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. 

You drown not by falling into the river, but by staying submerged in it (Extraction 2020)

267.

Extraction

6.5/10

Some time off work is going to give me time to fly through some movies. My next stop is the letter E and we shall be watching Chris Hemsworth take on something completely different from some Marvel villains. I have seen his act as something else other than Thor but that was Men in Black and it was bloody terrible. What I am hoping is that this is action-packed and at least has a decent sort of story to it. I do worry at times because the other 'straight to Netflix' movies that I have picked up so far have left me wanting more. Not in the way that I expected more, but there were too many unanswered questions by the time the credits rolled. You can expect something half decent if it's produced by the Russo brothers surely? They've been in charge of the highest ever grossing movies so maybe we can get some enjoyment.

This movie will be following Hemsworth playing a black ops merc but we don't get to see him in his glory straight away. We seeing him kill a couple of people but he looks like he has been through hell and back until he sits next to an abandoned car. Then the scene cuts. We are following a young kid and his friends from school, hanging out and finally getting home where he has a little telling off by one of his father's associates. Now, I'm already wondering where the father is to do the job but the house is massive so he might be a dodgy fella himself. The kid, Ovi, sneaks out that night to meet his friends at a night club and whilst out back smoking, the police catch them with drugs, shoot his mate in the forehead and kidnap Ovi. The guy from home that gave him the bollocking has to break the news to his dad. Saju used to be Special Forces and is tasked with breaking the news to this Indian Drug lord. His own family is threatened if he doesn't get Ovi back as he was responsible for looking after his every move. 

Saju knows that the Drug Lord no longer has the money for the ransom so he heads to the black market to hire Tyler Rake and his team. The first time we see Tyler, he's simply sunbathing before chucking himself off a cliff in front of his astonished companions before sitting below the water he lands in until he nearly drowns, bringing some blurred images of holding a child's hand. It doesn't take a rocket scientist in his first year of study to realise that this guy is remembering his dead child or at least a child he doesn't see any longer. After getting briefed, he meets the kidnappers, gets shown the hostage and then gets told to tell the father to pay. As he is lead out, we see the machine that is the killer they hired. Wiping out the gang, he takes the kids and tries to exit the city.

 Instantly, the now lead drug lord and rival of this kid's old man finds out and demands that the police, which he owns, lock down the city. This is all whilst he is watching some kids get chucked off a roof. He likes one kid though, a little ballsy fella with a decent scar on his chops takes his eye and he wants him to have a gun, sticks him on the street and just as easy as the rest of the movie is to follow so far, this kid will have a role to play. As Tyler makes it to the escape boat, his colleagues on board are killed and the one keeping watch is also shot. As the office side of the team was waiting for the bank transaction to come through, which never happens, we know something is up. Saju the sneaky bastard has decided to doublecross the team. He got them to do the lift and the hard work and then he moved in for the kill so that he didn't have to pay. No Tyler has a problem, the kid knows Saju and wants to go with him but Tyler knows that if he lets this happen, he has pretty much killed himself.

 A car chase, high rise chase and plenty of explosion and gunshots in between as the police move in leaves us with a battered Tyler hiding out trying to focus on his next move. Just as my cogs are turning, I think Tyler and Saju are going to have to come together by the end of this. He has only turned on the plan to save his own family but this is a hard task for all involved. They think the night will help them but that little shit with the scar has turned up with his gang of kids. This is quite funny to watch as Tyler slaps them down to the ground and doesn't pull his punches on the leader, once again giving them some time to escape as the police movie in with helicopters due to the ruckus. They find their way to the sewers and Tyler has to call in a favour from another ex merc. Hang about, the ruffian looks like David Harbour? Yep, it's Harbour and he is hiding the guys out in his flat. Problem is that he also works for the police general now and he is about to give up the duo. Tyler and he get into a fight and Tyler is only saved by Ovi picking up a gun and killing him. Harbour wasn't in the movie for long but it was good to see another familiar face. Tyler's team that is left in the office makes a new plan. They have to get the kid out view a bridge that crosses a border of the city and they can wait on the other side. For Tyler, there is only one person that he can bring on board to help out and that's Saju. Called it. Just before the call comes, we see a battered Saju calling home and promising his son that he will be home. That is never a good sign. The trio meets up and Tyler drops the kid off with Saju to use the plan. Tyler is off elsewhere to create a distraction so that the forces think the kid is still with him and bring hellfire down on his location. Saju and Ovi as disguised crossing the bridge but are finally stopped as a guard noticed the battered face of Saju and as he asks Ovi to take off his hat, he knows this is the kid they are looking for. All hell breaks loose on the bridge but from a rooftop, the drug lord is looking at the explosions on Tyler's location until he is made aware and sends two teams to the bridge. Saju gets in touch with Tyler to let him know they are sussed and now it is a race to get this kid across. The leader of the forces takes a vantage point with a sniper and begins picking off the team waiting at the other side of the bridge whilst a helicopter makes it to the location and starts spraying at Saju as the kid hides on a bus. This is beginning to get to the opening scene as Tyler fights his way on to the bridge. Saju is taken down by a bullet to the skull as the sniper takes aim and now it is up to Tyler to get this kid moving and give him cover. Ovi runs for his life as Tyler takes and receives and the Sniper takes aim again, downing him. The lead female on our team takes her own sniper, picks him out and ends the offence. Tyler gets back to his feet but pretty much knows he is done. He lets the kid get to safety and turns around with every hope of covering the escape of his team and Ovi. He picks off the last of the police and turns to the female and Ovi to give a little smirk but is cut short as that little tosser with the scar has shown up again. Fire is returned from the safe end of the bridge and he scampers off like a little rat but the job is done. This is the clearest flashback of Tyler holding hands with the little boy that we see. Ovi realises what has happened and tries to make it to his new friend but is stopped as Tyler, seeing Ovi is safe, falls backward into the river.

