The Nun (2018 )
Horror flicks, I like 'em. Haven't watched a good one in a while, so I actually used this to kick off the binging listed above. Trailers looked good for a scare, and the movie itself was set in what appears to be earlier 20th century - not any electronics, per se...then again, it was a super priest sent to backwoods Romania, so... Cast centers on the super priest sent to investigate a suicide at a convent, and he's assigned a young novitiate who hasn't taken her vows yet. There are several references to her 'knowing the background' but when they arrive she has no clue to Romania, the convent, or anything. Later, her 'connection' is revealed to be visions she used to get growing up and the message they consistently sent her. Third wheel is the young fellow who found the body as he delivered supplies weekly to the convent. Plot follows super priest and almost nun into the convent and through some interactions with the remaining nuns who appear to be praying all the time to hold some evil back. Throw in a graveyard scare, some demon powers whooshing about, and the super priest having doubts about a successful exorcism in his past where the demon was vanquished but the possessed young man ended up dying...is that success? Mix it all together, use a grainy camera and a bunch of dark scenes and you get a meh. Not the horror or suspense I was hoping for, then again, I am somewhat jaded on the genre. Still, not a lot of blood and gore, an ok amount of suspense and demonry, but overall you can do better. 5/5.
Hotel Artemis (2018 )
Set in an alternate future, where there are a lot of electronic gizmos but California is in the midst of a riot, and you have the Hotel Artemis run by Jody Foster who is showing every damn bit of her age. She does the role well, but man is she aging. Artemis is a refuge for criminals in need of medical care, and Foster is the resident nurse and hotel operator with a set of rules all visitors must abide by - no guns, no attacking other guests, etc. Her right hand man is Everest, played by Dave Bautista who also fits the role of nurse and hotel bouncer quite well. Mix in one guest *******, one female assassin, two brothers from a robbery gone bad, and you have the set up. Then, we have a cop caught in the riot, pleading at the door for help...and she was friends with Foster's son when they were kids, so..Foster breaks the rules and lets her in. Suddenly, the hotel owner is on his way in dire straits, though he and his crew may own the place they also have to follow Foster's rules. Now, all the characters start having overlapping story lines, motives, and interaction which could have been pretty cool if it were pulled off a bit better - not through a fault of the actors, as there is a good cast in general, but because of the writing being weak and not deep enough. You get a decent background on all the characters, but not a whole lot other than with Foster and the loss of her son, so you're following very thin characters through plot twists. Whether you can predict the twists or not, doesn't matter, as they come fairly quick and very lightly, not much of a 'woah' more of a 'meh, ok'. The other BIG name besides Foster is Jeff Goldblum, who plays straight up like he does every other role. When he's confronted with his death and spends 5 seconds trying to bargain out of it...then quickly folds and accepts it...the light really goes on in terms of 'this movie isn't trying very hard'. It could have had a LOT more potential, but failed to live up to any of it. Dialogue, characters, action....all underwhelming. I'll give credit for an attempted twisty-turny plot, but it isn't enough to stand on. 5/10.
