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Reviews
Street Kings (2008)
Wow, I really liked this movie more than I thought I would
This is a good movie, well worth watching.
I like Keanu Reeves and this looked like an interesting movie. I read a couple of reviews and got the feel for what to expect, i.e. A good cops, bad guys - good guys action movie and it did not disappoint.
But what was exceptional about it is that this movie did not perfectly fit the standard cookie-cutter format of this genre. Of course there were some standard plot lines but there were also some unexpected twists which I liked.
I especially liked the ending and it had me wanting a sequel, or better yet a 1 or 2 season t.v. Series featuring the surviving actors.
Some reviews mentioned the poor, unbelievable plot lines and dialog. I can see that and a better writer / story teller could have fixed that and fleshed out the movie nicely. The pace and direction by Ayers was perfect.
Spaceman (2024)
Thoroughly enjoyable film
I had a couple of hours to kill and I like Adam Sandler so I gave it a shot. I enjoyed this film much more than I expected. Adam Sandler delivered an excellent performance; he's much more than just a funny comedian. Rosellini played a well rounded supporting role, while Mulligan seemed to not deliver as needed.
This is not so much a sci fi movie as it is a human drama of self discovery: finding out what really matters in life and doing what is needed to obtain it.
The story line was well thought out and scripted. Nothing was too sappy nor overly dramatic. Dano's Hanush's spider voice was well fitted to his actions.
I hate to admit it but I got a little teary eyed. This is definitely a movie I'm going to watch again with my wife because I know she'll enjoy it. Yes, I would recommend this to anyone.
The Bricklayer (2023)
A little more effort would have made a much better film
This was a poor film, near the end I was hoping that the bad guy would win.
This is a typical, simple, by the numbers spy caper flick. Nothing special.
I like Aaron E, plus one point, but he seems to get stuck in lousy movies lately.
Minus one point for actual bricklayer tools being involved. Very lame.
Minus one point for the 1980s kung fu style of a gang of bad guys all waiting their turn to fight the good guy, one by one.
Minus one point for all the bad guys being such bad shots
Plus two points for using the worn out trope of a corrupt CIA, but now due to recent events it rings true.
Minus one point for the good guy to recovered overnight from terrible fight punishment. Only Wolverine recovers faster.
Plus one point for showing the bad guy as a human instead of a caricature.
Kalifat (2020)
I stopped at episode 4 or 5
Up until that point the series was top notch. Then in the episode where the old Swedish woman sees the tatoo on Ibbe's arm, I said to myself, "ok, this is a big break, does she actually report it or do the writers use a worn-out Hollywood trope and have her killed off just before she can report that Ibbe is a terrorist? If it's the later, I'm done with the series."
It was the latter and so I turned it off. I'm tired of these over-used tropes that do nothing more than distract the audience with false drama.
And how did they know to come back and kill the old woman? Maybe that's explained later but it certainly didn't make sense at the time.
Again, up until that point it was great but after that I saw no reason to finish watching as it was no longer worth my time.
The Sandman (2022)
Couldn't finish the season
I've not read the books but I'm guessing they're better than this series. The show devolved into a grotesque, pointless, caricature of base life. There were more gays and trans then there were normal people. The odd visual imagery was the star, not the story, not the acting, not the direction. Instead it got more and more weird and pointless. One manufactured challenge lasting an episode or two, followed by another.
Yeah, this show was like a meaningless, bizarre dream. Nothing to be gained by watching it. I can get plenty of that when I sleep, I don't need to waste my time watching that type of pointless crap while I'm awake.
I think the shows creators tried too hard to make it bizarre instead of interesting. It started off interesting but ran out of steam after a few episodes. With some focused work they could have created a better story line. Don't waste your time with it.
The Beekeeper (2024)
2nd rate John Wick ripoff
This is another action film featuring Statham. He plays the same character he's played in just every movie he's starred in. That's good and that's what we expect to see. It's fun to hear his one-liners and watch him whip the bad guys.
However, the action scenes are a major disappointment. Instead of him whipping three or four guys in a fight now he's beating ten guys up at a time. Worse yet, most of these guys are special forces types with extensive training yet they stand around like the kung fu gangs who stand mostly still waving their arms while the hero downs each gang member one at a time. Additionally, like the bad guys in Rambo movies they can't shoot straight.
All in all the action scenes are very lame and forgettable.
I really wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone unless they're a hard core Statham fan.
The Bear (2022)
What's the point?
I could only make it through 2 episodes. My wife and I watched it based on a very strong recommendation from a close friend. I saw no redeeming value in this show.
