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Justice League (2017)
A decent but standard superhero team up
The heroes of DC Comics unite in an action-packed adventure that has a mix of tones but some eye-popping action. The expanded universe of superheroes has struggled with recent films doing poorly with critics while having some financial success. The most recent film was a huge hit that seemed to put the connected universe back on track. Justice League does its job moving the characters around and getting them together but a lot of it feels like something that was only half thought out and a copy of something more interesting from another comic book movie company. The action in the film was enjoyable enough for me and seeing new superheroes benefited the overall feel of the film to make it an enjoyable experience for me. Familiar faces return and a new villain adds action though often has poor special effects and corny dialogue.
Batman (Ben Affleck) uses the fear of a criminal to draw out a parademon, the footsoldiers of Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds). Bruce Wayne learns that the monsters are seeking out Motherboxes from Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot). She knows the legends and when she is done fighting off religious zealots, she joins Bruce in recruiting new heroes to help in the fight. Bruce heads to an isolated sea village to recruit Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) who turns out to have amazing water powers as Aquaman. Arthur refuses Bruce's offer so Wayne heads to another young protégé Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) who has superspeed powers after a lightning strike turned him into the Flash. Diana Prince tries to recruit Cyborg (Ray Fisher), a football star Victor Stone, who was altered by a Motherbox when his father Silas (Joe Morton) performed experiments on it.
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The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Improved reboot as Hulk joins the MCU
The big green superhero joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a reboot that skips over the origin story and jumps into the chase of Bruce Banner (Edward Norton). After a brief recap shows the Hulk's destruction, the controlling General Ross (William Hurt) trying to stop Bruce, and Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) being hurt by the Hulk rampage. Bruce disappears but General Ross pursues him using Stark technology and in cooperation with SHIELD. In the favelas of Brazil, Banner works to keep his inner monster under control with a series of meditations. He works at a bottling factory, studies the language, and tries to lay low but when a drop of his blood accidentally spills in a bottle, it triggers General Ross and his hunting party. A new member of his squad, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) takes a more ruthless approach to the pursuit but is stunned when he confronts the Hulk in a bottling factory. Banner is harassed by bullies until he turns into the Hulk before the team can advance. He beats up the teams throws a giant forklift at Blonsky before disappearing again.
General Ross scours Banner's old room looking for clues while Bruce manages to make it to another country to determined to cross the border back into America not just to converse with a mysterious Mr. Blue about a cure, but also to see his love, Betty. He watches her from a distance and seeks out shelter at a friendly pizza owner's place. Betty catches sight of him and flees but she manages to track him down in her car. He explains everything and why returned to collect his old data. Sharing it with Mr. Blue may be his only chance to find a cure. Blonsky becomes obsessed with Banner's mutation and General Ross agrees to give him a low dose of the serum. On campus, Bruce tries to escape with his data but the military surrounds him. He retreats to the library where he swallows the data stick before he morphs into the Hulk. As the Hulk, Banner fights off the military assault but Blonsky looks to be able to keep up with the Hulk. General Ross throws everything he has at Hulk including a soundwave cannon that Blonsky tricks him into chasing him into the range of. Hulk manages to break free of the soundwave and smash the vehicles. He kicks Blonsky hard smashing all of his bones against a tree. General Ross sends in a gunship helicopter but Betty steps in the way so Hulk wraps his body around her to protect her before escaping.
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Hulk (2003)
A misfire for the giant green hero, slow and dull
Ang Lee's tribute to comics and the big green uncontrollable superhero distinguishes itself with a visual style but drags with a long story that is confusing and slow. David Banner experiments on himself with a new drug that enhance the immune system when he finds out his wife is pregnant. Their son exhibits strange behavior like a lack of response to pain and green-tinged skin when he's angry. General Ross confronts Banner about his experiments and threatens to shut down his work. David Banner's son is shown with his foster parents preparing to go off to college and become a scientist. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) bikes to his lab at the institute where he works with Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly) who recently dumped him. There experiment with gamma radiation is up for review but they are planning a big experiment but it goes wrong.
Looking to purchase the lab, Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) has a unique relationship with Betty's father General Ross (Sam Elliott). A mysterious janitor (Nick Nolte) with three dogs begins to work at their lab sneaking around at night and watching Bruce. The next day the experiment goes wrong and Bruce is hit with a blast of gamma radiation. In the hospital, David Banner, the janitor, visits his son and tells him the truth of his identity. He uses his blood for his own nefarious experiments. Back in his lab, Bruce becomes uncontrollably enraged about confusing memories and transforms into the giant green monster Hulk trashing his workspace. He sees his father watching him and remembers the trauma of his childhood before leaping away into the city leaving his laboratory in shambles.
