Movie Review: FREE GUY...

Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch the Ryan Reynolds sci-fi comedy flick, Free Guy. Needless to say, it was a very enjoyable movie...and much deeper than the trailers made it out to be!

As a quick synopsis for the film, Free Guy is about a video game character named Guy (played by Reynolds) who was created through advanced artificial intelligence and quickly became aware that the world he lived in wasn't what it appeared to be.

Guy runs into Molotov Girl (portrayed by Jodie Comer), the woman of Guy's dreams who's on a secret mission to expose the true origin of Free City...the metropolis where Guy happily lived in and worked at as a coffee-sipping bank teller.

Like Deadpool, but with a PG-13 rating, Free Guy aptly made use of Reynolds' quick wit and comedic talent. Also providing hilarious and at-times heartwarming moments to the movie were his co-stars...from Comer (who also played Millie in the film's real-world scenes), Joe Keery (as Keys), Utkarsh Ambudkar (as Mouser), Channing Tatum (as Avatar), Matty Cardarople (as Gamer), Aaron W. Reed (as Dude) and Lil Rel Howery (as Buddy) to Taika Waititi (as the hilarious antagonist, Antwan).

In regards to the movies that Free Guy reminded me of, it had moments that were reminiscent of the 1998 Jim Carrey film The Truman Show, the 2018 Steven Spielberg flick Ready Player One, the 1998 rom-com You've Got Mail (starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan), Christopher Nolan's 2010 sci-fi flick Inception, 2010's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and unsurprisingly, 1999's The Matrix. But with a much lighter tone and a PG-13 rating.

Free Guy was originally supposed to be released last year, but was obviously postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the wait was worth it! As mentioned earlier, this movie played to Ryan Reynold's greatest strengths, and it clearly had a couple of messages to convey (from betraying people to earn lots of money and wanting to live life to the fullest, to finding true love) that weren't really emphasized in the film's TV ads and theatrical trailers.

Free Guy is a must-see movie—especially considering that it also had a couple of cool cameos in it! SPOILER ALERT: I won't elaborate on the appearance made by a cast member who starred in several Marvel films like The Avengers, but it was emotional to see the late and great TV game show host Alex Trebek show up in Free Guy.

Before I end this blog entry, let me just say, "Don't have a good day, have a great day!" That is all.

VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE Will NOT Be Released in Theaters Next Month...

So I just found out through Variety and other news sites that Venom: Let There Be Carnage will not be released in theaters nationwide on September 24 as originally planned. It is hopefully opening on Friday, October 15 instead.

Thanks a lot, coronavirus' Delta variant and all the folks who remain unvaccinated in the United States.

Movie Review: THE SUICIDE SQUAD...

Several hours ago, I went to my local AMC theater to watch The Suicide Squad...the newest cinematic installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU).

Needless to say, The Suicide Squad was very entertaining! Unlike 2016's Suicide Squad—whose original dark tone was minimized with humor added at the last minute, as a response to backlash caused by the dreariness of that year's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—The Suicide Squad already had a nice blend of humor, gore and emotional elements in it thanks to director James Gunn, who previously saw comic book movie success at Marvel Studios with 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) and its 2017 sequel.

The biggest strengths of The Suicide Squad were the cast members and their amazing performances. Margot Robbie was back as the energetically unstable Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman returned as the stoic Colonel Rick Flag, Jai Courtney (briefly) reprised his role as Captain Boomerang, and the ultra-talented Viola Davis once again played the tough-as-nails but conniving Amanda Waller.

The newcomers in The Suicide Squad were commendable too...with Michael Rooker (who already worked with Gunn on the GotG movies) as Savant, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Flula Borg as Javelin, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Sean Gunn (James' brother and another GotG veteran) as Weasel, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Peter Capaldi as Thinker, Julio Cesar Ruiz as Milton, Alice Braga as Sol Soria and Sylvester Stallone (who appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) as the voice of King Shark.

And of course, The Suicide Squad's badass group of villains-turned-heroes was led by the formidable Idris Elba as Bloodsport, and John Cena as the ironically-named Peacemaker.

The Suicide Squad was filled with lots of awesome and equally-violent action sequences, with the final confrontation pitting Bloodsport, Harley Quinn and Co. against Starro the Conqueror highlighting the delightfully-absurd nature of James Gunn's take on this DC comic book property.

Along with the 2017 Wonder Woman movie, 2019's Shazam and Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League earlier this year, The Suicide Squad is an excellent addition to the DCEU. Even though it won't be connected to DC's cinematic universe, here's hoping that 2022's The Batman will be as well-made as the films mentioned above. Godspeed, Warner Bros.