The movie cuts to 8 months later and the team had escaped to Mumbai so I'm not sure if that's where Ovi is now but we see him in a school, pretty quiet and heading to the diving board. He jumps and settles on the floor of the pool, just as Tyler did, collecting his thoughts and heading back for air. As he turns to the to look around the camera focuses on Ovi but the background is a blur and a guy is standing there looking on, who is very much in the shape of Tyler Rake. Netflix you bastards, you don't have like leaving me with a question I'll never get the answer to. 

I put up a status on Facebook to say that I was about to begin watching this and the response was, 'don't get your hopes up' and so on. This didn't fill me with confidence but as in the past this lowers my expectations and I can go ahead and enjoy a movie for what it is, an escape from the real world. The storyline was incredibly simple and predictive although I still would like to know if Tyler survived somehow. I'm pretty happy with myself for working out that Saju was going to come good as his intentions were always to protect his own family from a threat so you could understand why he took the actions that he did.  The story for Tyler started in water as well as ending in water and as he was losing his life, the picture of his son would get clearer, showing him and his son running through water.

The cast was very well done also. It was nice to see Hemsworth in a more serious acting role. The first Thor movie was a little serious, a tiny bit of humour, the second the same but the third and the later Avengers movies came with a lot more humour, from him. The Men in Black installment isn't worth speaking about but they tried to draw out the same humour between two cast members from the third Thor installment. This time we got action and plenty of it. I had heard a rumour that there was a lot of action like a John Wick movie and I dislike those series. Thankfully this movie wasn't as full of non-sensical violence and I enjoyed it a lot more. The rest of the cast, although I may never see them in something else after this, helped to install the decently run movie. 

Thankfully, as already mentioned, I went into this with thinking it would be nothing more than a popcorn movie and from the three Netflix exclusive movies so far, they all had the same feeling. I would have been disappointed if I rocked up to a cinema for a ticket I had paid for but watching from the comfort of my own home to kill a couple of hours was enjoyable thankfully. I'm still here wondering if it was Tyler standing at the side of the pool at the end of the movie. In Netflix tradition, we will never know I suppose.  

After you've been in war, you understand it never really ends (Da 5 Bloods 2020)

 266.

Da 5 Bloods

5/10

Finally getting around to film 4 out of 26 and we come across Da 5 Bloods. I hadn't heard much about this movie at all but seen it advertised when it first came on to Netflix. At the time I was knee-deep in some series but now I have the time to watch this 154-minute movie. When a movie is that long, it is always a worry as to whether it will feel like its a trial or will it fly by. Having a small read about the plot on Netflix, we are about to watch four African American vets return to Vietnam to seek the remains of their fallen squad leader whilst also on the trail for the gold fortune that he helped them hide. 

As the movie started, I saw that it is going to be directed by Spike Lee. The only other movie I had seen from him was BlacKkKlansman, which was very enjoyable but came with a learning aspect also and some real footage to shock at the end. This movie began with that kind of footage. It also continued through the first third of the film.

 What I have seen so far is four older gents making their wat to Vietnam and meeting up with their tour guide. I only recognise one gent and that's Delroy Lindo. I didn't exactly know him by name but more by his face in some mediocre movies. The storyline for me comes in two main parts. We have the build-up to the gents setting up a plan to extract the gold out of the country whilst also being introduced to side characters that we think may come in to play later. These are the shady lot that are going to help with the gold and others we meet are in the country to help rid the areas of landmines. We follow this gang on their travel through to coordinates that they had locked away but flip back and fore with flashbacks of how they landed in the war, the killing of their leader and I suddenly see a face a definitely recognise. The now late Chadwick Boseman is the man to play their leader. Back at the present day, we discover each characteristic of the gang as one's son also tags along looking to blackmail his estranged father. One of the guys was always portrayed as a well off businessman, the others enjoying their life but the one who's son has come, is already a little bit of a loose cannon. 

