How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I did not watch the first 2 How to Train Your Dragon films until recently. I was never interested in those films when I was younger. However, I changed my mind because of the vastly positive reception of the first 2 films, & I loved both of them.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the best film of the trilogy. The film continues the story of Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), the Viking Chief of Berk. Hiccup, along with his fiancée Astrid (voiced by America Ferrera), his mother Valka (voiced by Cate Blanchett), Gobber the Belch (voiced by Craig Ferguson), Snotlout Jorgenson (voiced by Jonah Hill), Fishlegs Ingerman (voiced by Christopher Mintz-Plasse), twins Ruffnut (voiced by Kristen Wiig) & Tuffnut (voiced by Justin Rupple) Thorston, & his Night Fury dragon Toothless, ride & save dragons, while bringing them back to Berk to live in a safe environment. However, Berk is overpopulated. Hiccup finds a solution: his father, Stoick the Vast (voiced by Gerard Butler), told of a place called "The Hidden World," a safe haven for dragons. Although others are skeptical of the existence of The Hidden World, Hiccup is sure of its existence.

Meanwhile, a white female Night Fury, referred to as a Light Fury, has been captured by Night Fury hunter Grinnel the Grisly (voiced by F. Murray Abraham) as bait for Toothless to be captured. Grimmel comes to Berk for Toothless, but they refuse to give him up. Knowing that Grimmel will come back, the people of Berk decide to go find The Hidden World in order to evade him.

On the way there, Toothless encounters the Light Fury & falls in love with her. As they try to get to The Hidden World, Hiccup must face both encroachment from Grinnel & the idea that it might be time for Toothless to find his own way.

The voice cast is fantastic. Jay Baruchel brings so much life to the role. F. Murray Abraham is deliciously villainous. Cate Blanchett is a delight. And the rest of the cast provide great supporting performances.

Dean DeBlois' direction is excellent. DeBlois provides visuals that are absolutely striking, & supports that with a strong emotional undercurrent.

Dean DeBlois' screenplay is amazing. The plot is fresh & free of threequelitis, the characters are well-written, & the dialogue is terrific.

And the animation is astonishing. The attention to detail is so awe-inspiring, & the color palette is so vivid. And it only helps even more with the one & only Roger Deakins as a visual consultant.

This is one of the best animated films of the decade. It's a funny, emotional, & altogether a truly spectacular way to end the trilogy.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Saturday, March 2, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 104 minutes, & it is rated PG for adventure action & some mild rude humor.

Greta

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Films about stalking have been atrocious over the past few years. The Boy Next Door, Unforgettable, Obsessed: all of these films have dealt with stalkers, yet have been so formulaic that they're impossible to admire.

Greta, while uneven, is a solid psychological thriller about stalkers. The film follows Frances McCullen (played by Chloë Grace Moretz), a waitress in New York. Frances lives in an apartment with her friend Erica Penn (played by Maika Monroe). Since the death of her mother, Frances has maintained a very strained relationship with her father Chris (played by Colm Feore), who has become married to his job.

One day, while riding the subway, Frances comes across a handbag. She tries to give it to the lost & found, but is unable to. She looks & sees to whom the handbag belongs, & finds that it belongs to Greta Hideg (played by Isabelle Huppert), a French piano teacher who is widowed with a daughter  studying in France. Frances goes over to Greta's house to return the handbag, & as a reward, is brought inside for coffee. They talk, & eventually strike a strong friendship, much to the chagrin of Erica, who believes that Frances is out of her mind for doing almost everything with someone whom she just met.

One night, while helping with dinner at Greta's house, Frances goes to look for candles in the cabinet. However, instead of candles, Frances discovers more handbags that are exactly like the one she found on the subway, all of them having names of women on them. Disgusted by this, Frances vows to never see or speak to Greta again. But this will prove to be extremely difficult as Greta will incessantly stalk Frances for a long time. And the more that public investigator Brian Cody (played by Stephen Rea) finds about Greta, the more Frances realizes that Greta is definitely not as she appears.

The cast is amazing. Chloë Grace Moretz shows so much fear & terror in her performance. Isabelle Huppert is devilishly terrific. The rest of the cast does a phenomenal job, but this belongs to Moretz & Huppert.

Neil Jordan's direction is great. Although Jordan sometimes struggles with whether or not to play it campy or dark, Jordan has enough visual style to make it work.

