'Mortal Kombat II' A Review

Mortal Kombat II is a fantasy/action movie a direct sequel to the 2021 reboot. The tournament comes again, Earth's heroes must defend it from the machinations from the villians out Outworld, this introduces two new characters Johnny Cage(Karl Urban) and Kitana(Adeline Rudolph).

Urban is really fun and Rudolph brings some soul but there's way more lore and plot in this installment and basically all of the supporting cast aren't given much to do other than reiterate exposition and, overall, there's just not that much action.

The action there is is compelling with some really deliciously gruesome kills but everything is weighed down but convoluted plotting and a baffling McGuffin. A Mortal Kombat movie should, above all, be fun and this one takes itself a bit too seriously to hit that benchmark consistently, sacrificing entertainment for attempts at 'worldbuilding' and setting up a broader franchise.

Classic, fold-laundry-to quality.

Currently streaming on HBO Max.

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'Rose Of Nevada' A Review

Rose of Nevada is a sci-fi drama about two men in a Cornish fishing village in economic decline, Liam(Callum Turner) a itinerant worker and Nick(George MacKay) a struggling husband and father, take work on the titular fishing boat which has mysteriously reappeared after 30 years lost at sea.

Both Turner and MacKay do some of their best work here, both giving subtle but deep performances. Inhabiting the lives of the characters and the bizarre situation at it's heart with a commitment and authenticity that harmonizes perfectly with the story as well as the expressionistic design elements. The supporting cast is limited but are equally well-cast and locked-in particularly Rosalind Eleazar and Francis Magee.

Shot in a truncated aspect ratio and on grainy film stock(or with a digital effect to evoke such) the film has an eerie, timeless quality from the jump, enhanced by a simple, repeating, monotonous score and protracted seemingly innocuous shots of rusted equipment, robes, chains, feet etc. It's all very avant garde and experimental but grounded by MacKay and Turner and evokes a dream-like journey. 

Avant-garde indie cinema at its best. Artistic and rich without being pretentious or losing sight of the humanity at the core.

Currently in theaters.

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'Masters Of The Universe' A Review

Masters Of The Universe is a science fantasy based on the Mattel toy line and subsequent cartoon. In Eternos, the capital city of the planet Eternia, young prince Adam struggles to meet his father's expectations when the city is attacked by Skeletor(Jared Leto) and Adam is forced to flee to Earth. He returns 15 years later to reclaim his throne and free Eternia's people.

Nicholas Galitzine as Adam aka He-Man struggles to put forth much of a coherent character, he's asked to do an impossible task oscillating wildly from (relatively weak) comedy to shining hero. He does his best to make some sense of what's on the page and synthesis it into something coherent but no matter who was cast it's not something that could have worked. Leto's vocal performance(and maybe his physical performance, it's unclear) are fun and effective, there seems to be understanding of what movie he's in. The supporting cast otherwise is filled with talent- Idris Elba, Morena Baccarin, Camila Mendes(in bizarre blue contacts), Sasheer Zamata, James Purefoy, Alison Brie, and on and on. But from the script to the direction the tone, the vibe, just doesn't come together. Is this for kids? For adults? Is it a comedy? Is it an action/adventure? There's so much packed in, so many ideas and references, its more a shotgun blast of a flick rather than a cogent story.

Visually it looks pretty good, they didn't skimp on the CG, but some of the action sequences and shots are straight-up lifted from relatively recent Marvel and DC movies(there's a lightening-trailing leap right out of Thor: Ragnarök, there's a classic Zack Snyder slow-mo punchathon finale etc.). The score is this whimsical retro hair mental explosion. The costuming is near exact to the action figures. Clearly made with a ton of fan passion taken as a whole you struggle to understand who this is supposed to be for and why a studio would cough up $200M for it. In how much energy and time and interest went into this compared to how large of a miscalculation it is it's reminiscent of Warcraft.

Middle-aged men's passion for a toy(or cartoon) in search of an appropriate vessel.

