movieman6-413-929510 Reviews

The Strangers: Chapter 1 (2024)

Strangely enough , aspiring horror writers don't start their new planned horror trilogy on such a strong note.

[3/10 · 19 May 2024]

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is a new reboot of the horror series The Strangers. This film is directed by Renny Harlin, director of other horror films such as: A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Exorcist: The Beginning.

Couple Ryan (Froy Gutierrez) and Maya (Madelaine Petsch) have to spend the night in a local Airbnb after a car breakdown. This night they are terrorized by three masked strangers, who try to kill them without motive. The couple must now try to survive this night together.

With this new Strangers film, it was a bit unclear due to the promotion whether it would be a prequel or a reboot. The trailers make it seem more like a prequel, where viewers learn why the masked killers commit their murders. The trailer also makes it look like a reboot due to similar scenes from the original 2008 film. Ultimately, it was confirmed that it is a reboot and that this new film is the start of a new Strangers trilogy.

If this is going to be the start of a new horror trilogy, unfortunately this trilogy isn't off to the best, or strongest, start. This is also the third film in which the Strangers assassins are used. It is no longer that creative or original. Furthermore, this new film is also full of stupid horror clichés. This way it is often possible to predict where the murderers are located and you are more likely to have to wait for the unnecessary, loud jump scare sound until the murderers are really clearly shown to you. Due to the predictability, this is not really that scary anymore, but rather comes across as bland.

The story of this remake was also written by two writers, who have little experience in the film world other than comedy and other TV films and series. For example, the characters in this reboot often commit stupid horror clichés, such as not staying together, so they end up alone against the killers. Then this movie is set in modern times and the characters have smartphones but don't really know how to use them in smart ways.

If the rest of this new Strangers trilogy is released, hopefully they will be able to improve it somewhat. Otherwise, for a better horror movie, you're better off watching the original Strangers from 2008. Even the sequel to the original 2018 version could make for a more entertaining film.

Krazy House (2024)

Too busy, rushed parody comedy, which is therefore no longer so comical itself.

[2/10 · 17 May 2024]

Krazy House is a new comedy directed, written and partly produced by Steffen Haars and Flip Van Der Kuil, the creators of the New Kids TV series and subsequent films.

Christian househusband Bernie (Nick Frost) and his career wife Eva (Alicia Silverstone) have a typical sitcom family like those from many sitcoms in the 90s.

When problems arise in the house, Russian handymen come to help, but these handymen turn out to be criminals looking for a hidden fortune. This is how they deceive Bernie and his family until they find this fortune. As a result, Bernie must cautiously resist to protect his family and get the criminals out of his house.

With this comedy they seem to have playfully made a spoof comedy film in the New Kids style. For example, they playfully try to make sitcoms such as Married with Children, Friends and Goede Tide, Bad Times somewhat ridiculous with exaggeratedly different moments from these sitcoms. In addition, they also use exaggerated, gory moments, making it a bit like live-action versions of animated comedies like Family Guy or South Park.

The last good spoof comedy seems far away and other spoof comedies such as the last Scary Movie, A Haunted House or Fifty Shades of Black just didn't really work as successfully anymore. In this new spoof comedy, lame, clichés from sitcoms are made more ridiculous. Making good sitcoms ridiculous is not that easy, because most of them still work well and are loved by fans. Behind most of these sitcoms are also good teams of writers, who have come up with their own unique comedy styles. Most of them managed to come up with creative stories with their own form of comedy. For example, most of these sitcoms are more comedic than this spoof comedy itself tries to be. This spoof comedy remains on a predictable side in terms of comedy. The final story remains difficult to follow due to the messy aspects, which means that the rest of the comedy is somewhat lost.

This is also due to the messier aspects of this comedy itself. This one tries to go through too many different things too quickly, and then makes them a bit ridiculous. This film was filmed in the fast pace of 22 days, so the directors don't really seem to have taken the time to look back carefully and critically at their final film.

Laatste Ronde (2024)

Show the negative sides of growing older, but also the positive side of years of friendship.

[6/10 · 17 May 2024]

Last Round is the sequel to the 2015 film Ventoux. This sequel is directed and partly written by Boris Paval Conen, director of The Crisis Caravan and Kamp Holland.

Three childhood friends, who are still friends with each other after many years, decide to help with the renovation of another friend in Belgium. During this renovation, the friends only learn that they are no longer as young and strong as they used to be. They learn this in comical, clumsy ways, but despite the mutual struggle involved, they learn that their good mutual history and humor can keep them together as friends.

For this sequel, almost ten years later, it is nice to see almost all the same actors in the same roles. This is how it remains for most familiar faces to see again. It may help to watch the film Ventoux again to refresh your memory, because after almost ten years, most of the characters and events from this film may have been forgotten.

In addition to some comic moments where older friends try to carry out renovations themselves, the film also plays well on the negatives of growing older. Most people have less strength or endurance as they get older. Furthermore, they have often become more vulnerable or fragile. Despite these more negative drama aspects, the film also shows how strong years of mutual friendship can be and how this can provide strength and positivity.

The fact that most of Ventoux's cast members have returned for this sequel, almost ten years later, helps to see almost all the same characters again. Most of them still have good chemistry and come across as believable as old friends of each other.

Hit Man (2023)

Glen Powell gets the opportunity to play multiple roles in his new film.

[6/10 · 14 May 2024]

Hit Man is a new action comedy directed, written and produced in part by Richard Linklater, director of Boyhood and Before Midnight.

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) is a school teacher, but also secretly works for the police. At one point he has to play a fake hitman with the police. He is hired by clients to commit murders, but after clients confess their criminal plans to Gary, the police can arrest them.

