Eric266 Reviews

Damsel (2024)

A Twist on an Old Trope

[7/10 · 25 March 2024]

I'm an avid watcher of the YouTube channel The Critical Drinker. He's a film critic who gives his reviews while pretending (I think) to be drunk. He absolutely eviscerated this movie.

However, I quite enjoyed it. It took a basic principle of the damsel in distress and added a new twist. Millie Bobbie Brown is the damsel of the title, named Elodie. She is the oldest daughter of the King Bayford (Ray Winstone). Elodie has a younger sister, Floria (Brooke Carter) and her stepmother is Lady Bayford (Angela Bassett). Their kingdom is very poor, so King Bayford betroths Elodie to Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) from a rich kingdom run by Queen Isabelle (Robin Wright). The problem is, Queen Isabelle's ancestors tangled with a nearby dragon (Persian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo provides the delicious voice of the dragon) and are forced to offer a sacrifice to the dragon in the form of a princess. By having Prince Henry marry someone from another kingdom, they can sacrifice that poor girl instead of one of their own. So, naturally, Elodie gets hurled into the dragon's lair after her wedding.

However, Elodie is not your typical damsel. She is smart, resilient and resourceful. She plays a cat and mouse game with the dragon trying to stay alive. Along the way, she discovers the truth about the dragon's history.

Ms. Brown is very good as Elodie. She does not come off as a girl boss. She is determined, scared, brave and vulnerable. Angela Bassett also has a nice turn as the stepmother who is anything but evil. Another trope twisted, as she is a fierce ally. Robin Wright is elegant and vile as Queen Isabelle who is willing to offer up innocent girls to save her kingdom.

The sets are beautiful and the action is well directed. The story moves along and is very compact so we learn everything without having to have it explained to us via exposition (a very common thing with today's writers). There is no fluff in this movie and its runtime of 110 minutes moves along quickly. The one negative in this movie is the dialogue. Its not terrible, but its not great either. Some of it is corny and some of it comes off as copied from an old folk tale. It doesn't ruin the movie, but it does make you chuckle for the wrong reasons.

I gave it a 7 because of the dialogue and some of the scenes are so dark you can't tell what's happening.

Hidden Strike (2023)

Poor Plot, but Fun Cast

[6/10 · 13 March 2024]

Jackie Chan supposedly retired from acting several years ago, but occasionally makes a movie to fund his various causes. It sure looks like this is one of those films,

Chan is Luo, a special forces soldier rescuing villagers from a war torn area. Cena is Chris, a former special forces soldier who gets mixed up with his brother's mercenary friends and crosses paths with Luo. Once Chris' brother is killed, he teams up with Luo to get revenge on the one responsible, Paddock (Pilou Asbaek). There are a lot of fights, lots of jokes, and silly (and goofy) scenes. Its obvious Chan is getting a little old to be making these movies as there are a lot of jump cuts in the fight scenes as opposed to long scenes of Chan doing amazing stunts. Time catches up to us all.

There is nothing new here that wasn't done better in Rush Hour or Shanghai Noon. Despite its definitive unoriginality, the movie sparkles because of its leads. Cena and Chan are likeable and have enough screen charisma to carry the film...barely.

Its not a great film, but its a fun way to spend 100 minutes.

Seraphim Falls (2006)

Good Only Because of the Actors Involved

[6/10 · 11 March 2024]

This movie starts out as a typical revenge Western, but then tries to be a mythical allegory. It was as if two different writers wrote the script. It could have succeeded as either, but it needed to chose one or the other.

Pierce Brosnan is Gideon, a former Union Colonel who burned down the home of former Confederate Colonel Carver (Liam Neeson). Carver swears revenge and spends the entire movie chasing Gideon through the mountains and deserts of Nevada with a posse of four other men (two of whom are played by Ed Lauter and Michael Wincott). The two actors raise the script above the tediousness of its plot. The men encounter other people along the way who either help or hinder them. None of it is really exciting or original, but again, Brosnan and Neesom could make reading tax code interesting.

The final act is where the movie started to bog down. It tries to get mystical and bgrings in Wes Studi and Angelica Huston to lend some gravitas to the goings on. It kind of works, but had the entire movie been more allegorical, perhaps the ending would have fit. But it felt like a totally different film at that point. When Studi delivers his line about what you take and what you have, I chuckled a bit because it reminded me of his character in Mystery Men where he spouted out pretentious platitudes.

The cast is really all this movie has to offer. Its well acted and the scenery is beautiful at times. The story just lacks any power or draw.

65 (2023)

Mediocre Movie

[5/10 · 27 January 2024]

I'm an Adam Driver fan, but even he can't save this movie. There is nothing really wrong with it, but there's nothing really right with it either. It just takes every basic trope from every other dinosaur and sci-fi movie and uses them at their most basic effect.

Driver is Mills, an astronaut from a distant planet who agrees on a two year mission to get the funds to save his dying daughter. While in cryogenic sleep, his spacecraft is hit by asteroids and he wakes up just in time to crash land the craft. Everyone else on board dies so he strikes out on his own to find two of escape pods that his onboard computer tells him are still functioning. Along the way, he discovers the sleep pod of another passenger, a young girl named Koa (Ariana Greenblatt) who speaks a different language so they have to communicate as best they can.

