How to Tar and Feather Xmas

VIOLENT NIGHT

HORROR, ACTION COMEDY 

PLOT:    Santa Claus kills bank robbers to save a rich little girl at Christmas.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  David Harbour as Santa Claus!  The actor was great in Black Widow as her father and he is better in this!  It is Die Hard and Santa Claus is John McLane and the bad guy’s name is Scrooge played by the funny and menacing John Legizamo!  Bad Santas are popular but this one is nuts!  The kills are creative and crazy.  Director Tommy Wirkola also directed Hansel and Greta: Witch Hunters.  The soundtrack is well done.

WHAT IS WRONG:  It is kinda long for a B-movie

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  YES if you like your Santa Claus funny and bloody.  Kids are in the film but it is not for children. It pays tribute to Die Hard, Home Alone and Rambo! So if you are into that you will definitely enjoy this movie.

 

TAR

DRAMA 

PLOT:   A character study of Lydia Tar, a talented but flawed female classical music conductor. 

WHAT IS RIGHT:  Cate Blanchett is a VERY gifted actress.  She wields the maestro’s stick with authority!  Classical music and scandal doesn’t usually go together but in this film it does.  She is a mom, married, has a career has bad days and abuses her power.

WHAT IS WRONG:  The beginning is slooow!  It has classical jargon only people who love classical music would know and like.  It is an art film also and it takes long time to get started.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  The film is over two hours and half but watching Blanchett is worth it if you enjoy excellent acting.

Long and Woke Forever

BLACK PANTHER WAKANDA FOREVER

ACTION/ADVENTURE/ FANTASY

PLOT:  T’ Challa is dead and the people of Wakanda don’t have much time to grieve for Namor wants their help to take over the surface world.

WHAT IS GOOD:  The cast Letitia Wright as Shuri, T’Challa’s sister is smart and sad of her brother’s death (the film does not tell what he died of) and Namor.  She has a lot of emotions she has to deal with.  Angela Basset as Queen Ramonda is excellent.  Tenoch Huerto as Namor, sea king of Talokan who think people who live above ground  are a threat.  Dominique Thorne as RiRi, a brilliant scientist  who helps Shuri.

WHAT IS BAD:  The length of the movie could have been shorter.  The women are the heroes so many people may not like that but they are very good.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  OH YEAH!!   The fight scenes, there is humor but not much.  It is sad in the beginning because the film dedicates to the wonderful but deceased actor Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa.

 

SHE SAID

DRAMA 

PLOT:  Two New York Times female reporters break the story about producer and predator Harvey Weinstein.

WHAT IS GOOD:  The two lead actresses Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey and Zoe Karzan as Jodi Kanter.   The rest of the cast is equally amazing that include Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher.

WHAT IS BAD:   Slow burn.  There is  much talking - like a play.  

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  This is a SERIOUS movie about a serious subject so if you enjoy good drama this film is for you.

Ticket to Fall Blockbusters

HALLOWEEN ENDS

HORROR 

PLOT:    The 13^th installment and the final (yeah, right) of Michael Meyers taking out the residents of Haddonfield in the popular franchise

WHAT IS RIGHT:    The kills!  Michael Meyers never runs ways to eliminate people.  Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode from the screaming teen in the first film to a tough, older woman trying to move on not thinking of trying to kill Michael.

WHAT IS WRONG:  It didn’t make a lot of sense.

SHOULD YOU GO:  Hard to say.  It is a strange how the story went.   You don’t have to go to the movies to see this; you can see it on streaming service Peacock.

 

TICKET TO PARADISE

ROMANTIC COMEDY 

PLOT:    Bickering and separated couple join forces to stop their daughter from getting married.

WHAT IS RIGHT:   George Clooney and Julia Roberts as the divorced parents.  Great chemistry and they are so funny.  The rest of the cast are good too.

WHAT IS WRONG:  If you don’t like romantic comedies---rare these days.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  OH YES!!!  To see the two stars go at each other and George Clooney dancing is priceless!

SMILE

HORROR

PLOT:      An evil entity makes their hosts smile before killing themselves and gives the spirit to the one watching.

WHAT IS RIGHT:   Sosie Bacon, daughter of actor Kevin Bacon (Footloose and Sinister) she is not a glamorous actress playing Dr. Rose Cotter but a down to earth emergency physiatrist who helps trauma patients.  She does have a perfect life; a great boyfriend, friends but her life is not really  perfect.  She is trying to find out what is going on.  It is scary for it could happen to anyone.