When Madison Masters (Adria Arjona) wants to hire Gary, he falls for her beauty. This causes him to break his own rules and try to change Madison's mind so that she does not carry out criminal plans. The two fall in love, but Madison actually falls for the hitman Ron, who played Gary for her. On the other hand, Gary shouldn't show that he's broken his own code to Madison because it could get him in trouble with the police and ruin his career.

This film is based on a true story, where the real Gary Johnson posed himself to the police as a hitman who criminals could hire to commit murders. Only after sharing their murderous plans with Gary could the police catch them. The real Gary Johnson had to dress up so many times, wearing different styles of clothes and wigs to appear different to each criminal, so he couldn't be exposed as an undercover cop. Glen Powell also does the same at the beginning of the film. He wears different costumes and also acts in different ways. For example, the film starts off more like an action comedy, but when Gary falls for Madison, the film turns more into a romantic comedy.

Richard Linklater provides a comic action film, but with repeated events, where Gary, in different disguises, makes various criminals confess. When the film later turns more into a romantic comedy, this mainly works because of the good chemistry between Glen Powell and Adria Arjona, their characters. Glen Powell only plays a character who leads a double life and his character ends up in a relationship with the possible criminal. This creates complicated situations in which he has to continue working strategically, without Madison or the police realizing that he is actually lying to both of them. However, the film does have a somewhat abrupt ending, which does not seem to answer everything.

Glen Powell plays the lead role well and actually has to play the role in different ways. This gives him the opportunity to show different acting capabilities in this film. Adria Arjona also plays the role of a seductive, possible criminal well, because as a viewer, like the main characters, you do not always know whether she can be completely trusted. After his time in various Walking Dead series, Austin Amelio also gets the chance to act in a film. He plays a colleague of the main character, who may thwart his strategic plans if he is told too much.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Worthy follow-up from Andy Serkis' monkey trilogy, but less so in terms of story and some effects.

[6/10 · 11 May 2024]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the sequel to the Andy Serkis Planet of the Apes trilogy. This new film is directed by Wes Ball, the director of The Maze Runner trilogy.

In the future, about 300 years after the events of the monkey Caesar, there are now many different monkey communities, living in their own ways. Noa (Owen Teague), his monkey group, is attacked by another group, who destroy their home and take the surviving monkeys captive. Noa decides to find his surviving group members and tries to free them.

During this journey, Noa meets other apes and even a human girl Mae (Freya Allan), who accompany him to his old group. His old group now serves Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a monkey who tries to live according to Caesar's old rules, but has also internalized some of them for his own interests. When Noa learns that this is not the right way, he tries to show this to the rest, so that he and the other apes can live more the right way as Caesar would have wanted.

After the last Planet of the Apes starring Andy Serkis, the series seemed to be nicely completed. Now that the Disney film studios have taken over the Fox film studio, they have also acquired many film rights, such as those of the Planet of the Apes. Fortunately, this new film responds appropriately to the previous trilogy, without changing it and uses elements from this trilogy to create a suitable follow-up story.

For a first film in a possible new film series, some things remain a bit unanswered, or they seem a bit different than they were in the previous trilogy. Hopefully these things will be developed or explained a bit more in sequels to this film. Due to the financial success of this new film, Disney already has major plans in place. They might want to turn it into a film series, which could continue after this fourth film until there are nine films.

Because these are events and characters 300 years later, a lot of these things do need to be explained. This can slow down the pace of the film and make it seem a bit long-winded at times. Fortunately, the pace does increase somewhat after this build-up.

As a connoisseur of the Andy Serkis Planet or Apes films, you as a viewer sometimes know more than some of the characters in the film itself. This allows you to be ahead of some things, or you can roughly expect what will happen. In addition to the long-winded or predictable aspects. The film also seems to copy some moments from the original 1967 film. This can be seen as an ode to this original film, but it can also come across as some simple copy work. Furthermore, the storylines are also somewhat messily intertwined. Monkey Noa seems to be largely the lead and core of the film, but at times the girl Mae also seems to steal the spotlight. This can sometimes make it seem like she is more important to moving the story forward. This sometimes makes you feel the length of the films, which could have been avoided with a better developed script.

The visual effects largely look as good and believable as in the previous trilogy. The actors realistically imitated monkeys using motion capture. The chimpanzees in particular appear realistic, but with other monkey species such as gorillas the effects sometimes appear less believable. Unfortunately, the birds that train and use the monkeys also seem less credible.

The new cast members have done a good job controlling real monkeys and their way of life and movement. Most of them manage to imitate this in the film in credible and similar ways.

Tarot (I) (2024)

Tarot is as entertaining and believable as going through your own horoscope.

[3/10 · 6 May 2024]

Tarot is a new horror film directed, written and produced by Spenser Cohen and Anna Halber. This is both their directorial debuts.

A group of friends decide to have a Tarot reading, but they do not follow the sacred rules involved in this reading. During this lecture everyone will hear what their future holds, but also how death awaits them. They all have to escape their prediction and prevent their own death.

This horror movie quickly comes across as a standard cliché horror movie with few creative ideas. Most of the characters in the group of friends are not really introduced to you as a viewer, so you care little or nothing about them. The group of friends also consists of an oversized number, most of whom play more standard stereotypical horror characters. Most commit horror clichés such as approaching danger or strange things and then shouting hello or asking if someone is there. This only makes you care less about most of them and you can predict that they won't survive much longer.

For a standard horror film, it is not really scary, because you see most scary things coming in advance. Furthermore, the film makes a lot of use of predictable, bland jump scares, where you are actually just waiting for the loud jump scare sound that breaks the constructive silence.

