Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

6/10

Starring

Ryan Gosling

Harrison Ford

Ana de Armas

Sylvia Hoeks

Robin Wright

Directed by Dennis Villeneuve

This noir film does not attempt to add another genre into the mix, no action just a crime drama similar to the first Blade Runner movie. This movie is not as good as the first part done in 1982, even though the visual style is updated and the movie dept is dug a little more deeper.

One thing though, the way Harrison Ford delivered a memorable performance as Deckard in Blade Runner (1982), so did Ryan Gosling master his role as replicant K in this movie.

Everything in the movie is blurred across intent and idea of what is best for the populace.

Based on characters from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, this sequel is set thirty years after the first movie. Things have changed since then, and the replicants made now are more obedient. The movie focuses on the new lead K. K's job is a funny one. He is a Blade Runner. Unlike the first movie where the Blade Runners were humans hunting renegade replicants, here the Blade Runner is a replicant hunting renegade replicants.

Things got very chaotic when K completed a mission and uncovers a hidden truth. He discovers a body under a tree and what led to the death of that person is what could turn the present world upside down.

K is tasked in making sure the secret never comes out, but he is not the only one who wants to keep things a secret. A man named Wallace who is now the one controlling the manufacturing of replicants also wants what K found kept a secret.

The movie itself may not have the thrill intense of the first Blade Runner, but the cinematography and the visual effects are more better. Ridley Scott did not direct this movie, but Dennis Villeneuve did and he was good.

The way he made the movie grow on you and kidnap your interest is worth applauding.

He handled the task of making you interested in the who we should be focusing on and what the repercussion of their existence was. He did this with careful precision so that you are not able to guess easily what the end of the movie will be like.

Even though the movie was critically applauded for its addition to the Blade Runner tale, it was not a box office success just as the first movie. May be later on it will have a cult following as the first movie does, who knows?

What I do know is that, this is a fine movie to see.

Playing with Fire (2019)

Playing with Fire (2019)

6/10

Starring

John Cena

John Leguizamo

Brianna Hildebrand

Dennis Haysbert

Judy Greer

Directed by Andy Fickman

I like the movie Playing with Fire. I found it funny and enjoyable, even though it is as cheesy as hell. It was nice to see a family friendly movie not take itself so serious and it added a little mystery to it. Ending in a way that you know in real life that will never happen. The movie gave us a Disney, “they lived happily ever after” ending even though the whole idea of these people together is a disaster waiting to happen.

What Playing with Fire has that made me enjoy it was, streamlining the cast. The movie focuses on the cast at our disposal. In the fire station we have four men and three children, with an occasional romantic interest coming to the station. With these eight the movie builds its plot and does not even make any attempt to complicate things.

The movie starts with the introduction of the men working under Superintendent Jake (John Cena). Jake and his men are smokejumpers. I never knew such a department exist under being a firemen, but they happen to be trained men who drop into wildland fires with parachutes.

Well Jake is one and he wants to be like his dad, who was a Division Commander.

Jake is very good at his job, but the fun thing about his team is their different personalities. Mark (Keegan-Michael Key) is emotional and at times very nervous. Torres (John Leguizamo) is a little nuts, known for misquoting popular sayings and assign the misquotes to the wrong person. Then there is Axe, who is mostly quiet through the movie.

There is a wildfire in the woodlands and the team saved three children from a cabin. They take them to their station, but the repercussion of the fire which burnt down the home the children were staying has the kids stuck with the men until their parents come to pick them up.

The movie then takes a turn that you will expect from such movies as these, the men have no idea how to take care for children and the fun of the movie starts there.

The movie was not a critical success, as it was disliked by many with some saying that it is in contention to be rated the worst movie of 2019. Funny enough I can agree that this movie is not the best thing you can see at the cinemas, but the movie is funny and it is best watched at home not at the cinemas.

It was also a commercial disappointment, a box office bomb. Nonetheless, if you see it on TV get ready for some cheesy fun.

