Category: Reviews of Movies
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: Directed by James Mangold. With Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Karen Allen. Archaeologist Indiana Jones races against time to retrieve a legendary artifact that can change the course of history. A great Indiana Jones movie without any of the things that made me so sad about The Crystal Skull. We still have some really unfortunate CGI, but the story, acting, and music are all spot on. Buy On Amazon!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf. In 1957, Indiana Jones becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls. Every time I watch this film I find more and more to enjoy, but the things I didn’t like are still just as bad (the fridge, the vine swinging, ugh). The ultimate concept of the crystal skull actually works in context of the franchise, but the overly wrought CGI (those gophers, ugh) and nonsensical stuff still...
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Alison Doody. In 1938, after his father goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones finds himself up against the Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers. Third of the series and it’s a great film. Buy On Amazon!
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Harrison Ford, Kate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, Amrish Puri. In 1935, Indiana Jones is tasked by Indian villagers with reclaiming a rock stolen from them by a secret cult beneath the catacombs of an ancient palace. Is this one better than the second one? In some ways, I’d say yes, but in others, no. It’s a much more entertaining adventures, but there are so many unfortunate tropes that are just cringe inducing. Buy On Amazon!
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark: Directed by Steven Spielberg. With Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronald Lacey. In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers. Watching all three (maybe four) of the Indiana Jones films before going to see the most recent film tomorrow night. Will it be good? Not as good as this first one! Buy On Amazon!
Marquis de Sade’s Justine: Directed by Jesús Franco. With Klaus Kinski, Romina Power, Maria Rohm, Rosemary Dexter. Penniless and separated from her sister, a beautiful, chaste orphan must endure an endless parade of villains, perverts and degenerates who covet her virtue and life. First, you need to know who Marquis de Sade is to get a vague context of what this movie is about. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Sade Ok, did you read all 50,000 words of that? No? Well the tl;dr is that he was a “French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as...
Elemental: Directed by Peter Sohn. With Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie Del Carmen, Shila Ommi. Follows Ember and Wade, in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together. Another wonderful release from Pixar with all the same loveable tropes that we’ve gotten to know in the nearly 30 years that they’ve been doing movies, you won’t be surprised to hear that some intractable forces find a reason to work together, there’s a significant misunderstanding, but then an emotional resolution that makes you feel warm and fuzzy as you leave the theater. What’s new is an over the top...
Slumberland: Directed by Francis Lawrence. With Jason Momoa, Marlow Barkley, Chris O’Dowd, Kyle Chandler. A young girl discovers a secret map to the dreamworld of Slumberland, and with the help of an eccentric outlaw, she traverses dreams and flees nightmares, with the hope that she will be able to see her late father again. This is a goofy, fun, yet emotionally taxing story of a family that’s lost a lot of what gave it joy and the journey they go on to regain that spark. If you haven’t seen the new Fast & Furious film, I’m highly suggest watching this...
Women Talking: Directed by Sarah Polley. With Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Emily Mitchell, Kate Hallett. Do nothing, stay and fight, or leave. In 2010, the women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling a brutal reality with their faith. There are indeed women talking in this film, and they talk very well. This is essentially a looking glass version of 12 angry men, but instead of murder they’re discussing serial rapists that are a part of their community and not being punished for their horrifying crimes. It’s a simple premise but one difficult to do well, I’ve seen plenty...
Rescue: Directed by Jason Lohman, Ted Tanaka. With Michael Ochotorena, Jason Lohman, Justice Lee, Sophia Ferguson. After the accidental death of Jake’s oldest daughter and wife, Jake’s only daughter Leah, has been abducted by human traffickers. Jake’s experience in martial arts, sets out with little clues in hand, and a kali stick in the other. It’s low budget in a way that I appreciate, it’s obvious the Director had some experience with martial art stick fighting, had a passion for movies, and wanted to give a go at combining the two things. He saved a ton of money by having...
