Ratings Central - Movies

I'm a Horror freak as most of you know which basically means I ingest as much of the genre as I can. Most of you also know that as much as I love the genre, I believe that most horror movies in the 2000's are just garbage. There are exceptions to the rule of course, but for the most part the people these days making these movies are relying solely on jump scares to frighten their audience and have almost completely neglected a good, creepy story. This is the exception. Based around a young Autistic boy Oliver, this movie gets into the creepy factor almost immediately. This movie is one of the few newer movies that takes the time needed to build a decent story, to use technology we see everyday in a valid and harmonistic way and that uses tropes that are generally not seen in the genre. By using a children's story book, this movie taps into some primitive protective consciousness making the events that happen frightening without really trying to. The imagery is generally dar

Let's start this off by saying that the comedy/horror genre of movies isn't my favourite. I love horror and I love comedy. I just don't feel like the two should date. So please, if you like the genre, take this review with a grain of salt. The movie started off really strong in the horror sense. The music was there. The creepy vibe was there. The creepy "Campfire" story for the killer was present. We had a good start to a slasher flick that I would have probably really liked. But, the nosedive happened about ten minutes into the film. This movie's main problem, in my opinion, was it stayed very flat the whole time. It wasn't really scary during the horror parts, and it wasn't really funny during the comedic parts. It was just, well, blah. There were parts that make you snicker of course, and there were certainly suspenseful or creepy parts. But you can't expect a second here and a second there of these moments to end up making a masterpiece. Unfort

Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. As most of you that read my reviews already know, I am a die-hard Star Wars fan. I read the books, I watch the shows, read the comics, watch talk shows about Star Wars. You could say I'm into it a bit. Also, let's get this out of the way: I love (yes current tense) The Last Jedi. Ok, so now that I've already got you angry and yelling at me for my opinion, let's continue to make you mad. Last night I went to view Star Wars 9: Rise of Skywalker. I came out very...unsure of my feelings. I have never been privy to simultaneously some of the greatest Star Wars I have ever witnessed, and some of the absolute largest pile of garbage that might exist in any medium. Let's start with the positives. Finally, a "Skywalker Saga" film acknowledged, accepted and embraced many parts of the lore canon created in books, comics and games. Many, many times there was moments that I was giddy with the "Oh my god! I can&#

SPOILER WARNING!!!! SPOILER WARNING!!!! SPOILER WARNING!!!! I don't normally rate movies with heavy spoilers, especially when they have just released, but this one needs it. I love movies in general, and Toy Story movies are some of my very favourite animated films. I always felt the third film ended the series tieing it up with a fairly nice bow, so when I heard about part 4 coming out, I had my reservations immediately. Apparently, my initial reactions to hearing of the film were accurate. The first half of the movie, really, really felt like a Toy Story movie. The music, the humor, even the action had the same vibe as the original 3. The back half of the film....not so much. It was like a completely different movie at times. The movie, as was depicted by the trailers, was to be based around finding or saving the new toy added called Forky. The trailers made it seem like the new big bad toy was going to be a toy named Gabby Gabby, and for a small moment, she was. She

John Wick seems to be quickly becoming the next Rambo or Commando of this generation. Although not totally bulletproof like the aforementioned, it seems as though nothing can kill the John Wick train. I adored the first two movies; the first more than the second, but both were great in my opinion. The semi-unique story, lots of intricate action, a summer blockbuster for sure. John Wick 3 tries hard to continue this trend, but if this were darts, it would miss the board. For me, the John Wick movies were great because of the secret assassin society and the rules and regulations that went with that. The original two movies were about John avenging his dog of all things. Wick three missed all of these cues; maybe not totally, but certainly. People will argue, and be quick to defend this movie right away I'm sure. There are tons and tons of fight scenes. Very intricate, very elaborate, very predictable. These fight scenes tried to push the envelope of what the first two movies st

Let's start by saying I enjoy Elton John's music, but I'm far from a fanatic. I knew I would recognize some of the music in the film, and I was always interested in the life of the man Elton John, so I went in with expectations, but small ones. This movie delivered so well. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie as a whole. As I stated, I'm not a gigantic fan, so the film impressed me that as a casual fan, I was able to know most of the songs still, and still maintain the emotional responses that go with them. The lead actor/singer Taron Egerton is simply spectacular in this role. I came out of that movie believing he was Elton John, Obviously knowing otherwise. He sang the songs himself, which is also a rarity in these kinds of films. I easily found the intensity, creativity and value that he emphasized throughout all of the presented material moving. This movie was different from most of these kinds of biopics in that the filmmakers integrated real fantasy elements into t

I should start off by saying, yes, I like Godzilla movies. Even the old-school Japanese ones without subtitles or voice-overs. Godzilla movies always gave me the sense of the possibility of something larger than life is out there somewhere; maybe just sleeping. I thoroughly enjoyed the 2014 reboot of Godzilla on it's-own but was almost mesmerized as I learned about the monster-verse that was being created. The fans of Godzilla have always wanted a good, American made (No prejudice, I just speak English is all) Godzilla movie. I say "good" because there have been plenty of attempts on American soil, with little, to no good coming from them (Looking at you Godzilla 2000). This movie, however, is not lumped into those movies. This is a great monster movie. This movie has all the things that made me love the original Japanese versions of Godzilla with the added flair that only Hollywood can deliver. I felt for the humans, I felt for the monsters, I felt for the planet at

