Movie Reviews from Chris

★ ★ ★ 1/2  out of ★★★★ The Batman (2022) Runtime: 176 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for strong violent and disturbing content, drug content, strong language, and some suggestive material. The infamous funeral scene, where the ominous presence lurks, or encompasses. Dark, complex, and stylishly unpredictable, Matt Reeves' The Batman doesn't feel like a Batman movie, or a superhero movie. It leans on crime-solving and mystery, and it always feels like there's an undercurrent of danger throughout. Reeves, who directed War For The Planet of The Apes, infuses sinister mood with inventive cinematography, and also approaches its source material in a fresh and exciting way. As a matter of fact, despite the titles of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, The Batman is the darkest "Dark Knight" of them all. The Batman interestingly starts in present day, where a new serial killer, The Riddler (Paul Dano), murders political figures in Gotham. He leaves several clues at t...

I'm still doing fine after a month of not posting. I already watched many more movies in between, but the reviews are not out yet. I'm busy preparing for a very important event, so I might temporarily halt the website until June when I've finished everything. If I don't post anything by the end of this month, stay safe and don't worry, I'll be back to posting soon!

★ ★  out of ★★★★ Eternals (2021) Runtime: 156 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality. Director  Chloé Zhao tries her best to explore and build a story about a group of people named Eternals, but the results are mixed. Several other factors stifle Eternals from being a good film. Sure, it's spectacular to look at, but the plot's a labyrinth, and do the characters connect? Eternals tells a story about celestials and Eternals. The Eternals are supposed to protect the Earth and watch over humans, while fighting against monsters called Deviants. We learn that they arrived 7000 years ago, and have presumably eliminated all Deviants in the year 1500. We cut forward to present day, where the Deviants mysteriously reappear, and have mutated to the point of self-healing. As the group of Eternals, who are scattered across the glode, namely: Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Ajak (Salma Hayek), Gilgamesh (Ma D...

★ 1/2  out of ★★★★ Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) Runtime: 88 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for some action violence, rude humor, language and brief nudity. Yet another flat-out embarrassing pratfall. Isn't a character supposed to learn and change a little, given years and years? It's deterioration of the same formula used in its previous installments. This time, close to absolute silence encompasses the first half an hour of Johnny English Strikes Again. If you're fortunate, you'll only slightly chuckle at the rude and embarrassing pratfalls of English and his sidekick. The first chuckle that is valid enough to be called a 'laugh' is when English ostensibly escapes from a ship, but falls and lands on a lower platform. It's just that the laughs are so infrequent and repetitive, you'll find yourself bored to half-insanity. Strikes Again starts with a situation, where MI7 is a victim of a cyber-attack, initiated by an unknown. The attack has exposed all its ...

1/2 out of ★★★★ Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) Runtime: 107 minutes MPAA: Rated R for sequences of violence throughout. A while ago, I labelled Resident Evil: The Final Chapter as one of the worst films I've ever seen. Since I haven't got the chance to play some newer releases (theatres are closed around my area, online streaming sites can't load movies), I decided to dissect this massive failure and explain to you why, despite its mixed reviews, I find it an atrocity. Please enjoy my first half-a-star review. Starting off immediately after Resident Evil: Retribution (though almost all of the cast don't return), Resident Evil: The Final Chapter finds Alice (Milla Jovovich) being one of the only survivors against the T-virus, which has rendered all except about 4,000 people as zombies. The Umbrella Corporation has just developed an anti-virus that could be the only chance of saving humanity. Then, as usual, Alice has to rush to The Hive in Raccoon City to obtain...

★★ 1/2  out of ★★★★ Encanto (2021) Runtime: 102 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for some thematic elements and mild peril. Edit: Encanto just won Best Animated Feature at the 94th Annual Academy Awards. I predicted it to not win, but alas it did. Nevertheless, I still stand strong with my opinion and will not change the star rating. Feel free to convince me otherwise. Join me, as I rebel against the majority of audiences and critics in favor of Disney's newest release, Encanto. Though good entertainment for little children, though visually wonderful, though vibrant and lively through its numerous songs, it doesn't succeed as a whole. Encanto starts off generically familiar, stirs emotions halfway, then rushes to the final act so quickly that the payoff doesn't feel earned. Encanto tells a story about an extraordinary family, called the Madrigals, who live in a house situated in Colombia, called Encanto. The magic of the Encanto has blessed every family member, except Mirabel....

★★ ★ ★  out of ★★★★ 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Runtime: 149 minutes MPAA: Rated G for action violence. I feel out of this world. We've heard it. When 2001: A Space Odyssey was released, reviews ranged from highly positive to rather negative. We've heard of the film critic Pauline Kael, who called it 'unimaginative'. We've heard of Stephen Hunter from The Washington Post calling it 'A crackpot Looney Tune.' There are such criticisms for 2001: A Space Odyssey, including slow pacing, thin characters, stiff performances, and scarce dialogue, but they are invalid. Look into the bigger picture of 2001. 2001 begins with 3 minutes of black screen (I, in fact, fast-forwarded the movie on television to make sure that the screen was working) then numerous shots of the desert. We focus on a tribe of monkeys from 4 million years ago, who banter and wander around their surroundings. One day, they discover a monolith and are fascinated by it. Later on, a monkey learns ho...

★★ ★  1/2  out of ★★★★ The Incredibles (2004) Runtime: 115 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for action violence. In light of the recent popular meme showing Mr. Incredible getting increasingly traumatized with creepier music in each phase, I figured out it'd be a great time revisiting this Pixar gem. Hailed as one of Pixar's best animations to date, The Incredibles takes familiar material and spoofs them with astounding energy. Superheroes Mr. Incredible (named Bob Parr, voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (named Helen Parr, voiced by Holly Hunter) are world-famous superheroes constantly battling crime in their local neighborhood, Metroville. Eventually, a series of events including a disrupted suicide and city wreckage brings superheroes to a ban, where they would have to blend in with civilians and adopt to a "normal life". We jump to 15 years later, where we see Bob working a mundane, 9-to-5 job at Insuricare. Helen, on the other hand, takes care of the three kids the...