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

270.

Hunter Killer

6.5/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

269.

Goosebumps

5.5/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 268.

Fractured

7/10

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.