The Outsider

“The Outsider” is a 2018 Netflix original crime drama/ thriller starring Jared Leto (Morbius), Tadanobu Asano (Battleship), Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool 2), and Min Tanaka (47 Ronin).

An American soldier is in a Japanese prison following WWII. He saves a fellow inmates life, and in return the inmate helps him get out of prison and welcomes him into his gang, the Yakuza.

The Yakuza are a Japanese gang who are ruthless and blood thirsty. This movie does a good job portraying that. I’m typically not a big fan of Jared Leto, I find him weird, and bad at portraying emotion. Most of his movies fall flat because of it. However, his character is trying to survive as an outsider in the Yakuza. So, he needs to be cold hearted, his non emotional self, works out for this role. It’s perfect for him. The movie is dark, gritty and full of drama. If you like gangster style movies, it’s definitely worth checking out. I give it an 8/10.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” is a 2022 animation comedy movie from the show “Bob’s Burgers”. It brings in its main cast including H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz, John Roberts, Eugene Mirman, Kevin Kline, Zach Galifianakis, and Larry Murphy while also giving David Wain a new character.

This is the biggest Belcher’s adventure yet. It’s summertime the kids are out of school and looking forward to a great summer. When a sink hole opens up in front of the restaurant it may end up closing the restaurant for good. Even worse skeletal remains are found in the sink hole and their landlord is arrested for the crime. The Belcher kids are determined to prove his innocence and save the family restaurant.

If you’re fan of the show, you’ll love the movie, simple as that. It’s pretty much just an extended episode of Bob’s Burgers with a few musical numbers thrown in. It’s funny, entertaining and just an overall fun watch. I give it an 8/10.

Uncharted

“Uncharted” is a 2022 Action/Adventure movie based off the popular video game series with the same name. It brings a star-studded class with Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Mark Wahlberg (Invincible), Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro), Sophia Ali (Truth or Dare), and Tati Gabrielle (You).

A seasoned treasure hunter (Wahlberg) seeks out the help of a younger adventurer (Holland) who may hold the secret in finding Ferdinand Magellan’s lost fortune.

You know it’s going to be good with Wahlberg and Holland, both are great actors, and you can’t help but love them. It is a 2hr movie, but good news is its action packed, so it doesn’t feel like a two-hour movie. I’ve only played bits off the first “Uncharted” video game, but from what I’ve read it follows the game pretty closely and even does several of their action scenes. With that said, some of the action scenes are cheesy and over the top, but that’s with most action movies. We don’t watch action movies for their realness, right? But for their entertainment value, and this one does entertain. Another cool thing is it has a brief cameo from Nolan North who voices Nathan Drake (Holland’s character) in the video game series. Keep a lookout for a sequel, as this one sets it up. I give it an 8/10.

Coming Home in the Dark

‘Coming Home in the Dark’ is a 2021 thriller/horror starring Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries), Erik Thomson (All Saints), Miriami McDowell (This is Not My Life), and Matthias Luafutu (Cowboy Bepop).

A teacher must face his dark past when two armed men take him, his wife, and two kids at gun point while they’re hiking in the mountains.

This one’s from New Zealand so the accents are a little thick, so I recommend putting on the subtitles for the first little bit anyway until you get used to it. It’s a solid film and draws you in pretty close to the beginning of the movie, once the main bad guys show up. It does lose some of its scariness, I guess you would call it, once you find out the abduction and killing isn’t random. The randomness makes it scarier, because you can relate to it more. It could just as easily happen to you, and your family, and it makes you stop and think. Still, it’s good, the act for revenge is a little iffy, but as much of a cold-blooded killer as the main bad guy is, I guess it stands up. It’s a gritty, everyone must face their past thriller movie, it’s worth the watch. You can catch it currently on Netflix, I give it an 8/10.

Love Hard

It’s that time of year again when the Christmas movies begin to roll out for the holiday season. I love this time of year when new Christmas movies hit, but a lot of them aren’t worth watching. Perhaps we’re more prone to like the Christmas movies we grew up with like ” A Christmas Story” “A National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”, or even more recent like “The Santa Clause” or “Jingle All the Way”. We’ll take a look at one of the new Christmas movies to just drop, “Love Hard.”

“Love Hard” is a 2021 Netflix original Christmas Rom/Com starring Nina Dobrev (Vampire Diaries), Jimmy O. Yang (Fresh Off the Boat), Darren Barnet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), and James Saito (Always Be My Maybe).

A New York columnist (Dobrev) who specializes in writing about bad dates, finally thinks she found true love on a dating app. After talking to the guy (Yang) for two weeks she flies across country to spend Christmas with him. Only to find out she’s been catfished.

This is one of those things that only happens in movies, who flies across country to spend Christmas with someone they’ve never met in person and have only talked to for two weeks in pursuit of true love? It’s also always two people from different worlds, take any rom com and it’s always someone from the city falling in love with someone not in the city, classic formula. Yet even with the predictability, this movie works. I’m a big fan of Yang, he’s a very funny dude, I love his roll in “Fresh Off the Boat”, and being opposite of Dobrev, they make it work. He plays a shy nerdy dude, trying to find his way in life, and with Dobrev’s help he just may. It’s a heartfelt good watch. I give it a 8/10.

