Tag Archives: 2023

Movies or shows released in 2023.

Evil Dead Rise (2023) Review – As Great As Ever!

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The Evil Dead franchise might be the most consistent horror franchise there is. Sure, you can argue it’s down to them “only” having five movies, unlike the “big three” (Jason, Freddy and Michael) having at least 8 – 12 movies each, and sure, that is part of it. But I believe the big chunk of it also goes into having your “big bad” being this invisible evil that possesses anyone and everyone, and there is no escaping it. And it’s only up to the filmmakers behind each movie (and the Ash vs Evil Dead show (2015 – 2018)) how they will approach each sequel. Evil Dead Rise might be the most departure ever, as for the first time in this franchise, we are in a big city rather than the usual “cabin in the woods”, so I was a bit scared about that. Surprisingly, it worked beautifully.

This film is one of the prime examples of “they understood the assignment” I have ever seen. The Evil Dead franchise is not just about blood, gore and guts flying everywhere, despite that is what many might think. But no, the big part of why this franchise has survived since the 80s is having a great lead. And ever since the Evil Dead (2013) remake, we all understood that Bruce Campbell is irreplaceable, so why try and give us someone like him? That is why newer movies steered away from having your traditional male protagonist and gave us female leads. But this time, we have (kind of) two, with Alyssa Sutherland and Lily Sullivan playing sisters, one of which gets possessed by the evil and goes “a bit” nuts, as customary in these movies. And I loved every second of it.

This is also the first movie in this franchise that is more about family. Respectively, we follow the two sisters and three kids (technically one kid and two teens) and how they deal with this whole “our mum just became a deadite who wants to kill us” situation. Believe it or not, but that can ruin your entire night. So not only Evil Dead Rise changed the setting, but for the first time ever, we follow (more or less) one family instead of a group of friends who are up against this ancient evil. Both of these major changes not only worked for me but also elevated this sequel, which could have felt empty and unimaginative, into a new, fun territory. I cared about this family; I was rooting for them to survive, and when some made it whilst others didn’t, it felt different than when it’s “just” another teenager who gets killed.

Speaking of kills, that’s something this franchise was never short of. As ever, Evil Dead Rise is full of imaginative, disturbing, gross, over-the-top killing scenes, and I loved it. From the cheese grater scene to the tattoo scene or even the opening lake sequence, everything felt right. This movie never overdid it with cheap jump scares (another plus point in my book) and relies on the good old-fashioned blood, guts, gore and more blood to get a reaction out of you. What helps is Alyssa Sutherland (I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say she turns evil) is phenomenal as “deadite Ellie”, and her reactions, line deliveries (“Mommy’s with the maggots now.“) and overall performance is one of the best in this franchise, I enjoyed her performance and was (strangely) rooting for her, whilst being scared of her.

When you think it can’t get any bloodier, the finale happens. And without spoiling it for anyone, let me simply say that nobody does blood showers like the Evil Dead franchise. The ending convinced me that this movie is bonkers, but my type of bonkers. It’s the fifth movie in this gory franchise, with each being different from the previous one, but somehow, they all have the same “vibe”. Whether it’s more comedic or horror-skewed, whether we are in the cabin in the woods or in the big city or whether we found ourselves in the past or in “today”, you know that once the evil is released, nobody and nowhere is safe. Evil Dead Rise achieved that feeling of urgency whilst giving us worthy protagonists that make us root for them as they will keep fighting, no matter how dire the situation gets. In the horror world, this is unique, and this might be the only “big” franchise I would love to see pop up every couple of years with a new instalment, as long as they keep hiring people who understand what makes these movies great. Lee Cronin (the writer and director) seemed to get it; if he wants to do a sequel or another standalone film in this universe, I will be there.

Overall, Evil Dead Rise is the fifth movie of what might be the bloodiest horror franchise out there, and it still felt fresh. The two major changes (the environment and having a family instead of a group of young people) have worked brilliantly due to a great cast and people behind the camera, who seemed to understand what makes this beautifully twisted and gory world… Well, beautifully twisted and gory. Sure, can I nitpick and find a tiny flaw or two? Yes. But I had a great time, didn’t get bored and was left pumped and wanting more by the end of this movie. The ending, by the way, was so satisfying to watch. What else could I possibly want from a fifth movie in this franchise? If you are a fan of everything Evil Dead, you shouldn’t miss this one.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Totally Killer (2023) Review – New Classic?

