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

Gatordiddy

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good movie. Old man, patriarch, has some kids and is a godfather to a close friends son. Looks out for everyone, dies of old age. Youngest son carries on the family name and becomes a godfather to his nephew. A real edge of your seater....

I noticed you didn’t venture into Godfather III territory.

You chose wisely
 

TLB

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Space Sweepers (2021) <Netfilx>

The title gives you an indication, doesn't it? :D Korean Sci Fi set in the future where earth is dying and the mega-corporation UTS has been building livable places in orbit with eyes for Mars. I'll try to keep the plot spoiling minimal, but it isn't real deep to begin with. Premise is several crews run space sweepers collecting space junk for minimal cash to survive while people on earth live out the planets dying days. We follow one such crew and the pilot Tae-Ho and his team consisting of a captain, an engineer, and an all around robot. Deep in debt, looking to score, the stumble across a lost android that looks like a 7y old girl. Turns out there is the terrorist Black Fox group as well as the Space Guard looking for her with warnings that she may blow up, nuclear style. The team navigates getting a ransom for her, and in the process form bonds. Not to go deeper, but there are several thin wrinkles along the way (Tae-Ho's own daughter, the backstory for each of the crew AND the little girl, and finally our villain who reminds of of Gates or Jobs). If I had to pick a similar storyline I'd point to The Fifth Element, but this carries itself well without feeling like you've seen it before. Story isn't super deep but they more than make up for it with top notch special (space) effects and decent action sequences. Plenty of laughs, without being a comedy. Plenty of tugs on your heart strings without getting sappy or corny. Overall a very good spend of 2h, and yes it took the full 2h. At 1:15 I thought we'd near reached the end, and there were a few scenes that could have been cut to shorten it a bit. But then the last 45 starts taking a few plot twists, nothing too deep but enough to keep you tuned in. Just went you thought 'this is the end' they play one or two more which might be stretching your patience but ties the film up nice enough. Definitely recommend 8.5/10, with the caveat being it was a multilingual cast so I was glued to the subs the entire time. Even when someone spoke a form of English, the accent made it undecipherable. Idunno, maybe some may see that as flavor for the film, others may see it as a challenge (we even have characters switching languages mid-statements). Still, watch it, if you're good with a subbed Korean Sci Fi.
 

TLB

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I Am Wrath (2016) <Netflix>

I've heard it described as a cross between John WIck and The Punisher (film). I'd say that's accurate, as we have John Travolta playing the role of husband and father, and an opening sequence where the wife picks him up at the airport and they have some guys jump them in the parking garage. Wife is killed (spoiler), and cops won't do anything, even after he IDs the killer in a lineup, so JT breaks open the wall in his house, calls up his buddy from his old CIA special ops days who happens to run a local barber shop (of course). The difference between this and John Wick is that Wick was a professional assassin, everything is slick and calculated and done on his own. JT has a buddy, which adds some funny lines and allows JT to be human once in awhile (as best as JT can act it). Plot goes a little deeper than simple revenge, story has some interesting characters but overall not so much, a good bit of action (with those funny moments sprinkled in). If you want a solid film, go see Wick. If you want a decent film that's not so serious, this is ok, not great or even good, just ok. 6.5/10.
 

gingerlover

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Been catching up on some movies while also catching up on some of the DC Animated Films. They are for the most part good, but not focusing on them or the hallmark crap i watch with the wife. Here are some of the ones I have seen lately.

Soul (Disney +)
- Pixar's new film about a middle aged man who after finally getting his big break, dies, goes to the land of souls and has to find his way back. Not gonna lie. It's not Pixar's best in my opinion and I lost interest, pretty sure the kids did to. Basically the message is to enjoy every thing in life, because it could be over tomorrow. 5/10

The Call of the Wild (HBO Max)
- Already been reviewed and I enjoyed it. It's amazing how accurate the dog's facial expressions were, but man I feel like Harrison Ford just mails it in and earns what is probably a ridiculous paycheck. 6/10

You Were Never Really Here (Prime) - stars Joquin Phoenix. This movie had so much promise and of course they had to make it all artsy and weird in the second act. The premise is that he is a veteran that works finding missing children. Once again, starts out promising, but then goes into this weird way to the end. Could have been such a good movie. 6/10

Most Wanted (Prime) - Josh Hartnet is not dead and stars in this as a reporter in Canada that uncovers a Canadian police drug deal overseas gone wrong. Rather than admit their mistake the leave the guy in prison and the reporter has to uncover everything to get him extradited. 6.5/10.