There are dinosaurs, swamps, and quicksand to fend off. None of this is original and nothing really interesting happens. They just fight off various creatures and go from one danger to another. There is a twist ending that the writers seem to hope no one remembers a certain 1968 movie about astronauts crash landing on a planet.

The special effects are good, but nothing you haven't seen elsewhere.

The Out-Laws (2023)

Utter Waste of Talent, but Not a Waste of Time

[5/10 · 25 January 2024]

How does a movie that includes Pierce Brosnan, Ellen Barkin, and Michael Rooker fail? You let Adam Sandler's production company produce it.

Owen (Adam Devine) and Parker (Nina Dobrev) are a young soon-to-be married couple. Owen's neurotic parents (Richard Kind and Julie Haggerty) make his life miserable. Mere days before the wedding, Parker's absentee parents, Billy and Lilly (Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin) show up out of the blue. They have missed huge parts of Parker's life recently as they have spent time abroad in third world countries. The typical hijinks of parents meeting each other as well as their soon to be son/daughter in-law gets another take. Nothing new here and I saw almost the same scenes when I watched You People last night. Michael Rooker is an FBI agent tracking the notorious bank robbing couple known as the Ghost Bandits. Guess who are the bandits? When a former partner of the thieving couple returns and kidnaps Parker, Owen inserts himself in a scheme to rob banks to pay back the kidnapper.

There are some laugh out loud scenes here, but they are few and far between. Devine is a likeable actor, but he has done much better work in When We First Met, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates and Game Over, Man! There is a cute throw away joke about James Bond and a hilarious runnig gag about an orgy and Dan Marino (yes you read that correctly). The biggest problem here is that Billy and Lilly are bad people. They rob banks and actually physically injure the security guards. During a chase scene, dozens of cops are supposedly injured when their cars are destroyed. Owen even drives an armored vehicle through a cemetery, destroying headstones by the dozens. Its supposed to be funny, but its kind of disturbing.

The cast is the only thing that keeps this movie afloat. They seem to be having a good time. The writing and directing just really lets them down. The whole "meet the parents" trope has been done before and to much better effect. Still, I enjoyed it for what it was and wasn't expecting a whole lot.

You People (2023)

Decent, but Missed the Point it was Trying to Make

[6/10 · 23 January 2024]

This movie was trying to say something about how different cultures can work together if we don't let our ignorances and biases get in the way, but the characters are so one-dimensional that the point gets lost in weak screenwriting.

Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) meet cute and fall in love. When Ezra proposes and Amira accepts, their worlds collide as he is a white Jew and she is a Black Muslim. Ezra's parents, Shelley and Arnold (Julia Louis-Dreyfus and David Duchovny), and Amira's parent's, Akbar and Fatima (Eddie Murphy and Nia Long) do more harm than good as they try to to grasp what their children are doing. Nothing new here as this has been done dozens of times in movies and TV shows. The actors are all skilled enough to pull it off (especially Hill and London), but it just feels so familiar.

What I have an issue with is the way the two groups of parents are portrayed. Ezra's parents are shown as pretentious and out of touch while Amira's parents are shown as proud black people standing up for their people. Akbar is kind of a jerk, but he is portrayed as a father who loves his daughter while Shelley is portrayed as unknowingly racist looking down from her ivory tower. Do both of these kinds of people exists? Sure, but the movie would have been way more impactful if the parents on both sides had been portrayed equally and displayed these same traits. The more we think we are different, the more we are actually the same. Our biases and insecurities about other cultures make us more alike than we think. Akbar's change of heart at the end is totally unbelievable as his need to protect his daughter would not have waivered, while Shelley's makes sense as she never disliked Amira, she just didn't know how to relate to her.

I really enjoyed this movie for the first hour. Most of the jokes hit and I was laughing out loud quite a bit. The supporting cast was funny and there were a lot of famous actors doing cameos. It took me a second to recognize Richard Benjamin.

You know what would be really original? If this movie had been written without the racial theme. It was just two people from different lives who fall in love. The racial divide is up on the screen for you to see, you don't have to get hit over the head with it in every word of dialogue.

Love and Monsters (2020)

A Small Budget Gem

[7/10 · 13 December 2023]

This is a really sweet, funny, and charming movie. A young man, Joel, survives an apocalyptic event that turns insects and certain other creatures (ants, frogs, crabs, etc) into gigantic monsters. Survivors live in colonies underground. In his colony, Joel is designated as the cook, as he freezes up in tense situations and is useless on hunting parties. When Joel finds out his former girlfriend, Aimee, is alive in another colony 85 miles away, he decides to trek across open country to reunite with her. Along the way, he picks up a canine friend, Boy, and meets an older man (the always reliable Michael Rooker) and a young girl, who teach him how to survive.

The budget is small, the special effects are bargain basement, but the movie has a heart that is missing from most movies. It is well written and directed and a cast of basic unknowns do a great job.

Every character is imbued with humanity and Joel's physical and emotional journey are well acted by Dylan O'Brien. His girlfriend, portrayed by Jessica Henwick, is resourceful, determined and compassionate.

