Boy Kills World (2023)

Boy Kills World (2023)

7/10

Starring          

Bill Skarsgård

Jessica Rothe

Michelle Dockery

Brett Gelman

Isaiah Mustafa

 

Directed by Moritz Mohr

 

Boy Kills World is a funny action-comedy film about a boy who is going against the city leaders where he lives. Boy (the main character, who is referred to throughout the movie as Boy) is deaf and mute in this dystopian city. The city is ruled by the Van Der Koy family, and Boy's mother was a rebel in the city. His little sister Mina was also a rebel, and she was to him like his hero. The head of the Van Der Koy family is Hilda, who once a year selects twelve people in the city to participate in something called the culling, where they are killed on live tv. Boy, Mina and his mother were selected at one time. Boy watched his mother and sister killed, but somehow, he survived but was left deaf and mute. He was saved by a Shaman. The Shaman then starts to train Boy in martial arts, giving him hallucinogenic to strengthen his mind and to make him forget his life before this, all this was so that he can be strong enough to enact revenge for his dead mother and sister.

The thing about this movie is not the above intro, but the way it is carried out. The comedy comes up in all the unexpected places, and the character boy communicates with us the viewers, by the voice in his head talking through the movie as it carries on. Mina his sister he hallucinates, as he goes about his life, she is beside him, talking to him and making him complicated.

The acting as you will expect from Bill Skarsgård, who plays Boy is top notch. But concerning the movie surroundings and the idea of the dystopian future, well the movie did not waste too much time working on that. I do not know what the budget of this movie was, but I can tell you much of it did not go into scenery. The movie’s backdrop is very similar to the world we live now, which I think plays into Boy’s engagement with his surroundings when he fights and runs. The whole fight and running, one man against an army reminds you so much of the action movies of the 90s. Where the bad guys are bad shots and the main character is a good one, he never misses, but everyone else does.

The movie’s big talking point is when the movie steers away from everything we know is happening concerning Boy. Who he really is and how he became who he is. The movie has a big twist, which I must be honest did not see coming from the start. The movie plants the same kind of seed you will expect from a revenge film and, like every revenge film there is always some twist, well this one got me unawares, and for that reason alone, I ended up loving the movie the more.

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4 (2024)

5/10

 

Starring the voices of

Steve Carell

Kristen Wiig

Pierre Coffin

Joey King

Miranda Cosgrove

Sofía Vergara

Steve Coogan

 

Directed by Chris Renaud

 

It felt so much like I was watching a rip-off of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles (2004). The story was not as good as the first two Despicable Me animations from 2010 and 2013. It felt so much like the third, a movie that needed not to be made, but was done anyway.

This is the fourth animated movie of the Despicable Me story following Gru, and it is a sequel to the third Despicable Me 3 (2017). It is although the sixth movie in the Despicable Me franchise, following the prequel Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).

The problem with this animation was how much time was wasted in the second act (this is when Gru needed to be taken into protective custody and when his new hiding place was discovered). The first act too was not given the needed root. The antagonist Maxime never got the time to develop. In fact, none of the new characters introduced were given any form of development. I believe with good writing you can make the best of one hour thirty minutes, but this movie rushed everything and focused more on the second act, not to mention it had too many characters.

The plot is this, Gru working undercover with the AVL (anti-villain league) went to his high school reunion to capture a villain named Maxime. Maxime has a feud with Gru, one which you will need to watch the movie to know. Maxime has developed a syndrome which he used on himself to make him strong, and he intends to take over the world. Gru, with the aid of agents of the AVL, was able to capture Maxime.

Maxime broke out of prison and swore to get revenge on Gru. The AVL, wanting to protect Gru and his family, placed them into protective custody. They were moved to a safe location, given new names and new jobs.

Maxime on the other hand has plans to find Gru and kidnap his baby, and raise the child as his own, to enact his revenge on Gru for capturing him for the AVL.

Gru and his family are finding it hard to fit into their new life and role. To make it worse for Gru, someone in this new town of his, knows who he is and is taking advantage of this knowledge to make Gru help them pull a heist.

If you want to take the children out to see an animated movie, then you can take them to see this one, but as an adult and a fan of the franchise, I think this animation was not well thought through.

 

The Bachelor (1999)

The Bachelor (1999)

 

3/10

Starring

Chris O’Donnell

Renée Zellweger

Hal Holbrook

James Cromwell

 

Directed by Gary Sinyor

 

You get to see a guy willing to do anything, to get the inheritance that his grandfather left for him. Inheritance was left on the condition that he gets married and stayed married for a decade to have the 100 million dollars of his grandfather’s estate. Nothing speaks cliché like this movie done in the 90s, and how is this meant to be a romantic movie?

The man who is meant to inherit this movie is willing to marry anyone to keep this money, except commit to the one person he truly loves, Annie (Renée Zellweger). Again, it goes over my head how this movie is meant to be romantic. We get to see cameos of various female actresses, comedian and musician all getting the call to be the bride of Jimmie (Chris O’Donnell) and all turning him down.

