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

[gingerlover]

Shazam: Fury of the Gods (Max) - Picks up a few years after the first movie. Billy & his family are fighting crime, not always doing the best job, but starting to grow up and go their own ways. He is trying to keep the family togethor and makes a bigger mess. Thanks to his actions at the end of the first movie he allowed the Daughters of Atlas to be released and they come looking to take his power and conquer the world. A couple minor swerves and some descent cameo's.

Nice mix of action and funny as Levi was the perfect choice to play a grown up kid in these. Nothing over the top and only a slight cram an agenda in. Will be interesting where the character goes now that they are doing a slight reboot of the DCEU and hint at him being involved in the future with the credit scene. 6/10

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Free Rental) - Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Hugh Grant are the big ones in this. I have never once played a game so I will let others point out Easter eggs that are in here for fans of that. The good part about this movie is that you don't have to know about D&D to follow along. Plot is that Pine and his crew were betrayed while fighting Red Wizards. He has to break out of prison and reasemble his team to get revenge and stop the bad guys from doing their thing. Turns into an action/adventure flick with a nice amount of humor mixed in. Was an enjoyable slightly longer than 2 hour film that I think you could do with the older kids. 6.5/10 I heard this one didn't do enough so might not get a sequel and thats a shame.

 

[BMF]

I stumbled on this over the weekend, pretty good/worth the time - lots of actors you'd know too. They call it a "darkly comic thriller" and that's pretty accurate.

Vengeance (Prime) - Vengeance (81%/86% on rotten tomatoes)

Vengeance, the directorial debut from writer and star B.J. Novak ("The Office"), is a darkly comic thriller about Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.

 

[Gatordiddy]

I stumbled on this over the weekend, pretty good/worth the time - lots of actors you'd know too. They call it a "darkly comic thriller" and that's pretty accurate.

Vengeance (Prime) - Vengeance (81%/86% on rotten tomatoes)

Vengeance, the directorial debut from writer and star B.J. Novak ("The Office"), is a darkly comic thriller about Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.

ah yes... we watched this one.
really enjoyed it...

"Whataburger!!"

 

[TLB]

Came in and the wife and son had just started this, so I watched along:

Shooting Stars (2023) <Netflix>

It's the story of young LeBron James, focusing on the high school years at Saint Mary's - St. Vincent, based on a book LeBron co-wrote with someone about his teens. I missed the beginning where a group of four boys are on this travel basketball team called 'Shooting Stars' and LeBron is one of them - point being their friendship started when they were 11-12yo. I joined when they were freshman trying out at the high school, getting talked down to by the seniors, ignored by a coach who was an ex-college coach who didn't want to be in the HS ranks anymore.

I'll try to sum up: Lots of good basketball highlights, very small token interaction on meeting/dating his future wife, culminates with LeBron suspended for his senior year due to accepting a jersey from a fan. He pleads his case with the Ohio athletics commision to play in the last game as they go for yet an other state title. Token nod to Oak Hill Academy (Carmello Anthony) and losing to them in their junior year, but beating them by 20 in the senior year.

If you absolutely LOVE some Bron, it might be ok. Actors were acceptable (one of the four is the black kid from Stranger Things), none truly bad. All the basketball shots were of the actors, no real footage was harmed in the making of this film. Story isn't real deep, doesn't have a message (and doesn't play woke, so there is that). Honestly, if you want a basketball movie, watch Blue Chips, it was a better film all the way around. Last point - whomever did the soundtrack for this film should be taken out back and shot. The song selections were all over the place, no real theme or feel to it within the film, and worst of all was selecting (Scottish) bagpipes to play as the music for the big game between StM-StV (Fighting IRISH) and whomever they beat the crap out of. Smdh.

