Ricky112101 Reviews

The Mummy (2017)

Very fun movie with cool effects

[9/10 · 2 January 2018]

I don't understand the hate behind this movie. It was fun! Tom Cruise was being Tom Cruise the whole movie (who doesn't like that), but honestly, it was Sofia Boutella who carried this movie as Princess Ahmanet. The effects were solid for a film of this caliber. My particular favorite scene is when Ahmanet is walking through the streets of London while summoning and ultimately embracing the Sands of Egypt destroying the city. Overall, I liked this movie, and I do not see why it has gotten so much hate. One of the better films I've seen lately.

Before I Fall (2017)

Decent YA book adaption

[8/10 · 22 December 2017]

I went into this movie with low expectations, given it is a YA book adaption. Most YA book adaptions tend to be quite bad movies (especially The 5th Wave), but this one was actually very good. The acting was decent and the plot stayed true to the novel. Now, what is the movie about, you might ask?

The film follows high school senior Sam, who is a typical rich girl with typical rich girl friends. One fateful night after a party, Sam and her friends get into a fatal car crash, and Sam dies. Or does she? Sam wakes up the next day...but it is the same day of the wreck. Thrown into a never ending time loop, Sam must figure out how to stop the loop, and if she can even save herself. The film is quite emotional and deals with several issues such as suicide and bullying. The movie tends to be aimed toward teenage girls, but as a 16 year old guy, I liked this movie. The book was pretty good, too.

Overall, if you are a fan of time loop movies (think Edge of Tomorrow without the alien invasion), you will like this movie.

It Follows (2014)

Overrated with really dumb characters

[4/10 · 21 December 2017]

I truly do not understand why this movie has such high marks. The film is quite annoying in a sense that we have extremely stupid and dumb characters. Why would you think you can electrocute or shoot a demon...a demon is clearly not alive and cannot be shocked or shot with a gun. I usually overlook logic in a movie, but that was just bad.

Maika Monroe is a hit or miss actress. She did pretty well in this movie. She was definitely the stand out character. Everybody else was just bland or boring or just a bad actor/actress. And again, most of the characters are just plain dumb. Beyond horror movie dumb.

The monster was cool. I'll admit that. A "sexually transmitted" demon. How often do you hear that?And I think that is why the movie got such high marks. However, one cool monster does not make up for a cast of bad decisions that could have easily been avoided. Overall, I'm going to have to give "It Follows" a 4/10.

The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)

Disturbing and scary

[8/10 · 21 December 2017]

"The Witch" is one of those types of horror movies that doesn't rely on cheap jump scares or sexual content to be a success. No, this is one of those unsettling and terrifying horror movies. This particular film has an excellent cast with Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, and Kate Dickie carrying the film. Because the film is set in 17th century New England, it is quite hard to understand what is being said a lot of the time, but that is what makes this movie work in a sense.

The film is basically about a Puritan family who are told they are banished from their own village because they violated some religious rule that we are not told of. They end up moving to a small farm in the woods with a horse and several goats. Well, from there, things start going downhill. Their baby goes missing, presumably snatched by a wolf, but the children think something more sinister is going on. Supernatural disease also strikes when Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw) goes missing, but comes back in an apparent possessed state of mind. The film is terrifying and suspenseful, and absolutely nothing is cheesy about it. It is actually quite mysterious, too. Is it a wolf? Is it a witch? Is it a demonically possessed goat? Is it Thomasin? Give this one a watch. I'm going to rate it 8/10.

Love Yourself (II) (2016)

Beautiful motivating short film

[10/10 · 21 December 2017]

This was a beautiful short film starring Sophie Lowe and Ryan Corr. The short film is basically Sophie self motivating Ryan to embrace himself, because the most important person in your life is you. The music in the background was stellar, and Sophie's commentary was like spoken words on a song. In fact, "Love Yourself" was almost like a music video in the sense. I loved it!

Amityville: The Awakening (2017)

I expected more, but it is decent enough

[5/10 · 21 December 2017]

After countless years in pre and post production, this movie finally arrived to us in late 2017. I'll admit I kind of forgot about it, and just watched it last night (December 19, 2017). The movie just wasn't interesting to anybody anymore because of the constant release changes. In fact, the movie was only released in ten United States theaters and made about $700. But, enough about the movie statistics. Let's talk about the movie itself.

Amityville: The Awakening stars Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Cameron Monaghan, and Mckenna Grace. These characters move into the haunted Amityville house located in Amityville, New York. This is the same house that Ronald DeFeo Jr. murdered his entire family 40 years ago. However, the mother is keeping this a secret from her children. Bella (Bella Thorne) finds this out the hard way when kids at her new school bring it to her attention. The freaky and supernatural begins with James (Cameron Monaghan), who is in a coma, is suddenly awake and able to communicate. Well, this must be supernatural. Turns out it is. James is possessed by a demon. And he wants to murder his entire family in the same vein as Ronald DeFeo Jr. Oh, and it's up to Belle to save herself and her sister, Juliet (Mckenna Grace), because their mom (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is pretty much a supernatural worshiper because she moved to the house with the intention of the supernatural possessing Jason to make him better.

