It's time for another Mini-Movie Reviews, but with a little twist. A few weeks ago, as of the time I'm writing this article, I had a week long Thanksgiving break. So, I did what I normally do when I'm home... I saw movies. And while I did not have the time to fully review everything, considering I had a lot of homework to do during that week, I figured I would include everything I saw into one of these mini-movie reviews! I saw all of these films over the week long break I had. Some of these are recent, and some of these came out all the way at the beginning of the year. Click here to read the previous edition. Without further ado, let's get things started!
Overlord
Release Date: November 9
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro, and Iain de Caestecker.
Score: 7/10 (Good)
Overlord was one of the most intense movies I've seen all year, and it was an absolute blast. The action is fast paced, brutal, and highly entertaining to watch, whether it's in the war scenes or in the zombie scenes. The presentation is great, with beautiful cinematography, a fantastic score, and some of the best sound design of the year. And the effects of the zombie creatures, and the gore in general, are so disgusting yet so well done. The kills are super satisfying to watch, even if they are grotesque at times. Plus, there are some good performances with well written dialogue exchanges, as well as a relationship between a soldier and child that I found quite charming. Unfortunately, there are a few things that prevent me from loving this movie. First, the characters are not remotely interesting. Their personalities are dull, and with the exception of the lead and the girl, they aren't very sympathetic. Second, there are some dumb things that happen. Whether it be with the consistency of the science created in the world or moments that occur in the film, there are a few instances that caused me to question the movie. Third, the second act drags. There is a large section in the middle of the film that slowed. Luckily, the third act was awesome, and made for one of my favorite final action scenes of the year. Though not one of my favorite films, Overlord was a lot of fun. If a World War 2 movie with zombies sounds as awesome to you as it does to me, then I'd suggest you check it out. It's a hoot and a half.
The Cloverfield Paradox
Release Date: February 4
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Bruhl, John Ortiz, Chris O'Dowd, Aksel Hennie, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki, and Roger Davies
Score: 3/10 (Bad)
This movie frustrates me. I like the other two Cloverfield films, especially 10 Cloverfield Lane. And there were elements of The Cloverfield Paradox that I found to be decent. The visuals and music aren't too bad, the performances are pretty good, and the lighting is really cool. However, in terms of story and characters, this movie is really bad. I did not give a crap about a single character in this film. None of them have personality, and the only character that is even remotely sympathetic is only because her motivation is "I love my family." The story is very stupid, with many instances where things would happen for no particular reason. Characters would get killed off in the stupidest ways possible, and the reason why is "science." Some of these moments were downright laughable because of how dumb they were. However, the worst part of the film is the completely pointless subplot following the main character's husband while on earth, which takes up a total of around 20 minutes of screentime. Its only purpose is to tell the audience that we're watching a Cloverfield movie. This movie is a mess with bad writing, bad characters, and a bad and incredibly confusing story. The best thing about The Cloverfield Paradox was its marketing. The marketing was wasted on such a missed opportunity.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
Release Date: November 16
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Judd Law, Zoe Kravitz, Ezra Miller, Alison Sudol, and Johnny Depp
Score: 4/10 (Mediocre)
Fantastic Beasts 2 suffers from a lot of the same problems the first one did, mainly the story. However, with this one, it's a lot worse. The storytelling is so sloppy and over-complicated that it's hard to tell what's going on. It's dull, boring, and goes nowhere. The climax is practically nonexistent, and there are some moments that are so dumb that I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the screen. While the first Fantastic Beasts film felt like two movies that, while not feeling cohesive, went somewhere, this sequel has only one story, but its an aimless one at that. And while I was able to still enjoy myself in the first one because of the entertaining characters, the lore, and the creatures, I just could not get into them here. The characters are very uninteresting this time around, and the whole "fantastic beasts" draw adds very little to the movie. In fact, the moments that focus on the creatures are the only entertaining parts of the movie. The magic and whimsy make an appearance during those moments, and they result in some cute scenes. And the overall presentation of the film is quite nice. The cinematography, special effects, and music are all great. Besides that, this was a slog to get through. If you are super into Harry Potter lore, then you might like this one, but honestly, I don't think it's worth it. Out of all the movies within the Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is my least favorite.
A Wrinkle in Time
Release Date: March 9
Starring: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Pine
Score: 1.5/10 (Disaster)
Fans of the book hate this movie. I have never read A Wrinkle in Time, and I hate this movie. The film version of A Wrinkle in Time is one of the most poorly executed movies I've seen in a while, and the worst Disney movie I've seen since 2015s Pan. The directing is some of the worst I've seen all year, with a lot of the framing looking off. Most of the cinematography is unimpressive, most of the special effects are garbage, and most of the performances are terrible. Plus, the script is horrible. None of the dialogue and character interactions felt natural. The pacing is slow and choppy, and the weird, magical moments that should be in the film are stupidly executed. This film also contains some of the worst editing I've seen all year. The shot composition is horrendously choppy, and some of the editing decisions included in this film are downright embarrassing. It's bad. It's really bad. As for positives, there are a total of two scenes that have pretty colors. The environments aren't interesting, but the colors are nice to look at. And Chris Pine gives the only good performance of the entire film, even if his character did not feel genuine in the slightest. That's all I've got. This movie was absolutely horrendous. If you haven't watched it, don't. If you have watched it, I feel your pain. If you've watched it and somehow enjoyed it, I must ask... how? As of right now, A Wrinkle in Time is easily the worst movie I've seen all year.
Comments