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Two seasons are unique in the world of cinema – Christmas and Halloween. The reason is that if you make a movie for one of these seasons and it’s a great one, chances are that movie might join the ranks of “classics” for that season, the films people love and tend to rewatch every year during those seasons. And Totally Killer, whilst not without some flaws, I can see becoming one of those modern classics in 10/15 years’ time, where people would gather together, have a watch party and put this on.

The main reason I think that is the script mixed with the “vibe” of this movie. It knows what it is; it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. If I were to simplify it, it’s Halloween (1978) mixed with Back to the Future (1985, my review here). And this film does everything but break the fourth wall to confirm it; it’s not denying it; it wears its heart on its sleeve. Due to that earnestness, it is charming and easy to forgive/get over a few things, like the fact a teenager (based on her mum’s diary) figures out time travel. No, this movie doesn’t pretend to shake hands with reality; it spits in reality’s face to give us a comedic horror with a few time travel paradoxes mixed in for a good time.

I had a great time every time we were in the 80s because the young cast had brilliant chemistry. Everyone from Kiernan ShipkaOlivia HoltTroy Leigh-Anne Johnson to Stephi Chin-Salvo were great in their roles, and what’s better, they played well with each other. This movie has many group scenes, so you rarely get time with just one or two characters (except for Kiernan), and therefore, they needed to work well with each other; they had to have that group chemistry nailed, and they did.

What I also liked and was surprised how it didn’t get old were all the “Oh yeah, it’s the 1980s.” jokes. From the casual racism to Kiernan’s character managing to enrol into high school with no papers, those jokes always worked. I think the reason they didn’t get old was they knew how to spread them around and understood that they couldn’t make the same joke ten times in a row. Totally Killer had them sprinkled throughout the film, so they can make you chuckle at least and laugh at best.

I appreciated the spin on time travel and how this movie not only tries to “re-invent” it (by telling us Back to the Future got it wrong), but it shows us what is happening in 2023, whilst Kiernan’s character is away, how her timeline doesn’t just “stop” or disappear instantly. I thought that was a good spin on the expected formula, as not many movies I can remember would do that, despite some of those scenes slowing the pace down for me. Which is weird, writing how I appreciated this twist whilst admitting I might have preferred had we stayed in the 1980s entirely. But that wasn’t my biggest issue with this movie.

My biggest issue was the last 20 minutes of this film. Respectively, two things – the CGI and the killer reveal. The reveal I won’t spend that much time on it as I don’t want to dip into spoilers, so I will just say that it was obvious. And that is as much as I will say because saying anything else might ruin some surprises for people who haven’t seen it yet. Now, the CGI… I don’t know whether production was behind schedule and ran out of money, but that was… a choice. There was a scene near the end of the movie where we saw the killer stabbing someone. And until that scene, all the other stabbing scenes looked real, but there was one where you could clearly tell the killer wasn’t stabbing anyone. What a weird shot and the decision to keep it in the film; you could have always cut to something else, but no. Another thing, there was a foreshadowing about a nail gun, and once that comes back and gets used, the final result looks… well, plasticky as fuck. The thing is, until the last 20 minutes, I didn’t think of the movie’s budget because it looked and felt perfectly fine, so those choices towards the end pulled me out of it.

But other than that, I enjoyed Totally Killer. I liked the ending, and it will be interesting to see whether this will do well enough to warrant a sequel. If you go into this movie with the mindset that you will see a comedy movie with some horror elements rather than horror with some comedic elements, I think you should have a good time. Purely on the strength of that 80s casting alone, it’s a good time. Also, who wouldn’t want Julie Bowen as their mom?

