maxwelloreocookie Reviews

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (2024 Video Game)

Great game, but covered in a decent amount of bloat.

[8/10 · 13 March 2024]

Really hot take here! But the Remake was better than Rebirth. The main thing that brings Rebirth down is how BLOATED it is, especially with the open-world, mini-games, and way too much Chadley constantly calling you and saying obvious crap that we don't need to hear.

The open world was nothing special and got repetitive pretty fast. I eventually gave up on the open-world stuff and just went straight to main story things. The open-world is often compared to a Ubisoft game and I agree with this. It's just not the greatest open world ever. The open world kind of reminded me of Sonic Frontiers, it's almost the same thing: find a beacon that shows more basic objectives, rinse and repeat. It gets repetitive fast. Plus why must Chadley call us CONSTANTLY with basic crap? I eventually started skipping everything Chadley says, same for everyone I know who played this game.

Even when I got to the main story, it wasn't bad, but it's not as strong or engaging as how Remake told its story. Rebirth manages to make some cannon moments feel like filler because the writing, pacing, and characters just aren't as strong. But as for Remake, it generally did the opposite, which was amazing. Remake made the "filler" moments feel super entertaining and feel like cannon, i.e. Hell House fight tournament and Honey Bee Inn dance sequence, etc. BTW, those moments were iconic. 95% of Remake had perfect pacing, with only some rare exceptions like returning to the sewers, which was bad.

The characters and pacing in Remake were insanely good!!! The characters were introduced perfectly and all had so much chemistry and had so many genuinely funny moments. Rebirth is not bad in this aspect, but simply just not nearly as strong as Remake in this aspect. I understand Rebirth is the start of things getting a little more serious, but it still could've been more engaging and better-paced like Remake. But don't get me wrong, Rebirth still has a good story, but just not as many great moments as Remake, and especially with all the extra bloat Rebirth has, but Rebirth story gets stronger and stronger to the end.

Rebirth's combat is almost perfect. It's almost the same exact combat as Remake as it should, but of course, Rebirth adds way more variety in combat with way more materia, weapons, special abilities, etc. With synergy skills being the biggest new thing for Rebirth's combat, which I thought those were really fun too and executed great. However, one small negative about Rebirth's combat is it feels a little floaty compared to Remake's combat. I do prefer the super heavy feeling of Remake's combat, makes every hit feel way more impactful and satisfying. Remake's combat is better to me, but Rebirth has more variety. But both still have amazing combat. I'd give Remake combat a 10/10, and Rebirth's a 9/10.

Overall, Rebirth is just a great game, but not a masterpiece. I'm a little sad because I love Final Fantasy VII OG and I even love The Remake!!! I enjoyed the Remake so much that I marathoned beat it in two long sittings, then instantly beat it on Hard mode, then instantly got the platinum. I did all that super fast because Remake is EXTREMELY hard to put down when you first play it, super exceptional story, character interactions, pacing, and combat. But as for Rebirth, I can only play this game for about 3-4 hours at a time, then need a long break, it's just simply not as engaging, but still not bad. I have no desire to platinum Rebirth and probably never will.

I thought this would be Game of the Year worthy, but sadly it isn't. Of course, I know it will still probably win GOTY because it's so popular and that's okay, but just saying, in my own personal opinion, Rebirth just simply isn't Game of the Year worthy. Here are all my ratings for the games.

FF7 OG: 10/10 FF7 Remake: 9.5/10 FF7 Rebirth: 8/10.

Edit: I raised my score by 1(was previously 7), because the game grew on me a little bit more, and appreciate it's great moments more, despite not having as many great moments as Remake.

Blue Beetle (2023)

I'm Mexican, and I'm still disapointed.

[4/10 · 20 August 2023]

I REALLY wanted to like this movie, despite hearing a lot of people say it's mid or bad, and constantly hearing it's gunna bomb at the box office. Despite hearing all that constantly, I still tried to go in with a clear open-mind, and I was still disappointed.

It's been said a million times before because it's true, but this is an EXTREMELY cliched super hero origin movie. The super cliched plot wouldn't be as bad if the characters and humor hit better, but that sadly isn't the case either.

The humor for me just didn't hit whatsoever for me like 90percent of the time. Some of the humor is SUPER corny, and I generally don't mind corny humor, but the corny humor in this movie just takes it to a WHOLE Nother LEVEL! There's good corny and there's bad corny, this is bad corny, which doesn't even bring a little smirk on my face. The suspension of disbelief they pull just for a cheap unfunny joke is lowkey insulting.

Xolo Mariduena is the best part of the movie, He's my second favorite character on Cobra Kai, the first being William Zabka. It's too bad Xolo was given a bad movie to work with, he's very charismatic and see great acting potential in him, but he just isn't given enough material to show that with this movie, could've made him funnier or at least give him a real arc. Jamie Reyes/Blue Beetle doesn't even have a real character arc. I guess his arc is he loves his family, then by the end, he still loves his family? Huh? I guess he has this super random thing that he's against killing, but I thought that was so dumb and unnecessary to include in the movie. Obviously killing innocent people is wrong, but killing people who are trying to kill innocent people isn't that bad. Plus after his anti-killing scene, it's barely ever mentioned again and this message really goes nowhere, so why was it ever mentioned in the first place? The movie would've been better if the "no killing thing" was just never bought up. And the no-killing thing just makes Xolo look like an idiot. The "no killing" message made sense in a movie like Terminator 2 for example because it's a huge part of the overall narrative of the movie, but here, it doesn't really do anything, so why is it here?

The two main villains are super cliche," Your family is what makes you weak!" Give me a break, seems like this movie was made for 10-year-olds. It's just SO BASIC and cliche that it's corny. Susan Sarandon completely phones in her role too, but I don't blame her because she is given nothing to work with. We all know Susan Saradon is a seasoned actor and clearly knows how to act, so she obviously chose not to even try in this movie, because she knows there is nothing to work with.

The "girlfriend" is probably the worst actor in the movie. I supposed she's supposed to be the "love interest?" But huge quotations on that because she's really bland and has zero chemistry with Xolo. She's more like an AI exposition dump, and that's it.

The action was overall just decent. I wouldn't call it bad, but it's barely just good either. It could've been way better, and Xolo barely used any cool stuff with the powers he has. This is not a spoiler because it's in the trailer, but he makes a Final Fantasy sword, this was kinda cool, but it seems random in the context of the movie. It would've been cooler and made more sense if the movie showed he was a big gamer or Final Fantasy fan earlier in the movie, and could've used other video-game weapons. And would've been kinda a cool, unique, and relatable thing for a young adult to do. But this movie only shows Mexicans liking stereotypical Mexican stuff, can't be more unique and show Mexicans liking other things like Final Fantasy, anime, or video-games in general.

I'm just sad because we don't get a lot of Mexican superheroes, so they should've put way more effort into this movie if they wanted it to be successful, but they didn't. The lack of quality in the movie shows it. You just can't be super pro-diversity, then when finally get a chance to make a big-budget Hispanic movie, you made a below-mediocre mess of a movie. Whoever wrote and directed this movie just ruined it for more diversity movies in the future. And I know the writer and director of this movie are both Hispanic, so I don't get why didn't they try harder??!?!!?! They should've tried harder or the main studio should've hired writers and directors with more talent and/or cared more.

I just wiki'd who directed and wrote this movie, and the director only has 2 movies before this I never heard of. They should've hired a way more experienced director. As for the writer, he DOESN'T even have a wiki page!!! WOW! So your telling me the studios hired some guy to write this movie has no prior movie writing experience or even show writing experience in his whole life?!?!?! Why was he hired?!?!? No wonder the writing is so bad, and I know there can still be studio inference as well, but we still deserved at least a competent writer for this movie.

