Grant Minnick's Movie Reviews

“Hey, you wanted to get married.” - Alex Le Domas Ready Or Not is a horror/dark comedy/suspense thriller starring Samara Weaving, Mark O’Brien, and Adam Brody.  The film is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and tells the story of Grace, a young woman who on her wedding night, gets suckered into playing a deadly game of hide and seek with her in laws.   I’ll start this review by saying that before this movie, I hadn’t heard of Samara Weaving.  Only very recently did I learn that she is the niece of the incredible Hugo Weaving, which is really no surprise considering she, too, is great at acting.  She totally shines here as Grace.  The rest of the cast is also quite good at playing the roles they were given.  Another standout in this film is Adam Brody as the totally apathetic and sarcastic Daniel Le Domas.  I loved Daniel, and thought he was a great character.  The way Brody delivers his lines with an incredibly da...

“Say my name.” - Walter White a.k.a. Heisenberg Breaking Bad is a t.v. drama created by Vince Gilligan that ran for 5 seasons, starting in 2008, and ending in 2013.  It stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, Anna Gunn, R.J. Mitte, and Betsy Brandt.  The show follows mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher Walter White (expertly played by Bryan Cranston), a man who is extremely overqualified for his job.  He knows all that there is to know about chemistry, and so when he discovers he has terminal lung cancer, he decides to partner with former student and drug addict Jesse Pinkman (Paul) to try and cook the purest crystal meth on the market, all in an effort to help his family financially after he is gone. I had heard so much about this show in years past, but never made an effort to get into it.  That all changed when I heard about the upcoming Breaking Bad Netflix original movie El Camino .  I figured if ever there was a good time to start w...

“Anybody accidentally kills anybody in a fight, they go to jail.  It’s called manslaughter.” - Cliff Booth     Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is the ninth film by the great Quentin Tarantino, and one of this year’s best.  It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino, Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Emile Hirsch, Luke Perry, and Timothy Olyphant, among many, many others.  Set in 1969, the story follows Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth, (Pitt) as they navigate a Hollywood that has no use for them anymore.  Meanwhile, real life actress Sharon Tate (Robbie) makes her own way around Hollywood, while Charles Manson’s cult is never far behind.     This was a film that I had been greatly anticipating since the time it was announced.  Needless to say, I walked out of this film feeling incredibly satisfied.  It reminded me why I love the work of Quentin Tarantino so much, and left me wanting to ...

“The noise she’s making, she’ll bring every one of those things down on her head.” - Rebecca Vernet The Descent is a 2005 horror film directed by Neil Marshall and starring Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, MyAnna Buring, and Nora-Jane Noone.  The film is about a group of six friends who decide to go on a cave diving expedition. Things get difficult for them when a rockfall traps them inside the cave, and they discover hostile cave monsters that rely on echolocation to stalk their prey.  This leads to chaos, backstabbing and betrayal among the six women. Almost the whole first half of the film is literally the six girls climbing around the cave and scaling walls.  Part of me really liked this aspect of the film, and while I don’t want to say that these scenes were boring per se, another part of me thought that those scenes could get a little bit monotonous after awhile.  Now don’t get me wrong, most of these scenes were really inte...

“I’d like to purchase some of your finest beer, please!” - Billy Batson a.k.a. Shazam Shazam! is a new DC superhero movie starring Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Mark Strong, Djimon Hounsou, Grace Fulton and Cooper Andrews.  The film is directed by David F. Sandberg, and follows Billy Batson, (Angel), a young orphan who acquires the powers of an ancient wizard, causing him to turn into a grown superhero (Levi) when he says the word Shazam.  When the Seven Deadly Sins are released upon the world, our hero sets out to stop them. I really enjoyed Shazam! , and I consider it to be one of the best DC movies in recent years.  DC has not really been setting too high of a bar for superhero films lately, but I am really happy that this one turned out to be as good as it was.  I will begin this review by saying that all of the acting in the film is universally really, really good. Zachary Levi brought so much fun and energy into his performance as Sha...

“If you wanna get crazy, we can get crazy!” - Gabe Wilson Us is the second motion picture from modern horror master Jordan Peele.  It stars Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, and Evan Alex.  The film tells the story of the Wilsons, an African-American family who are on a vacation.  When they are hanging out in their house one night, a family of doppelgangers comes and breaks into their home.  And so begins another fantastic and twisty tale from Jordan Peele. I am a huge fan of Peele’s previous film Get Out .  With Us , he proves himself again.  The direction in this film is masterful, and so is the writing.  Peele can craft a smart, surprisingly funny and socially aware horror flick better than most modern horror directors can today.  The story is deep, complex, and intricate, and makes you really think about the events you just witnessed. There are enough crazy twists in this movie to keep you invested, while also being...

“Don’t worry about being the next me.  Be the first you.” - Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Fighting With My Family is a comedy-drama based on the real life story of former female WWE wrestler Paige.  The film is written and directed by Stephen Merchant, and stars Florence Pugh, Nick Frost, Lena Headey, Jack Lowden, Vince Vaughn, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.  The story follows the Knights, an English family consisting of all wrestlers. When 18 year old Saraya “Paige” Knight (Pugh) and her brother Zak “Zodiac” (Lowden) get offered a chance to make it big in the WWE, only Paige gets accepted to the next level, creating conflict between she and Zak.  Enduring grueling trials during her training course, Paige strives to become the next reigning Divas champion. I went into this movie not quite knowing what to expect.  What I got was an inspirational, uplifting, heartwarming, and surprisingly funny film about following your dreams, doing the impossible, and what...