Overall, Totally Killer surprised me by how much fun I had with it. The movie doesn’t take itself too seriously and is a homage to horror and comedy movies of the past decade, bringing its own time-travelling spin on this genre as well. If it wasn’t for the questionable execution of a few scenes towards the end and that horrible CGI, my rating would have been higher. But who knows, maybe when I rewatch it during the next Halloween, I will mind it less…? It will be interesting to see where this film stands in 10/15 years’ time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

The Creator (2023) Review – One of The Movies Ever Made

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This movie and I had a weird “journey”. When I first saw the trailers for The Creator, I wasn’t convinced, but the more time I saw the trailer (as it was running in front of most of the films I watched in the cinema), the more I became convinced this could actually turn out decently. So, by the time I was seated, I had some expectations. And the movie delivered, but also did not deliver…? Yeah, this will be a weird review, but bear with me.

Let me start with the positives first. The Creator might be the best-looking movie of 2023, especially when we consider the budget of “only” $80 million. I loved the rough, not clean aesthetic of this “future world” whilst all the robots and locations looked real. I had no problem believing this was the future, and I don’t think there was ever something (effects-wise) that would pull me out. If there were one “area” The Creator won, it would be the CGI, and big companies like Disney have no excuse for producing $150 – $200 million movies that look messy, unfinished and sloppy.

The other thing I must compliment is the performances, or, better said, the chemistry between John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles. Especially Madeleine as Alphie gives a great performance, given she is a literal child and this was her first role ever, she did spectacularly. John David had a challenging role, where despite him being a lead actor, he wasn’t given much and had to rely on Madeleine and their chemistry. Had that not worked, this movie would have fallen apart, but luckily, it worked. You will buy their “dad/daughter” relationship, where they struggle at first, but eventually, you believe they became close, and John’s character grew because of Alphie.

Now, where this film lost me was everything else. There is a saying in Hollywood that goes: “If you want to steal, steal from the best.” This refers to screenwriters stealing ideas for movies and putting their own spin on them. Unfortunately, it seems like Gareth Edwards (the director and co-writer of this movie) and Chris Weitz only heard that saying without the addendum of adding your own spin on things, as this movie presents you with ideas that have been explored in a plethora of different and much better movies. From Blade Runner (1982, my review here) to The Terminator (1984) and many more, I am not exaggerating when I say there is nothing original about this film or in it. Every idea has been explored much better and more deeply in different movies. Every theme is just a surface-level idea that, yet again, you would have seen executed a hundred different times across many other films and shows. I understand it’s hard to come up with something new, but unfortunately, if you make a sci-fi film and stake your entire plot on these big ideas and neither goes deep enough, you are in trouble.

You need to connect with those themes to be impacted in any way, shape or form by what is happening on the screen, and since there was nothing new to grab onto and everything this movie wants to talk about (sentient AI, the idea of rights for the AI, how the AI can be used for or against us), I have seen done before countless of times, everything that happened in this film didn’t resonate with me at all. Every major scene, every “big” death that should have impacted me simply did not do anything for me. That is why this feels like the most “meh” movie of this year, and if it weren’t for the stunning CGI and good chemistry between the two lead actors, I would have rated it much lower.

Hopefully, this explains the title of this review to you, as The Creator is not a bad movie per se. It has a decent cast, but except for the titular duo, everyone feels wasted in their roles. I could possibly make the argument for Ken Watanabe having at least some character development, but that is about it. Allison Janney gets nothing to do. And The Creator joins the ranks of movies like Don’t Worry Darling (2022, my review here) for having Gemma Chan in the movie and wasting her completely. On top of all that, every idea or theme seems shallow, barely scraping the surface level and almost lazy. In a weird way, it feels like the more detail and care that went into the CGI to make this film look stunning, the less amount went into the story elements and trying to say something new. That doesn’t make The Creator a bad movie; it just makes it… well, a movie. It makes it one of many movies that will be forgotten, only to be “rediscovered” 10/15 years from now, with clickbait articles titled: “How was this hidden gem ignored when it came out! You need to watch it right now!”

Overall, The Creator wants to be an epic sci-fi with deep themes and messages about AI. What this film ended up being was a stunningly looking sci-fi whose themes are as shallow as a kiddie pool. Every idea this film presents has been done better, and you can see every story element or twist coming a mile away. If you want a visual feast where you can “switch your brain off”; I would recommend this movie cautiously. If you are looking for something more challenging or want to watch a great sci-fi, this ain’t it, chief. This movie is as average as it gets, and if it weren’t for the CGI, my rating would have been lower.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

A Haunting in Venice (2023) Review – Poirot, But Spooky!

