Category: Reviews of Movies

Spaceman: Directed by Johan Renck. With Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano, Kunal Nayyar. Half a year into his solo mission on the edge of the solar system, an astronaut concerned with the state of his life back on Earth is helped by an ancient creature he discovers in the bowels of his ship. Every now and then actors that are known for one genre step out of that genre and do something more series and/or different than what everyone knows them for. Sandler does this pretty frequently, he’s known for being a hilarious comedian with a huge following, but...

On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and to restore order to his world. I found the 4k disk for pretty cheap and I’m happy to have checked it out, the transfer is amazing and there’s some really cool tricks that are slightly more obvious in 4k but are still just as impressive when you catch them. My favorite this time around was the long shot over a verdant valley and you can see the wind moving the trees, but it’s a trick! They just...

Return to a world of two realities: one, everyday life; the other, what lies behind it. To find out if his reality is a construct, to truly know himself, Mr. Anderson will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. Watched again with my wife and while this is a pretty entertaining flick, I stand by my previous assessment that there’s too many memberberries and not enough forward plot movement. Buy On Amazon!

A family man is drafted to fight in a future war where the fate of humanity relies on his ability to confront the past. I watched it again! It’s still a great film with a cool concept and alien design. My wife was with me this time and she said she enjoyed it too, yay for marital bliss! Buy On Amazon!

  2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. As a thought experiment among fans, this would be a neat discussion. As an officially released piece of media that’s an official expansion of the lore, this is a steaming pile of terminator scrap that completely changes the in-universe science. I’m perfectly fine with the new AI concepts that are introduced, the time loops are pretty well explained, but just the same, there’s an introduction to...

A stuntman, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right? The marketing I saw for this really missed the mark for me, from what I remember they were highlighting the romance and goofy capers that he got up in in pursuit of love, which is fine, but didn’t really make me want to see the movie in theaters, something that I wish I had been able to do now. j...

In the near future, a ‘Grand Lottery’ has been newly established in California – the catch: kill the winner before sundown to legally claim their multi-billion dollar jackpot. It’s hard for me to believe that the same director did the hilarious “Bridesmaids”, then went on to stink up the place with “Ghostbusters (2016)”, and returned to absolutely killing it with Jackpot. The cinematography, the acting, the scrip, the action, and the soundtrack all line up to make a film that I think would have done pretty well in theaters. This isn’t a theatrical release though and only viewable on Amazon...

Hit Man: Directed by Richard Linklater. With Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta. A professor moonlighting as a hit man of sorts for his city police department, descends into dangerous, dubious territory when he finds himself attracted to a woman who enlists his services. A very funny and fantastic movie with a True Story that I’m not entirely sure is true at all, but after all, what is truth really? Glen Powell and Adria Arjona knock it out of the park, though I mistook Adria for Eiza Gonzalez for the entire film. Buy On Amazon!

Mike, a down-to earth construction worker, is thrust into the world of super spies and secret agents when his high school sweetheart, Roxanne, recruits him on a high-stakes U.S. intelligence mission. The end result is a little less serious than I thought they were originally going for, but I think at the end of the day I still enjoyed the journey exploring the first steps of a Union CIA spy hitman / construction worker. Buy On Amazon!

A crew of oceanic researchers working for a deep sea drilling company try to get to safety after a mysterious earthquake devastates their deepwater research and drilling facility located at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. This one caught my eye again because first off, it’s a great film with some pivots that completely caught me off guard the first time I saw it in theaters and second, I just watched The Abyss and apparently I’m a fan of underwater science fiction dramas? Buy On Amazon!

A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this and while it’s still an enjoyable film, knowing what I know about both the behind the scenes stuff with this movie and the science behind how deep they’re going, it’s hard to suspend my disbelief. If you’re able to turn off that part of your brain though, boy howdy this is a fun movie. Buy On Amazon!

While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonists come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. They somehow managed to fit 3 different Alien flicks in this one movie’s 2 hour run time. The pacing is damn near perfect, the scary stuff is scary as hell, and the alient / human / android drama plays fantastically. There was only one point that I doubted where they were going (it was something that also happened in Resurrection) but the direction they went in was appropriately horrifying and worked...

