Emergency (2022)

Emergency (2022)

 8/10

 

Starring

RJ Cyler

Donald Elise Watkins

Sebastian Chacon

 

Directed by Carey Williams

 

Emergency is a movie set up to make you think about how crazy this world is. If you’re living under a rock and don’t believe that there’s racism and racial bias in the way things happen in our world, you may not like this film. It shows us the racial bias of the world while laying down the troubles of trying to do the right thing in a world that doesn’t reward such actions.

I like the acting and the story of this movie. This comedy-drama has many things happening at once and doesn’t fail to make you feel the tension on-screen. You may watch this and think, “The first thing I’ll do is call the cops; that’s just what anyone would do.” In reality, maybe that would have been the best suggestion, because taking the lady around just complicated her health and their lives even more.

Emergency is about two roommates (Sean and Kunle) who plan to have a wild night by attending all the frat parties happening on campus. They get prepared to step out, when Kunle remembers he forgot to close the fridge, which houses his cultures. They run back to the house to find a young girl passed out in their living room. Carlos, their other roommate, forgot to close the door, which allowed this lady to just wander in. Confused and not knowing what to do, they check her to be sure she’s still alive. Kunle wants to call the cops, but Sean kicks against it, saying how they are going to convince the police that they didn’t do anything wrong. They are two black guys, and let’s not forget Carlos, so they’re guilty before the cops even arrive. The problem is, what are they going to do now? Sean recognizes the dress she’s wearing as one from one of the parties they’re planning to attend. The three decide to go there and drop her off at the party.

Carrying her into the car begins one of the worst nights these guys could have had. The car gets damaged, they get chased by three people on bicycles accusing them of kidnapping the passed-out lady, and they get mistaken for drug dealers by an old couple. They almost even kill the girl they’re trying to help by letting her unknowingly drink a spiked drink.

What started out with a lady passed out in their living room ended with a gun pointed at Kunle. The movie is one ride I wouldn’t want to experience at all. But watching it is fun, and it’s guaranteed to be fun for you too.

Memory (2022)

Memory (2022)

 

3/10

Starring

Liam Neeson

Guy Pearce

Monica Bellucci

 

Directed by Martin Campbell

 

This movie is a failed job. It should have been darker, more serious, and surrounded by actors who could match Liam Neeson, because the movie felt like he was acting alongside people with better things to do.

The movie is a remake of a Belgian film called The Alzheimer Case, which was based on the book De Zaak Alzheimer by Jef Geeraerts. When the hitman has dementia and Alzheimer’s, you’re left to wonder how things are going to play out. The movie is weird — there are some killings they don’t show, and then they show some. I don’t know if that’s due to a bad budget or just the editor of the movie on some funny drugs. The movie is so forgettable that if I don’t write this review now, I might forget I’ve even seen it. For the first time in a while, Liam Neeson is playing a character that fits his age. He’s a hitman getting too old and finding it difficult to remember things. There aren’t too many crazy stunts where we see him do some horrible hand-to-hand combat like in some of the other movies. This one just has him shooting at people. The plot is a good one, but the execution is horrible, and the screenplay is just a joke. I would advise anyone with anything better to do to avoid this movie.

The overall plot is this: Alex (Liam Neeson) is a hitman hired to kill two people. The first one is a man who gives him a drive containing video recordings of popular men sleeping with a minor. He kills the man and collects the drive easily. The second person he was supposed to kill is the minor from the video. Alex refuses to carry out that task and threatens the man who hired him to call off the kill. He wakes up the next day to find out that the girl has been killed. At first, he doubts himself because of his dementia, wondering if he had done it, but after asking the person he was with, he discovers he didn’t. He knows they’re coming for him, so he runs off and calls the FBI agent in charge of getting the girl to cooperate, Vincent (Guy Pearce). He tells Vincent all he knows about the case and informs him that he plans to kill the people involved. The movie is about Vincent trying to get to the bottom of the case while stopping Alex from committing murder, all while Alex is slowly losing his grip on reality.

The movie is a failed attempt at doing something good with a story that had many possibilities. So many things don’t make sense — like how some people know each other, how easy it is to reach the FBI and an agent if you want, and how foolish the police can be (a man steps out of the car unarmed, and he’s gunned down). Many things about this movie are recycled nonsense that are best forgotten.

Matchstick Men (2003)

Matchstick Men (2003)

 9/10

 

Starring

Nicolas Cage

Sam Rockwell

Alison Lohman

 

Directed by Ridley Scott

 

There is nothing better than revisiting classics and just rekindling your love for cinema. I do think we don’t get them as good as we used to, but maybe it’s just me getting old saying that. Or maybe the declining cinema numbers and the failing Netflix figures corroborate my theory. I do hope these golden days return soon.

