Infinite

 Antoine Fuqua has delivered a a highly crafted great film this year in The Guilty, and he has now given us a lazy and cookie cutter film in Infinite. He has always bounced from well made stories like Training Day to popcorn fair like Olympus Has Fallen. This here feels like his most Jerry Bruckheimer esque, not quite Michael Bay but a bit more mid 2000s actiony with a sci fi touch. The acting is wooden and the action and sci fi ideas are left to be desired. It feels like a fly be night Netflix movie. I will still check out his next film since his latest, The Guilty, was great. 

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin

 Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin was a film i scoffed at when i first heard of it. The series wasn't at the strongest plus it was a quick production during covid for Paramount Plus. Luckily it felt fresh, it is barely a Paranormal Activity flick but it is still supernatural. It does have some of the signatures with minutes of silences to build tension. The theatrical films benefited from audiences where'd you hear & see people gasping and pointing so this one being more of a handy cam as opposed to security cams works in its favor. The final 5 minutes went batshit with carnage. Dumb and fun, found footage, not much more to ask for! 

Black Friday

 Black Friday, the new horror film not tomorrow, works as both a fun alien/zombie flick and a satire on consumerism. A rag tag group of toy store employees fight off a horde of shoppers infected by a zombie virus from outer space. It features likeable characters, punchable characters, great creature effects, some kaiju action and some humorous and truthful lines about how shitty retail and customers can be. 

Prisoners of Ghostland

 The renaissance of Nicholas Cage has been a great one. He has had some awesome titles and some forgettable titles, but Prisoners of Ghostland might be the oddest. Oddest in that it tries to be odd, but it feels like it was designed to be a Cage vehicle and that everything in the film was deliberately done to make it come off as bonkers, it feels artificial. I know it isn't but it is very post modern Cage, and if this is post modern Cage then i'd rather have Pig than this. 

Heels

It's crazy that we have had a few shows about wrestling the past few years. Glow was great, Young Rock was historically inaccurate but now we got Heels. Heels might be the best of the bunch, sure some stuff can be nitpicked from a booking stand point and a bit of the plot was be better suited  for the 80s but the show is compelling.  The cast is great and you buy in to not just their characters but their character's characters. The characters are deep, their hardships and betrayals pack a punch and the story, much like any great angle has a satisfying payoff.

The Night House

 David Bruckner does great work with anthology films, movies like The Signal, VHS, Southbound, are all solid. When he did a full on feature with The Ritual, i praised it but plenty found my view on it to be far off, they found the film to be dull & pretentious. I loved the vibe it had but it seemed i was in a minority. Now he has the Night House and i feel the way about this film as many did his last. I thought it'd be a lower budget Invisible Man, but it tries to be something different, it is truly ambitious but the pacing is way too slow and the plot never really grabbed me. I will still look forward to the next Bruckner film but this did nothing for me. I loved the idea just not the execution.  

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

 Ghostbusters: Afterlife is one of the most enjoyable films in years. I had a smile on my face pretty much the entire time this was on. To those saying it is a kids movie ruining your childhood, just stop. You have the originals to watch, nothing it ruined. To those saying it is Stranger Things, just stop, no one cares. Doing a tween/teen thing with this franchise is a smart way to book it. I know people once wanted the characters kids to be the new generation, but what would be the odds that all their hellspawns would want to pursue the same career? So doing it with Egon's grandkids is a safe bet. People that wanted a sequel to 2016's version, just go enjoy your 2016 version, and yes this film has female empowerment so nothing is tainted on that cause. The film has a sense of awe to it, it is Jason Reitman doing his father justice, it has a Spielbergian feel to it, it has that nice 80s's blue and vibrant aesthetic. The horror elements are great, the demons look awesome, the equipment is perfect. The comedy is great, jokes land, and there is a terrific balance with humor and serious moments. The characters  carry the film, if it wasn't Ghostbusters i would have loved to have just seen these characters grow, but instead we see them discover the unknown. The build up to the main plot might be better than  the main plot itself, seeing fresh eyes & faces find out about the happenings in New York, discovering technology, meeting each other and sharing awkward conversations. Then once the actual Busting starts there is alot to love. I know this wont be for everybody but this exceeded my expectations completely. I'm not going to act like it was perfect, there were forced moments of fan service but fan service can be good, and this delivered. Likable characters, a fun scifi/horror story, a quick pace, yep that is Ghostbusters.