Borderlands: Directed by Eli Roth. With Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramírez, Jamie Lee Curtis. Based on the best-selling videogame, this all-star action-adventure follows a ragtag team of misfits on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power. The internet seems to think that this is the worst movie in the world, but it doesn’t rise to the terrible results of other video game adaptations and has it’s own share of great moments, but at the end of the day it’s not terrible, not great, just mediocre. I think my complaint with it would...

Anyone But You: Directed by Will Gluck. With Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, Mia Artemis, Nat Buchanan. After an amazing first date, Bea and Ben’s fiery attraction turns ice-cold–until they find themselves unexpectedly reunited at a wedding in Australia. So they do what any two mature adults would do: pretend to be a couple. It’s on Netflix and as you may imagine, it’s a good film! I still do love Sydney Sweeney in nearly everything she’s been in and I’m starting to really appreciate Glen Powell, he’s been pretty rock solid in all the stuff I’ve seen him in. I originally...

Street-smart Nathan Drake is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan, and lost 500 years ago by the House of Moncada. I enjoyed this for what it was and while there are undeniably things that could have been done better, but this final product was pretty darn good. Buy On Amazon!

Morbius: Directed by Daniel Espinosa. With Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris. Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead. I think I regret buying this for $8 on disk with digital code, then watching it. What an absolutely confusing mess of a film. Buy On Amazon!

Hancock is a superhero whose ill-considered behavior regularly causes damage in the millions. He changes when the person he saves helps him improve his public image. I’ve seen this one a few dozen times at this point but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in 4k, which now I wish I didn’t. The 4k transfer is grainy and the HDR isn’t obvious in the least bit and honestly I think the blueray is the superior version. Buy On Amazon!

A coming of RAGE love story about a teenager and her crush, who happens to be a corpse. After a set of horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a journey to find love, happiness – and a few missing body parts. Not as good as the trailer made me hope it would be, but still a good execution on a clever and familiar concept. Buy On Amazon!

Deadpool is offered a place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe by the Time Variance Authority, but instead recruits a variant of Wolverine to save his universe from extinction. Deadpool and Wolverine finely make their way to the MCU and they use every opportunity to remind audiences the safeties are off on the F-bomb and that it’s going to be used liberally. The story is straight up non-sense and cameos are egregious, but much like all of Reynold’s other project’s he understands the core of what audiences are looking for and I have nearly no notes. I’m happy to hear that...

Expedition Mars brings to life one of the greatest sagas of the Space Age, the epic adventures of Spirit and Opportunity, the rovers that saved NASA’s Mars program after a string of failures in the 1990’s. Another film that I watched while building my LEGO Mars rover, this one had all sorts of fun cliffhangers and emotional beats that I didn’t expect from a documentary about rovers on Mars. Buy On Amazon!

Through the eyes of two state-of-the-art rovers, and with NASA scientists at your side, you’ll see Mars in a way no one ever has before-direct from the surface of the amazing red planet. Much shorter than the other two films that I watched while building my LEGO Mars rover, this one had the distinct feel of a corporate grant making it possible by Lockheed Martin. It was originally released for Imax theaters and I’m sure it looked amazing. Sadly while I have a huge tv, it’s nowhere near the size of an Imax screen. Buy On Amazon!

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to follow the birth of the Perseverance rover, whose primary mission is to search for traces of life in an ancient river delta on Mars and collect samples for eventual return to Earth. Watched this while I was building the LEGO mars explorer, it’s a pretty neat LEGO set and this movie helped pass the time during the 4 hours it took me to build it. Buy On Amazon!

In a war-torn world of elemental powers, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world. I now own this on bluray, dvd, and vudu streaming, I’ve watched all those versions (and the original airing too!) and have enjoyed every moment of it. Buy On Amazon!

Based on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Of those films that goes no where and has no real aim with it’s story but is still an interesting experience none the less. Buy On Amazon!

A devoted daughter is attempting to figure out the cause of her father’s passing. A fairly low budget action film with some super unfortunate and noticiable computer generated gun play in the opening scenes, all along with budget saving sequences in which all the expensive action like cars crashing or explosions happening is done off camera. It’s not a bad film though and fills a very specific ‘vet returns home to set things right’ void that we currently have, but the genre deserves better and Jessica Alba deserves better. Buy On Amazon!

A woman named Sam finds herself trapped in New York City during the early stages of an invasion by alien creatures with ultra-sensitive hearing. While I enjoyed the film, I would have enjoyed it so much more if there wasn’t a cat going in and out of scenes all willy nilly. By the end of the film I was beginning to seriously stress over the future of the cat and how it was going to make it out of this apocalypse and every scene I had one question on my mind: Where’s the cat? Buy On Amazon!

