Grant's Movie Log

Black Panther (2018)

(82%)

Black Panther is the first Marvel movie of 2018 and it had a ton of hype behind it leading into opening weekend, which resulted in a huge box office haul. And it is a good movie. The action is solid, the story is interesting, and it's, well, it's a Marvel movie. It's exactly what you expect it to be. I will say that the world building around Wakanda is incredibly interesting and probably my favorite part of the movie. However, while Killmonger may be one of the better villains in the MCU as far as relatability goes, he's just another typical MCU villain in the end. Black Panther will provide you with a satisfying theater experience and is probably one of the more entertaining MCU movies, but don't go in expecting it to be groundbreaking or anything.

12 Strong (2018)

(65%)

12 Strong was a January release directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and written by Peter Craig (The Town) and Ted Tally (The Silence of the Lambs). It follows Captain Mitch Nelson (Chris Hemsworth) and his team as they embark on an operation to respond to the 9/11 attacks by taking down Taliban strongholds.

12 Strong is a mediocre film. The action is entertaining and intense, but it is largely contained in the second half of the film which is by far the stronger half. The first half moves a bit too slow and it's pretty obvious that at least 10 minutes of this film could have been cut and the first half would have felt less...bad? I guess. The entire first half is an attempt to make you care about the American soldiers, but it never succeeds and this is probably the film's biggest problem. The characters never fully develop, and I never felt super invested in any of the team's members. The stakes also never felt very high, but I will admit that accomplishing that in a film based on a true story is never easy. Like I said before, the action is the best part of this film, but it still doesn't completely save this film as a lot of the combat is too unrealistic. American special forces are good, absolutely, but they don't kill enemies with every shot they take. Chris Hemsworth's character could probably start shooting while laying on his back with his eyes closed and he'd still hit every enemy he aimed at. And while that's cool and badass, it is unrealistic to a level where it took me out of the film at times. So, yeah, the action is entertaining, but it isn't as good as some other films in this genre (like 13 Hours). I was also somewhat disappointed with the script considering who wrote it. It's not terrible, but with two accomplished writers behind it I definitely expected more.

Overall, I think this is a film that may be worth seeing as a matinee if you are bored or just want to see a military movie, but otherwise I'd wait until it hits one of the streaming services.

Great review of 12 Strong although I havent seen the movie just yet. Hoping to this weekend.

Check out Only The Brave if you havent already. We found it absolutely gripping as a character study, and Mr D might have cried a tear or two. Disaster/survival genre is probably my number 1 genre if push came to shove.

Annihilation (2018)

(85%)

Annihilation is a sci-fi movie that comes to us from Alex Garland, who is best known for Ex Machina, which was a critical hit back in 2014. And, man, I really liked this movie.

Annihilation delivers on everything I hope for in a sci-fi movie. There's a lot of mystery, ambiguity, some action, and some philosophical stuff as well. All of the acting is terrific and the visuals are mesmerizing. I will say that there was a point during the movie where I was thinking "Alright, this is either going to go completely off the rails in a bad way or it's going to wrap up nicely," and while I think the last act of the movie is a little rougher around the edges than I was hoping, I was still very satisfied with the ending. I really hope enough people go see this film for Paramount to turn a profit, because sci-fi movies like this are what I want to see more of in the theater.

Game Night (2018)

(82%)

Game Night is a comedy about, well, a group of friends who like to get together for game nights. But when one of the main character's brother comes into town and hosts a murder mystery game night at his house, things get crazy.

Game Night is an absolute blast of a movie to watch in the theater. I went with a few friends and we laughed a ton, which is usually a good indicator for a comedy movie. It also helped that my friends and I often have game nights and we watch a lot of movies, so the frequent game/movie references really worked for us. There are a few problems with the story and how predictable it is, but isn't that almost always the biggest issue with comedy movies? Don't expect a ton and just watch the movie, and you'll have a fun time. I'll definitely be adding this to my comedy collection when it comes out on Blu-Ray.

The Nice Guys (2016)

(83%)

The Nice Guys was a 2016 release written and directed by Shane Black. It follows a private detective and a muscle guy as they find themselves taking on a job together.

The Nice Guys is a film I really wish had done well at the box office because it really is an enjoyable movie, and I feel like whenever a movie like this one disappoints at the box office the studios get skittish about making another one similar to it. Anyway, it already had an intriguing story, but the chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe is what makes this movie so good. They are the perfect duo for a movie like this. Add in the 1970s vibe and everything just comes together perfectly. The only reason why I haven't given this movie a higher rating is because the third act is pretty typical for a movie like this. There's nothing ground breaking or particularly great about it, but in the end that's okay because the acting and comedy is so great.

