Apr 2 2021

The Drifters (2019) Movie Review

The Drifters – Nice Finding Yourself Movie

Director: Ben Bond

Writer: Ben Bond (Screenplay)

Starring: Jonathan Ajayi, Lucie Bourdeu, Tia Bannon, Ariyon Bakare

Plot: Koffee, an African migrant, and Fanny, a French waitress, are two lost souls who attempt to find home in one another and escape the labels that inevitably leave them homeless. A sun-drenched romance about identity.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: The Drifters starts as we meet a French waitress Fanny (Bourdeu) and an African migrant Koffee (Ajayi) who are both studying English in London who meet and after Koffee needs to go on the run from his past, the two look to go on their own adventure around the country, with plans to reach America.

As their adventure continues they get closer and learn that the lost souls might well have finally found a place for themselves in this world.

Thoughts on The Drifters

Thoughts – The Drifters follows two people Koffee and Fanny who are from different backgrounds, that come together to go on their own adventure and learn more about themselves as they search for a place to call their own. They are both dreamers, who have left their homes to take this risk. Jonathan Ajayi and Lucie Bourdeu are both wonderful to watch, as they give us the captivating performances that make us just want to see where they will go next. The negative side of the film comes from the attempted adventure doesn’t seem to go much further than this one location, where they will need to find a way to survive in this world. There are a few scenes which feel like they are all about the fantasy of a better life, the one they have both searched for, for years, which is the most interesting side of the film.

The Drifters is a lovely tale of two people that just want their place in the world and finding it with each other.

Visit The Drifters Website Here and check out the film on iTunes Here

Apr 2 2021

ABC Film Challenge – Action – B – Biker Boyz (2003) Movie Review

Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood

Writer: Craig Fernandez, Reggie Rock Bythewood (Screenplay) Michael Gougis (Article)

Starring: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Lisa Bonet, Brendan Fehr, Larenz Tate

Plot: A son of the leader of a legendary group of an urban biker gang tries to retain his championship title.

Tagline – Survival of the fastest.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Nice Late Night Action Film

Story: Biker Boyz starts as we enter the world of urban motorbike racing, where Smoke (Fishburne) is the king everyone respects him and nobody can defeat him, only on this latest race, one of his most loyal followers is killed in an accident, leaving Kid (Luke) waiting for his chance to get the biker gang.

Kid wants to prove he is the best biker in the city, he must make his own gang with Stuntman (Fehr) and Primo (Gonzalez) the founding members of the crew, they must earn their reputation, if Kid is every going to get the race he desires against Smoke.

Thoughts on Biker Boyz

Characters – Smoke is the king of the biker gangs, he wins every race he competes in, everyone respects his rules, you need to earn the right to race him and he will look out for people that fall. Kid is an up and coming biker that’s father was part of the crew with Smoke, only to get killed in an accident, Kid decides to make his own move for power in the crews, create his own gang the Biker Boyz to change the system for their own benefit. Soul Train is Smoke’s most trusted partner, he deals with arranging racing and calming the problems. We do meet a love interest, rival racers and parental figures that all have their own agenda without needing to do too much in the main film.

Performances – Laurence Fishburne in the mentor leader role is always a demanding screen presence, with his being no different, he is the highlight of the acting in this film. Derek Luke does well enough in his role, with a supporting cast filled with talent that just don’t get enough time to shine.

Story – The story here follows a young biker that is looking to take on the king of the city, where he must learn the respect needed to rise up the ranks after losing his father in an accident. This is a story that was trying to capitalize on the success of The Fast and the Furious, by having a youngster trying to make their way into a racing group, while we might add more of by the books respect angle to everything, we do get a story that is an easy watch, one we could get behind without needing to expect too much from what we see. It is an easy watch, it does play out like you would imagine, even though it doesn’t develop certain characters enough.

Action – The action comes from the races we see, which are not the most intense, but they do work for what we need from the film.

Settings – Each location seems to be a big party, or a race meeting, each one seems different, which only adds more to what is going on in the bigger side of the film.

Scene of the Movie – Final race.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The women don’t seem to get involved in any racing, only here to walk around in bikinis and be pieces of meat for the riders.

Final Thoughts – This is an action film you could easily enjoy one night, it isn’t the most intense, but does everything you need an easy to watch action to do.

Overall: Late Night Action 101.

Apr 2 2021

Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021) Movie Review

Godzilla vs. Kong – Big Fights, Slow Story

Director: Adam Wingard

Writer: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein (Screenplay) Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields (Story)

Starring: Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza Gonzalez, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demian Bichir

Plot: The epic next chapter in the cinematic Monsterverse pits two of the greatest icons in motion picture history against one another – the fearsome Godzilla and the mighty Kong – with humanity caught in the balance.

Tagline – The second coming.

Runtime: 1 Hour 53 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Godzilla vs. Kong starts when billionaire owner of Apex technology Walter Simmons (Bichir) has been creating his latest technology, his main base is destroyed by Godzilla, turning the titan on the human race. To stop Godzilla, Nathan Lind (Skarsgard) is recruited to get the Kong whisper Ilene Andrews (Hall) to use the titan to search for the hollow Earth theory.

After the incident Madison Russell (Brown) goes in search for internet conspiracy theorist Bernie Hayes (Henry) who might help her get the truth about what has happened to cause Godzilla’s latest attack and can she stop more damage before the titans collide.

Thoughts on Godzilla vs Kong

Characters & Performances – Godzilla is acting like he is hunting something, destroying locations, being seen as a threat to mankind, his actions will put him into battle against Kong. Kong has been contained on Skull Island for years, he seems to be looking to escape, but he is also happy with his communication with Jia and Dr Andrews, he is bought out to fight and explore the hollow Earth theory, taking him on a journey away from his home for the first time. When it comes to the human characters, we do enter into the characters that will fill in the blanks to what is going on. Dr Ilene Andrews has been communicating with Kong for years, earning his trust and working on finding a way to work with him. Nathan Lind has been recruited to get Kong back into the battle with Godzilla, using his former connections with Monarch. Madison does return, being one of the few people that believes Godzilla isn’t a danger like many others do, getting caught in trying to find the truth to his change in actions. In the human characters we get the typical performances for the giant monster movies, where they are not the most interesting part of the film.

Story – The story here follows Godzilla hunting for something, which will see humans turning to Kong in an attempt to try and stop him causing more problems. This is a story that seems to have let the world rebuild after the incident with the other titans, where people will need to turn to Kong to fight Godzilla, even if nobody is sure for the reasoning. We get plenty of blanks filled in by the human characters, as well as going into the bigger world we only visited for a moment in the last film. We do seem to have too much time on just on little groups of people, without much being going on with them, with the story feeling slow.

Themes – Godzilla vs Kong will give us the big fight we are always going to be expecting to see, this is easily the best part of the film watching the titans beating themselves senseless. The humans are useless in any side of the conflict of the film. The world created looks amazing in the film, with where Kong gets to visit having a unique look which will be seen as the place, we would like to see more form.