blademan-95603 Reviews

Hypnotic (2023)

Giving this one, one star

[1/10 · 17 April 2024]

First for wasting my hour and a half. Second for fooling me with a developing premise that raised my initial low expectations of likely being bored by the old obsessive father looking for his missing daughter routine, to something with the promise of being more interesting. And thirdly for deserving it by dashing those hopes by making a total hash of it with a not so surprising denouement I saw coming like an overburdened freight train climbing laboriously up hill with chugging gusts of steam and an unnecessary announcing whistle that was really more of a tired, worn out wheeze.

No surprise then that this film lost a literal fortune. Of a magnitude that buries careers, and causes studios after bankruptcy to reinvent themselves as amusement parks.

Dead Man's Hand (2023)

Based on a Graphic Novel

[6/10 · 11 December 2023]

AKA a comic book. No surprise there. I mean, this one will certainly not tax the intellect any more than your average Archie & Jughead. But then it's a Western, which even the best of them are most often sparsely plotted and can generally be summed up in no more than just a few sentences. High Noon for instance, and one of the uncontested best of them can be adequately described in two. This film at least has that in common, but it is however, no High Noon. But still, I think if you like the genre, entertaining enough, filling the requirement of lots of action, a lot of outdoor photography, and with the merit of one bit of originality I've never seen before in any film outside Science Fiction (The Alligator People is the only one that comes immediately to mind) that seen in a Western defies the medical science not only of the period plus this one, but anything likely to be accomplished this side of a Star Trek future.

The Predator (2018)

Not The Sopranos

[3/10 · 27 November 2023]

So why all the "F" bombs, and including several "MF" bombs? Even some of which spoken by the obligatory hot female scientist? Something you don't expect in a Sci-Fi slash Horror film.

That is to say the foul language was more than excessive. Way more in fact. To the point of being a distraction in watching the film. For me anyway. If this is a spoiler for you then my apologies. But if you're the sort who watches a film expecting this sort of thing and are fine with it, well then I hope you don't have kids.

That really is my major complaint with this film which was otherwise mediocre in content, and so not a patch on the original, but still would have been more or less okay without the language. Sad to think that its producers must have assumed the low brow chatter would be fine with and even attract more of the audience they were aiming at. Which, considering the fact that I myself made the effort and invested the time to watch this film I take as a personal insult to me.

The Forsaken (2001)

Fun Vampire Road Buddy Picture

[8/10 · 15 July 2023]

And as genre films go, this one's surprisingly pretty good.

Discovered this film on one of those hit and miss ten movie bundles, expecting very little but in this case finding a small pearl in a mixed bag chowder of mostly bad to mediocre horror films.

The acting's professional with engaging chemistry between the two protagonists (Hope these guys went on to successful careers, cuz they certainly deserved to), and the lead villain played by Johnathon Schaech, the only actor with a familiar face (from the Tom Hanks excellent film about one hit Rock and Rollers, "That Thing You Do") to me, anyway, did as good a job playing the appropriately scary, creepy, blood thirsty head Vamp as any aficionado of such fare could possibly want.

This film might have been more appropriately called, "Route 66 with Vampires". A lost opportunity for a great series with these three guys.

Slayers (2022)

Obviously Aimed at the Backward Baseball Cap Crowd

[1/10 · 8 June 2023]

Who wear baggy shorts year round regardless of weather, are under the false impression they're cool (only in winter because of the aforementioned shorts) and original for dressing with little deviation exactly like all their similarly socially afflicted maladjusted friends and acquaintances (IOW like toddlers), use the word "like" and the phrases "I mean" and "you know" at least three times in a sentence, and say "awesome" a lot. Not sure whether this one went straight to video, but certainly should have had it's premiere on someone's laptop where it would at least serve as a departure from (with the sole merit of being more edifying than) the mind numbing propaganda produced by the major fake news outlets.

The film's one saving grace though (and it's a minimal one) is Thomas Jane's tongue in cheek performance, who must have really needed the money.

Marlowe (2022)

A Less Than Two Hour Film

[1/10 · 26 May 2023]

That seemed to go on forever. After the interminable slog through of which, I almost expected to find my first Social Security check in the mail.

Based on the famous fictional character created by Raymond Chandler this film shamelessly hoped to trade upon, since it isn't even Chandler at all, but is based on a 2014 novel I never even heard of. Nor is the ripped off Marlowe character anything like the iconic one of Chandler's fiction. Heck, he isn't even American. Instead we get a miscast Liam Neeson with a very unMarlowe-like brogue lumbering through the film with his patented stick of wood performance, humorless, boring, and shambling through it as if he were even more bored than we are.

Making me conclude that if anyone made a dime off this picture, somebody musta been expecting change.

