I think I hurt someone (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It 2021)

287.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

6.5/10

My Favourite horror franchise of recent years is coming to a climax with a third instalment of The Conjuring series. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga reprise the roles that they were made for as the Warrens. This time, it seems that the story is a little different from the others. The first two movies investigated a possession in its moment of happening. The third movie will be about the married couple proving that a murder happened because the gent in question was possessed at the time. The Conjuring Universe, as they call it, has been very much hit and miss. Movies like The Nun and an Annabelle movie or two are very weak instalments and whenever the Warrens come back to the big screen, my confidence in the franchise comes back. Let's find out if this can get us back on track. James Wan is back as a producer so hopefully so.

Without going too deep and descriptive to the story, it is based on true events yet again. This time a young gent named Arne is on trial in Connecticut for murder. Taking place in 1981, Arne has killed his landlord and it's up to the Warrens to prove that he was taken over by an evil spirit. The movie actually begins with the Warrens exorcising a possessed child until Arne, who is dating the child's sister, begs the spirit to take him instead. 

The beginning started strong, every strong and the exorcising scene was creepy, intense and very much appreciated by myself. From here, we watch the downfall of Arne as the Warrens are then brought onto the case. Our main characters are getting on now, but this time, there is a different kind of villain. As we explore the case, we find out that the family involved were cursed by a female who has turned to the dark arts. It is down to the Warrens to track this girl down, who is being protected by an unlikely character, all before Arne is totally consumed by the spirit. The story obviously ends with the conviction of murder being overturned and manslaughter being the charge due to demonic possession. 

The story for me is a little disappointing. Whereas the other Conjuring movies build the tension throughout and end up with a climactic encounter with a possessed individual, this movie starts strong with an exorcism and then slows down through court cases, chases and not much horror at all. It actually hurts to write that as I had a lot of confidence that this would add to my admiration for the franchise. As the opening scene played out, I didn't doubt a thing but the storyline was at least interesting. That is always the case when it revolves around true events. I needed jump scares, I needed a lot more horror but this one was the weakest out of the trio, that's for sure.

Something you can never fault in the franchise though are Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. The roles that these two were made to play, Farmiga has her younger sister in the franchise now and Wilson stars in the Insidious franchise. Once again a strong showing from the two. Adding Ruairi O'Conner to the fold as Arne gave us a third main character this time around. Watching the events unfold, Arne turning into the demon and then finally claiming his innocence, it was a really well-played character from O'conner. 

As the Warren characters seemed quite aged in this movie, I'm not too sure whether we are going to be seeing another movie. I really hope we do as not only would I like redemption for this movie but they need one last hoorah. James Wan needs to get back on the case and take the helm to give us one last outing As also, it is worth checking into the true events that the movie is based on and I really wanted to find out where Arne is now. Apparently, he's nowhere to be seen but rumour has it he got a labouring job and he's living his life somewhere. I wonder what he thought about this movie. 

I'm just getting started, Darling (Cruella 2021)

286.

Cruella

7/10

Disney has had more misses than hits when it comes to their live-action movies and those are mainly because they have used their classics and simply tarnished people's childhoods. This live-action is a little different. We are going to get an origin story about the villain from 101 Dalmations, Cruella De Vil. We got some live action 101 Dalmations many years ago, back in 1996 thanks to Disney. That movie followed the traditional storyline from the animation back in 1961. This time we are going to get something fresher, possibly something no one asked for but all the same, it isn't going to simply be a live-action remake that they've just been churning out. Our first live-action Cruella was played by Glenn Close who will be serving as the executive producer on this one as Emma Stone takes up the mantle and brings the character back to life. 

The storyline starts in Estella's early years being a trouble maker in school with her natural black and white, highly noticeable hair. She is pulled from school by her mother and the plan is to move to London. On the way, her mother stops at a wealthy woman's house to ask for some financial assistance but Estella's curiosity gets the better of her and she sneaks into the party. She is chased by a group of Dalmations until she makes it outside but the dogs overtake her and end up pushing her mother to her death over a cliff. She blames no one but herself. Estella is left alone, meeting some kids in London and moving in with them as a trio of orphans and their dog.

