GLASS (2019) - Review

     I was telling a friend of mine this morning that I'm glad I didn't Tweet out my first thoughts after seeing GLASS, the latest film from plot twist master M Night Shayamalan. If I had, you would've seen a Tweet from @MrGBIZ saying: 


"Even though I HATED the ending, I still think this movie is somewhere between OK and pretty good." 

    Then I went to bed thinking about it and when I woke up, I gave it some more thought. Now, even though I'm still mad about the ending, I realize there's no other way this movie could've ended. 

     I'm getting ahead of myself.


 Quick review before I go into details that, depending on your movie knowledge, may or may not be entering spoiler territory. So I'll keep it quick, simple and painless. Bruce Willis gives us the same typical every-man acting job he gives in, honestly, almost every movie he's ever been in. If you're a fan of every-men movies, movies where the heroes and heroines are your typical average Joes more like than unlike me, then you know this is not a complaint. The same is true for Glass as well but the irony is he's far from an everyman in this movie. He's a vigilante who is trying to to track down a serial killer known as the Horde (James McAvoy, who does more acting in this movie as a man with 20+ multiple personalities than Bruce Willis has in 40+ roles) who has just kidnapped four girls. David Dunn (Willis) has the early advantage in the fact that Kevin Crumb (McAvoy) doesn't even know Dunn exists, much less think that any body could stop him. Kevin's multiple personalities are aware of each other but one personality is much more dangerous than all of the others combined. Dunn manages to find where Crumb has the girls hidden and frees them but not before Crumb has returns. Crumb and Dunn do battle but are interrupted by a doctor who's intrigued not only by Crumb but by Dunn as well. 

     That's about as far as I can go with the plot details before we get into spoilers so let me stop right there. The action I go into detail about above all happens within the first 30 minutes. The rest of the movie is about Dr Staple's (Sarah Paulson who I thought could've been used more) attempts at getting Dunn, Crumb, and a third patient Elijah Price aka the eponymous Glass (Samuel Jackson, who's face in this movie alone may have out-acted Bruce Willis) to realize how delusion they really are. 

     Let me tell you this is a fairly gloomy movie. A lot of the early scenes are shots of Dunn on the Hunt for Crumb in the daytime but it still seems dark. Ditto once the movie moves to the mental institution that Staple runs and there's plenty of light's inside but I still felt the lighting was off. Maybe intentional? I don't know. It didn't take away much from the film. The acting was great too, even though Bruce Willis was just Bruce Willis'ing, I felt that was perfect for this movie. Jackson & McAvoy definitely did the heavy lifting here but again, let me add that Sarah Paulson was criminally underused. 

     Before I mention any other actors in this movie, let me do something I hate doing and be a little spoiler-y.  

Besides Paulson's Dr Staple, most of the main characters first appearred in previous Shayamalan movies. 

If you've seen Shayamalan's second movie UNBREAKABLE, you've met David and Elijah already. If not, stop reading this... waitwaitwait! Before I say that, let me tell you that you may have met Crumb too, in Shayaman's last movie SPLIT. 

Three other characters from those two movies pop up here as well. Spencer Treat Clark plays David's son Joseph and it wasn't until after I looked up Unbreakable that I realized he played Joseph in the original but his role here is a little meatier this time around. Charlayne Woodard also returned from Unbreakable as Elijah's mom. Last and most confusingly, Anya Taylor-Joy aka my new favorite Scream Queen returns as Casey, the Final Girl from Split. 

No, Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), baby what are you doing?

There's no clear cut reason for her to return and whenever she is on the screen she is doing the exact opposite of what I think she should be doing. I did not buy Casey possibly, improbably, suffering from Stockholm Syndrome after all she had been through. 

Bruce Willis and Spencer Treat Clark in UNBREAKABLE

All that said, if you've never seen 
any of those movies, go watch them both. Unbreakable proved to me that Shayamalan might have mastered the plot twist even more so than his breakout movie THE SIXTH SENSE did. Split technically has TWO twists you're not supposed to see coming but that second twist (sorry but yeah... SPOILER ALERT!) is the fact that it's continuing the story started in Unbreakable. Furthermore, if you've already watched the trailer for Glass, you might be able to figure out what that first Split twist is from that. Sorry. Had to be said.   

