Movie Review - Us

Director: Jordan Peele
Genre: Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 116 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Anna Diop, Cali Sheldon, Noelle Sheldon, Madison Curry

Description: A family's serenity turns to chaos when a group of doppelgängers begins to terrorize them.

Review: With the psychological thriller “Get Out”, comedian Jordan Peele made one of the most praised directorial debuts ever. But it’s not always a guarantee for a great second film. The expectations were sky high and over-ambitious plots have ruined directors before. But not Jordan Peele. “Us” is another fantastic film.
“Us” focusses on the Wilson family, who are terrorized by a group of doppelgängers during their summer vacation in Santa Cruz. They don’t only look the same, but also think the same. And they want to end the Wilsons. Peele doesn’t only bring an original twist to the standard home invasion story. But it’s best to view this film without too much information.
It’s tempting to compare “Us” to “Get Out”, but they definitely have one thing in common: originality. Peele does have other ambitions then for his debut and chooses a different approach. The biggest difference is that “Us” is pure horror. It circles around the terror and chaos the Wilson go through. The story is less structured and the viewer is constantly being scared.
But this is exactly where Peele shines. He is a visually skilled director and his writing is excellent. It’s all about suspense here. Peele manages to create uncomfortable tension. He learned a lot from John Carpenter and Alfred Hitchcock.
Peele didn’t completely let his roots go, because he used his comedic talent as well. “Us” has humor and it’s mostly Winston Duke that lets us laugh. He plays dad Drew and manages to not overdo it with the comedy and keep it perfectly balanced. And the entire Winston family does a fantastic job. Because they all have to play two roles, who are very different from each other. But the real star is Lupita Nyong’o, without a doubt. She is mother Adelaide, but also the leader of the creepy doppelgängers. Nyong’o is intense, touching, tough and it’s a phenomenal performance.
“Us” maybe not as subtle as “Get Out”, but overall it’s just as good. And the climax is really strong and unexpected. Just like I wanted it. I hope that Jordan Peele can keep up this level and keeps on making strong, original horror films like this. Because originality is very rare in Hollywood these days.

Rating: 5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Director: David Yates
Genre: Adventure/ Fantasy/ Family
Runtime: 134 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Zoë Kravitz, Ezra Miller, Dan Fogler, Katherine Waterstone

Description: The second installment of the "Fantastic Beasts" series featuring the adventures of Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne).

Review: In 2016 Warner Bros. and director David Yates brought us a spin-off for the Harry Potter Franchise: “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”. J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay and situated the Harry Potter universe in 1920s New York. I worked and Newt Scamander was an interesting and loveable character.
At the start of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”, wizard Grindelwald has been in prison for six months. With his charm, he manages to escape the prison. He travels to Paris and starts to recruit followers. The government wants to catch him as soon as possible, so a true cat and mouse game unfolds.
In the first film, Grindelwald was after Credence Barebone. He appeared to be an extreme powerful wizard that Grindelwald wanted on his side. At the end of that film, everyone thought he died. But Credence is in Paris, looking for his parents. And Grindelwald is looking for Credence. To stop Grindelwald from his evil plans, Albus Dumbledore sends former student Newt Scamander to find Credence. But Newt and Grindelwald aren’t the only ones looking for him. A lot happening in the sequel.
And that’s the problem with this film. Although it’s amazing to step into the magical, wonderful fantasy of J.K. Rowling and to get to know the Parisian wizarding world, there is too much going on. Newt doesn’t feel like the main character anymore, while the franchise is set around him. If they used less storylines, it would have been better.
But there is enough to enjoy. New fable animals, like the Chinese Zouwu. A big lion dragon, who looks amazing and has a great role in the film. The action is spectacular and the finale is satisfying. It’s mainly all those storylines that make it too heavy.

Rating: 3 / 5

10s Movie Review - Blockers

Director: Kay Cannon
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ramona Young, Gina Gershon, Gary Cole

Description: Three parents try to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night.