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Thor (2011)
Mediocre film, weaker MCU character
Adding a third superhero to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and expanding it into a fantasy realm, this mediocre Marvel film was one of the first I felt really disappointed with after leaving the theater though I have learned to appreciate parts of it. Astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) waits for an event with her assistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Denning) and fellow scientist Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) when chaos rains down from the sky and Jane hits a man, Thor (Chris Hemsworth). The film jumps back with a monologue from Odin (Anthony Hopkins) lectures his two son, Thor and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), about the dangers of the frost giants and the wonders of Asgard. Thor is quick to violence while Loki is more crafty but Odin can only promote one to king. He chooses Thor but during his ceremony to receive the crown, the frost giants invade and try to steal a powerful weapon. Odin's security proves too powerful but Thor is angry the Jotunheim even attempted something so brash.
Thor stews but his friends Vostagg (Ray Stevenson), Hogun (Tadanobu Asano), Fandral (Josh Dallas), and Siff (Jaimie Alexander) discouraged him from doing anything. Loki, however, encourages Thor to disobey Odin with trickier and go to Jotunheim. Thor decides to fight back but must use the Bifrost guarded by Heimdall (Idris Elba) who is upset the frost giants were able to sneak by him. The group is transported to Jotunheim where Thor challenges King Laufey (Colm Feore). A battle is almost avoided but Laufey insulted Thor. The friends fight the frost giants including a giant dog beast that Thor flies through the mouth of and out the back of its head. Odin shows up to rescues the group as Frandral is injured but war has been declared. Enraged with Thor's actions, Odin banishes him to Earth and separates him from his hammer. This catches the film back up to the beginning where Jan hits Thor with the car and Darcy tases him.
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Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
A brilliant Marvel film
The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a brightly colored ride of hilarity and gorgeous special effects from brilliant director Taika Waititi. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) begins the film trapped in a cage after following a bad dream about Ragnarok, the end of Asgard. Thor has been captured by the demon Surtur (Clancy Brown) but he breaks free and uses his hammer to fight off Surtur's demon's soldiers and knock off the demon's crown. He tries to get called back to Asgard but it takes a minute since Skurge (Karl Urban) is now in charge of the Bifrost. Thor does returns along with a severed dragon head and finds that Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is in charge maintaining his disguise as Odin (Anthony Hopkins). Thor and Loki head to Earth where Loki stashed him but the nursing home is torn down. With the help of Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Thor finds Odin in his last moments. He warns of Ragnarok and their sister Hela (Cate Blanchett).
The goddess of death returns from her imprisonment and chases Loki and Thor through the Bifrost portal and knocks them out into space. Hela returns to Asgard and takes over murdering many of Thor's friends. The killing is a bit incongruent with the lighter tone most of the film takes. Thor wakes up on a waste planet Sakaar and is captured by the drunk Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), a former Asgard warrior. Valkyrie takes Thor to the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) who decides to pit Thor against his best warrior, Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Thor discovers Loki has already set up there for weeks and earned the Grandmaster's trust. As Thor waits to fight Hulk, he meets Korg (Taika Waititi), a hilarious rock creature who likes to plan revolutions. Thor fights Hulk in a spectacular battle and the god of thunder nearly wins but the Grandmaster uses the shocking device in Thor's neck to throw the match.
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Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Simple sequel with not much to add to the MCU
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) returns in phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a solo adventure that helps tie up some of the aftermath of The Avengers. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) Narrates an old tale of the dark elves and their powerful magical object known as the Aether. The leader of the dark elves Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) only manages to save a few dark elves including Algrim (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) before the rest are destroyed by the Asgardians. In the present day, Thor works to return peace to the nine realms after his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) brought chaos from his actions in The Avengers. Loki is punished and only spared death because of the mercy of his and Thor's mother Frigga (Rene Russo). Thor and his friends win a battle after Thor takes down a giant rock monster with one swing. He celebrates but his mind is tugged back to Earth even as Sif (Jaimie Alexander) makes advances towards him.
