Movie Review: Texas Killing Fields (2011)

Murder is bad. Don’t do it.

Disclaimer: I know this thing is based on a true story, but I will not base my review on how perfectly accurate to the real situation it may or may not be, but I will instead judge it as a movie… which it is. Disclaimer over.

Ladies and gents… “Texas Killing Fields”.

Brian Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Mike Souder (Sam Worthington) are a pair of detectives investigating a series of unsolved murders in Texas. So we follow them as they try to untangle this web of who and why. So now we have our crime-drama. And is the plot here any good? The premise is actually quite intriguing, but the execution is quite average. It’s not bad, with the initial setup being good and some pretty solid moments being spread throughout, but overall it doesn’t do a whole lot to stand out from other thrillers out there. I can say though that I wasn’t ever bored… I just never found myself fully invested in the story of this movie. It’s just… fine.

The characters here are surprisingly layered and interesting. Sure, they’re not the deepest ponds in the county, but I was genuinely surprised at how interested I was in them. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays Brian Heigh, a New York detective who had been transferred down to Texas to work with them. He’s a tough but caring man, being what you’d probably call “good cop” in an interrogation. And Morgan is great in the role. Sam Worthington plays Mike Souder, a local Texas cop who is Heigh’s partner in this investigation. He’s a bit of a short-fused asshole, and the “bad cop” of the two. And I have to say that Worthington was good in the role. The two also share some okay chemistry, not Riggs & Murtaugh levels of chemistry, but they do work pretty well together. Jessica Chastain plays another detective in this movie, though working in a different precinct, and she’s really good in the role. Chloë Grace Moretz plays a young girl named Ann. She’s neglected by her mom and she in general doesn’t seem to have a great life. But she’s pretty interesting and Moretz is really good in the role. You also get some solid supporting performances from people like Jason Clarke, Annabeth Gish, Sheryl Lee, and Stephen Graham. So yeah, this is a well acted movie.

The score was composed by Dickon Hinchliffe and I have mixed feelings about it. There are tracks in it that are very atmospheric, adding to the scenes they’re used in, perfectly fitting the setting. Then there are also tracks that feel out of place, sounding like something you’d hear in an episode of “Justified”. And while that isn’t an inherently bad thing, it just sounds a bit off in this movie. I’ll at least give the score this: It heavily features acoustic guitar, which is something I always enjoy hearing. But yeah, overall the score here is… mixed.

This movie was directed by Ami Canaan Mann, daughter of Michael Mann. And I think she did a pretty good job here. There’s a good amount of solid camera work here, and some overall neat visuals at times. There are also a couple of mediocrely directed moments, mainly stuff that is shot in the dark where you can’t see shit. But for the most part this movie is well directed. There are also like two, small-ish action scenes in the movie and they were okay, not great, not bad. Mann even man(n)ages to get some pretty good suspense out of a couple of scenes in the movie, which is something I didn’t exactly expect. So the directing here is good. Still, I’m a little bit disappointed, mainly because Danny Boyle was supposed to direct it at one point but then dropped out. Oh well, c’est la vie. Good job, Mann.

This movie hasn’t been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 36% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 49/100. Roger Ebert gave it 2/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 5,7/10.

While “Texas Killing Fields” isn’t a great movie, it’s still a pretty solid rainy day thriller. It has an okay plot, pretty good characters, really good performances, good music, and good directing. Flaws with the movie are that the plot is just fine, and the music being a bit off at times. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Texas Killing Fields” is a 6,99/10. So while quite flawed, it’s still worth a rental.

My review of “Texas Killing Fields” is now completed.

Loosely based on real events.

Movie Review: Flame & Citron (2008)

Vive la resistance? I don’t fucking know.

Disclaimer: I know this thing is based on a true story, but I will not base my review on how perfectly accurate to the real situation it may or may not be, but I will instead judge it as a movie… which it is. Disclaimer over.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Flame & Citron”.

