Rampage (2018)

I know it's a bit of a stretch to expect something from movies based on video games by now, especially when it comes to a film like 'Rampage' which comes from the Midway arcade game of the 1980's. But there lies the problem and it's terrible that we don't have any kind of expectations for movies like this or really any movies anymore. We shouldn't be this way but it isn't like we're not right in our assumptions most of the time and while 'Rampage' is hardly the worst in this category it's still little more than fluff that you'll quickly forget once you leave that theater.

The film's biggest plus is Dwayne Johnson and Jeffery Dean Morgan who provide the best performances they can with the material they're given and seem to be the only people having some kind of fun with it. I hate constantly jumping on Johnson's movies I really do because he seems like a really nice guy who just wants to entertain people, but between this and last year's 'Baywatch' I really think he needs to pick his roles better. Morgan chews the scenery as he's known to do and is his usual sarcastic and oddly charming self. The rest of the cast fares much much worse with Naomi Harris who deserves much better than this. She is little more than an exposition machine who provides a slight forward hurdle to the plot when needed but is otherwise useless. The villains of this piece are by far the worst actors I have seen in a mainstream theatrical film in a long while. Their motivations are not only simplistic but it doesn't even make any sense even for a monster movie. To be honest, I don't believe they revealed a real reason for them to make giant mutations other than they wanted money...I don't know how that makes money for them but okay.

As for the mutations themselves, they're pretty average. The best special effects go to George who is motion captured by a real actor thus giving him a very outstanding presence and the CGI looks best on him. Interestingly, George has more personality than the humans here and even has a better sense of humor (even if it is just flipping off The Rock). As for the Wolf and Crocodile (or Ralph & Lizzie if you know the game) they are really bland designs and the CGI on them is more obvious. Lizzie's look is definitely the worse out of the three, being so unoriginal but at the same time overly designed and it's just a dinosaur with a bunch of spikes. Despite the monsters not exactly living up to their potential, I will say that the climax in which they fight each other and cause destruction and chaos is exactly what you expect and is at least entertaining. However, this is only twenty five to thirty minutes of a 90 minute film and it's simply just not enough to justify spending $150 million budget.

'Rampage' has some good action and interesting ideas but the action itself is only in the end and the ideas don't go beyond their basics, resulting in an incredibly forgettable action flick that you'll forget about until you see it in your local Red Box three months later. It's the kind of movie we see far too often that just makes a quick buck off of a nostalgic or younger audience then vanishes like a thief in the night. We as the film going audience deserve much better than 'Rampage'.

5.5/10

Truth or Dare (2018)

I dare you to not facepalm or crack a smile or even a chuckle while watching Blumhouse Productions' latest horror flick 'Truth or Dare'. I'll give it this though, despite being a complete trainwreck with poor pacing, cringe-worthy dialogue, unlikable characters, and this goofy photoshop demon you see above...It did have potential. The idea of a simple children's game with an evil twist is a good idea but not in the hands of the FOUR screenwriters and director Jeff Wadlow (who brought us 'Cry Wolf', another horrible horror flick that made me pull my hair out). The idea is simple: A demon has possessed a group's game of Truth or Dare and they have to either tell the truth or do the dare. Refuse or fail and you are dead boom! The whole story right there, and really that's all you will comprehend for the rest of the film even with it's barely 90 minute runtime.

Everyone in this movie are terrible people and you don't give the tiniest bit of a shit about them or their fates. One is an alcoholic, whose boyfriend is a dirtbag medical student who sells drugs to kids and then you have the best friend character and she is by far the worst of them all. She may not be the worst person but every five minutes she is told a horrifying truth or is revealed to be someone unwholesome and then she gets pissed off, runs away for about ten minutes, comes back and the process starts all over again through the entire movie! They try to cram in some kind of sob story about her father but she's so underdeveloped and literally jumping in and out of the story that you don't care and she's just another body. Sadly, I think the only character who wasn't a bad person or a bad actor for that matter is the gay best friend character. He's not stereotypical, has an arc by the end of his scenes and is the only one who is nice. So of course, he's one of the first ones to die off because screw good characters in this movie right?

