Urmarli bez internetu (Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight 2020)

276.

Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight

4/10

Once again, Netflix had other plans when it came to watching the next movie on my list. I was looking to watch No Escape but with it being taken off and not much choice, I went for a horror movie, simply because I love the genre. Nobody sleeps in the woods tonight took my eye from the 'bloody' poster and after a quick read of the synopsis, I was willing to spend a relatively short time watching the movie. At first glance, it had a 'Hills have eyes' vibe with possible a family of hillbillies turning to cannabilism to survive and therefore we are ready to watch a gang get picked off whilst trying to guess who is going to survive. 

For 90% of this movie, the storyline was everything that I expected. There is a little bit of action to start, a killing as someone is dragged to the basement and not much is actually revealed. We then switch to a few years later and a camp is set up for youngsters who rely too much on technology. Always a good start to a movie when you know that they won't be able to call for help. We focus on a few youngsters to start, a quiet girl, geeky guy, a girl full of make-up and two other lads.

 They all get put into a smaller group and are sent off camping with one of the counsellors. We get the usual awkward sex scene that comes with a horror and then finally people start getting picked off. I've already assumed that the quiet girl is going to be the one who survives and so far she is doing well. With three people left in two separate groups, we know that one has to die at least. It's just the way it goes. The girl and the geeky guy come across another cabin and inside is the guy from the first scene that we saw dragged to the basement. He has lost his legs but he also has a story to tell. He knows the origin of the twins and this is where the movie gets a little too ridiculous. I can get on board with the creepy storylines of cannibals and people so far out of touch with normality, that they just cause carnage. This movie seemed to be heading in that direction until it took a step in the complete opposite direction. Their twins' story begins as they are innocently playing in their garden with the dog as their mother hangs out some washing. They are a poor family, no father but are happy all the same. As it turns dark, they see an explosion in the sky and something hit the ground a little deeper into the forest. It was an asteroid and after collecting a big piece, hiding it under their bed, they fall asleep. The little asteroid then cracks open and out pours some black ooze. Now the closest I can compare this too is how Venom entered the movie in Spider-man 3. This ooze gets into the two boys and turns them into possessed versions of themselves. Their mother wakes up to see them eating their dog in the basement and she locks the door on them. They age very badly, boils over their body, deformities and superhuman strength makes them the most dangerous things in the forest. 

The other camper, who is now alone, stumbles across a church with a wicked priest inside who is ready to abuse this lad. He ties him up before a wood chipper is turned on outside by one of the twins and suddenly all that's left of the priest are his shoes. The twin then makes his way into the church and opens the confessional box where the young lad is hiding, just as the screen cuts to black.

 We then cut back to the remaining two who are hiding back to the twins' house. They know their mate smuggled a mobile phone and it's still with his body. The return ends with the geeky guy's life coming to an end and out quiet girl taking a step into killer's territory as she finds a machete and drives it through one of the twins who is sleeping in his bed. The other twin as gone walkabout and we head back to the old guy in his hut, sitting with a shotgun and listening to the noises outside as his handle starts to turn and we think the last remaining twin is about to open a can on him. A shot is fired but instead of the remaining twin laying on the floor, it's actually the kid who has somehow escaped from the church. This time he's dead for sure. This leaves us with one camper from the group. The girl has now escaped and we cut to a policeman giving a prostitute his life story before she leaves and he's shocked as our remaining camper runs into his car. He's happy to drive her into town and listen to her story but doesn't keep his eye on the road and runs over the final killer. In true horror fashion, he leaves the girl in the back of the police car and heads off to investigate the body. She screams a warning but it's too late, the brother is back standing and drives and axe from head to arse through the policeman and heads over to the car.

 Wrestling herself to the driver's seat, she pulls away before stopping, reversing into the guy and putting him under the wheels a couple of times. Back at the twins' house, it's now night and we find out that although he's been repeatedly stabbed through the chest, this brother is still alive as he walks to his front door and we see police lights outside. Two drunks guy are walking down the road celebrating Hitler and stubbled across the other brother, still lying after being run over. The movie ends without giving us an answer as to whether this one is still alive.

A massively cliched movie of the horror genre if nothing further. The storyline followed every other cheaply made film and the only reason it ever got any different was when it strayed into the ridiculous on the origin side of things. We had the group of teens, nudity, a shack in the woods, the 'never split up' rule and even a useless policeman being killed. If you don't plan on being too surprised by a horror film and don't mind a predictable twist at the end, stick it on for a couple of hours but do not expect something new. It wasted some time for me sitting around during the lockdown but it also felt like a waste of my time because I could have been watching something great. I have to admit that I didn't know what to expect considering that this was a Polish movie, dubbed over with English but it felt like a cheap American horror, maybe a late installment to the Wrong Turn franchise, rather than something standalone and fresh. 

With the movie being dubbed, it was hard to gauge how well the cast was truly doing. Yes, you would see their actions, which played well and you know which stereotype each was playing but at the same time, it felt hard to connect with anyone of them. The closest I could get to anyone reminding me of someone would be the lead role of our female camper. Julia Wieniawa-Narkiewic played Zosia Wolska and once she started slipping into gear, applying medkits and using weapons there was the slightest hint of Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. This then didn't come to fruition, as once an act of revenge was taken, Zosia went back to a helpless youngster for a while until then once again, slipping back to a killer. A lot of the time the remaining staff were either as predictable as the story or just plain awkward.

I am always willing to give foreign films a watch and even went into this film expecting to read subtitles for the duration. I'm not too sure whether I would have preferred reading the bottom of the screen as the predictability meant that I wouldn't have missed too much with my eyes not on the prize. The ending seemed to leave room for a sequel and maybe, just maybe if that comes about then I'll stick it on in the background but I wouldn't be rushing to find out whether Netflix has signed up for it. If you go down to the woods today, you're not going to get a big surprise. 

