Black Widow

Pros:

•Strong opening scene that hits you right in the feels (it did for me anyway). The whole first act is pretty solid for the most part. 

•Florence Pugh was easily my favorite character in this. She gives an incredible performance and continues to be one of my favorite actresses right now. 

•David Harbour was great as well

•The best scenes to me weren’t the action ones, but the quieter “family” moments. Especially between Natasha and Yelena. 

•A surprising amount of humor. I laughed quite a few times throughout this. 

•While it’s one of the weaker Marvel films, I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some people are saying. I definitely recommend seeing it in theaters if you can. 

•The end credits scene, all I’ll say is….. Ooooooo damn! 😳 Can’t wait to see where they go with this. 

Cons:

•Once again a weak and useless villain in a Marvel movie. Really guys? I thought we were past this. 

•Kind of like Wonder Woman, it falls apart in the last act (maybe not quite as bad though). A cgi, explosive mess. Literally there were moments I couldn’t tell what was happening. 

•Taskmaster… what the hell was that? And gee, I didn’t see that twist coming 🙄

My Rating: 7/10

Fast 9

I know I’ve been taking a break from writing (a well deserved break after finally finishing the first draft of my novel) but I did promise I’d review this movie. However, this doesn’t mean I’ll be back to doing weekly reviews just yet. But if a big movie like this one comes out of course I’ll give you all my thoughts. I hope everyone understands. 

This review is SPOILER FREE

Pros:

•I’m not going to lie, the opening scene hit me in the feels. 

•They do a lot of flashbacks in this one and for the most part I enjoyed them. 

•This may be the dumbest one yet… and I had a blast watching it. Obviously you can’t take these movies seriously. I found myself laughing out loud several times at the craziness, getting several glares from a guy sitting a few rows ahead of me. 

•Stunts/action was done well

•Looks really good on an IMAX screen 

•I actually liked Tyrese in this movie. Normally his character annoys the fuck out of me. 

•I know it’s alluded to in the trailer and other people have already spoiled it, but I won’t do that here. There’s a moment in here that had me so excited and something I’ve wanted to see in this franchise for a long time. When it finally happened it brought a huge smile to my face and once again had me laughing. 

Cons:

•Does something that I absolutely hate and is one of my biggest pet peeves about sequels/franchises- introducing a sibling/child/relative out of nowhere. Someone that was never even mentioned in any of the previous movies. Any time a movie does this I automatically take off points from my rating. 

•John Cena was terrible in this. Not surprising though. And speaking of his character…. This series has had many things happen that just defy logic. But the biggest one yet may be trying to convince us that he and Vin Diesel are brothers. 

•The explanation for how Han survived was pretty meh. 

My Rating: 7/10  

A Quiet Place Part 2

Pros:

•I was skeptical when I first heard they were making this sequel. The first movie was one of my favorites the year it came out and I thought it didn’t need to go any further. Any doubts I had were gone after the opening scene of part 2. It completely sucks you in and I have to say I really enjoyed it. 

•Here they do a good job on expanding this universe. 

•Great writing and direction by John Krasinski 

•The stand out by far was Millicent Simmonds. She’s given a lot more time to shine and she’s outstanding. What a talented young actress. She’s got quite a future ahead of her. 

•If you liked the first movie you’ll definitely like this. It’s definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen this year. 

Cons:

•The runtime was too short. I was so engrossed in what I was watching that when the movie abruptly ended and the credits rolled I was like, “Wtf? Noooooo! Keep going!”

•There were a few really stupid decisions some of the characters made that had me shaking my head. 

•Djimon Hounsou was pretty much wasted here. Hell I don’t think his character even had a name. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Those Who Wish Me Dead

Pros:

•I only became aware of this movie recently but knew I had to see it when I found out it was written and directed by Taylor Sheridan. He’s the one who wrote Sicario, Hell or High Water, and Wind River (he directed this too). Sheridan is an amazingly talented person and if you haven’t seen any of the movies I just mentioned I strongly urge you to do so. 

