Movie Review - A Minecraft Movie

Director: Jared Hess
Genre: Adventure/ Action/ Comedy/ Family/ Fantasy
Runtime: 116 minutes
Year: 2025
Starring: Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Sebastian Hansen, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Jennifer Coolidge,
 
Description: Four misfits are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into a bizarre cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home they'll have to master this world while embarking on a quest with an unexpected expert crafter
 
Review: Popular video games and its film adaptations. Most of the time, they don’t work, with of course a few exceptions. The wildly popular Minecraft games, in which players can do whatever they want in an open world, is up next. I’m definitely not the target audience. But it’s also not a very good movie.

We meet Steve, played by Jack Black, who discovers and orb (which is a cube, but okay) that leads him to the Overworld. With a quick introduction, we see how he enters it and starts building things. Everything is cube shaped and Steve loves how he can use his creativity to build whatever he wants. But there is also danger hidden within this world. And that’s why Steve decides to hide the orb, so no one else can ever enter it. Of course, in the real world this orb is found. By struggling entrepreneur and former gaming champion Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison.

The visuals are good, I bet fans really love this. Jack Black is fun, but his character is very generic and he really draws all the attention to him. Black has always an actor you either love or hate. I happen to love him. Jason Momoa is funny, loved him together with Jack Black. They make for a very good duo. The rest of the characters are pretty forgettable. There is this side-plot of a character from the Overworld entering the real world, meeting Jennifer Coolidge’s characters. Which was absolutely ridiculous. Even for a family film. But other than Momoa and Black, I cannot find anything I liked about it. The world didn’t interest me, I never really understood the hype of this game anyway, so that didn’t help.

I cannot judge if Minecraft fans love this film or not, like I stated before, I’m not the target audience. I do know that I didn’t like this film.

Rating: 2/ 5

20s Movie Review - The Color Purple

Director: Blitz Bazaluwe
Genre: Musical/ Drama
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Phylicia  Pearl Mpasi, Ciara, H.E.R., David Allan Grier, Louis Gossett Jr.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 19: A MUSICAL
 
Description: A woman faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

Review: This is the musical rendition of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Color Purple”, already very successfully adapted into a drama film by Steven Spielberg in 1985. And seen as a play in 2005.

In the hands of director Blitz Bazawule, the raw account of the oppressed Celie, who slowly breaks fre from an environment filled with misyny and violence, does not gain the depth and layering of the original and its source material. However, lead actors Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks and the beautifully executed music make up for much.

I still think they should have left the original film alone and leave it as is, it’s not the best story to be turned into a musical.

Rating: 3/ 5