Movie Review

Ronin has some of the best car chases I've ever seen, they are seem to be practical and not so stunty. Tom and crew definitely achieve something similar in Fallout.

Henry Cavill is very good - man I did not realize how tall he is until he's talking with Cruise.

eta: wow butterfly knives, have not seen those since the 70s. well done fallout.

rofl i've been rewatching the 'Final Destination' series of movies. Completely cracks me UP all the different ways they engineer the scenes to have the massive damage they do. Very creative, very "Mouse Trap" construction of the different events that need to fall into place. Kudos! Great for laughs.

First Reformed: really really powerful and moving movie, emotionally.  It is not a feel good movie, but it will make you think and self-examine. 9.5/10. If anyone sees it, I'd love to discuss your interpretations of the messages its conveying.

Zaphod wrote:

First Reformed: really really powerful and moving movie, emotionally.  It is not really a feel good movie, but it will make you think and self-examine. 9.5/10.

Awesome. I love to self-examine. Quiet evening at home alone, bottle of wine, watch some Charlie's Angels reruns... let the self examination begin!

Seriously though, glad to hear a good review about this movie. I'll be watching it this week myself. I actually had it earmarked for the theater but never had the time, or gumption, to go see it.

It's kind of intense in spots, so not one to watch if you're in a down mood. Ethan Hawke does some really good work tho, with not a lot of words.

lol who is your favorite Angel there, John? I would guess Jaclyn.

I liked Farrah til she hooked up with the 6 million dollar man. No way I could compete with that guy. So I replaced her with Cheryl. I was into the Swedish bikini team back then. Nowadays though, I seem to have come down with a case of the jungle fevah.

lol you totally had the Farrah poster. we all did. and I would guess...and the Heather Thomas poster.

I wasn't big on posters. Couldn't see much in my room through all the smoke.

Early Man – This movie is hysterical, especially if you get a chuckle out of a ruler being named Queen OoFIFA and “message birds” that mimic exactly what’s said (and seen) in their vicinity. I’m a fan of Aardman’s stop-motion animation from the get-go, and this visit to the origins of soccer/football (they’re British, as is their humor) is their usual style of Pythonesque silliness mixed with technical brilliance. And I can’t believe that the villain’s ridiculous French accent was coming out of Tom Hiddleston. And that pig (who behaves like a dog) giving him a massage… and… and…

Zaphod wrote:

rofl i've been rewatching the 'Final Destination' series of movies. Completely cracks me UP all the different ways they engineer the scenes to have the massive damage they do. Very creative, very "Mouse Trap" construction of the different events that need to fall into place. Kudos! Great for laughs.

Watched the first one and thought it was kind of a unique spin on slasher flicks. Like all franchises the first is probably the best. I couldn't get through the second one.

I've seen 5 different Final Destination films. I liked 3 the best, the original was a close second, the rest were all pretty poor. Even Ali Larter sucked in 2 - you know that's a bad movie. I'd rate them:

1: 5.5/10
2: 2/10
3: 6/10
4: 2.5/10
5: 2/10

I've only seen the first one. I liked it fine.

Meanwhile, Mission Impossible Fallout: 8.5 out of 10. The action sequences were a blast. The plot was workable but of course it's mainly to hang the décor on. What dropped the grade for me was this habit actions movie have of ending scenes with very forced humorous lines. Here it just made the actors drop out of character. And a couple of characters are on the borderline of being believable as agents, so they don't need winks to the camera. They need solidity.

I rather like the FD films but I have to be in a specific frame of mind to watch any of them. In my view, they're comedy thrillers. You watch these films mainly to see how creatively they can kill the characters.

Gonna try and watch Fallout this week. The MI series isn't priority watching for me though. It's action for action's sake which doesn't do much for me, albeit some of the individual scenes can be a thrill.

FD films are when you are in a 'whatever is fun to watch' frame of mind, so not to be taken seriously. Kind of like the Friday the 13th flicks. Or even the Halloween flicks. One could mention the Saw series but that goes down a darker road that not everyone likes to see.

I see what you're saying, Zapper. For me, those other films don't make me laugh. FD seriously cracks me up with those death scenes. For that reason alone, I'd rather watch a FD movie than any of those others. Similar to what I said about the MI films, F13th and those other films are horror for horror's sake, which again just doesn't do it for me. FD is horror for horror's sake too but it's also the grand champion of creative death scenes. Funny, funny stuff they have there.

Yep, it dumb fun like the Mad Max films. cinema eye candy for awhile.

Tag 7/10, Redbox worthy - Fun comedy about adult friends since the age of 9 who play an annual month-long game of Tag, You're It.

Anything over a 4.5 is a good score from me. I save my nines and tens for the true top shelf shit.