The Tarot card game is not really explained clearly for people who are not familiar with it. The friends just make some jokes about each other's zodiac sign and the sayings that go around with some zodiac signs. The only fun thing about it is that the people you watch the film with are almost playfully making fun of each other's star sign, just like the film does, if your star sign is mentioned at all.

Challengers (2024)

Tennis film about the sport and passion that people have for it, but which is sometimes difficult to follow due to many time jumps.

[6/10 · 1 May 2024]

Challengers is a new romantic sports drama from Luca Guadagnino, director of Call Me by Your Name and the 2018 Suspiria remake.

Former star tennis player Tashi (Zendaya) has to stop playing tennis after suffering a disability. However, she can continue in the tennis world as a coach.

For example, she is the coach of Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), who she helps prepare for a tennis match against Patrick Zweig (Josh O'Connor). Patrick stands next to Art, his opponent and his former best friend. Furthermore, he was not Tashi's ex-partner. An uncomfortable atmosphere arises during the tennis match and the preparation due to the trio's many mutual and passionate histories.

This film clearly shows how mutual passion can bring people together, but can also drive them apart. This is how the common passion that people share fraternizes. On the other hand, competition can also arise between people, which can pit them against each other, or drive them apart.

In the film, the story jumps from moments in the present, to looks back from the past, or looks ahead to the future of the three main characters. Through these different storylines you get to know the characters better and understand why they make or have made certain choices.

However, there is a bit too much jumping back and forth in the timelines, which can sometimes take you out of the story. When again they go to a small moment even for a short cutscene that plays quickly between the timelines. With a few less of these short scenes and slow motion moments, the film could have had a lower running time. For example, the sunset, long running time of the film could have been a little shorter. What helps convey the different moments in time are the actors' appropriate makeup, clothing and hairstyles.

The three leading actors also know how to carry the film well together. Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor come across as romantic triplets who share an identical passion for each other and tennis. In this way they know how to guide each other well, but also influence each other.

This film is also entertaining for tennis fans, but it's just not always about the sport itself. A lot of time is also spent on the three characters and their relationships. The tennis scenes are beautifully and creatively depicted. The camera shows so well the ways in which the tennis players play the sport in their own way. Sometimes it even shows where the tennis ball is and how it is passed back and forth during the tennis scenes. There is a separate music or soundtrack choice for some of these scenes.

The Fall Guy (2024)

A tribute to stuntmen and all the risks they take while making films.

[7/10 · 29 April 2024]

The Fall Guy is a remake of the 1981 TV series of the same name. This remake was made by David Leitch, director of Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train.

Stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) does a lot of dangerous things as a stuntman on the film sets. After a serious accident, he has to take it easy for a while, but loses contact with the camerawoman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).

When he hears that Jody is now going to register his own film and use him as a stuntman, he decides to return to his profession as a stuntman. On the film set he learns that everything is different and Jody would rather not work with him. When star actor Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) disappears, Colt is asked to find him, so that Jody gets too red in her first directorial job.

Before he started directing, director David Leitch was also a stuntman himself and has done stunts in many films himself or helped to convey the stunts well and appreciated. It seems that with this film he wants to make some kind of ode to stuntmen from the film world. This group helps convey tense, dangerous moments in films, where people are shot, blown up, or thrown through windows, for example. Stuntmen take so many risks just to make movies impact movie audiences.

Because they are also trying to make a film themselves in this film, you get to see many behind-the-scenes moments and what this can look like in films. This way you get to see how and when they use explosions in the film, for example, and how they use props and make-up to transfer the damage from these explosions to the film set and at the castles. They manage to reliably convey many action moments in this film.

This remake is now also about the more modern aspects of the stuntman profession, because nowadays they can do more with the help of computers in films and also at times when they use stuntmen. For example, with deep fake they can stick the actors over the bodies of the stuntmen, so that it really looks as if the actors are actually doing their stunts themselves. This makes action scenes seem more and more frequent, but the presence of the stuntmen is also somewhat lost. They continue to take more and more risks, but they can see themselves less and less in films in which they performed the stunts.

In addition to the action, they also manage to add comedy to this film. The comedy in the film itself works, but the meta comedy that the film adapts to other films and stunts works best, especially for film fans, who can recognize some of these moments.

Ryan Gosling comes across well as a stuntman who tries to prove himself again after even being out of the business. Justin Eaton deserves and this film also has a lot of respect, because he is the stunt double for Ryan Gosling. Emily Blunt also comes across well as a novice director trying to film her own passion film. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt also have good chemistry together and come across convincingly as two people who were in a relationship together, but are now more like exes. Even though one of them tries to bring more passion into their relationship, so that they can perhaps try the relationship again.

Sting (2024)

New spider horror is unfortunately more stuck in a messy web.

[3/10 · 28 April 2024]

Sting is a new horror film created and written by Kiah Roache-Turner, the director of the Wyrmwood films 12-year-old Charlotte (Alyla Browne) finds a special spider and secretly eats it. During this education she learns that the spider is very intelligent, but is also becoming increasingly hungry and small insects are soon no longer enough for the spider.

As the spider begins to develop a taste for other animals and even humans, Charlotte learns that the spider is too dangerous to maintain. She has to stop the spider before it tries to eat too many people and animals.

After his more indie zombie and demon movie, Kiah Roache-Turner is now trying to make a monster movie about a scary induced spider, which is starting to become more and more dangerous. Before the spider really threatens to pose a major threat, he makes the film more about a family drama. Here, Charlotte must learn to cope with a stepfather and a new baby, while beginning to feel less important. That is why she starts a "friendship" with this intelligent spider, but in the beginning there are so few interesting events in the film to keep you as a viewer interned in the film. Later, when the spider starts to get bigger, a little more happens, but not enough, to really make the movie better.