Currently in theaters.

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'The Mandalorian And Grogu' A Review

The Mandalorian And Grogu is a scifi adventure, a continuation of The Mandalorian show, and the latest installment in the Star Wars ouvre.

There's not much in the script for the cast to do. Pedro Pascal as the titular Mandalorian has a couple nice moments with the puppet Grogu but those are few and far between and after burning through guest stars in the show the only other big names involved are Sigourney Weaver who's barely in it and Jeremy Allen White who provides, maybe, one of the worst and uninspired vocal performances in Star Wars cannon, some but not all his fault as the character Rabba The Hut on the page is repetitive and corny and the rendering is laughable. 

The production is an odd mish-mash of styles and tones but more importantly quality. It looks like the movie was made on a budget and about half of the CG is 00's era bad. The only saving grace is the score, a staple of the show, and here composer Ludwig Göransson gets to really stretch in a way the show didn't have the space for. That at least is top notch.

Otherwise, the main and glaring issue is the script, after seasonal diminishing returns with the show turning this into a feature is somewhat baffling. On top of that it is so fraught with lore both from the show that inspired it as well as greater Star Wars cannon it would be virtually impenetrable for anyone not familiar. Tonally it's unclear if this is aimed at adults for nostalgia's sake or grade schoolers and that tension ultimately tears the movie down the middle. Part of the issue is the pacing, there's tons of action but without any character development or dimension it rings incredibly hollow, the concern is so much on keeping momentum and attention any actual depth is lost.

The last gasp of a great idea. 

Currently in theaters.

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'Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie' A Review

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie is a time travel/parody/mocumentary about aspiring musicians Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol(playing versions of themselves) attempts to play at Toronto venue the Rivoli which inadvertently sends them back in time.

Based on/a continuation of their TV show and web series the style is pretty niche, reminiscent of last years Pavements, I'm not sure anyone not already fans have much to actually enjoy here. As a novice, Johnson is relentlessly insufferable and McCarrol seems to do virtually nothing. The Back To The Future element is less parody than it is just direct recreation and reference. The hidden camera/on-the-street elements are somewhat impressive in that they're able to stitch together a narrative but other than constraints of budget that element doesn't bring anything to the movie or serve much purpose.

For fans of the duo presumably a real hit, for the uninitiated not much to offer beyond the mediocre. Hot Tub Time Machine did a better Back To The Future spoof, Bad Trip did a more inventive narrative and was funnier at using guerilla/prank style shooting.

NTBTSTM isn't bad it's just not particularly lively or original. It's a pastiche of better films and ideas.

Currently available to rent on most VOD platforms.

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'Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice' A Review

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice is a scifi action/comedy about Mike(James Marsden) who's fallen in love with his boss Nick's(Vince Vaughn)wife Alice(Eiza González) the both of whom want to flee the criminal underworld they inhabit. But Nick's future self has come back on this evening in particular because Mike's life is in danger.

The cast is stacked with talent both Vaughn and Marsden have buckets of charm and humor they deploy throughout, González doesn't have much to do but her innate watchability makes it work. The supporting cast has some fun surprises- Keith David(legend), Jimmy Tatro, Stephen Root, and Dolph Lundgren- are all fun and funny. There's a scrappiness about the production and the cast that translates to low key fun.

The script is overly plotted, the title is unnecessarily cumbersome, and some sequences employ some pretty dated(and cheap looking) filmmaking techniques. BUT. Overall it's a mostly effective fun action/comedy with a scifi twist that allows Vaughn to do a double role(pretty well!).

Entertaining if not spectacular.

Currently streaming on Hulu.

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'Project Hail Mary' A Review

Project Hail Mary is a scifi movie based on the 2021 novel of the same name. Grace(Ryan Gosling) awakens from a medically induced coma on a space craft with amnesia. Over time and through flashbacks he figures out he is part of a mission to determine the cause and correct the dropping temperature of the sun. He meets and befriends an alien who he names Rocky and the two set about trying to save both their worlds.

