Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformation (2022)

Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformation (2022)

 

3/10

 

Starring the voices of:

Andy Samberg

Selena Gomez

Kathryn Hahn  

Directed by Derek Drymon and Jennifer Kluska

 

This animation was such a mess that Sony decided to sell it off to Amazon rather than risk spending more money promoting and distributing it in cinemas. It was a poor attempt to entertain, and I’m sad that Genndy Tartakovsky failed with this latest entry in the franchise. While Genndy didn’t direct this one like the previous movies, he did write the story and work on the screenplay. Even Adam Sandler didn’t return to voice Drac; instead, Brian Hull took over the role.

The third movie in this Sony animated franchise was already a bust for me. Even the now-popular dance sequence at the end couldn’t make up for the mess that movie delivered. Like the third movie, the animation quality here was subpar, and the whole thing felt like a blatant money grab without a story worth watching.

We start off with the 125th anniversary of the hotel. Johnny was being his usual annoying self, and Drac was losing his patience. Drac had planned to retire and hand the hotel over to Mavis and Johnny but wasn’t ready to let Johnny take charge of anything. When the news leaked, Mavis and Johnny found out, forcing Drac to change his mind. He lied to Johnny, saying it was because Johnny was human.

Johnny, determined to prove himself, turned to Van Helsing to help him become a monster. When Drac found out, he tried to reverse it but only made things worse. What followed was one of the least entertaining chase sequences and some of the most uninspired animated moments I’ve seen. After overusing the monster transformation equipment, it broke down completely. Helsing informed them that they’d have to travel to South America to get a new crystal to fix everything before Mavis discovered what was going on.

This led to a long, boring, and predictable journey to South America, which focused on Drac and Johnny bonding in the most annoying way possible.

Looking back at the franchise, the first movie lacked suspense and didn’t meet expectations. The second movie, however, was a huge improvement. It introduced Johnny and Mavis’s child, Dennis, and the storyline about his vampire genes kicking in through his love for the little werewolf girl added charm. Plus, the addition of Vlad, voiced by Mel Brooks, made it even more entertaining.

The third movie, though, felt overcrowded with too many characters. This latest installment tried to fix that by narrowing the focus to Drac and Johnny, sidelining most of the original cast. Unfortunately, like the first movie, the story here was weak, and the screenplay failed to deliver any meaningful entertainment.

Sing 2 (2021)

Sing 2 (2021)

6/10

Starring

Matthew McConaughey

Reese Witherspoon

Scarlett Johansson

Taron Egerton

 

Directed by Garth Jennings

 

The movie has the same feel as the first Sing. If you liked the first movie, you’ll likely enjoy this one too. Sing is a CGI animation from Illumination Studios. I expected to see Minions 2 before this, but I guess Universal had other plans, pushing Minions back to later in 2022. 

The voice cast that made the first Sing memorable is back, delivering wonderful performances in both voicing and singing, ensuring you leave the movie with at least one song stuck in your head.

To be honest, there was no need for Sing 2. The way Sing (2016) ended wrapped everything up nicely, but since it was a financial success, Universal decided to milk the franchise. This new movie is essentially the same tune on a different instrument. This time, our group has hit it big locally, with the new Moon Theatre consistently selling out. Now, they want to move to the big leagues and perform in larger, more prestigious venues.

A scout attends one of their local shows but doesn’t connect with it. She doesn’t think their production is ready for the big stage. As you can guess, Moon, after a burst of inspiration, decides not to accept the criticism. Instead, he sneaks himself and his group into an audition with entertainment mogul Jimmy Crystal.

If you compare this setup to the first movie, it’s just too similar. There’s no real evolution or change in the challenges faced by the characters. Once again, Moon is up against the odds, finding a way to push himself and his group to the front of the line while convincing Crystal they’re more than they seem.

From the start, the movie doesn’t shy away from showcasing some classic oldies that will make you want to sit back and chill. The noticeable difference in Sing 2 is the inclusion of more current popular songs that will have you nodding along.

