Movie Review - We Summon the Darkness

Director: Marc Meyers
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 91 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Alexandra Daddario, Keean Johnson, Maddie Hasson, Amy Forsyth, Logan Miller, Austin Swift, Johnny Knoxville

Description: Three best friends embars on a road trip to a heavy-metal show, where they bond with three aspiring musicians and head off to one of the girls’ country home for an after-party.

Review: The eighties were a bizarre time. Fear of satanism in the heavy metal music scene was rampant. “We Summon the Darkness” is a lightweight horror movie set in 1988, and makes eager use of this time spirit.
When three young women are on their way to a heavy metal concert, they are overtaken by a van. Suddenly a chocolate milkshake ends up on their front window. The throwers turn out to be three male metalheads who are going to the same concert. However, the beers makeup for it all. The state they are in, Indiana, is plagued by a murderous gang of Satanist, but they completely ignore it. The girls decided to invite the three guys to a remote house that belongs to one of the girl’s dads.
For the first half hour of the film, Alexandra Daddario feels like she’s ready for a leading role. After that, things derail at such a fast pace that her powers of persuasion also take a nose dive. And with her everyone does.
The film is marketed as horror, but is also meant to be funny. But it never really is. And it also never really feels serious enough to actually care about any of the characters.
“We Summon the Darkness” can best be described as a black comedy with no real jokes, or a horror thriller with only little excitement. By the time Johnny Knoxville appears on stage (after only seeing him on television screens) the movie is beyond saving. The idea of it is better then the actual film.

Rating: 2 / 5

Movie Reviews - Action Point

Director: Tim Kirby
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 84 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Christ Pontius, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, Dan Bakkedahl, Eric Manaka, Joshua Hoover, Connor McVicker, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Johnny Pemberton, Michael Everson, Aidan Whytock, Matthew Peterson, Aidan Scott, Ashley Dickerson, Matt Schulze, Camilla Wolfson, Patrick De Langhe

Description: A daredevil (Johnny Knoxville) designs and operates his own theme park with his friends.

Review: What do you get when you combine “Jackass” with a true story about a dangerous amusement park. Well, “Action Point”. D.C. is the owner of that park, that doesn’t really care about any safety rules. Not very surprisingly this role is played by Johnny Knoxville.
The acting is not that good and the characters are very one-dimensional. And this film is constantly looking for a way to hurt Knoxville, like we’ve seen happen to him on “Jackass”.
They added a secondary storyline, about D.C. and his daughter and how he is about to lose custody over her. They didn’t really pay a lot attention to that part, it could have been left out.
“Action Point” is at times funny, but it had a lot more potential.

Rating: 2,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2015 - # 87: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Director: Jonathan Liebesman

Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Comedy/ Fantasy/ Science Fiction

Runtime: 101 minutes

Year: 2014

Starring: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner, Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Plszek, Johnny Knoxville, Jeremy Howard, Danny Woodburn, Tony Shalhoub, Tohuru Masamune, Whoopi Goldberg, Minae Noji, Abby Elliot, Madison Mason

Description: When a kingpin threatens New York City, a group of mutated turtle warriors must emerge from the shadows to protect their home.

Review: It started out as a parody, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles became extremely popular in the 90s. Comics, a TV show, toys and their own movie.

The announcement of a new Michael Bay produced movie was received skeptical. It appeared that the turtles weren’t mutated turtles, but aliens. This was just a rumor, because the story stayed very close to the original. Although there are some adjustments here and there.

In “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” the turtles aren’t portrayed by professional fighters in costumes, but they are full CGI creations. But before we get to see them, we meet reporter April O’Neill, assisted by her cameraman Vernon. Wanting more excitement, April digs deeper into the whereabouts of the infamous Foot Clan, led by the evil Shredder. During her investigation, she discovers the turtles and their master Splinter.

The opening prologue is really impressive, in comic book style. The individual characters stay close to how they were intended: nerdy Donatello, leader Leonardo, joker Michelangelo and rebel Raphael. And they look pretty good, but there is a CGI overkill. Shredder looks different, more like he should be in one of the “Transformers” movies. And Splinter lost its original look as well. The story also feels uninspiring, but there is only a few directions you can go into with four giant turtles. But the budget was obviously spend on the action sequences. The movie also has lots of humor. I caught myself laughing a couple of times, because it really felt like the old cartoons again.

Megan Fox is great eye candy, but she hasn’t improved her acting since the “Transformers”. Will Arnett doesn’t really get a lot to do. His comedic talent was a little lost.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is entertaining, but not very good. If you are familiar with the cartoon from the 90s, you’re not completely satisfied, because it could have been a lot better. But it could also be a lot worse. It’s not as bad as I expected it to be.

Rating: 2,5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 44: The Last Stand

Director: Kim Jee-Woon
Genre: Action
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2013
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Peter Stormare, Rodrigo Santoro, Luis Guzmán, Jamie Alexander

Description: The leader of a drug cartel busts out of a courthouse and speeds to the Mexican border, where the only thing in his path is a sheriff (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his inexperienced staff.

Review: With the comeback of action star Arnold Schwarzenegger you expect muscles, cool one-liners and explosive action. They are all present, but not like back in his glory days. But his role as sheriff of a dull town is perfect for him and his constraints.
The escape of Cortez is spectacular, but because he spends most time in a racecar you don’t take him too seriously as a villain. There is not a lot of tension when it comes to confrontation with Cortez. Peter Stormare, as sidekick villain Burrell, is a more intimidating bad guy. The last shootout in the town is the most exciting scene of the movie and we see that Arnie is still one of the best action heroes. He even busts out a couple of fun one-liners.
Director Kim Jee-Woon made a visually good looking movie and the camerawork is also pretty impressive. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in his element as sheriff. He’s still not a fantastic actor, but I always like to watch his films. Arnie is back!

Rating: 3/ 5