I totally agree that the FD films are at their best when there's humor and creative death scenes. Also agree that Saw and its ilk belong in a different class; those are physical and psychological torture films, and i personally don't enjoy watching physical torture. The psychological torture endured in the last couple FD films felt very forced to me, i disliked the early plot structures of both 4 & 5. The older horror genre films like F13 series, Elm Street series, belong in their own category. They will probably even be rebooted fairly soon.

Nice to see you like Tag, JC. I've been curious but worried it would be a Grown-Ups retread with Horrible Bosses and Hangover acting talent.

Tag is better natured than those films, but otherwise similar in the acting and goofiness department.

That sounds like a lot of upside.

Action Point, 6/10, Cable worthy - Johnny Knoxville stars in a based on true events story about the owner of a failed, dangerous NJ amusement park. Humorous pratfalls and a sentimental touch make this movie watchable.


Patient Zero, 8/10 Dollar Theater worthy - Another story about people who get 'infected' with a virus resulting in an apocalypse. Stars Matt Smith doing a terrible American accent. Maybe my expectations were low but I really enjoyed this movie. I liked it better than I Am Legend. It's got a B movie feel about it, but it's much better than your typical B movie. Sci-fi/horror fans will love it.


The Meg, 8/10, Dollar Theater worthy - Super awesome mega sharks from an area deeper than the Marianas Trench come to the surface and start eating people. This movie is exactly what you would expect it to be and it knows what it is. Very well done and another movie that the sci-fi/horror throng should revel in.

Adrift, 8/10, Dollar Theater worthy - Excellent film based on a true story about a couple who adrift at sea on a sailboat which has been ravaged by a storm.

American Animals 8/10, Redbox worthy - Excellent film based on a true story about a quartet of college age thieves who plan an art heist from a college library.

Thanks for the reminder about Adrift, Big John. The Icelandic director who made that, Baltasar Kormakur, has done some excellent work. This sounds familiar to his movie, The Deep, about a fisherman who loses his boat in frigid water.

Big John wrote:

American Animals 8/10, Redbox worthy - Excellent film based on a true story about a quartet of college age thieves who plan an art heist from a college library.

Spot on with that review BJ. My gosh they just had no clue when it came to planning that correctly, I was cringing while it was going on. Nice that they had the real people doing interviews, I feel that adds a lot to get an impression of them.

Will tackle Adrift later on.

Adrift was pretty good, if not a bit depressing.

Tackling the 'Rec' series - fun little jump scare flicks.

UFO, 8/10, Red Box worthy - This drama kept me entertained the entire time. Enjoyed the dialogue and the mystery and the knowledge it imparts. End could have been better but left you with some things to think about.

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

Anything over a 4.5 is a good score from me.

What? 4.5 is like the first movie made by a recent film school grad, if he's got promise. Usually bad special effects, terrible dialogue, but maybe a half way decent story would be a 4.5. That doesn;t sound like time well spent to me. 4.5 is bad. Go check out the 4.5 rated movies on IMdB.

You gotta realize buddy, the rating system is not just for movies that gain wide release to the big screen. Granted there are a few high budget studio flops that have enough cash behind them which can get to that place, but bad movies usually don't get a wide release, or even a local release for that matter, and there are tons of them. The scores under 5 are generally reserved for those types of films.

Searching, 8/10, Red Box worthy - Interesting mystery thriller which employs the use of technology as the sole vehicle to tell the story. Ending was clever and not easily predictable which is a hard commodity to find these days.

I prefer to score based on my own predilections and preferences. I prefer to think of 5 as a roughly average film on a scale of 0-10, so from me a score of a 5 isn't much of an insult, and a score of 6.5 is a bit of a compliment. There's no reason we should all have to use the same scale, is there? I kinda thought that was part of the idea of having our own thread for this; if we all wanted to be perfectly standardized we could just use MetaCritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

I realize that there is a ton of film being shot that never sees the light of day, but it not seeing the light of day makes it difficult for me to use as a counterweight, because while i *know* it's there, i never see it. My scores are utterly subjective, but in reality so are everybody else's, whether they attempt objectivity or not.

Big John wrote:

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

Anything over a 4.5 is a good score from me.

What? 4.5 is like the first movie made by a recent film school grad, if he's got promise. Usually bad special effects, terrible dialogue, but maybe a half way decent story would be a 4.5. That doesn;t sound like time well spent to me. 4.5 is bad. Go check out the 4.5 rated movies on IMdB.

You gotta realize buddy, the rating system is not just for movies that gain wide release to the big screen. Granted there are a few high budget studio flops that have enough cash behind them which can get to that place, but bad movies usually don't get a wide release, or even a local release for that matter, and there are tons of them. The scores under 5 are generally reserved for those types of films.

