Movie Review: Men in Black International

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

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Summary: The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.
This will be a very short review.
Pros:
Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson. I don’t really care about their characters because whatever, but these two have such great chemistry that it seems like they just wanted to have them be in another action/comedy/adventure type movie to bank on their great chemistry shown in the MCU films. It works because whenever they’re on screen together, I was into their adventure. They work well together, they’re funny, if there’s a romantic subplot it works… they just work well. I would like to see them in more movies together, but hopefully with better plots.
Humorous. In certain areas the movie is funny but it’s funny because Chris Hemsworth is funny, or Tessa Thompson is funny not because the movie has funny moments. I guess I would still chock this up to the two of them being great together and elevating the movie far more than it deserves.
Creature Effects. Of course, we get to see aliens and I think they’re cool. The little pawn alien comes from a race that look like chess pieces and I guess are referred to as such. That reveal was cool. We see the worms from the other movies, we see the talking dog, we get a few new creatures as well. I particularly like the cat looking alien Molly “M” sees as a little girl. Super cute! The movie looks great and so do the creatures. It’s always cool to see how far special effects have come from new addition to an old franchise.
Cons:
Nothing New. There is no reason for this movie to exist, I can’t even begin to tell you what was really going on this movie. It’s been a few days since I’ve seen it, but I can usually remember major plot points and what not, but I have no idea other than there was betrayal in the organization and Emma Thompson looked great. That’s what I got out of it lol.
Boring. For a movie that deals with aliens and stuff, this movie is boring. I was watching it, but I can’t say that I was invested or even really watching it.
Overall, I don’t even remember this movie to even dig into it. I think it’s forgettable and if you’re looking for a big and fun summer movie, then this would fit that role just fine. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are the best thing about the film because they are just so good together. I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought if they weren’t in it. They’re funny, their chemistry is off the charts and I like them in general. The movie also looks very good, the creature designs a new, cute and deadly. While the creatures are new, the story is not, and I’m don’t even see the need to have this entry in this franchise if it’s just going to be boring.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Men in Black: International? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading and be sure to like and follow this blog for more reviews!
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Movie Review: Anna (2019)

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Summary: Beneath Anna Poliatova’s striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world’s most feared government assassins.
This will be a short review.
Pros:
Action Sequences. If there is anything this movie has going for it, it’s the action sequences. They are handled and choreographed well. The scene in the restaurant was great. She walked in confident like and then goes to crap and she must fight for her life against her mark’s henchmen and she only has five minutes to prove herself. I thought it was great because she kicked butt. I mean, she got her butt handed to her a few times, but she held her own and it was cool! She killed someone with a pole from the bar or something like that, it was crazy. My friend and I were like “Oooo, wow!” the entire time. She also has this big fight at the end, after she completes a major assignment, she must escape the building and pretty much encounters a ton of guards and she fights each one she meets. She has great prowess with a gun.
Entertaining/Fun. I don’t think this movie has great writing or anything but it’s fun. It reminds of Red Sparrow, but I enjoyed this movie way more because it’s just fun to watch. The story isn’t anything special but watching Anna’s montage of her missions, how she kicks butt and some of the story elements are entertaining, so it makes at least enjoyable. Keeps your attention.
Helen Mirren. She is a national treasure and is literally amazing in everything she’s in, even if the movie isn’t that great. Her character Olga is complicated. She’s part of the KGB and very much a Miranda Priestley type. She’s intimidating and observant and you wonder just how much she knows and what she’s keeping from Anna and by extension the audience. There are some character surprises from her later but if you’re paying attention, they may not be surprises at all.
Luke Evans & Cillian Murphy. We see them both a bit at the very beginning. We’re later introduced to Luke Evans when he tries to recruit Anna for the KGB. We see Cillian Murphy a few more times but he meets Anna much later. They both end up creating interesting relationships with her and maybe it’s because I like both actors, I was interested in seeing what happens with them. Particularly Luke Evans because we didn’t get to learn a ton about him, and I just wanted to follow him more. They’re both good in their roles, almost the same person just on opposite ends with kind of different personalities but ultimately the same kind of person.
Great Cinematography. Beautiful looking film. The colors are very vibrant when they’re there and you can pretty much see everything. All the fight scenes are well lit and shot so you can see what’s going on.
Cons:
Sophia Luss as Anna. I don’t quite think the character was bad, but the actress was just okay. Yes, she’s pretty, but I didn’t quite believe her as this character. She’s inconsistent. In the scenes when she’s in her apartment when she first meets Luke Evans, I quite liked her then. I don’t know if it was because she wasn’t that into her whole “spy” thing yet or what but I all the emotional stuff she had to do just didn’t do it for me. Plus, she cried too much at certain points, or she was whining too much.
The Story. Majority of the story was Anna doing things to get out of her situation. She was found and offered a solution to her bad life, but she was entering a questionable life. Then it was her always talking about being free and constantly asking people how she could do it and what she could do in order to be free. I mean, honestly, she wasn’t that interesting to me to be invested in her story and there wasn’t an interesting or strong enough story to really help elevate the action we got to see. I mean, the beginning was interesting by showing us all these undercover agents being rounded up, but we don’t hear anything about them until about halfway through the movie. I mean what?? Lol, the movie should have followed one of the agents that got rounded up, or maybe an agent that managed to not get rounded up, or they should have just followed Cillian Murphy’s character.
Overall, Anna is mindless fun. There isn’t much of a story to really catch your attention or keep it. You’ll probably come for the actors and for the action and I think both of those things are positives for the most part. There are two distinct action sequences that are fun to watch, very well shot and choreographed and Sophia Luss does a good job in selling the action… probably because she doesn’t have to do much acting if the camera isn’t focused on her face. Helen Mirren is always great, and her character is probably the most interesting in the film. Luke Evans and Cillian Murphy are also good in their smaller roles. Sophia Luss is okay, she doesn’t do it for me when it comes to acting, she was too inconsistent for me to be that invested in her character. But if you’re looking for a spy thriller that will at least be entertaining, then you can check out Anna.
Rating: 2.30 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Anna? What are your thoughts on this film? Let me know in the comments below!
What is your favorite spy movie?
Thanks for reading and be sure to like and follow this blog for more movie reviews.

Spoiler Talk: IT Chapter Two (2019)

~ Alyxwrites ~ 1 Comment
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Just as I did for the first IT movie, I wanted to do a spoiler talk for this one as it usually helps me move on from the movie, so I can stop being paranoid lol but also because I just want to dig into it without worrying about ruining it for other people. I haven’t done a spoiler talk in a long time, they’re hard to do when writing, but I had to do one for this. I already did a spoiler free review which you can read in the link below.

Movie Review: IT (2017)

Spoiler Talk: IT Chapter One

Movie Review: It Chapter Two (2019)

This will probably be long by the way. Just saying.

The Story 

It’s been 27 years since the events of the first film. Our Losers have all moved out of Derry, except for Mike and all lead successful lives. I think it makes sense that they’re all successful because they were all smart and resourceful kids and it fits right in with forgetting how weird, bad or traumatic their experiences might have been. I would like an IT 1.5 movie so I can see their actual teenage years lol, all the kids are old enough to do it, or do it in another few years and do it then lol. Anyway, here is where all the Losers start out in the film.