The film is also somewhat reminiscent of a simple copy of the 1979 film Alien, but with a less original story and interesting characters. Furthermore, this film is also somewhat reminiscent of the monster film Eight Legged Freaks, a more horror-comedy about an invasion of large spiders. This was more of a horror comedy filled with cheesy humor, which is often found in more parody comedy films. With Sting she seems to try to keep it more like a real horror film with scary or bloody horror moments. Yet there are moments and characters in the film that seem to come more from a parody horror comedy. This can make the film seem unbalanced.

Compared to Eight Legged Freaks, the spider in this film comes across well, because it is often more in the shadows, so that the CGI with which it is placed in the film is not so noticeable. When the spider has a large size, it appears less programming and the CGI is more noticeable.

Alyla Browne gives a nice performance as a girl who increasingly begins to feel lonely after changes in her family life. Her character is just not that interesting in the film, she often wants to follow things on her phone or share them on social media. It seems that after the spider starts to become more bloodthirsty, they can no longer really take responsibility for the spider's actions. The other characters are also not very well developed or interesting to follow.

Abigail (2024)

Entertaining, bloody horror film, which unfortunately has some messy sides and some clichés.

[6/10 · 21 April 2024]

Abigail is a new horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the directing duo behind Ready of Not and the last two Scream films.

A group of criminals kidnap Abigail (Alisha Weir), the 12-year-old daughter of a powerful figure in the criminal underworld. The criminals only have to keep an eye on Abigail in a remote mansion for a night and will then be richly rewarded with 50 million dollars.

As more and more of the criminals seem to disappear, the remaining criminals learn that Abigail is not an ordinary girl and the rest of them must survive the night with Abigail.

With this film, the directing duo tries to create another creative horror film. With Abigail they try to come from a different horror angle, but they are still somewhat repetitive, for example compared to their other horror film Ready or Not. In addition to this similar atmosphere, they also commit some horror clichés when, for example, someone is alone in a dangerous situation. Furthermore, characters also know that they are in danger and often continue to investigate on their own, or they try to escape on their own. The trailers and other promotion for this film also give away too much information. If you know how to avoid these, you can have a better and more surprising experience when you decide to watch this movie.

Despite the clichés, they manage to portray the film well and turn it into a creative, bloody horror film. The film has good make-up moments to portray the bloody moments.

They seem to have been a bit unsure about the film, whether to treat it as a scary horror film, or to turn it into more of a dark comedy. There are some comedic moments in the film, but these often seem a bit obvious or else they remain a bit bland.

The cast members all perform well and appropriately in this film. Some also play some cliché stereotypes, which often appear in horror films. The young Alisha Weir portrays the character of Abigail well and plays an innocent girl well in the beginning, but later in the film she manages to portray the role in a completely different, darker way. She also did many of her own stunts herself. Melissa Barrera also gives a good performance as one of the criminals who kidnapped Abigail. Together with Alisha Weir she has fun, but also exciting moments in the film.

Back to Black (2024)

Messy biography that sometimes loses focus and thus misses aspects of Amy Winehouse her life.

[5/10 · 18 April 2024]

Back to Black is a new music biography directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, director of Nowhere Boy and Fifty Shades of Grey.

Amy Winehouse (Marisa Abela) starts her music career in her own rebellious way. She does not want to do this in ways that the record company expects of her. This way she knows how to release her music in her own way.

In addition to her music career, Amy also discovers her love life and the darker world of alcohol and drugs. If she tries to bring all these worlds together, she must also keep them in balance side by side. This remains a difficult task, especially due to the presence of all the gossip photographers.

After the death of Amy Winehouse, several filmmakers tried to film a biography about her short life, but often without success. The 2015 biographical documentary Amy was the only successful film adaptation.

With Back to Black they try to make another biographical film adaptation, but unfortunately this one is a bit on the messy side. This film sometimes loses its focus and it sometimes seems more about Amy's love life and how her partner introduced her to hard drugs. This biography certainly misses Amy Winehouse's more creative, musical sides.

In Civil War, she showed the positive sides of photography journalists, but with this film they show the negative side of gossip photographers. They often stalk famous people such as Amy Winehouse in order to capture the wrong photo for tabloid magazines.

Marisa Abela has sung many of the Amy Winehouse songs herself in this biography. She trained herself to imitate Amy's singing. Yet they make the mistake of sometimes playing a real Amy Winehouse song in the background or on the radio in the film, so you can hear the difference between the real Amy Winehouse and Marisa Abel. Marisa Abel is also somewhat overshadowed by the real Amy Winehouse. However, she portrays Amy Winehouse's mannerisms, walk and attitude in good ways. In addition to Marisa Abela, Eddie Marsan also gives a good and appropriate performance as Amy Winehouse, her father, a man who tries to help his rebellious daughter during her busy career.

Civil War (2024)

Film that shows the journalistic aspects of a war, but lacks some clarity

[6/10 · 13 April 2024]

Civil War is a new action drama directed by Alex Garland, director of Ex Machina and Annihilation.

In the future, a civil war breaks out in the United States between different groups who, because of different views on life and the country, believe that change needs to happen. They just have to make these changes themselves.

A team of journalists try to document these events so that the rest of the world can follow this battle over what is happening in America. They take photos to record everything, but they risk their own lives with this.

By concentrating the film on the journalists, Alex Garland has safely chosen not to turn this film into a political film where they try to show you the political left or right. However, the film lacks clarity and the cause of the civil war is not really explained well. The reasons for the Civil War seem to relate more to American politics, but Alex Garland himself is not even of American descent. Due to the unclear aspects and lack of information, the film can sometimes be difficult to follow or seem a bit long-winded. The film also has quite an abrupt ending, as if they had run out of film budget or had no more time to continue filming.

