Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021)

 

5/10

Starring the voices of:

Patrick Seitz

Jordan Rodrigues

Joel McHale

Jennifer Carpenter

Directed by Ethan Spaulding

I guess it is the final countdown, the animation is R-rated and almost as bloody as Scorpion’s Revenge, but the fights are not as fun. In this here iteration of the Mortal Kombat story, we have the Earthrealm and the Outworld come to an agreement for one final battle to end all battles. Here is what I do not get in the whole Mortal Kombat stuff. What was the point of the Mortal Kombat when Shao Kahn could just overlook the rules and invade earth. Which he did and was doing a good job at it, before he decided to do a final Mortal Kombat.

Mortal Kombat is a video game turned animation with numerous movies, but all of them have maintained the same setting. Mortal Kombat was the setting the elder gods have put in place for any such merger of worlds. Shao Kahn lost in the movie Scorpion’s Revenge (click to get more depth into the story), but still invaded. I was like, what is now the point of the Mortal Kombat and why are the elder gods not doing anything to put in line the rules they have set in place.

While this was happening, we have Shinnok, working hard in the background now that his man (Quan Chi) has been killed, to try and merge some form of god together. The whole of this endeavour is to undo all the realms the elder gods have done.

Well, the animation style is very similar to the previous movie before, Scorpion’s Revenge, but the story is not as interesting.

Unlike the nice fight settings and nice walk though battles of Scorpion’s Revenge, we have a pit like fit setting in this one.

I hope the next upcoming Mortal Kombat movie will not result to this lazy style.

We get to see some new characters from the game, but few mattered. The new Sub Zero we are all used to in the games from Mortal Kombat 2 video game downwards, is present with his aim now set on revenge on Scorpion who killed his brother. So we have like three stories all running side by side and merging in the center when it seems like all was well, then as you can guess, it wasn’t.

I feel the whole idea of this new animation lost its place the moment they decided to nullify the whole point of the Mortal Kombat. I can get when the games keep doing that, but it is a fighting video game. People like me do not care what the story is or who killed who in the main plot, we just want to hold the pad and fight.

They could have just made Shao Kahn do his petition for a new tournament, change the rules of the frequency and just carry on from there. Instead of just making the whole first animation look irrelevant.

Then nice work on the level up of Liu Kang (sarcasm). If Raiden knew the key to his level up was, “your parents loved you” he should have said that in the first animation, instead of standing there and watch him almost die.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)

 

7/10

Starring the voices of:

Patrick Seitz

Steve Blum

Jordan Rodrigues

Darin De Paul

Joel McHale

Jennifer Carpenter

Directed by Ethan Spaulding

When the new animated Mortal Kombat Legends movie came out, I recall not being able to remember anything about the first one. Watching it again is fun. The animation is R-rated and it is not shy of being bloody. The animation sets the stage similar to the Mortal Kombat movie released a year after.

In the story area the movie has a very easy plot to follow and animation wise, I have to hand it to WarnerBros, they have that area locked. When it comes to animation of the characters they have in license whether it be D.C. or as we see here Mortal Kombat, they seem to do enough. Enough to cover the fighting and the movements. They do not go as crazy as Disney does, but do a fantastic job no matter.

Do not watch this movie, with the hope of finally understanding everything there is about the Mortal Kombat story. It is a video game adaption like many other video game adaptions, some of the stories do not have a strong foot in. If you catch the gist from he initial setting thanks to Quan Chi letting us in about the fights between the three realms Netherrealm, Earthrealm and Outworld. With Earthrealm being the choice meat on the table, you practically know all there is to know already.

The animation starts with the introduction of Netherealm champion Scorpion Hanzo Hasashi. We see his clan and family being murdered by Sub Zero and, he too killed. He finds himself in the Netherealm where he was able to overcome the torturers, killing them hoping to meet Shinnok, only to find Quan Chi. Who told him he will get his chance for revenge on Sub Zero, if he fights for the Netherealm in Mortal Kombat.

If you carry on watching, we meet Shang Tsung a nine time winner of the tournament who hopes to win it the tenth time so his master Shao Kahn can claim Earthrealm. Outworld is hosting the tournament and Shang Tsung is like the MC. Defending earth is the Lord Raiden who gathers his own warriors so as to save Earthrealm from being the meal. His warriors here are Liu Kang, Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage.