Gosling deploys every ounce of every-man charm he has(which is substantial) and mostly shoulders the film effortlessly. Rocky, voiced and puppeteer'd by James Ortiz is also really wonderful and the real heart and focus of the film is their burgeoning friendship and connection. They have great chemistry and the nuts-and-bolts hard scifi problems are interesting but really it's their relationship and the surprising amount of humor the film mines that's the real delight.

The film is beautiful and really uses Space and the space to great effect. With a good blend of practical effects and CGI there's a tactile quality the really elevates it. Some real classic rock needle drops serve to fill out a pretty stellar sound design. All-in-all the production is near perfect.

If there's a fault it is in the run time, it feels a tad long, ends several times, these are all taken directly from the book so it's faithful to its source material but as a cinematic experience it could have packed a bit more punch at minus 10-15 minutes.

A wonderfully thrilling and surprisingly emotional ride with laughs to spare. The first real blockbuster of 2026.

Currently in theaters.

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'War Machine' A Review

War Machine is a scifi/action movie about aspiring Army Ranger "81"(Alan Ritchson) whose team is attacked by a large alien military machine during their final training exercise.

Ritchson has enough presence and stoic charm to make up for his limited range and seems to be the heir apparent to the beefcake 80's action star a la Stallone/Schwarzenegger, and that's not a bad thing, there have been a dearth of straight-up action movies in recent years, unfortunately the movie he's in is a bit too thin to make an impression but here's hoping this is the beginning of more feature leading roles for Ritchson. The supporting cast have some talent but all are so woefully underwritten and most of the "bonding" in the first half while the recruits are in training is montaged.

The look of the picture is pretty generic but at least most of the scenes take place during the day in adequate lighting. The alien machine design is pretty simplistic bordering on laughable but the CGI isn't bad and with the set and sound design there is a sense of reality. There's plenty of pretty intense gore, which at times is a bit incongruous, tonally the movie doesn't seem totally clear on what it wants to be. It's overly serious but doesn't spend much time on the emotion or character and the scifi element is so brutal and menacing there's not a ton of fun in it.  Still, not terrible just not particularly good.

A laundry flick.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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'Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die!' A Review

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is a scifi movie about a man from the future(Sam Rockwell) who arrives at a diner in LA to gather a group of people to save the world from a malevolent AI.

Rockwell brings his patented fast-talking humor and charm and it's deployed here almost entirely appropriately. The supporting cast is filled with some ringers-Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple, and Haley Lu Richardson. Richardson has the most to do and has great chemistry with Rockwell and does what she does best, brings some much needed grounding and emotional sincerity which balances some of the more bonkers antics.

Shot conservatively and in limited locations the film has a real sense of place and texture, the CGI is limited, and whatever can be done practically is. It's not Brazil, although clearly it's an inspiration, but the production elements all work in concert to give the film a particular look and feel, an identity, which is refreshing given the ongoing homogenization of movie aesthetics.

Plot wise, it's a bit bloated but ambitious. Modern themes(Big Tech, AI, school shootings etc.) are explored if not sophisticatedly at least directly. And even if there's nothing particularly satisfying about the commentary it feels of-the-moment, feels like it's engaging with now. There's ultimately just a little too much fat, at 135 minutes, it drags, it slogs, it looses the interest it very cleverly cultivates.

A great 100 minute movie.

Currently in theaters.

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'28 Years Later: The Bone Temple' A Review

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is a zombie movie, a direct continuation of last summer's 28 Years Later. At the end of the previous film Spike(Alfie Williams) had been rescued by the satanist Jimmy(Jack O'Connell) and his group of teenage cultists, now he must be initiated into the group and join them as they roam the countryside mindlessly torturing survivors. Concurrently Dr. Ian(Ralph Fiennes) befriends and attempts to treat Samson(Chi Lewis-Parry) an infected Alpha. Eventually the two must collide.

