Category: Reviews

A Quiet Place Part II: A Detailed Review

Posted on by luigonword in Reviews

A Quiet Place Part II: A Sequel As Good As the First?

When success comes to a movie there’s always the question of whether or not a sequel will be made, and if there is one would it ever compare or surpass the first? Few films come to mind where sequels are better than the first, John Wick 2, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Transformers 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Dark Knight, etc.

A Quiet Place Part II definitely is one of those films that surpasses the first, of course it is in my honest opinion accompanied by others. With the first being a massive audience success and the ending leaving for a potential sequel, I was really happy to see the trailer come out in 2020. Still having John Krasinski as the director, we can see his skills improving to tell a story. Now the original family cast returns to play the part Emily Blunt playing Evelyn Bennett, Millicent Simmonds playing Regan Bennett, Noah Jupe playing Marcus Bennett. Adding to the amazing cast as a major character is Cillian Murphy playing Emmett a friend before the chaos now turned stranger.

Overview

A Quiet Place Part II brings out more than just horror elements, it brings out the intensity of action thrillers, and also includes elements of drama as Millicent’s character goes through a lot of self reflection, as she is the main protagonist for the film. Not to worry, there is still the intensity and horror elements that the first movie brought, and I’d even say it brought more having shown the first encounter these creatures had with humans and noise. It goes without saying but having great actors and actresses really brings the best not to mention John’s work as a director and his improvement shows throughout the film, you can even see the rundown for the first chase of the film on YouTube with Vanity Fair. All in all, this film was a great watch and I highly recommend people go check it if you haven’t already, and if you haven’t heard of the second one already out check out the trailer below!

Review

Now the first film left off with Millicent and Emily’s character figuring out a way to kill the creatures, after a mass of them came into their home leaving it burnt to the grown, not to mention the newborn baby walking in a world where noise gets you killed. Nonetheless everything is in a way figured out for the group, but having no home they must venture off into the world ultimately running into their old family friend, Emmett played by Cillian.

Here is where this film partly takes place, although we also get a glimpse of how the family lived before everything changed. Living in a small town and having a weekend baseball game with the little leagues sounds like a peaceful life, until it all comes crashing down and as we can see meteors flying through the sky, in which we figured are the creatures of today’s time.

Seeing this we can stop trying to imagine the chaos, in addition to me going through the incredible sequence I’ll let the director talk about it as he has done a breakdown with Vanity Fair on YouTube over this specific scene.

I also have to mention, he actively states that Millicent is the lead actress in this which is an incredible choice as it brings out a much more detailed story, and we can clearly see she is the protagonist as it’s her journey we begin to follow after the first few minutes, of course having Emily’s character deal with a B-story. Like the first she really wants to prove everyone wrong and help them even risking her own life to go to a possible island of safety, which had a broadcasting station in which turn could be used to broadcast her way to fighting the creatures.

She goes on on her own almost ending up killed as she still can’t actively hear, but gets saved by Emmett who was sent by Emily’s character in order to bring her back. The two fight each other as she wants to continue on and he just wants to bring her back so he can go “home”, reaching a point of agreement to go see her mission through.

The two character’s chemistry create an incredible dynamic duo, and Cillian being a great actor brings all the ropes to the film. His character development is clear and bright as day even reaching a point to put his life on the line for Millicent’s character and other people they end up meeting. Hiss choice of performance is great and I have to mention when first seeing the film I couldn’t recognize the talent with such a beard and wardrobe until my sister asked if it was Scarecrow from Batman Begins or Fischer from Inception.

Having him in the film was a great add on, and I honestly couldn’t see anyone else play the character. Not to mention, like before the chemistry of Millicent and him gave off the same dynamic as the two characters from the famous video game The Last of Us. For those that don’t know it follows the story of Joel and Ellie, two people who found each other in an apocalyptic world and now go on together surviving day by day, which I need to add aren’t related or are in a romantic view they’re just basically really good friends, just like how we see Cillian and Millicent’s characters turn by the end of the movie.

