REVIEW: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (2023)

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Finds Quill aka Starlord (Chris Pratt) still mourning the loss of his Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the fact that the other timeline Gamora does not remember him or their relationship. When the Guardians are attacked by the powerful Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), sent by the vengeful empress of the Sovereign, Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is critically injured. To save his life they seek his creator The High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), unaware that he is a deranged individual with a sinister purpose and has devious plans for Rocket.

Third and supposedly final Guardians flick is once more directed by James Gunn from his own messy script. The story itself is a simple one stretched out over 150 minutes and basically meanders through a bunch of noisy and overblow set pieces till it reaches its admittingly satisfying action-packed climax. We do get a lot of flashbacks filling us in on Rocket and his origin and these scenes do resonate emotionally. It’s the time-wasting nonsense involving the Guardians efforts to save him that are less engaging, especially since the group seem sick of each other and their once playful bickering now comes across as meanspirited and nasty. It hurts the charm and camaraderie the group had, and it gets tiresome quick. The action scenes in the first two thirds seem almost random and really don’t accomplish much. Overall, the film rarely feels like a climax to a trilogy, until it kind of forces itself to in the last half hour or so. To be honest, a lot of the film feels made up as it goes along. The FX are still top notch. Iwuji does make for a solid villain and the last act pulls things together for an entertaining climax. The movie as a whole though, feels like it’s missing something up till then.

The main cast are all veterans in their parts though one can feel certain members seem to be tiring of all this. No point in going over the leads as we have seen them play these parts in five previous flicks. Newcomers are good. Chukwudi Iwuji makes for a sinister villain as The High Evolutionary, though his actual plan doesn’t make much sense. Will Poulter is fine as Adam Warlock, but the comic character’s loyal fans will be very disappointed with his being portrayed as a pouty teenager with minimal screentime. There are also some nice voice performances and some fun cameos that won’t be spoiled here.

Overall, this was a disappointing adventure and finale. It stretches a simple plot well over two hours and as a result, a lot of the sequences feel more like filler than an integral part of the story. The team’s bickering seems not only overdone, but a bit too meanspirited to be funny. Speaking of funny, a lot of the jokes fall flat here and lack the twisted fun of the previous flicks. It does recover with a solid enough last act, though doesn’t really feel like a climactic installment till forced to in the last moments. At least the sequences featuring Rocket’s origins give us something to endear to. Stay through the credits for two additional scenes that sadly don’t amount to much.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 2 and 1/2 (out of 4) Gamoras.

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REVIEW: EVIL DEAD RISE (2023)

EVIL DEAD RISE (2023)

Newest in the Evil Dead franchise takes place in a soon to be condemned apartment building which is home to recently separated Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland) and her three kids, teens Dan (Morgan Davies) and Bridget (Gabrielle Echols) and little Kassie (Nell Fisher). Ellie’s sister Beth (Lily Sullivan) has also come to visit, unfortunately on the night of a big earthquake which takes out the power and opens a large hole in the parking garage that Dan chooses to explore. He finds what appears to be a tomb and in it some old recordings and a strange book. As this is an Evil Dead movie, the recordings get played and the book gets opened and a horrifying evil is unleashed upon those trapped in the building.

This new chapter in Sam Raimi’s classic franchise is written and directed by Lee Cronin (The Hole in the Ground) and is a terrifying rollercoaster ride of gruesome fun! In fact, it is the best Evil Dead movie since the original, jettisoning the hokey tone of some of the earlier sequels for a more visceral and straightforward approach. There is also a deft touch of twisted humor as well. Cronin crafts a film the starts out with a creepy and disturbing opening at the traditional cabin in the woods setting before freshening things up by switching locations to the decrepit and soon to be demolished L.A. tenement. He creates a building that is unsettling to look at and be in, with a keen visual eye that knows how to use color and shadow to give his audience the creeps long before all hell breaks loose. Once the rollercoaster of blood, body parts and vomited up insects begins, he only gives us brief moments to catch our breath before throwing the survivors and the audience into the meatgrinder again. The key here is that not only is this flick fast paced and as bloody as it’s R rating will allow, but it is scary as hell, too! Cronin knows how to build scares expertly and rarely resorts to overused jump scares. If he does, they are well-earned and not cheap. Evil Dead Rise is a worthy successor to the original classic, with some fun nods to the franchise, and seriously one of the scariest movies in quite some time. Definitely will be on many best horror of 2023 lists and is, IMO, the film to beat so far. The gore is well crafted and quite plentiful with the make-up on our possessed deadites giving them a very disturbing appearance. There are some truly frightening and quite grisly set-pieces utilizing everything from tattoo needles to cheese graters—that one will be talked about for some time—to wine glasses, chainsaws and even a woodchipper…yes, the kitchen sink is there too. This is a highly entertaining blast of bloody horror and is as scary as it is gruesome with a writer/director to be reckoned with at the helm. Horror world, Lee Cronin has arrived!

