Freaks

Here’s another Netflix movie review while the world is still in quarantine and lockdown mode. ‘Freaks’ is a 2018 action/ sci fi film, that has spent most of its time in the U.S. top ten of the day on Netflix since being released. There are people who look just like us, but they posses superpowers, these people are called freaks. Freaks are forbidden and feared by society, they are rounded up or shot and killed. The movie ‘Freaks’ follows the story of a seven year old freak and her over protective and paranoid father who is keeping her sheltered from the rest of the world.

‘Freaks’ stars Emile Hirsh (Into the Wild, The Girl Next Door.), Bruce Dern (The Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.), Amanda Crew (The Haunting in Connecticut.), Aleks Paunovic (War for the Planet of the Apes.), and Lexy Kolker.

I love the concept of this film, and the acting is solid. This is what really would happen if super humas walked among us. Society would condemn them out of fear and for being different. A super hero team wouldn’t form like in the movies. With that being said and it being such a good concept, I feel like the movie could have been better. Half the movie you’re not sure what is going on, you just know something weird is going on. The other half of the movie it’s non stop action. It never really touches on why the freaks are being hunted and what they did, just that world is unsafe for them. It’s not a bad watch, but it could have been bigger and better. I give it a 5.5/10.

Edge of Fear

Most of the world is quarantined and who isn’t will probably be soon. Movie theaters across the board are closed. So a lot and I mean a lot of people will be binge watching movies on Netflix. So I’m going to talk about ‘Edge of Fear’ a movie currently streaming on Netflix.

‘Edge of Fear’ is an action movie from 2018. After breaking a man out of prison, and left without a ride, they come upon a cabin in the woods. It goes terribly wrong for the people at the cabin, one of the men is stabbed in the chest and left for dead. He must now save his wife from the intruders. ‘Edge of Fear’ stars Rockmond Dunbar (SOA, Prison Break), Zhu Zhu (Man with the Iron Fists), Shen Lin, Robert Knepper (Prison Break, I Zombie), Robert Crayton (Ant-Man), Andy Mackenzie (True Detective), Jodi Lyn O’Keefe (Prison Break), and Robert Patrick (Terminator 2:Judgement Day, X-Files).

I personally love Robert Patrick, I love his role in X-Files as Agent John Doggett. So no matter what I see him in, I see him as Agent Doggett, and I’m going to watch it. The movie starts out as pretty cheesy and it is definitely over the top. A man is wandering around with a knife sticking out of his chest, on the verge of passing out, taking out intruders one by one. However it is a pretty good movie, not believable, but good. You find yourself cheering for the guy, and forget how cheesy it is. If you’re looking for a pretty solid action movie to watch, I suggest this one. I give it 7/10.

Impractical Jokers: The Movie

I don’t really need to explain a lot about ‘Impractical Jokers: The Movie’. Pretty common sense it’s based off of their show ‘Impractical Jokers’ on TruTV. If you haven’t seen the show it’s about four lifelong friends who compete to embarrass each other in a series of pranks and dares.

Besides the obvious, staring Joe, Sal, Murr, and Q, the movie has a couple of celebrity appearances. Paula Abdul, Jaden Smith, and Joey Fatone are all in the movie. Along with their usual shenanigans they build a story around it. While in a restaurant Paula Abdul runs into the four guys, she confesses she’s a huge fan and gives them three VIP tickets to her concert in Florida. Since there’s four of them and only three passes they decide to road trip to Florida and do challenges along the way. The loser is the one who doesn’t get to go.

I love ‘Impractical Jokers’ their show is great and the guys are hilarious. I even went and saw their road tour when they were in town. One thing they aren’t good at is being actors, the parts where they’re acting in the movie and not doing their dares, are a bit on the cheesy side and just not good. Plus there is a few inconsistencies with the story as far as the time line goes. Once it says it’s twenty years apart, another time twenty five and once it was in 1990. I was honestly expecting a lot more from the film, if they just stuck with their usual stuff and went bigger in that direction I think it would have been a lot better. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie because it’s not. It has a lot of hilarious moments, and it is definitely worth seeing whether you’re a fan of them or haven’t seen their show before. I just expected more out of it. I give it a 6/10

Spencer Confidential

‘Spencer Confidential’ is a Netflix exclusive starring Mark Wahlberg. It’s been in the top 10 in the U.S. on Netflix since dropping last week. I’ve said more than once and I’ll say it again, I love how Netflix keeps dropping all these exclusive movies and going after big stars and who better than Marky Mark. Keep it coming Netflix.

‘Spencer Confidential features a great cast staring Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke (Black Panther, US), Alan Arkin (Going in Style), Iliza Shlesinger (Instant Family), Bokeem Woodbine (Queen & Slim), Mark Maron (GLOW), and even Post Malone.

