Mortal Kombat 2021 review
By Paul Anthony
Here is the film that we have been waiting for a very long time for!!, since 97 fans have been craving for a film that would help ease our pain from 1997 pain that is Mortal Kombat: Annihilation which just killed the franchise but would this revive the series? Well the movie had a budget of 95 million and on the international market so far the film has grossed 20 million though America numbers will surely boost that total and right now it’s hard judge on that fact alone but time will only tell on that one. The film stars a cast that were more picked because they can fight rather than a big name. the two biggest names that comes to mind is Ludi Lin (2017 Power Rangers) and Hiroyuki Sanada, though I am taking nothing away from the rest of the cast!! Like always let’s take a look at the plot.
The film starts in Japan in the year 1617, where we see Hanzo Hasashi and his family which consist a baby daughter, young son and his wife though he branches off to get water for his family, that’s when Bi-Han and his henchmen attack the house and kill his family but the daughter is tucked away so she can live and fight of course breaks out between the two men with Han getting the upper hand and killing Hanzo. Fast forward to present day the Earthrealm has lost 9 Mortal Kombats and if they lose the tenth then the outworld realm can open the gates and fully take over the earthrealm. Their plan is simple and that is to cheat by crossing the line and killing the earth’s strongest champions to basically secure the tournament. Here is where we meet Cole Young, a MMA fighter, then we meet Jax and Sonya Blade who proves Cole with information regarding what he thought was a birth mark, through the rest of the film we meet Kano, Raiden, Lui Kang and Kung Lao. Kang and Lao train the others to waken their arcana which is basically a power hidden within them that they must unlock and of course Cole is the last to do so, only when him and his family are about to die from Goro. At this point Cole learns he is a descendant of Hasashi. the champions come up with a plan to fight Shang Tsung one on one but these warriors are strong and include Bi-Han who now goes by the name of Sub-Zero. The Earth champs manages defeat everyone with the help of Hasashi who was able to be resurrected and now fights as Scorpion and together with Cole who is his 1500th great grandson they kill Sub-Zero but Shang Tsung warns them this only the beginning and departs. Raiden tells his team they must recruit more champions as they get ready for the tournament in which Cole departs for Hollywood to find the one and only Johnny Cage.
Now let’s talk about it, the film did a lot of good the revive this series. One introducing a new character is always risky but the story made it clear unlike the trailers this wasn’t just a new character that was randomly added, no he had a purpose to the story, the action was on par which also required the casting to be on par as well. Now the story might have been a little weak and some plot holes did occur, one for example was Kano, Sonya knew he was bad but turned the blind eye so he could lead her to Raiden temple but must have forgotten the reason why Kano was cuffed in her trailer. In all this movie kept it loyal to the game which should please the fans and the action could draw in new fans which makes this film a success in my eyes. The highlight though has to be the performance of Kano and Kabal, their personalities alone will sell you on this film. In the end I am giving this film an 85 percent for a rating and glad to see that this franchise is back and better than ever!!
Godzilla VS. Kong
By Paul Anthony
Well folks the wait is finally over and now the entire world gets to watch Godzilla vs. Kong. I have to admit that this series as a whole gave a little of everything to its fanbase and because of that, it become such a fun ride and I love this series. Now When this film was first announced and was going to be released just a year later, I thought that would be the biggest mistake because the hype was real and these two monsters needed the right build up to get us pumped for this film. I am glad this movie was delayed but also sad that this film couldn’t be released in all theaters to see what type of box office draw this film really is. Now with that being said, it still had the highest opening total during this pandemic which it came in at 123 million plus another 9 million in America, now the budget was between 160 and 200 million which sounds like it would be a flop but this is a different times so for now its a hit. The good news is that this film is still killing it in the pandemic box office with a worldwide gross of 285 million, crazy to say this but this film is only 100 million away from the previous film Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Even though the previous film wasn’t a big hit, Fans have been dying for this film and I know I have and of course the question did it live up to expectations of the fan base since you had two fan favorites duking it out.
