Film Reviews - what have you seen lately, what did you think?

[TLB]

Kill Command <Netflix>

Meh. Military puts robots on an island for soldiers to train against. But >this< mission the robots are different. They've been programmed to study their opponents, analyze their moves, and reprogram themselves accordingly. The troops don't know this, they figure it is a normal training mission, but they do wonder why the military contractor that makes the robots has put an observer on their team. Ok, now that I've somewhat spoiled the plot, how well is it carried out? Special effects are better than Sci-Fi channel. Acting is not. Dialogue is weak, half due to writing (no groaning, or bad stuff, just nothing interesting) and half due to acting (no groaning, or really bad stuff, just nothing interesting). Action is decent. Storyline is predictable. End of the film leaves it open for a sequel, of course, which I sincerely doubt anyone would invest in. This is better than some of the high school projects I've watched, but it's still not worth the watch. Only two things worth seeing - the 'observer' is semi-attractive (but she's never there to show anything so this is a weak selling point), and the lead robot is kinda cool along with his army. I'd suggest you watch the opening 5 min to see the 'observer' then skip to the last 10 min to see the robots in the final attack. Or, better yet, save yourself 1.5 hrs and skip the movie altogether.

 

[gingerlover]

Allied - descent movie. Brad Pitt is a spy in morocco who falls in love with his French partner. 2 hours. First half hour is the mission they meet on. Next half hour is after he brings her to England and the get married and start a life. Last hour is when he is told she is a German spy and he tries to determine if true or not. This ones hard to say to much about without spoiling stuff. A little gut punch at the end. Not bad and I usually like his war movies but not much war in it other than the first half hour and it's just background. Pitt is supposed to be British or Canadian but lack of ascent would give Robin Hood Costner a run for his money. Would give it a 6 or 7 out of ten. You won't love it but might like it.

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Kill Command
Yeah I saw Kill Command also. The chic was hot but keeps her clothes on. It's scfi so there were one or two interesting things. If you starve for anything sci-fi then watch it otherwise avoid it.

 

[gators4224]

Saw John Wick 2- pretty good movie, got great reviews. If you like alot of action scenes and suspense, its pretty good. Also, the way it ends sets it up perfectly for a third movie to be made.

 

[gingerlover]

Fantastic beasts and where to find them - wife is a big Harry Potter fan so this was a must watch for her. The movie is good, but not on the same level as the others. Cast is a little lacking in my opinion and the main guy is a little annoying. Story is in two parts really. One part capturing creatures he lost and the other almost secondary plot of the bad guy. The bad guy plot is very small and with more movies coming maybe that's why. Set in America for this one and how behind our wizards are to their British counterparts in their way of thinking was luckily not focused on very much. Surprise the Americans are some of the wizarding worlds bigots and love the death penalty. The main guy brings a bunch of creatures that get loose and most American wizards are in complete amazement as America banned all of them or eradicated them so most have never seen any while he recaptured them. It's not bad if you liked the others but not as good as the worst Harry Potter. 6/10 in my book but has a rewatch ability factor to it

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Nice Guys is on HBO. I'm re-watching, it's funny.

 

[gingerlover]

Blood Father - this just wasn't very good. Mel Gibson play an excon who is now clean. his estranged daughter reenters his life after falling in with the wrong people and he has to keep her alive resorting to old habits. He grunts and screams a lot. One or two descent scenes, but mostly a bad movie. Wanted this to be good, but man his movies he's actually done since his cop incident have been horrible.

