Categories
1 1/2 Stars Movies

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Maybe I was just Mr. Grumpy pants when I was watching this film.

Perhaps I just was not giving The Tomorrow War a fair opportunity to try to be a semi fun time travel film. I do confess that I can overthink a lot at movies, but it did not take me a long time to realize this film should have stayed in the future. The very, very distant future.

Categories
4 Stars Movies

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

Some movie formulas are so much fun you can’t help but want to put yourselves in the character’s shoes.

If it were a body switch comedy (or any genre), you wonder, “Who would I want to switch bodies with?”. If it were a fish out of water plot, where would you as the (hypothetical) fish wish to be? And, if you were stuck in the same day on a constant loop (most notably done in the classic film Groundhog Day), what would you do?

Categories
4 Stars Movies

Luca (2021)

Dear Link,

From all the stories and photos you mom put on social media, it did not take me long to realize you and your younger brother Lenny had a blast during your first ever trip to Disney World.

This, of course, has been a bit of a family tradition going back long before you were even born. It’s been nearly two decades since I was last there: Pirates of the Caribbean was not even a movie yet. It was also brought to my attention that, before you guys left, you and Lenny watched most of the Disney classics to prepare you. Take it from me, that is a lot of movies for two brothers who are only five and four!

Categories
4 1/2 Stars Movies

In the Heights (2021)

When the credits rolled at the end of In the Heights, I stayed to see if I could find out how many extras were used for dancers. I soon realized that the list would have been at least the size of three screen shots. I returned home, I logged on to HBO Max, and (to the best of my ability) counted how many extra dancers were used.

The final count I arrived at was 274. Honestly, it may as well have been 96,000.

Categories
3 1/2 Stars

Cruella (2021)

It wasn’t the hair. It wasn’t the look. It wasn’t even the fact that dogs may get killed.

Around the age of five, what got me scared right off the bat of Cruella De Vil was simply that she seemed to always be yelling. Even when she was not upset (which was rare), she was at a high volume.

Categories
4 Stars Movies

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

This time of year, we normally get some original Netflix films that are not worth mentioning (such as the atrocity that is Thunder Force, a movie I detested so much I keep forgetting it is not called Thunder Rush). That irrelevant film took the superhero premise and made a family film that was not fun for anyone in the family. Thankfully, that film will be forgotten once families discover a film that was made for any member of the family: The Mitchells vs the Machines.

Categories
2 Stars

Wrath of Man (2021)

I will give Guy Ritchie’s newest film this much: It is the first film I have seen in some time that revolves around the drivers of big bags of cash.

In heist films, the drivers are very much underappreciated (if not by their employers, then certainly the audience), so the Wrath of Man did have me a tad bit hopeful in that we may get a new type of action packed thriller. Sadly, that is not the case.

Categories
Movies

The 93rd Oscars: Bafflingly Bad

Before the Oscars, I bought a package of something I have always had a weak spot for: Orang tic-tacs.

I bring this up for a simple reason: The big container will not be enough to wipe the bad taste in my mouth left by the 93rd Academy Awards.

Categories
3 Stars Movies

Mortal Kombat (2021)

My love for cinema truly became apparent to me in my early teen years, but my love of the Mortal Kombat video games started at the age of five.

I remember with perfect accuracy my parents’ hesitancy to get the game for my older brother Adam and I, but they eventually gave in to our wishes (provided we got along). The following years resulted in many hours playing MK 1-4 with friends (most notably my best friend Greg) on button mashing, face punching, gut kicking, head decapitating, limb ripping, organ exploding bliss. That is not to mention the 1995 original film (with a theme song that never grows old) that still delights today, despite a sequel that proved to be one of the worst films mankind has ever known.

Categories
"Top Tens", and others Movies

My Predictions for the 93rd Academy Awards (expect some history to go down)

When Parasite won the Oscar for Best Picture last year, it was truly one of the only great moments of 2020 (the lockdown was only a couple weeks away). Now, nearly 14 months later, the next Academy Awards is occurring (and, more importantly, the hopeful end of this horrible pandemic).

I will try my best in my predictions to answer all the questions that are on the table before Hollywood’s big night: As always, you need to guess in every one of the 23 categories (they meshed sound mixing and sound editing) if you have a pool you are participating in, so here are my predictions.