Well, everything you do is questionable (Murder Mystery 2019)

 275.

Murder Mystery

7/10

Back at it with the letter 'M' and it brings us two cast members that I've recently watched in another movie. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston are going to be working together once again but unlike 'Just go with it', they are already married in this one. I have to admit this wasn't the movie originally on my list but Netflix forced my hand by removing 'Mercury Rising' from their streaming service. I'll have to watch that another time. I was pretty impressed with the chemistry of Sandler and Anniston in their last outing so I'm intrigued if they can keep it up. Additionally, I have just watching Law Abiding Citizen and am in the mood to fail at solving another couple fo murders, that's for sure. 

I had wondered how the story would play out from the moment I clicked go. There had to be a level of comedy with the first two cast members listed but there was still going to be a sense of seriousness considering the topic. I'm not going to try and reveal too much as I'd hate to read about the answers to a crime story before I had the chance to guess myself so let's keep it nice and simple. The main couple, Nick and Audrey have been married a while now and need a vacation. Audrey is a Hairdresser whilst Nick is a cop, who keeps failing his tests to be a detective. Instead, he lies to Audrey about his promotion and the spouses end up heading off to Europe for their very very late honeymoon. Whilst on the flight, Nick is outers whilst Audrey sneaks into the Upper-Class bar and meets Luke Evans' character, Charles Cavendish. Audrey even mentions that his name sounds like a bad guy from the novels she reads. He's my first suspect, even though nothing has happened yet.

 He invites them both to his uncle's yacht which will sail for Monaco and gives us a little back story regarding the uncle. He is worth $70 million or so and also stole Charles' fiance and 'wifed' her up. Once they arrive at the yacht they are introduced to more family members, an actress and Formula 1 driver, all who have earned their living with thanks to this old rich bloke. Problem is, he's now going to cut ties and scrap his will so that it now his new wife gets the lot. Obviously, it isn't going to go down well. As he is signing, the light pop off and once they come back on, he's got a dagger in his chest. We now have a race for the American couple to explain why they were ever on the yacht whilst everyone else claims it was them. 

Several bodies drop, some places are visited but the married couple are still the main suspects for the police, although we as viewers know differently. It's now all about them solving the mystery to prove their innocence and even when I realise it would be more than one person, I don't get one of them correct. The story actually becomes a little more complex than first thought. I was bamboozled once again. I'm losing my touch. The movie ends with a great car chase accompanied by some ACDC music and once all is solved, Nick and Audrey get to complete their honeymoon courtesy of the French Police Force. 

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie as it played out. The storyline kept my appetite wet for the crime genre but at the same time, was nowhere near as intense as Law Abiding Citizen was. The way the narrative continued, it definitely gave the audience red herrings throughout and just as you thought you had nailed it down, something else was in the mix, a confession or accusation entered the fold and even those didn't suffice for true evidence. As frustrating as it can be sometimes, it's never a bad thing to be wrong in these movies because rather than ending the movie with a, 'knew it all along', you can give it a, 'well shit, didn't see that coming!'. That's exactly what I sit down to a film to experience. 

Once again Sandler and Anniston bounced off each other throughout this movie with Anniston playing a pivotal role by the end. I have always maintained that I'm a big fan of Adam Sandler, especially the early stuff but there was something about this character that I wasn't a fan of. He was a cocky, over the top New Yorker and at times we'd see the old humour that made Sandler famous but it was too few and far between. I was a big fan of the collective cast too. David Walliams wasn't in the movie too long, the same with Terence Stamp but both started a chain of characters which were completely different from the last. Luke Evans and Gemma Arterton then progress into figureheads for the group of characters other than Sandler and Anniston. From the first moment I believed that Luke Evans was going to be our main antagonist, just by the demeanour that he brought from the off. Every single character was different, just like in a game of Cluedo and I don't have a bad word about what the added to the movie. 

This won't be the last movie that I have on my A-Z list which stars Adam Sandler but it will be the last time that I see Sandler and Anniston's chemistry on my screen for now. Just go with it was a good movie for the comedy and storyline bringing me back to some of the earlier Sandler movies, 50 first dates being a prime example. This time I enjoyed the movie more so because of the twists and turns of the story itself. This is far from a criticism of the cast but just shows that this was something a little different than a Rom-Com. It follows a pattern of movies that I have watched recently, where rewatching the film would be a very low percent. Again, not a criticism but I would hardly run back to a movie once you know all of the answers. The enjoyment level comes from trying to guess who is behind the kills and getting the truth by the end. If you like some crime movies with a 'whodunnit' aspect, this is one that could be easily missed but one worth sitting down and enjoying. 

It's not what you know. It's what you can prove in court. (Law Abiding Citizen 2009)

274.

Law Abiding Citizen

9/10

Back on to the Gerard Butler train for my 'L' movie but chuck in some Jamie Foxx and we have a movie that I've been waiting to get around to for a while. When telling people that this was on my list, they said it would be one of the better ones and others told me to watch out for the twists. From a short synopsis and excited friends, this story was regarding a guy taking the law into his own hands after being let down by the corrupt justice system. I'm actually excited by this one and it's going to get my full attention. 