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

4/10

Starring

Robert Carradine

Anthony Edwards

Ted McGinley

Bernie Casey

Directed by Jeff Kanew

Revenge of the Nerds is a movie I expected to enjoy, but I ended up not. The movie is meant to be a comedy, but it lacked comedy itself. The writers and the person responsible for the musical score took everything literally. There was nothing in this movie that jumps out at you, everything just played to its own stereotype, from the characters to their costumes. Nerds were not the only one in the movie that were on the revenge path, all the outcasts were all on the same team against the jocks. With all these brains together, the best they could do was become perverts and play pranks on their rivals.

The movie was meant to climax when both sides take on each other in a showdown, for me that was when the movie just went completely off the rails and failed to entertain.

The plot has two young men Lewis and Gilbert starting college. They have been able to scale through high school with their dignity and hopes intact after being bullied and being treated differently because they were nerds. This time they believe things will be different and they are happy to be in college because they believe finally all the bullying will end.

On their first day in college they get called the name they believe they have left behind, Nerds. Things got worse when the jocks take over their freshmen dorms and force all the freshmen to live in the gym.

Enough was enough and the freshmen along with other outcasts led by the two nerds Lewis and Gilbert decided to dish out revenge. They also plan to strip power from the jocks and bring balance to the school.

The story lacked the needed cohesion to merge all the tiny subplots to make the movie very interesting. At times it was easy to guess which path the movie will eventually take and sometimes you wished the movie had more going for it than the idea of the nerds finally standing up for themselves.

I liked the idea of the nerds (the outcast) being able to stand-up for themselves and take on the jocks. I also liked the way the nerds were not made to be like complete losers who can not think of anything else other than books. These two things were the only change given to the characters, everything else is stereotypical.

The movie was a huge financial success, I guess many people liked the idea of the underdog getting one over the regulars.

The Others (2001)

The Others (2001)

8/10

Starring

Nicole Kidman

Fionnula Flanagan

Christopher Eccleston

Elaine Cassidy

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar

The Others is that movie you get to see once, and once more to get to see how you missed it all in the beginning. The movie is an English-language Spanish gothic supernatural psychological horror film. Not a word of Spanish is spoken in this movie.

The movie has so many accolades, that if you have not see this movie before for any reason, the recognition alone is worth seeing it for. I can never forget the first time me and my sister saw this movie back in 2002, when we laid our hands on the home video. The movie has a twist ending that will leave you jaw dropped to the ground.

The movie plot is set in the 1940s we see a family trying to get by with their day, after World War II. Grace (Nicole Kidman) has two children Anne and Nicholas, who suffer from a rare disease, causing them to have problem with expose to light.

Grace then hires three servants to help around the house, we hired Mrs. Mills, Mr. Tuttle, and a mute girl named Lydia.

Things start to get strange when Anne tells Grace that she is seeing things, to be more specific she is seeing people like ghost in the house. She tells Grace they are a family with a son named Victor who she has conversed with. Victor tells Anne that the house is theirs.

Grace first waves this off , but things start to change when she too starts hearing things in the house. She then starts to investigate, inviting helping to ward off the supernatural existence in the house. But something is off with the house and Grace is starting to notice.

The movie is written, directed, and scored by Alejandro Amenábar, a movie maker which I have not heard of before or after this movie. His direction of this movie is something that needs to be studied by any future movie maker. He handed the movie’s twist in such perfection that, you get the urge to want to see the movie again, the moment the credits starts rolling in.

The movie also boast of excellent cinematography which were used to deliver the needed scare and put you on the edge, with Nicole Kidman delivering one of her best performances. Her acting here is worth her being dabbed one of the best screen legends of her time.

The Others was a huge critical and commercial success making over $200 million from a $17 million budget.

In the main Spain movie awards (Goya) The Others won numerous awards including Best Film, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. It also won other awards and nominations from other notable award programs.

Have you seen The Others? If not, you should.