Final verdict 3.5/10

 

[TLB]

Needing to recover from the LeBron film, I turned on:

Shadow (2018) <Netflix>

IMDB - "In a Chinese royal court, an army commander secretly trains a "shadow" to retake a city against the wishes of the king.". M'kay....took awhile to figure this out. Of course, I watched the film in Chinese audio with English subs, and the subs sufficed, but the kicker was a 2018 film that was supposed to be building on the film and techniques of what brought up CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon. Didn't hit the mark.

Story has a city that was fought for by 3 nations. The Pei and the Yang joined to kill the third, then share ownership sorta in that the Pei had always lived there and the Yang occuppied it now. Pei is led by a young king, who has a brilliant right hand commander, but overall they reside in what appears to be an exiled old backwater. The commander wants the city back for his people, king is too weak politically and takes the scraps he gets. Commander gets a wound from the best fighter of the Yang, it poisons him and he goes into hiding - putting in his place a body double. Long story short, his uncle saw the double when the fighting went down and basically stole the kid, put him in a cave, and raised him to be the body double without any outside interaction. We're 20y after that war/abduction, grown men and the commander is getting sick/frail so he's using the body double to go out and do his work. Commander's wife is aware of the situation, plays the good wife to the double in public, but starts to feel bad he's had his life taken from him, and eventually falls for him.

Commander works out a 3 way plan to take back the city. One is to send the double to fight the Yang champion again, knowing he'll be killed but it's primarily a distraction. One is his top lieutenant who takes a team of criminals into the city to fight what soldiers are holding it. Third is the King - and you keep wondering who is playing whom? Is commander playing the king, or does the king know what's going on and is playing both the double and the commander without them knowing? Add to this a fistful of semi-twists at the end, and you have a decent story.

However....the filming is...odd. It's called 'Shadow' in the name of the double. And while the entire film is actually shot in color - the entire pallette is black-white-gray. You see some skin color in their faces, the tan bamboo of the platform for the big boss fight, and a short scene in the woods; otherwise all outfits, scenery, structures = all in black and white. Moreover, the fight scenes are fairly meh - not extended, not showing off any great technique (martial arts or flying wire effects). This is almost entirely about the characters and how the story unfolds.

With this, I cannot recommend the film to anyone. I doubt there are any on here that will watch weirder, far out crap, than I will. If you are looking for something like this, you'll find it - the majority of you aren't looking for it, and you'll be fine without ever seeing it. 5/10

 

[TLB]

Spider-man - Into the Spiderverse (2018)

Took the kids last night (son 9, big on Marvel; daughter 12 knows nothing of Marvel but wants to be an animator). Traditional disclaimer on myself - Marvel fanboy, but admit knowing nothing on Spider-men other than the common Spider-man; I also wasn't too keen on seeing an animated version, tbh. Also no boobs, go figure.

