Gran Turismo | Review by: Benjamin Garrett

I grew up with the original PlayStation, and Gran Turismo spent a lot of time in that disc drive. The attention to detail and realism - there was no other racing game like it. Over the years the GT series has shown us the developers truly understand and respect racing, and cars in general. This movie does right by the games’ legacy, while also telling a true underdog story in the process.

The film follows gamer turned professional driver Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), who was selected as part of a contest by Nissan to put gamers behind the wheel. As with most biopics, much of this story is a retelling of true events, but there’s a lot that’s changed for the sake of storytelling and entertainment value. Thankfully, these embellishments don’t diminish the inspirational message, and rarely feel like cheap additions thrown in to play on your emotions. David Harbour is fantastic as Jann’s driving coach, giving the best performance in the movie.

Like a car hugging the track, the plot moves fast. Covering a lot of ground in Jann’s rise to fame, the movie flies through his training and many of his early races very quickly, and doesn’t give the viewer the experience of watching those races from start to finish. The montage style storytelling keeps the pacing brisk and effective, but a big part racing’s appeal is getting to see how each race is won or lost, which we don’t get much of.

Every moment we do spend on the track is fast, loud and intense. As we’ve seen with his past films, Neil Blomkamp knows how to shoot action, and brings that skill set to the drivers seat in a way that had me anxiously gripping my armrest watching cars hurtle down the track at 300MPH. I loved the inclusion of elements from the game, such as CGI place rankings above the cars and digital race lines on the asphalt.

If you’re a fan of the games or racing movies in general, Gran Turismo is a must watch. It sometimes feels like a big PlayStation and Nissan ad, but this inspirational underdog story has some serious torque under the hood.

3.5/5

Review by: Benjamin Garrett

Boss Level Film Review

Boss Level is a new addition to the time loop genre, with a twist. Ex-special forces officer, Roy Pulver, played by Frank Grillo, relives the same day until he dies. Every day he is hunted by assassins and when killed, he wakes up back in his bed where he started, only to have to try and survive all over again. Roy has no idea why he is stuck in this infinite time loop but he must do what he can to survive, and the longer he survives, the more he uncovers about his particular situation. Unlike most action films that take time to build up, this film gets right into it and offers tons of non-stop combat sequences that would satisfy any lover of action films. Its erratic flow makes for some fun action scenes which come out of nowhere since Roy can expect the assassins to attack at any moment. If you play video games often and have ever been stuck on a level for hours or even days, you know the feeling of having to repeat the same thing over and over again u...

Godzilla vs. Kong Film Review

Godzilla versus Kong is the action movie we have been longing for since all major blockbuster films pushed back their release dates. After three solo films between Kong and Godzilla, we finally see the two titans clash on film for the first time in what is the culmination of the Universal Monsterverse. The story is split nicely in two as team Kong and team Godzilla each have their own mission. Team Kong is on a secret mission to the center of the earth to uncover the mystery of the titans. This team consists of Dr. Nathan, Dr. Ilene, Maia, and the Youngest character in the film, Jia. Team Godzilla consists of Madison, Josh, and Bernie who are also on a secret mission, to infiltrate Apex Cybernetics with the theory that they are up to no good and are the reason why Godzilla has been acting up recently. The dynamics of the teams are well balanced as the Kong story provides us with serious and more action-heavy bits in contrast to the Apex team story that ...

Inside Out 2 | Review by: Stefano Bove

Nine years ago, Pixar introduced us to Riley, a young girl who is trying to grow with change happening with herself and her family. Her emotions; joy, anger, sadness, fear and disgust help her through these difficult times. Now two years, Riley is 13 and is going through new life changes physically and emotionally as she tries to grip with the reality that the rest of her life relies on how the next weekend goes. All of these changes spark new emotions to grow inside of her. It is a tough time for Riley that she must overcome. It is a snapshot in time that is probably a big emotional trigger for audiences as well as we go on this journey with Riley. Taking the incredibly intricate memory world that was established in the first film, the sequel makes a few minor additions that allow it to feel familiar but still fresh enough to keep us engaged. Many of these new additions are some of the funniest moments in the entire series. With more emotions and human charact...

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