Movie Guru Corey

  So you my or may not know, this is my first pass at a documentary. All I can say is I will do my best.  Being born in the 1980s, I was well versed in  Fred Rogers and his show. His show always had a special place in my heart.      Going into this, I have to say that I was worried the heart was not going to be in it. I am very glad to say that I was wrong. This documentary did not take the route of just talking about his life. It took the route of talking about the show, and the values Rogers had to make the show great. It never got to the point that it felt that they were beating the viewer over the head with his ideals. It hit the right note of sentiment and that worked for the feelings department. The one thing that did surprise me, but in a good way, was the attack that the news did on Rogers. Even though it was brief, it was nice to keep things objective.    In terms of presentation, I believe the material was presented the best way it...

   The original "Sicario" was easily one of my favorite films of 2015. So, to say this one was not one of my most anticipated, could not say enough about how hyped I was for this.   This time around,. Matt Graver (Josh Brolin),is given the task of taking the drug cartels down by starting a war between the cartels, without them knowing it was the United States that started it. To do this he, once again, recruits Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro).  The best thing about this movie is the performances of Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. To be honest, I would even say it was an improvement over the original. This is especially true for Benicio Del Toro. He had to elevate his character this time around. He had to be able to give an emotional performance because his whole story is about protecting a teenage girl. This girl, more or less takes the place of his daughter who died at the same age.    The big change between the two movies is, this one definitely, turn...

*photo from the LA Times*    So we have a full length movie commercial. The question is how good is it?   "Uncle Drew" started out as digital shorts for the Pepsi company in 2012. They became so popular, I am now sitting here reviewing their film version.   Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving), and his street ball team ruled the courts in the 1960's and then vanished. Flash forward to 2018, Dax (Lil Rel Howery), fresh off loosing his team to Mookie (Nick Kroll), needs a new team before the big tournament coming up. Dax happens to wonder onto a court where Uncle Drew is playing. He convinces Drew to show the young people how the game is really played. The stipulation is, they must go on a road trip to get his old team back. Let the road trip shenanigans begin!     In a positive way, the movie is fun. It does take a while to get there, but once everyone is collected for the tournament, things pick up. The scene, in particular, being the club scene you get to see b...

 This weekend will be a bit of a heavy one. First off, we get the sequel to "Sicario". everyone is back for the original, minus Emily Blunt. This time, the fight against the drug cartel continues. But how do you up the stakes?   Next in line, is actually, a film based of a Pepsi commercial. The story centers around Drew ( Kyrie Irving) as he gets his streetball team back together. Basketball legends Shaq and Chris Webber also star.    This week I will get the opportunity to view the Fred Rogers documentary. The documentary takes a deep into his life, and his work on "Mister Rogers Neighborhood".    The final fim in the bunch is "Hearts Beat Loud". It tells the story of a father and daughter pair that start a band together as a way to build their relationship.    Whatever you get to see this weekend, I hope you enjoy! 

    We now have come to the end of season 2. Now the question becomes how did it stack up?     The story starts with the humans coming back in and "taking" the park.  William aka the man in black makes the trek across Westworld to destroy the forge.  At the party, Dolores had her eyes open thanks to Bernard. She massacres  a massive amount of people and heads out to find "the door to freedom". Teddy never had a choice, but to go with her because being programed to be so in love with her. That means no mater what he was always going to have to follow her.  Maeve was all about finding her daughter, along the she discovers some very interesting powers, she now has. Finally, Bernard spends the entire season trying to figure out while all of his memories are out of order.      In quality, I think the episodes varied in quality. I think that it started out great, but when all the members of the "group" started to get their own episo...

  "The Hate U Give" tells the powerful story of Starr (Amandla Stalberg), who believes she is living the good life within her little neighborhood. This all changes when she witnesses a wrongful police shooting of her friend. She than struggles with whether or not she should speak for what is right. "The Hate U Give" drops October 19th.