I came home exclaiming this is one of the best films I've seen in a LONG time. First the choice to do it with animation - an absolute must. The budget would gave been insane to pull this off as live action, given the story line and effects, so in that they made the right choice. With that choice, it limited somethings, but opened up a lot of other ones. First the opportunity to give it a comic book texture rather than a Pixar style smoothness. It took about 20min for me to adjust to blurred backgrounds (kept thinking it was a 3D effect intended where you don't where glasses, but it was intentional to match how comic books may not define the background distinctly and keep your focus on characters who remained clear and in focus). This also means there are action sequences and fights that get very comic-booky, which created sometimes a 'yeah, that fits this texture and story' and sometimes created a 'disappointing cheapness for a film'. All in all, it worked, and worked well. Sound track was a bit eclectic, IMO. Not themed like a collection of 80's songs in some movies - all were current artists and tracks, and all fit the scenes very well, but I don't see people buying the soundtrack - just the single tracks that appeal to them. Still, it was all good and apt for the scenes. For the story, in a nutshell Kingpin is trying to build a super collider that will pull multiple universes together so he can recover his family that he lost in this dimension. The first test of it has Goblin push Spider-man into it, resulting in a half dozen spider-men getting pulled into our dimension. Plot follows that the handful team up and try to get home while destroying the collider. Not too deep, not too shallow for a comic book story, but it's enough to support the 2h film (yes, 2h for animation - it's not just a kids film, though there were a ton of kids brought to it). The real meat of the 2h is actually filled with our central character, Miles Morales, a young teen who also gets bit by a spider and gains powers albeit slightly different than Peter Parker. The film really focuses on Miles, being a smart teen, discovering powers, meeting Peter Parker (who then dies and asks Miles to destroy the collider), discovering the other spider-men, coming of age and saving the day with the team. It does a very, very good job with characters - Miles in particular. Even if you know nothing of anyone beyond Peter Parker, you'll enjoy the cast of characters here. The concept of a multi-verse isn't too far fetched to grasp for younger audiences, keeping the story plausible, but all the spider-men come with their own uniqueness and how their dimension is different. I won't spoil the spider-men characters, but even the smallest (wtf kinda) versions have a few good lines and don't distract. You may recognize a few voices (Liev Shreiber as Fisk-Kingpin, Nicholas Cage as one of the smaller character spider-men, and Lily Tomlin as Aunt May who is actually a cool kick-ass rather than a naive old lady - there are others, but these stood out to me, though none storm through the screen, they fit nicely into their roles). With the parallel dimensions, we have Miles have an uncle issue (like Uncle Ben...hey, so did Luke Skywalker, hmmm). There are other parallels, as to be expected, as well as a few other villians thrown in that are not as expected from our traditional spider-man universe of one, but it all works. Highly recommend this one. 9/10 (I never give a 0 or a 10).

Damn, I didn't realize it had been 2018 when "Into the Spiderverse" came out. I quoted it to bring back the take I had on that one. As noted at the end, I gave it a 9/10 because I never give a 10 on anything.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) <Theater>

Went with my son (now 14) and his 5 buddies. We had no idea what direction this might go, but I knew the first was great and was willing to roll wherever this wanted to take me. I was a bit concerned at a 2h20min runtime, but trusted they'd not disappoint.

My first impression was that yet again, the story and action were required to be animated - no way live action could address this sufficiently, so the medium was necessary, and then utilized to its fullest. I think I recall the first having some 'BAM' and 'BIFF' popups like the old batman show wanting to imitate comic books - maybe I'm misremembering, but those didn't exist here.

Story is focused on Miles Morales again. All the other dimension spider beings went back to their dimensions and he's on his own, living with his dad (policeman) and mom, getting ready to apply to colleges, after the death of his uncle (the 'Prowler') and keeping his identity secret to everyone. He keeps longing for spider-Gwen, the only one who knew who he was and really became his friend, to the point his longing for her leans into infatuation as it would for any young man in that situation.

After a bit, Gwen visits him, but doesn't reveal what she's been up to or why she is there. It turns out she was brought into a spider group that is now chasing down anomolies, dimension crossovers, caused by the events in the first film. We get introduced to a few new spiderverse characters such as Spider-Woman (black pregnant woman working as Gwen's captain/trainer), as well as Spiderman 2099 (a futuristic version that is also part vampire, leading the entire spider army on this mision, in part for personal reasons). Miles is kept at arms length on things, struggling to determine who he is in all of this, and we get a few threads thru the film like his crush on Gwen, his mom urging him to value himself, the cross spidervse recurrence of a relative of spiderman (typically a cop) getting killed - the last one freaks Miles out as he wants to save his dad. Also we see a greatly appreciated smattering of both old spiderverse friends (the adult Peter Parker, Spider-Ham, etc) and many more we may not have seen/noticed in the first film (a Lego Spider-man, a mopey emo kind of one, and others), mixed with some humor and funny references.