The storyline begins at Clyde Shelton's house where he is working on contraptions whilst his daughter looks on and the wife cooks dinner.s Minutes later, there is a home invasion when he is knocked off his feet with a baseball bat and stabbed in the torso. He wife gets the knife too until there is an uncomfortable rape scene as their young daughter walks in before she is lead off by an invader. We flip to a scene in the solicitor's office where a distraught Clyde, played by Butler, is in a meeting with Foxx's character who is Nick Rice, the lead investigator on the case. He breaks the news that the lead invader is willing to give evidence to avoid the full sentence whereas the lesser invader, who everything is going to be framed on, will be sentenced to death. Shortly after the court case, the invader shakes the hand of Rice outside the court for the press to see whilst further in the background, an onlooking Clyde is far from happy. 

This is now the moment the story turns Clyde becomes our villain of the story and my interest increases. Every time I see Butler in a movie, he's there to save someone or even the planet. This is going to be a great change of pace. This is going to be a quick middle explanation as Clyde now uses a mixture of disguises and his own inventions to firstly kill his invader and send the video to Rice and his family and then turns on the people involved in the case. Even though the police attention turns to him, he cleverly words his answers in a way which doesn't incriminate himself. At the same time, a judge and lawyer die so Rice is distracted with who would be next.

 In the end, Clyde admits to the kills but this isn't the end of the story, not by a long shot. After being taken to prison, the killings continue and it gets personal for Rice as he starts to lose friends. He figures there has to be someone helping Clyde with the kills and suddenly my mind begins to race. We have a detective on the case who is a little quiet and grumpy, sometimes making eye contact with Clyde. Then we have a female junior detective who is, at one point, constantly looking at her watch and seems a little distracted but once they all die in multiple car explosions, my mind is blown too. 

There are only two more that Clyde is going after. These would be Rice, who people figure would be last as he is pretty much being made to watch and the other being the Mayor. Back in prison, Clyde is put into solitary for killing his cellmate but this is exactly where he wants to be. After some detective work and finding a lot of properties that Clyde has recently bought, one was right by the prison. Rice and his partner inspect and discover a tunnel that leads all of the way to a little workshop and a hatch into Clyde's cell. One issue, Clyde isn't home. Instead, he is out and about, ready to plant a bomb beneath the room where the Mayor is having a massive meeting about locking down the city until everything is under control. Clyde has been helping himself out and there wasn't an accomplice to the kills. Rice makes it to the bomb in time but the audience is fooled a little by the timeline. As Clyde makes it back to his cell, Rice walks out of the shadows. This doesn't stop Clyde pressing the button but it begins the countdown to the bomb that Rice has now put under his bed. Rice leaves, locking the hatch and leaving Clyde to his demise. The movie ends with Detective Rice watching his daughter in her school recital. Something he had put off whilst tied up in his work. 

I think the movie lived up to the hype that my friends had given it. Several aspects interested me throughout the movie which included the fact that this was a crime thriller in which the twists and plot turns could rival any. I found myself enjoying the movie a lot more watching Gerard Butler play the villain in this movie but somehow, a man that you could understand and maybe even sympathise with. Halfway through the movie, once they announced that there may be an accomplice to the crimes, I was on edge, suspecting everyone whilst never seeing the twist that was to come from the ending. For me, this is the sign of a great storyline as I like to think I'm aware of where a story may be going and who is involved. Sometimes I have an issue with a storyline this good and if the movie has the 'rewatchability' factor. Not that that's even a word but from where I'm standing, I would definitely go back and watch this, even knowing the twists. 

The successes of the movie then transfer into the cast members. I've already mentioned Butler and his role but I'm more than willing to mention it again. As a villain, this guy had the role nailed down and I much preferred seeing him playing Clyde than some guy in space in a storyline as far fetched as shit from China. There was a confidence of the killer and righteousness about what he was doing that could draw in the audience enough for them to understand his cause. Jamie Foxx, the main Detective on the case, seemed to have a sort of character arch which is well worth exploring. Going from a guy who was happy to follow the best deal of the court and simply doing his job to someone who things were made much more personal for. Once his family and friends came into the mix, his attitude changed and by the end, it's safe to say he didn't follow procedure. The role was portrayed really well by Foxx who went from calm and collected to somewhat desperate towards the end. This then ended with a sense of acceptance in his actions and maybe even a struggle with his conscience as to whether his actions were justified. I was even impressed with the little side roles by the end of the movie. With each facial expression and action, I truly believed that any of them could have been an accomplice to the murders.

It seems that this type of movie has become a lost art recently and I can't recall seeing a movie of this type in the cinema for a long time. Everything right now is relying on special effects, superheroes or remakes to sell tickets. This relied on a great storyline being told and the audience sitting and taking it in. This makes it even more effective as how little it takes to make the movie a huge success. I'm disappointed in myself for waiting so long to get around to watching the film and I need to track down some more within this crime/action genre. I would highly recommend anyone given this movie their full attention and although at times it can look a little dated, that only adds to the grittiness of the storyline.  

We know you still believe in that big fat creeper (Krampus 2015)

273.

Krampus

5/10

Two subjects that couldn't be further on my tolerance spectrum come together for my film beginning with 'K'. I love the horror genre and pretty much despise anything Christmas so it'll be very interesting to see how I fell after sitting through this movie. I've seen the Krampus depicted in other things, ranging from movies to animated series and what the figure stands for varies through each viewing but this is going to be a downright horror so expect some killing. The movie stars The film stars Adam Scott, Toni Collette and David Koechner, with Toni Collette being the only one I know by name and I can say that I have seen all three in other roles. Collette more recently in Hereditary which I thought was God awful. I'd be lying if I said that this movie has all the characteristics of being an absolute masterpiece, but if we go in simply wanting some escapism for a couple of hours, there is at least some potential for enjoyment.