If you get the chance to appreciate talent, go see this movie by Nicolas Cage, based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Eric Garcia. This movie is one of those classics that you must be in for the long haul if you want to fully appreciate its class. The acting and plot are captivating, and the movie has like two plots running together: Roy (Nicolas Cage) and his daughter Angela (Alison Lohman) bonding, or the second plot, which is Frank’s (Sam Rockwell) big con score that Roy and Angela help him pull off. The movie makes these two things the center of everything—if we’re not focusing on the first, we’re on the second. If you’ve seen The Usual Suspects, where everything comes into full view in the last few minutes, this movie is like that. There’s a bigger plot at play that doesn’t come into full view until the final minutes, and that will hit you right in the gut.

Matchstick Men introduces us to two characters, Roy and Frank, who perform cons on people and live off that money. Roy has been doing this for years and has amassed a fortune, information Frank is privy to. Frank wants to have this sort of security too and has been planning a big score. One of the challenges to fulfilling this big score is Roy. Roy has OCD, is a germaphobe, and has Tourette’s. He’s a basket case, so Frank arranges for him to see a psychologist he knows. The treatments have him talk about his past, his failed marriage, and a probable child. Roy gives the doctor his ex-wife’s number, hoping he can help call her to find out about his daughter, whom he abandoned more than fourteen years ago. One night, Roy gets a visit from a girl named Angela, who says she is his daughter and gives him the tale that proves it.

Angela brings Roy some comfort and helps him put his medical issues in check. Frank and Roy were working the score when Roy invites Angela and trains her on how to be a con artist.

I’ll stop here and let you take the time to go see one of the best con movies out there.

The Valet (2022)

The Valet (2022)

 

6/10

Starring

Eugenio Derbez

Samara Weaving

 

Directed by Richard Wong

 

This movie does something I wasn’t expecting in the end. Movies like this are very predictable, so there’s rarely a chance for a shocker, but the ending was something cool, a little off the path of what movies like this usually do.

I liked it, and honestly, more than I expected to. The Valet is a remake of a French film of the same name, and I haven’t seen that one, so I don’t know how it compares. This movie, for me, sails smoothly because of the two lead actors and the whole idea of not trying to force an unrealistic romantic pairing. The two had their own lives and were forced to work together to cover up a scandal.

The movie plot is easy to follow, and it made a good decision by focusing on the same story and not allowing any side distractions to take control for a moment.

The plot is about a famous actress, Olivia (Samara Weaving), having an affair with a billionaire real estate developer, Vincent. Their affair has them living in the shadows to keep it a secret from Vincent’s wife, Kathryn. Olivia is unhappy with the relationship, feeling guilty about the whole thing, but Vincent is happy to just carry on. After an argument that has him chase her into the street from the hotel they were staying at for the night, a valet, Antonio (Eugenio Derbez), runs into them while riding his bicycle. He falls off and hits a car with his bicycle. Pictures were taken of the three, and Kathryn suspects that Vincent is having an affair with Olivia. Vincent lies, claiming he was just an innocent bystander when the couple, Olivia and Antonio, ran into him. Antonio is an older man, old enough to be Olivia’s father, and Kathryn isn’t buying it. Vincent decides to pay Antonio to act like Olivia’s boyfriend to fool the press and his wife. Olivia agrees to the deal, and so does Antonio, who needs the money.

Their acting grows from just pretending to be lovers to becoming friends, something movies like this always have happen, so there’s no surprise there.

From here on, the movie just charms its way with wonderful acting from the two. Antonio tries to navigate his way through a separation and tentative divorce from his wife, who also happens to be jealous of his present relationship. Meanwhile, Olivia is trying to come to a decision about what she wants to do with her life. Kathryn, on the other hand, is working extra hard to discover the truth because all the press appearances and kisses can’t convince her that Antonio and Olivia were in a relationship.

The movie is easy to enjoy, and it’s streaming now on Hulu.

Dual (2022)

Dual (2022)

3/10

Starring

Karen Gillan

Aaron Paul

Theo James

Beulah Koale

 

Directed by Riley Streams

 

Dual is one of those movies that, when it ends, leaves you feeling unfulfilled. There’s so much missing in this movie, which seems to have set up a future that embraces violence for a reason that feels complicatedly woven into their world. I feel there was a better way to handle the transition from original to clone, but this movie leaves all that complication unresolved. It feels like the writer wrote the movie backward. He had the idea of a future where, for two people (an original and a clone) to coexist in the world, one must kill the other. With that ending in mind, he wrote a story to connect it. Instead of coming up with a better story and working out a better ending, they just pieced things together and submitted it as a finished work.

Director and writer Riley Streams didn’t do a good job here.

In the end, I found myself asking... is there a moral to this? If not, is there a point to be made? All these questions were racing through my brain because the movie failed to entertain enough for me to care about other things.

