The Cinematic Review-verse

Ben Wang as Li Fong in 'Karate Kid: Legends.' Courtesy of Sony Pictures. Good evening, readers and viewers.  Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of watching 'Karate Kid: Legends.' It was so wonderful how they bridged together Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio's worlds in the 'Karate Kid' franchise, made beautiful representation of Chinese culture and New York City living, displayed wonderful drama and heart in Ben Wang's role as main protagonist Li Fong, showed cute and funny chemistry between Wang's character and Sadie Stanley's character, how he offered his own funny training montage with Joshua Jackson's character, and how the heroes and villains fought like champs with fast-paced martial arts kicking, punching, chopping. 'Legends' was a great combination of drama, action, comedy, and coming-of-age, and I give it a 9.5 out of 10. Taking place years after Chan's Karate Kid, Li Fong, played by Wang, and his mother, played by Ming...

Jeffrey Wright as Thelonious "Monk" Ellison in 'American Fiction.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Good afternoon, everybody. Since I'm learning more about screenwriting, specifically the kind that wins Academy Awards, I decided to give 'American Fiction' another go. At first, I wasn't into it, maybe because I didn't like the whole offensive racist tropes or drama between Jeffrey Wright's character and his family. But now, I see that the appeal of the film is that it shows how adults of different colors are still learning how to deal with said racist tropes and put a positive spin on stereotypes of fictional people of color, while also handling their own internal drama. Tracee Ellis Ross as Lisa Ellison and Leslie Uggams as Agnes Ellison in 'American Fiction.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. Sterling K. Brown as Clifford "Cliff" Ellison from 'American Fiction.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. 'American Fiction'...

Poster of 'Sinners.' Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.   'Sinners' was not your typical Southern period drama. That's because it included vampires on the hunt in 1930s Mississippi while Michael B. Jordan ran a juke joint whose set design reminded me of 'The Color Purple' (1985). Despite the horror scenes throwing me off, I enjoyed the powerful performances of Jordan and Miles Caton and the powerful direction by Ryan Coogler. Besides those two things, I really enjoyed the Southern blues soundtrack. I first learned about the connection between the blues and African Americans back in college, and it felt great to see some black pride in the music of a dark time. Taking place in 1932 in Mississippi, twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore, played by Jordan in dual roles, are opening their own juke joint with money stolen from gangsters. They recruit their cousin Sammie, played by Caton, to play, and pianist Delta Slim, played by Delroy Lindo, as a performer. Their ...

Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Ava Starr/Ghost, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Yelena Belova/Black Widow, and John Walker/U.S. Agent, played by David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, and Wyatt Russell, respectively from ‘Thunderbolts*.’ Courtesy of Marvel Studios. You've seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe's attempts at superhero misfit madness with the original Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. But it took a dark-toned yet humorous turn when they released 'Thunderbolts*' this weekend. It was funny how the titular team had sitcom-like trouble working together, specifically in the friction between Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh and John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell, and how Julia Louis-Dreyfus of 'Seinfeld' fame rose to the occasion of playing an adult snob/mean-girl stereotype in her reprisal of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Humor aside, I enjoyed seeing Pugh, Russell, and Hannah John-Kamen fight using judo and kickboxi...

Poster for 'The Amateur.' Photo by William Beavers. Good afternoon, readers. On Friday afternoon, April 18, I crossed ' The Amateur' off my watchlist. Rami Malek produced and led the film as a CIA employee new to the field. While I enjoyed Malek's character's intelligence and Volker Bertelmann's good score, I felt 'The Amateur' should've shown Malek's character using hand-to-hand combat. Rami Malek and Rachel Brosnahan as Charlie Heller and Sarah Heller, respectively, from 'The Amateur.' Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.  Malek played Charlie Heller , a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer with a lovely wife named Sarah, played by Rachel Brosnahan from 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'. But Charlie's quiet life ended when Sarah was killed on a business trip. Teaming with a blunt Colonel Henderson , played by Laurence Fishburne , Charlie is forced to take the role of a killer to find the people responsible for Sarah's murder. O...

Meghann Fahy as Violet Gates and Brendan Sklenar as Henry Campbell in "Drop." Courtesy of Universal Pictures. The last time I saw Meghann Fahy was when she was the mother in "The Unbreakable Boy." On Wednesday, I saw her in a vulnerable and headstrong combination in her leading role in "Drop", directed by "Heart Eyes" producer Christopher Landon. Because I'm still new at watching suspense films, I didn't think highly of the film until it bypassed the "awkward first date" story between Fahy and Brandon Sklenar's characters and transitioned to the action towards the climax. Besides that, the good parts of the film were the camera work and the scoring by Bear McCreary, which sounded reminiscent of the scoring from "Jaws." Fahy played a widowed therapist mother in Chicago named Violet Gates who went on her first date in years with a photographer named Henry Campbell, played by Brandon Sklenar. As if her nerves about a ...

Hell of a Summer poster. Courtesy of 30West. On Friday, April 4, 2025, I witnessed Finn Wolfhard and  Billy Bryk 's directing debut of Hell of a Summer . The cast was led by Fred Hechinger, who played the " camp leader " of Camp Pineway and tried to keep his younger counselors safe from a serial killer who crashed the bonfire. There were dark moments from the killings to the offbeat humor of the younger cast, but Hell of a Summer  was a good movie with fun, sentimental moments between the cast, Wolfhard's assembling of sound and production designers, songs from bands such as The Turtles or The Animals , and throwback to old-timey things such as the camp itself with its arts and crafts center or it's non-working landline phone. Fred Hechinger played Jason, a 24-year-old man who returned to his childhood summer camp, Camp Pineway, as head counselor. His sweet, optimistic nature was not to be deterred by his age, the offbeat humor of his mentees--be it a goth, vegan...