O'Connell is compelling here, particularly in the one normal scene he shares with Fiennes, but the whole Jimmy plot-line doesn't have much depth to it. The second time he goes into his, I'm communing with Satan spiel, and orders his little droogies to kill someone it becomes surprisingly rote. The film really comes alive when Fiennes is on screen, the camera loves him, and he's absolutely captivating. The humanist perspective he brings to his character and to the zombie-world of the series feels like the most logical and compelling evolution of the franchise and makes the violent parts of the film seem dated. The limited supporting cast are all good but no one really distinguishes themselves save for Erin Kellyman as one of the Jimmys.

Visually the film is just as rich as its predecessor but has a narrower focus, doesn't stray far from the titular Bone Temple, which works in it's favor. Director Nia DaCosta has style and she paints with a rich brush here but you get the sense she is constrained a bit by this being such a direct sequel. The soundtrack works, the costuming in make up are impeccable, it's just the story that falls a bit short. Like the first one, the focus is split when it should be narrow, Williams as Spike is a decent child actor but his storyline was never that interesting and his presence here feels almost perfunctory. Fiennes is clearly the star, the movie wants to be about him, anytime we cut away we want to return, and this is no where more apparent than in the climatic "meeting" of Dr. Ian and the Jimmys underscored to Iron Maiden. Even if the film meanders and doesn't meet its full potential it is unquestionably worth it based on that singular scene alone.

A sequel constrained by its predecessor, still interesting, with one truly transcendent scene.

Currently in theaters.

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'Predator: Badlands' A Review

Predator: Badlands is a scifi action movie, a standalone in the Predator franchise and the ninth in the series. Dek(Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Yautja(Predator) runt, strives to prove himself to his clan by going to Genna, the 'death planet', and hunting the unkillable Kalisk. After crashing he teams up with Thia(Elle Fanning) a damaged synthetic and the two strike up an unlikely partnership.

Schuster-Koloamatangi gives a great performance, expressive and alien, conveying an understandable but distinctly different species. He has a lot of room to play, which he does, mostly utilizing physicality and brings the Predator, here-to-for mostly unknowable, into a fully flushed out character. Fanning is a great foil, fast-talking and funny and the two have great chemistry. The supporting cast is pretty limited but equally effective. There is a Grogu-esk sidekick that kind of rides the line of fun and cute occasionally dipping over to on-the-nose but still mostly just fun.

Visually the film is rich, imaginative, and exciting. The landscape, the flora and fauna, the creature design. It's all very specific and very evocative. Director Dan Trachtenberg continues his resurgent efforts for the franchise, expanding the world in interesting way and telling diverting standalone stories. The score is thrumming and contagious, the costuming, the props, all are clearly meticulously thought out and serve the transportive worldbuilding. It marks somewhat of a tonal shift for the franchise, this is definitely a PG-13 action flick, reminiscent of the kind of thing you'd have seen in the late 90's with humor, heart, and exciting fights and that's one of the things that make it feel so fresh and exciting. 

A thrilling, immersive adventure. A throwback style popcorn flick Hollywood seems to have forgotten how to make- fun.

Currently in theaters.

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'Tron: Ares" A Review

Tron: Ares is the third installment in the Tron franchise and loosely follows the events of Tron: Legacy. Two corporations are competing to stabilize digital constructs(like 3D printed computer programs). Eve(Greta Lee) wants to use this technology to help humanity, her rival Julian(Evan Peters) wants to use it to create an army. His lead program is Ares(Jared Leto) who bucks under his programing and wants to be a real boy.

Leto, taking aside the allegations and having a long history of harassing his co-workers, is just boring and miscast here. He's wooden, uncompelling, he seems confused about what he's doing and it doesn't help that the plot is overly convoluted. Lee is decent but is equally bogged down by the plotting and Peters injects some much needed verve but he is hamstrung with almost all of his action being typing on a keyboard. Jodie Turner-Smith as Ares' fellow program Athena is great but underused. Aside from Leto, the cast is decent, but both his performance and his reputational association make the movie suffer.