Carnage Creates Chaos in the Latest Trailer for VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE...

The newest and presumably final trailer for Venom: Let There Be Carnage was released today...showing that Eddie Brock's (Tom Hardy) titular symbiote will have its hands full battling the crimson-colored alien beast residing in serial killer-turned death row inmate, Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson).

Here are some screenshots of Carnage in action—which reveals that this murderous creature will live up to its Marvel comic book origin and wreak havoc on Brock and everyone around him, even though this flick will be rated PG-13, just like its 2018 predecessor.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is still scheduled for release in theaters nationwide on September 24...though that may change as COVID-19 cases continue to increase around the United States due to the coronavirus' Delta variant and lots of Americans remaining unvaccinated. Get vaccinated.

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Video of the Day - The GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE Trailer...

Just thought I'd share the newest preview for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which arrives in theaters nationwide on November 11, 2021.

While I enjoyed the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters that was directed by Paul Feig and starred Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth (with a cameo by Bill Murray), I'm very excited for the Jason Reitman film since it's clearly the official sequel to Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2.

Not only is Afterlife produced by Ivan Reitman—Jason's father and the director of the 1984 and '89 installments—but Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts will reprise their classic roles of Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Raymond Stantz, Dr. Winston Zeddmore, Dana Barrett and Janine Melnitz, respectively. (Rick Moranis won't be returning as Louis Tully, unfortunately.) Harold Ramis, who played Dr. Egon Spengler in the original films, sadly passed away in February of 2014.

Not to be outdone by their legacy co-stars are Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard (who appeared in other supernatural projects such as Netflix's Stranger Things and both IT films) and Celeste O'Connor.

Just like with Star Wars: The Force Awakens—where Luke Skywalker's brief cameo was kept under wraps till the movie came out—it appears that the appearances of Peter Venkman (that last shot in the new preview notwithstanding) and company will either be shown in the final trailer, or saved for the film itself. Either way, I can't wait to see this flick less than four months from now! Check out the preview below.



That four-wheeled ghost trap is awesome!

Quick Review: SNAKE EYES...

Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch the G.I. Joe prequel Snake Eyes. This film was intriguing in that it obviously told the tale of how the Joes' heroic black-clad ninja (played by Henry Golding) came to be, and the start of his rivalry with a warrior who once considered him as his brother: Cobra's Storm Shadow (portrayed by Andrew Koji).

Snake Eyes had lots of cool action sequences in it, though of some of them were marred by shaky handheld camera work that you would see in a Jason Bourne film and definitely a Michael Bay flick. On the plus side though, Snake Eyes didn't have overblown computer-generated effects like 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra did.

Spoilers Ahead: We do not see how Snake Eyes lost his ability to talk in this movie, but the seeds are planted in regards to him forming a bond with Scarlett (Samara Weaving) and how Storm Shadow became his chief adversary.

If a sequel to Snake Eyes is made, then it's safe to assume that we'll watch as the ninja gets his vocal cords damaged...and witness his disfigurement (both in a helicopter explosion, presumably) as revealed in G.I. Joe canon. No sense for Paramount Pictures to hire a charismatic actor like Golding for the lead role if he becomes unrecognizable by the end of the first movie; I hope Snake Eyes 2 gets made to finish the story of this shadowy warrior. Carry on.

On This Day in 2011: Remembering HORRIBLE BOSSES...

10 years ago today, I went to the local multiplex and watched Horrible Bosses...the Seth Gordon-directed dark comedy about three white-collar subordinates bent on exacting revenge on their supervisors for treating them, obviously, like garbage. Horrible Bosses was my favorite comedy of 2011—with the A-list cast doing a stellar job in making this flick an absolute laugh riot! The best subplot in this movie was the one between Dale Arbus (Charlie Day) and his gleefully sexual-harrassing boss, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston). Aniston pulled out all the stops in making Harris as sinister and carnally ravenous as possible; coming in only at second place behind the tyrannical Dave Harken, the boss of Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman) aptly played by Kevin Spacey. Colin Farrell was hilarious as Bobby Pellit, the obnoxious son of respectable company owner Jack (Donald Sutherland), and the arch-nemesis of Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis). Not to be outdone in this crime comedy was Jamie Foxx as Dean 'Motherf*cker' Jones—an ex-con who didn't mind helping Arbus, Hendricks and Buckman try to fatally whack their hated superiors.