In London, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) goes on an awkward date with Richard (Chris O'Dowd) when Darcy (Kat Dennings) shows up to show her a strange signal on her device. Jane, Darcy, and the new intern Ian (Jonathan Howard) head to the location of the signal. Meanwhile, Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård) has gone crazy around the Stonehenge landing him in a mental ward. Jane explores the area and is transported to the dark world and infected by the Aether. Heimdall (Idris Elba) notices that Jane has gone missing and sends Thor to find her. Jane returns thinking she's only been gone for a short time but has really been gone for five hours so Darcy had called the police. Jane is a bit upset to see Thor since he didn't visit her when he came to New York. First, Darcy then the police interrupt their talk. The police try to arrest Jane but it causes a huge explosion. Sensing something wrong, Thor brings Jane back to Asgard where they can discover more. Odin is not happy about Jane's presence her but he explains that the Aether is a fluid infinity stone.
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Child's Play 3 (1991)
A step down to end the Child's Play trilogy
The Child's Play trilogy tops out with a new setting and an old er protagonist. After the events of the first two films, the toy company that produces the Good Guy doll is trying to make a financial recovery and they can't do that without their best selling product, despite the terrible press. The same plastic that consisted of Chucky was melted down and used to make the new dolls. Chucky (Brad Dourif) wakes up in the highrise apartment of the toy company executive Sullivan (Peter Haskell) and uses the surrounding toys including marble and a yo-yo to trip and strangle the old man. Chucky looks up the whereabouts of his one ticket out of being a doll, Andy Barclay (Justin Whalin). Andy has been shipped out to military school where he is roommates with a nerd Whitehurst (Dean Jacobson) and is bullied by the drill leader Shelton (Travis Fine).
Chucky sends himself in a package to the school where he is intercepted from delivery by a young boy Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers). Chucky tries to take the boys soul but the ceremony is interrupted by Colonel Cochrane (Dakin Matthews) who throws the doll away. Chucky smashes the garbage man in the dumpster and sneaks into Andy's room. Andy tries to smash Chucky but Shelton walks in and takes the doll back to his room. Andy sneaks into Shelton's room that night to find Chucky but the doll is missing along with a knife. Shelton exacts punishment on all the cadets making Andy a pariah. Tyler plays hide-and-seek with the knife-wielding Chucky but they are discovered by De Silva (Perrey Reeves) and her friend. They put lipstick on Chucky which enrages the demented children's toy.
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Child's Play 2 (1990)
OK sequel but not as good as the original
Chucky (Brad Dourif) returns for a new horror in the sequel to the frightening classic original. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) has been put in foster care as the original story proved too crazy for the authorities. The toy company tries to cover up a PR nightmare by finding out what happened, rebuilding the Chucky doll in the process from the remaining eye. The evil killer takes his first victim by electrocuting a dollmaker. Andy is fostered by Joanne (Jenny Agutter) and Phil Simpson (Gerrit Graham). He still has terrible trauma and the sight of a Good Guy doll terrifies him. Chucky murders the toy company executive Mattson (Greg Germann) and discovers where Andy lives.
Chucky destroys another Good Guy doll and replaces it with himself but he causes trouble for the two foster kids. Andy bonds with Kyle (Christine Elise), a young woman about to be out of the Simpson's foster care in a year, over their shared punishment. Chucky ties up Andy at night and attempts to take his soul but Kyle sneaks back in through his window interrupting the ritual. Phil is angry about the troublesome behavior and throws the doll in the basement. The evil killer sneaks onto the school bus the next day and messes with Andy's assignment. Andy's teacher Miss Kettlewell (Beth Grant) punishes Andy and locks him in the classroom. She throws the Chucky doll in the closet before she leaves. Andy escapes out the window before Chucky can break out.
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Child's Play (1988)
Introducing an iconic character with some gore but not much scare
The classic horror film birthed the iconic character Chucky that haunted children and told a pretty decent spooky story. When the escaped convict Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) is shot in a toy store, he performs a ritual that transfers his soul into the creepy looking Good Guy doll. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) is a young boy obsessed with the Good Guy show and he really wants a doll for his birthday. His mother Karen (Catherine Hicks) manages to buy one in the back alley and brings it home to her excited son. Karen's friend Maggie (Dinah Manoff) notices strange noises that night when she watches Andy and is hit in the head with a hammer sending her flying out the window. Detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), the same detective who shot Charles Lee Ray, treats Andy like a suspect and hits on Karen.
Karen notices that her son is acting strange and talking to the doll. Listening to the odd instructions whispered by the doll, Andy takes Chucky to an abandoned house. Chucky turns the gas on and blows up his partner in crime in an explosion. The cops find Andy nearby the explosion and take him referring him to the psychiatrist Dr. Ardmore (Jack Colvin). Karen takes the doll home and is about to throw it out when she finds the batteries still in the box even though it has been talking all this time. Karen threatens to burn Chucky and it comes alive biting her on the arm and escaping. Karen tries to convince Detective Norris that the Chucky doll is alive but the cop does not believe her. She heads off to a dangerous neighborhood to find the man that sold the doll to her and Norris follows.