The story never drags, and while there are action sequences, they aren't for the sake of action and not over/under done. The meat is the story, the growth path Miles is on and how he is the key to the spidervse issues. So for 2h20m, it doesn't drag but continues to unfold up to the last scene*. I think there was a mid-credit scene, but for sure not an end credit = this is a Sony film, not Marvel. IMO, it picked up where the first left off as well as standoing well on it's own. 8.5/10 because of length. If you liked the first, you'll like this one.



*Not going to spoil things, but the way it ends left many of us frustrated in how it points to the next in the series; but at the same time it somewhat explains why whis was so long and has me concerened at how long the next one may be,

 

[TLB]

The Outsider (2018) <Netflix>

From IMDB - "An epic set in post-WWII Japan and centered on an American former G.I. who joins the yakuza." Jared Leto is the main character, and we open with him doing janitoriual duty in a Japanese prison. He stumbles upon a yakuza hanging in a bathroom and saves him, to which the yakuza "Kiyoshi" bonds with him and asks for his help to escape prison, in return Kiyoshi will be there for Leto when he gets out.

The good: A look inside post WW2 Japan with full visual effects of period cars, clothes, music, etc. A look inside the yakuza, as Kiyoshi seeks to give Leto a role in his gang, while they tangle with a rival gang.

The meh: Leto gets involved with Kiyoshi's sister, providing the film with a romance and Leto with a purpose, beyond just killing folks for the yakuza while being the gaijen outsider. Fight sequences are minimal, mostly 1950's gunfire with a bit of knife/sword kills (not fights). Several scenes in strip clubs if you like small Japanese breasts, several scenes in baths if you like full body yakuza tattoos.

The bad: It drags. A lot. And other than giving you a look into the period from an ex-soldier's view, it really doesn't deliver much and struggles to hold your attention..

Final verdict. 5/10 with a recommendation to skip it if you have the option.

 

[gingerlover]

Flamin' Hot (Disney +) - Read Wikipedia before deciding to watch. "True" story about the guy who created these Cheetos. Started out as a Janitor, makes a pitch to save the company, and gets a huge promotion. Typical Disney feel good story. 6/10 before reading that it was a total crock of sh*t and the guy lied about most of it. Turns out he was only a janitor for a year and didn't even work there when the product was made. Alas we are to believe his story, despite evidence showing otherwise, because it's his truth as a minority. After finding that out it killed it for me. Not to say he didn't become successful, but is clearly trying to claim credit for something he wasn't a part of.

Creed III (Prime) - Trying to recreate the Clubber Lang film. Childhood friend comes back and sets him up and tries to destroy his legacy. He come out of retirment to settle the score. Despite Michael B. Jordan wanting to believe he's adding some type of layers to these films its still just black Rocky. Your could cut an hour out of this movie and it would be better. Also don't like the fact he's trying to steal the franchise from Stallone. 5/10

Avatar 2 (Disney +) - 3.5 hours of drivel. Great effects, but could cut 1.5 hours of narration out about his life. Just give me the plot, the action and wrap it up. I don't need 1.5 hours of wasted time trying to make some enviromental statement or whatever they are doing. Basically picks up like 15-20 years after the first. Earth people cloned everyone from the first movie and they seek revenge. Now these guys like to swim with whales and stuff. My goodness this was long. Had a few nice parts, but at times is insufferable. 5/10

Renfield (Peacock) - Nic Cage and Nick Hoult. Cage is Dracula and Hoult is his depressed assistant. He has been forced to serve for decades and is trying to stand up to his toxic boss who as time goes on and the world changes in a way he can't adapt gets more unhinged. They are now forced to live in New Orleans after running out of money and being chased out of everywhere good. Hoult's job is to bring him food and now just brings dead gangsters. They get mixed up with the mob and cops. Not the best, but Cage works when he's playing a weirdo character that he can sink his teeth into (no pun intended). Has some cool action and a few funny parts. A few of the side characters are extremely annoying. 6/10

Mafia Mama (Free Rental) - Toni Collette and Monica Belluci. Collette inherits what she thinks is a winery from her estranged grandfather, but turns out it is his Mafia in Italy. She is a middle aged women, not respected at work and cheating husband. She goes all into trying to become the new boss. Has a few funny parts, no boobs and was free. 5/10.

