Letterboxd — Your life in film

Richard Stanley returns to the director chair after mostly been absent since the 1996 disaster that was the Island of Dr Moreau( that he was fired from) to give us this bonkers film based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and with another insane performance from Nicolas Cage(reminiscent of his recent performances in Mom & Dad and Mandy)  and delivers the most loyal to Lovecraft adaptation in terms of feel and story direction. Some may not love where the story goes…

The Call of the Wild is a Chris Sanders directed film based on the 1903 Jack London novel that yes, does have a CGI dog center stage in Buck, a St Bernard that is stolen from a home and goes on a journey to find where he belongs. 
While I knew many that were put off by the CGI dog, I got over it quickly and got invested in Buck’s plight and easily became immersed in the story as Buck…

Weathering With You is that latest film from director Makoto Shinkai whose 2016 film Your Name which such a phenomenal film and while this film has the same look and feel, the overall story didn't engage me as much as its predecessor that really did have a lot of heart in the story.
The story of a boy who meets a girl that can manipulate the weather with her emotions seems like it wouldn't but like the body swapping in…

A retelling of Henry James' classic novel the Turn of the Screw, 2020's the Turning just can't stand up against the classic story even if the visuals are strong and Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard and Brooklynn Prince bring great performance but the story relies on jump scares, dreamm sequences and other horror cliches to fill out the running time and the ending really felt like act two when it should have had a more engaging finale.
The Turning had some…

This classic story of Hansel&Gretel told more from the standpoint that Gretel is the stronger of the duo and its her story with Hansel being the one having to rely on her which was definitely a strength of the film.
The amazing visuals and cinematography just made the fairy tale come to life in this unique dark way that really help bring out the horror and tension in all of the scenes.
The acting is also really good with Sophia…

The Rhythm Section is a revenge story led by a great performance by Blake Lively that could have benefitted from a more dynamic story instead of the predictable by the numbers plot that telegraphs every move the story takes and does so in such a meandering pace.
Blake Lively is putting in some great work here as her intensity in the action scenes feels real, the vulnerability in the more dramatic scenes feels earned and her chemistry with many of…

Downhill is an American remake of 2014's Force Majeure that is a story about a man(Will Ferrell) that abandons his family during an avalanche scare and must deal with repercussions of his actions. While Force Majeure is a cerebral look at how relationships can change based on how actions can be perceived with drama pushes the story forward, Downhill is another Ferrell vehicle that tries its best to pull comedy out of the situation but ends up being cringeworthy in…

Fantasy Island is a Blumhouse horror that misses the boat on almost every level imaginable. The story of an island that gives you what you wish for but not as you intended and this is a perfectly fine premise(the tv show lasted seven seasons) but the story quickly turned into this slasher movie and every twist and turn was more absurd than the last.
The cast also didn't mesh well together as Lucy Hale and Maggie Q brought more dramatic…

The Last Full Measure is a war film in the same vein as Born On The Fourth Of July but not as effective or memorable as its predecessor. A true story about a Vietnam war hero's friend trying to obtain a posthumous Medal Of Honor for his courage in Vietnam and the interview to make that happen does have some powerful scenes involving a great cast comprising of Samuel L Jackson, Ed Harris, William Hurt, Peter Fonda(in his final onscreen…

Birds Of Prey is a fun film with a great performance by Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn that is far superior to 2016's Suicide Squad but this should have been billed as a Harley Quinn film because that what it is for like 90% of the film and may have helped out with the marketing campaign as the original title was way too long and misleading(with many theaters eventually changing the name to garner more fan interest).
The action is…

Photograph is a charming romance film that parallels and contrasts these two relationships through time with these great performances by Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield who have this chemistry that works so well but the way the two stories meld together throughout the film ends up being fairly clunky and often predictable in execution.
The strength of The Photograph is just how Rae and Stanfield just are able to work so well off each other with each not only having…

Sonic The Hedgehog is a fun film with this over the top Jim Carrey performance(that make him so great throughout the years) and see him chew all the scenery was just a blast but the movie feels disjointed, the humor felt dated and also geared to a much younger audience(as it should have been) but it missed the older audience that helped build the brand of the Sega product that debuted back in 1991 and often didn't have the energy…