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

Father's Day, my turn in picking the family movie anyway. Kids only assertion was "NO MORE 80s". So, I looked for something for the family a little more recent...ended up getting a movie for the wife so I can get some points towards tonight


Max (2015)

Premise is an older son is in Afghanistan with his service dog running point for the unit. He's best bud from home is in the unit as well. Things go bad, the son dies, dog is shipped home to Texas with PTSD but the son's family takes him in as there is a younger brother the dog responds to. For the plot, the buddy in the unit is bad (black market selling of some of the weapons they find in the war), discharged from the marines and heads home. Tyler (bad guy) connects with the town hispanic thug to sell the arms to some cartel fellas. Meanwhile remaining (good) son and dog bond, with the help of his hispanic (good) friend, and his cousin who arrives to play the teen love interest. I'm butchering this, but it really doesn't matter, bottom line, Hallmark made a movie that went thru the theaters, that's what we've got. Family drama, some really bad (for Hallmark) dudes, young teen love, and a dog. What more do you want for Father's day? Besides maybe a movie dad would have picked . Kids made it thru a non-80's film, wife cried a few times (she's spent most of Covid lockdown watching the Hallmark channel, she was primed for it). Overall, decent family watch (albeit 1:50 long, as opposed to a kids movie running 90min). Meh, but a good family meh. 6.5/10

ThreatMatrix Rating: Mom pounds the bible throughout and finally says "Damn" That's about all you get. Oh, and a pair of 14y old have a wholly unnecessary lips-only kiss.


PS - mom is from Gilmore girls (the ONE we all recognize) and dad is the mechanic from Wings (might be about all he's done since then).

 

Den of Thieves (2018) <NETFLIX>

Tagline is LA's tough guy Sheriff unit goes up against the most successful bank robbery crew. Commercials were pretty good, and I wanted to see it. Now I have. As lead Sheriff, we have Gerald Butler who many will recognize from several films but most notably 300. He gets some side sex, some divorce, some kids being taken away, all in hopes of making him more relatable, and it works a little but not a lot. He plays the role well as an over the top cop, but the non-cop parts are kinda meh. For the bad guys, we have Pablo Schreiber whom I honestly don't know from a hole in the wall but his resume is filled with tv series (Orange is the New Black). We don't get much character work for the posse, but the bad guy crew has several good faces and their family time humanity carries much better (at least for 50 cent). We almost want them to win. The wild card is O'Shea Jackson Jr. picked up as a driver for the job, rolled by the cops, used by the crew, beat to **** by the cops. Throughout the film, the tension between lead villain and lead cop (can't say 'good guy') is palpable, and you keep feeling there's a connection somewhere, somehow, and a twist you wanna predict. I won't spoil it, but there is a twist ending (they are filming a sequel) that most won't see coming until it reveals itself, but you can start to see the pieces fall into place in the big shoot out (more bullets than needed, a foot chase, and mano-a-mano conclusion). Definitely worth the watch. 8.5/10

ThreatMatrix: One scene in a strip club, and the women are dancing clothed. Go figure.

 

Sinister (2012)

Ethan Hawke stars as a true crime novelist in search of his next big hit (last one was 10y ago). Now with a wife, 12y old son, and 8-10y old daughter in tow he's packed the family up and moved to yet another small town to research a family killing. The hook is that all were killed but a young child. The secret from his family is rather than just moving to the town....he bought their house. Film never drags, but is heavy with dramatic music as we get regular moments of anxiety throughout the buildup. Over the course of his research, he explores the attic and finds a box of 8mm tapes of events about once every decade or so with the most recent being when the family died. He watches it, of course, with notes like "Who is doing the filming"" and "Where is Stephanie?", the obvious audience questions. In watching the other films, each one is of a family being killed - different era, different mode of death, but all multiple homicides. He enlists a local cop (Officer So and so) who helps research them and find in all cases, a family was slain and a young child was spared but missing. The film builds well throughout, feeding you ideas and connections as we watch him sink deeper into obsession until he determines to escape and save both himself and his family from this weird string of history. He burns the films, packs up the family to leave in the middle of the night and escape. I'll stop there not to spoil it, but I'll say if you want a supernatural suspense kinda thing, it'll do reasonably well. The acting is good, Ethan carries it all pretty well and we have a cameo from Vincent D'Onofrio as a professor of occult, and Fred Thompson as your not so friendly local sheriff, though the rest of the supporting cast are not given enough screen time to matter (wife is pretty forgettable). I won't spoil it, but the ending is a bit predictable inasmuch as it can be, so if the film was cruising at an 8-9/10, the ending lost it a half point. Not horrible, just felt like they let off the gas at the end. 8/10

ThreatMatrix - wife in a t-shirt with a forgettable body. Nothing to write home about.

 

The Hunt (2020)

This is the one that got some noise on conservative talk radio about elite (dems) hunting deplorables. I heard guys talking on the radio today about it being more a dark comedy and the politics is less about making a statement and more about playing off stereotypes, 90min in and out. So I figure "sure, why not". The opening scene starts with text messages that lead to mention of 'The Hunt', and the second scene is ripe with stereotype as we're on an airplane and some big fat redneck stumbles into first class where people are aghast, and things go bloody from there. Rather than a detailed play by play, I'll say I had a good hard laugh about every 5-10min throughout, either based on dialogue or actions pivoting from the stereotypes or from simple blood splatter comedy (ie, a girl falls in a spiked pit, is saved, then blown up and lands back in the same damn pit). I'd say it was a good black comedy throughout up to the 1:10 mark, then the last 20min shifted gears significantly. It didn't slow down or drag until that point, but when our lead hunted meets up with our lead hunter, they damn near pause the pace. We have a very slow ending of dialogue (more of stereotype commentary) but even that almost reaches a point of deadpan on both sides. They kick it back into gear with an extended fighting sequence, and wrap up with a little bow to close out. This really won't win any awards, but it was done with B++ quality (on gore and scenery) and heavily lifted by the dark comedic aspects. I would recommend this one, regardless of your political lean. 8.5/10


ThreatMatrix: Hillary Swank plays our lead hunter, but they hide her from camera until the big finale. Tight fitting attire for the fight sequence, butter face. Contrast that with our lead huntee 'Snowball' who has 90% camera time, and you are better off the way they did it. Betty Gilpin plays 'Snowball' with a great figure and a chest that is front and center throughout. There's no skin, no sex, nothing beyond the eye candy, but it was GREAT! (Aside from Snowball's perma-frown that was a little off putting, but I got over it quickly).