The post The Beekeeper Review: Jason Statham vs The Elite appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>Here is a look at our The Beekeeper review.
If The Beekeeper is anything, it is a mostly brainless action movie, and that is something that Jason Statham has mastered over his career. In this case, there is a small bit of setup to show why Statham wants to kill people, and then the movie just lets him loose to exact his vengeance. Statham is Adam Clay, who lives as a beekeeper, renting space in a barn from a retired school teacher named Eloise (Phylicia Rashad). After a small introduction of Clay as a beekeeper and Eloise as the “only person who ever took care of him,” the unthinkable happens.
A phishing scam hits Eloise as scammers get her to call in when her computer gets a “virus.” However, when she gives them her information, including passwords, they drain all the money from her bank accounts and credit cards and even steal over a million dollars from a charity she runs. Before Clay can get back to her house that night for dinner, she has died by suicide. Clay meets her daughter at the end of a gun. Agent Verona Parker is an FBI Agent and she learns soon that Clay didn’t kill her mother and then learns her mother took her own life after the phishing scam.
This leads to two things happening. Clay sets out to bring down the men who caused Eloise’s death, while Agent Parker sets out to stop him because she believes in doing things by the law and letting the courts handle it. Needless to say, Clay is who gets his way a lot more than Agent Parker.
After those scenes, the rest of the movie is a simple revenge action story. There is no need to think about what is happening; the fun comes in the action choreography. David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch) directed the movie, so fans of his should know what to expect. The action is gratuitous and fast-paced and Statham finds all sorts of creative ways to kill people. There are moments of cringe-worthy violence and the movie never holds back.
The plot itself is pretty thin. Clay is a retired member of a covert black ops organization called the Beekeepers, who have been set up to operate outside the law to keep the “balance” of the nation’s hive intact when things threaten to throw it off balance. By the last stretch of the movie, the revenge plot shows that Clay has a huge target – someone whose son used the most vulnerable in society to gain the country’s highest position.
The end plays out how anyone might have expected, and Clay will likely disappear until a sequel calls him back.
The biggest problem with The Beekeeper is that the story has high ideals that it wants to reach. However, it is nothing more than a mostly brainless action fest. The idea of Clay fighting for the disenfranchised – and especially the most vulnerable – is a good idea in today’s world. However, that is all mostly forgotten. The movie mostly cares just about breaking bones and killing both bad people and mercenaries sent to protect them.
There is some great acting on display here, though. Jason Statham is Jason Statham and people know what to expect. He has mostly perfected this role. Emmy Daver-Lampman does mostly fine in her role as Agent Parker. However, she isn’t given much time to show who she is other than an FBI Agent who is angry. Josh Hutcherson has proven here that he can be a smarmy Millennial villain. He has come a long way from his time as Peeta in The Hunger Games. Finally, Jeremy Irons, Phylicia Rashad, and Minnie Driver are all here in mostly throwaway roles.
The truth is that if you love Jason Statham’s action movies, you will love this movie. Don’t expect a good story, but stay to enjoy the broken bones and bloody aftermath of his rampage. The Beekeeper delivers what it promises.
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]]>The post Meg 2: The Trench Review appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>For my part, I loved the first Meg movie. In my The Meg review, I wrote, “Don’t expect the next Jaws. Expect the next Lake Placid but with a 65-foot prehistoric shark in a no-holds-barred match with Jason Statham. In that area, it is a rousing success.“
That made it exciting to hear that a sequel was coming. The first Meg was based on the novel by Steve Alten and the sequel was called Meg 2: The Trench, which was also the name of the sequel novel. Just like the novel, the movie sequel was based on a baby Megalodon raised in captivity. As expected, things do not go well when anyone tries to keep a monster as a pet.
The movie does make some changes from the book and, sadly, it makes for a lesser movie. The sequel book was a lot like the original movie, with Man vs Monster and Jonas and the humans battling to stop the Megalodons from killing countless people by reaching populated waterways. Instead, Meg: The Trench spends most of its running time having Jonas and his allies battle human enemies. This takes the focus off what should have been spotlighted – the three Megalodons, a bunch of Snappers, and a Kraken.