The movie revolves around a family of four, with Adam Scott and Toni Collette's characters as parents and their daughter and son in the Christmas period. Also living with them is their Grandmother from Europe, who doesn't speak a lick of English.  In a twist that would almost be a National Lampoons homage, we get some guests in the form of a sister, brother-in-law, their kids and an aunt, who are the complete opposite in style from our focus family. The son, therefore, gets bullied by his cousins for still believing in Santa and in the end, his Christmas wish list is read at the table.

 He tears the letter up and throws it out the window. That night, a massive blizzard heads into town and shit starts to hit the fan. With the electricity out, the next morning, the daughter wants to leave to make sure her boyfriend is ok. She's set upon by a horned creature whilst the brother-in-laws set out to find her and are also attacked by something below the snow. Back at the house, everyone is set upon by evil toys, gingerbread men and some are even dragged up the chimney. 

The German Grandmother gives us a bit of history in which she had met the Krampus before and after some shoddy animation, she sacrifices herself so that everyone else can escape the house. This leaves us with an attempted escape down the road as each character gets picked off. We are finally left with the young lad Max and one of his cousins, who ends up being taken before Max tracks down the ritual area. We see Krampus and his evil elves chucking the family into some firey portal. We get Max crying and begging the Krampus stops his actions and returns his family as we also get a good look at this demon. Like a melted and whithered Santa Claus,  he seems to understand the point Max is making until he picks him up and chucks him into the fire. 

The scene cuts and Max wakes up in bed on Christmas morning. Going down to see his whole family and the house isn't wrecked, there is more Christmas spirit along with the happiness shown by Max which the family are a little surprised about. That's until Max opens his present to find one of Krampus' Bauble as a gift. This starts a flood of memories for the family and they remember that this wasn't just a bad dream for Max. The events were real and the camera pans out to reveal that the family's house is actually inside a snow globe on a shelf in the Krampus' lair. This is along with many other families and as the scene draws to an end, the toy creatures jump at the screen for one last attempt at a 'jump scare'.

I'm willing to give every horror movie a chance with it being my favourite genre and that even includes a Christmas theme. The film wasn't exactly a downright horror but tilted more towards a comedic value for me. From the outset, it had a National Lampoons feel about the family and from that moment, I was never going to take the movie or storyline seriously. I have wanted to see how Krampus was going to be portrayed and if I'm being honest, I didn't know what to expect. The storyline was a little entertaining since it was such a fast-moving narrative and action-packed horror. At times nothing kicks off until halfway through a horror. We got the movement early with this one and although it kept coming in cheesy moments there was something about the film that could keep the audience entertained and gripped. Each step followed the conventional storyline but this time I was left with a sense of satisfaction that rarely comes from movies. To not see a solution that gives us a happy ending is unlike most that you would get around to seeing. Not seeing the villain die or the family coming away with a somewhat shred of hope was a great change and an outcome that I can get on board with more often. The horror value of the villains fell between mediocre special effects and puppetry, which to an extent, fell in line with how the story was going.
In my eyes, the cast was ample for the film and after only ever seeing most of the cast as side roles of better movies, let's say they didn't take the spotlight with an oscar worthy showing. I doubt I'll see 90% of the faces in a lead role again Toni Collette gained massive plaudits for her role in Hereditary, a movie I think was massively overrated, but in this movie, I warmed to her character a little more. A person fed up of Christmas, not wanting to see the extended family and turned into a badass at the right time, although on this occasion the attempt was futile.
When someone mentions a straight to DVD horror, look no further. It was alright for a watch around Halloween but I wouldn't rush back or even hold out hope for a sequel of any sort. With an element of fun, some attempted jump scares and Christmas theme songs it seemed like Krampus didn't know what movie it wanted to be and ended up falling a tiny bit short on both counts. If I could attach it to a genre of movie it would be like along the lines of Gremlins with each element that I had just mentioned. If you're a horror fan who wouldn't mind a glimpse of Christmas chucked in, by all means, grab some popcorn and sit down for a couple of hours. Just don't come at me afterwards if you want your viewing time back. 

I would create a fake family for that (Just Go With It 2011)

272.

Just Go With It

7/10

My youth was filled with Adam Sandler movies such as Happy Gilmour and The Waterboy, just to name a couple but let's be brutally honest, the guy's comedies had taken a steep decline over the last decade. I loved the earlier stuff but my favourite Sandler film came a little later on. Reign on Me is a great great movie in my eyes and is a far cry from his usual comedy work, but that is a different conversation for another day. Just Go With It was recommended to me whilst climbing the Pantheon in Athens on my first day of travelling around Europe a few years ago. It's taken me a while to get around to it and when I typed 'J'  in the Netflix search, it was there staring back at me. The movie also stars Jennifer Anniston and although I was a little late to the party in watching the complete series of Friends, she is such a recognisable face she's not exactly going to be just a side character. Let's find out whether the title of the movie is a cry to the audience on what we should do whilst we watch!

The movie begins with a wedding day and Sandler's character Danny is about to get married. In the bridal suite, the bride is talking about how she has been cheating on Danny and gave it one more night before the wedding to get it out of her system for now. Danny overhears this, along with his best friends, and walks out. In a bar, he sits as an attractive woman walks in and after seeing his wedding ring, she asks about his wife. He explains that she left him for another man and he ends up sleeping with this woman. This is the ploy for the next 23 years as he creates fictitious failed marriages, dead wives and divorces as he sleeps his way through the women. That's until he meets a girl he likes and sleeps with her without his wedding ring. The next morning she finds the ring in his pocket and shit hits the fan as she won't date someone who is married as this caused the breakdown in her own parent's relationship. This highly attractive female named Palmer has taken Danny by surprise and now he needs to act. The only person who knows his schemes would be his co-worker Katherine, played by Anniston. She is divorced, a mother of two and Danny's new best friend. They know everything about each other and it clicks with me, these two are going to end up together. Don't worry about Palmer, she's just a ploy for the audience and I've seen enough Sandler movies to know which road we are heading down. 