This was my last hope for the DC cuz 90percent of their movies are awful, and they recently keep just making flop after flop and it's easy to see why. It BLOWS MY MIND how one of the richest studios struggles to make a single good movie when they have WAY MORE resources than 90% of other movie companies. They can't even decide if this movie is part of the rebooted DCU or not. How about this, you'd never have to worry about rebooting your series in the first place if you just consistently made good movies like youre supposed to! Making good movies should ALWAYS be at the top of your list.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

What happened to the sense of fun?

[3/10 · 11 July 2023]

My main complaint of this movie is that it just lacks fun. Don't get my wrong, there's still usually a lot happening on screen, but they still manage to make it boring somehow. It much reminds me of the Solo movie(another flop with Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in that aspect, a lot is happening, but still very boring somehow. It was a huge struggle to not look at my phone the entire movie.

Kingdome of the Crystal Skull has it's flaws and obviously not the same quality of the first 3 Indiana movies, but at least Crystal still has that classic sense of fun, at least for me.

The entire tone of the Dial is just depressing and slow. It just doesn't feel like Indiana at all. This was meant to be the last Indiana Jones movie ever! So I don't get why they chose to go out on a depressing slow whimper, rather than going out with a bang. I'm still not surprised because it seems modern Disney has some weird obsession with making classic movie male characters into lame depressed people who give up on life, i.e Luke Skywalker, etc. Once again, just like Last Jedi, just because you "subverted expectations" doesn't automatically make it good. And even then, my expectations weren't subverted whatsoever this time, because I know exactly what to expect from modern Disney and that's literally exactly what I got here.

Even the action scenes are mid and many drag-on for way too long. And of course, zero surprise here, but obvious super overuse of awful CGI. Why do modern movies keep doing this for the millionth time? I'm seriously done with big blockbuster action movies after this. Why do they keep making huge big budget movies, yet the there's so much obvious CGI and it's just ugly, fake, and suoerfial looking. Where did the massive budget go?!?! I'm seriously done with watching big budget action movies in theatres now, because it's the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER! I can't tolerate it anymore.

Another aspect of Dial of Destiny being so boring is Phoebe-Waller Bridge. She's by far Indiana's worst sidekick. She's annoying, arrogant, and has zero screen presence/charisma. Any character that has to literally tell you she's "beautiful, smart, charming, etc." is ironically none of those things and overcompensating. Marion, Short Round, Henry Jones Sr were all amazing sidekicks in their own right! All were super funny charismatic or both, and you seen this through their actions, not them literally telling you how amazing they are, the classic "actions speak louder than words" or "show, don't tell." It's literally basic English Writing 101, yet these modern Disney Writers can't even do such basic basics.

I have no idea why Phoebe Waller-Bridge was cast, and why Hollywood is trying to make her the next big thing, it's never gunna happen. She's already been in 2 major flops, has zero star presence, and she's not even easy on the eyes whatsoever. I'm not superficial and don't mean to bring her looks into the equation, but looks will always be a major part in society because it's human nature we have no control over, whether we like it or not. Looks usually play a huge role, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry, it's just how it is.

The whole overall plot is just badly written. I'll just go straight to the ending. Everything at the end is just randomly solved at the end out of nowhere, and took zero real effort to do any of this. All it took was 1 call. So there was no reason Indiana or anyone could've just solved that problem super easily at any time. That's why the ending feels so random and tacked on. It feels almost completely disconnected to the rest of the film. I heard rumors that had to reshoot multiple endings and I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever. Once again, Crystal Skull has it's flaws, but it's ending was still a million times better than this and at least aligns with the rest of the movie. At least Crystal's ending also left me with a happy feeling. While Dial left me with a bored and depressed feeling.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

EXTREMELY mediocre and forgettable. Just because it's based off a video-game, doesn't excuse the super thin plot and lack of character development.

[5/10 · 12 April 2023]

Extremely thin plot with bland characters with no character development. People keep saying, "it's just a kid's movie!!! What else would you expect? DERP DERP!!!!" Well, I still expect an at least decently written movie. Pixar has made a ton of movies aimed at children that are still a million times better than this, even 90s Disney has done the same in their prime. They could've at least made this movie like those and appeal to the whole family, because most Mario fans are adults now, but they decided to make this movie appeal to brain-dead children for whatever odd reason. But even then, I didn't seem much kid's really care for the movie, all this movie has going for children is the bright colors, that's it.

The least this movie could've been was way funnier, then I wouldn't mind it as much, but there is a little to no jokes. My theatre was extremely silent, and just a small chuckle from a few people on very few occasion. Jack Black saying "Peaches" a million times isn't funny, what's the joke there? Or Punchline? Or anything?

And yes, I also heard the argument that even the Mario games have always been thin on plot. Obviously yes, that is true, but that doesn't mean the movie adaption should be the same. It's way more acceptable to video-games to be thin on plot because the gameplay is the main focus, but for movies, the main focus is the plot and/or character development. It's okay for some movies to be thin on plot when they make up for it in character development or comedy, etc, like Superbad for example, when you think about it, the plot is surprisingly thin, just some teenage boys trying to buy alcohol for a party to impress girls they have crushes on, but the character development in that movie is so amazing that you forgot how thin and even typical the actual main plot is. Well, the Mario plot movie is thin too, but also doesn't have any character development or comedy to make up for it, so it makes for a very mediocre and forgettable movie for me. Even the Sonic movie, especially Sonic 2 gave Sonic, Tails, and even Knuckles so much great character development, and it's ALSO a kid's movie and million times better.

So can we please keep this lame excuse of "you can't make most video-games into movies because they are thin on plot." Sonic 2 movie has already proved this wrong, and I believe anything can be adapted amazingly with amazing writing. Obviously not everything will be exactly the same, but that's okay if the more important aspects are in there and most importantly, it's written well. Besides, these writers are paid millions of dollars to do this, and yet this is seriously the best they could come up with? This movie is the very definition of bland, mediocre, and playing it super safe. I can already barely remember this movie after seeing it.

The Last of Us (2023– )

Strong start!!! But gets boring VERY fast after that.

[6/10 · 15 February 2023]

Th first 2 episodes are great!!! Extremely solid adaption.

Pedro Pascal is pretty decent as Joel so far. He does a pretty decent Country accent, but sometimes he sounds like he's doing a bad Native American accent, like what is that? I know he's actually Chilean which is kind of close to Spanish. But overall, Pedro Pascal is doing pretty solid for what he has to work with.

The girl who plays Ellie just does okay. She's a little more annoying than Ellie in the games, but she still does decent, not amazing or anything though.

But then we get to episode 3. What the hell happened here? It's such a drastic drop in quality so fast, it's one of the most jarring things I seen on screen in a long time. Super boring pointless episode, it is the very definition of "filler," and the worst kind. Episode 3 is when the show strays farthest away from the game with a pointless super overly long boring backstory that doesn't justify it's extreme length, because it doesn't effect anything in the main story. The backstory is only briefly mentioned in the games, because it's not super important, there's no pointless 1 hour flashback(that actually feels like 3 hours on the show) showing every single little detail.

BTW, this has nothing to do with the fact that episode 3 is about a gay couple, so don't try to call me "homophobic" because I am not. Even if it was a straight couple, I would still not like it and say the same exact thing, because it's boring, pointless, and drags on way too long. Plus feels like a typical meh Hallmark movie romance. And it completely derails from Joel and Ellie. Episode 3 would've been better if they stuck closer to the games. The show was also lacking action to this point a little bit, if episode 3 was closer to the games, then it would've had way more action as well. Plus I think Nick Offerman is a decent actor, it would've been better to see him banter with Joel and Ellie like in this games for this section.

Episode 4 is an improvement from episode 3, but almost anything would be an improvement because episode 3 is seriously that awful, not an exaggeration. But hardly much happens in episode 4 either, but at least there's some action.

Overall, a pretty mid show, not worth the hype. None of the acting is Oscar-worthy so far.

Violent Night (2022)

Obviously not as good as Die Hard and not very original, but makes it for it up with decent character development, action, and heart.

[8/10 · 3 December 2022]

In my opinion, no action movie will ever surpass Die Hard and Terminator 2, those will always be the top 2 action movies of all time, 10/10. I will be beyond shocked if I ever see another action movie in my lifetime that's as good as those 2 movies.