As you would expect, they played Sonya as an uptight character who was more annoying than entertaining. Johnny Cage as clueless, but funny and Liu Kang is the boy scout. Also present from Earthrealm is Jax, who got caught in the middle of this and gets his arms ripped out.

So you have the fun of watching how everything plays out, Earthrealm defending itself, Scorpion seeking his revenge and Raiden trying to keep everything settle and on the straight narrow.

This Direct-to-video is fun and amazing to watch.

Maid in Manhattan (2002)

Maid in Manhattan (2002)

 

6/10

Starring

Jennifer Lopez

Ralph Fiennes

Natasha Richardson

Directed by Wayne Wang

In short, this movie is not spectacular, just done in the most simplest way, treading carefully not to digress from the generic Cinderella plot. If you have seen any movie with the Cinderella plot line dressed up, you have seen this.

I recall in the early 2000s, when my sister practically begged me to watch this flick and I stayed away as much as I can because. One, I did not know who Jennifer Lopez (JLO) was back then and two, as a young adult all I wanted to see was action films. This Rom-Com was a hit back then among the ladies and I have seen it so many times after.

This is not one of JLO’s best acting work and the script had holes here and there, but the soundtrack and the story is always fresh anytime I sit to re-watch. The movie is easy on the eye and easy to follow. I can point out many things in this movie which fall short of a good work but my love for the late Natasha Richardson grew in this movie. For me she was one of the few cast members who made this movie worth seeing again and again. The chemistry between JLO and Ralph Fiennes was not there, and the story is easy as it is the generic Cinderella story with no spark. Just something simple for people like me who just want to sit through an easy movie that reminds us of the past and not care much.

The plot is about a maid (Marisa, JLO) in a hotel who when trying on clothes of one of the guest (she did a bad thing) was met by a popular figure (Chris, Fiennes) who met her through her son. She was pushed to go on a walk with Chris by her co-worker as her son wanted to take a walk with initially and sought her permission to go. Since the co-worker and Marisa did not expect this to turn into anything, they could not handle the romance that kindle between the two on their walk.

Now Chris is hooked and wants to meet with Marisa again, but he thinks she is the guest of the suite and when he sent an invite to the room someone else shows up.

He soon finds her again, and wants to go out with her and she has to worry about her job and the others she has dragged into this lie she is in.

The movie did well in the box-office even though it was not a critical hit. It is one of those movies who was so popular which got remade in other countries. In fact there is a Telenovela version running based on this tale.

For me, this is one of those movies that gives me a fun nostalgia of my time growing up.

He’s All That (2021)

He’s All That (2021)

 

2/10

Starring

Addison Rae

Tanner Buchanan

Madison Pettis

Rachael Leigh Cook

Directed by Mark Waters

If I could rate this movie lower I would, but this is the worst I can go acknowledging that at least someone sat on a chair and screamed “action” when production started.

I was fourteen when She's all That (1999) was released and I have seen it so many times I cannot count. The movie is a 90s classic for people like us, a leaving homage to high school rom-com when it was at its heights. This movie however is a cringy embarrassment to She's all That. This remake where there is a switch in the gender, is like a ninety minute long TikTok video that goes on and on and on.

I do not know who Addison Rae is, but thanks to this movie I will forever avoid her movies. She is the reason why people go to acting classes and why some people get paid as acting coaches. She is honorably bad at acting, even a Razzie Award for this will be too much for the massacre she did in this movie. This movie is best left ignored.

Following the main plot of the main movie, we have the lead girl in high school Padgett (Addison Rae) dating the leading man in high school. When he screws up their relationship, she accepted a challenge from her friends to turn the school's least popular boy, Cameron (Tanner Buchanan), into prom king. I recall She's all That did the turn around with some form of respect for the characters involved. In this remake the whole makeover appeared insulting. The whole be yourself social media stand, got drowned in this movie.

So in order to maintain her place as top girl and getting revenge on her boyfriend for messing up their relationship, Padgett accepts the challenge.

In the end all I enjoyed was seeing Rachel Leigh Cook again, but what the hell was she doing in this movie. She was miles and miles away in acting proficiency than the lead Rae, who played her daughter. They murdered everything from the classic, the “I was a bet” reveal almost made me puke.

