Ready or Not was released in 2019. It is about a woman who learns on her wedding night a dark family secret her husband has been keeping from her. The movie stars Samara Weaving, Mark O’Brien, Adam Brody, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Braun, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, Andie MacDowell, and Henry Czerny. 

I have wanted to see Ready or Not for a while. I finally got around to watching it especially with the sequel currently out in the theaters. I enjoyed Ready or Not a lot. I thought it was a fun movie. It has a brisk pace and is action packed. The action kicks off fairly early on and it grabs hold for the duration of the movie. The movie had my attention the whole time. The cast did a great job. Everyone played their parts well. Samara Weaving really shined as Grace. She was a character the audience could root for. I was rooting for her all the way through. 

The movie is a nice length. It clocks in a little over an hour and a half. It is fast paced and is darkly funny. At times it is over the top and the film seems to embrace its absurdity which makes it even more enjoyable. The movie does not disappoint in the gore factor. It is fairly bloody. The plot is simple. It does not get overly complicated and its simplicity works. I found Ready or Not very engaging and I was invested the entire time. 

Ready or Not is a fun over the top horror satire with a strong leading character. Samara Weaving truly shines as Grace. It is bloody and absolutely a thrilling ride. I am looking forward to seeing Ready or Not 2: Here I Come and to see how they expand on the premise of this movie. 

Jennifer’s Body was released in the fall of 2009. The movie is about a teenager Jennfier who gets possessed by a demon and starts eating boys and it’s up to her best friend to stop her. The film stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J.K. Simmons, Adam Brody, Amy Sedaris, and Cynthia Stevenson. 

I thought Jennifer’s Body was fun. I always had an interest in seeing it. I just never got around to it until now. I was a freshman in college when the movie initially came out. The cast does a good job. I think the role was tailored to Megan Fox’s strengths. It was cool to see a different side to Amanda Seyfried. I have seen Amanda Seyfried in different things over the years including Dear John, Mean Girls, Mamma Mia, and others. It was cool to see something different from her in this one. Also, this was a bit of change for me to see Adam Brody in his role. I am also used to him playing the nerdy guy a lot of times. Even his roles in Scream 4 and Mr. and Mrs. Smith played more to his role as Seth Cohen in The O.C. 

This movie is pretty over the top and I think that made it fun. Both characters could get a little annoying at times. I feel like that was part of the point of playing a little bit into the stereotypes of the popular girl and the nerdyish girl. The humor in the film could be quite dark at times. Even now it still feels a bit dark. 

I liked the music a lot. I felt it fit the vibe of the movie. It was also cool to see Adam Brody’s character be the lead singer of a rock band. It reminded me of his role on Gilmore Girls where he was the lead singer of a band as well. 

The movie had some cool twists. One thing that I was not expecting was that the movie is from Amanda Seyfried’s point of view. Also, the evolution of her character was cool. 

There have been rumors for years about a potential sequel. Even more recently it has been said that there plans to move forward with one. I am curious how one would be done. The way the movie ends, does lend itself to a sequel depending on what route it ends up taking. 

Jennifer’s Body is a fun horror satire that can get quite bloody. It has a good cast and a cool soundtrack. It will be interesting to see if Jennifer’s Body 2 winds up happening.  

The Suicide Squad was released in 2021. It sees Colonel Rick Flag lead Task Force X, a team of villains on a top-secret mission to Corto Maltese. The film stars Joel Kinnamen, Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Daniela Melchior, David Dastmalchian, Sylvester Stallone, Steve Agee, Sean Gunn, Jai Courtney, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Flula Borg, Mayling Ng, Pete Davidson, Jennifer Holland, Storm Reid, Alice Braga, Peter Capaldi, Taika Waititi, and Viola Davis. 

