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With Kina at home courtesy of Netflix disc
An excellent entry to a franchise that surprisingly proves rehashing old themes can work when done right.
With Colin at Colin's crib
There was some potential here but trash acting and a bad script kept this from being very good.
With Kina at home on Peacock
What makes Sick work is bringing us back to early-Covid days when our uncertainties and fears really were at the peak. It's all still fresh in our minds but at the same time we are at a point that we can poke at it a little and it's not upsetting. As far as the actual horror/killer part of Sick, it's pretty standard but not bad. We enjoy a good slasher in this household and this one definitely fits in that mold.
With Kina at home
Two sisters uncover their recently dead mother's secrets after they are forced to cover up a killing in their small fishing town. Blow the Man Down harkens back to the late 90's boom of modern noir films and although it's not as enjoyable as a lot of the great ones from that era, it has enough going for it to give it a watch.
At At the cabin rental in Port Angeles
In the Shadow of the Moon takes a lot from a notable franchise that is kind of a spoiler to call out by name. But if you allow that indulgence, there's a fair amount to like here. If it wasn't for lazy writing here and there, this could be really good. Instead it's just okay. Holbrook plays a cop who is chasing a serial killer over 30 years. As the years wear on, he starts to lose himself in his obsession. Will he ever get his collar? Check it out to find out.
At at the Port Angeles cabin rental
People are weird and evil man. Just an incredibly infuriating story of failures on so many levels.
With Kina at home
Great rebirth of the long standing series. You know, Rocky is one of those series that is a lot better than most people remember it. There is a steadfast classic underdog theme here where anyone can win if they put the work in. Creed continues with that trend and while storywise we are in very familiar territory, there is enough punch from Stallone and Jordan to bring new life in. Tessa Thompson is great as usual as the love interest and Coogler shows he knows how to shoot high quality action shots.
At home
This was a wild ride. Dope action scenes, some funny moments, really dug the way they'd bring in the back stories of all the characters involved. Reminded me of City of God in that manner. But for all the funny moments, there were a lot of jokes that fell flat and damned if I hate to say it because I'm a fan, but I thought Pitt was a little off here. Just didn't buy into his performance a lot of the time. But worth a watch nonetheless.
At home
Good insight into what happened to this guy. Sad story. Sounds like he had a lot of bad people around him both before and after his rise to stardom. Also sounds like he had his own issues that a lot of people may have overlooked due to his popularity. There's enough here to pay attention to but it never gets deep enough into any perspective to really make you think much more on it.
With Kina and Syd at AMC Lakewood
Had a really great time watching this with the miss and the little one. Confession: I have never seen any of the Shrek universe movies all the way through. Just never got around to watching them and when the series started, I was wylin' out and not watching animated movies. Looks like I am going to have to catch up! This was funny and dope. The step animation they utilized in the fight scenes was bad ass as well. Banderas crushes it but so does Wagner Moura as the baddie. Good shit.
With Kina at home
Interesting piece about the girls who attempted to murder their friend in an effort they claimed was to appease the mythical Slenderman. I thought this gave some good insight as to what the parents of these kids went through after the attempted murder but what is noticeably missing is the side of the victim. I'm sure this could be due to her declining to be involved but I still feel like the filmmakers should have done something to look at things from her and her family's side. I thought they also could have went deeper into the sentencing here and whether it's fair or not to give such lengthy terms to such a young pair of culprits.
At home
Dark, goofy comedy that's not quite funny enough to be great. Builds to a pretty insane finish and there are some moments along the way to chuckle at, but it's just not quite woven together well enough to make me want to watch it again.
With Kina at Home on Shudder
Solid, creepy mockumentary focused on a young Thai woman who may be next in line to take over as the village shaman. When she begins to behave strangely, the current shaman begins to wonder if something sinister is afoot. There is a bit of a slow buildup here, but I was actually into the setup so I didn't mind it. If it was 20 minutes shorter, would be much better. The Medium also draws a lot of inspiration from movies like The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and the Exorcist and sometimes it feels like it's forcing unnecessary elements of those into the action. But overall, a satisfying watch.
With Kina at home
Goddamn this dude is funny af. One of the best standup specials I have watched in awhile. With Ali Wong and Ronnie Chieng recently dropping great pieces, Asian comedians are really doing their thizzle right now.