We get to the site of the body and shit is starting to hit the fan, the businessman reveals that he has actually lost all of his money and as for the loose cannon Paul, he's waving a gun about as they gang bumps into those landmine removers. Eddie, the businessman is trying to keep the scabbling to a low but as he walks around with a gold bar, he steps on a landmine and loses his lower half before eventually dying. This is when Paul's reality really breaks down/ He thinks everyone is after him and he's not far from the truth. His friends want to take the gun off him but the guy that they had planned on getting the gold out of the country has also turned on them. After a shoot out, Paul's son gets shot on the leg but Paul decides it's a man down and is happy to leave him there. He is left to go alone as the other men stick with the young man and adapt to another plan. Paul meets his match as he quickly descends into madness, seeing the ghost of his former superior before being shot to shit by a resurgence of the local Vietnamese mercenaries who are after the gold for their employer, who our gents thought they had working alongside themselves. Now as for the others, the tour guide and the remaining mine disposal experts, they have made their way to some old ruins as a final stand. All hell breaks loose and we are only left with a few survivors. These include the tag along son and a female disposal expert that he was fond of in the bar before they left on this journey and has fallen for in only a matter of days. Being left with most of the gold, they use the tour guide's contacts to get it out of the country, for a share of course. The remaining is split to help the mine expert's charity and the wounded son, who is a teacher, makes sure the families receive some and the rest is donated to the Black Lives Matter movement. We end there.

I'm trying to think where to begin. The movie felt the whole 2 hours and 34 minutes that you were promised but that isn't a good thing. It was split in half with the first being the setting up and interaction giving us a tiny bit of background to each character but at the same time, overflowing certain aspects that we didn't need. The second half of the movie was pretty much carnage on the screen and there wasn't much information to take in but at least there were a lot more entertaining aspects taking place. The storyline wasn't a confusing one to follow by any means, we knew the mission, we knew each man and could guess the demise of certain characters. Without trying to sound prejudice, at times the movie sounded very preachy when it overdone some of the real-life stories and photos at the wrong time of the story. 

No-one really stood out for me character-wise, they were all OK but I wouldn't say I was made to support anyone and their choices, that's what made most of this easily forgettable to me. At times it was like a gang of squabbling teenagers with one of them trying to take the lead but the rest not really following suit, including the son. 

The technical aspects of the movie are the moments that will stick with me more than anything else. As we got our flashbacks, we would see the gang fighting in the war. The camera would narrow as if an older style of film was being watched. The fighting scenes were made to look extremely cheap, the guns had flashes like a cheap straight to DVD movie with the villains shooting like Stormtroopers but our main characters picking headshots, even if it was the first gun that had ever picked up. It was an interesting style but was a little bit laughable. 

There are much better films out there and I really enjoyed BlacKkKlansman so I had some high hopes for this one and it fell way short. The film was a bit of a mess and as I already mentioned, you couldn't invest in any of the characters, leaving you with no sense of satisfaction if they were going to succeed and no care if they were going to lose. The flashbacks hardly made our characters younger along with a lot of tiny flaws that group together as a mishmash of mistakes. Does this truly do justice to the 'Bloods' that lost their lives? For me, there may have been too many political overtones and stereotypes to give us a movie that we could stand attention to but also enjoy.

If they don't let us play, they all go away! (Child's Play 2019)

 265.

Child's Play

6.5/10

I have finally gotten around to speaking about the movie that I watched on Netflix when I typed in the letter C. Work has slowly started to take over my life recently and this review is delayed more than most of the movie due out in 2022. I can barely remember watching the version from 1988 and have seen only scenes from any sequel that came afterward. This time I'm going to tackle the 2019 remake which came to the cinema for a week before it got pulled from my local. I haven't heard the greatest of things but horror is horror and I'm willing to give it a go. No-one stands out within the cast I witness on the first glace as Audrey Plaza who plays the mother, is someone I have only heard by name and the cop who lives next door is played by Brian Tyree Henry is a face I recognise but don't ask me from what movie. After looking a little deeper, there was a reason for some excitement. Mark Hamill is going to be voicing Chuckie and although you may associate him with Luke Skywalker, you should really get in there and witness him voicing the Joker in The Batman animated series or The Batman console games. Let's find out is the toy was worth the price.