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Cult of Chucky (2017)
A decent new installment of the Chucky films
Don Mancini brings back his killer doll Chucky (Brad Dourif) returning to a storyline that began it all. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) tries to go on a date but his potential girlfriend googles him to learn about his past. He keeps the head of the murderous doll in a safe talking to it on lonely nights and burning its hair. Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) is transferred to a minimum security psych hospital where her fellow patients expect her of devious actions despite her claims that Chucky murder her family. Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) shows up at the hospital to inform Nica that her niece died under mysterious circumstances and deliver a Chucky doll. The therapist Dr. Foley (Michael Therriault) takes the doll into his office where comes alive with a blink.
Chucky starts to sneak around and taunt Nica while Andy tries to convince Dr. Foley that the doll is, in fact, a killer. The other patients are even more suspicious when another patient Angela (Marina Stephenson Kerr) ends up dead. Nica tries to prove she's right by burning the hand of Chucky but it doesn't react, however, another patient Madeleine (Elisabeth Rosen) has taken another Chucky doll as a substitute for her child. Yet another patient, Claire (Grace Lynn Kung) learns that Chucky is alive but Dr. Foley ties her down and drugs her. Malcolm (Adam Hurtig) believes Nica from the beginning but suffers from multiple personality disorder. Chucky uses compressed gas to break open a window above where Claire is strapped down and a falling shard of glass decapitates her.
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Curse of Chucky (2013)
Back to its horror roots but just OK
Chucky (Brad Dourif) returns with a new look, a more serious tone, and back to the horror genre though it is hard to take the killer doll seriously. Nica (Fiona Dourif) receives a package in the mail, she's not sure it came from but gives it to her mother who ends up dead. Her sister Barb (Danielle Bisutti) arrives to take care of her and brings her jealous husband Ian (Brennan Elliott), her daughter Alice (Summer Howell), and her expensive nanny Jill (Maitland McConnell). Barb wants to put her sister in a home for disabled people since she believes Nica can't take care of herself. However, Nica insists that she can take care of herself and even offers to cook dinner for the family and Father Frank (A Martinez), a visiting priest.
The chili that Nica cooks turns out a bit strange thanks to the strange doll sitting nearby. Father Frank excuses himself and ends up dead with all of his limbs and head severed in a brutal car accident. Nica tries to figure out where the doll came from and hears over the phone through a bad transmission that it came from an evidence locker. She does some research learning about all the unsolved murders. Alice and Chucky have grown close as the doll whispers terrible things in the little girl's ear, finally coming alive in front of her and scaring her. Chucky takes out Jill next by pushing over a pale of water into an electrical cord shocking the nanny to death just as she was flirting with Barb over video chat. Barb goes to investigate the strange sight and power outage only to find the Chucky doll. Despite Nica's protest, Barb takes the doll up into the addict where she reveals its scared face underneath before he comes alive and stabs her in the eye.
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Seed of Chucky (2004)
Full comedy version of Chucky as he grows his family
The murderous doll Chucky (Brad Dourif) procreated at the end of the last film so this film picks up with the ugly result Glen (Billy Boyd). Somewhere in England, the ugly doll has nightmares of killing a family and is used by a British ventriloquist to scare crowds and tell crude jokes. In Hollywood, the lifeless Chucky and Tiffany doll are used to make a Chucky movie. Jennifer Tilly voices the Tiffany doll while also playing herself as a struggling actress trying to land a big role. Glen escapes his owner and jumps into a garbage truck. He catches a fly across the Atlantic and arranges a delivery to the Hollywood prop room. He discovers his parents but they are lifeless so he reads the back of his necklace and brings the two murderous dolls back to life.
The first thing the Tiff and Chucky do is kill a prop manager. Tilly tries to land a role as the Virgin Mary by seducing the director Redman. Once Tiff sees Tilly, who discovers the body, she knows she must get into the actress's body. Glen is unsure of his gender so Tiff refers to him as Glenda since he doesn't have any genitals. He does pee his pants whenever he sees violence and wants to know why his parents kill people. Tiff makes Chucky promise not to kill anyone but he crosses his fingers. The three dolls sneak into Jennifer Tilly's limo and ride with her back to her house where she prepares to seduce Redman. The dolls come up with a plan to artificially inseminate Tilly and to take the two bodies for their own.