The writing tries to raise the stakes for Moon. Not only has he promised Crystal a killer show on a whim, but he’s also pledged to deliver a legendary singer, Calloway, who hasn’t been seen in over 15 years. At this point, the movie doesn’t bother with suspense. Somehow, Moon and his assistant manage to track down Calloway in a matter of minutes, even though no one else has found him in years.

That’s the setup for the movie: Moon scrambling to prove himself to Crystal while also terrified of confronting him, and the added challenge of convincing Calloway to join the show.

Sing 2, like I said, wasn’t necessary, but it’s still a good family movie. It probably won’t make waves at the box office, and honestly, I hope there isn’t a Sing 3.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

 

3/10

Starring

Kaya Scodelario

Hannah John-Kamen

Robbie Amell

Tom Hopper

 

Directed by Johannes Roberts

 

The movie has the feel of a low-budget horror flick, which I don’t think it was meant to be. This reboot of the Resident Evil franchise spends over thirty minutes on characters talking and meandering, leaving you waiting for something significant to happen.

I remember the first Resident Evil video game, where you could choose to play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, with each character having unique strengths. This movie tries to capture the essence of the first game, as it’s an adaptation of the first two Resident Evil games.

In the movie, Chris and Jill are partners, just like in the game, but their story is lazily tied to the larger Umbrella Corporation saga. Jill’s role is underwhelming, with minimal impact on the plot and far less screen time than the main characters. Plus, there’s nothing about the movie's acting performances that could have made it stand out more.

The biggest letdown of this movie is the underdeveloped characters. Chris and Claire’s orphanage background is briefly touched on, but it feels like a missed opportunity. We see Claire hitch-hiking back to the town she left and breaking into her brother Chris’s house to show him a video from a friend asking for help. Claire is portrayed as a sort of investigative journalist, but this aspect of her character isn’t explored much.

As the story progresses, we learn that Umbrella, through one of its agents in the city, plans to destroy Raccoon City to contain the virus. Chris and Claire’s past, which is hinted at throughout, never gets fully fleshed out. All we learn is that the orphanage was essentially a testing ground for Umbrella, where children were used as test subjects for their experiments.

The plot fails to even meet the low bar set by the previous films starring Milla Jovovich. With all the tools at its disposal, it’s baffling how this movie managed to fail so spectacularly. The film attempts to offer a fresh perspective by giving Claire—introduced in the game series with Resident Evil 2—a lead role, as she’s the one piecing everything together and trying to involve her brother.

The movie’s B-movie vibe starts with Claire arriving in Raccoon City and surviving several near-death experiences before her brother and the other officers are called in to investigate.

What I appreciated about the first six Resident Evil movies was the introduction of a new character, Alice (played by Milla Jovovich), whose storyline ran parallel to the main game characters. This allowed for fresh stories that occasionally intersected with the game’s narrative.

After watching this reboot, I can only wish I hadn’t bothered.

Last Looks (2021)

 

Last Looks (2021)

 

3/10

Starring

Charlie Hunnam

Mel Gibson

 

Directed by Tim Kirkby

This movie is absolute nonsense because the director failed to make the actors matter in their scenes or in the events that concerned them. The plot unfolds as though the characters already know how everything will end, so when you expect them to be worried or act differently, they just don’t. The lackluster acting from the leads made the movie even more unbearable—they performed as if they couldn’t care less.

The movie is based on a book called Last Looks by Howard Michael Gould, who also wrote the screenplay. Unfortunately, Last Looks is anything but worth your time. It follows a retired police officer who was once one of the most decorated young officers in his district. His retirement is treated as a big mystery for about a quarter of the movie, but the reveal—he put the wrong guy in jail and ruined his own life—feels like a waste of time.

He’s asked to get involved in a case concerning an actor, Alastair (played by Mel Gibson), who’s being investigated for the murder of his wife. The problem is, Alastair is a drunk and can’t seem to piece anything together.