The Nutty Professor (1996)

The Nutty Professor (1996)

6/10

Starring

Eddie Murphy

Jada Pinkett

James Coburn

Directed by Tom Shadyac

The Nutty Professor, the remake of a 1963 comedy movie of the same name. Here we have Eddie Murphy playing dual roles and just making the best of it. The movie had Murphy at his best getting himself to play the main character and also some of the supporting cast.

The fun in the movie is him and the humor he brought to the roles he played. You can see many loose stings in this plot, but this is a slapstick comedy so it is expected, but what I did not expect was to like this movie as much as I did.

The movie is a parody of Robert Louis Stevenson's book Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. They took the main theme of a man who takes a portion to be someone else, and drops everything else from Stevenson's book.

Here in this movie we have Professor Klump who is our Dr. Jekyll. Klump is obese to the next level, he is also nice and kind. He struggles to fit in everywhere and all he wants is to find a way to lose weight and be like everyone else. What he views as normal.

He has a running experiment on hamsters to see if he can get a fat one to lose weight and when he saw signs of progress, Klump tuned up the formula to work on a human. Without letting any of his lab assistants know, Klump alone in the lab at night drank the formula and changed to a skinny man, Buddy love this is Klump’s Mr Hyde.

Buddy is full of energy and life, he is confident and able to do and say things which Klump could not. The problem starts as usual with a lady, Klump loves her and hopes Buddy will be able to woe her, but Buddy is a loose canon and things did not go as plan.

How the two get to resolve this issue and which part will eventually dominate is what this movie is about.

Worth noting is that unlike Stevenson's book where it is clear that Jekyll is fully aware of what Hyde has done when the change has occurred and vice-versa. In the movie it is not so clear.

In the book the change brings forth a different perception of life which makes one (for example Hyde) do things which may affect the other (Jekyll), the other is aware of what is being done but is powerless to do anything.

Buddy and Klump seem to be independent of one another and is unaware of what the other would have done. A plot hole exist here, because there was a time which it seem Klump knew what happened when he was Buddy (there was an incident in the restaurant which Klump recalled happened to Buddy and apologized for). Then there was an incident which Buddy tricked Klump, which could have only happened if Klump did not know the things Buddy did.

In the end the movie was a commercial success which led to a second part, which was not as good and is not worth remembering.

Coming to America (1988)

Coming to America (1988)

8/10

Starring

Eddie Murphy

Arsenio Hall

James Earl Jones

John Amos

Madge Sinclair

Shari Headley

Directed by John Landis

I was born in the 80s, but came to understand life was when I was in the 90s and one movie that we all got to see over and over again was Coming to America. This was not just a movie it was like a cultural icon on its own. I came to see Murphy as a stable actor to look forward to his movies when I was young and so there was no reason to not go see some of the classics he did in the 80s.

Coming to America stars Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall, in roles that had both in charge of everything fun in this movie from the very start. The movie also had some of the best supporting cast you can wish for, each delivering the need performance to make this movie memorable and their lines unforgettable.

The movie plot is about a young prince from a fictional African land of Zamunda. The prince’s name is Akeem (Eddie Murphy) who is feeling overwhelmed with life as a prince and bored to the bone of it. He speaks to his father about this and he misinterpreted what Akeem says to mean that Akeem wants to travel to have sexual exploits and delay getting married to the girl which will be like a slave to him.

He arranges for Akeem to travel with a companion, Semmi (Arsenio Hall) who is also Akeem’s best friend. Akeem choose for them to travel to America, Semmi knows Akeem is going to America to look for love, something both fail to tell his parents about.

When in America, Akeem decides that no one is to know he is a prince, because he wants to get love that is genuine not one that comes from a lady because she knows he is wealthy. He gets a job and everything from here you will love when you go see this movie again.

The movie has some of the best comedic lines you can think of, and whether the lines came from here or were hijacked from elsewhere, it was in this movie that many were recognized as firsts.

Everyone that has seen this movie can easily pick which lines they love the most, and which scene(s) jumps out at them when they remember this movie.

Murphy and Hall also played numerous smaller roles in this movie, allowing the makeup to do the disguise for them and still making it such that we can recognize the people underneath.