•It was nice seeing Angelina Jolie in a movie again. It’s certainly been awhile. While it was a little hard for me to buy her as a firefighter she played the part well. 

•Strong supporting cast 

•As with Sheridan’s other work there’s some really beautiful locations and cinematography. 

•There’s lots of thrilling, intense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat. 

Cons:

•There’s some awful dialogue in the beginning that had me cringing so bad I had to look away from the screen. Luckily it got much better after that but still. 

•Even though I did like this movie quite a bit and I recommend you see it, it was definitely Sheridan’s weakest work to date. That being said even a weak movie of his is still a million times better than most of the stuff out there. 

•The villains here were pretty forgettable, despite being played by two actors I normally like. 

•For those who are wondering about Tyler Perry’s role in this- all it is was a cameo. He had maybe two minutes of screen time tops. Honestly they could’ve cut his scene and it would’ve had no impact on the movie whatsoever. 

•The ending felt a bit rushed. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Wrath of Man

I wasn’t even aware that this movie existed until last week when I saw a trailer for it before Godzilla vs Kong. To be honest I wasn’t all that impressed. From the trailer it looked like just your stereotypical revenge movie. But with not that many options right now and the fact that I like Jason Statham I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did because while in some ways this does follow many of those same tropes, rarely is it done this well. I was throughly entertained every minute of this movie. 

Everything fit together so well. The way things are slowly revealed throughout the story to the action/heist scenes which had my eyes glued to the screen the entire time. Even the actors worked well together and looked like they were having a blast filming this. Yes, you’ve seen Jason Statham play this type of role a million times. But he does it so damn well. 

If you’re into good old fashioned crime thrillers I definitely think you’ll love this. Guy Ritchie did an amazing job. These types of movies I feel are where he’s at his best. 

The only real complaint I have, and it’s very minor, is I started to feel the length a bit towards the end. 

There’s so much more I want to say but I don’t want to spoil this for anyone. I highly recommended it. Don’t let the trailer fool you- this is a damn good movie. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but it’s probably my favorite movie of the year so far. I may even buy a copy when it comes out on blu ray. That’s how much I enjoyed it. 

My Rating: 9/10

Godzilla vs. Kong

Yes, I’m well aware that I could've stay home and watched this on HBO Max. But this was one of those movies that I felt should be seen on the big screen. I’ve been looking forward to it since it was first announced and now that theaters are finally opened up around here I figured why not. So what’s my verdict? It was exactly what I expected and so much more! 

Pros:

•The action scenes were completely bad ass and had me on the edge of my seat. 

•Special effects were very well done, especially when it came to Kong 

•even though the human characters weren’t exactly three dimensional, I actually gave a shit about most of them. Unlike the characters in Mortal Kombat 2021. 

•Moved at a really good pace. I believe the movie was a little under two hours long and the time just flew by. 

•Definitely worth paying to see it in theaters. 

Cons:

•I feel like they did a better job developing the Team Kong side of things vs. the Team Godzilla side. 

•I can’t say too much without spoiling things but, even though I like him as an actor, I hated what they did with Demián Bichir’s character. 

•Kyle Chandler was completely useless. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Pros:

•I’m glad they decided to go all out and not shy away from the blood and gore. 

•The fight scenes were of course the best part of the movie. My eyes were completely glued to the screen each time one came up. Bad ass and very well choreographed. 

•Considering this is Simon McQuoid’s directorial debut I think he did a pretty decent job. You can tell he’s a fan and at least tried to make a somewhat coherent story out of this. Is it perfect? Far from it. But I appreciate the effort. 

•Fans of the game will definitely have a good time. 

•Most of the visuals looked decent. 

•Not sure how well it’s doing financially but I hope it makes enough to warrant a sequel. They set some cool stuff up at the end. 

Cons:

•I know this is not one of those movies you go to for great acting but good lord some of them in here  (with the exception of maybe two people)  were so terrible it was embarrassing. 

•Not something you really need to see in theaters. I do recommend it but watch it on HBO Max or stream it through other means. 

•Some very bizarre editing in certain parts. 

My Rating: 6.5/10