Chick Fight (Prime)
- Has a couple hot chicks and mails it in Alec Baldwin as the drunk trainer. Basically a down on her luck women starts to go to the all women fight club her mother once established. It follows, with sometime humorous interactions, the women as she gets her life back together. The funniest parts might come from her recently coming out as gay father played by Kevin Nash and his 5 foot tall Asian boyfriend. You go into this movie knowing what it is. I hoped for boobs and sadly the actresses did not provide those in this go around. 5/10

The King of Staten Island (HBO Max) - Run away. This movie was horrible and I couldn't make it past the halfway mark. I'm sure it will be critically praised for showing how cool it is to be a mid-twenties loser that is stoned all the time. 3/10

Geostorm (HBO Max) - Gerald Butler is starting to take over the role previously held by Bruce Willis as the guy that keeps making bad movies, but you can't turn them off because they are just so absurd they entertain. Global Warming movie that's only overshadowed by Al Gore's predictions. They build a satellite that can fight the weather and Butler has to go fix it when their is a conspiracy about who weaponized it. You also see Andy Garcia and Ed Harris, and of course American's and Republicans are evil. Its bad and you will most likely finish it. 4/10

Irresistible (HBO Max)
- Steve Carrell and Rose Byrne. I like Carrell and Rose Byrne gets hotter with age so I checked it out. Directed by John Stewart and in the first few minutes I thought I knew where it was going, but then it changed course completely and was refreshing. Carrell play a democratic strategist who is distraught over Trump's win. He decides to go to a small town in Wisconsin to try and help win the mayor's race. It starts out with good intentions, but after inadvertently insulting the town at every turn he realizes it will be harder to connect with "fly over" country than he thought. It then gets into lobbyists, super pacs and big money donors coming to town and tries to highlight a lot of what is wrong in today's politics, but of course it just falls onto deaf ears of his constituents as no matter how much they think they can understand these simple people, everything is wrong. At the end it dawns on him that those people despise him and his type as much as his type despise him. Byrne floats around as his Republic opposite that is portrayed as just a deep pocket liar.

This movie actually shows a great insight into how many in flyover country feel and why they do what they do in the movie. While Republicans are not portrayed well, this movie holds nothing back in skewering the democratic party and the media's involvement in our division to which all of them are tone deaf and refuse to change. The media in the end credits is one of the best parts as it highlights how they give their opinions as fact and not the actually story. The other funny part is that they always ask him where something is OK and he always replies with the large coastal elite cities, not realizing that small towns could give two craps. I'm actually a little shocked this movie was allowed to be made. 7/10.
 

TLB

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Guns Akimbo (2019) (Amazon Prime)

I'm afraid I probably didn't approach this with the right mindset. First half watched one evening while playing on my phone, second as I was distracted surfing sites like this one. It came off like a game, which makes sense given the context, but I wasn't able to enjoy the humor as much as I'm sure they intended (blame my distractedness). Samara Weaving was a nice watch, and Radcliffe as our lead held his own very well. But the rest...meh. I'd give the depth of story about a 3/10, but the action and explosions help raise the score. Being in a right mindframe and giving the film the attention it deserved would help it more. I'll end it with a 6.5/10 but not much more. Colorful, fun romp with a decent attempt at a storyline without making you invest a lot of yourself into any of it.
 

