TV Show Review - Lovecraft Country

Season: 1
Genre: Thriller/ Horror/ Drama/ Mystery/ Fantasy
Number of episodes: 10
Year: 2020
Starring: Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Aunjanue Ellis, Wunmi Mosaku, Abbey Lee, Jamie Chung, Jada Harris, Michael Kenneth Williams, Courtney B. Vance, Jordan Patrick Smith

Description: A young African-American (Jonathan Majors) travels across the U.S. in the 1950s in search of his missing father.

Review: First, let’s talk about H.P. Lovecraft, a very influential American horror author who in the 1920s and 1930s wrote classic stories and novels around a mythology he developed himself, in which an unfathomable and ancient evil lurks beneath the surface of life in New England. Lovecraft died in 1937, before his work became successful.  
In 2016, Matt Ruff wrote the novel “Lovecraft Country”, win which horror with an unmistakable Lovecraft touch is used in a story about a road trip through the segregated America of the fifties as a background. Here, two types of horror are captured in one worldview.
And now it’s a TV series on HBO. The screenplay is by Misha Green and is produced by big names like J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele.
It’s a creative way of combing the horror theme of Lovecraft’s world with the terror that African Americans had to deal with in the 1950s. It’s brilliantly done. Nothing is what it seems and anything goes. It’s a surprising series, it’s bloody, exciting and it looks amazing. And the performances are also rock-solid. It’s not a series you can easily binge, it’s better to watch an episode at a time and take it in.
Even though I loved this series, I don’t think it needs another season.

10s Movie Review - Final Destination 5

Director: Steven Quale
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 92 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: David Koechner, Emma Bell, Nicholas D’Agosto, Tony Todd, Courtney B. Vance, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, P.J. Byrne, Arien Escarpeta, Miles Fisher, Elle Wroe, Tim Fellingham, Tanya Hubbard, Andy Nez, Ian Thompson

Description: Survivors of a suspension-bridge collapse learn there’s no way you can cheat death.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2020 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 14: A MOVIE FROM A SERIES

Review: Sam is going on a team-building retreat with his co-workers and during their bus trip he gets a vision of them dying on a collapsing bridge. When he wakes up and everything looks exactly like in his dream/ vision, Sam jumps of the bus and some of his colleagues join him. And that’s when it happen: the bridge collapses. But this time they live. But soon after the fact, all those people who died in his vision, are dying horrible deaths in real life.
Sounds familiar? Yep, this is exactly the same as the original “Final Destination”, only this time it’s not a plane but a bus. And the song Sam hears as a premonition of bad things happening is ‘Dust in the Wind” by Kansas and not ‘Leaving on a Jetplane’ from John Denver.
The people are dying in the order they died in the vision, so if you paid attention you know who’s next. It’s just the way of how they die that is surprising. That’s something I have to give them, the deaths are pretty original, as goes for almost every death in the entire franchise. Gruesome and bloody. But that’s as far is it goes for compliments.
The ways to die were original, but the rest is nothing new. It’s much of the same with a lot of bad acting. And the turn of one of the characters was just dumb and unnecessary. Or only meant for certain characters to survive, because they didn’t know how to do it otherwise. Pretty lazy writing.
This franchise has definitely died. “Final Destination 5” is a horror film you can skip.

Rating: 2/ 5

10s Movie Review - The Mummy

Director: Alex Kurtzman
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Fantasy/ Thriller
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russel Crowe, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance

Description: An ancient Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that defy human comprehension

Review: Hollywood is trying to create as many film universes, but the oldest one has been untouched for a while. Universal Monsters was around in the 20s, a cinematic world shared by monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and the Invisible Man. Director Alex Kurtzman are trying to bring this universe back to life, under the name Dark Universe. And “The Mummy” is the first film. But it’s not really a noteworthy film.
We are introduced to the legend of Egyptian princess Ahmanet. Later we meet Nick Morton, who discovers a tomb by accident. The introduction of the film is fast paced, but it all happens too quick and there is no room for actual build-up or focus.
The story of “The Mummy” is thin and has no real substance. The introduction of Dr. Jekyll feels forced and a set up to the next Dark Universe film. This gives the film even less focus.
Overall, all these elements make “The Mummy” a very mediocre and forgettable blockbuster. Even a star like Tom Cruise couldn’t safe this film.

Rating: 2/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 120: Office Christmas Party

Director: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 105 minutes
Year: 2016
Starring: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T.J. Miller, Kate McKinnon, Jennifer Aniston, Jillian Bell, Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer

Description: When his uptight CEO sister (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to shut down his branch, the branch manager (T.J. Miller) throws an epic Christmas party in order to land a big client and save the day, but the party gets way out of hand...

Review: Who doesn’t enjoy the Christmas festivities at work? The party they have planned in “Office Christmas Party” is a little wilder than you might want.
We’ve seen it before, party movies like this. Everything revolves around this party and it’s up to the makers to create as many political incorrect situations as possible. But in this movie, that epic Christmas movie is not as epic as you might expect. People copying their privates on a Xerox machine, swinging from Christmas lights, lots of co-workers making out, some booze and drugs. It’s all been done before.
Because of the many subplots, it’s hard to create a solid unity. It’s silly Christmas movie entertainment. Funny at times, mostly thanks to Aniston and McKinnon. But it’s not a very memorable movie.

Rating: 2,5/ 5