Some ten years later, the trio of Estella, Jasper and Horace are stealing to make ends meet but this isn't going to be Estella's final role as she is giving a job acceptance from the lads as a birthday treat. She is going to be working in the Liberty Department Store as a cleaner, getting her foot into the fashion door. To keep a low profile, she dyes her hair red. From this point on, we watch her desperation to get a promotion but is constantly knocked back. One night she gets very drunk and wrecks one of the store's display windows but before she is fired, a renowned designer called the Baroness gives her a job. 

Once gaining her confidence and the confidence of the Baroness, she works closer to her until she releases that this woman is wearing the same necklace that her mother wore. She claims that an employee once stole it from her but now she finally has it back. This is the moment we are introduced to Cruella. To shake the fashion world. Cruella announces herself at another of the Baroness' parties, which is a black and white ball, with Cruella arriving wearing red. We've already seen the plans for a plot to steal the necklace which ends up having a few issues and Baroness uses a dog whistle to bring on the dalmations. It finally draws on Estella that this whistle was used to kill her mother and she wasn't at fault after all. Clearly, this is doing nothing to help with her mental health as Cruella start to take over. Every so often, Cruella would show up to ruin or upstage events, depending on which side of the coin you're on and take the headlines from the Baroness.

 Anita is the journalist reporting the headlines, a friend of Estella's from school and after knowing this, Cruella pays her a visit to give some extra scoop. Just before the spring collection reveal, Estella is nowhere to be seen, the Baroness' collection is ruined by moths and a party just outside to reveal Cruella's collection is revealed. The Baroness now releases that Estella and Cruella are one of the same and has Jasper and Horace arrested, tracks down the hiding place, ties up Estella/Cruella and burns the place to the ground. Believing that she is dead and has won, she takes the higher ground and prepares a gala in Cruella's honour. Little does she know that her butler has actually saved Cruella and is about to drop a bombshell. The necklace she was after is actually a key to Estella's birth certificates and the truth. The truth is that the baroness is her biological mother. Mark Strong plays this gent and was ordered to kill the baby so that the Baroness could focus on her career and the wealth she was left after the death of her husband. John, the butler, instead gave the baby to a maid who raised Estella in secret. This angers Cruella at the deceit shown but comes to terms with that side of things. She is now focused on payback.

After breaking the lads out of jail, recruiting a few more, she's got big plans for the gala. She sends outfits and wigs to all gala attendees, so that they look like Cruella, much to the annoyance of the Baroness of course. This way it will be hard to track the real Cruella amongst the crowd. The baroness is led outside where Estella is standing on the edge of that infamous cliff. With her red hair shining, she explains to the baroness that she is her abandoned daughter and after pretending to show remorse and leaning in for a hug, the baroness pushes Estella off the cliff. Not knowing that the party have been led outside to act as witnesses, Baroness is arrested and Estella has survived due to a parachute in her dress as the action on that cliff had been anticipated. She changes back to Cruella just in time to witness the arrest and her triumph. After accepting the last name De Vil, taken from her car a Panther De Ville, she inherits the Hellman Hall as her biological heir and shortens it to Hell Hall. With the trio and their butler asking what's next, the screen fades to black. The movie actually gives us a mid-credits scene where Anita and Rodger, who was the Baroness' abused lawyer, receive a puppy each from Cruella. We all know what comes next. Roger is now working as a songwriter and the credits begin with the famous Cruella De Vil tune. 

The movie will go down as one of the enjoyable ones. I'm not sure if it's because it felt fresh and original to an extent or just because of that soundtrack. When Disney announce any live-action remakes, my skin crawls to what they would be ruining next. This time though, there was originality to the story. Of course, it was characters we have met before but also an angle that we didn't really know that we needed. Containing twists and turns are a sure way of getting an audience to focus on the movie rather than their phones and I don't doubt this story did that. If Disney decides to go down the route of creating the origins of other Disney Villains, I can find myself getting on board with that journey very quickly.

Emma Stone felt as if she had been waiting for this character all of her career. I was very impressed with her villainous side as previously she had been Gwen Stacey in The Amazing Spiderman and held comedic roles through some well-known movies and some lessers. Switching between Estella and Cruella wouldn't have been an easy feat and both characters held up and seemed fun to portray. Emma Thompson also stars as the Baroness, a character from the outset that is hard to like, all done with the work of Thompson making it so. I can't remember one cast member in the movie that I was disappointed with.