TheDouglas78

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Tom & Jerrry (2021) HBOMax: This was something we watched as a family over the weekend. It's not the best or worst thing in the world, but it's entertaining enough. It starts with Tom and Jerry moving to New York and they run into each other, Jerry ruining Tom's "music career". Jerry takes up residence in a Hotel and Tom finds out. A few side human characters who move the story along. They cause a huge issue and then have to help the human's to fix their mess. I give it a 5/10 for what is supposed to be, kid enjoyed it and it was funny enough for adults.

ThreatMatrix Matrix: No boobs/bush/or ass.

The Predator (2018): I've been wanting a good predator movie and most of them are entertaining enough but in the end are straight garbage. Since the first one, and maybe the second one the rest have had promise, but end up flopping. This one is no different. It does expand on the current timeline, and has some characters who could have been real interesting, but then they focus on the characters as boring as Injun. Not enough action and a lot of unneeded dialog. I give this move a 4.5/10.

ThreatMatrix Matrix: No Boobs/Bush/ass
 
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TLB

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Tom & Jerrry (2021) HBOMax: This was something we watched as a family over the weekend. It's not the best or worst thing in the world, but it's entertaining enough. It starts with Tom and Jerry moving to New York and they run into each other, Jerry ruining Tom's "music career". Tom takes up residence in a Hotel and Tom finds out. A few side human characters who move the story along. They cause a huge issue and then have to help the human's to fix their mess. I give it a 5/10 for what is supposed to be, kid enjoyed it and it was funny enough for adults.

ThreatMatrix Matrix: No boobs/bush/or ass, but features a pu55y.

FIFY
 

ThreatMatrix

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Middle Men (2009) Netflix. Starring Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, James Caan, Kevin Pollack and a hooker you'd leave your wife for, Laura Ramsey. Loosely based on real life. Ribisi and Gabriel Macht play a couple of crazy entrepreneurs who discover how to make money on the internet distributing porn. They've become entangled with the Russian Mob. After R&M fail to pay the Mobsters James Caan hires Luke WIlson to fix the problem. Although Luke is a family man he can't turn down the money and becomes embroiled in the world of porn and mobsters. Hilarity ensues. Luke falls in lust with porn star Laura Ramsey (she IS cute). A Russian henchman is killed and Luke must find a way to get out after his family is threatened. For free It's worth a watch. Lots of T&A though not the only reason to watch. Joe Bob says check it out.
Wife leaving material:
LAura.jpg
 

Gatordiddy

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Wife leaving material:

f4510662a2c4362a49bf1036df6b3782.png
 

gingerlover

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I Care A Lot (Netflix) - Stars Rosemund Pike and Peter Dinklage. Rosemund and her girlfriend have a nursing home grift going. They have a doctor friend tell the state that her elderly patients need to be committed under her care as a state ward and she proceeds to clean them out financially while waiting on the whale. It finally comes along, but this old lady (Dianne West) has very powerful connections and a past not in her records. While she struggles to stay alive and get her money, she starts to wonder if she's in over her head as Dinklage's mob group is after her.

Pike and her girlfriend Eiza Gonzalez are both smoking in this movie, but no boobs. It has a little of everything from humor to action, but is one of those movies where you really don't want anyone to win because everyone is a horrible person. 7/10 and one of the better Netflix movies.
 

TLB

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Mum & Dad (2008 )

Plot seems based upon real life serial killers Fred & Rosemary West*. I'll admit, the film probably was better than I felt it was, because I watched while reading the wiki on them which is many times worse than the film. The movie itself follows a young polish immigrant girl, working janitorial duties at an England airport who misses the bus and a co-worker offers to let her crash for the night. Well, the co-worker (Birdie) and her silent brother (Elbie) take them home to mum & dad. Upon entering the home, our lead 'Angel' is drugged, then awakens to find herself restrained and catching glimpses of dad killing someone in an adjoining room. The film revolves around this dysfunctional family, and Angel's efforts to stay alive in abiding their rules while looking for escape. There's a few more good bits of gore, and a somewhat infamous Christmas scene, and an odd twist of a young girl we don't discover until late in the film. The entire film is pretty much in the house with the dynamics of Bridie wanting to be the favorite child, mum & dad with their sadistic approach to family and nonchalance of torture and murder, Elbie being the semi-reluctant participant, and Angel as our connected character enduring unexpected hell. For gore, it's got some good stuff, but never felt over the top (though Xmas does make some queasy in viewing), for tension I never felt much (most likely due to my reading the wiki simultaneously), and for depth of plot I have explained it all. I suppose the main selling point was the fear, unexpected hell so close to everyday life, like anyone could be a fly in this venus flytrap. It's solid in that respect, but not spectacular, IMO. I'll give it a good 6.5/10, could definitely have been better but probably lost a point from me because of my distraction.