Sandler even has to pretend that Katherine's kids are his own and after buying her loads of new clothes to act as a trophy wife, they all meet Palmer. The son blackmails Danny into taking them all to Hawaii on vacation where they all bond as best possible.

 Danny's mate from the beginning comes along to pretend to be Katherine's new boyfriend. As the vacation carries on Palmer finds a way to get Danny to spend quality time with, what she thinks is, his kids but little does she know that this begins to work against her. He bonds with them, teaching the boy to swim and Katherine sees this and the camera pans in on both females individually to show that they are attracted to this new fathering Danny. Danny and Katherine even end up having a meal together all because Katherine meets an old school friend that was a bit of a bitch to her. She needs Danny to lie and pretend that they are both married, spiralling in to even more lies.

 You can see them both enjoy each other's company and towards the end of the night, the audience is left wondering if they would kiss but they walk away. In each of their rooms, they actually decide to head back towards each other's floor in the hotel, only for Danny to bump into Palmer and somehow they get talked into getting married the next day. Katherine comes out of the elevator doors to find out the news and then take the ride back to her room. The two are left to sleepless nights wondering if something needs to be said but instead we wait until the morning. Katherine speaks to her old 'friend' and admits that she was lying about her own life and that she has fallen in love with Danny. The thing is that Danny was actually standing behind her and admits to stopping the wedding. He has begun to feel exactly the same and enjoys his time with her kids, already feeling like they are a family. The move ends rather quickly from here on out as it shows the two in their wedding day, embracing each other as another scene shows Palmer on a flight getting along with Andy Roddick the famous tennis player, which came from absolutely nowhere.

I have definitely taken my eye off the ball when it comes to Adam Sandler movies. You hear the bad things about some of his comedies in the last ten years and decide to stay away with good reason. I haven't gotten around to the much newer, more serious roles that he's been playing but as mentioned in the beginning, when there's a bit more seriousness, I sit up and take notice. This is no difference here and it feels like some of his older more popular comedy style mixed with a sense of adulthood about him. Maybe he's finally realising what he does well and leaves the nonsensical storyline behind. Yes, the story was extremely predictable and indeed felt like some other rom-com movies from the past twenty years but it still came with a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction with how the story played out by the end. The main difference from all the rest would be the love triangle that emerged. Although we knew how it would play out, it was still interesting to watch a movie where the main female you expect the male to chase down starts to drop back into the shadow and you feel yourself willing the character on to head towards someone else. Little did I know that this was based on Cactus Flower, which was a comedy movie from the late 60s' which revolves around the same kind of story.

For me, Sandler was back to 50 First Dates level of comedy. He had a crude style mixed with real emotion of certain characters which I've heard has been missing from many flops that he had put his name to recently. Jennifer Anniston has only ever been Rachel Green to me but to see her in another role, playing a female who hides her beauty and body rather than flaunting it in Friends, it was a different direction to what I'd seen from her usual role. This gives the audience a sense of compassion and wanting her to 'get the win'  as she is shit out of luck herself but slowly falls for her best friend, who is treating her kids like the father she wants them to have, all whilst watching him try to get with a younger model. I'm more than willing to give some honourable mentions to Bailee Madison and Griffin Gluck who played the kids. They were absolute terrors and downright arseholes at the right time but played their roles very well. There was even time in the movie for some short scenes with the Sandler posse of actors that you used to see in every Sandler movie over the years. Even if it was only for a minute, you recognised the faces.

My next Adam Sandler movie is going to be Uncut Gems, which will be a different direction from what I have just watched here but I know the guy has variety in his catalogue. I'm not sure what else to add other than it was nice to see the comedic storyline reigned in, to an extent, rather than Sandler trying to play two characters of opposite sexes for example. Playing it nice and simple shows that he can still be a decent hit from time to time and it was nice to see the Anniston still has it in the locker. Hopefully, Netflix has helped Sandler's career more than most will notice and we get some more movie that pass a couple of hours on a rainy day.

 

I'm not finished playing yet (I See You 2019)

 271.

I See You

7/10

I See You carries on my journey through movies that I have never seen and are available for streaming on Netflix. Helen Hunt is the only name I could recognise but I'd be forgiven for not noticing her face right away. Since I had seen her in movies such as Twister and What Women Want, she's definitely found someone to try and rearrange her face. IMDB describes the genre of this movie as horror so it would automatically have my attention but let's find out if this is worth seeing or if it should have remained in the shadows. 

I don't want to give too much away when it comes to discussing the full storyline as there are a lot of spoilers, which doesn't actually leave me with much to type on the subject but I'll try. The movie begins with a boy going missing but mainly revolves around a family home.

 A family is torn apart by an affair and as the husband is a detective working on the missing child case. A few things happen around the house which gives me a feeling of paranormal activity. Where the movie goes from here is an easier explanation but also some unexpected consequences. The movie actually restarts halfway through, to show the events from a different perspective. These leads us to characters that we didn't even realise were present. We find out about the strange happenings but we also find out about the child abductor and let's just say it was a little closer to home than first thought. The movie cleverly uses its narrative to show the audience aspects of the story that we actually missed and they either confirmed or ended some suspicions by the end credits. This is wrapped up with the audience possibly following one character and thinking he is a complete tosser but by the end, understanding his actions as they tie in with our main storyline. I won't be going any deeper with the story, but I can say that things did not pan out as I thought they were going to, that's for sure. 

