Movies, Film, and Chili

  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a super-prequel to the Hunger Games. Taking place when President Snow is very young, the film lets the audience know what happened in the beginning Hunger Games. The director is the same as the other later Hunger Games movies, Francis Lawrence . He also directed I Am Legend and 2005's Constantine. The film seems the same as the other, but the writing feels vastly different and that might be because of Michael Lesslie who wrote the horrible Assassin's Creed movie. The message in the film is unambiguous that: behind every great man there's a strong woman. The problem is that Rachel Zegler doesn't give off strong woman vibes. There were other messages about how the elite subjugated the poor and disenfranchised and humanizing victims which was very popular in 2023. There was something off about Rachel Zegler's accent throughout the film. She was supposed to be country but acts like a New Yorker or perhaps a P...

The Creator  is a film that once again tries to warn the audience of the dangers of artificial intelligence. Director, Gareth Edwards, seems to only write movies where it's a band of military folks, freedom fighters, or terrorists who against all odds get the job done see: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Creator, and Monsters.  John David Washington was quickly becoming a Hollywood go-to actor, but after the mediocre response to Tenant and now the lack of an audience for The Creator  his bankability is going down. Sure he was great in the Blackkklansman, but it wasn't his acting that made that movie what it was. He has a hard time showing emotion other than stoicism. This might be why he's leaving the action/sci-fi scene and going back to Oscar bait with his next movie: The Piano Lesson. The film suffers from victim mentality, hitting you over the head repeatedly for the first fifteen minutes with how the main character is a victim of artificial intelligence. The film s...

  Good Burger 2 is the follow-up sequel to the 1997 hit Good Burger based on the Nickelodeon skit from the TV show All That . The man who brought you the hit TV show, The Last Man On Earth , Phil Traill comes to direct this. Oh, he only directed one episode? He's pretty much only done TV stuff. After seeing the film I doubt he'll be asked to do more, but then again lately in Hollywood people are failing upward. He just had to do an acceptable sequel and we got this. He didn't grow up with Good Burger, he was already an old man by that point. They should have gotten someone in their thirties to direct. The writing really feels like the first film which makes sense since they've gotten the original writers on board. Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell return to reprise their roles. They've got some All That alumni back including Lori Beth Denberg and  Josh Server.   Kenan has grown the most in terms of acting, probably from his stay on SNL and Kel just feels like he'...

  Sisu is about a retired soldier during World War II who finds gold during a Nazi occupation and his fight to get himself and others home safely. Written and directed by Jalmari Helander, the film is heavily inspired by Grindhouse and similar style films. There are many times you would think: surely that would kill a person, but it doesn't. So there is a bit of suspension of disbelief and after a while, you're just waiting to see how he survives this next scene rather than thinking there are stakes. It's fun, but you wouldn't want to watch it again. Jorma Tommila  is the main character and has this rugged look to him that makes you believe that he's seen some stuff. He doesn't really change in terms of character growth, but then again you're not really looking for that sort of arc in this film. He hasn't been in anything you've heard of but over there he's been in a bunch. Aksel Hennie plays the lead Nazi and main bad guy. He's Norwegian but...

  Napoleon is an epic that goes through the rise and eventual fall of famous French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte played by Joaquin Phoenix.  Directed by  Ridley Scott, the film doesn't have acts like what you'd expect from a story but instead just goes back and forth from wartime to love time with Napoleon's love Josephine. The film is wonderfully directed and choreographed. Full immersion included. This wasn't the first time we had seen Scott and Phoenix work together as they had done Gladiator twenty-three years before. Phoenix has a range that could have been tapped into better. He kept a very stern look on his face, and perhaps that was what Napoleon was like. It's not very cinematic and felt more biographical even though there was no attempt at an accent. His on-screen chemistry with Vanessa Kirby is very much there and he knows how to command a room with just his presence, something I imagine Napoleon was able to do. Speaking of Vanessa Kirby , she is at the tim...

  PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie  is an animated family movie based on the TV show of the same name. Turns out this is the second PAW Patrol  movie. Written and directed by Cal Brunker , who returns from the first film. He also wrote and directed the underappreciated Escape from Planet Earth.  Regarding children's movies, it was pretty safe and played to the rulebook when creating a modern movie for 2023. Although you don't expect much from the film, the target audience is still learning how to speak. My 1 year old loved it. There are some voice actors that you might recognize, James Marsden, Kristen Bell, North West, and Taraji P. Henson.  The rest are the typical cast of the PAW Patrol. There's not much to really critique as each person brought the typical performance for this type of movie. I hardly even noticed any of the actors with the exception of Henson. It entertained my kid, but I wouldn't say it had a lot for the adult audience to enjoy like the '90s an...

  Thanksgiving is a horror movie set around the titular North American holiday set in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Written and directed by Eli Roth , the film is very much influenced by Halloween, Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer.  This isn't Roth's first horror movie either as you probably know him from Hostel  or perhaps the under-rated Cabin Fever. I enjoyed the writing very much as there were so many tropes and hints that horror fans would love. The main character and expected "final girl" is Nell Verlaque . This is her first major film as almost no one has even heard of the movie The Marijuana Conspiracy  that was buried back in 2020. She's pretty, the best actress of the bunch, and rather tall which makes the love interest Bobby, played by the 5-inches shorter Jalen Thomas Brooks. Their on-screen chemistry wasn't very good.  Disney's Zombies, Milo Manheim , plays another love interest and the last part of the love triangle. He does a better jo...

  The Marvels  is a team-up between three women superheroes to save the universe from Dar-Benn. Written and directed by Nia DaCosta , this isn't the first time Marvel Studios has given a little-known director a chance at a major motion picture. Sure, she directed Candyman (2021), but it was pretty bad and quite progressive and not in a good way. There are some eye-rolling scenes: a jump rope montage, a singing and dancing alien planet, and a bunch of cats. She writes Dar-Benn as a villain who is supposed to be someone you can understand why she does the things she does but it comes off like a teenager who holds a grudge. Brie Larson reprises her role as Captain Marvel. She seems like she's really just ready for the role to be over with each scene she's in. She lacks emotions and doesn't interact well with her supposed friend who she hasn't seen in decades. Her character is inconsistent, she could single-handedly take down Thanos but now she struggles against a Kree ...

  A Haunting in Venice is an adaptation of an Agatha Christie novel of the same name. Directing and starring Kenneth Branagh , the film tries to be both scary and a mystery. I didn't have any glaring issues with the direction other than the film was boring. You're not invested in the characters and the film was a reason for Branagh to play a Sherlock Holmes-type investigator.  Both Tina Fey  and Michelle Yeoh  phone it in and just walk through the motions of the film which really disappoints me as I know Yeoh's range with Everything Everywhere All at Once.   Fey on the other hand, I'm a complete fan of but she didn't really do much in the film despite having a lot of lines.  Jamie Dornan  is one step in the acting grave. It seems that he can't shake that Fifty Shades of Grey  stink. Heart of Stone didn't help his career either earlier this year. I'm honestly getting tired of seeing him try to act. The film doesn't know what it is. If it's a myste...