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Film reviews

Road to Everywhere Review

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The film is aimed at a cab driver with many struggles. There is the sense that life was normal, and then scenarios went south. The realism of changes over time lingers with meaning. Road to Everywhere is a challenging and engaging journey. Directed by Michael Shoob, I found a level of deepness with Road to Everywhere. That is because I always feel that films aimed at car rides or road trips create moments of characterizations to evolve. Many do “evolve” with purpose in Road to Everywhere. Moments of the past have cinematography of color, and the present is black-and-white—the tonal elements in the cinematography tune in audiences with real-time on a parallel level of spellbinding grandeur.

 

The film’s main character is Jason Schuyler, and he is played by Whip Hubley. He is a cab driver with lots of struggles. He is divorced, has a strange relationship with his son, his son’s wife, and his life continues to have deficits. He spends countless nights driving people to locations just to help him get over and keep up with his financial burdens. The biggest one though is that he is trying to help his ex-wife with medical bills after a car accident. His ex-wife is Rachel, and she is played by Diane DiLascio. 

 

The film continuously focuses on the angels of stress—it does well at capturing the emotions of Hubley’s performance. He plays the role as a disgruntled individual so well, and audiences will connect to his role as a human being. I felt that way with Road to Everywhere. Jason’s life begins to see a light when he meets Jake. Jake is played by Robert Mirabal. Jake is a shady casino dealer and gambler. Jake asks Jason to drive him to Navajo Nation in Arizona. The drive is from Los Angeles to Arizona. Jake wants to reconnect with his family. Jake also wants to see his grandson participate in Rodeo. This is a drive where both adults will share a journey of hard emotions and tolerance. They will share the essence of struggles. 

 

Road to Everywhere creates the mode where being on the road is the open book for many topics. Jake begins to go into detail about his marriage problems with Jason, and Jason begins to open up as well. At the same time though, they share frustrations along the way. Jason presents most “frustration” because he is the driver pulling all his weight. The writing of the film is top-notch in displaying how hard tolerance can truly be. Especially for a cab driver doing a drive at this length. The deserts create the tones of solitude—there is lots of ground to cover with so many lands of emptiness in the rough journey. 

 

Road to Everywhere is deep and heartfelt. Dark with turmoil but fully presents realism. I adore the usage of the lighting—the past and present context helps change gears in this film where the writing may have a bipolar approach. At moments too emotional, but also still a solid work-of-art. Three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

Buddy Review

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My mind was racing during this movie primarily because I felt like I was watching a children’s PBS TV series. The opening felt like Sesame Street, but much cheesier. In all sincerity, Buddy is unbearable. Trying to lure in nightmares? The theme and approach failed to execute. Lots of laughs, but only because the terror is so bad. While attempting to be scary, it was one of the worst movie experiences I’ve had in a long time. 

The plot of the film is a kid’s TV show focused on a character named Buddy (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key). He seemed a bit like an evil Big Bird, the lovable character from Sesame Street. Buddy, however,  is a dinosaur pal presented as a friendly icon in a 1999 TV series. He tries to inspire songs on topics such as cleaning up and dancing. He attempts to present positivity with kids. However, when kids decline, things go wrong. Buddy begins to do awful things to the children in the show. Soon all of this becomes a vivid nightmare that I struggled to sit through.

The whole film is silly and ridiculous. Buddy features a mom, Grace, played by Cristin Milioti. Her husband is Ben, played by Topher Grace. The mom begins to have dreams about Buddy that turn into nightmares. She feels like her home is surrounded by terror. She hires a psychic, but that does not seem to help. Then, she gets sucked into the TV and is in Buddy’s world. Grace is on a mission to save the children from Buddy. 

Buddy is so poorly written. It is almost like Winnie the Poohwanted to cover adult themes but got tired of writing. The context  is bad and the characters are too. Cartoon elements are thrown in  to qualify for an R rating, and it simply does not work. The blend of a kids-oriented setting with  adult-like subject matter does not hold up. Adding boisterous, rainbow elements made things even worse.. I could barely stand it.

Some viewers may embrace this form of terror, but I did not. A few slapstick scenes made me laugh, but the majority of the film wasn’t even thought-provoking. There were too many buffoons teleporting into a cartoon universe which then vacillates between good and evil. Overall, it evolves into awful moments that wasted my time and energy. But for the idea of the film, I give it one out of four stars.

 

Film reviews

Onslaught Review

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There is a mixture of moving parts in this film. It feels scientific due to  labs and experiments. There is also a component of poverty since there is a trailer park with many residents trying to make ends meet. On top of that, there is a small war in the works. Onslaught is directed by Adam Wingard who creates a desert setting filled with all kinds of vengeance. The dystopian direction is surreal. Yet in the midst of the chaos, Onslaught had me puzzled.

The rogue squad is controlled by an evil doctor named Hans Kammler (played by Dan Stevens), He brings soldiers back to life to do damage. His love is Hanna Kammler (Rebecca Hall), and she supports his bizarre vision. He engineers soldiers to cause damage for his satisfaction. The one caught in the middle is a young sniper, Celeste (Adria Arjona). Celeste’s main priority is her daughter Daisy (Blake Kennedy). With danger all around, she must put her efforts into stopping the soldiers from attacking her and her daughter. 

This film is an end-of-the-world thriller on acid. The resources continue to multiply and become more deadly. A detective, Cyrus (Drew Starkey), comes on board to try to identify the appropriate solutions to the explosive matters. He follows the steps where the deadly soldiers leave their marks. He also follows the trail of Hans Kammler. With Hans and Hanna as the enemies, there is a possessive state-of-mind that overcomes the characters.

Onslaught is different from most thrillers because the scientific scenes are featured more than the treacherous moments at the start of the film. I found this foundation appealing since it  created an understanding of what resources are risky to the plot of the film. There is no easy way to define the outcomes. Overall, the thrilling vibes are endless making Onslaught vivid and engrossing.

The film fits the definition of psychological suspense and offers an ample dose of adrenaline in the heart of the desert. It is a ninety-minute ride of unforgettable vengeance. Three-and-a-half out of four stars for Onslaught.