Well I guess this is what passes for movies now, an onslaught of bad acting, terrible script and people just talking. If you can recall the magical soundtrack of She's all That well, they did not even keep that. They went ahead to get an artist (Cyn) unknown to me and she covered the popular song from the movie Kiss Me, by Sixpence None the Richer. I feel as bad as this movie was, they should have at least kept that, her version was almost similar, just step down from the magnificent track of the 90s.

There is no reason to watch this, but it is floating in Netflix.

The Protégé (2021)

The Protégé (2021)

 

3/10

Starring

Maggie Q

Samuel L. Jackson

Michael Keaton

 

Directed by Martin Campbell

 

When I was done watching this movie I had one question, what was the purpose of Michael Keaton’s character?

He was at times not even present or most times disconnected from what was happening. Like they zone him out and then recall he is getting paid for this regardless and just drop him some things to do here and there. The movie is very confusing as the writer plus director seem to not know how they wanted the movie to go. There was some romance which was so stupid. Some unneeded thriller scenes and a plot so convoluted you keep wondering, why are all these things being linked together. You watch to the end hoping that they will tie everything up in a nice bow when they finally get all the strings together, but nope. The movie ends with not much of a signoff.

The plot starts with Moody (Samuel L. Jackson) going into a home in Vietnam where a massacre has occurred. He searched the home and saw a girl hiding with a gun pointed at him. Moody takes this girl (Anna, Maggie Q) under his wing and turns her into a bad ass assassin as he was. We get to see their lives and the covers they have which they use to get by. Moody is ill, and Anna seems worried. Anna goes to Moody’s place one day to discover that he has been killed. The movie then takes the path of a revenge case. Anna starts to fly about trying to track down the person who murdered her mentor and the movie then wraps itself around her past. We get to deal with the people who had things to gain in the Vietnam war.

When the man being protected is killed in the end, you get this sort of annoyance wondering, why the movie gave us such a run around on such a boring character. Then can we agree that a monologue before killing the bad guy has come and done its time on the silver screen.

Maggie Q has for years been an actress I feel Hollywood should have stepped up to a role making her a superstar, but life I guess is not fair. Because this crap is what she gets, when there are better roles where I think should have been offered her way. This movie does not in anyway do justice to her range and just waste her talents. There is no other point needed to talk about Jackson, here goes another movie where he runs around with a gun.

Saying this movie blows through with no life is a bad analogy, the movie’s existence is not necessary and neither is the need for you to see it.

Vacation Friends (2021)

Vacation Friends (2021)

 

4/10

 

Starring

John Cena

Lil Rel Howery

Yvonne Orji

Meredith Hagner

 

Directed by Clay Tarver

 

I cannot in good conscience tell you to go watch this movie, because for a lot of reasons this movie fails to deliver the need comedy and entertainment to keep you engrossed. The movie is best described as a lackluster dream that the writer probably had when high on some cheap drugs. Acting wise I have to say only John Cena seems to be into the role, everyone else seems to have taken the same drug the writer took. The movie did not only fail to make me laugh, but I started to regret trusting every ounce of me that thought a movie starring Lil Rel Howery will be good. I have not seen anything this guy did that I can say is worth watching, even his TV show was whack.

Anyways, he must appeal to some audience because here is another movie in which he happens to be one of the leads in it.

Vacation Friends is borderline predictable, and it starts with a couple going to Mexico for a vacation. Marcus (Howery) planed everything about this vacation to the teeth. Because he planed on turning this vacation with his girlfriend (Emily) to a wedding proposal. Everything crashed on his plan and the front desk clerk let the cat out of the bag concerning his proposal. Marcus proposed anyway and since all his plans were a mess, they could not stay at the hotel they wanted. That is where Ron (Cena) and Kyla come into the picture. They happen to be the reason they couple will not get their dream vacation and they suggested they host the couple. Marcus felt there was something off about this couple willing to split their presidential suite with them, but Emily felt otherwise. The movie then plunges into one of the longest flash-forward I have seen. We see clips of all the fun things they got into and when you expect a normal movie to make this, like a two-minute thing of them being crazy, the movie took its time on their crazy vacation. When it was over and the couple were already regretting making friends with this couple, they run into them again at the airport. They parted ways and months later when Marcus and Emily were finally getting married, guess who shows up.