Now the film takes place five years after the events of Godzilla: King of Monsters and everything seems to be fine, except Godzilla starts to randomly attack cities, though Madison Russel believes there is something going on below the surface. At the same time we learn that Kong who is still on Skull island but it is revealed that he lives in giant dome as Monarch watches over him which is explain to keep himself from Godzilla. Apex Cybernetics CEO Walter Simmons wants to find a new power source which is located in Hollow Earth and he recruits Nathan Lind to lead a team there. Nathan knows that he needs Kong’s help to lead the way because he believes its the titans home and where Kong family or species ruled there, he finally convinces Dr. IIrene Andrews who is basically Kong’s handler that Kong would safe from Godzilla because they would use a path that Godzilla wouldn’t use and then we get round 1 and it was pretty epic basically Godzilla won with a knockout by dragging him deep in the water to drown him and if it wasn’t for the navy Kong would have died but they play dead and Godzilla goes back into the sea so they agree to fly him to the Antarctica where there is a path to hollow earth which they hope Kong can lead them to hollow earth and to this power source which he does but we quickly learn that Apex had other plans with the power source which we learn from Madison and her friends who agree clear Godzilla and learn that Apex has built MechaGodzilla which is telepathically controlled by Ren who is the son of Ishiro who died in the previous film to help Godzilla but in order to control Mecha they way they are doing it, they needed one of King Ghidorah’s head which basically means Mechagodzilla is King Ghidorah second coming. Back In Hollow Earth Kong found his battle axe that his family once used which was a bone and Fin from another Godzilla. Once again the two titans meet up in Hong Kong and for a split second or say round 2 Kong one using the battle axe on Godzilla which absorbed his atomic breath but then Godzilla went into range mode and just had his way with Kong nearly killing him again but didn’t because Kong basically tapped out. However MechaGodzilla kills everyone at Apex and escapes meeting beating both titans until the two work together to defeat him. Afterwards Godzilla approves of Kong and returns to the sea and Kong goes home into Hollow Earth which he now rules and godzilla rules earth as his kingdom making them both kings.
This was a good movie but could have been great, some of the things I really enjoyed was the visual effects and the battle scenes. Seeing Godzilla only felt right but keeping Kong a live was smart move as well. They found the middle ground which was important to do if you wanted to keep both characters alive, though there is no film planned yet. The plot with human side was weak at best with the main characters we had no real back story or good enough details the only two characters we had history is Madison and Mark and Mark was basically reduced to a cameo which was disappointing. in the end I am giving this a hit and a grade of a A or 90 percent and will say its must watch. I loved the rage Godzilla!!
Tom and Jerry Movie Review
By Paul Anthony
Tom and Jerry the film now has been out for almost a week now and I managed to find time to review it. Like always I take time to see how the audience loves it and how critics love it and every so often we come across a film that critics hate but the audience loved and this film is one of those cases. The film so far has made nearly 40 million off of a budget of 79 million which as of right now is pretty good. The film stars Chloe Grace Moretz, Michael Pena, Colin Jost, Rob Delaney and Ken Jeong. Like Many other Warner brothers films, this film was released on HBO Max as well as in theaters. Now which side will I decide to side with will it be the audience or will it be the critics, like always lets take a look at the plot first.
The film stays true to Tom and jerry where we have the two enemies and at times friends. Tom is in central park trying to make money from playing the piano however the crowd seems to be more amazed at the fact that he is blind and playing the piano and just not being a cat that can play the piano. At this point Jerry is looking for a new place to live and learns that New York isn’t cheap and needs money or something to live in a better area, soon he stumbles across Tom and pretty much ruins his plans and the two wacky animals get into it as always. Here we meet Kayla (Moretz) who just doesn’t have any luck with jobs and decides to con her way into a job working for the Royal Gate Hotel, which she will serve as a wedding planner for this big wedding. Jerry soon finds his way to the hotel to live as well but when the staff realizes they have a mouse problem, she gets Tom’s help to get Jerry out of there. First nothing goes as plan because Jerry always finds a way to escape Tom and the two always leaves a mess behind them. Which also ruins the wedding causing a bigger mess then ever before but Tom and Jerry works together with Kayla to correct everything for the sake of the couple but the truce barely last and Tom and jerry go right back at it but just after the wedding.
