Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)

Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)

3/10

Starring the voices of

Emile Hirsch

Lexi Medrano

Charlie Saxton

Kelsey Grammer

Fred Tatasciore

Directed by Johane Matte, Francisco Ruiz Velasco and Andrew Schmidt

I guess I probably expected too much. When you are watching a TV series there is a lot of time to build on characters and create deep wells of suspense. When you got an hour and a half to bring to a conclusion everything and everyone you have built up for three seasons, I guess it can be hard.

What I believe Guillermo Del Toro and others did here was take ideas they had for a fourth season and cramp them all up here. There is no character depth to the new characters we meet and the beginning does not give you the needed build up on what is happening now and where we are at the present.

I liked the idea that other things have happened since the last time we saw Jim and his friends, but we were thrown straight to the end of the world scenario and at one time I felt overwhelmed with all that was happening.

The moment you catch your breath in this movie, you discover that the new foes are three magical beings known as the Arcane Order. The three at first stopped Jim and destroyed his magical Trollhunter amulet. One of the three Nari, then joined up with the good guys while the other two hunt her down to use her power to raise the Titans that will bring about the end of the world.

The movie wastes no time as we see the other two arcane order attack a train where Nari with her friends Douxie and Archie were. The Trollhunter and his now big team of friends come to their aid. They had a plan which involved defeating the arcane duo with a device which stops magic, things did not go as planned and Nari (well her body with Douxie in it) got captured.

Unlike the other members of his team which took on the arcane duo, Jim was now just human and got really injured. When the arcane duo found out the deception that Nari was not in her body, they broke the spell and swap her back. Before she left, she gave Jim and the others the clue needed to remake the amulet.

Now this is where you will think my brain is thinking too much.

Why did she say this now?

She could have given them this clue way earlier which would have helped Jim get his amulet working again. But the world has to be at the end of its existence and she has to be miles away to explain her clue leaving the others to try and decipher what she said. While also trying to save her and then try to save the world.

The best way to sum this movie up will be too much happened at just way too fast speed to make this movie matter. I had no issue with the end, which kind of undid everything that has happened right from season 1, but I think the movie could have been done better with a little more focus and less characters.

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

 

6/10

Starring

Karen Gillan

Lena Headey

Carla Gugino

Chloe Coleman

Michelle Yeoh

Angela Bassett

Paul Giamatti

Directed by Navot Papushado

(contains mild spoilers)

I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would and I was expecting a lot of cliché movie theories, but the movie decided to skip that and just allow us enjoy. When it comes to having female leads, you kind of expect all sugar and spice, females come together colorful setting (Legally Blonde always comes to mind). Or neon filled intense power play like Charlize Theron in Atomic Blonde.

The movie is all action blazing, guns shooting and all kinds of John Wick feels. As our leads try to make the best decision concerning a situation she was dropped into. Our lead moves with the drive of Atomic Blonde with some dash of sister love.

I guess the only thing I did not get to understand about the movie is the death of one of the female leads. I wanted for the best of things for her to make it through to the end. My surprise when that was not the case.

The movie is directed and co written by Navot Papushado, someone I do not know. But Netflix has already agreed to a sequel to be done.

The plot of this one introduces us to hired killer, Sam (Karen Gillan). Who was sent to kill two guys, but in the end killed a bunch of people on her way out of the job. One of the people she killed happens to be the son of a boss, who now wants retribution.

We get to understand that Sam’s life is similar to that of her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey) who was also a hired killer, by the same people which Sam now works for. Scarlet has been underground for fifteen years, staying away from Sam because she too killed someone she was not supposed to. In her case though, she did it knowingly. Sam was sent on another job to retrieve money stolen from her company by their accountant, she was to retrieve and kill the man. She got to the man shot him, only to discover he stole the money because his daughter’s life Emily, was in danger. Sam felt obliged to save the young eight-year-old. This rescue caused the company to loose all the money Sam was to retrieve and now they were vexed and handed her location to the boss who wanted revenge.