With Kina at home
Pretty solid thriller. Ethan Hawke is excellent as the baddie here. The premise of a kidnapped kid who gets help from the ghosts of his captor's victims is a good one.
With Kina at home
Both a lot of good and bad here. Let's start with the bad: Kristen Stewart is near naked for a good part of the film and most it felt pretty unnecessary. I like eye candy but goddamn man. Worse than that though is my questions of the science behind a lot of what is going on. I don't know much about pressure under water and deep sea physics and what not, but a lot of the stuff that happens in Underwater seems pretty inaccurate. The good is that outside of plausibility, Underwater is pretty suspenseful and the set and effects are top notch. I was really impressed with how well shot this was for a fairly average budget. Worth a watch for fans of creature features.
With Kina at home
Lotta fun. A little bit behind the snappiness of the first one but still a nice romp. Everyone here is really on their game too. I continue to be enamored with the development of Bautista's chops, Monae keeps giving reasons for me to be a big fan, and Craig's Benoit is one of the most likable new franchise characters to come along in awhile.
At home
Solid creature feature entry. Pretty good practical effects and decent character development. Gets hamstrung by some plausibility issues (top security base but people are just walking in and out everywhere??) but definitely worth a gander.
With Kina at at home on Paramount
First off, hats off to one of the best marketing campaigns I have seen in recent times for a horror (any?) flick. Truly magnificent work. That said, Smile lives in very familiar territory and is unable to separate itself from everything it is inspired by. The good thing is while you won't get anything original, you will get a decent rehashing of what you have liked before.
At home
This is pretty cookie cutter. I am surprised at all the love this has gotten. I find it in the lower-mid rung of anything Hanks and especially Spielberg has worked on. A Lifetime movie for spies.
At home
When tragedy strikes a couple after they move into a new home, the husband grows convinced that something supernatural could be the source of the devastation. Don't Listen injects well-crafted shifts into familiar ground leading viewers down a path to an unexpected destination.
With Kina at home on Paramount
Some cool kills but ultimately pretty lame. A fun movie to watch and pick apart though.
With Kina at home on Paramount
Another dumb slasher that has just enough cool shit in it to not be terrible. This one doesn't get going until about halfway through, but there are some decent moments to be found if you can get there.
With Kina at home
Cool premise with a decent looking baddie and kills but ultimately not shot very well.
With Kina at home
Kind of a flip in strengths and weaknesses in the normal slasher. This one the gore is not very great but the characters are not bad. Worth a look.
At home
I love detective shit. If we take it all the way back to third grade, I was reading Three Investigators and Hardy Boys. So fast forward x amount of a lot of years, and detective stories still hold a spot in my heart. With the talent assembled for this, this should have been a home run for me. Alas, it's just ok. Poirot just keeps pulling all the conclusions out of damn near thin air and we are expected to just go along. In the end, the twist really isn't one, and we are left holding the bag.
At home
This series continues to do just enough to make me want to come back for more. There hasn't been a really good one since PA2, but every piece has been fine enough and that includes this latest entry.
With Kina at home
I dug it, but still felt it suffered from too long of an intro. This is one of Ti West's trademarks I have long hated and part of me wonders if I only dug it here because the long intro in X features lots of kink. Either way, the final product is a fun watch for fans of smut and violence both.
At home
Pretty meh. Not the worst, in fact there is a really cool death scene late in the movie. But if I am talking about a single cool death scene, you know this isn't anything to get excited for.
With Kina at home
This was much better than I thought it would be. If you do not take it serious and just want to see some great gore and kill scenes, this is definitely worth a watch. Bonus points for satirizing social media and cancel culture which I did not expect at all.
At home
This is a very bad movie. There are really no redeeming qualities to it. Both the main male characters are so unlikable that you can't really get behind either. Tawny Kitaen while not terrible is still pretty bad playing the damsel in distress. This is almost a 1 star, I gave it 2 because the villain's face looks cool. I know a lot of people have fond memories of movies they saw when they were young and so they add some nostalgia points to them when they rate them now. But this is not one of those that merits that. It's just bad.