The filmmaker also gets great work from his cast too! Alyssa Sutherland gives a tour de force performance as the possessed Ellie. She creates a likable recently single mom before her horrifying elevator set possession, and a frightening fiend once the deadites take hold of her. She recites some very unsettling dialogue with just the right amounts of whimsy and malice. Good horror needs a strong, scary villain and Sutherland is up to the task. Lily Sullivan is also really strong as Beth. Forced to fight her own sister to protect her nephew and nieces, Sullivan is a solid and very resilient heroine. As the kids, Morgan Davies, Gabrielle Echols and Nell Fisher all do good work, and without giving anything away, not even these three are safe from Cronin’s funhouse, of horrors.

The flick is a borderline masterpiece of modern visceral horror that is not without a sense of ghoulish fun. It has a wonderfully gruesome and frightening premise, that pays sly homage to other series installments, and films, with expert direction from Lee Cronin. He knows what makes a horror film scary and fun and knows what is expected from an Evil Dead film. Rise fits in with the franchise perfectly and can stand up alongside the classic original quite proudly, while also being able to stand on its own as well. Simply put, Lee Cronin understood the assignment. It’s terrifying, bloody as all hell and delivers the wickedly fun goods like no horror has in quite sometimes. Groovy!

Check out our look back at the original classic that started it all!… HERE!

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated a very solid 4 (out of 4) chainsaws.

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REVIEW: SCREAM VI (2023)

SCREAM VI (2023)

Neve Campbell-less sequel has previous installment survivors Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) and her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) leaving Woodsboro and heading to the Big Apple with fellow survivors Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown). A year after the last installment’s events and right in time for Halloween, bodies start falling again and a familiar voice begins making those fateful phone calls. Along with Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), who is now an FBI agent, they try to stop Ghostface one and for all.

Latest installment in this enduring slasher franchise is again directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from a script by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. This is a brutal and vicious installment and actually works very well without Sydney Prescott’s involvement. The torch seems to rest fine in the hands of Tara and Sam, as does the refreshing change to the streets and subways of New York City. Setting it on Halloween is also a plus as now there are masked figures, especially Ghostface masks, everywhere. The kills are intense and nasty and this, along with a more 80s portrayal of NYC, with grimy streets, crowded subways and dark alleys, gives the film an even gritter edge. It’s an improvement over the so-so 2022 requel and does freshen up the franchise a bit even if the final act reveals aren’t quite as jaw dropping as we’d hoped. The violence is well rendered as always and is very intense although one feels that the trope of our heroes getting the upper hand on Ghostface then running away before finishing him off is getting really tiresome…understandably the movie would only be about a half hour long then if they did. At least Olpin and Gillett do have some fun with series expectations and relax the tiresome meta nonsense for a more straightforward slasher.

The cast is good here. Cox and Panettiere work well with the newer cast members, Panettiere especially with slipping back into the role of Kirby after 12 years. Her character’s explanation of why she became an FBI agent makes sense. Melissa Barrera again makes for a very strong lead as Sam, now dealing with the effects of the previous year’s attack and the savage internet fallout which paints Sam as the real villain. Rising star Jenna Ortega (X, Wednesday) gets far more to do here and is already a veteran in parts like this. Jasmin Savoy Brown is again fun as horror movie fan Mindy and Mason Gooding (Booksmart) is solid as Chad. Newcomers include Dermot Mulroney as Det. Bailey, Liana Liberato as his daughter and Tara and Sam’s roommate Quinn and Jack Champion as Chad’s roommate Ethan.

