February 2020

#9: EMMA.

I only wanted to see this because of Anya Taylor-Joy, not interested in the period piece stuff.

This was incredibly boring.

I didn't like the whole latin/broken English dialogue. Not a fan of films that do that.

This film would've worked a lot better if it was 30 or so minutes shorter as it did not warrant the 2 hours in terms of storytelling.

The soundtrack was okay, very whimsical.

During the opening 5 minutes I immediately lost interest in the film.

Not even Anya could save this film for me.

1.5/10

#8: Dolittle

This was my first film of February 2020.

I wasn't really interested in seeing this prior to going into it. I did love the rendition of the 'Wonderful World' song that played during the trailers though.

This was mediocre, and at times very predictable.

I thought the squirrel's running gag of trying to get revenge on the kid who shot him at the start of the film was hilarious.

Robert Downey's "British" accent was about confusing throughout as he sounded more Kiwi or Australian.

*After a week from watching it, I found out that the accent was Welsh.*

John Cena and Kumil Najani were great together, definitely the better pairing out of all the voices.

I honestly thought during this film, that the reviews would've been a little less harsh if it was released on Disney+ instead of having a worldwide theater release.

6.7/10

#7: BRAHMS: The Boy II

I literally only wanted to see this because of Katie Holmes.

I didn't watch the previous 'The Boy' movie starring Lauren Cohan.

I read quite a few reviews before watching this film, needless to say the reviewers weren't pulling their punches.

It's currently sitting at a shitty 9% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Every review I watched/read(Jeremy Jahns, Chris Stuckmann, AngryJoe, as well as a few LetterBoxd reviews) stated that the short 86 MINUTE film runtime still felt ridiculously long, which is a really bad sign for a horror film or any film for that matter.

Underwater was perhaps the best horror film, in recent memory, with it only being 98 minutes long.

This was mediocre, at best.

I do feel people are being a little too harsh on this film. It's definitely not spectacular, although at the same time, it ain't beyond terrible.

But for a horror film, it honestly lacked the scary element. I felt the tension/build-up for the jump scares, but when they finally happen, I didn't jump or anything.

I normally cover my eyes when a jump scare is about to occur during a horror film. When watching this, I didn't even do it once.

The majority of the "really scary" jumpscares were in the trailers, so it was just a matter of waiting for them to happen. The one where Katie's character was trying to "scare" the doll didn't seem as scary in the actual film conpared to the trailer, I rather enjoyed that one, but that's just me being me.

There was one part in the film where they went a little too heavy-handed on the "dizzy" filter/overlay when the doll went into Jude's room by himself, just didn't seem warranted.

The film should've ended after the first time Katie's character goes into the big house(that's literally how they constanly referred to it in the film) like have the whole furnace scene happen then. But that'd make the film only like 50-60 minutes long.

Katie Holmes was terrific, loved every second of her performance. Probably just being biased, but she had the best performance in the entire film.

This film was flooded with cheesy horror cliches, which were very predictable, but Katie's performance definitely kept me somewhat entertained throughout.
It attempts to set-up a sequel during the ending, but I don't think it will get one, if I'm honest.

4.9/10

#6: Rhythm Section

I was mainly interested in this because of Blake Lively.

From the trailers, it seemed like a damn sight better, more story-driven film similar to ANNA(2019).

This was amazing, 100x better than ANNA.

Terrific acting by Blake, truly a transformative role for her.

Blake's British accent was really believable.

The action scenes were quite intense, especially the car chase where the camera was in the vehicle throughout the entire chase, very immersive.

The song choices were excellent, fit the scenes perfectly.

I enjoyed this a lot especially for Blake Lively.

8.4/10

#5: Greed

*In loving memory of Caroline Flack*

Caroline Flack passed away a week prior to this film's release date, February 21st 2020. Miss Flack starred in this film. She will be missed dearly.

I did love that Sony Pictures paid their respect to Caroline as the opening text read 'In memory of Caroline Flack'.

I've been looking forward to this for quite a while. Love everything Steve Coogan does. Alan Partridge is the absolute best. He is hilarious not matter the role(excluding when he's in dramas, obviously).

This was immensely dark and quite depressing because it shows the sweat factories the women in foreign countries work in that only get paid the equivalent of £4 a day.

The James Blunt cameo was quite funny. Stating that he only had one song(his hit song 'You're Beautiful').

The story played out similar to ancient Greek stories. With Richard's son ultimately killing his father to takeover his "empire".

Steve Coogan's character, Richard's death was quite morbid, imo. Getting mauled to death by a coked-up lion.

Mr. Coogan was excellent in this film playing the role of a rude and brash business man. I am honestly too used to seeing him play Alan Partridge that this role felt quite jarring to watch at times.