Sam ran with Emily to a supposed safe haven where she met her mother. Their reunion was cut short by the men trailing her then the three went to a library ran by three ladies Madeline, Florence and Anna May. Scarlet had not seen them since she left fifteen years before.

I will stop her to leave you to go watch the movie and see how Sam and the ladies handled the challenges that came looking for them.

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

 

2/10

Starring

Starring

LeBron James

Don Cheadle

Khris Davis

Sonequa Martin-Green

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee

This is just as good as a bad b-movie, it is boring and horrid. In summary: The movie tries all possible ways of producing family love feelings with the hope of pulling our tears. Now with bad acting, bad directing and a useless script what you finally get is a cringy movie that adds up to a bad b-movie.

This movie changed my perspective of the first Space Jam movie back in 96. I have a new found respect for Michael Jordan’s acting and thanks to his crap the old Space Jam is now a classic. I felt Space Jam ‘96 had a not so good story line, but wait until you see this one.

Twenty-one minutes in and the whole “Hey Siri! can you let us out of her please” scene was such bad acting, bad writing and chaotic directing, that I knew I was in it. My money has just caught fire and gone up in smoke.

One thing this movie has over Space Jam ‘96 is the graphics.

The new Space Jam movie is a standalone sequel to the Space Jam ‘96. Like the first Space Jam, the whole point of a basketball game is useless.

LeBron James seems to be into handheld games as a child, but grew up to be the man we know him today. His son seem to be just like the father, into handheld games and even designed one of his own to showcase at the upcoming E3 event. LeBron wants his son Dom, to be a good basketball player like he is and wants him to go to basketball camp which causes a rift between the two as the E3 event and the camp were on the same weekend.

Back in Warner Bros, they seem to have left control and management of the huge Time Warner company to an AI who calls himself King Al G Rhythm (Don Cheadle). Al G wanted to become famous and based on his calculations if he can get to work with LeBron he can make this happen. He came up with an idea termed Warner 3000, where they can digitize LeBron into any movie or role they want. LeBron passed on the idea and that hurt the feelings of Al G. He captures Dom and LeBron into his ServerVerse (digitizing them in) and plans to keep LeBron there if LeBron was unable to beat him in a basketball game, which will be shown to the world. Al holds Dom hostage to make sure LeBron agrees. Then he dumps LeBron into the Tune’s verse to go recruit players for the upcoming basketball match between the two.

In summary don’t see this movie it is not worth your time or money.

Space Jam (1996)

Space Jam (1996)

6/10

 Staring

Michael Jordan

Billy West

Dee Bradley Baker

Danny DeVito

 

Directed by Joe Pytka

 

(contains mild spoilers)

Space Jam was the 90s happy place, it was like a blend of various good ideas, with the main star being at that time one of the most recognized people on screen. The Nike ads from the 90s of Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan was the starting point of the Space Jam idea. We almost did not have this movie when Jordan retired in 93, but his return to the game in 95 brought back the idea and we will always be thankful for his return. In the case of the blend between live-action and animation, Warner Bros did not do fantastically well and more of the praise should go to the Jordan. He managed to deliver a top-notch performance for someone who was not a seasoned actor and was never going to be. Even though I felt the animation was a little to slapstick and seemed like they could have stepped it up better, it is ignorable with the ideas that merged everything. The story in this movie is not the best they could have come up with, but Space Jam will forever be one of those 90 movies, that everyone saw.

The plot is about aliens. These aliens whose theme park was going out of business because the park was dull. They decided to go catch the Looney Tunes characters and bring them to their planet and use them as a sort of side attractions. The owner of the park Mr. Swackhammer then sends his minions to abduct the Looney Tunes. The Tunes were able to come to an agreement with these minions to go willingly if there were to lose in a basketball match. The catch was: the minions were small and stocky, and it looked like a magical idea. The minions agreed and sorted out the top basketball players in the NBA, Jordan at that time had retired. They marked Charles Barkley, Shawn Bradley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson, and Muggsy Bogues and used their alien powers to steal their basketball talents.

