(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.

(film review) - Tron: Ares

Before I even get into it, I just want to start off by saying this film is good and entertaining. Jared Leto was also really good in the role, so if you have any reservations about his acting, he is really good and is not the problem with this movie. Any shortcomings are not because of him, so if you do not like him, that is a different situation. And with that out of the way, I also want to highlight that I have recently watched the original Tron and the sequel, and whilst the first one is good but does not hold up today, Tron: Legacy is stylish and entertaining, but the dodgy de-ageing makes the film feel off, because the story is ok, not great, just ok. Tron: Ares spends more time setting up the future of the franchise rather than just telling a standalone story with loose suggestions or connective elements hinting at the possibility of a sequel. I'll explain.

Following Sam Flynn’s departure and decades after Kevin Flynn’s disappearance, Encom is now under the leadership of Eve Kim, a determined CEO pushing the boundaries between the digital and physical worlds. Her goal: to give life to inorganic matter, digital constructs. When illness sidelines Tess’s sister, Eve Kim steps in to continue her sister's research, determined to see it through. Across the city, a rival company, Dillinger Systems, led by Julian Dillinger — the grandson of a former Encom head, Ed Dillinger — is chasing the same breakthrough, but with a far more dangerous vision. His focus is on weaponising the digital constructs to create a new generation of digital soldiers for profit and power. As both sides compete to achieve the impossible, an advanced AI known as Ares begins to seek a life beyond his programming. But with Enforcers closing in and corporate motives spiralling out of control, the race to bring inorganic matter to life threatens to blur the line between creation and domination.

The bottom line is, the film is decent and enjoyable, Jared Leto is really good as Ares, but as I said before, the story spends more time setting up the future of the franchise because the film has many questions it does not answer. The scope, lore, and world of Tron (the film) could go a lot further and be more expansive. I will give an example. There used to be an animated show called 'Reboot', where the User (the person who would insert a game to play for their own enjoyment - ie, anyone who plays computer games/video games) would insert a game into the system, and the system would play the game to beat the user. The system was a computer world filled with 1s and 0s, a living, breathing world and many different characters; Hexadecimal, Megabyte and others. For some reason or another, whilst brother and sister, Megabyte and Hexidecimal would always try to corrupt and overthrow/rule the system, as well as battle each other. However, a security programme, a guardian within the system named Bob, would join the games and often try and help the user to win the games, but mostly, try to stop Hexidecimal and Megabyte from corrupting the system. There were likely other villains or other programmes like Hack and Slash as other computer programming that were different to the 1s and 0s, but Hexadecimal and Megabyte are the two I remember clearly. Bob is clearly based on Tron, the character within the Tron movies, and Clu is equivalent to either Hexidecimal, Megabyte or any other villain, so with all that said, whilst Tron: Legacy began opening up the world of Tron and the various different characters within the system, Tron: Ares does not expand on this at all. Tron does nothing to expand the world within the grid, and with Ares being as capable as he is, it made me question the whereabouts of other characters or why there were not any other characters within the system. I could see a world where there are different factions within the grid, lost tribes, factions or religous zealots etc, living within the system and something happens that ends up being 'Battle of the Five Armies', something where there is a fight for the control of the Grid (ok, as I type that, it is starting to sound expensive due to everything in the Grid and special effects money), but the Grid does not need to look like how it did in Tron: Legacy, maybe it could look like the real world with accents that inform the viewer that it is a game world, such as imagery, design or something. Think the movie 'Free Guy' or something. All this AI becoming self-aware and wanting to come into the real world could come later within the franchise when maybe the collapse of the Grid occurs due to ongoing wars within the system and manipulation in the real world via some competitor like Dillinger Systems. This was touched on at the beginning of the movie, but the film is lacking depth, and I feel a lot of Disney films are doing this of late.

The special effects are superb! It is a Tron film, so if I am honest, this is what you are paying your big money for, to see something on the screen that looks really cool. The Recogniser, the light cycles, and just like Tron: Legacy, the film introduces a few more vehicles that look very cool, especially in the real world. Some new vehicles and some old school favourites, but Tron will always provide something so cool you wish it was available in real life. Along with the vehicle shots, the visuals were top-notch from the fight scenes to the birdseye view when the light cycles race through the city, leaving light trails; it was great. I am not 100% sure how they work, but they were cool in the 80s, they were cool in Tron: Legacy, and they are still cool now. Even when the computer characters die, it looked amazing, and they have one-upped from the previous movie, although it does look very painful.

As I stated before, the acting by Jared Leto was really good. Whilst I heard he was great, I am not sure I would put great in there, but I had no issues with the portrayal of his character and in some instances, he was very funny. He was able to deliver some funny lines in only the way a self learning AI construct could, as it learns and adapts quickly to everything around it. The supporting cast, whilst not many, were also good, nothing spectacular, as they did what they were scripted to do or asked of them with no real standouts. Actors like Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger and Gillian Anderson as his mother could have been given a lot more to do, more lines, motivations or something, but unfortunately, how they were written was only to serve the plot, which is ok at best, because the storyline is fairly flimsy. Jodie Turner-Smith gave me T1000 vibes in a cool, sleek and sexy way. And I am not saying that because, as an person in real life, she is sleek and sexy (because she is), but ever since Tron: Legacy, everything was sleek, stylish and sexy, and this film continues that and Jodie was simply excellent in her role being the "Clu" of the third film, determined and relentless and I will just leave it at that for now. Greta Lee as Eve Kim was good in the role as well. I understood her pursuit and the reasons as to why she was doing what she was doing, and I could even see where she may go in the future with her thoughts or inorganic life and digital constructs, whilst she battled for her life over life. Her business partner, Hasan Minhaj as Ajay Singh, provided some laughs and brought some added levity to the movie, which also made the film entertaining. Lastly, seeing Jeff Bridges was great, and he served a small purpose in the movie, but I think I needed some of his background and his existence explained.

And to save the best till last, the music is superb! It is a Tron film, so if I am honest, like the special effects, this is what you are paying your big money for, to see something cool, enjoy a simple to ok storyline, but vibe with the music and bop your head from the beginning of the movie until the very end. The music is from Nine Inch Nails, and the music was a GREAT vibe, and unfortunately stands out more than the movie does.

Upon reflection, the Tron movies never really made ALL THE MONEY. The original movie was made for 17 million, and it made 50 million. Tron: Legacy was made for 170 million, and it made 409.9 million. These are making a profit, albeit, not something to write home about, but still a profit nonetheless. Tron: Ares was made for 180-220 million, and so far it has only made 106.4 million, so in industry standards, this is a flop (so far). I do not anticipate this movie making double what it has made thus far, because nobody is really watching it, and that could be due to a variety of reasons. But what I will reiterate, if you have a problem with Jared Leto, fine, but this film is really entertaining and he is good in it too, but with a flimsy storyline, missing characters and the focus on extending the franchise, especially with the end credits scene, this is still an enjoyable movie and I am curious as to where they were looking to go next. I would like them to dip their toe back into this franchise, but they really need to do more going forward, because retrospectively, watching this film made the second film a little better in comparison, as it elevates the world of the grid. Seeing the Grid in this movie is breathtaking, so why not see more of it and more characters and lore built in? Definitely go and watch it because it is really enjoyable.