Overall A Quiet Place Part II does an amazing job at continuing the first film without losing any of the qualities. John Krasinski is doing a great job in his directorial work and if you’ve seen the Vanity Fair Breakdown video you can clearly see he is passionate about his work, even stating he was unsure whether he wanted to do a second film until he realizes he really does. It brings out the instinct to root for the little person and this case being Millicent, as she continues to show her acting chops, and as I stated before, hope to see her prove herself more in the industry obtaining more roles and hopefully gaining more major and lead character roles.

If you haven’t already seen this film I highly recommend the two films to anyone looking for a good double feature to watch. It brings out horror aspects, thriller and action sequences and just all around a good time. But as always don’t take it from me, go check out both films and let me know what you think, till next time, peace.

‘Annette’: It Sings Itself Into an Abyss

Posted on by Raúl Alejandro Mendoza in Reviews

The English language debut film of French director Leos Carax is ambitious but it just does too much to work that falls unbelievably flat.

CREDIT: UGC Distribution

It’s finally here after premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it received a standing ovation (even though that seems to be tradition at this point for most movies at Cannes). French director Leos Carax creates his first English language film with the help of Sparks duo Ron and Russel Mael. The film is shot by Caroline Champetier along with music created by Sparks themselves. The film received raving reviews at Cannes especially many praising the performances by our leads. One can definitely agree that there was some anticipation for this film especially for fans of Carax and his last film Holy Motors.

Annette stars Adam Driver as, Henry McHenry, a comedian on a steady downfall in his career and life and Marion Cotillard as Catherine Defrasnoux a successful and beautiful opera singer who fall in love, get married, and have their first child. It is after they have their child that they face a slew of problems ranging from bad communication to jealousy. The film also stars Simon Helberg and Devyn McDowell who show off an incredible range of performances in the film. The film is definitely heightened by the performances included along with their singing abilities.

Now, let’s get one thing covered before we get into what this movie is doing. Annette is bizarre, ambitious and at times both of these characteristics are what helps the film stand out, but it is also what makes the film stay convoluted. The film succeeds in getting its message across about power hungry jealous men who are not content with their life and career, so they must manipulate those around them to help keep their career alive. It is exactly who Henry is and who he realizes he became by the end of the film. The film also has some stunning cinematography that is elevated by some genius production design. Everything from the lighting setups to the set pieces really help create the atmosphere of the film.

After all that well you are probably asking, “well what did not work for you then?” Everything else basically from story to music to pacing just did not work. I am a firm believer that a musical should at least be good in the music department, and even though I am sure that the Sparks have made some good music the music in Annette was just uninteresting. It helped create its atmosphere but at times it felt very out of place within its story where it should be helping service the story. As mentioned before, Driver and Cotillard are magnificent performers but the music just does not work for the film to execute itself.

The story of Annette is interesting but because of its off pacing it just does not seem to ever capture more than it is grasping. The themes are far more interesting to digest than this convoluted story that just does not find its footing. A lot of that is to blame for a very dragged out second and third act that just keep going and going. If the film could have been shaved down 30 minutes I think it could have worked better but who knows when the pacing is only one part of multiple problems this film finds itself in. Now, you’re probably thinking that I just did not like this film at all? Well, I found it to be just fine because its ambition even though it is what limited it at times is what I think pushes it to be a good film. There is a lot of love and care within the film that just helps create this bizarre flick and because of that it is worthy of that praise. Even though there is a lot ground that can be improved Leos Carax does a good job of creating a very stylized film that only he can make.

Annette is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

Blood Red Sky: A Detailed Review

Posted on by luigonword in Reviews

Blood Red SKy: Snakes on a Plane… But Supernatural

Have you ever seen Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson and thought I could survive that? Well what if you had vampires on the plane?