Spider-Man (2002)

(72%)

I wasn't a huge fan of Spider-Man when it first came out. And while I do feel like I appreciate what it did for the genre more now, I still can't say that I love it. There's just a little too much cheese, and I don't like how he's supposed to be of high school age but he nor any of his friends really look high school age. I will say that William Dafoe is perfect as the Green Goblin in this film. I also think a lot of the CGI in this movie was pretty dang good for early the 2000s. But overall, this movie ranks towards the bottom of the superhero movies I have in my collection.

Red Sparrow (2018)

(58%)

Red Sparrow is an espionage film in which Jennifer Lawrence is a former Russian dancer who is forced to become a Sparrow (which is a Russian spy). Her assignment is to find out who the American mole is in the Russian government, and she's supposed to find out who the mole is by getting close to a CIA agent who has been in contact with the mole. That's basically the premise of the whole film. There was so much more that could have been done, but this film stays pretty surface level with everything and decides to go in a direction that I think resulted in a disappointing story. The plot moves slowly, very slowly, and the entire movie looks like it's going one way and then at the very end there's a "pay off" that shows that everything was under control the entire time. And, well, it's just not very believable. I wasn't satisfied with the pay off at all. It also didn't help that despite some decent acting, and some decent potential, this movie is fairly boring all the way through. The characters are underdeveloped, and they're never really given anything to do that's particularly interesting. I basically watched Jennifer Lawrence's character train for part of the movie and then run errands for part of the movie, and then the end came.

So, yeah, I feel like all of the pieces were there (good actors, interesting premise) to make a good film, but it just didn't come together in the way it needed to.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

(94%)

I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of the original Blade Runner. It was an alright movie, but I found it to be a relatively simple sci-fi movie. So when Blade Runner 2049 was announced, I knew I'd go see it but I wasn't extremely excited or anything. But when I walked out of the theater after seeing it, I was raving about it for a few weeks.

I just love everything about this movie. The incredible visuals, the complex story, the minimal but effective dialogue...everything. The only thing that I guess I don't like is the length. You can definitely feel that this is a two-hour and forty-four minute movie, but it's so good that I can dismiss that as a very small gripe. Dennis Villeneuve directed a sci-fi movie that I actually like more than most of the Star Wars movies, which is something I never thought I'd say. Unfortunately, we'll probably never see another Blade Runner movie since this one underperformed big time at the box office, but at least we got this one.

Tomb Raider (2018)

(68%)

Tomb Raider is a reboot of a franchise from the early 2000s that was based on a series of video games. This reboot also comes out not long after the video game series was rebooted, and it clearly is meant to emulate the newer games. It's directed by Roar Uthaug and stars Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, and Walton Goggins.

Story: The story is loosely based on the story of the newer video games, but it's a lot less interesting as they had to water it down quite a bit to fit it into a two-hour movie. The gist of it is that Lara has not been able to accept that her father is dead, and therefore refuses to sign the papers certifying that he's dead. Eventually, though, she is convinced to sign them by her dad's friend and the lawyer who is walking her through the process gives her a puzzle, that she then solves and finds her dad's secret lair. Based on what she finds in his lair, a bunch of research about an island that was supposedly cursed, she decides to set out to the island and find out what happened to her father. Lots of action and craziness ensues.

I don't think it'll surprise any of you when I say that the story of this movie is nothing spectacular. They definitely could have cut down on the early movie set up (there's a bike sequence that goes on entirely too long) and given us more of what we actually want: watching her have an adventure on the island. Also, beckoning back to my earlier statement that it was watered down, I'm serious when I said that. The story of this movie is similar to that of the newer video games, but it is very, very loosely connected. Even the way that it ends isn't the same as the video games. In the end, it felt like that I watched a summarized version of the story I wanted to see. I still enjoyed myself for most of the movie, but it definitely had a lot more potential.

Script: Yeah, this is by far the weakest part of the movie. The dialogue is extremely weak, and because of that there are some cringe-worthy moments. Luckily, this movie doesn't rely on dialogue too much.

Acting: All of the actors involved with this movie give solid performances, but when the script they have to work with isn't super awesome, they don't shine as bright as they could.

Cinematography: For the most part, the cinematography was pretty unmemorable. There are no shots that are particularly impressive or outside of the norm for this kind of movie. I will say that there are a couple of action sequences where there is entirely too much cutting, though.

