Masters of the Universe by Jonathan Hughes

★★★★☆

As a fan of Mortal Kombat since its inception back in 1992 I had very mixed feelings towards the 2021 reboot which was faithful but to SOME extent as they nailed the rivalry between Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Johannes Taslim) perfectly but let me down with adding a random new character as the lead protagonist and made a mess of Goro who was far more intimidating in the 1995 classic. Thankfully this sequel is far more faithful to the source material and gives die-hard fans that have followed this iconic gaming franchise for over 3 decades exactly what they want.

Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) is a washed up former martial artist turned action movie star from the 90’s summoned by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) to compete in the Mortal Kombat tournament where the outcome will determine the fate of Earthrealm.

Johnny Cage reluctantly joins Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Cole Young (Lewis Tan) against the forces of Outworld lead by a power-hungry Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford) where Kinata (Adeline Rudolph) and Jade’s (Tati Gabrielle) friendship and loyalty to outworld are put to the test.

The suprise returns of Kung Lao (Max Huang) and Kano (Josh Lawson) have their parts to play as well as Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) play their part in the tournament whilst Scorpion (Sanada) and former Sub-Zero now Noob-Sibot (Taslim) continue their rivalry in hell itself the Netherealm.

From start to finish this is action packed with some of the best Martial Arts fight scenes that I’ve seen since The Raid movies. Kung Lao Vs Liu Kang was a personal highlight for me. Karl Urban and Josh Lawson have possibly the funniest scenes with their chemistry on screen. But the best on screen chemistry in this movie has to be Adeline and Tati as Kitana and Jade respectively, building on their chemistry from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Martyn Ford was well cast as the overwhelming power house that is Shao Kahn. I was always a fan of his in the video games and Martyn certainly did him justice. Speaking of Video games this is one of the best video game movies I’ve seen since the recent Sonic the Hedgehog movies and the 2006 Silent Hill movie; this movie is two hours of fan service for fans of Mortal Kombat with references to the likes of the stages, moves, costumes, stories of the games and even atmosphere.

I’m hoping they keep making more Mortal Kombat movies to keep this story going as there is so much they can still give us. Especially if Director Simon McQuoid is willing to stay on to direct too.

This is THE Mortal Kombat movie the fans have been waiting for.

★★★

OK…This is probably the TOUGHEST review I will have to write as I’m going to begin with my star rating from the beginning…..3.5/5!

I cannot FULLY explain why I gave SCREAM 7 this rating without spoiling the newest entry into this ICONIC franchise which this time is directed by original SCREAM writer Kevin Williamson but I will do my best to justify this rating.

So, let’s begin…

Sidney Evans (not Prescott which I thought was an interesting place to be this time around as she’s married with kids) is extremely overprotective over her daughter Tatum (Isabel May…..took me 20 minutes into the film to catch on to the fact that Sidney named her daughter after her friend Tatum from the original SCREAM movie.) Especially when a new Ghostface emerges and plots to hurt Sidney the only way they know how…through her daughter Tatum. Sidney and some friends old and new attempt to band together to reveal Ghostface’s true identity only to realise that the past has come back to haunt them.

Let’s talk about the good…

This entry has ARGUABLY one of the best opening scenes of the franchise…..that the trailers already spoiled for us…..if I hadn’t seen that in the trailers, I would’ve lost my mind, however it was still a great opening scene nonetheless. This could be Neve Campbell’s best performance as Sidney in a SCREAM movie. She’s not just some ‘Final Girl’ trope, trying to survive a serial killer, she is now a mother trying to protect her daughter which raises the stakes and makes the movie more impactful as Sidney does not need to die in order for this movie to have a tragic ending. I liked Courtney Cox’s Gale Weathers in this movie a lot more than I did in SCREAM 6. She’s more like the Gale Weathers I knew from the first 3 SCREAM outings. My personal favourite of the last 2 SCREAM films is back in Mindy as Jasmin Savoy Brown gets to have her short but very sweet moment in this movie along with ‘Core 4’ companion Chad (Mason Gooding), give them a limited series and make it a slasher comedy and I’ll be watching.

