1st Reviews

  Compensating for its formulaic plot with a whole lotta violent action, Havoc is a sufficiently entertaining bloodbath. This is essentially an 80’s b-tier action movie with a shiny modern coat of paint, and despite its shortcomings, it emerges as a passably fun watch.  Nearly character in this story is a different level of corrupt. Dirty cops, dirty politicians, gang members, drug dealers - they’re all involved in shady business at varying levels. Tom Hardy’s character is among the least corrupt (but still a little corrupt to keep things interesting), so that makes him the protagonist by default. He plays a detective in the back pocket of a powerful politician, sent to do one last job before he can get out and live a clean life. Sound familiar? That’s because we’ve seen variations on this trope a million times before. It’s a tired story beat that does this movie no favours in the originality department. Hardy is reliably entertaining in the role, with some surprisingly great ...

Havoc   begins as a mixed bag, with a Tom Hardy character who never quite changes and feels like the same stoic, hungry for danger/pain hero he’s played before. The story and its setup also feels somewhat convoluted and surrounded by characters who aren’t that gripping. However, after the first act, the action sequences become so complex and outrageous in their choreography, editing, and stunts, that they elevate the entire movie, including Hardy’s presence in it. The crime lord villains feel like caricatures, and Forest Whitaker’s performance is too over-the-top with hollow writing. Jessie Mei Li plays a great partner to Hardy’s cop, as is Timothy Olyphant as a more seasoned cop rivaling Hardy’s character.  Two fight scenes, one in a nightclub and one in/outside a cabin, are so intricate, bloody, and exaggerated, and escalate so shockingly they’ll make your jaw drop and forgive many of the film’s shortcomings. However, that does take getting past a generic beginning (and blan...

Sinners is a sensational, stylish and soulful fusion of genres. This is exactly the kind of ambition and originality we need more of from major studios. Ryan Coogler hasn’t just delivered one of the best films of the year, but arguably the best of his impressive career.  There are a lot of different elements here, working in harmony to achieve something wholly unique and memorable. It’s a viciously entertaining vampire flick, but there’s so much more to it, which is what makes it truly special. This is a thematically rich story that celebrates black culture as well as an examination of oppressive hardships and cultural assimilation. It’s also a beautiful tribute to the roots of blues music, in which the music itself becomes just as alive as any of the film’s characters. There’s a scene where music transcends time that’ll be talked about for years. You can’t ignore the ambition, and although on paper it may sound like a messy mashup of genres and ideas, the end result is undeniably ...

  A great prequel isn’t so much about the what, but about the how and why that lead to the events we already know. Rogue One took a small plot hole from A New Hope and not only fixed it, but gave it meaning. Over two seasons, Andor has delivered a truly spectacular lead up to Rogue One, filled with purpose and emotional resonance, further elevating the entire original trilogy in the process.  Season one played like a series of connected arcs - four smaller stories woven into a larger narrative. Season two, by contrast, is more singular in its focus. It has the urgency of a story heading toward a known endpoint, with a clearer sense of direction and finality. While there are still some detours and character-specific side plots, everything here feels more tightly connected to the series’ inevitable conclusion. These twelve episodes work overtime to bridge the gap between Andor and   Rogue One, while never feeling forcibly tied to canon. It delivers more brilliantly detailed...

  Ryan Coogler, one of the most impactful filmmakers to come out of the last decade, creates his most original, commanding, and dazzling film, a kind many have been waiting to see for a long time. Coogler gets free reign to blend genres with unique storytelling on a larger scale than we’ve seen before. The characters leap off the page and screen with their wonderful portrayals from Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, and Delroy Lindo, as well as a more menacing turn from Jack O’Connell. As both Smoke and Stack, Jordan plays characters who aren’t free of moral question marks but still worth rooting for, and have excellent romances with Mosaku and Steinfeld, while Lindo has brilliant moments of reflection, strength, and humor. The film portrays America in the 1930s as a place of difficulty and strive, with a system built to oppress black Americans, but in the main characters’ blues club, a dazzling, one-of-a-kind portrayal of black culture and music in a safe space of ...

  The Amateur  is well-directed, with an engaging enough visual look to keep the runtime going, as well as a strong score by Oscar winner Volker Bertelmann. However, it settles for mediocre as often as it becomes thrilling. Rami Malek is excellently cast in the role, but in earlier moments in the film, his performance still feels distant, and gets to shine more later, or sometimes the editing is to blame for not letting us sit with Charlie’s grief and pain for longer in certain scenes. Holt McCallany is especially memorable as the tough CIA Deputy Director, as is Laurence Fishburne a resourceful yet more empathetic CIA operative.  Despite the packed cast, the story itself sometimes feels muted, including a lack of true exploration of the idea that this hardly trained man is committing elaborately planned out killings that would be viewed as sadistic if the men he was killing weren’t murderous terrorists. The dialogue also sometimes falters, but the elements of the formula...