Initially, the retired officer (Charlie Hunnam as Charlie Waldo) refuses the case. But somehow, without even officially taking it on, he finds himself dragged into another layer of mystery. The friend/lover who initially asked him to join her investigation goes missing after their visit. Waldo only learns about this when some so-called intimidators show up to inform him that the studio Alastair works for has issued a press release claiming Waldo has officially taken the case.

The missing friend ends up being the driving force behind Waldo’s involvement, but the director didn’t make this a compelling reason. Instead, the lead character remains weirdly complacent about his friend’s disappearance while halfheartedly pursuing a case he said he didn’t even want to take. I kept wondering: When is he going to start looking for his missing friend?

But the director had other plans. It turns out the missing friend was deeply involved in investigating a high-level gangster named Don Q, who’s behind her disappearance. This revelation comes halfway through the movie, so you’d think the story would now shift to Waldo focusing on finding her. But no—he continues diving into the Alastair case instead.

The movie eventually dismisses the entire missing friend subplot with what they call a twist, but I’d call it lazy writing. By the end, Waldo’s attention is back on the Alastair case, which ultimately boils down to money.

Honestly, there are far better things I could’ve done with my time than watch this movie.

Riders of Justice (2020)

Riders of Justice (2020)

 

7/10

 Starring

Mads Mikkelsen

Nikolaj Lie Kaas

Andrea Heick Gadeberg

Lars Brygma

 

Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen

 

Here’s a Danish movie everyone should see. Yes, it’s in Danish, and you’ll need subtitles, but it’s worth every minute.

A good revenge movie is always fun to watch. Add the twist of a revenge story going wrong due to a misunderstanding, and you’ve got a masterclass in filmmaking.

Mads Mikkelsen plays Markus, a soldier who was on duty when tragedy struck his family. His tour is cut short so he can return home to care for his daughter, but he’s so emotionally damaged that he almost destroys her in the process. The movie masterfully blends dark comedy with thrilling drama, making the heavy themes easier to digest.

The story begins with a mother and daughter waiting at a train station to meet their husband and father, who’s away on duty for another three months. Meanwhile, we’re introduced to Otto, a man obsessed with algorithms. As the narrative unfolds, you start wondering how these characters’ lives will intersect.

The connection happens on a train. Otto offers his seat to the mother, showing a moment of kindness just before tragedy strikes—the train derails in an accident. The mother dies, leaving her daughter, Mathilde, alone. This incident also kills a key witness needed to convict the leader of a gang called the Riders of Justice.

Otto, who loves crunching numbers, notices suspicious details: a man leaving the train just before it departs and throwing away a meal he barely touched. Otto suspects the train crash was no accident but a calculated move to eliminate the witness. To support his theory, he runs facial recognition software and discovers the man who left the train is the brother of the Riders of Justice leader.

Otto and his friends track down Markus to share their theory (though their reason for involving him isn’t particularly strong). Otto remembers Mathilde and uses her to connect with Markus. Once Markus hears the theory, he insists on being updated when they locate the suspect.

When they do, Markus drives to the location with Otto and his two friends and kills the man. This act sets off a chain reaction. The Riders of Justice leader learns someone has killed his brother, and now he’s out for revenge. At the same time, Markus is determined to continue his own revenge against those he believes are responsible for his wife’s death.

The movie tries to bypass lazy writing and plot holes with fast-paced scenes, but it doesn’t succeed all the time.

This is a fantastic film, one that’s definitely worth seeing if you have not seen it.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

5/10

 

Starring

Keanu Reeves

Carrie-Anne Moss

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Jessica Henwick

Jonathan Groff

Neil Patrick Harris

 

Directed by Lana Wachowski

 

The idea behind making this movie must have been, "Let’s sell nostalgia," because the amount of flashbacks in it should be a record. I’d say this was a bad idea, and the weak writing didn’t help either. We spend about 75% of the time searching for threads to connect the trilogy to why things are the way they are now. This could have been done better in a minute with a quick update on how things stand—and then moved on. Instead, it’s like watching a child tell a story: you have no idea where it’s going or how it will end. It’s long, incoherent, and you can’t wait for it to stop.

