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Reviews
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
STRONG RECOMMENDATION
Went to watch Jack Reacher: Never Go Back last night. Amazing movie. Jumping right to it.
Synopsis: Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever. Starring: Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders Director: Edward Zwick
Like I said, it's an amazing movie. That's not to say that it had its flows. And a few of those flows are the same ones from the first movie. I'll get to those in a few minutes. First, let's talk about the good things.
First off, this isn't a direct sequel to the first movie. The first movie was the ninth book in the series and this was the eighteenth book in the series. That really doesn't hurt the story though. The story is a little complex in the sense that Reacher accidentally walked into the situation. All he wanted to do was go buy a nice woman dinner for helping her out and vice versa. Turns out, the woman was caught up in a governmental conspiracy. Only Reacher can her it seems. Added into the problem the fact that Reacher's supposed daughter, Samantha, is a target as well doesn't help.
My question is: how can Reacher continue to find himself in this types of situations? I'm basing that question off the books not the two movies. And that leads us into the few flaws.
Of course, there are going to be some discrepancies from the book to the movie. The biggest being the fact that Cruise is almost a foot shorter and hundred pounds lighter than Jack Reacher in the book. I'm not saying that's a bad thing like a lot of people out there. Granted, I would love to see someone more the type take the role, but I'm fine with Cruise in the role.
The second problem with the story is that the book this movie is based on is part of a trilogy of books in the Reacher series. In fact, it's the last part of the trilogy of books. Now, I have only read the first two books of the entire Jack Reacher series and I haven't made it to the trilogy as of yet, but from what I understand the part at the beginning of the movie came from one of those other books. It just hurts the story a bit. They could have spaced out the movies a bit and included all of the story for Turner (Smulders) and Reacher. That's just my opinion.
The writing was superb, and that's not too surprising giving the author of the source material. The banter between Reacher and Turner, and Reacher and any of his enemies, and Reacher and Samantha, and Turner and Samantha was hilarious. It all worked great in the end.
As a side note, I can see this series becoming the next James Bond series. There is enough source material out there for the series to go on for a long time seeing as Tom Cruise is not going to be young enough to play Reacher that much longer. Just do what they have done with James Bond by switching actors every so often. That is, unless, they start putting a Reacher movie out every single year.
This movie is strongly recommended. I don't think I could recommend it anymore.
Rating: 8 out of 10.
Love Hard (2021)
Feel good for Christmas
The Emotional beats when they do come, they beat really fast like I'm about to cry. This movie really pulls the strings and the beats like a really good rock band song. The characters are very good. The supporting cast did very well for such little time. The script could have maybe had the characters talking for a bit more but still fine. This movie is also hillarious and I find the humor to be the best of the year. Nice Christmas feeling also and a nice decorated house. Great music to this as well. Relatibal in a way as I'm scared of heights. People are catfishes and this is a good way to show that it's not okay in this movie. Loved the family they had interesting personalities. The Grandmother was especially funny as she blurts out random words at odd times so it is kinda funny. It is a bit predictable but ahh well. Greatest movie of the year and greatest movie I've seen In a long time. Just bits that do need touching on but that's about it, for me personally.
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)
Smart family fun
Saw "Jumanji:The Next Level", starring Dwayne Johnson-the Fast & the Furious movies, Get Smart_2008; Jack Black-The House With a Clock in its Walls, Tropic Thunder; Kevin Hart-Fast & Furious Presents:Hobbs & Shaw, Central Intelligence and Karen Gillan-the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, Oculus. This is a direct sequel to the 2017 Jumanji:Welcome to the Jungle and third in the series, counting the original from 1995. This movie is fast paced, humorous and entertaining. There are several cameos such as Danny DeVito, Danny Glover and Awkwafina that are very good-Nick Jonas & Colin Hanks return as well, and there is a surprise cameo from the 1995 original movie. There is a twist here; the body occupations are switched. Dwayne is occupied by Danny DeVito, Jack by different teens and Kevin by Danny Glover. Karen has some funny inhabitants, too. This one also has more diverse settings than just the jungle, including snowy mountains and treeless deserts. The ending is a hint for a sequel and there is a scene right after the end credits start that ties in with the original 1995 movie. It's rated "PG-13" for action, language and some suggestive material and has a running time of 2 hours & 3 minutes. If you liked the last one, then you should enjoy this one, too. It's a real game changer that I would buy on Blu-Ray.
