trevrex Reviews

The Boys: Herogasm (2022) Season 3, Episode 6

Everything changes from here

[10/10 · 24 June 2022]

This will be looked at as THE episode where everything really changed for the series.

There are so many great moments.

A great fight between Homelander and Butcher, Hughie and Soldier Boy, a great bond that developed between MM and Starlight, and Kimiko realizing her powers had nothing to do with her dark side. A-Train apologizing and (possibly?) dying with the only heroic act he's ever done.

Just an amazing episode all around. Sure the endless sex orgy and violence is interesting and funny on a surface level, but there wasn't a scene wasted in-between. So much changed in this episode, it completely upset the status-quo moving forward.

The cherry on top of it all is Homelander being brought to his knees. Sure, he "won" in the sense he lived, and escaped. But emotionally and psychologically, he's destroyed.

But now he knows he can be killed, and he's lost the only real fight he's ever had in his life. That bruise on his cheek is a beacon of hope to many, many characters in this series.

I can't believe this wasn't a finale, because it felt like a finale the entire time. The Boys is truly up there with the best of them.

The 13th Warrior (1999)

Phenomenal movie

[8/10 · 19 September 2021]

I'll never understand why this movie bombed so hard or why the reviews hated it so much.

It isn't just a mindless action flick, or a sloppy "re-imagining"

This was a genuinely successful attempt at redefining the Beowulf poem for the screen, and it has 10x the amount of heart most movies have made today. Many that have mind-bafflingly better reviews too, and that are still completely forgettable.

The Empty Man (2020)

Overlong but underrated.

[7/10 · 2 September 2021]

An undeniably handcrafted film that has one of the most interesting behind-the-scene stories I've ever read.

Seriously. Do yourself a favor and read up on how the director got screwed by Disney.

How when they bought out Fox studios, a cut was made that turned the film into a 90-minute unwatchable slog (Without the Director is even knowing!!!)

Then, when it's released, no one even cared enough to change the correct logo from "20th Century Fox" to its current logo.

Onto the movie.

The film itself is a genuinely creepy and scary affair, with different ideas and a a great take on paranormal cults.

It is definitely overlong, and it does drag at times, but occasionally it works in the films favor.

How can you deny the sheer audacity to have a 22-minute prologue? How did David Prior even get permission for that!?

That crazy. Thats nuts. That's awesome.

We need more directors like this, visionaries willing to make a film not meant for everyone.

Free Guy (2021)

This movie flat-out dropped my jaw.

[9/10 · 26 August 2021]

Free Guys lifts freely from many films with exuberant glee, such as The Matrix, Tron, They Live and above all, The Truman Show.

This movie takes what it wants with glee, but where you might think a tasteless thief, here we see a thoughtful borrower.

Let me explain.

One would be forgiven if they walked in with low-expectations. I know I did. Sure, I figured Ryan Reynolds would do his usual schtick: Some decent fight scenes, fun characters and give me a generally, if generic, good time. But now he's in video game, with a 2-hour runtime about becoming a wacky but rogue AI?

That's an idea that's sounds like it would get tiresome by the end of the first 10 minutes, forget 120.

Where this could have been a bloated rip-off or a decent-but-forgettable 90 minute money-grab most studious would have churned out, I was shocked to find genuinely impressive action, great comedy and surprisingly thoughtful themes to boot. This is a phenomenal film.

Reynolds is "Guy", an NPC character in the video game "Free City", a game world made from someone who likely thought Grand Theft Auto was too peaceful to its inhabitants.

One day strolling down the side-walk as programmed, Guy meets the girl of his dreams, a real player who is confused at the seemingly impossible AI come to life.

Surely it must be a hacker of some sort, right? Wrong, and the story goes from there.

More and more people notice Guy, and some he goes viral across the internet, this is where the movie becomes something more. Most people notice his key characteristic is... not being a dick to anyone, or even rude.

Why, they ask? Who would be kind in a game of all places?! But Guy doesn't care. Yes, he is doing this to get close to the love of his life. But it's how he's going about this that matters.

How sad is that? It says a lot of the 2021 mindset that the core tenants of a screen hero are no longer extraordinary bravery, or impossible amounts of courage (though Guy has both), but genuine encouragement for one's peers. To be just a friendly, caring voice.