     Now, if you've only seen one movie and not the other or neither, you don't necessarily need to see those movies to get this one. In fact, I'd be willing to bet you'd like this movie more than I did because you're not expecting anything. I expected... nevermind. Just know I didn't get the ending I felt this trilogy deserved. 

     As far as the ending... Well, if you're familiar with a Shayamalan movie, you KNOW there's a twist coming because that's what he does and he carries on with that tradition here. Do I feel like he stuck the landing with this twist? Admittedly, I didn't. At first. In fact, let me repeat, I HATED it. Then when I woke up this morning and gave it further thought, I realized that this ending is perfect, not the ending I wanted nor expected and I still HATE it but it's spot on, that much I can't deny. In fact, there's usually just one route that Shayamalan could have chose to take Dunn, Crumb and any other individual who has extraordinary talents, but trust me you've seen those movies a thousand times over already so the movie was wise not to go that route. I loved the fact that Shayamalan chose to go the opposite direction. Needless to say, I didn't see this plot twist coming.      

Escape Room (2019) - Smokkee's Review

Most of my readers know I'm a sucker for a good mystery and stories whose plots starts off with lines like "6 strangers...", which means I most likely would have been a bit more anxious to see this movie than I was. Admittedly I went into Escape Room with low expectations, knowing next to nothing of the plot when I went to see it. I hadn't even watched the trailer, partly because I didn't know this movie existed. To top it off, "Escape Room" is the kind of cheesy title that has "direct to video" written all over it. I expected to at best be mildly entertained by it or, at worst, hate that I let another bad movie still 90 minutes from me. I love it when a movie surprises me in a good way. My only problem with this movie is I'm not sure I can recommend it.

I guess Zoey (Taylor Russell) never seen Hellraiser.

After an opening scene which depicts a man begging to be let out of a shrinking room on the verge of crushing the man to death until it's interrupted by the title screen, we're introduced to our six strangers. We meet ne'er do well  Ben also the guy who was getting crushed at the beginning (Logan Miller), while his at work at a Home Depot-ish type store, then a college student named Zoey (Taylor Russell) and finally a businessman named Jason (Jay Ellis) as they all in various ways receive a gift in the form of a puzzle box. These boxes would give me too many flashbacks to Hellraiser's Lemarchand Configuration cube for me to fool around with it but these people's curiosity gets the better of them. We watch them figure out the puzzle boxes until they each get rewarded with an invitation to win $1 million if they can manage to escape the Escape Room. Essentially, the Escape Room is an interactive entertainment experience akin to a Murder Mystery Party featuring a series of locked rooms where the participants must use clues to help them exit. Each winds up in a nondescript waiting room where they meet the other three participants Danny (Nik Dodani), Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll, Daredevil's Karen Page), and Mike (Tyler Labine, who had me kicking myself for not recognizing Dale of Dale And Tucker Vs Evil fame). After a few minutes of getting familiar with each other via a few antagonizing comments, they realize the game had already gotten started and soon after that, they realize the stakes are a lot higher than expected. 

And here's where I have to stop. Not much more I can tell you about the plot without spoiling it. Also, I was giving myself a headache trying to make sense of what happens. The fact that I've been thinking about it lets me know I was entertained but will anybody else be? 

  I liked this movie in the same way I love Smoking Aces, Way of the Gun, and the Saw series. In other words I was entertained throughout however there are so many plot-holes that become even more apparent once you know more about what's going on that if you tried to give this movie much thought, then like me you'd probably give yourself a headache too. If you liked any of those movies I just mentioned then you'll most likely like this movie too but if you're a stickler for coherent plots, you might want to skip this one. I say go for it.   

Upgrade (2018) - Movie Review

Hello, WORLD!!!! How the hell are ya? Have y’all recovered from Avengers: Infinity War yet? Good, cause I got another movie you might need to recover from. I just left Leigh Whannell’s latest movie Upgrade last night. Now, since it’s been a minute since I’ve done a review, let me just tell you if I think it's worth watching right now after I give you a quick synopsis.  

Upgrade is about a mechanic who's wife has been murdered after their semi auto-piloted driving car crashes. the mechanic himself has been left paralyzed by the ordeal but a former client of his offers him a microchip implant that would not only give him back the use of his body but also help him find the men responsible. Bottom line, I recommend this movie. Out of 5 stars I’d give it 3 1/2. 