 

[TLB]

The Gunman (20something)

I held off on watching this one forever because, well, Sean Penn, but I finally broke down.

This is another redemption movie about an operator and NGOs in Africa. As a movie for entertainment/good acting, movies like Blood Diamond will always be a better movie, but I actually liked this one. Whoever was doing the technical advising was very, very good and the Director clearly did what he was advised to do (dialogue/terminology as well as the action).

ThreatMatrix Matrix: I don't think there were actually any boobs, but the girl was hot and I really did want to see them.

Deet Diagram: A lot of the movie was in Africa, and they are all kinda homeless, but no ass seen.

Wfie and I sat down to watch this recently, but took a few days break midway thru to deal with kids activities.

The Gunman (2015) <Netflix>

As Deet points out, Sean Penn is our main character, working for an NGO in the Congo building an airport and providing security. Opening scenes establish he and a small crew are doing a bit of 'extra work' with their special skill set. Also, he has a girlfriend there doing humanitarian work who is obliviuos to their other work. Call comes down for a assassination on a political figure, and Jim (Sean Penn) is named the shooter, who has to exit the cntinent right after the jpb - no goodbye to the gf, just gone.

We pick up a few years later, he is back in Africa doing humanitarian work when some local gang come rolling in looking for hi specifically. Nobody should now him, where he is, etc; so he takes off to find his old working buddies to warn them someone may be after them as well, and to see what they know. One is now doing big 'illegal' business out of Spain, the other (the one with a crush on his gf) has since married his gf. She remains clueless.

PAUSE for a few days while we go to kids stuff. Return to the folm, and after bringing the wife back up to speed:

More traditional action film of Penn bein chased, turning the tables on hisursuers, rescuing his gf who still loves him, and getting some payback along the way. Add ina good friend from way back who helps him with safe houses, cars, etc....and Idris Elba as an Interpol officer who knows who Penn is and is trying to take down the similar group. Throw it in a blender with a dash of imdending brain death for Penn, and we have an action filled but fairly nonsensical back half of the film.

No boobs, though they teased us a lot with camera angles. Overall, there are better films. Penn wasn't bad, his two main opponents are reconizable actors and deliver their roles but they aren't stealing any scenes. Idris and the old friend Stanley seem to serve plot purposes somewhat to move things aloing and bring closure but it's kind of ham fisted. Spend your time elsewhere 5.5/10

 

[TLB]

Blackhat (2015) <Netflix>

IMDB: A furloughed convict and his American and Chinese partners hunt a high-level cybercrime network from Chicago to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Jakarta.

TLB: Thor lacks an accent, and it is unsettling. Chinese American lead that partners with him does very well in all aspects of his role. Background is they were friends in college, but the Chinese guy went back homee and works for ROC intelligence while Thor went feelance and got busted. Now, China picked up on some cyber terrorism stuff, and Chen convinces his superiors to let him work worth CIA to find the culprit. Chen gets CIA to spring Thor as the best man for tracking down the hacker because...hacker is using code these two developed together in college, but has been expandng on it. Overall film moves at a pace, no real slow parts. Villain remains unseen up untiil near the end (and is meh), but has an arms dealer as a front man of sorts that leads teams into a few firefights with our CCP/CIA team. Decent gun scenes, kinda, and slightly better hacker scenes (in terms of code used for those that would recognize it, moreso in the application of said code and real world implications). Also, Chen brings his sister along on everything - not clear why, or what she brings to the table. He confides in her early on about bringing Thor into the team, as though she knows him (presumably from college days), but when they meet it is like they don't know eachother, but of couse they fall in sex... I mean, in love. Not to spoil it futher but there's a hard (unexpected) twist midway thru, sending Thor and sis off through SE Asia on their own, as if sis has her bro's connections. Back half is fast paced, only lightly tethered to the first half, and fairly unbelievable.