I enjoyed The Suicide Squad a lot. I thought it was really good. The Suicide Squad did not do well in theaters. However, it was released during the pandemic. 2021 was a rough year for movies at that time. The other thing that probably hurt its box office success was the fact it was released in theaters on HBO MAX simultaneously. Warner Brothers released all their theatrical films that way and most of those movies did not do well box office wise. The only two movies to make at least a hundred million domestically were Godzilla vs Kong and Dune. The Suicide Squad did well on streaming. If things were different or it came out at another time, the film probably would have been a hit. It might have even beat the original Suicide Squad that was released in 2016. Despite the negative reception, that movie managed to make over three hundred million domestically alone. The Suicide Squad is a very loose sequel as well as a reboot. There are not any references to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. The only real link is several of the characters. Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnamen, Viola Davis, and Jai Courtney are the only ones to reprise their roles. The film does not reference any of the events in the prior movie. 

I did not dislike David Ayer’s Suicide Squad but after learning the released film was not the intended cut that David Ayer wanted, it does make it a little harder to really like the movie knowing there was studio interference. The Suicide Squad is a huge improvement, and James Gunn does a fantastic job with the movie. The movie is a lot of fun. It is over the top and has a great cast. 

Spoilers 

There is a lot of death in the movie, and no one is truly safe including major characters. The deaths are over the top which is fitting given the fact anyone on the team has explosives in their head and can be killed off at any given moment should they step out of line. 

The soundtrack is solid. The music really fits the movie well. It is not a random collection of songs as if someone is changing the station five hundred times. I do own the original soundtrack from the prior release. Not all the songs really fit the movie itself well. The music James Gunn picked fits the scenes and this movie quite nicely. 

Even with all of the over the top moments and craziness that ensues, the movie has heart and there are some emotional movements. James Gunn has always done a good job with that balance. Look at what he has done with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy. 

The movie has two credit scenes. A mid-credit scene and a post credit scene. Both scenes reveal the fates of two different characters. 

This was one of the final movies in the now defunct DCEU. Some of these characters have carried over to the DCU that James Gunn co runs alongside Peter Safran. John Cena’s Peacemaker has appeared in Superman and his own show Peacemaker. Season 2 is part of the DCU. Season 1 was part of the DECEU. Sean Gun’s Weasel is a major character on the animated series Creature Commandos. Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller also has been in Creature Commandos. She is expected to star in her own show Waller at some point down the line. Some others have appeared as well. It is not known if other characters from this movie would get recast or keep the same actors. Harley Quinn is a mystery in terms of getting recast or if Margot Robbie will get to keep the role. 

The Suicide Squad is a fun, heartfelt, bloody movie and probably one of the best movies in the DECEU. It has a stellar cast, great music, and is very colorful. It is a true blast. I am curious to see if there will ever be a Suicide Squad movie in the DCU. 

Set in the 1930s The Bride! Is a new take on the classic Bride of Frankenstein. The film stars Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Peter Sarssgaard, Jake Gyllenhaal, Annette Bening, John Magaro, Matthew Maher, Jeannie Berlin, and Zlatko Buric. 

I thought The Bride! was an interesting take. The movie is directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and she had a unique approach to it. There were parts that felt weird and the film does come across as very artsy. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Everyone has different tastes. There were some bold ideas in it and some interesting choices. The cast does a good job. Jessie Buckley as The Bride is a stand out. She is captivating in the role. Christian Bale does a stellar job as Frankenstein. The roles are a bit different in this. The Bride is at a times a bit of a loose cannon whereas Frankenstein is a bit more sensitive. Frankenstein can also at times be a loose cannon, but the film does lean more into Frankenstein being the stable one in the relationship. The rest of the cast does a solid job. Penelope Cruz also stands out as Myrna Malloy who is following the crimes that the Bride and Frankenstein are committing. I actually was not aware Penelope Cruz was in the movie until the credits. 

The film incorporates many different things. I found it interesting, but it could also be jarring to other people. Some of the choices made in the movie could be a little off. As seen in the trailers, there is a dance sequence. It makes sense in the context of the film, but it can also be seen as unnecessary or off putting to others. 

The movie is a period piece since it is set in the 1930s. With that being said, the movie does feel very modern. The movie is not as violent as it has been made out to be. It is violent but compared to other movies and some television shows, this is not as violent. There is blood and some graphic scenes but it’s not as much as one might think. 

The movie has a mid-credit scene which in this day and age is not as surprising. It seems many films have mid or post credit scenes regardless of if they are part of franchises or not. 