This is how movies should be made. They made it for $30m and you can see where they cut corners with the effects. Still, you don't need to spend $300m to make an entertaining movie. While it only made back $1.1m, COVID had a lot to do with that. I hope they make a sequel, preferably on a streaming platform. I'd like to see how Joel and Aimee fare in the future.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Its Not Terrible, but Its not Great

[6/10 · 12 December 2023]

It took me four separate viewings to get through this movie. It did get better, but its not a great movie by any means.

The first 20 minutes are about as good as any other parts of the series. But then the next hour is grating. The dialogue is amateurish and the action scenes are so contrived its like they had several set pieces in mind and just needed to fill in gaps to get from one to the other. Lots has been written about the Helena character played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She annoyed me very much in the early parts of the film, which is why I kept turning it off. The last 45 minutes or so, her character tones down the annoyance factor and she's a decent addition. Had she played the character that way from the beginning, I think a lot of the hate would have been diffused. It wasn't a character arc. There was no situation that made her stop being annoying. She just stopped being annoying. Its like they wrote scenes for two separate characters, one who would be killed off, then changed their minds and combined the scenes/dialogue into one Helena character.

During the iconic scenes of the red line crossing the map as they traveled the world, someone decided NOT to include the theme song. I mean, WTF!?

Indiana Jones deserved a better send off than this. It wasn't terrible, maybe a bit too long and the direction was weak, but it still can't match the previous entries. It was missing the element of fun and adventure from previous entries and that is what really turned me off. It just didn't match the escapist tone of the earlier movies.

Obliterated (2023)

Betrer Than It Has a Right to Be

[7/10 · 2 December 2023]

I had never heard of this show. I was scrolling through my Yahoo news feed and saw a review of the show. The title of the review was so condescending I just had to read it. The author obliterated the show (pun intended). She was extremely critical of all the sex and gratuitous nudity. She basically said the show was a waste of time.

Of course, this made me want to watch it. I have to say, it lacks direction, the writing is poor, and there is a ton of filler to bloat it to eight episodes. Having said that, I LOVED THIS SHOW for the exact reasons the critic stated. It dumb as hell, but its a fun ride. The actors have really good chemistry and I binged watched it.

An elite special forces crew thinks they have stopped a nuclear terrorist attack in Las Vegas, so to celebrate, they get hammered on a combination of drugs, alcohol, sex, and other basic debauchery (a camel is involved). They then learn the plot they stopped was a decoy, so they have 7 hours to stop the real bombing. Still obliterated (hence the title) they spend the next 7 hours whacked out of their minds while trying to find a briefcase nuke.

Ava is a hardened CIA operative running the team who recently lost her fiance on a mission. McKinight is the Team Lead and resident hunk with an ego problem. Trunk is the muscle who can't ever seem to get something to eat. Gomez is the sniper, a Michelle Rodriguez knock off who is a lesbian and hides her emotions. Paul is the married helicopter pilot with family issues. Maya is the tech nerd who is in love with McKnight, but is too shy to say it. Lastly, there is Haggerty, the explosives expert who spends most of the series in a drug induced stupor. There is another character named Lana, a ditzy blonde who the team rescued during the original mission and she tags along as she has intimate knowledge of one of the villains. These characters all seem pretty standard on these types of shows, but the actors imbue them with just enough personality to make them stand out. Unfortunately, the villains are pretty one-dimensional which is really the biggest failing of the show.

There are a ton of gunfights, fist fights, sex, graphic nudity, humor and some pretty extreme torture scenes. In fairness, all the actors wind up nude at some point so there is definitely no inequality there.

Sadly, I think this is one of those one season events. The premise of the show could not be repeated and I don't think there is enough originality to the show for it to sustain a second season. Still, it was a fun watch and the show knew exactly what it was and didn't try to be anything else.

Loki (2021–2023)

Marvel Still Has Some Magic Left

[8/10 · 25 November 2023]

I adored Season 1 and I think I might like Season 2 just a smidge better. Most of the MCU since Endgame has been pretty bad, but Loki was the exception. Season 1 had a great story, fun characters and kept my interest. Season 2 felt like a different show to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels different in tone and direction from Season 1.

After Sophie killed Kang last season, the multiverse went into overload. That leads to Loki attempting to stop the destruction of all of the universes by getting assembling a team of his own to get everything back to normal. That is a very simplistic explanation for Season 2, but its all about the execution of the story. The time travel elements of the plot have been done before, but the acting, directing and writing are so good, its one of the most enjoyable time travel shows I have watched in a long time. Tom Hiddleston is an amazing actor and the MCU needs to figure out how to get him back into the movies, even though I think he is done with the MCU. The supporting cast is top notch and there is nary a weak link here. Even Jonathan Majors, whose reputation has taken a hit of late, does well playing a Miles Dyson-esque version of Kang (if you get the T-2 reference). New cast member Ke Huy Quan is a fun addition and the beefing up of other characters' roles were done well. Again, no weak links here.

As I said, the one thing about this show is it doesn't really feel like an MCU show. That's not a negative. Loki Season 2 is a really well made show with enough tension, comedy and action, to keep it going. There is no filler episodes to pad it out. I just wish the creators of the other shows and movies would pay attention. This is how you make movies/tv shows.