Honestly, that last sentence shows what would have made this an incredible movie that even trumped the first Meg. What was disappointing was that new director Ben Wheatley decided to focus on a group of mercenaries and a traitor who betrays Mac and the team now led by Jiuming, Suyin’s brother who is now running Mana One since his sister died. The movie never sees it important enough to explain how Suyin died – only that Jonas is now the legal guardian/parent of Meiying (who is still played by Shuya Sophia Cai).
This group is led by an evil billionaire who just wants to ravage the trench to make money, and the mercenaries are mostly nameless goons there for Jonas and his friends to eliminate – or at least the ones that aren’t killed by the monsters. By the time Jonas battles the three Megolodons and Kraken, the battle is a lot less interesting and just flies by. There are no great plans or attempts to figure out how to beat the monsters. Instead, they just go in with explosives and attack them head-on in one climactic battle.
The only part of the movie that matters is the final battle. Jonas opened the movie attacking people polluting the oceans and this is not the character from the first movie that fans fell in love with. Really, the only person who makes it in this movie anywhere similar to the characters from the first movie is Mac, who is still great with Cliff Curtis back a second time. Meiying is also a wonderful character. Jonas is still fun to watch in action, but this is a very different movie from the original – and that is not a good thing.
Anyone who wanted to see a monster movie similar to The Meg won’t get that with The Trench. That is a huge disappointment. I wanted more of the same and got something very different and lesser as a result.
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]]>The post The Flash Easter Eggs: Every DC Character Who Appeared In The Movie appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>Here is a look at every DC character who appeared in The Flash movie.
It would be silly to ignore Barry Allen here. However, there were actually more Flashes than just the DCU Barry Allen. When he tried to fix his past, he ended up in another timeline where he met that world’s Barry Allen. He helped him get his powers, which meant there were two Flashes running around. There was also a moment later in the movie where they met an older version of that alternate Barry Allen, who was still trying to fix his past. That is three Barry Allens in one Flash movie. Sadly, there was no Grant Gustin Flash Easter egg in the movie.
At the start of the movie, Ben Affleck got one last ride as Batman, as he was chasing bad guys while Flash was saving people at a hospital. Affleck’s Bruce was also there to talk to Barry and warn him against time travel. Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman showed up at the end of that fight as well. Superman showed up in a news broadcast saving people at a volcano. Aquaman showed up in the post-credits, completely drunk. Cyborg was the only member who never appeared as a Flash Easter egg.
Iris West showed up as an old friend of Barry’s from college. She is now a reporter and has been covering his dad’s appeal. The two also shared a moment where she thought she saw him recently and he denied it, which might be a wink at a Zack Snyder’s Justice League Flash Easter egg, where he saved Iris from getting hit by a car.
Michael Shannon was back as General Zod after his role in Man of Steel. However, in this situation, he was not there for Superman, since Kal-El never made it to Earth in this timeline. He also wasn’t going to lose this time around.
One of the biggest selling points of the movie was seeing Michael Keaton back as Batman. This really wasn’t the Batman from the Tim Burton movies, but was instead a Batman who had retired after Gotham City became a peaceful, law-abiding town. However, he was still a very smart Batman and still a great hero, even after the years had passed him by.
As for Supergirl, she was very different in this movie. She wasn’t the pure character fans got used to in the TV series on The CW. Instead, she had been captured when she was young and was held captive away from the sun until Flash saved her in this movie. She didn’t seem to care about humanity, but let Barry Allen’s kindness influence her. She was there to protect her cousin Kal-El, but he never arrived and she was meant to stop General Zod or die trying.
When Barry Allen was going through the Speed Force trying to change the past, he ended up watching universes everywhere exploding, imploding, and otherwise ceasing to exist. It was here that audiences got to see some of the best Flash Easter eggs of the movie. Christopher Reeve and Helen Slater were both together, reuniting the 1980s versions of the movie characters. Geroge Reeves’s Superman was shown in a black and white photo. Nicolas Cage’s Superman from the never-made Tim Burton Superman Lives movie even made an appearance in the exact form he was meant to appear in that movie.