Polite Society: Directed by Nida Manzoor. With Priya Kansara, Ritu Arya, Renu Brindle, Rekha John-Cheriyan. Ria Khan believes she must save her older sister Lena from her impending marriage. After enlisting her friends’ help, she attempts to pull off the most ambitious of all wedding heists in the name of independence and sisterhood. A fun enough movie that really could have used a bit of polish and editing. The end result is a fun movie with a super weird story going on about a mother’s love for her son, what’s she’ll do to always be there for him, and the...
The Batman: Directed by Matt Reeves. With Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell. When a sadistic serial killer begins murdering key political figures in Gotham, Batman is forced to investigate the city’s hidden corruption and question his family’s involvement. I still feel that the first half of this movie is a complete snooze fest and the soundtrack, specifically the hero track, is overly repetitive and annoying as all get out. Also, everything about the Riddler made me loose interest in the move every time they were talking about his stupid rhymes, jokes, or holiday cards. In fact, I...
Daredevil: Directed by Mark Steven Johnson. With Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan. A man blinded by toxic waste which also enhanced his remaining senses fights crime as an acrobatic martial arts superhero. Released in February of 2003, this movie is over 20 years old, and that’s not knowledge that I needed to personally know. I think I saw this in theaters, though I have no records of that…well maybe I might have a ticket in one of my old movie ticket books, I’ll have to check. Regardless, this is the director’s cut, which is vastly better...
TRON: Legacy: Directed by Joseph Kosinski. With Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner. The son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. He meets his father’s corrupted creation and a unique ally who was born inside the digital world. I’ve seen this movie about a dozen times and I still get emotional at the end when Clu asks “why”. I found a copy on bluray at Goodwill for like $4, so I figured it’d be nice to have the film in my physical collection....
Reality: Directed by Tina Satter. With Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton, Marchánt Davis, Benny Elledge. A former American intelligence specialist was given the longest sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation. Surprising to me: this is a verbatim script from the initial interview with the FBI and Reality Winner, a heroic whistle blower that in 2017 sent information to The Intercept about Russian interference in the 2016 election that at the time was considered classified. Turns out that the information wouldn’t be classified for...
A Serbian Film: Directed by Srdjan Spasojevic. With Srdjan ‘Zika’ Todorovic, Sergej Trifunovic, Jelena Gavrilovic, Slobodan Bestic. An aging porn star agrees to participate in an “art film” in order to make a clean break from the business, only to discover that he has been drafted into making a pedophilia and necrophilia themed snuff film. I fully regret watching this. Buy On Amazon!
The Invitation: Directed by Jessica M. Thompson. With Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Sean Pertwee, Hugh Skinner. A young woman is courted and swept off her feet, only to realize a gothic conspiracy is afoot. The best part of this is Nathalie Emmanuel, she’s pretty great and I like her. This movie though, I have some complicated feelings about because while I’m about burnt out on vampires and their associated stories, they had some nice changes to the mythos that worked well enough that I can recommend the film, with the caveat that the final scene in the movie is so...
Extraction 2: Directed by Sam Hargrave. With Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Tornike Gogrichiani. After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission. There’s some fantastic action sequences with plenty to appreciate as an action fan. The plot is fantastically thin, but I’ve never seen any reason for an overly complicated action film, just make the entire thing believable and I’m there. There only real complaint I have is that I’m sure they intended it to be a LONG time between...
Phenomena: Directed by Dario Argento. With Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau. A young girl who has an amazing ability to communicate with insects is transferred to an exclusive Swiss boarding school, where her unusual capability might help solve a string of murders. I have no idea why this was in my “to watch” list, I really need to start keeping better notes. Sure it’s got Jennifer Connelly in it, and I do love her to death, but this is a weird slasheresque science fiction film that never answers most of it’s pressing questions and I think...
The Flash: Directed by Andy Muschietti. With Sasha Calle, Ben Affleck, Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton. Barry Allen uses his super speed to change the past, but his attempt to save his family creates a world without super heroes, forcing him to race for his life in order to save the future. I believe this is the 5th…maybe 6th movie or television series that I’ve seen in the last couple years that deals with multiverses and transdimensional time travel shenanigans and I’m honestly just tired of the entire concept. The quicker we can get past all these attempts to tie together...
