Movie Review - Rebel Ridge

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Genre: Crime/ Action/ Drama/ Thriller
Runtime: 131 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, David Denman, Emory Cohen
 
Description: A former Marine (Aaron Pierre) grapples his way through a web of small-town corruption when an attempt to post bail for his cousin escalates into a violent standoff with the local police chief (Don Johnson).

Review: When Terry Richmond is on his way with a bag full of money to bail out his cousin, his money is confiscated by the local police. Completely dishonest but completely according to the law. That’s the beginning of a blood-curdling cat and mouse game in “Rebel Ridge”, where perfectly executed details add emotions and urgency to a compelling story.

“Rebel Ridge” starts strong, right in the middle of the action, and is immediately compelling. The only moments of calm are when Terry stares intensely but silently at his attackers, which lead actor Aaron Pierre is very good at. The subdued Pierre needs little to no convey palpable yet restrained anger and is thus excellently cast for the role. In addition to Aaron Pierre, AnnaSophia Robb in a supporting role and Don Johnson as the villain are also very impressive.

The film is exciting, it’s a high-level action thriller. It has a somewhat abrupt ending, which I personally didn’t love, but that’s the only critique I have.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Babe

Director: Chris Noonan
Genre: Family/ Drama/ Comedy/ Adventure
Runtime: 89 minutes
Year: 1995
Starring: James Cromwell, Christin Cavanaugh, Hugo Weaving, Miriam Margolyes, Danny Mann, Miriam Flynn, Russi Taylor, Evelyn Krape, Michael Edward-Stevens, Charles Bartlett, Paul Livingston, Roscoe Lee Browne, Magda Szubanski, Zoe Burton, Paul Goddard, Wade Hayward, Brittany Byrnes, Mary Acres

Description: Babe, a pig raised by sheepdogs, learns to her sheep with a little help from Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell).

Review: This is the story of a little pig, named Babe, that lives on a farm and is raised by sheepdogs. This way Babe learns how to herd sheep and Farmer Hoggett sees that this pig is special.
“Babe” is the perfect family film. Images of the young pig and the other farm animals are heartwarming and melt all our hearts. And there are many lessons learned in this film as well. Lessons about friendship, stereotypes and judgement. And each animal has its on character trade. “Babe” also has some great comical moments and the animals look great (because they use animatronics and puppets sometimes).
“Babe” deals with some ‘grown-up themes as well, but is mainly focused on a younger audience. And this way the film is an easy watch and will warm your hearts. And even though it’s a mid-90s film, it’s not outdated at all and will still entertain many youngsters today. If you can still eat meat after watching this film…

Rating: 4 / 5

00s Movie Review - Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Director: Kelly Asbury, Lorna Cook
Genre: Animation/ Family/ Adventure/ Drama
Runtime: 83 minutes
Year: 2002
Starring: Matt Damon, James Cromwell, Daniel Studi, Chopper Bernet, Jeff LeBeau, John Rubano, Matthew Levin, Adam Paul

Description: A wild stallion is captured by humans and slowly loses the will to resist training, yet, throughout his struggles for freedom, the stallion refuses to let go the hope of one day returning to his herd.

Review: The untamable young stallion Spirit comes into contact with something he has never encountered before in his early life: mankind. From that moment on an adventure unfolds.
Spirit is captured by an army, but he doesn’t let anyone ride or tame him. Not even by a veteran Colonel, who wants to make an army horse out of him. Together with Indian Lakota, Spirit manages to escape.
Unlike most animation with animals in the lead, in “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” the animals don’t speak. The film is narrated by Matt Damon, he speaks as Spirit. This is all accompanied by a beautiful score by Hans Zimmer and soundtrack sung by Bryan Adams. Together it makes for a gorgeous looking animation.

Rating: 4 / 5

Movie Reviews - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Director: J.A. Bayona
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 128 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ted Levine, Jeff Goldblum, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, BD Wong, James Cromwell

Description: When the island's dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event.

