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Good Burger 2 (2023)

Good Burger 2 (2023)


 

3/10

 

Starring

Kenan Thompson

Kel Mitchell

 

Directed by Phil Traill

 

I think the bar for an actual good movie is very low, if this movie could pass the development stage and get to production, I know the streaming services are fighting for contents, but maybe they should consider doing good movies, that will pull people to their services.

I watched it, wondering who thought Good Burger needed a second part? The way the first movie ended back in 1997, it did not leave any room for a second part.

To see them all grown and still being silly and not showing any form of development but being constantly down was more sad than entertaining.

Ed (Kel Mitchell) is now grown but seem to have got a hang on life yet, still living a childish way but manage to have so many children. Grown man child has lost its taste a while back, how the writers thought this was a good fit for this character is odd, and it was not the kind of welcome I thought his character deserved. Then there was Dex (Kenan Thompson) whose greed and desire to be rich has made him disliked by his family and ruined any chance he could have as a success, with schemes that are just over the top, then doing a test of such on his own house to prove a point is also beyond silly.

The movie was boring and annoying and not funny. I did not even get to feel the nostalgia of the characters, they way I do, when I watch the 1997 Good Burger again. The movie concentrated so much on the goofiness of Ed to give the movie any form of lift, which if I was a child back in 1997, would have had me, but as an adult, it felt like a lack of proper writing.

The movie plot is about as usual Good Burger wants to be taken over, the company who is now the bad guy is MegaCorp, they want Ed (who now owns Good Burger single restaurant) to them so they can open a franchise, an idea Ed is not keen on.

Dex has ruined all his business plans and has messed up his relationship with his family with all his get rich schemes. He is now down, no home, no money and no friends, so he called his old friend Ed, who lets him crash in their home and gives him a job at Good Burger.

When Dex was approached by MegaCorp to convince Ed, and this will lead to him getting a cut of the deal, he jumped on the offer and the consequences of those actions is what this movie tries to show.

I can guarantee you one thing, if you have never seen the first Good Burger, do not see this. If you have, and it was a fun memory of the 90s, this will ruin it.

 

Genie (2023)

Genie (2023)

 


2/10


Starring

Melissa McCarthy

Paapa Essiedu

Denée Benton

Marc Maron

 

Directed by Sam Boyd

 

If you have never heard of this movie, congratulations you have dodged a bullet. If you saw this post before getting the chance to see this movie, just do not bother watching it.

Bernie missed his daughter's (Eve) birthday. This was how this movie starts with Bernie deciding to spend more time at work to close a deal for his boss and was not there for his daughter birthday. So, his wife (Julie) is upset because Bernie seems to be very good at being a disappointment. Julie takes Eve to her parents.

This situation is something we all know so well in almost every movie with a similar premise, why can you not be there for us, we are going to my parents, do not come.

As the movie gave me this start with some very questionable acting, I was starting to wonder if it was worth the time I am about to invest because I find Melissa McCarthy funny.

This movie was not one of her best, that I can tell you. Not only was it not funny, but it was also actually poorly written. The movie is a remake written by the same person, but I guess they decided to take a route that seems to go over my head when it comes to the jokes, the scenes and the all-round set-up of the movie.

Imagine this, Bernie gets a genie (McCarthy) this genie unlike the others does not come with three wishes, but it seems to be an infinite line of wishes.

Some of the things that Bernie wished for will make you wonder if he has any form of imagination at all. The all-round good guy act was so annoying, I wanted to kick the screen.

Then the action of McCarthy in this movie was like, she was here for the money and did not care if the movie made sense or not, because nothing about this movie made sense.

It was boring, lacked any form of urgency and at times it was like Bernie lost focus on the most important things to him, getting back with his family.

The illogical way he was going about doing his thing, made me wish for the time when streaming services did not exist, and studios do not have to fill up a quota of movies with as much junk as they can find, and then add some superstar hoping they will make people want to pay for their service.

If I had a genie, I will wish for the time I wasted watching this movie back. It is not worth any of your time.

 

Gran Turismo (2023)

Gran Turismo (2023)



 

7/10


Starring

David Harbour

Orlando Bloom

Archie Madekwe

Darren Barnet

 

Directed by Neill Blomkamp

 

Gran Turismo is a fun racing game and the idea to make a movie from someone’s real-life based on the experience they got from this game is epic. This movie is a  biographical sports drama film about the life of Jann Mardenborough.