Now the story was basic which in this case wasn’t a problem, the biggest problem to me was that they didn’t let Michael Pena and Ken Jeong be as funny as they could have been. Chloe Grace Moretz acting was stiff and yes it’s mostly because she had to pretend something was there when it wasn’t but nevertheless she could have been better. If people say the story was weak and predictable then they aren’t wrong but the movie does pay a great deal of respect to the franchise that is Tom and Jerry, the rest of the story was basically to serve as a filler. Now the part that I did enjoy was all the animals were computer animated instead of just Tom and jerry and even Butch. This was a great way to avoid explaining why Tom and Jerry was only animated. In the end I am giving it a good B or 80 percent because it stayed true to the source but could have been funnier with Pena and Jeong.
The Little Things Review
By Paul Anthony
First review of the month for me and going with black history month, I decided to review this film because it starred Denzel Washington, who is one of my favorite actors, then you also had the film star Rami Malek, who is also a great talent as well. Last when it comes to stars you also had Jared Leto, who some might think he is a great actor as well, so this film had a lot going for it. Then you had the writer and director John lee Hancock and if you haven’t heard of this name before let me refresh your memory on who this guy is, he’s the director of such films as The Rookie (2002), The Blind Side (2009), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), The Founder (2016) and The Alamo (2004). Just with those four names alone this movie should be great right? Well that’s just it, this might be the case where just maybe all the stars didn’t line up. Though there is some good news and that is Leto did receive nominations for Best supporting Actor from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild awards. Now, the film was made with a 30 million dollar budget and so far grossed 7.6 million, which was good enough to make the number 1 spot in it’s opening weekend, of course we don’t know what HBO Max’s numbers are so can’t call these films that come out during the pandemic a flop but how did this film really do?
Well let’s look at the plot, the film starts in 1990 when we see a female traveling on an highway when another vehicle starts to taunt her, she pulls over at a gas station which is closed and the driver begins to chase her which she escapes when a trucker stops for her. When then pick a few years later which I am guessing because everything seems to still be in the early 90’s though they don’t make it clear, at this point you just have to assume. Here at this point we meet Kerns County deputy Sheriff Joe Deacon (Washington) who must head to L.A County to get evidence that pertains to a murder case in his county, at this point we meet a young L.A. County homicide detective Jimmy Baxter (Malek) whose working a murder case that reminds Deacon of a case he was once working on that he never got to solve. The two strike up a partnership to solve the case. Deacon is positive that the suspect is Albert Sparma (Leto). Though very little evidence proves this, they still try to prove this guy is the killer but have no such like, until Sparma leads them on a wild goose chase and finally admits he never killed anyone in his life and turns out, he is just obsessed with crime scenes and stories, this makes Baxter mad and kills him with a shovel and Deacon collects everything in Sharma apartments and burns it and to make it seem like they had the right guy afterwards Deacon buys a red barrette and sends it to Baxter, the red barrette was an item that was worn by a murder victim.
Most critics are comparing this film to the hit film seven but basically calling it a knock off. Now I wouldn’t go that far but they do try to make this film seem like its more twisted then it really is but shows us nothing to prove that this film had a lot of twist, basically it tried to be something it’s not. Now I did enjoy the performances of the main stars and I could see why Leto was nominated for best supporting Actor. In the end the film wasn’t horrible but it felt average so I am giving it a C for a rating.
The Little Things Movie Review
By: Justin Hopkins
Spoiler Warning
Finally, a new movie for me to sink my teeth into. We got The Little Things, with a star cast of Denzel Washington and Rami Malek.. and Jared Leto is there too. While, I would have liked to saw I went in more excited, being the first new movie of 2021 and one viewing of the trailer was enough to get me interested enough. The onslaught of unskippable trailers on YouTube was a bit much, but I was determined to enjoy myself when I sat down to watch it. So, lets dive in and discuss The Little Things, shall we.