No wonder this movie has a horrible Rotten Tomatoes rating, the writing is terrible, the idea is unrealistic and there is no way someone can be that stupid.

The movie as I have shared above is about Jimmie and his love Annie. Jimmie craves the bachelor life and never wants to get married or settle. His resolve became more pronounced when all his friends got married and he was left alone and single. He decided to make a change on this and propose to Annie, in the most romantic place in their town. The whole setup was great, but his proposal was horrible, which led to Annie saying no and beginning to reconsider their relationship. Then his grandfather dies and leaves Jimmie with all his estate, which he will lose if he fails to meet the conditions stated above.

So, Jimmie is in a raise against time to find a bride. Because part of the condition is a time limit before he loses everything. But the woman he loves wants nothing to do with him, and he does not want to lose his business and his inheritance, so he tries to see who else in his past will be willing to marry him.

The ending is worse still, where we see him running on the street being chased by hundreds of women, all in wedding dresses willing to marry him for his money. But as romantic movies go, you know the writers find a way to spin all this for good, when Annie gives one of the most ridiculous speeches to claim her man.

I saw this movie back in the 90s, and always wondered why I never saw it again, or why I could not remember much about it. I decided to give it another watch, and now I can see why movies like this are best left as a memory. Me, trying to rediscover why my brain has blocked out a lot of this movie, has ruined my morning.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

 

5/10

Starring

Eddie Murphy

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Taylour Paige

Judge Reinhold

John Ashton

Kevin Bacon

Directed by Mark Molloy

 

contains spoilers

It was nice seeing the character Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) again, to see what he has been up to, since it has been thirty years since the last film in the franchise. This fourth Beverly Cop film, well, it is boring at times, but I can tell you it is better than the sequel Beverly Hills Cop two and three, and that is not saying much.

It is on Netflix, and I had to take a break to finish watching it, because I did not want to sleep off before seeing it through.

I think the main problem of the film for me is that the story seemed to be underdeveloped and lacked some realism. I had issues with when Foley found out that Grant (Kevin Bacon) was the film’s main antagonist. He found this out when he went to an exclusive club and saw Grant with the people who he met in Billy’s flat and attacked him. Now, I do not expect him to do something at that moment, but knowing that, and everyone else being brought up to speed with that information, did not at any point affect the film’s plot. He was not taken off the case or must answer for using such characters in a matter that had to do with the police. His reason also was flimsy, but in the Beverly Hills cop world, it passed.

The action in the film was welcoming, but they were too far apart, and we had to deal with too much talk. The trying to create a bond back that was broken between Foley and his daughter reminded me so much of Die Hard 4.

As you know if you have seen the older Beverly Hills cop movies, Axel always finds a way to get himself back to Beverly Hills to cause havoc. This time it was because his daughter’s life was being threatened. She took on a case and was threatened to drop the case. So, Axel jumped on a plane to Beverly Hills to help. The problem is, he and his daughter are estranged, and he was informed of the threat to her life, by his friend Billy, who asked him to come assist. Billy put her life in danger by asking her to represent a criminal who has been framed for murder.

Axel gets to Beverly Hills, and then we discover that Billy has been missing for some days. He meets up with his daughter and tries to rekindle their relationship, as they dig into this case to see how deep it goes, and to try and find Billy as it seems he knows more about this case than anyone else.

For me, the film lacked the needed spice to make it a film I will want to see again, but what I can tell you is, it stands better than the two previous sequels before it.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

 

6/10

 

Starring

Anya Taylor-Joy

Chris Hemsworth

Tom Burke

Alyla Browne

 

Directed by George Miller

 

There comes a point where you know a franchise has had its days in the sun and George Miller has milked this franchise. Mad Max has had its days in the sun, and I did not find this film as engaging as Mad Max: Fury Road. The film was draining, and the story danced around the fire for so long, that at times I stood up and stretched so that I could be awake to see it through to the end. The film had some no need for these scenes, and it was at times boring. The acting was good though from the leads, but the effects were poor in some scenes. Then the makeup done on Chris Hemsworth was not a good job. I could tell he had a fake nose.

The film is not bad as far as the action scene goes, the effects could have been better like what we saw in Mad Max: Fury Road.

My question remains, why do we have to sit for so long before the plot links the warlords to a point when they will decide to put an end to Dementus?

This film is a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, we get to see how Furiosa got to be in the Citadel with Immortan Joe, and why she hated the idea of him and all that he stands for.

It starts with Furiosa as a child when she was captured by Dementus’ men from where she was staying, a place green and nothing like the surrounding wasteland. Her mother came after her to save her (killing everyone, but one who was responsible for the capture of her child). The last one died thanks to Furiosa. Furiosa mother too was later captured by Dementus men. Furiosa watched her mother being killed in front of her, because they both refuse to tell Dementus where they came from, to protect their home from being raided and the people killed.

