Ethan Page vs Trick Williams vs Shawn Spears vs J'eVon Evans: NXT Title: Heatwave
Kelani Jordan vs Sol Ruca: North American title: Heatwave
Oba Femi vs Wes Lee: North American title: Heatwave
Axiom/Nathan Frazer vs Chase U: NXT Tag Titles: Heatwave
Roxanne Perez vs Thea Hail: NXT Womens Title: Great American Bash
I didn't want Deadpool & Wolverine. Logan ended the character perfectly, and loving the 20th Century X Men films that was my closure. I knew Deadpool & Wolverine would be multiversal so i went in with an open mind. They show respect to Mangold's film while violating something else and it works perfectly. There is alot of heart in this flick and the cast is having a blast. Like most Deadpool/MCU films the jokes are hit & miss but the action is top notch and bloody as fuck. The plot sort of unravels as it goes on and it works for this films that exists in a disjointed universe. For the first time since Barbie & Oppenheimer it feels like a true event film and it delivers. The future of these characters are left open ended but the credits gives us a look at future's past.
Boy Kills World uses a bit too much humor but this is one kick ass and fun flick. It feels like you are reading a comic. Sure it is a bit uneven but just roll with it and enjoy the dark humor and the badass fight scenes. The entire cast is having a blast here especially Bill Skarsgard, Jessica Rothe, and Bret Gelman. It was far from perfect but it easily killed in the entertainment aspect!
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare i suppose is Guy Ritchie's best work since The Gentleman, but since then most of his work has been quite lackluster, and for a summer blockbuster, so was this.....i mean i guess man blockbusters are....anyhow. It is quite stylish, the action is great, and Henry Cavil does a fine job but the plot was quite dull, it has a good pace to it, it's just a sunday afternoon movie....only on the Borefare side.
Love Lies Bleeding is a southern fried, lesbian & drug fueled slice of sexploitation with some gorgeous visuals and truly what the fuck moments. I admired the fuck out of this film but it honestly didn't do much for me. Acting was a bit wooden and the plot i wasn't into but i was still fascinated.
Stop me if you have heard this before.....a well shot & atmospheric film on Shudder that is boring and feels lifeless......stop me if i have even said THAT before. Well The Devil's Bath is the film this time around. It indeed looks fine, but oof, this was dull. More like the Dullvil's Boreth am i right? No? No?! No!? Okay.....well hopefully Arcadian saves the day.
Baghead is a gloriously atmospheric film but it is ultimately mind numbingly dull. It looks fantastic and has a cool vibe but i was quite bored by this. It had some interesting moments but nothing to honestly keep my interest.
Stopmotion, on Shudder, looks fantastic. It oozes style, but it is sadly style over substance. The plot didn't do anything for me and none of the characters worked. I wanted more of a love letter i suppose but i get that isn't what the film was supposed to be, but whatever it was....didn't work.
Infested is a flick on Shudder that got me. Of course it is the French to do so, i miss the French New Wave of horror of the 00s. This here gets under your skin cause it is creepy & crawly. As someone that has a phobia of spiders this film really spoke to me.....or more so didn't speak to me haha. Very effective!
Yorgos Lanthimos is an odd director for me to pinpoint. I have admired all his films but really loved none other than Poor Things. With Kinds of Kindness he almost brings in his PT Anderson entree and kind of nails it. The film is perverse, subversive and provocative and had tremendous acting. The first segment feels the most Yargos, the second segment just feels random, the third is the tightest but maybe the weakest? It is a hard film to talk about because i don't really have an opinion, like most of his work it is well crafted yet tedious. Only film of his i have seen twice is Poor Things, this probably will not join that.
Longlegs is one of the most unnerving films in some time. In the film we follow Maika Monroe, as usual putting on a great performance, but here she is a more sheltered character and she nails it, as she tracks down serial killer Longlegs, Nicholas Cage giving possibly his best performance. The film itself is uneasy much like Silence of the Lambs or Se7en, but Cage ups it by being the creepiest of the creepy. The film is low key and very tight with glimpses of experimentation. Still wrapping my mind around the twist of why/how this killings happen but it adds another great horror film to 2024. This will find an audience with the true crime pod crowd i feel, and it deserves its birthday cake.
I loved the ideas in You'll Never Find Me, it is well acted and shot very well it just once again has the Shudder effect......it's dull and once something happens at the end, it feels too late. I wish i could say more about this but it just confirms that Shudder originals outside of a few, just feel lackluster.
I went months without Shudder, but after Late Night With the Devil i felt i needed it.....then after Nature of Violence i felt i didn't......but here we are, History of Evil, your typical boring Shudder fare. I am sure i will check out more of their 2024 films but this one here started off on a bad note. It looks good, and is well acted, just the plot felt like it wanted to go to some surreal places that is never went and ultimately wound up being a snoozer.
Maxxxine was my most anticipated film of the year and after viewing it, might be my favorite of the year too. Ti West gave us a gritty 70s slasher homage that felt authentic in X, he paid tribute to technical musicals in Pearl but here he gives us a film that feels very DePalma or Argento, a love letter to giallo cinema. It oozes the 80s blue aesthetic and is drenched as much neon as it is blood. I feel the ending will be divisive but please be kind and rewind.