WHAT IS WRONG:    It is a slow-burn.   Slasher hounds won’t like this- it is psychological horror.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:   YES!  If you are into mystery thriller. 

 

BLACK ADAM

ACTION/SUPERHERO 

PLOT:    The origin of the anti-hero.

WHAT IS RIGHT:     The action scenes are nothing short of AMAZING!  Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam is intense, fierce and violent.  He is perfect.  Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate is very good and Aldis Hodge is great as Hawkman.  The other superheroes Noah Centineo is good as Atom Smasher and Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone.

WHAT IS WRONG: The villain, Marwan Kenzan as Ishmael.  He is not memorable but he played another bad guy in Aladdin Jafar. 

SHOULD YOU GO:  YES!!!  If you like Dwayne Johnson and the character he plays the special effects and the action.

The Woman King & the Horror Thing

THE WOMAN KING

HISTORICAL DRAMA

PLOT:     Agojie, an all female all black warriors who protected the kingdom of Dahomey in 1823.

WHAT IS GOOD:    Viola Davis who is the leader of the Dahomey.  She has to be strong but she has demons she has to deal with.  Director Gina Prince Bythewood who made it epic and emotional as well.

WHAT IS BAD:   When Hollywood does an historical drama not all is accurate.

SHOULD YOU WATCH: YES!!!  Two good reasons for the fantastic Viola Davis and the subject matter.

THE INVITATION

HORROR/ROMANCE 

PLOT:    A biracial beauty finds out about her vampire past.

WHAT IS GOOD:  The attractive cast and Nathalie Emmanuel as Evi who is in wonder of her surroundings then scared then goes Van Hesling on her ancestors.  It is romance-gothic romance but it is interesting and it was written and directed by women. Evi’s friend Grace Courtney Taylor is great as her funny friend.  Stephanie Corneliussen who plays Viktoria, a vampire is quite striking.  The story should have been about her.

WHAT IS BAD:  It is predictable.

 

 

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  Maybe if you like gothic horror.  It is better on cable. 

Summer Sunsets---Trains, Beasts and SuperPets

BULLET TRAIN

ACTION/COMEDY

PLOT:    Brad Pitt (Ladybug) has a simple assignment: retrieve a silver case on a train but of course a few assassins want the case too.  It is like Smoking Aces on a train.

WHAT IS RIGHT:   Brad Pitt, the supporting cast and special guests.  He is a former hit man who takes no-violent tasks but this is not one of them.  The kills are crazy and there is a lot of humor.

WHAT IS WRONG:  The film is long even though there is much mayhem going on.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  If you like action, Brad Pitt and elaborate deaths-then YES.

BEAST

THRILLER 

PLOT:    Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) is a doctor.  His wife died and decide to bond with his two daughters and go on a trip to visit his friend Martin Battles (Sharito Copley) in South Africa but they are trapped as a lion is trying to kill them.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  Its Jaws on four legs!  They are using every method to survive a furious lion!  Elba goes from mild manner doctor to using his wits and weapons to make it out alive.  It also has Elba regretting he wasn’t there for his family while being a doctor.

WHAT IS WRONG:  The lion is CGI but it is not the best and it does have many clichés you see before in these kinds of movies.

SHOULD YOU GO:  If you like Idris Elba and the lion-YES!

NOPE

SCIENCE FICTION

PLOT: Brother and sister own a ranch and there are UFO on their land and want to take a picture as proof.  Why did he call it the title of the movie?  It stands for NOT OUR PLANET EARTH.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  The music, the humor, cinematography and the acting of Daniel Kaluuya as Otis Haywood Jr. or OJ for short and Keke Palmer as Emerald Haywood.

WHAT IS WRONG:  It is a slow burn which means it takes a long  time to get going! Special effect of the alien ship not impressive.

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  Nope-unless you like Jordon Peele way of directing a story.  This is his third movie as director.  The other two were the successful Get Out and US.  Hope the fourth movie is better than this one.

 

DC LEAGUE OF SUPERPETS

3D ANIMATION/COMDEY ADVENTURE

PLOT:    Villain Lux Luthor finds an orange space rock he wants to destroy  Superman but it only works on pets.

WHAT IS RIGHT:  The cast featuring Dwayne Johnson as Kyrpto, Kevin Hart as Ace and the evil Lulu Luther’s hairless guinea pig voiced by Kate McKinnon.  She is silly and sinister at the same time.  It is also a satire of superhero movies.

WHAT IS WRONG:  Lots of juvenile humor.

 

 

SHOULD YOU WATCH:  YES! It is amusing for kids and well made.