The movie is intense and tried its best to sidestep away from the dramatic cheesiness of Hollywood films. The part of the movie when the CGI comes in when the character imagines he is in a game car driving off crazy is worth seeing. The idea that this happened to someone makes it crazier to watch.

No matter how good I am at a game, why will I want to make that a reality?

This question went through my mind while watching this film and made me give the character props for even thinking he can do this.

The acting is very nice, and the way the movie takes its adrenaline moments up each turn makes for great TV. I did not even notice that the movie was over an hour long.

I enjoyed seeing a bit of the idea of the game and how anyone in Nissan thought it was a good idea to see if they can take the people who score the highest points in the game to a real-life track and see if they can do the things they do on the screen.

The movie starts with a glimpse of the idea for the game creation, to make players feel like they are on the real track, in a racing game. Then we see Orlando Bloom character Danny a marketing executive, present an idea to the board to get these players who are good at this game and turn them into real racer car drivers. He hired a former driver and now mechanic to train these people to get the best out of the top ten racers in the world.

Jann was selected to be the SIM driver who will now be a real-life racer.

The film did its best not to gloss out the difficulties he would have faced making this transition, the pain and suffering involved. Of course, what is a good film without a made-up rivalry, so this movie also had its own villain.

In the end the movie did justice in my book to having a good time at the cinema, I do not know much about racing, but this movie brought me in and made me read and watch some of the things I only see clips of in adverts.

This movie is easy to see and worth your time if you go to the cinema to see it.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)

 The Equalizer 3 (2023)

 


6/10

 


Starring

Denzel Washington

Dakota Fanning

David Denman

 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

 

I do not know if this is what we need now, because Hollywood has drained every juice out of making hits that, I was not even excited to go see this film. And judging by the numbers this film pulled from the Box Office, I guess I was not the only one who felt the film business is having a hard time producing movies we will all want to see.

The film was not as good as the first film, and like the second film, it served no purpose at all, just the studios wanting to see if they can squeeze more money from, we the viewers.

What is the point, he is in an impossible position, he allows himself to be captured by guards in a winery, and he breaks free and kills everyone. I already knew this will happen, so the film had to add more twist and turns to make this film stand out, but they did not even bother, it was like they just had to do something to end this film trilogy.

Held him at gunpoint and waiting, for the boss, Lorenzo to show up. This is what Robert (Denzel Washington) wanted, and he kills all of them at the winery, took the money he came to retrieve and got shot and only managed to survive when a kind officer in the Sicilian town took pity on him and took him to a town doctor.

Now he is recouping slowly in this town and calls in a tip to the CIA about some of the dealings he saw in the Sicily winery where he was held. With the CIA investigating, the family of criminals who are running the town where Robert is, started to twist the hands of the store and landowners because they want to own the place. The officer who helped Robert saw footage of the people who did it and for this reason he and his family were attacked.

Robert interferes and tells the crew to leave the town alone, but they refused to listen, and he killed them all. Starting an issue which almost led to his death until the people of the town came to his rescue.

The way the film drags is not as much fun as all the ratings are making it to be. It drags on for too long before things start to take off, and the ending was too abrupt that it made the whole build up a waste of time.

The same way Chloë Grace Moretz was more of a bystander in the first film, so was Dakota Fanning in this one.

You can go see it, if you want to round up you’re the Equalizer watch, but no matter how not up to the standard this film and the one before it was, they are better than the nonsense TV series.

Blue Beetle (2023)

Blue Beetle (2023)


 

5/10


Starring

Xolo Maridueña

Adriana Barraza

Damián Alcázar

Raoul Max Trujillo

 

Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto

 

 

I enjoyed it enough to not think it is the worst superhero film I have seen. The film tries to step up sometimes, but it is hindered by trying to anchor itself in not allowing itself to get too dark. This hindrance is why this film did not reach the needed potential you would expect. It seemed stuck in that cheesy, I am a good guy I cannot kill trend that it becomes annoying.