Overall, Scream VI doesn’t reinvent the franchise wheel but does freshen it up a bit with a new location, focusing more on the newer cast members and having a little fun with the franchise template. It’s also gritter and nastier than the last flick and delivers some brutal and intense scenes. The reveal could have had a bit more impact, but all in all Scream VI rates as one of the better sequels and shows the franchise still has some life in it yet.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 3 (out of 4) Ghostfaces!

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REVIEW: ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (2023)

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (2023)

(Remember, clicking the highlighted links brings you to other reviews and articles here at The Movie Madhouse!)

Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is enjoying his post Thanos life, having written a bestselling book and being recognized as a world saving Avenger. He is dismayed to find his activist daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) not only now has a superhero suit too but is working on sending signals into the quantum realm. An attempt to shut it all down gets Scott, Cassie, Hope (Evangeline Lily), Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) sucked into the realm where Janet is forced to tell them the truth about why she fears it so much. A powerful, timeline destroying being knows as Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) has been imprisoned there and Pym technology is the key to his escape.

Peyton Reed returns again to direct and seems to be in over his head with Jeff Loveness’ messy and fantasy heavy script. It’s a visual and design heavy installment that plods along for the first two-thirds before finally picking up steam for an action/battle heavy last act. Reed seems out of his element with all the fantasy worlds and bizarre characters which are constantly thrown at the audience, till Kang is introduced and the film settles down somewhat. Kang is a strong villain, and the film only starts to gain some intensity when he arrives onscreen. The movie and director seem a bit lost till then and a lot of it doesn’t seem to serve a purpose. Even an extended cameo by Bill Murray seems like a waste of the actor’s presence, talent and time. Anyone could have played the part, which also seemed to accomplish little, as does the inclusion of Kang’s “hunter” M.O.D.O.K. who turns into a bit of a joke. In fact, it is a very character heavy flick and at barely over two hours, not many characters get enough time to be fully developed, like woman warrior Jentorra (Katy O’Brian), unless established in a previous film. The FX and quantum world design is spectacular, but lack a sense of wonder, while the story is week, and it takes a while till we feel like the film is actually accomplishing something. It also lacks the feel of the previous two Ant-Man flicks and barely feels like part of the MCU, for that matter.

The cast is good. Rudd is still charming and fun as Lang/Ant-Man, but one gets a hint he is tiring of the role. His enthusiasm is not quite the same in his fifth appearance. Evangeline Lilly isn’t given all that much to do as Hope/Wasp despite sharing title billing. She and Rudd still have nice chemistry but aren’t together all that much. Douglas is still charming as the grumpy Hank Pym with Pfeiffer having a lot more to do here than in the last flick as Janet. She makes a good action heroine. Jonathan Majors steals the film as Kang, a very good villain and one wonders if an Ant-Man film was really the proper way to introduce the multiverse destroying bad guy. Newton is fine as superhero in the making Cassie and Bill Murray makes the best of his weakly written and brief role. Katy O’Brian is also solid as freedom fighter Jentorra while the actor portraying Kang henchman M.O.D.O.K. will stay a surprise here.

In conclusion, there was a lot of potential here with a good cast and very strong villain, but once again a weak Ant-Man series screenplay keeps this more in the realm of mediocre than Quantum. Reed seems a bit lost with such a sci-fi/fantasy heavy script and the film seems to meander about till Kang shows up around halfway through—at least it felt that long—and the story started to take shape. The climax is spectacular, but it never really feels like part of the Ant-Man series nor the MCU we know. Stay through the credits for two additional sequences.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 2 and 1/2 ants.

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REVIEW: THE OUTWATERS (2023)

THE OUTWATERS (2023)

Flick takes place in 2017…at least that is when the supposed found footage was filmed…with it being discovered and reassembled five years later by authorities. Simple premise has filmmaker Robbie (writer/director Robbie Banfitch) going into the desert with his brother Scott (Scott Schamell), singer Michelle (Michelle May) and friend Angela (Angela Basolis) to film a music video. Once there they start to hear strange thunderous sounds in the night, see lights in the sky and soon the trip turns into a blood-soaked nightmare.