Synopsys
The movie kicks us off with a woman just managing to escape from an unknown stalker, by waving down a truck and we jump to one Joe Deacon, a small town deputy who is sent to L.A to pick up evident for a Preliminary Case the next day, only he can’t get the evidence without a signature from Homicide, but they won’t give it to him till tomorrow because they are running a test on it. While he doesn’t seem to be on good terms with the chief, he does have friends who are happy to see him. Once upon a time, he was a hot shot detective who had the highest clearance rate of solved cases, and when Jimmy learns who it is, brings him along to a fresh murder seen, of a Serial Killer that he is struggling to get anything on. During the search, Deacon finds the lookout spot the Killer used and with the condition was in, caused a flashback to a case he once worked that mirrored the current case. When Jimmy drops him back off, they agree to meet for breakfast if he is still there and we jump to Ruth Rathsburn jogging with someone and she goes off alone to go home and a car follows her down the road and her parents report her missing the next day. Which becomes a driving force for Jimmy, why Joe has found a suspect in Albert Sparma. A shady repairman, who is a self proclaimed Crime Buff, who they are determined is the killer and desperately try to prove it to save Ruth and that is where i will leave it for now.
Review
Spoilers ahead. Don’t go on if you want to watch it.
This is a pretty hard movie to put into words and actually going to start with the acting, which I thought were all pretty solid, but aren’t handled well. Denzel is Denzel, he makes the smallest bits feel important and he does great as Joe Deacon. Kind of wish we got more time with Rami Malek. He does good as Jimmy, but a lot of times feels forced. Don’t feel like there is a close enough connection between him and Deacon by the end. I actually did like Jared Leto portrayal of Albert. The guy does creepy well and while it for me it tends to miss a lot, it fits well here. Just wish the story was handled a little better.
They do a good job at building tension and putting pressure on Jimmy, with him wanting to save Ruth and Joe being haunted by his memories. Telling the story of dangers of obsession, but that is kind of where my first issue arises. Yeah, it can be bad getting to focused on this work. Taking nothing away from the stress a detective goes through, but the clock is ticking on Ruth. Kind of expecting Jimmy to be wrapping his mind around it, for at least the first few days to try and save her life and while he shouldn’t be hyper focused on one suspect. The leads are pointing at Albert, who is doing nothing to take the light off him and while I could see him being more laxed on the rules to save Ruth, but not enough for what he will be okay with by the end. I get that would upend his life, but that is not his motivating factor throughout. He wants to give voices to his victims, even if it means taking responsibility for this.
Alright, lets break down the ending, because this has some glaring issues. I get that it isn’t suppose to be a good ending, but they took it from a morbid and dire one. The killer has effectively gotten away. Jimmy killed Albert, who they set up to question whether or not he did it or not. Him and Joe covered it up. Leaving the FBI to chase a ghost and at the very least, will never find Ruth and at it’s worse, murder free to continue killing. If they ended it there, it would be fine, but we didn’t. He sent Jimmy a braid to pass as Ruth’s and give him peace of mind that he did at least kill the right guy. Something that he really does not deserve and Joe once again to stall a murder case and presented in good light for doing so. We should end with a broken and lost Jimmy, because that is the dire ending. Two broken cops who know there is no fixing this. Which would at least be in line with what they are trying to say. At least end with a trapped or dead Ruth to really suck the air out of you.
If you are into crime drama’s and mysteries. You might find something enjoyable here, but this movie really didn’t do anything for me. Had a good premise, with some big name stars but that was about it. Tries way to hard to build up the ending that ends up just falling apart. Final Grade – D
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You For Reading.
Scoob! Movie Review
By Paul Anthony
I make it no secret that, I don’t like watching cartoon movies in the theater however I might have found the film that could change my mind but now we may never know because of the situation that the world is in with this virus. We all grew up loving Scooby- Doo and this brought back some great Saturday memories watching the dog and his gang solving scary mysteries, The live action movies were cute as well. Scoob! serves as a reboot of sorts because we meet the gang when they are young and learn how the group came to be! The movie sounds like it will be cute as well but the movie is far from perfect though.