Here is something about movies like this that I do not get. You are aliens with the ability to capture the Tunes, you have won already. But this will not be a sports movie without any sports so instead of the aliens to just take their hostage, they decided to play games with them.

They came back to the Tunes now huge, six-foot plus and able to play the hell out of basketball. The Tunes were in trouble, so using their own set of skills they were able to get Jordan into their world, by lassoing him down a hole when he was playing golf with Bill Murrray. Bugs explains the situation to Jordan hoping he can come and help them. Jordan at first refuses, but upon seeing the aliens now calling themselves Monstars, he changed his mind. He decided to help play and train the Tunes to stop the Monstars.

Space Jam was one of the first movies to be shot in an entire green screen, as Jordan had to work with other basketball players and actors in green suits. Space Jam had some very amazing soundtrack when the movie came out, songs that blasted through the radio in the 90s reaching the top of the charts. The soundtrack got a six-times platinum certification.

In 2021, a standalone sequel was done and this time the Basketball player in focus is LeBron James.

Here Today (2021)

Here Today (2021)

8/10

Starring

Billy Crystal

Tiffany Haddish

Directed by Billy Crystal

Only ventured to see this movie because Billy Crystal’s name was all over it. Not only did he star in it, he co-wrote and co-produced the film, plus directing it. The chemistry between him and Tiffany Haddish plays hard on this being the fun loving joy. This movie is funny, heartwarming and if you are not careful it would make you shed a tear. Here Today is a comedy-drama movie about a popular well established comedy writer who is suffering from dementia and is hiding it from everyone. The magic of this movie is watching their unplanned meeting, turn into a friendship which turned out to be the one thing Charlie (Crystal) needed.

The plot starts with a feeling that there is something wrong with Charlie, whose wife is late. We get invited to a flash back scene where he is being asked to identify himself. Charlie at present is working on a popular show and even though he is not heading the writing staff, or contributing much to the show his input and experience is what he brings to the table. He was to have lunch with someone who won him at an auction. It was there he met Emma (Haddish) who came to the lunch after stealing her ex’s ticket. She does not know who Charlie is, but knows her ex worships him and sees him as his idol, and wanted to deny him the privilege.

At the lunch after introducing each other and explaining how they both got there, Emma had to be rushed to the hospital because she suffered an allergic reaction. Charlie had to pay the bills out-of-pocket because she did not have insurance and Emma promised to pay him back in installment. It was unplanned visits to deliver her payments in batches that led to them forming a friendship (not a romantic one), where she became the first person outside his doctors to know he has dementia. We get to see how the family takes the friendship and watch as Charlie’s condition gets worse.

I don’t have to talk about the acting, because everyone played to the power of their person, which made them fit so well for their roles. I guess that’s the power of good casting, the plot of the movie is well written not to twist and turn you here and there. You are watching as the lines fall into place as the people around Charlie come to understand his challenges.

The movie is easy to recommend for comedy-drama lovers, and also fans of either Crystal or Haddish.

Black Widow (2021)

Black Widow (2021)

6/10

Starring

Scarlett Johansson

Florence Pugh

David Harbour

Rachel Weisz

Ray Winstone

Directed by Cate Shortland

The movie was not a disappointment I expected that it will not be as good as Captain Marvel (2019), but just a fun ride. Right from start to finish the movie is all action and explosions and too much talk about family. The movie goes straight to the point, it identified the target and set everyone in motion to take him down. Black Widow is the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the first film in Phase Four of the MCU. It stands as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) origin tale and solo movie. The movie is set after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), So the film happens before we saw Romanoff sacrifice herself to save all mankind in Avengers: Endgame (2019). Here we have Romanoff on the run and this takes her back to face-off with her past.