     We have made it to the end of the season! Everyone is ready to gather on the forge.      The episode starts out with the meeting up of Dolores and and Bernard to go into the forge. They come to find out that the forge not only contains the "conciseness" of all pat park visitors. It also contains an oasis for the consciousness of all of the hosts. They can live there "uninterrupted" from humans. Honestly to go beyond this in explaining it gets very tough to do. Do not get me wrong, my lack of explaining is not speaking to the lack of quality. There is just a lot of time jumping.      After watching this season, and especially this episode the performances of both Evan Rachel Wood and Jeff Wright both deserve Emmy nominations. They both give performances that was even better than there season one performances.     One thing that was funny was the fifty endings this episode had. It almost felt like I was back in the theater...

 Going into this, I was very excited to see this. Not on the possibility that it be good, but all the press it has received for receiving a zero percent on rotten tomatoes. The filmmakers  shot back, saying that the critics are "trolls with keyboards". Now if you look at the user reviews on rotten tomatoes, it is a little more divided, with a sixty- one percent approval rating. So in this case, who is right?   The film tells the story of how John Gotti ( John Travolta) rose through the Gambino crime family until his conviction in 1992. By the time of his incarceration, he made it to the head of the Gambino family.   The crap in this movie starts from the very beginning. There is a fourth wall break for no reason at all that does not have any need for it. It comes back at the end, no reason.   This movie has a strange use of music through this film, in particular, the use of Pitbull two different times.  When it comes to Bio pic films they work when th...

     I remember going into the original 2015 "Jurassic World" not expecting much, because, to be honest was not , too thrilled with the previous two installments. I ended up being pleasantly surprised, by what I saw. Going into today, I was pretty excited to see what they had to follow it up with.    This time around, the island of Isla Nublar, is about to explode because of an active volcano on the island. So the question arises, should the dinosaurs be saved? Ben Lockwood (James Cromwell), believes so, and he recruits Owen ( Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard to help with the rescue. Without spoiling it, things do not exactly go as planned.     One of my biggest surprises for this film is that it was almost non existent when it comes to the thrill department. When the whole series is built on things like the T-rex intro in the original film. Watching this movie there was nothing that lived even close to that moment, to the point where...

  We have come to the return of Jurassic World! The sequel puts the question, if there is an extinction level event coming, should the dinosaurs be saved?    I will be seeing one movie that is not wide release this week. "Gotti", which has become a little famous for receiving a zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The fun did not stop there, the makers of the film called critics, "trolls" for not liking their film. So, I am excited to see it, to be able to put my two cents in on it.   Whatever you see this weekend, I hope you enjoy it! 

  This week there were a few interesting possibilities for trailer of the week. Once, I heard the new "Creed" trailer was dropping this week, I was honestly doubted anything could top it, in my eyes.   The story picks up little while after the events of the first film. The opportunity to face the son of Ivan Drago comes along, and it is something that is too good to pass up for Adonis (Michael B. Jordan). Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is there as a moral compass of sorts, to make sure he is taking this fight for the right reasons. "Creed 2" drops in theaters November 21st.

   The bombshell of the three billion dollar loan hanging over Kendall's head takes the center stage for this episode. The question was will their stock go under 130, If it does they will owe the bank the three point five billion in full. Kendall first tries to negotiate the companies way out of this, which proved that he could not communicate very well. So he has to go and get his "friend's" company to get the money and offer them a bunch of company perks.  The other half of the episode centers around Shiv's  (Sarah Snook) war with her step mother over the ability to see Logan. She goes as far as get a background check to see whether or not she was just after the families money. By the time Shiv was able to see her father, let's just say it did not go as planned.   The absolute biggest issue is  Gregg's ( Nicholaus Braun) storyline. For the first three episodes, his existence in this series has been close to pointless. I am not saying that, I hate t...

     How do you wind a season down like that of season 2 of Westworld? You take a deep dive into the loneliness of the main four.      The episode focuses mostly on the man in black telling his daughter (Katja Herbers) about the night that her mother committed suicide. They were all at a fundraiser for something or other, and Juliet (Sela Ward), the mother, was upset. William takes her home, and puts her to bed. She asks "What of this is real?" He more or less admits its not real, that he belongs to a different world.      Just as he and his daughter were about to be rescued by Delos, he murdered the rescue team and his daughter, because he thought they were hosts designed to mess with him as apart of Ford's game.      Maeve was about to be killed off when she received a message from the digital "Ford" telling her that the hosts were his children and she was his favorite of them. She was told to fight, not just die, and ...

