Yes, you read that right. 3 disparate movie reviews in one article. Even though this is my first, I have been thinking of adopting this style for some time now. Rather than writing long, separate reviews for every movie I see in a theatre, I decided to start writing a couple of condensed reviews, effectively communicating my point across. Of course, I will still write my regular, in-depth reviews for the big blockbusters but for under-the-radar movies like Anna, Annabelle Comes Home, and The Dead Don’t Die, writing shorter reviews is more effective.

Anna

As of this writing, Anna rocks a poor 25% on Rotten Tomatoes. Gotta say though, this movie is better than what many critics are making out to be. Now I don’t want to make excuses for other people’s opinions but upon reading a few reviews after watching the movie, I noticed that many delve on the director, Luc Besson’s alleged sexual assault allegations. Isn’t that a little unfair? Shouldn’t we judge a movie on its own merits?

Anyways, I had a good time watching Anna. The main female lead, played well by Sasha Luss, is a character you absolutely feel for, despite her killing sprees. Cillian Murphy, Luke Evans, and Helen Mirren all deliver solid performances, and this movie has a good amount of twists and turns that leave you guessing till the end. In terms of action, the movie does have some well-choreographed sequences, especially the restaurant scene. Upon realizing that the gun she was given had no bullets, Anna is forced to utilize objects in her surroundings and seeing her use knives, plates, forks to kill the “bad guys” is pretty exciting! Albeit sub-par compared to the gun-fu of John Wick or the hand-to-hand combat of Atomic Blonde, the action is pretty entertaining to watch.

That being said, I can’t help but feel a sense of déjà vu, like I’ve seen all this before, which renders Anna as just another ‘seductive spy flick.’ Jennifer Lawrence’s Red Sparrow literally came out last year and the main plot of that – a Russian-nobody-turned spy has to use her sexuality to accomplish her goals, and Anna borrows a lot of elements from that. This film also has a romance between Anna and one of her friends, which is ultimately pointless and simply ends up taking valuable screentime. In addition, one of the most problematic elements of this flick is its use of non-linear story-telling. The movie constantly jumps around the timeline, for example – 5 years later to 6 months earlier to 3 years later, etc. Lastly, this movie also suffers Captain Marvel/Rey problem – a strong female without any adversary. Throughout the film, she often comes off as invincible, which reduces the stakes. 

Overall, Anna is a pretty enjoyable movie with good performances, entertaining action, and a likable main character. Yes, it also has a hackneyed premise, seemingly-unbeatable lead, and an unnecessarily lengthy run-time, but I had a darn good time watching it! 3/5.

 

Annabelle Comes Home

I caught the third Annabelle film in an advanced screening and I got to say, this movie is better than I expected. Oh, and just found this!

For starters, the addition of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s Warrens’ characters is always appreciated! Even though they aren’t in the movie a whole lot, their presence helps elevate the material. The threequel has a surprising amount of humor and for the most part, the jokes landed. However, it’s the solid character work where this movie excels at. The filmmakers take time to flesh out the characters, something most horror directors fail at. By getting us invested in the characters, the audience genuinely wants the characters to survive the harrowing adventures. The tension is palpable and to the movie’s credit, it doesn’t rely on jump-scares a ‘lot.’

Where this movie, unfortunately, goes downhill is in its 2nd act. Now don’t get me wrong, characters trapped in a house with haunted things is a cool premise, but it needs to be executed well. However, the second half is essentially characters walking around, getting scared from a probably-the-next-spinoff-film demon, and running away. In addition, the Annabelle doll is so infuriatingly inept. If it needs a soul, what is the point of scaring the hosts? It’s pointless! Seriously, the demons don’t do much in the film other than being a nuisance to the characters and us, the audience. The demonic elements in this film is so lackluster and risible.

In conclusion, Annabelle Far From Home   Comes Home is a pretty decent movie because of its emphasis on characters, charming chemistry between the main leads, and a good amount of humor infused throughout the film. The aforementioned positives save this film from a ridiculous second-half and some truly terrible demonic elements. 2.8/5

 

The Dead Don’t Die

The Dead Don’t Die, the latest film from Jim Jarmusch is about three cops that start seeing a lot of weird things happen: an unusual amount of daylight in the night-time, no cell reception, and as the name implies, the dead start coming to life. Apparently, excess polar fracking has shifted the Earth’s axis, which is responsible for the aforementioned “disasters.”

Adam Driver and Bill Murray have excellent chemistry and their occasional, deadpan back-and-forth is hilarious. The 2 characters also break the 4th wall quite often, a la Deadpool, and surprisingly, there is also an album with the title ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ that the characters are enamored by in the actual movie. In addition, there are some subtle and some blatantly obvious jabs at the current Trump administration (one of the characters dons a ‘Make America White Again’ hat), their handling of global warming, and the state of modern society with everyone acting like “zombies.” Yeah, this movie has it all! Oh, and did I mention aliens are in this movie too? Because why not!

Jarmusch’s plan is to throw everything, including the kitchen sink into this weird, goofy, mess of a film. Narratively speaking, this movie has a very little plot, thus Jarmusch throws in a boat-load of characters to pad the runtime. The problem, however, is that most of the characters are given a sizable amount of screen-time but are disposed of fairly quickly and/or unnecessary. Aside from the Driver/Murray comedy, the rest of the jokes fall flat. Lastly, this movie is painfully long and because of a lack of story, the 1:45 runtime feels like an eternity. Yes, the movie is definitely intended as a satire but the messages are so forced and there is no life in the film, literally and figuratively.

Despite the hilarious Adam Driver/Bill Murray scenes, this movie is a soulless, uninspired film that has narrative issues, and is a comedic and a tonal mess. 1.5/5.