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Film reviews

The End of Oak Street Review

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Written and directed by David Robert Mitchell, returning with a new project. One where it is IT Follows meets Jurassic Park. A portrayal of a world hitting its breaking point and evolving into uncharted territory.  There are dinosaurs and prehistoric forests growing, yet the year is 1982. There is a clever setup of nostalgia with a family trying to be happy, but with too many flaws in the dynamics. All normalcy goes downhill in an adventurous way. The End of Oak Street has some entertaining moments for many audiences.

 

With an apocalyptic setting that comes from the ground, the creativity is vibrant. The film focuses on a family. The mother and father are Denise and Greg (Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor). The daughter and son are Audrey and Brian (Maisy Stella and Christian Convery). Many family struggles abound asGreg struggles to hold down a job, and Denise tries to write a book. Brian has issues with friends and experiments with cigarettes. Audrey is seen as just a normal and social human. They have their issues, however, and the dynamic of how a family sticks together holds lots of faith. This is tested here, because outside of their home, there are dinosaurs. The new apocalypse rises in The End of Oak Street. 

 

Mitchell’s directing has stepped up. He knows how to add comedic value in The End of Oak Street with dinosaurs hopping out in one moment and new worlds colliding in another. There is deep sense of satisfaction in watching all of this–I was sold with The End of Oak Street. The survival modes had me especially roped in.  Many films surrounding the “fighting to live” scenariohave predictable flaws, putting limitations on the action. That is not the case with The End of Oak Street.

 

As the family tries to survive in the neighborhood, Denise and Greg hit a bad patch, and Hathaway and McGregor show that they are one-of-a-kind when it comes to these things. With being used to seeing McGregor as Obi-Wan from Star Wars, it is like watching a former jedi trying to survive on a Jurassic Worldplanet. Also, with being used to viewing Hathaway as the nerd employee from The Devil Wears Prada, I found when watchingher play a woman dealing with pure disaster her outbursts are astounding.

 

The End of Oak Street feels like a Steven Spielberg flick, but it is one where Mitchell definitely has his own vision. I applaud the fun he incorporates. It is quirky and not so perfect. However, the characterizations and the era of the film speak true, making for an unusual gem here. This is one that will be fun for teens and up. Even though it is rated PG-13, some graphics go a bit over the top for the rating itself, especially surrounding some of the violence and nature moments. There are also some odd innuendos. The offbeat direction of Mitchell is what makes The End of Oak Street a classic. Three out of four stars.

Film reviews

Evil Dead Burn Review

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There is definitely a lot of evil that burns in Evil Dead Burn with the thought of wrongdoings coming across in many bold ways. This time it follows a death. Directed by Sebastien Vanicek, he takes the direction of loss leading to vengeance. Its portrait is gruesome, and the rest of the film is full of gore which is seemingly central to its continuity. At the same time though, there is the question that had me thinking of how much pain and suffering is really necessary– to the point where even utensils can have injuries?  This one is a rollercoaster that explodes withall types of fire-like moments of surprises. It is a sequel to the 2013 version of Evil Dead and the 2023 version of Evil Dead Rise. The sixth installment in the film series.

 

The film surrounds a woman named Alice, played by Souheila Yacoub. She is trying to cope with the loss of her husband and apast of bad relationship tensions as she struggles to remain close to his family. After his death, she finds herself in the same home with her husband William’s family.  William is played by George Puller. Once she is with his family all kinds of terrors are born. Her brother-in-law, Joseph, is played by Hunter Doohan and her mother-in-law, Susan, is played by Tandi Wright. Alice is close with Joseph but struggles to get along with Susan. Once they are all together, they begin to possess terrors. They are formed into zombie-like killers. Dark tones of violence screech throughout Evil Dead Burn. It is a cynical death trap of a family reunion.

 

This film had me shocked and awed frequently. The fact that there is “bad blood” creates a more immersive experience. I felt scared throughout, often thinking, “Whoa…that is messed up!”  Thoughts raced in my head especially during moments when evil that has been lurking takes over much of the family.  It then becomes a bloodbath of chainsaws, writing utensils, etc.—anything that is sharp carries a vengeance. There is a lot of “burning” in Evil Dead Burns.

 

Everyone has a mode to kill. The writing is filled with hatred and regret combined with a blend of tragedy mixed with vengeance to deliver brutal revenge.  It gets quite graphic. Overall, some moments go above and beyond, crossing thresholds into insanity. That is ironically the beauty of Evil Dead Burn in that there are no boundaries to the level of gore that goes with this one. Brutal, with countless modes of intensity—it is a lot to handle.

 

A violent, yet poetic tale in the sense of emotion that it can illicit, however, it is not great. It falls just above average. The film has a clever premise with a lot of creativity portrayed through the violence and fighting moments. The hatred lingers for one selling ride, but is there redemption in any of it? How do the possessive modes continue to thrive? How much hate can possibly come and go? There is no stopping any of it in this film’s track of brutality, and it is the invincible nature of the evil that continues to produce fulfilling entertainment for those that can handle it. Three out of four stars.

 

Film reviews

Mortal Kombat II Review

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This is a sequel where the gaming aspect runs deep with elements invigorating the senses to make audiences feel like they are in the video game of Mortal Kombat. Surrounding Mortal Kombat II though, is the actual competition. While the humor and egotistical characters sell, the rest of the film tends to be repetitive. With a lot of fighting and fantasy, Mortal Kombat II is hard to take seriously. However, all of the fighting has a role in creating a rollercoaster of punches that keeps the audiences elevated.

The first Mortal Kombat opened in April of 2021. A time where covid adjustments were taking place with many strange rules in many places around the world. That is where I believe the first one had its limitation but still sold. I feel Mortal Kombat II is slightly better, primarily because the enemies surrounding the realm to win exist. Even if it means sacrificing all, no one goes down without baths of blood in Mortal Kombat II. Director Simon McQuoid is literally building a franchise.

The new character joining the forces is Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban. He is an actor that is considered to be a “has been”. Soon though, he finds himself with Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and Jax (Mehcad Brooks). The tournaments are a big deal in Mortal Kombat II. Despite Johnny failing as an actor, he has got some stunts to throw into the fighting pit. The enemy is Shao Kahn, played by Martyn Fordwith the center of danger being the Earthrealm. With Shao Kahn over it, it is in peril. Combat is the only way to gain ownership,however, accomplishing this all has many consequences down the line.

The film finds itself to have match after match with some adventures along the way and not much transitioning. I will say though, I had fun when Johnny realized he is truly made for combat. There are still a lot of twists and quirkiness combined to make the fights have some moments of laughter down the line.As one who got into some of the video games, the many moments of slashing knockouts came back to me. The lines of context for defeat still display heavily in Mortal Kombat II.

Johnny Cage is the biggest attraction of Mortal Kombat II. He is the champion focus, as so much is aimed at his moves andtalents. It is almost to the point where it seems as if he is the one and only hero. The “hero” side grows from knowing moves as an actor, which later turns into something bigger. That is of course him getting chosen to fight in the matches. A blur of writing, but also stellar with the egotistical attitude from Urban’s performance. This all actually of works well for a video game adaptation into a movie.

The film is a timeline moving forward to harder challenges. Even though Mortal Kombat II is not what I would call amazing, the fun is within the fighting. It is a slight improvement in that itcontinues down that path for something bigger. Overall, though, it is a steady continuation of a franchise—McQuoid is still channeling his directing path with this. Glitches here and there, but it is still an entertaining film with daring matches. Two-and-a-half out of four stars for Mortal Kombat II.