Then as usual threw in the cheesy trend of, you try to hurt my family and I lose my mind, and I am going to kill, then at the nick of time, I am stopped, to preserve the hero’s moral ground and sanity. Remove all the cheesiness and the predictability, and it is not half bad.

The film is the fourteenth instalment in the DC universe, and it is about the comic book character Blue Beetle, Jamie Reyes. The film explores how Reyes got the Scarab, and they infused into one, and how he managed to have better control over it.

Reyes is a law graduate who came back home from school only to be faced with sad news about their family about to lose their home and his father having had a heart complication.

A fresh graduate, not having a job waiting, got a job cleaning in the mansion of Victoria Kord. Victoria is the sister of Ted Kord and his hellbent on finding a way to use the Scarab, which her brother left behind when he died.

Her niece Jenny who comes to light of this tries to stop her aunt. She steals the Scarab and so that she does not get caught gives it to Jamie. Both had met at Victoria’s mansion the day before, when Jamie stood up for her before her aunt and got fired.

Jamie takes the Scarab home and, upon pressure from his family, opens the box it is contained in, and the Scarab chooses him to bond with.

Victoria has been wanting to see the Scarab bond with someone, so she can extract information about how to make more from it, upon finding out that the stolen Scarab had bonded with Jamie, she sent all her arsenal to go retrieve it.

This film is not a box office hit, and it will not sneak into one, the SAG-AFTRA strike could have been a cause, but I do not think so. The DC train of movies are never a hit and I think this film fell into that trend, even though it is better than some of the movies in the DC universe of films.

So, seeing this film was not a bad viewing experience, but I felt the film would have been a step better than it is if some of the cheesiness were removed.


Richie Rich (1994)

Richie Rich (1994)

 


6/10

 


Starring

Macaulay Culkin

John Larroquette

Edward Herrmann

Jonathan Hyde

Christine Ebersole

 

Directed by Donald Petrie

 

The whole film is a nostalgia fest. It is not fantastic, nor will it cut across as the go-to film for family fun. But as a child in the 90s, watching the film after twenty-nine years I still loved it, and found the smiles of your youth back watching Macaulay Culkin again.

The special effects did their best is what I will say, for something done in 1994, the bee flight and control looked good.

The story of the film can be said to be very shallow, things moved from this is the Rich family here is their son struggling to get along with others, to where are the Rich parents.

But the idea of the film is to give you a child like view of what other kids think or will do when faced up with someone who is richer and well-paced to outshine them in many ways.

The film is based off a comic of the same name by Alfred Harvey and Warren Kremer. We meet the richest man in the world and his family. His son Richie is ultimately the richest boy in the world. Now Richie does not have any friends, so his butler Cadbury took him to the park one day, and he got down to play ball with the kids there and was good at it.

The Richs were supposed to go on a trip and Cadbury was able to convince them to let Richie stay behind, because he was lonely. Cadbury then got the kids from the park to come visit, and they had a magnificent time.

On the plane trip the Rich parents discover a bomb, they were able to dispose of it, so it will not harm them, but not fast enough that it damaged their plane.

The couple were pronounced dead. Now Richie has to manage his new life, with the CFO eager to be in control and his loyal butler Cadbury framed for the incident.

What I liked about the film is how Richie managed to overcome these things, by just opening himself up to be nice to others.

The film did not try to win any Academy Award with its acting, they were goofy enough to make you smile and make young people envy such a life.

I think now this film will fall some rungs than when we saw it, because kids our age when we saw it, now want to be Taylor Swift and are more exposed to Marvel and Transformers to be interested in this sort of comedy.

But when we were young, things like this and Home Alone were the movies to watch on the regular on Sundays.

Joy Ride (2023)

Joy Ride (2023)


 

7/10


 

Starring

Ashley Park

Sherry Cola

Stephanie Hsu

Sabrina Wu

 

Directed by Adele Lim

 

Coming from a guy, I liked the way this film handled women and sexuality. I loved the way it handled the character development of each of the four ladies and the way it always finds a way to pull a rabbit out of a hat, occasionally when you think you have guessed how things were going to turn out.

This is a good film, and it deserves more publicity for the way it was written and the way it was directed by directorial debut Adele Lim.

It is easy to step into a cinema and expect to see b-film level acting and writing when you go see a movie about women going on a trip. It is a regular serving from Hollywood, so you can practically guess some of the things that will happen in the film. These things are regular with trip films and happened in this one too.