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Jigsaw (2017)
Not a great revival of the dead franchise
The franchise that appeared dead and over returns to life with a mediocre entry that has a predictable and boring twist and a moderate amount of gore compared to some of the other gross films. Jigsaw sets itself apart from the previous franchise picking up a story ten years after the death of John Kramer (Tobin Bell). The story does utilize multiple timelines as it has done in other films to confuse the viewer but since this has happened several times before the shock has worn off. Detective Halloran (Callum Keith Rennie) is called to a chase when a perp Edgar Munsen (Josiah Black) demand he speak with him. Edgar claims that if he presses the button on a transmitter then the game will begin and right as he does, five people wake up with buckets on their head and chains around their necks.
Halloran and his partner Detective Keith Hunt (Clé Bennett) shoot Edgar in the hand but one bullet hits him in the chest. He's put into a coma so they can't get any answers. Bodies do start showing up around the city. Medical examiner Logan Nelson (Matt Passmore) is called in to look at the victims finding a microchip in the puzzle piece wound on the decapitated man's neck. His colleague Eleanor Bonneville (Hannah Emily Anderson) has a strange fascination with Jigsaw and his murders making Halloran suspect there might be something more there. The five people in the main trap all have to put blood on their bucket head sensors or their chains will drag them into the spinning saws. Four of the five make it out but the fifth is dragged into the saws.
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Saw VI (2009)
A typical entry in the Saw franchise
Jigsaw returns for the sixth time to further the horror story and continue the gruesome conquest of punishing those the killer deems guilty in terrible ways. Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) carries on the legacy of John Kramer (Tobin Bell) but he has to work harder to cover his tracks. Dan Erikson (Mark Rolston) leads the FBI investigation though he has a misguided belief that a former agent is guilty. He kept it a secret that Agent Lindsey Perez (Athena Karkanis) had survived a Jigsaw attack back in the fourth film. John's ex-wife Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) holds on to a box of Kramer's last wishes but hands over the folders inside when Hoffman demands them. This installment is about Jigsaw continuing his revenge even after he has died.
William Easton (Peter Outerbridge) is the focus of this film's terrifying puzzle. He is attacked in his office and wakes up attached to a breathing machine. His decisions at the health insurance company have resulted in people dying so his first task is to hold his breath against a chronic smoker or whoever breaths will have their abdomen squeezed. William makes it out of this test but has to continue forward or explosive bracelets and anklets will explode his limbs. He also must continue forward because his family is held in a cage with a tank of acid above it. It looks like an abandoned zoo and his next step is in a glass observatory. He must choose between his older secretary with her family or a lonely intern. He chooses the intern to die by releasing a chain that makes the young man hang by barbed wire. His third task is to help a lawyer through a maze by stopping steam jets but in the process, he'll get burned. He helps the lawyer through but balks when she tries to cut a key out of his side. A device goes off ripping open her skull.
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Saw V (2008)
Not the worst, but a step down from the previous films
The fifth installment of the prolific and grotesque horror series picks up where the previous film left off but this time whoever is carrying out the terrible Jigsaw murders is not giving any mercy to the victims even after they comply with the sick rules. Agent Strahm (Scott Patterson) stumbled onto the scene of the third film and was set to die but made a last minute decision to puncture his throat so he can breathe while his head is trapped in a box full of water. Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) is surprised to see that someone has survived the horrors of Jigsaw. Jill (Betsy Russell), the wife of John Kramer (Tobin Bell), is given a box of John's belongings after his death. Hoffman must cover up his role in Jigsaw latest puzzle even as he receives a note that someone knows his identity. With a hole in his throat healing, Strahm suspects Hoffman of some wrongdoing.
The main trap of this film starts with five people tied together. They each have on a collar that will pull their head back into a sharp blade. There are boxes with keys on them that they can only reach if they hurt someone else. Charles (Carlo Rota) seems to know something about the other victims. Mallick (Greg Bryk) goes for the key first but Charles pulls him back and gets his own key first. Four of them make it out while one woman has her head cut off. Dan Erikson (Mark Rolston) tells Strahm to take time off but the FBI agent pursues his investigation of Hoffman learning that the detective's sister was murdered by a man who was sliced in half in the first scene by a scythe. The four survivors learn more about each other. Luba (Meagan Good) is the daughter of a wealthy sports team owner, Charles is a reporter, Mallick a trust fund kid, and Brit (Julie Benz) just has a boring job in real estate.