Found footage horror is written and directed by New Jersey native Robbie Banfitch and starts off like most found footage with the first third being relatively eventless and letting us get to know our four characters. The middle is where the weirdness begins as they start hearing strange sounds at night, bizarre humming coming from within the ground and bright lights in the night sky. Soon Banfitch lets the flick degenerate into a disturbing and trippy series of nightmarish scenes and very gruesome images. We see cast members covered in blood, screaming worm-like creatures, a mysterious figure with an axe, a strange herd of donkey’s and possibly a Lovecraftian creature. Most of this is seen through character Robbie’s camera eye and within its minimal light so we only get fleeting glimpses, and the writer/director isn’t letting us in on too much of the cause or reason, either. There are a few hints here and there as to what these four unfortunate people wandered into, but mostly it’s up to you to use your own imagination. The film was never really outright scary but does provide a nightmarish ride through a last act of some very gruesome and unsettling images that will stick with you after it’s over. The cast all perform well enough to be portraying real people in lost footage and the visual eye and cinematography from filmmaker Robbie Banfitch is quite effective, as are the gory make-up effects portraying the creatures and carnage.

Overall, it doesn’t quite live up to its online hype, but does show a filmmaker with some bold ideas and who’s not afraid to put his audience through a little hell. Worth checking out.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 3 (out of 4) axes.

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REVIEW: PEARL (2022)

PEARL (2022)

Prequel to Ti West’s X tells the background story of that film’s horny, homicidal spinster Pearl (Mia Goth). It takes place in 1918 with young Pearl on the farm tending to her ailing father (Matthew Sunderland) while under the strict and watchful eye of her overbearing mother (Tandi Wright), when she’s not sneaking off to the local movie theater. Her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) is away at war and Pearl sees her dreams of being a dancer fading away. Her frustrations come to a boil when she meets a handsome projectionist (David Corenswet) at the local theater and soon Pearl will do anything to see her dreams come true…even murder.

Pearl is directed by West from a script by he and star Mia Goth and is filmed like one of those old-fashioned technicolor movies of yesteryear about a young girl wanting to be a star…only this one is homicidal. There are some disturbing sequences and some gory violence when things get going. The film is also set during the Influenza epidemic and thus makes plenty of COVID era commentary about masks and paranoia. What holds the film back from being an equal to its predecessor is a very slow pace and long dramatic dialogue sequences between the good parts. It’s a somber and dreary film despite the candy-colored cinematography and it gets tedious in parts till Pearl starts to pursue her dreams with a vengeance and slaughters anyone that gets in the way or makes her angry. These moments do their job, but it’s the in-between melodrama that slows things down and interrupts the more devious tone these scenes have. It doesn’t quite have the sense of naughty fun like X did, though there are some sequences that elicit an uncomfortable giggle like Pearl’s rendezvous with a scarecrow. It’s a decent enough prequel, overall, but not quite the bloody good time X was.

Mia Goth is wonderful as the sweet yet demented Pearl. She lets us know from the very beginning that something is already not right with Pearl. Then she gleefully takes us from girl with stars in her eyes to woman with bloodlust in her heart. She’s like a demented Snow White who has a friendship with all the farm animals, including the local gator. If anything gives this film a pulse and some life, it’s her. Tandi Wright is good as her oppressive, religious German mother Ruth. She is a strong woman whose own dreams where shattered as she now must take care of a sick husband and manage their slowly dying farm. Matthew Sunderland does good work as the very sick and silent father. He communicates much only with his eyes and minimal body language and does it quite well. David Corenswet is solid as the handsome projectionist who sets a fire under Pearl’s dreams and in her married loins. Emma Jenkins-Purro is good as Pearl’s sister-in-law Mitzy and Alistair Sewell appears briefly as Pearl’s soldier husband.

Overall, this prequel had its moments, but despite some disturbing sequences and gory violence, it’s far drearier and more somber than the deviously naughty X. Mia Goth is exceptional as Pearl and the technicolor cinematography makes the carnage quite colorful, but a slow pace and some more tedious sequences between the scenes of mayhem and murder make this flick a lesser prequel to one of the best horror films of the year.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 2 and 1/2 (out of 4) axes.