The Bride! is a solid movie. I found it interesting and fascinating, but it is also difficult to say if I really enjoyed the movie. I can appreciate the artistic choices of what the film was trying to do. Jessie Buckley was captivating the whole time she was on screen. I am curious what the future holds for her. As always Christian Bale does a solid job as Frankenstein. He puts a different spin on a classic character. 

Sydney Prescott is back and this time the killer targets her daughter who is the same age as Sydney when all of the killings first started. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Isabel May, Joel McHale, Jasmine Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, Celeste O’Connor, Sam Rechner, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace, Mark Consuelos, Ethan Embry, Roger L Jackson, and Matthew Lillard.

I thought Scream 7 was good. The heart of the movie is the relationship between Sydney and her daughter Tatum. The Scream franchise always did a good job with character development. The cast does a solid job in their roles. It was good to see a little more of the dynamic between Sydney and Gail Weathers. 

Scream 7 is a good movie but it is not the best in the franchise. Some things felt a little hollow. One thing that the franchise has always done fairly well was developing the friend groups. Some are more memorable than others. Scream 5 and 6 had memorable friends to the leading characters. Scream 6 had the core four. Since a chunk of the movie is about Sydney’s teenage daughter Tatum, it focuses on her friends. Her friends were not that memorable. There were times the movie felt a little hollow. Her friends did not seem that fleshed out compared to others in the past. A lot of the new characters did not stand out the same way past characters have. 

Major questions get answered including how dead characters are back. Matthew Lillard, David Arquette, and Scott Foley were announced to be involved with the movie prior to the release. The movie does a good job at acknowledging the film’s history. 

There were also parts that felt a little lackluster compared to past movies. The strongest part of the movie is Sydney and Tatum. That is kind of the only strong part. Ghostface is vicious as ever. The film is fairly bloody but is a little toned down compared to the more recent entries. 

Scream 7 is a solid movie that does a good job on refocusing on Sydney Prescott. Sydney and Tatum really carry the movie. While it is not the best movie in the Scream franchise it still is a good movie. I am hopeful to see what they will do in a potential Scream 8. 

Firewall was released in 2006. It is about a man Jack Stanfield whose family is taken hostage. In order to save his family, he must help steal money from the bank he works for. The film stars Harrison Ford, Paul Bettany, Virginia Madsen, Carly Schroeder, Jimmy Bennett, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Zahf Paroo, Vincent Gale, Vince Vieluf, Nikolaj, Coster-Waldau, Robert Forster, Robert Patrick, and Alan Arkin.

I did not have high expectation for Firewall. I saw it in the library and figured I’d check it out. Even when it initially came out, I was not that interested in it. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a fun thriller. It had me hooked early on in the film. Harrison Ford does a good job. He pretty much does what Harrison Ford does best. Paul Bettany makes a good villain. The rest of the cast does a solid job in their roles. 

The movie is a good length. It clocks in a little over 100 minutes. It is not too short, and it is not too long. It is fast paced and it keeps things moving. For an action thriller it is fairly straightforward. It is not a game changing movie. That is okay. It is a lot of fun, and it had me on the edge of my seat for a lot of the film. 

Firewall is a solid fun action thriller. It is fast paced and has a solid cast. This is a movie I would recommend checking out if you’re interested in an action thriller and want to have a good time for 100 plus minutes. 

Lisa Frankenstein was released in February 2024. It is about a girl named Lisa Frankenstein who meets a guy who happens to be dead, and a trail of bodies ensue. The film stars Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Carla Gugino, and Joe Chrest. 

I thought Lisa Frankenstein was alright. It is supposed to be a horror romantic comedy. I did not find the movie very funny. Comedy has always been subjective, and I have seen numerous comedies where I still enjoyed them but did not laugh that much. I didn’t find a lot of the humor in this movie funny. It is very over the top which is fine. I like over the top. I kind of found everything a bit boring. The cast does a good job in their roles. Cole Sproue did a good job as the Creature. Kathryn Newton was fine as well. I did find her character Lisa Frankenstein irritating. I think that was supposed to be the point. I had a hard time liking Lisa. She got on my nerves. Things picked up once she had a transformation so to speak but I still found her annoying. 