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

I prefer to think of 5 as a roughly average film on a scale of 0-10, so from me a score of a 5 isn't much of an insult

I hear ya Mo but you're changing your tune to fit your narrative. I agree with a 5 being mainly just average. Take it or leave it. That's not what you said before though. You basically said 5 is a good score.

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

Anything over a 4.5 is a good score from me.

Maybe it's just me, but there's a significant difference between average and good when it comes to ratng movies. Frankly, I have no interest in dedicating my valuable time to watching average movies. I consider a good score, like you inferred, to be a bare minimum of 6.5.

All I'm really saying is that 5 is not a good score.

Mandy: Nicolas Cage flick. slow moving and extremely weird horror flick. 2/5.

Has anyone seen the new Jennifer Garner movie, Peppermint? I heard it harkens back to her Alias days.

Prodigy, 5/10, Specal Interest worthy - Terrible acting and bad special effects highlight this story of a young girl with a special power who matches wits with a child psychologist. The story itself is fascinating but the production value makes it hard to watch

Zaphod wrote:

Mandy: Nicolas Cage flick. slow moving and extremely weird horror flick. 2/5.

I plan to watch it this weekend. The reviews for this thing are all over the map. Some are calling it an instant grindhouse cult classic. Others say it is beyond stupid. Since people say that about me quite often, I'm very much looking forward to this film.

It's very different BJ. I don't believe I'd give it cult classic status.

Mandy, 6/10, Cable worthy - Trippy grindhouse flick starring Nicolas Cage as an avenging husband. If grindhouse is your thing, this is a must see. Otherwise, don't bother.

Mission Impossible: Fallout. 8/10, Theater worthy - Really fun blockbuster action flick with an easy to follow plot and Alec Baldwin.

Big John wrote:

Mandy, 6/10, Cable worthy - Trippy grindhouse flick starring Nicolas Cage as an avenging husband. If grindhouse is your thing, this is a must see. Otherwise, don't bother.

I can't say I like it nor dislike it. It had great visual moments and I almost always enjoy Nic Cage's performances, over the top or not. But MAN it dragged at points. TONS of soundtrack too, I mean felt intrusive at times. Grindhouse is a good label for it.

Zaphod wrote:

It's very different BJ. I don't believe I'd give it cult classic status.

I didn't remember Nic Cage being in it but then I realized I was confusing it with All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.

Grindhouse usually means wait for streaming for me, unless there's some pressing reason, like great photography, that would require a big screen.

It's visually stunning but I wouldn't say it requires a big screen, Pi. Let us know what you think.

That's one person's opinion. This person wouldn't call it visually stunning at all. There were a couple moments where the cinematography used some color filters to add atmosphere to a scene, which was kinda cool but nothing too special. The rest of the effects are grindhouse gore which I have been over since I saw Kill Bill 2.

lord John speaketh

in other news, Henry Cavill apparently out as Superman. that's a shame, I liked him in that role more than the others.

BlacKkKlansman, 8/10, Theater worthy - A good, fun movie about a very serious issue.

Billionaire Boys Club, 6.5/10, Cable worthy - Interesting BioPic about rich kids who try to cash in big in business but their plan takes a wrong turn.

Wish Upon - eh, just an ok horror flick along the lines of Final Destination and Wishmaster.

Session 9 - decent scary mental asylum flick. Not a great story, but some fun acting by David Caruso and Stephen Gevedon. Worth seeing if you like asylum flicks, otherwise skip.

Hotel Artemis, 8/10, Theater worthy - Jody Foster, Bautista, Zachary Quinto, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Day, and Kenneth Choi all star in this riveting, futuristic thriller about a secret, members only hospital that caters to an elite criminal element. My expectations weren't very high but I came out of this hoping for a sequel or a tv series. Edge of your seat fun.

Rewatch after ages of Night of the Hunter. I remembered parts of this really clearly but had totally forgotten the feeling of the clash between Mitchum's over the top lunacy and Gish's down to earth lack of sentimentality. I associate her so much with the Victorianisms of Griffith that I'd forgotten how natural she could be. That contrast works really well, the photography (despite the artifacts of digitization -- I saw this on a Blu-Ray) is gorgeous, and the plot aged considerably better than expected.

The Hitman's Bodyguard was a lot more watchable than I thought it would be. But I was exhausted by about the 90 minute mark from the violence. Well, not the violence so much as the constant chasing. I'll have to go back and watch the last couple of big set pieces again, on their own, to see if they're as dull as they seemed. That won't change my opinion of the movie, just settle my curiosity.

I liked The Hitman's Bodyguard too. You're right about the chase scenes. Don't waste your time watching them again.

Rewatch of Sinister, getting into the halloween spirit. Still plenty good and scary, I'd forgotten the storyline.