I have stated before that drama is simply not my favourite genre of movie. However, I do find myself watching more and more of these movies as I grow ever older in life. Beautiful Boy is a movie about drug addiction and how it affects a family, specifically in this case a father and son. Though I won't be rating this film as high as many other film-critics have, it was a good movie overall. Being a father myself, I was easily drawn into Steve Carell's (the father's) shoes as to how I might react if one of my children were quite literally throwing away their life. The family moments were very touching and I loved Steve's performance. I was curious to see how he would do in a serious film as I've really only seen him in comedies. He absolutely nailed the role. The film has some issues for me though. My first real problem was the way Timothée Chalamet's character Nick (the son) seemed to only have his addictions while he lived with his father. He moves in with

Halloween. Easily one of my favourite horror franchises. I've been a fan through all the twists and turns Michael Myers' backstory has taken throughout the decades. I love the Shape. I always have. I remember the first time I saw the original Halloween. The terror I felt, the almost awe I was in due to the soundtrack. The Shape truly scared me, especially when he broke through the closet door, proving that he'll do anything to get his victim. This new edition to the series is set 40 years after the first movie, basically saying the others don't exist. And, I'm ok with that. None of the movies after the first captured the magic of the original. They all have their strengths, but they also all have more weaknesses. From explaining Michael's family lineage to the cult of the Thorn, all the way to those dastardly remakes, I stayed true and kept watching. With the 2018 release basically retconning all the sequels and Blum House Productions being involved, I had hi

Although drama movies are not my main genre, I do still thoroughly enjoy them. I like a good cry sometimes, or to really feel a movie hit you in the gut, or question who you are or how you view the world. From the raving reviews I've read and heard about Eighth Grade, I assumed I was in for some of what I love. That just didn't end up being the case. Eighth Grade is a story about a young adolescent girl's last week of middle-school (for us here in Canada, Public School eighth grade) and the trials and tribulations that come with that, or so the synopsis would have you think. It is about the last week of school, but the girl really doesn't go through a whole lot. She's not ridiculed in school or in public, she's not beaten, abused, neglected, forgotten. Sure, she's an outcast, but she's not even bullied in school. There are two different times throughout the movie that I said to myself, "Ah here we go. Something is finally going to happen," the

I grew up reading comics. All kinds of comics, but my favourites were always Spider-man. I always found that the villains seemed to hold more weight in those comics. The Green Goblin, Tombstone, Doctor Octopus, and of course, Venom. Venom for me changed how Spidey had to fight and deal with a villain because Venom held most of the same abilities as Spider-man, and more. But, he was also so much more violent than most villains Spidey had to fight. But, this is about Venom, not about Spider-man. The Venom most of us knew from the comics is not in this movie. That doesn't mean that it's a bad movie, let's get that out of the way right now. It's just... Not what you might expect from Venom. There are certainly hints of that creature throughout the movie. There were many times where I thought, "Oh yes! He's going to bite this guy's head off" and... then the camera cuts away. You still knew it happened, but it really lost the feeling of how vicious and bruta

Being the old man that I am, I grew up playing Rampage in arcades, Commodore 64 and NES. Later on, there was also a few other adaptations like the more popular one from the Nintendo 64. This movie I was kinda' afraid for as not only is it a video game adaption movie, but it's based on a game that doesn't really have a story behind it. For those of you that are not familiar with the game, three creatures, George the ape, Ralph the wolf and Lizzy the lizard, grow to gigantic proportions and destroy city after city. That was basically the premise being Rampage until the Nintendo 64 version where they introduced the creature's backstories and the main villain. The movie seemed based loosely (very) on this version of the game, understandably. I went into the movie expecting a simple blow 'em up, destroy the monster kind of movie, but was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. More and more I found myself thinking about the characters involved, feeling for the anima

Welcome to the Ready Player One NON-SPOILER review. This movie was a hard one for me to critique. It suffers from what I'll call the bi-polar syndrome of movie making. It has extremely great parts and extremely poor parts, or extraordinary weird segments. Before I really get into it, let's get one thing straight. I did NOT read the book, so my review is specifically based on what I saw in the theatre and not what I know about the story. I loved the themes and story of this movie. You will hear from a lot of people that this is a video game movie, and that is incorrect, kinda'. The plotline focuses around a video game, yes, but most of the pop-culture references are from 80's movies. Yes, there are video game references as well, but tons and tons of 80's movie and TV shows show up here. One thing I enjoyed about the movie as a whole is the references all had a purpose; they were not shoe-horned in as I was afraid they would be. From the trailers, you see things

Ah, Star Wars The Last Jedi. To say this movie has caused a divide in the fandom of the Star Wars franchise is easily an understatement. Before I get into my full review here about this movie, I need to get a few things clear and out of the way. These things may save you time, as depending on who you are, you may stop reading right now. 1. The Last Jedi has been out sometime now. As the title says, this is SPOILER FILLED. If you have not seen the movie yet, I advise you see it before reading this blog as many, many key parts of the movie will be given away here and discussed thoroughly. 2. I liked this movie. This means according to the internet that I "Can't be a true Star Wars fan", or that I'm "paid by Disney" for how I feel about it. Trust me, this guy ain't paid by Disney, or Lucas Film, Industrial Light and Magic, or even YouTube as the channel hasn't even had enough views yet to make pennies from Google. I liked the film. I will tell you w