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The third movie in “Kenneth Branagh can make any movie he wants, so he makes Poirot films” series, and it seems this might be the best one yet. Whether you like his movies or not (and I liked both previous ones, yes, even the “horrible” Death on the Nile (2022, my review here)), one thing is for certain; they each have their unique feel and impressive casting. A Haunting in Venice also adds another, less seen element into the Poirot mix – horror. Yes, it’s PG-13 horror, so don’t expect anything too edgy, but it is still a good way of keeping this “franchise” fresh.

It was the horror approach with the practical setting (the movie was mostly shot in Italy, which was a nice change after the CGI fest of the previous movie) which uplifted A Haunting in Venice and made it stand out from the previous two films. Let’s talk about the setting first, as I have no notes about that aspect. It was lovely and seemed “old-fashioned” enough (the movie takes place in the 1950s) that it worked and transported me into old Italy right after the Second World War. I also liked the setting of the building where the majority of the film took place, as it worked for the spooky stuff; it was big enough where we could conveniently lose some people but not large enough that you’d get lost and wonder where we were.

The horror theme worked as well as it was allowed to work. As mentioned above, this movie is PG-13, which makes it a very mild “horror”. You can almost think of this movie as an entry barrier to horror films, where it’s perfectly safe for most people to watch it without worrying whether they will be able to fall asleep afterwards. Therefore, if we judge by that standard, it’s fine. But part of me almost wanted them to go “harder” and turn this movie into a full-blown horror. I am not talking about slasher, but I believe one thing that could keep this franchise going for a couple of more movies is to try to play around with different genres. It was also intriguing to watch someone as logical as Poirot question himself despite you, as the audience, knowing there must be something else in play. And there is a shot towards the end that leaves it open-ended whether there might or might not be something more to these ghosts that are supposedly among us…

Regarding the cast, I thought everyone did well. Kenneth’s take on Poirot is more whimsical, but I always found him delightful. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed Tina Fey‘s performance in this movie. She has been such a strong comedic presence for the past two decades; I was slightly worried about her being “disruptive”, but she worked perfectly with Kenneth, and their back-and-forth banter was amusing, and it never felt forced. Also, this is the first-ever non-comedic role for Tina Fey in her almost 20-year career. Yep, until now, she hasn’t appeared in a movie or a TV show that wasn’t labelled “comedy”. I also need to highlight Jude Hill, who yet again acts under Kenneth’s direction and plays Jamie Dornan‘s son. They must have enjoyed their time on the set of Belfast (2021, my review here), and it translates into this movie as well because both performers did a great job, and especially Jude nailed his role. I hope he has a long career in front of him.

My only real issue with the movie was the non-commitment to the horror genre. I understand you must sell tickets, so Poirot can never be rated R, but it would be nice to push it even further. Especially with a great whodunit mystery, where we talk about a couple of murders and ghosts, the horror genre feels more natural than ever, and all we get are a few pretty predictable jump scares. But other than that, I can’t fault this movie. It’s possible I might rate it slightly higher on a future rewatch, as I did enjoy myself with this cast and setting, and I hope Kenneth has a few more Poirot films in him. As long as he is having fun and trying new things whilst introducing this character to a new audience, I will be there, seated.

Overall, A Haunting in Venice is a great movie that takes the Poirot we know and puts him up against ghosts and, to a degree, himself. He needs to figure out not only “whodunit”, but his core beliefs also get questioned in this slightly spooky continuation of this detective franchise. I liked the cast, the camera work and the setting; I just wished they would commit more to the horror genre. But, if you have a chance to watch this movie, I think you should do it. This film is definitely the best Poirot movie we’ve gotten from Branagh yet, and I hope the next one (if there is a next one) will be even better.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Knock at the Cabin (2023) Review – As Deep as Kiddie Pool

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I admire M. Night Shyamalan. He started out strong, then made some questionable films, and when it seemed he would never make a good film, he started to self-finance his movies. Slowly, he managed to get back to a level where I am not excited per se to check out his newest films, but I trust him enough to seek them out once they are streaming. Knock at the Cabin is the perfect example. When it came out, I mostly heard of “ok-ish” reviews, so I knew that it was not a “cinema must-see film”, but I wanted to check it out when it landed on streaming.