The Flash (I) (2023)

Better than its Box Office

[6/10 · 30 August 2023]

Like most people, I waited for this movie to come to Max as I did not think it was worthy of spending the money to see it in theaters. While it has problems, its still an enjoyable and fun movie.

Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) decided to go back in time to try and save his mother. In doing so, he gets trapped in the past with his younger self (who hasn't received his powers yet). The two of them seek out Bruce Wayne for assistance, but the Bruce Wayne in this timeline is a retired Michael Keaton, not Ben Affleck. The two Barrys convince Bruce to assist them in finding the Superman. When they discover the imprisoned Kryptonian in Siberia, its not Kal-el they find, but Kara-el (Sasha Calle), his cousin. Old Barry also finds out he has unleashed General Zod (Michael Shannon) on Earth again. Together, with a newly empowered young Barry, this new Justice League attempts to thwart Zod while also resetting the timeline.

The CGI is awful for a movie that costs $200m (before marketing). I simply do not understand how a movie in this day and age looks so cheesy. Actors are on strike to avoid digital representations of them in the future, but if The Flash is any indication, they don't need to worry. My second issue is with the character of Supergirl (can we still call her that). I enjoyed Ms. Calle's performance as Kara, but she is way underutilized. In the comic on which this movie is based, its Kal-el they find not Kara, but I didn't mind the gender swap. I did mind, the swap if you are just going to waste the character. She contributes almost nothing to the plot and there was some great storyline that could have been explored, but it seemed like the director just wanted to get in more CGI battles. The other issue i had was the idea that two Barry's could defeat an army of Zod's supermen. One Superman kicked the snot out of Barry in Justice League. Yet hundreds of them are easily defeated by...I'm not making this up...kicking them.

Having said all of that, the individual parts are better than the whole. I know Miller has a ton of off camera issues, but he has always been my favorite part of the Justice League. His wide-eyed, innocent attitude was a perfect counterbalance to all the gods around him. This Barry is more mature and even he gets annoyed by his younger self. I imagine I would also get upset with my arrogant 20 year old self if I met him...me....today. The byplay and filming of these scenes are excellent and you can't tell its one guy playing two roles in the same scene. The inclusion of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne/Batman was a nice nostalgia kick. He still looks menacing and psychotic which was the best part of him being Batman. He looks insane enough to be running around at night dressed like a bat. Sasha Calle looked amazing in the costume and there was some serious potential for a story arc that got wasted. She went from being an isolated prisoner to being human's best hope rather quickly. There was a moment where it seemed like she might turn on the humans (for imprisoning her) but then she sides with them almost at the drop of a hat. Missed opportunity in my opinion.

I'm not a huge fan of these multiverse storylines. Seems like it just an excuse to bring back actors or characters and shuffle plots lines when you run out of new ideas. I did enjoy it in Spider-man: No Way Home, and to some extent it was fun in The Flash, but its being overdone. Still, I enjoyed The Flash as a low-tier superhero movie and was not disappointed at all.

The Pope's Exorcist (2023)

Gladiator vs. Satan

[6/10 · 21 August 2023]

Russell Crowe plays the real life Pope's exorcist, Gabriele Amorth. Father Amorth passed away in 2006 and its probably a good thing. While this movie is spooky and entertaining, its a big, exaggerated, and I assume highly fictionalized, version of a time in Father Amorth's life.

The Pope (Franco Nero) assigns Father Amorth to look into a potential demonic possession of a young boy in Spain. The boy, Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), his mother Julia (Alex Essoe) and his sister Amy (Laurel Marsden) are Americans who move to Spain after the death of Henry's father in a car accident. They are living in an old Spanish abbey that is the only think Julia's husband left them when he died in a car accident the year before. A local priest, Father Esquible (Daniel Zovatto) is out of his element, but is enlisted by Amorth to assist in the exorcism.

The possession tropes are all here. Contortions, scary voices, lights going on and off, crosses turning upside down, people getting thrown around, possessed people spewing fluids and cursing, climbing walls and crawling around like spiders. There is a mystery about the origin of the abbey dealing with the church's role in the Inquisition.

There is some gratuitous nudity that just felt out of place in this movie. I mean, I like naked breasts as much as the next guy, but it just felt a bit uneccessary.

Crowe does a really good job as Father Amorth. He has the right balance of faith, weariness and conviction for someone who faces evil of all kinds. Zovatto's performance as Father Esquibel, to me, was the highlight of the film. He keeps everything grounded, despite the bizarre happenings. All three of the actors playing the family members are cookie-cutter performances and don't really add or subtract from the proceedings. There are some genuine chills in this move and a few scary moments. I enjoyed it and its crisp runtime kept it from getting boring. Still, I was hoping for a bit more story and less stunt work. I mean how many times do we need to see someone get thrown across a room into a mirrored wall and get right back up? One character, while wrestling with a possessed child, gets their head smashed through a ceramic sink with no effect. I might have tapped out and sought some aspirin.

Enjoy it for what it is. Then go watch the Exorcist again.

The Hungover Games (2014)

OMG Its Bad

[3/10 · 2 August 2023]

I generally try to find the best in just about any movie. However, there is nothing to see here. This is what happens when you take the decayed corpse of a franchise (the Freidberg/Seltzer spoof movies) and then run a few jolts of electricity through it. The movie tries, but boy, is it bad. The aforementioned joke I made about reviving a corpse is appropriate since Jonathan Silverman somehow got dragged into this movie and his main claim to game are the Weekend at Bernie movies.