The movie has a villain I have been waiting to see for a while, Taskmaster. A villain who can copy/master your fighting style and moves just by watching you fight which makes this villain almost unstoppable. I just did not like the way Taskmaster role in the movie was set, we saw very little of what the character is capable of.

The events of Civil War is over and Natasha is one the run, when she gets a parcel from an old mate Belova. Belova used to play her sister when she was set to pose as a member of a family to spy on the U.S. The parcel were vials, not knowing what to do with it she takes the vials and flies to meet Belova, but not after she had faced off with Taskmaster. After they get into a welcome back nice to see you fight, Belova explains to Natasha what the vial was. It was a counter agent to the mind control she was in serving as an assassin. Natasha believed to have killed the man behind the Red Room program, Dreykov. The program takes young girls and trains them to be assassins, while putting them under Dreykov’s mind control. Natasha decided to get her old family together Red Guardian and Melina (a Black Widow) so they can stop Dreykov once and for all.

So 2021, are times where movies talk about family and stuff. Funny this movie would not have been in this category if the Covid-19 did not happen. I give the movie props for one thing, the action gets started very fast. Before long we have had explosions, one on one fights and car/bike chases. You can catch this movie in theaters near you, I believe it is also on demand on Disney+

The Tomorrow War (2021)

 The Tomorrow War (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Chris Pratt

Yvonne Strahovski

J. K. Simmons

Betty Gilpin

Directed by Chris Laird

(Contains Spoilers)

This is not the best time travel movie there is, hell it will not be in numerous people's top twenty, but it is watchable, but in the end very forgettable. The main challenge in the movie is when everything falls into place to save the future. At this point the movie decided to ditch the seriousness for some unneeded nonsensical dump on other countries and mambo jumbo being thrown into the air. Yes Hollywood, we get it. If the world is about to end, the U.S.A will be the one to come save us.

The movie does have its holes the way all time travel movies do. If James (Chris Pratt) being the solution to the world’s problem, then his daughter’s future would not have been bad. But then again, maybe that was the first timeline, which had an ending that was then augmented by his actions. That will mean, this movie has multiple timelines, which does not play well with the plot and is not mentioned at all. Lastly, the whole why sent for me was not given a good answer anyone literally anyone can could have carried that vial back to the past to be developed.

In the future the human race is nearing extinction with about half a million left in the world. There seem to be an alien infestation which started in 2048 which are eating up all the humans, these aliens are called Whitespikes. A team from the future (2051) came to the past (2022) to recruit people to help fight the war for their survival. Our lead James is a family man and a biologist who once served in Iraq. The death toll from these missions were skyrocketing and soon citizens were getting drafted. James was drafted and in the future we encounter a beast which seem to be the end of everything we know. James runs into someone from his past, and together they must come up with a toxin which can kill all these aliens in the past to change the future as we know it.

Action wise, the movie borrows a lot from the old 1990s sci-fi with their explosions, running and shooting with aliens chasing all wild and destructive. The movie could have done better if many of the long dialogues were chopped off, but Hollywood seem to have ditch the idea of movies being good and succinct. If it is not two hours long, it is not going to get released.

You can catch this movie on Amazon and even though this movie would have bombed in the box-office because we are in the streaming era, a second part is being made. I wonder what this will be about.

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021)

 

4/10

Starring

Ryan Reynolds

Samuel L. Jackson

Salma Hayek

Antonio Banderas

Morgan Freeman

Directed by Patrick Hughes

Like the first movie, get ready for some impossible things happening. Explosions, fire, shooting everywhere and our protagonist not getting hit with anything deadly. Talking of sequel’s this movie seems to be cut from the same branch as the first, with sexually perverse conversations, some humor here and there plus two men who seem to have some admiration for one another fight off the mushy stuff. Safe to say even though this movie is not as manageable as the first, if you liked the first film with its weak plot and cliché there is a great chance you will like this as well.

I guess there must be a market for movies such as this, which never try to make any sense at all, just action everywhere with sexual humor up and down.

