ALEXXANDAR MOVIE REVIEWS: ‘Ready or Not’ ready to go

Published 4:00 pm Saturday, September 21, 2019

“Ready or Not” (Horror/Mystery: 1 hour, 35 minutes)

Starring: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien and Andie MacDowell

Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Rated: R (Strong violence, profanity, gore and drug usage)

Movie Review: As a thriller, “Ready or Not” is a thoroughly entertaining feature with a bit of mystery. It easily draws one in with action and melodramatic frights similar to television’s “The Twilight Zone.” 

While doing so, it also creates uncertainty that what is happening may be purely superstitious or just the rantings of a crazed family. Either way, this movie provides good entertainment in an old-fashioned manner made anew.

Grace (Weaving) marries into the wealthy dynasty known as the Le Domas Dominion. On her wedding night, the bride plays a game, a family tradition of Grace’s in-laws.

Grace draws a card indicating she plays a game of hide and seek. Upon drawing the card, she does not realize that she must hide — make that survive — until sunrise. Her in-laws are trying to kill her as per a sinister game.

While Grace is part of a terrifying game, audiences are treated to a brilliantly orchestrated comedic horror that charms. The game played on audiences is The Le Domases merely superstitious or does the game exist for a legitimate reason? That mystery drives the film, that and plenty of energetic moments that are very entertaining.

“Ready or Not” leaves a few questionable initial moments. One is where are Grace’s friends and distant family members during this time when she is marrying into a wealthy families. However, the questions presented are mild because the story is riveting.

Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are no strangers to horror movies. Their last was “Devil’s Due” (2014). As writers, they make “Ready or Not” good entertainment. Humor, an unknown future for characters and thrills remain a constant throughout this creative, suspenseful story.

Grade: B (Ready.)

“The Peanut Butter Falcon” (Adventure/Drama: 1 hour, 37 minutes)

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, Zack Gottsagen

Directors: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic content, profanity and violence)

Movie Review: A modernized retelling of Mark Twain’s book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884) is a way to describe “The Peanut Butter Falcon.” 

The movie is an adventure and has many amusing moments; both facets work to propel the story. It also offers nice acting from Shia LaBeouf and Zack Gottsagen. 

Zak (Gottsagen), a man who has Down syndrome has plans of becoming a pro-wrestler. After he runs away from a residential nursing home, he befriends Tyler (LaBeouf), an outlaw on the run. Tyler decides to help Zak find his wrestling idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church).

Friendship is a key component of this movie. It takes the unlikely pairing of men played competently by LaBeouf and Gottsagen. LaBeouf provides one of his best performances as a Louisiana bayou fisherman, and Gottsagen, born with Down syndrome, is fascinating. The two men form a unique bond that resonates eventually to make this movie an enduring moment in cinemas.

Grade: B (The falcon soars.)

“Don’t Let Go (Relive)” (Drama/Mystery: 1 hour, 43 minutes)

Starring: David Oyelowo, Storm Reid, Mykelti Williamson and Alfred Molina

Director: Jacob Estes

Rated: R (Violence, bloody images and profanity)

Movie Review: Although engaging, “Don’t Let Go (Relive)” is never really convincing because of character actions. Simultaneously, it is also a stereotypical cop movie. If you have the time, this movie may not be worth yours.

Detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo) is a very supportive uncle to Ashley (Reid from “Sleight,” 2017). One day, Radcliff receives a troubling phone call from his niece indicating an intruder in the house. 

When Jack arrives at his brother’s house, he finds his family dead, including Ashley. Later, Detective Radcliff begins receiving phone calls from his deceased niece’s cell phone. Fate gives Radcliff another chance to save his niece. 

A man receives a phone call from his dead niece. Apparently, this happens to him every day because he does not report it, to even best friend and fellow detective Bobby, played by Mykelti Williamson. Perhaps, Radcliff is just distraught or director-writer Jacob Aaron Estes’ screenplay lacks the originality that matches the film’s acting.

Think of this movie as a lesser version of “Frequency” (2000) that starred Dennis Quaid. It has people not doing the obvious. The result is not as bad as a movie idea. It is just a conventionally unoriginal execution by Estes (“The Details,” 2011 and “Mean Creek,” 2004).

Grade: C+ (It has merit, but it ultimately lets go of something good.)

“Bennett’s War” (Sport: 1 hour, 35 minutes)

Starring: Michael Roark, Allison Paige, Trace Adkins and Ali Afshar

Director: Alex Ranarivelo

Rated: PG-13 (violence)

Movie Review: Director Alex Ranarivelo once again tackles the sport of motocross. This follows his 2018 movie, “The Ride,” which was about bicycle motocross racing. “Bennett’s War” is a feel-good movie, but it is just as formulaic.

After surviving an IED explosion in combat in Afghanistan, soldier Marshall Bennett (Roark), a member of the Army Motorcycle Unit, is medically discharged. Bennett has multiple extensive injuries. 

Despite the warnings of doctors, he begins training in the sport of motocross once again to make an impossible comeback as a motorcyclist. This is just in time, too. His family needs financial support.

Again, this is a feel-good movie, but it is a typical screenplay. “Bennett’s War” starts as a war movie, but it is not. It is a total sports movie. The sports scenes are predictable and the characters are thinly developed in a meaningful manner that endures.

Grade: C- (A sports-themed movie that barely places in the race.)

“Killerman” (Crime/Drama: 1 hour, 52 minutes)

Starring: Liam Hemsworth, Emory Cohen and Zlatko Buric

Director: Malik Bader

Rated: R (Violence, profanity, sexuality and drug content)

Movie Review: Malik Bader is the director and writer of this screenplay. This movie is interesting, but it never really captures one’s attention in a manner that assimilates a reality one can grasp fully.

Moe Diamond (Hemsworth) is a money launderer in New York City. After an incident, he awakes with no memory, but his friend and crime associate, Bobby “Skunk” Santos (Cohen), assures him they are fine. The two men wander aimlessly around New York with millions of dollars and drugs while being pursued by mobsters and corrupt policemen.

Bader’s screenplay is not boring. It is energetic as it is unfortunate. The movie’s plot wanders without focus at times. Its main characters are just as lost as their story. Both elements are unpersuasive despite the cast’s good attempt to prevail.

Grade: C (After you see it, pretend you have amnesia.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar lives and works in Valdosta.