The honest truth about this film is simple – it’s a brilliant premise that gets brutally unexplored enough. Knock at the Cabin is one of those films with a simplistic setting with only a handful of actors, and it’s all about that premise. One of the family members has to die; otherwise, we all die, and the apocalypse will come. I hoped for some philosophical moments; I thought the movie would have the characters engaging in deep conversations, and it… just didn’t.

The biggest problem with this film is it reveals its hand way too soon. I don’t know about you, but regarding movies like these, the best part about them is the build-up, the anticipation, whether that crazy thing that is supposed to happen will happen. And here, the movie seems to want to move past this, which I thought was weird but fine. I hoped we were skipping past that and moving to those tough conversations about sacrifice, family, and possibly religion/philosophy… But the movie isn’t interested in that either. This film shows you everything, so there is no tension about the “truth”, and that simply destroys the decent amount of tension this film builds up over the course of its runtime.

I can talk about all the actors here because they were all great. But honestly, most have pretty straightforward roles. The only one who stands above everyone (both metaphorically and physically) is Dave Bautista. It was a huge risk to play this role because he is (effectively) the main character, so if he doesn’t work, nothing will work. But Dave delivered and proved again why he is, by far, the most talented wrestler turned actor around. He brings depth, charm and a sense of danger into his character. I am not certain whether he will ever be considered “excellent”, but I think he is good enough to be considered a decent actor and carries this movie.

Everything else about Knock at the Cabin is fine. The runtime is a breezy 100 minutes; the movie never bores you and gives you something to think about. However, it doesn’t give you any incentive to think about it any further, on a deeper level. And that is, ultimately, where it fails and loses me. Movies like Knock at the Cabin are specific ones where you need a few metaphors and great foreshadowing with many details of things “hidden” throughout the film, so the next time you watch it, you go: “Hey, I didn’t notice that that’s cool!” I am afraid that everything is literally spelt out for you in this movie so you won’t have that experience. Everything in this movie has “one explanation”, no nuance, no chances for “what if”… And that feels counterproductive. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a perfectly adequate movie, but… That premise alone should have made your movie much more than “perfectly adequate”.

Overall, Knock at the Cabin is a decent time with some great actors, reasonable runtime and one moral dilemma in the middle of everything. But it feels like the movie doesn’t want you to think about it too much or use your own imagination, as it tells you everything you need to know and in its definitiveness, it lost me as a viewer who wanted to feel more involved. From what I understand, the book this movie is based on is different (mainly the ending), so I am tempted to get that and read it rather than rewatch this movie again. Not that I didn’t have a good enough time, but frankly, I don’t believe the rewatch will open my eyes to something I have missed. If you are looking for an entertaining enough film, try this film. Just don’t expect it to challenge you in any way, as everything here is as deep as a kiddie pool.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Dumb Money (2023) Review – Memes, Stocks and Reddit

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If there was a movie I felt indifferent about this year, Dumb Money was possibly it. Yes, the trailer looked fun; I like every actor in this film, and I was aware of the GME situation, although I didn’t participate in it. However, I felt like it was a bit too soon to make a movie about it, given how “fresh” this story was. And after watching this in the cinema, that would be my only big complaint.

Where Dumb Money shines is in understanding the Gen-Z meme generation. It’s hyper-edited, Cardi B’s WAP plays many times, and the word “retard” is used frequently… Welcome to the Internet in the year 2021, but honestly, not much has changed since. This story focuses mainly on the “leader” of this GME uprising of young people, who pretty much decided to beat the Wall Street guys at their own game. Now, I won’t pretend I still understand every single detail of what exactly happens on the actual stock market, but the movie explains it clearly enough that you won’t ever feel “left behind”. I would compare this movie to The Big Short (2015), except this movie is 10x wilder.