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Saw 3D (2010)
A mediocre finale to the disturbing horror series
Not predicting human behavior very well, the creators of this film believed it to be the last of the franchise so they went more for spectacle while dropping significantly in quality. Jigsaw murders happened way more frequently and some of them are used as a disturbing performance art in public spaces. The first trap has two competing lovers trying to decide who will sacrifice themselves for the woman they both claim to love only to let her be sawed in half. Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell) was unable to kill Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor) who escapes and sews his face back together. Jill goes to the police hoping to expose Mark but she's haunted by nightmare after she confesses.
Several traps play out ass Jigsaw takes his revenge on racists and liars. Detective Gibson (Chad Donella) is the only police officer Jill can trust. He discovers another Jigsaw trap that is overly outlandish and receives a taunting message from Hoffman. Bobby Degan (Sean Patrick Flanery) leads support groups for Jigsaw survivors and promotes his survival story as a memoir. He is confronted by Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes), a survivor of the first film. Bobby is then assaulted by a pig-masked figure and wakes up in the main trap of the film. It turns out that Bobby had been lying about his story of survival so he must go through a series of tests. He has to pull a fish hook out of his publicist's stomach through her mouth without making a certain amount of loud noise and prevent a machine from piercing the eyes of his lawyer by lifting another painful device. Bobby is not very good at saving any of the victims.
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Saw III (2006)
Making the series a trilogy but a low point of the film franchise
Moving the franchise into a trilogy, the third brutal torture horror film explains a bit more how Jigsaw pulls off the sick games while showing even more gore. The film begins with Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg) breaking his leg in an attempt to escape captivity. Detective Kerry (Dina Meyer) searches for Eric but she also falls victim to Jigsaw's awful torture. The main story consists of John Kramer (Tobin Bell) and his pupil Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) kidnapping a surgeon Lynn Denlon (Bahar Soomekh) in order to keep John alive. Jigsaw wants to oversee one last game before he finally passes away so attaches a deadly necklace to Lynn's neck that has shotgun cartridges all around it and will go off if John's heart rate stops.
The test revolves around Jeff (Angus Macfadyen) who must go through a series of awful tortures. He lost his son in a drunk driving accident and has never recovered. His first test is to help the woman who witnessed his son's death, Danica (Debra McCabe), from freezing to death. She is hung up naked in a frozen locker and has water sprayed on her periodically unless Jeff grabs a key. He burns his cheek grabbing the key but doesn't save her in time. The next round is the judge who let the killer go, Judge Halden (Barry Flatman). The Judge will be drowned in rotten pig guts if Jeff doesn't burn his son's possessions to get the key.
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Saw II (2005)
More gore and terror but another decent twist
The ruthless, manipulative killer is back at it in this twisted horror sequel. Jigsaw's evil is exposed in the first scene where a man must choose between carving out his eye or having a deathmask full of spikes close on his head. The man makes the wrong decision and leaves a crime scene to be investigated by Detective Eric Matthews (Donnie Wahlberg). The body had puzzle pieces carved out of it. His ex-partner Detective Allison Kerry (Dina Meyer) tries to convince Matthews to work with her on the case. He can't help it and figures out a clue that leads to a SWAT team raid on a booby-trapped hideout and the surrender of John Kramer (Tobin Bell). Jigsaw takes the upper hand when he reveals a set of monitors that show a group of people captures including Matthews's son Daniel (Erik Knudsen).
The eight people trapped in the factory all wake up with no knowledge of how they got there. Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) is familiar with how Jigsaw operates having survived the ordeal before. She finds a tape recorder hidden in the wall which plays the tape of Jigsaw rules. They only have two hours after breathing in a deadly nerve agent and must find an antidote by solving the killer's riddle. Xavier Chavez (Franky G) disobey the order and a man has his head blown off as a result. Matthews must watch his son and the other victims explored the house in search of a way out. It is revealed on another tape that Obi Tate (Timothy Burd) kidnapped the others so he has to crawl into a furnace to get an antidote. He's gets burned alive.
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Saw (2004)
Gruesome and terrifying but with a clever story and twist
This clever horror film set off one of the more gruesome and disturbing horror franchise to date that found a ton of success in its run and has sparked a new film to be released this Halloween. James Wan's gory mystery begins with two men waking up in a room with no idea how they got there. Adam Faulkner-Stanheight (Leigh Whannell) finds a tape in his pocket along with a dead body in the center of the room. He reasonably freaks out as his leg is chained to pipes. The other man in the room Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) is also chained to pipes and has a tape in his pocket. The dead man in the middle of the room has a tape recorder in one hand and a gun in the other. Adam drags the tape recorder and listens to his tape that tells him he is going to die. Dr. Gordon's tape threatens his wife and children if he does not kill Adam by a certain time.