There is always the overly serious, who along with their friends go on a trip. Ours in this movie is Aubery (an Asian adopted by white parents as a child) who needs to visit China on a business trip but does not speak any Chinese. Aubery childhood friend Lolo grew up with her Chinese family and speaks Chinese, so she will tag along with Aubery to translate for her. Aubery has a friend from Uni who stays in China and works as an actress her name is Kat, they were going to meet up when she lands in China. The last but not the least, is Deadeye, Lolo’s cousin.

As you would expect, according to the road trip formula something went wrong, and they lost their passports because of it. Then they get some luck, and this is where the film took a strong sexual detour. Which also adds to their mess and after some more bad luck, their friendship gets caught in the mix.

The movie stayed through to the formula so no surprises there when these things happen, but the path it took to getting from point A of the start of the trip to their bad luck at Point B, and all the other points before we get to the ending with the apology was funny and occasionally surprising.

Good film and one that will not waste your time. The ladies did a great job in their roles, and even though the movie was not a run away box-office hit, if any movie deserves going for another run at a trip, this one does more than the rest we have seen attempt it.


Hidden Strike (2023)

Hidden Strike (2023)


 

3/10


Starring

Jackie Chan

John Cena

 

Directed by Scott Waugh

 

An action movie with John Cena and Jackie Chan, and I found myself bored.

You can tell when a production started as a pipe dream with a single idea, getting John Cena and Jackie Chan together for an action film with comedic elements. Then, one day someone agreed to sponsor this pipe dream, and now the producers had to scramble up an idea, called it a script and just ran with it. This film’s biggest mistake is that it felt could be Rush Hour. Then the director added elements of Mad Max: Fury Road to the mix, which made this film just feel like a fish out of water when you consider that it is supposed to be an action/thriller with elements of comedy.

When a film introduces one of its leads in a more common-sense setup, Jackie’s character (Luo) along with his team are hired to extract someone, and they must cross the highway of death to achieve this. Then the other lead, John Cena (playing Chris) was introduced in a cartoonish way in a make-believe desert background. In this film Chris is an anti-hero discussing with his mercenary buddies about a completed job, and he was told of a new job where they must go after Luo’s extraction team and capture the person Luo is tasked to extract. Chris turns the job down because he does not want to have anything to do with the highway of Death.

Let me continue to paint the silly way Chris is introduced to us, he is in this make-believe desert hitting golf balls, when the team drives in their jeeps like rats being chased by a cat. Then we see him next playing ball with a boy in the town he has chosen to live in. We the dumb folks watching this, are supposed to see this ball playing as a depiction of Chris being a good guy in bad situations. How is playing ball the only thing these writers think is needed to establish a character as a good guy.

The town does not have water, so he speaks with one of his contacts (another fellow mercenary) who tells him that to get the water turned back on he will need to pay $100,000. So, you can guess where the film is going from here, Chris agreed to do the job so he can get the money he needs so that the town will not die of thirst. Another idea the writers think will establish the good guy persona, forgetting that he also lives there, so lack of water also affects him, even if we are to believe he can decided to move away.

Well, things do not go according to plan as you would have expected, and we are bathed in a Mad Max: Fury Road chase, that led to Chris walking away from his group and running into Luo and both knew each other from their special force days. They fight and later team up.

It is B-film action sequence 101, no attempt to take this big budget film up a notch and make it even better than other B-films in the same category which it has decided to stay in.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Oppenheimer (2023)


 
3/10


Starring

Cillian Murphy

Emily Blunt

Matt Damon

Robert Downey Jr.

Florence Pugh

 

Directed by Christopher Nolan

 

The film felt like Christopher Nolan wanted to boast to the world that he can make a film three hours long and be about a subject he likes and yet it will be a blockbuster, and everyone will want to see it.

Because other than the titular character, everyone else is not given any form of character depth. The film is so disjointed and lacking good cohesion that there is no point wanting to know who anyone is. Just know that Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer, and that is all that matters. Because trying to string a deep link between the characters is not going to be easy. Just know their names and places and that is all that matters. Cinematography is world class as you would expect from Nolan, but that’s it.

