Mortal Kombat - Movie Review

 Mortal Kombat (2021)

Mortal Kombat is the newest adaptation of the popular video game franchise. It was released on April 23rd, 2021 and received mixed reviews from critics. The plot of the film is a group of remaining champions are rounded up as they are being hunted down by SubZero, and they must train to gain their powers to stop him.

THE GOOD

Mortal Kombat is 2 hours of glorious gore and action. The movie may be dumb, but wow is it entertaining! The action sequences and violence never disappoint! The fight choreography is fantastic and the violence is extremely gory and satisfying. Not only is the action extremely entertaining but there's also a lot of it, this movie is action packed! If you're looking for a good action filled movie to be entertained by, Mortal Kombat is definitely a great choice! The tone of the movie is fucking amazing, mainly because of SubZero, whenever he's on screen, there's almost always this horror movie vibe going on, the atmosphere kicks up into high gear and I really loved it! The acting is pretty good for the most part, Josh Lawson as Kano absolutely carried this movie! Kano was hilarious and was great in the action sequences! Another standout was Joe Taslim as SubZero, he doesn't have much dialogue but holy shit he was so fucking cool! A lot of the best action sequences in the film involve SubZero! The visuals are fantastic, the film is colorful, they don't just go for a dull color pallet simply because it's a movie aimed at an adult audience. The movie is extremely fast paced, there isn't a single moment where this movie drags.

THE BAD

I do have a couple of problems with the film. I thought Cole Young (the main character of the movie) and Sonya Blade were extremely one note and uninteresting. They get a few cool moments here and there, but there's nothing at all to their characters. Also I wish the movie would have also went deeper into the lore of the characters, you get it with Scorpion and SubZero, but not as much with the rest. I really hope the sequel dives deeper into the characters.

CONCLUSION

Character flaws aside, Mortal Kombat was a great time! It's got the action, the gore, it's funny and it's got a great tone to it. I'm excited for the sequel, I was really surprised how good this movie was!

GRADE:  A-

FILM INFO

MPA rating:  R (for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references)

Run time:  110 min

Release date:  April 23rd, 2021

Studio:  Warner Bros. Pictures

Iron Man - Movie Review

 Iron Man (2008)

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I'm doing something special here, in honor of Black Widow (hopefully) coming out in July, I'll be reviewing the MCU films (or try to at least) leading up to it! This is going to be great because this franchise is something special to me! I've been watching these films since day one! I was 8 years old when Iron Man came out and when I saw this in theaters with my dad when it came out, I loved it then and I still love it now! Iron Man was released in 2008 and was the film that started the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was directed by Jon Favreau and starts Robert Downey Jr. as the titular character Tony Stark/Iron Man, which is definitely his most iconic role.

THE GOOD

Iron Man in my opinion still ranks as one of the best films in the entire franchise! This film is action packed, funny, has an amazing, compelling story and features one hell of a performance from Robert Downey Jr. The film is extremely well paced, there's never a dull moment at any time. The story is extremely compelling, I loved every character, and the story is so compelling because of the complete character growth of Tony Stark throughout the movie! I loved how Tony Stark doesn't start out as a superhero at all, he's completely carefree, all he cares about is money and pussy and shit like that. Once he gets held captive by middle eastern terrorists, that's when he really starts growing as a character, and I loved the entire process of him becoming Iron Man! Part of why the story is so compelling is because the writing is so strong! The dialogue is so good! The action sequences are fucking badass! The cave breakout sequence, when he goes back to the middle east to take out some bad guys, and the climax, everything is so white knuckled and exciting! Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as Tony Stark is nothing short of legendary, he's witty, charismatic, and his comedic timing is perfect! I loved the use of comedy in this film, it's funny without compromising the serious moments in the film.

THE BAD

My only real issue is that even though I actually really liked the villain played by Jeff Bridges, I didn't care for the fact that he basically becomes just evil version of Iron Man for the climax. It's probably just me but I just find that to be the last interesting way to have a final showdown in a movie.

CONCLUSION

As I said, Iron Man is still one of the best films in the MCU and still remains my favorite pre-Avengers MCU film. The film is packed with fun action, the acting is strong, the writing is very well done, and the film is funny and compelling!