 

[stephenPE]

I must be old. I saw Logan last night along with a gazillion previews. Violence sells now. Bleak, dark futuristic soulless violence. I grew up on Marvel in the 60s early 70s. It was wonderful stuff. And living to see modern technology and computers bring those heroes to life and do what we imagined is fantastic (as in Four). But all the gore and innocents you like getting sliced and diced is not for me. The dialogue between Xavier and Logan was great at times. Some funny stuff. But I came away dismayed at the reliance on killing to keep the movie going. Juxtapose this with my class of 60 kids playing a giant game of chase (Steal the Flag) yesterday with almost total joy on all their faces and you can see my need for real people living instead of fantasy characters killing,

 

[gingerlover]

I must be old. I saw Logan last night along with a gazillion previews. Violence sells now. Bleak, dark futuristic soulless violence. I grew up on Marvel in the 60s early 70s. It was wonderful stuff. And living to see modern technology and computers bring those heroes to life and do what we imagined is fantastic (as in Four). But all the gore and innocents you like getting sliced and diced is not for me. The dialogue between Xavier and Logan was great at times. Some funny stuff. But I came away dismayed at the reliance on killing to keep the movie going. Juxtapose this with my class of 60 kids playing a giant game of chase (Steal the Flag) yesterday with almost total joy on all their faces and you can see my need for real people living instead of fantasy characters killing,

Haven't seen it yet but heard it was good. My four year old loves all the avengers movies but I haven't let him watch anything related to the xmen yet just because even their tamest movie is a little much for him now other than maybe the first two, but he'd rather watch Hulk smash. This one though from what I hear is pretty close to the source material for wolverines sendoff movie so I get it. Definitely not a kids movie which paints them in a corner since they sold him to young kids for a decade. Then again I remember watching predator at 5 so I may be a little numb to it all.

 

[TLB]

Batman Lego Movie

Date night, woohoo! Ok, so we appreciated the earlier Lego Movie as it appealed well to kids and adults. Though, the earlier movie was fairly clearly one of those kids films with a layer of adult humor to be caught...I wondered how they'd handle a topic like Batman. Would it be a kids movie with things for the adults to appreciate, or would it aim for the adults more? IMO, it aimed for the adults more. If other movies have been 90% kid and 10% adult, I'd say this one ran at about 40/60 and you could call it either way. My point is, YOU can appreciate this more than other films you'd take your kids to, but they can still enjoy it as well.

Batman narrating sections of his own film (like intro and closing credits) is kind of the tip off that there is more for adults than normal. However, after the opening credits the first few scenes are at such a breakneck pace I'm wondering how the hell they will carry a movie like this? I was exhausted by the end of the opening sequence. Luckily, after that it steps down to a normal pace, gets you introduced to some characters, and starts building the story (though that opening sequence was setting a main theme/point for the film). There are a lot of relationship discussions between Batman-Robin, and Batman-Joker that will likely fly over kids heads, but the adults can appreciate them. Thing is, it's not just comedy, there's a real heavy theme to some of it, specifically to the main storyline of how Batman relates to people. Kids may not pick up on it, and adults may feel it is a bit much for a 'fun' film, but I think it carried well and was an honest reflection to some of the traditional Batman themes.

Overall, VERY enjoyable. There are some cameos when Joker leaves his usual band of villains in jail (Bane, Poison Ivey, Mr. Freeze, etc) to trade up for an army of super villians - to include a guy from Harry Potter, Sauron, King Kong, Dr. Who's Daleks, etc. Kinda cool, and surprising how far our a DC film reached in getting characters. There's plenty of good gags and humor, so it isn't a total downer/heavy film, and it wraps up with your mandatory feel good moments. A film for date night, for the family, for a guy going solo if needed. A film you could watch more than once (but you don't feel like you have to in order to find more gems). Definitely recommend it. 8/10.

 

[TheDouglas78]

Batman Lego Movie

Date night, woohoo! Ok, so we appreciated the earlier Lego Movie as it appealed well to kids and adults. Though, the earlier movie was fairly clearly one of those kids films with a layer of adult humor to be caught...I wondered how they'd handle a topic like Batman. Would it be a kids movie with things for the adults to appreciate, or would it aim for the adults more? IMO, it aimed for the adults more. If other movies have been 90% kid and 10% adult, I'd say this one ran at about 40/60 and you could call it either way. My point is, YOU can appreciate this more than other films you'd take your kids to, but they can still enjoy it as well.