With Kina at home
Entertaining and pretty action flick. Felt like there was room to tighten up some fight scenes and plot devices but overall, a fun watch. Evans plays a really good asshole baddie and Gosling is solid as usual.
With Kina at home
Fun action craziness. Denzel is always the man and Fuqua offers some more stylish violence for us bloodlusters, but goddamn there are so many plot holes here.
At home
Let's not bullshit, this is a silly movie but it's a fun silly movie and has a lot of cool shit in it. Mamoa does fine as the Arnold replacement but it's really Lang and McGowan who shine as the baddies here. There are so many holes in the narrative you could make ten gold courses of out of them but in the end, what are the expectations walking in? This feels like a throwback to, well Conan movies and Beastmasters and it's just fine if you want some dumb entertainment for the evening. We need better written movies in this style.
With Kina at home on Paramount
About as good as I thought it would be. Scream has always been really good at making fun of itself and tropes of horror and this latest iteration doesn't let up on that. But there are also a lot of dumb things that happen and I know we aren't supposed to take ourselves too seriously here but some of the things are just too much.
With Kina at home
Solid action watch if you don't mind overlooking a few things. Lot of solid performances here as well.
With Kina at home
Was great seeing a lot of the Mexican culture in a horror flick. Don't usually see that and if you do, it's usually some white folks "discovering" it. So that backdrop was great. But some bad acting, some bad dialogue, an unnecessary and an unbelievable drugs side story kept this from being good. Plus a major character just disappears late in the movie with no explanation. No bueno.
Let's start that the acting in this is pretty terrible. CM Punk looks like a goof and spends most of the feature fumbling through his lines. The rest of his co-stars aren't much better. But past all the terrible performances, there is a lot to like about Girl on the Third Floor. Punk plays a loser who hopes by renovating an old Victorian he and his wife just bought that he can save his marriage. Doesn't sound like much but as he digs into the house's guts and meets a mysterious vixen of a neighbor, Girl on the Third Floor really starts showing off the pros that balance out it's cons. It's a movie you have to chew through the D-list feel of to really get. But for fans of gore and goth horror, its not a bad watch.
With Kina at home on Peacock courtesy of Big Brother Pooh
At home
What an awesome surprise. Found this surfing through Prime while on zombie mode at 1 in the morning and thought I'd throw it on until I was ready for bed. It grabbed me instantaneously and I ended up finishing the near two hour piece in one shot. Tumbbad revolves around three generations of a family obsessed with a treasure supposedly hidden in the ruins of an old temple. An evil force guards the temple's secrets and it becomes apparent as these secrets begin to unravel that we see how cursed this treasure truly is. This is scary folktale telling at its finest. The only remote comparison I could think of off the top of my head was Pan's Labyrinth. Seeing all the Indian culture and history tucked in added extra spice to a cleverly written fable on greed. Don't miss out.
At home
A father/daughter prospecting team are on a harsh planet looking for a big payday. They are on the clock, their only ride out being a band of mercenaries who they can't come back to empty handed. But when they are ambushed by a pair of goons looking to take over their loot, an unlikely alliance must be formed between both sides to take on the planet's dangers and killers even more nefarious than these cons. Prospect is a great exhibition on how to do a lot with a little. It features a small cast, the biggest name being Pedro Pascal as the main thief taking on the father/daughter. Rookie writer/ directors Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl are kick in the door with fresh ideas on how to pile on the suspense and show that you don't need a gazillion dollars to make a great piece of sci-fi which is also equally as good of a thriller. That isn't always an easy thing to achieve and I'm amped to see what these guys do next.
At home
This one snuck under the radar for awhile because I had heard it was average. Recently, I had seen it pop up on a lot of underrated lists so thought I'd check it out given the spy thriller genre is one of my faves. The American does a lot of things well. Director Anton Corbijn drops Clooney into the role as a hitman stuck between seeking something to fill a void in his soul and being consumed by the ever growing paranoia born from his life's actions. Clooney excels at conveying the back and forth nature of is mindset. This is a man who clearly is about to lose it if he doesn't find something to get him aligned. Where this conflict resolves is pretty predictable and a bit of a letdown in execution, and the few action scenes throughout The American are hit and miss. There's a simpleness to them that shuns Hollywood bloatness and while I understand that Corbijn wanted to not fall into a trap of glamorizing violence, sometimes it's just a little boring. But all in all, still worth a look for fans of the genre and Clooney alike.
