Sinners

Fwack me sideways that was a great damn movie!

Not to like pat myself on the back or anything but I just sure know what I like and I know how to pick em'! I saw the trailer and the simple concept of Michael B. Jordan fighting what looked like daemons and I was pretty much sold but I got oh so much more than that! Set in 1930s Mississippi we follow the Moore brothers who come back home and open their own club while getting back in touch with all the people they left behind before well, it gets very From Dusk Till Dawn. And what I appreciate so much is they don't rush this by a hot damn minute, there be no weak ass setup just to get to the survival horror but instead rock solid buildup where you kinda forget the movie is heading in that direction watching all these characters who've had history reconnect. It's great stuff and the period piece setting with heavy emphasis on blues music as the score really embeds you in that time period, and it doesn't shirk away from the unpleasant realities even if it doesn't come right out and say it. Michael B. Jordan does fantastic working playing both brothers Stack and Smoke, honestly to the point I just kinda forgot it was the same actor cause I just saw the characters with Smoke being the more aggressive business type and Stack being the silver tongued devil which is a good mix. But the real star in my opinion is Miles Caton in his first role as a young man named Sammie just wanting to sing the blues and gets hired to perform, holy moly is he good in this with a fantastic voice both speaking and singing the man just has incredible talent and I sure hope I get to see him in more roles soon! Jack O'Connell is our villain here not as a demon from the bowels of hell but rather a vampire who has his eyes set on Sammie, and without any major tropes of horror movies is effectively creepy and a real threat, you don't know who he is or where he came from or what his ultimate goal is with Sammie and it makes your mind race with possibilities! Jayme Lawson, Hailey Steinfeld, and Wunmy Mosaku play the holy trinity of love interests for each of our protagonists bringing a fair bit of heart and no small amount of attraction, each very striking and memorable, and the romance angle while more on the side is a welcome addition to the overall story. The production design is top notch from the clothes to the cars, the cinematography has some dat look gud moments for sure, Ryan knows how to make a movie engaging and interesting visually, and the muuuuussssiiiccccc! Ohh when I tell you hearing Sammie perform nearly made me just shout out in that theater "GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY!" I tell you no lie. I'm a sucker for blues and there ain't no heavy metal without blues (something the movie directly connects) so soundtrack alone fffffucking 12/10! The horror elements are very good without getting in your face, in fact somehow I will never know how this movie made an irish jig the most heathen thing which is actually kinda funny cause the movie could maybe just maybe be considered a musical. It's weird man but I love it and it did not detract from anything. I love how it starts, I love how it goes, I love how it ends, I am practically begging to the summits of heaven and the depths of hell that this movie not only does extremely well but gets a very large fanbase. I fully believe it deserves it! The film truly does it's own thing even with similar elements from other movies and I have no problem saying we already got a contender for top 10 of the year. So glowing 4 stars from me, 9/10, and alas this will be the last new movie for the month but I have something special planned to both begin and end the birthday week. 

Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse

Well....shit!!

I may have been late to the Miles Morales party but I knew I had to buckle in day one for this movie! I was waaaay off on runtime, I thought it would be maybe an hour and forty-five minute flick, but nope this sucker is close to two and a half hours long and happily I can report for a very good reason. The story goes kinda wild, not in an incoherent or difficult to keep up with state but it fills that runtime appropriately, and it does what any sequel worth it's salt does! Expand the story, expand the world, and keep rocking on with the story. Now I thought one particular element which may cause some not necessarily backlash but just a difference of opinion is the movie starts off ADD as shit, 20 things happen concurrently at the same time and it can be quite taxing to try and absorb everything but they hit the emergency brakes and take the crack away fairly quick so it can move at a semi-regular pace. The plot is far from regular mind you, dimension hopping is a much regular occurence and you'd think with the plethora of Spider-People jammed in, it would get too bogged down but our main cast hold their ground and the attention is fully on them start to finish. And shock of all shocks, voice acting was pretty ace on all fronts! We see changes in Miles and Gwen, they bring up aging and growing up, the uncertainty of their double lives and what they want to do with their lives, they give several moments not only to quiet contemplative scenes but a good fair few scenes of their respective parents and how they feel parenting. Christ I never thought I would have seen that in a superhero movie but it's handled extremely well. It all feels like a natural evolution from the first movie and man the fact it took half a decade to get a sequel to one of the biggest sleeper hits of the comic book movie genre kinda blows my damn socks off, name one fucking movie that came out 4 or 5 years max after the last one. In a world of sequential entries in a movie series this is practically unheard of aside from the James Bond series. And clearly they made the most out of those 5 years with this animation, it goes beyond showboating how fucking good it is, not to be lewd or rude or slightly crude but they were not shy and just pulled their dicks out to gloat and my oh my I cannot deny. DAT LOOK GUD! It's friggin' ludicrous how many styles, colors, animation techniques, editing techniques, and just pure, unfiltered, raw, hook that shit up to my veins visual storytelling is employed. Like Pixar I'm sorry, you got schooled, there be no Oscar for you next year, good luck son! And while no spoilers shall cross these lips, these bastards pull a flat out Empire Strikes Back on my ass and not only did it work but I didn't see it coming. These little shits right here were like, "Gotcha'! Pay up and come see our movie next year for the end!" and I'm over here like, "Let me just go find a cash machine.". I'll be there man. So what's the rating? Well...it's a lot to take in and frankly I'm still digesting and processing all which has been displayed to my eyeballs, so for all I know the score could increase over time but for now I give it 4 stars, 8.5/10! Potential Top 10 list material? It seems like it! And next week fighting robots. Please God, Satan, Buddha, Odin, Shiva, Gaia, Cthulu, Flying Spaghetti Monster, anybody, please let it be good!