Final verdict: No boobs helps ensure 4/10

 

[TLB]

Wife tried to pick a date night movie...

The Mother (2023) <Netflix>

IMDB: While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she left earlier in life.

TLB: Utter crap. Premise is JLo was in the military, got connected with both an arms dealer and a guy pilphering arms off a US base in ME and tries to be the third partner, ends up sleeping with both in an effort to stay close to both but they double cross her anyway. She is sharing this with FBI or CIA or someone when a hit team arrives and slaughters all the protection squad but she escapes and is revealed as pregnant. She saved one of the protection team, he helps her give the baby up to witness prtoection for the safety of all involved, and stays in touch with JLo over the years who is in hiding in the great white north. The bad guys get a line on the kid, so cop gives JLo a heads up and all the help he can so she can protect the kid, to include basically kidnapping her back to Alaska, and training her for survival. We have JLo tying to be a special forces bad ass, and while her body is still awesome, nobody is buying this. Gun play is ok, plot is tired (Nikita?) with a few new wrinkles that aren't noteworthy, estranged parent-child scenes are awkward and underdeliver.

Final: 4.5/10

 

[TLB]

Wife tries for date night Part Duex...

Ride Aling (2014) <Netflix>

IMDB: Security guard Ben must prove himself to his girlfriend's brother, top police officer James. He rides along James on a 24-hour patrol of Atlanta.

TLB: Mike Hart is Ben, is "Black Hammer" for online fps games, but otherwise a HS security guard who things becoming a cop will impress both his gf and her brother. Ice Cube is James, the veteran APD officer who hates his sister's boyfriend and makes the deal that if Hart can impress him doing a day of ride along then he will give his blessing of a wedding. Ice Cube asks dispatch to send him all the most annoying calls so he can embarass and humiliate Hart, and he enrolls a few of his partners to help make today awful for Hart. In parallel, Ice Cube has been working in finding some mysterious Omar gun dealer that nobody has ever seen, and his two closest parnters ave been helping along the way. Of note, John Leguizamo is one of the partners (always liked him, haven't seen him in much recently); and by 'helping' track down Omar I mean that Ice Cube gets them into situations without telling that's what he is doing. Hart does Hart with all the yelling and acting out through various scenes and situations, Cube is a little bit more of a hard arse than most of his roles but you know what you're getting in both actors. Film does well enough with some humor, mixing in some action, keeping a reasonable level of reality to it. The hugs-and-friends doesnt end quiet as mushy as one might expect but gets there, and resolves.

Final: Ok for a date night, but you have to want those two actors and accept what you get. 6/10

 

[TLB]

Thought I'd done this one, but can't find it:

Annhilation (2018) <Netflix recently added>

IMDB: A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don't apply.

TLB: I'd watched this a few years ago and loved the eye candy, and wanted to rewatch as we recently bought a new tv. Second watching delivered spectacularly on the visual effects (yay new tv!) but allowed me to catch a lot more of the story than I did on the first go. Film protagonist is Lena (Natalie Portman), a biologist married to a special forces guy who deploys periodically and can't tell her much. We catch her after he's been gone for a long time, and suddenly appears at her home with limited memory. Gov't swoops in and quarantines them both and interrogates her as they can't get much from him. Add in Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dr. Ventress, in charge of the gov't mission trying to determine what is happening at some lighthouse on the coast. Apparently a recent 'rainbow wall' went up around the location and is slowly expanding, so the govt and Ventress have sent in a military team (Lena's husband, Kane) but never heard anything after they entered. Ventress leads a second team to go in, but it is comprised of all women and while some have military skill they are selected for various scientific skills. Lena adds on to find out what happenend to her husband, and throw in her skills (also served army). Small discussions along the way reveal all of the second team have 'suicidal' reasons for signing up, and through discussions/flashbacks we come to understand Lena is questioning why her husband would have signed up for it, and what role she played in that, and ultimately we have to ask if she is punishing herself to a degree.