Horrible Bosses was such an entertaining movie that I'm not surprised it received a sequel...2014's Horrible Bosses 2 which had Chris Pine and Christoph Waltz join the fold. Unsurprisingly, the sequel wasn't as funny as the original movie, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the continued antics of Bateman, Sudeikis and Day in these films. If Horrible Bosses 3 gets made (unlikely, as it's almost been 7 years since the first sequel was released), I'll be there to watch it on opening weekend. Happy Friday!

Quick Review: BLACK WIDOW...

A few hours ago, I went to my local AMC theater to watch the first Phase 4 movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Black Widow. It was very enjoyable...and a lot deeper than I expected. Black Widow is clearly about family and redemption—with Natasha Romanoff (once again played fiercely by Scarlett Johansson) reuniting with the folks (a.k.a. Russian agents) she called family when she was young, and confronting a person from her past (now working as the mysterious assassin named Taskmaster) whom she did wrong when Romanoff was trying desperately to leave the life of a cold-blooded assassin behind before she joined SHIELD and the Avengers.



Just like every other Marvel movie, Black Widow was very entertaining and had top-notch special effects (I actually know someone who was a visual effects artist on this film... Well-done, Delon Ho). Ironically, it was the amazing CGI at the climax of Black Widow that somewhat had a negative impact on the movie. For the first two acts of the film, we see Natasha and her sister Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) try to outrun fellow Widows in cool action sequences that were shot on location in Budapest and Norway, respectively. (It was in these parts where this movie felt like the 2018 Jennifer Lawrence espionage flick, Red Sparrow. Not a criticism.) But by the end of the film, we see Natasha, Yelena, Alexei (David Harbour) and Melina (Rachel Weisz) make their way up to a giant floating fortress hidden in the clouds...something that you would obviously see in an Avengers or Captain America movie.



While Black Widow's change of tone from a gritty assassin film to a CG-heavy comic book movie could've been handled a bit differently, it was still an enjoyable flick. As mentioned at the start of this review, Natasha Romanoff sought redemption—and ultimately achieved it. It's after watching this film that Marvel fans should feel sad for Black Widow considering the fate that befell her in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. But when it comes down to it, Natasha's story was finally told alongside those of Captain America, Iron Man and Thor...and the MCU is better for it.

Quick Review: THE FOREVER PURGE...

Earlier today, I watched the latest installment in The Purge franchise at my local AMC theater. Needless to say, The Forever Purge is my favorite sequel yet. While the previous movies dealt with different groups of characters and how they managed to make it through 12 hours of lawful destruction and murder, The Forever Purge was about folks trying to survive not only during the Purge, but afterwards when a nationwide hate group—known as the Ever After Purgers—continued violent attacks across America despite the final siren bringing the government-sanctioned carnage to an end.



What makes The Forever Purge more intense that its predecessors is that it is definitely inspired by the divisiveness that afflicted the United States during the Trump presidency. Not only is it intense, but the film is also a lot scarier in that the hate-filled acts portrayed in this movie feel more plausible; there are folks (as shown during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol) who would be more than willing to don scary outfits, form murderous militia teams, and purge this country of people deemed un-American for as long as it takes. (Imagine what the QAnon movement would become if the Purge actually existed...) And The Forever Purge ends with an interesting twist on real life by labeling Yanks who survived the mayhem by crossing the U.S./Mexico border as "American Dreamers."



The final scene in The Forever Purge is a powerful one: I won't tell you what happens to the main characters themselves, but we see peace and calm at a refugee camp in Mexico while on the other side of the border, Texas (where the entire film takes place) is engulfed in fire and smoke. And the very last shot is a night-side POV from space showing the United States completely covered in flames...to exemplify that the NFFA, the New Founding Fathers of America, was being destroyed by its own experiment. Powerful stuff—especially for a sci-fi action-horror flick.

I look forward to the next Purge film!

On This Day in 1996: Remembering INDEPENDENCE DAY...

25 years ago today, I watched the hit alien-invasion epic Independence Day at the theater. I've spoken about the sci-fi blockbuster—which is my favorite movie of 1996—so many times throughout the years that there's really nothing new to say about the film (but stay on this page, anyway)! Though in the wake of a recent report released by the Department of Defense about UFOs encountered by U.S. Navy pilots over the past two decades, blogging about ID4 today couldn't be more timely. If you want to read previous things that I've said about the Roland Emmerich-directed epic, you can visit this blog update that celebrated the 10-year anniversary of ID4 in 2006.

Will I post an entry commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Independence Day: Resurgence (which was released in theaters nationwide on June 24, 2016) in 2026, you ask? Probably not. That movie broke my heart like the Dumb and Dumber sequel, Dumb and Dumber To did in 2014. Happy Fourth of July weekend to my fellow Yanks!