Idris Elba

Sonic 3

  • Title: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
  • IMDb: link

Adding a bit of pathos and depth to the franchise with the addition of Shadow (Keanu Reeves), Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is easily the best film of the franchise. A large chunk of the film is dedicated to revealing the tortured origins and motives of the games’ famous antihero consumed with vengeance following his escape from the G.U.N. prison facility where he’s been kept in suspended animation for the last 50 years. Reeves turns out to be a great choice to voice the character whose less murdery side is shown in a series of flashbacks highlighting his friendship with Maria Robotnik (Alyla Browne) which ended in tragedy prior to his incarceration.

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Sonic the Hedgehog 2

  • Title: Sonic the Hedgehog 2
  • IMDb: link

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 offers your typical sequel with the return of all the core characters, a larger budget, more special effects, and the addition of new characters. The results are largely the same. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is likely to keep the attention of younger audiences, although the biggest audible pop in the screening I attended came during the mid-credit sequence, but other than the pretty visuals and the occasional fun action sequence there’s not much here for the rest of us for a film that clocks in at over two hours.

Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) returns seeking vengeance and power. With him this time is Knuckles (Idris Elba) in search of an ancient power known as the Master Emerald hidden by Sonic’s mentor Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks). Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) return to help Sonic who also gets a new friend in Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) who arrives to help Sonic save the emerald.

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The Top Ten Movies of 2021

It’s that time again to look back on the year that was and celebrate the best in film. While there may not be a common theme working its way through the entire list, music will play a large role (although the musical remake you may most expect isn’t to be found as it’s one of many solid films that narrowly missed the cut). 2021 offered a number of good movies, a solid amount of very good films, perhaps the best concert film of all time, and one amazing piece of cinema to top our list. Without further ado, here are the best movies of 2021.

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The Harder They Fall

  • Title: The Harder They Fall
  • IMDb: link

Although fictional, writer/director Jeymes Samuel‘s film is inspired by real outlaws, cowboys, and lawmen of color from the Wild West. The primary character of The Harder They Fall is Nat Love (Jonathan Majors). Tormented as a boy by outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), Love has grown into an outlaw who hunts and kills other outlaws while still seeking revenge for the massacre of his family.

With Majors and Elba, Samuel has the two pillars he needs to make the film work while surrounding each man with an assortment of strong characters played by the likes of Zazie Beetz, Edi Gathegi, Danielle Deadwyler, Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, and Delroy Lindo. When circumstances allow the Buck Gang to free their leader, Rufus Buck returns to the western town of Redwood. This puts Nat Love, and his friends, and Rufus Buck, and his gang, on a collision course for an extended shoot-out on the Main Street of Redwood.

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The Suicide Squad

  • Title: The Suicide Squad
  • IMDb: link

The Suicide Squad movie reviewWriter/director James Gunn‘s sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad is bonkers. If Legends of Tomorrow ever makes it to the big screen, I’d expect it would look something like this (with a far smaller body count, to be sure). Bringing back a handful of the stars from the first film, with some notable absences, the story this time follows a more straightforward Task Force X plot of the criminals turned black ops soldiers by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) sent overseas to a foreign country to cause some mayhem under the radar. Oh, and then the movie throws in Starro. Starro!? Did I mention this movie is bonkers?

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