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: Directed by Steven Caple Jr.. With Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez, Dean Scott Vazquez. During the ’90s, a new faction of Transformers – the Maximals – join the Autobots as allies in the battle for Earth. There’s been five main title “Transformers” movies and one prequel spinoff titled “Bumblebee” and this is sorta a sequel to the prequel spinoff film and is set in the 90’s, well before the first Michael Bay directed film, which was in 2007. This movie is extremely loosely based on the concept of the “Beast Wars” cartoon that...
The Little Mermaid: Directed by Rob Marshall. With Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem. A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch to trade her beautiful voice for human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince. This is likely the second best live action adaptation of a Disney film that I’ve seen yet, with Jungle Book still at the top because of how much I liked the new stuff they introduced to the film. Disney has gone both routes with these adaptions, with some of them introducing too much new...
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson. With Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Luna Lauren Velez. Miles Morales catapults across the Multiverse, where he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence. When the heroes clash on how to handle a new threat, Miles must redefine what it means to be a hero. Should you see this film? Absolutely. it’s as good as the first one and hits just as hard, and has about 300 recognizable versions of Spider-man. Do I have some complaints? Yes, but none so large...
She Said: Directed by Maria Schrader. With Lola Petticrew, Katherine Laheen, Zoe Kazan, Carey Mulligan. New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation – a story that helped ignite a movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood. An emotionally exhausting but somehow still dry account of the recent scandal that burned through Hollywood, starting with film producer Harvey Weinstein. All the pieces are there and you’ll welcome to watch, but there’s not a whole lot of new or groundbreaking content to be...
Fast X: Directed by Louis Leterrier. With Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Jordana Brewster. Dom Toretto and his family are targeted by the vengeful son of drug kingpin Hernan Reyes. Things move very fast in this, the 11th movie in the franchise (don’t forget to remember to not forget about Hobbes and Shaw!) and is the start of a trilogy of movies that might could possibly finish up this furious story that they’ve been telling for over 20 years. Jason Momoa is a breath of fresh air in terms of bad guys for these films, we’ve seen many mustache...
A Civil Action: Directed by Steven Zaillian. With John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Tony Shalhoub, William H. Macy. A tenacious lawyer takes on a case involving two companies responsible for causing several children to be diagnosed with leukemia due to the town’s water supply being contaminated, at the risk of bankrupting his firm and career. “A Civil Action” was released in 1998, directed by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List, Money Ball), and stars John Travolta, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, John Lithgow, James Gandolfini, and has an appearance by world renowned comedian Stephen Fry. The plot follows a hot shot...
Transfusion: Directed by Matt Nable. With Sam Worthington, Phoebe Tonkin, Matt Nable, Susie Porter. A former Special Forces operative thrust into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him. There’s something to be said for the formula that they’re trying to do here, but this film didn’t stick the landing and they left something ineffable out of the story. The synopsis above is wrong of course, he was having a perfectly fine life before an incident happened to his pregnant wife that left him and his middle school son without a mother or wife. There’s...
Eugenie: Directed by Jesús Franco. With Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor, Christopher Lee. An innocent girl goes to spend the weekend on an island with a woman and her brother, but soon finds herself entangled in a web of sexual experiments. Undeservedly rated “X”, which I think is largely from both the lesbian kissin’ and the satanic rituals, other than that, this is a sometime out of focus suspense film set to a soundtrack that sounds like the cousin of Tinto Brass, which isn’t a good fit for what they’re trying to do here. While they’re being all spooky...
Deep Water: Directed by Adrian Lyne. With Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Grace Jenkins. A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers. The description of the film up there is completely wrong, there’s absolutely no “understanding” and Affleck’s character is very much aware of his wife’s infidelity and is very much not ok with what’s going on. It’s a story by numbers movie right up until the third act in which absolutely everything gets flipped upside down and there’s a...
Inside: Directed by Vasilis Katsoupis. With Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, Eliza Stuyck, Andrew Blumenthal. Nemo, a high-end art thief, is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and ingenuity to survive. I feel like this is a good movie. But I didn’t like it. There’s a lot to like, but I think the end result isn’t something that I like. I WANT to like it, but alas, I do not. Is this art? Buy On Amazon!