Despite the more American aspects of the film, it still responds well to current events. Currently, brutal wars are still taking place in the world, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip. These wars are also shared with the rest of the world with the help of journalists, among other things.

The film clearly shows the terrible consequences of war and all the types of chaos it often leaves behind. In this film they portray the gunshots and explosions well and believably. They also clearly illustrate the consequences of this.

This film actually shows the importance of journalism, most of which is more neutral. They often try to record events with photos and stories, in order to share this with the rest of the world and preserve it at the forefront of history. This also shows how dangerous a journalist's career can be, as the film shows brutal, bloody images as the consequences of war. Despite the importance and positive aspects of journalism, they could have made the film a bit more realistic. In addition to journalistic reports and photos, a lot of news is now also shared with smartphones and on social media. For a film set in the future, you would have expected to see more of this.

The acting is good and believable by the cast members. Kristen Dunst plays a more experienced photojournalist, who has seen and experienced a lot. As a result, she has become somewhat emotionless and many brutal events affect her less. Stephen McKinley Henderson plays an older journalist with more experience, who tries to guide the rest during their further journalistic careers. Cailee Spaeny plays a novice journalist who tries to break through and sees others as examples and tries to learn a lot from them. Still, the best acting is done by Nick Offerman and Jesse Plemons, although they only play more short cameo roles in the film.

Invasion (2024)

Make the Antilles look like the continent of Australia in a simple Risk game.

[3/10 · 13 April 2024]

Invasion is a new action thriller directed by Bobby Boermans. Director of App, Claustrofobia and Fissa. Since Fissa, he has focused more on directing TV series in recent years.

In the film, the Dutch ABC Islands are attacked by neighboring country Veragua. Here is a dictator in power who wants revenge on the Netherlands and is therefore attacking the Antilles.

Three young, novice marines must resist and keep a Dutch ambassador safe while this enemy invasion is underway.

In recent years, director Bobby Boermans has been more concerned with directing TV series such as Mocro Mafia and the Golden Hour. His last directing work was with the film Fissa in 2016. Taking up directing work again after eight years does not seem to go so smoothly for him. The story in this film is told very hastily without any real clear explanation or character development.

The enemy invasion also happens a bit too quickly and simply to really take it seriously. You would expect somewhat better defense in the Netherlands Antilles. The film playfully makes it look like the continent of Australia during a simple Risk game. Through too many coincidences they also try to get away with excesses why there is little security or other personnel.

For an action thriller about a military attack, the film lacks real tension. The film often remains on the predictable side. Furthermore, the film lacks a real threatening form of the attacking enemy. This threat is also easily resolved in the end.

Many action scenes are also animated or contain too many edits between the scenes. This can make many of these scenes difficult to follow. You can sometimes only tell the different groups of soldiers apart if you can see the flag of which country they belong to on their uniforms.

The cast members try to perform appropriately in this film, but due to the rushed aspects of the story, most of them have little room to do something with their characters. For example, you don't really know what their names are for most of them, or what their backstory exactly is. Because of this, there are also few good reasons to really care about most of the characters. Some have some small comedic moments, but most of these are also on the predictable side, or have already been given away in the trailers.

Monkey Man (2024)

Dev Patel has made a good directorial debut, but has done too much himself, which has led to messy aspects.

[6/10 · 8 April 2024]

Monkey Man is a new action thriller, partly written and produced by Dev Patel. Dev Patel makes his directorial debut with this film. Found he was known as actors in films such as Slumdog Millionaire and Lion.

After the death of his mother, her son Kid (Dev Patel) decides to take revenge against the perpetrators responsible for her death.

He always spends his time first in an underground fighting club, where he experiences bloody fights wearing a monkey mask. He does all this in preparation to fight the sinister elite.

This film was initially going to go directly to Netflix, but after Jordan Peele saw the film, he decided to work with his production company Monkeypaw to ensure that the film studio Universal Pictures could release the film in cinemas.

For a directorial debut, Dev Patel manages to create an entertaining film with its own good story. The film is somewhat reminiscent of other revenge films such as John Wick. Furthermore, Dev Patel also seems to have taken on too much responsibility for his first directorial work. In addition to directing, partly writing the story and producing the film, he also plays the leading role in the film. It seems that he has not always looked back carefully at his final results. Many action scenes are very moving or are depicted too zoomed in. You can't always follow everything clearly. As a result, the film may lose some of its entertaining aspects.

Dev Patel played the lead role well in the film. He has also done many of his own stunts. For example, he broke his hand during the first action scene. However, he started training in taekwondo himself since he was ten years old. Sharlto Copley also plays an entertaining role in the film, but unfortunately a small role.

The First Omen (2024)

Best Omen movie since the first, original movie from 1976.

[6/10 · 7 April 2024]

The First Omen is a prequel to the first Omen film from 1976. This prequel is directed by Arkasha Stevenson. This is her film directorial debut, before which she has only directed episodes of various TV series.

The young American Margaret (Neil Tiger Free) has been sent to Italy to live in the service of the church. During her time at the church, she learns about hidden, dark actions at the church as they seek to bring the Antichrist to life.

With this prequel they respond well to the original Omen film from 1976. This original film has already had sequels, spin-offs and a remake. All these films after the original Omen often did not work very successfully, but this new prequel seems to change that after years. With this prequel they respond well to the story that happened before the original film. They know how to create a good, exciting, but also equal atmosphere with this new Omen film. The only disadvantage of the fact that the film responds so well to the original Omen film is that it can make this prequel a bit predictable at times. As a connoisseur of the classic Omen film, you can anticipate this prequel.

