Reviews Reactor

Stranger Things 2 is a follow-up to last year's excellent Netflix original series Stranger Things, and it takes place approximately 1 year after the events of the first season. A new threat is looming, and poor Will Byers is once again at the center of it.  I absolutely adored the first season, it was one of my favorite new series to come out recently and I was super pumped up for the second season. And thankfully, it delivered once again. The Duffer Brothers managed to give us another season full of mystery and thrills, fun and feels. Once again, the performances were great across the board, talking about them would take too long so I'll just mention my personal favorite this time. Mille Bobby Brown (Eleven) was the standout last time; this time, however, Noah Schnapp (Will) absolutely KILLED IT. He didn't have much to showcase his acting talent chops in season 1 since he was absent for most of it, but here he brought it all, and it was wonderful. Shawn ...

John Wick 2 is a sequel to the 2014 surprise hit John Wick, and it follows him as he is forced to return to his former life once again. The trailers did a good job of not giving much away, so I'll keep it vague as well. The first one was great, so naturally, I was hyped for the sequel, and suffice to say it delivered where it mattered.  Keanu Reeves once again reprises the role of ultimate bad-ass assassin John Wick, with different character motivations this time around, resulting in a more subdued performance than last time, which nonetheless works for the story, and it's just great seeing Keanu again in style. There are some familiar faces from the previous film like Ian McShane (Winston) and Lance Reddick (Hotel Manager), giving similarly good performances. And new ones like Laurence Fishburn, resulting in a reunion of Neo and Morpheus, which should make any Matrix fan cheer up inside, and he gave a good performance as well. One of the things that stood out to ...

The Accountant is an action-drama-thriller directed by Gavin O'Connor, who directed one of my favorite films of 2011 i.e Warrior, and it is about a guy with neurological disorder/autism who lives as an accountant (both normal and the dangerous kind), using his disorder to his benefit. Now, this isn't an action heavy movie with fights around every corner, but instead is a drama with some thrilling action sequences. The movie takes its time to tell you about the main character, as well as secondary ones. It sets up the world well enough that you care and are involved in the plot, which is something I quite enjoyed and it even felt a bit fresh.  Ben Affleck gave an excellent performance as the accountant. He had subtlety, depicting the character's issues with socializing quite well, and at the same time showing dedication and fierceness when needed. Anna Kendrick was sweet and fun as the love-interest, and I enjoyed her rather limited screen time. JK Simmons was...

Deepwater Horizon is a disaster movie based on true events. It is about an offshore drilling rig where things took the turn for the worst, resulting in the largest oil disaster in USA's history. I'm an avid disaster movie fan, and while you do get fictional ones every now and then, getting a well-executed one based on a true story is almost non-existent. Hence, I was very contented when the movie was over. Peter Berg, just like with Lone Survivor, returns to direct with Mark Wahlberg as the lead in another based-on-a-true-story movie. And in a similar fashion, the movie spends a hefty amount of time on the first act, setting up the characters and location etc, leading up to the climactic release. The screen-time was distributed properly, no one character hogged all the time and apart from the setup, no focus to lovey-dovey stuff was given, all of which contributed to a solid first act. The acting was good all around. Mark Wahlberg did a good job (great at t...

The Purge: Election Year is the third movie in the franchise which is set in a world where America holds an annual purge, and everything becomes legal including murder on that day. After watching this movie, I'm still waiting for them to properly utilize this world they have created.  Election Year has, well, politics thrown into the mix where Frank Grillo returns as the lead, and this time he's the head of security for the senator, played by Elizabeth Mitchell, who's fighting in the election and wants to end the purge while the evil government opposition is trying to get rid of her during the purge. Couple that in meh execution along with some forgettable subplots and side characters, bad and way over-the-top acting, stupid/nonsensical scenes, and just an overall forgettable experience, and you have another wasteful purge movie (Anarchy was fine, loads better than the other two). The only characters I had any interest in were the two leads, that'...

"One last ride." So finally watched the 7th installment in the popular Fast and Furious franchise. Its amazing how this franchise has increased its popularity and success, be this long, and not be based on a book or something. Directed by James Wan, who previously was known only for famous horror flicks like The Conjuring and Insidious, did a great job delivering a full on high budget action film and a great send off to Paul Walker, gotta give him kudos for this. The passing of Paul Walker had an overall presence throughout the movie. And it only got more potent as the movie went on. This is the last film of his, and the movie gave him an amazing send-off. The tribute at the end was truly beautiful. In fact, this marks the first time that I was brought to tears in a cinema. I did a full re-watch of all the previous parts prior to watching this, so everything was fresh in my mind and while watching the tribute, I Just couldn't hold it anymore. Knowing that this will b...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is the first stand-alone anthology film in the franchise and is set right before the events of Episode 4: A New Hope. The story follows a group of rebels which leads the charge for retrieving the plans that could aid the rebel alliance in destroying the Death Star.  Now I was really hyped for this movie ever since it was announced for various reasons: First Star Wars stand-alone film. Gareth Edwards directing it. (I loved Godzilla 2014)  War movie feel which caters to my Battlefront fan side.  Curiosity and anticipation for how they would end it, which, knowing the story, would be great if they don't veer away from it too much.  And suffice to say that the movie met my expectations and more.  The main rebel team i.e. Rogue One was likable. Each character was fun in their own way. They were led by Felicity Jones, who plays Jyn Erso, daughter of the Death Star architect. She did a good enough job in the t...

Harper's Island is a show about an island where a couple decides to get married, but soon after arrival, people start dying one by one. Sooooo, I didn't like it. The show was just filled with so many stupid moments that I couldn't take it anymore. There are a lot of characters but most of them were cliched meh. Acting wasn't that good either from a lot of the cast, so that didn't help. The first couple of episodes really weren't doing anything for me, but since there were only 13 episodes in total, I decided to stick with it and end it (would have dropped it otherwise). But I'll give the show credit where credit is due. It increased my interest in the story after several episodes. There was this stretch of 4 or 5 episodes where it actually got good, and I was on-board. The pacing felt fine, the thrills were coming, the situations were entertaining. The characters I did like got better, and the ones that were meh, got less meh. Also, being on an...

The Shallows is a film about a women who goes to this very secluded beach for surfing, where a big shark attacks and strands her in the shallows, where she must find a way to survive. The only shark attack movies you get these days are the likes of Sharknado, so this being hyped as a proper shark attack film was something I was looking forward to. From the start, you could tell that this would be a good looking movie. Yeah it felt like a Go-Pro commercial in those starting minutes, but it looked pretty good, so who cares. The beach itself was beautiful, and the director fully utilized the location. Loved the cinematography, well, minus the slow mo shots. There were perhaps a bit too many of them.  Blake Lively looked very lively, and she did a pretty good job. There were moments where I thought she was a bit iffy, but overall she gave a good performance, especially considering the state her character is in for most of the movie. There was some backstory to her charact...