  • Bill is a successful horror writer who can’t seem to write good endings for his books. It’s a running joke that everyone hates them lol. He’s married to an actress who is a redhead btw.
  • Beverly runs a fashion empire with her abusive husband.
  • Richie is a successful stand-up comic, which I saw a reviewer say was “on the nose” because Bill Hader, but Richie was the funny one, so it makes sense.
  • Eddie is a risk analyst which is hilarious but also makes sense lol and he’s married to a woman like his mother (WHO IS PLAYED BY THE SAME ACTRESS AS HIS MOTHER lol)
  • Ben has a successful architecture business. I wish we saw more of this instead of him being “the historian” in the first one. He could have still had that scene in the library and looked at that book in order to see the headless kid. He could have been looking at the History of Derry because he wanted to see what the architecture used to be like or something. I still think that was a weird choice.
  • Stanley, well, I don’t know what Stan does, the movie doesn’t tell you but according to the Wiki, he’s a firm accountant and he’s married.
  • Mike is the Derry Librarian which considering his personality from the first one, I wouldn’t think that’s what he’d do. I just wish they didn’t take away his Historian plot in the first one and give it to Ben because it just seems like a weird transition for him.

So, Mike, hears about body parts being found by the river and bridge, so he goes to investigate, and he spots a piece of a red balloon and sees “Come Home” written in blood on the bridge. So, it’s confirmed that Pennywise is back and doing his thing, so he calls up all the losers. Everyone has a bad reaction to the news, but they all come back except for Stanley. I’ll get into that a little later.

Everyone returns, they have a reunion but Pennywise scares all of them and they don’t want to stay but Mike is determined. He manages to get Bill to listen to him, he thinks that if Bill’s on board then the others will fall in line… which is true lol. He shows Bill, by drugging him, about the Ritual of Chud to defeat Pennywise. Everyone then goes on “spirit quests” to find tokens to sacrifice.

  • Bill gets Georgie’s boat
  • Beverly gets her “January Embers poem”
  • Ben has the yearbook page Beverly signed
  • Mike has the rock that Beverly threw at Henry Bowers to save him (it’s what brought the Losers to Mike lol)
  • Eddie’s inhaler
  • Richie gets a token from the arcade
  • And Bill finds the shower caps Stanley put in their clubhouse to keep spiders away.

They all end up meeting at the Niebolt house to stop Bill from going in himself after Pennywise killed a kid in front of him. They have a moment and then go inside where shenanigans ensue in the house. Good stuff happens here. Then, they all go down in the sewers and the last… 45 minutes maybe is in the sewers. They do the ritual, it doesn’t work because Mike lied about the ritual. I guess they would have to die for it to officially work. He says that the Natives only died because they didn’t believe it would work but if the Losers believed then no one would have to die. Still didn’t work. Pennywise is now a giant Clown-Spider creature and he’s going after everyone. They all run off, some of them go through more horrors, particularly Bill, Ben and Beverly. This is also when Beverly discovers Ben is the one who wrote the poem and that he loves her. Bill faces his brother and his younger self; a great scene and he faces his guilt in the face and overcomes it.

Eddie and Richie have some funny moments together. Everyone overcomes their scares and Richie saves Mike from being killed by Pennywise by “rock war”!

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“Wanna play truth or dare? Here’s a truth, you’re a sloppy bitch! Yipikaye mother f…” and BOOM DEADLIGHTS! Richie is in his trance but it’s different for when he did it to Beverly, Richie starts bleeding and it seems like the intent is to kill this time. Eddie comes out, sees Richie and uses the iron gate… piece? lol to throw into giant Pennywise’s mouth, because he believed the iron could kill monsters, just like Beverly told him to believe it could. Just when everyone starts to rejoice, Pennywise stabs Eddie.

They say the best way to kill him now is to make him smaller so they could effectively fight him. Bill, Ben, Mike and Bev try to get him to go through one of the small tunnels, but he cuts them off so then they basically roast him to size lol. Mike says to Bev “there’s more than one way to make someone small” “make him think that he does” or something like that. Pennywise laughs “Me? Small!? I’m the eater of worlds!” Mike says, “Not to us, you’re just a clown” and he like freaks out for a moment. So, they basically just call him all the things he’s turned into to scare them “An old lady”, “an impostor”, repeating “clown”. It’s like he can’t think straight so he keeps turning into the things they’re calling him. We even hear Eddie shout “LEPER!”, Richie joins in the fight, as Pennywise gets smaller, Richie rips off the claw that stabbed Eddie and Bev’s face in that scene makes me laugh. Pennywise is now super small, scared and weak. Mike reaches in and pulls out his heart, they all crush it together. They go back to Eddie, he’s gone so now they must make it out of the house before everything crumbles. There is no actual way they make it out though… I mean it was falling around them fast, but they make it out (ya know movies) and the Niebolt house is sucked into the void and is gone. Poor Richie is still shouting Eddie’s name. They end up at the Quarry and once again Beverly jumps into the water first. They clean off, Richie cries so they have a sweet moment where they just hold each other. Richie makes a joke about his glasses, everyone dives to find them, and Ben and Bev have a moment where they kiss. Bill sees, he smiles and looks away. They walk back through town, look at their reflection in store glass and it’s their younger selves and then it cuts back to the younger versions after they defeated Pennywise the first time.

Everyone goes back to their lives, Mike calls Bill to check on him and to tell him about Stanley’s letter.

  • Bill seems happier and more confident in himself and he’s gotten past his writer’s block. I do wish they showed if he was still with his wife or not. It didn’t seem like they have a bad relationship, but I do think part of him married her because she reminded him of Beverly, even though he probably didn’t know why. I mean, she has red hair, a fiery spirit and he even says at the beginning “Why can’t you be the woman I want you to be” and he tries to fix it and I was like “oooo, he wishes she was Beverly but doesn’t know he wants that since he probably doesn’t remember her”. But we don’t know if things are better with them, if they’re still together. I’m not sure his ending in the book but I am aware in the miniseries, he does like ride off with her on his bike or something lol. Maybe it’s a deleted scene. I just wanted to see her in the background or something lol.
  • Beverly and Ben are together with his dog and his fancy boat. I think he asks her if she’s okay or happy or something and she’s like “Yes, very” and it’s all cute and what not.
  • Richie ends by re-carving the R+E initials on the kissing bridge, symbolizing that he’s at least come to terms with his sexuality and that he did love Eddie.
  • Mike calls Bill to check on him and tell him about the letter from Stanley. He tells Bill he’s leaving Derry to find his own way, now that everything is over. Not sure what he’s going to do but Mike Hanlon deserves happiness.

They’re victorious but this time they remember everything, and Mike has a great line, “maybe we remember because there’s more good things to remember instead of the bad things” or something like that and that really sums things up. It’s bittersweet though, because Stanley and Eddie both died, but it does a nice job at rounding out what each character had to struggle with and where they are now. Everyone has at least a more secure form of peace and happiness.

Characters

I think this time around the film is more of an ensemble than it was in the first one. Bill and Beverly were the leads in the group but here, I don’t think there is a clear lead. They all kind of get the same amount of love. I’m not going to go into everyone though, just some things I might have noticed that I didn’t include in my regular review.

