Happy Death Day 2U

I'll admit, I was skeptical and slightly pessimistic about this film going in. The first one wasn't really anything special (Sure, the premise was creative, but it was still kind of generic at the end of the day), and the trailers made this look like it was the same as the first one, but making a very minor character the focus. "How dumb and lazy", I thought to myself. Even after everyone said this film was better than the first one, I still thought "Nonsense". But since I had a free pass, I decided to give it a shot. If I didn't like it, hey, it was free. I'm glad I did. This is even better than the first one. Better plot, higher stakes, more humor. It's not really accurate to call this a "horror" film, even though it does have some horror elements to it. It's more of a sci-fi film. If the first one was "Groundhog Day", this one is an episode of "The Flash" or "Black Mirror." The writing was more compelling this time around, and the "Who is the killer this time?" wasn't really the focus. That plot element is maybe 10% of the actual film. The main focus was "If an alternate timeline is better than my own, but in order to stay there, someone needs to be sacrificed, would I be willing to do that?" The stakes are higher, not just for Tree, but for her friends as well. They all have something to gain and lose in this one, and all have difficult choices to make. There were also a lot of unexpectedly funny moments. They were intentionally funny, not "It's funny because it's bad". The film doesn't take itself too seriously for the most part, and is a fun thrill ride.
Grade: A-    9/10    4/5 stars

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Usually Dreamworks has bad track records when it comes to sequels, and an even worse one when it comes to trilogies. The 2nd one is usually ok, with the occasion of it being better, but then somehow, the 3rd one has to ruin it. This is happily, not the case here. The "Dragons" franchise seems to be the magic one for Dreamworks, with all of them being just as good or better than the first one. This has just as much heart and drama as the first 2, and was surprisingly mature. (I don't mean "inappropriate", it's still a kids' film, but there are themes of letting things go, and growing up, about the same level as "Toy Story 3".) The film's target audience is definitely those of us who were kids when the first one came out, and are now adults. (It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 years since the first movie!) This film speaks to the ones who are entering adulthood (somewhere in their early to mid 20s). Like I said, kids can still see it, but the ones who will get the most emotional punch from it are the 20s crowd. (Much like Toy Story 3. I'm seeing a pattern here). Don't go in expecting too many funny moments like the typical Dreamworks fare. It still has some, but they are few and far between. This film's main goal is to make you cry bittersweet tears of both happiness and sadness at the same time, and it succeeds tremendously. This is one of the most heartfelt movies Dreamworks has ever done. If this isn't nominated for "Best Animated Film" at the 2020 Oscars, I will be very disappointed. 
Grade: A+    10/10    5/5 stars

Alita: Battle Angel

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This movie is proof that Rotten Tomatoes is full of baloney. Don't listen to the critics! This movie is fantastic! I've heard other people say the film's main fault is there is too much story, and it moves kind of fast, but I didn't think that. I thought the story flowed pretty well, and was easy to follow. The character designs for the cyborgs are super creative. There are no bad actors in this film. Mahershala Ali as the villain is a particularly stand out performance. He gives such a subtle performance, to the point where you know he's lying and has bad intentions, but you don't blame characters for believing him and joining him. He's just the right amount of manipulative. He reminded me of an evil version of Morpheus from "The Matrix."  The action sequences alone are worth the price of admission (go see it in 3D).  There was one sequence involving a futuristic gladiator match, and not only are the action and visuals  impressive, the background commentary is hilarious! There is definitely a lot of heart put into this movie.  A lot of people, when the trailer came out, were complaining about the main character's "big anime eyes'' and how distracting they were, but I only noticed it in a couple of scenes, and I blame that on the camera angle. Most of the time, I didn't notice or care. The MPAA is a strange thing with how they rate movies. The film is PG-13, but there is so much hacking off of limbs (to the point where even "Star Wars" would call it excessive) and so many other moments of graphic violence that made my jaw drop that they got away with it in a PG-13 movie. It's because most of the violence involves cyborgs, so I guess that because they're not completely human, it's ok? But if it were the same exact movie, but everyone was human, this would definitely be R. The movie also does not feel complete, because it isn't. They were so sure this would get a sequel that they didn't focus on wrapping up the story, and instead have a "to be continued". I'm so sick of that, because if this movie doesn't get a sequel, it was kind of a waste.
Grade: A-    9/10   4/5

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Almost everything is awesome about this sequel. Whether you will like this film or not, depends on what kind of movie you are looking for. If you are expecting this one to be just as story driven as the first one, you will be disappointed. But if you're looking for a movie to laugh at, and have meta-references (both at the expense of the movie and the actors in the movie, like in "Teen Titans Go" last year) than you will thoroughly enjoy this film. Not all of the jokes worked, but the ones that did, really landed. The film also had some catchy musical numbers that I was humming the rest of the day. One problem with the film was the inconsistency of the world's rules. It's established early on that this is all happening in the minds of two children, but later in the film, the Lego figures are shown to be sentient. I haven't seen a movie so inconsistent with its rules since 2017's "Boss Baby." I was worried from the trailer that this was going to be SJW male shaming ("So you fought and did all the cool stuff, but the hapless male was still the leader?"), but except for that one line (which I rolled my eyes way back into my head at) it wasn't. If anything, it's calling out Hollywood on the unrealistic body portrayals of action stars in films (i.e. Chris Pratt's other roles, but it's all in good fun), which is somewhat ironic since all Legos have the same body type. But the film did say how movies telling young males the "ideal, cool" way to be is just as harmful as when it happens to young females. Even though the story isn't as strong this time around, it's still hilarious and is definitely worth seeing, if only for the jokes and meta-references. 

Grade: B.    8/10     4/5 stars