      Going into this film, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical as to how it would all turn out. The plot being very silly, friends that have engaged in a thirty year game of tag, group together to get the friend that has never been tagged (Renner).      The only way for this movie to work was if the chemistry between the leads, worked, like they had been friends their entire lives. I feel that if that works, the juvenile pranks they pull on each other actually works. Having obviously seen the film, it felt like these guys had a whole lot of fun with each other during filming. That made it work!    I think the biggest issue of the film, is the fact that the movie consists of roughly two hours of the same thing over and over again, with very much lack in the development in anything else. I was completely caught  off guard by the end of this. They attempt to pull out the emotions to grab the audience on what it means to be friends, that...

    The day has finally come, after a nearly fourteen year wait, we now get to see if it can hold up to one of the most highly respected Pixar movies ever?    The movie picks up right where the last one left off, with the family going head to head with the Underminer.  This fight catches the attention of Winston and Evelyn Deavor (Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener). Their goal is to bring all of the supers out of hiding and back to saving people. They believe the best way to do that is to get Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) out saving people, building good rapport with the community.      On the flip side, Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson)  is left at home, with the kids. He finds out, raising the kids is just as draining as crimefighting.    This movie has something strange, One of my points is a negative and positive at the same time. The littlest Parr, jack-jack, carries this film. Personally, this character has  every sing...

    This week, we get two comedies, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum of each other. First, we get the release of the hugely anticipated "Incredibles 2". It has been fourteen years since the original was released,  and the film picks up exactly where the previous left off. This time, we see mom gets to take other the hero work, while dad takes care of the kids. It should be a fun dynamic to see.      On the other side there is "Tag". It is about a group of friends that have played the same game of tag for thirty years.  That concept, right there, is about as compelling as it gets.     Whatever you choose to choose to see this weekend

        This week there was a bonus movie to review that I had forgotten about. In case you were wondering, it was a Wednesday release.      "Superfly" tells the story of a young drug dealer named Priest (Trevor Jackson), who wants one last "big sale" before he is out for good.    The one good thing I can say about this movie, is it knows its style. In terms of set and costume design, it is probably one of the best of the year.    The biggest mystery of this whole film, is the cinematography. Director X (director of "Superfly"), has experience with directing mostly music videos for the likes of Drake and Fifth Harmony. When it comes to this, it really made me question whether not he knew  what he was doing with the camera, like in vehicles. More often than not, the placement of the camera, actors were never in the same shot,  even during conversations. It made me angry watching these scenes.    When the s...

   This was the second week in a row where is was almost impossible to pick a trailer. This time, it was not because there were so many great ones, it was because the pile was not the best. My pick is, more, or less, based on potential. The "Halloween" franchise has gone from high to real low through the years. What could work, is going back, and undoing all of the sequels. Plus, not to lie, I am interested to see where they take Laurie Strode as the bad ass hero. It would kill this movie if she dies in the beginning, especially after the events of "Halloween: Resurrection". "Halloween" drops, October 19. 

   The family drama continues for the Roy family. We pick up where we left off, Logan is in a coma and the children are left with what exactly to do if he never wakes up. Kendall (Jeremy Strong) makes a push to take control of the company he was promised. His family resisted this, because everyone wants a piece for themselves. Shiv ( Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) try to offer it member of the promotions board, but no one wants it .They have to reach a decision  by 6:30 am to avoid a total meltdown in the public's trust in the company, and to hopefully keep the business in the family.    What I liked about this episode was the power struggle between the family in a very small setting, of the hospital suite. I feel like it makes things more intimate. It is why got more hand-held shots.    Sorry about the lack of review this time around, but great episode. Easily my new favorite show of the year.   GRADE: A-  

   This episode pauses our main conflict story with Delores, William, and company to give us the back story to the Ghost Nation tribe. Specifically, taking the  lead for  the tribe is Akecheta (Zahn McClarnon). This story goes to the beginning of Westworld when it was not open, and the Native Americans, had a good and easy life. When the park was opened, Akecheta, had his mind wiped and he was turned "savage". On an off trip back to the tribe he once knew, he ran into a previous love, and instantly remembered everything of his previous life. During the cover of night, he kidnaps her to try to escape the world and be free, but she is captured by park security. Over the next several years, he searches desperately for her, with no luck. He figures that if he cant find her in life, perhaps death is the best option?    I can not sing  high praises enough for the performance that Zahn McClarnon turned in for this episode. I first knew of him from the A a...