And the screenplay by Ray Wright & Neil Jordan is very good. Although the plot is formulaic at times & some characters are two-dimensional, the dialogue is very well-written.

This is a solid psychological horror film. Although it does have several flaws, it has enough in the tank to make it worthwhile.

Greta was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Friday, March 1, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 98 minutes, & it is rated R for some violence & disturbing images.

Fighting with My Family

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I'll make this perfectly clear: I have never liked wrestling. It just never fit in with me. I thought it was way too over-the-top & gimmicky.

Fighting with My Family made me like wrestling for once. And that's saying a lot. Based on the 2012 documentary The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family by Max Fisher, the film follows Saraya Knight, AKA Paige (played by Florence Pugh), a girl in a family of wrestlers: her mother, Julia, AKA Saraya (played by Lena Headey); her father, Ricky (played by Nick Frost); her half-brother, Roy (played by James Burrows), who is in prison; & her older brother, Zak, AKA Zak Zodiac (played by Jack Lowden), have all been wrestlers in Norwich, England. Paige got into wrestling later than the rest of her siblings, as she got into it at the age of 13 in the World Association of Wrestling, founded by Ricky & Saraya.

Since they have trouble making ends meet, Ricky & Saraya constantly call WWE trainer Hutch Morgan (played by Vince Vaughn) to persuade him to sign Paige & Zak, but to no avail. However, they finally get their chance to tryout at the O2 Arena in London. While there, they meet Dwayne Johnson (played by Dwayne Johnson) & get advice, namely to be themselves & not like their idols. They are both hoping they make it; however, not only does Paige make it & Zak doesn't, but Paige is the only one picked by Hutch. While Paige moves on to Florida, Zak returns to Norwich to take care of his family & train young wrestlers.

Paige is upset that Zak is not coming with her, & struggles to make friends in NXT. Meanwhile, Zak struggles with not making it, eventually becoming an alcoholic. They both try to deal with their struggles, but their struggles might be too much.

The cast is fantastic. Florence Pugh is an absolute wonder. With this & her excellent performance in 2017's Lady Macbeth, Pugh is making a name for herself as a very talented young actress. Jack Lowden is also terrific. Vince Vaughn does some of his best work in years. And the rest of the cast, especially Headey, Frost & Johnson, do superb in their supporting roles.

Stephen Merchant's direction is excellent. Merchant is perfectly able to shift between comedy & drama without issue, & is also able to keep a heartwarming tone throughout.

And Stephen Merchant's screenplay is amazing. The plot manages to push through the sports movie tropes, the characters feel incredibly real, & the dialogue is very well-written & often extremely hilarious.

This is one of the biggest surprises of the year, & one of the best sports films in recent memory. It's a hilarious & heartwarming look at a different type of sports family.

Fighting with My Family was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Saturday, February 23, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 108 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for crude & sexual material, language throughout, some violence & drug content.

Alita: Battle Angel

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I've always found it to be a challenge to get into cyberpunk sci-fi films. I've never been the biggest sci-fi person in general, but these films don't look to have as strong of a story as they do strong visuals.

Alita: Battle Angel, while a bit lacking, is a visually wondrous cyberpunk sci-fi film. Based on the manga series Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro, & set in 2563, the film follows Alita (played by Rosa Salazar), a female cyborg in Iron City. Iron City, along with the rest of Earth, has been ravaged by The Fall several years prior. Alita was discovered & assembled by scientist Dr. Dyson Ido (played by Christoph Waltz) & named Alita for the deceased daughter of him & his ex-wife Dr. Chiren (played by Jennifer Connolly). Although Alita did have a brain when she was discovered, she has no recollection of her past.

One day, Alita meets Hugo (played by Keean Johnson), a junk dealer with whom she is smitten. Hugo introduces Alita to Motorball, a cyborg fight to the death, all the while dreaming of moving to Zalem, the wealthy sky city.

One night, Alita discovers that Ido is a Hunter-Warrior when he encounters 3 cyborg assassins, including Grewishka (played by Jackie Earle Haley). Alita helps kill 2 of the 3 cyborgs, but Grewishka escapes. Much to the chagrin of Ido, Alita decides to become a Hunter-Warrior & asks other Hunter-Warriors to help her fight Grewishka, but they refuse, as he is not on the official wanted list.