GRADE:  A

FILM INFO

MPA rating:  PG-13 (for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content)

Run time:  126 min

Release date:  May 2nd, 2008

Studio:  Paramount Pictures, Marvel Studios

The Unholy - Movie Review

 The Unholy (2021)

The Unholy is a new horror movie out in theaters now, produced by Sam Raimi and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (from Watchmen and The Walking Dead). The movie tells the story of a deaf woman who supposedly gains the power of the Virgin Mary and begins performing miracles on the people around her, but little does she now that it's actually a much more sinister supernatural force. The film was released on April 2nd, 2021, and was met with negative reviews from critics.

THE GOOD

Well, the cinematography was nice at times, the final act got somewhat interesting I guess.

THE BAD

This was a very, very, very dull film. This film was not scary in the slightest, and mainly consists of pointless exposition. I haven't been this bored though a horror movie since The Craft: Legacy and The Grudge (2020). All this movie has for scares is jump scares, that's fucking it! No tension, no atmosphere, not a fucking thing other than jump scares! If you like a horror movie that contains more journalism and investigating than actual horror? The Unholy is the movie for you! Every performance was very bland, come fucking on, you got JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN in this movie, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU MAKE HIM BORING IN A MOVIE? I want to fucking know how the director of this movie managed to do that. This movie doesn't even feel like a theatrical movie, it felt like a very low budget Lifetime film! Let's talk about the CGI in this movie. Good fucking lord it looked fucking awful! It was downright laughable. 

CONCLUSION

Wow there wasn't much to talk about, this movie just offered nothing! The Unholy is a completely unsatisfying, unscary, boring film! It was an absolute waste of time. It isn't the worst film of 2021 but wow it definitely didn't stand out as anything good. Thanks to a dogshit script and lazy filmmaking, The Unholy was an unholy mess.

GRADE:  D-

FILM INFO

Rating:  PG-13 (for violent content, terror and some strong language)

Run time:  100 min

Release date:  April 2nd, 2021

Studio:  Screen Gems

Nobody - Movie Review

 Nobody (2021)

Nobody is a new action thriller from Ilya Naishuller (the director of the fantastic and highly underrated Hardcore Henry) and stars Bob Odenkirk as an ordinary family man who after helping a stranger being harassed by a group of strangers, must let out some old demons after finding out a vengeful drug lord is after him. The film did surprisingly well at the box office considering the COVID-19 pandemic and was well received by critics.

THE GOOD

This was a damn good action film! The story, while nothing original, was always interesting and never lost my attention. There was never a dull moment in this film because it was paced so well, it's extremely fast paced. Bob Odenkirk acts his ass off in this film! He is fantastic in the dramatic moments and he is EXCELLENT in the action sequences. Christopher Lloyd is in this film too, and even he gets time to shine in the action, which was awesome as far as I'm concerned! The action sequences were orgasmic! They were extremely well shot, they are absolutely brutal and violent and bloody. Just a warning for people who are squeamish, if you don't like gore and brutal violence, prepare for gore and brutal violence if you decide to watch this film. The script is really good, there's lots of great dialogue and some really great subtle humor sprinkled in, I loved that this film didn't take itself so seriously. This movie also has a great soundtrack, it has by far the best use of Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar that I can recall being in a movie! This movie was just pure fun and was definitely needed during these troubled times!

THE BAD

Like I said before, there's nothing original about this movie, which wasn't a major issue for me because the movie is executed and written so well that the lack of originality didn't bother me at all. My only real issue with the film was that the villain was kind of weak, some improvement could have been made there.

CONCLUSION

Nobody is an extremely entertaining, fast paced, hyper violent action movie that I definitely recommend seeing! The action sequences are worth the price of admission alone, Bob Odenkirk gives a wonderful performance and I really want to see him do more action stuff! It was a quick sit, it's only 92 minutes long so it definitely never overstayed its welcome! As for Ilya Naishuller, please make some more action movies! This was another great effort, keep them coming!

GRADE:  A-

FILM INFO

MPA rating:  R (for strong violence and bloody images, language throughout and brief drug use)

Run time:  92 min

Release date:  March 26th, 2021

Studio:  Universal Pictures