It turns out Ron and Kyla, went hunting for their new best friends and finally found them. From here on, you can guess how the movie goes. As this wild couple turned this wedding upside down.

I can think of many ways you can waste time rather than watching this lazy production on Hulu.

The Paper Tigers (2020)

The Paper Tigers (2020)

 7/10

Starring

Alain Uy

Ron Yuan

Mykel Shannon Jenkins

 

Directed by Bao Tran

 

This movie comes across first as one of those movies with a B-movie setting, hoping to do magnificent things, but never meeting up. What this movie is, is an action drama (martial art film) with so much spice and intent, it delivers the need action and drama heavily to have you thoroughly invested in the characters and story. The action in the movie is not all intense but distributed over its run to show us how three men try to get back past glory and rekindle the focus they once had on being the best.

You can guess the general plot of such action movies as this which has to do with revenge, as most martial arts movies do. What I did enjoy about this, was how much the subplot of the three trying to get back in shape and be just as good as before, took prominence for more than 70% of the movie. The movie saves us the whole breaking point, Rocky running up the stairs to get fit scenes. None of that ever happened, these men remained unfit (martial art wise and two of them health wise), from start to finish.

The movie starts with us meeting the three who trained as disciples under a kung-fu master. We see them mature and become the best they could. In the present (decades after), all three have left that path. We see their Sifu get killed and it was that murder that brought Hing to come looking for Danny. Hing is suffering from a broken leg, which has left him impaired in his walking and he has gained a considerable amount of weight. He got this injury from falling off a scaffold where he used to work. Danny was struggling at his own end, to keep his life in order and be the best dad he could be. The last one Jim seems to be the only one doing well, as he kept fit and was a kickboxing trainer.

The three get wind from another martial artist in another dojo that their master was probably killed, he gave them leads. One turned out to be a dead end and the other led to a man who had replaced all three. When the three left with Danny set to be the new leader of the clan, their master had trained a replacement. It was this disciple that knows the truth about what happened to their master. I can safely say that the fight in the end, is worth seeing for the comedy and the choreography.

The movie is a nice watch.

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021)

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf (2021)

 7/10

Starring the voices of

Theo James

Lara Pulver

Graham McTavish

Mary McDonnell

 

Directed by Kwang Il Han

 

Nightmare of the Wolf is a South Korean produced adult animated dark fantasy for Netflix, it is a spin-off of the Witcher series. It features the life of Geralt’s mentor Vesemir. Geralt is only shown in the ending as a small child. If you have caught the cold from the Netflix series The Witcher, which is based on a video game, which is based on a book series by Polish Author Andrzej Sapkowski then you will like this. It focuses on what happened that led to there being very few Witchers left. Plus, the issues that there is in making more. The tale is a very dark one, which is fueled by revenge, hate and sorrow. The way the plot is written, the influx of action makes this one of the coolest things to see. The final fight which has Vesemir go up against the witch Tetra was just magnificent to behold.

The plot starts with a family of nobles lost in the woods. They were attacked by a monster which killed all of them except one boy. Who ran and was saved by a Witcher named Vesemir. He returned to his town, and we see a lady named Tetra use this incident to incite hate towards the Witchers. On the other side of things against Tetra was an old lady, who asks for peace and tries to counter all Tetra’s arguments for the kingdom to declare war on the Witchers.

The movie then takes a step back to Vesemir’s childhood and we him and a young girl (Illyana) as servants to a house, where the lady of the house gets into violent phases and is hard to keep sane. Vesemir and Illyana were sent to get a drug which could calm her nerves when they run into a Witcher named Deglan. Deglan forced Vesemir to take him to his master’s home, where he used his witching skills to remove the monster causing the lady’s fits. He gave Vesemir a small share of his pay, the money and magic were all that was needed to woe Vesemir.

Vesemir was mesmerized and upon Deglan’s offer chose to follow him. Illyana told him not to go, but he went alone, and we see the dreadful and deadly trials which mutate these young boys into witchers.

We come back to the present, and see that Tetra is working hard for this war and a series of unfortunate event, placed Vesemir in her presence. The old lady was able to get the king to send Vesemir to rid the woods of these monsters, with Tetra as his ride.

It is from here that the movie shows us, all the deep turnings that led to the present state of things and which side everyone is truly on and why.