As the trailers already made obvious, this movie is in fact Die Hard with Santa, there's also some Home Alone and some others sprinkled in. I'm okay with the lack of originality because the characters and action are on point.

David Harbor kills is as Santa. He's the best part of the movie, as he should be. The 2nd best character in the movie is the little girl, Trudi. The relationship between Santa and Trudi is one of the best parts of the movie, and that's where the movie gets most of it's heart, and I'm happy they included that and didn't just make a mindless R-rated action movie. Die Hard and Terminator 2 aren't just generally regarded as some of the best movies of all time because of their amazing action, but also how EXCELLENTLY written they are, and the heart that they have. The heart here is executed just well enough, and actually better than I expected.

The third best character is the main villain, played pretty damn amazingly by John Leguizmo. John Leguizmo is one of my favorite actors of all time, and he does not disappoint here. John is more of a badass here than he usually is, he typically plays more goofy funny characters, or sometimes more serious mature characters, so that's what I'm more used to. He still has his funny moments, but he's overall really badass in this movie and can actually fight, but since when did John Leguizamo know how to fight? 😂. Sid the Sloth can throw hands? I think this is the first time I ever saw John Leguizamo play a badass and it works because he's a good actor. He has played a villain before in Spawn, but that was a more goofy villain with his usual schtick, not just straight-up badass like he is here.

All the other characters are mostly meh for the most part, but I'm okay with that. They are all side characters anyway. Yeah, they could've been better, but the 3 most important main characters were the best part, and that's what matters most. But all the side characters mostly made sense for the story and can see why they were written in the way they are.

The action scenes are generally actually shot and choreographed very well. I was super happy with that because it seems we are seeing less and less of that in modern movies nowadays. My minor gripes about the action is I just wish there was a little more of it with Santa, and the blood looks obviously CGI at some points. I was still pretty shocked at how well some of the fights are, they reminded me of John Wick fight scenes, except of course not as good as John Wick, but that's more than okay. It's still amazing. The blood and gore may be too much for some, but I see violent movies all the time, so I didn't mind it at all. The main thing I care about in terms of action is if the action is well-shot and well-choreographed, and it is! 👍

The music is actually pretty good. There are a lot of classic Christmas songs as expected, and they always fit the scene. But the original score soundtrack is actually really good, and reminiscent of classic Christmas movies too. Some of the score music can sound kinda cheesy at all times because some of it sounds like children's score music, but I get what they were going for, but the score music wasn't a big deal, either way, it did its job well enough. But there is one score track in particular that stood out to me a lot! The song that plays during the final showdown is one of the most epic songs I heard in a while!

My main complaints are pretty minor. It comes down to not as much action as I expected, but still just enough. The side characters are also meh for the most part. The movie also could've been a little funnier, but still was pretty funny overall. I was still engaged to the story a lot overall, mainly because of how amazing Santa was, his character arc, and the heart of the movie, mainly with him and Trudi.

Overall, very solid action flick, but an even better Christmas movie. In my opinion, does in fact have the potential to become a Christmas classic. Obviously not for everyone, but I highly recommend it.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

After failing long awaited Sequels/soft reboots a million times, Hollywood finally got 1 right!!! And this is that 1!

[9/10 · 1 June 2022]

After failing long awaited Sequels/soft reboots a million times, Hollywood finally got 1 right!!! And this is that 1! Fail a million times, you are bound to get a great try eventually. And it's mostly thanks to Tom Cruise, he produces most his movies and he clearly has an EXTRA HUGE passion for what he does, and it shows! Love or hate Tom Cruise, it's extremely respectable what he does. He goes the extra mile by doing all his own stunts, used real jets in this movie to minimize CGI, but most importantly, the story here was ON POINT!

The movie surpasses the original Top Gun in fundamentally every aspect. I never was a huge fan of the OG Top Gun, of all the big 80s classics, I always found it one of the lower tier ones. The sequel vastly improves upon pacing, character development, emotion, action scenes. I almost cried multiple times during Maverick.

You don't really need to see the original to follow and get super invested in this movie, but it does help a little but. The movie is basically a super well-executed build up, with an amazing payoff in the third act. It's been SO LONG since I seen a movie's build-up done this well, and when it finally gets to the big pay-off, not only does it deliver, it KNOCKS IT out the park!!! It is one of the most edge-of-my-seat thing I seen in a movie in a VERY LONG TIME.

My only 2 minor complaints is it's a bit formulaic, but that isn't bad at all when everything else is constantly knocking it out the park. My 2nd minor complaint was the love interest was just decent, but not bad at all.

This movie is everything what a big blockbuster should be. A huge action movie spectacle that isn't braindead at all like most big action movies. If you love action movies, you'll most likely love this. If you are in the military, you'll way most likely love this! If you like amazing movies, you'll most likely love this movie! I cannot recommend this movie enough! I hope this movie makes a ton of money, because we need more like it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Best video-game movie of all time IMO! Video-game movie curse is finally broken.

[9/10 · 19 April 2022]

I know this is not a high bar, but this is possibly the best video-game movie I've ever seen. I just saw it so maybe I have to think about it more, but initial reaction is "Hot damn! That was way better than I expected!" I know the first Sonic movie was generally very well received, but I remember walking out the theatre of that one VERY underwhelmed. My original review of the first movie is still up, and was also written right after I saw it in theatres like this one, and my opinion of the first movie 2 years later, still hasn't changed. But damn, did this 2nd movie up their game in almost every aspect.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were all amazing. I don't remember the last time I ever seen character development done this well in a kids movie. The entire dynamic between this trio was ON POINT! Sonic and Tails was adorable as it should, but they made it extra adorable. While the fighting scenes and banter between Sonic and Knuckles were probably the funniest parts of the movie in my opinion. Jim Carrey's Robonik also has his comedy moments of course, and he's funnier and more lively in this movie than the first one. Not every single joke hits hard, but that's okay, it was never just straight up awful, besides maybe 1 joke, but it's literally just 1 joke.

One minor complaint I have and I've already heard other people have, is the human wedding sideplot goes on just for a tad too long. I've seen a few people who straight up hated this section of the movie, I personally didn't think it was that bad, but it could've been cut down, and does take away a little from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Eggman's main story a little too much. But the theatre was still laughing at the human sideplot, so it's not horrible, just derails the movie a little too much. But after the slight derail from the sideplot, the movie kicks into high gear for a super epic 3rd act.

I think this is might be the best you can possibly get with a super kiddie movie like this, or at least really close. They literally improved the character development, pacing, comedy, EVERYTHING from the first movie. I also can not stress how well the character development is done in this movie, it's what turns good movies into great movies, in my opinion. Highly recommend, for both kids and adults.

Jim Carrey said he's retiring from acting soon, and I wouldn't even be mad if this was his final movie, this is going out with a bang! Despite this is a kid's movie, the heart and everything is so well executed, so its worthy of his last movie.

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Fan Service done right! The hype is real!

[9/10 · 20 December 2021]

To me, why this movie's fan service works and doesn't feel forced, because the core story is extremely solid. At the end of the day, this is Peter, MJ, and Ned's story, they are the anchor of the whole movie, all the fan service surrounding is just a bonus. Why fan service usually doesn't work in other movies because the core story is usually mediocre to awful with so-so character development, like Star Wars Sequel trilogy, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, etc. So as a result the fan service just feels random and unearned. But No Way Home finally does fan service correct because the core story is amazing and can stand on its own. This is the most character development Tom Holland's Spider-Man has ever gotten and it's done extremely well.

The only reason I didn't give this a 10 because some plot convivences are just too convenient. The action scenes and fight scenes aren't bad, but aren't mind-blowing or amazing either. I can't give it a perfect score when a WAY OLDER Spider-Man movies had better fight scenes and action set pieces, most notably Tobey's Spider-Man 2. No Way Home's action scenes are a little too choppy to be considered amazing. Plus as expected, there's an overuse of CGI and it's obvious. I don't get why it's 2021 and they still overuse CGI, it just doesn't look good.