At times the movie was dark and gritty and at others, colourful and fun, only when the perfect times called for each. For me, the absolute star of the show was the soundtrack. Just like with Guardians of the Galaxy in the MCU, this movie was taken a step above due to the music added to the scenes. As the movie was based in the 1970's the punk rock movement was definitely apparent throughout and I ended up downloading the soundtrack onto my Spotify. Going into this movie not expecting the best really helped raise the enjoyment level and if I'm to sit and try to criticise something, I would be doing it for the sake of adding content. Of course, it won't be up there for Disney movies but it was much better than anticipated. The target audience would be a little higher than those watching 101 Dalmations and I'm ok with that. I know there's a sequel coming so I wonder where we will go with that. Will it lead to another 101 Dalmations?

Get over here! (Mortal Kombat 2021)

285.

Mortal Combat

5/10

The cinema is back! The overpriced hot dog with cheese and large orange drink is a purchase being made and I wouldn't have it any other way. I didn't expect my first visit back to be Mortal Combat but at the same time, I didn't expect my local cinema to open back up. Surprises everywhere. It has been years since I have seen the original movie adaptations of the famous Mortal Kombat games and I can wager they would be movies that wouldn't hold up with time. Therefore someone else is going to have a crack at success. This time it's Simon McQuoid making his directorial debut. I expect a darker concept with this movie but there is only one way to find out. 

So if you are totally unaware of what the storyline is regarding, I'll give you a quick bit of background.  The movie usually focuses on fighters from Earth or Earthrealm who have unknowingly been chosen to fight for the safety of Earth in a tournament against fighters from Outworld. Now usually they are transported and a fighting tournament takes place and we get a winner from Earth. Everyone is happy, people kiss and we all go home. This storyline takes a different approach, starting in the 17th century Japan as two characters, who will later become Sub-Zero and Scorpion, battle it out in the woods. Scorpian is killed whilst defending his family and Sub-Zero vanishes, thinking the job is done. This isn't the truth though as Scorpian's daughter is hidden below the house's floorboards and the God of Thunder Raiden retrieves the little one and take the bloodline to safety. To the present day, the Outworld has defeated Earthrealm in 9 out of the last 10 tournaments, with one more meaning they can conquer Earth. Shang Tsung has led these wins and isn't planning on losing the next, instead, he wants to cheat to ensure victory and that the path this movie then leads. It isn't much much going to centre around this fighting tournament but this hatched up plan taking place. He plans on killing the Earth's fighters before they even get a chance at defending themselves.

We are then introduced to a new character named Cole Young. A former professional fighter, he has a dragon mark, which is stamped onto all fighters for the Mortal Kombat.

 As he and his family are set upon by Sub-zero, they are saved by Jax and told to track down Sonya Blade. Jax stays behind for the fight and loses his arms in the process. Now, these are two recognisable names. With Sonya Blade is Kano, another guy with the mark, which Sonya doesn't actually have and Kano is the highlight of this movie. A smart-arsed Australian with absolutely no filter, he quickly adds a comedic aspect to the movie. We are soon on the move again as the gang tracks down Raiden's hideout in the desert and their training begins. Jax has also been saved and attached to some metal arms, which anyone who knows Mortal Kombat, knew was coming. Two current Earthrealm champions will be training Cole, Kano and eventually Jax. They are looking down on Sonya as she is not a chosen fighter. Shang Tsung carries on with his plan and attacks the hidden temple but is stopped just in time by a massive force field.

 It is now time for the newcomers to step up. They must unlock a hidden potential called the arcana, which is unique to each of them and could be seen as a superpower. Kano finds his first, shooting lasers through his eye. Cole is the only one really struggling, he is sent back home to his family by a disappointed Raiden. Not long later, Shang Tsung has gathered his forces for an attack again but this time, they succeed. They do this by swaying Kano to join them, which wasn't too hard and now the team is being dismantled from within. As Cole is at home, Goru is sent to attack and seeing his family in trouble awakens his arcana, a suit of armour and some martial art weapons. He takes down Goru before and heads back to the temple to help the others. Shang and Sun-Zero find out about Cole's bloodline before Raiden teleports them to the safety of a place called the void. Cole plans on offering out Sub-Zero to try and start the tournament that they were preventing. Cole is given his ancestor's blade, which still has Scorpion's blood on the tip. Scorpion will be there fighting beside him in spirit. Elsewhere, Sonya has headed home to face Kano, killing him and taking his dragon stamp, releasing her own arcana and now becoming a protector of the Earthrealm. Sub-Zero finally abducts Cole's family to lure him into his own area, freezing them in the corner of a fighting cage. As Cole begins to lose the fight, he uses the blade and releases Scorpion as a vengeful spirit, killing Sub-Zero alongside his descendant and helping to free the family.