They tried to combine the Hunger Games with the Hangover, and then throw in just about every pop culture character from the time (circa 2014), you get this mishmash of ideas and its completely a waste. If you took the scripts from the two movies its spoofing, shredded them, threw them in the air and then taped together what you could catch, you'd have something funnier than this nonsense. The end credits alone are like outtakes from rejected Jackass episodes.

How does something like this even get made?

Reminiscence (2021)

A Dark Moody Dystopian Film

[7/10 · 26 July 2023]

In the near future, global warming has caused flooding that drowns most of the southern coast to include Miami and Louisiana. The rich live up high on dry land while the poor dwell down at water logged level. Apparently a war broke out at some point when the flooding began as several characters reference it. In this bleak future, Nick Bannister (Hugh Jackman) has the ability to aid people in reliving memories by putting them in a sensory tank and projecting a hologram of their memories onto a platform. It allows people to relive a fond memory, find missing items, or just go back to a time when they were most happy. The problem I had is the way this is portrayed in the film. You would think if he is accessing someone's memories, you would literally see it through their eyes or viewpoint. Instead, we get a panoramic view of whatever is happening in the memory. I understand it makes better viewing for the audience, but its odd that it looks like someone was there filming their memories from a distance. He is assisted by his partner, Emily Sanders (Thandiwe Newton), who has some bad memories in her past that she has no interest in reliving. One day, Mae (Rebecca Ferguson) enters their business because she has lost some keys, Nick falls hopelessly in love. When Mae suddenly disappears, Nick puts himself in the tank and keeps trying to find things in his own memories that he thinks he missed that might help solve Mae's disappearance. This leads him down a rabbit hole of trying to locate Mae and finding out she may not have been who he thought she was.

I really liked this movie. It was an interesting concept with a great cast and while the plot is a bit convoluted, its still well acted and directed. I had never heard of it, but anything with Jackman in it is worth watching. The moodiness of water logged Miami and then New Orleans acts as a character all its own. Nick still believes in love despite the circumstances and he goes to great lengths to find Mae. He uses his ability to pull out people's memories to track Mae and his hunt for her leads him to seedy mobsters, a corrupt cop (the always reliable Cliff Curtis) and the tearing down of the facade of the rich. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Nick continues to believe Mae is good. The truth is somewhere in the middle and is handled really well. Jackman delivers a fantastic performance as a man obsessed with love and then is undeterred in finding out why his love was not returned. Ms. Ferguson is a beautiful screen presence, but her character is not very well fleshed out. Her motivations are not real clear and it would have made a better film if we knew why she was doing what she was doing. Everything is told from Nick's perspective and through the memories he hijacks, but its all through his eyes and not really through the eyes of the other characters. I understand the premise as we discover the clues right along with Nick which keeps us in suspense, but it does have the drawback of being a bit one-sided in its presentation. The only other thing I would nitpick is the fight scenes. Nick gets in a lot of fights and sometimes he gets his butt kicked pretty easily. Other times (like when he fights Curtis' corrupt cop) he looks like Wolverine. He either knows how to fight or he doesn't. He's a former soldier so I would think he would have some kind of hand-to-hand combat training, but it comes and goes depending on the need in each scene for the antagonist to get away.

Give this film a look. Its not something you're gonna watch again, but its well-made and its entertaining as a film should be.

The Binge (2020)

Not Bad, Not Good, A Few Funny Moments

[5/10 · 24 July 2023]

This movie wants to be a teen comedy version of The Purge. It had its moments, but not enough to make it a cult classic. It tries to elevate its station by having Morgan Freeman narrate the events, but I doubt he is going to be adding it to his resume.

In the future, all alcohol and drugs are banned. On one night, however, everything is legal. This night is called The Binge (roll credits). Three high school seniors, Griffin (Skyler Gisondo), Hags (Dexter Darden) and Andrew (Eduardo Franco) are in search of the greatest party being held on this night. Everything goes wrong and they spend most of the movie just trying to get to the party. Griffin is desperate to meet up with Lena (Grace Van Dien) so he can ask her to prom. Her father, Principal Carlsen (Vince Vaughn) is obviously trying to prevent his daughter making it to the party.

There are a few funny scenes, but not enough to sustain it. A visit to Andrew's brother's place, an accident involving a cow and a musical interlude (a bit out of place, but made me smile) are well-done and funny, but those are the highlights. Most of the plot is contrived and has been done before, and done better. The supporting characters add nothing and are so one dimensional they could have used cardboard cutouts.

This is one of those movies you put on in the background and mentally tune in and out during its runtime. There is not enough to keep you interested, but individual scenes are worth watching.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)

Decent Adventure Even if You Aren't a Gamer

[7/10 · 24 July 2023]

Edgin the thief (Chris Pine), Holga the warrior (Michelle Rodriguez), Simon the awkward wizard (Justice Smith), Doric the wood sprite (Sophia Lillis) and the mysterious Xenk (Regé-Jean Page) go on a quest to recover a tablet which can reanimate the dead. Edgin's wife died earlier and he wants to bring her back.