Tobey's Spider-Man 2 is still the best, in my opinion. No Way Home comes EXTREMELY close though, and way worth seeing in theatres.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Combining the 1st game and 2nd game into 1 movie with non-talented writer. Why?

[3/10 · 24 November 2021]

Whos bright idea was it to combine BOTH 1st game and 2nd game into 1 movie? There is so much content packed into the first 2 games, even attempting to pack all that into 1 movie is an INSANELY difficult task. So why would they put this SUPER HARD super unnecessary burden on themselves? Who knows? To even remotely pull something like that off, you have to be an INSANELY talented writer and director, like Quinten Tarantino level of writing skills. But nope, we got "Johannes Roberts," never heard of him? Neither have I, I looked him up just for this movie. His most notable movie is "47 Meters Down," a horrible B-movie shark movie, and now he did this movie, and surprise surprise, this movie has HORRIBLE pacing and sucks. It would make more sense to combine 2nd and 3rd games because they both take place on the same day.

Every actor in this movie is flat, not 1 memorable performance in the whole movie. Claire is extremely basic, pretty much stoic the entire movie, and the few scenes that required her to somewhat act, she failed. Chris looks most like Chris from the games, but he's pretty basic as well. The guy who plays Birkin is always in HORRIBLE movies, I should've known this sucked beforehand because he's in it. From now it, I'm never paying for another movie if that guy is in it. He's just a horrible sign.

Leon is straight-up insulting! I don't even care they changed his race, because they made him a straight-up SUPER idiot with no redeeming qualities. I understand it's his first day of being a cop, but no one is this stupid. You wouldn't even be able to be hired as a cop in the first place if you are this dumb and this big of a weenie. The actual game had a way more realistic approach what a first-day cop would be like, obviously you'd be nervous and that's okay, but no normal person would be this over-the-top dumb and lame like movie Leon. What did the writer have against Leon? It's like they constantly went out of their way to make Leon lame as possible. I guess Leon is their lame attempt at a comic relief character, but even then, there's better ways to do comedy at the expense of a character. Besides, the so called "comedy" wasn't even funny anyway. Leon does get his tiny moment of redemption at the end, but it's so small and underwhelming, plus the character development and pacing is so awful, that it feels like it comes outta nowhere.

Last but not least, this movie looks EXTREMELY cheap. Very cheap-looking production and this has some of the worst CGI I've seen in years. Why is this in theatres only?

It's very hard to come up with positives in this movie, but the only reason I didn't give this movie 1 star is some of the scares were decent and reminiscent of the games, and some set designs were cool and loyal to the games. There's also a lot of cool references and easter eggs to the games, but you can't solely rely on that to carry a movie. I'm not a 12, I need more than that. I need good writing, good pacing, actual character development, good action, etc. First. You know, super common sense stuff.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

This is everything Black Panther should've been.

[7/10 · 13 November 2021]

I know I'm late to the party, but pleasantly surprised how amazing this movie is.

The main character was actually interesting in this movie, unlike Black Panther. I've never heard of Simu Liu before this movie, as I'm sure most people haven't either, but he did his thing. Then there's the 2nd main character, his best friend(and potential love interest?), Katie. I'd normally find a character like this annoying, but it worked, in my opinion at least. It may have worked for me because Shang-Chi and her had amazing chemistry, and it was a type of relationship I don't see portrayed often in movies at all, so that made it even better and more fresher for me.

The action was top notch. It's the Marvel movie I seen with most actual fight chorography, and actually amazing chorography. I heard one of Jackie Chan's stunt team members was the main fight chorographer, and I could see that 100 percent. There is a lot of CGI as expected from an MCU movie, but it's not an overuse of CGI. I think whenever the CGI was used, it was necessary. With the mystic stuff in this movie, CGI is the only way, but the actual fighting and close-quarters combat was actually real, they didn't unnecessarily CGI that like they usually do in other moves *cough* Black Panther *cough* MCU Spider-Man.

As for the main plot, it was a little typical MCU formulaic, but still done better than most Marvel movies I've seen. Overall, highly recommend. I don't meet a lot of people who seen this movie that think it sucks. It's that good!

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Feels like a long boring pilot episode. Video-game movie curse still not broken.

[4/10 · 28 April 2021]

The main character is super boring and not even a real Mortal Kombat character, very dumb decision on the writers. Resident Evil movies already make this mistake!!! This movie should've starred Lu Kang, sure, obviously he already starred in the 90s Mortal Kombat movies, but so what? I rather have any Mortal Kombat character star in a in Mortal Kombat movie than some rando. And the Cole isn't even cool or entertaining to make up for it, he's super boring and bland.

Sonya was passable, she was hot, but that doesn't save her mediocre acting, but to be fair, she wasn't given great material and lines to work with, no one was. Jax was just passable. I don't like the casting for Lu Kang, he just looks too much like a pretty boy, he reminds me of the main blonde kid from Cobra Kai, and I can't stand that kid.

Kano was the main standout surprisingly. Having Kano as the comedic relief was actually a smart move, probably literally the only smart move the writers made. Kano does get kinda annoying sometimes, but still the best character in the movie, but only because everyone else is bad to mediocre.

As for the fight scenes, they were just decent, not great. I was expecting way better fight scenes, but none were straight-up bad, but some have obvious overuse of CGI, but that's already expected of a modern movie. The fights from the 1995 Mortal Kombat move and even some Annilation are better.

Also a big part of why the fight scenes are so forgettable in the new movie is because the music. My God the music in this movie is super bland, cliche, generic orchestral music, and it literally plays for every single fight scene! They seriously couldn't come up with any better and more memorable music for the fights? Or for entire just the entire movie in general? Like no joke, this movie probably has the most generic score soundtrack I've ever heard.

The 1995 Mortal Kombat was cheesy, but at least those fight scenes and music was on point! Like you'd have a dope Metal track for Johnny Cage vs Scorpion, or the banging Techno track for Lu Lang vs Reptile! Cheesy but so epic, and I'm not just speaking from nostalgia. The new movie's music is bland forgettable trash, just like the movie itself. Like even playing a random Pop or Rock song during fights would've been better than the constant generic mediocre orchestral music, more specifically for the Sonya vs Kano fight maybe.

Anyways, by the end, we never actually get to the tournament, which was a dumb decision on the writers. So it feels like a very long boring pilot episode with barely anyone pay-off in the end. Overall, mediocre and forgettable movie.

This is nostalgia goggles aside, but 1995 Mortal Kombat is still a way more entertaining movie than this, obviously no masterpiece, but cheesy fun with an amazing cast, amazing fights, and amazing soundtrack. All of which the new movie lacks except Kano was good, and Sonya and Jax had potential, but bad script didn't help them.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

Boring, unfunny, and way too much (bad)plot.

[2/10 · 24 October 2020]

Love it or hate it, the first Borat movie is a modern classic. We may get annoyed by the bad impressions people constantly do of Borat, but I still find the first movie brilliant. Obviously it's very rare for sequel to be as good as the original, let alone better, so my expectations for this wasn't that high, but damn, I wasn't expecting this movie to be this bad.

First of all, this movie is way too heavy on plot and light on laughs. I may have only chuckled 2 or 3 times in the whole movie. As for the actual skits, none were even close to funny as classic as to the ones in the first movie and show.

Mockumentaries like this don't need to be heavy on plot. The first Borat was super light on actual plot. The plot is just him learning and gathering information from America, but the real plot is just him trying to get sexy time with Pamela Anderson, and that's what makes it funny. Then from that basic plot we get a bunch of cleverly woven sketches from that, and the movie never came to a screeching halt when that plot showed up. Unlike this second movie, the plot of this movie is way too in your face, and it's not even a good plot, it's super cliché, overly sappy, and predictable. I knew exactly what was gunna happen right after seeing the daughter for the first time. Hell, I even knew what was gunna happen when they showed the daughter in the trailer. If you seen any cliché family movie ever, you will know what happens.