  • James McAvoy as Bill Denbrough. I have seen people say that when he stutters, it seems like he’s channeling Hedwig (Split & Glass). I don’t see it and I loved him in both those movies (even though Glass is meh). I think he does the stutter well. I think while Bill isn’t the “lead” as he was in the first one, he has a lot of solo moments where he shines, and his character arc gets a lot of development. He has three distinct scenes where we see this. Again, James is masterful as always and I did always manage to find him in the group even if he wasn’t in the forefront. Also, it seemed like Pennywise really had it out for him and I wish we got to see them interact more. Yes, we have the sewer drain and the fun house but Pennywise torments him in that moment and that’s it, I feel like, when Bill says “I hate you” after the sewer drain that Pennywise would have laughed or said “I hate you too” mockingly or something. Or the Fun house would have been a great moment to see Pennywise really dig it in, but I guess by eating the kid in front of Bill and Bill seeing that he couldn’t do anything to stop him or save the kid was enough…
  • Bill Hader as Richie Tozier. Finn Wolfhard suggested Bill Hader when they were asked in interviews who they’d like to play them as adults, and it happened. That’s dope lol. So, his arc deals with accepting who he is and allowing himself to feel comfortable that way. Richie has been confirmed gay in this film and that he liked Eddie. Being that I am on Tumblr and other social media things, I have seen people say that about him in the first one. I never quite got that impression. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, I just didn’t pick up on it. They were just two fast talking kids who roasted each other, that’s what kids do, so I didn’t even think about it. I haven’t read the book either to see if that story element was there. Thinking about it, if they decided to confirm Richie’s sexuality, then I can see where in the first they could pull from just as if they didn’t reveal it at all, I wouldn’t have noticed. But I think it was a nice addition to his character and it’s not done in a way that would make you roll your eyes. At least I didn’t. On my second viewing, I did notice how he was extra attentive to Eddie, like in the restaurant, he calls his name. Bill Hader is great though, truly great.
  • Isaiah Mustafa as Mike Hanlon. He stayed in Derry and became the librarian. I really want to know how that happened considering his role in the first one. He was part of the group, but he was a last addition and had such a minor role. It was really sad. His role is much larger here, which I appreciated, and I liked his “frantic/madman” nature. He was trying to get this done, he needed his friends to believe. He almost had a childish quality to him. I really liked the moments with him, and Bill and I would have been interested in seeing them team up more. He and James had great chemistry. They need to be in another movie together.
  • Andy Bean as Stanley Uris. Sooo you can’t really talk about Stanley without spoiling him but he’s the last one to get the call from Mike and he commits suicide. His face when he answers shows he’s terrified. He sits in the tub and he slits his wrists. I feel bad for him because the look on his face is very… sad. We learn that Beverly has seen each of their deaths in her dreams every night, so she knew about Stanley’s death just not when it would happen exactly. I wish, we got to know what everyone else’s death would have been because I’m curious… anyway, I feel bad for Andy Bean lol because he’s in all the press stuff, but he can’t really answer any questions about his character because it would spoil it. He just always looks like he’s chillin in the back during interviews. BUT the ending is where he really gets his moment. Bill gets a letter from Stanley, as does the others, and Stanley narrates his letter. He talks about why he did what he did, he was afraid, and he knew he wouldn’t be much help and they couldn’t defeat IT if they weren’t unified, so he removed himself from that equation to ensure their victory. It was a lovely letter, very sad and I get it.
  • Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown / “It”. I do agree with other reviews that it seems like Pennywise, as the clown, as Bill Skarsgård, isn’t prevalent as much as he could have been, but I think that’s okay. He’s supposed to be scary and if you see too much of him then it’s no longer scary… for those who get scared. I also love the fact that he’s pissed… clearly. Whenever he’s Pennywise and he encounters a Loser, he’s angry. With Beverly he has this whole set up in her house which was intricate. When he first encounters Richie, he really teases him with his inner struggles. As I said, I think he had it out for Bill the most, because he torments him. He put Georgie out there to lure Bill to the drain, he threatened Bill with that kid’s skateboard, and he killed that kid in front of Bill. I mean, torment. I really wish that after Pennywise ate that kid in front of Bill and the lights came up that it was still glass instead of a mirror and Pennywise could be standing there, with a smile or something. I feel like there should have been another exchange between them. I guess Bill overcoming his guilt was enough. I just think that Pennywise’s scares for the Losers could have been more… with the intent on really getting them. In the sewer he does more to try and kill them, but I feel like he should have been doing that from the beginning. That’s just my thoughts.

The Scares.

I love how they said this movie has way more scares and is scarier than the first one, but I don’t agree. The first one is much scarier, at least I wasn’t as bothered during the sequel as I was during the first one even though I love the first one. Each Loser has their solo scares but then they also have scares together. So, everyone has their group scares which is in the Chinese restaurant and then when they’re in the sewers and it’s just scary all around lol.

  • Bill: So, Bill has the Sewer Scene, the Fun House (I’ll go into details about those later) and the moment in his basement where he watches Georgie talk to young Bill about the night he died. It was shared that Bill pretended he was sick because he didn’t want to play, and he felt guilty and Georgie just shouts, “You lied, and I died!” Bill tries to talk to his younger self but sees he’s controlling Georgie like Pennywise did in the first one, like a puppet. Then of course, Georgie spins around and his face is gross. Bill then drowns him. He and his younger self have a talk, his younger self tries to kill him, but it doesn’t work so then Bill shoots his younger self in the head, his way of letting go of his guilt and then younger Bill turns into a creepy Pennywise face. Bill goes back into the water and comes back to Pennywise’s lair. Here, I think it’s important to note that I don’t fault Bill for what happened to Georgie and I don’t think he should be condemned for it. Sure, he’s going to feel bad because he didn’t want to play and he couldn’t protect his brother, but that doesn’t make him a bad person. He was a kid. When you don’t want to do something with someone, people often make up excuses that aren’t the truth. Let’s not act like Bill is this horrible person and should feel bad because it was revealed he pretended to be sick. Now, the only problem I have with this reveal is that there wasn’t any indication that he was faking in the first one, which I guess is the point but I wouldn’t have questioned it as much if it seemed like he was faking it then. It might have been an afterthought which is the problem, but not the reveal itself.
  • Beverly: She goes to her old house to find her poem. An old lady is living there. She lets Bev in, and while Bev is in the house, you see shots of the old lady watching her from down the hall and then she would walk away doing some weird disjointed movements. The lead up is all good stuff. They have a talk; the woman flashes her chest and you see she has some weird skin issues going on. Bev sees pictures of the woman as a little girl with her father who looks an awful lot like Pennywise and then the woman is in her dark kitchen and says “I’ve always been daddy’s little girl. ARE YOU DADDY’S LITTLE GIRL BEVERLY?” and you just hear heavy footsteps and she comes out the kitchen and I think I laughed a little. She looked ridiculous. The CGI really didn’t do any favors here, I was expecting it to be scarier than it was. She chases Beverly around the house. Oh, the giant lady is naked too. Bev tries to escape but the door is locked. Down the hall, another door opens, and a man is in there, he talks to her and he starts putting on white makeup and rips his face open to mimic Pennywise’s red lines and he says some words and Bev escapes. She also has the scene in the bathroom with the blood and while she’s locked in there, the door keeps being pushed open by people who have scared her or affected her in the past. It’s a pretty good scene.
  • Richie: In a flashback, we see Richie get scared by the Paul Bunyon statue in the park after he was chased out of the arcade by Bowers. He also is the only one in the solo scares who Pennywise graces with his presence as an adult.
  • Eddie: He goes to the pharmacy, he goes into the basement and we get a flashback of him as a kid. He hears his mother calling for him. The basement is all weird, dark and creepy. It has blood drips and needles. His mother is trapped to a standing gurney and the leper is chained behind a curtain. It keeps getting closer though. It eventually affects the mom with… grossness by sticking its tongue down her throat. Gross. Little Eddie runs off lol. Adult Eddie faces the leper, but he almost gets the best of him, but the leper cheats by throwing up on him and disappears lol.
  • Ben: He doesn’t get an adult solo scare until the end when the clubhouse tried to swallow him up. He gets a flashback in the school, where Bev shows up, they talk, he tries to kiss her, she calls him a “fatty” or something and she sets herself on fire and chases him down the hallway. He hides in his locker, he pulls out the yearbook page and Pennywise is in the locker with him. He escapes though.
  • Mike: We don’t see any scares for him. We see a flashback when he was a kid and his parents died in the fire but that’s about it. He does face off with Henry in the library but nothing that is scary because he’s no longer scared as he tells Pennywise at the end.

