(trailer review) - Crime 101

First of all, sometimes I hate seeing a bunch of familiar actors in a movie. Do not get me wrong, I do like a lot of these actors, but sometimes I wonder, why do you not have up-and-coming actors for movies that the audience do not know of, and not necessarily phase the already established actors out, but to at least bring new actors in, talented ones anyway. I know they do actually do this because how do you think Chris Hemsworth got her? With that said, I know Hollywood is about making money and having bankable talent, so when I saw the thumbnail initially, I wondered, who is in this? That looks like Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry (as my eyes focused towards the middle of the picture), so I did not even notice Chris Hemsworth really or the actor on the far right. But then, as I was watching the trailer, I found it hella fun to say, "Oh look, it's Hemsworth!" Nice seeing him in something else that isn't Marvel and playing Thor (not like he only does that and is only known for that, I mean he is Captain James T. Kirk's father and he is in other movies such as Extraction for Netflix, and other), but then I saw Halle Berry and my mind instantly went to Swordfish, thinking Hemsworth was in that, ummm, no he wasn't. But then my brain went back to Marvel and was like "Haha, it's Thor, Storm and the Hulk all in one movie", then realised when I saw Barry Keoghan, "Oh and the guy from Saltburn and Eternals!" I couldn't remember his character's name in Marvel, but it was a Marvel "collection" in my head. But as the trailer went on, I thought, this actually might actually be decent.

So the trailer starts off with Chris's character standing around on the roadside and being approached by Halle, who guesses the type of car Chris is waiting for. Later on, she states she is good at reading people. But as the trailer goes on, where it looks like he might be trying to recruit her for heists by assessing high value targets within her business as an insurer, it looks like Mark Ruffalo, (straight off of Task - because he is an officer in that and that looks great, i must see also), is the police officer trying to track these robberies along the I101 freeway and link the robberies to Chris and its a game of cat and mouse where Chris leaves evidence/clues out of habit per job, and Mark is closing in. The exchange in the car near the end is immaculate and reminded me a little bit of the Vulture and Spider-Man conversation in Homecoming. At this point in the movie, does Mark know he has the thief driving him or was that an innocent conversation? I think Mark knows, and it is all very intense. Seeing Corey Hawkins and Nick Nolte is nice, and I hope they have decent roles. When the trailer ended, I was like "THIS, I MUST SEE! Plus, I love the play on words, Crime 101.

(trailer review) - Being Eddie

Throughout my life, my introduction to the things and people I enjoy now and have always enjoyed over the years was through my cousin. My cousin was two years older than me, so even action figures got to him before me, you know? Those 15 and 18 films from the 80s and 90s, through him, I got to see them. The Running Man, Predator, Rambo, etc, I have mentioned this before, and it is true. As I think about it, I actually believe Eddie Murphy was also part of this list because of films like Trading Places, 48 Hours, Another 48 Hours, and Beverly Hills Cop. I am sure he had them on VHS. But I believe I made my own discovery or rediscovery of Eddie as I got older, because I remember being introduced to Eddie Murphy stand up comedy performances such as Delirious and Raw from a school mate and since then, pretty much all of the Eddie movies that came out after I were introduced to the stand ups (well, not all of them, but a fair bit), I watched, from Nutty Professor, Metro, Boomerang and Shrek, even Vampire in Brooklyn. I did stay away from some of Eddie's films like Dr Dolittle and Daddy Daycare, but Eddie was funny to me, so with that said, I think this doc is going to be great.

This looks great! From the moment it opens with one of the world's most gifted comedians today, with Dave Chapelle endorsing Eddie's genius and how he helped pave the way for a lot of the comics today, and also back in the 90s, solidified by what Jamie Foxx says, you know this is going to be a great documentary. Even Jerry Seinfeld says a piece, and Tracey Ellis Ross, who definitely has some ties to Eddie, as he would have met her mother back in his heyday. The shadow puppet of Donkey from Shrek definitely made me laugh, although he did not do the voice. Eddie states he wants to be in the room, everybody in the room and in between the gaps, this was such a great line as they show clips of Eddie as different characters in The Nutty Professor, something he also did earlier in his career along with Arsenio Hall in Coming to America in whom we also see in this trailer along with Kevin Hart and Chris Rock. It was a touch sad to see a Richard Pryor puppet, knowing how heavily Richard was an inspiration to Eddie, and if he were still alive, I am sure he would have been approached. Even Pete Davidson has something to say. I'm not in a rush to see this, but I definitely will. I mean, Axel F, the Netflix film that came out not too long ago, was actually decent from Netflix, so I do wonder what is Next from Eddie and Netflix going forward.