The story telling is poor, the non-linear way the scenes are shown makes it hard to put things together, at first. When you finally understand the flow, you are still left wondering if it was worth the time you have invested into seeing this movie.

Christopher Nolan is a great filmmaker, but the pride that drove him to make this film shows that it was done for him and not for the viewer to love.

The film’s plot is about the titular character, Oppenheimer, who was part of a team of physicists, who are called to develop the atomic bomb, during World War II. We go through the morals, questioning and drama as we are taken through this historical piece through cut scenes and non-linear flow of great cinematography but boring story. I the end I felt like, “why should I not have just read the book?”

I think their times reviewers and award shows have a meeting and agree beforehand the films they are going to be behind no matter what. We see this many times when films that you know you have seen better independent films get so much attention and ratings, yet they are poor either in production or plot. But their marketing power and backing makes them shine better than other films released during their period at the box-office. The marketing power of the words written and directed by Christopher Nolan has made this a must see, and it seems every popular reviewer just wants to say it is great even though it is not.

I compare this with Barbie, the movie that came out in the same window as this. The marketing for the film and the message it carries will make it hard for some men to come out and say, this was crap. Because the truth can have you labelled.

There is no point running to the IMAX to see this film it was not worth any of the time and money spent seeing it.

Barbie (2023)

Barbie (2023)


2/10


Starring

Margot Robbie

Ryan Gosling

America Ferrera

 

Directed by Greta Gerwig

 

There comes a time when you just know that everyone is pulling a fast one on you. You are the bottom of the joke. This time, it is probably all the people that rated this film high, this film sucks and it is a bad film.

I saw this film and I kept waiting to see all the things people are saying. Yes! The acting was good, but other than that, the characters were stuck in their own identity, which made this film so stiff and the story… OMG this film should have been called Barbie’s Feminist Movement Parade.

I love Margot Robbie, even this film cannot undo her influence or work she has done in the industry, but for what point was this film made?

Every female TikToker or wannabe influencer is out there shouting the same thing this film is screaming from the top of its loins, is just this film could have done better.

What made Lego films cool, is that there is a break from the identity of the box these characters came from. Here, Barbie is stuck in that box of wanting to be perfect and wanting things to go back to the same way it was, where she was in control. When things changed, she did not change it back to a more balanced society in Barbieland, she changed it back to women rule everything and the Kens are just there for decoration.

This film was offensive to my brain, and I believe I lost IQ points seeing it.

Now the plot. Barbie goes about her perfect day in Barbieland with her other Barbies. Every day is the same and things do not change, until one day she wakes up with the thought of mortality and sadness. She tells the other Barbies who send her to meet Weird Barbie, who happens to understand what was happening. The person playing with her, has transferred her fears and thoughts into her, causing a crack between the worlds and allowing these feelings to break into Barbieland. So, she needs to go into the real world, find this person and fix the problem. She goes along with Ken, and they discover that things in the real world are not a reflection of what is in Barbieland.

While Barbie struggles to get a grip of the real world, Ken learns about the patriarchy system and thinks it is the best for Barbieland.

I will not be surprised if this film becomes a box-office hit, everyone is just going to say it is great for the fear of being different and say the truth, this film sucks.

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)

 Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023)

 


2/10


Starring

Lana Condor

Toni Collette

Annie Murphy

Colman Domingo

Jane Fonda

 

Directed by Kirk DeMicco

 

Sometimes when a film sucks, we can wonder why? This is an animation with a very odd name and the story will be unique, and the production cost seems high enough for a good CGI, so why would it suck?

Then you start watching and five minutes into the film, you see why it sucked and why it was a box office flop. I happen to have moved around children of today and heard them talk, this is something I think the writers lack the awareness of (even if they have children). Children of today are a lot smarter than we were when we were their age. Their eyes have seen animated things like Spiderverse and Disney stuff, to think this bad CGI and weak boring Krakens will make them want a re-watch, is crazy.

This film is so silly, that it is amazing it even got green lit. I do not get it. The plot is about a family of Krakens who left the sea to live with humans and fooled the whole humans in the town they live in that they are humans too, but from Canada.

Now you will think, Kraken’s look like humans for this to be possible, but no!