Spider-Man Into The Spiderverse

Yeah after all the hype and seeing the new Miles Morales game I figured this was the first stop to better understand it all.

I mean, for a character that hasn't even been around for a decade and yet even for a non-Marvel fan to know how beloved such a character is like Miles Morales is kind of rare. But how was the movie? Pretty good. I still say Isle Of Dogs should have won at the Oscars, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't like this movie. It's just such a fresh take on the superhero genre and if anything fun and light to where people of all ages can enjoy it. I have to say it already got me just by bringing up so much of the Sam Raimi movies which I watched as a kid and was my first exposure to the character, and after that I was rolling with everything. So our story starts with Miles as he goes about his daily life before the ususal radioactive spider, yadda yadda, you know this but things get crazy and things get nuts, when a cross dimensional experiment occurs and pulls 5 parallel universe spider people into Miles' world and they have to go save the day and get everyone not so far from home. Fun plot, but still has it's moments. It's a lot for Miles sometimes and the movie doesn't shrug off the emotional bits for any of the characters, I mean after all that was kind of the main thing about Spider-Man, a superhero with a relatable life and dilemmas, to which this movie sticks with. I'm not entirely sure how they picked the incarnations of the various web slinging crimefighters but I like it. We got Spider Gwen which is cool, easily my favorite of the bunch the all black trenchcoat wearing Spider Noir, friggin' anime girl with mech suit included (Nice!), and the pig. I don't think I need to say much more about the pig. We also get a good medley of villains, with Kingpin who I know zero about and Doc Ock who I know a bit about and is voiced by complete wife material Kathryn Hahn. Oh my. There's a lot to talk about in this movie so I'll keep it brief but there's at least 2 more points I want to make. I dreaded the animation style, the first time I ever experienced this dropped frame rate style was in Tron Uprising, because of course it was, and...I hated it. I could not for the life of me get over it. It looked so stilted, unnatural, and a touch lazy if I was being unusually cruel. Yet surprisingly, I barely even noticed it here it looks so fluid and has that rich comic book look to it, text boxes and all so I am honest to God thrilled I didn't hate it and maybe it will grow on me in other media. The soundtrack while very modern and almost entirely unknown to me still worked, though you can bet your ass when Biggie Smalls and the f***ing St. Elmo's Fire theme started playing I was jammin' like nobody's business. And yeah, we have to talk about Stan. Turns out I was wrong about the Teen Titans Go movie and this was the last one he had, and holy hell even to a person like me it still cut a bit. Just because I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Marvel or the MCU doesn't mean that I don't like Stan Lee, I have too much respect and admiration for the man to do such a thing. He always said that anyone could wear the suit, and the message at the end that anyone can be a superhero is incredibly true even if you're not inspired by the stories superheroes have. One of my favorite reviewers, like ever, said that superheroes are the modern day knight errants. They go out and do good deeds, help people, and right wrongs. And I will fully say there is not enough stories out there about the positive impact of superheroes, it's either about heroes punching one another or some ultra super mega earth shattering event, and that just isn't the right thing to focus on. This movie did it right though. And really and truly, it has my deepest respect for that. 4 stars, 8/10, I'll see you tomorrow.

The Edge Of Seventeen

I'm not even mad they didn't use the song.

Shit, that was really a good movie. I mean like, holy hot damn this movie was great. I actually wanted to see it in theaters when I saw the trailer but never got around to it until now, and I'm trying so hard not to dash my brains against the wall while berating myself for not seeing it earlier. I was greatly impressed, expecting a more comedic film about teenage angst and day to day life dealing with various teenage situations, and instead what I got was a funny, emotional, and completely wonderful movie that not only did I incredibly enjoy but also relate to. My girl Hailee absolutely just slays this movie, she is a great actress in this and just further reinforces why I appreciate and love her so much as an actress. She plays a very introverted, very cynical teenager Nadine, who is going through a rough patch when her one and only friend hooks up with her brother and the movie focuses on her emotions and how she's handling it whether in a good way or a poor way. I was kinda stunned how much I saw of myself in Nadine, like I fully 120% identified with her and I'm sure I'm not the only one. I know some people will see this movie and see Nadine as a very self-centered, selfish, and maybe even a crazy teenager but I strongly disagree. I remember being a little too much like this, a supremely hot mess of mixed emotions, thinking every soul should revolve around me, and having straight up meltdowns from seemingly insignificant details but in reality it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Many teenagers are like this, and still are but we all come to terms with it and grow past it into better people just like Nadine. She fully accepts she's a unpopular and neurotic person at times but she tries to make it better and finds a bit of solace in her history teacher played by Woody Harrelson. I was expecting a lot more building on their relationship and how they would become very good friends but it's not really the focus, and yet it's still great. He can be a wise ass and she can throw it right back at him, it's a great dynamic and even I've had relationships like that with my teachers. Everything was done incredibly well, the story and characters are wonderful, the film looks beautiful at times, the music is quite nice, and though it's more a drama bomb the comedy never failed to make me have a good laugh. Though there's one scene, and I'm not even sure what it was because it's not that long nor does it have much going on but as it played all I said was, "Holy shit this is a great movie.". It's a calm down scene where events have built up and an emotional climax has been reached but then it gives the audience time to reflect and calm a bit, it's just one shot for about maybe 30 seconds but the subtle music, lack of dialogue, and the events that led up to it really hit this movie home for me as a great movie. I have nothing but love for this movie and can't give it anything less than a sterling recommendation and a perfect 4 stars, check it out! Huge thumbs up from me, and hopefully you too.