    With an eleven year difference from "Ocean's 13" to "Ocean's 8", can it hold up to the originals, and can it be successful?     This film spins off and has Danny's sister Debbie (Sandra Bullock) as the lead. The story picks up with Debbie being freshly released from prison. Would you know, there is already a plan in place to steal one hundred and fifty million dollars. Of course, she needs the help of several others.      I think the best thing this film has going for it, is the chemistry between the co- stars. For a movie like this to work, the actors need to be able to work off themselves well. The original Ocean's movie's have that, and it definitely carries over.       Overall, with the Ocean's movies, they have an overall sense of fun. There is fun, in finding out how they are going to steal whatever it is they plan on stealing. This film also carries on that same feeling.     On the negative side of this, plot...

 As you know, I do not get the first look at movies. So when the early reviews for this movie called this "the scariest movie of the year", it colored me intrigued.    Annie (Toni Collette ) has just lost her mother. As she goes through her mother's things, she realizes the past does not always stay dead.   When it comes to horror in general, I very much love when it is not about the constant jump scares. This movie is very much about the slow burn. By the time you get to the end, it gets unnerving to say the least.    When it comes to a technical aspect of this movie, what stood out to me the most was how well the film was shot. When things start to descend into madness, the camera sucks you in, makes you feel like you are right there with them. That just sells the film even more.   The performances of the film were also something to talk about, especially in the case of Toni Collette. The character she plays requires someone to go through a l...

     When you get a movie that is headlined by Jodie Foster, Jeff Goldblum, Sterling K Brown, and Charlie Day, its hard to keep your expectations in check.      Hotel Artemis is a hospital for criminals. In this hotel, there are many rules. To start ,you must pay membership fees to use the hospital. Also, while you are there are no weapons or killing other patrons. The film asks the question, what if someone does not obey these rules?      I feel like this film was not quite sure what it was. It switches between comedy, drama and action. By the end it kind of finds its footing, when it comes to the action. Even after the end of it, I wondered, what exactly I had watched.      The problem with the only action scene is it never feels like enough. If they added maybe twenty or so minutes to it, it could have helped. The characters were very flat, one dimensional. Taking and pulling out the story a bit longer could fix the...

This week we have three new films coming out this week.      First up is the horror, film "Hereditary".  After the death of her mother, Annie (Toni Collette) begins to uncover disturbing things about her family.     Second in line is " Ocean's 8".  This is a direct spinoff of the Ocean's franchise that had George Clooney in the title role.  This time, Sandra Bullock steps in as Debbie Ocean, and she wants to steal a one hundred and fifty million dollar diamond necklace.    Finally, we have " Hotel Artemis". What happens when your hospital for criminals is attacked, by other criminals?      What is everyone going to see this weekend?

  Before I start, I would like to say, in this post there will be some spoilers for season 2. So, after not much time, we now have the official announcement that "13 Reasons Why" is getting a season 3. When it came to a reason for season 2, it seemed more unnecessary to continue. Going through season 2,  reactions were not as good.    I would make the argument that the need is actually there for a season 3. The story with Devin Druid's, Tyler Down, should be posed to take center stage. The fallout of his sexual assault, and almost school shooting could make for some interesting stories.   On the opposite side, people are not done with Justin Prentice's, Bryce Walker, vengeance should be coming in some form. Plus there is the storyline of Chloe Rice ( Anne Winters) being pregnant at the end of the second season can be addressed .    Whatever happens, we will see in 2019. 

To continue the look at the 2018 films, we have now come to the best of the first six months. Sound off! 10. Incredibles 2                                             9.  Paddington 2 8. Hearts Beat Loud                                       7.  Upgrade 6.  Quiet Place 5.  Tully 4.  Thoroughbreds 3.  Annihilation 2.  Isle of Dogs 1. Won't You Be My Neighbor?

    This week was a bit of a tough choice, because there was a lot of great trailers this week. For you that don't know, that really does not happen very often. Any who, "Widows"tells the story of four ladies that are forced to continue the work of their late husbands, who acquired major debt before they died.     Steve McQueen directs the film, which gives me a lot of confidence in the quality. He directed a few great films you may know, "12 years a Slave" and "Shame".  The cast is not to bad, either, it includes: Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall.    We get to see what happens November 16th. 

