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.
Is Ellen That Bad?
By Paul Anthony
We all know actors and actresses are different people behind and in front of the camera and Ellen DeGeneres is no different. Last few weeks I have been seeing articles Ellen more than ever before and they have not been pretty at all. We know on camera she is this funny, loveable person that has a few shows on T.V. that we watch almost everyday if not twice a day depending on the day. But we have to wonder if there is an dark side to her, a side that we haven’t seen but others have? It first started with high executives being accused of being toxic which is the kindest thing I could hear about them. We know how the show Biz works Ellen is just one piece of show, there are many more pieces that run the show.
So I gave Ellen a break but now there are reports coming out and other famous people preaching that the person who you see on camera isn’t the same person behind the camera. Even one person claim to call her the meanest person alive. Is there two sides of a person? Yes even you have two sides of your own self but the question is that is this true. Is it fact or opinion, that is the main question. Some actors have sided with Ellen stating nothing but good things with her, while others stated that she isn’t so nice.
The staff of her show has had a high turn over rate which many have stated that there is racism, sexual Misconduct and harassment, and Producers do whatever they please in the office. We know Warner bros decided to conduct interviews with the staff of the show and they admit that there are issues but nothing on the level that is being thrown out there. So the main question is then who is lying about what? Is Ellen a bad person who is a fake or are these staff and other people were just bitter about a personal experience with dealing with her?
Another set of rumors have been going around that Ellen may quit the show because she feels betrayed by her staff and if these rumors are false then I can’t blame her. However Warner Bros did say that the show will return early next month as scheduled. I wonder if Ellen will address all these issues and either fix them and move on or admit to something but we shall see in the near future.
What is an Easter Egg episode
Listening to “What is an Easter Egg??” at https://www.buzzsprout.com/285696/4704698-what-is-an-easter-egg
What is a Movie Easter Egg??
https://youtu.be/yYCq-w3IgbA
Friday Roundabout 2/14/2020
By Paul Anthony
First and fore most let me say Happy Valentine’s Day and I hope everyone enjoys the weekend! Okay now let’s get down to business where we run down through some news that you might have missed. Last night seemed to be a quiet night until you guessed it Matt Reeves released the first footage of Robert Pattinson in his Batman Suit now it was nothing more than the chest up in a dark red light area with some music playing and it was in my eyes a pretty epic scene. Now I am the first to say I am looking forward to seeing more before I make final decision on if I like it or not but the teaser scene was a good start but some fans aren’t impressed and comes out and says his jaw structure isn’t right and what not but than there are some fans that are digging the outfit and compare it to the video popular Arkham game series either way it is creating a lot of buzz and even had DareDevil trending because of the red lighting and stuff like that.
We will continue with the D.C. trend because last week the Film Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn was release and yes it came in at number 1 and grossed so far 90 million worldwide off an 85 million dollar budget people are calling it an failure because the studio was expecting more money from opening the weekend. now a rumor broke that Warner bros was changing the name to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey to get people to go and see it, now to my understanding many people who saw it did enjoy it, the studio denied it but now the film is called now, weird right?
Ever since they remade Nightmare on Elm Street people craved for Robert Englund to come back and he doesn’t help his cause by talking about the idea of being Freddy again. now when studios reboot a franchise you can kiss the previous actors goodbye this is no different however he now saying he is too old and I have to agree he is right but he did reveal he would like a cameo which I agree and it should be a good send off and I hope it will shut fans up!
Also we got to listen to Billie Eilish theme song for the next James Bond film which comes out in April called No Time To Die which is the same as title as the song. Now I heard the song and without video from the movie I wasn’t impressed but when I watch the video it made sense now once again I have to see entire film with the song to fully judge it but for now it is another good start.
Earlier this wee WWE signed a female wrestler who made the news in that world in a big way and that because she is the 18 year old daughter of The Rock and that makes Simone Johnson an fourth generation wrestler and of course Charlotte Flair gave advice to her and that and that was block out the noise which she would know because of what she had to go through in the business so good luck and can’t wait to see her in the ring. Now John Cena is one of the biggest names in the business and has earn this respect and that respect is that he can pick his opponent at WrestleMania. I am sure we will soon see what story will happen with who when that time comes.
Box office Rundown Vol. 2
By Paul Anthony
This weekend was a big box office weekend both in the terms of Money and Controversy because we saw the release of the film called Joker. Which serves as a some what of a origin story of the famous Batman villain the joker. The film came in at number 1 and had everyone talking about it both in a good way and bad way with security being heighten and people walking out yet more people stay and this film even has some Oscar talk being attached to it. So here are your numbers for this weekend farther by predictions for this week to come.