Batman narrating sections of his own film (like intro and closing credits) is kind of the tip off that there is more for adults than normal. However, after the opening credits the first few scenes are at such a breakneck pace I'm wondering how the hell they will carry a movie like this? I was exhausted by the end of the opening sequence. Luckily, after that it steps down to a normal pace, gets you introduced to some characters, and starts building the story (though that opening sequence was setting a main theme/point for the film). There are a lot of relationship discussions between Batman-Robin, and Batman-Joker that will likely fly over kids heads, but the adults can appreciate them. Thing is, it's not just comedy, there's a real heavy theme to some of it, specifically to the main storyline of how Batman relates to people. Kids may not pick up on it, and adults may feel it is a bit much for a 'fun' film, but I think it carried well and was an honest reflection to some of the traditional Batman themes.

Overall, VERY enjoyable. There are some cameos when Joker leaves his usual band of villains in jail (Bane, Poison Ivey, Mr. Freeze, etc) to trade up for an army of super villians - to include a guy from Harry Potter, Sauron, King Kong, Dr. Who's Daleks, etc. Kinda cool, and surprising how far our a DC film reached in getting characters. There's plenty of good gags and humor, so it isn't a total downer/heavy film, and it wraps up with your mandatory feel good moments. A film for date night, for the family, for a guy going solo if needed. A film you could watch more than once (but you don't feel like you have to in order to find more gems). Definitely recommend it. 8/10.

It was a good movie, took my family (3 year old first movie in theaters). It was fun, a lot of references to the older movies. Not as fun as the lego movie, but still fun.

 

[TheDouglas78]

I must be old. I saw Logan last night along with a gazillion previews. Violence sells now. Bleak, dark futuristic soulless violence. I grew up on Marvel in the 60s early 70s. It was wonderful stuff. And living to see modern technology and computers bring those heroes to life and do what we imagined is fantastic (as in Four). But all the gore and innocents you like getting sliced and diced is not for me. The dialogue between Xavier and Logan was great at times. Some funny stuff. But I came away dismayed at the reliance on killing to keep the movie going. Juxtapose this with my class of 60 kids playing a giant game of chase (Steal the Flag) yesterday with almost total joy on all their faces and you can see my need for real people living instead of fantasy characters killing,

It's a loose movie version of the story of "old man logan". The book was great, I don't think they really could do that in film, especially with a lot of the major characters from the book being Marvel Films property. The movie Wolverine was based on the first Wolverine limited series, and it was an ok movie (would have done better with the source material story). I want to see this, especially being it is R because it's how the story should be.

 

[gingerlover]

Keeping up with the Jones's- didn't expect very much out of this one, but is actually pretty funny. It won't have you rolling the whole movie, but just enough to entertain throughout. Has some funny action scenes and the two girls in it (fisher and the girl who plays Wonder Woman) show some sexy clothed scenes. Basically a boring couple have a new couple move in next door that they think are spies. It goes from there. The actors played their parts well personality wise. Wonder Woman was the week link of the main 4. Would be fun to watch with the wife even though there is some stupid in it as well that's not that funny. A lot of the humor is actually things that lots of married couples might find funny. Deserves 0 rewards but worth checking out. 6.5/10

 

[gingerlover]

Passengers - a ship carrying thousands of people in stasis for 120 years to a new colony starts to have problems. One of them is woken up 90 years early and spends over a year with no one but an android to talk to. After more start being woken early they find out the ship is failing and have to stop it. This movie got killed by critics but wasn't as bad as they stated. The cast is solid and the acting is good. The effects are good as well although nothing groundbreaking. The weakness is in the middle of the movie plot line and some of its stupidity. If you go into this hoping for a descent sci-fi movie you'll enjoy it, but not expecting something that is best picture worthy or groundbreaking. 6.5/10

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Passengers - a ship carrying thousands of people in stasis for 120 years to a new colony starts to have problems. One of them is woken up 90 years early and spends over a year with no one but an android to talk to. After more start being woken early they find out the ship is failing and have to stop it. This movie got killed by critics but wasn't as bad as they stated. The cast is solid and the acting is good. The effects are good as well although nothing groundbreaking. The weakness is in the middle of the movie plot line and some of its stupidity. If you go into this hoping for a descent sci-fi movie you'll enjoy it, but not expecting something that is best picture worthy or groundbreaking. 6.5/10

Agree, wasn't great but worth seeing for the sci-fi. I understand that the original screenplay had a different ending.