You can catch this fun animation on Netflix. As the Witcher books are, the fun is in the tales and the deception. The deep wounds which refuse to heal and what people are willing to do to get their life back to normal or get back what they believe was taken from them.

Stillwater (2021)

Stillwater (2021)

 

6/10

 Starring

Matt Damon

Camille Cottin

Abigail Breslin

 

Directed by Tom McCarthy

 

Stillwater will not get a nod from me as a fantastic film, because the movie had a very slow start even though it aimed so hard to play it close to reality. That aspect of the movie was hard to overcome and when the movie picks up pace, the movie moved fast and set itself up for a grand finish. The problem is now that, they messed up the ending. The ending was a grand letdown, but the middle part of the movie is fun to watch regardless of Stillwater’s lapses.

Acting wise, this movie gets a thumbs up. It made the best use of its actors, and the blend of cultures was cool enough. I guess this will be one of those movies that will be overlooked by many, and I will not blame them. It took a lot of self will to continue watching based on the slow start because it seemed Matt Damon’s character (Bill) was just busy running up and down achieving nothing. But the moment he started behaving like an American, careless, selfish and believes he runs the town the movie picks up.

The movie plot is about a father who had to travel to France to visit his daughter who was imprisoned there for the death of her roommate. The father (Bill), at first was lost in the culture, until his neighbor in France came to his rescue.

Bill’s visit changed from a visit to investigation when his daughter claimed innocent and knew the name of the person, she believed had killed her roommate. Bill wanting to do the best he can to get his daughter free, almost got himself killed. But not withstanding we see him lie, kidnap and put the life of others around him in danger all in the aim of getting his daughter free.

It was at the point of his desperation that the movie picks up, but then it was at this point that the movie delves from some realism to fictious ideas of what people will do.

The movie is loosely based on the life of Amanda Knox. She is a lady who was imprisoned in Italy for the death of her roommate. She finally got freed, based on DNA inaccuracies. Seeing this movie and how it played out in the end, I do not think Knox will be one of the people cheering for the publicity of this film.

Well, if you are a fan of Damon, this is not a bad movie to watch. I for one will not tell anyone to not see this movie, I will just drop the note that the start is slow, and the ending is a letdown. Plus, there are some strings left untied when the movie draws a curtain on its long ride.

The Green Knight (2021)

The Green Knight (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Dev Patel

Alicia Vikander

Joel Edgerton

Sarita Choudhury

Directed by David Lowery

This is an epic medieval fantasy about a knight in King Arthur’s court. The movie has a nice feel and you will not see any reason to doze off, but also no reason to celebrate either. Even though I enjoyed Dev Patel’s performance, I think the movie got so involved in itself. It got lost in its own game and lapsed enough consistency in its suspense and magic to have you totally engulfed. I am familiar with the tale so I understood somethings, but I wonder someone who is not how will they feel. Then the movie does some changes here and there that for me did not add up to all round entertainment.

The movie has a different somewhat ending to that of the source material. The movie also added some different twists to its tale with an ending that does not match the flow with which the movie begun its journey.

The movie is adapted from a 14^th Century tale named Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by an anonymous writer.

The plot is about Gawain (Patel) who see enjoying himself with a lady. He gets home to be scorned by his mother Morgan La Fey. On the day when he was to be in the Kings court, she was at some gathering working some sorcery. A green knight appears at the court and challenges the knights to a game. In which they will be a battle between him and just an elected knight. When that knight strikes a blow, the fight ends and the same equal blow will be struck on that knight on the next Christmas day. Arthur wanted to take the offer, but Gawain jumps at it and the green knight did not put up any fight, but allowed Gawain to strike dropping his axe and laying bear his neck. Gawain cut off the knights head in one swoop. But to his dismay the body which slumped got up, picked up the head and reminded Gawain that he is to come meet him at the Green Chapel next Christmas to receive the same equal blow.

Gawain spent the rest of the year drinking and making merry as he is celebrated, but when the time came Arthur reminded him to go fulfill his promise to the knight. The movie chronicles his adventure, his challenges and the obstacles he had to overcome to reach the Green Chapel.

If you are into some form of dramatic fantasy with no fights, battle or magical beams being shut here and there, this is the movie for you. But for me the movie fails to entertain.