Shuri in BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER — PHOTO: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Marvel Studios.

Directed by Ryan Coogler — Screenplay by Ryan Coogler & Joe Robert Cole.

How do you follow up on one of the most popular superhero films of the last decade, when the incredibly magnetic actor portraying the titular iconic character is no longer with us? Such was the seemingly impossible task for Ryan Coogler when he sat in the director’s chair for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. As I sat down to watch the film, this was the big question that was on my mind. Chadwick Boseman, the charismatic actor who passed away in 2020 due to a private battle with colon cancer, was such an amazing screen presence, and he was the focus of that first film, and you definitely miss him in the sequel. However, it must be said that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever actually does work quite well in spite of the big missing link. One of the reasons why it works is because the presence of a gaping hole at the center of it is an intrinsic part of the plot in more ways than one.

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REVIEW: The Good Nurse (2022)

Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain in THE GOOD NURSE — PHOTO: Netflix / JoJo Whilden.

Directed by Tobias Lindholm — Screenplay by Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

Like the many films with the word ‘American’ in the title (American Sniper, American Gangster, American Ultra, American Hustle, American Pie, etc.), films or shows with ‘Good’ in the title are a dime a dozen. The Good Dinosaur, The Good Wife, The Good Doctor, and so on and so forth. Let’s just say that Tobias Lindholm’s The Good Nurse has a very generic title. I’d love to be able to say that the film isn’t like that. But, honestly, it is a fairly generic but ‘okay’ film that somehow has a great cast, director, and screenwriter.

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REVIEW: All Quiet On The Western Front (2022)

Felix Kammerer as ‘Paul Bäumer’ in IM WESTEN NICHTS NEUES — PHOTO: Netflix.

Directed by Edward Berger — Screenplay by Ian Stokell, Lesley Paterson, and Edward Berger.

Can a war film ever truly be anti-war? A lot has been said on the topic over the years, with François Truffaut often being attributed to the quote that “there is no such thing as an anti-war film,” and Steven Spielberg reportedly disagreeing completely in an interview with Newsweek in which he stated that “every war movie, good or bad, is an anti-war movie.” With respect, I think both of their black-and-white absolute statements miss the mark. Certainly, there are war films that aren’t explicitly anti-war in case they showcase heroism or glorify the act of fighting for one’s country. Some would definitely argue that Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan fell prey to some of these war movie pitfalls. On the other hand, I also think the Truffaut quote is a strange generalization. Actually, with All Quiet on the Western Front (2022), I think Edward Berger has done an excellent job of recreating the hell of World War One in a way that knocks you out, shakes you up, and sends waves through you.

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REVIEW: Barbarian (2022)

Bill Skarsgård as the mysterious ‘Keith’ in BARBARIAN — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Direction and Screenplay by Zach Cregger.

Zach Cregger’s Barbarian, one of the most entertaining surprise hits of the year, follows Tess Marshall (played by Georgina Campbell), as she arrives at a remote house that she has booked, only to find out that someone else, Keith (played by Bill Skarsgård), is already staying there due to the house having been double-booked. When Tess finds out that there isn’t really an open motel close by, she has to decide if she feels comfortable staying at the house with this total stranger. What she doesn’t know is that the house isn’t exactly what it seems.

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REVIEW: Black Adam (2022)

Dwayne Johnson is BLACK ADAM — PHOTO: Warner Bros.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (Jungle Cruise) — Screenplay by Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani.

Does anyone really know what Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Comics are doing with their immensely popular comic book characters on the big screen? Half the time it sounds like they want to copy what Disney and Marvel are doing, and the other half it sounds like they want to do a little bit of everything. That latter suggestion is unfocused but it is also a little bit exciting that they are prepared to do anything. That we can get a deeply gritty Halloween-set Batman film and a more brightly colored tongue-in-cheek superhero comedy for all ages in Shazam! with DC Comics is good fun, but I’m not sure fans, general audiences, or the higher-ups are on the same page. Some fans want a patient build-up in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some want a return to Nolan-esque grittiness, and others are desperate for Zack Snyder’s vision for the DC universe to live on. Time will tell if they can have it all, but, in trying to appeal to the most amount of people, Jaume Collet-Serra’s underdeveloped Black Adam raises some eyebrows, as it feels very much like a film that has been tinkered with by higher-ups so much over the years that it has gone stale, which is a shame since Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson has been waiting for 15 years to make his mark as the titular antihero.