No Man of God

“No Man of God” is a 2021 crime movie starring Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings), Luke Kirby (A Dog’s Purpose), Aleksa Palladino (Boardwalk Empire), and Robert Patrick (The X-Files). This is based on the true story of FBI agent Bill Hagmaier (Wood), and infamous serial killer Ted Bundy (Kirby).

Bill Hagmaier was one of the first analysists whose job was to profile serial killers in hopes to better understand how killers think and to help create a profile. Hagmaier was the only one Bundy would talk to while in prison, this movie focuses on their interviews and relationship built over the last four years before Bundy was executed.

It’s a very slow burn, it’s basically Elijah Wood and Luke Kirby sitting in an interrogation room for an hour and forty minutes talking. So keep that in mind going in, if you’re looking for a movie with a lot of action in it, this is not it. I have to say this, Luke Kirby plays the best Bundy, I’ve seen. He has his look, mannerisms, speech, everything down. Almost to the point you forget he’s not the real Bundy. Even though there isn’t much action, it’s a great movie, and an interesting watch. I give it an 8/10.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is a 2021 Action/Superhero movie, and is Marvel’s newest addition to the MCU. It stars Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience), Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), Tony Chiu-Wai Leung (The Grandmaster), Florian Munteanu (Creed II), and Ben Kingsley (The Dictator).

The ten rings are ten rings that whoever posses them will have god like powers and immortality. Shang-Chi’s dad has possessed the rings for the last couple thousand years. Now Shang-chi must face his past and try to stop his dad from using the rings for evil.

I’ve never heard of Shang-Chi, but that’s not really saying anything considering most of the super hero’s I know from Marvel all come from Marvel movies, and the MCU. Honestly, if I didn’t know it was a Marvel movie, I wouldn’t have been able to tell. It looks and feels just like a Kung-Fu movie, it has the use of natural elements such as leaves, and nature and has a ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon feel to it. It’s packed full of action and has comedic relief from Awkwafina, and Kingsley. They do however do a tie in with ‘Dr. Strange’ which is pretty cool. So keep and eye out for Shang-Chi being with the Avengers in the future. Like all Marvel movies this one is good, just go in expecting more of a Kung-Fu style movie over their typical superhero movie. I give it an 8/10.

A Classic Horror Story

‘A Classic Horror Story’ is a 2021 Netflix original horror movie starring Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz (Rings), Alida Baldari Calabria (Pinocchio), and Francesco Russo (My Brilliant Friend).

A group of passengers sharing a ride in a RV crash and end up in the woods. Only thing around is an abandoned cabin, no matter how hard they try to find their way out of the woods they keep ending back up at the cabin, where something sinister awaits them.

This one reminds me of ‘Wrong Turn’, ‘Midsommar’, and ‘Welcome Home’ all rolled into one. It’s the classic story, a group gets lost in the woods, and start getting killed off (‘Wrong Turn’), then it turns into a weird festival type setting (‘Midsommar’), and finishes off with a ‘Welcome Home’ type vibe, I can’t go into that part without giving too much away, and I hate spoilers. This one is made in Italy so it’s dubbed over. The words don’t always match the mouths and it causes some of the acting to be off. That’s my biggest complaint with it, once there’s about twenty minutes left of the film, it is amazing. The ending is perfect, and makes the whole movie worth watching. I give it an 8/10.

Level 16

‘Level 16’ is a 2018 sci-fi/thriller starring Katie Douglas (Ginny & Georgia), Celina Martin (Izombie), Sara Canning ( The Vampire Diaries), and Peter Outerbridge (Lucky Number Slevin).

Several girls are at mysteries boarding school where you keep going up levels until you reach the final level, level 16. Once they reach level 16 they are ready to be adopted to their perfect families. Two girls realize something is horribly wrong, something very sinister, and they plan to escape.

‘Level 16’ is basically a mix between Stephen King’s ‘The Institute’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ It takes a little bit of time to figure out what is going on, but you can figure out an idea what’s going on. They do a good job of keeping you guessing up till that point, and it’s a good watch. You can currently find it on Netflix, I give it a 8/10.

Fear Street Part One 1994

‘Fear Street Part One 1994’ is Netflix’s newest horror movie series based off the ‘Fear Street’ books by R.L. Stine. ‘Fear Street Part One 1994’ is the first one in the trilogy, starring Kiana Madeira (Sacred Lies), Olivia Scott Welch (Modern Family), Benjamin Flores Jr. (Rim of the World), Julia Rehwald (Where’s Darren?), Fred Hechinger (News of the World), and Maya Hawke (Stranger Things).

A group of teenage friends from Shadyside, are hunted by a group of killers who are possessed by a witch that has been wreaking havoc on the town for three hundred years.

I’m a huge R.L. Stine fan, I grew up reading ‘Goosebumps’, ‘Fear Street’, ‘Ghosts of Fear Street’, and the ‘Goosebumps 2000’ series. I even still have the original 100 ‘Goosebumps” packed up, so when I saw Netflix was doing a ‘Fear Street’ adaption, I had to watch it. It’s not quite what I was expecting, this is pretty much your teen slasher flick but on steroids. Not one killer is after a group of teens but three are. It’s a little more graphic, and gory than what I would expect from a R.L. Stine adaptation, but it makes for a great slasher flick. A cool Easter egg too is in the beginning when they’re in the bookstore, the books shown are ‘Fear Street’ covers, just has a fake authors name on them. I’m looking forward to watching the next two, I give it a 8/10.