Gattaca (1997)
It's in the DNA
Sci fi is usually corny, a few futuristic trappings wrapped around a horse opera. This movie, however, is a realistic creation of a future world where DNA shapes lives. DNA is used for routine identification, routine spying on people to find out where they have been or to identify strangers, determining likely medical history, personality traits, even penis size. On a date, partners share hair samples so they can have them tested to see if the other is suitably perfect. A job interview consists only of a supervised urine sample. You can get anyone's DNA tested at the local Photomat.
It is a world obsessed with perfection in genetics, cleanliness, architecture, appearance, athletics, manners... The obsession with DNA generates a class system based on genetic perfection.
The hero (Ethan Hawke) cheats on DNA testing to give himself a chance at space flight, a privilege normally given only to the genetic elite.
The tension comes from the web closing slowly around his deception despite his elaborate efforts to evade. There is no running, shooting, head bashing (well a little) or car chases. Yet the suspense is unbearable. It makes the movie uncomfortable to watch.
There is a juicy cast of some of my favourite actors including: Alan Arkin, Tony Shalub, Gore Vidal, Ethan Hawke and Jude Law. Two of the characters, brothers, have 4 different actors (perhaps more) each for four ages, which gets a bit confusing.
The movie is like Blade Runner in that it creates a complete believable world, but this world is all serene brushed stainless steel and polished woods, evoking the sterility of an airport for the ultra wealthy.
The Harder They Fall (2021)
No idea how to do it!
Narratively this is a story we have seen a thousand times before. A young man seeks revenge on a ruthless outlaw who murdered his mom and dad. We don't know why the murders occurred by the outlaw but it's easy to empathize with the mans desire for revenge. Next a few Tarantino like sequences happen and the movie becomes dull. The dialogue is not exciting enough to cover the run time nor do the characters have any depth. The last ten minutes of the movie reveals a twist that should have played out one hour into the movie. If you think about the possibility of that happening and the predicament it would have put the protagonist in it's obvious to see it would have made for a much more exciting movie narratively. Some of the choices characters make to put themselves in harms way is exhaustingly stupid and needlessly prologues the movie with a boring bank heist. On top of that every few minutes obnoxiously loud-bad music plays over every scene with characters walking around looking stoically at one another. If you cut these scenes it would have saved thirty minutes easily. The Harder They Fall has the cast but forgets to have FUN!
For a Western none of the cinematography stands out and everything is obviously shot in a studio. It looks cheap and it doesn't help either that there is no action in the movie until the final thirty minutes. When the action comes it's your standard Western shootout, nothing unique about how the action sequence is filmed, no unique choreography and the deaths are as predictable as they come. In the end it's the boring story and one-note characters that hurt The Harder They Fall the most. The movie had a promising opening but quickly faded into another boring Western.
The Sting (1973)
You falla?
I was blown away by "The Sting." I'm a fan of caper films such as the "Ocean's Eleven" or "National Treasure" movies, and this is no exception (in fact, this is probably the best caper film I've seen). I didn't think Robert Redford and Paul Newman would be able to top "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," their previous film together, but they totally did. It's a great plot that ends up "stinging" not only the characters but the audience as well (see it to find out what I mean). It's a great balance between comedy and drama; it can be quite dramatic, but when it's funny, it's very funny. The plot involves Newman and Redford taking revenge on a gangster who killed one of their men. It's a complex, fun-filled story that entertains and mesmerizes. Some people are shot with guns, but nothing in the film is too difficult for the average person to watch, in my opinion. Not only are Newman and Redford excellent, but so is the supporting cast, including Robert Shaw, Harold Gould, and Charles Durning. The film won Best Picture of 1973, which was deserved. The film is just excellent. One of my personal favorites.
Dexter: New Blood: Cold Snap (2021)
He's baaaaaaaaaaack and he's still nuts
Love the fact he is back and love the fact that we didn't leave it where it left off in the original series , of which we all know the ending was pretty bad.