As for the daughter, I guess she did a good job for what she had to work with, but she was still annoying to me. I know that's kinda the point that she's supposed to be annoying, but it still doesn't change the fact she annoyed me most the time, and her plot was boring and unfunny. I miss Azamat.

Obviously I support women's rights and always have. I still support that message, but it was just executed horribly, because it was super unfunny and boring. A comedy is supposed to be funny and entertaining. Having a good message in a movie doesn't automatically make it good, and doesn't automatically make someone a bad person for not liking the movie itself. So I 100% support the message of the movie, but never want to see this boring unfunny movie again.

As for politics, I don't care what which side of politics anyone is or what this movie is on. All I care about is if the movie is funny and good, which it isn't. But this movie movie is super preachy with it's side on politics. Where did this even come from? The first movie was nothing like this and just fun. What happened? I wouldn't mind the preachy politics and bad plot if the movie was actually funny, but it isn't.

This is Sascha's worst movie by far, and I seen them all except for Brothers Grimsby. Borat 2 makes Bruno look like a masterpiece. Sacha Baron Cohen has lost his magic. Maybe's he's just too old now, who knows? All I know is that Borat 2 was horrendous. I'm very hard to offend, and Sashca's style has literally never offended me for real. It has nothing to do with if it's offensive or not, I just find the movie super unfunny and boring. To the people thumbing me down, I highly doubt you want to rewatch this movie over and over with friends like the first one. Do you? You are just thumbing me down cuz the movie supports your political views.

Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020)

Very messy and not that funny.

[4/10 · 4 September 2020]

Obviously the first 2 aren't masterpieces of high art, but they are dumb fun and do exactly what their supposed to do. I'm in the minority that likes the 2nd movie more than the 1st. I'd still probably enjoy them watching them today as an adult, even nostalgia aside. I'd even have a blast watching them with my daughter if she ever wanted to see it. But this 3rd movie...........was trash and boring.

The writing was so sloppy and barely any laughs. I might have only found 2 or 3 jokes kinda funny in the entire movie, like that small gun joke was kinda funny.

Keanu Reeves seems like he doesn't care, which is weird because I know he does care about this franchise based off interviews and c'mon, obviously Keanu Reeves is super famous now and doesn't have to do a goofy low budget Bill and Ted movie unless he really wants to. Alex Winter seems to have the role and accent down way better while Keanu Reeves seems that he's grown out of it, maybe he's just too old for this.

I admit the blonde daughter is pretty damn hot and had to look her up right after because how sexy I found her, but her and the other daughter's side plot was a cheap bad rehash of the original, just not even close to funny or memorable as the original.

There was also a cyborg out to kill Bill and Ted, now that sounds interesting, but when you see it in the movie it's so awful and cringe. That robot character was awful. He has like a one-note joke that isn't funny and he keeps doing it. Also Death returns but he not nearly as funny or memorable as he was in the 2nd movie.

Then we get to the ending and it ends super fast. Like they solve the main problem and the movie just ends instantly. Just very jarring and I don't remember the last time I've seen a movie end so abruptly, but whatever, I'll accept it because I couldn't wait for it to end because it was so bad.

I feel so bad because I really wanted to like this movie, I enjoyed the first 2 Bill and Ted movies, I like Keanu Reeves, and I even like Alex Winter. The movie Freaked is amazing and an underrated gem. I honestly believe Alex Winter would be as famous as Keanu if he did more movies, but maybe that just isn't his thing, who knows?

It's just a shame this movie is so bad. 25 plus years and this is the best they could come up with? I like how the movie is positive, but being positive isn't enough to save an entire movie. Thank goodness theatres are closed because I'd be even more disappointed if I watch this in a theatre. I would not recommend this movie unless you're a super diehard Bill and Ted fan or Keanu fan.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

Very underwhelming, but I guess decent for a kid's movie.

[6/10 · 19 February 2020]

This movie is pretty much exactly the same way I felt about Detective Pikachu. Pretty much "MEH!" all across the board. It feels like this movie was written and directed by the same guy who made Detective Pikachu. Both these movies have extremely similar vibes.

But I give Detective Pikachu the slight edge over Sonic the Hedgehog because it was a little funnier and had better visuals. The comedy in Sonic ranged from mediocre to funny, with mostly being mediocre. I only slightly laughed in some parts.

One of the best part of the movie was probably the character arc of Sonic. The movie gives him a little more background than the games do(at least more than the earlier games, because I haven't played much Sonic games after Sonic 06. Oh God, the game was atrocious). The games generally give Sonic zero character arc. He just acts "cool" the entire game without really leaning anything or changing at all. However, the movie gives him the similar care-free fun-having personality, but they actually make him become lonely, which I'm pretty sure has never been in any Sonic games ever. This worked surprisingly well for me, and the emotional moments weren't as awkward as I would expect.

Too bad the plot itself is very short, bland, and basic, but I guess it works for an extremely kiddie movie like this. I know it's a kids movie, but so is something like Shrek or Mulan, which is amazing for both kids and adults. Most Sonic fans are adults now, so it would've made more sense to make a Sonic movie I'm that vein. Why are most kid's movies so overly kiddie nowadays? What happened to kids movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Not saying the Sonic movie should be that dark, but just saying. But Detective Pikachu would've actually been way better if it was in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

It's also kinda dumb how Tom becomes fugitive and all over the news, but everything is okay for him at the end and does zero jail time, or no fighting it in court. Sonic also sends Robotnik all alone to another planet. Don't get me wrong, Robotnik was evil and mean, but that punishment is still way too harsh. The government also just forgets about him and act like it's okay one of their men just disappeared off the face of the Earth, WTF? I know it's a kids movie, but that was so dumb and makes no sense.

As for Jim Carrey as Robotnik, he was just okay. I enjoyed most of it, but just wish it was better. He pretty much did his 90s schtick, except a little more tame. But Robotnik isn't supposed to be like Ace Ventura so it's okay.

The action scenes are one of the best parts of the movie. My favorites are the slow motion scenes where we see everything from Sonic's perspective. It's almost exactly like the Quicksilver scenes from the X-Men Movies. The Quicksilver slow motion scenes are better, but Sonic slow motion scenes are still amazing. If the Sonic sequel every comes, there's always gotta be at least 1 slow motion scene upping the previous movie's, but don't want to have too many slow motion scenes per movie, then it gets tired. 1 or 2 per movie is perfect.

One more little complaint is the blatant product placement of Olive Garden. I've seen tons of product placement in movies, but this was on the worst and most obvious I've ever seen. When they talk about Olive Garden, it sounded straight out of an ad, not how people talk in real life. I don't mind product placement when it's just logos or items in the background, because it's actually realistic that way anyway. Product placement is only horrible when they talk about it like an ad. It almost took my out the movie even though it was only like 10 seconds every time it's mentioned.

Sadly, this movie has not broken the video-game movie curse, just wasn't good enough. I'm still waiting for a exceptionally and objectively amazing video-game movie. Hopefully the sequel will be way better because there is actually potential here surprisingly. I'm 100% sure there's gunna be a sequel, because the end left it open for a sequel, and this movie is doing amazing at the box office. Tails looks amazing! Actually better than Sonic.

Birds of Prey (2020)

Just Fun. Good if you don't take it too seriously.

[7/10 · 14 February 2020]

Honestly surprised, wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and as I hear most people online saying.

Obviously Margot Robbie is the star and the most entertaining in the whole movie. I found her kinda annoying in Suicide Squad and a little cringe, but she's much better here. I don't get why it's called Birds of Prey when this is mainly Harley's story.