Dementus was an insane warlord who heads a gang called Biker Horde. He adopts the unwilling Furiosa hoping she will later reveal where she came from, but she remains quiet.

Later, Dementus decides to attack another settlement, the Citadel. This attack did not go well in his favour, he then captures a town which supplies the Citadel with gas, making Immortan Joe and him come to the table for peace talks. Here is where Furiosa was handed over to the Citadel.

How she lost her hand, how she escaped and became torn in the flesh for Dementus to get her revenge, well the film is over two hours long for you to watch and find out.

Inside Out 2 (2024)

Inside Out 2 (2024)

9/10

Starring

Amy Poehler

Maya Hawke

Kensington Tallman

Liza Lapira

Tony Hale

 

Directed by Kelsey Mann

 

Inside Out 2 is a nine-year gap release from the first animation, Inside Out (2015).

You get the feeling that Disney needed to hit a bad point, which they are in right now, before deciding to go back to basics. This animation is why we love Disney’s animations, and it was done by their Pixar studio team. It focused on storytelling and detailed world building rather than the Disney’s new animations before this, which had a problem of being plagued with trying to pass a message to appeal to some minority group. All those film in the end had bad stories and their characters were non-memorable. Their old ways of setting the playing field by building a new world while setting boundaries then breaking the character to pieces and putting everything back together again, is the formula they went back to in this animation. This animation for me is a turning point and I do hope future Disney animations follow suit of sticking to a good story and building memorable characters.

Inside Out 2 takes us back to the unity formed from the first animation of the various characters in Riley’s head. In the first animation, all of Riley emotions are individual characters controlling her actions from a control board in her head. We get to know from the first animation that each emotion has a place in her sense of self. Well, that was all thrown out the window the moment puberty hit. This animation hit home with how I remember puberty was for me. The way Riley acted was so on point, when she wanted to fit in. The anxiety of growing up and wanting nothing to do with your old self and wanting to be like the cool kids. The problem of walking away too quickly from all the things that made you who you are, and wanting to be someone else, an idea of what you have deemed as cool.

So, the moment puberty hit when Riley became thirteen new emotions (Anxiety, Envy, Ennui and Embarrassment) are released to the control centre of Riley’s head, and they shoved the old emotions (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust) out. Anxiety took control and tried to steer Riley right because of the fear of what is to come. This new behaviour caused Riley to ditch her old friends to which she went to the hockey camp with, to try and fit in with her new friends. She starts to pretend to like what they like, and lie about who she really is, so that she can fit in. Anxiety pushed Riley hard, making her do things that she normally would not do, and make Riley push her body beyond the limit to which it can take.

We see the old emotions trapped in the streams of consciousness, trying to get Riley’s sense of self from the back of her mind and bring it to the control centre. While Sadness is sent to the centre to try to save Riley, by recalling the old emotions so that Riley does not lose it all in the end.

This animation is doing well in the box-office, and I hope Disney learns from this and continue to give us classics.

Hit Man (2023)

Hit Man (2023)

 

6/10

Starring

Glen Powell

Adria Arjona

Austin Amelio

Retta

 

Directed by Richard Linklater

 

I have to be honest, this film has some nice twists I did not see coming. How the lead Gary (Glen Powell) got involved with one of his cases, and how the involvement led to an actual murder, is worth seeing. Then, how all these got twisted so much that you just wonder how the hell do these two think this is a healthy relationship is above me. The whole film is not bursting with so much financial budget, everything is kept as minimal as possible. The actors on the other hand stepped up to cover up this lapse.

The film is based off a book of the same name by Skip Hollandsworth. The story is about a professor who works with the police to help catch criminals who want to hire a hitman. The film builds on the fact that, there isn’t really anyone about ready to kill someone for money. What he does with the police is catch people who think they are hiring a hitman.

Gary is working with a team, when the undercover police officer hitman was suspended for his behaviour outside of work. From here, you start to have some nice respect for the screenplay crafted by both Glen Powell and Richard Linklater. When Gary was asked to fill in for the suspended officer, his acting nervous and trying to be a tough guy, can be felt by you, the viewer. He, a civilian, being asked to fill in for another office, I do not think is possible, as the ramification based on lawsuits will outweigh the conviction of a crime should anything go wrong. But this is a film, so anything goes.

In his face job undercover, he started nervous, then after a while he got into the role and was able to get the other person to pay for a hit to be done. Which was enough evidence to arrest the man.

Gary decided to make sure that, whatever he does, he will do it very well. He decided to dress up in his new temporary role. Trying to be the character that the person who just booked for a hitman wants. This made him get the gig permanently, as his rate of catching the bad guys was high.

Then he met someone who he was supposed to help incriminate, and their meeting placed him at ease, and he instead helped them from getting arrested and pointed them in the direction of getting a good life.

From here on, the film dived head first into deep romantic fantasy and refused to even come up for air until the very end.

Nice film to watch on Netflix, all you need to do is to suspend the idea of possibilities and enjoy the fantasy.