Sure, I could go on about the great cameos, or that this is easily the most beautiful film of the year along with The Green Knight.

I also don't have to mention the fist fights as some of the cleanest and most exciting since the original Matrix film.

This movie is great for the fact that Guy is really the kind of hero, onscreen or off, you wish we had more of these days, and one that leaves you feeling inspired in real wonder.

Call Your Mother (2021)

No.

[2/10 · 20 August 2021]

Mrs. Sedgwick (I think that's how you spell it?) you are better than this talking-down, sniveling, urine-filled smegma sack of a show.

This shows is horrific. The "jokes" range from not simply not landing to out-right cringe-filled bombing. Everyone other than Kyra looks bored, she at least seems to be putting in the effort to have fun.

Other than that it's awful. Just awful.

The premise, dialogue, the acting.

Literally the only thing that stopped me from giving this a 1 was Kyra. That's it.

The Open House (2018)

One of the single worst *films* I've ever seen...

[2/10 · 7 August 2021]

This is horrific. Absolutely nothing of significance happens, is explained, or has any meaning whatsoever.

And it's slower than hell. Believe me, I love slow-paced films...when they're properly put together, or are interesting, or have interesting visuals.

Or, I dunno, have something even remotely... there... on-screen.

I apologize for to the films I've criticized before where I've said nothing happened.

They don't even compare to to this nothingness of a film.

The Green Knight (2021)

For those wanting your average fantasy flick, beware.

[8/10 · 30 July 2021]

This isn't a movie about swords or bows-and-arrows. There are some fantastic creatures, but all of them meant for allegory, not CGI action figures to bang together.

This film is about many different themes and ideas, but what struck me the most was when it commented on a man's (or really anybody's) integrity.

This is a film about how we all go back to the Green, that regardless of when, or how, we end this journey, we can still choose to go out as someone with integrity or of honor.

We either run away, or uphold our end of the covenant.

Jaws (1975)

Great shark movie! However...

[8/10 · 22 July 2021]

Jaws is a great film!

It has so much:

The iconic opening, the harrowing ending. It also has a fantastic cast, taut thrills, and a solid story, Spielberg accomplished a lot with this film, not mentioning all of the trouble behind the scenes (including that pesky shark animatronic!). And Roy Scheider gives one hell of a performance as Martin Brody, really selling and grounding the idea of a giant, hateful shark into something horrific and deadly.

It has its issues, however, and I don't believe it should be put up there with timeless classics of the 70s-80s like Alien(s), Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Back to the Future, among countless other hits.

I guess I had to be there, I was born over 20 years after its release, but some things haven't aged well now that it's nearly half a century later.

When the shark finally shows itself it definitely looks silly, and the performance of the boat captain is hard to take seriously. It drags at times. Not to the point that it hurts the film, but it is noticeable. I know its trying to build tension, but a little trimming would have done wonders.

Look at Kurosawa's movies. Most of his movies have truly stood the test of time. The dated effects increase the films value now, they don't undercut it decades later. It is difficult to argue that about Jaws.

Make no mistake. This is a great movie, and easily one of the best shark thrillers ever made. Its just, ever so slightly, overrated.

Cruella (2021)

Holy Hell Disney, you've been holding out on us!

[9/10 · 29 May 2021]

Wow.

This is a much, much, much better-than-expected Disney romp.

I expected the same acting-ridden, faux-edgy, trudge of rote-story telling you see with most of Disney's other live-action films, *coughcoughMulancoughcough*

But no! This is a fantastic movie.

I never knew I needed to see a young Cruella drunkenly tripping over herself to Nancy Sinatra's Boots Were Made for Walking, but here we are!

It actually has some darker risks taken with this movie, and to have Cruella be such a dark anti-hero was honestly a bit refreshing.

Multiple times, I had to remind myself Disney did this.

And Emma Stone? Oh she falls into the character! Her charming-but-dreading moxie fits the movie perfectly, and she gives Cruella the perfect type of personality. It's honestly Oscar-worthy.

Honestly a great watch, and better than 99% of what Disney is offering at the moment, whether that be Star Wars, Marvel, or their other original properties.

The Equalizer (2021– )

Pretty Loudy

[4/10 · 4 March 2021]

This is just not good television. The jump cuts are annoying, there is no believability in Queen Latifah being a seasoned fighter, and even for a network procedural, the writing is generic and over-the-top-hammy at best.