I also worked in several kitchens in my life from small shops like this show features to gourmet kitchens and nobody ever argued and talked to each other like they do in this show. If they did there would have been many fistfights. The dialog was way over the top and unbelievable.
The acting was fine, but there was nothing of interest in the story line. Okay, a guy is going through some difficult times in his life, so what? Most of us have experienced some very difficult times. There's nothing special about it, and there's nothing entertaining in that as well.
I'm thinking that as the product that Hollywood delivers continue to degrade the bar for good shows gets lower and lower. This show isn't worth your time.
Rabbit Hole (2023)
Fairly lame 2nd rate work overall
I've watched four episodes and so far this comes across as a 2nd rate thriller / spy show. There are several weaknesses:
1) The female lead, (Meta Golding), this thoroughly unbelievable and the character is written poorly. She's a supposed lawyer who after one series of classes in Krav Maga is able to overpower trained henchmen without the slightest hiccup. She's in a life and death situation and she flits about casually. She's got millions of stolen funds yet she decides to go for a joy ride with the shows protagonist, (Sutherland). She has no fear of death, consequences, or how she could get out of the whole spy caper she's been drug into. She's really some obtuse comedy relief character that has no business in a show that supposed to be serious. If this were "Chuck" then she'd fit, but certainly not here. This character is a major flaw. That being said, the only get-out-of-jail-free card is if she's really a spy / officer / bad guy herself. We'll see.
2) The story line. So far I've been able to predict each major slight of hand / surprise. That tells me that the writing and creativity are weak. Further, it's not believable to have the two super syp protagonists, John and his father, to so easily trust and entrust a bimbo lawyer to be their right hand man in their spy craft. Additionally, each big risk comes with a Felix the Cat bag of tricks so the good guys succeed and/or get away with a caper or the bad guys. It's become trite and unrealistic.
3) The skipping around from time period to time period is drawn out. It's tiring to have to pay attention to each second of dialog or action and then try to put it all together in a meaningful sequence. Enough with the childhood drama already!
4) The background "suspense/action" music is grating. They've borrowed that style of music from another suspense show, (I can't think of the name but I've heard this same type of music before). They should hire Tim Jones to write some original music for them.
5) Another unbelievable character is Edward Homm gov. Agent. He gets kidnapped, told that they saved his life, and then joins them like he's joining up with Robin Hood! Plus he got to stream his wife cheating on him when he was in captivity. Hell no. He'd made a break for it as soon as possible.
If you miss this show you're not missing anything.
The acting and the show's pace are good. That's about all the good I can say about it so far. I'll update when I'm finished with the show.
The Old Man (2022)
Updated: Turning into a soap opera with a little spy stuff thrown in
Update comment: This is a bull sheet story. The writer doesn't know anything about Mideast culture. Shame on him. He should have done a little homework and also brought a little more accurate imagination into the story. This is lousy work.
Muslim men would never allow their women to sneak around in the village at night. Rick Muslim men, like the story's antagonist, would marry multiple women and have many children. Generally Muslim men would always favor male children over female children. I've lived in the Mideast and am very familiar with Islamic culture and females are second-rate people. You would never find a powerful female Muslim in Afghanistan leading her warlord husband by the nose. That's fantasyland.
Oh, and the psychological - emotional - soap opera discussion ramblings got so boring I actually fell asleep during parts of episodes 5 and 6. I didn't miss anything.
Because of this I downgraded my rating from 6 to 5 stars.
_______
From episode 1 to episode four the story line has been on a downward trend. There are a few story line sequences that don't make sense. Some sci-fi stories make the same illogical "doesn't make sense" type of jumps but you allow for it because its sci-fi. But those are not supposed to happen, nor are they allowable in a CIA / FBI espionage thriller. For example, a high ranking CIA operative's daughter is an officer of note in the FBI and nobody knows about it? Yeah right. Those agencies do extensive background checks and they're not as stupid as that. A strong story line would give them the credit they deserve.
Episode 4's storyline ended in the toilet. The kidnapped women is now buying into the role of Bridge's wife but demanding half of all he owns!? LOL. Soap opera on steriods! No sale!
All of the actors play their roles well. Lithgow and Bridges are top notch. The episodes are well paced for a soap opera.
The show is worth watching just to see Bridges but with a little more work and imagination they could have improved the series considerably. I'll re-review this once I'm done with the series. I don't have high expectations, instead I'm wondering what's the next stupid thing they're going to do.
