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

TLB

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Jan 6, 2015
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Gemini Man (2019)


The recent Will Smith film, where he is a retired sniper but his old boss cloned him and sends the younger clone to kill the original. Add in a semi-hot gov't agent that gets burned and he protects, and a friend or two along the way from 'the good old days' who get killed because. And there! I've spoiled it for yo...uh, saved you from wasting your time. Action sequences are ok, but not great. Plot is paper thin, and as subtle as a fire engine wailing down your street. The only decent thing is maybe the special effects (and almost a thought of a nod to the concept...but not), on how they have old and young Will talking too each other. Don't waste your time, there are better ways to waste your time. Doesn't utterly suck. 5/10.





John Wick 3 - Parabellum (2019)


I believe the premise is that all 3 films take place over a short time frame (24h?) so maybe I'm missing something watching part 3 months after I'd seen the first two. If you know the first two, you know this one, priority is to set records for bullets fired and people killed in a film. Sometimes there is dialogue that moves the story along, but gunfire is the primary language. Lots of action, to include a middle segment with Halley Barry and her attack dogs, so we're pet friendly. How old is she now? She's still got it going on. Plot line is acceptable, given the first two, and I won't spoil that one, but it does hold the shootouts together. Great colors on the screen, a lot of ways to die, and did I mention a lot of gunfire? We've even got an underwater shooting! I'll admit, I write this with 30m left, and I've been surfing all the while on another screen = not really holding my attention. I will admit some visually great backgrounds for some of the fight scenes as they get blown up and destroyed. If you want another John Wick shoot-em-up, go for it, you'll get what you're after. If you want kick ass action sequences...it's getting a bit cliche and meh. If you want something meaningful, you took a wrong turn somewhere and it's your fault, not mine. Upper end of good, nowhere near great. 6.5/10
 

Detroitgator

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Jul 15, 2014
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Gemini Man (2019)


The recent Will Smith film, where he is a retired sniper but his old boss cloned him and sends the younger clone to kill the original. Add in a semi-hot gov't agent that gets burned and he protects, and a friend or two along the way from 'the good old days' who get killed because. And there! I've spoiled it for yo...uh, saved you from wasting your time. Action sequences are ok, but not great. Plot is paper thin, and as subtle as a fire engine wailing down your street. The only decent thing is maybe the special effects (and almost a thought of a nod to the concept...but not), on how they have old and young Will talking too each other. Don't waste your time, there are better ways to waste your time. Doesn't utterly suck. 5/10.





John Wick 3 - Parabellum (2019)


I believe the premise is that all 3 films take place over a short time frame (24h?) so maybe I'm missing something watching part 3 months after I'd seen the first two. If you know the first two, you know this one, priority is to set records for bullets fired and people killed in a film. Sometimes there is dialogue that moves the story along, but gunfire is the primary language. Lots of action, to include a middle segment with Halley Barry and her attack dogs, so we're pet friendly. How old is she now? She's still got it going on. Plot line is acceptable, given the first two, and I won't spoil that one, but it does hold the shootouts together. Great colors on the screen, a lot of ways to die, and did I mention a lot of gunfire? We've even got an underwater shooting! I'll admit, I write this with 30m left, and I've been surfing all the while on another screen = not really holding my attention. I will admit some visually great backgrounds for some of the fight scenes as they get blown up and destroyed. If you want another John Wick shoot-em-up, go for it, you'll get what you're after. If you want kick ass action sequences...it's getting a bit cliche and meh. If you want something meaningful, you took a wrong turn somewhere and it's your fault, not mine. Upper end of good, nowhere near great. 6.5/10
John Wick was a great movie... the other two sucked.
 

CGgater

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Jul 30, 2014
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Not really. Though, she frequently commands the dogs to attack, and several criminal crotches feel the bite frequently.

Oops. I thought he was asking about the first movie.
 

gingerlover

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Sep 20, 2014
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Blow the Man Down (Prime) - marketed as a black comedy. About two sisters that live in a NE fishing town with a hidden seedy underbelly. One night the rebellious sister meets a dirtbag at the bar. He tries to kill her and in self defense she gets him. The sister helps her cover it up. From there it’s them trying to get away with it while the other women in towns past start to bubble up and cause problems.