Overall: Tomb Raider is an alright popcorn flick to watch and enjoy yourself. Just don't expect strong dialogue and don't expect too much out of the story.

Death Wish (2018)

(60%)

Death Wish is one of those movies where you know exactly what you're gonna get when you walk into the theater. You don't go for enthralling story or an enticing script...you just go for an enjoyable movie going experience. And that's what I got with Death Wish. Yeah, Bruce Willis phones it in throughout a good chunk of the movie and the set up takes a bit too long, but once the vigilante storyline comes to fruition it's a pretty enjoyable watch. I'd say this movie is worth a matinee ticket, or you could just wait until it's on a streaming service.

I wish Red Sparrow had been better, although I generally liked it. I love Spider-Man, but Spider-Man 2 is glorious for me, much more personal and gritty, probably a top 5 favorite superhero film for me. I'm falling more behind than I wanted on my 2018 watches, so hopefully I can watch at least 3 this week. *Prays I don't get too much homework*

Yeah, just try to watch as many 2018 releases as you can my dude. I'm watching at least one per week, sometimes two. Just gotta keep up with all of the ones that are worth seeing.

Yeah, that's my mentality when I start every year, I want to watch as much as possible. Good luck on your movie watching goals dude!

The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018)

(46%)

The original The Strangers, which came out in 2008, wasn't particularly loved by critics (it got a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes), but I was quite a fan of it. It was enjoyable and I dug the somewhat realistic take on the slasher genre. So when The Strangers: Prey at Night was announced, I was fairly hopeful that we'd get a solid sequel. Unfortunately, we did not.

The Strangers: Prey at Night is directed by Johannes Roberts and stars Christina Hendricks, Bailee Madison, and Lewis Pullman. It follows the same trio of killers from the first movie as they prey on a new group of unsuspecting folks, and the setting is probably the movie's best aspect. The concept of setting this story in a trailer park is pretty compelling and interesting, and it held my attention throughout the film. Alas, this movie is dragged down to a fairly low level by a mediocre script and all of the characters being unbelievably stupid. I mean really, really stupid. I understand that this is a slasher film, and the characters in slasher films aren't typically the smartest peeps on the block....but still, the characters in this movie make decisions that legitimately don't make any sense. I also have some issues with the story itself, but my issues are mostly towards the end so I'll shy away from them so I don't spoil anything. Just know that I'm not a fan of the direction that they go with the trio of killers late in the movie.

There's still some enjoyment to be had with this movie. As I said, the setting is interesting, and I still do find how nonchalant the trio of killers are to be compelling, but ultimately, in my opinion, it falls short of the first film in almost every way.

Unsane (2018)

(60%)

I was very interested to see Unsane primarily because of how it was made. Steven Soderbergh used a few iPhone 7s with Moment lenses and a film app. He still used professional audio capture, but for the most part this was going to be an example of something that regular people could get pretty close to on their own. Unfortunately, it came out looking just a bit better than a student produced film.

Everything about Unsane is fairly average. Average story, average writing, and average cinematography at best. Claire Foy is great as the lead, but some of the other performances are a bit questionable. I did find myself at least interested in the movie and not having a bad time, but I didn't come out of the theater blown away in any way, shape, or form.

Ready Player One (2018)

(87%)

Ready Player One is perhaps the first film of this year that I was flat out super excited to see. I've looked forward to a lot of films so far this year, but there was just something different about this one. And it's weird, because most of my friends were not looking forward to this film at all. A good portion of them don't even plan on seeing it. That kind of caught me off guard, but I still went into the theater plenty excited to see it. It didn't disappoint.

The story of Ready Player One is fairly simple. A man created this huge VR game that pretty much everyone in the world spends all of their time playing, but when he died he left a quest for everyone, and the first person to complete the quest gets full ownership of the game. It kind of has a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory vibe in the sense that a very wealthy man who created something incredible is just giving it away to someone he deems worthy, and it also kind of has the same vibe because of the wonder involved with the world that is the Oasis. I don't think that it's much of a stretch to say that most of us probably wish that the Oasis existed. The only limit is your imagination, and the realism of it is almost at a level that I can only dream that we'll see someday in gaming. I think that's part of the reason why I enjoyed this film so much. The Oasis storyline was very enthralling, and it was also fun seeing video game after video game after movie reference throughout. I also liked how there aren't really any dull moments. The movie moves forward at a very nice pace. I didn't even check my watch once, and I often check it once even in movies that I enjoy. I will say that the real life stuff was definitely the weakest part of the film, but I still wasn't particularly bored during the real life sequences. Another negative to the real life stuff was that there was definitely some cheese throughout it. Otherwise, though, I thought it was solid all around.