Shetland (2013)
Very good with Henshall, poor with the blonde bimbo
The series with Henshall was pretty good. Season 2 was one of the best series ever. On that alone I'd given it a 10. By the time season 5, 6, and 7 came on you could tell that the show was slowly dropping off. For the first 7 seasons I'd give it an 8. Bringing on Jensen brought it down to a 6.
It was a bad mistake to bring in Ashley Jensen as Henshall's replacement. Two lead female leads in a series like this won't work. What made it worse was that she was previously the town's bimbo / troublemaker. That alone taints the character and show. Plus, her character went back and forth between one old drama to another. It was distracting.
They would have done much better if they would have let Tosh and Sandy and Lewis Howden work the case themselves. Adding Jensen took away from the charm and appeal of the team. Plus, who the hell was the Indian guy in the three piece suit! Talk about a thankless role! We felt sorry for that actor - he was just a cheek pimple!
So, either kill off the series now, dump Jensen and bring on a better male lead, or let Tosh et. Al. Become the team.
Interrogation (2020)
Excellent show
I rarely give 10s, even to my most favorite movies, but this show really hits a grand slam! I will watch this series again because it was such a pleasure to watch.
Please see the review by johnwiu below. He lists the chronological order that the show should be watched in:
"This is the actual chronological order which I think they should have aired the show to create a less confusing timeline... 3, 1, 5, 4, 6, 8, 2, 9, 10, 7."
johnwiu also lists the order that someone else recommended:
"But they want you to ONLY watch the #1 episode first & the #10 last, so we are watching in this order... 1, 3, 5, 4, 6, 8, 2, 9, 7, 10."
We watched in the chronological order johnwiu recommended and it made for great viewing. I believe the show will be more enjoyable for viewers to watch it in the actual chronological order.
All of the actors did a great job. Skarsgaard gave a very nuanced and constrained performance which I really appreciate. Gallner was amazing. I hope he won some awards for his performance. All of the supporting roles were excellent and balanced.
The direction by Dickerson and Cady was outstanding! Nothing really overblown or inconsistent.
My compliments to Mankiewicz for such great writing! There were no cheap, "a ha!" or "gotcha" or facts that come out of nowhere. Instead, a process of investigation reveals material facts.
I appreciate the direction of Gallner because he was displayed as having the same hot headed, demanding, and irrational character, albeit slowly improving with age, but still having the same flaws throughout the series. That was great! He was his own worst enemy throughout the entire series and I liked that they didn't make him all one way or another.
Well done. I wish all American tv production series were as good as this.
The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
Another cookie cutter action flick
The overall story line is about the same as found in other redundant action flicks:
a couple of rambo-guys fighting against the odds - check
a corrupt high level official working against them - check
tough bad guys who can't shoot straight - check
good guys who almost never miss - check
a tough chick who can whoop every tough guys ass - check
the main bad guy gets killed in the end - check
Oldman playing a monstrous bad guy - check
a happy ending where the good guys live happily ever after - check
Jackson plays the same uni-dimensional role he usually plays. It's easy for him by now and he plays it well.
Reynolds plays a prototype version of Deadpool.
None of the actors had to work to earn their paycheck. This is just something to watch if you are bored and want to see an action flick that you know how it's going to end.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Poor way to end, contrived, and sloppy
The first GotG was great, the second showed a drop off of writing quality, this one continued the downward trend. I'm hopeful they don't make a fourth as it would be as bad as so many other beaten dead horse sequels.
I usually really enjoy longer films but this one was 30 to 45 minutes too long. I was wanting it to hurry up and end. As great as Chris Pratt is I was hoping he'd die at the end.
The clever humor was rare, most of the attempts were predictable set ups. There was a repetitive see-saw of in-danger, out of danger sequences, with each solved by a techno or almost self-sacrificial get out of jail free card. Surely the writing and direction could have been tighter and more believable.
The movie was written as if it's target audience was young children like Peter Pan or Pinocchio, but without the gentleness.
A lot of the "touching" scenes were contrived over and over again just to elicit an emotional response. A few would have been appropriate, there were just too many here.
And how do you waste Nathan Fillion, Greg Henry, and Stallone? Wow, what a botch job not to have given all of them more material.
The music was hit and miss. Some tracks went with the scenes perfectly, others were totally distracting.
All of the actors did well given the material they had to work with. You could almost sense that they knew this was 2nd rate work, not worthy of a strong performance.
I'm glad this ends the GotG saga. Please don't resurrect it.
Expend4bles (2023)
Holy Moly! How do you screw up a film this badly!
My goodness, such a mess whereas just some basic changes could have made this a much better film. Shame on the producers for allowing this slop to be made. Mr. Stallone, come on, we deserve better quality than this crap!