*Arrested on 10-12 murders, the horror and incest of the true West couple is astounding. Active roughly '67-87, but tracing back to West's own twisted childhood this is a reality beyond imagination. I won't get into the details. Those who have an interest in truly disturbing human actions can read up on the wiki and what they did. I'm not sure it could be made into a movie, certainly not without an X or XXX rating (and not just for the sex).
 

TheDouglas78

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Sandlot (1993) : I hadn't seen this movie until two weeks ago. It's the story of a kid moving to the area, getting to know the kids in the neighborhood. The story is about their summer on the sandlot baseball field. I dismissed it when I was younger, but watched it with my daughter at the free movie in the park. I enjoyed it found myself truly enjoying a movie that I wasn't expecting to enjoy. I give it a solid 6.5/10.

ThreatMatrix matrix: No boobs/ass/bush... but wouldn't have minded seeing the female lifeguards (as opposed to Injun who wants to see the dude).
 

CGgater

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Sandlot (1993) : I hadn't seen this movie until two weeks ago. It's the story of a kid moving to the area, getting to know the kids in the neighborhood. The story is about their summer on the sandlot baseball field. I dismissed it when I was younger, but watched it with my daughter at the free movie in the park. I enjoyed it found myself truly enjoying a movie that I wasn't expecting to enjoy. I give it a solid 6.5/10.

ThreatMatrix matrix: No boobs/ass/bush... but wouldn't have minded seeing the female lifeguards (as opposed to Injun who wants to see the dude).
You JUST saw it??? You're KILLING ME, Smalls!
 

TLB

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Willy's Wonderland (2021)

Billed as an ode to 80's horror flicks, we have a broken down amusement restaurant (knock off from Chuck E Cheese) which was set up and run in the 80's by some insane guy and his friends. They started killing customers, and as the cops closed in they did a satanic ritual so their souls could escape to inanimate objects....the animatronic characters of the restaurant. Nick Cage is a silent loner chugging Punch soda travelling through the backroads, gets four flats in 'an accident' and gets towed into tiny Haneysville. Repair shop only takes cash, but he can work off the new tires by cleaning the local joint someone is trying to re-open. Add in a low rent version of millennial teens looking to burn the place down, and the rest of the town in a pact with WIlly the Weasel and his gang to feed them strangers, then all you have left is Nick drinking soda and beating the crap out of life size animatronics. The highlight is a toss up between Nicks lack of any lines (just grunts, sips, and attacks, plays pinball, rinse and repeat) and Caylee Cowan as the second string female teen getting horny in the horror house and giving us bra cleavage (straight shot, jiggling shots, and a blood splatter shot) - both of these leave us disappointed. Even for fans of 80's horror, I can't recommend. I really, really wanted to like this based on the concept; and even having Nick Cage didn't ruin it (he actually did decent considering he has no lines); but it was not to be. 4/10.
 

ThreatMatrix

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The Battle of Britain (1969) YouTube: With a young Michael Cain, Laurence Olivia, Christopher Plummer and an excellent performance from Robert Shaw. Special underwear performance by Susannah York. York was considered a babe back in the day though her face is a little screwy for my tastes. The great thing about WWII movies made in the 60's is that they often had lots of the original equipment available so the realism is very high. If you've ever been around vintage leather for instance you can tell the difference between stuff produced in the 40's and replicas produced now. Of course all the heavy iron is authentic. I've flown in and worked on WWII aircraft and you can definitely tell the difference between the real thing and a copy. One of the annoying things about movies produced now is how unrealistic the aircraft etc. look.
For the movie they found actual Spitfires, Hurricanes, Mess 109's, and Heinkel bombers. Most of the air battle scenes are filmed with actual aircraft. Hell everything down to the jeeps look authentic. There's lots of flying of course and it's refreshing to see the real planes.
As a film it's not that great. However it is interesting from a historical perspective and I learned a few things*. If you like WWII movies and the planes Joe Bob says check it out.
Suzanna York's best side
SY.jpg