The Fight

At the end, we get of course, their final battle with Pennywise and it’s much longer than it was in the first one. The others find Bill as he’s ready to kill Pennywise and he has a speech and he’s stuttering a lot, which juxtaposes his speech in front of the house in the first one where he doesn’t stutter at all. I think it shows just how upset and scared he was as an adult compared to when he was ready as a kid. They go inside the house and end up getting split up. Richie, Bill and Eddie and Mike, Beverly and Ben. Pennywise starts carving “Home at last” on Ben’s stomach, bringing that H for Henry Bowers back and young Stan’s head turned into a spider creature trying to attack the other three lol. Eddie is so scared that he just stands in the corner while Spider-Stan attacks Richie, Bill is trying to pull him off, Ben comes in the clutch and kills Spider-Stan or stuns him at least. Bill then goes to shout at Eddie, about people dying and him not helping. I saw someone say that Bill wouldn’t have done that, and I disagree. He had every right to do that. He remembered his brother died, Dean was killed in front of him and he’s trying to save his friend and his other friend is cowering. Don’t get me wrong, Eddie had a right to be scared too and when Eddie said, “I was so scared, please don’t be mad Bill,” Bill’s face was like… okay, we gotta stick together and he says, “Don’t let him have that, that’s what he wants.”

So, I told y’all how the way they beat Pennywise is that they roasted him to size… lol yes, they did. I think they do other stuff in the book, I’m pretty sure they do something in the miniseries, but I get why they did this. I mean, sometimes you must face your fear in order to make it no longer scary. I mean, yes, they kicked the crap out of him in the first one, but they only wounded him so perhaps it wouldn’t work that way this time? I mean, who’s to say? I might feel like it’s an underwhelming ending to this crazy killer clown, but I like the fact that they beat him by making him afraid of them. They beat him at his own game.

The Love Triangle.

Bill & Beverly: Okay, so if you remember from the first film, Bill and Beverly like each other. It’s clear right from the start when he sees her again, and she’s walking towards them in slow motion and Bill’s all dopey eyes and what not. I thought it was cute and Jaeden Martell and Sophia Lillis had great chemistry. A lot of the time, they were together, or they stood near each other, or they had each other’s backs. She was willing to fight Pennywise with Bill and was on his side. He also liked her. They shared little looks and what not. SO, now in this one, 27 years later, they’re both married. Bill is married to a redheaded actress and Beverly is in an abusive relationship. When they all return, they share a few looks, they have a private conversation at the restaurant, they share a very nice kiss, like their last kiss we see in the first movie. They also show us flashbacks of them riding a bike together, it’s cute. So, we see that they have feelings beyond the first movie. During their kiss, Bill does pull away which could mean- “We’re both married, we can’t do this” OR “why are you kissing me when they’re kids dying and a killer clown out there” lol. James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain do have chemistry. I feel like I wanted them to be together in the end, but I understand why they’re not, at least on Bill’s end.

Ben & Beverly: In the first one, we are aware that Ben has a crush on Bev from the moment she signs his year book. He often looks at her, especially if she and Bill share a moment. He writes her the cute poem and everything. Beverly thinks Bill wrote it because she likes him and he likes her, I don’t think she even thinks that Ben wrote the poem. So, in this one, the Losers must go and grab tokens that meant something to them as children to sacrifice to take down Pennywise and Ben’s is the yearbook page that Beverly signed. It was the only thing he didn’t forget because he took it with him when he left Derry. Throughout the movie, he would give her looks, whenever she and Bill were off together or talking, he would look all jealous and stuff. Well, lol more like longing. When Bev tells him, she thought Bill wrote the poem, he was all like “Bev nooo, I wrote it” lol but he doesn’t say anything. Later, when they’re throwing their stuff into the fire, Bev tosses in the poem (it meant a lot) and then Ben tosses in the yearbook page and she realizes it was the one she signed and she’s all like

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lol. Then later, everyone gets forcibly split up. Bev gets thrown back into the bathroom stall from when she was a kid and the stall starts filling up with blood. Ben gets thrown into the clubhouse he built, and it starts filling up with dirt. I guess he could hear her screaming and while he’s sinking, he’s calling out to her as she’s terrified. He then starts reciting the poem which gives her life and they save each other. They share a moment and at the end, they end up together.

So, I have a problem with how this was handled. I don’t mind that Ben and Beverly got together in the end, but my problem is that we never got to see Beverly really reciprocate those feelings. I never like when two people (A&B) like the same person (C) and C thinks A wrote them a love letter or a poem when really B wrote the poem but C clearly likes A anyway and A likes them back, the poem just helped to further those feelings, but then somewhere down the line C finds out B wrote the poem and now C is in love with B… I hate that because most of the time, B & C don’t really share that kind of relationship, at least not that the audience sees. It’d be different if Beverly and Ben flirted more or had more than a friendly connection because while Ben clearly likes her, I never thought that Beverly clearly liked him or even felt the same. For Bill, yes but not for Ben. I just don’t like how that was handled. I rolled my eyes hard when we see Ben and Ben on a boat together at the end. I joked “Oh you like him now because he’s hot lol”.

Favorite Scenes

I particularly love the Chinese Restaurant scene because this is the first time everyone is back together and they’re remembering each other and their history and just having a good time. It’s the first scene where you really see the adult actors sitting in these characters we’ve come to love thanks to the young actors. Then things get serious when they talk about why Stanley isn’t there, and Mike starts talking about why he brought them back. Everyone acts all funny when he starts talking about Pennywise, like they forgot why Mike called them back though he literally told them over the phone. Anyway lol, they start talking about fear and how they didn’t remember things until they came back. They open their fortune cookies and get a message “Guess Stanley couldn’t cut it” which prompts the cookies to start cracking open revealing little gross creatures. It’s so great because everyone is freaking out and I love the part where Ben is kind of hiding behind Eddie (mind you, he’s much taller and muscular lol) and he’s swatting at the flying creature lol. In the fish tank are floating heads and Bill and Mike both freak out. Then Mike starts hitting the table with a chair “IT’S NOT REAL!” Man, that’s a great scene. It’s weird but not scary.

There’s also this kid “Dean” who says, “Hey Richie, the fun’s just beginning” and he gives a creepy smile which causes Richie to shout at him thinking it’s a Pennywise thing and it’s just a kid who’s a fan of his stand up. This kid is important for later.

