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Review

Picking up immediately after the events of the first film, “A Quiet Place Part II” follows our family on their continued adventure. With their lives thrown into upheaval by the events of the first film they set out to find a new way to live. This forces a change in genre between the films. Where the first is a Horror Drama the sequel is more Horror Adventure sort of like Jurassic Park without all the wonder of creation and dinosaurs.

If you are thinking “that sounds more up my alley than the first, maybe I’ll just watch Part II”. Don’t do it. The world building is primarily in the first movie and the family dynamic will have far less meaning without the context of the first. On the flip side, if you are expecting a similar experience to the first, Part II may give a bit of a surprise. It really is a shift in tone and style. Which to me is a good thing. The feeling of the first would be unsustainable in a sequel and the change is fitting and feels right. The emotional core of the film is not as strong, but there’s a lot more actual stuff going on. There are a few head scratcher  decisions by a couple characters and a strange reveal that don’t add to the story much and I think the filmmakers could have done something better with one of the subplots.

“A Quiet Place Part II” is not as quiet a place as the first movie, and unfortunately introduces some harsh language, not much, but it’s there now. There is also more violence with monsters and between people. The violence is more actiony this time around and less impactful or perhaps more casual.

Just like the first this is a showcase for surround sound. The filmmakers have done an excellent job placing you in the space with the subtle sounds of the world coming from all around you. You see a lot more of the world and the monsters this time around and they look really good.

Overall I like Part II better and give it an 8/10. Really it’s just more my kind of movie. I’m sure there will be plenty of people that prefer the first.

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Review

Tom Cruise plays the best pilot in the world. At least he thinks so. He wants to prove himself by earning the title “Top Gun”. He goes with his copilot to the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School. There he meets some rivals and an attractive instructor. What follows is a fairly compelling action drama. From what I had heard about this movie the pacing is more casual than I had expected. It’s mostly a drama with some action moments. I felt the movies starts out  little soft but builds throughout to an excellent ending.

The most impressive part of this movie is the planes, flights, and carriers. That’s probably because they’re real. The flying sequences are exciting and feel right. The great acting ensures you’ll also care about the characters, appreciate their growth, understand their decisions, and laugh with them.

“Top Gun” has a great theme song and excellent surround sound. The audio mix helps to sell the intensity of the flight sequences. But the heart of this one really is the character drama. It’s wrapped in a macho package, but has more in common with “Remember the Titans” than “Mission Impossible”. The conflict is mainly within a group of allies rather than having a villain to conquer.

There isn’t much direct violence, but there is death. The swearing is frequent and casual not aggressive. Where things take a real negative turn is a super awkward, though not explicit, sex scene which I will always skip in any future viewings. As you probably can tell, I’m not a fan of any sex scenes. This one uses silhouettes and is about one minute, but feels like in goes on for days. What goes on in your bedroom is your business. I don’t want to know anything about it and that goes for Tom Cruise especially.

I like “Top Gun” and give it an 8/10. It’s definitely worth watching without the kids.

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Review

Thirty years in the future aliens have attacked wiping out almost all of humanity. The humans have created a time travel machine to bring people from the past to fight the war in the future. Why not teach people in the present how to fight the aliens so when they first arrive they get wiped out right away? No reason really. You might say “Logan, but that would mess with the time travel continuity.” Yes it would, but the filmmakers aren’t really worried about that.

This movie is kind of fun to watch. The first half of the movie seems to set thing ups pretty nicely and is leading to what appears could be a pretty cool ending, but it doesn’t really turn out that way. There is a lot of stuff laid out that doesn’t ever get a payoff. There are just too many “wait couldn’t you just solve everything by doing - insert obvious solution here” moments in the second half of the movie. The pacing also has a few problems. The movie starts with a flash to a moment in the middle of the movie like “coming up” clip from a YouTube video. It has no context that and is completely meaningless. It basically is just telling us “the main character is going to have some bad stuff happen to him”. The flow for most of the movie is pretty good though.

This is an action movie that probably should have leaned more into the horror. And I don’t really like horror. The aliens are basically albino Zerglings crossed with Hydralisks. For those less familiar with Starcraft they are giant doglike insects that can shoot spikes. Pretty scary looking critters. They make a distinctive terrifying clicking noise, or so we’re told. The movie really never drives that point home. they do make a clicking noise, but it’s never scary or memorable.

There is a lot of violence and swearing and probably just barely holds on to a PG-13 rating, but almost no sexual content.

I don’t regret watching it, but I’ll probably not watch it ever again. I give it a 6/10. It just doesn’t stick the landing and doesn’t have anything particularly exceptional about it.

One more gripe is there was some pretty heavy handed attempts at humour that didn’t work out for me.

Review

Did you want to know more about the history of King Kong or the people on Skull Island? You did, oh that’s too bad. Did you want to catch up with the characters from the previous Godzilla and Kong movies? Oh. Did you like the nuanced and connected stories about the interactions between titans and humans? Oh, you liked that? Well, did you want to see a giant ape fight a radioactive lizard? Excellent, ‘cause that’s what we’ve got.

Godzilla is hurting people and we don’t know why. Instead of trying to figure out why, let’s use Kong to lead us to a special power in the centre of the earth. Why Kong? Because salmon swim upstream. Why do we need the power? Don’t you worry about that. Let us worry about that. Does that sound silly to you? It does to me. After the good story in “Kong: Skull Island” and excellent story in “Godzilla: King of the Monsters”, “Godzilla VS Kong” is a big disappointment falling back down to the level of the 2014 movie. It is exciting and kind of interesting, but the continuity and originality drop big time. There are so many small inconsistencies and a few real big ones that just suck. Maybe I came into this movie with my expectations too high, but it’s sad to see the Monsterverse fall.

It’s a good thing the film looks amazing. Godzilla and Kong are fantastic and it’s difficult to imagine how they could possibly look any better. With great battles in full daylight and in the dramatic neon of Hong Kong at night, this movies looks so good. The only drawback is a couple spin shots that stop just before motion sickness.

The sound is also superb. Just like “King of the Monsters” my living room was a theatre surrounded by bellows, blasts and the surprisingly evocative thumping of Kong’s heart.

Violence and gore wise this one lands pretty close to “King of the Monsters” and much less than “Skull Island”. The majority of the violence is between monsters and although lots of humans die, most do so off screen. The’ve toned down the language a little from “King of the Monsters” and “Skull Island” and feels a more comfortable PG-13.

“Godzilla VS Kong” is what most people expect from a monster movie and not what a monster movie can be. I give it a disappointed 7/10. It’s a good movie, but I had hoped for more. My favourite Godzilla is still “King of the Monsters”.

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