 Thanking Cole for freeing him and asking that he takes care of the bloodline, he disappears before anyone else arrives. Shang Tsung obviously vows revenge as Raiden banishes him and Raiden promises to train more champions as Cole heads to Hollywood to find Johnny Cage, another name that is known from the games.

I have to admit that the main enjoyment of this movie was the fact that the cinema was back open. Being back to watch the big screen after the last year is an experience and the excitement about it was always going to add to the occasion, no matter the movie. As per movies based on games, it was always going to be a struggle to get a storyline across when it was of the fighting genre and this one can just be grouped with the rest for me. It was interesting that the storyline didn't go down the route of the actual tournament and maybe, just as the movie, it almost got there. The movie tried to tell a lot over the short space of time that it was on and got a little rushed in places, a little predictable and ultimately a little boring. The story didn't contain enough of certain characters and too much of others. If you want to bring in the nostalgia for fans then surely you contain more of the first game's characters. I would have at least liked more off world setting and tournament feel that what I got.  

Leading me nicely into the cast, it's been a few weeks since I saw the movie and I honestly can't remember many faces. There was one stand out for me and that was Kano played by Josh Lawson. The bloke actually gave some laugh out loud moment for the audience which left a few of us still quoting the lines days later. Everyone else was forgettable in every way, even those considered the main characters. They were all ultra-impressive with the fight scenes but as these were not containing dialogue or did actually contain stunt doubles, you may not be able to classify that as their acting roles.

I have no idea whether this movie will have a sequel but signs may point to yes due to the mention of Johnny Cage as a character right at the end. If it does come out, I won't be scrambling to go and watch it. Due to restrictions, there have been much better movies that I haven't been able to see in the cinema this year so far. It's a popcorn movie in a way that you don't need to concentrate, just munch away and go along for the ride. If you enjoy the game and enjoyed the older movies then by all means, get this one under your belt but don't expect it to be a contender for anything else. 

Would you mind getting inside the oven to clean it? (The Visit 2015)

 284.

The Visit

6.5/10

Finally hitting another horror movie in my heading to the end of my movie alphabet list. Not too many movies left now this movie is grabbing my attention as the horror movies are heading back to the cinemas. M. Night Shyamalan has really been a hit or miss director and writer for me so it'll be interesting to find out whether this movie is just a forgettable as some of the others. What I am looking forward to is the fact that this movie is within the found-footage genre. Again, this genre isn't for everyone but I really like the sub-genre within horror. Interestingly, there seems to be another label added to the movie and that's some comedy. That's the part which is perking my interest. Let's visit the storyline and see how this turns out.

So the movie begins with a daughter interviewing her mother as she and her younger brother prepare to visit their grandparents that they have never met. From what I have seen, this looks like a perspective of the children through the use of their cameras. The first couple of days are fine, with a couple of weird exchanges between family members that haven't met before.

 Trying to guess what this movie is going to be about, I was thinking some sort of ritual goes on at night with neighbours, but how wrong was I. The kids start to play hide and seek under the house but things take a strange turn with some strange old woman laughing and all of a sudden the Grandmother is crawling after the Granddaughter like a demented monster. All of a sudden, as the kids scream, the old lady switches to normality and asks if they enjoyed it.

At night, there is constantly scratching noises and although the children have been asked not to come out of their rooms after 9 pm. One night they decide to have a look at the Grandmother is seen scratching a wall, another nights she is scuttling along the floor. Things are definitely pushing the kids to find some answers and with some hidden cameras, they start to see some other strange goings-on. They decide something has to be done when the camera catches their Grandmother walking into their room with a knife. They call their mother through Zoom and beg her to pick them up. The mother sees the old couple outside and instantly calls the police as these are not her parents.