Krakens are blue and shaped differently and can move their bodies about like eels. So, you will think again, these blue creatures will at least wear some makeup and move around like humans. But they do not even attempt to do any of those things. They go about blue and move freely. Anytime you see them act odd, they use I am from Canada to explain away the weirdness, and the people buy it.

You will think, I am overthinking this animation, but there is nothing to think not to mention overthinking. I kept wondering why, why not make it so that when they are on land, their body turns human. Will that not have been easy, and when they get to sea they turn back.

The Teenager in our Kraken family, Ruby, wants to go to prom. Her mother does not want her to, because the venue is on a boat which will be in the water. Ruby’s mom does not want Ruby near water at all. But as teenagers go, the more she is denied this, the more she wants it. She and her three friends want to show up to the Prom with their dream dates, and Ruby is no exception.

How she managed to get herself on the boat, and then the repercussion of going on this trip is all this film has to offer, predictable and just downright boring and a proper waste of your precious time.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

 

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)



 

8/10


Starring

Tom Cruise

Ving Rhames

Simon Pegg

Hayley Atwell

 

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

 

Leave it to Mission Impossible to start with an opening that has you spoked and locked in for what else the film has to offer. Right from the start we know this is a two-parter, and that is one thing about films I dislike, why make it so long that I must wait to see how it ends. Well, Hunt and his team feel they have what it takes to make me crave another part (and I must add, this has a nice end leading to the second part). The second part is planned to be released in less than 365 days from now, if the Writers and SAG strike does not drag longer than the studios expect.

Ethan Hunt is back with his team on another mission set as impossible. It is the seventh film in the series and, as all the films in the series go, this is a sequel to Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018). And like all the films in the series the stunts are magnificent, and the scenes are fine cut to perfection. The cinematography is something worth seeing to admire, and the film makes use of different locations, as the series has a knack for never staying put in one location to finish the plot.

Our team is up against a rouge AI called The Entity. We see first-hand from the film start, what the AI is capable of and now our team, led by Hunt are on the impossible task to stop this AI.

The mission is this, Ethan and his team are to acquire a key, a key which we see in the beginning of the film is in two parts. One of the halves is with Ethan’s friend Ilsa Faust, so he is sent to retrieve one part of the key from her (and she has a bounty on her head) and, with his team, secure the other part and return it to the IMF.

If you have been watching all the movies, Ilsa has been working with the Ethan and his team since Rouge Nation (MI5) and she was in Fallout (MI6). Retrieving the key from Ilsa was not going to be easy, not because she is not willing to play ball, the bounty hunters after her are brutal. Before setting off on the mission, Ethan infiltrates an intelligence meeting and learns what the key was to be used for. The AI, which was created to sabotage systems, went sentient, and has hacked into all the major defence systems in the world. Every major power player is aware of this rouge AI and seek to control it, hence the key. It is believed it will give some sort of control over the AI, but no-one knows exactly what the key does and how it ties to the AI.

Ethan, upon being told of the mission from the start, was warned not to go rogue as he always does, but Ethan has his own thoughts on who should have the key that could give them the ultimate power.

In the end, amazing plot, nice twists, and turn with great stunts, what an enjoyable ride.

Also, Hunt's team is bigger, and the mission is not over. I do look forward to seeing the second parter which will be the eight film in the series and I like the fact that even in this time when films are not doing so well in the boxoffice, Mission: Impossible films are always performing well.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)




5/10



Starring

Anthony Ramos

Dominique Fishback

Luna Lauren Vélez

 

Directed by Steven Caple Jr.

 

I must be honest with you, I have no idea how many of these films there are or how many I have actually seen, because they just cannot stop making them. What I do recall is how much I enjoyed seeing Bumblebee which was done five years ago, so I stepped into seeing this film with my mind open to either enjoying myself, or signing off the franchise.

Right off the bat, I can tell you, it has as much CGI and special effects as you would imagine. Action fights of metal on metal and for many like me who grew up on this cartoon, it was just OK, but the plot's cringy and cheezy lines and scenes all over the place made it lose marks. I felt Bumblebee was a lot better, though, I think a more scaled down version with less metal on metal fight sequences will be best. It will make the film focus more on its plot and the drama between the character, instead of filling them with low class drama that just made me want to skip forward. It will be best for the film over all than just loud clangs and transformations. That is what made Bumblebee fantastic, and a wonderful prequel to the franchise.