The plot is set in a future where people can choose to clone themselves, and have the clone take over their lives in case they are no longer living. Our focus is on Sarah (Karen Gillan). Sarah has a depressed life, is unfulfilled, and is in a dead relationship that’s just hanging on by a thread. She has a bad relationship with her overbearing mother and just wants everything to end.

One day, she wakes up in a pool of her own blood and later discovers that she has a terminal illness. Not wanting the two main people in her life—Peter, her boyfriend, and her mother—to be without her, she decides to clone herself. The double will start living her life with Peter, while Sarah waits until she dies before telling her mother. Well, things don’t go as planned. The double and Peter hit it off. The two become intimate quickly, and Sarah has to endure that, but she feels that since she’s going to die, the pain won’t last long.

News flash: she’s not going to die as soon as she thought; there’s a miracle. Sarah gets home that day to share the news with Peter, only to find her double having a meal with Peter and her mom. Sarah is angry and can’t understand the level of betrayal from Peter and her double. They’ve moved on without her, and Sarah is now left alone. Her mother prefers the double to her own daughter, and Peter doesn’t want anything to do with Sarah; he wants to be with the double.

Sarah takes the matter to the authorities, and she’s told that she and the double will have to duel for who will be the one and only Sarah.

The movie doesn’t end in a way that justifies the journey to it, and I believe it should have been done better.

 

Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)

6/10

Starring the voices of

John Mulaney

Andy Samberg

Will Arnett

Eric Bana

Keegan-Michael Key

 

Directed by Akiva Schaffer

 

 

From The Disney Afternoon comes this live-action/animated action-adventure comedy based on Chip and Dale’s detective life. The animation, story, and voice acting are amazing. You’ll love the comedy and the way the characters are developed. This world is so inviting and easy to follow; it’s a movie that adults won’t mind watching along with their children.

The Disney Afternoon is from the '90s and was a two-hour daily TV block of fun Disney animated series. Over the years, the block featured DuckTales, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, and many more. This movie focuses on one animated series from the block: Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. I loved watching the group pick up the slack and solve crimes the real police failed to close. I enjoyed their many adventures and lived off reruns.

In a way, this movie feels like a spiritual successor to 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with Disney’s legal team working to get as many animated characters as possible from other studios to make this movie’s world-building fit. The world-building is similar to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where animations live in the same world as humans, and their animation jobs are to work as entertainers.

We get to see the life behind the two chipmunks, Chip and Dale. We learn how they met when they were young and how they became a comedy pair. Their work landed them the gig with Disney to play the leads in the series Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers. Dale felt he was living in Chip’s shadow and wanted to venture on his own with his own solo show, which led to their show being canceled and his show never going past the pilot phase. The group part ways, with Gadget and Flipper getting married, and Jack going on his merry way with an addiction problem. The two leads no longer talk.

Now, in the present (many years later), Chip is working as an insurance salesperson, and Dale is still doing as many little gigs as possible to pay the bills while trying to revive the glory days. Chip gets a call from Monterey Jack, who’s in big trouble with a loan shark. Jack owes Sweet Pete a lot of money because of his cheese addiction, and if he doesn’t pay, he’s going to be bootlegged. Chip shows up, hears the story, and then Dale also shows up because Jack called the two for help. Chip leaves, believing it was a plan to get them together and patch things up. He later gets a call from Dale that Jack has been taken. The two must team up to find their friend.

The movie is available to stream on Disney+.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

 

 7/10

 

 

Starring

Michelle Yeoh

Ke Huy Quan

Stephanie Hsu

 

Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

 

This movie is a mix of genres. There’s action, adventure, thriller, comedy, and sci-fi. One thing this movie gets right all the time is the reactions to the chaos. It explores the multiverse in ways that differ greatly from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which came out after it. When it boils down to the reaction of knowing that there’s an almost infinite number of you, spread across the multiverse based on every possible decision you make, our lead’s view of such a possibility was almost perfect.

The acting and performances of Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan are Oscar-worthy. You may be familiar with Yeoh, but wonder who Quan is. He played Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

The way the characters are written reflects how anyone would likely react when facing the idea of the multiverse: confused, tired, and not wanting to be anywhere near the chaos of it all. It was so cool to see someone behave like a human for once on TV. When the lead was asked to choose between the madness of the multiverse and her present life of depression, failed possibilities, and loneliness, she chose her present life because, even though it’s not perfect, she seems to have a hold on it.

The movie drops us into the life of Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan). Their life is that of a couple who are tired of being together and are struggling to keep their laundromat up and running. They are facing IRS foreclosure on their laundromat when a bombshell drops on Evelyn’s lap: the whole universe as we know it is coming to an end. Why? Because of a being called Jobu Tupaki. The cool thing about this insanity is watching Evelyn come close to solving the whole issue, only to take the wrong turn at the final moment. Those times made me scream and love the movie so much more.

