Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

 

6/10

In this sequel to Escape Room, the evil Minos Corporation has again kidnapped Zoey Davis (Taylor Russell) as well as other survivors of their deadly, and delightfully unbelievable, escape rooms to once again compete.

The movie does deliver what it promises when it comes to the death traps. If that's only what you came for, you should be pleased. It's another creative array of truly harrowing and detailed death games. The production crew definitely earned their pay on building these sets. That having been said, I personally think the first movie's death traps stood out more, with the beach trap being the only super visually memorable one in this. They're making the mind games a little complicated here, so it can be hard to follow and I think that one of the traps near the end was too nasty for it's own good. But my complaints aside. I mostly liked the deadly rooms here; I'm just saying the first ones beat them in a contest.  

I'm liking the new victims in this. Good cast with distinctive personalities.

The plot is why I'm not ranking this higher. First off there is one major plot hole that is pretty clear from the start. Minos does something that doesn't match up with how it operated in the last film. In fact, one of the characters bring that up. However, the writers never bother giving an actual answer for why for the lack of consistency. That issue alone probably wouldn't have been that big a deal, but in the third act the story just falls apart. I know that a movie about a secret cabal operating death games for betting and amusement isn't really a grounded idea, but the script gets nonsensical and needlessly complicated. Really disappointed in the ending. Sure, the last film went out of it's way to set up the next film, but it did end mostly on a reasonable and satisfying note. This finale left me empty.    

If you just want to see the death traps, you'll be fine. But if you don't like it when horror movies do really dumb or unnatural things, there's a good chance you'll be turned off by this.

Werewolves Within

8/10

In the horror comedy Werewolves Withing, loosely based on the video game of the same name, the residents of the small isolated town of Beaverfield find themselves cut off from the outside world and the possible prey of a werewolf.

I found this to be a rather fun, quirky, and clever film. There are a good few twists and turns in this. I kind of like the idea of a werewolf film that operates more like a murder mystery. (Anyone remember 1974's The Beast Must Die? It's sort of in that vein but a comedy.) Kind of wish we had more of these. Good use is made of the growing suspicion and paranoia amongst the suspects.  

Some may find the townspeople to be a little over the top. Nor can I say that the characters or every line of dialogue are necessarily amongst the top tier of comedy (like in Clue). However, the cast really delivers. The lines come fast, and you get plenty of good bits. Basically, it's an appreciate the sum-of-the-whole rather than the details situation. 

The leads, Veep's Sam Richardson as the new park ranger, and the AT&T girl Milana Vayntraub as a postal worker, are what really make the movie. They work really together and make a great duo. Vayntraub brings a quirky energy. Richardson is the MVP. He plays the well-meaning guy who's doing his best to stay keep things together. Richardson knows the perfect delivery for every line.

This is directed by College Humor alumni Josh Ruben who also directed the horror comedy thriller Scare Me. I think he'll be one to watch. There's a couple interesting camera shots that remain focused on one person or angle that work rather well. The song selection for this is also rather interesting and helps set the mood (especially the first song.)

Recommended. I mentioned some quibbles, but I really did enjoy myself. 

The Tomorrow War

 

7.5/10

In the Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime, Dan Forester (Chris Pratt) is one of many people drafted to travel to the future and fight alien monsters.

Yeah, the concept is a lot. You have to let a lot of things slide and not ask questions like "Why did the world governments just believe the future people and go along with it?" or "Why didn't the future people just prepare the present for the aliens' attacks?", and a bunch of other stuff. 

Running at two hours and twenty minutes, the movie is too long and stretches out what is a simple plot. There are comic moments, but are weirdly spaced instead of appearing consistently.

However, the basic story works well enough. You get a lot of effort on Dan's life and personal journey. The funny moments are welcome, The alien fighting is fairly impressive and entertaining.

The alien design both works and doesn't work. Their skill set is pretty versatile and imaginative. Efforts were made to make these look distinctive. However, I don't know if they were distinctive enough. They still feel like they come from a line of traditional modern monster design that you would find in video games like Doom. (Aliens or Predators these are not.) I think it's their basic color scheme that really adds a generic feel.

Casting's good. Pratt is very relatable as the protagonist, Veep's Sam Richardson provides sufficient comic relief, and J.K. Simmons, who's pretty good in everything he does, does not disappoint.      

I can really see this splitting people down the middle. Some will enjoy this as an entertaining action film. Others may be bored with the run time or can't get past the plot holes. 

The Simpsons: The Good, the Bart, and the Loki

7/10

In this short on Disney+, Loki (voiced by Tom Hiddleston) is banished from Asgard to Springfield and ends up staying with the Simpsons.

Loki and the Simpsons work well together. There are several good jokes, including one from Homer that feels like The Simpsons during their prime.

On the other hand, the plot does at times feel like the writer or writers trying their best to squeeze in as much Marvel stuff as they can in six or so minutes, and the short ultimately doesn't leave that much of an impression. (Specifically it's the non-Loki stuff that's the weakest.) All the during or after-credits scenes are really weak. The last one actually feels problematic.

I'd recommend this. Not perfect, but it's got it's charm, (and Hiddleston is definitely playing ball here.)

Black Widow

 

8.5/10

In Black Widow's first feature film, which takes place between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, the titular superhero spy (played by Scarlett Johansson), ends up dealing with her tragic past as she goes up against the organization that trained her.  