Visually the film is slick Tron-like(natch) and cool, the soundtrack is mesmeric, the action sequences are entertaining. The production elements, across the board, all hit home. The problem(other than Leto) is the script. It just has too many ideas and can't quite decide what it wants to focus on and it misses a trick by having the bulk of the action take place in the 'real world' as opposed to 'the grid'. Despite all that it's a decent ride, doesn't quite hit the same sweet spot as Tron: Legacy but isn't altogether awful.

Diverting vibe with a clunker lead, not as slick or immersive as it's predecessor.

Currently in theaters.

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'M3GAN 2.0' A Review

 

M3gan 2.0 is an scifi action/comedy a sequel to the 2023 horror/comedy. The movie opens during a military operation where the Army is showing off it's latest weapon, a robot assassin AMELIA(Ivanna Sakhno), but, no surprise, things go wrong and she goes rogue! And it looks like she's headed for our heroes from M3GAN Gemma(Allison Williams) and her niece Cady(Violet McGraw), oh no! Luckily the Bitch Is Back, M3GAN has been hiding in the ether and only needs a new body to do what she does best, protect Cady and slay!

Williams has a bit meatier of a part here as does McGraw and they're both great and have more fun. M3GAN, body by Amie Donald voiced by Jenna Davis, is equally turned up and it's honestly great to see the psycho again. Sakhno is a nice addition and brings some weird Terminator type energy to it. The big surprise is Aristotle Athari as Christian Gemma's boyfriend who's really funny and has a real electric and easy presence, he really shines. The supporting cast are all solid but the above are who have most of the action.

It looks slick, with a bit bigger of a budget than the original it just has a bit more life and movement, it's more ambitious and includes, of course, a dance sequence and a song from the titular villain-come-hero. Sound track is catchy, the pacing is clipped, it's a solid popcorn flick and honestly better than the first one.

She's back and actually kinda better!

Currently streaming on Peacock.

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'A Big Bold Beautiful Journey' A Review

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is a romantic fantasy about two listless mentally ill adults looking for love. A magical car rental service shunts these two sociopaths together for the titular adventure which is basically a linear walk down memory lane where they reenact/relive past individual moments together which serves as how they get to know each other. Sexy!

Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell are some of our most natural and magnetic movie stars so it is a feat here, and a fault of the direction/script rather than their talent, that they are so stilted, flat, and unengaging. They have no chemistry. The robotic, unnatural, and exposition heavy dialogue is an absolute albatross for them both and seems to take a baffling tell don't show approach. There is no subtext, no subtlety, all emotion and intent is bludgeoning clear in the punishing dialogue.

The production is whimsical and well done, not a surprise from director Kogonada, but this is the first feature which he did not write and that gulf is apparent as regardless of the effectiveness of the production design the result is impotent. Seth Reiss's script is dated, reductive, and so twee the cringe factor makes it virtually unwatchable, it is clearly an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind knock-off with none of the innovation, authenticity, or potency of that film.

Pretentious, ill-conceived, and pedantic.

Currently in theaters.

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'The Old Guard 2' A Review

The Old Guard 2 is a sequel to 2020's The Old Guard an adaptation of the comic book series about a group of immortal warriors. Six months after the events of the first film the team continues to do covert action for the betterment of mankind but an even older immortal comes in to gum up the works.

The cast is full of talent but none of them are given anything much to do other than contort themselves to make the clunky, melodramatic, overly complicated, uncompelling, lore bloated and emotionally thin script make any degree of sense let alone be entertaining.

The production is almost categorically terrible from Charlize's baffling mullet wig to the harsh, amateurish lighting(reminiscent of 90's made-for-TV-movies), to the bizarre framing and camera set ups, to the clunky awkward fight choreography. Almost every aspect of the production is a failure. Unfortunately it doesn't qualify for so-bad-it's-good status because the tone is so incredibly serious. The whole endeavor is honestly confusing given how good the first movie was. It's not even bland enough to have on in the back ground while doing chores, it's that grating.