The Sewer Drain is during the series of moments where each Loser goes their own way to find their tokens to sacrifice for the ritual. Bill finds his bike in an antique shop (Stephen King cameo), he goes off riding and comes across his old house, where he sees Dean on the law. He also rides past the drain where Georgie was taken. We get a flashback with young Bill demanding to know from Pennywise WHY he took Georgie, he’s screaming and crying, and he does a great job. “WHY HIM!”. He starts to walk away and Pennywise says “Why? Because you weren’t there.” Gosh it’s so good. Then we cut back to adult Bill and he starts to walk away but then he hears Georgie’s voice “Billy, I’m still here, help me” and he’s like “Omg, Georgie??” and he moves closer to the drain, and he sees Georgie’s hands reaching for him, with the boat,

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the music here is beautiful by the way. Of course, Bill reaches for him while Georgie is saying “Help me! He’s coming!” and Bill is reaching into the sewer, trying to grab his hands, and he’s like pretty far in that thing. It’s shocking really. Then of course, a crazy hand grabs his arm and tries to pull him into the sewer and a bunch of kid hands start grabbing him too. Almost his entire upper body was pulled into that thing lol, I was bruh, you are a whole adult, how can you even fit? It’d be different if Pennywise made it bigger to be able to pull Bill in. If he did do that, then I needed to see that lol. But Bill manages to escape and now he has the boat in hand too. “I hate you!” he’s crying. Man, James McAvoy is great. I love him. Also, the kid who lives in his house, Dean, talks to him and Bill shouts at him to not go near the sewer and to tell his parents to leave town. That kid was having a bad two days lol. He got yelled at by two adults lol.

Now, the Fun House is also a great sequence. They show a bit of it in the trailer. Bill goes back to the Inn after his sewer sequence. He and Beverly kiss. He pulls back, I’m not sure if it’s because their kiss isn’t the same as when they were kids, or if he remembered they’re both married. I’m not sure but his expression was interesting. Let me know what you think his expression meant in that scene. The moment is cut short when a skateboard comes down the staircase. Bill recognizes it as the one Dean rode on his way to the carnival, there’s blood on the bottom and it says, “Won’t be there for him either?”. It prompts Bill to run off. So, he takes off to go find Dean and he sees him go into the fun house at the Carnival Canal Days. Bill goes after him, he almost gets taken out by those swinging clowns lol.

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He then gets to the hall of mirrors and he sees the kid and tries to run to him but of course runs into glass. He squeezes through a narrow passage, claustrophobia anyone? And he gets to the kid, runs into the glass again and it’s clear the kid is boxed in. During Bill’s search, you can see Pennywise also going through the area. The music they play for when he walks by is great lol. Dean is like “What are you doing here? Why are you following me?” and Bill stutters he’s trying to help. Then you hear a squeaking noise and we all turn to see Pennywise at the other side. It’s literally the worst noise ever.

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So, Bill pleads with him, while Pennywise starts bashing his head against the glass. Asking him to take him instead. “I’m here now take me” but Pennywise is a little jerk and he gives his little smile, this kid is screaming by the way, and then he breaks through the glass and eats the kid right in front of Bill, who was trying to break the glass on his side. It’s a horrible moment and you really want Bill to succeed save the kid even though we all know he isn’t going to be able to. Now he’s even more invigorated to stop Pennywise since there’s another kid he lost, and he feels even more guilty.

These scenes are so great. The first really establishes our group and their friendship while also kick starting what we all came here for. A rematch of the Losers Club vs Pennywise. The other two are my favorites because I really like what they did with Bill. I keep seeing that people think he isn’t the focus as much as he was in the first one and while I agree with that in ways, I don’t think that means he didn’t have anything to do. The sequel was way more of an ensemble minus Stanley compared to the first one where Bill and Beverly were the leads. I just think Bill is stuck in the same place he was in the first one in his crushing guilt. His arc throughout the film is coming to terms with what happened and finally realizing it wasn’t his fault and it never was. No matter how many times Pennywise tries to make it seem so. Plus, I love James McAvoy so I might be a little biased, but he did so well in both those scenes, I really felt for him both times.

The Opening Scene

So, I feel like maybe I should mention this since it’s such a big deal. When the movie starts, we get a flash of young Beverly floating in the deadlights and a wonderful transition into the Canal Days Carnival. There are two guys on a date at this carnival. This group of weird looking kids/young adults who start to bother them. Adrian says something smart then he’s pulled away by his boyfriend. While they’re on the bridge, the hooligans come back and basically beat them up, especially Adrian and they dump him into the river. The boyfriend goes to the riverbank to save him, but we get this great shot of Adrian looking at someone on the edge.

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It’s Pennywise, and he helps Adrian out of the water. The boyfriend sees that Adrian’s been helped, and then Pennywise takes a chunk out of Adrian’s side. He’s dead dead.

Soooooo, I don’t know if this happens in the book. I heard it does, but I think it’s important to note that this kind of thing happens in Derry. This scene is show Number ONE: The evil and hatred in Derry is amplified due to Pennywise’s presence. This is talked about in the first one and shown considering how people seem so “over it” or they just don’t care. I mean, kids keep disappearing and no one is looking for them, outside of Betty Ripsom’s mother. NUMBER TWO: Pennywise was in hibernation for 27 years and was probably slowly healing and weak due to his last battle with the Losers, so he was probably super hungry. He isn’t limited to just kids, he can scare them and play with his food to make them taste better. Adrian was already hurt, thanks to those hooligans so he was easy prey. I mean… I don’t think it meant to offend anyone, that’s just how it is in this town. That’s just my two cents on that.

The Runtime. 

This movie is 169 minutes or about 2 hours and 50 minutes long. I mean, it’s long but that didn’t bother me at all because I can handle long movies (except Endgame apparently because I went to the bathroom during the movie BOTH TIMES I SAW IT lol) but I read there is an even longer cut and I want to see the entire movie, especially the stuff that was cut. I feel like there is a ton of things that were left out. It might feel long to others but that didn’t bother me. I want to see the first one and second one in one big 6-hour long film lol.

Overall

The first one is still better but this is a nice follow up and a nice conclusion. There could have been better elements, particularly the CGI and maybe some storytelling elements, like how for a good chunk of the middle, the formula repeats itself, but I think it’s still a good film.

Okay so that’s my Spoiler Talk on It Chapter Two.

Let me know your thoughts below! Was there something I missed you wanted to talk about? Say it in the comments!

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Movie Review: Good Boys (2019)

