Alan Ng

Great villains and silly heroes make a move that ultimately falls flat.

Knights of the Zodiac is a good production in terms of its action and cast. But when one focuses so much on the fantasy-action set-pieces, having a soulless story makes all efforts fall flat.

While Bong Joon Ho delivers his signature visual flair and Robert Pattinson fully commits to the existential dread of his endlessly disposable character, the film struggles to keep its high-concept ideas fresh past the first act.

As a movie, I thought Jon M. Chu did an incredible job bringing In The Heights to cinematic life. There’s nothing wrong with the actual production or cast. It’s all great, but my issue is with the source material, specifically the songs.

The problem with Stray is that it doesn’t ever connect with the audience, with the exception of Murphy’s back story. The mystery just unfolds, and we as the audience never engage in the mental exercise of piecing clues together and finding an answer.

There’s nothing new and nothing we haven’t seen, which means every single moment and plot twist is familiar and predictable.

The film has good action set pieces, but without a story that has something to say or connects with audiences beyond the surface, it’s just another standard sci-fi action film.

Key, Leguizamo, Greer, and Haysbert actually look like their having a good time and investing their acting talent in this silly story without flinching. No one’s phoning it in. John Cena is just a little too cartoony in his straight-laced character and somehow manages to make “normal” feel over-the-top.

Saltburn just goes too far, and its startling images shocked me out of the story altogether.

I found myself just not engaging with the lead characters and storyline as much as I like. In the end, I was just observing people dealing with a problem, while never able to be in the story as it played out.

It features likable characters, and though it may not offend or make you laugh, it ultimately leaves you smiling. However, you can’t help but feel a sense of loss regarding the potential the film and its story had to be truly great.

The biggest downfall of Relay is the ending.

For a movie like this, good is not good enough; it has to be well above average for a recommendation. Unfortunately, I found myself bored through most of Mortal Kombat II.

Ultimately, Hurry Up Tomorrow is an example of style over substance. Its visuals try to shock and awe while leaving its narrative a confusing mess.

I’m being overly harsh with Climate of the Hunter because it was frustrating to watch. I had to work hard to follow the story and figure out what was really happening between the characters and I find myself replaying various scenes to see what I missed.

While the setup is intriguing, the film quickly loses steam, becoming a muddled chase interspersed with concert footage.

There’s just no nuance here. Good is good. Evil is evil.

Greenland 2: Migration is all mind-numbing action with nothing to say. If you’re a fan of Gerard Butler or Morena Baccarin, you will probably have fun with this one. Otherwise, it’s a skip.

The messaging in Greed does nothing but preach to the choir and keeps us firmly divided in a time where reaching across the aisle would do a helluva lotta good.

It’s a photo-realistic computer-animated movie. The animation of Kong, Godzilla, and the other Kongs is mediocre at best. The backgrounds should look photo-realistic, but they don’t. I’d rather watch dudes in suits duke it out over a cardboard city than watch this cartoon mess again.

In the end, The Marvel is a superhero movie clearly made and produced by people who have never read a Marvel comic book but read Archie instead. It feels like it was made for teen girls and not for actual comic book fans.

As unoriginal and awkward as Like a Boss is, Byrne and Haddish do everything in their power to elevate the mundane script to something worth viewing.

Could this version of The Little Mermaid stand alone if the original didn’t exist? Possibly. Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s songs and story structure remain intact and are its only salvation. But, again, why watch the live-action remake when the original is so much better and suited more for kids?

Overall, Cold Blood just falls flat. Secrets should be shocking, unpredictable, and strongly impact the story. Here they’re predictable and lacks cleverness in discovering everyone’s true identities and motives.

Operation Fortune is an action movie. So, how are the fisticuffs and shootouts? They couldn’t be any blander. Yes, there is a lot of action, but I don’t remember anything cool until the end. It’s your standard gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and car and motorcycle chases.

The only thing wrong with Transformers: Rise of the Beast is that it’s bland and boring.

In any biography/drama, the key is to make audiences believe this is the real person from history. Capone just never gets there. That could be Al Capone, but nothing in the film makes me believe it’s him, nor emotionally connect with him. Capone wastes a lot of good talent, and it’s a shame.

It just feels like a movie that was made because Cena and Brie agreed to star in it.