Movie Reviews from Chris

★★ ★ 1/2   out of ★★★★ Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) Runtime: 117 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for dark thematic material, violence, peril, some rude humor and brief smoking. Before we dissect the movie, let's take some time to explain why the clunky and long title is  deliberately  long and clunky. This year, we've had a surge of Pinocchio remakes, with one foreign language remake (it's titled: Pinokkio. Pravdivaya istoriya) I barely even knew existed, and of course, the poorly received Robert Zemeckis remake. Pinocchio is a story we've known as far as the old ages, and co-writer/co-director Guillermo del Toro shows us how to re-tell the story. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is one of the rarest of animated films that shows us honest and dark territory. We've got a hurtful depiction of a father losing his child and consuming excessive alcohol. We've got manipulative people who take advantage of their assets and pretend to have a friendly persona in ...

★★ ★   out of ★★★★ Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) Runtime: 139 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for strong language, some violence, sexual material and drug content. Considering the controversy after Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it must have been a miracle for writer/director Rian Johnson to produce such a highly entertaining film, Knives Out (2019). With a colourful cast and an engaging mystery, it was such a breath of fresh air that the entire movie concluded with a surprising twist that connected all the dots in a fashionable way. Rian Johnson returns to the Knives Out franchise, with "Glass Onion" (Full title: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), where he has expanded the cast, lavish setting, the story and its flashbacks, the runtime, and of course, the twists. For the most part, "Glass Onion" is genius. At least it is... right until its questionable conclusion. "Glass Onion" starts, and very unusually, in a post-pandemic world. There's numerous re...

Note: Aligning with the recent release of Avatar: The Way of Water, I figured out it'd be best to re-watch (and review since I haven't!) its predecessor, Avatar. ★★★★  out of ★★★★ Avatar (2009) Runtime: 162 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense epic battle sequences and warfare, sensuality, language and some smoking. Get that Blu-Ray DVD of Avatar in the highest quality. It deserves to be seen and appreciated until the end of time. Avatar isn't simply just a film or entertainment, but an immersive experience, one that makes you marvel over it throughout it's spectacular 162 minutes. Each frame is packed with so much detail and made with so much effort that you would want a few rewinds or replays to appreciate the technical aspects of the film, while at the same time, writer/director James Cameron has crafted - dare I go against the crowds - a hefty plot that manages to sneakily add in themes of war, human greed, decisions and its consequences. First, let's start wit...

★ 1/2  out of ★★★★ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) Runtime: 107 minutes MPAA: Rated R for strong violence and gore, and language throughout. The title of the movie I'm reviewing suggests why I've taken so long to watch this. If you can recall, in an earlier review I wrote about "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter", I wrote these following things: "This movie is an utterly meaningless waste of time, and the only way for the director, Paul W.S. Anderson, to tell us that he and his wife are cool and no one else." "I haven't seen the remake yet, but let's hope this is the last time we'll ever see something this lazily contrived." After finally getting myself to watch the reboot from writer/director Johannes Roberts, I can say that  thankfully  the editing and camerawork are not as abhorrent as the previous installment, and much more steady. While I can say that Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City has an adequate blend of stor...

★★ 1/2   out of ★★★★   ( 👍 ) Bullet Train (2022) Runtime: 127 minutes MPAA: Rated R for strong and bloody violence, pervasive language, and brief sexuality. With normal bullet trains running at a maximum of 200 miles per hour, one can trace its development and history back to 1964, when the  first high-speed rail system began its operations in Japan. The bullet train is also known as the  Shinkansen,  and nine high-speed rail lines  carry more than 420,000 passengers on a typical weekday. Think about how crammed these passenger trains are, and think about how it has made transportation these days  so  convenient for citizens to travel to their workplace and home. As of today, the railway systems boast that , in its 50 years of operation,  it has never experienced any  passenger fatalities or injuries due to accidents. Compare it to the numerous fights and bloodbaths that occur in the events of "Bullet Train", the summer m...

★★ ★  1/2  out of ★★★★ Spider-Man 2 (2004) Runtime: 127 minutes The celebrated, well-known moment where Peter Parker comes up with an idea to stop the train by shooting multiple cobwebs to slow it down. The biggest achievement in Spider-Man 2 is not its exceptionally crafted action sequences, one involving the titular character being pushed to his limit by stopping a 120 mph train, but its vivid depiction of Peter Parker's dual life. This giddy, delightful sequel from director Sam Raimi is so much better than the previous time I watched it. With a rich plot and insightful messages from characters whom we all can connect to and understand, it is one of the best comic book superhero movies.  Describing Parker's dual life is an absolute delight. The movie begins with him as a struggling pizza delivery driver, who last-minute changes to his spider suit but doesn't deliver his pizza on time. Meanwhile, he's also getting underpaid at The Daily Bugle, his grades in cla...