(film review) - The Long Walk

The film has been out for a while, and I am pretty sure it will leave the cinema soon. This could be the last week or maybe there are a couple of weeks still left in it, but this film, if you have not already seen it, this movie is really good, brutal, but really damn good. I was not sure what to expect from the movie, as I had heard a couple of things, but I really did not expect to get emotional. Other than recognising Mark Hamill and David Jonsson, I did not know any other the other supporting characters and only that this was a Stephen King adaptation from a book he wrote. So let me explain.

In a dystopian future in a dystopian society, 50 young men from each state volunteer to enter a yearly competition called The Long Walk as a test of endurance, where the objective is to walk from point A to point B at no more or less than 3 miles per hour, and the last person standing wins a wish and riches. With all the competitors in this competition, some people do not get on, some make friends, but the game will test you and ultimately break you until there is a winner, whilst the whole country watches.

Whilst I will try not to go into spoiler territory, I have tried to keep the synopsis as light as possible, but this film was excellent, brutal and like I previously said, emotional. I cannot remember if it was near the beginning or in the middle, where I thought to myself and wondered, "Why would someone join a competition like this?" If there could be only one winner, how are most of them cheering each other on, helping one another to get up, and not be thinking, "there can be only one!". Do not get me wrong, it is mentioned in the movie and the characters know the rules and what you need to do to win the prize, as well as what happens to you if you do not keep to the rules, but I could not fully get behind the characters wanting to win, and also make friends. But I guess everyone is in the same situation, and you are doing it together. Maybe they did not think they could die or would not die to stay motivated to win, so making friends on the long walk is nice and all, but it is either you or your buddy, right? So with that said, this film is brutal because you cannot slow your pace as you must keep to 3 miles per hour and near the end, I was definitely shaken up, emotionally. 

All the characters have their reason for joining the competition and for a lot of them, some simply just want a better life or to come out of a tough situation, so the story centres mostly around a handful of characters where you may get a little information on, as they walk and trade stories, but I was definitely in tears when a specific character got a nose bleed. Not because of the nose bleed itself, but the actor who played the character was great and entertaining, so when it was his time, it hit me hard. It was unexpected and very sad as I caught myself getting attached to some of these characters, as you feel like you are with them along this journey. Before going into this film, I kept hearing about David Jonsson from the film 'Alien: Romulus' or TV show, 'Industry' and how good he is, and he is really good, but this unknown actor (to me anyway) was good as well, so when he went, I could not help but get emotional. David Jonsson is a rising star. Cooper Hoffman (son of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) is great in this, and his character's motivations as to why he entered the competition, is a motivation I am sure most people watching will agree with, so there were a few moments that were heartbreaking. Because they have been walking for days at this point and you are often reminded how far they have walked with little food, no sleep and zero stops, as the audience watching them walk and walk and walk, there were times I felt like some scenes or imagery must be a hallucination as I couldn't quite get to grips of how long they have been walking and how I myself would feel in their battered shoes. But David Jonsson carried this movie on his back, and is clearly the standout. His backstory was also emotional, like plenty of the other contestants we get to know, so when you get to the end, you do wonder was any of it even worth it?

The cinematography was great. There were some long shots, wide shots, close-ups and some blurry shots where some of the graphical shots were pulled back from or right in front of the camera. The first death was crazy to see, and I audibly made a noise when it happened, but as the film goes on, deaths start popping up rapidly, or at least you could tell who was next to go as you see a character limping or even worse before they expire.

There is not much music in this film, as the film is carried by the acting and the interaction between characters.  The longer they walked, the longer you felt a bond with some specific characters, and you are rooting for them to win, or you are rooting for someone to eat it. You know, that one guy you dislike and you cannot wait for them to die horribly. At one point, one of the contestants had a radio, and that brought a tiny bit of levity to the story, where for a moment, the guys were frustrated, but at the same time, making the best of a bad and shitty moment, but in the end, this story is dark, bleak and also sad. The Hunger Games or Squid Game, but all you do is walk, not fighting one another, just a competition, because there could be only one. Great film. Go and see it as soon as possible, if those latter films are your thing, but also, if you like Stephen King, since it is a Stephen King adaptation after all.