In order to get Hugo to Zalem, Alita enlists in Motorball, but realizes that the other cyborgs are Hunter-Warriors hired by entrepreneur Vector (played by Mahershala Ali) to kill her at all costs. Also, Hugo is hunted by Hunter-Warrior Zapan (played by Ed Skrein). Alita must protect herself & the people she cares about while finding out more about herself in the process.

The cast is amazing. Rosa Salazar has the perfect combo of charm & stubbornness for the role. Christoph Waltz is excellent. Mahershala Ali is terrific. And the rest of the cast turn in superb supporting roles.

Robert Rodriguez's direction is great. Although he does have some issues with elevating the story, Rodriguez does bring a lot of ambition to the table, especially in the action sequences.

The screenplay by James Cameron & Laeta Kalogridis is very good. The plot is a bit formulaic & some of the characters aren't well-developed, but the dialogue is well-written.

And the visual effects are stunning. The CGI landscape of the world is incredibly realized, & the CGI for Alita looks terrific.

This is a good sci-fi flick. Although it does have some struggles, it manages to move past them to make this an entertaining ride.

Alita: Battle Angel was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Monday, February 18, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 122 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi violence & action, & for some language.

Isn't It Romantic

★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

I'll say it again: most modern romantic comedies are garbage. They follow the same formula, refusing to try something fresh. There are some that do break this mold, yes, but there's still something missing: a romantic comedy satirizing the tropes of romantic comedies.

Isn't It Romantic, despite a couple solid moments, fails miserably in its attempt to satirize romantic comedies. The film follows Natalie (played by Rebel Wilson), an Australian-born architect in New York. Natalie is an avid hater of anything romantic, has low self-esteem, & is essentially treated a pushover, especially at her job by her co-workers, namely Blake (played by Liam Hemsworth), a new billionaire client. She rudely declines to go to a karaoke bar with her friend Josh (played by Adam Devine) & overtly criticizes her assistant friend Whitney (played by Betty Gilpin) for her love of romantic comedies & their clichéd moments.

On her way home from work, Natalie knocks herself unconscious. When she wakes up, she notices that everything has changed: New York smells nice, her apartment is much more extravagant, her dog is obedient, her co-workers are nice towards her, her neighbor Donny (played by Brandon Scott Jones) is now a stereotypical gay best friend, & men are more interested in her now, especially Blake, who is now suddenly Australian. Natalie eventually realizes that she is now in a PG-13 romantic comedy.

Natalie goes on a walk with Josh, who ends up saving the life of Isabella (played by Priyanka Chopra), a model who was choking. This sparks a romance between the two, & a realization from Natalie that she likes Josh. But she must try to find a way out of the romantic comedy world as well as telling Josh the truth.

The cast is a mixed bag. Rebel Wilson does a solid job with what she is given. That goes for most of the cast, namely Adam Devine & Priyanka Chopra, but especially Brandon Scott Jones. However, Liam Hemsworth is awful, & doesn't have the acting talent that of which his older brother Chris has an exorbitant amount.

Todd Strauss-Schulson's direction is poor. Strauss-Schulson is unable to get good enough performances out of his entire cast, & his style feels very bland.

And the screenplay by Erin Cardillo, Dana Fox & Katie Silberman is terrible. The plot is very derivative, the characters are two-dimensional, & the dialogue is, except for a few instances, very unfunny.

This is a bad romantic comedy satire. It had the potential to make it work, but it has one major flaw that derails the film: it becomes what it wants to satirize.

Isn't It Romantic was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Sunday, February 17, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 89 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for language, some sexual material, & a brief drug reference.

Happy Death Day 2U

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

2017's Happy Death Day was a huge surprise. It became a sleeper hit & was positively received. Even though it wasn't something I considered myself to be intrigued by, I immediately fell in love with it & its darkly humorous style.

Happy Death Day 2U is one of those rare sequels that improves on the first. The film continues the story of Theresa "Tree" Gelbman (played by Jessica Rothe), now in a relationship with Carter Davis (played by Israel Broussard). On Tuesday, September 19, Carter's friend Ryan Phan (played by Phi Vu) goes to work with Samar Ghosh (played by Suraj Sharma) & Dre Morgan (played by Sarah Yarkin) on a quantum reactor; however, Dean Bronson (played by Steve Zissis) shuts down the reactor, as it has caused several power outages. Later that night, Ryan is murdered by an unknown person.