If we just have a quick run-through of the storyline, it's hardly worth getting into too much detail. It's a very very generic storyline as the movie begins with a bunch of pissed of Asians working in a sweatshop and one of them turns off the safety protocols on one of the Buddy dolls before killing himself. Nice bloke. As you can imagine, the doll finds it's way to Audrey Plaza's shop after it's returned for being faulty and she takes it home to her son Andy, who is struggling to adapt to their new flat. Audrey has already met a bloke, who isn't exactly great and we can guess what's going to happen to him. We watch Andy try to make friends whilst always resorting back to Chuckie. The doll is starting to show some signs of free will, which at first Andy loves but when the scratches Andy and Chucky takes offense, it isn't long until it's cut into pieces and being dumped down the trash shoot. Chucky has brought some friends about for Andy, who are more interesting in the doll really but friends all the same. Things start to escalate as Chucky witnesses Andy's Mom's boyfriend man handling Andy and heads over to his house and kills him in a very gruesome scene before taking off his face and bringing it home as a present for Andy.

As the conventional story continues, we see Andy battling to control his robot, try to explain to his friends that he is evil and even his own mother is very very skeptical about her son. He has made friends with the cop down the corridor and his elderly mother, who is next on the list for Chucky as he witnesses her telling Andy she can be his best friend. This death is the last straw for Andy and he rips Chucky to pieces and puts him in the trash shoot. Unfortunately, the creepy janitor finds him, puts him back together and meets his untimely death. Now the cop upstairs is getting suspicious, Andy has been acting like a bit of a loon and behind the scenes, the toy company is actually bringing out a whole range of these dolls. Andy's mother has had enough of his shit now and drags him to work with here, just as they are releasing the new dolls. 

Norris the neighbourly cop has determined that little Andy is the murderer and heads over to the toy store himself, just in time for Chucky to have switched the other dolls into murderous toys. A lot of people get sliced and Chucky turns on the lockdown of the shop, leaving just a few remaining inside, scrambling for their lives. Norris, the cop is sliced and diced by a drone with blades attached to the fans. Gutted about this because he was a good character who I thought would have saved the day, being a great character arch as he still lives with Mom, isn't very respected in his community and had been investigating the murders. This leaves Andy alone to look for his mother. Chucky as dragged her to the back, tied her up and is using her as bait for Andy. After a tussle and what Andy thinks is a winning blow, he goes to untie his mother but Chucky, with the most demented look on his face and knife in his hand, flies through the air at Andy before being shot down.

 My first thought is that the Mother got free and somehow found a gun. No, no, Norris is still alive somehow and it's one-shot kill as Chucky drops from the sky and stabbed through the power core. Mother and son embrace before she is put on a stretcher, the same as Norris and they have a little moment as the scene cuts. We have a statement from the toy company, recalling all dolls but as they are put into storage, one of the Buddy doll's eyes light red, suggesting that Chucky managed to transfer his AI somehow. The movie ends with Mark Hamill singing Buddi's song and if you get the chance to experience the creepiness, do it!

I'm not too sure if they expected this to be a cornerstone for reviving this franchise but I'm don't think it will go down too well. I enjoyed most of the movie. Yes, the storyline was very predictable apart from Norris coming back from the dead to an extent but it was a little bit of a 'tongue in cheek' horror that brought a little humour to the screen. Each time you met a character or someone said something bad, you always knew they would be at the end of a knife. This took a little enjoyment away from the movie but when you're not expecting a masterpiece and are just in the mood for a popcorn horror, you can easily forgive the writers. The doll was a strange look for a while compared to what you've come to know as Chucky and it took a while for the look to become very rough towards the end.

There's an extent where you could say this is just another horror movie cast of youngsters that may not be seen again but there were some redeeming features in this one. I enjoyed Brian Tyree Henry's character as the Cop Norris. There was a good guy factor about him and you wanted him to save the day. When I thought he was dead, I was disappointed when I thought they had killed him off. When he came back, I think I uttered the words 'Hell yeah', like some kind of Yank. That's the sign that a good job was done. The true highlight through the casting has to be Mark Hamill as Chucky. Such a mischievous voice in play and someone who could switch their attitude very quickly, which was needed in this movie and each time, you could tell the tone of voice was getting more evil each time. This guy is like a fine wine and does well when turning to the dark side. 

I came into this movie not hearing the best things. This gave me an idea of not going in expecting a masterpiece but to be entertained for what it is. There was a lot more humour than I had anticipated but because I wasn't in the mood to take this too seriously, it really did help with the enjoyment levels. It would be interesting to see if this goes any further, even if it's just something picked up by Netflix or just straight to DVD is more of a realistic option. This makes me want to go back and experience the originals though and maybe that can be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.

Every contact we've had with the outside has brought us death (Bird Box 2018)

264.

Bird Box

7/10

B is for Bird Box on my run through the A-Z on Netflix. Yet another exclusive to Netflix, I remember the hype about this one when it first arrived. The memes, quotes and opinions were flying around Facebook for weeks and I had someone stayed away from the bandwagon and decided not to watch it right away. This has given me the chance to go in with an open mind and to have forgotten about any potential spoilers that were floating around social media at the time. I knew the usual, Sandra Bullock is the main character, they are blindfolded as if they look at something, it will kill them. That's as far as my knowledge of the movie goes with the movie so let's hope it is something worth seeing.

