20s Movie Review - Underwater

Director: William Eubank
Genre: Action/ Horror
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, T.J. Miller, John Gallagher Jr. Jessica Henwick, Mamoudou Athie

Description: A group of oceanic researches working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.  

Review: “Underwater’ gets off to a nice, quick start. It only takes a few minutes before disaster strikes: an enormous drilling platform is destroyed by and earthquake, or something similar. It is chaos, but at a depth of about eleven kilometers, in the infamous Mariana Trench. All the rescue pods have been rendered useless on the spot an communication with the surface is no longer possible. The six survivors are trapped.
Captain Lucien sees only one way to escape certain death, but his plan is quite riskyL he and his crew want to make the crossing to the nearby Roebuck base. Thus begins a walk across the ocean floor, neatly ticking off all the setbacks that come with a deep-sea mission of this caliber. From imploding diving masks to malfunctioning oxygen tanks. But there is more hiding in the dark, murky water. The film might not be the most original of its kind, but it works just fine.
Director William Eubank occasionally manages to turn this into an exciting and claustrophobic experience. He often film his heroes close to the skin, and even places the camera in the diving helmet so you see it from their perspective. Fear and panic are therefore very tangible. The evil that presents itself, gives you a H.P. Lovecraft vibe.
Actress Kristen Stewart has been trying to shake off the image of her role in the “Twilight” films and over the years she has managed to do so quite well. In this sci-fi horror she gives shape to Norah, a mechanical engineer who is not easily intimidated. She kind of reminded me of Ripley from “Alien”. And Stewart is really good in this film.
Even though the film doesn’t do a lot of new things, “Underwater” is still a pretty good film to watch. Short runtime, fast pace, exciting and scary because of the claustrophobic feel and the unknown. I recommend.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Reviews - Ready Player One

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Adventure/ Action
Runtime: 140 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Lena Waithe

Description: When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.

Review: Author Ernest Cline, who wrote “Ready Player One”, images a grim 2045: the world is a big garbage pile, stacked campers are used as homes and all the worldly problems are ignored. Mankind rather gets lost in ‘The Oasis’, an amazing computer simulation designed by James Halliday. With X-Wings, King Kond, T-Rex and Deloreans, this film is filled with nostalgia. And the book seemed unfilmable. Until Steven Spielberg reported for duty.
In its core, “Ready Player One” feels a bit like the story of Willy Wonka. When James Halliday dies, he scatters three keys through the Oasis. De first player to find all three, becomes the owner of the Oasis. Like Roald Dahl’s classis, the protagonist Wade Watts is a poor kid that has to fight ambitious competition.
The charm of “Ready Player One” isn’t in the fairytale-like tale or even the nostalgia bomb that’s being dropped. It’s the way people communicate through movie quotes and pop-culture. And everyone lives in the past.
I never read the book, so I can’t compare. But friends told me, that the essence of the book and the characters stay intact. Wade is a bit awkward and Samantha is charming. You might even say that the characters have a bit more depth in the film.
“Ready Player One” is an awesome film adventure. Although very busy, Spielberg manages to find a balance. The film has some moments that are a bit too sweet and it’s not one of Spielberg’s new masterpieces. But it’s a joy for every genre fan and people that love nostalgia and pop culture.

Rating: 4 / 5

Movie Reviews - Deadpool 2

Director: David Leitch
Genre: Action
Runtime: 120 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccaring, T.J. Miller, Terry Crews, Eddie Marsan, Julian Denisson

Description: Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson,AKA. Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg, Cable (Josh Brolin).

Review: In 2016 “Deadpool” surprised us all, it was an instant hit. And the genius marketing campagne helped too. Obviously there had to be a sequel. A big challenge for director David Leitch and creative brain Ryan Reynolds, especially trying to find an original angle. And that without becoming a recycled version of the first film.
In his new mission, Deadpool has to protect Russell. A teenager struggling with his abilities and who is hunted by futuristic soldier Cable.
Like the first film, there is harsh satire and bloody action. This made the original film so fresh, because it wasn’t made kid friendly. “Deadpool 2” has this too. With a lot of winks to other Marvel films, DC and even Ryan Reynolds’ previous work.
I can understand that the humor in “Deadpool 2” is not for everyone and a lot is pop culture references. I love this kind of humor. It’s sharp, clever, sarcastic and it mocks itself. Sometimes they go a little too far, a bit over the top. But never enough to make it annoying.
“Deadpool 2” is surely not better than or as good as the first. But it’s super entertaining, funny, action packed and one hell of a wild ride.

Rating: 4 / 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