I wouldn't go as far as saying this movie was in the horror genre in my book, more towards a crime thriller at best, although I was made to think differently about how events had started. A horror movie based around a police case for example would be Deliver Us From Evil, which drastically takes a turn towards the paranormal but this progressed away from those characteristics. 

Exploring the cast, I don't need to speak about Helen Hunt's character too much as it turns out the role she played wasn't too integral to the main storyline. That's not to say that it wasn't a good display but her character could have been played by a long list of talent and it would have been the same outcome in my eyes. Jon Tenny, who played the husband Greg, had a slightly more important role, without once again giving too much away. From a quiet man who seemed to be in mourning for his relationship, he switched through the movie to a darker, more sinister role. The other male that we would see a lot of was Owen Teague as Alec. This was the character mentioned that we got frustrated and quite frankly pissed off about but as this guy's character developed its final legs of the character arch, we knew exactly why the attitude he had through the earlier scenes, were apparent. There was no clear main character in the movie, just a collection and this collection gained a few members halfway through.

I have said this before and I'd imagine saying this many times to come... it's a movie that I enjoyed on my first viewing but I would very much doubt I would go back to it for a second viewing. This isn't a criticism for the movie or the story but once you know all of the twists, is there really the same enjoyment level available? You could watch this with a first-time viewer and see if they can guess the story or how they react but that might be about it. Sometimes I can be quite savvy when it's a movie that I'm told has quite a few twists and turns but on this occasion, my brain must have had a meltdown as I hit a few dead ends on m earlier ideas. It was a nice change of pace and refreshing that I hadn't spoilt the movie for myself, that's for sure.

What is better? Be right, or be alive? (Hunter Killer 2018)

270.

Hunter Killer

6.5/10

Back to some good old-fashioned 'popcorn action' for the letter, H. Hunter Killer brings yet another mission for Gerard Butler and this guy's mission log and job description involves everything. What a CV! We've seen him in space, leading the Spartans, protecting the American President and now we are going to see him take charge of a submarine. When you think of a film that Butler will be starring in, you know it won't be short of action and most of the time, over the top action, so only God knows what was going to be in store for me. Also withing the cast was one of my favourite actors in Gary Oldman and I wasn't sure which kind of role he was going to be playing. He was played hero and villain well when called upon so let's get to depth and see what's in store. 

After an American sub gets attacked in the seas near Russia and retaliation means that we have casualties on both sides, there is only one man set to be called in to get to the bottom of what is going on. 

The Rear Admiral, played by the rapper turned actor Common, calls in Joe Glass, Gerard Butler. He's known for his unorthodox approaches but they know he will get the job done. At the same time, we have a Navy SEAL team sent in behind possible enemy lines to observe the Russian Naval base. One of the men, Martinelli, is injured during HALO drop and we already know he's had a hard time through training, so my guess is he will come back and save the day somehow. As they arrive at the base, they witness the Russian President being overthrown by the Admiral of the Fleet and his bodyguard is shot and dumped into the water. The gang is nearly found through a stray signal and after the Russians spray a few bullets at their location, only Martinelli is hit, once again, poor bloke. 

Back on the sub, they discover the destroyed American sub but also come across the Russian sub which has evidence that the damage actually came from the inside. Receiving signs of life, they move in to take the remaining crew and Russian Captain as their prisoners of war until they know anything further. During this, they are actually attacked by another Russian sub but this time, it's a rogue until that caused the carnage in the first place. 

It is now a race against time to prove to the public that America did not attack the Russians as the new leader of the Russian Navy is trying to say that America has attacked them on their soil, so to speak and now they must act fast. Admiral Charles played by Gary Oldman is the usual guy in the forces that you can find in every movie of this genre. He's the gung ho leader or wants to make sure that they are ready for war by positioning correctly and even going to throw the first punch. This plan is actually taken up by the President, to an extent but she's also interested in the Rear Admiral's idea. He would like their ground team to try and get the Russian President out of the area and on to a screen where he can tell the truth. Glass is therefore told to move the sub into the port, which is full of mines. This is where the Russian captain comes in to play. Finally believing what truly happened under the water, he agrees to navigate the sub along with Glass, even if the crew doesn't like Glass's methods. The SEALs take casualties as they get the president but Martinelli sniping from the trees help in the retreat as they get to the water's edge and get the President on board.

In on final standoff between the two countries fleets, up pops the sub right in the middle. It takes some damage from the Russian ship but the Russian captain who was saved knows these men and can appeal to them to overthrow their new Captain on this day. They succeed in doing so and on land, the Russian Admiral is now getting desperate, he sends some missiles in the direction of the sub carrying his President but the Russian ship's anti-missile gun has other plans. From there, they send their own missiles at their former Admiral and end the conflict so that everyone can go home. That's exactly what they do, everyone quickly gives some respect and the Rear Admiral is even commended by the hot-headed Admiral back in the US. I guess Gerard is off to find out what else he can tick off as a job role.

Just like every other Gerard Butler movie, he has to come out of it as the hero and this was not an exception. This storyline followed most directions that I could have guessed before even clicking play. Butler was always going to be the hard-ass leader who was brought in to not play by the rules and to get the win in any way necessary. Although you know it was going to be a happy ending, but we still have the journey to get us there. With the story going on within the sub, as soon as the plan was in motion we were never going to see the Russians betray our team. This then translates to moments of suspense, just like the stand-off at the end, but you always know that the 'good guys' aren't going to be blown up. Just once I want this to happen to spice up the genre. Maybe the audience won't be left satisfied but for me, it'll be something new. I suppose with one of the popcorn action movies, we don't need something too complex but at least it wasn't as unbelievable as something like Geostorm. 