The movie begins with Sandra Bullock telling two kids that they are going on a trip and it's going to be their most dangerous yet. The first thing I notice is that she is calling them Boy and Girl rather than actual names and I'm instantly wondering whether she knows them. We'll find out because in the tradition so far, Netflix is loving a flashback.

 We leave the trio in a boat on the river and head 5 years earlier to some character development for Bullock's character Malorie. She's an artist, bit of a recluse, has a loving sister and more importantly, she's pregnant. Sarah Paulson plays her sister and I've seen plenty of her in American Horror Story and the two go for a scan of the baby. Before they leave, the sister asks Malorie is she has seen the news. Reports of something causing mass suicides around Eastern Europe. Once it's put on mute, the sisters miss the fact that it has made it to North America via Alaska. When they arrive at the hospital, we are drawn to a female in pink, we get the babies scan and by the time we head out, that lady in pink is smashing her head against the window. Suddenly, shit hits the fan, people are killing themselves everywhere Malorie's sister Jessica sees something whilst she is driving and her eyes turn a shade of black, she crashes the car and the two crawl out.

 Jessica is still mental though as she steps in front of an oncoming bin lorry. Someone comes out of a house to help Malorie inside where a group is taking cover, but she sees something and walks inside a burning car and sits there. Another attempt by a gent works as he covers his and Malorie's eyes and they get in.

Inside the house, we have an array of characters, John Malkovich as the pissed off old guy next door who's wife killed herself when trying to save Malorie. We have Trevante Rhodes, who I have seen in a few things. He plays the guy who managed to finally help Malorie inside. Then there are a couple of side characters who start to get killed one by one. They even let a new, pregnant girl in and they find out that some people who look at whatever it is, are surviving and killing forcing others to look at this 'thing' and looting everywhere. Now in between seeing people getting taken out, we head back to the gang on the river and this dawns on me how much of a spoiler we are actually getting. Constantly seeing Malorie with two youngsters surely means that it is only her, her unborn child and the other woman's child that survives. She states that they are coming up to some rapids and someone needs to look. The lad volunteers but Malorie instantly says no. After a few minutes, the younger girl says she will do it and Malorie isn't exactly jumping to a no reaction. Maybe this means that the lad is her son and the girl is the extra tag along. Our main encounter with one of these acceptors of the killing force, kills everyone but Malorie, the kids and Trevante's character Tom. After this 'follower' is taken out, we fast forward 5 years. A time when our remaining characters are going house to house with a walk talkie and finally they get a reply.  A voice comes over directing them where to go for safety, taking the river and hoping they don't have kids otherwise it would be almost impossible. Tom wants to make the trip but Malorie thinks it's a trap. 

A couple of days later and the decision is made for them. The followers show up in force and Tom distracts them with his life as the others can escape on to the river and we are finally up to date with the timeline. With a close encounter with another follower on the river and getting up to the rapids, Malorie won't let anyone look to guide them through and they'll just hope for the best. Even with a bump along the way, they manage to get to shore with a soaking along the way. The get to a place where they find birds and birds react to these 'monsters' whenever they are near. The need to find the birds and they know they will be safe. Malorie falls down a ditch and the kids are lead away but these 'monsters' pretending to be her, they simply hear her voice and walk towards it. Malorie hears her sister but knows to drown it out, calling the kids back in her direction and saving them. The birds get louder and they find a door, eventually being let in and lead to safety. It turns out that it is a school for the blind that has also taking in some strays, one being the female nurse who did the baby scan for Malorie all of the way at the beginning of the movie. The movie ends with her naming the kids and the boy takes Tom's name whilst the girl gets her mothers. That's it, that's the end.

I enjoyed this more than Annihilation, that's for sure but again I felt there were too many questions left unanswered and I suppose that is the reason for some movies, to make people talk about them but I love a horror movie that finally reveals itself by the end. We never really got to grips with what the mystery figures were, only seeing gusts of wind heading towards people, shadows and a few drawings of different looking beasts but I wanted to set my sights on them myself, even if only for a few minutes. The storyline otherwise was pretty entertaining and full of interesting moments. It had a little bit of 'A Quiet Place' theme towards it but instead of keeping your mouth shut, it was your eyes. The main gripe I would have about how the story was told is once again the non-linear narrative. This time, it acted as a huge spoiler to who was going to survive from the house, which was the main setting for most of the story. 

Trying to think back whether I have watched a movie where we have had Sandra Bullock leading the line and I don't believe I have. This lead role suited her and I could actually sympathise with her at times. Not one for kids and anyone's shit, I could see my own attitude in her. This then carries over to the side characters. My favourite amongst these was definitely John Malkovich as the grumpy neighbour. A lot of the time the others in the house were screaming at him but I found myself screaming in my head at them because he was always on the right track. Everyone else adds a little something, a couple of others are just annoying and you become happy to see them go, that's for sure.