In addition to the predictable aspects that the film can have for connoisseurs, the film also has an incorrect outcome date. This film is very similar to the horror film Immaculate, which was released in cinemas a week earlier. Due to the similar horror stories, it can feel a bit repetitive when you see these two films in two weeks in a row.

With horror aspects, with this film they do not play much on horror clichés such as lame jump scares, but manage to create a more religious horror atmosphere around the birth of the Antichrist. This is not a sadistic body horror film, but focuses more on the aspects involved in birth. They seem to have used so many real effects for this, which also made some more of the cast members ragged.

Nell Tiger Free also carries this film as the lead, who learns about dark secrets in her church. Together with the other cast members, she and the rest play the characters well and appropriately enough, making it seem like they are also from the 1976 film.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

The new Ghostbusters leaves you as a viewer somewhat out in the cold due to the many messy storylines.

[4/10 · 7 April 2024]

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife. A film that tried to breathe new life into the film series for old fans of the film series, but also for new fans of this generation. This new film is directed, written and produced in part by Gil Kenan, director of City of Ember and the 2015 Poltergeist remake.

The Spengler family has moved to the New York firehouse where the original Ghostbusters team had their secret research lab.

The discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force that deceives New York and the rest of the world with a new ice age. To prevent this, the new Ghostbusters must team up with the old members of the original team.

The director and writer of the previous Ghostbusters film Jason Reitman has stepped down as co-writer and producer for this sequel. Jason remains the son of Ivan Reitman, who was the mastermind behind the original Ghostbusters film series.

By filling this new film with the old and new characters and in addition to some references from the old films, they have made this film a bit too full. This can sometimes make the film seem a bit messy or long-winded. Most of the characters in this film also have their own storyline, but because of all these different storylines it sometimes remains difficult or uninteresting to follow them all exactly.

The best moments in this new film are when it comes to Mckenna Grace and Dan Aykroyd's characters, as they really do more research into the threat of the ice demon. The other characters are more concerned with their own things, but these are more separated from the real story of the film until the end. As a result, it takes a while before the real threat of the ice demon really begins.

Immaculate (2024)

Passion horror project works, but they could have done a better checkup with their final details.

[5/10 · 31 March 2024]

Immaculate is a new horror film from Michael Mohan, director of The Voyeurs.

Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) decides after a near-death experience that she must direct her life to faith and dedicate it to God. This is why she decides to spend the rest of her life in a monastery as a nun.

During her stay in this monastery, strange things happen to her, causing her to learn about a dark, hidden secret.

Ten years ago, Sydney Sweeney auditioned for this role, but other than that she never really got this movie going. Now ten years later, Sydney Sweeney has taken on the task of producer herself. She has also found a writer and director, so that they can eventually arrange enough finances together. She plans to sell the film to the film studio Neon so that the film can finally be made.

Even though this film has been in the making and planning for about ten years, she seems not to have always been so sure what exactly she wanted to do with this film in the final production. In the film they use both demonic and other bloody horror elements. In the end, it's more about one of these horror elements than the other. As a result, the use of the other horror element can seem a bit misleading and loose. The film sometimes uses lame jump scares, but also uses brutal, bloody scenes. Some of these scenes are also a bit unnecessary or overdone at times. In the ten years that he made this film, they could have looked back a little more at their own ending details.

Apart from these uncertain aspects of the film, fortunately the cast members deliver appropriate acting. Sydney Sweeney has wanted to make the role her own in the ten years since this passion film and has gone all out with her acting in this film. The other castle members also play their roles in appropriate ways, but can sometimes come apart a bit due to the film's vague aspects.

Sleeping Dogs (2024)

Interesting crime mystery that would have been better if it had remained realistic.

[6/10 · 30 March 2024]

Sleeping Dogs is a new crime mystery directed, written and produced in part by Adam Cooper. He makes his directorial debut with this film. He also has some experience as a screenwriter for films such as Allegiant and Assassin's Creed.

Roy Freeman (Russell Crowe) is an ex-detective who had to quit his job because he suffered from Alzheimer's. When a prisoner is threatened with the death penalty, he asks Roy to take another look at his case and hopefully find enough evidence to prove his innocence and save his life.

Despite his poor memory, Roy tries to revisit and revive the ten-year-old case. This is how he ends up in a crime web full of brutal actions and dark secrets, in which he must decipher the real truth.

Just like Russell Crowe's character, as a viewer you try to keep up with what happened in the ten-year-old case. This way you can try to solve the matter yourself. The crime web just contains many events and different characters, some of whom are suspects or victims. Everyone also brings their own story with hints, although some hints sometimes contradict each other. Due to the Alzheimer's complaints of the main character and all these different storylines and hints, you do not always get all the traces clearly. Despite the many twists and the main character's poor memory, the real perpetrators of the crime can still be guessed. As a result, all the mysterious aspects of the mystery can be a bit disappointing in the end, because the answer was so easy to guess.

However, they have unnecessarily chosen to add special drugs and science fiction-like medical gadgets to the story, which causes the film to lose some of its realism. In addition to these non-existent things, the film responds nicely to real things and data surrounding the human brain. If they had just stuck to the real stuff, the movie could have been more interesting.

Russell Crowe comes across well and realistically as an older detective who can no longer always trust his own memory. Other cast members also play well on the mysterious aspects of the mystery. With most of them you don't always know whether or not they can be trusted and whether they play victims or perpetrators in the story.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)

Too many monsters and people, which makes the storylines unbalanced and difficult to follow.