The movie was a mild critical success, but a huge commercial one which almost led to a TV series that never happened. The way the movie is, it is easy to see how they could have picked up any of the loose strings the screenplay left untied and made a spin-off or a second part from.

That said, a sequel to this movie is set to be released late this 2020.

Will the sequel which stars almost the same cast as the one made thirty-three be as significant or as funny as this one? I guess we have to wait and see it to find out.

Big (1988)

Big (1988)

7/10

Starring

Tom Hanks

Elizabeth Perkins

Robert Loggia

John Heard

Directed by Penny Marshall

Tom Hanks has been delivering magnificent performances for decades and in the late 80s he gave us another magnificent performance and received a Best Actor Nomination for it too. This movie Big has a plot that sounds just silly, but then the screenplay and the acting is what takes this movie from what could have looked like a silly plot to a masterpiece. That kudos goes to the director who made this happen.

The director here is the late Penny Marshall, she was in full control of this movie and this is not the first time she has delivered something that is just amazing. She had control over another Tom Hanks movie A League of Their Own in 1992.

The movie is about a young man named Josh who lives with his family. This twelve-year-old is having challenges dealing with the world as his height gets in the way of him doing things he wanted. Josh best friend is Billy who is also his next door neighbor.

After an incident made him feel small, Josh made a wish on a fortune teller machine he saw at a carnival. He wished he was big, just a passing thought not expecting much to happen, but he woke up the next morning (at home) and he was now an adult (Tom Hanks).

Faced with this new challenge, he runs from home and now he has to face to world as an adult trying to get by. While still looking for a way to get back to his normal self so he can go back home.

What I really enjoyed while watching this movie now as an adult is that, the things I see Josh do were the things I would have done if it had happened to me. I also recall the way I explored the limits of freedom when I moved out of home and started life as a bachelor. The movie gets its fun as we see the way a twelve-year-old in an adult’s body navigates the work place (which he fails majorly in office politics), romantic entanglement and his relationship with his best friend.

The movie was both a huge critical and commercial success (making over a $150 million on a $18 million budget) plus it also got many other recognition other than the Academy Awards nomination for Hanks and Best Original Screenplay. It is ranked in many lists as one of the best comedies ever made and I do agree.

Big is that one film you get to enjoy every time you see it, and just laugh as this fantasy comedy takes you on an unforgettable ride.

Clueless (1995)

Clueless (1995)

6/10

Starring

Alicia Silverstone

Stacey Dash

Brittany Murphy

Paul Rudd

Directed by Amy Heckerling

In the 90s there was a coming of age movie that everyone had to see, it stared Alicia Silverstone and I never forgot her name after this movie. Clueless is fun, enjoyable and easy to follow. The movie has a nice ring to it in delivering it’s comedy and the romantic edge is well chimed into it, even though at first it seemed very odd.

The movie is written and directed by Amy Heckerling (and it is loosely based on Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma). Clueless is seen as one of the best teen movies ever.

Along with Alicia Silverstone, this movie also has the late Brittany Murphy.

When it comes to the delivery of the actors in this movie, each made it look simple, like they have been at this role all their lives, it is this that makes the movie something to enjoy.

The movie’s plot is very simple, it is like we are going through life being Cher (Alicia Silverstone). She is a rich, popular, self-involved lady who is at the head of her crew Dionne (Stacey Dash) and Tai (Brittany Murphy).

The movie explores how she tries to manage the lives of her friends, from how they look to who they should date. Although her desires for them sometimes are rebelled against and her friends lay their own paths, Cher is one who tries very hard to be in control of the lives of others.

Also we get to meet Josh (Paul Rudd), Josh is Cher reliable and dependable ex-stepbrother. Josh is not particularly fond of Cher’s behavior and neither is she of him. His place in this movie is the person Cher can call on when she needs help.

That is all of the plot we can share about this movie without turning this review to a spoiler, just see this movie again and you will still find yourself with a smile as the movie moves along gently.