Without Gina Prince-Bythewood at the helm this burgeoning franchise sinks.

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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'Jurassic World Rebirth' A Review

Jurassic World Rebirth is a scifi action movie, the 7th in the Jurassic Park series. Dinosaurs as amusement park fodder have fallen out of fashion and have been dying off due to the modern incompatible climate. There are only survivors around the equator on isolated quarantined islands. A greedy pharmaceutical exec Martin(Rupert Friend) puts together a team- Zora(Scarlett Johansson), Duncan(Mahershala Ali), and Henry(Jonathan Bailey) to go in an extract DNA to fabricate a heart disease cure all. Sound derivative and overly complicated? Well there's also a family, with their own set of contrived back stories, sailing across the Atlantic on a self-made sail boat that gets attacked and joins up with the mercenary crew.

Johansson does what she can with her incongruous and clunky character but fails to bring much interest or life to it. Ali fairs better and skates mostly on his natural boundless charisma, it helps he's not incumbered with as much nonsensical backstory as Johansson's character. The rest of the cast range from mediocre to flat. Friend and Bailey continue Hollywood's increasing penchant for casting C-list brits to save on payroll and get what they pay for- boring performances and in the case of Bailey a terrible American accent.

Visually the film is at least compelling to look at and the score is effective but the creature design kinda misses the point. Dinosaurs are enough, cross-species splicing monsters turn this from Jurassic Park to kaiju territory. The problems though begins and ends with the script, kind of bizarre given screenwriter David Koepp wrote both this and one of 2025's best Black Bag. Although it isn't as craven, dumb, or ineffectual as the Jurassic World trilogy it misunderstands why Jurassic Park was a success and why people are still interested. It's too convoluted, too shallow, and too route to be anything other than a thin summer blockbuster destined to be forgotten after everyone streams it in six months while they fold laundry.

A vapid reheat of a beloved franchise driven into the ground by avarice.

Currently in theaters.

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'Predator: Killer of Killers' A Review

Predator: Killer of Killers is a scifi action animated movie, a standalone entry in the Predator franchise. The film is composed of four segments, the first three in various times throughout history where three warriors best a predator(Viking age, feudal Japan, and WWII), in the fourth segment those three humans face off against the titular killer of killers on the predator home world.

With no real A-listers(thankfully) the voice cast all soar creating dynamic, emotional, and potent performances. In a time of voice actors getting edged out by stunt casting celebrities in animated films this is a welcome return to form and proof that voice acting is a different beast and voice actors are the best people to do voice work.

The animation style is rich and evocative, clearly influenced by anime and comics, not overly complex or meticulously rendered but still beautiful, transportive, and effective with the action sequences being particularly thrilling and cool. There's a scruffiness to it which melds perfectly with the subject matter. It works as a highly entertaining stand alone feature as well as to build out the Predator world in an organic and exploratory way. Director Dan Trachtenberg continues his clever revitalization of the franchise in this follow-up to Prey but much like that film this should have been released theatrically.

A homerun for any with an interest in SFF.

Currently streaming on Hulu.

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'The Life of Chuck' A Review

The Life of Chuck is a SFF drama about the titular Chuck told in reverse chronology in three acts, based on the Stephen King story of the same name. The film opens on the last days of the apocalypse, the middle section features Chuck(Tom Hiddleston) during a business trip as an adult, and the third section features Chuck as a child through his teenage years.

Hiddleston is nominally the face of the movie even though he doesn't get much more screentime than any of the other ensemble and he, unfortunately, is the only one kinda miscast. He's a name which presumably helped the film get made(so kuddos on that front) but dramatically he's a little wooden, a little stiff, and doesn't project the kind of everyman gravitas that the role requires(that say narrator Nick Offerman definitely does). It works OK and the biggest sequence in the movie, the dance, is impressive, his performance in general leaves a bit to be desired. The rest of the cast however are all pretty much pitch-perfect with many of writer/director Mike Flanagan reparatory players making appearances- Mark Hamill, Hamish Linklater, Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, Carl Lumbly- to name a few as well as A-listers Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan. The list goes on and they are all great, unified under one vision of empathy, compassion, and the theme of the film which is that human life has value and meaning regardless of it's scope.