This new Matrix movie reminds me of the problem I had with the Star Wars franchise. The whole Skywalker saga dragged on for nine movies. The franchise has multiple animated series and game stories set in the same universe, but when it comes to the movies, it’s always about the Skywalkers. Then came Rogue One, and for me, that’s the best movie in the entire franchise. It runs perpendicular to the main storyline and doesn’t focus on the Skywalkers. That risk Disney took proved people craved other Star Wars stories, and from there, we got the hugely popular series The Mandalorian.

Why Warner Bros didn’t take a similar chance with this franchise is beyond me. If their plan is to launch another Matrix trilogy, I sincerely hope they don’t. This one was bad enough to warrant a serious rethink. The performances of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss were actually strong, and were the only redeeming thing in this movie. So regardless of how I felt about the movie, seeing the two of them again, made me happy.

In the years after the events of the original trilogy, we find out that the machines kept both Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) alive by resurrecting them. They needed the pair to maintain their power. How that works is something you’ll have to watch the movie to discover.

The machines placed Neo and Trinity in a bizarre setup: always close, yet far apart. Neo is now a game developer, while Trinity works at a bike shop. Zion is no more—it’s been replaced by Io, a place built by some machines and humans working together. Yes, there’s a division in the machine world now, with some siding with the humans. Neo is stuck living a life he believes to be real while dreaming of the one he once had. This all comes to a halt when he encounters a game character he created. It turns out Neo subconsciously wants to be free, so he created a character that’s a blend of Morpheus and Agent Smith. Predictably, Morpheus finds him and helps him escape the Matrix—again.

Once free, Neo is determined to do whatever it takes to rescue Trinity.

The movie boils down to 75% “here’s what’s happened while you’ve been gone, Neo” and 25% “let’s save Trinity.” Nothing else really matters.

This wasn’t a necessary movie, and as far as Matrix standards go, it’s not worth anyone’s time. To make things worse, it was directed by only one of the Wachowskis.

Don’t Look Up (2021)

Don’t Look Up (2021)

 

5/10

Starring

Jennifer Lawrence

Leonardo DiCaprio

Rob Morgan

Jonah Hill

Meryl Streep

 

Directed by Adam McKay

 

Don’t Look Up is packed with satirical silliness and a collective mass denial of something inevitable. I don’t feel the movie is well-written enough to deserve the publicity it has gained, but I can’t deny that the acting is excellent.

The film sums up what you might expect if such an incident were to actually happen, especially with a president like Trump as the leader of the free world. Don’t be surprised if a life-saving mission is turned back for profit due to a last-minute discovery. For me, the movie fails to deliver the necessary impact. Its self-indulgent portrayal gets so wrapped up in its own silliness that it neither thrills nor entertains.

Now, the strength of the cast in this movie is no laughing matter. Every cast member delivers a strong performance, and that’s the only thing I believe the movie truly has going for it.

Imagine a PhD student discovering a comet—a great day, right? The comet is 5–10 kilometers wide, and during its trajectory calculation, they realize it’s heading straight toward Earth. Picture that student and her professor heading to the White House, accompanied by someone from NASA, to inform the president of the impending doom. They expect serious meetings with Madam President and her staff but are treated as a mere nuisance, with their message dismissed as a joke.

Worse still, the president is surrounded by yes-men who fail to grasp the gravity of anything that doesn’t make her look good or line her pockets. That’s the setup for this movie. The PhD student, Kate (Jennifer Lawrence), is shocked by how the situation is being handled, while her professor, Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), gets caught up in the spotlight and loses himself in the public attention.

Meanwhile, the president (Meryl Streep) is busy crunching numbers on how to exploit the comet hurtling toward Earth for financial gain.

The movie waters down all these dramatic moments with outlandish comedy that, for me, never quite hits the mark.

On Rotten Tomatoes, critics are divided, and the audience score is around 80% at the time of writing this review. So, while this movie is highly popular and will be seen by millions, it’s far from being the masterpiece many are making it out to be. I think the hype is more about the two leads in the movie, rather than the movie itself.

You can find this movie on Netflix.