The story follows two Danish resistance fighters known as Flame (Thure Lindhardt) and Citron (Mads Mikkelsen) as they battle nazis in Denmark during the second world war. But as they do their mission(s) of taking out nazi targets, they soon find themselves doubting their mission and who their allies/enemies might be. So now we have a pseudo-spy-drama set in WW2 Denmark. And it’s actually quite an enthralling plot, taking several interesting twists and turns while still keeping it fairly simple and straightforward. My only flaw with the plot is that the pacing drags a little bit at times. It’s not often it happens and it’s not a total deal-breaker, but it does bring it down a little bit. But overall it is a really good plot.

The characters here are flawed, layered, and quite interesting. Thure Lindhardt plays Flame, the titular resistance fighter whose mission it is to kill nazis. He goes through a lot of shit in this movie, portraying all kinds of emotions. And Lindhardt is great in the role. Mads Mikkelsen plays the other title character, Citron (AKA Lemon, but shut up), and as you would expect, he’s great in the role… he’s Mads Mikkelsen, he’s always great. Stine Stengade plays a woman that Flame meets and gets to know throughout the movie, and she’s great in the role. Christian Berkel plays a very important nazi here, and he’s great in the role. Overall it is a very well acted movie filled with solid performances.

The score for the movie was composed by Karsten Fundal and it is great. It’s dramatic, tense, slightly haunting, and just really beautiful. It really helped elevate a lot of scenes in the movie, whether it was adding tension or making something a little more emotional. Truly great stuff.

This movie was directed by Ole Christian Madsen and I think he did a great job here. His direction is surprisingly stylish for this type of movie, but it never takes away from more quiet and serious moments. And it does look really good, showing that there’s a good eye behind the camera. The movie also has a couple of action scenes throughout, and while they’re stylized in some ways, they aren’t the overly flashy things that you often see in Hollywood movies. They’re really exciting and badass, with the final big action scene being especially riveting.

This movie has been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 87% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 74/100. Roger Ebert gave it 3/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,3/10.

“Flame & Citron” is a pretty damn good historical thriller. It has a really good plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and great directing. Like I said earlier, my only flaw with it is that the pacing slightly drags at one or two points. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Flame & Citron” is a 9,33/10. So while slightly flawed, it is still definitely worth buying.

My review of “Flame & Citron” is now completed.

We’re going to be doing one thing, and one thing only… killing nazis!

Movie Review: Blue Ruin (2013)

Revenge is a dish best served cold… wait, that’s “Star Trek”, not indie-thriller… shit.

Ladies and gents… “Blue Ruin”.

Dwight (Macon Blair) has been trying to live a quiet life away from people. But when he hears that a man who had wronged him in the past is about to be released from jail, Dwight intends to get revenge. So now we have our revenge-thriller plot. However, it’s not just about Dwight trying to get revenge on this one person as there’s a lot more that happens throughout, but I don’t wanna say too much about that. What I can say however is that this plot is pretty damn good. It’s tense, it’s dramatic, and it was just really interesting to follow. It takes a couple of interesting turns and I was genuinely invested in this dark journey. It also gives off a feeling of unease from the first few moments and keeps that feeling throughout. So yeah, the plot here is really good.

Most of the characters here aren’t very interesting as they’re not given a lot of development, but I think that’s okay in this case as this focuses on Dwight, who is a very interesting character. Macon Blair is excellent in the role, giving an understated and layered performance. He doesn’t talk a lot in the movie, but you still get a good idea of what is going on in his head thanks to his eyes. He really acts more with his eyes than anything else, and that is pretty cool. And like I said, Blair is excellent here. Amy Hargreaves plays Dwight’s sister, Sam, and she’s really good in the role. Devin Ratray, you know… Buzz from “Home Alone”, plays one of Dwight’s old friends that we meet at one point in the movie, and he’s good in the role. And that’s about all that I’m gonna say about the cast, because I don’t wanna say too much. But let me just put it like this: all actors in the movie do really well in their roles.

The score for the movie was composed by Brooke Blair & Will Blair and it is great. It’s dark, eerie, and suspenseful and really helped build a lot of tension in the movie. There were also a bunch of licensed tracks that were used throughout the movie and they worked quite well in their respective scenes. Really, this movie has some great music.