Let’s just say this isn’t funny. It’s a boring little movie with an ok payoff in the end. If your bored and watch this you will still be bored. This is the type of movie critics will rave about as this smart film the general public just doesn’t understand and in reality it just sucks. 4/10
 

TLB

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Jan 6, 2015
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The Wolf of Wall Street (2019)

L. DiCaprio in a role as someone entering stock trading in the late 80's, his learning the ropes then finding a way to make millions off of getting people to invest in his recommendations (commission work). Decent story line of a wife, a divorce, a wife, kids, divorce, and an truckload of hookers and blow along the way make up the non-financial part of the story. However, the heart of the story remains his climb to riches, illegal activity and extravagant lifestyle (feeling invincible), and making the most of his God given talent to convince others to buy. He has a core team of fk-ups as his partners at the outset, and by the end we have moral dilemmas for several on saving themselves vs their friendships, though his role and decisions remain the centerpiece. Lots of breastages, as there are lots of hookers. Brief full frontal nudity, but a lot of full backside nudity throughout. LOTS of drug use, which frequently leads to pretty funny scenes as they try to do things while being non-functional. Some family drama, but not overwhelming, just making him human. It's long. Around 3h long, it doesn't drag at points but it's not going full speed either. Hard to see much they could have trimmed, but it still feels like a full 3h. Good film. 7.5/10
 

TLB

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Jan 6, 2015
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Princess Bride (1982)

Yes, 1982. Did you realize it was that f'n old? Neither did I, but it kinda shows in places (especially with our narrator/grandpa storytelling). I'm not going to write much up on this, because if you haven't seen it, you need to. If you have, you know others need to. Great family or date-night film. Our point was to expose the kids to some of our favorites while everyone is locked in. I chose this, because I'm awesome. Wife chose E.T. and I'll let you know how that goes (I foresee complaints). I'll give this 9/10 and tell everyone they need to see it at least once, for the line quotations alone (wife still can't do the "Hello, my name is ..." bit. I'm working on her).
 

Gatordiddy

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Jul 23, 2014
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About 2/3 of the way through Ford vs Ferrari.

so far - fantastic. The cars are wicked cool.
once I finish up tonight I’ll give a review.

edit- thoroughly enjoyed this one. It seemed to stay true to actual events as well. The race scenes are well done.

9/10
 
Last edited:

GatorJ

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Jun 11, 2014
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Gemini Man (2019)


The recent Will Smith film, where he is a retired sniper but his old boss cloned him and sends the younger clone to kill the original. Add in a semi-hot gov't agent that gets burned and he protects, and a friend or two along the way from 'the good old days' who get killed because. And there! I've spoiled it for yo...uh, saved you from wasting your time. Action sequences are ok, but not great. Plot is paper thin, and as subtle as a fire engine wailing down your street. The only decent thing is maybe the special effects (and almost a thought of a nod to the concept...but not), on how they have old and young Will talking too each other. Don't waste your time, there are better ways to waste your time. Doesn't utterly suck. 5/10.





John Wick 3 - Parabellum (2019)


I believe the premise is that all 3 films take place over a short time frame (24h?) so maybe I'm missing something watching part 3 months after I'd seen the first two. If you know the first two, you know this one, priority is to set records for bullets fired and people killed in a film. Sometimes there is dialogue that moves the story along, but gunfire is the primary language. Lots of action, to include a middle segment with Halley Barry and her attack dogs, so we're pet friendly. How old is she now? She's still got it going on. Plot line is acceptable, given the first two, and I won't spoil that one, but it does hold the shootouts together. Great colors on the screen, a lot of ways to die, and did I mention a lot of gunfire? We've even got an underwater shooting! I'll admit, I write this with 30m left, and I've been surfing all the while on another screen = not really holding my attention. I will admit some visually great backgrounds for some of the fight scenes as they get blown up and destroyed. If you want another John Wick shoot-em-up, go for it, you'll get what you're after. If you want kick ass action sequences...it's getting a bit cliche and meh. If you want something meaningful, you took a wrong turn somewhere and it's your fault, not mine. Upper end of good, nowhere near great. 6.5/10

All the John wicks are good. But none are as good as the first one.

Gemini man was dog shyt.
 

TLB

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The Platform (2020) <Netflix>

Note, it appears to be filmed in Spanish, but the Netflix let me set audio and subtitles to English. Personal note, I'm always amused when audio and subs for English don't match...how hard is that?

Similar to Cube in minimalism only, IMO. Cube at least had traps-puzzles to advance and survive, here it's just the basic 'eat-survive' which removed that interesting and appealing aspect. Similar to Snowpiercer in that there is a physical prison-caste system, but this one is vertical rather than horizontal, and this film brings no star power so it forgoes that expectation of quality (my tone here is to indicate my disappointment overall with Snowpiercer). Both those other films offered a theme of human existence, societal reflection, and personal evaluation depending upon how deep you wanted to go with thinking. Cube was about the self, in that sense, but it didn't go too deep on the thinking as it offered shiny new death themes for each room. Snowpiercer had minimal interesting bits beyond a revolt against the heirarchy, and several HUGE F'N HOLES outside that societal revolt theme. It tried, at least moreso towards the climax, to bring some social commentary as to why people act as they do, and offer some (twisted?) reasoning for it. Of course, it closed with a pretty stark statement that destroying a bad system left the few survivors in a bleak world with near nil chance to carry on.

