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Film reviews

Crime 101 Review

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There are crimes with purpose and there are crimes that are connected. When moving parts come together, the truth can be complicated. Accuracy is what counts! From the mind of director Bart Layton, come his newest feature Crime 101. In this film, the conflict is a revolving landscape of purposeful doorswhich open to a ride that does not stop. With the setting in California, there are many truths to unfold and a conspiracy to piece together. Overall, the story is based upon how the characters approach the scenarios. The clock starts ticking thesecond the movie starts in Crime 101.

It is an all-star cast that is just above average when it comes to pacing and flow. The film begins with a slew of meditation and mindfulness and then jumps into blindsided crimes. The invigoration caused by the conspiracy and conflict in authority turns matters into a boxing match. Layton is not afraid to throw the complex conflicts on the table and keep the tables spinning with curiosity. When one event is still in motion, others continue to arise.

The main character is a master criminal, Davis (Chris Hemsworth). He flies below the radar and maintains the lowest profile to settle the biggest scores possible. Despite turmoil, he continues to do the deeds to get the pay. There is also a real estate broker named Sharon (Halle Berry). She is pushing herself to go above and beyond to make her clientele happy until she realizes the answers she gets are shady. In addition, there is a detective that is in a bind, Lou (Mark Ruffalo). The trail of Davis and the odds of Sharon are tied together. This causes a more stressful situation for Lou because he is completely burned out and consistently on thin ice.

The film maintains its angles through strategic timing. That is where the joy is. At times, it may feel like a bore, but it is effective. When another criminal comes around it becomes instantly bonkers. The other criminal is Ormon (Barry Keoghan), a motorcyclist eager to land heists to prove he is worthy. There is another heist in the making, but how dangerous is it for all these characters to be interconnected? The question of trust is what the Tetris tactic of surprises masters in Crime 101.

Do not expect explosions but instead more in-depth trails, especially through the performances of Hemsworth and Berry. Their characters have incredible stressors hovering over them. Their feelings of immense frustration, while they’re also trying to score big, lead to a landscape that is mentally compelling. Layton creates an interesting portrait in which his characters are dealing with so much. This part of their portrayal does not come around easily, yet I felt the film was successful in making the dynamics all make sense. This was possible because the persona of scoring is based upon hiding the criminal-side and being able to handle an array of unexpected conflicts that are life-threatening and enticing. A stellar crime with thrilling aspects that keep the central conflict intact. Three out of four stars for Crime 101.

Film reviews

Primate Review

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The thought of owning a monkey as a pet always seemeddangerous to me. Primate creates that situation and throws in moments of mayhem and horror. Directed by Johannes Roberts, this is one of those thrillers where a jungle is already part of a family’s life. However, when resources are not aligned, there is a combination of bad tests and non-thorough examinations. The monkey then jumps out of its cage with a vindictive vengeance. Think about a one-person Planet of the Apes film…only that ape wants to kill everyone. Primate is a portrait of a pet that will make audiences never want to own a chimpanzee.

The film’s main characters are Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah), Kate (Victoria Wyant), Hannah (Jessica Alexander), and Kate’s older brother Nick (Benjamin Cheng). They go to Lucy’s house in Hawaii for a vacation. Lucy’s sister is Erin (Gia Hunter) and her father is Adam (Troy Kotsur). Lucy’s father is hard of hearing and writes books about animal research. There is one special pet in the family, Ben (Miguel Torres Umba), a chimpanzee that is part of the family. As far as everyone knows he is trained to be loving. Yet, when Lucy’s father leaves on a business trip, Ben goes on a crazy rampage.

The film begins to become a brawl of safety concerns. Lucy, Kate, Hannah, and Nick must learn to protect themselves from Ben, because Ben’s anger continues to rapidly grow. In a big house in the Hawaiian mountains, it is hard to run, Ben’s mighty anger grows exponentially. With all the love and support that Ben has received for years, it creates a landscape of curiosity of wondering what might be making him become so vindictive. There is the talk of rabies, since Ben is a rabid monster, but uncertainty about whether that applies given the scenarios being experienced.

Primate is one of the most loud and rambunctious thrillers involving an ape I have seen in ages. It is not a perfect film, but it keeps audiences’ attention with the hot-headed aspects of chimpanzee behavior. It makes me want to avoid ever being near a chimpanzee ever. Overall, the creativity behind the film is vivid and attention-grabbing. At the same time, the storyline isextremely predictable. Fortunately, the writing is strong as are the scares. The brief glimpses into the sciences help create the suspense in Primate. Two-and-a-half out of four stars.

Film reviews

The Running Man

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Edgar Wright takes an approach with this film that feels like a bit like Hunger Games. It is a game with a death trap, a setting where reality is in the context of a disaster.  It seems that WWIII has come and gone but lingers, and there is a game that lies beneath a lot of wealth for the whole world to see. The Running Man has promising moments but lacks in its approaches. The momentum is much too dry /and lacks energy. Glen Powell isthe lead role and is the biggest component to grab its fans for the film because he is the hero grandeur within the imagery of the film. I just continued to have issues with the writing and quality of how the film goes about things.

Glen Powell plays Ben Richards. He is an individual trying to work to save his sick daughter. He does everything he can to find work but has many violent tones to his personality. He ends up finding one way to make loads of money. He joins a game called “The Running Man.” It is a game show where a victim is manipulated into being a criminal to see how far they can make it  in a world where anyone can hunt them and kill them. The ultimate question is if Ben will survive. The shows following that are with two TV show candidates, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) and Bobby Thompson (played by Colman Domingo). Dan cheats the system in order to manipulate and antagonize Ben. The success of the hunt is based on viewership. The clock ticks as the dangers continue to keep spiking. How far do the games go?

It is a thriller based off of a Stephen King novel. Overall, I found some value to this film with the directing of Wright, because the foundational aspects continue with layers of frustration to create purpose and suspense, especially with thebackground of Powell’s performance having issues with work and going down a rabbit hole. Otherwise, the film keeps falling into its blockbuster tones. Overall, though, the action finds its loopholes to have the meaningful selling points to make The Running Man astounding on some fronts. Particularly with characters who present a lot of surprises. When you have someone like Michael Cera with a basement full of traps, you have found a nerd with a lot to offer in an Edgar Wright sensation. Cera plays Elton, someone with many gadgets thatassist Ben at one point in the film—both together are a match that tango incessantly.

 The Running Man is not spellbinding or amazing, it is neutral. The need for money to save a family hits its peak moments. The pacing though I felt was not established properly, however, I still have respect for Wright.  He tries to keep aspects straight and move forward. I rate this film at about two out of four stars.