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

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Summary: Three 6th grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party.
This will be a short review.
Pros:
Cast and Characters.
  • Jacob Tremblay as Max. He seems to be the “leader” of the group because he comes off as the most mature, in ways. He has a crush on this girl and he’s a bit crazy about it. The events in the movie kick off because of his crush on this girl. He is determined throughout the movie, to not only kiss this girl at a party some other little kid is having, but to learn how to do it right lol. Shenanigans ensue lol. Max is a very determined kid and he seems to be fearless and always willing to do what he needs to get things done. I like Max, there’s always a kid like him, almost the straight man of his group and arguably the most popular in his friend group. I adore Jacob Tremblay, he’s such a great young actor and everything I’ve seen him in so far, I have enjoyed him (even if I didn’t quite enjoy the movie… Book of Henry). He’s great in the role and his little face is just so cute whenever he would do the puppy dog look.
  • Keith L. Williams as Lucas. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I think it’s this kid reminds me of Craig Robinson in kid form. But he’s the gentle giant and he learns some big news from his parents which affects him for the rest of the movie, but he keeps it hush hush. He’s truthful and it’s a detriment sometimes and it’s funny too. He’s a little more of the “nerd” in the group as he still likes to play a card game, similar to Pokemon and he’s big into safety. Though he was willing to run across that highway. He’s adorable though and very likable as well.
  • Brady Noon as Thor. He’s the friend who thinks he’s way cooler than he is, which is shown by his hairstyle and clothes. He also has something he’s really into, but he might get teased for it, so he spends the movie wondering if it’ll be something he’ll continue to pursue. It’s cute actually and I love how they handle it in the film. I don’t want to spoil it because it’s cute. Just like the other two, he’s likable, I mean, I can see why he wouldn’t be, but I think it’s because he’s a kid that he is. If he was a teenager, if any of them were older, they’d all probably be annoying. This kid was great though, being able to maintain the weird balance that Thor has throughout the movie of trying to be all knowledgeable and hard and not being all that at the same time.
The Two Teenage Girls. There are these two teenage girls we get to spend time with throughout the film, especially when they interact with the three boys. Molly Gordon as Hannah and Midori Francis as Lilly. They were hilarious, I think Lilly was the funnier of the two because she has some great facial expressions and I love the part when she just takes off running after the boys while they’re on their bikes, like the Terminator. Their side plot is funny and doesn’t feel overwhelming to the main plot because their plot is important to the whole plot, which is how it should be.
I Cried Laughing/ The Highway Scene/Frat House. This movie is funny. I mean, don’t get me wrong there is vulgar humor and because they are kids, it makes even more outrageous. It’s like Little Rascals for 2019 because they act like they’re so much older than they are, but they still act like kids, ya know? It’s charming lol and funny. They have some funny bits earlier on the film, but I thought it handled the humor balance a lot better as the film went on. The highway is probably my favorite scene in the movie, and I was crying. I was literally in tears. They’re trying to get to this store to get something they lost, they climb a huge hill and see the store. They’re super excited but then realize there is a highway between them and the store. So, of course the logical thing to do is to cross it. At first, it’s okay because it’s traffic and they’re hardly moving but then they take too long, and the cars are whizzing by. Hilarious. So, one of them takes off, screaming through the cars, the second one does it and the third takes a moment to get across and then shenanigans and I was crying. Also, the frat house, y’all, we were dying. It was so funny. Like Max was going in and it was so great. That is all.
The Message. The message for the movie is really sweet. You have three best friends that as kids, they believe they’ll always be together or that they’ll do everything together but then you realize that when you get older, friendships drift apart, and sometimes it happens. I like how the movie handles that and it’s very realistic. I mean, it’s sad but it’s real.
Cons: 
Slow Beginning. I think it takes a minute to get going and into the story. I mean, things are set up early on but it’s not until the kids escape school that things really pick up and the adventure starts. That’s also where the humor gets going. I wasn’t checked out or anything, but I wasn’t really feeling the movie until they left school.
Humor. I do think they take a lot of the humor and uses it to undercut some of the emotional moments. I mean, they are kids so it’s funny with the things they say and do but it’s okay to even let little kids sit in their moments and be emotional. I can also believe that people would be upset at how vulgar the movie is at times, or at least with the adult/mature humor with these 12-year-old kids.
Overall, I really enjoyed Good Boys. I think it’s a great movie to watch, it’s funny and has a great message behind it as well. The three young leads really hold their own, especially Jacob Tremblay because I adore that kid, but they all have great chemistry, I believed in their friendship. There are some great comedic scenes in this movie two being the Highway scene and the Frat House scene. My friend and I were dying laughing at both of those parts. There’s a lot of good moments and I think the humor really works. It’s vulgar which I can imagine some people not liking, but it works, and it is kind of realistic lol. My only problem is that it has a very slow beginning for a long time. I thought it didn’t really pick up until at least 20 minutes in the movie and that’s a long time to get me invested. But outside of that, I very much enjoyed the movie and would totally watch it again.
Rating: 3.79 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Good Boys? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below.
What is your favorite comedy?
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Movie Review: Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

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Summary: The crypto-zoological agency Monarch faces off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan, and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.

Pros:

Good Acting. I think everyone in the movie was fine. I didn’t think anyone was bad, they did their job for this kind of movie. Kyle Chandler was a little yelly and annoying but that was his character lol. Vera Farmiga, I always think is good and Millie Bobby Brown was good too, I didn’t think she had a ton to do even though she was always in a scene. Then supporting actors were fine. I mean, you don’t come to this movie for the human aspect, but everyone does what is expected of them.

The Titans/Design. So, the best thing about this movie is the Titans, how they look and their interactions. I mean, Godzilla still looks cool and anytime he comes out of the water or uses his Blue Sonic Breath (not sure of the names) it just looks so cool! I think they might have changed his design a little bit in this one compared to the first one, which is cool. Not only is he cool, but you care and empathize with him. When he’s fighting Ghidorah, you really want him to win lol.

Rodan comes out of the volcano and I’m not sure if this shot was only in the trailer because I don’t remember seeing it in the movie.

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But anyway, he looks so cool! It’s like his blood is lava because he always has this red volcanic glow to his body. He also really looks like a dinosaur. Whenever he flapped his wings, there was always a huge gust of wind and whenever he flew, he decimated everything below him with a wave of strong wind. It was amazing. I mean he’s a giant dinosaur bird lol.

Mothra was my favorite because she was beautiful! I don’t even like moths lol. When we first see her, she’s a larva, which is gross and then she cocoons herself in the waterfall and we don’t really see her again until the big climax at the end. But y’all, when she spreads her wings for the first time in that waterfall, literally my favorite shot of the entire movie.

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It’s so beautiful. Oh, my goodness. She looks like a giant moth lol, she has longer legs though so she can fight because real moths just cling to things. She also has a stinger I think? lol Anyway, she shows up after Godzilla got hurt during a battle and she’s just pure light and you can’t really see her. Honestly, you don’t get a good look at her until she shows up for the fight at the end. But she comes through in the clutch and she was my favorite. I always thought she and Godzilla were enemies? Tell me in the comments.

King Ghidorah is a hydra with three heads and it’s an apex predator and Godzilla’s nemesis. So, of course humans are stupid and woke the giant three-headed dragon that harnesses lightning and cause category 6 storms just by flying… stupid humans. But he also had a GREAT ENTRANCE!

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Each head clearly had its own brain because they did their own things. If one head got hurt, then the others would do something to help or try and make up for what the third head couldn’t do but the center head was clearly the leader. There are some snake qualities in there, there’s a scene where the heads lower and the slither across the ground like a snake and I was like “that’s awesome” lol. This dude is a serious jerk though lol and he just does his own thing but he’s a dictator.

We do see other Titans awake in the movie: Behemoth, Scylla, Methuselah and a MUTO. They all look cool. They do all have their own design and I think the Behemoth looked the coolest being a mixture of a mammoth and a gorilla.

The Action. Great action, when you can see it! I remember there being a lot of complaints about the first movie because they wouldn’t show Godzilla in his entirety for a lot of the movie but I thought that was an interesting choice because it was just adding to the tension of the reveal. Here, he’s front and center quite a lot. Whenever he’s on screen, we see him kicking ass. This battle between Godzilla and Ghidorah was everything and this is another one of my favorite shots.

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Godzilla and Ghidorah face off twice and both times it’s a huge thing, the second time even more so and I liked the “new form” that Godzilla took in order to really get at him. The fight between Rodan and Mothra was also handled nicely and anytime any Titan was on screen going toe to toe with something else, it was great. I bet it would have been awesome to see in Dolby.