Adam West’s Batman appeared from the classic Batman TV show. There was also an image of the classic Batman from the 1940s serials that showed up as well. Jay Garrick’s version of Flash appeared in the Speed Force (it was Teddy Sears from The Flash TV series). It was a huge moment for DC fans.
The lesson that Barry Allen learned was not to change the past because it could break the future. He changed the past anyway one more time to help free his dad from prison after all those years. However, while his actions seemed to have no consequences, they had one that he never saw coming. When Bruce Wayne showed back up to see him after his dad’s court case, it was no longer Ben Affleck. It was George Clooney (from Batman & Robin) in the last major Flash Easter egg, meaning Barry officially wiped Ben Affleck’s Batman out of existence in his world.
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]]>The post The Flash Review appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>First up, it also doesn’t connect to the future DCU, which James Gunn is rebooting himself with new movies and TV shows coming starting in 2024. However, anyone who followed Flash in the comics knows that this movie could legitimately lead to that. This told the Flashpoint story – or at least a version of it. There was also the fact that star Ezra Miller has gotten in a lot of trouble over the last two years and many fans boycotted the movie because of him.
None of that matters to me when it comes to judging the movie by its own merits.
All that matters is whether The Flash worked as a movie, was entertaining, told a good story, and in that area of judgment, it was a better-than-average DCU movie.
The Flash opens with Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) calling Barry Allen and letting him know that Batman needs help in Gotham City. He is trying to stop some criminals and a hospital is about to collapse after an explosion, and that is what Batman needs Barry to deal with. After Flash saves a bunch of newborn babies who fell out of a high-rise hospital window, he ends up racing back and dealing with what is important to him – finding a way to prove his dad is innocent of killing his mom all those years ago.
When things go wrong, Barry gets mad and starts running faster than he ever has before. He then realizes he tapped into the Speed Force and found a way to travel through time to any point in the past. Now, let me stop her and talk about the CGI (which a lot of people complained about). Straight up, the CGI during the baby-saving scene looked terrible. However, there is a reason for that, and anyone who watched the opening and thought about it should know that it was supposed to look cartoony. That entire scene was shot and edited almost as comic relief and shooting it realistically would never have worked or had the same effect. On the other hand, the scenes inside the Speed Force, where Barry was seeing the points in time, were nicely done.
Director Andrés Muschietti made a creative choice on how he made that baby scene look and I won’t judge him for “bad CGI” when he achieved the look he had hoped for. It might not have worked out as well as it could have, but I get it and won’t hold that against the movie as a whole.
The movie then switched gears and started after that point. When Barry realized that his dad was going to lose his appeal because the evidence was not clear enough to exonerate him, Barry decided he wanted to go back in time and change things so his mom wouldn’t die. Even after Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) told him he could destroy everything, Barry did it anyway and tried not to let anyone know he was there so he could change things slyly. He simply made sure his mom never forgot the can goods that she sent his dad to get the morning she was killed. However, when Barry tried to return to the present, he ended up in another part of the past – but one where his mom lived.
This is the Flashpoint story, but it had a huge difference from the comics. The world was not a worse dystopian nightmare. Instead, what Barry did was change the future and the past (Bruce Wayne from this world explained it in the movie to Barry as creating branch realities that change the past and present, which can create a “hot mess.”). This means that Ben Affleck was no longer Batman, and instead, it was Michael Keaton (and he retired because Gotham City was now a safe city). It also means Eric Stoltz was Marty McFly in Back to the Future instead of Michael J. Fox, Superman never arrived on Earth, Aquaman was never born, and now General Zod was attacking Earth with no one there to stop him.
Barry Allen also met himself in that timeline, helped the alternate Flash get his powers, and then lost his powers in the process. After this, they found the new Batman, convinced him to help them find Superman (who was actually Supergirl since Superman never made it to Earth), and then set out to fight General Zod. All that was pretty much shown in the trailer, but there was so much more after this with Barry Allen learning how dangerous it can really be to change the past.