The Asian actress, Levy Tran served zero purpose. It would have been better to give her screen time to Couture or Dolph.
Fifty cent served no purpose other than filled the stereotypical role of the black side kick / black cast member / affirmative action actor. It would have been better to give his time to the other actors.
The absolute worst thing was to see Megan Fox's plastic face and disfigured lips. I'll never understand why attractive young women feel the need to have their faces butchered and lips disfigured like fish lips.
The story line was thin as paper. When I saw Garcia I said to myself, "Surely the writers are not so brain dead trite as to make him the secret bad guy." I was wrong.
When Stallone died I said to myself, "Nope, he'll be back in the end to save the day." I was right. How do they justify murdering an innocent guy, Jumbo Shrimp, to take Stallone's place?
Across the board the story line was poorly thought out and developed.
Oh, and surely they could have done much better than to get an actress like Fox to play the female lead? Why not Gina Carano, or Ronda Rousey again, or at least an actress with some acting chops.
Dolph and Couture deserved more screen time. It was another screw up to give them so little material in this film.
Either kill this series off now, or put some hard work into developing a better story.
Erased (2012)
Aaron Eckhart deserves better
I like Aaron Eckhart and when I saw the rating of 6 I thought no way it would be that poor. It was worse.
The part of the daughter was horribly written. One minute she's rational, the next minute she flips out and acts like a raging idiot! Then they throw a switch and she's loving and rational again. Five minutes later she flips out and is driving like a mad women! After three such episodes I was done. The writers were horrible here and it was as obvious as the sun in a Las Vegas sky.
The acting was good overall. Olga is not that great of an actor and they could have found a better female lead. Eckhart did fine given the narrow role they let him play.
The story would have been better if they left the daughter out of the story completely and let Eckhart solve / resolve the problem on his own.
I do not recommend this film.
The Northman (2022)
What a terrible film!
Holy moly this is a bad film. I have to laugh at Scarsguard and Kidman for taking this roles. What the hell were they thinking? I hope they got paid well.
BTW, Kidman looks like she had some mediocre plastic surgery done. She should have left well enough alone.
Skarsgard does act to his limits, his work adds one star, but the story line is convoluted and muddled with all the mystical hocus pocus confusion. I gave up trying to figure out what the hell was going on. All I knew was typical of these redundant revenge films that there would be a final big man vs man fight at the end.
I'm sorry to say but I had to fast forward through some of the middle. It was too predicable and boring to bother with.
Don't waste your time with this film unless you want to see a buff Skarsgard howling like a wolf. That's about all this film has to offer.
Allagash (2020)
An okay file, Berenger is excellent
Berenger easily is the standout of the film. His work was finely done. Not over dramatic, but nuanced. He deals with his guilt like a man and the storyline does not portray a haunted man, but a struggling man still trying to live his life.
The film captures the harsh cold of Maine in winter. I felt cold just watching it!
The scenes were Jim dawdles before and after killing a bad guy were poorly done. Any experienced man would have expeditiously shot and then grabbed any available weapon and anything else available on the corpse. This made the film a bit weaker.
The confrontation between Jim and the last bad guy was poorly done. A bit more attention paid by the director to the confrontations with the bad guys would have made this a much better film.
The final ending was also too vague. It felt rushed or trite. We should have been given story about Jim's last moves in the film.
Kudos to Berenger's work here.
Red Stone (2021)
Not too bad but not real good
I thought the movie was ok. I liked seeing McDonough and Cudlitz together again, (they were both in Band of Brothers). The supporting cast was good. I think they could have done more to emphasize the close relationship between the two aforementioned actors near the beginning of the movie.
A better director would have spent a little more time building up the drama and tension before some of the shootout scenes.
It was trite and predicable to know that the cop was going to betray the kid.
The actor who played the kid did a good job, much better than his brother in "Boon" the sequel to this movie.
Another problem with the film was that there were shootings and kidnappings in the middle of the town and nobody noticed. The director should have handled that better because that flaw was so obvious.
Boon (2022)
Typical, simple, action flick
The basic story line is as common as they come. A tough guy trying to be good comes in and saves the girl/family by killing off a bunch of bad guys.
Outside of Flanagan and McDonough and Ochoa the acting was weaker then it should have been. The mother and FBI agent actors were poor.
Other commenters have pointed out the flaws about the unnoted shootout in town, nobody calling 911, the FBI agent waiting forever to call for backup, etc. Those criticisms are spot on.
The movie direction was also subpar. The boy actor needed some coaching instead of playing his role like a potato.
