Borderlands (2024)

Borderlands is a video game adaptation of the game of the same name set in the stylized futuristic world of Pandora.

Eli Roth is a director who looks like the ideal director for the film. The problem was he wasn't given full reigns to take this sort of movie to the heights it could have been. Casting was an issue and it being restricted to PG-13 was another. Roth is a visionary and the film shows it. The CG could have been left in the oven a tad longer but the glaring issue was the screenplay by the unknown and pen-named Joe Crombie.

The whole cast feels misplaced. Cate Blanchett looks tired, Kevin Hart looks like he's just ready for it to be over, Jack Black as Claptrap is written as annoying, Jamie Lee Curtis didn't even need to be in the film, and Edgar Ramirez tries to play a villain but his accent is just hard to understand. The only exception was seventeen-year-old Ariana Greenblatt who does an annoying but decent job as Tiny Tina. You might remember her from Barbie. Something is wrong when Cate Blanchett gets upstaged by a teenager.

It was okay, and I could see why audiences skipped the film. Result: C+

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Cinderella (2021)

Cinderella is a modern take on the classic tale. This time everything is politically upside down. Written and Directed by Kay Cannon, Cinderella takes any chance it can to push an agenda. It's nauseating in the forcefulness of the propaganda. It's hard to take any scene that isn't singing seriously. It lives in a dystopian world where anyone who doesn't think progressively like-minded is a fool and shouldn't have joy. The direction is okay, but that's to be expected as she probably picked up some being the producer of the Pitch Perfect trillogy. Camila Cabello plays Cinderella and her first major film. She can sing and performs well next to her stepmother played by Idina Menzel, who needs no introduction. Surely, she will be in future musicals and I can only hope for one with a better writer. Pierce Brosnan plays King Rowan and is forceful in his performance but given the point of his character, it's sad to see. Someone had to be the punching bag, and ...

Escape Room (2019)

Escape Room is presented as a Saw-like game of puzzle solving or your life ends. This time around they remove the gore to get a PG-13 rating and a January release. Adam Robitel is best known as the director of Insidious: The Last Key. Which I 'saw' and meh'd about last year. He also did Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension which I haven't seen. I stopped watching the Paranormal movies after The Marked Ones. There are some camera/direction problems nothing an average movie-goer would notice. Taylor Russell plays the main character Zoey. Don't take any offense, but she has a really hard time going full Aspergers, but once she turns Lara Croft she does a decent job. She also did the over-looked Lost in Space TV series which I still need to watch. I want to see Deborah Ann Woll in more movies after seeing her in this. She was a shining star in this film. She plays a former military survivor with a lot of baggage. You'll remember her as Karen Page from ...

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 (2023)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is the third installment in the Big Fat Greek franchise, this time they're in Greece. Written, directed, and starring Nia Vardalos, just like the previous films. Now she is being asked to become the head of the family. I imagine if they do a fourth installment that like the other sequels they will never live up to the first one and will have throwbacks you've come to expect now with any sequel. Paris is back, played by Elena Kampouris , she's pretty but her beauty isn't going to draw a crowd, and her counterpart, Elias Kacavas, isn't going to bring in the crowd looking for young eye candy. Both of them haven't been in much and their future doesn't look great either. Stephanie Nur is a newcomer to this franchise and you might recognize her from 1883 as Melodi. She does a pretty good job with the role that was designed for her. She's not heavily utilized but that was because the franchise has become an ensemble. Melina Kot...

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