Jobu Tupaki wants to end the universe for a reason that no one knows. Waymond Alpha (a Waymond from another universe) came to what I want to believe is our universe to meet with our Evelyn and get her to help stop this being. The problem is that Evelyn is one of the many Evelyns they have met, with all the others failing. You may wonder why Evelyn is so important—if I tell you that, it will ruin the first half of the movie.

The movie did have a very annoying ending, and it rounded up in a way I would not have wanted it to, but in the end, it’s one of those movies you should see.

Firestarter (2022)

Firestarter (2022)

 2/10

Starring

Zac Efron

Ryan Kiera Armstrong

Sydney Lemmon

 

Directed by Keith Thomas

 

The movie makes some attempts to improve on the 1984 movie adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 book Firestarter. Both share the same name, but both movies still fail to be fun. I recall not totally falling for the 1984 adaptation, which had a boring story with no compelling characters. This movie is similar and even decides to go lower when it comes to the story.

There is a lot of room for creativity when adapting this novel, because the book spans a period and mostly takes place at a facility where Andy and Charlie were captured. The movies seem to want to flesh this up and have things happen in different locations, compressing the timeline to make the movie more watchable. Where this movie goes lower than the previous failed attempt is in the story. The movie tries to bring the whole incident into the present day, believing it will make the movie easier to enjoy, but that just made it more disjointed from the events unfolding.

The story is about a family with different powers. The parents were volunteers for a clinical trial that gave the couple different supernatural powers at low levels. The mother had telekinetic abilities, and the father (Andy – Zac Efron) had telepathy. Their child (Charlie), on the other hand, had pyrokinetic powers—the ability to control fire. She can shoot fire out of her and set things far from her on fire. Her powers are growing, but she lacks control. The people who conducted this experiment on the couple want Charlie. They want to control her power and study her, which forces the family to always be on the run. But Charlie has episodes of losing control of her powers, which send out heat signals that the bad guys can track. The couple tries to escape, but they are tracked down, and the mother is killed.

From here, the movie just decides to throw everything into the wind and set itself on fire.

The movie ends very differently from the book and the previous movie adaptation. The death of Andy is poorly thought through, anticlimactic, and disappointing.

The entire sequence of Charlie being captured in the book is skipped, and the whole aspect of making Charlie feel safe and manipulating her into using her powers doesn’t exist. Instead, what we have is one of the worst final acts in movie history. The ending of the movie, with Charlie not walking off alone back to the Mander farm, is not in this movie. It ends in one of the most annoying ways, even insulting the memory of Charlie’s parents.

Sneakerella (2022)

Sneakerella (2022)

3/10

Starring

Chosen Jacobs

Lexi Underwood

Devyn Nekoda

Bryan Terrell Clark

 

Directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum

 

I don’t think Disney can ever get tired of the Cinderella character. They seem to have made many reimaginings of this character, from their first animated movie about it in 1950 to their first live-action adaptation in 2015, and now we have this one. This version focuses on sneakers and tries to be real. I use the word "tries" because Disney is not going to work on anything Cinderella without a little magic getting involved. I felt the movie was average at best, but I think it’s because movies like this aren’t for me.

The long and short of it is that this movie is made for a particular audience—those who like musical comedies and are young. There is a Disney age group that fits this kind of movie, and they will like it. I, for one, felt the movie tried in its reimagining, and since I’m not one for musical comedies, I found myself skipping past many of the numbers to get to the plot.

The plot is about a young man named El who lives with his stepfather and two stepbrothers. His mother owned a shoe shop in Queens, New York, and his stepfather moved there to manage the shop when she died. As Cinderella stories go, the man didn’t understand El’s passion for sneakers, and instead of trying, he just shuts him down anytime El tries to show him he can do more than just watch the shop.

His brothers are cruel, and while his stepfather isn’t patient enough to understand his stepson, the stepbrothers do everything they can to make El’s life difficult and his work tedious.

El’s best friend is a young lady named Sami, who invites El to come with her to a shoe drop-off. There, they meet Kira. El and Kira immediately have chemistry. When the three get into trouble and are being chased, Sami takes off on her skateboard, leaving El and Kira to take the train to Queens together. El shows Kira around, telling her about his shoe-making dream, and she falls for him, as he does for her.

But El has to run off to his shop and leaves without getting Kira’s number.

Later, Sami finds out who Kira is—she’s the daughter of a sneaker tycoon, a man looking for new designs. Sami convinces El to go to Sneakers-Com, and with a little magic from El’s gardener friend, they make it. There, El and Kira meet again, with sparks flying everywhere.

How matters play out and how the Cinderella story comes into play in this movie is something I believe your children, who are Disney fans, would love to see on Disney+. Maybe, though, you, the adult, should watch something else.