Blood Red Sky is a Netflix film with the premise of a passenger on a plane having a deadly disease that she is trying to get under control but it ultimately takes a turn for the worst. The plane is then taken hostage by terrorist having a goal to recreate 911 in London for monetary gain. She ultimately loses control and we see that the disease she was fighting is her thirst for blood as it turns out she’s a vampire. Not to mention she has been accompanied by her son, going to New York in hopes of a scientist being able to help them. With one of the terrorist figuring out what she is, he ends up turning into a vampire as well and all hell breaks loose.

Overview

Overall, as crazy as the summary above seems this film really works with its take on vampires steering away from it being a monster hunting in a small town. We can see the fight that the main protagonist puts in order to control the classic blood urges, and the ultimate savagery near the end of the third act. I wasn’t expecting such entertainment and for a 2 hour runtime it keeps you mesmerized and focused on trying to figure out what’s going to happen in the end, which you probably won’t guess. If you are looking for a good supernatural tone and a bit of gore on Netflix, then Blood Red Sky is a good choice, if you’re still not sold check out the trailer below.

Review

Now we have a few recognizable faces in this film starting with Dominic Purcell, Chidi Ajufo, and others. Of course it isn’t “A-List” actors, or the more talked about actors and actresses, but nonetheless the performance by all individuals really created a piece of what I’m saying could be the next selection of cult classics. In addition, talking about Carl Anton Koch who plays Elias the son of Nadja, the main protagonist and vampire in question played by Peri Baumeister.

There is no surprise when saying that the younger generation of child actors and actresses are storming the industry with great skills and performances and he is no exemption. He plays this traumatic experience incredible and sold to me the pain of seeing his mom lose her humanity while also seeing her get hurt trying to save him. Not to mention his ultimate sacrifice at the end by being the one to have to kill his own mother.

As always I try to not mention many spoilers as every movie I review is one that I recommend to go see if you have the time, so the same goes for this movie. Elias is a child going through many emotions and traumatic events from plane hijacking, seeing his mom get shot, seeing her get hurt, watching people die and overall to top it off ending up having to kill her. Carl shows each distress well, with tears and snot bubbles, in a good way, almost reminding me of Viola Davis’s choice of performance in Fences. You can see in the picture above that he has gone through a lot in the span of a couple of hours and his eyes show each and every emotion being involved, and with all honesty it brought a sense of sorrow for him even if it is a film. By such review, I have to give Mr. Koch a standing ovation and hope to see him in future works as he grows older.

I also have to mention other characters having Kais Setti play a honorable ally even from the beginning, although he is used by the antagonists as a tool, painting him as the terrorists who took over the plane and adding to the stereotype of terrorist being of Middle Eastern descent. His character shows the anger of this racial stereotyping to be frustrating and yet even when being held at gunpoint by military and antagonist he shows his will of fire, but it goes to show how white terrorist can get away with such acts if they blame the one group of people every racist and bigot believes who terrorists are.

I also have to mention the big bad of the film, Alexander Sheer playing Eight Ball, a psychotic man that seems to be enjoying the killing and chaos, even to the point of letting himself turn into a blood hungry creature. His performance of such psychopathic tendencies really was sold to me, as at one point I thought he was a real life menace to society. Not to mention that as I look through his other work I can’t seem to take out of my head his portrayal of a villain, which goes to show that the acting wasn’t bad at all.

Going from the main antagonist to the main protagonist, Peri Baumeister did an good job at selling her character from the disease to fear for the safety of her on screen child. If someone told me that her and Carl were actually mother and son I wouldn’t dismiss the notion, down to the last teardrop she had seeing Elias in such chaos.

The film’s plot, actors and makeup were phenomenal and was a great watch on a Sunday afternoon, having little to nothing in mind while looking for a distraction, Blood Red Sky did an incredible job at taking a new spin to a very old tale of blood sucking creatures.