Musical Score. The musical score was beautiful. Whenever a Titan was being revealed, the music that played over their reveal was amazing. I have to say I loved the “Clair de Lune” and the “Over the Rainbow” they used in the trailers. I thought it really helped amp the scene if it was during a fight, or when it soft and somber because someone was hurt. It works really well.

Cons:

Boring and/or Random Humans. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS! It’s the same issue I had with Dumbo (2019) that the humans were boring, and their drama was annoying and melodramatic and of course things happen because humans are stupid. You think because you have the ability to awake the Titans you should? You think you can control Gods of Nature? Yeah okay… and then you have Kyle Chandler’s character just angry and pissy at everyone. I get it, you suffered a tragedy, but you don’t have to remind me every five minutes. I remember. Then they would have people in the movie, who they make seem like a big thing but then they’re not. Like actress Zhang Zivi plays Dr. Chen and Dr. Ling but we see Dr. Ling briefly and she never talks and I’m like “what was the point? To show us she had a twin? She was going to show us that later anyway.” It was useless. Even Sally Hawkins’ character was throw away and Sam (Middleditch), take him out and combine his character with someone else… I mean there are a lot of people in this. I really didn’t care about the family issues. I didn’t care why Millie Bobby Brown’s character did what she did on that bridge because I thought it was stupid. Just ugh.

Lame Plot. There is so much going on this movie that I didn’t even care. I just want to see the monsters. The company has to face off against the Titans because you have people in the company who think they know what’s best for the world. They think they can do stuff and then control it… stuff we have seen so many times and then you add in the side plot of the family issues with Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga and Millie Bobby Brown and anytime we had to listen to them whine, I was like “ugh”. If the story was written better than I would be into it. Now, I liked all the stuff that dealt with uncovering the history of the Titans, and I wish the movie focused on that more. That was way more interesting than any of the boring human stuff.

Too Dark. This movie has this weird “blue film” quality to it where it just looks blue and grey and you can’t really see much. I hate when action movies like this, with big creatures and it’s hard to see things a lot of the time. It shouldn’t be that hard. There are some great shots obviously but there are also a ton of dark and grey shots. I want to see!

Overall, I enjoyed this movie because of the Titans. There are a lot of cool shots and the action is fun when you can see it. The designs of the Titans are some of my favorite bits of the movie because they just look so cool. I would watch a video of just the Titans coming out of their resting places and moving across the world lol. The acting in the movie by the actors is also just fine. However, the story was whack, the characters were annoying and it’s too dark to really enjoy the action as much as I would have liked too. The screen can still be dark and smoky but visible. I think it’s a fun movie, nothing too special unless you’re just here for the Titans, which I’m sure most viewers are.

Rating: 2.89 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen Godzilla: King of the Monsters? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments! Which Titan was your favorite? Be sure to comment below.

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Movie Review: Ma (2019)

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

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Summary: A lonely woman befriends a group of teenagers and decides to let them party at her house. Just when the kids think their luck couldn’t get any better, things start happening that make them question the intention of their host.
This will be a short review.
Pros:
Octavia Spencer as Ma. She’s great lol and she carries the movie. Sue Ann is prompted by some teenagers to buy some beer and she does. Later, she does it again for them but this time invites them to her house to party in her basement. She soon enough becomes friends with these teenagers and shenanigans ensue lol. I’ve never seen Octavia Spencer play a role like this and I think she had a ton of fun and she was great. Those intense looks she gives in general worked really well in this film. She was intimidating when she had to be, scary and even “kind” when she needed to be. It’s quite interesting as the movie goes on, how her backstory unravels and you begin to understand her in a lot of ways.
Thriller Aspect. I think this movie is a fun thriller. I mean, it doesn’t break the mold or anything but it has fun with this aspect. Octavia Spencer is delightfully unsettling so it really goes off of her and of course the jump scares. I actually jumped way more during this movie than when I watched It: Chapter Twolol. I don’t know, maybe I just wasn’t expecting to feel so uncomfortable because I feel like this would really happen. People are crazy.
Interesting Premise. The idea that this lonely woman befriends some teenagers and allows them to party in her house and she continues to grow more and more possessive is super interesting. Plus, you notice, pretty early on once some names are revealed, that she has special interests in Andy and that she might be making connections to her past and she might just take things out on the teenagers. I mean, it’s all interesting stuff and Octavia Spencer is so good that I wish the movie was much better and on her level.
Cons:
The Teenagers. Unfortunately, I didn’t think any of the main teenagers we see in the film, were that great nor were they interesting. They seemed to be the stereotypical teenage tropes you normally see, but they weren’t interesting, nor did the movie give them the chance to really be interesting. It tried with Maggie and Andy but it never really followed through.
The Ending. We have the climax as we always do, Maggie vs Ma and some other things happen. You see them in the trailer, where Ma has done something to the other teenagers but she and Maggie have their collision and a solution and then the movie just ends. I wasn’t expecting to know everything but there needed to be more of a resolution. What happened to the survivors? Did anyone actually die? I mean, I need to know. It was just an aerial shot and then credits. I was like wait whaaatt??
Wasted Potential. The biggest issue with this movie is the writing is really lazy because stuff could have been avoided if people actually followed through with the thoughts they clearly have. There are so many red flags that pop up and there are many moments where Maggie is clearly unsure but never says a word but she didn’t seem to have a problem voicing her opinion any other time. I mean, with a movie like this, it’s important for people to be stupid otherwise there wouldn’t be a movie but I mean, don’t treat your audience like they’re stupid like your characters. Be a bit smarter in your decisions so the characters can have the chance to be interesting and not just skeletons. Besides, I think certain things started to come to a head towards the end and it was like a breakneck pace and the movie just ended lol. Ma clearly has some issues and a dark past and you can see certain things throughout the movie, but the movie never really follow through. It might be mentioned or kind of alluded but…I don’t know, it’s just so weird. There’s this whole thing with the Andy kid that was really interesting, weird, but interesting and I feel like there could have been more there.
Overall, I really enjoyed Ma, way more than I thought I would. It’s a fun movie to be honest. Octavia Spencer is a gem and the best thing about the movie. Her acting chops are amazing and she hits every beat expected of her. The premise is really interesting and I wish the writing was smarter and more fine-tuned to reach the level it could have been on. Also, it’s an effective thriller, it follows the usual tropes but I think it works for this kind of film. Now, I didn’t think the teenagers were interesting, nor did I really care what happened to them, outside of Andy, just because he was sweet lol, and other story elements they put in there. The acting wasn’t that great from any of them, Maggie was probably the best out of the group but meh. The ending is horrible and there is so much wasted potential in this one. BUT I think it’s fun. If you just want to check it out, I think it’s worth checking out.
Rating: 2.89 out of 5 stars. 
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Movie Review: Glass (2019)