So what are we left with here? Gore? None despite the premise promising some potentially gruesome deaths I think the worst one was an off screen stabbing in the eye. Scares? None. At all. I didn't even jump at the jump scares. That and how can you look at that stupid smiley demon face and be scared of it? Good cinematography or atmosphere? None. It's pretty generic, much like 'Cry Wolf' and overall despite Blumhouse usually throwing out something that is at least average, this is by far their worst product since their conception. Yes, this is even worse than 'Jem and the Holograms' and it's so by the numbers horror that it even sets up a sequel that I hope we never get. I promise I'm telling the truth when I say 'Truth or Dare' is some pretty abysmal cinema.

3.0/10

A Quiet Place (2018)

Horror is coming back in a big way and it's about time. After years of remakes, torture flicks, and mediocre original efforts, the horror genre has seemingly come back for another high. Last year's 'IT' adaptation may not be an original film, but it was so well done and by far one of the best Stephen King films that it didn't matter much in the end as it ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time. This past year also saw two Academy Awards go to 'Get Out' and 'The Shape of Water' and with 'A Quiet Place' we are looking at yet another potential awards surprise come 2019. Directed by John Krasinski and starring both him and real life wife Emily Blunt it tells the tale of a family living out on their farm after some horrific apocalyptic event. We don't ever really find out what exactly happened, but what it boils down to is monsters. Monsters that can only hear their victims and so we cut back to the family, living in silence, eating food on leaves and with no utensils, speaking through sign language, and even playing Monopoly with soft poof balls.

I know what many thought at first as I did as well: how exactly can you keep an audience engaged in a horror film with little to no background, almost no audible dialogue (or dialogue in general), and a slow, methodical pace? Well you do it like 'A Quiet Place' has done, with strong performances from the cast, stunning cinematography and visual effects, and a tense, blood-curdling score from the 'Scream' series composer Marco Beltrami. Krasinski shows his talents right away as the opening scene is one of the most unexpected, with a strong plot point that will leave you wondering just how far they'll go. We then just go from scene to scene with the tension and suspense rarely lifting which kept leaving me almost with heart problems by the end of its surprisingly short running time. The cast is excellent in this film, showing everything in their physical performances. The eyes especially give such strong emotions that you wouldn't be able to see in other films as much. A big plus goes to the young actress Millicent Simmonds who is in actuality deaf. She is the strongest character and the biggest part of the overall story and she pulls it off so well. She is a great girl and I hope to see her in more things.

The film even throws you some curve balls here and there, with something as simple as a rusty nail or a game of Monopoly becoming horror inducing sequences that will leave you panicking in your chair. A big issue many seem to have involves the mother character being pregnant during the events of the film as if it was an ignorant decision but I feel it has some strong symbolism in the overall narrative. The family just adjusts to life and continues to live it as best they can despite the very dangerous threat. I think it shows a positive outlook on the future and humanity despite the horrors that have happened throughout the story's world. What I did have issues with are very minor at best with the first being the creatures themselves. I know that the film isn't about them really and they aren't trying to hide them or slowly reveal them throughout but their design is a little lackluster. They are a mix between an alien creature and a Licker from 'Resident Evil' and really wondering where they could be at any moment was far more sinister and tense than physically seeing them.

My final real gripe is the previously mentioned score by Baltrami, which repeats similar tunes a few too many times but it works for the most part in the context of the film. I also don't enjoy the idea of the ending setting up something down the line because that's exactly what killed horror movies for a good part of a decade. More original material or at least something we haven't seen in a while is all I ask. 'A Quiet Place' is everything good you have heard about it and is one of the best films you'll see in 2018. It's classic horror at its very finest, with strong talent in front of and behind the camera. Check this one out for sure.

9.5/10