Then the lone soldier wanting to put Greece back on the map by using a weapon of mass destruction to mess up Europe. This revenge for Greece no longer being economically strong seems to be missing some key points. His thought that bringing down Europe will bring Greece back to the center of things is not in any economic classes that I know of.

After the incidents of the first movie Michael (Ryan Reynolds) is having a difficult time moving on with his life. His time being a bodyguard to Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), seem to have scared him and messed up his triple-A status as a bodyguard. If you recall in the first film there was a slight triple-A bodyguard obsession which was funny. Here it was just like, can I skip this and get to the main plot. Also i do not get it, we are supposed to notice that the therapist was tired of Michael’s obsession with his triple-A and Kincaid shit. She was trying to get rid of him and he the bodyguard, who is supposed to be on alert and at one time in the movie said he can tell from twenty signs when someone is lying failed to notice that. That was not the only production hitch, I noticed some editing errors. First Sonia was behind Michael when he was preaching no killing, then the screen actually skipped to her not being there. Anyways, the bad guy (Antonio Banderas) wants to shit on Europe. There is this American misfit who is the sum of every stupid annoying American cop rolled into one who seems to be the only one interested in bring down the bad guy. They even added some Lt. Harris the antagonist from Police Academy characteristics into this guy.

His informant just got killed thanks to the three amigos (Michael, Darius and Sonia) so he kidnaps them and tells them they will work for him in getting some drives or go to jail. As you can guess things do not go smoothly, because who gives money to trigger happy criminals with anger issues and gets a boy-scout to watch over them, this dumb American cop that's who. So our three amigos are now somehow charged with saving Europe.

Ryan Reynolds is a fantastic person to see on screen and in this movie he was just amazing as Ryan Reynolds could be, but the story of this movie just did not match up to his talent. Salma Hayek seems to be the one tugging his strings in this movie, while in the first Samuel L. Jackson was.

In the end, the movie is just as the first was if that is something you like seeing, here is the part 2 no one asked for.

The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)

The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Alec Baldwin

James Marsden

Amy Sedaris

Ariana Greenblatt

Directed by Tom McGrath

I thought the creation of all these streaming platforms will mean content war. I expected it to force all the big studios and streaming platform to deliver the best of the best, but what has actually happened is so many half baked contents. This movie for instance appears to be a struggle for thought, like the writer and director were forced to come up with a sequel with little material to work on. The movie felt like, (quoting Bilbo Baggins) “...butter spread on too much bread.” They just took all the ideas they could find from every family based Hollywood movie you know and just merged it together.

The movie will be colorful and eventful for little children with enough humor to keep them entertained, because unlike you they will not be invested in the story to which everything else is based. I was not much of a fan of the first movie, and this has not helped.

The story continues thirty-years after the first movie. Tim and Ted are now grown up and Tim is a stay at home dad of two equally amazing daughters Tabitha and baby Tina. We get early on that Tabitha is very intelligent and does not seem to be able to bond with her dad as she used to when she was younger. She seems to be looking up to her uncle Ted, who is now a rich and successful business man.

Tim’s stories of the events of the first movie are seen as a result of an overactive imagination and one night he hears something coming from Tina’s room. He goes into Tina’s room to discover that Tina is a Boss Baby like Ted was in the first movie. She tells him that she is on a mission to discover what is going on in a local school to which Tabitha attends. She further employs Tim to call Ted so they can embark on this adventure together. One way Tina was able to get Ted to come to their home, having grown now he does not remember what happened when he and Tim were younger. After Tina and Tim jugged his memory, both Ted and Tim were made into babies via a magic drink which will last for 48 hours. Their task was to infiltrate the school and discover what the school proprietor is up to.

Ted and Tim have grown apart through the years and we watch as they try to work things out and also carry out their mission.

Hearing that there are plans for a third movie did not have me jumping for joy, I just hope this time they will have better script and do a better job than this.