The Portable Door: Directed by Jeffrey Walker. With Christoph Waltz, Patrick Gibson, Damon Herriman, Sophie Wilde. Paul Carpenter is an intern at a mysterious London firm with unconventional employers, including a CEO who wants to disrupt the ancient magical world with modern corporate practices. An adorable and loveable movie about a guy finding his place in the world and just going with the flow when it turns out that his place is in a magical….place? It was a pleasure to see Sam Neill an Christopher Waltz again, I’m not sure if I’ve seen Sophie Wilde or Patrick Gibson before, but...
65: Directed by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods. With Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman, Nika King. An astronaut crash lands on a mysterious planet only to discover he’s not alone. A well done but completely forgettable story of a man and a child running to a rescue spaceship while dodging dinosaurs. I have no complaints about the film at all but there’s not much that’s truly memorable about it, other than the final “impact” of the third act, which is sorta a 20 million year old spoiler, but I think in context of the movie, it’s best to leave that...
Evil Dead Rise: Directed by Lee Cronin. With Mirabai Pease, Richard Crouchley, Anna-Maree Thomas, Lily Sullivan. A twisted tale of two estranged sisters whose reunion is cut short by the rise of flesh-possessing demons, thrusting them into a primal battle for survival as they face the most nightmarish version of family imaginable. This is the first Evil Dead movie that I’ve seen that wasn’t by Sam Rami, but Lee Cronin captured a few of Rami’s old tricks so well that I had to look it up to be sure. I skipped the previous film in the franchise, which was apparently...
The Pope’s Exorcist: Directed by Julius Avery. With Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe, Franco Nero. Follow Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican’s leading exorcist, as he investigates the possession of a child and uncovers a conspiracy the Vatican has tried to keep secret. For a ridiculous possession movie, this wasn’t half bad, with some pretty ok acting, a simple enough story, and some special effects that worked for me, particularly once they got to the final battle arena and they found the demon. Buy On Amazon!
Renfield: Directed by Chris McKay. With Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz. Renfield, Dracula’s henchman and inmate at the lunatic asylum for decades, longs for a life away from the Count, his various demands, and all of the bloodshed that comes with them. A completely enjoyable film, mostly due to the notable talents of one Awkwafina, who wasn’t really on my radar until Shang-Chi, but now I think I’m going to pay more attention to her career going forward. The story of Renfield is focused on the titular character, who according to Wikipedia has been a part of the...
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Directed by James Gunn. With Chukwudi Iwuji, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, Dave Bautista. Still reeling from the loss of Gamora, Peter Quill rallies his team to defend the universe and one of their own – a mission that could mean the end of the Guardians if not successful. The best of the three Guardian films, which to be honest wasn’t a huge hurdle to get over, as the first movie was great, the second movie was ok, and this is the third movie, so everyone is firing on all thrusters and there’s a ton...
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio: Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson. With Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Gregory Mann, Burn Gorman. A father’s wish magically brings a wooden boy to life in Italy, giving him a chance to care for the child. This is a pretty heavy film for a story that Disney also adapted twice, once in the same year that Guillermo del Toro’s version came out in. I haven’t seen the Disney live action version and really have no interest, they’ve not done well with their live action stuff, but this one is damn well done and explores some...
Tetris: Directed by Jon S. Baird. With Taron Egerton, Mara Huf, Miles Barrow, Rick Yune. The story of how one of the world’s most popular video games found its way to players around the globe. Businessman Henk Rogers and Tetris inventor Alexey Pajitnov join forces in the USSR, risking it all to bring Tetris to the masses. I’d love to see the eventual comparison of the actual events of the contract adventures of Tetris, but until then, this is an enjoyable journey of a slightly clueless programmer / salesman that really ended up being one of two people in the...
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw: Directed by David Leitch. With Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby. Lawman Luke Hobbs and outcast Deckard Shaw form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity. The bionic man, oh sorry, “Black Superman” vs two over inflated egos? Guess who wins in Hollywood? We all do! Buy On Amazon!