I'm still disappointed that we never got to see a monster, alien or anything along those lines, we only got to see what happened to anyone that looked at this phenomenon. It would be interesting to find out if there is anything in the pipeline to follow on with the story, even if this is without the same characters. Is this it for life now? What happens when the food runs out in the new hideout? These are questions that intrigue me after watching the movie rather than frustrate me like with Annihilation. 

It's not destroying. It's making something new (Annihilation 2018)

263.

Annihilation

5.5/10

With the cinemas closed, I have decided to use the streaming services that I have subscribed to, firstly starting with Netflix. I'm going to watch 27 movies, starting from A going through to Z and then ending with a movie that begins with a number. It's been needed so that I can get around to some recommendations and movie that I should have seen by now, (apparently). Only time shall tell if the wait was worth it. 

Starting with A, my movie is going to be Annihilation starring Natalie Portman and other than it has something to do with weird planets and starring her, I know nothing else. It is a Netflix movie, which means there was never the chance to watch it on the big screen so I hardly feel any guilt in not doing so. Let's start with a quick run-through of the story.

The movie begins with a bit of aftermath to the main story. We have Portman's character sitting in a room with a couple of people in hazmat suits interviewing her. Behind a glass wall, are several others listening in. Questions such as 'does she remember anything?' are floated about, to get the audience asking the same and pretty soon, we know that we won't be following a linear narrative. We have already seen a spacecraft crash into a lighthouse and are still waiting for answers on this. We are thrust back a little while and Portman's character Lena is an educator on cell biology. We find out that her husband is an army man and has been lost for the last year. A colleague is chasing her a little but she is still adamant that she is to remain alone. Looking at her wedding pictures, we see that her husband is played by Oscar Issac and I'm already thinking that he is a little too big of a name to simply be seen in a picture and some flashbacks. A night or two later and we actually see him return home. I thought at first that it might just be her wishing this, as we walked up the stairs but she is as shocked as anybody when it turns out that he is there. But maybe he isn't truly there. He doesn't have any, memories of how he returned, where he was and what happened. He ends up coughing up blood, being in the back of an ambulance and on the way to the hospital, a parade of black jeeps pull them over and take the married couple.

We are now in the location of the interview and Lena is introduced to the main Dr behind this secret ops Dr. Ventress, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She shows Lena a place called the Shimmer, which is just outside the compound and explains that Kane, her husband was part of a team sent in to explore. He has been the only one to ever return as others are either lost or dead. Kane is on the compound but he is also dying. We know where this is going and Lena joins onto the next team to go in after answers from this event which has started from a lighthouse inside. The team is made up of all women, bringing a different strength and the only other one I recognise is Tessa Thompson.

Once camping inside, the team has already lost a couple of days somehow. Their communications don't work all of this is also being explained by the present-day interview with Benedict Wong's character. The women look like ghostbusters walking around and we are into our new chapter, The Shimmer, as we walk through this planet enriched environment. Lena was in the army for 7 years so she is straight into the role and as one gets attacked by a gator, she shows how to handle a gun. On closer inspection, the gator has shark teeth and the team is wondering if there has been any cross-breeding within the shimmer. The make it to the last place that Kane's team took shelter and a video is left for them to watch. The team is cutting open on of their own, who doesn't seem to be putting up a fight. The video is for education purposes showing something growing inside the man and moving like a snake. The team takes time to digest what they saw and aren't too happy when they actually walk into the location that it happened and the guy is still there. He has seemed to grow like a plant, spiralling up the wall and decomposing. During this time, we have a few more flashbacks to Lena's last moments before Kane left on the mission and then a random sex scene with her colleague from earlier. 

As the team moves on, we lost one to a horrible looking bear, another to the same bear which now growls with the screams of the last victim and Tessa's character, who has plants growing out of her arm, walks off into the forest and away from the following Lena who cannot find her but does find several plants in the shape of people. Before leaving Tessa's character explains a few things about the Shimmer. The Shimmer isn't blocking the signals, it is refracting it, just as it is doing to the DNA of everything inside it. 

The Doctor already left to find the lighthouse so now it is Lena's turn to walk up to it, enter and answer the questions to what the hell is going on. There are skeletons sprawled out, a corpse up against the wall which looks like it had exploded and a hole in the ground with plants growing around it. There is a camera set up and watching the video she sees Kane is the body that explodes and from behind the camera walks another Kane, who they chatted about who was the real Kane and the distortion of reality. This clone is the one who made it back to Lena. Going into the hole, she finds Dr. Ventress whose face is all twisted and she explains that the Shimmer is of an alien nature. She then dissolves into some sort of bright form and Lena's facial cut bleeds into this bright light before it becomes a human form.