Review: Blockers is short for cockblockers, an American term that people use when they want to stop someone from having sex. According to Wikipedia the term became popular due to the movie “Superbad”. And like in “Superbad”, teenagers made a pact to lose their virginity at the end of the school year. In “Blockers” it’s about three girls though and the ‘blockers’ are their parents who try to prevent their daughters to make a mistake.
Julie, Kayla and Sam are three best friends that are about to graduate. Julie decides she wants to use her virginity on prom night, to her boyfriend Austin. Kayla wants to join in and picks her lab partner as her date. Sam wants in, because she feels left out and she is secretly a lesbian. When Julie’s mom and Kayla and Sam’s fathers find out about their ‘sex pact’, they try to stop the girls.
The film has some really funny moments, but it also has some typical juvenile comedy like we are used to in films with this theme. John Cena is actually really funny, as the big sportsfanatic dad with an emotional side. And I also liked Ike Barinholtz. The three parents don’t have a lot of chemistry though.
“Blockers” is more fun then I expected.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movies to Look Forward To - April 2019

I'm so ready for April to arrive. It has some of my most anticipated films and I can't wait to see them!

April 4th – Fighting with My Family
Director: Stephen Merchant
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Lena Heady, Nick Frost
Description: A former wrestler and his family make a living performing at small venues around the country while his kids dream of joining World Wrestling Entertainment.

April 4th – Hotel Mumbai
Director: Anthony Maras
Starring: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Jason Isaacs
Description: The true story of the Taj Hotel terrorist attack in Mumbai. Hotel staff risk their lives to keep everyone safe as people make unthinkable sacrifices to protect themselves and their families.

April 4th – Pet Semetary
Director: Kevin Kölsch, Dennis Widmyer
Starring: Jason Clarke, John Lithgow, Amy Seimetz
Description: Louis Creed, his wife Rachel and their two children Gage and Ellie move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, Louis resorts to burying it in the mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems, as it proves to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better.

April 4th – Shazam!
Director: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong Description: We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson's case, by shouting out one word - SHAZAM! - this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult superhero Shazam (Zachary Levi).

April 11th – Captive State
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Starring: Vera Farmiga, John Goodman
Description: Set in a Chicago neighborhood nearly a decade after an occupation by an extra-terrestrial force, Captive State explores the lives on both sides of the conflict - the collaborators and dissidents.

April 11th – Hellboy
Director: Neil Marshall
Starring: David Harbour, Mila Jovovich, Thomas Hade Church, Ian McShane, Daniel Dae Kim
Description: Based on the graphic novels by Mike Mignola, Hellboy (David Harbour), caught between the worlds of the supernatural and human, battles an ancient sorceress bent on revenge.

April 24th – Avengers: Endgame
Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larsson, Josh Brolin, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Olsen, Karen Gillan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Holland, Sebastian Stan, Pm Klementieff, Letitia Wright, Dave Bautista, Jeremy Renner, Tilda Swinton, Jon Favreau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Ruffalo, Chadwick Boseman, Don Cheadle, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch
Description: After the devastating events, the universe is in ruins. With the help of remaining allies, the Avengers assemble once more in order to undo Thanos' (Josh Brolin) actions and restore order to the universe.

10s Movie Review - Bloedlink

Director: Joram Lürsen
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 90 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Marwan Kenzari, Tygo Gernandt, Sarah Chronis

Description: Two ex-cons kidnap (Marwan Kenzari, Tygo Gernandt) a millionaire's daughter (Sarah Chronis) and hold her for ransom, only to see their scheme go awry when she proves herself to be more cunning than expected.