You come to know what to expect from Butler as an actor and this again was no different. Loud and proud as a leader, he is happy to be proven wrong but after he sees out his actions. I'm pretty sure I'd follow the guy into battle. Everyone else was alright but nothing stand-out apart from Gary Oldman but I could be biased as he is one of my favourite actors. This time he had to play the missile happy Admiral who wanted to go full throttle into a war rather than listening to other ideas. By the end, it was nice of his character to pretty much admit that he was wrong and give out the respect deserved rather than sulking in the background. 

You can go into this movie with a couple a needs and possibly come out fulfilled. Action movie? Tick. Decent storyline? Tick. A way to pass some time? Tick. The movie isn't in any way a current style war classic but it does have a sense of tension and realism that the US and Russia already have some of these issues when they have to escort subs or aircraft out of their area. I do recommend this compared to some of the other Butler movies that he throws his name towards but don't sprint to turn it on, don't even jog. If Netflix tells you, ' you watched this, you might like this,' give it a go. 

You've just released every monster I ever created! (Goosebumps 2015)

269.

Goosebumps

5.5/10

The A-Z takes a route back to my childhood and I was very fond of reading a Goosebumps book or two. This then moved on to the TV series after school and finally, it just fizzled out for me. Just at random, this movie popped up when typing in the letter 'G' and I decided to give it a go. Not expecting great things, I'm hoping that it will give some nostalgia more than anything else and if there is some enjoyment to be had then we'll chalk that down as a bonus. Now I know that compared to the original TV series which would just base itself on one story, this was bringing as many characters as possible together in one movie. Jack Black being the only face I recognised from seeing the movie poster years ago but we'll find out whether any other faces are ringing a bell. Let's open up the story quickly.

We are going to be following some neighbours, one family of son and mother recently moving into the area an another of daughter and father who are very secretive. The son and daughter from each family have a quick encounter before the father angrily steps in and puts a stop to it. With the kind of movie I can imagine this will become, it won't be long before the kids meet up again and by the end, the father will like the boy. Zach is entering a new school and his mother is the Vice Principal which he isn't too thrilled about but in his first assembly, we meet Champ, another outside and someone who fast becomes our comic relief to the movie. The storyline follows the fact that Hannah the next-door neighbour's Dad has locked Hannah away for meeting up with Zach. He calls the cops as he thinks something worse has happened but when entering the house, the dad says that she hasn't been there for days and the cops believe him. This leads to Zach, along with Champ, breaking into the house for answers. Working their way to the office, they find a bookshelf with a lot of locked books. These books are by R.L. Stine and Champ knows them as Goosebumps books. Each one is locked but one is opened, just as Hannah shows herself with all of the noise going on. The abominable snowman is the first to wreak havoc and Hannah tries her best to get it back into the book until her dad shows up and gets it done. I should have already mentioned but Jack Black is playing the dad and it turns out, is R.L Stine himself in this movie. 

Back at the house, the commotion had sent the other books flying, opened up 'Night of the living dummy', which I remember from childhood and now a ventriloquist dummy is running amuck. He is opening each and every book to punish Stine for locking them away and the story now revolves around getting them all back to their books before the wreck the town.

 Along the way, we find out that Stine explains that when he used a magical typewriter, his stories came to life and he created Hannah and if they get rid of all of the creations, she will go too. They need to use the typewriter once again and end this story once and for all. By the end, Zach finds out that Hannah knew what she was all along and was ready to make the sacrifice play to save the rest. This is exactly what happens but you know that Hannah will end up showing her face once again.

The movie ends as everyone returns to the pages, Stine has been employed within the school as a teacher and Zach is no longer embarrassed to rock up to school with his mother. Walking the corridor with Stine, Zach asks about him missing Hannah but after a quick chat, Stine gives him the nod towards a doorway in which Hannah stands. A new book has been written and Stine instantly burns it so that she can never be returned to it. 

The movie was exactly as to be expected, predictable, carrying a happy ending and aimed towards either a younger audience or fans of the franchise. Although the storyline carries through an air of simplicity and predictability, there is still something that took me by surprise. I would have usually picked up on the twist with Hannah but maybe I was too relaxed in my viewing and missed it altogether. Once this came to the fold though, it was easy to work out the true ending of the movie.

Jack Black was definitely the stand out performance from the cast as his character arch went from a secluded sociopath with a protective nature to a trusting father and friend to the town. I recognised the guy playing Zach but even after an IMDB look, I couldn't put a finger on which role I truly recognised Dylan Minnette from. The acting wasn't great if you have to be over critical but with a movie that would be great fun for kids, who would even notice.

This movie is there to revitalise the imagination that comes from Goosebumps books and the TV show and maybe even bringing in some new fans who can drop back on to the original material. The graphics and special effects were very good and some of the horrors were even a little more mature for the young audience which will maybe whet their appetite for something in the genre when they are older. If there turn back to the older material, I'm hoping they'll find that more enjoyable. For me it was nothing more than a little bit of nostalgia.

How about next year we stay home? (Fractured 2018)

 268.

Fractured

7/10

I have been meaning to see this movie a while back because the principal looked very interesting to me. Fractured slides in for the letter 'F'. What I know from this movie is that Sam Worthington is going to be playing a Dad on hospital grounds whose Wife and Daughter go through the hospital curtain and aren't seen again. We are about to embark on a psychological thriller which may leave us with some twists and turns and I'm really hoping so.