The Barber (II) (2014)

An Old Fashioned Suspenseful Thriller

[9/10 · 30 April 2023]

I was thoroughly shocked to learn this film was made almost nine years ago. More shocked even that as good as it is, it all this time totally escaped my attention.

I mean this one is right up my alley, being profoundly suspenseful, brilliantly acted with surprises and convolutions of plot most satisfying.

Scott Glenn's performance is superb in a real sleeper of a film with a Hitchcockian flair that might remind you of his classic "Shadow of a Doubt", with a final twist so satisfying you'll wonder why you never heard of it before. And one which, in my opinion, will be discovered some day, and rightly labeled a buried treasure classic of the genre as it clearly deserves to be.

The Old Way (2023)

The Old Way? Yeah, Sorta.

[8/10 · 28 April 2023]

Love Westerns. Am starved for them in fact. And since these days if there is a single genre that's allowed to escape being ruined by Hollywood's woke sensibility (and there isn't) it's this one.

This film however comes closest among (the still too infrequent) more recent ones made. And it's pretty good while being fairly faithful to the old traditions, once you get past the first few minutes of flashback which shows Nick Cage sporting a phony mustache of a style not seen since the old Mack Sennett days. And a hat ripped off from Charles Bronson, which looked great on Bronson, but ridiculously silly on Cage. Especially when doing an obvious cringe worthy homage to Charlie from "Once Upon a Time In the West" as Nick stands, face hidden by his hat brim slowly raises his head to reveal that silly Keystone Cops stash.

Also very strange and a bit confusing is the fact that Nick looks older in that first flash back scene than he does flashing forward twenty years later where the bulk of the story takes place.

Now, I very much like Nick Cage in the roles he's suited for. "Raising Arizona" is classic in my opinion, and "Matchstick Men" is wunna my all time faves as older examples, and he continues to make films I find highly entertaining. But, he's woefully miscast in this Western, coming across entirely as a 20th century slash early 21st guy playing cowboy, in period clothes that don't suit him, lost in time and unconvincingly mired in a genre that doesn't accept him. Making his casting this film's major flaw.

Plus the earlier mentioned hat and mustache.

The rest of the cast, especially the little girl playing Nick's mildly sociopathic daughter, a shared character flaw inherited from him, and the truly sociopathic villain are wonderful. As is the old sheriff, his attendant posse and the members of the villain's gang.

That and how the story unfolds, that is, very much in The Old Way, are the film's strengths. And why in the end I recommend it.

Blacklight (2022)

Tired Plot

[1/10 · 9 October 2022]

This plot has been used with such frequency that most regular schooled in the genre can accurately predict exactly where this one's headed plot wise, down to a level of accuracy even to predicting some of the dialogue before it's been spoken.

If a film is well crafted enough though, sometimes that can be a good thing, or at least a forgivable one.

But not this time.

Some of the problem with that is Liam Neeson himself, a stick of wood actor who's on record of denigrating Americans in the press for their gun obsession while ignoring the fact that movie goers here have gotten familiar with finding one stuck in his big Irish mitt in nearly every film he makes.

Including this one.

Here he plays out the stereotype of a worn out FBI agent on the fringe of retirement (while we're to ignore the unexplained brogue and him as a still agile tough guy at a bone creaky 70) who in all his years with the Bureau has dimly never caught on to the dirty tricks his employers have been up to including an old buddy, also now his boss who he's known since their days as soldiers in Vietnam masterminding much of it.

Thing about that and those dirty tricks is, apparently when this old chestnut of a plot was pitched to Hollywood, it must have come at a time when Tinseltown would have gleefully represented that agency in a negative light just as they would have that other old reliable dog kicking corporate villain, insidious threat to our democracy and the very existence of mankind, Big Pharma. Which is the only surprise in this film. I mean that it ever got made, considering the current fact that those two now having been incorporated into the right political side (that of the left), have been miraculously transformed as born again entities, and are thus not only not to be knocked anymore, but accepted as a righteous praetorian guard in one case, and an instrument of unassailable medical science and guardian of public health in the other.

Which suggests somewhere in the place where such decisions are made, in making such stuff as this particular cautionary tale of a moon pitcher, somebody never got the message.

Pursuit (I) (2022)

Accept it for what it is...

[6/10 · 24 August 2022]

Or reject it for the same reason if it's not your taste. But be honest, no one expected Citizen Kane going in, did they? So what's with all the trash reviews, which I suspect are more of an indulgence on the part of reviewers rather than any expression of sincere and honest disappointment.

This is an action film that admittedly won't strain your brain into a migraine. But it may confuse you as admittedly it did me, keeping straight on who was on whose side and who were they double crossing when after the reveal your only surprise was that all along you thought they were on that side to begin with.