Sounds like a good movie? Yeah, on paper, it sounds like the generic fun summer horror flick. However, it is quite dull in areas, and the scares are pretty low, which is unfortunate, considering this is technically an Amityville movie. However, suspense was actually quite high, and acting was somewhat good. The few times I did jump were during cheesy jump scares like when it's just the girl behind her sister. Overall, I am going to have to give film a 5/10. I watched it and was entertained enough to watch the whole thing (it is only 87 minutes, though). I would only recommend this to some horror fans. Not everybody will be as generous with their rating.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Fun sequel; not as good as the original

[7/10 · 18 December 2017]

The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a pretty fun movie and a worthy sequel to Jurassic Park. I would say this film is "in the middle" for the franchise. It is better than Jurassic Park III, but not as good as Jurassic World. The special effects are top notch, and the characters are likable enough. Plus we have cameo appearances from the kids from the first movie, which is pretty cool. Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore are the stars here, and they were both amazing. A lot of people dislike the San Diego scene, but I felt like it added something new and different that we have yet to see in any other Jurassic Park movie to date. Overall, this movie is a decent sequel to 1993's Jurassic Park, and deserves a solid 7/10.

Jurassic Park (1993)

The one that started it all

[10/10 · 18 December 2017]

This is the film that launched one of the most expensive and popular franchises of all time. 1993's "Jurassic Park" has spectacular special effects that still hold up today, a great cast, and suspense.

Interestingly enough, the effects in this film are actually better than 2015's Jurassic World. This may be due to the actual use of animatronics in this one versus an abundance of CGI in the new film. The T Rex is frighteningly realistic and those raptors, Oh. My. God.

Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough....ahhhh!! A stellar cast you won't find nowadays. And this coming from a huge Owen Grady fan. There was just something like Dr. Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm. I loved these characters.

The plotline here is more simplistic compared to later films. Power goes out on island. Scientists must figure out way to stop dinos. Oh, and there are kids running around the dino park with a guy who could care less about kids. But it worked. This is a very enjoyable film, even today. There are some aspects that could be considered dated, but for a 1993 film, it is still really good today. I would recommend giving this one a watch. You won't be disappointed.

The Fate of the Furious (2017)

Solid action movie with a few flaws

[7/10 · 18 December 2017]

This movie is pure action movie. It features car chases, explosions, gun fights, and even submarine warfare. This series sure has come a long way since the first film came out in 2001.

"The Fate of the Furious" pits stars Vin Diesel against his crew (Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, etc.) due to a mysterious woman (Charlize Theron) holding something against him.We aren't told immediately why Dom (Diesel) is doing this, but we get a plot twist later on in the film that was interesting, but disappointing at the same time. But without this plot twist, we have a completely different movie, so it is essential to the plot and story I guess.

Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham were awesome in this movie. The scenes between these specific two were some of my favorite. The exceptionally cheesy but awesome prison fight was among my favorite scenes in the movie.

However, we have some really ridiculous scenes involving Dwayne Johnson picking up a torpedo with his bare hands while inside a movie vehicle on ice and flinging that torpedo at enemies is over the top (but awesome too) and a scene where sports cars outrun a giant military submarine. Some of the acting was sub par for the series, but it wasn't bad necessarily. Overall, this is a solid action movie, and if you are a fan of the others in the series, you will like this one.

The Last Stand (2013)

Fun Action Movie

[8/10 · 17 December 2017]

This movie is exactly what it should be. A fun and exciting action movie. This particular film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jaimie Alexander, and Johnny Knoxville. The film is set in a small southern Arizona town where nothing ever happens, but when a group of strangers arrives in town, some weird things start to happen. It starts with the murder of a local farmer, which then escalates into a shootout on the outskirts of town which results in the death of a deputy. Turns out, a drug kingpin escaped the feds in Las Vegas, Nevada and is on his way to Mexico, and just so happens he plans on crossing the border in this Arizona town, and it is up to Schwarzenegger's team to stop him. A ton of action and races makes this a very enjoyable film. Arnold and Jaimie were great, and so was the rest of the cast (Forest Whitaker, Peter Stormare, etc.). I would give this film an 8/10.

Road Kill (2010)

Alright horror flick; stellar performance by Sophie Lowe

[6/10 · 16 December 2017]

This was an interesting and alright horror flick. This idea has been toyed with before, with Joy Ride and Duel, but this one is almost supernatural horror in the desert. The effects are decent for the budget, but they aren't spectacular. The acting is actually decent for this type of film, but Sophie Lowe once again carries another film. Overall, if you like low budget horror flicks that are actually better than some others, watch "Road Train". I'm going to go ahead and give this one a 6/10.

After the Dark (2013)

Interesting film that makes you think

[7/10 · 16 December 2017]

I don't understand all the negative reviews on this one. The idea behind it is spectacular to be honest. An entire movie based on a thought experiment. The movie centers around a group of students involved in a social thought experiment on surviving an atomic apocalypse. The effects are pretty mediocre, but that is due to a low budget, so that is not too big of a deal to me. Acting is not the best, but Sophie Lowe and James D'Arcy are quite good. In fact, Sophie Lowe carries the film. She is great.

Now, this film is probably not philosophically accurate, but frankly, I do not care. I liked it for what it was probably meant to be. A fun and quick sci-fi action movie. And again, Sophie Lowe was great. 7/10

Jurassic World (2015)

Satisfying 4th installment to the JP series

[8/10 · 16 December 2017]

"Jurassic World" is the 4th installment in the Jurassic Park film series, and while it does not live up to the original, it works as a satisfying sequel to the original. However, this is also the best Jurassic Park sequel (as of today at least). The effects are great, and there are several new and returning dinosaurs from the original. The Indominus Rex is a really cool creation that I really liked. Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), however, is the only returning human character from the original.

This movie introduces us to Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), who are solid Jurassic Park characters. The movie still has a "Jurassic Park" feel to it even with these new and modern characters. However, they do some really dumb things at times. What is shooting at a huge hybrid dino with a small hunting rifle going to do? And why get into your vehicle to phone HQ instead of at the paddock control room? Oh, well. Overall, this was a solid film in the series, and I have enjoyed it several times. You should watch it, and give it a chance. 8/10