The movie is very colorful. It is set in the eighties. It captured that well. The movie also felt long. The movie clocks in around 101 minutes. That felt like it was pushing it a little. 

Lisa Frankenstein is an alright movie. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I didn’t really feel anything toward the movie. The cast does a good job with what they were working with. I found a lot of the characters including Lisa irritating. That may have been the point. Horror romantic comedies are a tough genre to nail. Some are hits and some are misses. The main thing with Lisa Frankenstein is that it is just bland. 

Final Destination was released in March 2000. The film is about a teenager who gets a premotion of a plane crash while on a school trip. After several people are removed from the plane, death goes after them one by one. The film stars Devon Sawa, Ali Larter, Kerr Smith, Sean William Scott, Chad Donella, Amanda Detmer, Kristen Cloke, Daniel Roebuck, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Tony Todd. 

I never had interest in seeing Final Destination. I saw it in the library recently and decided to give it a try. I thought Final Destination was an interesting movie with an interesting concept. When the earlier films came out when I was younger, I always viewed them as the franchise that had the elaborate death scenes. Watching Final Destination made me realize there is more to it than just that. It is about cheating death but there is a lot of talk throughout the film about the Grand Design. Who would have thought there would be some spirituality in a horror franchise? I have only seen this movie. I have not seen the sequels, so I do not know how the franchise evolves over time. It is an interesting concept. 

The cast does a good job. Sean William Scott surprised me a lot. I have seen Sean William Scott in a few things including the American Pie movies. I am used to seeing him play Stifler. His character in this movie was different than Stifler. In fact, if their characters met, I feel Stifler would have bullied him in this movie. It was a nice surprise. The rest of the cast does a good job in their roles. Devon Sewa is a good lead. Ali Larter and Kerr Smith both do a good job as their characters. I am used to seeing Kerr Smith as Jack McPhee in Dawson’s Creek. I have seen him in other shows as well including Charmed and The Fosters. Kerr Smith played more of a jerk in this movie which took a little to get used to. I feel like it probably would have been a bit more jarring if I had watched this movie when it came out. At the time Dawson’s Creek was in season 3. Ali Larter played her part well. I have seen her in various roles including Legally Blonde, Heroes, and the later Resident Evil films. It was cool to see some of these actors in earlier roles. 

Since Final Destination is around twenty-six years old now, the movie felt tamer than it was at the time. This was also before the Saw franchise came as well as numerous other horror movies. The original movie came out when I was ten years old. It probably would have hit different if I had seen it then or even a few years later. Another thing the movie had was the sense of paranoia. As the movie progressed and the characters were getting picked off one by one, it was starting to get easy to feel a little paranoid about things and it definitely increased the anxiety levels especially by the end of the movie. For a film that is twenty-six years old now, I think it did a great job of hitting those emotions. I am curious how the sequels progress especially the most recent entries. 

Final Destination clocks in around a little over an hour and a half. I think that was long enough. It had a tight story, and it did not drag much. Once the plane crash happens at the beginning of the movie, it really kicks in from there. 

Final Destination is a solid horror movie that is more than just elaborate death scenes. It taps into anxiety and paranoia levels and has an interesting concept on what it means to cheat death and the grand design. I am very interested to check out the sequels to see how these concepts grow. 

Crossroads was released in February 2002. The movie is about three friends who go on a road trip right after high school graduation. The movie stars Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana, Taryn Manning, Anson Mount, Justin Long, Kim Cattrall, and Dan Aykroyd. 

I thought Crossroads was good for what it was. The main attraction of the movie was the fact that Britney Spears was the star. Britney Spears was a big a pop star when the movie was released. The film came out after her third album came out. That album featured the tracks I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman, Overprotected, and I Love Rock & Roll which were all featured in the movie. The Darkchild remix of Overprotected was the one in the movie. Britney Spears did a good job as the lead especially given it was her first starring role. It did seem that the movie and role were tailored to her. It would have been interesting to see how things would have progressed if Britney Spears pursued more acting roles in her career. The rest of the cast did a good job. The three leads had good chemistry together. It was cool to see Zoe Saldana in an early role. I was not aware until a few years ago that she was even in Crossroads. Taryn Manning also did a good job in her role. Anson Mount was good as the love interest to Britney Spears’ character Lucy. 