We are following a family of three making the trip home on Thanksgiving but we are already thrust into trouble as Worthington's character Ray and his wife Joanne, played by Lily Rabe are showing their break down in marriage., Trying to hide it from their young daughter, they pull over at a gas station for some new batteries for the little girl's walkman as well as a toilet break. As Ray is inside, he grabs a few small bottles of alcohol, which he can't afford when it's cash only, so he doesn't even grab the batteries. Heading back to the car, Peri, the daughter claims she has left something in the toilet to Ray stays with her at the car whilst Joanne goes to check. Ray spills his coffee, Peri wonders off a little near a construction hole and when Ray looks back up, a dog is confronting Peri. He tries to throw a stone to scare it off but ends up scaring Peri too, who falls down the hole and with a last-ditch attempt to grab her, Ray goes down too.

 He wakes a little while later to Joanne's screams and Peri coming around with a broken arm. When they arrive at the hospital, Joanne and Peri head through for a CT scan after being seen to by a couple of nurses and a doctor and Ray has to wait in the waiting room until he passes out with exhaustion. Before dropping off he sees a couple of bodies being wheeled in with a cheeky brown envelope being passed from the waiting doctor to the ambulance drivers. 

When he wakes, he asks how long his family will be but shit starts to hit the fan when he is told they were never there. Now my first instinct is that she has left as they were going to break up by the looks of things and she's done a runner to her family's house. Ray was already upset at the staff when they signed in as they wouldn't take his insurance and asked about his ex-wife who died in a car crash. They even asked if he wanted his daughter on the organ donation list. He causes nothing but tension at the hospital until he enlists two police officers to help him. From some history of movies, the police usually tell the character not to worry and that nothing strange is happening but these two seem to be onside. That's until we look at security tapes, which are non-conclusive and only ever show Ray at the desk, other places in the hospital have broken cameras. 

Ray has lost any patience he had left and still thinks something is up at the hospital. They say that the CT scan room is upstairs but even I saw the lift taking his family down. He is taken to the bed that they all sat around when first arriving and Ray finds his daughter's scarf, which only strengthens his case. They bring the doctor down who seen to them when they arrived but he says that Ray was alone, erratic and had a nasty cut on his head. causing these hallucinations.  He is instead invited into a meeting with a counselor at the hospital who believes she can help. She starts with questions about the last time he had a drink, how he feels about his ex-wife as he had brought her name up when he first got to the hospital. She pressures him with questions of the fact he knows what happened to Joanne and Peri but he doesn't want to face it. In the end, she gets the police to take them all to that construction site. The police dogs smell the scarf and heads down to the fall area. They move the snow and there is a shed load of blood. Blood that doesn't come from the cut on Ray's head surely, and nothing that would happen from a simple broken arm. Now I'm thinking what the hell has he done with the bodies? He then sees the dog again but so does everyone else. The shrink knows that it doesn't mean Ray is telling the truth and insists on him telling them where the body is. Instead, he turns in to James Bond, steals a gun and knows how to handle is as he locks them all in the gas station toilet and heads back to the hospital in a cop car.  He steals a lab court, jumps the security guard in the lift and has a key to go down to the basement to find out what is really going on.

 Hiding in a dark room, he looks into the hallway to see doctors carting about trays with boxes labeled organs. He breaks into a surgical room just as a team of doctors, including the one who said he had never seen him before is about to operate on his daughter. He sees his wife drugged up in a wheelchair, picks his daughter up and wheels them both out, shooting the doctors on the way. Now I'm wondering whether this is some actual hillbilly backward shit hospital. Finally making it to the car, he puts them in the back and makes a break for it before the police arrive. The camera pans to Ray's panicked face and you can just tell there's a little something more to come. I'm expecting the bodies to have been taken from the morgue or something and the family is dead in the back, but no, maybe the police would have told him that they found them. Instead, it's just a random young lad in the back who he has stolen mid-surgery and we are finally going to get some answers.

We flashback to the moment it all happened and Peri wondering off is the final straw for Ray and he loses his mind, throwing the stone at her and as she falls and he misses the grab, the impact on the ground kills her. Joanne finds them both and he pushes her, causing her to fall and impale against a metal rod, also killing her. This causes him to create a reality that convinces him they are both still alive when in truth, he has stashed them both in his boot and the movie ends as the camera pans over the boot, showing the bodies. Crazy fool. 

This was an enjoyable one-time watch of a movie. I say one-time watch because once you know the ending, it'll be rare that you would want to go back and watch it again without the enjoyment of the twists and turns. The storyline kept me guessing and questioning my reasonings which would only be a good sign to a movie that is intended to draw you in. Not at any point did I lose interest and not at any point was I sure that I had figured it all out, even up to the closing scene. 

The cast wasn't a massive thing for me in this movie. I've seen Sam Worthington in many things and after bingeing American Horror Story I recognise the cast member playing Joanne as Lily Rabe through that series. It is hard to claim that there are any more main characters rather than Ray because everyone comes on the screen at moments with Ray as the central role. That doesn't mean that they didn't give a good account for themselves though, each was good in their roles but the main man that we were following was very good. Sam's character's descent into madness was very very well portrayed. He had me convinced for a little while that there was seriously something up with the hospital but slowly you saw him slip into madness and his lie.

For me, it was enjoyable at the time but with some downers of course. The movie did look a little grainy, dark and plain but I wouldn't complain if this was simply to add to the mood of the movie, but that would be just to  As already mentioned, it would be a little hard to go back and watch this with the same level of enjoyment but maybe watching it with someone who hasn't seen this would add a new sense of enjoyment to find out if they would work out what is happening. If you fancy some sort of a thriller that'll get you thinking, go and get Fractured. I wonder if he would end up getting caught. At least this Netflix movie came with some more answers for the ending.