Still here? Good. Let me see if I still know how to review a movie in a traditional sense. Bare with me, WORLD. I'm a bit rusty. *Ahem*




    Directed by Leigh Whannell of Saw and Insidious fame, Upgrade is bloody at parts and action packed but mainly a straight forward telling of a futuristic revenge movie. One can probably guess how this film ends as I did. I saw the ending coming a mile away then it happened just as I thought it would. Then, it didn't.   

    Upgrade happens in the not so distant future. A mechanic named Grey

Logan Marshall-Green

(Logan Marshall-Green) repairs a vehicle for a Google-like technology company's wunderkind CEO Eron (Harrison Gilbertson). After repairing the vehicle Grey and his wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo), an employee of a company that's somewhat a rival of Eron's own company, drop the vehicle off at Eron's beach-house (literally, it's a house under a beach). While there, Eron introduces the couple to STEM, a microchip Eron touts as the future of evolution. Grey laments that it'll mean "10 guys on the unemployment line", to which Eron says nothing. 

     As the couple head home in a semi automated vehicle provided by Asha's company, the self-driving car's system fails, the car overturns and the couple appear to suffer only minor injuries until a team of men show up, shoot Grey in the neck and murder Asha. A few months later, Eron visits a paralyzed Grey offering a chance to get the use of his body back with help from the STEM chip. Of course, it wouldn't be a movie if Grey didn't take Eron up on this offer, right? And of course, the experiment works, Grey gets the use of his body back, and all is right with the world for all of 5 minutes until Grey hears a voice in his head. 

    STEM turns out to be much more than a second chance for Grey to have full body movement. Much more. Among other things, it can also communicate with the owner of the body it's been implanted in. This turns out to be a plus for Grey, who is so not happy with the job the police, led by Officer Cortez (Get Out's Betty Gabriel), have been doing trying to identify his assailants. Apparently, having the video of the assault thanks to recording drones everywhere still can't lead the police to the perpetrators. Good old STEM saw the video once and seemed to gain more knowledge about the assailants identities than the police did. 

   What follows during rest of the movie could best be described as a mix of Taken and The Matrix. Marshall-Green's presence through out the film was the real draw for me. Even if he acted a little wooden in certain scenes, you knew his motivation and saw it clearly on his face. Gabriel, who was underused until a little past the two thirds of the movie was done, was very effective and charismatic as a somewhat ineffective officer but again, I will say she was underused. On another note, I do think adding her to this movie was inspired casting. This movie and Get Out could almost play off of each other if one watched them both at the same time. As Eron, Gilbertson was giving off those creepy vibes that actors like Crispin Glover or Dane DeHaan provide so easily. 

     Still, this film isn't without it's flaws. The bad guys, lead by Benedict Hardie's Fisk, didn't stand out much to me but I believe that was because the plot didn't require them to. The movie looked fantastic at first but as the movie went on, the future started to look more and more generic. It doesn't distract you from the movie once everything gets rolling so it's not really a big deal but this movie could've been set in the present day and the movie would've still worked. Also, the dialogue was groan inducing at times. I literally groaned at the dialogue... a lot. And for this movie to be somewhat of a horror movie, it's not horrifying at all. It's quite the opposite. When I wasn't groaning I was LMAO. I wasn't the only one either. The audience I viewed this movie with was laughing as often as I was. There's two maybe three scenes that even come close to horror but even those got plenty of laughs from the crowd. It's not Shakespeare, for sure, but if you wanted action and a few good laughs plus a great plot twist, then this movie is for you. Overall, the film was great. I can't wait to see it again. 

     
    
 

A Is For Apps (Like Agar.io And Alchemy), An #AToZChallenge 2016 Post

Guess who's Biz-ack? Long time no see right? Well, things have been crazy for me lately. I'll get into what's been up with me in a post real soon...maybe. Here's a short version if you're impatient: my main problem is I've been somewhat focused distracted, by that I mean I've been focused on doing so much, I'm not accomplishing as much as I want to accomplish. I'm trying to read tons of books while finishing my first 2 books, start another business because while my blogs do provide some income I don't have enough readers to mainly just blog plus I'm not blogging enough to gain more readers because of other endeavors. 

Whatever.

At least I'm blogging now and I ain't even got to the topic yet. You see what I mean by distracted. Well, the gist of this A To Z Challenge is every Monday through Friday in April, bloggers like myself will write one post a day for every letter in the alphabet. Today's the first day so today's letter is A. 