The following is NOT a Spoiler as it’s been the worst kept secret that Mathew Lillard was returning as Stu Macher and he took his character from the first SCREAM movie and put him on GOD MODE with his performance. Mathew Lillard at 56 years old has the energy of Jim Carry in the mid 90’s and to me is one of the most UNDERRATED Actor working in the industry today!

The kills are very creative (again possibly some of the best in the franchise) The tone of this movie is very intense as it’s about a mother protecting her daughter which makes this movie gripping at times.

This movie has a lot of great and potential memorable quotes too that won’t surprise me if they are seen on memes and shorts in the very near future.

Now onto the bad and why I gave this a 3.5/5-star rating……because throughout this movie I had my theories about the conclusion of this movie that didn’t come to pass which left me disappointed. They did not stick the landing of this movie. Again, I can’t go into the specifics without going into spoiler territory but I did explain to the lady sitting next to me during the credits about how I thought the movie was (and maybe should’ve) ended and she thought I had a better ending thought out. It’s a shame they didn’t as Neve Campbell and Kevin Williamson are hoping to make a SCREAM 8 based on the potential success of this entry but for reasons, I can’t get into here due to obvious spoilers I currently don’t see that happening.

Maybe the ‘Franchise hero protecting the daughter’ scenario of SCREAM 7 maybe all it takes to push this movie over THAT finish line and we get a SCREAM 8 with a more exciting climax, for now this is a solid entry into a franchise that is seven movies deep, not the best but not the worst either. Kevin Williamson did the Absolute best he could with all he learnt from legendary director Wes Craven and took his writing skills onto the directors chair but I’m very curious if he had a more ambitious ending to this movie that may have been a cliffhanger to lead into that 8th SCREAM movie that he and Neve are looking for.

★★★★★

When I was a very young my older, protective brother hid a horror VHS tape from me. I eventually found it and started watching it when I thought my brother wasn’t home. Halfway through the movie my brother came into the living room and caught me watching it, I turned to him and simply said three words…

This is AWESOME!

The movie I am referring to was the original 1981 ‘The Evil Dead’ and since then I have been a huge fan of the franchise from the sequels, the Ash Vs Evil Dead Show and (Obviously) the Video Games from ‘Hail to the King’ To last year’s Evil Dead: The Game.

Let me assure all of you deadites reading this review that Lee Cronin’s written and Directed addition to this ICONIC franchise ‘Evil Dead Rise’ is a very warm welcome one.

A family of two estranged sisters and three young kids are at the centre of a living nightmare when one of the kids finds a Book of the Dead and some LP’s that are played allowed and an ancient Evil is unleash…..You know where this goes from here…Blah Blah Blah Deadites, Blah Blah Blah boomstick, Blah Blah Blah chainsaw….Blah Blah Blah body count, Blah Blah Blah gallons (and GALLONS) of blood as the bloodshed ensues.

HOWEVER, this is (and IS NOT) your typical Evil Dead movie… Allow me to explain.

Instead of a group of friends (or a time-travelling one handed badass) you have a family of three kids and two adult sisters where one of them; Beth played by Lily Sullivan has to become a badass in order to protect her loved ones, which I think makes the movie more intense with such high stakes.

Instead of a cabin in the middle of nowhere you have an apartment in the middle of LA where anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time becomes a Deadite meat sandwich.

Executive Producer (and Ash) Bruce Campbell is quoted as saying about the production of Evil Dead Rise that “it was time to get out of the cabin” and I have to agree.

I find the dark and scary tone quite similar to Fede Alvarez’ 2013 Evil Dead but I must say that Evil Dead Rise may very well be The Best Evil Dead Movie Ever Made. It’s certainly the scariest of all of them at the very least.