Overall, although if you are prone to looking at ratings, critics wise this film did great, it may have the audience split in half but I can say that this film wasn’t bad at all. I have a love for watching monster movies and this one certainly got in my top 10 for 2021’s release of new films. But if reading this doesn’t intrigue you enough, just go and check out the film out now on Netflix and let me know what you think. Till next time, peace.

A Quiet Place: A Detailed Review

Posted on by luigonword in Reviews

A Quiet Place: Jim Halpert’s a Director?!

We are used to seeing horror films with classic tropes, having a psychopath(s) as a killer, a legend turned real by speaking its name, nightmare entities, ghosts, demons, etc. But I think A Quiet Place takes a top position on ranks in the alien & horror genre, as it take will leave you speechless, literally. Now when building a horror film’s world we need to have some story, the lore, characters fighting for leadership or more freedom, finding the weakness, and that usually includes having dialogue between the group of survivors, but that’s not the case in a film that has little to no dialogue.

A Quiet Place is a film whose central plot revolves around the idea that noise will be your worst enemy, all because of unknown creatures attacking and killing anything that’s louder than a sneeze in a library. Imagine yourself at 3 am heating up a snack and trying your best not to make noise, only to send a city wide alert with the ding from the microwaved food, waking up an angry parent. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a silent film, not in the slightest, but the fear factor that this movie resonates is the complete silence there is and the intensity to hold your breath with the characters when they are in a deadly scenario.

Overview

Now as a quick overview, I want to say that John Krasinski is very much a loved person for his role as Jim Halpert on The Office and although this isn’t his first directorial work, he is sure now known as an up and coming director. A Quiet Place is a horror film that is out of the norm and although it isn’t the first movie to come up with a noise kills trope to induce fear, it is a major one in today’s game that uses it to its fullest potential in an incredible way. If you haven’t already seen it and need a new fright for a Friday night, then you should check this movie out or if not at least the trailer down below.

Review

Unlike other films where antagonists are usually already established, or at least has some form of lore, this film’s creatures don’t have anything on them other than being blind and attracted to noise. We can see newspaper clipping and such information describing the creatures first appearance and it being unaffected by man made weapons, but ultimately the film starts us months from the first encounter with Lee Abbott played by John Krasinski, Evalyn Abbott played by Emily Blunt, Regan Abbott played by Millicent Simmonds and Marcus Abbott played by Noah Jupe living in a barn house out by the forest.

Seeing this family living as best they can while also maintaining little to no noise really makes you think if you could survive in such a world. Everyone in the film did an outstanding performance, especially having to act without much dialogue and to learn sign language just for the film is incredible.

Not to toot my own horn but I think I would be able to live such a life, especially being shown little secrets of how to make noise without the creatures coming after you.

To me this whole movie is about family…

– John Krasinski, Vanity Fair, Scene Breakdown of “A Quiet Place”

Now with the quote above the director himself takes his movie as more so about family, and what lengths you would go to protect them. With that, going in to rewatch this film since its release in theaters I can definitely see what he means by this, all the way until the end which I will speak on shortly. Now we are very familiar with John and Emily’s acting career, they’ve been in many greatly shot films, so it’s no surprise they were great as partners in this film, not forgetting that they are actually married outside the big screen. John has had much success playing Jim Halpert on The Office, 13 Hours, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, etc. and Emily has been in many films from Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario, Mary Poppins, and now in Disney’s recent Jungle Cruise. But the actress I want to mostly focus on is Millicent Simmonds who, like her film’s counterpart, is deaf in real life which Krasinski said was a great importance when looking for the person to play this character.