Made on a budget of $12 million dollars the movie closed in the box office with over $56 million. The home video sales were awesome giving this movie a huge cult following.

The huge cult following of this movie led to a spin-off television sitcom which was not so successful and ran for three seasons. The movie also had series of books made.

There could be a remake made of this movie, but I wonder why because I doubt if it can give the same delivery as this.

Tommy Boy (1995)

Tommy Boy (1995)

6/10

Starring

Chris Farley

David Spade

Bo Derek

Brian Dennehy

Directed by Peter Segal

Tommy Boy is one of those movies that just grabs your attention from the start and keeps it until it ends. The performances of Chris Farley and David Spade carries this movie, and makes it worth every minute you sit watching.

I am not a fan of road comedies, or a huge fan of David Spade, not back then and not now also the late Chris Farley even until now this is the only place I have seen his performance. Chris is a popular SNL performer but since I have not been nor am I a Saturday Night Live fan, this was my first and last taste of him as an actor. He did very well in this movie showing different ranges of his acting ability and making every time the camera is on him worth the time.

The plot introduces us to Tommy (Chris Farley) who is an immature man who has been cared for by his father (Bo Derek) all his life and never needed to grow up.

His father loves him just the way he is and never tried to change him. So this was not one of those movies where the father is disappointed in his son's lack of maturity. But, Tommy had to face reality when his father passed on unexpectedly.

Tommy's father was an industrialist and the whole business rest on his wits and his ability to make impossible deals. Now the business is facing challenges due to his death and Tommy has to embark on a road trip to save the company. His partner on this trip is Richard (David Spade), a childhood acquaintance who works for the father and hates Tommy.

The movie over time has become one of those movies, you would have seen, either because you own it at home or have seen it on TV. The movie was not a box office success and upon it’s release it was not a critical one either.

You can understand the critical disregard for the movie because other than the two leads, everyone else in the movie seem to be out of place. Bo Derek for one was just not meant to play this part in the movie, she was horrible. The story also, needed a lot of work and the way everything fell apart in the end and how Tommy managed to put it all together, was just not well written

None the less, seeing this movie again was not a bad idea. I got to enjoy myself and laugh.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story (2004)

6/10

Starring

Vince Vaughn

Ben Stiller

Christine Taylor

Gary Cole

Rip Torn

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

The 80s are filled with many goofyball movies which I will advise if you have the time you should go and see for a good laugh. Then came this movie, a movie that by the name you will expect it to be a dud.

Who names a movie Dodgeball?

A game which is not familiar to people who don’t leave in USA (I do not). This was the main reason I and my friends in Uni at that time avoided it and did not get to see it until the Home Video came out and we saw this at a friends place. We laughed uncontrollably at the silliness and profanity level of this movie. Everything about this movie screams we the makers know what we are doing. We watched the movie twice in one sitting, just because first time around was not enough.

The lead actors were Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller, both gave fantastic performances that is worth noting. It was also a critical success and a box office performer.

The plot centers around two men who own gyms, Pete (Vince Vaughn) and White (Ben Stiller).

Pete is a lay-back fellow, who is struggling to get his life on track because he is a good guy who doesn't feel the need to push. The other problem with him is that he is a bad business owner. Pete owns a gym named Average Joe's Gymnasium. It is a small place, but barely running with bad equipment and only a few members.

Pete has a competitor in White, the arrogant owner of Globo Gym. White's gym is full of new stuff, clean environment and everything in Globo is working. White is a better business man and a better manager of his gym.

Pete has a running mortgage on his gym and due to his bad business management it is not a surprise that he failed to follow through on payment. This led to his gym facing foreclosure. White purchases Pete's mortage and now Pete has thirty days to make payment or loses his gym to White.

Where does dodgeball come to play in this movie, well that was the contest suggested to Pete by one of his gym members to raise the needed money to save his gym.

The movie is directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber who was the man on the chair for also We're the Millers (2013), Central Intelligence (2016), and Skyscraper (2018). Do not let the name of this movie make you overlook it like I did if you have not seen it already, and the movie is still good today, if you want a revisiting.