To be fair, my parents like this show for what it is, so I decided to watch the 1st episode with them. And yikes.

It has some likable people ( stand-outs being Tory Kittles and Adam Goldberg) but it just feels like a series trying to be something rather than actually being it.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Gal Gadot is as game as ever, but...

[5/10 · 27 December 2020]

This movie was not good. Certain pieces work, I liked Cheetach, and Maxwell Lord was extremely entertaining.

BUT A FUELED UP JET ON A RUNWAY? BEHIND THE SMITHSONIAN? THAT A WW1 PILOT CAN FLY!?!?!?

Cmon, that's just piss poor writing.

Also, at 2 hours, 30 mins, this felt way too long and and awkwardly paced to keep my attention. Also, how the hell did Diana and Trevor end up with Minerva in that one exposition dump explains where the stone/monkey's paw came from? They're in Egypt one moment, then they make a phone call, AND NOW THEYRE BACK IN DC? WITH THE WORLD ENDING!? WTF

Final Space: Chapter One (2018) Season 1, Episode 1

...Not at all what I was expecting

[10/10 · 29 November 2020]

Wow.

This is actually pretty good.

I figured I'd be getting a poor ripoff of Rick and Morty, or Futurama, or even a Family-Guy-In-Space.

Instead, the episode starts off rather....melancholy, in a space graveyard, and not with half-assed, pilot-level jokes!? What!?

While Gary can definitely be...a lot, at times...he's a well-meaning but naive guy who's more down on his luck, than the ignorant space prisoner he's been branded as.

He's annoyingly optimistic at time, but it's because that optimism is all he has.

Oh, and Mooncake, his little pal, is amazing! I won't spoil his secret, as it's amazing. Overall he is a good companion for Gary.

Finally, it's worth mentioning that the in-space scenes are tight, with a lot of effort going into how cool they look. The way the ship "light-folds" (I.e. their version of hyperspace) is just damn cool.

I give this episode an 8, but for a pilot this well done, it might as well be a 10.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (2009)

Quite possibly the single greatest film ever made.

[5/10 · 24 November 2020]

Is there a film that so expertly captures cinema?

Paul Blart, the most amazing character to ever fight hostile baddies taking over a giant building around Christmas time (forget McClane!), will be a stunning hero you never forget.

Look at the way the criminals use a bicycle at one point. Did you catch it? Clearly an amazing reference to Bicycle Thieves (1949)

Or the fact that the lead SWAT office seems inspired by Michael Mann's HEAT? Another expert reference clearly woven into the screenplay.

Or the Hello Kitty band-aid? Yet another reference, this time about a Japanese character being wrapped around a bloody finger, clearly about the J-Horror industry.

Notice the way Blart moves from store to store, gathering and using supplies from each location. Clearly Director Steve Carr had a contemporary vision and message based on popular consumerism and their effects on people.

Finally, let us look at the way Blart is connected to his Segway.

Even Charles Kane, in all his glory, all his misery, searching for joy, wasn't as connected to his Rosebud.

Hook (1991)

Emotional viewing that offsets it pacing

[8/10 · 24 November 2020]

I've always loved this movie, from Dustin Hoffman's sinister Hook, Robin William's amazing Peter Pan. Sure, the pacing could've been a tighter and the film could've shaved off a few minutes here and there, but the emotional moments in the movie far, far outweigh its issues.

*removes glasses and smiles*

"There you are Peter." :,)

There he is indeed.

Love and Monsters (2020)

Fantastic Monster Film

[8/10 · 17 October 2020]

I was extremely, and pleasantly, surprised by how much fun this movie was.

The story was unpredictable without being stupid or talking down to you, the characters made genuinely good decisions and were not brain-dead monster fodder.

In fact, one of my favorite moments happens half-way through movie, when a character has to help his dog friend escape a giant *********

Instead of the movie having somebody else acting like a Deus Ex Machina, the character genuinely ends up pushing himself to save his friend, and kills the creature.

Finally, FINALLY, another movie that joins that rare category of being fun without being cloyingly moronic.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Amazing

[10/10 · 21 December 2018]

Easily one of the best Spider-Man, and superhero, movies that I've ever seen.