Dr. Gordon knows of this modus operandi as he was the suspect in a similar murder case. Detective David Tapp (Danny Glover) and Detective Steven Sing (Ken Leung) investigate a string of brutal murders where the victims were forced to perform ridiculous tasks that usually resulted in them dying or being so traumatized that survival was difficult. Lawrence Gordon's penlight was discovered at a scene so he was brought in for questioning. The doctor had to admit he was having an affair to establish an alibi. He is kept on as a consultant and hears more about the sickening murders. The two men work to solve the clues they are given finding a pair of saws and more clues.
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Mindhunter (2017)
A chilling new Netflix show
Netflix's new crime drama explores the origin of the term "serial killer" as it explores the development of behavioral science at the FBI. Holden Ford (Jonathan Goff) is a hostage negotiator that has had a bad run of luck understanding these new types of crimes without a clear motive. A conversation with an expert gives him interesting ideas and when he meets a graduate student Debbie Mitford (Hannah Gross). She opens his mind to new sociological questions that pushes him to new methods of teaching. Unit Chief Shepard (Cotter Smith) is skeptical of this new take but allows him to start taking classes at the nearby university. The first episodes are a bit slow as David Fincher directs the first two and definitely leaves his imprint on the series but the series picks up as the main conceit begins to play out.
Holden is recruited by Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) to be a part of the behavioral science division. Bill teaches local law enforcement techniques of the FBI and consults on unique cases of a brutal nature. Holden uses his FBI credentials to gain access to Edmund Kemper (Cameron Britton) who is willing to discuss his vicious murders. Shepard discourages this approach to violent criminals but Holden believes the information could help them stop these murders in the future. The study expands as they recruit academic Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) to help them turn the interviews into something more scientific. Wendy pushes for more interviews and a focus on the data while the two agents work to solve cases in all the places they visit to teach police and learn from killers. They begin to classify the different types of criminals and come up with a language of which to speak about the deranged personalities. They received funding from the Justice Department that makes their progress more legitimate.
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Happy Death Day (2017)
A comedic horror that fails to be funny or scary
Taking a popular trope and splashing it onto a teenage thrasher doesn't do much for this dull horror release. The strangely named Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) is a shallow sorority girl who goes through her day selfishly blowing off others and insulting everyone she knows until she is murdered. She wakes up to find that she is repeating the same day over again but this takes a little longer than it should, especially since they advertised this film a lot and audiences are here for the conceit. She's murdered again and freaks out as she wakes up in the same position. No matter what she tries, she keeps getting murdered by a mysterious figure who wears the baby mascot mask. The murders are not very clever but the killer is very determined to take out Tree.
Tree keeps waking up in the dorm room of Carter (Israel Broussard), a guy she drunkenly went home with last night though he did not have sex with her. As she goes through repeated trauma, he turns from a total strange into a trusted ally that she asks for advice. He is skeptical each time the day resets but entertains the scenario and gives her advice of using her many lives to investigate who wants to kill her. She investigates the people who might hate her like the sorority leader Danielle (Rachel Matthews) but she rules them out right before she gets murder. The inevitable montage of repeated death plays out as she reduces the suspects. She was having an affair with her doctor professor Gregory Butler (Charles Atiken) but eliminates his wife Stephanie (Laura Clifton) as her murderer.
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Room 104 (2017)
Some good episodes and some strange one
A hotel room can be so much more than just a place to spend the night. It can be a home, a workplace, a church, bomb-making factory or a fighting ring, and in Jay and Mark Duplass's new HBO series, these possibilities are explored in twelve thirty-minute episodes. The series goes from religious to horror to dramatic to romantic and I never knew what to expect when starting each episode. The first episode is a horror of sorts when a young woman Meg (Melonie Diaz) arrives at Room 104 to babysit an odd boy who seems to have a split personality. In the second a pizza boy Jarod (Clark Duke) gets trapped in a couple's strange game as Scott (James Van Der Beek) and Jennifer (Davie-Blue) have other plans than just eating, but the episode concludes with a surprising twist. The third episode, The Knockadoo, sees a woman Deborah (Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris) attends a strange ritual for a cult religion performed by a priest Samuel (Orlando Jones) including videos of a man known as The Father (Tony Todd). The next episode has a man Daniel (Jay Duplass) cope with guilt as he's visited by the ghost of his best friend Patrick (Will Tranfo) who drowned while they were out swimming years ago. The fifth episode, one of my favorite, The Internet shows the complex nature of a young man Anish (Karan Soni) trying to explain to his mother over the phone how to send a document of his novel by email. This anxiety-inducing episode also has a surprise ending that is as shocking as it is emotional.