Like a lot of Flanagan's work there are some stand out sequences, overall decent visuals, but there is a kind of saturated color pallet that can evoke a TV movie cheapness that is a bit distracting. The score is subtle and effective, the locations(shot in Alabama) are pretty bland and uninspired but functional, and there's minimal effects(in the first sequence) which is welcome. The source material is unconventional and this relatively faithful adaptation is as well and as a result it's not always coherent, what comes together in the imagination when reading isn't as easily tied together when made explicit onscreen, the tone management is a bit uneven. There are some really powerful emotional moments but others that veer maudlin or saccharine, sections of Offerman's VO really work others come across ham-fisted. But overall the earnestness of the message is what comes through and that message is potent and needed during our current divisive times.

An imperfect, stirring, celebration of humanity. Perhaps overly complicated structurally and overly simple thematically.

Currently in theaters.

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'The Electric State' A Review

The Electric State is a 90's set dystopian scifi adventure with a plot so convoluted and uncompelling it doesn't warrant a summary.

Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt sleepwalk through this AI generated slop in turns vacant and vapid yet always lacking any spark of humanity or vitality. The star studded cast is absolutely wasted and seem to have been given little or no direction(Stanley Tucci as the antagonist seems confused why he is there and what he is supposed to do).

Visually flat, uninspired, and borderline insufferable it plays like an interminable cut-scene from a rushed, over produced, obligatory late series IP video game. The worldbuilding and overall narrative are incoherent. The only actual emotion on display comes, rarely, from the robots. The product placement is excruciating. The whole experience is insulting in its clearly deliberate lack of any semblance of quality.

This is one of the most expensive movies ever made, at a budget of $320M one must ask, where did it all go? How many great movies or TV series did Netflix not make in order to make this...cinematic malignance.

It brings to mind that scene from Billy Madison when the principle says "Everyone is now dumber."

Currently streaming on Netflix.

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'Mickey 17' A Review

Mickey 17 is a scifi film set in the not-to-distant future about 'Expendable' Mickey(Robert Pattinson) as he travels on a colony ship to distant planet Niflheim.

Pattinson is compelling and nuanced in the multiple role, bringing a delicate balance of humor and pathos to the various versions of Mickey and differentiating them with minor but impactful differences. Naomi Ackie as Nasha brings a chaos and energy to the cast which is much needed, a much better showcase for her than her more contained/reactionary performance in Blink Twice. The rest of the cast are having a ball and fill out the world in an odd but wonderful way- Mark Ruffalo as Kenneth the pompous defacto leader, Toni Collette as Ylfa his wife both play cartoonish rich villains deliciously, Steven Yeun in a too small role is great, and it's wonderful to see Taskmaster alum Tim Key as Pigeon Man. All in all a stellar cast.

Visually the film is rich and evocative, the alien creature design inspired, the ship and it's various scifi machinery really great. The future world in which the film is set is fully formed and feels lived in. The score subtle and effective, the costuming equally understated but pitch-perfect. There's no question writer/director Bong Joon-ho is at the top of his game in regards to his production prowess. Where the film somewhat stumbles is in in the script/edit. The novel on which the movie is based is kind of scruffy and disjointed, rich with ideas but not particularly cogent narratively, and this quality was carried over to the screenplay. At a 137 minute run time the pacing at times lags, unnecessary diversions are taken(which are intriguing) at the cost of the overall effect. It's not a huge detractor but with a $118 million budget and a marketing campaign clearly setting this up as a blockbuster the final product(which is more akin to a thought-provoking indie) doesn't match that intent.

An engrossing and thrilling piece of filmmaking which will most likely stumble at the box office before becoming a 'cult' hit.

Currently in theaters.

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