[4/10 · 30 March 2024]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the latest film in the monsterverse film series. The film is directed, written and produced in part by Adam Wingard, who also directed the previous Monsterverse film Godzilla vs Kong.

When Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and her team learn that something is wrong with Kong, they investigate. This way we learn that a new threatening titan is disrupting the balance in Hollow Earth and also threatens to disrupt the balance in the human world.

To keep both worlds in balance, the team needs the help of Godzilla in addition to King Kong. To do this, they must reunite Godzilla and King Kong after their final confrontation to stop the other threats.

The previous films from the monsterverse series received less feedback that the human storylines and characters did not really interest the viewers much. That's why they seem to be trying to stick more to the monsters with this new film, especially King Kong. As a result, the human characters and even Godzilla in this film serve more as extras.

Yet these extras do have their own storylines that sometimes play into the storyline of King Kong, but are sometimes quite separate from it. Because of all these extra storylines, the film can seem a bit messy at times and can sometimes be difficult to follow. For a better and clearer story, the writers could have better discussed their story ideas with each other and perhaps combined some things into the same thing or otherwise used fewer elements. Then they could have had a clearer story.

The visual effects do work in the film and provide entertaining images of monsters fighting each other. By having some of these fights take place in the monster world, the monsters lose their great preconceptions, which they had more and better in the previous film. Fortunately, these large visuals work well when the monsters fight each other in the human world. Although the monster fighting scenes are entertaining, they are sometimes depicted a bit too dynamically, so you cannot always follow everything clearly. During some fights you may wonder where some characters or monsters have gone. This shows that the film could have worked well with fewer people and monsters. The director and the visual effects team were given more space to make the monsters more his own in this film. For example, they have given the monsters new looks to make the film slightly different compared to how they appear in the other films in the Monsterverse series.

Because quite a lot happens in the film, not every actor gets the same amount of time in this film. This gives cast members like Brian Tyree Henry some room for some comedic moments, but others serve more as people who explain what happened, the history of something, or where something is currently located. This can lead to more long-winded moments in the film.

Float (I) (2023)

Novice director and writers find it difficult to keep the film afloat.

[3/10 · 30 March 2024]

Float is a new romantic drama directed and partly written by Sherren Lee. This is her directorial debut and has previously only directed short films and TV episodes.

Waverly (Andrea Bang) thinks she has already figured out her own future. However, she decides to change her plans after she meets lifeguard Blake (Robbie Arnell). Especially after he saved her when she almost drowned.

When Blake learns that Waverly can't really swim, he decides to teach her. During these swimming lessons, the two fall in love, but have to see if they can compare each other's past and future plans.

Besides the fact that this is her directorial debut, Sherren Lee is also still a novice as a screenwriter for films. Unfortunately, the same also applies to the other writers of this film. This makes the film quickly seem a bit simple and later uninteresting. The writers find it difficult to keep the film afloat.

They further based the film on the popular Wattpad teen novel by Kate Merchant. This story has been read more than 25.5 million times by Wattpad users. Despite this popular side, filming this story was perhaps a bit unnecessary.

Andrea Bang and Robbie Arnell perform their roles well, but they lack real chemistry together. This makes you as a viewer care little about their relationship.

De Terugreis (2024)

Good film, but due to the limited playing time, the balance between the drama and comedy genre is sometimes lost.

[6/10 · 25 March 2024]

The Return Journey is a new drama comedy directed and partly written by Jelle de Jong, director of the first Bon Bini Holland and Weg van jou.

Jaap (Martin van Waardenberg) has been together with his partner Maartje (Leny Breederveld) for almost 50 years. Jaap has also become a little more bitter over the years and Maartje is increasingly suffering from dementia. Despite these setbacks, the two decide to go to Spain to visit an old friend.

With this film, the director and co-writer show that Dutch films do not always have to be the same kind of romantic comedy, but there is also room for more serious drama comedies like this. At the beginning of this month, for example, the film Buenas Chicas was released with characters who also travel to Spain, but ended up as a well-known standard romantic comedy filled with clichés. It's nice to see that a film like The Return Journey shows that other types of films can also come from the Netherlands.

This film is also more about an older couple, who have a whole life history together and still carry it with them. This also makes them more interesting characters to keep following for about an hour and a half. Due to the limited playing time, the balance between drama and comedy is sometimes lost and the director and co-writer do not always seem to know exactly which of the two genres to highlight most.

Despite this, Martin Waardenberg and Leny Breederveld manage to portray their roles well in the film. Martin comes across well as a more sullen, older man who prefers to take it easy, but who carries a touch of dry humor. Leny then plays a more cheerful old lady, who still wants to try everything, but suffers from an early form of dementia, which means she no longer always knows exactly what she is doing or should do. This can provide comical moments, but can also seem a bit worrying, because dementia should not really be something you can always laugh about.

Imaginary (2024)

A film for which the writers themselves had little imaginary vision.

[4/10 · 11 March 2024]

Imaginary is a new horror film directed, written and produced in part by Jeff Wadlow, director of Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island.

Jessica (DeWanda Wise) has moved back to her childhood home. Here her stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) finds a teddy bear whom she names Chauncey and considers as an imaginary friend. For example, Alice plays silly pranks with Chauncey, but these pranks soon turn into increasingly dark actions.

Jessica sees her stepdaughter changing more and more and going in the wrong direction. Because of this, she tries to end the bond she has with her imaginary friend before Alice goes completely in the wrong direction.

Jeff Wadlow further wrote this film with other writers, who co-wrote children's and animation film scripts for this film. They have little experience with horror films. Jeff Wadlow himself has worked on other horror scripts before this, but for horror films that were not as successful. He also saw the film Poltergeist as an influence for the further story of this film. Yet he and the other writer seem to have had little unique imaginary vision for this film, because it quickly comes across as a cliché horror film. This way the film remains more predictable and familiar rather than really scary.