- Joker, 93 million
- Abominable, 12 million
- Downton Abby, 8 million
- Hustlers, 6.3 million
- It chapter 2, 5.355 million
- Ad Astra, 4.557 million
- Judy, 4.445 million
- Rambo, 3.550 million
- War, 1.581 million
- Good Boys, 900k.
This coming week is a very interesting because we got some big hits opening this week which include The Adams family, Gemini Man and Jexi. Here are the predictions
- Gemini Man
- The Adams Family
- Abominable
- Downton Abby
- Jexi
- Ad Astra
- It Chapter 2
- Hustlers
- Rambo
- War.
Saturday Sequel presents The Hangover part 2
By Paul Anthony
Welcome back to another edition of Sequel Saturday, today we are going back about 8 years and judging by the title you already know what movie we are reviewing and if you don’t know, well let me tell you. We are going to talk about The Hangover Part 2 which came out in 2011 and is the sequel to the 2009 hit comedy The Hangover. I saw The Hangover as soon as it came in theaters and I didn’t review it well because I was in high school at the time and once I did see it, I thought I just watched a modern classic and thought no I don’t want an sequel because it could ruin the legacy of this film well just a few months later I found out, that they were indeed making a sequel. We know sequels will come with a bigger budget because in Hollywood bigger is better.
The budget for this film increased from 35 million to 80 million and saw the wolf pack go to Thailand for Stu’s wedding. Now I knew this film had to live up to such a great film and the main question I had to ask myself is did it? In some ways yes it did and other ways no it didn’t. The cast had great chemistry together and all wanted to bring the laughs which they did. Now there were certain things to me that ruin this film. For example Phil calls Doug’s fiacnee in the first film to tell her they lost Doug which makes perfect sense, well when they lose Teddy which is Stu’s wife’s little brother, Phil once again calls Tracy but why not Doug. Lazy Writing this movie made more money then the first film because people wanted to see what the Wolf Pack would do next problem is they did the exact same story from the first film. A member goes missing, They get drugged up because of Alan and forget about what they did the night before and try find the missing member in the nick of time. To me that is just down right lazy writing.
They could have had a different story to it and it could have been better, if they would have done it right. However the story ends as we predicted it would be because the story was the same as the first film. That Alone killed the magic of the film.
I want to rate this film in two eras of my life, one way as an adult and another as a young man. As a young man I would have said “Hey it was good just like the first one” and the numbers would back it up but me as an older Adult now would say no this film failed to live up to the first one despite what the numbers would tell you because it’s not always about the numbers. In the end I am giving it B plus because they gave you the best performance that they could give you with the material that they had to work with but don’t expect this to be as funny as the first film.
What A Year
By Paul Anthony
Some would say going to the movies is the thing of the past here in the States. Well 2018 are in and the numbers proves that at least last year that was not the case. The numbers also prove that if you produce a good film people will go out to the movies and not do something else. Last year was one of those years where it seems like so many good movies came out and with that being said 2018 set a new record. Last Year Hollywood made 11.9 billion dollars, so I would say business is doing just fine.
In 2018 there were 140 films that made a difference, now within those films Disney released 13 films, Warner Bros released 49 films, Sony released 28 films, Universal released 38 films and then there is Fox with 17 films and Paramount releasing 12 films. Disney may have only released 13 films but they lead the way with 3.092 billion in the Domestic box office. Universal was close with 1.959.76 billion, Warner Bros was next at 1.940.69 billion. Then Sony at 1,283.72 billion and Paramount at a low 757 Billion.
If we think these numbers are just a fluke then guess again because these studios have some big titles coming out this year and could even top 2018. Disney has films like Captain Marvel, Dumbo, Avengers: EndGame, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, The Lion King, Artemis Fowl, Frozen 2 and Star Wars 9. Warner Bros has titles like The Lego Movie 2, Shazam, Detective Pikachu, Mine Craft, Godzilla king of the Monsters, Shaft, IT 2, Joker and the gold Finch and another Conjuring film. Sony could have a great year as well with titles like Men in Black: International, Spider-Man: Far from Home, ZombieLand 2 and a third Jumanji film. Universal might have an off year with small titles like US and Happy Death Day 2U but could rebound with titles like How to Train Your Dragon three and Hobbs and Shaw as well as The Secret Life of pets part two. This could Be Fox.s last year before they join Disney and they will ride the Marvel way with Dark Phoenix and New Mutants and Alita. Paramount is banking on films like What Men What, Pet Sematary, A Terminator film, Rocket Man, Dora explorer and Sonic.
Now we know these titles sound good but could flop we can look at Alita right now though it open at number one the numbers haven’t been there just yet. But it is hard to believe with certain titles won’t do good or even great but in any case let’s sit back and enjoy the year.
SmashWriting 
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