Their former partner, the con man Forge (Hugh Grant), and Sofina the witch (Daisy Head) have dubious motives and can not be trusted. Forge has been raising Edgin's daughter daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman) after Edgin and Holga went to prison.

The movie will be fun for those who are familiar with D&D and those who are not. I am part of the later and I enjoyed the film very much. Pine and Rodriguez are great as the main protagonists. The supporting players are excellent and their characters are intricate to the plot, so they don't feel like add-ons. The movie owes a lot to LotR and, even Harry Potter, for its visuals and scene structure. Its more homage than ripoff, but it was still obvious.

There is a hilarious scene where Simon is able to bring corpses back to life to answer five questions but then they will go back to being dead. A magic helmet disappeared during a battle, They reanimate various corpses of solders who died in the battle but no one corpse has all the answers to the helmet's location, so they keep digging up new ones. The scene is original, funny and well acted by everyone, including the corpses.

My one complaint is that many of the references to fringe characters and locations flew right over my head as I have never played the game. I am sure those who are D&D gamers will enjoy the references, but it took me out of the movie.

A good movie and the actors did a great job fleshing out what could have been one dimensional characters.

The Silencing (2020)

Okay Thriller, but Covers No New Ground

[6/10 · 17 July 2023]

The Silencing wants to be a moody thriller about redemption. It has two excellent leads, spooky atmosphere and a decent enough story. But...but...but, it doesn't quite rise to the level of the talent involved.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) is Rayburn, an alcoholic and reclusive former hunter who is living on a nature preserve up in the mountains. His teenage daughter disappeared 5 years ago and he only has his grief, guilt and whiskey to keep him company. Annabelle Wallis is the local sheriff, Gustafson, who tries hard to protect her druggie, screwed up brother while trying to solve a series of murders of teenage girls. When Rayburn spots a young girl fleeing through the woods from a shadowy figure on his trail cam, he goes to rescue her. Rayburn finds the girl near death and the two are pursued by the killer back through the woods to his cabin where Gustafson shows up. Up to this point, the movie is top-notch as it combines a mystery thriller with creepy atmosphere. The characters are a bit one-dimensional, but Coster-Waldau and Willis are engaging actors so you kind of let that slide. However, when everyone meets at the cabin, the movie veers into some weird character behavior.

Overall its a pretty decent thriller. There is not a lot of plot to worry about as its pretty straight forward. Coster-Waldau does a really good job of playing the reclusive man overwhelmed by the guilt for his daughter's disappearance. I've always liked Ms. Wallis as she was pretty good in the Mummy remake. Here, she is a conflicted authority figure whose moral compass doesn't always point north. The supporting players are well-acted and actually provide some meat to the plot as opposed to just giving us more characters who could potentially be the killer. At a brisk 93 minutes, there is not a lot of fat in the movie. Give it a look.

The Dictator (2012)

Funny in Bits, but as Whole it Lacks Punch

[7/10 · 23 June 2023]

Sacha Baron Cohen is one of those personalities that is like a trainwreck. You watch because you can't turn away. Some of his comedy just goes over my head, but the stuff that lands makes me double over laughing. The more offensive and inappropriate he is, the more I laugh. Its when his films try to focus on plot, that they start to fall apart. Borat is a prime example of this. Its outlandish and hilarious in bits, but the plot itself is boring. The Dictator is another one of these.

Cohen plays General Aladeen, the dictator of a fictional Arab nation. He rules with an iron fist but a pudding of a brain. He rigs sporting events so he wins them, presents himself with awards for no reason and kills anyone who disagrees with him. On a visit to New York to address the UN, his second in command, Tamir (a wasted Ben Kingsley) has Aladeen tortured (a hilarious cameo by John C. Reilly) in which his beard is cut off and he is replaced by a body double that Tamir can control. On the streets of NYC, he is befriended by a rights activist, Zoey (Anna Faris) who takes him in and tries to help him. He also enlists the help of his former nuclear scientist, Nadal (Jason Mantzoukas) whose execution he thought he had ordered.

The movie is a series of bits where Cohen tries to outdo the previous one. They are tenuously tied together by the plot of him trying to regain his throne. As I said, the plot is lame, but some of the gags are top notch. In one, Nadal and Aladeen are in a helicopter with an America couple touring NYC. They are speaking in their native tongue (its supposed to be Arabic, but is actually Hebrew) about what they want to do. Aladeen wants to drive his Porsche 9-11 around the city near the Empire State building and perhaps see the fireworks explode above the Statue of Liberty. All the other couple hear are "9-11", "Statue of Liberty" and "explode". They are obviously terrified. Some of the comments he makes about a woman's place and American culture are offensive and hilarious, too.

While not a classic like Borat, The Dictator is still funny and worth the watch.

We Have a Ghost (2023)

A Sweet Ghost Movie that was Not What I Expected

[7/10 · 23 June 2023]

I saw this on Netflix and assumed it was just a dumb horror/comedy. But considering the talent involved, I thought it might be worth a watch. It defied my expectations.