The Robinson family was going into space to fight for a chance for humanity. Now they are fighting to live long enough to find a way home. An enjoyable family friendly space romp that I remember seeing in the theater and enjoying at the time. I want to say this was one of the last films I remember having a song in the credits that included snippets of dialog from the film. Also that song i still a banger. Buy On Amazon!

This Documentary will feature interviews of fans of Jim Hensons work, interspersed with footage from Jim Henson’s works, including Wilkins and Wontkins Commercials that were previously lost. A fantastic look at the much too short life of Jim Henson, as prepared by director extraordinaire Ron Howard. Of particular interest is Henson’s work outside of the Muppets and Sesame Street. There’s familiar projects like the Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, but I really enjoyed his short works that were briefly highlighted. Buy On Amazon!

The story of Barney, an awkward middle-schooler and Ron, his new walking, talking, digitally-connected device. Ron’s malfunctions set against the backdrop of the social media age launch them on a journey to learn about true friendship. There was a rush of movies with similar feeling stories with Next Gen (2018), The Mitchells vs the Machines (April 2021), then this one in October of 2021. Out of the three this is the least interesting of the three, lacking the cool world of Next Gen or the emotional depth of Mitchells, It’s still an entertaining movie that tackles heavy topics, but I...

100 years of dreaming. 100 years of creating. 100 years of Stan Lee. I do love me some Stan Lee and this film is all about him!  It features less video of him and more audio and doesn’t really do justice to any of his more controversial aspects and completely skips over all his work that wasn’t Marvel related, but this is a lovely look at his life with Marvel. Buy On Amazon!

The Fellowship of the Ring embark on a journey to destroy the One Ring and end Sauron’s reign over Middle-earth. Watching this after watching Peter Jackson’s live action films is pretty interesting, they both pull from the same source material and both directors liked the same lines from the book or at least chose the same story beats to adapt. Something interesting about this animated version is that they used a pretty cool and novel method of using film of live action actors (and horses!), applied an effect to them, then overlayed the now slightly animated looking characters over an...

A young girl named Asha wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making star comes down from the sky to join her. I remember seeing the marketing and trailers for this and thinking it had no soul and I really had no reason to go see it, which is a shame because it turned out to be a pretty well done film with some really well done references to prior Disney works. Those references should have been a part of the marketing because this was released during the 100th anniversary celebration...

As the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps faces a battle with an ancient enemy, Hal Jordan prepares new recruit Arisia for the coming conflict by relating stories of the first Green Lantern and several of Hal’s comrades. A fun collection of Green Lantern legends as told by some pretty legendary Lanterns themselves with appearances from Kilowag, Sinestro, and even C’hp! The animation style is delightfully science fiction and the stories are all short enough to have a punch to them, but long enough to really get a sense of the situation. Buy On Amazon!

Follows Riley, in her teenage years, encountering new emotions. Pixar has long been able to provoke extreme emotional responses from me and Inside Out 2 continues that painfully delightful trend with an expansion of their concept of “what if feelings had feelings”, with a progression of our main character another year further into her more frustrating but formative teenage years. They stay away from the physical aspects of puberty (that “Turning Red” covered so well!) and stays in it’s emotional lane with the addition of some obvious but still interesting elements that result in a movie that I highly recommend...

A sweet blonde goes to the police looking for her missing husband. When it turns out her husband is both a murder victim and a bachelor – and that the blonde is suspect #1, tough cop Butch Saunders comes up with a scheme to crack the case. I think this may be one of the earliest films I’ve seen with a scrolling info dump at the beginning and this one is distinctly similar to the Law and Order series, which is fantastic to see. Also fantastic to see, Ms Glenda Farrell! She’s playing a background recurring character that steals all...

A Special-Ops commander leads his team into the Nigerian jungle in order to rescue a doctor who will only join them if they agree to save 70 refugees too. It’d been a while since I’ve watched this and while I remember liking it, it was so long ago that I wasn’t sure if it was the rose colored glasses or if I would still feel like it was a solid movie. Other than some Hollywood-funny casting decisions (Monica Bellucci as the wayward doctor requiring saving? ok!) this is still very much a solid film, with a solid and basic premise...

