Black Adam

Dwayne Johnson is perfectly cast as one of DC Comics' most famous antiheroes in the long awaited Black Adam. Having been in development for decades, and with Johnson first signing up way back in 2007, this entry in the DC Extended Universe has been touted as changing up the entire landscape of the franchise. It unfortunately doesn't live up as much to that belief and despite The Rock's love for the character, this movie falters. It still has fun action sequences as this tells the story of Black Adam being unearthed after thousands of years of imprisonment in the present day as he takes on a mercenary organization that has taken over his old nation of Kahndaq. His brutishness and violent tendencies gets the attention of the Justice Society and that basically leads to constant fight scenes one after another, with Adam fighting Hackman, Doctor Fate, Atom Smasher, and Cyclone. The writing isn't terrible, and gives some nice surprises while giving many of the characters depth, but there isn't a lot new to make it stand out and gives off a vibe similar to early 2000s superhero films. It also over relies on jokes and humor that are done over and over, including Adam constantly walking through walls when a door is right there that gets old real quick. Jaume Collet-Serra works with Johnson again after their effort in Jungle Cruise and continues to show a good dynamic they had together. He does give us well shot action scenes with really great effects and very well shot thanks to Lawrence Sher's cinematography and the editing from Mike Sale and John Lee. One drawback however is the overuse of slow motion scenes that feel like they're trying to imitate Snyder's work. The biggest positive for this movie is the cast's performances, though while Johnson is good he doesn't give a lot of depth and feels like he's just channeling his typical action roles. Still, everyone else, especially the Justice Society actors like Pierce Brosnan and Aldis Hodge, are all great and make me want to see them again. Sadly, due to James Gunn declaring a new take on a DC cinematic universe and this film bombing, a lot of the effort made for Black Adam didn't go as well as expected, but it was at least fun to watch. Over all: 84%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. Nope

4. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

5. The Northman

6. The Batman

7. Pearl

8. Lightyear

9. Dog

10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

11. X 2022

12. Scream 2022

13. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

14. Bullet Train

15. Halloween Ends

16. Thor: Love and Thunder

17. Jurassic World: Dominion

18. Black Adam

19. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

20. Uncharted

Halloween Ends

Halloween Ends is the final part to David Gordon Green and Danny McBride's trilogy that began with the 2018 film, itself a direct sequel to the original Halloween. After the events of Halloween Kills, Michael Myers has disappeared while the residents of Haddonfield all feel a darkness and evil surround them. Corey Cunningham, a young man who was responsible for the accidental death of a kid he was babysitting, becomes obsessed with Laurie Strode and her granddaughter, Allyson, after an encounter with Michael. As the town keeps ostracizing Corey, the evil that made Myers the monster he was soon starts spreading to him. Unlike many of the films that have come before in this franchise, this entry has more emphasis on drama and character development than horror and slasher tropes, though it still has plenty of them. Green, McBride, and the other writers give something new that works well though not all of it lands and stick. Corey becoming the next Michael Myers works well and certainly gives good reasoning behind it, but would have helped more if he was set up in the earlier films. Rohan Campbell's performance does give it credence, especially with the chemistry between Allyson's actress Andi Matichak. One aspect to the writing that could have been better handled is the idea that Michael's evil is like a virus and can affect the townspeople. Much of it is interesting, but by skipping many of the other films that dealt with similar things, it feels like it's not earned. But still, Green's direction continues to be the best this franchise has ever done, although there are a few times when jump scares are a bit overdone. If this is Jamie Lee Curtis's final time as Laurie then it a great sendoff with a strong performance, even if some of her actions feel a bit off. As is typical with any Halloween movie, you get John Carpenter's original and iconic theme while having some new added material to it as well as new music that adds to the atmosphere thanks to him, his son Cody, and Daniel Davies. Even if a lot of the story isn't the best, one can't deny that the cinematography from Michael Simmonds is stupendous and knows when to add to the tension. While we know that there will be more films in the future, Halloween Ends at least gives us one possible end to Michael Myers's rampage even if not all of it lands. Over all: 87%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. Nope

4. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

5. The Northman

6. The Batman

7. Pearl

8. Lightyear

9. Dog

10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

11. X 2022

12. Scream 2022

13. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

14. Bullet Train

15. Halloween Ends

16. Thor: Love and Thunder

17. Jurassic World: Dominion

18. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

19. Uncharted

Pearl

Released the same year as its predecessor, X 2022, Pearl is a prequel centering on Mia Goth's elderly character in 1918. Here, Pearl is a young farm girl aspiring to be famous by becoming a chorus girl while living with her domineering mother and ill father, all the while her husband Howard serves in the war. Feeling despondent over how her life is going and befriending a projectionist who shows her a stag film, Pearl's mental state starts to unravel leading to violent moments that she starts to enjoy. Things come to a head when an attempt to audition for a dance troupe goes wrong which ends in a bloody conclusion. Whereas the first film was a straightforward slasher film with homages to the genre and porn of the 70s, this one is more of a psychological thriller with the look and feel of Golden Age Cinema. Goth not only returns to act, but she also cowrote this one with director Ti West and it's absolutely brilliant. The story, dialogue, and character development are all well done and manages to be even better than the first film. While Goth only plays one character this time around, and she did give strong performances in both, her performance in this one is so far the strongest. There's a long shot monologue Pearl gives near the end of the film, confessing to things she's done, that Mia nails, though it does go a bit too long. Then there's of course Eliot Rockett's cinematography that is not only beautiful and detailed but captures that Golden Age era the movie is trying to capture. Horror films often get a bad reputation for being lazy, repetitive, and many other complaints, but Pearl proves that reputation wrong. Over all: 100%

2022 top list so far:

1. Top Gun: Maverick

2. The Black Phone

3. Nope

4. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

5. The Northman

6. The Batman

7. Pearl

8. Lightyear

9. Dog

10. Everything Everywhere All at Once

11. X 2022

12. Scream 2022

13. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

14. Bullet Train

15. Thor: Love and Thunder

16. Jurassic World: Dominion

17. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

18. Uncharted