You know what, I was waiting for the mail man from “Don’t be a Menace” to pop up and say MESSAGE. Good lord, did they think they were writing something thought provoking?! ****ing hell…
Watched 65 yesterday. Better than I expected going in after reading reviews. Moved along slowly but didn’t drag really. Dinosaurs were pretty cool and the tech gadgets were fun. Son is a huge JW fan and he liked it better than Dominion. 6/10
watched Operation Finale last night on Netflix, about the search and capture of Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Oscar Isaac stars and produced this. A terrific film, really very much a spy thriller kind of feel to it that keeps your interest right up until the end. Excellent supporting cast and good production value. Not sure I get the meh reviews online, I'd give this a solid 8 or 9 out of 10. Good film.
A man called Otto 8/10 Good movie but wouldn't watch it again. A little too depressing for my tastes.
watched The Gentlemen tonight on Netflix. Wildly entertaining, kind of the only way to describe it, just fun to watch. Not sure how I missed this when it came out, love the nonlinear unpacking of the story, and the individual characters are all great. Colin Farrell again steals the show with a small but significant part. Hugh Grant's accent was a revelation, I thought he was great too. Great dialogue, love the self-referential film allusions. Easily 8/10 for me, maybe a bit higher
John Wick 4 - 8/10 Solid movie: funny, action-packed with believable drama that makes you care about the characters involved. There were some negatives though: - Shimazu's daughter, played by Rina Sawayama, is underused and in a near 3-hour movie that centered around revenge, redemption, honor and family, it was an odd decision to give her such a minimal role. - Keanu Reeves has a limp and barely speaks, so he already seems impaired and so beaten up that he could barely go on, yet he's reaching Steven Seagal and comic levels of invincibility. It is bothersome. - Fight scenes are entertaining, but there are some really bad sequences where facing several opponents, it is obvious one is waiting for the other fight to finish and especially when the camera angle's from the side and just using one, you can see how slow fights are and it's basically like a dance. The constant rolling around as well. Comically bad at times. - It could've been told in under 2 and half hours easily, since some scenes go on for way too long, especially in Paris - Bill Skarsgård is a solid actor, but he was not believable in his role, partially due to his portrayal of the French dialect.
John Wick 4. 6 out of 10. Not enough story. Too much ridiculous stylized fighting with superman suits. Not bad, but 2 and 3 kicks its ass.
I concur, though wasn't that depressing to me. You have to realize the original is Swedish and people in general are a lot more stoic, serious and sober (level headed). Murder Mystery 2 - Cannot even rate it, it's just all round bad and couldn't make it past 20 minutes. I really don't get Adam Sandler and the writers for these types of movies. Who finds this funny or entertaining in any shape or form. It's just dumb.
Watched The Railway Man and The Photographer of Mauthausen last week, a pair of WWII POW films. Both of these were good, solid films, but not what I would consider masterpieces. Colin Firth was great in The Railway Man, as was the young actor (Jeremy Irvine) who played him during WWII. Nicole Kidman was less convincing, but not as demanding a role. The WWII scenes were pretty convincing and generally well done. I'd probably give this a 7.5/10. The Photographer of Mauthausen was something I knew nothing about. Spanish language film watched it with subtitles. It was generally very good, the main actor was terrific, but the pacing was slow at times and timeline was confusing. They might have helped things a bit with some simple subtitles giving the dates. Well worth watching, not the best film ever, but solid. Probably a 7/10. Both on Netflix.
The Lobster ????/10 Bizarre. Never seen a movie like it so hard to rate. It felt like a very dark Wes Anderson flick.
watched News of the World tonight and was a little surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I can see where folks might think it's a bit slow, and Tom Hanks basically plays Tom Hanks, but pretty much a taut storyline and well filmed. 8/10
I finally got around and saw Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. This was a fun movie and had some creative scenes and a great balance of action, story, and humor, This was a really good first installment of this franchise, 8.5/10
Violent Night (2022) - Finally saw this. Watched it for the stylish kills, and cheesy puns. For the most part did what it advertised. Harbour and Leguizamo were good. Some of the non-action pieces was slow at parts, I just hit the skip button on those. Grade: B+
rewatched No Country for Old Men. I think this affected me much now than when it first came out . . . perhaps I'm closer to where Tommy Lee Jones's character is in the film. I finished it and the only word that came to mind was "profound." Still processing it--or re-processing it. Holds up incredibly well, maybe better now than when it came out. A number rating doesn't seem to do it justice.