This is definitely the darkest Marvel movie, even more so than Infinity War.  Think of this like the franchise's version of a modern James Bond film. Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff has a compelling backstory and personal journey in this. Although we get the traditional action-packed finale to a Marvel film, I appreciated that the emphasis still remained with story. That having been said, I do think that too much emphasis was put on Black Widow's past personal experience with her allies. I would have liked to seen more explanation of how the Black Widow program operated. Also, this movie does a good job of successfully filling in elements of BW's backstory hinted in the past without feeling crammed in or being disappointing (like with how the reveal of how Nick Fury lost his eye).

Johansson again does a confident, cool performance as her character. What's fresh is Florence Pugh's performance as Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), another member of the Black Widow program whose got a past with Natasha. She's the funny one in comparison to the straighter Natasha, and has most of the best lines. 

Speaking of Natasha's humorousness, though she's fun, I admit her more jovial attitude doesn't line up with her tragic backstory of being trained as a soldier since her childhood. The character of Alexei/the Red Guardian, though Stranger Things' David Harbour does well in the role, is supposed to be a comedy relief and redemptive character, but it's hard to forgive him based on his past actions. Based on the man he started as, I think the script could've done more to make him remorseful. 

The main villain Dreykov (Rey Winstone) isn't the most stand out antagonist in the MCU, but he's not underwritten like some of weaker ones such as Thor the Dark World's Maliketh. Dreykov has the honor of being Marvel's single most hate-able villain. A lot of villains in the MCU you can understand where they're coming from, though you can't condone their actions, but this villain is just refreshingly horrible.

This is a Marvel film, so there are the traditional big action set pieces, including a couple grand visuals. They have that traditional Marvel feel, but don't do enough to differentiate from other films in the franchise. The editing during the action also feels too quick. On t.he plus side, the hand-to-hand fighting fairs better than the other action parts. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this. The story definitely kept my interest, and it was definitely nice to finally see a movie go into Natasha's past. However, I admit that the plot set up might not work for everyone.

Luca

8/10 

In Luca now on Disney+, Luca Paguro (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is a young Italian sea monster who's curious about the human world. (Yes, the sea monsters have regular people names. It's best not to think about it too much.) He meets the adventurous, uninhibited sea monster Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer) who introduces him to the surface world, and the two end up deciding to visit a human town (they can take human form) where they befriend a human girl Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma Berman). 

Now, this lacks some of that special narrative backbone or innovation that the best of the Pixar films have. The plot is not the most original what with having clear Little Mermaid similarities, a "learn-to-look-past-people's differences" message that makes the ending predictable, and a traditional bully protagonist with two lackeys. In fact, I was thinking of rating this a notch lower at first. Then the third act came, and they hit all the emotional beats out of the park. The biggest strength to this is the relationships between the three kids and you become invested in their goals and the changes in their journeys.

Giulia's father Massimo (voiced by Marco Barricelli), a large, imposing, yet caring guy, is a fun character, though he isn't in this that much. I also got to give director Enrico Casarosa credit, he does not shy away from the occasional moment of the boys getting physically hurt. I mean it isn't something that happens a lot, but this isn't something you see in many animated children's films.

Being a Pixar movie, Luca looks really, really good, managing to captures the old-timey Italian seaside. The character design is probably the most cartoonish of all the Pixar movies. Yeah, I mean as cartoon characters they all look cartoonish, but the designs really go for the simple, stylized look. Have you seen the Pixar short Luna? Casarosa directed that too; same style.

Again, not one of the best of the Pixar movies but definitely a good watch. I think children will especially love this. Recommended.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

4/10 

In this sequel to the Hitman's Bodyguard, bodyguard Michael Bryce (played by Ryan Reynolds) is roped into saving kidnapped hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) by his foul-mouthed, nutty wife Sonia (Salma Hayek). 

This makes the mistake that some comedy sequels do by making the film less grounded and more broad in its humor, so much that the movie feels detached from the last film. The writers' stance appears to be: an hour and thirty-nine minutes of bad stuff happening to Bryce = comedy. It's too bad. Reynolds starts off funny, but they write so many jokes for him that his character gets real old, real fast. Plus, the movie makes the frustrating choice of throwing out any character journey he had in the last film and just put him back where he started from but in an even worse situation.  Plus, his romantic interest is just dropped without a mention.  

The plot feels inconsequential and half-baked, because the writers just care about having the characters get into shenanigans, but said shenanigans aren't strong enough.

Frank Grillo plays an Interpol agent who's whole shtick is that he's an angry Boston guy. He's soooooo badly written. The last movie had Gary Oldman as the villain in a role so lackluster that it seemed they hired such a fine actor for a role anyone could've played. Here Antonio Banderas plays a rich Greek guy with plans to destabilize Europe. I feel that at least here the actor was in a role that was written for him. However, he appears so rarely and does so little that you don't really feel anything for him.   

Also, this has some of the most obvious stunt double moments I've ever seen, and they have a moment where Hayek uses a terrible English accent.

On the plus side, there are some funny moments, including a fun montage with Bryce and Sonia. I was worried that since they boosted Hayek's role that she could become overexposed. However, I thought she fared the best of the three leads. She brings such energy to the character's instability.

I do not recommend this. The movie started promisingly, but I got more bored and frustrated with the it's decisions as it went on, and I was eventually hoping for it to end soon.