* I'm always amazed at how much the Allied victory had to do with luck. IN this case Hitler was planning to invade southern England by bombing the airfields and destroying the RAF on the ground. The airfields were close enough to provide fighter cover. But during a bombing run a German flight goes off course and accidental bombs London which was verboten by the Fuhrer himself. In retaliation the Brits bombed Berlin.
This in turn caused Hitler to order the bombing of London. However they couldn't provide fighter cover and the Brits had a turkey shoot. The Luftwaffe lost so many planes that they gave up those ending the battle of Britain. If not for the off course flight Germany would have destroyed the RAF and invaded Britain.
 
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Detroitgator

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The Battle of Britain (1969) YouTube:
Suzanna York's best side
30681

Incorrect... here's my proof:
sy.jpg

I agree with everything you said about the movie... watched it a bunch of times as a kid, not sure i could watch it now. There are a ton of cool things about this movie, especially what you mentioned with all the planes (and pilots) they got from the Spanish Air Force... and Adlof Galland was a technical advisor.
 

Spectator

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Coming 2 America 2, watched it the other night. I was surprised how many of those actors from the first one are still alive. Good script, not much more.
 

gingerlover

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Coming 2 America 2, watched it the other night. I was surprised how many of those actors from the first one are still alive. Good script, not much more.
Me and my wife finished it last night and thought it was pretty good. The first half is stronger on the funny than the second half, but it was funny with some of the throwbacks to the original. Love the callback to the Dukes and there were a few really good one liners.
 

TLB

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Homefront (2013 ) <Netflix>

Yet another Jason Statham film, this time he's a retired undercover cop who moves to rural Louisiana to raise his daughter on his own (wife died or something). Movie opens with him inside a gang when the DEA comes down on everyone, he tries to arrest the head and his son, the son gets killed. Jump ahead to a new life in the Bayou, and he runs afoul of the local meth dealer played very well by James Franco. We do get our requisite fistfights and action sequences, but they are enough to prove characters, intent, and ability rather than being the main theme of the movie. Much more human side for a Statham role presented, and carried to better cinematic success. Mix in a crooked cop, payback from the original gang leader, and Wynona Rider as Franco's meth-head girlfriend (his sister is one too, but blond if that's more your thing). Central plot is trying to start over with his kid, but history repeats and catches up with him. Good flick. Not great, but good. Not on par with Transporter films for action, better than Redemption (reviewed earlier, also released in 2013). Overall 6.5/10.
 

Detroitgator

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Homefront (2013 ) <Netflix>

Yet another Jason Statham film, this time he's a retired undercover cop who moves to rural Louisiana to raise his daughter on his own (wife died or something). Movie opens with him inside a gang when the DEA comes down on everyone, he tries to arrest the head and his son, the son gets killed. Jump ahead to a new life in the Bayou, and he runs afoul of the local meth dealer played very well by James Franco. We do get our requisite fistfights and action sequences, but they are enough to prove characters, intent, and ability rather than being the main theme of the movie. Much more human side for a Statham role presented, and carried to better cinematic success. Mix in a crooked cop, payback from the original gang leader, and Wynona Rider as Franco's meth-head girlfriend (his sister is one too, but blond if that's more your thing). Central plot is trying to start over with his kid, but history repeats and catches up with him. Good flick. Not great, but good. Not on par with Transporter films for action, better than Redemption (reviewed earlier, also released in 2013). Overall 6.5/10.
Yeah, it gets bad reviews, but I liked it enough and Redemption was ok because, well, I'm a sucker for redemption movies. :lol:
 

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