 The young girl ends up finding her real Grandparents dead in the basement, hence why that was off-limits. Once the kids try to leave, the 'Grandparents' know that something is going on. 

They trap them inside with the use of board games. The end ends with the kids taking over and killing the two perpetrators who ended up being escaped, mental asylum patients. They head outside to sit in the grass and wait for their mother and the police to show. The movie ends with another interview of the mother explaining why she left home and never spoke to her parents again. She always knew it was a mistake and asks her own daughter to not hold resentment against her father for the fact that he left her and her brother.

As I already mentioned, movies coming from this director can be very hit or miss. I knew I was getting a horror but I didn't expect the small comedy aspects. I was very wrong with my guesses on how this story was going to play out and was surprised by how it turned out. Firstly I thought of a ritual cult and then I thought possibly something supernatural but it was actually quite refreshing to have such a 'normal' explanation. By normal I mean something that could happen in real life. 

Moving onto the cast, only one face was recognisable and that was the mother. Kathryn Hahn recently played Agatha Harkness on the Wandavision TV show. She isn't in this too much to judge whether her character was just as good. Looking at the youngsters, we have Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould playing the sister and brother duo, who although sometimes don't see eye to eye, gain the confidence to protect each other in the end. Both gave a very good portrayal but I am unsure how much success it brought them in previous years as I haven't personally seen them in anything else. Oxenbould in particular gave an interesting couple of hours acting as a germophobe. 

In true M. Night Shyamalan fashion, the twist is the biggest draw about this movie. It's not one you could watch again anytime soon as the surprise element is now lost. It would be interesting to watch it with someone new to the movie, just to see if they can guess what is coming or even their reaction to the reveal. At first, I felt like the movie would contain the horror aspect that I love but with a tiny bit of comedy and answers to each bump in the night, it was a totally different experience by the end.

I made a crazy risk, a gamble and it's about to pay off. (Uncut Gems 2019)

283.

Uncut Gem

8/10

Adam Sandler movies are definitely a guilty pleasure for me over the years but over the years, the quality has become unbearable and maybe even embarrassing. My favourite Sandler movie isn't actually a comedy and knowing that this going to be more towards the crime and dark comedy genre, I think I'll enjoy it. After hearing some good things and ready articles on how Sandler maybe should have won awards for his lead role, surely that can only build confidence. I guess it is time to find out whether this is a diamond in the rough.

Adam Sandler is playing a character called Howard Ratner, a Jewish-American jeweller who also has a massive gambling addiction. Being knee-deep in debt, Howard has bought a very rare gem to auction off and pay to get his life back to normal. The movie begins with giving some background on where the gem comes from in Ethiopia and two years later, we meet Howard, who is in debt with his loan shark brother-in-law.

 He is still married but is soon to be divorced so that he can officially be with his new girlfriend who is also one of his employees. This movie quickly tracks Howard's life as it falls apart. The guy cannot catch a break and as a viewer, I felt the frustration every step of the way. Howard has a business associate that brings in celebrities to buy jewellery and this time we have an NBA star in Kevin Garnett. He sees this Ethiopian Opal and he instantly falls in love with it. He wants to hold onto it for good luck in his game that night and Howard reluctantly agrees. Right after, he heads to place a large bet on Garnett that night with a return of $600k. His main problem is that he has put in Garnett ring that he left with him in trade for the Opal loan, for a loan of his own. Now once the bet is placed, we saw the loan shark's goons keeping an eye on Howard. That night, Howard head's to his daughter's school play but notices he is being followed. He is in a better mood as the Garnett bet came in for him. After heading outside, he is caught and taken to a car to face his brother-in-law. It's revealed that the goons stopped the bet due to Howard using money that is owed elsewhere. The night ends with him being stripped and put into the trunk of his car.

Howard is now on a journey of getting the Opal back from the NBA player but he is harder to get hold of than a beer during the lockdown. Finally heading to a party hosted by The Weeknd, we see Howard meeting the gent that brings sports stars to his shop but all is not well and they have a falling out as Garnett still has the Opal. Howard's girlfriend Julia is also there with The Weeknd, sharing drugs and Howard's anger boils over whilst he fights with the singer and asks Julia to move out.