In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds. I did watch this when it first came out, but apparently I wasn’t doing movie logging at the time, but I do remember being distinctly let down by the final product, a feeling that I no longer feel. Buy On Amazon!

Blonde: Directed by Andrew Dominik. With Ana de Armas, Lily Fisher, Julianne Nicholson, Tygh Runyan. The story of American actress Marilyn Monroe, covering her love and professional lives. I love Ana de Armas and I loved Marilyn Monroe’s film work, but the two of them don’t work very well. Ana gives it her best, but this lurid tale of sex, death, and obsession is just too morbid for my tastes. Buy On Amazon!

Days of Wine and Roses: Directed by Blake Edwards. With Jack Lemmon, Lee Remick, Charles Bickford, Jack Klugman. An alcoholic marries a young woman and systematically addicts her to booze so that they can share his “passion” together. Released in 1962 this is another emotionally draining and realistic glimpse into the relationship between two people and the booze they mutually love and the struggles involved when only one of them sees a need to cut back or stop completely. There’s a few scenes that strike home in uncomfortable ways, the first of which was when the lead actor began slamming...

The Lost Weekend: Directed by Billy Wilder. With Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva. The desperate life of a chronic alcoholic is followed through a four-day drinking bout. Other than some period based phrases, this film could have been made yesterday and not in 1945 and there’s a surprising amount of content that I directly remember from my own experiences with booze. I never sunk to the level of self destruction this guy did, but when he’s out buying bourbon when he knows he shouldn’t and tells the store clerk “none of that barrel aged stuff for...

Inventing the Abbotts: Directed by Pat O’Connor. With Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Will Patton, Kathy Baker. Two working class brothers court three wealthy and beautiful sisters in a small Illinois town. I had previously seen many of the key scenes due to the people participating in them but they were great to see again. I was pleased with how well done the story was, it’s been a fair bit of time since I’ve seen a solid coming of age story. I saw a glimmer of myself in the relationship between the two sons and even in the relationships among the...

Doom: Annihilation: Directed by Tony Giglio. With Amy Manson, Dominic Mafham, Luke Allen-Gale, James Weber Brown. A group of UAC Marines respond to a distress call from a top secret scientific base on Phobos, a moon around Mars, only to discover it’s been overrun by demons who seek to create Hell on Earth. I forgot that I had already seen this one and made it my choice from the ‘final’ selection of Universal rewards films and I fully regret that decision. It’s not a terrible film, but it’s not one that I was wanting to see again and there were...

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: Directed by George Miller. With Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne. The origin story of renegade warrior Furiosa before her encounter and teamup with Mad Max. While this is a perfectly fine movie, I constantly had to ask myself why this movie needed to be made and why nearly everyone involved seemed to be winking at the camera asking “hey do you remember this person/place/thing from Fury Road?!? Here it is 20 years before you saw it in that movie! Isn’t that great?!”. There’s no major misteps, no majorly questionable decisions, but again...

We Own the Night: Directed by James Gray. With Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Danny Hoch, Alex Veadov. A New York City nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian Mafia hitmen. I watched this due to some gratuitous scenes with Eva Mendes that were floating around the cybersphere and while those scenes were great they really had no bearing at all on the rest of the movie and in hindsight really stick out as being out of place in a grungy look at a family of cops that have a member that’s too friendly with the wrong...

Atlas: Directed by Brad Peyton. With Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory James Cohan. In a bleak-sounding future, an A.I. soldier has determined that the only way to end war is to end humanity. I spent nearly a decade as a data analyst and not even once was I ever offered a mech suit, but other than that curious part of the plot, this is a pretty solid mech suit movie with a barely there plot driven largely by using familiar concepts of terrorist robots that want to protect humanity from itself by killing all of humanity, much...

I Saw the TV Glow: Directed by Jane Schoenbrun. With Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard. Two teenagers bond over their love of a supernatural TV show, but it is mysteriously cancelled. A confusing and frankly confused movie that feels like a rare misstep by the powerhouse A24, the story builds to a climax that never happens and it’s only in the third act that I realized that both the main characters were extremely unreliable narrators and that nothing that’s given in the plot can actually be trusted. What’s the story that they’re trying to tell here, is...

Mad Max: Fury Road: Directed by George Miller. With Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne. In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max. Watched again because there’s a prequel coming out this weekend that tells Furiosa’s origins and wanted to refresh my memory of this utterly fantastic film. Buy On Amazon!