The rainbow wall is like a prism that distorts light and sound so they immediately lost connection to oudtside. Additionally, they quickly figure out time is different inside the prism....as is life, as they encounter plants and animals that appear variants of normal earth creatures, but corrupted/scrambled/prismed to a degree. For example, one of them is attacked by what appears to be a 30ft alligator...with shark teeth; later they encounter trees that are growing in human shapes; at one point a team member is killed by a bear like creature and it begins screaming with her voice. They come across the base set up by the initial military team and discover more of what's going on and what happened to that team, but they continue towards the lighthouse for ultimate answers. JJL reaches it ahead of Lena (the others don't make it there, soiler alert) and echoes/explains some of what we suspect is occurring. Lena arrives later and finds a camera inside the lighthouse and watches the recording to see what happened with her husband, then gets our conversation with JJL, and ultimately engages with a being - killing the creature. The reveal/explanation I will share is that it appears to be alien in nature, not necessarily malicious but exploratory - hence reading all DNA and trying to build it's own life forms and adapt. The end scene is interesting in what it leaaves you to consider - not some moral question, but what happens to Lena and Kane going forward.

Final: Definitely recommend. 9/10

 

[Theologator]

Avatar 2, The Way of Water

Visually stunning, the plot is idiotic, obvious and oh so very preachy. A huge stain on the brand. 2/10.

 

[Theologator]

Creed III - interesting back story for Creed’s character, classic Rocky fight prep formula, but any tension is muted because we all know what’s coming. It falls far short of Rocky III. 5/10

 

[wrpgator]

"Weird: The Al Yankovic Story"
I laughed all through this Roku production. Al Yankovic’s life story using high parody—like he does in his music. No skin, no cussing at all (Yankovic avoids that form of cheap thrills) but the humor around the basic facts of his actual weird life are good old fashioned fun for anyone vaguely familiar with Yankovic’s work and the times. He once auditioned for a spot in a 70’s punk rock band and showed up with his accordion.
Yankovic’s first hit “My Bologna”—a parody of The Knack’s “My Sharona” was recorded in a public bathroom because they liked the acoustics.
Good stuff.

 

[Theologator]

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

We really enjoyed it. I didn’t like Temple of Doom and Crystal Skull was terrible. This 5th slots in a bit below Last Crusade for me, and earns a solid thumbs up.

Loved: the nods to the original and successful recapture of the feel. He’s old and a bit cranky, but the magic returned. The ending is exquisite. Fun action scenes in a nearly nonstop chase movie. CGI of younger Indy is flawless. Scary flawless.

Meh: The Dial of Destiny? What? Can’t we just melt these guys’ faces again? But what he’s chasing/protecting isn’t that important, is it?

7/10, worth seeing in the theater. Summer fun.

 

[gingerlover]

Finally got to see some good movies. Most have already been reviewed so I will be short with just my opinion.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Already reviewed but well done and a nice bow tie to the current group of characters should this be their last one. They did a good job providing some growth and resolution to the ones that have been there in my opinion and setup for the next group (how that goes who knows). They also leave a never say never opening should any choose to return despite a few publicly saying they are done. As usual there were many nice throwbacks to the previous films/specials all the way through the last credit scene if you are paying attention. It felt like even the smallest characters got some type of resolution. By far the best MCU movie since the last Spider-Man. This may also be the best version of Groot they have done as well, but would like to see more Kaiju Groot. 8/10

John Wick: Chapter 4 (Free Rental) - Another one already reviewed and even though it has an almost 3 hour run time you wouldn't know it. Its basically balls to the wall from the get go. Same story as before. Wick continues his revenge tour while everyone is basically hunting him. Sets up a showdown for him to finally be free. The end battle if you will ended very satisfying. The look on the guys face was priceless. Then ending was a little bitter sweet, but once again it provides them some wiggle room should they decide they want to go again. 8/10