Garnett finally shows up at the store and offers to buy the Opal for much lower than Howard believes it is worth. He downright refuses and tells Garnett to head to the auction if he wants the chance to buy it. Now Howard must head to a Passover dinner with his family, his estranged wife, loan shark brother-in-law and everyone else that comes with it. Once he then heads to the auction he finds out that it has been appraised at a much lower value than he believed. He begs his father-in-law to bid and drive the price but it backfires as Garnett doesn't want to go as high as Howard thought he would and the Opal remains in the family, to the anger of the rest of them. Howard is set upon by the loan shark and his goons and is beaten to a pulp until heading back to his office. Julia and Howard reconcile as she sees how damaged this is making him from the moment of elation when he got the Opal to the desperation he is hitting now. 

After learning that Garnett is still willing to buy the Opal, Howard agrees to sell with another master plan. The loan shark turns up to be paid with the money that Howard just made but he planned to send Julia and the money to a casino to bet big on Garnett. He leaves the thugs locked in the security door. Howard turns the basketball match on whilst the others are locked between those doors, sweating it out. The whole bet comes in and everyone is in disbelief as Howard wins $1.2 million. The brother-in-law Arno is the first to be asked to be released and we think there is going to be reconciliation but no one is more shocked than I am when one of the thugs shoots him between the eyes, killing him. Arno protests but also find a bullet and the two thugs loot the store whilst Julia is unaware as she collects the winnings. 

I am still reeling from that ending. I have just followed a guy totally down on his luck for the past 2 hours and 10 minutes and then the last 5 minutes blew my mind with the ending. Just as Howard acting with elation, I felt the same joy as the bet comes in and then looked on in shock as a bullet passed through his head. Howard was a guy who really wasn't meant to get a win in life, that's for sure. The ending is the reason that I have recommended the movie to a few mates. You could watch a million movies of this genre and you will get the same result, a happy ending after 2 hours. This doesn't take the conventional route and I am more than happy with that. The shock value means fresh and that's hard to come across these days. 

In recent times, this has, without doubt, been one of Adam Sandler's strongest outings. From the start, Sandler's character seemed to mirror Les Gold from the TV show Hardcore Pawn. This just proves that he is actually a very talented guy when the times comes. Just like Reign Over Me, which is my favourite Sandler movie, the comedy is not what you watch this movie for. It is the portrayal of a serious character that Sandler has in the locker. He knocked it out of the park. The supporting cast was a mixture of familiar faces as Idina Menzel plays Howard's wife rather than a Frozen princess and there was a face from The Dark Knight Rises and another from Independence day that I wouldn't know by name but when you think of the Sandler movies, you get the same slapstick comedy actors featuring in all of his classics. This put a stop to that. Even the breakout of Julia De Fiore as Julia, Howard's girlfriend, was a successful role.

This movie is a hectic ride into one guy's desperation for success and I'm all for recommending this movie. Although the run time could be something that many baulk at, it didn't feel as long as it could have. You feel trapped in this guys mind as he spirals down, looking for his next fix but never giving up hope that he will be able to make things right for himself and his family. The ending to this is still something I smirk about as it took me by absolute surprise. If you don't want the spoiler, I apologise if you didn't skip to the end. 

It was Chauncey! (Thriller 2018)

 282.

Thriller

3/10

On the home stretch of completing the A-Z of movies I haven't seen and this time Netflix had deleted the movie I had intended to watch. That led to a scramble and the first thing that popped up was Thriller. In no way was this linked to Michael Jackson, instead, we have a crime drama with a little bit of horror mixed in. The cast of full of faces that I haven't seen before so it'll be interesting how this turns out. This could well be a short review.

I'm not sure how many people will get the reference I am about to make but this storyline is the same that I saw on an episode of South Park years ago. This movie came out in 2018 and I'm not calling this a straight copy but the premise is exactly the same until the end. A group of youngsters play a prank on a fellow school pupil and as things take a turn, one of the little girls is killed. The group don't tell the police why it all happened, they just say that Chauncey who clearly has issues, murdered the little girl. After spending time in juvenile hall, Chauncey is back on the streets and the original gang start to get killed off.