Blade Runner (1982)
A sci-fi classic with large themes
I wasn't sure which version to choose but landed on the final cut for this review. I remember seeing the film at a much young age but not understanding much of it at the time. I read Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? a few years ago and enjoyed it as I do most of the author's work. The world built in Ridley Scott's film and the novel along with the complex philosophical questions proposed by this work of fiction make this piece of entertainment more engaging than just simple sci-fi or action movie. The film begins with a block of text explaining that the Tyrell Corporation has advanced artificial intelligence to a stage where they are equal if not better than humans. The resulting replicants are used in off- world colonization until a violent mutiny makes them outlaws on the planet Earth. Blade Runners are bounty hunters that hunt down these replicants.
The initial scene shows Leon Kowalski (Brion James) undergoing a strange interview about a turtle flipped over in the desert and his memory of his mother when Leon stands up and shoots the interviewer. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is eating noodles when Gaff (Edward James Olmos) picks him up in his flying car. The skyline is enchanting and the visuals in this film are still stunning twenty-five years later. Deckard receives an assignment from Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh) over whiskey. Skin-jobs, the derisive term for replicants, have taken over a ship and snuck back on Earth. Deckard refuses because he quit the job of being a blade runner but Bryant threatens him into cooperating. Deckard is given a list of Nexus 6 replicants to hunt down and heads to the Tyrell Corporation headquarters to test the Voight-Kampff machine to see if it can identify a replicant or human.
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American Made (2017)
A solid biopic of cartel lore and the American government's schemes
I just spent about an hour searching for a song in a trailer that I don't believe exists and it could be the last song in the film but I have no idea and it is driving me crazy. Anyways, Tom Cruise's latest romp as a wild pilot smuggling weapons for the American Government and drugs for the Columbian cartel among committing other crimes is a fun and informative piece of cinema. The story of Barry Seal (Cruise) is so wild and under the direction of Doug Liman, American Made captures this insanity for a fast-paced two hours of history. The story of Seal is not a triumphant one but he does have massive success during his life. The film doesn't last too long on the consequences of a life of crime and spends ample time on the benefits. I liked a lot of the film, though the later parts of the film felt a like it lost some steam.
The story begins with Seal bored at his job as a pilot for TWA. He's flying all night and unable to spend any time with his wife Lucy (Sarah Wright) because he falls asleep when he gets home. He makes money on the side smuggling cigars until a CIA agent Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) offers him a new job. His first assignment for the CIA is to take over a private company known as Independent Aviation Consultants, IAC, a not so subtle anagram of CIA. He flies over various countries in South America taking pictures of rebel camps and delivering cash to spies like Noriega for intelligence. These scenes are fun as Tom Cruise howls and the plane takes on gunfire from rebel machine guns. He finds success at his work but keeps up a lie to Lucy that he still works for TWA so the financial constraints weigh on Seal.
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Transparent (2014)
Four seasons of heartfelt stories and humor
The Pfeffermans head to Israel in this delightful fourth season of the powerful Amazon comedy series. Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor) is invited to lecture in Tel Aviv on Judaism and gender. When Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) learns that her professor with whom she had a relationship has written and published an embarrassing poem, she decides to tag along with Maura. They head out to Israel having trouble in the airport when security can't decide which gender of TSA agent should search her. The family gathers in the first episode and it is chaotic. Shelly (Judith Light) explores improv and develops a new character that gives her strength and confidence. Sarah (Amy Landecker) explores her sexuality with her ex-husband Len Novak (Rob Huebel) and a woman she meets in a sex addicts group, Lila (Alia Shawkat).
Josh Pfefferman (Jay Duplass) copes with visions of the older woman who took advantage of him when he was younger and also attends the sex addict meetings as well. As Maura lectures, she keeps hearing about another Pfefferman who had a catchy advertisement years ago for air-conditioning. The "cool guy" turns out to be Maura's father Moshe (Jerry Adler) who abandoned them when they were young and went to Israel. Ali has garnered fame for her internet video of Maura at the airport and falls in with a group of protesters who are trying to make a difference in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She returns to help Maura approach Moshe who has become wealthy off of his air-conditioning business.
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