With Kina at Century Cinemas in Ruston
Chinese epic meets Star Wars makes for a very interesting combo. And while Shang-Chi is pretty fun, it lacks in what I thought would be the obvious strongpoint: the fight scenes. Maybe I was expecting too much in a Disney flick, but even the Netflix street level Marvel series like Daredevil and Iron Fist had better fight scenes. Shang-Chi's are not bad, in fact if you don't watch a lot of martial arts movies you will probably think they are pretty good. But in reality, Ten Rings borrows from a lot of movies and doesn't expand on anything it steals from fight scene wise. My other big negative is there was a little too much cuteness for my liking with some of the creatures present here. But after that, everything is a big positive. The visuals are gorgeous in every aspect. Simu Liu and Awkwafina have a fantastic chemistry together and of course Tony Leung and Michele Yeoh kill it as usual. I will be interested in seeing what comes next.
With Kina, Marq, and Leilah at holiday house in Bellingham
Outstanding look at the infamous Pacers vs Pistons brawl in 2004. A good look at how media spins things how they want sometimes and even best in the world athletes are still human.
With Kina, Marq, and Leilah at holiday house in Bellingham
Compelling and gut-wrenching doc that shows sometimes you really don't know what someone is capable of.
At home
Miike sometimes is too silly for me to really get into his work, and First Love is a good example of that. Over the top and goofy and missing any really memorable characters save for the lead.
With Kina at home
This is what I like to see in a Guy Ritchie movie. His formula of assembling a motley crew of characters and throwing them into some sneaky criminal corner of the universe armed with dialogue as deadly as the weapons they carry has been gold for many movies now. The Gentlemen is a notch on the level of his best work, that being Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Gun Barrels and Snatch. We need more films like this. Just an excellent job from all involved and goddammit if Hugh Grant didn't crush it.
With Kina and Leilah at home
Watched based on a lot of people saying it wasn't bad, which it wasn't. Easily the best movie in this franchise without Conjuring in the title.
With VSG team at The Grand in Tacoma
If you love visual stimulation and don't require a cohesive story arc, then you could possibly love the Green Knight. If long real time shots irritate you and you don't enjoy jumping on Reddit to understand wtf just happened in a film, you could possibly hate David Lowery's latest yarn. I'm somewhat in the middle, definitely dazzled by his gorgeous bleak landscapes but also frustrated at the depth of ambiguity so prevalent throughout Green Knight's two hours and ten minutes. Maybe a rewatch will help flesh things out but I don't know if I ever will take the time to do so.
With Kina at home
Had mixed feelings on this one. I love most Guy Ritchie films but this one did not have much of the witty dialogue his other crime capers are known for. This is more of a typical Hollywood action flick albeit with a few twists. I did not know until after watching it that it's also loosely based on the 2004 French heist movie Cash Truck, so have nothing to base that aspect on since I haven't seen it. There are a couple of big holes in my eyes that keep Wrath from being great, things I won't get into too much here. One is early, one is late, and while they don't kill the film, they are really frustrating to a viewer who could have taken this more seriously had the writers not been so shortsighted. Wrath of Man is something that wants to be something like Heat or Thief but misses the nuances those classics put behind the action. Instead, it makes Jason Statham too much of a badass to be considered in the realm of pieces like those two and ends up being a pretty decent popcorn flick. That's not to take away too much from it. Ritchie still has a sharp eye for action scenes and puts together some good ones here and the story has a good setup that will keep fans of crime flicks engaged.
At Home
I heard this described as a tier two Soderbergh flick and I'd agree with that. Lot of great characters and a good setup, but it lacks the precision of intersecting stories like his greatest pieces feature. It's just not as clean as it should be, and even though it's near two hours, some of it just felt rushed. There's also some social commentary woven in and while some of it is done well, some of it also felt forced, especially near the end when a rich tycoon type played by Matt Damon delivers a monologue that wants to be great, but isn't. Still, fans of a good noir yarn will appreciate this.
Stats
Average rating:6.6
