Zola and The Forever Purge – Movie Reviews

Zola was directed and co-written by Janicza Bravo, co-written by Jeremy O. Harris, based on the tweets by Ziah King, starring Taylour Paige as Zola, Riley Keough as Stefani, Nasir Rahim as Johnathan, and Nicholas Braun as Derrek. A dancer named Zola gets taken on a wild adventure when she goes to Florida with another dancer she just met for what she thinks will be a night of dancing and making money. Based on a Twitter thread from 2015, and the actors do some great work getting into these characters. I really enjoyed Taylour’s performance as Zola.

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You really got the sense that she’s had to put up with crazy stuff before and was not at all happy about what she ended up getting dragged into even though she knew how to handle the situation. I liked the direction and a lot of the camera work. There were some odd choices, like one scene where a lot of slang is being thrown around and they decide to throw subtitles up to translate what’s being said. But then they never do that again and instead have Zola explain any other slang through narration. Also, the slang being used was pretty modern for being in 2015.

I think the writers updated it because some of these terms really weren’t a thing until a couple of years later. But still, this movie is hilarious, and you never know where it’s going to go unless you’ve read the tweets. All in all, Zola is a quick laugh-out-loud 90 minutes that I’d gladly watch again.

‘Zola’ Rating – 3.5/5

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The Forever Purge, directed by Everardo Valerio Gout, is a 2021 American action horror film that is the fifth and final film of The Purge franchise and is the direct sequel to The Purge: Election Year (2016). Starring Ana de la Reguera and Tenoch Huerta in the lead roles, the story of the film begins when a group of evil marauders decides that the Purge does not stop at daybreak and instead should never end.

There are quite a few positives in The Forever Purge, especially the more costly production design and decent writing through and through. When compared to The Purge: Election Year, which had a better protagonist and action set pieces, this film is an improvement. However, if you’re not a fan of the previous Purge movies, I’m sure that this film will not do much to change your opinion around.

On the other hand, on a more creepy note, the events which transcend in this movie pretty much reflect the current state of America, the political unrest, the Capitol protests that took place at the beginning of the year. Overall, a pretty entertaining Purge film, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise.

‘The Forever Purge’ Rating – 3/5

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