Platform, instead, had very little of interest outside the theme of human interaction. The premise, for those that don't know, is a vertical prison of a single cell stacked several hundred cells high with two occupants per cell. A platform descends the center of all cells, stopping at each floor for a short period of feeding before continuing downward. This means, those on the top floor get first choice, and people below level 50 are getting scraps, and people much lower may not get anything at all. Then, once a month, the cellmates are moved together to a new floor, seemingly randomly, while they serve out their term. Our protagonist is a fellow who signed up to go in for 6mo in exchange for a reward of some sort. We find him in a cell with an older man nearing the end of his 2y sentence. There are a few rules in prison - can't hoard food or you will be punished, you can bring one item with you (anything you choose) while you serve your time. So the meat of the story focuses in on where are you in relation to others, do you screw them when you're up top knowing they'll screw you when you are down below (capitalism anyone)? Or do you seek to help everyone (socialism anyone?) How do you interact with your peer cell mate - cooperate or fight? The few characters do draw you in for a connection, the few rules do well to give framework and not detract from the societal statement. Overall, a decent 'think' film if that's what you want. If you want more than that, go elsewhere. Personally, I'd put this well above Snowpiercer (down on the utter ****e list), and just below Cube (I like gadgets and gore), and give it credit for not only seeking a 'societal think' interaction with the viewer, but achieving it decently well. It's not a great film, but a good one. 7/10.
 

ThreatMatrix

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Aug 28, 2014
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The Platform (2020) <Netflix>

Note, it appears to be filmed in Spanish, but the Netflix let me set audio and subtitles to English. Personal note, I'm always amused when audio and subs for English don't match...how hard is that?

Similar to Cube in minimalism only, IMO. Cube at least had traps-puzzles to advance and survive, here it's just the basic 'eat-survive' which removed that interesting and appealing aspect. Similar to Snowpiercer in that there is a physical prison-caste system, but this one is vertical rather than horizontal, and this film brings no star power so it forgoes that expectation of quality (my tone here is to indicate my disappointment overall with Snowpiercer). Both those other films offered a theme of human existence, societal reflection, and personal evaluation depending upon how deep you wanted to go with thinking. Cube was about the self, in that sense, but it didn't go too deep on the thinking as it offered shiny new death themes for each room. Snowpiercer had minimal interesting bits beyond a revolt against the heirarchy, and several HUGE F'N HOLES outside that societal revolt theme. It tried, at least moreso towards the climax, to bring some social commentary as to why people act as they do, and offer some (twisted?) reasoning for it. Of course, it closed with a pretty stark statement that destroying a bad system left the few survivors in a bleak world with near nil chance to carry on.

Platform, instead, had very little of interest outside the theme of human interaction. The premise, for those that don't know, is a vertical prison of a single cell stacked several hundred cells high with two occupants per cell. A platform descends the center of all cells, stopping at each floor for a short period of feeding before continuing downward. This means, those on the top floor get first choice, and people below level 50 are getting scraps, and people much lower may not get anything at all. Then, once a month, the cellmates are moved together to a new floor, seemingly randomly, while they serve out their term. Our protagonist is a fellow who signed up to go in for 6mo in exchange for a reward of some sort. We find him in a cell with an older man nearing the end of his 2y sentence. There are a few rules in prison - can't hoard food or you will be punished, you can bring one item with you (anything you choose) while you serve your time. So the meat of the story focuses in on where are you in relation to others, do you screw them when you're up top knowing they'll screw you when you are down below (capitalism anyone)? Or do you seek to help everyone (socialism anyone?) How do you interact with your peer cell mate - cooperate or fight? The few characters do draw you in for a connection, the few rules do well to give framework and not detract from the societal statement. Overall, a decent 'think' film if that's what you want. If you want more than that, go elsewhere. Personally, I'd put this well above Snowpiercer (down on the utter ****e list), and just below Cube (I like gadgets and gore), and give it credit for not only seeking a 'societal think' interaction with the viewer, but achieving it decently well. It's not a great film, but a good one. 7/10.

Yeah I saw that too. It was... interesting. Not for everybody I'd say. I watched it until the end so it has that going for it.
 

stephenPE

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Jul 20, 2014
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I saw this movie recently.

Trumbo is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Jay Roach and written by John McNamara. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman, and Michael Stuhlbarg. The film follows the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, and is based on the biography Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Alexander Cook.[4]

I love history. Woody Allen had a movie about this, too. The Way We Were had a segment about it. Communists were every where
back then.
 

Gatordiddy

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Jul 23, 2014
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Watched Extra Ordinary last night
Low budget Irish film. Kind of a comedy / horror genre. Will Forte was funny as was the lead actress. She had paranormal “talents”. I’ll leave it at that.
I enjoyed this one for a distraction.
7/10.
 

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