The other main girls are okay, but don't get much development. My fav out of them was Huntress, it's not often you see a badass who's also socially awkward, so that was fresh. But sorry, that little Asian girl playing Cassandra Cain was horrible and pretty bad actress. I know it's just a child, but still. Millions of dollars go into movies like this, so they should've gotten a better child actress, looks like they just pick some random little girl from off the street. She's also supposed to be future Batgirl. I think they should've went with a better and more fit child actress. She should've been like Hit Girl from Kick-Ass, flipping around, stabbing people, and being badass. I also just wasn't buying the relationship between Harley and Cassandra because it wasn't developed well and the Cassandra actress is terrible. I actually wanted that to be better than it was.

The action and fight scenes were one of the best parts of the movie. Huge upgrade from the action scenes in Suicide Squad. Most the action scenes are amazing, and it was because the fight choreographer of John Wick did them. I heard the director of this movie was relatively new and didn't know how to do action, so they had to get another director just for the action scenes. But there is one mediocre fight scene that stuck out like a sore thumb, and it's obvious the John Wick choreographer wasn't present for that one. That one fight looks almost straight out of old-school Adam West Batman, without the cartoon exclamation effects.

I'm not familiar with the comics, but I liked the villain of Black Mask, but that's mainly due to the actor. It's freakin' Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the most underrated actors in the mainstream. He isn't given much to work with though, but he always elevates what's he has to work with. But his climatic end fight was super underwhelming. I mean, it's Obi-Wan Kenobi, so he could've obviously had a final sword fight with Harley, that would've been epic. I even hear from comic fans he's a master swordsman, yet they didn't use that at all in the movie. That was a huge wasted opportunity.

Ewan Mcgregor plays an over-the-top misogynist. I heard some people complain about the feminism in this movie, but I didn't think it was too much. It really wasn't too noticeable. There was only one real scene where Black Mask forces a girl to take her dress off, and it just feels so out-of-place. It was just randomly there for "muh feminism," but he's the bad guy, so you're supposed to hate him anyway, but still.

Also one of the last fight scenes where all the main girls overpower like 100s of dudes in a fight scene. That's where it took my suspension of disbelief too far. Plus what happened to all their guns? That scene would've been better and more believable if the girls were strategic about it and had more of a plan, maybe split up at some point. Plus it's Harley's hideout, so the movie should've showed Harley using her brain and taking advantage of having the home court. Would've been way better and logical if the girls use their brains somehow to realistically overpower those huge hordes of henchmen, rather them all just running and gunning everyone and actually winning unrealistically that way. And would've been a way better way of showing female empowerment, rather than it coming off forced when 5 women all beating the crap out of 100s of dudes with guns blazing with no strategy. It also doesn't help that this is the worst fight scene in the movie, the only one with bad choreography that I was talking about earlier.

It's still just a fun entertaining movie that I wouldn't take too seriously. I think it could've been way better, but it is what it is. It's just I think Margot Robbie is an amazing actress and deserves better, but this movie was still passable.

Uncut Gems (2019)

One of the most "edge of your seat" movie that I've seen in a long time.

[10/10 · 7 January 2020]

Once the most started, I was glued to the screen, and the movie only got more and more intense. Adam Sandler's character just keeps digging myself farther into a hole.

This movie is very similar to Good Time, but this is way better. I thought Good Time was just good, but not great. Uncut Gems is an improvement, it's amazing. It's hard to pinpoint why I like Uncut Gems way more, it might be because I cared about Adam Sandler's character way more than Robert Pattinson's. We get to know Howard way better. Howard is kinda a idiot, but I want to see him succeed for some odd reason. He seems like he would be a good man if he wasn't addicted to gambling.

I never heard of "Julia Fox," but she was so good and beautiful in the movie that I had to look her up right after the movie. Shockingly, it turns out this is her first movie, WOW! I expected a way bigger filmography from her because she seems like a super experienced actor. And not that I only care about looks, but she's legitimately one of the most beautiful actresses I've ever seen, up there with Felicity Jones, but even her beautiful looks aside, this an amazing breakout role for her.

But movie isn't for everyone. I seen some complaints that the movie is too depressing, loud, and/or angry, etc. I agree, but still loved this movie, and not all movies are meant to be all happy. This movie intentionally supposed to be loud, angry, and depressing. In my opinion, too many movies are too happy and light-hearted, especially in the mainstream. It's nice to see the other side every now and then, and a movie that challenges it's audience. Nothing wrong if you like happy movies, but I personally don't understand why anyone would only want to see happy movies their entire life, to each his/her own. Besides, main thing I care about if the movie keeps my attention, and this movie kept my attention way more than any movie in a very long time. I was never bored.

And damn that ending. I won't spoil it, go see the movie because it's that good. I saw this movie like a week ago and ending still hits me hard, even just thinking about it. To me, it's an unforgettable movie. Most movies, I forget about them like a day or two, even some movies I directly forget right after I watch it *cough* Rise of Skywalker *cough*. But Uncut Gems has stuck with me.

If they ever make a live-action Akira movie, the Safdie Brothers are the only American ones worthy to direct it. Even this movie soundtrack sounds so Akira, and I mean that in the best way possible. Classic 80s synth!

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Convoluted non-sense plot that feels like it was written by a 12 year old.

[3/10 · 24 December 2019]

When did Star Wars become Micheal Bay's Transformers? I know it's pretty much impossible to consistently follow-up the train wreck of The Last Jedi, but is this really the best they could come up with?

This also might be the most inconsistent trilogy I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen a lot of movies. They didn't have a plan from the start, and it's super obvious just from watching these movies. JJ Abrams wrote The Force Awakens with no intention of finishing it, then Rian Johnson comes with The Last Jedi and selfishly says "F epsiode 7" and does his own edgelord thing. Not only ignoring JJ's setup, but ignoring all Star Wars lore in general. Now with Rise of Skywalker, we have JJ clapping back at Rian, making most of Last Jedi pointless. Movies in this trilogy constantly retconning each other, it's beyond than just a mess. Calling it a mess is a massive understatement. It's like JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson rap battling each other, except in movie making form, and a huge brand loved by millions is no time for an immature rap battle.

This movie's plot is bad rip-off of Empire Stikes Back and Return of the Jedi combined. Rey finds out she's Sidious' granddaughter, similar to how Luke found out he's Vader's son. The entire final battle is a rip-off Sidious throne room scene in Return of the Jedi, except with none of the heart, and even cringe in some parts. And they already ripped off that same scene in Last Jedi, LOL! How many times are they gunna rip-off the same scene? Do they not have any orginal ideas? They also have Death Star returning again, kinda. Except they now put Death Star weapons on smaller ships, but it's the same concept and makes no real difference, SMH! It also makes no sense, because there was a legit reason why the Death Star had to be that big in order to support a laser that strong to destroy entire planets. Why do these writers lack any tiny bit of creativity?

I'm aware they say they stick to familiar things to play it safe, but that doesn't means they should copy and paste everything from old movies. Have orginal ideas, but still has the heart of Star Wars, and keeps consistent with previous movies, that's all they had to do, and obviously you can't please all fans, but if they did that, they would please the majority of fans(and people with common sense), way more fans than they pleased with this non-sense trilogy.

The action is also boring, bland, and forgettable. I'm willingly to forgive a bad or okay plot if the action is amazing, like John Wick for example, but this? No way. There isn't one decent light saber fight in this entire movie. The Rey and Kylo water fight was the best in the movie, but still mediocre. I know Star Wars is more than just light saber fights, but every movie should have at least 1 iconic light saber fight, especially when there's no good plot to fall back on. Even the final space battle is bland, like a Transformers movie sequel battle.

It beyond boggles my mind how a billion-dollar franchise can be handled so poorly, and by one of the richest companies on Earth with almost unlimited resources. How are JJ Abarams and Rian Johnson such awful writers? How are they paid millions to do this? They should stick to only directing, and stay FAR AWAY from writing. I swear, I've seen way better and consistent writing from regular community college students. How did hacks like JJ and Rian gets so high up? I guess this is just further proof of, it's just about who you know and what connections you have, not actual talent.

Overall, boring, convoluted, boring characters I don't care about, and very forgettable movie. It feels like these movies are made from a committee, rather than a man or team with a real vision, and are true fans of Star Wars. I refuse to call this the end of the Skywalker saga. The real end of the Skywalker saga is the end of Return of the Jedi.