  War is hell, and every once in a while, a film comes along that drags you through that hell in a way that’ll leave you utterly shell shocked. Warfare is among the most harrowing, visceral and realistic war movies of all time. Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza have crafted a brutal recount of true events that needs to be experienced in theatres.  Set in 2006, we follow a young group of U.S. Navy Seals stationed in Iraq during a surveillance mission gone wrong. The opening scene (featuring Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” thumping on full blast) is extremely effective in giving us one of the few moments of levity throughout the entire film. The slow mounting tension leading up to the main conflict had my heart racing and palms firmly gripping the armrest. With a bare bones narrative stripped of any excess, this movie gets right to the point by throwing us directly into these soldiers’ boots. The specifics of the mission aren’t stated. You won’t find any exposition. Warfare sets out to rea...

  The film is raw and immersive, the camera knowing when to immerse you into the “action” while at other times when to simply stay put and observe from afar. Similar to Alex Garland’s last film  Civil War , the film is devoid of the romanticization of violence we see in many films about war and combat, rather a film about what happens when conflict and death become a daily reality for young men, including the bond and language it creates for them out of necessity for survival.  The excellent ensemble cast shines, particularly D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, along with Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, and Cosmo Jarvis. The sound design in particular is stunning and adds to the immersion of what unfolds in this film, trying its very best to bring its audience into a battlefield where certain doom is only meters or seconds away. It doesn’t relent when it comes to the intensity and terror of battle, including the gore and stakes which are upped, while using every minute of its 90-minute run...

  Do you remember where you were when the Berlin Wall fell? Maybe you were not born yet but it’s the equivalent of asking where you were on 9/11. Everyone has a traumatic memory of that moment they found out the towers fell. All is fine in 89 tells the story of the last field party of the year for the class of  Romano high school, set with the backdrop of the Berlin Wall collapse.  The story follows an ensemble cast of many different students and teachers, each of which is in a different Social circle. From jocks to nerds, each character is going through their own personal issues and trauma. High school is hard enough as it is when you are being bullied and peer pressured but in some cases, some students are going through much worse. The added pressure of  leaving the comfort of highschool and growing up in an uncertain world after the Collapse of the Berlin Wall holds a level of uneasiness throughout the film and keeps tension high constantly. All of the i...

  Drop is a good movie with a bad ending. The first hour and fifteen minutes deliver a crafty, tense and exciting tech-centric thriller that makes great use of its single location. While the final fifteen minutes don’t entirely derail the experience, they’re a jarring drop in quality and logic, which left a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth.  We’ve all been on a bad date before, but having your family held hostage while you’re being used as a puppet to carry out nefarious acts… that’s a whole different level of bad date. Meghann Fahy plays Violet - a single mother on a first date in a fancy high rise restaurant. She begins receiving sinister anonymous picture drops to her phone, threatening her loved ones if she doesn’t comply with demands. She can’t let her date (Brendan Sklenar), or anyone else in the restaurant know what’s going on, trying to maintain her composure under the crushing pressure.  This movie has been coined a Hitchcockian thriller for the modern tech gene...

  A Minecraft Movie  may prove a treat for younger audiences and fans of the beloved game. It’s got charm, thanks to its main stars, particularly Jack Black. He gleefully gives his playful and extravagant energy to Steve, even throwing in his musical comedy talents. Jason Momoa entertains but his dialogue threatens to miss almost as much as it’ll make you laugh. Danielle Brooks is splendid as a very unexpected companion on this journey, and gives the runtime lots of heart. Emma Myers does a solid job playing an unlikely heroic character, whose storyline with her brother avoids some cliches while falling head first into others. Though this is a Minecraft movie first, director Jared Hess’ love for misfits and outcasts is written all over the film. What brings the film down is the aesthetic, that fails to get you to suspend your disbelief strongly enough to overlook the unconvincing green screen and weirdly uncanny CGI of some of the Minecraft characters/species. The live-action ...

  Grab a Mai Tai and a handful of Lorazepam - it’s time to check back in to The White Lotus for another round of rich people problems. A stunning new resort, plenty of juicy drama and a (mostly) new group of characters make for another strong season, even if the show has lost some of its fun factor along the way.  Taking us across the world to the sun soaked beaches and lush jungles of Thailand, this is without a doubt the most gorgeous season of the show yet. Mike White has sharpened his directorial style, which when paired with Ben Kutchin’s breathtaking cinematography, makes for a total visual feast. The fresh setting also comes with a newfound sense of danger, especially for the guests who venture out from the resort for a taste of real Thai culture. The wild score brilliantly captures the characters’ emotions and instincts, and while it does take a little getting used to, I ensure you the new opening theme song is a bop.  The first season was a bit like observing ani...