Frank and Melanie Presley (Anthony Mackie & Erica Ash) move into a new home with their two sons, Kevin (Jahi Di'Allo Winston) and Fulton (Niles Fitch). Kevin is an introvert and doesn't relate to his parents or his brother. One day while exploring the attic, he comes face to face with a ghost named Ernest (David Harbor). Ernest tries to scare Kevin, but the boy records the spirit on his cell phone and giggles at Ernest's attempts to scare him. The two form an unlikely relationship as Kevin discovers Ernest has no idea why he is still in the house or what happened to him while he was alive. Frank and Fulton discover the video and post it on the internet which blows up and Ernest becomes a folk hero. This brings him to the attention of a former agent who ran the FBI's ghost unit, Dr. Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro). There is a hilarious send up of internet challenges as people start trying to mimic the way Ernest walks through walls, with injurious results.

The movie seemed like it was going to just be a silly horror/comedy, but it actually turns into a really sweet friendship study as Kevin tries to help Ernest discover who he is and why he is a ghost. Kevin finds another ally in Joy (Isabella Russo) the female neighbor next door, Together they track down Ernest's background and attempt to help him resolve his issues on earth so he can move to the afterlife. This is a pretty common trope in these types of movies, but they do such a good job with it and the actors are so sincere, you get caught up in the shenanigans. Jennifer Coolidge has a fun cameo as a fake psychic who Ernest scares the heck out of.

The movie is light on storyline, but the cast are game and the plot moves along so fast, you don't have time to pick it apart.

Extraction II (2023)

Great Action, Story is Lacking

[7/10 · 23 June 2023]

Extraction II is a typical action film with lots of fistfights, gunfights, blood and explosions. Human beings do insane things no normal person could do or survive. Its just a step above a comic book movie. Where it differs is in its lead and in the camera work of the production team.

Chris Hemsworth returns as Tyler Rake, a soldier for hire who rises from the dead of his last mission. He spends months recovering from his injuries in a secluded mountain cabin until he is visited by a mysterious man, played by Idris Alba, and is offered another mission. His ex-wife's sister, Mina (Tinatin Dalakishvili) has married a Russian mobster, Radiani (Tornike Bziava). She and her two children need to be rescued from a prison where her husband hides her from rival Chechen gangs. Tyler puts the gang back together and they go rescue the family. Nik (Golshifteh Farahani) and her brother Yaz (Adam Bessa) help Tyler break the family out of the prison. But as they flee across Europe, they are pursued by the Radiani gang.

Nothing new here, but the talent both in front of and behind the camera is superb. As many reviewers have mentioned, there is a 20 minute scene with no editing. They did the same thing in the first movie and its even more impressive in this movie. The way the camera pans in, around and away from the characters makes you feel part of the events. The fights are brutal, the gore just short of being Snyderesque, and the story (think as it is) moves along at a very brisk pace.

Hemsworth is definitely a star and there will be an Extraction 3 coming up in the next year or two.

Army of Thieves (2021)

Better than its Predecessor, But Not by Much

[7/10 · 21 June 2023]

I saw Army of the Dead last month and enjoyed it for what it was: a mindless zombie movie that ripped off Aliens and just about every heist movie. It was silly fun, but nothing that had not been done before.

Army of Thieves is a prequel that uses the pending events of Army of the Dead as a backdrop. Matthias Schweighöfer, who played the safe cracker Dieter in AotD, headlines this film as the same character, taking part in a series of bank heists across Europe. After winning a safecracker competition, he is recruited by master criminal, Gwendoline (the always lovely Nathalie Emmanuel). Her team consists of the hacker Korina (Ruby Fee), the wheelman Rolph (Giz Khan) and the muscle, Alexis (Stuart Martin). On their trail is the high energy Agent Delacroix (Jonathan Cohen) of INTERPOL.

There is really nothing original or interesting about the plot, its all been done before. The movie succeeds on the chemistry and likeability of the cast. Schweighöfer was the best part of Army of the Dead and he is the best part of this film as well. He is funny, dorky, but the everyman with which most of us can identify. He is overwhelmed by the events and we see the movie through his eyes as he narrates the story. His chemistry with Ms. Emmanuel is palpable. Ms. Fee is gorgeous and has that unique ability to be hot and a dork at the same time. In one scene she offers herself to Dieter, but he turns her down because he is in love with Gwendoline. Ah, to have those kinds of life choices.

While Army of Thieves doesn't break any new ground, it does provide a fun way to spend some time with characters in which you can become interested.

Triple Frontier (2019)

Good Actioner with Some Issues

[7/10 · 14 June 2023]

This is another Netflix original which seems to follow the plan of getting lots of talented actors, but scrimping on the writers. There is a lot to like in this movie, but there are some plot holes that do detract from the overall narrative. Many reviewers have commented on the silliness of the behavior of the protagonists so I won't rehash those.

Former special forces soldiers, Santiago (Oscar Isaac), Tom (Ben Affleck), William (Charlie Hunnam), Ben (Garrett Hedlund), and Francisco (Pedro Pascal) team up for a raid on the jungle compound of a drug lord in South America along the border of Peru, Argentina and Brazil (hence the title). In addition to killing the drug lord, they also want to make off with his money. As expected, the plan goes awry and the men are forced to fight their way across the landscape to the ocean.

