Ratings Central - Movies

Let's start this off right. If you haven't watched the Black Widow and expect to, then turn away now as this review will easily have spoilers. Scroll down if you're ready to read. Was that enough time? Ok good. So right out of the gate, this was the first Marvel movie I really had no interest in seeing. And being that this is the first Marvel film since Endgame, there actually was some pressure to perform. For me, I already knew who Black Widow was. I knew her story and worse off, I knew her ending in the MCU. For me this really hurt the film before it even began; I knew she would be ok because the film takes place after Civil War but before Infinity War. Being that she's in the movie post Infinity War, needless to say, she's going to live. Because of this, the stakes weren't really high. It was hard to get emotionally involved worrying about the character, unlike Endgame where I cried when she died.  Photo from Polygon All that aside, the movie started off grea

Ah Mortal Kombat, easily my favourite fighting game since I was a young man playing in the arcade (Yes, I'm that old). For anyone who had seen the 1990's version of the Mortal Kombat movies I am happy to say this movie blows them out of the water. Notice how I also didn't say it was a great movie. Let's face it, the original movie(s) really didn't set the bar very high in acting, story or special effects (OMG the effects are bad in the originals and definitely do not hold up today). While this new version of the beloved game franchise delivers on gory Fatalities for the fandom, it unfortunately also loses those same fans. This new movie has the fatalities that any of us fans have always wanted to see in a live-action film, right down to Kung Lou's Spinning Hat fatality. However, this movie almost completely left the original story behind and didn't replace it with much of anything. For those that read this and don't know what the original Mortal Kombat s

For those of you that read my reviews (Thank you to the 10's that do!), you already know that I have loved the Monsterverse up to this point. Although Godzilla 2014 wasn't the greatest movie, it still sits well with me within the saga of films. The shining star up to Godzilla vs Kong was Godzilla King of The Monsters. That movie had everything a good monster movie should have: story, legends, human characters and most importantly of course, the monsters. And unfortunately, it's still the best in the series. I had been looking forward to this movie since Godzilla 2014 was announced because a leak even back then said that Godzilla vs Kong would eventually be a thing. The movie opens well and operates fairly well as an action movie. Kong fights Godzilla, Godzilla fights Kong just as the title suggests. The issue is, that's where the movie goes hollow for me. There's just no other substance behind the movie. The other movies in the franchise had all sorts of Monarch tie

I love disaster movies. I'm a junkie for them. Something about the environment fighting against us (humans generally) just fascinates me. Greenland is another movie about a comet or asteroid hitting the earth, but it has a bit of a twist this time. Movies like Armageddon tailor more towards the action side of the events, where as a movie like Deep Impact featured a more dramatic take on the events to happen or the journey to the end of the world. Greenland kinda' falls between the two; although it leans towards the dramatic side more, the action is very well balanced and falls equally with the plot and pace of the movie. Greenland also garners some of the diminishing returns of the human race similarly to War of The Worlds where the ending of the world brings some people closer to god while others become savage beasts. This is where the drama really hits home. The movie was structured very well right from the start to make you love the characters that you are following through

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

Well, I had the.... Experience of watching Mulan live-action tonight. In recent years, I have been so frustrated with Hollywood putting out really decent movies but crutching on the name of something else well known. Mulan falls into this category. Like Child's Play, Evil Dead, Carrie and dozens of other movies that come to mind, Mulan's live-action remake is actually an okay movie on its own. It has great special effects, dramatic scenes, a master score, well-acted scenes and a plethora of vistoic scenery capturing the essence of the era.  But, and there's a huge but here, it's not the Mulan movie you knew and loved. Yeah yeah, 'they had to change some things'. I get that. All movies have a vision. Some different than others and I'm sure we wouldn't be happy with a carbon-copy remake of the animated classic either. This Mulan movie is little like its original, and that's where my frustration comes in. Yes, it is similar but different enough that Dis