When it comes to the movie as a whole, the characters really carried the movie. There was a lot more humor than the movie needed, and much of it fell flat (alternate Barry’s friends should have ended up on the cutting room floor). Michael Keaton as a reluctant Batman was great and Sasha Calle did what she could with her role as Kara (Supergirl). Michael Shannon was also on form as Zod once again, and that entire battle with the two Flashes, Batman, and Supergirl battling Zod was well done – with a shocking end to that specific fight.
Other than the acting, the storyline was well done, with a great message in the end for Barry Allen – one that he had to learn. However, there was one last twist in the movie that showed Barry really didn’t learn his lesson as well as he should have because he still wanted to change the past and it still caused the present-day DCU to change in what was one of the funniest moments of the movie (one last cameo).
Speaking of cameos, there were a ton of Easter eggs in the final fight where Barry Allen fought one last foe in the Speed Force. Many of those cameos were spoiled already, but they were all really fun – especially for old-school comic book movie fans. They were also done with some shoddy CGI compared to what fans have gotten used to in recent years. But, regardless of this, they still managed to put a smile on my face.
In the end, The Flash did what it needed to do. It entertained me and told a good superhero story with some great acting. There were some missteps and not seeing any resolution to who killed Barry’s mom was disappointing. At least Barry got a happy moment in the end concerning his family life. Then there was that last cameo before the credits, which was just brilliant for all the right reasons. The Flash wasn’t as good as earlier comic book movies in 2023, falling short of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse specifically, but it was still a worthwhile end to the current iteration of the DCU.
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]]>The post Does Transformers: Rise of The Beasts Have A Post-Credit Scene? appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>If you want to know more, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts spoilers follow.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts brings back the main Autobots to a new movie for the first time since Transformers: The Last Knight. This is a sequel that follows the last movie in the franchise, Bumblebee, which was a period piece that took place in the 1980s. This movie moves to the time frame into the 1990s and introduces a new batch of robots to the mix in the Maximals and Terrorcons. It also brings in the biggest villain in franchise history in Unicron.
By the end of the movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has two extra scenes – one before the end credits and one during the credits. The good news is there is not a post-credit scene at the end of the credits. If you have to go to the bathroom after the almost three-hour movie, feel free.
Here is a look at the two final Transformers: Rise of the Beasts scenes.
Before the end credits start rolling, there is one last scene that is not part of the main story. This was what easily could have been a Transformers: Rise of the Beasts post-credit scene, but was added as just the final scene from the movie. In that scene, Noah (Anthony Ramos) was still trying to get a job. He hadn’t found much luck before thanks to how he left the military.
However, in this case, he is offered a major job – one that shocks him. The man interviewing him (Michael Kelly) reveals that he knows that Noah just saved the world in Peru. He knows all about the Autobots. Finally, he offers Noah a job with a top-secret government team created to protect the world. Noah doesn’t trust him and declines. However, the agent said that is okay and the offer remains open. He also said his organization will make sure that Noah’s little brother Chris gets medical assistance (he has sickle-cell amenia). It will come courtesy of the government as thanks for Noah saving the world. This created a nice happily-ever-after ending.
This man is named Agent Burke – and he is a recruiter for G.I. Joe.
There is only one Transformers: Rise of the Beasts post-credit scene after the credits start rolling. It also happens very early in the credits. In this scene, Noah is working on rebuilding a car and gets help from his criminal friend Reek (Tobe Nwigwe). When Reek mocks Noah for building a patchwork car, it suddenly turns into Mirage.
See, Scourge almost killed Miraghe in the main fight. In this scene, Noah rebuilt Mirage and brought him back to full health. After this, all that is left is the rest of the credits.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is currently in theaters.
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]]>The post Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>While the movies kept making money, the quality dropped, and what was once critic-proof became something that no one really talked about liking anymore. After Transformers: Age of Extinction broke $1 billion, The Last Knight bottomed out at $602,000. Money isn’t what matters, but the point is that people stopped going to see the movies.
Even Bumblebee, the best movie since the first Transformers movie, failed to make a dent because the franchise had fallen so hard. However, things are turning around when it comes to quality. After the great Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts proved it wasn’t a one-movie deal. It is right up there with Bumblebee as the best movie in the franchise since the first one. And, it’s all about the humans.
Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee were the heart and soul of the first movie and Charlie and Bumblebee made Bumblebee great. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts made the story all about a human and his relationships with the Transformers. In this case, it was Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos). Noah brought a little something extra to the role of the human. Unlike Sam and Charlie, Noah was a military man, although one who was discharged and didn’t go out the right way. However, he was still in over his head when he learned that Transformers were real after meeting Mirage (Pete Davidson).
This movie took place after the events of Bumblebee but before the first Transformers movie. That opens up a can of worms with some plot holes. It is better to ignore those to enjoy this movie. And there is a lot to enjoy here. Noah is trying to make money to help his brother get the medical care that he needs, but the medical facilities won’t provide it without payment. When he can’t get a job based on how he left the military, he helps a friend steal a car. That car turns out to be Mirage.
This happens at the exact same time that the Terrorcons arrive on Earth. Optimus Prime calls his Transformers into action. This puts Noah in the middle of the war. Thanks to the fact the Autobots need to get a device from a museum, they agree to have him help them. This brings in another human in Elena (Dominique Fishback), an artifact researcher who gets sucked into the action. After this, the Autobots meet the Maximals, and they all team up to stop the Terrorcons before they help the planet-eating Unicron show up to eat the planet.
While it sounds a little convoluted, the good news is that it isn’t. The last couple of Transformers movies before Bumblebee were overly complicated. This one is a little more by the dots. That is good because, once again, the story is about Noah as much as it is about the Autobots. That is what makes it better than most movies in the franchise. The main heart of the story is that there is a device that will help the Autobots return to their world to try to save it. However, it could also help Unicron get here to destroy Earth. Optimus Prime wants to use it, and Noah wants to destroy it.
That simple story is what really carries the movie throughout. It really is all that a Transformers movie needs to do. Make the Autobots cool and deliver some amazing action. Then make sure there is a story there that people care about – preferably one that includes humans wanting to protect their loved ones. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts does that. When it comes to the action, it is some of the best of the franchise, with the final battle between Autobots and Predacons full of fan-friendly moments. Movies like this could have saved the franchise 10 years ago.
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]]>The post Cocaine Bear Review appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>That may seem hard to believe, but it is true – kind of. In September 1985, convicted drug smuggler Andrew Thornton died after a parachuting accident. The word is that he was traveling with 880 pounds of cocaine and threw a bunch out of the plane before parachuting out and falling to his death. He was found dead in a driveway with $15 million worth of cocaine on him. However, more cocaine was missing.
In December 1985, a 175-pound black bear died of an overdose of cocaine after discovering a batch of the drug in Chattahoochee National Forest in Tennessee (via The New York Times).
That is what the movie is based on, but outside of the cocaine dropping into a forest and the smuggler dying, that is not what happens in this movie. The movie does open with that exact scene, including the parachuter being found in a driveway with the cocaine on his person. Then, the movie just goes off the rails in some of the best ways possible.
Cocaine Bear is something that could have been a massive video store favorite 40 years ago. Today, it arrived in theaters from director Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect). The movie was sold as a zany thrill ride, and while it is nowhere near as funny as some might have hoped, it is a lot better than anyone ever could have expected.
After that opening with the lost cocaine, the movie switches to two hikers in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in Tennessee. They are very much in love, but that doesn’t really matter because when a black bear notices them watching it, the bear charges them and kills the woman, leaving the man a devastated mess. As the movie mentions, a black bear won’t attack unless provoked, but this bear was seriously messed up. This bear was on cocaine.
There are two sets of characters the viewers are asked to get behind. The first is a pair of precocious kids named Dee Dee (The Florida Project’s Brooklynn Prince) and Henry (Sweet Tooth’s Christian Convery), who decide to skip school and go “paint the waterfall” when Dee Dee’s mom Sari (Keri Russell) decides to cancel their upcoming trip to spend time with the new boyfriend.