 It mimics all of Lena's moves, attacks back when Lena attacks and the only way out is to take another grenade and put it into the clone's hand whilst pulling the pin. It starts to truly transform into Lena as it burns away, touching the branches inside the lighthouse and crawling back into the hole, the fire spreads in the quickest way and the Shimmer disappears. We return to Lena's interview and rather than wondering what had gone on because the end 10 minutes had made me lose interest, I'm wondering how Wong's character had been standing in the same stance for so long listening to Lena. Wong's character confirms that the Shimmer has gone and Lena has no idea of how she got home. Kane has woken up and as the two are reintroduced, Lena knows that it is not truly him but he asks the same question of her. They both embrace and if you are quick, we see their eyes start to change colour. 

People may perceive this movie in different ways and it may be thought-provoking to some and maybe not for others. The storyline was pretty easy to follow, although on three timelines and the storyline was just that, a story. It felt like there was a metaphor behind it all but what? The ball never really dropped for me if there was one and maybe another slog of a viewing will bring it to the surface but I'd rather just read about it afterward. Alex Garland, the writer and director gave us Ex-Machina which I enjoy, was clever and kept me interested. I'm not going to write the lad off in my books on this movie as there were some other positives. 

I hadn't realised that there was such a horror swerve coming within the movie and to see some cool creatures and unique use of horror kept my hopes alive to the end. The way the movie looked was also pretty impressive, with a steady direction and relative freedom that comes from the genre, the sets and cinematography were pretty striking. 

The cast was pretty synonymous with this type of movie. Each having their role, their qualities and to an extent, they made sense. Portman as a leader by the end made sense as she was ex-army, rather than certain movies were you see these characters step up and kick-arse from absolutely nowhere. The only one for me to not make sense was the paramedic. The aggressive, tie you to a chair and point a gun at you type, usually comes from the army background or at least one of the characters who had been portrayed as a little insane. The paramedic was the calm and rational starter and then suddenly that changed in an instant and it didn't make sense. The roles were all acted out very well though, with the writing at fault, I can't fault the cast. I can't remember a movie that I've seen Natalie Portman lead the line but I enjoyed her in this one. 

It's going to be interesting to see what the freedom of these Netflix exclusive movies are going to give me. I wasn't overly impressed with this one and I'd be lying if I said that it didn't have its moments, I just think that it was let down by what the ending had become. Was it all about rebirth and creating a new you? Someone, please shed some light!

The problem with having it all is that usually someone else wants it too. (Fantasy Island 2020)

262.
Fantasy Island




3/10


Another horror movie coming out of Blumhouse Productions and I'm already wondering whether it will be heading to the good pile of movies to come out from the company or the bad pile. In my opinion, they are a hit and miss kind of franchise but when they hit, they usually get the bull's eye. From the trailers, this movie did look very interesting and excited me a little but I still had an apprehension, just in case all of the good scenes had been already shown. Michael Pena and Michael Rooker were the only two members of the cast that I could recognise coming out of this movie and I had already, mentioned in a previous review, a lot of these movies could have a young cast that we would be introduced to and then never see again. This doesn't sound like I'm setting a confident picture, but let's find out.
The movie introduces us to a gang of people who have been promised that traveling to this island can make their dreams come true. The group is as diverse as it comes, with a businesswoman, step-brothers, a former police officer and a girl who could be classed as a little disturbed.

 The movie seems to be revolving around her a little more than the others and once we are introduced to Mr. Rourke, Pena's character. who is the island's keeper, we are thrust into people fantasies. The brothers head to a party in a mansion, the officer heads to war in honor of his father, Gwen the businesswoman has the chance to accept her ex's marriage proposal and Melanie, our little crazy girl, gets the chance of revenge on an old bully. It isn't long until these fantasy's start taking a turn of the worse. As Melanie releases a video to her old bully's husband regarding her cheating, she also sees a video of the bully being kidnapped and brought to the island against her will. Now she realises that, indeed, shit is getting very real. Some sort of crazed doctor walks in to get in on the act but Melanie begins to act. Freeing her old bully, they both finally escape but run into Damon, an investigator on the island played by Michael Rooker.