Review: The dinosaurs that were left behind when the Jurassic World theme park went bad, need to be saved. The islands volcano is about to erupt and Owen and Claire decide to go back. But naïve business men also send an over ambitious hunter to the island.
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is the sequel to “Jurassic World, the way “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” was a sequel to “Jurassic Park”. And you can see that a lot of it is the same. But director J.A. Bayona decided to have only a few scenes in the jungle and take the rest of the film to the city. Which is basically the last scenes from “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” stretched to film length. But from that point the film gets more original.
“Jurassic World” got mixed reviews. Especially the fans of “Jurassic Park” were really brutal. I’m also a huge fan, it’s THE movie that made me the movie geek I am now. But I watched “Jurassic World” as a separate film, not comparing it with the orinal master piece. And I really liked “Jurassic World”. And I also liked “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”. But less, because it reused a lot of elements from the previous films and the characters don’t really have any development. I like Owen and Claire, apart and together, but there is no development whatsoever.
Seeing Jeff Goldblum was off course great and he might be the greatest character ever created for the franchise (no, he IS).
“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” shines because of the great visuals and its high entertainment value. And Chris Pratt as an action hero with the right amount of humor. But the best moments and quotes were ‘borrowed’ from the earlier films.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 39: The Artist

Director: Michel Hazanavicius
Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 100 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Missi Pyle, John Goodmna, Malcolm McDowell, Penelope Ann Miller, Beth Grant, James Cromwell, Joel Murray

Description: A silent movie star meets a young dancer, but the arrival of talking pictures sends their careers in opposite directions.

Review: In 1899 the first experiments to combine sound and film took place, but it was three decades later when the eventually executed this plan. In 1927 America was ready for it, with “The Jazz Singer”. The transition from silent film to a film with sound, forms the base of “The Artist”. It’s a modern day silent film, in black and white, about fictional movie star George Valentin. He can’t adapt to this transition and gets into trouble, but also eventually finds love.
Many Hollywood stars from the silent movie era, saw their careers end, because they seemed old fashioned or their voice didn’t match their image. In “The Artist” George Valentin is such a star. He is successful as an actor and makes equally successful movies.
His influence is that big, that the young, unknown Peppy Miller gets a role in his movie and eventually becomes a big star herself. George doesn’t believe in movies with sound and quits the studio to makes his own films. His first film is a huge flop, his wife leaves him and he goes bankrupt.
“The Artist” does a masterful job in mimicking the atmosphere of a silent movie from the twenties, without imitating other films. It manages to also feel modern and fresh, when you have the feeling you’re watching a classic film.
Silent movies always proof how essential music is for a movie. And facial expressions and body language. Because there is no spoken dialogue, the viewer has to depend on all this to follow the story. some dialogue is shown in written words, but it’s very minimal.
I’m so glad movie like this get a green light, Hollywood needs this. What “La La Land” did for musical in 2016, “The Artist” did for the silent film.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 31: Big Hero 6

Director: Don Hall, Chris Williams
Genre: Animation/ Action/ Adventure/ Family/ Comedy/ Science Fiction
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, Maya Rudolph, Abraham Benrubi, Katie Lowes, Billy Bush, Daniel Gerson, Paul Briggs, Charlotte Gulezian

Description: The special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax (scott Adsit), and prodigy Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.