So we have made it through the first six months of 2018. As with every year, you get good movies, and the bad ones. Today, here are the bottom ten of the year so far.  What did you see that you thought was crap? Sound off! 10.  Kings                       9.  Breaking in 8.  Showdogs                                        photo from trailers.apple.com 7.  Death Wish           6. Traffik                                   5. Winchester                                           4. Action Point             ...

   With the big reveal of Ford (Anthony Hopkins) in the previous episode, I was excited to see where this episode was going to go.    This weeks episode starts out with the discovery by the "rescue crew" people that Bernard is a host and not a human. The story than flashes back to the attack on the headquarters, vis a vis the result of the train explosion from the end of the last episode. There is a lot of time spent in the cradle with the interaction between Ford and Bernard. We got the back story in how Bernard came to be. The big thing that came out of the time in the cradle, was Ford followed Bernard back into his brain so they can occupy it together. We end the episode with Dolores and Peter Abernathy  being over    One thing that is kind of getting to me about this season is the fact that the hosts, lead by Dolores, really has not had any real challenge. They really have never had any challenge to complete the goals they have had. It has b...

      When looking to expand my tv reviews, I have to be honest I struggled to pick what the right one would be. When I came across "Succession", it had all the right marks. This show was created by Jesse Armstrong, who's biggest credit previous to the show was screenwriter to the film "In the Loop".  This got Armstrong an oscar nomination for his work. What really drew me to this show was Adam McKay.  McKay directed one of my favorite films of all time, "The Big Short". It showed the corruption of the people that controlled the housing market. When a show about a power hungry family that lives the rich life, was too good to pass up.       The story surrounds Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his family. When the show picks up, Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is poised to to take over for his father. He is at the head of an acquisition of a company, that say just is not going well. Little do we know, Logan has plans of his own.     The thing that I...

   With Johnny Knoxville looking for his return to the american movie theater the question was, how can he do that? He for the most part is known for his "Jackass" show and films. So, the answer is write a movie that takes great influence from Action Park.  For those of you that do no not know, Action Park, was a real life park, that was very relaxed on the safety rules. Hence this gives Knoxville the chance to do "Jackass" without really doing "Jackass".    The plot for the film is pretty straight forward for this one. Boogie (Eleanor Worthington- Cox) comes to visit her father, DC (Johnny Knoxville) in California every year for the summer. The catch is, Dad owns the amusement park Action Point. This park has no idea what the term safety  even means, to say the least they are always running into their share of problems.     I think probably my biggest issue when it came to this film, was the fact that the name Mike Judge has anything to do ...

   So how would it feel to be stranded in the ocean for 41 days?    "Adrift" tells the story of how Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin) meet in Tahiti and fall in love. These two happen to be avid sailors, in this story. Tami and Richard are employed to take a big yacht from Tahiti to  San Diego. During this 4000 mile journey they hit a massive hurricane that changes everything.     The big positive that comes out of this movie is the performance of Shailene Woodley. This movie was going to sink or swim based on the strength that she brought. People needed to be convinced of Tami's strength and she killed it. Another thing that needs to be great when it comes to films like this is great cinematography. This film does a great job of showing how small the boat is in such a big ocean.   There were a few things that this film struggled with. When the tidal wave comes that gets the couple lost at sea, you see Tami get t...

     As June hits, we are also hit with the second Leigh Whannell film of the year. The first one being "Insidious: The Last Key". So, the question remains, which one comes out on top.    The story centers around Grey (Logan Marshal-Green). He is a man that builds classic cars and sells them from his home.  On the opposite side, his wife is high ranking official at one of the big robotics companies. They seem to be an opposite couple that works. One day, on the way back from dropping off a car, they get attacked. The wife is killed, while Grey is left paralyzed from the neck down. This left him in utter anguish and wanting to die. One day, a young tech mogul, gives him an option. He has invented something called STEM. It bridges his severed spine so he could walk again. Grey begins to think, with his ability to walk again, why not go after the people that killed his wife? When he does, he finds out that STEM does much more than just make him walk. ...