The Cinematic Review-verse

After over 10 years of the magical Robin Hood act, it was good to laugh at a third appearance of the Four Horsemen with ' Now You See Me: Now You Don't .' With humorous companionship between original and new castmates, excellent magic scenes, and great heist music scoring by Brian Tyler , ' Now You See Me 3' was the best in the series. Over 10 years after outsmarting Walter Mably and Arthur Tressler from their last bout, the Horsemen, played by Jesse Eisenberg , Woody Harrelson , Dave Franco , and Isla Fisher , team up with younger aspiring magicians, played by Dominic Sessa , Justice Smith , and Ariana Greenblatt , to expose Veronika Vanderberg , played by Rosamund Pike , a diamond mining mogul who plans to launder money for war criminals with a diamond known as the Heart. Even if the Horsemen used a bunch of technology and trickery, Dave Franco's character Jack Wilder was right when he said that with the trouble with the COVID pandemic and AI and such, ...

Character poster of Glinda the Good Witch , played by Ariana Grande (left), and Elphaba Thropp,  the Wicked Witch of the West , played by Cynthia Erivo (right) from ‘ Wicked: For Good .’ Courtesy of Universal Pictures . Good evening, readers. Tonight on the Cinematic Review-verse, I will be reviewing ‘ Wicked: For Good .’ I enjoyed Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande ’s lovely singing from the heart throughout the film, and I liked how Erivo’s character of Elphaba Thropp was once again conflicted about her mantle of the Wicked Witch of the West . However, I was thrown off by the plot twists and Easter eggs referring to the original Wizard of Oz film. In ‘Wicked For Good,’ Elphaba and Glinda , played by Erivo and Grande, are taking on their respective roles as the Wicked Witch of the West and Good Witch . While trying to discover if either of them deserves true happiness, there’s also some mysteries involving their classmates from Shiz University , Madame Morrible , played by Mic...

Good evening, readers. Here is what I thought of ' Wicked: Part One ' last year: As I said in the video, I didn’t like Glinda the Good Witch, played by Ariana Grande , at first because of the whole self-absorbed ditzy blonde act. After watching the film again this week, my further assessment of Glinda is that she seemed like 'Clueless' and Regina George.  But as the film went on, Glinda proved to be a well-meaning friend to Elphaba , played by Cynthia Erivo,  and was determined to put her in a better light at Shiz University . As for Elphaba, she was like Elsa from 'Frozen'-misunderstood, couldn't control her powers, really just wanted acceptance and friendship. In that case, at least she wasn't the one-dimensional Wicked Witch of the West for most of the film. I liked their rapport, such as their dissing each other in ' Loathing ' or Elphaba's reluctant letting Glinda beautify her in ' Popular .' They were like Mike and Sulley in ...

  Sydney Sweeney as former professional boxer Christy Salters in the film ‘Christy.’ Courtesy of Black Bear Pictures. In a combination of ‘Rocky’ and ‘Fighting with my Family,’ Sydney Sweeney lead the way in ‘ Christy ’, a biopic about female former professional boxer Christy Salters . I really liked Sweeney’s performance as Christy when she empowered herself in and out of the ring. I also liked the scoring and cinematography, specifically during the fighting. The film started off with Salters’ boxing career taking off as she finished high school in the late 80s. Her brother seemed to be the only one who supported her, until she proved herself to doubtful trainer and her future husband Jim Martin , played by Ben Foster . As her career of successful knockouts went on, Christy took a turn for the worst when Jim’s paranoia and controlling behavior with her professional and home lives made her act like she was in her own psychological thriller. Christy Salters, played by Sydney Sweene...

Poster for 'Sarah's Oil.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Naya Desir-Johnson triumphed as the eponymous character of Sarah's Oil . She channeled intelligence, comic relief, and proud spirit in her role as child oil baron Sarah Rector. I also enjoyed Zachary Levi's role as Sarah's business partner Bert Smith with his Southwestern charm and protectiveness over Sarah. You'll also appreciate the performance of Sonequa Martin-Green as Sarah's mother,  the costume designing by Michael T. Boyd, the scoring by Kathryn Bostic, and the filming in Oklahoma where the story took place. In the early 1900s, Sarah Rector, played by Desir-Johnson, was granted land that, unbeknownst to people of power at the time, had crude oil gushing underneath the infertile land. With help wildcatter from Bert Smith, played by Levi, and her family, and eventually others in Oklahoma, Sarah shows certain racist people that she will stop at nothing to drill for that oil and make a great l...

Poster of Predator: Badlands . Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. Good evening, readers. Friday night, November 7th was when I watched Predator: Badlands , my first time watching any Predators movies, and I was impressed. The post-apocalyptic outer space atmosphere, the special effects for the alien creatures, and the tense yet charming chemistry between Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi were all what made Badlands a good movie to watch. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek from Predator: Badlands . Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. Dek , a Predator from the planet Yautja , played by Schuster-Koloamatangi, went off to kill a creature called the Kalisk on the planet Genna after his father, played by Schuster-Koloamatangi in a dual role, killed his brother for sparing him in combat. Dek crossed paths with Thia , a damaged Weyland-Yutani Corporation synthetic , played by Fanning, and was forced to bring her and a creature named Bud on his quest to kill the Kalisk and pro...