 The gang is made up of the usual stereotypes, the jock, the popular girl, the joker that doesn't seem to get along with the rest and the calm girl who we'll centre around. This girl had the apprehension from the start and has been having nightmares for a long time until her nightmare begins to come true. The movie draws to a close with the hooded killer trying to take out the final group members only for it to be revealed that it wasn't Chauncey after all. I'm not going to let loose who the killer was as I've already said too much. I didn't see it coming and I thought it was a true story of revenge.

The movie stars Jessica Allain, Tequan Richmond, Chelsea Rendon to name a few but I use the term 'star' lightly. The movie was littered with faces that I don't recognise and I doubt I would recognise if I was to witness them on the screen in the future. The acting overall was poor and there wasn't one redeemable character throughout the movie. I find myself looking at my phone most of the time to check how long had gone and this is far from a long movie.

The movie had a dark tone which definitely helped and the fact that it opened up showing Blumhouse productions meant that it was either going to be good or bad. They never really have a happy medium. The predictability wasn't a great factor to draw in the audience. You knew when someone was going to die and most of the time you'd know how. The saving grace, to some extent, was the ended of the movie and the big reveal. It didn't really save the movie though. This would 100% be a movie that I wouldn't recommend. There are much better movies of the same genre which I haven't seen yet and I'm disappointed that I'm not going to get my time back from watching this one.

That was good, I'll give you that one. (Spenser Confidential 2020)

281.

Spenser Confidential

7.5/10

Not too many movies left on my Netflix list now and we head into S with Spenser Confidential. The only real things I knew about this movie was that it starred Mark Wahlberg, he is a cop of some sort and there's a cameo from Post Malone. This is a Netflix original and adds to the list of movies that the streaming service is dishing out. Going into this one with no expectations other than expecting Wahlberg to be the same cocky guy that he portrays in 90% of his movies, leaves me with an open mind. 

The movie starts pretty deep as Spenser, played by Wahlberg, heads to his Captain's house with his partner to question why a murder isn't being looked in to. Whilst entering the door, we see that the Captain's wife has taken a beating and Spenser drags the Captain named Boylan, outside before unleashing a few rights. Spenser is found guilty and sentenced to jail where he studies to become a truck driver. On his last day, he is set upon by a prison gang led by Post Malone's character and is warned to leave Boston. 

Spenser is then picked up after release by his friend Henry who will be giving Spenser a place to stay. At the house, Spenser is met by his old partner Driscoll and also finds out he has a roommate named Hawk, who is played by Winston Duke. Duke also plays M'Baku in Black Panther. 

Now the movie takes a massive turn as Boylan is murdered and Spenser is the man at the top of the suspect list. Driscoll has to ask the questions but with some alibis, we are fine. Once a young cop is pinned with a murder-suicide, Spenser knows something up and the pedal is pushed down as we speed through the twists and turns of the story that comes. Now I don't want to go deep into the movie's storyline due to the number of spoilers. The amount of corruption that Spenser has to work through as dirty cops, politicians and even gang involvement for a payday from a drugs run is crazy. There are massive cover-ups but if you are in tune with the movie, you can work out who is involved and where the story is truly going. We know that Spenser will be able to come to the aid of the town, clear people's names and even gain the respect of others that he lost when he was sent inside. It was always going to be the happy ending but it's the journey that you take to get there that makes this movie.  

The movie was made better by the cast of this one. Wahlberg once again let his mouth run and if he plays that character the best, then keep with it. To be paired with Hawk, played by Winston Duke, complimented the character choices as Hawk was a quiet, serious guy but also had a no-nonsense approach. When we needed a different direction for the story, one of our characters would therefore shine through. Moving through to the side characters, a few were around for the comedic aspects of the movie and as things got a little darker, they would drag the movie back from the brink. We should also mention Bokeem Woodbine who plays Driscoll and you'll understand on watching.

The movie contains plenty of action scenes whether they involve gunfights or fistfights, there is never a dull moment and Spenser puts himself in some pretty compromising positions to simply just get ahead but this is only a good thing for the audience. If you're a fan of Wahlberg, a fan of a gritty crime movie with some plot twists or even a fan of a little comedy with an action movie, I think there is something for almost everyone in this couple of hours of viewing. With it being a Netflix movie, it will probably be around for a while so this would be recommended for a Saturday night without fail. It may be something that you've felt you've seen before but if it's a winning formula, why not follow the blueprint.