I have three very different movies to review. Today I will be reviewing "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", "The Lego Ninjago Movie" and "Mother!". Before I get started, I'd like to give a shoutout to the Free Gamer's Alliance YouTube channel. Their videos cover everything from walkthroughs, glitches, easter eggs, and various amusing video game related content, all of which is delivered with some colorful commentary while they have buckets of fun doing it. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC03E6K3QHRMp7Vs0S6wHm6Q
Lets kick this off with "Mother!" Here is the trailer:
- The cast is absolutely incredible. Jennifer Lawrence carries the movie for the most part as the camera is spent largely on her. Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Ed Harris all shine in their roles.
- There is some really great dialogue throughout.
- There is a lot of really clever imagery throughout the movie that will make you think.
- The pacing can be quite slow through the first two acts.
- The final act is completely insane. For many people, this payoff will be worth it. For other people it will be too much. There are two majorly upsetting moments that happen in it. I get what they are going for with it but I have to say that I also witnessed several people walk out in my screening at those moments and I understand why.
I saw "Mother!" a bit over a week ago and I still can't decide whether or not I like it. On one hand, the movie is written very well and does many things right. On another hand it does things that seem rather excessive that are going to upset a lot of people. I think if you love artsy movies that will do things that are shocking and upsetting you will like this movie. Otherwise stay away. This is a movie that I think people are going to either passionately love or hate with a passion.
Lets move on to "The Lego Ninjago Movie." Here is the trailer:
- The voice cast is on point and really fits all of their characters.
- The animation is about as strong as it was in other Lego movies
- Even though the comedy can be pretty hit or miss, it hits hard when it works.
- There is a pretty great use of a cat throughout the entire movie.
- The first act struggled to be interesting. The movie does pick up in the second and third act but it is a bit of a chore at the beginning.
- The pacing is a bit off. As a result, the movie feels a bit longer than it actually is.
- As I mentioned above, while a lot of the comedy works, a lot of it falls flat as well.
"The Lego Ninjago Movie" may be the weakest of the "Lego Movies" but it still manages to be reasonably entertaining. I just would say to not expect greatness. If you have kids that really want to see this, it would be worth seeing in theaters but otherwise I would say this one is probably best rented.
Finally, lets talk about "Kingsman: The Golden Circle." Here is the trailer:
- The cast is absolutely spectacular. As with the first movie Taron Egerton and Coling Firth are fantastic. However the one that really steals the show is Julianne Moore as one of the most psychotic villains I have seen on screen in a long time.
- There are some really good action scenes even if the camerawork lets them down occasionally.
- There are some truly funny moments throughout the movie.
- The soundtrack for this movie is fantastic!
- As i hinted at above, the camera work can get a bit shaky. At times it can be about as bad as it is in the "Transformers" movies.
- The plot felt a bit disjointed and all over the place.
- There is a really great character introduced very early on that ends up getting sidelined for the majority of the movie and I felt like using that character more would have made the movie stronger.
"Kingsman: The Golden Circle" is a bit of a mess but it has enough fun moments to make it a fun in-theater experience. The way I would put it is that if you enjoyed the first one, you will probably enjoy this one. If you didn't like the first one, this one is unlikely to win you over.
Thanks for reading everyone! As usual, feel free to leave a comment but please be advised that if you are going to read any potential comments that spoilers may be present.