In honor of Leap Day, I’m leaping backwards to talk about some movies I never got the chance to review.
Ok, that was a stretch, but we’re moving on. This is the start of my “Review Roundup” segment – here are the rules and guidelines that I’m making up as I write this:
- Each review has to be exactly 100 words (feel free to count them if you think I’m bluffing)
- Movies are ordered chronologically by when I saw them
- Underseen gems (The Lodge) and overseen garbage (Bad Boys For Life) can be found here
The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie, 2020)
A true return to form for Guy Ritchie, The Gentlemen plays like Tarantino-lite: cool characters, quick dialogue, flashy jump cuts, intricate crime plots, and uber-violence.
Every actor here gives a top-notch performance, too. We have Matthew McCounaghey as a suave, smart gangster. Then we have Charlie Hunnam as his smart, suave right-hand-man. Hugh Grant as a smart and suave private investigator. Colin Farrell as a suave, smart boxer (my personal favorite).
Ok, so The Gentlemen isn’t the most subtle or deep film. But it’s tons of fun, and I had a smile on my face when I left the theater.
The Score: 8.25/10
Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2020)
This falls into the category of an underseen-and-pretty-good-but-wow-this-is-weird gem (that only counts as one word). If you’re the type of person who likes the sound of a film where Nicolas Cage is obsessed with alpacas and slowly loses his sanity, then this one’s for you.
Color Out of Space feels like a modern B-movie classic that will find its niche audience. It trades slow-burn mystery for throwing everything crazy at the screen possible – which I’ll admit is very entertaining. Watch this only if you have a stomach for body horror, and enjoy Nicolas Cage doing whatever he pleases on screen.
The Score: 8/10
Bad Boys For Life (Bilall Farrah & Adil El Arbi, 2020)
Relying entirely (and only) on the charisma of its leads for entertainment, I can see why Bad Boys For Life has made a lot of money – but I have absolutely no clue why it’s sitting at a respectable 77% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The action plays as a blatant rip-off of Michael Bay’s choppy, quick-cut style, and the villains are bad cardboard cutouts of actual people. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence’s on-screen camaraderie, built over the last 25 years and three films, make For Life semi-watchable and semi-funny, but this is definitely my least favorite film from the beginning of 2020.
The Score: 5.5/10
The Lodge (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, 2020)
From the twisted directorial minds behind 2014’s Goodnight Mommy, I haven’t been able to shake the effect this film has had on me. This is hard-hitting, expertly crafted psychological horror that explores the impact of regret, grief, and revenge.
While not necessarily gory, The Lodge‘s slow descent into insanity makes its scary moments and images supremely horrifying – and admittedly hard-to-watch – as it dives into the dark undercurrent of the human psyche. And yet, I find myself wanting to rewatch it to analyze the clues, twists, and hidden messages within. This is my favorite film of 2020 – so far.
The Score: 9/10
Uncut Movie Reviews 