The visual effects do not always come across as believable, which means that most things do not come across as scary and the film sticks more to bland, predictable jump scares.

Due to the inferior script with little room for their own imaginary sides, the cast members are also given little to work with. DeWanda Wise does well in the leading role, but unfortunately her characters are given little room to really develop due to the inferior script. This is only the second film for the young Pyper Braun in which she plays a major role. It can be seen that she does her best in the film, but with a better script and a more experienced director, they probably could have helped and guided her a little more with her role.

Buenas Chicas (2024)

Despite the different location and reason for traveling, it remains a standard romantic comedy.

[3/10 · 11 March 2024]

Buenas Chicas is a new romantic comedy directed by Pim van Hoeve, director of Gek van Oranje.

Junior lawyer Billie (Susan Radder) has botched an important case and is now in danger of being fired. To prevent this, she goes to Spain where she actually tries to help clients to acquire land for their plans to build a golf resort.

If she succeeds in this, she has a better chance of keeping her job. Yet everything is made more difficult for her than she first expected, especially when she meets her ex Rogier (Thijs Boermans) in Spain.

Just like February, which started with the Dutch romantic comedy in love with Bali, the month of March starts with Buenas Chicas. Although different things happen in both films, such as the cause of the journey to a different country, there are still many cliché moments and things that also emerge in many romantic comedies.

There are a few too many coincidences in this film, such as the fact that the main character travels to a place in Spain and coincidentally meets her ex here. In addition to these coincidences, the other things in this hour and a half also seem a bit too forced, which ultimately makes everything seem more believable.

The friends who travel to Spain together come across as nice friends, but in the end they don't really come across as special enough to make the film unique compared to the many other Dutch romantic comedies.

Wicked Little Letters (2023)

A film that shows that women do not always have to be nice ladies.

[6/10 · 11 March 2024]

Wicked Little Letters is a new mystery comedy based on a true story. The film is directed by Thea Sharrock, director of Me Before You.

In Littlehampton, residents receive letters full of hilarious, but also blasphemous letters. The two neighbors, local Edith Swam (Olivia Colman) and Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley), can laugh at the letters, but like the other residents, they wonder who the mysterious sender is.

Because Rose is known to many as someone who quickly uses bad swear words, she is quickly seen as the perpetrator. Rose tries to prove her innocence and track down the real sender herself.

With this film they clearly show that women no longer always have to be nice ladies, but can also go through life using foul language. Even though it is based on a true story, what is said by the characters also comes across very realistically as conversations that people can actually have with each other.

Jessie Buckley comes across well and realistically as someone who has no problem using bad words. Despite the fact that she is seen as a suspect, her character remains rude and perhaps even ruder as she is increasingly seen as a suspect while she tries to prove her innocence. Oliva Colman also plays her role as the helping neighbor well and appropriately in the film. Together the two have a good and credible bond as friendly neighbors.

Dune: Part Two (2024)

While things in the first part could come across as a bit long-winded, things in the second part feel a bit rushed.

[6/10 · 3 March 2024]

Dune Part Two is the sequel to the first Dune film by director Denis Villeneuve, which was released in 2021. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) has now joined the Fremen group. Here he tries to learn about their customs such as their handling of the sandworms. Paul seeks revenge on the conspirators who destroyed his family. With Chani (Zendaya) at his side, Paul goes into battle against enemy troops who serve the Emperor (Christopher Walken). This sequel, three years later, immediately picks up where the first part ended. This first part was well received by most as an improved start to the film adaptations of the Dune story. Previous film adaptations turned out less well, because the story of the Dune books is quite a large and complicated story. With Denis Villeneuve's first part he managed to properly introduce the Dune world and build it up with the political struggle between the different groups. With this second film he focuses more on the customs and beliefs of the Fremen group, who think they can defeat the enemy through a more religious approach. Furthermore, the relationship between Paul and Chani is also developed a bit more, but there are some rushed moments. However, with this second part, many things have to be explained and built upon, which means that there are some long-winded moments in this second part. Compared to the first part, this second part has more room for action scenes, which increases the pace and tension slightly. Furthermore, it remains more of a political battle between different groups and houses, which fight each other more strategically than really physically. In contrast to the first part, things in this second part feel more rushed. Like the relationship between Paul and Chani. The aspect of the earthworms and how the Fremen handle and ride the creatures is also explained in a somewhat hasty manner, so it is not always clear. Denis Villeneuve once again provides beautiful visual images of the different worlds and areas from the Dune books. Together with photography director Greig Fraser, they ensure that the images appear beautiful, creative and credible. By adapting the Dune story from the first book of the series into two films, Denis Villeneuve has given himself and his cast members more space to make something good and beautiful out of the film adaptation. This also gives the actors more space to develop their characters and evolve with the time they get in the films. Timothée Chalamet is thus given the opportunity to develop his character from an exploring newcomer into someone who tries to avenge the harm done to his family. Furthermore, he tries to be a savior for the different groups and tries to get them back into balance. Compared to the first part, Zendaya is given more time and space in this second part to develop her character more and work on the chemistry and relationship she has with Timothée Chalamet, his character. However, this relationship can seem a bit rushed, which means it cannot always remain so believable for every viewer. Of the new cast members, Austin Butler steals the most scenes as a dangerous warrior of the enemy army, but he and his character could have been given a little more time and development. Other well-known actors such as Josh Brolin, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken play their roles well and appropriately, but unfortunately do not have such major roles in this second Dune film.