In case you did not know, this film takes place before the first Transformer film back in 2007, and it is a sequel to Bumblebee, but Hailee Steinfeld is not in this film.

I never get why films make the bad guys so impossible to kill, then somehow out of nowhere find a way to stop something that is bigger and stronger than they are. Some form of wisdom that only good guys get to have a glimpse into.

The film’s plot is about a key called the Transwarp key, which allows the holder to transport themselves through space and time. The key is in the care of the Maximals, and their world was attacked by the world devouring Unicron. Unicron sends his Terrorcons led by Scourge to the Maximals world to capture the key, so he can travel far and feast on more plants. They failed, and the remaining Maximals took the key away from their home world, leaving Unicron trapped in their galaxy as he devours their world. Unicron sends his Terrorcons and Scourge to search the universe for this key.

So happens the key is on earth and was discovered by museum intern Elena. Upon discovering it, she set off its beacon which can only be seen by the bots. Scourge and his Terrorcons go to the museum and a battle for the key happens between the Autobots and the Terrorcons, with Scourge being the decider, bringing down the Autobots with ease. Aiding the Autobots is Noah, who happens to be trying to steal a car (which was Mirage) when Optimus called the Autobots together upon discovering the key signal. Noah was taken along to the gathering of the Autobots and joined them in their quest to get the key.

Scourge was able to get the key and would have killed all the Autobots, if not for a Maximal coming to save them. Scourge and the Terrorcons leave with the key to inform Unicron of their triumph. Only to discover that the Maximals split the key into two and what they had was just half a key.

The Maximal also informed the Autobots of this, and they along with Elena and Noah are going after the other half before Scourge and the Terrorcons get it.

I know that there will be future films, because going by the way things are concerning this franchise, and the money it keeps making, I do not think they plan to stop anytime soon.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)




6/10


Starring

Harrison Ford

Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Antonio Banderas

John Rhys-Davies

 

Directed by James Mangold

 

This is the fifth (supposedly) and final instalment in the Indiana Jones film series. It follows Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). The way it starts, with the magnificent CGI used to do the de-ageing of Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), is mind-blowing. A lot of people did not like, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I did, and I was really looking forward to seeing this. The massive expense that went to locations, costumes and special effects is so glaring when you see this film. I just wondered why they did not think to dial it down a bit. It is the first in the series to not have either Steven Spielberg or George Lucas directing or working on the plot. Maybe this is why it is not the best of the five.

The film dragged more than it should, wasting so much time in mystery and running around than it really mattered, but I am not mad about it. The director wanted to make this film grand and a last hurrah to Indiana Jones’s adventure. What I felt the film did not need, was the whole CGI of Jones jumping about in the beginning.

As you would expect, Harrison Ford is back with his hat and whip as Indiana Jones, and he is wrapped up in another world changing adventure. He is paired with Phoebe Waller Bridge, who plays Helena, Jones God-daughter. She is also an archaeologist, and she came for the dial that was in Jones custody. The film starts with Jones getting possession of the dial and giving it to Helena’s father who, who almost lost his mind trying to understand it, before giving up and gave the dial to Jones to destroy it. In the way future, Helena comes for the dial, she is not as straightforward as Jones would have hoped. Her complicated past and greed led to the dial falling into the wrong hands.

What is an Indiana Jones story without the bad guys, the Germans (or in this case a particular German, Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen)) who is also interested in the dial. He wants to reassemble the dial so that he can change history. Our duo and their sidekicks and aids are all out in this chase film to stop Voller from changing the world history as we know it.

Unlike what many have said, I was not particularly won over by the Helena character, I have no issue with the performance, just the character itself.

It is not new that this film will be a box office flop, I think the whole Indiana Jones character has had its run and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should have been the last. The problem is older viewers who loved the first three Indiana Jones movies, were not too keen on the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and if any has Disney+ will probably choose to wait for it to drop there and see it, than go to the cinema.

Also, studios keep packing too many blockbusters into the same window that there was no chance of this film ever making a huge splash. Disney will easily add it to their Disney+ library soon, but would have loved for this film to have been a hit both at the cinemas and on their streaming platform.