The other group includes drug dealer Daveed (Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr) and Aiden Ehrenreich (Han Solo from Solo) as Eddie, the son of the local mafia boss Syd, played by the legendary Ray Liotta in his final role before his death. They are out to find the cocaine. There is also a cop from St. Louis named Bob (The Wire’s Isiah Whitlock Jr) looking for the cocaine and whoever might be trying to find it.
With all that said, all that matters in this movie is the black bear on cocaine killing anyone and everyone who gets in her way, as she tries to find more cocaine to fulfill her new habit. This includes a wildlife activist, a park ranger, some punk teens who like to attack people in the park, and hikers. There is also the wild scene with the ambulance that the trailer gives away.
The humor is there, but this is not a laugh-out-loud funny movie. However, it is a very gory movie with some truly disgusting scenes when the bear mutilates someone. This is not a complaint – it is a good thing. The humor is mostly low-key, based on things the kids say, the relationship between some of the characters, and the ludicrousness of the situation. There is also some heart, mostly thanks to Daveed and Eddie, who were great characters in a story that was mostly about the bear.
It seems like Universal Pictures has created its own niche of releasing off-the-wall, crazy movies, which markets them well toward people who just want to go to the theaters for a good time. Cocaine Bear follows the killer Santa Claus movie Violent Night and the killer doll movie M3gan. The studio also has the Nic Cage as Dracula movie Renfield coming in a couple of months.
If Universal just keeps making movies like this, it will make me very happy because we all need movies that make us smile, even if it is a coke-head bear and her cubs tearing the intestines out of a drug lord.
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]]>The post Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>If no one ever saw Loki, it wouldn’t hurt Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at all. Kang made his first appearance on that Disney+ show. However, no one needs to know what happened to understand this movie. No one needs to have seen Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to understand the multiverse in this movie. No one really needed to see the first two Ant-Man movies. Scott Lang pretty much explains everything in the opening of this movie.
However, there will still be people who don’t like this movie for one reason or another. That is okay. Everyone has an opinion. But, this movie is nowhere near as bad as some detractors seem to think. It is just different. It lets goofy moments shine proudly. it is also a nice setup for the future of the MCU.
Scott Lang is living his best life. He has a podcast and wrote a bestselling book. Scott is also back with his daughter and has the love of his life Hope by his side. However, there are also problems. Cassie Lang lived on her own for years during the Blip. Now, she doesn’t understand why Scott isn’t helping people as Ant-Man anymore – even with no villains to fight. She became a social protestor, arrested for this more than once.
She has also been working with Hope and Hank Pym to find ways to help people. Together, the three of them built a signal beacon to the Quantum Realm in case anyone there needed help. This was bad. Janet van Dyne never told them what is really in the Quantum Realm. By the time she reminded them how dangerous it was, the device sucked them into the Quantum Realm. That is where the movie takes off.
The Quantum Realm is a lot like the world of the Micronauts (for those older comic book fans). It is also a lot like what the Negative Zone could look like. However, instead of dictators like Annihilius, there is a very different dictator in Kang the Conqueror. Janet met Kang years ago. She helped him after realizing they needed to escape. It wasn’t until she helped find a way out that she realized Kang was a mass-murdering world destroyer. The Council of Kangs sent him to the Quantum Realm as a prison sentence. Janet destroyed his way out and fled.
Kang has now used the machine Cassie, Hank, and Hope built to bring them all back into the Quantum Realm. He has two people he wants help from. Kang knows Janet can get the device working again. He then plans to send Scott to steal the object using Pym Particles. See, Kang also has someone in the Quantum Realm that knows Scott and hates him more than anyone.
Let’s talk about some of the complaints. First, people complained about the CGI and that really isn’t fair. The complaints are mostly about alien races that look a little goofy – but that was the entire point. A gelatinous alien named Veb (voiced by David Dastmalchian, who played Kurty in the first two Ant-Man movies) is in the movie. How else should the animators have made him look? I get people who hated MODOK. But, that’s just because he wasn’t the version from the comics (and the amazing Hulu series).