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Went with my 10 year old who is a huge Spider-Man fan. Follows Miles a few year after the first when Gwen visits him and takes him to a parallel universe with all the Spider-Men from each dimension. Digs deep into the troubles the first movie caused, as well as the events if No Way Home caused as well. They link everything togethor from Lego to Video Games and has a few cameo's from some of the live action movies that were great. The story-line of Miles and why he wasn't invited was truly interesting and of course this is only part 1 so they leave you on a great cliffhanger as different teams, with different goals, begin to form. I'm not a huge fan of this animation style, but this movie was good. Looking forward to the next part. 7.5/10

While they didn't cram to much politics in it somehow this movie has become something that the left has been championing, but it is setting up a story that shows the need for something they hate the most. That is for another forum though.

Extraction II (Netflix) - Thor stars in this and picks up after the first film. Basically he is pulled out of retirement to extract the wife and children of a terrorist as they are essentially held prisoner. That's the jest of it. Its basically action the majority of the movie and while not the greatest its pretty good for a Netflix film. 6/10.

 

[MJMGator]

Finally got to see some good movies. Most have already been reviewed so I will be short with just my opinion.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Already reviewed but well done and a nice bow tie to the current group of characters should this be their last one. They did a good job providing some growth and resolution to the ones that have been there in my opinion and setup for the next group (how that goes who knows). They also leave a never say never opening should any choose to return despite a few publicly saying they are done. As usual there were many nice throwbacks to the previous films/specials all the way through the last credit scene if you are paying attention. It felt like even the smallest characters got some type of resolution. By far the best MCU movie since the last Spider-Man. This may also be the best version of Groot they have done as well, but would like to see more Kaiju Groot. 8/10

John Wick: Chapter 4 (Free Rental) - Another one already reviewed and even though it has an almost 3 hour run time you wouldn't know it. Its basically balls to the wall from the get go. Same story as before. Wick continues his revenge tour while everyone is basically hunting him. Sets up a showdown for him to finally be free. The end battle if you will ended very satisfying. The look on the guys face was priceless. Then ending was a little bitter sweet, but once again it provides them some wiggle room should they decide they want to go again. 8/10

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - Went with my 10 year old who is a huge Spider-Man fan. Follows Miles a few year after the first when Gwen visits him and takes him to a parallel universe with all the Spider-Men from each dimension. Digs deep into the troubles the first movie caused, as well as the events if No Way Home caused as well. They link everything togethor from Lego to Video Games and has a few cameo's from some of the live action movies that were great. The story-line of Miles and why he wasn't invited was truly interesting and of course this is only part 1 so they leave you on a great cliffhanger as different teams, with different goals, begin to form. I'm not a huge fan of this animation style, but this movie was good. Looking forward to the next part. 7.5/10

While they didn't cram to much politics in it somehow this movie has become something that the left has been championing, but it is setting up a story that shows the need for something they hate the most. That is for another forum though.

Extraction II (Netflix) - Thor stars in this and picks up after the first film. Basically he is pulled out of retirement to extract the wife and children of a terrorist as they are essentially held prisoner. That's the jest of it. Its basically action the majority of the movie and while not the greatest its pretty good for a Netflix film. 6/10.

I tried to watch it with my 9 year old son but we turned off Gaurdians of the Galaxy 3 an hour into it. Boring AF.

 

[GatorJB]

Mission Impossible 7: Fun movie, great action, acting, stunt work, and practical effects. I really enjoyed it. It's a long movie, almost 3 hours, but there is so much going on, it doesn't feel like three hours. The only negatives are that it's predictable and Ethan Hunt survived a couple of incidents that would have resulted in death in real life, but I was so entertained that I didn't care. 8/10