Review: Not everyone was happy when Walt Disney Animation Studios took over Marvel Entertainment in 2009. But with “Big Hero 6” it has proven to be an okay choice, because it’s a heartwarming animation filled with action and adventure.
We meet whiz kid Hiro, who watches his also brilliant older brother Tadashi build robots. When Hiro also invents something and he shows it to the professor at school, something goes horribly wrong. There is an explosion and Hiro’s brother dies. But he decides to continue his brothers work. One of Tadashi’s projects was a white, inflatable robot called Baymax. A funny and very huggable robot that steals the show and wins your heart. Together with his friends and Baymax, Hiro is trying to find the man who stole his invention.
“Big Hero 6” manages to combine Japanese animation with the more traditional cartoon techniques. The movie is on a high artistic level. With that, the movie deals with strong emotions (loss and mourning) and manages to combine that with humor and action. Baymax is the biggest plus of the film, with his clumsy posture and funny sounds. Fist bumps have never been this funny. It’s amazing how a robot can be so loveable.
The scenes between Baymax and Hiro are the best, but even in the dynamic action sequences the central theme is never gone. “Big Hero 6” is again a very unique film by Disney, a definite must-see!

Rating: 4,5/ 5

Movie Moments: "The Green Mile"

One of the best movies with Tom Hanks, directed by Frank Darabont and based on a Stephen King novel. I recently rewatched it and it made me cry… again. Here are the best moments from “The Green Mile”.

Moment # 1: Meet John Coffey
After Paul Edgecomb has unsuccessfully tried to urinate, with a very bad blather infection, colleague Percy is bringing in a new prisoner. His name is John Coffey and he is enormous. He looks scarier than he is, because he’s afraid of the dark.

Moment # 2: Little guest
Brutus calls in his colleagues to inform them about an unwanted guest: a little mouse. He hides away in the isolation cell. To catch the mouse, they have to clean out the cell because they never use it.

Moment # 3: Mr. Jingles
The mouse is back and has made a friend. One of the inmates, Del, has taught him some tricks and even gave him a name: Mr. Jingles.

Moment # 4: Wild Bill strikes
Another new inmate, Bill Wharton aka Wild Bill. He’s been brought in and he’s seems to be on a lot of medicine. But he’s only pretending, because he strikes and grabs Dean. Percy has the opportunity to do something, but doesn’t. Eventually the other guards help Dean and manage to overpower Bill.

Moment # 5: Miracle
Paul is still battling with a blather infection and it’s killing him. When John Coffey calls for him, he tells Paul he can help him. Coffey grabs Paul by the crotch and light bulbs start to flicker. Coffey has taken the infection away from him.

Moment # 6: Percy pees his pants
After being rattles by Del, Wild Bill grabs Percy. He’s so scared that he pees himself. Something that Del laughs about. Something he shouldn’t have done.

Moment # 7: Mr. Jingles’ death and resurrection
Del is about to get is payback for laughing at Percy, because mean Percy steps on Mr. Jingles. John Coffey wants to heal him and Paul hands Mr. Jingles over to Coffey. After he brought the mouse back to life, Paul and the other guards want to see Percy’s reaction to seeing Mr. Jingles alive again.

Moment # 8: Del’s execution
It’s judgment day for Del and unfortunately Percy is leading the execution. As for preparation, the person on the chair needs to have a wet sponge on his head so the electricity goes through the body easily. Percy knows it, but he decides not to wet the sponge. The other guards don’t see it until it’s too late. Del gets the most painful death and is literally fried. Percy sees what he has done.

Moment # 9: Paul has an idea
Paul has his collegues over for dinner and talks to them about John Coffey and the gift he has. They all witnessed the mouse miracle, but Paul also tells them about how Coffey cured him. Paul now suggest that Coffey can help Melinda, Hal’s wife.

Moment # 10: Melinda
They are going through with the plan to take John Coffey to Hall Moore’s house. Hall doesn’t want him inside the house at first, but he trusts Paul. John takes the decease away from Melinda.

Moment # 11: John Coffey’s execution
It’s the day. The day of John Coffey’s execution. Clearly everyone is upset by the situation, especially because Paul know that he didn’t kill anyone. Because it can’t be proven, they have to go through with it. They are all very emotional, Dean even cries.

Favorite Moment: Moment # 11: John Coffey’s execution (not because I’m cruel, this scene really touches me and hits every nerve in my body)