However, Jonathan Majors was incredible as Kang, going from calculating to downright evil. Admittedly, the plot was a paint-by-numbers ordeal, and everyone just went from one beat to the next. That was a little disappointing, as nothing really fresh happened here. However, the movie had amazing visuals in spades. it looked like a Jim Starlin drawing coming to life. What some called bad CGI, I called creative artistic choices – and most of them worked for me.
Sadly, some of the story beats felt forced. Janet refused to say anything about the Quantum Realm until it was too late, and that made no sense. The movie also short-changed Wasp. When she came back to save Scott, it didn’t ring true since nothing led to the moment. However, despite the story problems and the unchallenging plot beats, the movie was still fun.
Not every MCU movie needs to have the highest stakes. When it comes to delivering a fun time at the movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania delivered on that promise.
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]]>The post Renfield Trailer: Nic Cage Is Dracula! appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>The movie, hitting theaters on April 14, stars Nicholas Hoult (Beast from the X-Men movies) as Renfield, the classic minion of Dracula. In the trailer, he clearly wants out, even going to a support group and pleading his case. However, that is when Nic Cage shows up as Dracula the movie instantly becomes must see.
Awkwafina also stars as a security cop who Renfield saves in an armed robbery. Based on the trailer, it appears the two of them will find a way to get Renfield out from under Dracula’s control. It’s clearly a horror comedy and looks very funny based on the trailer.
Here is the synopsis: “In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula. Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency.”
Chris McKay (The LEGO Batman Movie) directs Renfield. Ryan Ridley (Rick & Morty) penned the screenplay. It is based on an original idea by The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman.
Check out the trailer here:
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]]>The post OFCC Announce Best of 2022 Award Winners appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
]]>Here is a look at who the OFCC named the best of the best of 2022.
The best film of 2022 went to the movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. The movie starred Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan as a married couple who are growing apart, but when they find they live in just one world in a world of multiverses, they realize that they have to bond together to survive and ensure their family remains safe.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once lived up to its title. Not only was it named OFCC’s Best Film by a landslide, but the film held multi-category appeal to members, triumphing by both slim and wide margins in a highly competitive film season,” said Jeff Huston, OFCC president.
The full rundown of the Top 10 movies of 2022 based on OFCC voting is the following. We also give out awards for the Most Disappointing and Don’t Worry Darling took that award. Ironically, the runner-up was Babylon, which also ended up as the #6 movie in the Top 10, proving that movies, as is everything in entertainment, remain subjective. Babylon was in my personal Top 5 when voting this year.
“Our pick for the Best Film of 2022, Everything Everywhere All at Once, along with other
theatrical-only best film contenders like Top Gun: Maverick and RRR, represent the
continued commitment to larger-scale stories that can only be fully experienced on the
big screen to meet the audience demand,” said Caleb Masters, OFCC vice president.
“We also saw many personal passion projects from top-tier directors like Steven
Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, Guillermo del Tor’s Pinocchio, Damien Chazelle’s Babylon,
and Ti West’s Pearl, resonate with Oklahoma film critics.”
Here are the rest of our awards for the best of 2022:
Best Actor
Winner: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Runner-Up: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Actress
Winner: Cate Blanchett, TÁR
Runner-Up: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Runner-Up: Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Runner-Up: Hong Chau, The Whale
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Everything Everywhere All At Once
Runner-Up: TÁR
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Glass Onion
Runner-Up: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Best Director
Winner: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once
Runner-Up: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Best Documentary
Winner: All The Beauty and the Bloodshed
Runner-Up: Fire of Love
Best Animated Film
Winner: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Runner-Up: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Best Foreign Language Language
Winner: Decision to Leave (South Korea)
Runner-Up: RRR (India)
Best Cinematography
Winner: Top Gun: Maverick
Runner-Up: Babylon
Best Score
Winner: Babylon
Runner-Up: The Batman
Best Ensemble
Winner: Glass Onion
Runner-Up: Babylon
Best First Feature
Winner: Aftersun (dir. Charlotte Wells)
Runner-Up: Emily the Criminal (dir. John Patron Ford)
Best Body of Work
Winner: Colin Farrell
Runner-Up: Paul Dano
The post OFCC Announce Best of 2022 Award Winners appeared first on Renegade Cinema.
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