South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut (1999)

South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut (1999)

7/10

Starring the voices of

Trey Parker

Matt Stone

Mary Kay Bergman

Isaac Hayes

Directed by Trey Parker

There is always that time when there is a movie that breaks the norm and does something totally out of place and makes it almost impossible not to have some controversy following it. South Park has always been the series that does that and making an animated movie of South Park there was nothing much we could expect, but for the guys to continue their winning formula.

This animation had the devil and Saddam Hussein in some sort of partnering, we had bad parenting being displayed like the norm and we had a child going about looking for the clit.

There is a part in the movie that is almost futuristic as we see something that is very prevalent today, which is over reaction to something we do not like on TV and wanting that show shutdown.

This animation parody everything from Disney movies with their morals, every musical film that is meant to inspire and social norms.

The plot of this adult themed animated musical comedy film is based on the Comedy Central animated television series South Park. Where we have the four children making the show worth seeing, Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman.

There is a new TV show making raves in South Park and it is made in Canada by Canadian comedy duo Terrance and Phillip. Their kind of comedy is filled with cursing, farting and it is very R-rated. The duo made a movie based on their show and called it Asses of Fire. Our four Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman went to see this movie and went home filled with R-rated mouths which angered their parents.

Now the mothers bring the whole country together to go after these people corrupting their children. They also take this a step further, instead of focusing on the comedy duo they decided to expand their blame game and blame Canada.

Where does the Devil and Saddam Hussein play a part in all this, well you will have to see the movie to find out.

The movie was a mild box-office success, but it was critically accepted as a movie worth seeing back in the 90s. I was younger then, so I managed to see this movie back then by sneaking off to a friends place. The movie is written and directed by the creators of the South Park series Trey Parker and Matt Stone

I know the possibility that you have not seen or heard about this movie is very low, yet this is a movie you can watch now and still laugh at the jokes and the antics the children were getting to.

Mallrats (1995)

Mallrats (1995)

7/10

Starring

Shannen Doherty

Jeremy London

Jason Lee

Claire Forlani

Kevin Smith

Jason Mewes

Directed Kevin Smith

This is my first time seeing Mallrats and I can see why it is a cult classic. I saw it once and was so looking forward to the weekend to see it again. I got lucky to get the original version not the theatrical cut. I had two hours of fun filled time watching the guys of the View Askewniverse, some I recognise and others never showed up again in any other movie.

The run away fun in this movie was Jay and Silent Bob. They had a more prominent role in this movie than the other movies in the universe, excluding Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) both movies were centered on them.

Everything funny revolved around these two. Also, everything that needed to be destroyed, made to work or just to get the needed people in the right places or out of the way, these guys are your men to get it done.

Another fun person in this movie is Jason Lee, his character Brodie is the kind of person you will love in any movie, because he is all words with no filter.

The movie plot is about two friends T.S. and Brodie who got dumped by their girlfriends around the same time.

T.S. is heartbroken and wanted so much to get his girl back and is willing to show his emotions on how he felt. Brodie on the other hand is also heartbroken, but hides his feelings.

Brodie suggest that they go to the mall to get over their pain and move on, but that was a challenge.

There at the mall, both their girls were there and so was many others. T.S. and Brodie go through some self realization of what they want plus we get to see them try to ruin T.S. girlfriend’s dad because he was instrumental in the ruining of T.S. relationship.

With the simple plot the movie fills the gap with comedy and things you will not believe anyone will put in a movie in the 90s and hope people will like it. The movie was not a critical or commercial success at the time of it’s release.

If you get to see this movie now, you will appreciate it more. The jokes which would have been offensive at that time, are the same jokes I am laughing at today and you will too.

Plans to make a sequel to this movie is still in place, with Kevin Smith saying plans have kicked off this year, 2020.

If like me you have delayed in seeing this movie for one reason or the other, I tell you to stop wasting your time and go see this movie.