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REVIEW: I Came By (2022)

Hugh Bonneville in Babak Anvari’s crime-thriller I CAME BY — PHOTO: Netflix.

Directed by Babak Anvari — Screenplay by Babak Anvari & Namsi Khan.

The British-Iranian filmmaker Babak Anvari burst onto the scene with his wildly impressive feature-length directorial debut, Under The Shadow, a terrific but underseen psychological horror film that was selected as the British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. Widely praised, it was a good springboard for Anvari, but his follow-up film, Wounds starring Armie Hammer, represented “a disappointingly severe sophomore slump” for Anvari. When his third effort, I Came By, which, like his previous two efforts, was released on Netflix in my region, it was without much fanfare. To me, it almost felt like it was being hidden, which concerned me. In my review of Wounds, I noted how I really wanted “to see [Babak Anvari] make a triumphant return with a film that is as brilliant and promising as I thought [Under The Shadow] was.” So, did I get what I want? Eh, not really. It’s not a recommendation, but, admittedly, it is better than Wounds.

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REVIEW: Prey (2022)

Amber Midthunder plays a young Comanche warrior who goes up against a fearsome, trophy-hunting Predator in Dan Trachtenberg’s PREY — PHOTO: Disney+ / 20th Century Studios.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane) — Screenplay by Patrick Aison — Story by Patrick Aison & Dan Trachtenberg.

When I was a kid, my father would often want to watch the Alien and Predator films with me. Truth be told, I was probably a little bit too young to watch them when I did, but I didn’t mind and they never gave me nightmares. Instead, for me those films helped to create a love for sci-fi action and sci-fi horror, and I really love watching them over and over again, even though not all of the films are great. As a kid, I vividly remember that, to me, mindblowing moment when an easter egg in Predator 2 revealed a connection between those two franchises.

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REVIEW: Thirteen Lives (2022)

(L to R) Thira ‘Aum’ Chutikul as Commander Kiet, Popetorn ‘Two’ Soonthornyanaku as Dr Karn, Joel Edgerton as Harry Harris, Colin Farrell as John Volanthen and Viggo Mortenson as Rick Stanton in THIRTEEN LIVES, a Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Credit: Vince Valitutti / Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Directed by Ron Howard — Screenplay by William Nicholson — Story by Don Macpherson and William Nicholson.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard’s latest film, Thirteen Lives, is a survival drama that tells the true story of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand. It is an incredible and well-known true story. Back then a junior football team — and their coach — were trapped inside the Tham Luang caves for 18 days after heavy rainfall flooded the cave system and made it impossible for them to get out on their own. Led by a trio of Hollywood stars (Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton) whose cave-diving characters the film primarily follows, this film documents the complicated rescue.

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REVIEW: The Gray Man (2022)

Ryan Gosling is Sierra Six in the Russo brothers’ THE GRAY MAN — PHOTO: Stanislav Honzik / Netflix.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (Avengers: Endgame) — Screenplay by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely (Avengers: Infinity War).

Over the years, Netflix has struggled to create a true film franchise. Films like Bright, Extraction, The Old Guard, and Red Notice have been their first attempts to really kickstart a film franchise. Their latest attempt, The Gray Man, is an adaptation of the Mark Greaney novel of the same name. The $200 million-budgeted film is directed by the Russo brothers (of Avengers and Community fame), has a $200 million budget, and features a star-studded cast. Netflix is trying, again and again, to get a real franchise off the ground, and this very well could be it, even though it, admittedly, struggles to set itself apart from other films like it.

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REVIEW: Don’t Make Me Go (2022)

JOHN CHO and MIA ISAAC are father and daughter, respectively, in DON’T MAKE ME GO — PHOTOS: Amazon Studios.

Directed by Hannah Marks – Screenplay by Vera Herbert.

A dramedy road trip film, Don’t Make Me Go tells the story of the Park family, which consists of only the single father, Max (played by John Cho), and his teenage daughter, Wally (played by Mia Isaac). Together they embark on a cross-country road trip for the purpose of finding Wally’s estranged mother. Max has just learned that he has a terminal disease, so this is a priceless trip, on which he needs to spend his time wisely to prepare her for what is to come, bond with her, and give her lasting memories. He also has to find a way to tell his daughter what is going on with him, and, as far as she knows, she’s just going on the trip to learn how to drive and to accompany her father to his high school reunion.

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