The Fate of the Furious: Directed by F. Gary Gray. With Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez. When a mysterious woman seduces Dominic Toretto into the world of terrorism and a betrayal of those closest to him, the crew face trials that will test them as never before. The last F&F movie that The Rock appeared in, with only a couple scenes that maybe were in the same room as Vin Diesel. Also, Dom threw a car at a helicoptor and won, so that happened. Buy On Amazon!
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw: Directed by David Leitch. With Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby. Lawman Luke Hobbs and outcast Deckard Shaw form an unlikely alliance when a cyber-genetically enhanced villain threatens the future of humanity. The bionic man, oh sorry, “Black Superman” vs two over inflated egos? Guess who wins in Hollywood? We all do! Buy On Amazon!
F9: The Fast Saga: Directed by Justin Lin. With Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson. Dom and the crew must take on an international terrorist who turns out to be Dom and Mia’s estranged brother. I still hate Charlize’s haircut in F9, she looks silly as hell and I can’t take anything about her character series here. Coronas still make a great appearance though! Buy On Amazon!
Furious 7: Directed by James Wan. With Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez. Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother. Another step closer to watching the necessary movies before seeing Fast X. Turns out that I had the wrong date for the movie though and my wife is going to be out of town the day that I currently have it scheduled AND it’s only going to be in Dolby Digital for like 3 days, so I guess I’ll be seeing this one alone in DD. Then she she gets back,...
Fast & Furious 6: Directed by Justin Lin. With Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster. Hobbs has Dominic and Brian reassemble their crew to take down a team of mercenaries: Dominic unexpectedly gets sidetracked with facing his presumed deceased girlfriend, Letty. The movie with the infamous 80 mile long run way, but before you get to that you get to see dom flip a tank over a bridge and grab his gf from a mid air leap. Pure stupid ridiculousness that I just absolutely love. Buy On Amazon!
Fast Five: Directed by Justin Lin. With Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson. Dominic Toretto and his crew of street racers plan a massive heist to buy their freedom while in the sights of a powerful Brazilian drug lord and a dangerous federal agent. On the journey to mainline all the movies we need to see before seeing Fast X tomorrow, this is our first stop. The first of the films that prove this film isn’t a small town car club situation anymore. Buy On Amazon!
Deepwater Horizon: Directed by Peter Berg. With Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Douglas M. Griffin, James DuMont. A dramatization of the disaster in April 2010, when the offshore drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon exploded, resulting in the worst oil spill in American history. Released over 7 years ago, I’m just now getting around to watching this re-enactment of a pretty terrible situation, which was only six years prior to the movie coming out. It was long enough that most of the legal shenanigans have shaken out and to nearly no one’s surprise, no one was help liable for the event...
The Other Guys: Directed by Adam McKay. With Will Ferrell, Derek Jeter, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes. Two mismatched New York City detectives seize an opportunity to step up like the city’s top cops, whom they idolize, only things don’t quite go as planned. It’s a comedy that hasn’t aged as well as I would have liked, but I think that sums up most of Will Ferrell’s work from the time period. Buy On Amazon!
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Ultimate Edition): Directed by Zack Snyder. With Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jesse Eisenberg. Batman is manipulated by Lex Luthor to fear Superman. Superman´s existence is meanwhile dividing the world and he is framed for murder during an international crisis. The heroes clash and force the neutral Wonder Woman to reemerge. This is the better of the two versions, but there are still so many things about this film that just do not work for me. Foremost among them is Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, which doesn’t work at all and the casting...
Man of Steel: Directed by Zack Snyder. With Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane. An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened when other survivors of his home planet invade Earth. The after credit scene of “Black Adam” prompted me to watch this again, but this time in 4k. It wasn’t until the end credits that I noticed that the subwoofer was unplugged, so while it was a great viewing, it definitely lacked some depth. The soundtrack is still the greatest part of this film,...
Black Adam: Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. With Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan, Noah Centineo. Nearly 5,000 years after he was bestowed with the almighty powers of the Egyptian gods–and imprisoned just as quickly–Black Adam is freed from his earthly tomb, ready to unleash his unique form of justice on the modern world. I stand by my assertion that this is still one of the best DCU films that they’ve released in the current iteration of the franchise, but alas it was all for naught, as the entire thing is being rebooted later this year. Buy On Amazon!