But don't let that deter you. The performances here are pretty good having John Cusack as star of course, but all the others are pretty good as well. I just binged on some old Perry Masons which inspired me to watch some of the movies made in the mid 80s, so I was surprised when I saw William Katt's name in the credits and was even more surprised while looking for him that I'd been seeing him all along as the Sheriff. And doing an excellent job playing the part as well.

There's a lot of violence in this film, maybe some of it excessive if that's possible anymore. And considerable gore.

The action scenes are well choreographed and as believable in appearance as such things go these days. So no obvious ramps overturning cars, no fists striking air a foot in front of faces causing the unstruck to fly backward through cardboard walls onto mattresses out of the shot. No stuntmen standing fully exposed in doorways, on rooftops, charging into a hail of make bullets waiting to be shot. And might's well wearing signs to that effect So whoever did these action scenes was A. No amatuer, B. Cared enough not to insult the audience with a lotta phony baloney kid's stuff blowed em up mayhem, and C. Was a pro darned good at and who cared about his work and likely took pride in it.

Bottom line and in a nutshell? I liked it.

I thought it was a well crafted film, well produced and well acted. Plus being entertaining throughout, and every bit worth my time.

The Wolf Hour (2019)

The Film Was Not Just Dull and Depressing

[2/10 · 23 July 2022]

It was in fact monumentally dull and depressing.

Agoraphobic author with writers block living in a squalid NY apartment in a neighborhood that might have seen better days as a slum, being constantly bothered by her door buzzer irregularly going off and getting static as a response on her intercom, slowly (ver-r-r-r-r-y slowly) descending into madness while shunning human contact has the lights go out resulting in opportunistic rioting outside is somehow inspired to finish the manuscript of an autobiographical sequel to her first book which her publisher evidently liked that she herself disdained (rightfully from the bits we can gather) in maybe the longest 90 minutes you'll spend outside a dentist's chair.

The Outfit (2022)

Some nice twists

[10/10 · 12 July 2022]

But didn't exactly play fair (you've seen it you know what I mean), yet forgivable, with some of the best actors you've never seen before.

A refreshing departure from the usual made for extreme youth and the intellectually bereft dreck being put out by Hollywood these days.

Doubt it'll become a trend though, but one can always hope.

Jockey (2021)

Slice of Life

[1/10 · 28 June 2022]

Which usually means a low budget independent product, while being boring, meandering and with little plot.

This film would qualify on all counts for most viewers I think. However, it had its moments and I personally had no problem watching it to the end on the strength of the fine acting by the principal players, while the rest were obviously amateurs you're unlikely ever to see again... unless they're local to your area and you happen to bump into them at the mall.

Little Big Horn (1951)

Lippert masterpiece done on the cheap

[9/10 · 19 June 2022]

Robert L Lippert, a notorious skinflint as a producer, caring much more about profits than quality much less art, once stopped a film in production for running over budget, it's director begging him to allow a scene or two more in order to make sense of the story, refused and released it as is, with an unresolved story line. And it made money.

His films, most made for less than 100K, and seldom aiming at a better than mediocre product were always profitable, as he had a knack for choosing entertaining stories and hiring excellent actors on the cheap.

He did however, despite their low budgets, make a few classics. Little Bighorn with Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland, Marie Windsor and a group of excellent character actors caught lightening in a bottle with a great story, was one of these.

Two others, coincidentally (or maybe not) also starring Bridges were Rocketship X-M, and The Tall Texan the last with a supporting cast under investigation by HUAC, thus temporarily blackballed and so desperate for money including Bridges himself, also included Lee J Cobb and Luther Adler. All three made in the early '50s continue to hold up well into the current century despite their miserly budgets because of their great stories and exceptionally fine acting.

Belfast (2021)

What Belfast Is and Is Not

[10/10 · 29 May 2022]

IT IS: Uplifting IT IS: Sad. However more bitter sweet than maudlin.

IT IS: Funny, sweet. And imaginative.

IT IS: Brilliantly written, directed and acted.

IT IS NOT: A remake of anything previously done, particularly of a classic film it could never measure up to.

IT IS NOT: Full of F Bombs, graphic hump 'n pump simulated sex, nudity, drug use, marital infidelity, incest, gratuitous violence and decapitating dismemberments, preachy or political in its message... or worse than that, politically correct in any way.

IT IS NOT: Based on an old television series, video game or comic book.

IT IS: A wonderful, evocative, inspiring film which no one should miss.

Edit.

Playing God (2021)

Quiet Thoughtful Gem of a Film

[10/10 · 10 December 2021]

Another rare one not aimed at the backward baseball cap crowd, or that inevitable guy you see wearing shorts in the dead of winter while his obviously more sensible wife or girlfriend walking beside him is wearing pants.

If there were a stronger market for films of this type? There would be much more hope for the culture.

