Category: Movie Reviews

My personal views on Movies I go see.

Movie Reviews

An Action Packed and Surprisingly Emotional Ending | Review of ‘Resident Evil: Endgame’ (The Final Chapter)

By Cynthia Ayala

Resident Evil: The Last Chapter starring Milla Jovovich. Ali Larter & Iain Glen
Screen Jems
Image Credit: IMDB

“Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began – The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.”

—Screen Jems/Constantin

Ah, what a perfect ending for a franchise. Okay, maybe that’s stretching it a little bit. It wasn’t perfect, but it was almost there. Aside from being ill-titled (it should have been titled Resident Evil: Endgame vs. being titled Resident Evil: The Last Chapter — I dare you to argue with me) the film was not without plot holes.
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Movie Reviews

A Remarkable Piece of History | Review of ‘Hidden Figures’

By Cynthia Ayala

Hidden Figures starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer & Janelle Monáe
20th Century Fox
Image Credit: IMDB

“Based on a true story. A team of African-American women provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions.”

  • IMDB

Such a remarkable film that brings to life the history not only about NASA and the space race but also about three amazing women who were instrumental in the space race and the war on racism.

Taraji P. Henson plays Katherine Goble, African-American physicist and mathematician in the aeronautics space program. She plays this incredible woman who had to face not only racism but sexism in the space department as she fights to prove her worth to the program and that her smarts go beyond her gender and race. It was a remarkable performance that is important for the present because it is a film that fights and pushes against those boundaries.
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Movie Reviews

A Visually Stunning Development | Review of ‘Assassin’s Creed’

By Cynthia Ayala

Assassin’s Creed starring Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons, & Michael K. Williams
20th Century Fox
Image Credit: IMDB

“When Callum Lynch explores the memories of his ancestor Aguilar and gains the skills of a Master Assassin, he discovers he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society.”

—IMDB

When you’re adapting a video game into a film there will always be challenges because some have very little stories to them and are just “beat-em-up” games while others have this amazing story lines that the gamers and critics loved. There is always a challenge to allow for some creative license while also adapting a story. Assassin’s Creed follows under the latter.
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Movie Reviews

A Decent Evolution of Story | Review of ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’

By Cynthia Ayala

Underworld: Blood Wars starring Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Lara Pulver, Tobias Menzies & Charles Dance
Screen Gems
Image Credit: IMDB

“Vampire death dealer, Selene fights to end the eternal war between the Lycan clan and the Vampire faction that betrayed her.”

—IMDB

Underworld: Blood Wars is the fifth film in the franchise and while it’s better than it’s predecessor, the film, while enjoyable, is not without faults. The story isn’t the element of the film that suffers. It’s a solid story, but the problem lies with the franchise. In Awakening, humans discovered that Vampires and werewolves were real. Yet in this film it’s almost like that never happened. Let’s rephrase, it’s like it didn’t happen at all. It’s hard to reconcile that with this film that does tie directly to it. Discovery is inevitable considering that Alexander Corvinus was the one who cleaned up all the messes and kept their existence secret, as established in Evolution, but the film seems to have moved past those elements and went back to the beginning, to forget about humans altogether and focus on what made the series so strong to begin with: the war between Lycans and Vampires.
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Movie Reviews

A Film of Hope for the Disillusioned | Review of ‘Rogue One’

By Cynthia Ayala

Rogue One starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen & Forest Whitaker Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Rogue One starring Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, Jiang Wen & Forest Whitaker
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

“The Rebellion makes a risky move to steal the plans for the Death Star, setting up the epic saga to follow.”

—IMDB

Rogue One is the latest film in the Star Wars franchise that bridges the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. That doesn’t mean it follows directly after Episode III though. Instead, this film serves as a direct precursor to the original trilogy that launched Star Wars into fandom. Just a little back story for you there to familiarize yourself with the setting of the film.
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Movie Reviews

A Worthy Precursor to the Magical World of Harry Potter | Review of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’

By Cynthia Ayala

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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller & Colin Farrell Warner Bros. Pictures

“The adventures of writer Newt Scamander in New York’s secret community of witches and wizards seventy years before Harry Potter reads his book in school.”

—IMDB

In one word: magical. I know that’s to be expected but the film brings more to the world of Harry Potter as it traverses new territory in so many ways.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them brings Newt Scamander to New York city combining the dark element’s that grew the Harry Potter franchise up as well as a fun light scavenger hunt through New York to bring new and magical creatures to life in the film. Two stories that intersect perfectly. There are obviously those moments that will make the audience want to scream but that’s only because of the direction of the story, and it’s not a bad thing. In life, there are those moments when people above station place blame when they themselves don’t pay attention. It’s not a bad thing, it’s a realistic thing that provides the film one of many grounding moments. (There were times through all the Harry Potter books and films that I just wanted to scream at the characters for being stupid.) Then there is the heart of the film that will make the audience laugh, cry and just say “aww” repeatedly. It was a well-structured film that was just mesmerizing and it makes the viewer second guess themselves. Continue reading “A Worthy Precursor to the Magical World of Harry Potter | Review of ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’”

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Movie Reviews

Strong Cast, Weak Characters | Review of ‘The Girl on the Train’ (Film)

By Cynthia Ayala

The Girl on the Train starring Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett & Rebecca Ferguson Universal Pictures
The Girl on the Train starring Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett & Rebecca Ferguson
Universal Pictures

A divorcee becomes entangled in a missing persons investigation that promises to send shockwaves throughout her life.

­—IMDB

Based on the New York Times bestseller of the same name, this film captures a high-intensity struggle of an alcoholic woman who is struggling to remember what happened the day she came home bruised and bloody on the same night someone goes missing.

I heard much about the novel, both good and bad, and as for the bad, I’m beginning to understand why those people I know felt the way they did. But I went into this film thinking it looked good, and when you add Emily Blunt in the film, I thought “now there’s a lot of potential to save a story.” Continue reading “Strong Cast, Weak Characters | Review of ‘The Girl on the Train’ (Film)”

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Movie Reviews

A Good Old Western | Review of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (2016)

By Cynthia Ayala

The Magnificent Seven starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Haley Bennet and Byung-hun Lee
MGM & Columbia Pictures
Image Credit: IMDB

“Seven gun men in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.”

    —IMDB

Who doesn’t like a good western film with solid characters? This film brings to life another adaptation of the Seven Samurai giving it a nice feel of the characters and the setting. The conflict is established very early on giving the film a cohesive feeling overall. There is some hint that Chisolm (played by Denzel Washington) has more in mind of helping out these people than he lets on. What’s good about that is the fact that it’s not overtly obvious about what is going on with him. Instead, there is an openness about it that it can go either way, but the viewer doesn’t know until the end. It’s good storytelling because it doesn’t distract from the story as a whole, it adds to it. Continue reading “A Good Old Western | Review of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ (2016)”

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Movie Reviews

The Charm is Still There | Review of ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’

By Cynthia Ayala

Bridget Jones’s Baby starring Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth & Patrick Dempsey
Universal Pictures
Image Credit: IMDB

“Bridget’s focus on single life and her career is interrupted when she finds herself pregnant, but with one hitch … she can only be fifty percent sure of the identity of her baby’s father.”

—IMDB

The one thing I was very worried about with this movie was the comedic element of the film. After three films one always has to be skeptical if the magic will still be there, especially after so many years. But don’t doubt it, the magic that made Bridget so popular is still there.
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