 

[gingerlover]

Edge of seventeen-watched this with the wife who thought it looked funny in the trailers and how the teacher (Woody harellson) talked to her. Those were the only funny parts. What you get is almost two hours of a teenager arguing with everyone, getting in fights with her family, crying, pushing people away, you get the idea. It was hard to finish. It was 95% this girl is a messed up teenager with lots of issues. Basically she's an introvert with one friend and her struggles in high school and family. I just don't care for movies like this anymore and find zero enjoyment in them. Im sure this might be some people's cup of tea, but don't sell me comedy and switch to a bad drama. I would run from this unless high school drama is your thing. 2/10

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Her:
I'm 48 minutes into this movie and I want my $3.99 back. This is even more boring than I thought it would be.

Edit: Made it to 1:45. Interesting attempt at a 3some scene that was very disappointing. This movie is the biggest chick flick of any chick flick I've ever witnessed. Basically 2 hours of relationship issues.

 

[gingerlover]

Bleed for this- based on a "true" story of the boxer Paz that broke his neck and made a comeback. Was a good movie, not rocky, but good. Has rewatch ability. The cast does well. This part was perfect for Miles Teller as it was a cocky prick which is what he does best. Took me a while to recognize Aaron Eckart and didn't recognize Katy Sagal at all until looking at the cast. I'm sure there are some truths missing and they didn't focus on the real bad things he did in life. The fight scenes left you expecting more as they aren't very detailed like a creed. Basically he finally wins a belt, is in a horrible car accident, and against doctors orders begins training for his come back while still in a halo. Focuses mostly on that and his family life. Would definitely recommend if you like sports movies. 7/10

 

[gingerlover]

USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage: Finally watched this on Netflix. Have been interested in this story ever since Quint told a version aboard the Orca in the first Jaws. For anyone that doesn't know about this story it is the ship that delivered the bombs we dropped on Japan. They were under complete secrecy and on the way back they were sunk by a Japanese submarine. They had no sonar and most didn't even know they were out there due to the secrecy. Almost 1200 men went in the water and less than 400 survived. Most were eaten by sharks. The first hour of the movie is just prep and trying to setup back story for a few characters. The middle part is them in the water trying to survive and the last half hour is the aftermath. I haven't checked its accuracy, but never knew how much crap the captain was given after being rescued or that the Japanese had manned torpedoes that were driven by a suicide bomber.

The cast has a few guys that used to be big names in it, but is mostly people you haven't seen before and aren't very good. You also don't care about any of the backstories and I don't know if it's the actors or the scripts fault on that. The only reason you care about the characters is because you know that real people went through this. The special effects are not very good. This should have been a made for tv movie and the shark scenes are sci-fi channel worthy. The story by itself is an 8/10, but the overall movie quality is only a 5/10. If stories about stuff like this interest you then watch it, but if you don't know or care about this one then I would pass.

 

[gingerlover]

Two for you

Colonia - on Netflix. About a guy and girl from Germany during the Chilean revolution. The dictator imprissoned and tourtured those that disagreed with him. When the boyfriend is scooped up she goes to find him and joins a group. It ends up being a cult that serves the Chilean government and they have to try to escape. Was better than I thought it would be and keeps you to the end. It's also based on true events. 7/10

Mechanic resurrection-typical jason statham movie. Bad acting and cool stunts. Only watch if nothing else to do. Reruns of old tv shows are better. A couple good kills in it but about it. He's a retired hit man living off the grid. Brought back in when the kidnap his girlfriend to perform some tough assasinations. 3/10