Pig (I) (2021)

Not For the Backward Baseball Cap Crowd

[10/10 · 9 December 2021]

Or that guy in flip-flops wearing a team jersey and baggy shorts with no socks (to better show off those leg and ankle tats) whose idea of fun is getting stoned at a kegger or swilling beer off the tailgate of a pickup in a sports arena parking lot... and then, maybe along toward evening for some *real* fun, making the rounds of the other partiers and challenging them to pull his finger.

Or those familiar with Nick Cage's more recent work who associate him with his more commercial efforts like American Treasure and are looking for something in that vein.

Cuz this great film won't be at all to your taste.

It is on the other hand a unique, thought provoking artful masterpiece whose uncomplicated story belies a world of depth and substance evoking an experience as satisfying as a symphony without a single false note.

So five well deserved stars from me.

Cage's best performance since Matchstick Men.

Edit.

Tainted (II) (2020)

This film could have been made in the 40s

[10/10 · 18 April 2021]

And matter of fact it was. As High Sierra with Humphrey Bogart. Just as one example among many The plot is an old one, and was very old even then. Much older than any film or play that used it in the past two centuries, with a lineage that was likely familiar going back even to the ancient Greeks. Which should give you an idea of its timelessness. And when done right, that never wears out.

This film did it right. Once again.

So a ten star rating from me.

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot (2018)

Tongue in cheek title is it?

[7/10 · 12 March 2021]

Not really. There's no lampooning going on at all in this film. Fact of the matter, It takes itself with grim seriousness, which seems impossible given the absurdity of the title, but there it is. And the titular character played by Sam Elliot does it straight, and in the course of it does those two things described. As straightforwardly and with as much somber dignity as Gary Cooper in High Noon if *that* film were called The Man Who Married Grace Kelly and Shot Some Bad Guys Afterward Who Were Waiting For a Train. So forget the title if it bothers you. Give it a chance. I liked it. And really, I think you will too.

The Quarry (2020)

Plodding and Excruciatingly Somber

[2/10 · 7 March 2021]

Started with an interesting premise but basically went nowhere with it. A disappointment considering the cast, but the lead performance needed more expression than somnabulate angst and the script a lot more juice.

Fatman (2020)

Destined to become a regular Holiday Classic

[1/10 · 28 February 2021]

But only in the Bizarro world. Whoever pitched this film's wildly improbable and bizarre premise and then persuaded Mel Gibson to appear in it? Could no doubt take it a step further and open a successful bagged ice franchise at The North Pole

The Silencing (2020)

You'll start out thinking you've seen this one before

[9/10 · 3 February 2021]

But you haven't. An original take on what appears at first to be a a worn out plot. Some nice twists that may seem a bit hokey, but I like being played by a film, and this one did that. And you won't guess the ending, I promise.

Force of Nature (2020)

Don't worry about the plot

[9/10 · 6 January 2021]

It's hokey. Not that one doesn't exist. Just that in order to enjoy this film, one shouldn't be too concerned about its plausibility nor place any serious emphasis on it as anything more than a device or means of providing a thread between entertaining scenes from a fun start to a satisfying finish .

Hey, if you can get past the total implausibility of most films today and enjoy *those* ( Pick your franchise, i.e. The Bond films, the Mission Impossible series, the groan worthy mayhem of John Wick one and two, hot babes on flying dragons and almost any film featuring Shwartzenegger, Liam Neeson, Stallone or Bruce Willis)? Then you could certainly suspend your disbelief long enough to enjoy this film, which features no super hero impossible implausible CGI generated effects and phony heroics, no cartoonish super villains chewing up the props and scenery, no blue screen antics of actors focusing on and reacting to mops and brooms substituting for explosions, fireballs and thirty foot monsters to be filled in later in post production.

Fact is, this film headed by Mel Gibson and ably supported by David Zayaz, Kate Bosworth and Emile Hirsch, has some really good actors in it, each doing a totally professional job in a thoroughly enjoyable pretensionless popcorn worthy entertainment.

I recommend this film and give it 4.5 stars for what it is.

Dreamland (III) (2019)

Riveting

[1/10 · 24 December 2020]

But only to one zip tied to a chair with their eyelids taped to their foreheads after being kicked in the head by a horse. If this doesn't apply to you, you might better spend your hour and a half watching slides of your mother in-laws bus trip to Kansas with her cat.

Berlin Station (2016–2019)

Something of a Throwback

[10/10 · 30 October 2020]

To a time before film franchises, infinite remakes, comic book based, CGI driven drivel aimed at the video game addicted, tatooed year round shorts wearing backward baseball cap crowd. When a modicum of patience, close attention and intellect was required for maximum enjoyment. This is a smart show, well written, and brilliantly acted whose convolutions, intrigues, twists and turns conjure up the satisfaction of the works of Len Deighton, Frederick Forsyth, Helen Macinnes and John Le Carre. So a ten star rating from me.