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REVIEW: BARBARIAN (2022)

BARBARIAN (2022)

Flick finds pretty Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) renting an Airbnb in a desolate neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan for a job interview. She gets there only to find out it’s been double booked, and she has to share it with a stranger named Keith (Bill Skarsgård). That isn’t the worst of her worries, as is what she finds in the cellar upon getting accidentally locked in there. Meanwhile the house’s owner, an actor named AJ (Justin Long), who has been recently disgraced in a scandal, is on his way there and headed straight into the nightmare Tess and Keith are already embroiled in.

Barbarian is written and directed by Zach Cregger and is entertaining, but a bit of a mixed bag. The first act starts out uncomfortable with Tess and Keith meeting under equally uncomfortable circumstances. As the story unfolds and Tess makes a chilling discovery in the basement, the film starts to get creepy and has a few legit scares, before jarringly switching narrative to house owner AJ. This kills any atmosphere or dread and all the tension and the momentum the flick was starting to build, as we leave Detroit to get to know AJ. These sequences have a bit more of a nervous humor to them as the neurotic AJ learns his career died overnight due to a scandal involving an actress. AJ then goes to the house, which he now needs to sell, and eventually finds his way down to the basement and joins the horror. The tension, scares and atmosphere start to build once more, but again is stopped dead as Cregger now chooses to go back to the 80s for a flashback that does fill in some story elements, but also gives us way too much time to breathe after starting to get scared again. We then have the final confrontation, which is fairly strong, but also ends a bit abruptly. Cregger has a good visual eye and can build fear and tension, he just doesn’t know how to maintain it when introducing new characters or offering exposition. Sometimes he also needs to let the camera linger a few more moments, so we can fully get the full impact of what’s happened. There are also two instances which really stretch credibility. One has Keith being totally dismissive when Tess tells him what she’s found…and it sounds disturbing…and police totally dismissing Tess when she goes for help. Any good cop knows the difference between strung-out and terrified. There was still plenty to like here. The film has some decent violence and gore, make-up FX are solid, the villain is effective and the locations beneath the house and around desolate Detroit are creepy. It’s Cregger’s inexperience with making his first feature horror film that takes this down a few notches, when it should have been a blast. It’s technically sound, with the cinematography by Zach Kuperstein very effective, as is the score by Anna Drubich.

The cast are good here with Georgina Campbell being a strong and likable heroine as Tess. It’s actually disappointing that she plays second banana to Justin Long in the last act, when her character is the one we are really rooting for over jerk actor AJ. Bill Skarsgård is solid as Keith. At first we are unsure of him, as we should be in the film’s set-up, but come to like what seems to be a legitimately nice guy. Underrated Justin Long is also good as the panicked, neurotic jerk of an actor AJ, who is far less level-headed than Tess when the horror hits the fan. Rounding out is a role played by Rob Zombie regular Richard Brake, the type of role he plays very well and Matthew Patrick Davis as…well, you’ll find out.

Overall, this was entertaining but at the same time disappointing. There was some real good tension in spots, some legit scares and some very effective violence all stemming from its uncomfortable start. Horror thriller faulters when Cregger loses his grip on his audience, by switching focus more than once when we are just getting scared. It was like bringing a rollercoaster to the top of a climb and then telling everyone the ride is over before the drop. Film also evokes other horrors past and present, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is some good gore, a fairly creepy villain and the cast all perform well amidst some spooky locations. Uneven but still entertained.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 3 (out of 4) maggots, because there were maggots in the theater auditorium, I saw it in!

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REVIEW: THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (2022)

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER (2022)

Fourth solo adventure for the God of Thunder (Chris Hemsworth) begins with our hero trying to find himself while traveling with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Meanwhile his old flame Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) is battling terminal cancer and seeks a more mythical cure in New Asgard. On another world, the death of his daughter and the acquiring of a god killing sword, The Necrosword, transforms the humble Gorr (Christian Bale) into the vengeful God Butcher. Of course, all three storylines collide as Thor is on Gorr’s hitlist and Jane has achieved a startling transformation.

