This loveable and terrifying video game finally hit the big screen over the weekend with Five Nights at Freddy’s.

The main protagonist of the film is Mike (Josh Hutcherson) has been trying to stay above water by supporting his younger sister Abbey (Piper Rubio) as her guardian. It’s been somewhat difficult for him to keep a job due to unresolved trauma from when his younger brother was kidnapped on a camping trip. While dealing with that his unflattering aunt has been trying to take custody of Abbey. With all this pent-up stress and aggression Mike loses another job forcing him to head to a career service center. Career Counselor, Steve Raglan (Matthew Lillard), offers Mike the opportunity to be the night security guard at a once popular kids pizza place, which turns out to be Freddy Fazzbears Pizzeria. The store closed back in the 80’s due to the disappearances of several children and since then new security guards have been hired to keep the public out. To help Mike make sure the public is safe from Freddy’s is police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail). The only question Mike has is “Why are they trying to keep the public out?” Well, that answer might lie within the ominous animatronic characters that have never been removed from the establishment. While Mike gets to learn more about Freddy, Foxy, Bonnie, and Chica he’ll also get closer to the truth about what happened to his younger brother all those years ago. The only thing he’ll have to do is survive the night.

Talk about an interesting premise for a film that deals with killer animatronics. I thought that the story was going to delve deeper into the pizzeria lore, but instead it was solely focused on Mike. I didn’t think it was a bad idea to go in that direction but by doing so it took a lot of air out of the horror aspect of the film. Never once was I on the edge of my seat, had an increased heart rate, or had to shield my eyes due to the suspense factor of the film. This was more about dealing with trauma and how to get past it while dealing with killer animatronics in the background. Now, the animatronics were cool looking, but not scary. I think the producers for this film had many different ideas about what they wanted and kind of blended it all together and got this film. I thought the acting was fine and the production value was fantastic, but I just needed more horror for such an extremely popular horror video game.

If you want to see this film do not waste your hard-earned cash on it. Try to watch it on Peacock if you have that streaming service or wait until it is free to watch. Plus, if you are looking for a good scare this is not the film to watch.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Director Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon hit theaters over the weekend shining light on a story that many people might have not known about.

The story is set on a Native American reserve, in Oklahoma, occupied by the Osage tribe who discovered oil on the land back in the late 1800’s. We are then introduced to Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), a soldier returning from World War I, to meet up with his Uncle William Hale (Robert De Niro). Hale is a popular figure on the reserve where many natives trust him based on his ability to speak their language and be very hospitable to everyone’s needs. What the Osage doesn’t know is that he is plotting against them to take their land all out of greed. So, when Burkhart wants to start his life on the reserve, his uncle wants him to marry an Osage woman to claim the money she makes off the oil. This is why many white men moved to the area - to marry Osage women. Burkhart meets Mollie (Lily Gladstone) while running his taxi service and truly falls in love with her. They end up getting married, but this is when everything begins to take a dark turn. One by one Mollie’s sisters begin to be mysteriously murdered making her paranoid that she could be next. It doesn’t help either that she has been severely ill while taking insulin to deal with her diabetes. To figure out who is committing the murders the Osage make their way to Washington D.C. to plea with President Coolidge to send help. That’s when a federal investigator, Tom White (Jesse Plemons), is sent by J. Edgar Hoover to the reserve. Can they figure out what is really happening at the reserve? Or will these murders go unsolved?

I think this might be one of Scorsese’s best pieces of cinema to date. From the cinematography to the story, it is a spectacle. It is truly a heartbreaking story in American history that few people know about. Scorsese did a great job building the whole story and providing a sense of satisfaction in the end. I thought the acting was a force of triumph that helped with the story. DiCaprio, in my opinion, might have had his best performance since The Revenant. De Niro did an amazing job bringing real life villain, William Hale, to life. Gladstone might be a candidate for best actress in a motion picture this year, because her presence on screen was so enthralling. The rest of the cast was also great because they made it feel like you were in Oklahoma in the 1920’s when this was all happening. My only quarrel with the film was the run time which clocks in at three and a half hours. I could sense that Scorsese really put his all into this film, but the run time did wear me down a bit.