As I mentioned, Millicent is deaf in real life and John has stated he also wanted someone that can help him properly bring out elements from a family who has a child that is deaf. John worked with Millicent to bring out the best in the film and that’s exactly what we get. Not only is Millicent’s character an important protagonist for the film, she is literally the key to defeating the creatures in the end. She brings out the real life qualities that people who are deaf experience for their entire life, if not entire majority. She plays her character well having the parents in the film being overprotective, putting extra safety for her and her just wanting to prove she is able to live while also being able to survive without them. She shows her frustration, dedication, and strength to prove she’s capable and in the end she was the one who figured out some sort of weakness for the creatures by using her hearing aid frequency to counter the creatures sensitive hearing.

Overall Millicent Simmonds is an actress I hope to see more of in future films, hopefully in more main character roles. John, Emily and Noah also bring a great dedication to learning sign language for the film as a family with a deaf child or family member would have that skill in order to communicate, it just brings hope for filmmakers to have more actors and actresses with disabilities without patronizing them.

Coming back to Emily Blunt’s performance, as I mentioned she isn’t shy of being on the big screen and this film sees no less of her great skills, having taken a nail to the foot, and giving birth in a bathtub and showing such pain all WITHOUT MAKING NOISE or at least until something louder made noise. She plays her role well as a mother but while I was watching I remembered when I first saw this movie in theaters, hearing everyone gasp as a nail entered her foot and seeing peoples grasp their arm rests while she gave birth in a bad tub all by herself, it really made this film as thrilling as possible. Not to mention John’s overall performance and ultimately sacrificing himself to save his kids, which goes back to the quote above. Everything we see his character do is to protect his kids and his pregnant wife, doing whatever it takes to get it done, even screaming at the top of his lungs to distract the creatures from killing his kids stuck in a car.

Photo by Jonny Cournoyer/Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock (9484218ac) Noah Jupe front left, Millicent Simmonds back left, John Krasinski right “A Quiet Place” Film – 2018

Without causing this article to get any longer, A Quiet Place really is a thrilling and incredible movie, something I wish I could experience again for the first time in theaters. If having noise hunting killer creatures isn’t enough, then maybe a warm telling of protecting one’s family can have you wanting to check out the film. Not to mention the prequel/sequel that came out this year being a great reason to check out the first, not to worry I’ll have an article written about that one as well. But don’t take my word for it, if you do watch it let me know what you think, till next time, peace.

Candyman (2021): A Detailed Review

Posted on by luigonword in Reviews

Candyman: Don’t look in your reflection?

If you’ve ever played Bloody Mary during your younger years, then you’d understand the fear that comes when staring into an empty mirror hoping that the only thing you’ll see is yourself. And if you ever survived the bloody mary scare, how about you try out Candyman, all you have to do is say his name five times… Candyman.

Nia DaCosta’s new film, titled the same as the the original’s, Candyman has finally come out, and if you fear something being in your reflection then this movie will definitely bring fear into your life. I have to mention as well that with this premiering on August 27, as I am writing this article Nia DaCosta has made history with not only being the first black woman to direct a Marvel film but holding her own with the horror films, as this film has been a box office success, winning 22 million opening weekend. I was amazed by her work in this film and can’t wait to see her future films, now about Candyman.

Overview

Ms. DaCosta’s vision for this film really stood out, aside from the overall fear factor given from the story, her decision in shots are incredible. She understood the assignment, being that a horror film isn’t just all jumpscares, it’s a thought out process of inducing fear, making the viewers uncomfortable and not to mention the incredible use of special effects. This film is made well for the pleasures of both everyday viewers going to see it for the thrill of a horror movie, but also made for the dedicated movie goers, filmmakers, critics, etc. I had an incredible watch not to mention the unexpected real life light flickers that happened while the characters where summoning him, I am definitely going to see it again and I’m bringing my siblings with me to give them an early scary halloween. But if you don’t believe my word for it, just check out the trailer below.