As a coming of age movie, it does the job. It was fairly typical. There was some melodrama that seems par for the course for these types of movies. The movie is not anything special, but it is a good watch for a quiet night at home. 

I am surprised and not surprised that the movie did not do that well in theaters. Given how big of a star Britney Spears was at the time, I thought the film would have dominated the box office. I was eleven when the film came out. I didn’t know any better. I can understand why the film wasn’t bigger. It seemed to be a movie only Britney Spears’ fanbase would be interested in, and I am not really sure how many of her fans turned out for it when it came out. I was actually not allowed to see the movie at the time and my parents didn’t want to sit through it anyway. My interest in the movie dropped as the years went by. Hence why it took now to finally get around to watching it. 

Crossroads clocks in at little over ninety minutes. I think that was long enough. There didn’t seem to be much juice to go any further. A lot of the plot was typical and surface level. There is nothing wrong with that. It was pleasant to watch. 

Crossroads does its job well as a road trip coming of age melodrama. It is light and easy to sit through. It serves as a good starring vehicle for Britney Spears, and it does a good job of incorporating music including several of her songs. 

Looney Tunes: Back in Action was released in 2003. It was the last live action/animation movie in the franchise until Space Jam: A New Legacy came out in 2021. Looney Tunes: Back in Action sees Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck team up with a security guard who wants to be a stuntman and a studio executive who is in danger of getting fired to save the world from the evil CEO of ACME. The film stars Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Timothy Dalton, Heather Locklear, Joan Cusack, Joe Alaskey, Jeff Bennett, Billy West, Eric Goldberg, and Steve Martin. 

I thought Looney Tunes: Back in Action was fun for a Looney Tunes movie. I did not see it when it came out in 2003. At the time I was not that interested in seeing it. It wasn’t until more recently that I wanted to check it out. I took it out of the local library. I thought it was decently funny. Looney Tunes has always been hit or miss with me even when I watched the cartoon. I had similar feelings when I saw The Day The Earth Blew Up movie last year with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Since Back In Action was released in 2003, some of the jokes are dated. A lot of the references were very early 2000s. The cast does a solid job. Brendan Fraser was enjoyable. This was after The Mummy Returns. It was also a few years before he took a break from acting. Jenna Elfman did a good job as a studio executive. Steve Martin was entertaining as the main villain. 

The movie mostly focused on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck along with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman. The other Looney Tune characters did not have substantial roles. They were mostly cameos. There were a lot of jokes throughout. Some worked while others did not. Some of the gags were a little random. 

The movie holds well today. There were bits that felt a little dated. That is going to happen with older movies. The movie clocks in a little over ninety minutes. That is plenty of time for a Looney Tunes movie. Looney Tunes is not really something that could sustain two hours or more. It is not impossible if it were the right project. 

Back when it came out, Looney Tunes: Back in Action bombed at the box office. It made around 20 million domestically and worldwide made a around a total of 67 million. At the time I was surprised that it did not do that well. I thought it was going to be a big hit. I was also thirteen at the time. I figured that Looney Tunes was popular and that automatically guaranteed it would be a big hit. I know now that is not always the case. The movie opened in November 2003. It came out around the same time as Elf which did very well. The Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion came out shortly after. That made more than Looney Tunes as did the live action Cat in the Hat which also made more than Looney Tunes. At the time there was some stiff competition with family films. After watching the movie, I can understand why it did not do that well. I am not sure it was a movie worth seeing in theaters as opposed to waiting to rent it. It was good for what it was, but it was not spectacular. 

There is a fun post-credit scene at the end of the movie. This is also before the seriousness of credit scenes where they tend to set up a future instalment. Iron Man would be coming out five years later. 

Looney Tunes: Back in Action is a solid Looney Tunes movie. It is fun to watch on a Friday night or a weekend to let loose for ninety minutes or so and to shut the brain off for a bit.