Review: Director Joram Lürsen decided to remake the British Indie film “The Disappearance of Alice Creed”, from 2009. The film is exactly the same, but this time in Dutch with Dutch actors.
“Bloedlink” starts strong. Rich man’s daughter Laura is being kidnapped in broad day light, by two men. She is tied up to a bed and has no idea why they took her. The kidnappers, Victor and Rico, want her father’s money.
The plot sounds simple, but it has some surprising moments.
The strongest element of the film is the acting. Especially Tygo Gernandt as Victor and Sarah Chronis as Laura are very strong. The first half of the film is great, but the further we get into the story, the more unbelievable it gets.
A thriller with a strong cast of three and a fantastic first half. But it sadly couldn’t keep that same level of excitement through the entire runtime.

Rating: 3 / 5

90s Movie Review - Saving Private Ryan

Director: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Drama/ Action
Runtime: 170 minutes
Year: 1998
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Paul Giamatti, Ted Danson, Dennis Farina

Description: Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper (Matt Damon) whose brothers have been killed in action.

Review: Director Steven Spielberg proofs again why he is one of the best directors in Hollywood, with this strong war movie. When three brothers of the Ryan family have died in battle, it’s decided that the fourth brother can go home. Problem is that this soldier is somewhere in France. To find Ryan, Captain John Miller is the person to find him, together with a team of eight men.
The movie is divided in three parts: the first part is the landing of the American troops on Omaha Beach on june 6th 1944, D-Day. The second part is the search for private Ryan. The third part is what the soldiers do when they have actually found Ryan.
Especially that opening scene is very violent and shocking and it’s definitely one of the best opening scenes in movie history. Not only that first scene makes this movie good. The screenplay is intelligent and the camera work is fantastic. And also the acting. Tom Hanks does exactly what we expect from him: an excellent job! The interaction between him and his team and later also with Damon’s characters is impressive and believable. Smaller roles by Dennis Farina, Vin Diesel, Ted Danson and Paul Giamatti are also worth mentioning.
The movie won several Academy Awards, one being best director. Totally deserved. It’s a fact that “Saving Private Ryan” is one of Spielberg’s best, and he already made so many great ones.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Widows

Director: Steve McQueen
Genre: Thriller/ Crime/ Drama
Runtime: 130 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Viola Davis, Liam Neeson, Jon Bernthal, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Coburn Ross, Michelle Rodriguez, Alejandro Verdin, Baily Rhyse Walters, Elizabeth Debicki, Carrie Coon, Robert Duvall, Colin Farrell, Jacki Weaver, Molly Kunz, James Vincent Meredith, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Cynthia Erivo

Description: Set in contemporary Chicago, amid a time of turmoil, four women with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands' criminal activities, take fate into their own hands, and conspire to forge a future on their own terms.

Review: The plot sounds a bit like “Ocean’s Eleven” or “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”. But it’s a heist movie, with a twist. After a group of robbers were killed, their wives team up to steal millions of dollars.
With director Steve McQueen being involved, you already know it’s not going to be a light film. He also directed heavy themed films like “Hunger”, “Shame” and “12 Years a Slave”.
Where in most heist film the testosterone is fed by greed, “Widows” changes it up a bit. Here the women have a necessity, they need to do it for their own safety. The three women don’t want to step in their husband’s footsteps, they simply have no other choice. One of the men left a ‘script’ which they women use to plan the job.
Steve McQueen is known for his fantastic camerawork and he uses it here too. But it doesn’t always work. In the opening scene, the traditional getaway is shot completely from the getaway van. This is original, minimalistic and works great. But a scene where we see the outside of a driving car, while the frustrated politician inside is arguing with his assistant, doesn’t work as well. I fit was a disposable scene, it didn’t bother me. But it’s an important scene with great acting, which you don’t see. It doesn’t make as much of an impact this way.
Viola Davis is the star of the film. Her icy focus is amazing to watch. Sadly, her character is the most developed and the other women don’t get as much attention.
The interaction between the women is strong, but there is also a lot of attention for the political games played in the city of Chicago.
“Widows” is a good crime thriller, but it has more potential.

Rating: 3 / 5