We first meet Scooby-Doo who is a puppy that is living on the streets. who takes a piece of meat from a butcher. Not long after that the cops start to chase him and that’s when we meet Shaggy who is walking by himself trying to find friends but has no luck because he thinks he is an outcast. By pure luck the two run into each other and Shaggy even protects him from the cops and even takes him home where they begin their friendship. It’s not until Halloween that we meet Fred, Daphne, Velma. Who recues the two from bullies but their candy gets thrown into a old house that everyone believes to be haunted. Led by Fred they go into the house and of course there is an ghost but they quickly solve that problem and prove that there is no such thing as ghost! The gang then becomes Mystery INC. Ten years later the gang wants to grow but requires money that they don’t have in which they bring in an investor who is none other than Simon Cowell who basically says he will only invest in the company if they drop Scoob and Shaggy from the gang because they are dead weight. Before Fred can answer the two storm off. they decide to go bowling and get attacked by small robots but is recused by the blue falcon well the son of Blue falcon because his dad retired. The gang learns their whereabouts and set off to find them. Scoob and Shaggy and the blue Falcon starts to be attacked by the main Villain Dick Dastardly who wants Scooby because he is the last relative of Peritas who was the dog of Alexander the great. If Dick gets Scooby, he is able to unlock a portal that has tons of gold though he makes up a sad excuse to stop everyone from catching him. In the end the gang becomes reunited to stop him for good and Simon changes his mind about Shaggy and Scooby because he learns they are heart of Mystery INC.
Let me start with the pros of this film, I did enjoy the comedy aspect of it and the music and the touching story of how everyone in the group serves a purpose even if other don’t think so. The cons, Over the top mystery, we all seen the show and this case was just way too much for a first film, then having a bunch of cameos of the other cartoons. the Movie didn’t need both of those elements and I believed it hurt the film more than anything. In The end though this film could have been better but instead it was just average but still i would say watch it! I am giving this film an C for a rating!
Streaming Services
By: Justin Hopkins
It can be pretty intimidating huh. What started out as a few, allowing you to cut the expensive cord of cable. Has seem to grow into a monster. Even doing research for this list they just kept coming and coming. Every Channel and Brand and Sport all seem to be rolling out new one every month it seems and if you want to keep up with your favorite form of medium. You have to sign and pay up to do so, and of course, they can’t seem to share among themselves to help out, but we are not helpless. We have the power to go through and check them out ahead of time, and see which ones are best suited for our viewing needs and today we are going to do just that. I am going to go through them and talk about them in some detail and whether or not I would suggest it. Without further ado, let’s start with one of the originators, Netflix.
Blogger Note. I am going to skip Youtube and Twitch. I know you can get great material on both. Binge watch a lot of Youtube myself. Just don’t really count either as streaming services. No matter what they say about Youtube red. Don’t pay for Youtube. If you find a Youtuber or Streamer you like, give to their patron and help them out directly.
Netflix
I remember running to and from the post office. Eager to get my DVD from Netflixs. God, I feel old. Anyways, Hulu may have beat them to the punch on streaming, but in my opinion, Netflix seemed to perfect it. They had a good blend of movies we were looking for and their own original programing. House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, Marvel, Castlevania, Disenchantment, Stranger Things. Even their movies deliver. They seem to be taking a lot of hits in the wake of Disney Plus and an even bigger one when HBO Max debuts, but for my money. Netflix is still a must have in my book. For their original content alone. Prices can bit much, but worth every dollar.
Hulu
I have never seen the appeal behind Hulu. Always just been kind of boring. Mostly, because what I watch I can find through other services. When there biggest selling point is based on catching up on shows you missed and those shows will soon be accessible through other means. Think Hulu may be in more trouble than any of the rest. There original content has never appealed to me and the prices range from cheap at 5.99 to the more crazy at 50. I understand going the Hulu route, but do yourselves a favor and combo them up with Disney and Espn Plus.
Disney Plus
The newest one to the table and one of the best. There is very little that I don’t enjoy about it. Mandalorian has been enjoyable and the clone wars cartoon. The world according to Jeff Goldblum has been a blast. The entire run of the simpsons, and can binge watch them over and over again. They have so many of the cartoons from my childhood. Multiple Spider-man ones. Some that I was too young for and Earth’s Mightiest and Avengers Assemble. There was an issue with episode order for the X-men, but that is such a minor problem that it is barely noticable and will probably be worked out soon. Then we go to Bug’s Life and Lilo and Stitch and we are talking my language. A steal for 6.99 a month or 12.99 if you bundle it. This is a must for streaming services.
