Ambitious horror drama continues to shine in ‘Unfriended’ series

Posted on August 26, 2018 by reelentropy

Image courtesy OTL Releasing.

9/10 And now for the surprise sequel to Unfriended, a movie that consists entirely of one long take on a single computer screen. It’s almost impossible to complete a movie within that specific a set of limitations and not have it be great.

Unfriended: The Dark Web takes place on the brand-new computer screen of Matias O’Brien (Colin Woodell), who has stolen a high-quality laptop that has languished for weeks in the lost-and-found at the coffee shop where he works. O’Brien needs a better computer to work on his Sign Language translation program, which he hopes will help him better communicate with his deaf girlfriend, Amaya DeSoto (Stephanie Nogueras). After an early argument with her, O’Brien joins a Skype chat with their friend group alone, but soon discovers the laptop contains horrifying snuff films of the original owner torturing young women. That owner soon discovers who’s stolen his laptop, and turns his attention to DeSoto.

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‘The Equalizer 2’ doesn’t have a plot

Posted on August 26, 2018 by reelentropy

Image courtesy Sony Pictures Releasing

1/10 Every few weeks, I’ll check the views on this site and discover that my review for the first Equalizer movie has hundreds of views, for some reason. In it, I describe Denzel Washington as having come down with whatever strange disease is making Liam Neeson do all those terrible action movies, and what I eventually realized was happening was, every time there was a rumor that Denzel Washington was sick, Google would direct people to my site.

So, in the spirit of sequels, Denzel Washington is on his deathbed! His Oscar fell off his mantle and hit him and it left him brain-dead, and his rotten kids are going to pull the plug for the easy money!  

That’s not true. Mr. Washington is just fine, to the best of my knowledge. Please read my movie reviews.

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Eat shit, Disney

Posted on August 14, 2018 by reelentropy

Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced big changes for upcoming ceremonies at the behest of the Disney-ABC Television Group that owns the awards ceremony broadcast rights through 2028. Among other changes meant to reduce runtime and increase viewership that for some unfathomable reason do not include cutting the 20 minutes of uninspired foreplay from whatever late-night host they decided to permanently trivialize, the Academy will add a new Best Popular Film category to its slate. Details as to what qualifies a film as “popular” remain unknown.

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Nerves, belly laughs from brilliant debut ‘Sorry to Bother You’

Posted on July 31, 2018 by reelentropy

Stanfield carries the film, but he’s surrounded by a low-key cast of all stars in Tessa Thompson, Terry Crews, Danny Glover, Armie Hammer and the voices of David Cross and Patton Oswalt. Image courtesy Annapurna Pictures.

9/10 Sorry to Bother You is a special, special film.

Cassius “Cash is” Green (Lakeith Stanfield) is an impoverished Oakland resident living out of his uncle’s garage. He starts the film by getting a call center job, which gets him nowhere fast until he starts using his “white voice,” a nasal imitation of a wealthier white salesman (voice of David Cross). Elsewhere, millions of Americans are escaping poverty by signing up with WorryFree, a new company that directly provides housing and food instead of wages on a lifetime contract.

With the power of his white voice, Green quickly rises through the ranks at his call center, and is soon promoted from the basement selling encyclopedias to the top floor, where he sells arms and cheap labor from WorryFree.

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‘Skyscraper’ good at times, needed a plotscraper

Posted on July 31, 2018 by reelentropy

This is it. This is the whole movie. Images courtesy Universal Pictures.

4/10 Skyscraper’s got everything. It’s got The Rock, it’s got a 1.1 kilometer tall building, it’s got everything. The most ironic thing it has, though, is junk. There’s too much junk in this movie.

Skyscraper follows Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson), an FBI agent-turned security contractor after a hostage situation gone wrong left him with one leg severed below the knee. The movie opens on him evaluating security at The Pearl, the newly completed vertical city in Hong Kong that stands as the tallest building in the world by almost 800 feet. After Sawyer gives it the green light, a gang of international terrorists de-activates the building’s sprinkler system and sets it on fire. With him a kilometer away and his wife and children locked above the blaze, Sawyer must find a way back inside the building.

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