Train to Busan (2016)

Decent, but lacks any real innovation.

[6/10 · 13 October 2019]

This movie was quite entertaining, but really lacks any innovation or originality. It's pretty much just another zombie movie. It really adds nothing to the genre. I just wish there was more about this movie to take in, but there's not. I don't see myself ever rewatching this movie, it just isn't that great.

The characters are all just okay. As most would agree, the big Jackie Chan-looking guy was the best. The main Dad character was pretty bland. His ending arc was kinda cheesy, like a typical Korean Drama.

Then we have the typical over-the-top d-bag villian. The writers went out of there way to get the audience to hate the guy as much as possible. I don't know, just seems cheap, in my opinion. Th villian was pretty lame and cliche.

But what's up with so many people gushing over the pretty cheerleader? Don't get my wrong, she is quite pretty, but too many people are making a huge deal out of her beauty when it's not even nesscary. Guys acting like virgins who's never seen a pretty girl before. I've even seen reviews that just talk about this girls looks, and barely review the movie itself, then they rate it like a 9/10 or 10/10, LOL! Why would someone base a movie review off the looks of just one character? That doesn't make sense for a movie review.

But for all the characters, they lacked real actual character development. They are all kinda bland, one-note, and with not much real growth. But the movie is more focused on just them escaping zombies. This movie would've been amazing if they developed the characters more and had some originality for the zombie genre.

The movie is still worth seeing for the amazing special effects and suspense. It's best watched with friends or girlfriend. But movie is nothing of substance that will stick with you, for me at least.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Dissapointing with a very convoluted plot.

[4/10 · 27 September 2019]

Just recently rewatched this and my main problem is lack of character development and the "plot," if you even want to call it that.

The plot isn't cohesive whatsoever. The plot starts out okay, I did like the introduction to all the main characters, but after that, it's all downhill. It's like this movie just skims through the NWA Wikipedia page very sloppily. That could work for a documentary, but it doesn't work for an actual feature film/story, it gets so boring. A feature film needs a cohesive plot and narrative. Even just random scenes happen just cuz they happened in real life or based on real life events. Just because something happened in real life doesn't mean you should put it in the story. When you're telling the story based off real life, you need to trim the fat. Like for example, Snoop Dogg randomly shows up, then we pretty much never see him again for the rest of the movie. His character and appearance adds nothing to the plot or anything. They just put him there because he's Snoop Dogg.

Also lack of character development. They are just mostly angry most of the movie, and no real growth near the end. I would've gave Easy-E the most to do, most character development, and humanize him the most because he obviously dies at the end. They also sidelined MC Ren and DJ Yella. I know they are the lesser known members, but that's an ever better reason to give them more to do, they had do be doing more behind the scenes that most don't know about. That's another problem with this movie, they mainly just skim through most stuff that NWA fans and most Hip-Hop fans already knew, like the basic stuff. If you're an NWA fan, you're gonna learn nothing new in this movie about them. So what's the point? Unlike the Prince movie, "Purple Rain," you learn so much about his life and struggles that most people didn't know before the movie's release. "Purple Rain," an actual good music biopic. I would've forgave "Straight Outta Compton" for just telling us the basic details of their life if the plot and character development were amazing and engaging, but they weren't, they sucked.

Then the movie ends with Dr. Dre saying, "I'm gonna start Aftermath." Cool, how does that even correlate with the rest of the movie? Barely anything correlates in this movie. As I said before, just because that's what Dre did in real life doesn't make it okay. If I made a story of my life, I wouldn't include so many random details all randomly stringed together, that's just bad writing, doesn't matter if everything I said actually happened. There still has to be a cohesive narrative.

And don't tell me I don't understand this movie because I'm not from the hood or not a Hip-Hop head, etc. That's irrevant, a good story is a good story. I'm not from the Hood, but think "Boyz-N-The-Hood" is a 10/10 movie. Doesn't matter what walk of life anyone is from, a good story is a good story, and a bad story is a bad story. Execution of a story is very important. I'm sure there is a great story of NWA somewhere, but this isn't it, because it's executed horribly. It seems like a cheap straight-to-MTV movie.

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

Almost 2 years later, still the most disappointing movie I've ever seen in my life.

[2/10 · 22 August 2019]

Since Rise of Skywalker is coming soon, I'd figure I'd write this.

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said? Here's all the legit problems that come up most.

The comedy is horrible and forced. It's like discount MCU humor, and MCU humor isn't even that great to begin with. Typical random forced awkward slapstick comedy. Finn falling and water tubes squirting everywhere, WTF? They even try to insert their horrible comedy in serious scenes, taking away all the tension.

Rey is bland, boring, has no character development, super powerful with little to no training or explanation. They had a chance to semi-explain her natural (God-like)talent, but they throw that out the window by saying her parents are nobodies. They could've made up anything better to explain, like she has previous Jedi training yet mind was wiped, a clone, and/or she was related to a very talented Jedi or force user, etc. Literally anything would've been more interesting that saying her parents are nobody. I get the writer and defenders of this trash movie saying, "She's a nobody cuz that means anyone can be something. It's inspiring for normal people, derp derp!" That's a cute cliche elementary school message, but it sucks, and executed so horribly in the movie. I've seen PBS kids shows execute this cliche message a million times better than Last Jedi, because Rey does not earn her skill or power, which is NOT normal and not relatable at all.

Also how does Kylo Ren know her parents are nobody, and why does Rey just believe him? WTF? A logical explanation I could come up with was Kylo was doing mind tricks on her, but Disney isn't smart enough to come up with stuff like that, and they can't dare show Rey get bested by anyone, because she's a Mary Sue. Cliche saying but it's true.

It's already been said a million times, but Luke Skywalker is ruined. Look, I get we all have our moments of weakness. If I really reach, I can accept him trying to kill his newphew, despite her tried to save his father that's done way more evil stuff. What I can't accept is how he gives up and exiles himself for so long over this one little incident. Giving up is normal, but giving up for that long over something not that big is NOT normal, especially for Luke Skywalker. Multiple planets are destroyed by Kylo, Han Solo is killed by Kylo, the majority of the Resistance is killed, Leia is almost killed by Kylo, yet Luke still hides, WTF?

The other characters are even more trash. Finn is super pointless, and partnered with another even more pointless diversity-for-hire character, Rose. Their entire sideplot is a huge chunk of the movie, yet completely pointless, and has pointless forced preachy real-life political messages that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. The movie literally pauses just to lecture us on animal rights and capitalism. Obviously I'm for animal rights, but that doesn't mean you should pointlessly shoe-horn it in any movie. Finn also repeats the same character arc of bravery he already did in Force Awakens, except executed way worse and cringe.

Finn and Rose kiss scene on Crait is one of the worst scenes I've ever seen in a movie in a very long time. She kisses him and does that stupid non-sense "it's not about killing the ones we hate, but saving what we love" line while the First Order laser is shooting to kill the Resistence. Finn was literally just about to save the ones he loved, so WTF? She puts the entire Resistance in danger over a cringe crush she has on Finn. If I was Finn, and she tried to kiss me, I'd push her off me, slap her, and call her a "selfish b*tch." If Luke didn't show up, which no one knew was gonna happen, Rose would've got the entire Resistance killed, just for some dumb zero-chemistry crush.

Finn and Rose is probably the worst forced cringe "romances" I've ever seen on the big screen, this even makes Anakin and Padme's romance in Attack of the Clones look good. Nothing they do in the Crait scenes makes sense. How do they not both die or seriously injured when Rose crashes into Finn's ship? Why doesn't the First Order kill them right there since they are now both completely exposed right in front of them? How does Finn manage to drag Rose all the way back to the bunker ON FOOT before the First Order, who has ships. WTF X 1000.

There's also one more awful sideplot with Poe, where he mindlessly learns to obey authority without questioning it. It's just super dumb. Too many sideplots in this movie, and they all suck, along with the main plot.