The story follows Spencer (Mark Wahlberg) an ex-cop who just got of prison for assaulting a dirty cop. When the dirty cop turns up dead the same day Spencer gets out of prison, him and his no nonsense roommate get roped into finding out who did it and taking the bad guys down.

This action comedy looked really good in the trailer, but Netflix has a tendency to overplay their trailers and give away too much. Plus Mark Wahlberg is not in a bad film. All the action scenes that happen in the movie appear in the trailer, from the trailer I was expecting more but there just wasn’t. It’s almost a two hour movie and the first 30/45 minutes really drag. After that though the movie gets pretty good and the plot really comes together. I was just expecting a little more out of it, if they shortened it by half an hour I think it would be a fantastic film. They ended it with hints of a second film, which I really don’t think they need. Just leave it one and done. I have to give this one a 6/10.

The Way Back

‘The Way Back’ follows the story of Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck). Jack was a phenomenal High school basketball star and had a full ride to Kansas before stepping away from the game, he now struggles with alcohol issues after the death of his son, and a divorce. He is asked to coach his old alma mater, the team hasn’t had a play off appearance in twenty years since Jack led them to state. He must find a way to bring this rag tag team together while struggling with his own issues off the court, the main one being alcohol abuse.

‘The Way Back’ has a large cast, his basketball team, his family, coaches, etc… So I’ll just list a few of the bigger parts. Other than Ben Affleck, ‘The Way Back’ stars Al Madrigal (Night School), Michaela Watkins (The Unicorn), Janina Gavankar (The League), Brandon Wilson (Pele: Birth of a Legend), and John Aylward (Armageddon). All the acting is great and flows well.

If anyone has ever faced addiction, they know the path to sobriety is not an easy one. It’s not a straight line, it is filled with several ups and downs. You wake mornings swearing to never touch another drink, but morning gives way to day and day gives way to night, and by night you have forgotten about morning and you have another drink. One of the things I like about this film it’s not a feel good hey I’m going to quit drinking and the underdog wins all story. It’s real and full of struggle. It’s also a good basketball story, so that’s a double bonus. It’s great to see Ben Affleck back, I give it a 7.5/10.

Brahms: The Boy II

I was skeptical about ‘The Boy’ when it came out in 2016, especially being pg13. It looked dumb and dull, but I gave it a shot anyway. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed it, I even own it on DVD now. The ending is fantastic, and brings the entire thing together. So ‘Brahms: The Boy II’ being out now, I was more than excited to go see this. I have been waiting for it’s release date.

Not a real big cast in the film. It’s led by Katie Holmes (Dawsons’s Creek), and also stars Ralph Ineson (The Witch), Owain Yeoman (The Mentalist), and Christopher Convery (Gotham). We didn’t really need a sequel to ‘The Boy’ since everything was wrapped up in the first film and I didn’t really see what direction they could go it, but I was excited to go see it. The movie begins when a break in occurs when a mother and son are home and the dad is away at work. The son is scarred from the event and goes mute, the father thinks it will do his family some good and gets them out of the city and rents a house in the country side. The house is the guest house for the Heelshire manor. While taking a walk in the woods the son discovers Brahms buried, and digs him up and brings him home. Now in the first film Brahms is broken, that’s one of the major things to happen that causes everything to hit the fan. This one Brahms is complete, which they address, the caretaker puts Brahms back together. Which bugged me at first, but okay I can deal with that. Then they take a complete u-turn and go a complete different direction than the first film. In ‘The Boy’ he is just a normal doll, and it sets up for the big twist ending. That’s the whole point of the film. In ‘Brahms: The Boy II’ it’s more than just an old creepy doll, it’s a supernatural entity. Other than going against the first film ‘Brahms: The Boy II’ is dull and boring, and just seems to drag on. It’s the sequel we didn’t need or ask for, and hopefully it falls into obscurity because ‘The Boy’ is a great film. I give it a 4.5/10

Girl on the Third Floor

‘Girl on the Third Floor’ is a horror film that Netflix has been pushing lately. Even has a little tag on the picture saying top 10 in the U.S. Today. Top ten exactly what? Top ten best movies, worst movies, most disgusting movies? People see a top ten and automatically assume it is for something great, when really you can list anything in a top ten category of some kind. ‘Girl on the Third Floor’ is about a husband and his pregnant wife leaving the city and buying a run down house in the suburbs. Unknown to them, the house use to be a brothel and not all the spirits have left. The husband is fixing up the house, getting it ready before his pregnant wife joins him. He ends up cheating on his wife, and soon there will be hell to pay.