By embracing this meme generation, the movie precisely did what the people on Reddit did at the time – embraced their shortcomings and wore them proudly as badges of honour instead of pretending to be something they were not. You will see many comments and memes about “apes together strong”, and they call each other “retards”, but in this movie’s context, it’s almost a term of endearment rather than an insult. They knew that once this story got big, the mainstream media already had an idea of who your “stereotypical Redditor” was, so they jumped ahead and incorporated chicken tendies, making themselves into a laughing stock whilst making GameStop one of the hottest companies, at least for a while.

What I liked was that they didn’t just focus on Paul Dano‘s character. The writers smartly gave us several different people in different stages of their lives from many backgrounds. It’s easy to root for someone like America Ferrera‘s character, as we all know a mom who is just like her. No matter what she does, she somehow is still in the shit, but she never gives up and continues fighting. Her story arc was also the most heartbreaking, without going into spoilers. I also liked Myha’la Herrold with Talia Ryder, as their relationship was cute, and they provided the window to the core “audience” of Keith’s streams and how influential he became. I can’t forget to mention Anthony Ramos, whom I like more every time I see him in a new film. I can see him becoming a great leading actor at some point; he definitely has the charisma.

As I alluded to, the only problem I had with this movie was that it felt “too instant”. This entire GME saga (at least the portion this movie covers) only happened in 2021. I get that you need to strike the iron while it’s hot and want to make a statement about big corporations against the little guy, with a “little” thing called COVID-19 thrown into the mix, but… I can’t help but think this is too early. Even The Big Short had at least 6/7 years, where we knew much more details about what happened. Plus, the real-life protagonist kind of disappeared, at least from the online world. Wouldn’t it be better to wait a few more years, catch up with him and incorporate that into the movie? Because when the movie is over, it weirdly feels incomplete. Mostly due to the big corporations happily chugging on like nothing happened, but still…

But that is my only “real” complaint. I thought this film was much better than it had any right to be due to the people behind it understanding this generation the movie is about, the Internet culture, and focusing on several people from very different backgrounds living different lives, but ultimately, having the same goal – getting a bit more of that pie that seems to be shrinking every year for us, and each year, the rich get an even bigger slice. Somehow, this film makes that point without coming across as preachy, and I think that should be applauded.

Overall, Dumb Money surprised me on every level. From the great casting to the story and how they told it, I had a fun time. Sure, at times, this movie can be “too much”, but guess what? The world is too much; people nowadays have to deal with so much on their plates, and it reflects everything accurately. I wonder how this movie will age and whether we will look back at it in about ten years and cherish it as a time capsule of the “COVID-19 times” mixed with the resilience of the common people. I would recommend this film, even though I still think it’s a bit too soon for it to exist.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Expend4bles (2023) Review – Time to Let Go

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If you scroll through my ratings (for example, on my Letterboxd account) and reviews, you will see I have an affinity for action movies. I grew up on 80s and 90s action, and for the longest time, my favourite actors were Arnold SchwarzeneggerSylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis. This fact alone should tell how much I adored (and still adore) the action genre, and I might or might not have rated a few of their movies much higher than they deserve. The Expendables franchise therefore meant a lot to me as I loved the concept of the “old guard” coming together and kicking some ass. But, this one… Where shall we start with this movie?

Let’s talk about the title first. It’s The Expendables 4. I implore all the studios who do this nonsense, for the love of anything and everything that’s holy to you (read: money), stop doing this shit. Expend4bles is such a cringy title. It may look cool on a poster, but if you talk about this movie to anyone, you will never say this title. Because it doesn’t roll off the tongue, it is simply The Expendables 4.

You might think to yourself: “That’s weird; he usually doesn’t discuss movie titles.” And that’s true, but in this instance, it’s almost like the title foreshadows the quality of this film. Or, as it happens in this case, the lack thereof. I went to the cinema ready to forgive the mediocre The Expendables 3 (2014) and with some hopes that this fourth movie will bring this franchise to some level of quality. I know, how naive of me, but what can I tell you… I love action films. And this movie kicked me in the balls and pissed on me while I was down. That’s how it felt. And if you think I am being too gross, just wait until you hear some of the dialogue in this film!