The action scenes were ok and Ochoa played a great villainess! I like both McDonough and Flanagan, (who was not used properly), so I enjoyed the movie more than most.
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Such a mediocre film
Wow, I read the critic's reviews which were mostly negative / poor but they went easy on this film. Lot's of very poor quality aspects about this movie.
First the writing was terrible. They have some of the characters ad-libbing some cute cliches here and it makes them sound like valley girls.
Second, Emilia Clarke can't act. No depth, no nuance; she's no Linda Hamilton.
Third, the action scenes were so predictable and redundant. I actually played a computer game while the chase and action scenes were playing. They were that contrived and disinteresting.
Jason Clarke was a poor choice to play John Conner. He didn't have the gravitus for the role.
The whole story line was so contrived. How many time travel loops does this franchise need? Please kill it off and bury it.
I wonder if the people who wrote, produced, and directed this film are the same people affiliated with the tons of recent Marvel Universe crap that has come out during the last few years. It seems that any dumbell will love explosions and blazing guns.
Outpost 37 (2014)
Good action flick
I liked this movie more than I thought and it was better than hoped for. I don't know why anyone would give this less than 6 stars. It's a simple "us vs. The aliens" movie that we've seen in other movies but the acting is above average for this type of flick and the story line is interesting and has good continuity.
It would have been better if we could have seen more of the aliens and their design was a bit too lumbering. Also, they seemed to be as bad shots as some of the bad guys in Rambo movies.
They could make a nice sequel to this movie with just a little effort and above average creativity.
Deadloch (2023)
They lost me with the lesbian scene
Why do movie makers feel the need to shove homosexuality and lesbianism down our throats at every turn? If you didn't know better you've be led to believe that 40% of all women are lesbians. Can't they give it a rest and show a more accurate percentage of normal heterosexuals?
I found the comedic attempts to be strained, forced, or fabricated. It would have worked better if some subtlety were used. (Either bad directing or story telling).
I get that the occasional caricature is needed for satire but when most all characters were portrayed as caricatures then the comedy lumbers and plods forward in a drunken stupor.
It would not have been too difficult for the series team to have made this a better, and funnier, show.
A Man Called Otto (2022)
Worst movie I've seen in the last 20 years
I like Tom Hanks and his movies are some of my all time favorites but this film was so contrived, so politically correct, so predictable, that I had to force myself to finish watching it.
First of all, you're not going to find any pregnant Hispanic woman who's going to develop an instant affinity - caring relationship with a grumpy old white man. I have enough Hispanic friends to know that that is not reality or believeable.
Second, standard for lousy films they had to inject some new push of the social envelope and include a Trans character. Of course the grumpy old white guy develops an affinity for him! Yeah right. Most grumpy old white men will reject the whole "trans" thing. Again, it's not reality and it doesn't happen in real life.
Third, of course there happens to be a social media "influencer" on hand who is part of the movie's happy-ending solution. Again, a contrived piece of the story.
Of course Tom Hanks plays his role perfecting; he's a top notch actor. As one of the film's producers why didn't he do something to influence the crapfest story line? This was so bad.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
Well done movie
I liked the movie more than I thought and it was better than I thought it would be. Good story with good acting by all. Not overly dramatic, no over the top manufactured drama scenes, no cheap cliches or trite dialog. Well done across the board.
Dave Bautista delivers the best performance and Aldridge plays his part to the hilt. I would have liked to see more character development from the four horsemen and another 15 minutes worth would not have hurt the film.
Another plus was that the film did not hype up the violence scenes, instead they were slightly muted which kept the emphasis on the story instead of blood and gore. I appreciate that.
Shyamalan continues to deliver good work and good story telling.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)
Hollywood, please stay on strike!
What a bad movie. When I first read that the critics had panned this movie I thought, "they're probably being snobs." Now I think they were too easy on this crapfest.
The story line and writing was terrible. They borrowed several themes from other movies, for example, the pre-death scene with Levi putting his hand on the dome's glass and Freddy putting his hand up to his, (The Wrath of Khan). Later, the Shazam revival scene by Wonder Woman using the staff, and Levi coming up out of the ground, (Star Trek 3, the Search for Spock). There were a few other ripped off themes as well.
Were the writers that young and ignorant that they used those ideas or did they think nobody would notice that those scenes were cheesy ripoffs?
I hope Zackary leaves this crapfest franchise while he can, and I hope he make a nice chunk of change. He deserves much better. And, Helen Mirren! What the hell was she doing in this movie? Slumming? Her talent was totally wasted.
Please bury this franchise for about 6 years and re-make it from the beginning. Mark Strong ought to stay the hell away from it.