There’s not really a big or well known cast, unless you are big into wrestling. Which I am not. The movie stars CM Punk, Trieste Kelly Dunn, and Sarah Brooks. I saw different stories about this movie saying it’s Netflix’s most disturbing movie, and grossest movie. I say these people don’t know horror, and haven’t seen much horror if they think this is the most disturbing movie out there. Just watch ‘Terrifier’ it beats this movie in the gore aspect, and disturbing part.

The acting is pretty good, especially on Sarah Brooks end. She really nails down the crazy role. I do think there is some unnecessary gore. Throughout the film the house has semen come out of it’s sockets, shower head, faucets, etc.. along with blood oozing out of the walls. Which the Semen part is pretty gross, and I get where the people who said this movie is disturbing are coming from. If you can get past this aspect it is a pretty decent film that has you saying WTF several times throughout it. All in all I give it a 6.5/10.

The Photograph

I typically break up my reviews in three parts, the synopsis of the movie, the cast, and lastly my thoughts on the movie. This time I’m just going to jump right in. ‘The Photograph’ has a great cast, Issa Rae (Little), Lakeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You. Knives Out), Rob Morgan (Just Mercy.), and Lil Rel Howery (Get Out. Uncle Drew). So with such a great cast, it’s a shame this movie falls flat, and it falls hard. It feels about ten hours long, the plot is uninspiring, and doesn’t develop what so ever. Literally it’s watching a movie of nothing happening. When the film ended everyone in the theater just sat there in silence. An older man stood up and declared “I didn’t fall asleep”. Once we were walking out, we passed two women. The one turns to the other and said “Oh my God what was that.” I really wanted to like this movie. I’m a fan of Lil Rel, he is hilarious, and Lakeith Stanfield is a great actor. Unfortunately I’m going to have to give ‘The Photograph’ a hard pass. It is a terrible film and probably will go down as the worst movie of 2020. I’m giving it a 2/10.

Gretel & Hansel

Everyone knows the story of Hansel and Gretel. A brother and sister are taken and left in the woods by their evil stepmother when famine strikes their land. They stumble upon a house made of sweets, and being hungry they begin to eat the house. A witch lives in the house who catches the kids, and plans on eating them. The kids push the witch in the fire oven and escape. ‘Gretel & Hansel’ pretty much follows the same premise, but a little bit darker. Which the original fairy tale is pretty dark in its own right.

There’s not a real big cast for this movie. It’s pretty much Gretel, Hansel, and the witch the entire film. Alice Krige (A Christmas Prince) stars as the witch, Sophia Lillis (IT. IT: Chapter Two.) as Gretel, and Samuel Leakey as Hansel. I was pretty happy to see Sophia Lillis in this, she does a great job in ‘IT’ and she seems like she may become a new leading face in horror after this.

I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about this film, most being negative. Which I can see that. The story is well known and has been redone more than once, so how do you make it exciting where people enjoy it? Also there isn’t a lot of action, especially considering the movie has pretty much three characters. It reminds me of the film ‘The Witch’ where not a lot is happening and just kind of drags on. I actually enjoyed this movie though, it was different than what I was expecting although, it had a couple of plot holes in it. Like I mentioned earlier I was happy to see Sophia Lillis in it, she played an excellent role, and is the main reason why it is a decent movie. Also Alice Krige did a great job as the witch. Overall I thought it was a good film, just don’t go in expecting to see a lot of action because this is not your type of movie. I give it a 6/10

A Fall From Grace

‘A Fall From Grace’ is a 2020 Netflix original drama/thriller by Tyler Perry. It follows the story of an older woman, Grace Waters (Crystal Fox), who recently divorced, falls in love with a younger man. Everything seems perfect until they get married and he turns from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde. As things get worse and worse, she gets arrested and faces life in prison for the murder of her new husband. Her case depends on her more than green public defender Jasmine (Bresha Webb).

I’ve said before in the past Netflix keeps pumping original after original movie, I like that. I also like Tyler Perry’s work and the trailer is very intriguing, so it seems like a win. It features a pretty decent cast starring Crystal Fox (Driving Miss Daisy), Bresha Webb (Night School. Meet the Blacks), Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show), Mehcad Brooks (True Blood), and Tyler Perry.

Unfortunately that’s about as far as this movie goes. The story is great and hooks you in, and it has a great twist I didn’t see coming, but after the first half it just falls flat, and it falls hard. The acting isn’t really that good, it’s on the cheesy side. It stresses over and over how the public defender isn’t experienced, or that good. She doesn’t seem to care about her job, and it makes it not very believable, and you don’t really root for her. The more you think about the movie the more plot holes you can tend to come up with. It’s a great story that could have been executed better, again unfortunately it falls flat and is easily a forgettable movie. I give it a 5/10.