The plot steals heavily from Ocean's Eleven and Treasure of the Sierra Madre. The best part of this movie is the interactions amongst the men. They are former friends, comrades and heroes who have been kicked aside by the military to which they gave their youth. Their training gets put to good use, but their composure starts to melt down as greed and enemy combatants overcome them. The first half of the movie is sensational as it provides background on the characters, sets up the heist and then the heist is pulled off at exactly the one hour point. The second half of the movie lags as it devolves into another shoot 'em up flick and the character development gets thrown out. We've seen so many of these movies that it would have been wonderful had they spent more time focusing on the men's mental state and "brother in arms" mentality than they did. Still, the talent involved is undeniable and its a good 2 hours spent watching these guys.

All the Old Knives (2022)

Superb Spy Film with a Few Suprises

[8/10 · 13 June 2023]

Its very difficult to pull off a movie that is mostly dialogue and takes place in one or two locations. However, this film does it in superb fashion. Henry (Chris Pine) and Celia (Thandiwe Newton) are former co-workers and lovers in the CIA who, 8 years prior were part of the response team for a hijacking that went horribly wrong. As a result, Celia quit the CIA the next day, moved to California, got married and left the spy world behind.

In the present, Henry is still with the CIA. Recent intelligence has exposed a mole in the CIA at the time of the hijacking and the terrorists were aware of the CIA's planned responses. Henry's boss, Vick (Laurence Fishburne) assigns Henry the task of interviewing both Celia and her former boss, Bill (Jonathan Pryce). Henry first interrogates Bill (intensely) and then flies to California for a reunion with Celia and a less overt interrogation. They meet in an empty wine bar and the two spar and flirt, opening old wounds. The film is told in flashbacks as Celia and Henry discuss the events from their own perspectives. Its well-done and the suspense is palpable.

The dialogue is the only reason I did not rate this higher. With a movie whose main plot is two characters talking to each other, there needs to be sharply written dialogue. While both actors are superb in the roles, the dialogue they are given is a bit stilted and not nearly as clever as you would think for a film about spies. However, their byplay is intense, dramatic and heart wrenching. When old wounds are opened up, you can really feel the pain they are feeling. Celia, especially, seems free from her former life, but not really happy with her new one. And when the mole is revealed, the motives are a gut punch and that is where the movie shines. There is no "aha" moment for the characters or the audience. Just a crushing sense of how events can be completely out of our control and there are repercussions for our actions. Friends are enemies and enemies are closer than we want to believe.

A well done spy film with lots of good acting.

Die Hart (2023)

Enjoyable if you Don't Take it Too Seriously

[7/10 · 13 June 2023]

Kevin Hart is one of those actors/comedians who does well in the sidekick role, but struggles to lead an entire movie. Die Hart makes fun of this dynamic as well as poking fun at Hart's image and acting abilities. Its also the reason the move doesn't quite work, ironically.

Kevin Hart plays...well, Kevin Hart. He becomes upset with the image of himself as a short sidekick who is just there to be the comic relief. He wants to be seen as an action star. When a guerilla tactics director (Jean Reno) offers him an action role, but only if he agrees to attend an rogue action camp, Hart agrees. The camp is run by Ron Wilcox (John Travolta) who is, lets say, slightly mad. The methods Ron uses to teach Kevin to be the hero are both dangerous and outrageous. Soon, a second actor, Jordan (the lovely Nathalie Emmanuelle) joins the camp and becomes Kevin's classmate. Even Josh Hartnett has a cameo as himself, a former graduate of Ron's acting school. Milana Vayntrub (the AT&T spokesperson) has a small role as a talk show host.

The fun in the movie is that Hart really is thought of as just a comedic sidekick. The fact that he is willing to mock his image is both redeeming and funny. There are some genuine laughs in this film, notably the early scene of Hart melting down during an interview on the live morning talk show as well as the outrageous stunts Ron makes him perform. The problem is the gimmick runs out of steam after a while and only Hart's sincerity and energy hold it together. The "secret" revelation of what is really going on is telegraphed a mile ahead, but its still entertaining. Still, this is a decent 84 minutes of insanity that was well worth the time.

Easy A (2010)

Fun Movie with a Delicate Message

[7/10 · 6 June 2023]

I grew up in the 80s so I appreciate the homages to several of those teen angst films mentioned in the movie. Its easy to like this film as the actors and plot are easy to digest while also no taking the situations too lightly.

Emma Stone is excellent as Olive, a high school girl who lies about having sex to avoid hanging out with her friend for the weekend. She then helps a gay friend pretend he had sex with her to hide his sexuality. Once word gets out that she helped him, other outcast boys start requesting her "services". Soon, the rumors swirl and she becomes a modern day Hester Prynne from the Crucible. The lies keep compounding and she is helpless to stop the snowball.

A great supporting cast includes Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Aly Michalka, Stanley Tucci, Fred Armisen, Penn Badgley and Dan Byrd.

While its mostly a comedy, there are some dark themes explored about what children will do to be popular as well as how adults aren't the best role models...even when its their job. I liked how straight the movie was about her predicament as it didn't judge her or glorify her. The move came out 13 years ago (2010), but is just as prescient in this era of teenagers killing themselves due to cyber bullying.

Its a sensitive topic, but was handled really well.