I understand that it's really just a mashup of culture references in a video game setting, but I had an absolute blast watching it. I guess I was just the target audience for this one.

Pacific Rim (2013)

(80%)

Pacific Rim is a 2013 release directed by Guillermo del Toro. It's hard to believe that this movie came out in 2013 and I never watched it until now. For some reason, I just figured that I wouldn't enjoy it so I never made an effort to watch it. Well, I finally got around to it last night and I was pleasantly surprised, because it was a ton of fun to watch.

The story is simple: Aliens are invading Earth, humans build huge robots to fight them, but considering the type of movie this is I wouldn't necessarily mark that as a negative. If I go into a movie that's supposed to have huge robots fighting aliens, I want to see robots fighting aliens, not extended dialogue scenes and set up. And this movie delivers on that premise. Of course, I would always like to see more of the robots and aliens fighting, but I was satisfied with what was served up to me.

I thought the acting was solid enough for what they were trying to do. I'd heard from some people over the years that Charlie Hunnam was pretty bad in this movie, but I thought that he played his role about as well as he could. I'm not exactly sure what people had such a problem with in regards to his acting. Anyway, the best characters in this movie were Dr. Newton Geiszler and Herman Gottlieb, by far. They have some incredible chemistry and provide the main comedic relief. Without them, I honestly don't think I would have liked the movie as much as I did.

Overall, I had more fun with this film than I did with The Shape of Water. Yeah, The Shape of Water is the better movie out of the two, but if I'm asked which one I'll probably watch the most over the next several years...Pacific Rim wins out.

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

(60%)

Pacific Rim: Uprising is directed by Steven S. DeKnight and stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, and Cailee Spaeny. And while I still found this film to be a fun watch, it's definitely not on the same level as the first one. It really just feels like an unnecessary sequel. The story seemed like a bit of a stretch and I really wasn't that impressed with it for most of the movie, and then the first twist happened and I was starting to climb aboard, but then the second twist happened and I jumped back off. I'm just not a big fan of the direction they decided to take it, and it's inferior to the first Pacific Rim in every way possible. Fight scenes? They're still enjoyable, but the first one was better. Characters? Alright, the first one didn't have amazing characters, but Uprising's characters (besides Boyega) are even less interesting than the first one's. I wasn't as impressed with the ending, either. The script? Cheesier than the first one. The direction? Not as good as Guillermo del Toro.

But, even with all of that, I still enjoyed watching this film purely because of the fact that it has robots fighting other robots/aliens. To put all of this into perspective: I think that the first Pacific Rim is a solid film, while I think that Pacific Rim: Uprising is a solid guilty pleasure film. Good if you just want to turn off your brain and watch robots and aliens destroy a ton of stuff, not so good if you're looking for a film that's, well, a good film.

The Social Network (2010)

(90%)

I watched this film once when it first came out, and I liked it, but I was a bit younger back then so I thought I should re-watch it and see if it was actually as good as I've always thought. Of course, since then I've explored the work of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, and I'm a huge fan of both of them. So it's not surprise that I definitely am still a fan of this movie, and I think I enjoyed it even more now that I understand some of the concepts discussed throughout it better than I did back then (I was 13 when I first saw it).

Story: The Social Network is a tragedy. It's about the creation of Facebook, but really it's about Mark Zuckerberg starting out as an a**hole and failing to change his ways by the end. Viewers aren't meant to like him, and in the end I almost felt satisfaction when he had to pay out huge for settlements and was still left without any real friends. Still, it's also impressive just how intelligent his character is and what he is able to accomplish with his coding skills.

Script: C'mon now, this was written by Sorkin...so of course it's written very well. Zuckerberg's dialogue is the most impressive part of it, unsurprisingly, and the opening conversation of the movie could be shown to someone and they'd know everything they need to know about his character.

Acting: Solid acting from everyone involved, with Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield being the standouts. I can't really see anybody else playing Mark Zuckerberg other than Jesse.

Cinematography: Nothing crazy here, but it is shot well for the kind of movie it is. I particularly enjoyed the opening set of shots following Mark as he navigates though the college campus.

Overall:This isn't the kind of movie that you watch if you're looking for a feel good or action packed story, but it is still very much worth watching.