Espn +
The third in the combo, and make it quick. If you don’t combo it, don’t. Even if you are the biggest sports fan. Can’t imagine this being worth while. You can always listen to the game on radio and stats almost anywhere. It is cheap, at 5 dollars a month, but still five dollars to much. Bundle or skip.
Amazon Prime
Had no interest in this till I got it for free and now one of my most used. Especially for B Movie Sunday. I am not quite sure the price, but seems you need a membership to Amazon Prime first which is 119 dollars a year, 12.99 dollars a year. As much as I love it, it drives me up a wall at the same time. While they have a massive selection of movies. Seems a large chunk of movies you want to watch, you’ll be paying to rent or buy. The buying part is nice, but when you are already paying for the service. Kind of feeling a bit ripped off paying again, but can understand why. The original content is solid, with the likes of The Boys and Good Omens. For what you get though, and the amazon benefits. It ain’t that bad of a deal. Especially for movie junkie.
Shudder
This is one I don’t have ad it infuriates me so much that I can’t get it, cause I want it so bad. It’s library consists of horror movies and the remake of Creepshow, but because they don’t accept my card. Shudder please fix this. Meanwhile, if you are a horror movie fan, this should be high on your list.
Basic Cable Channels
Alright, I am kind of cheating by combining them, but since only one is getting the nod here. It’ll be fine. Can’t imagine why I would want CBS Access or NBC and I don’t even think they cost anything. Peacock maybe when they launch to watch the new Psych movie, but that would be it. Would suggest The CW, because as far as TV programing. They have the best shows on television. Arrowverse is still going and getting better by the week. You can find older stuff on CW Seed, such as Constantine and the animated movie. Birds of Prey and Everyone Hates Chris and Whose Line Is It Anyways. The CW and CW Seed are the only one of the basic channel ones I would even bother with.
TUBI TV
Okay, here me out. I know, that it comes with ads, but it is nowhere near as bad as TV, and they really do offer so much. They got some really good TV shows and thousands of movies. From great ones in the past to some strange and bizarre ones. You can literally get lost in all of their content. It’s completely free so costs nothing to give it a shot. You’ll really enjoy yourself and if not, haven’t lost anything.
Funimation
My most neglected one. I really enjoy what little anime I have watched and am all ears if you want to drop your favorites in the comment section to guide me to the good ones. I definitely suggest it, for Dragon Ball Library alone and they have just, so much anime to pick from. I know Crunchyroll is a big one as well, but suggest Funimation over it, and will go more into why later down the line.
DC Universe
I love this streaming service. The access to Comic Books and there lineup is vastly Underrated. DC animated has always been the gold bar and you can find it all there. The Batman animated show in all its glory. Old School Justice League and Adventures of Lois and Clark. The animated movies are all spectacular and Their shows. Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, Titans and Harley Quinn Animated soon to join the frey. There is no other streaming service I will pull for harder, than DC Universe. At 7.99 a month, you won’t be disappointed and hope they don’t merge with the next one on the list.
HBO Max
This one has yet to debut, but is boosting a powerhouse of a library. Rick and Morty, Friends, Big Bang Theory, Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, and Doctor Who. Movies such as Conjuring, 2001 A Space Oddity, Matrix. Looney Tunes, Sesame Street. They have TNT, TBS, Adult Swim, CNN, Max, And Tru. With TNT they can look to add AEW PPVS and rival WWE even more than they are now. Along with access to DC and Crunchyroll meaning they could very well combo CrunchyRoll and DC Universe into the 14.99 dollar price, which would be the only way I am going to sign up for this one. This may well be a massive hit, and do hope them the best, but for the asking price. Just don’t see any reason to add it on to my budget without Crunchy and DCU along with the mix.
I know I missed a handful. Probably some obvious ones, but has to end at some time. I know my opinion will not be shared by some, but that is the best part of this. Yes, there is so much streaming going on, but that means there is so much more for us to explore. New shows to discover. Old ones are back for us to reminisce and bring back memories of when we first watched them and share with friends.
Thanks for reading.
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