I don’t mind crude dialogue; I am not a shy sunflower who needs to be shielded from “foul language”. Therefore, I don’t mind swearing in movies. Was I expecting dialogues about golden showers in this film? I would be lying if I answered ‘yes’ to that prompt. And yet, we have them here as Jacob Scipio, who is supposed to be the son of Antonio Banderas‘ character from the previous movie, was given the ungrateful role of being a quippy young guy who only seems to be there to bring down the age average of the group under 60. Almost everything his character says in this film feels like he is in an entirely different movie. I purposely write “his character” as I don’t want to blame the actor; I think he did everything he was asked to do to the best of his abilities. I think that’s entirely the script’s issue. Speaking of those issues, let’s talk about Megan Fox.

Talk about a character that was written to fail. Megan gets introduced as someone in the midst of a heated argument with her boyfriend (Jason Statham) and comes across as bitchy, unlikable and hard to root for. Again, I need to make the distinction here; I am not talking about Megan Fox, the actress. I am talking only about her character, Gina. Gina was (I guess) potentially supposed to be the “leader” of this franchise moving forward. But since she is written by three men who don’t know how to write her, the audience is against her from the second she appears on the screen. What makes this even worse is that in the movie, Gina is quite literally useless. She leads the team, and they get captured almost instantly. And in the final showcase, she kills maybe two people…? You have Megan Fox; she has the third billing in this movie, and this is how you treat her character. The fuck? Make it make sense, anybody!

Wasting or mistreating characters should be this movie’s tagline. They got Tony Jaa and Iko Uwais, two actual martial arts Gods who would destroy anybody in the fight, and they… Give them little to nothing to do. Iko is the main villain, who tries his hardest to villain “as hard as he can” but ultimately has one pretty decent showdown against Statham, and that is it. Jaa was by far the best part of this film; he even delivered some comedy, but… those “highs” should have been higher. Even his character and I will repeat myself, the best part of this entire film, still felt underused, half-cooked and wasted. I don’t understand this; you get these two martial arts legends and then give them such average action sequences… what a waste.

I must mention the CGI, as that might have been one of the worst CGI effects in a big-budget Hollywood movie ever, and this film had an estimated budget of around $100 million!?!?!?!?!?!!! There was a plane landing scene in the first half that genuinely managed to take me out of the film. I am not even kidding; I was watching it in the cinema, and those effects looked so bad that I wondered whether the CGI artists had no money, time or all of the above to render it properly. And that wasn’t the only problem, just the most glaring one. I know I start to sound like a broken record, but make it make sense… please?

The last point I will make is the main plot. I will discuss it without any spoilers, but it will be tough. The movie spends most of its runtime convincing you one of the core members is dead. Everything that has happened since then has to do with his death, and by the end, that character might or might not come back alive. I was not sure whether I was more mad about him coming back alive or that was the plot they decided to go with in the first place, as it never worked for me. The whole thing felt unearned, stupid and honestly hollow.

And that is, unfortunately, the best way to describe The Expendables 4. The comradery we got to know and appreciate from the previous movies is gone. The group (or what’s left of it) felt weird, tired and out of gas, but not because of their age; most actors came across like they didn’t want to be there and did it for a paycheck only. Everything in this movie felt tired, empty and done in the most generic way possible. I rarely do this, but whilst writing this review, I changed my mind and will re-rate this retrospectively, but you won’t see it. When I left the cinema, I rated this film 4/10 on IMDb and 2/5 on Letterboxd, so I was ready to give it this rating here too. And now, whilst reliving the movie through this review, I will knock it down a full star. There were some “okay” moments in the end, but this film doesn’t deserve a better rating. It may be time to let this franchise die, and I don’t think you understand how much it pains me to write this. The Expendables 4 was supposed to start a new era for Expendables, but I think this movie alone managed to bury this franchise.

Overall, The Expendables 4 might be one of the biggest letdowns of recent years. I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece; I was hoping it would be better than its predecessor, and in a world of John Wick movies, the people behind this sequel would understand that they have to evolve too. Instead of that, they’ve gone backwards, and this movie made the previous one look like one of the most sophisticated action movies of all time. It pains me to write this, but avoid this film that doesn’t know what to do with either of its characters, how to shoot action around people who know some stuff (like Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa) and has one of the worst CGI of the recent Hollywood history.