For my A post, I've decided to write about one of my other biggest distractions: apps. These mobile phone applications are now multi-million dollar industries in their own right. Don't believe me? Just Google how much money Fb paid for Instagram, or how much they were willing to pay Twitter back when Twitter first got started to buy that app. Or think about the fact that recently Nintendo and Sony's Playstation division both are putting out apps on mobile phones now and not on they're own systems. Nintendo's first app, Miimoto was released today. Spoiler alert: That's probably gonna be my M post, lbvs. Or figure out how some of the most profitable game apps on these phones are actually free to download but make money from in app sales. Or advertisements, those annoying ads that pop up in the middle of a game so much that you're almost forced to buy the paid version just to keep your sanity. 

 I'm sure you know what apps are.
We all know what apps are. But they're are sooooooooo many of them it's hard to find the good ones without a recommendation so I'll be pointing out a few good ones to you over the course of this month. 

I ate a Donald Trump that was trying to eat a George Bush!

While I'm on that subject, I might as well tell you about my current newest addiction, a blob-eat-blob app called Agar.io. You're a blob in a sea of blobs, some of which are computer generated but most of

Then Obama ate me. I hope it ate that green blob on it's left!

which are other app users. The purpose of this very, very simple game is to become the biggest blob on the game and you do that by eating other blobs. Sounds easy right?





Well, it is. Eat until you're the biggest blob on the game. The problem is that it's the only rule on the game so EVERYBODY is trying to do the same thing. Another issue is speed. When you're a tiny dot, you're a speedster but just like in real life, the more weight you add the slower you move. You can chase a smaller blob forever and never catch it if it doesn't get as big as you and if it does that, then it's your turn to run. The only real chance a larger blob has of catching a smaller blob is if it spits a piece of itself at the smaller blob, essentially splitting itself in half which reminds me of my next piece of advise. Be careful!! All blobs aren't healthy for you! They're some green blobs with little spikes on them that will break you down into multiple much smaller, easier to eat blobs. If you're a smaller blob, these green blobs are like safe zones; the much bigger blogs will not want to eat you if you're around one of those things. 

I love this game now. The longest game I've played lasted 10 minutes. The quickest games don't even last 5... those other blobs are thirsty! If you can manage to eat like a few 100 minidots, you won't have as many predators as you do when you first start but there is almost ALWAYS another blob bigger than you somewhere out there.

That's it for now, WORLD. It's good to be back too. Thanks for having me again. Outta.

...into these icons.

Turn these icons...

WAITWAITWAITWAIT!! I almost forgot! I mentioned TWO apps in the title, right? The second game, Alchemy, isn't a typical type game but it's the first game I really liked on Androids, which makes it perfect for this post. The
game is a game for thinkers with a sense of humor. You start off with four icons: earth, wind, fire, and water. The object is to combine those icons to create over 300 more icons. For example when  you combine fire and air, you get energy. When you combine air and air, you get wind. When you combine earth and fire, you get lava. Combine lava and water and you'll get stone. This game is one for thinkers but almost anybody will enjoy it. NOW I'm outta, for real this time. 

W is for Wa.. (#ABizzeePick or 2) (#AtoZChallenge)

Today is the last day of the A to Z Challenge for bloggers running in the month of April. The gist of this challenge was we were supposed to submit one post a day except for Sundays for the entire month of April. As it stands right now, I'm 3 post behind. I should be submitting my Z post right now. Yet here I am with my W post.


What's interesting is I had an idea I would wind up picking a movie for W. I even knew which movie, 2000's 'Way of the Gun' starring Ryan Phillippe and Benicio del Toro. To me, this movie is a surprisingly overlooked classic. The beginning scene, featuring a young Sarah Silverman (trust me, if you're familiar with her you'll recognize her instantly) sets the tone for this exercise in double crosses. The plot, which is simple enough to cover in one sentence, is the least complicated thing about this movie. A couple of unscrupulous guys (Phillippe and del Toro) over hear a surrogate mother (Juliette Lewis) is getting $1 million for carrying the baby to full term and they decide to kidnap her not knowing who the surrogate parents are.