Sequel is directed again by Taika Waititi from his messy script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. A messy script translates into a mess of a movie, which sadly takes Thor two steps back from the noble hero of Avengers: Infinity War and turns him into a pontificating goofball. The film is disjointed and jumps from one set piece to another, giving the impression that at just slightly over two hours, there is a lot left on the cutting room floor…which might be a good thing. The whole middle section of the film is a waste of time with a silly visit to the realm of Zeus (Russell Crowe) and accomplishes basically nothing as it leaves us with Thor, a transformed Jane’s Mighty Thor, Korg (voice again by Waititi) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson) to battle Gorr on their own…which is where it started out. The good news is, Gorr is one of the better Marvel villains with Bale creating a truly frightening god-killing boogie man. He needs Thor’s Stormbreaker to open a gateway to an eternal where he can get one wish granted, and he’s not above kidnapping Asgardian children to get it. The scenes on Gorr’s Shadow Realm are some of the scariest scenes conjured in a Marvel film. Take THAT Doctor Strange! The digital FX are quite spectacular, but some of the sets, especially New Asgard, look cheap and make the film look cheap. A Marvel rarity. The battles with Gorr and his demonic minions move well, but the film does drag in spots and overall seems to have no purpose as it leads to an oddly unsatisfying climax. A disappointing follow-up to the well-balanced fun and action of Thor: Ragnarök.

The cast is good. Hemsworth could play Thor in his sleep at this point, and as Waititi’s script requires him to do little but make bold statements between moments of buffoonery and battle, he might as well have.  Thor is played for laughs even more than in Ragnarök and it’s a shame, as Infinity War proved he’s capable of much more. Portman makes a welcome return to the series but as her storyline is tragic, it is a bittersweet return and her chemistry with Hemsworth feels forced this time. Thompson is fun as Queen Valkyrie and deserves her own series or film. Christian Bale makes a strong villain with far less screen time and development then he deserves. He is sympathetic as a father losing a child and very disturbing and scary as a villain with no qualms about kidnapping the children of others. Strong work by the former Batman. Waititi makes Korg endearing and fun as he was in past films and has some of the funnier lines. There are a lot of fun cameos, including Crowe’s pompous Zeus, The Guardians and a returning Kat Dennings’ Darcy, along with some fun surprises too.

Love and Thunder is one of Marvel’s few stumbles, including the boring Eternals, the lackluster Captain Marvel and the equally messy Iron Man 3. It makes a buffoon of a lead character who had far more depth in previous films and squanders a great performance by Bale with too little screentime and character development for his very scary villain. It drags in spots and has an entire midsection which seems only to serve as comic relief and a set-up for Thor 5. The sets look cheap at times and the film as a whole seems to serve no purpose only coming to life when Bale’s disturbing Gorr is on screen. If you do see it, stay through the credits for two of the least interesting mid and post credits scenes in some time. A resounding disappointment.

-MonsterZero NJ

Rated 2 and 1/2 (out of 4) Mjölnirs!

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REVIEW: THE BLACK PHONE (2022)

THE BLACK PHONE (2022)

Thriller takes place in 1978 in a working-class suburb of Denver, Colorado. It focuses on Finny Shaw (Mason Thames) who has enough problems with school bullies and an alcoholic father, but there is also a series of child abductions being committed by a mysterious individual the press has dubbed The Grabber (Ethan Hawke). Finny is kidnaped himself by the masked serial killer and finds himself locked in a sound-proof basement. The boy gets help from unusual sources as a disconnected phone in his prison bares the voices of previous victims and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who shares her late mother’s gift for clairvoyance, tries to help police find him. Is it enough to keep Finny from being The Grabber’s next victim?

The Black Phone is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, Doctor Strange) from his script with C. Robert Cargill, based on Joe Hill’s short story. Derrickson smartly gives us a little time to get to know Finny, and his life at the moment, so we are endeared to him when Hawke’s creepy Grabber abducts him. We then intercut between Finney receiving phone messages from beyond, while police search for him with Gwen trying to help through her dream visions. It could have gotten silly quick with both a psychic sister and phone calls from dead kids on the menu, but Derrickson keeps it chilling and tense as Finny tries to find a way to escape. It also helps that Hawke’s Grabber is a disturbing yet grounded psycho who never goes over the top or falls into camp. He remains calm most of the time and that’s scarier. Derrickson only falters by once again letting James Ransone play a borderline goofy character that disrupts the serious tone and overdoing it a bit with his grainy footage schtick, which seems to be the only reason the film is set in the 70s. Gwen’s visions appear like old grainy film stock a la Sinister’s old film footage sequences. It doesn’t fit in as well here. Otherwise, this is a well-crafted thriller with some good lead performances and a worthy confrontation between victim and villain were certain puzzle pieces also fall into place.

