Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

 

5/10

Starring          

Will Smith

Martin Lawrence

 

Directed by Adil & Bilall

 

I know Will Smith is on a redemption run, so this movie is a good start on that run. It is not as bad as you will expect it. It is also not as great or cool as I thought it will be. My problem is movies of now lack the grit of the times when the first Bad Boys was done.

Now everything must have some computer genius moving accounts, hacking and cryptic messages and bad guys who seem to have too much connection into things, that just is so unrealistic.

You can send a cryptic message to people, so instead of just sending them the message directly, what you do is this. You send them a message, that points them to someone. The someone then hid a link to another message in a flashing screen, which can only be seen if you record the screen and go through it frame by frame. How did they discover this link? Well, an officer without any prompt from anyone decided to do the frame by frame look at a flashing screen, like… what?

How did she know to do that?

The lazy writing in this movie is so apparent it is annoying. The movie’s plot makes no sense at all and that in itself is even more annoying. I watched it to the end, thinking there will be a reason, why the bad guys, who have gotten away with killing the captain, will decide to bring up the matter again after many years. But I guess the writers are so lazy, they just could not find a better way to get the two actors angry.

All that said, I enjoyed the action, and the references to the old movies, and I did enjoy some of the comedic laughs I got seeing this movie, but the movie is not leaving behind a lasting impression. Like the other two before this, it is easily forgettable. The first Bad Boys movie leaves an everlasting imprint, the others after it do not.

This movie is about Captain Howard, who as we know is dead. The whole Bad Boys franchise (other than the first movie) is so forgettable, I was trying hard to remember this. Now, in present time, the two buddy cops Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) are at a wedding when Marcus had a heart attack and almost died.

His survival meant he looked at life differently and then, Captain Howard is implicated in a crime. His reputation is at stake because some millions have been found in his account, dating back to years, showing he is in bed with the cartel.

Now, I am not trying to ruin this, but even this setup was useless. You see, you can back date payments and forge documents to make it look like you have been paying money for some period, but this is traceable. Everything leaves a time stamp, so if anyone does just a tiny bit of forensic check, they will see this is fake. Hollywood writers must think everyone is dumb and knows nothing about how computers work.

Mike and Marcus are upset and want to clear their captain’s name, but they were not upset enough, says the writers. So, the captain sent them a cryptic message that points them to someone, who gets killed when he was trying to point them to the flashing screen, then they get shot at and almost get killed trying to catch the bad guys.

The movie, in a succinct way, is about these two trying to clear their captain's name and identify the corrupt cops in their station.

As far as lazy writing goes, this movie is full of it, and it is so forgettable a movie.

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

 

7/10

Starring          

Ryan Reynolds

Hugh Jackman

Emma Corrin

Matthew Macfadyen

 

Directed by Shawn Levy

 

The best way I saw this movie and will advise anyone else to see it is to keep away from previews and spoilers (if that is possible). This is a fun movie to see and although it is not the best superhero movie there is other there, it is good enough for anyone to go see.

This movie may be a bit difficult to follow if you are not someone who has been watching all the superhero movies from the late 90s until now. In fact, this movie was made for people in their 30s and above, and I do not think the writers, producers and makers are apologetic about it. Because there are a lot of cameos and many jokes that only people who have been watching superhero movies from the late 90s will understand.

You can tell that the movie was a fun project, and you can tell that everyone had fun on set making the movie. Some of the critic’s points about this movie are obvious to see when you watch the movie, but it did not mar the experience of seeing it. I, too, felt the plot could have taken another path which would have been more fun. I also felt there were way too many CGI moments, which could have been reduced (but maybe it was not possible).

It is the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and it is a sequel to Fox's Deadpool (2016) and Deadpool 2 (2018), before Disney bought Fox and now own the X-Men characters. So, this is the first cinematic release from that purchase that has to do with the Marvel Universe, and it kept to its R rating.

The movie plot is very simple. Deadpool/Wade (Ryan Reynolds) wants to mean something, wants to matter (because his girlfriend just dumped him). So, he decided to see if he could join the Avengers by jumping from his timeline, Earth-10005 to the MCU timeline, Earth-616 using Cable's time-travelling device (from Deadpool 2 (2018)). He did not get the part and decided to go back to his timeline and hang up his Deadpool life and be an ordinary Joe.

During his birthday, he got a visit from the TVA (Time Variance Authority). They capture him and bring him to Mr. Paradox. Paradox tells him that he has been offered a place on Earth-616 (the MCU avengers timeline) so he can get his opportunity to join the Avengers. There is a catch though, he cannot go back to his timeline because the Logan of his timeline (from the Fox Movie Logan) is dead, and since he (Logan) is the anchor of Earth-10005 timeline, his death will bring an end to Earth-10005.

Knowing Wade, and since all the people he cared about are in the timeline he is coming from, he uses Cable’s device to jump through different Earth timelines looking for a Logan (Wolverine) that he can take to his. But you can guess that things do not work like that and soon, he and the Logan he got were sent to the void by Paradox as Wade does not want to play along. With his world at stake, Wade needs to find a way to get out of the void and stop Paradox and save his world.

There is one catch, though, this Logan he has with him, is the worst Logan he could have found in all the entire multiverse.

You should see this movie – it is worth it.

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.