Know they meant to this and I loved it built up the excitement for when the final 15 mins of the show the show snapped back to the way the show used to be. Until then Dexter or should I say Jim didn't talk to himself anymore, didn't act the way he used to and had a new routine. Then all the sudden someone does something that makes him snap and then bam Dexter is talking to himself again and finally after almost ten years Dexter is back.
Villains beware!
Dune (2021)
Way Too much set up then it ended suddenly
This is 2 hours of set up of the world, of the background, of the people etc etc and then just a s pretty much everything was explained it ended suddenly.
I don think that is how to structure a film, it seems that the writers and producers were worried that audiences would not understand this film, so lets us explain everything and then suddenly realised that was about 2 hours in and then now we can push forward.
And then there is that knife fight at the end, which I guess was meant to be scaled done and clunky because it it, it just didn't work, it didn't feel part of the rest of the film as the tone and style wa totally different , now that may be the intent but that idea dd not work either, to go through all those hours then to have that knife and have it end straight after was bad plotting.
I did enjoy it but it was flawed, lets hope the second part is a plot that moves forward and not a pat which explains and explains and explains.
Tony Manero (2008)
Great terrifying film
Ive been meaning to review this film for years as it has stayed with me from when I first sewed it many years ago.
I think this is a terrifying masterpiece, its underrated, under discussed, and shows the true horror of serial killers instead of the glamorous side of in such films such as Silence of the Lambs or the Tv series Mindhunter.
The connection of the Saturday Night Fever character to a serial is sheer perfection, its bizarre yet truly haunting.
Vengeance Is Mine (2021)
Clues to hallucinations theory listed, is the beach heaven?
This is a tense thriller, but it's a great deal more than that, lets talk about wether the events are real or hallucinations or has Harry died?
There are visual clues which allude to that:
In his first suicide attempt he swings to and fro at a knife, then stops, the shot of him going to and fro at the knife is repeated in the the film at crucial times, first when Harry witness the villains through a window, we snap cut to it, this cut in my view is a signal that he has either started to hallucinate or dreaming in his last moments at the knife chair, after which point he witnesses the villains kill a man, the victim flies back a distance which again is a clue that its an exaggeration in his mind. Secondly the knife shot is repeated right at the end when he is at the grave, just as we see his daughter wave to him and beckons to him to come and join her, we see his eyes close when he is on the ground.
He imagines the killer played by Anton Saunders sneak up on him with a gun and shoot him , he then wakes up, this is another indicator that this protagonist is not reliable and lives in a hallucinatory dream state.
The image of the mother and daughter asleep in a room is also repeated throughout the film in the violent moments, this room they are in is the one Harry enters at the end and sees them asleep, he stands by a door contemplating something as he does so we see his daughter yawn and his wife stir, then we cut to shot of his daughter beckoning him, then a shot of his wife smiling, then he seems he is about to enter the room to join them, but he stops and we then cut to him swinging on the knife, then his eyes close at the grave, he is joining them in death.
The beach shot Emma shows him on a postcard and pins onto a board in the kitchen, is the same beach that Harry walks onto to meet Emma after his eyes close at the grave. Crucially he walks up to her and she gives no visible reaction, she simply stands there and they do NOT speak word to each other, if it was real they would talk, is this heaven and has all the film been a death hallucination which he has imagined from the outset at at his knife suicide attempt.
He reads the Count of Monte Cristo, an over the top swashbuckling classic, another clue in that what we are witnessing in the entire film is fantasy.
Harry's obsession with death, his lines of dialogue always refer to death in some way, Emma says 'Im getting old" he responds saying " its better than the alternative" which obviously is death. He tells her the French call an orgasm "Le Petit Mort" which translated means "a small death."
At the field near the plane hangar, he has killed the 2 villains in a normal and brutal way, THEN he suddenly sees his wife by the hay bales, at this point 'miraculously' one of the villains he shot comes to life and he shoots him again and he flies back LONG distance but we NEVER see the villain land. NOTE, the first time he kills this villain we see the villain land at specific spot, when the two gang members return to check out the area the dead villain is at the same exact same spot when he was first shot. In my view the shooting when the villain trails a distance is a hallucination as hallucinating seeing his wife is a signal to this.
I really liked this movie and hope the above was interesting.