There's way more going on here than I care to get into or I'd dull the experience of this movie for you. Just know that this was the next movie written by Academy Award winning screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, who won an Oscar for the movie he wrote before this one, The Usual Suspects. If you found yourself confused by the earlier film's plot, don't even bother looking at WotG. Alliances are broken almost as quickly as they are formed in this movie. Instead of a 'reminds me of...', I'll do you one better this time: this movie is almost a hommage to another movie called "____ _______ And ___ ________ ___", the too nameless protagonists/antagonists actually refer to themselves in the former pair's real names.


That's it... for that pick anyway.

The other Bizzee Pick that made it's way into this post, I won't actually review here or go into more detail about this movie. I just felt like adding this movie to this list because I've talked about it so often these past few weeks, I take that as a sign that this was meant for me to write about it.

A super-hero murder mystery. #5WordFilmPlots pic.twitter.com/wD0GrcOTiF

— Smokkee G Singleton (@MrGBIZ) April 30, 2015

And I have already. I'll address the source material eventually but just know that although it's a graphic novel (ok, comic book!), it's number 227 on the essential reading list "1,001 Books to Read Before You Die".


NOW, that's it. Catch you next post.. in about an hour.

Smokkee    

U is for Ultron (#AtoZChallenge)

This will probably be the last thing I post about 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' before I go see it the movie when it comes out this weekend. Probably. No guarantees.

I can't think of any other movie I was this excited about seeing. 'Watchmen' might have came close but I didn't get all Trekkie-over-'Star Trek' about it. This movie isn't even a movie anymore. It's an event that must be experienced. I know from experience. That experience was the first Avenger film experience.

I'm grown but I felt like the world's oldest teenager when Hulk beat up Loki in the first film. To me, that scene is up there with the other great fight scenes from other movie events like Neo fighting multiple copies of Agent Smith and Luke fighting Darth Vader (both fights). Those movies transcended traditional films to me but I'm sure I can't be the only person who compares every major action movie or whatever to the classics like these three films.

I also have a feeling I'll be experiencing a bit more deja vu with this film. We already know where this movie leads to, kind of like knowing where 'Matrix: Reloaded' was leading to. I didn't think 'The Matrix' was going to be as good as it was when it came out. I'll gladly admit I was wrong about that and I'll openly admit I was wrong thinking that as good as the first film was, the sequel would also suck.

    
What's next after Ultron? Well, it might be the same as before Ultron. The next episode of the TV show, 'Marvel's Agents of SHIELD', is already slated as being the event that leads directly into Age of Ultron. If that's not enough to get you to watch the show, just know that if the final episodes of the season do not deal directly with the aftermath of AoU, they at least set the scene for what's next to come in the MCU. it's just too bad I'm gonna catch it after the fact. I got my first Chicago CUBS game of the season to attend. Thankfully, I do have Hulu Plus.


Later WORLD.
Smokkee

T is for Transsiberian (#AtoZChallenge)

Confession time. As much as I love the movies that make my list, sometimes I really hate writing #BizzeePick reviews. Never has this been more true than for trying to write a review for Transsiberian. There's not much I can tell you about anything without taking something away from the experience of this movie in the first place. The reason I love these movies so much are also the reason these movies are so hard to review.

I seriously can't tell you anything about this movie Transsiberian without giving too much away. I got to start with a 'reminds me of' since there's not much I can tell you. There's another movie about a traveling couple, a few traveling couples actually, called 'A Perfect Getaway' with Timothy Olyphant and Steve Zahn. This movie kind of puts me in the mind of that movie but it's much better executed. The twist isn't that cheesy either.

Carlos showing a lil something to Jessi

Now to the movie itself. The couple here, Roy and Jessi (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) are taking a cross continental
train between Asia and Europe. They meet a fellow traveler named Carlos and his girlfriend. Then things get thrown through a loop when an officer looking for smugglers (Ben Kingsley, as menacing as ever) appears.

OK. Everybody in this movie is excellent for starters. Secondly, this movie completely sucker punches you with the developments that happen on screen. None of what happens is unnatural, forced. Every character's decision, as rash as it may be at times, makes sense. Not many movies can claim that.

Not many straightforward movies like this, one that's completely understood in one take, gives you this much food for thought after the first feeding. A second helping isn't necessary but it goes down just as well as the first screening. Again, how many movies can say that?







This #BizzeePick can.

Later, WORLD.

Smokkee