~ Alyxwrites ~ Leave a comment

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Summary: Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities.
You can read my Split Review and my Spoiler Talk. I did watch Unbreakable finally and I don’t think I’ll review it, at least not right now.
Pros:
Cast and Characters. 
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price / Mr. Glass. He is an intelligent comic book theorist with Type I osteogenesis imperfecta, who was institutionalized after David Dunn discovered his crimes. He spends a lot of this movie silent, in a state where he doesn’t seem to be able to do anything other than stare into the distance. He appears very unassuming and around the end, his intentions and plans start to come to fruition, and he proves he’s still the smartest one. SLJ is great, I like how Mr. Glass is basically a fanboy who really lost his mind. It’s something we’ve seen before but he takes it to the extreme, especially once we find out just how far he’s gone. SLJ plays intimidating and crazy well.
  • James McAvoy as Kevin Wendell Crumb / The Horde. My favorite character in this movie. He is twenty-seven years old and a former Philadelphia Zoo employee with 23 different personalities whose body chemistry changes with each personality, culminating in a 24th personality known as “The Beast”, a savage superhuman cannibal whose abilities include wall-crawling, enhanced strength, speed, durability, and agility. I love the fact that we got to see many more personalities in this compared to Split but he plays them all so well and the fluidity of how he goes into each one. Of course, we see Hedwig, Dennis, Patricia and Barry again and they’re all still great. I mean, Hedwig is a character lol. I love James McAvoy. He’s great. I LOVE HIM and I’m glad he’s had like three movies this year, two of them were not that great but he’s always great in them. The way he can just go through different alters and it’s clear that they are different people, not to mention him as The Beast, it’s just so impressive and I honestly want to see an origin story of him. Not “The Beast” as that is what Split is but of his life with the others and McAvoy can play those too since he’s supposed to be 27 and McAvoy is not lol. But I want more of him. He’s the only reason why I teared up a little at the end.
  • Bruce Willis as David Dunn / The Overseer. He is a superhuman vigilante with enhanced strength and durability, as well as the ability to see the crimes people have committed by touching them. Dunn lives a quiet life, but he still goes out to play hero with his son as his “man in the chair” and it’s clear they’ve been doing this for years. Dunn is the strong silent type and it’s because of him that he and The Horde get caught. Dunn tries to save some kidnapped girls and he and The Beast end up having a nice fight. Throughout the movie, he’s almost a nonfactor until the end and he gets to let go since he has an opponent that he doesn’t have to hold back from. I’ve always enjoyed Bruce Willis and he’s fine, the movie doesn’t focus a lot on him but when it does, he’s good.
  • Sarah Paulson as Dr. Ellie Staple. She is a psychiatrist who specializes in delusions of grandeur and it’s her mission to prove Dunn, Price and Kevin aren’t superhumans and she basically uses words to mess with them. I mean, she’s good at her job because they do start to doubt who they are and what they can do. I quite liked how she was able to really confuse Patricia who holds The Horde down lol. I mean, she’s a psychiatrist so whenever we see her, she’s talking lol. Sarah Paulson is a good actress, I haven’t seen her in a ton of things but everything I have seen with her, I think she’s dynamic and here her character isn’t this big personality and you never know what she might say to really get into their heads. I really like the ending for her character, it allows the audience to understand her more.
  • Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke. She is a 17-year-old girl with a history of abuse who was kidnapped by one of Kevin’s identities as a potential sacrifice to “The Beast” but managed to survive. After Kevin gets taken to the hospital, she comes to see him and I find her role interesting in this because she cares for Kevin, even though he was part of a traumatic experience for her. I mean, I know at the end of the day, it wasn’t Kevin, but it was still his body… I don’t know, I liked that she was able to pull Kevin to the light and all that, but I found it an interesting connection. ATJ is great, very compelling to watch.
  • Spencer Treat Clark as Joseph Dunn. David’s son who has believed in his father’s abilities since he was a child and sees him as a real-life superhero. I think it’s great they got the same actor to play his son and I loved his unshakable belief in his dad even when his dad started to doubt it himself.
Story Connections. When I saw Split, I loved it even before I learned of the connection to Unbreakable which I hadn’t seen at that point. I was aware of that movie and what it was essentially about, but I didn’t know the details so the stinger at the end was cool. I like how Mr. Glass is still proving he’s the smartest in the room and that he literally thinks of everything even when others think they bested him. Nice try lol. I like the fact that you have “The Beast” and the only person who can really handle him is Dunn because of his ability and The Horde feels threatened, it’s an interesting dynamic. Shyamalan has said he’s not interested in making more movies after this one but the shared universe he created is interesting and I would be interested in case he did.
The Ideas. I like what the movie was trying to do in terms of the questions being asked. What if everything you believe about yourself being “super” is in your head. I think that’s a great question and a good way to take a deeper look at people who superhuman.
The Climax. The movie is basically building to this moment, as it should, and while I’ll talk about it a little in my cons, I think it was overall enjoyable to watch. Mr. Glass set things in motion and now he, along with the audience gets to sit back and enjoy The Beast and Dunn’s collision. It was fun to watch, and I was really into seeing everyone get to use their powers, or fully embrace them and just clash. Plus, it’s around this time that we just get so much information and revelations and it’s really cool. James McAvoy running across that grass like an animal is literally my favorite thing.
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I was waiting for that the entire movie lol.
Cons:
Underwhelming. Boy this movie ends in such a lackluster way. I mean, I get it, the entire movie was building up to a moment and I know what it means, what it was supposed to be like, at least in my mind and I don’t think it provides the conclusion these movies deserve. It’s very underwhelming and I was actually upset. Not like upset like “dang man that’s sad” it was sad, and I did tear up a little bit but mostly because REALLY???? These characters are interesting and don’t get me wrong, it’s been 19 years since we’ve seen Dunn and Glass, but you then bring in such an interesting character in Kevin and then you do this? Meh. I was not happy with this ending. All that build up for that. It’s like waiting for a rocket to launch and then the fuse goes out right before takeoff. Lame. These characters deserved much better.
More Interactions. We needed more interactions between the main three characters. In the beginning, we have an interaction with The Beast and Dunn and then that’s really it. They never really interact again, even when all three of them are in the same room. Dunn and Glass never talk until the last 30 minutes… I mean, come on. Most people are banking on something going on with these three and Dunn spends most of the movie isolated and while Kevin is interesting because of his many alters, it would have been nice to see Patricia or even Hedwig interact with Dunn. They talked about him enough. Missed opportunities! I don’t want to see them interact with the orderlies in the hospital, I want to see them talk and interact with each other!
Nothing is Happening. This movie feels like a series of things just happening, but nothing is actually happening. There are moments where our main three are speaking with Dr. Staples and that’s where most of the things seem to happen. She’s trying to get them to think about themselves in a different way and it’s clever. Then it’s just a lot of watching people and talking. Don’t get me wrong, I particularly was interested in the moments with Kevin and his alters but it was like the moving was just very slowly moving towards something and it picked up only to be shot down so fast.
Overall, I enjoyed Glass for the most part. I thought the acting was great with James McAvoy as the standout because his role is so complicated, dynamic and interesting that he really steals the show when he’s on screen, which is great because I love him. Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis are also great to see on screen. I really like the idea of the film and what it was trying to accomplish because it’s a different look at the superhero genre and the climax was entertaining. I think this movie has a problem with keeping the momentum going because it feels like nothing is happening and when the big climax happens, you get into it but then the payoff is really underwhelming, and it feels like a very lackluster ending to an interesting trilogy. Besides, there should have been way more interactions between our main three actors, and it was such a missed opportunity to not have them be more involved with each other. That’s where the interesting stuff happens. I feel like there was a lot of things cut out that would have helped but I also watched the deleted scenes in the DVD and those deleted scenes added nothing lol. So, I’m like well dang lol. Watch this one for the familiar characters and the great performances.
Rating: 2.9 out of 5 stars.
Have you seen Glass? What are your thoughts on the film? Let me know in the comments below!
Which out of the Unbreakable trilogy is your favorite? Unbreakable, Split, or Glass?
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