The performances from the main five cast members are great all around from 11-year-old newcomer Nell Fisher as the sweet but at times weird Kassie, Morgan Davies as the little too curious Danny, Gabrielle Echols as the more level headed teen Bridget.

Lily Sullivan steps up as the young adult sister Beth who is put into a hellish nightmare scenario and is pushed through such lengths and tries to be a surrogate mother to the kids that she has to guard them against the Evil.

There are many reasons why I believe this is the scariest and possibly BEST entry in the franchise; the dark, chilling atmosphere from start to finish, the horrific score by Stephen McKeon, amongst them, but what really makes this Evil Dead movie stand out from the others has to be the performance of Alyssa Sutherland as Ellie. Her presence from when she turns into a Deadite is horrifically entertaining throughout. I haven’t felt this way about a character in a movie since Heath Ledger’s Joker from ‘The Dark Knight’ she even has a Joker style smile in the movie that is quite sinister and extremely effective in producing terror.

The sound effects of the Deadites movement, the look of the book itself, the relentless carnage throughout, the fact that there is SO much that not even the red band trailers have prepared you for.

This is an Evil Dead movie made BY Evil Dead fans FOR Evil Dead fans. I may very well have to stand on this hill and declare Evil Dead Rise the BEST Evil Dead movie Ever Made. I am very excited to see where writer/director Lee Cronin goes from here. I’m hoping he could make another one. One can only hope and you will too when you see Evil Dead Rise which is out in theatres from April 14th.

A Groovy MASTERPIECE!

★★★★★

How do you make a sequel to a successful Horror movie from 2019 featuring the rising star that is Samara Weaving and Hollywood icon Andie MacDowell even better with a follow up?….Simple…bring in another rising star in Kathyn Newton as a pain of a sister (I have 3 of them so BELIEVE ME I am well versed in this) and one of Horror’s greatest icons in Sarah Michelle Gellar, double down on the dark comedy and gore and you have not only one of the best horror sequels of the modern era but a contender for (Current) film of the year so far.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up mere seconds after the events of the previous movie where Grace MacCaullay (Samara Weaving) is pretty much immediately thrown back into the sadistic games as four families compete to eliminate Grace to gain the ultimate prize of unlimited wealth and power. But Grace is not alone as her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) is now also being hunted down and used (at times) for leverage by the families.

Can Grace and Faith put their past issues aside to survive another night of terror? Let’s dive in…

Directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett aka Radio Silence, could’ve left this behind and continued with a new project but instead they decided to challenge themselves to make a successful sequel to their instant 2019 classic and they have outdone themselves this time around with the remarkable chemistry of Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton.

The calm but menacing presence of Elijah Wood, Shawn Hatosy’s great performance of a man trying to prove to himself that he can step out of his family’s judgemental shadows and the big screen return of the LEGENDARY Sarah Michelle Gellar as Ursula Danforth. She has seriously  not missed a single beat since her time as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I swear I got Rock V Hogan Wrestlemania 18 vibes when I saw Samara Weaving and Sarah Michelle Gellar face-off on screen.

I am a huge fan of sadistic games in movies and this movie certainly did not disappoint with it’s creation of the rules and raising the stakes. The dark humour and violence is there throughout the movie but this is a movie about reconnecting with family under the most insane circumstances.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come splatters with blood and deadly performances from horror icons past and present, and like all great Horror movies, it leaves you wanting more.

★★

A mother has just given birth to her first child and is feeling the pressure and stress of being a mother while her husband is away for a week at a doctors’ conference. Eventually she starts losing her grip on reality which puts herself and her Newborn in grave danger.

I have got to give Adalynn some credit for the amazing opening credits and exploring the struggles of being a parent for the first time. But despite these efforts, I didn’t find it to be a completely effective horror movie, I didn’t find it too scary and had trouble following what was real and what was not real; which in some movies like Inception and Total Recall can work but unfortunately not in this case. I did however enjoy the narrating of lead actress Sydney Carvill.