All in all, Killers of the Flower Moon is must see cinema. I highly recommend seeing this at least once in theaters to get that big screen experience. This will be nominated for many awards this year and it should be. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Rating: 4 out 5

Blumhouse Productions resurrects one of the most iconic horror films of all time by adding a sequel to it with The Exorcist: Believer. Directed by David Gordon Green who is best known for the recent Halloween trilogy.

This sequel follows a photographer, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), as he tries to work and be a single parent to his 13-year-old daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett). Victor’s daughter is somewhat of a miracle child. Her mother passed away during childbirth due to a natural disaster that happened when the couple was on vacation. We are then introduced to Lydia’s friend from school Katherine (Olivia O’Neill). As the two meet at school, they come up with a plan to go into the woods next to the school and attempt to reach out to the other side to see if Lydia can connect with her mother. Instead, something far more sinister answers and possesses both of them. Now, Victor must team up with multiple religious figures and Katherine’s parents to save the children. Victor also receives help from Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) who dealt with the same kind of issue back in the 1970s when her daughter, Regan, became possessed. Can Victor save his daughter? Or will it be too late?

Let me start off by saying this film is not worth your time. It hurts to say that, but it is the complete truth. There was nothing in this film that made me jump out of my seat form pure terror. It felt uninspired from start to finish and when everything was done, I just sat in my seat and thought, “That was it?”. The acting was subpar to say the least and sometimes very comical when it wasn’t trying to be. I didn’t feel any emotional connections to the characters because they all felt like they were playing one specific note. There was no range in emotions that made me feel what they were feeling. Now, let’s talk about the story. It was a very simplistic plot that really didn’t focus on the exorcist part of the film. That doesn’t happen until the very end. When you have the name “exorcist” in the title I feel like that should be the whole plot of the movie. Don’t just throw it in at the end and call it good. Then you add in the special effects that were mostly all CGI and felt like you were watching a video game.

So, what is my final verdict? I think you get the picture but to make it clearer do not see this film. It was a let down for anyone that enjoys the horror genre and a let down for anybody that enjoys the original Exorcist. If you want a quality horror film to watch about exorcisms, then just rent the original. Do not waste your money on this film.

Rating: 1 out of 5

A world where humans and robots with artificial intelligence co-exist makes for an interesting plot in The Creator. Directed by Gareth Edwards, best known for Rogue Ones a Star Wars Story, The Creator brings a fresh take in the Sci-Fi genre.

In the year 2055 artificial intelligence destroys Los Angeles with a nuclear bomb. Now, the U.S. government is trying to erase its creation from existence to keep the world safe. There plan is to send someone undercover to assassinate the person still creating AI in New Asia, Nirmata. Enter Sergeant Joshua Taylor (John David Washington) who goes undercover to find Nirmata by marrying his daughter Maya (Gemma Chan). Taylor’s cover is blown when the army shows up exposing him and ending his marriage by killing his wife. Years after the traumatic experience Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) asks for Taylor’s help to find a weapon that can take down the space station NOMAD (North American Orbital Mobile Aerospace Defense) because of its ability to execute fatal aerial strikes. Taylor decides to help when learning that his wife may possibly be alive after seeing video footage from the government. While breaching the facility to get the weapon, he learns that the threat is just a child. He later names her Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Now, he must make the choice of taking out the threat or protecting the weapon and use it to find his wife. The only problem is that the whole U.S. government is coming after him.

We have gone through many years where originality has been hard to come by when it comes to movies. A lot of films are either superhero stories, reboots, or knock off films of other films. This film feeds off different ideas of other popular movies, but it still has its own identity which differentiates it from other Sci-Fi films. The story wasn’t anything new, but the world is what makes the story unique. I felt like the Colonel Howell character was unnecessary, but her character did represent the government doing whatever it takes to take this weapon. The relationship between Washington and Voyles was sensational and will pull at your heart strings until the very end. If that chemistry between those two didn’t work the film would suffer. The CGI in this film may be some of the best I have seen in a while. The robots felt so real especially with the design of New Asia. You really feel like this type of society could exist in the next 50 years or so. It was done so well.

The overall verdict is that we now have a new Sci-Fi film that is our modern 2001 Space Odyssey. I think Gareth Edwards has a unique take on this genre and I hope we see more movies like this moving forward. I highly recommend seeing this in theaters and buying this on Blu Ray or 4K.

Rating: 4 out 5