Rating: 1 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke

Past Lives (2023) Review – Don’t Watch this Movie, Feel It

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Around June or July, I started to hear excellent things about Past Lives, but as with some smaller films, it takes a while for them to be released in the UK cinemas if they even get a cinema release. But luckily, this one finally got one, and I was able to catch it. Nothing about this movie is “instant”. Past Lives is a slow-paced film; it talks about this “what if” idea we have seen in the last couple of years a lot, and it does it all very deliberately. It’s one of those “mood films” where you must let it go under your skin, need to accept its tempo, and then you will enjoy it. And it 100% deserves to be enjoyed, seen and celebrated. The more I thought about this film after it was finished, the more I loved it.

The biggest strength of Past Lives is its self-awareness. Celine Song understands that the audiences in 2023 have seen many “what if” or “multiverse concept” movies, as that’s the main theme of this one as well, the idea of what would happen if Nora (Greta Lee) stayed in Korea, whether she would stay with her childhood love (Teo Yoo). Where the self-awareness kicks in is this is a “what if” movie on a small budget, so don’t expect anything “fancy”. No; instead, it gives you brilliant characters with actual depth. There is a scene in the bedroom around halfway through the film where Nora talks to her husband (John Magaro), and that scene helped me understand and, to a certain level, unlock this film. Because there are no villains in Past Lives, you may think you know where this is going, but the film is smart enough to flash out all its characters, so there are just… people. I soon started to realise how easy it would have been to tell this story in an easier, likeable way, you know the drill, the husband doesn’t love her or is not attentive, etc., but this film doesn’t do that. It asks you to take a step back, gives you the scenario, lets you decide how you feel about this situation and asks you what you would do.

Another point I loved about this movie is how it will mean so much to people like me, who emigrated in their lives and left everything behind. I am sure I am not the first or last person to stop and think about my life and how it would look like had I stayed in my home country. What made it even more relatable is that I find myself in the same boat as Nora; I like my life now, I made something of myself, have friends and a long-term girlfriend and yet… You can’t escape those “what if” thoughts when talking to friends and family you left behind. Many people quote a few different lines from this film, but the one that stuck with me, I haven’t seen anyone else use it yet. I believe it was Nora talking to her husband: “For him, I am the one who left. For you, I am the one who stayed.” I am paraphrasing here because I can’t remember, but it was something to that extent and… Yep, these two simple sentences carry so much weight and meaning. No matter what you do after you emigrate and settle somewhere else, to some, you will always be the one who left them.

But most importantly, this is a “mood film”. I can’t stress this enough, you need to let it flow and get into that flow. Past Lives is not a film that will dazzle you with CGI, huge names or a concept you have never seen. It takes its time to tell you this unique story that is easily relatable to many people, and if you let it, it will reward you, in the end. You just need to play by its rules; there is nothing “big” in this film. It’s a quiet, reflective, humane drama about people, and that is the big idea here. It does that so well, and you will struggle to find a movie that feels so earnest.

I briefly mentioned them, but I need to compliment the main three actors (Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro) as they were excellent in their roles. All three can tell/act so much by just looking at the other person. Many of the movie’s best moments happened with little to no dialogue; you simply feel the connection between our protagonists. I must also mention Celine Song again, the writer and director for whom this is her feature debut. And what a strong debut this is. Celine understands what each scene needs when to pull back and say a lot by not saying anything, and she shot the film masterfully. I can’t wait to see what she has for us next, and I hope this movie will unlock many doors for her career.

Overall, Past Lives is one of the best movies of 2023, hands down. It’s a film that asks you to be patient with it as nothing here happens “instantly”. But it rewards you for your patience with a beautifully earnest human story about people who found themselves in this strange situation. I loved everything about this movie, and the further away I am from it, the more I love it because I keep thinking about it with different scenes and pieces of dialogue going through my mind. I can’t recommend it enough especially if you have emigrated before and managed to find a “new life”; this movie will resonate with you on a much deeper level.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!

Until next time,

Luke