 Before coming into this movie, I had no idea he had a role. He takes the girls to a cave and explains that these fantasies come from the 'spring water'. The had it mixed with their welcome drink and a crystal heart under the islands shows the guests their deepest desires, no matter how wrong they may be. Damon is there to investigate Rourke until he was offered to see his dead daughter. He took the chance and got trapped on the island for his troubles. After collecting some of the water, our trio heads to the resort to find a phone. 
As for our other characters, Gwen has said yes to marriage, she has a kid but doesn't feel right, she isn't enjoying her fantasy. Rourke appears and tells her that he once made a wish which came true. That was to have his dead wife back but to keep the dream alive, he has to make the guest's wishes come true. If he doesn't, everything is over. Gwen somehow talks Rourke around and gets to change her fantasy. The island doesn't like this and starts turning everyone else's fantasy into nightmares. To be fair, I already thought Melanie's was. The brothers at the part get set upon by some cartel, while Gwen is taken to the night that she accidentally started a fire and killed a neighbour. She tried to rescue him but passed out in the smoke. She was actually rescued by Rourke's assistant Julia. We, along with Gwen, realise that every guest except for Melanie was there that night in their own little roles. 
We haven't spoken about that former policeman much and his fantasy was to see his father in the war. Knowing that this was his last chance to see his father alive, he even tries to manipulate the fantasy by stopping the troop from going on their last mission. This last mission turns out to be saving the brothers from the Cartel that have captured them. After killing the cartel, the island brings them back as zombies and Patrick, the ex-cop, watches as his father sacrifices himself so that Patrick and one of the brothers can escape. The Asian brother survives yet the American gets shot to death. That's right, they are step-bros. The girls are set upon again but the surgeon, now a zombie but Damon flings himself and the zombie off the cliff, killing them both. This movie has now turned hectic. After making their way back to the resort, Sloane the bully, gets her husband to call in Damon's military buddies, even after seeing the video that he saw of his wife. The remaining survivors regroup and are cornered by Rourke who explains that they are all part of someone else's fantasy in which they are all killed. The gang realise that this has to be about Nick who died in the fire and maybe Rourke and Julia are his parents. They try to escape, ready for Damon's men to come and save the day but they are shot down by the Cartel who have made their way to the resort and now that the setting has become daytime again, I feel that it is drawing to a close of sorts. If I'm honest I'm actually getting bored of going into the little detail that I am. 
The group runs to the cave to destroy that mysterious rock but on the way, they are confronted by manifestations of their demons but making their way through the tunnels, we have our final twist to the tale. Melanie stabs Patrick, the ex-cop, whilst taking her bully hostage. It turns out that this was Melanie's fantasy after all, she wanted to get everyone else here as revenge for the death of Nick, who she was meant to be going on a date with the night that he died. It is also revealed that the worker on the island, Julia, is Rourke's wife but I think we had already guessed that one.
Outside of the cave, Julia begins to die, as she does every day but this time she asks Rourke to let her go, forgive himself and help the others escape from the island. Sloane, who is the bully, is the only one who can think at the moment. She realises that being on the island, she can have a fantasy too. She wants Melanie to be with Nick and this causes Melanie to be attacked by a Zombie version of the guy she was meant to go on a date with and she gets drag into the water by him.

 Before she drowns, she manages to pull the pin on a grenade and send it in everyone else's direction. Patrick, the once coward who wanted to prove himself in war and was too much of a coward as a policeman to run in and save Nick, throws himself on the grenade and the scene turns to black. 
The gang now wakes up in their hotel beds and realise what has happened. Rourke seems healed from the dark power and agrees to let the tourists leave the island. As they board the plane, the remaining brother makes a deal with Rourke to bring the dead one back to life. He makes the deal to stay behind and Brax, the remaining brother becomes Rourke's new assistance and changes his name to Tattoo, which is the start of the TV series which was out in the 70s'.
That movie is over and with that, so was another poor attempt by Blumhouse in my opinion. When I saw the trailer, I had high hopes that this could be one of the top entries to come from Blumhouse but I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. The trailer seemed to contain the action and when we actually sat down to watch the storyline take place, it seemed every clustered. I understand the story and enjoyed the major twist that came along with it but there were loads of little side stories, which filled up important space to expand on certain characters and this led to rushed storylines and a very rushed ending. I didn't see the main twist coming, I'm going to admit and it came at the right time within the movie, just as we were wondering if it was going to be a very safe and predictable ending. Looking back though, nothing made sense regarding the ending. Melanie has this plan all along but a lot of the movie, we were watching her panicking, being attacked and even nearly escaping on the plane she called. So which ending did she truly want?
The cast was mostly unrecognisable, with a few exceptions, I had finally gotten around to realising that the actress who played Melanie, Lucy Hale, was in another Blumhouse production, Truth or Dare. Clearly, she is a favourite with them but that movie wasn't great either. Everyone else was pretty damn forgettable and the role for Michael Pena, as mostly being a villain, didn't suit the guy at all. I was always kind of waiting for a comedic moment from him.
Always one to give horror a go, I came into this open minding and although the movie had some potential and dark moments, they would always stop short of actually getting right where I wanted it to head. Again, this could have been down to the cohesion of the storyline but having never seen the TV series, I have no idea who it would resemble it. The movie felt really lazy and depending on a younger audience to connect with some characters rather than taking too much of an interest in the plot holes that came along with it. The only major things that the movie had going for it was the location if that can be a thing. I'd love a trip to the island if it didn't come with the horror aspect. It reminded me of how much I need a holiday. It would take a desperate person within me to go back and watch this movie again on my own accord. I don't envisage this being a franchise or even producing a sequel unless it goes straight to VHS!