One more before the end. And somehow I doubt you've heard of this one.

In Retrospect: Bumblebee

It's still pretty awesome guys.

Like come on man, the best Transformers movie we've gotten since the animated one and it deserves to just scratch the 5 other movies out with as much white-out that you can get your hands on. And a nuke. I stand by everything I said last time, why did it take six movies to get a awesome Transformers movie? The last two were okay, but were lightyears better than the first three, this one tops them all. I might even like it better than the original 1986 movie but then I think, the movie was part of a show so it's not meant to be seen as a one shot movie. Regardless, I love it. The characters are real and not just cancer inducing comic relief, since Bumblebee is our only main robot character he gets lots of personality and character moments, seeing the 80s is always a joy yo me and the soundtrack is rad man, there's just so much to enjoy and love! I love how much detail you can see in Bumblebee, even though he can't speak you can read his expression and tell how he feels. That's some pretty good effects I must say. I like the story and love all they put in, there wasn't one single moment where I wasn't enjoying myself or rolling my eyes at a horrible joke, or wondering when we get to see the Transformers in a Transformer movie! And I remind you, those are massive pros. Think about that for a second, just read it, and let it sink in. Could you imagine if this was the first Transformers movie in 2007? The world would be a different place for the better. I hear talks of a sequel in this vein of films and you know what I'm ready. Yeah it kinda sucks we won't see Unicron in Transformers 6 but who says they can't do that later in this series? Just retcon it! I know he turns into the Camaro at the end but screw it, I refuse to accept that Bee went from a loving true friendship (or moooore? Just sayin'...) to an abusive relationship if I've ever seen one and trying to form some connection with our emotionally angry, narcissistic, Napoleon complex "hero". Ffffffffffu-

I am not a fan of him. But let's talk about better things. This is my happy place, in my world there's good Transformers movies, and we'll put some little bushes and rocks over here, just like that....mmmkay, and the soundtrack is wonderful. I would be very content with a 2 hour deleted scene where Charlie and Bee lounge around in the garage and listen to music. I would give the movie a sterling near perfect score for just a movie about that. That is good characters! But the action is good to, with very few edits, well placed shots, and very easily identifiable opposing factions even when they grapple and throw each other. Color is your friend, why do you think everyone knows who Optimus and Bumblebee is, because they have color unlike the Decepticons who were all gray. In this one, we get reds, blues, purples, you can so easily discern who is who. It really does take every major problem with all the past Transformers movies and fixes it. It's amazing. I always must give credit where credit is due, and it is due here. I bought this movie with a smile on my face, even though I haven't felt that super recently. It was a good day! Solid 4 stars, 8/10, a definite buy, and here is to many more great movies. I always got your back Bee. And for God's sake let Charlie come back so they can continue their wholesome, wonderful, and lovely relationship. You can't change my mind, they're cute together!

Bumblebee

Where the hell was this in the first 3 damn movies?? I'm almost pissed off at how good this movie is!

So yeah, shock of the flippin' new millenium! Bumblebee was pretty damn good! I have so much to talk about and so little time to talk about it. Bottom line, go see it. Yeah, I know. You know my history. But go see it! The action is really good, the comedy doesn't make me want to inflict harm upon myself and others, the bond between Bumblebee and Charlie is absolutely wonderful. The look is Generation 1 all the way and it looks spectacular! The movie is soaked in 80s radical music and clothing, to the point where I might buy the soundtrack. I won't even divulge plot, cause I want this to be totally fresh and new to all eyes. If you've seen the trailer, good for you the movie is even better. I do hate one thing about it but trust me you'll know what! I am being real with you, this may squeeze into the top 10 of this year! I am questioning my own sanity but it's true! I really, really enjoyed this movie guys. Good behavior and good movies must be awarded and as the last film reviewed of the year we went out on a high note. Thanks for sticking around, you know how much it means to me. To a new year of reviews, and of course the happiest of the holidays to you. Goodnight everybody!