Review

Now I’ve mentioned the director’s incredible abilities, but let me talk about the actors and actresses that also helped interpret the story. Firstly, talking about Yahya Abdul Mateen II’s performance as Anthony, our main protagonist in the film. Mr. Mateen II’s performance brings life to a man whose life is gaining a great turn for the worst showing the complications of not being able to tell whether something is real or not. Anthony goes on through his life trying to put his name on the map but when your name starts getting tied to murders, you don’t know whether to be happy or cautious, well for Anthony it’s clearly a positive as you see in the film. His steady growth into madness throws us the viewers into a sense of figuring out whether he’s actually doing the killings, if something else is at play, if there really is a curse, and overall wanting to know more.

Not to mention the sting he got on his arm, becoming more and more deteriorated for the plot twist at the end of the film. Now I don’t want to spoil the film because I want more people to go see, but having him being such an pawn for “candyman” at the end really threw me into a surprise which I didn’t mind. In addition, with the prosthetics used to provide a honeycomb skin texture, it really threw me for a loop and if you have trypophobia be warned this film has a lot of this at the end. The scenes really had me scratching myself and at times, I just couldn’t handle too much as it looked so realistic, but nonetheless a great addition to the film.

I also have to talk about Teyonah Parris who plays Brianna, Anthony’s partner in the film. At first, one would think shes just a partner for the main protagonist but as we continue forward there’s more into her story that meets the eye. Not to mention the ending of the film and her role on how Candyman’s legacy survives. I left the theater just wanting to know more about her character and her story with her father, and her link with Candyman and Anthony. We can see she has a traumatic past with the death of her father, watching him fall from the window in what seems like their home, her distaste for speaking of said events or even just being associated with his work. They mention her father and his work a bit but unless I missed something, left his story a mystery up for interpretation to the viewer. Ultimately, her performance was great and really threw in a good B-story to the film. Having her have to choose between letting Candyman live or die at the end really threw in an importance towards understanding parts of the legend though, not to mention the use of racial discrimination, police brutality, and abuse of power by white people and police.

We were given why such a legend exists and why certain people are used for the legend to continue, it ties in the the first man being turned into the hooked, tortured and bone showing person because of racial classist and supremacy back in the 1800’s, which I really enjoyed seeing. Having a film show entertainment value and yet still able to send a message without people walking out really says something about the importance of good storytelling.

Now with the antagonist in mind, we just don’t have the legend of Candyman, we also have what I would classify as his follower. Colman Domingo plays William Burke, a person that witnessed Candyman as a child while also seeing his sister dead after playing his game. When entering the theater room you would expect for him to be a good guy that’s helping Anthony figure out how to stop Candyman but the plot twist at the end really throws you out a window. His performance as a hiding antagonist was really sold to me, his switch up from a sane person to a psychotic fanatic really is well done and I give him a standing ovation for tricking me and what I imagine many others too.

Nathan Stewart-Jarrett left and Kyle Kaminski right.

Now although the 2 main protagonists and antagonist are phenomenal, we do have to add 2 great additions into the film to just add some comedic elements into the pacing. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett who plays Troy, Brianna’s brother, and Kyle Kaminski who plays Grady, Troy’s boyfriend. This power couple really just brought a lot of laughs during my watch, although it wasn’t enough to take away the fear factor, it was a nice add on. like adding sea salt to your chocolate chip cookie. Troy and Brianna’s sibling love really give off a realistic tone, having witty conversations, banter, talking a “toxic” partner, the over protectiveness, etc.

I also have to mention one more element involved in the film, the use of marionettes or the paper puppets we see when characters were sharing the story of Candyman. As a director, I always struggled on how to tell certain story elements in a film without the use of just dialogue, without the need of CGI, animation, etc. I would have never thought to use professional puppeteers, which gave of a child’s bedtime story tone.

All in all this film was a great way to spend my Friday night and really has me wanting to see more horror films, especially coming so close to the spooky holiday. I highly recommend people watching this film and giving props to Nia DaCosta as a director. Her skill in scene placement and incredible shots, have me waiting for her Marvel works. But don’t take my word for it, go and watch it today as the film is out now, let me know what you think, till next time, peace.