So then we get to the ending. The Resistance is all happy, which makes no sense since the vast majority of their group has just been massacred. They can literally fit their entire group on the Millennium Falcon. The ending should've been somber like the ending of Empire Strikes Back.

Just because it "subverted expectations" doesn't automatically mean it's good. Great writing/engaging plot, consistency, great character development, etc. all comes way before that, all of which this movies fails hard at. At least get those 3 things right before you can worry about subverting expectations and extra layers. Rian Johnson just comes off as an edgelord. He subverts expectations just for the sake of it, and it comes at the expense of any consistency within the story. Trust me, obviously I want originality and unpredictability in new Star Wars and in movies in general, but first and foremost, it has to actually be good and make sense. Just because you have a twist doesn't automatically mean it's a good twist. Rian Johnson is not a talented enough writer to make twist in a satisfying way while also still making sense within the overall story. It's everything "I am your Father" is not.

I swear, I can't think of anything positive to say about this movie, aside from the visuals. Don't call me a Star Wars hater, because I'm not. I wanted to love this movie so bad, but deep down, I just can't. I love Star Wars, even the prequels, I understand the prequels flaws, but they are still very entertaining to me with many amazing memorable scenes and quotes. Despite the prequels aren't perfect, you can tell there's heart and passion behind them. People still quoting the prequels, even the good quotes, because these movies were made with passion. No one quotes Disney Star Wars because there's no heart or passion going into them. It's just greedy corporate Disney shoe-horning their identify politics into it and milking the franchise for money, just like Luke milking that alien t*t, smh!

Last Jedi probably is the most the most disappointing theatre experience of my life. I would never in a million years expect a Star Wars movie to be this bad. It's actually mind-blowing. I heard people say It gets better on multiple viewings, for me, it gets worse! I could barely finish it the second time because bit was SO BORING! This movie has zero rewatchability. No way I can watch that a third time. It seems some hardcore Star Trek fan wrote this movie in order to troll Star Wars and destroy it.

Some say it's for kids, but this movie is insulting to even a kid's intelligence. I will never show my daughter this movie, she deserves better. I was a kid when I loved all 6 original Star Wars movies. I was in 4th grade when Revenge of the Sith hit theaters. Just cuz a movie is aimed at kid's doesn't excuse awful writing, cringe comedy, bad characters, etc. Kids shouldn't be treated like idiots either, they are growing. Movies like Toy Story are great for kid's, because it also has great writing. Even Mulan tells the tale of a strong brave woman a million times better than Force Awakens and Last Jedi, and without overcompensating. Besides, Star Wars is for the whole family in my opinion. But Last Jedi aren't for my kid, and obviously isn't for me.

I'm also not a straight White male, I'm a straight Brown Mexican male, and I still hate forced diversity and identity politics shoved in movies. I hate how ignorant people call others "racist, sexist, homophobic, etc." for not liking this trash movie. I'm none of those things. It's just a trash movie with trash writing, period. I don't care which race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is involved. Rian Johnson is a straight White male and I think he sucks because he's writing sucks. People who say that need to come up with legit criticisms and arguments like a normal intelligent adult. I accept everyone has different opinions and won't insult you personally if you like Last Jedi. I'm mature enough to accept everyone has different opinions, but you can't ignore the big objective flaws of this movie. And very rare people who claims to like The Last Jedi that I talked to never have any legit reasons on why they like it. They are generally only Far Left people, and/or hipster special snowflakes who go against the popular opinion just for the sake of it, just to feel special. If you truly want Star Wars to continue down this same path as Last Jedi, then wow! I have a very hard time believing you are serious, but I still respect your opinion despite I'm highly against it.

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019)

One of Quentin Tarantino's weaker movies. Barely feels like a Quentin Tarantino movie.

[7/10 · 17 August 2019]

I loved Leonardo Discaprio and Brad Pitt in this movie. They are both probably the best part of the movie, along with the third act.

The plot was probably the worst part of this movie, not saying it's awful, just the worst part of the movie. Really bloated and disconbobulated. Most Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate scenes were pretty pointless in terms of plot. She also barely says anything or barely even acts. Why hire such a big named actress just for that? But some her scenes are oddly touching. I get where Quentin was going for with her, trying humanize her to make us feel even worse because we know her dark fate, then he subverts our expectations at the end by not killing her. So that again makes her scenes kinda pointless.

There's a very long scene of Brad Pitt driving a hippie girl to her home, then him wanting to talk to a person there who he used to know. And why are all the hippies so mad at Brad Pitt's character for wanting to talk to George? It seems Quentin Tarantino was just trying to subervt expectations just for the sake of it, cuz he built it up as if they killed him or something, but actually nothing happened and he's fine. So why are they so mad at Brad Pitt for this? Don't get me wrong, this scene is probably one of the best of the movie just for the suspense, but still, what was the point of this scene? Maybe just to build up the main killer who shows up again at the random ending? Still not justified enough for me. I also understand it's based on a similar situation that happened in real life, but that still doesn't excuse that's it's pointless in context of the movie itself.

Most people are saying the last 10-20 minutes of the movie is the best part. I do agree it's very entertaining, but it's kinda random in terms of the actual plot of the movie. I understand this is a spin on the real life Manson murders, but that still doesn't excuse it's inconsistency with the rest of the plot. There was no build up to this, but it's still entertaining AF.

Aside from that, you get a lot of talking on movie/TV show sets and driving around Los Angeles in the 60s. It's slow and not for everyone, but I personally enjoyed most these scenes, and just seeing 60s LA, etc. Most of this talking isn't Tarentino's classic high quality dialogue though. The dialogue in most other Tarantino movies is MILES BETTER, some of the most classic and quotable movie dialogue I've ever heard in my life, but still some great dialogue and acting in this movie. I actually forgot this is a Quentin Tarantino movie cuz it doesn't feel like one. For the most part, it feels like a basic movie that could've been directed or written by anyone. Aside from the over-the-top violent ending, that was classic Tarantino.

Overall, definitely one of Tarantino's weaker movies, but I was still entertained most the movie, even the slower scenes. I just hope this isn't Quentin's last movie, because I know he can do way better than this. I hope he does a horror movie for his last movie, because that final scene was so amazing.

Stuber (2019)

Not as bad as most say.

[8/10 · 17 July 2019]

I thought this was a very entertaining and funny movie, and that's all it has to be for a movie like this. I really don't get the hate. It seems most people I talk to in real life like or love this movie, but most reviews and comments I see on the internet hate this movie. Weird.

The cop plot is cliche but that doesn't matter, cuz just like Rush Hour, the movie is about the comedy, action, adventure, and chemistry between the 2 leads. This isn't as good or classic as Rush Hour, but still a great time and worth a theatre ticket to see with friends.

I don't get why so many critic reviews and IMDB reviews are so bad for this movie. Am I missing something? The majority of my theatre was constantly laughing and left extremely pleased and happy. It's just a nice little fun feel good movie and it does it very well. Stuber is way better than these other new buddy unfunny forced comedies like Ride Along(ugh!), Central Intelligence, etc. I didn't like this movies at all. Stuber is way better. It's not an Oscar movie. Judge it for what it is and what it's trying to be.

For me, the best buddy cop movie is the original Rush Hour, that's a 10/10 for the buddy cop genre. Stuber is not that far behind. Maybe I'm just immature, but I found myself smiling and laughing at this movie way more than expected.

I also enjoyed Stu's sideplot more than Vic's main plot, which is a cop cliche plot, but is good enough for this type of movie. Basically, Stu's sideplot takes a unique take on the nice guy gets the girl plot, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The chemistry between Vic and Stu was actually quite good. They are 2 polar opposites who bounce off eachother as expected, opposites usually make the funniest pairing, that's usually how this buddy cop movies work, and for me, it delivered here. Also the emotional scenes between them didn't feel forced and actually quite touching.

My only minor problem is Iko Uwais plays the main villian in the movie, and he was badass in The Raid movies, but he isn't given much to do here.