The cast are mostly good with a very strong performance by young Mason Thames as Finny. Finny is resilient and smart, but a bit meek at times, despite showing there is some strength inside him. He and Hawke work very well together. Hawke is very good here and once again proves he is a versatile and underrated actor. His Grabber is low key and calm and that makes him all the scarier as he appears confident and in control, despite being obviously very twisted and deranged. Madeline McGraw is also excellent as the apparently psychic Gwen. She’s a tough and sometimes foul-mouthed little girl but determined to find her brother. A very strong performance from the young actress. Not so impressive is James Ranson as Max. This is a goofy and almost unnecessary character, and it interrupts the tension when his goofball antics are on screen. Also weak is Jeremy Davies as the siblings’ alcoholic father Terrance. The character simply should have been stronger and more threatening, thus his change to sympathetic would have been more impressive later on. Otherwise, a good cast!

Overall, this was a solid thriller with some impactful violence and some suspenseful moments. There were some strong performances from the leads, which helps make the more supernatural elements here work. There were a few supporting character missteps, but Hawke and Thames portrayed strong characters that made them good adversaries. An effective and tense thriller from the Doctor Strange director.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 3 (out of 4) wall phones

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REVIEW: JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (2022)

JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION (2022)

Supposed final installment of the Jurassic series takes place in a world where dinosaurs now live among us. While the world decides whether to co-exist or destroy the creatures, a self-serving genetic engineering company called Biosyn is using the beasts for their own gain. When they kidnap clone Maisie (Isabella Sermon) and raptor Blue’s baby Beta, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) find themselves teaming up with series vets Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to infiltrate a dinosaur surrounded BioSyn headquarters to save Maisie, Beta and the world.

Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow from a script and story by he, Emily Carmichael and Derek Connolly. As such, it is basically a James Bond movie with dinosaurs. On paper that sounds like a great idea, but sadly Dominion is a tired sequel that shows this series is out of gas. There are top notch SPFX and some entertaining action sequences, but it’s mostly replayed bits from the previous films and makes the cinematic mistake of making dinosaurs dull. There are no risks taken or any innovation with the story or it’s creatures. Between the scenes of 007-ish skullduggery inside the Biosyn headquarters, we once again have a massive super predator, the underdeveloped Giganotosaurus, and once again a certain fan-favorite critter comes to the group’s rescue to take it on. It’s getting tiresome, as are the incredibly two-dimensional villains led by Biosyn’s CEO Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott). It’s a tedious and overlong 146 minutes and one is looking for it to finally be over, long before the actual end credits roll. Obviously, the film takes no risks in its climax either, by wrapping everything up in a neat and predictable bow. A tired and extremely mediocre final(?) chapter.

The cast are fine but are given very little to work with. Pratt and Howard still have some chemistry and are fine as the action heroes/leads. Isabella Sermon is good as an older Maisie and holds her own in the action with the adults. Jeff Goldblum is Jeff Goldblum reprising his role as Dr. Ian Malcolm and even his dialog lacks that sarcastic fun that Goldblum can deliver like no other actor. Dern and Neill are enjoyable as returning Dr. Grant and Dr Sattler but the chemistry between them was oddly absent. B.D. Wong returns as Dr. Wu, who is portrayed as more of a sympathetic character this time, which doesn’t really work. DeWanda Wise is solid as smuggler and pilot Kayla, though Campbell Scott’s villainous Dr. Dodgson is a dull and two-dimensional villain whose schemes including giant locusts don’t even make sense. A good cast with very weak material.

Jurassic World gave this series a jolt of renewed fun and Fallen Kingdom took the series in a bit of a new direction. Dominion sadly shows any revived energy or innovation with the format was short lived and this series is sinking into the tar pits like some of its prehistoric critters. There are a few entertaining action sequences, and it was fun to see classic series characters back in action one more time, but the material doesn’t support the cast or critters to give this series the fitting climactic chapter the franchise and its fans deserved.

-MonsterZero NJ

  Rated 2 and 1/2 (out of 4) T-Rexs