The next morning, Ryan wakes up & realizes that it is the same day. He tells Tree & Carter about this, & Tree, who had gone through this before, decides to help him. They realize that the reactor is responsible for the time loop. Before Ryan is killed again, Tree & Carter stop the person & reveal the person to be Ryan from the future, who has come to end the time loop. Present Ryan does not believe him, so he keeps the reactor & the time loop open.

The next morning, Tree wakes up on Monday, September 18, but everything is different: Lori was not the one that killed her in the old time loop, & Carter is now dating Danielle Bouseman (played by Rachel Matthews), who is now less stuck up. Tree has now shifted into another dimension. At first, she wants to go back, but a surprising developments causes her to have a change of heart. This will prove to be a fateful course of events.

The cast is phenomenal. Jessica Rothe has so much energy & range & I'd love to see her in more roles. The rest of the cast does a terrific job, but this film belongs to Rothe.

Christopher Landon's direction is excellent. Landon is able to perfectly balance the humor & the horror, & also throws in a bit of well-timed emotional moments for good measure.

And Christopher Landon's screenplay is amazing. The plot feels fresh & is able to poke fun at itself, the characters are fleshed out, & the dialogue is super witty.

This is another big surprise. It has everything I wanted in a sequel to Happy Death Day, & I had an immensely fun time. And ultimately, is it a bad thing? Definitely not.

Happy Death Day 2U was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Saturday, February 16, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 100 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for violence, language, sexual material & thematic elements.

Cold Pursuit

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"Revenge is a dish best served with cold cuts." - Tony Soprano

Ok, maybe that isn't the correct quote, but you get the gist of it: revenge is best when it's cold-blooded. Although I'm not the type of person who would actively go out seeking vengeance, I know that's the best way to go about it.

Cold Pursuit, while flawed, is a good & quirky revenge thriller. Based on the 2014 film In Order of Disappearance, the film follows Nelson "Nels" Coxman (played by Liam Neeson), a snowplow driver in the small resort town of Kehoe, Colorado, about a few hours away from Denver. He lives a quiet life with his wife Grace (played by Laura Dern) & son Kyle (played by Micheál Richardson).

One night Nels receives an award for Citizen of the Year from the Kehoe town council. That same night, Kyle is kidnapped while working at the Kehoe airport & killed by a forced heroin overdose. Grace ends up leaving Nels due to her grief, leaving Nels despondent in his grief & on the brink of suicide.

Before Nels could act on his thoughts, he discovers that Kyle wasn't murdered in any random way: he was murdered by a Denver drug cartel. After learning more about the cartel from his brother Brock, AKA Wingman (played by William Forsythe), Nels goes from a quiet man to a cold-blooded killer out for revenge. He kills 3 men from the drug cartel in a short time span. The drug cartel boss, Trevor "Viking" Calcote (played by Tom Bateman), who is in a custody battle with his ex-wife Aya (played by Julia Jones), believes this to be a retaliation from a Native American drug cartel led by White Bull (played by Tom Jackson).

Meanwhile, new detective Kim Dash (played by Emmy Rossum) is thoroughly intrigued by the drug cartel murders, while her partner Gip (played by John Doman) is less enthused. Also, Viking's enforcer Mustang (played by Domenick Lombardozzi) is in a relationship with White Bull's enforcer Dexter (played by Benjamin Hollingsworth). As Nels finds himself entangled in all of this, he realizes his path of revenge might be more convoluted than he once thought.

The cast is fantastic. Liam Neeson does some of his best work in years. Tom Bateman is terrific. Tom Jackson is menacing. And Emmy Rossum is superb.

Hans Petter Moland's direction is great. Although Moland has some issues with tonal shifts, he is able to overcome that by successfully adapting his style (for a remake of his own film) for American audiences.

And Frank Baldwin's screenplay is very good. Although the plot is fairly predictable & the characters outside of the main few are not fleshed out well (especially Laura Dern's character), the dialogue is spectacular, as it always filled with excellently bleak dark humor.

This is a good dark comedy. Although it does have its fair share of issues, the performances & dark humor are there to pick the film up.

Cold Pursuit was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Friday, February 15, 2019. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 119 minutes, & it is rated R for strong violence, drug material, & some language including sexual references.