The Blackening (2023) - Movie Review

After striking out three times in a row with the Ride Along movies, Shaft, and Tom & Jerry, I can’t say I was looking forward to what director Tim Story was going to make next. Hell, I probably would’ve just missed it entirely, as I plan on doing with his other film from this year, Dashing Through The Snow (not enough reviews left in the year to devote time to intentionally disposable Christmas fluff). Then I started hearing… good things about it? Like, not since Barbershop has the man’s work garnered this much praise and success. And considering this is the same year that got critics to turn around on Saw, I figured it was worth giving the guy another chance in this instance, and frankly, I’m glad I did.

Tom & Jerry (2021) - Movie Review

Taking a break from giving Ice Cube more cinematic material to embarrass himself with (for now, given Ride Along 3 is apparently in development… thoughts and prayers are appreciated at this time), Tim Story, for some reason, has been handed the reins on the latest feature-length outing for one of the great cartoon duos. Between his inability to flesh out ostensibly original material with the Ride Along films, and his recurrent dropping of the ball with pre-established IPs like with the latest version of Shaft, I highly question why he was the one drafted for this.

But to his credit, he manages to modernise everyone’s favourite cat and mouse… not their classic material, though. Instead, more than anything else, this ends up being more of a modernisation of the ‘90s feature film, falling into the same traps that one did and even finding ways to go lower than before.

Shaft (2019) - Movie Review

John Shaft, the man who built the foundation on which the blaxploitation genre would be built, has had a weird after-life. From the two Richard Roundtree-starring sequels to the classic original, to the 2000 sequel/reboot with Samuel L. Jackson, to today’s film which serves as yet another sequel and another quasi-reboot. The original is a pretty solid effort with an all-time greatest soundtrack, and the 2000 reboot was a bit muddled but still quite entertaining, so maybe this one will turn out alright. Well, considering all three films have the exact same name, let it be known that the confusion with this mess only starts from there.

Ride Along 2 (2016) - Movie Review