Overall, this educated me as well as left me somewhat entertained.

7.6/10

#4: UnderWater

This was my first horror film of 2020.

Mainly wanted to see this because of Kristen Stewart.

I love when a film's runtime is under 100 minutes, this was only 95 minutes.

This was quite intense.

Kristen's performance was spectacular!

The sea creature design was excellent. The film is in constant darkness which helps the CG aliens appear a lot more real and present.

I was happy the opening shot was a close-up of Kristen.

The first half of the film was probably the most scary. It's once they started showing the creatures more frequently during the second half that it just turns into some sort of sci-fi action film, which is still okay, that's a good thing even though the film is meant to be a horror.

It reminded me alot of the Blair Witch video game that came out last year. It's immensely scary and atmospheric for the opening and the first half. But, when you start seeing the tree creatures constanly, it sort of becomes tiresome, but surprisingly still quite creepy.

I did tear up during Kristen's character's self-sacrifice monologue.

Although I only wanted to see this because of Kristen Stewart, I was thoroughly entertained and slightly frightend to the very end.

7.5/10

#3: Birds of Prey

I mainly wanted to see this because of Margot Robbie and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I didn't like Suicide Squad(2016) all too much but Margot's portrayal of Harley was definitely a highlight from that film.

I was intrigued by the casting of Ewan McGregor as Black Mask. The (probably) only interpretation of Black Mask I seen was the one from Arkham Origins/the DLC story from Arkham Knight. So, ultimately, I have nothing to go on going into film.

I initially got hyped for the film when Mary got casted as Huntress, last year.

This was great, perhaps the most enjoyable DCEU film to date.

Mary and Margot were exceptional.

Ewan McGregor as Black Mask was incredible!

The action/fight scenes were superb, props to the director, Cathy Yan, as she made it so the camera was at appropriate distance from the action making everything visible and to see what's actually happening. Unlike Elizabeth Banks, who directed the 2019 version of Charlie's Angels.

I really loved that Jared Leto's Joker was pretty much retcon'd in this film. The side of his face appears briefly during the Ace Chemicals segment but apart from that, his version is no where to be seen.

The only version of The Joker in this movie is a animated one during opening sequence and a drawing Harley uses as target practice.

I do wish they just got a body double of Leto's Joker and had him in the truck that plowed into the chemical plant, killing him off since he isn't gonna be in James Gunn's Suicide Squad film coming out next year, 2021.

The set design was beautiful especially during the closing moments of the film at the abandoned fairground.

This was really enjoyable even after the long wait after the delay.

9/10

#2: Sonic The Hedgehog

When the first teaser trailer came out early last year, I wasn't too impressed. The first design just looked hideous.

In fairness, the animation studio did go back and rework the whole design to make it look pretty much exactly like the video game icon.

After the redesign, I was partially hyped for the film.

From the trailers and promotional stuff, I just didn't see Jim Carrey as a perfect fit for Dr. Eggman/Robotnik. Never really been a fan on Jim Carrey's comedy, he was great in Man on The Moon. Honestly, I'd rather have had Steve Carell or John Goodman portray the villain.

This was better than I expected it to be. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

Ben Schwartz was amazing as Sonic!

Loved the two freeze frame scenes(the biker bar and San Fransico) perhaps better than the Quicksilver set pieces from the FOX X-Men franchise.

My opinion on Jim Carrey still hasn't changed.

The end-credits scene was cool with the introduction of Tails.

I do hope this does get an eventual sequel despite the backlash it got when the teaser trailer surfaced.

8.5/10

#1: Queen & Slim

I missed the secret Unlimited screening of this back in December 2019.

This seemed quite decent from the trailers that were shown in previous screenings.

Interesting premise, about a black couple on the run from the law after killing a white supremacist who was a police officer.

Holy shit, this was intense, gripping, emotional, tragic and beautiful.

The chemistry between Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith was great. Could definitely believe they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

Towards the end of the film, it dawned on me. This was immensly similar to Life Is Strange 2. The 2 brothers went through hell and back after killing a cop who gunned down their father, travel to the Mexican border only to get caught.

Queen and Slim went through a lot of shit to finally get to their plane out of the country, only to both ultimately get gunned down.

The ending was both bittersweet and brutal.

Slim finally found his 'ride or die' in Queen only to see her get shot in the heart and die mere seconds later.

Their fates were very heavily foreshadowed with the cliche 'I'll give my life for you' or lines similar to that throughout the film.

Some gorgeous scenery shots of the outskirts of New Orleans and Florida.

Going into it I was a little put off by the 130+ minute runtime but that surprisingly flew by quite fast.

9.2/10