“Blue Ruin” was written, directed, and shot by Jeremy Saulnier and I think he did a great job with all of that. His direction is very tight, keeping everything steady and making you feel like you’re there with Dwight, feeling every second of tension that Saulnier wants you to feel. Because when this movie feels like building up a lot of tension, it fucking delivers. Don’t think a movie has made me feel this tensed up in a while. And the cinematography here is gorgeous, making for some absolutely stunning shots. This movie is also violent. And by violent I mean that there are a couple moments throughout the movie that feature really graphic violence. There aren’t a lot of violent moments in the movie, but when it’s shown it is quite graphic/disturbing. I guess the relatively small amount of violence has a bigger impact than if they’d had a lot of violence throughout. Good on ya, Saulnier and crew.

This movie has been quite well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 96% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 77/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,1/10.

“Blue Ruin” is an excellent thriller. It has a great plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and fantastic directing/cinematography. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Blue Ruin” is a 9,88/10. Which of course means that it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Blue Ruin” is now completed.

Yeah, I got nothing clever to say here. The movie’s just awesome.

Movie Review: Filth (2013)

I honestly don’t know what to say here. I can usually write something that somehow relates back to the movie. Problem is that this movie is so… itself. It doesn’t have any aspect that I can focus on for the intro, and that’s rare for a movie. Well done, you filthy fuck.

Ladies and gents… “Filth”.

Bruce Robertson (James McAvoy) is a Detective Sergeant in Scotland. He’s looking to get a promotion, and he’s willing to manipulate anybody to get it. So we follow his misadventures as he tries to get this promotion while also battling with a lot of his inner demons. So now we have our plot. And I’d say that it’s quite an interesting one. Seeing the journey of this horrible man is both fascinating and entertaining as he’s not your typical protagonist, but also because it takes some really interesting turns throughout. My only complaint about the plot is that it at one point makes quite a drastic change in tone. It goes from fun and really dark comedy into a really serious and harrowing drama. Now, I actually kind of understand why the filmmakers did that, it’s just that the change in tone felt a little bit sudden and took me out of the story a bit. Overall the plot was really solid, but was brought down a bit for me with that shift in tone.

The characters in this thing are all kind of troubled and flawed, but that’s also what makes them interesting and quite entertaining. Bruce Robertson is one of the most corrupt asshole cops that I’ve ever seen on a screen. He’s foul-mouthed, a junkie, a bigot, he basically just ticks all the boxes for “total fucking asshole”. But he does also battle a lot of demons, which makes him a more compelling character. And James McAvoy is fantastic in the role, giving a fearless and incredibly layered performance. Jamie Bell plays one of his colleagues who’s pretty much the rookie of the gang, and he’s also mildly corrupt, but not as much as Robertson. And Bell is great in the role. Imogen Poots plays another one of Robertson’s colleagues, and she’s probably the least corrupt of them all. And Poots is great in the role. Eddie Marsan plays Robertson’s dorky friend who gets brought along on some of Robertson’s misadventures. And Marsan is great in the role. John Sessions plays Robertson’s superior office, and he’s great in the role. Really, it is overall a very well acted movie.

The score for the movie was composed by Clint Mansell and it’s really good. It’s dark, dramatic, funny, and just overall well composed, fitting the movie very well. There were also a whole bunch of licensed tracks throughout, and they were all very well implemented into the movie. So yeah, there’s some really good music here.

This movie was directed by Jon S. Baird and was based on a novel by Irvine Welsh (you know, the “Trainspotting” guy, which explains a lot about “Filth”). Now, I haven’t read the book, but I’d still say that Baird did a really good job bringing it to the screen. His directing is very tight and made me feel a bit uneasy from first frame. It’s a filthy world that this movie explores, and that is conveyed very well by Baird’s directing. There’s also a lot of comedy in this movie and I found it quite funny… that said, the comedy here is quite dark, which some people might not be very fond of. But it made me laugh, and that’s the important part here. I should also mention that this movie is filled with cursing, graphic sex/nudity, drug use, and even some violence. So if you’re a prude and can’t handle that stuff… consider yourself warned.

This movie has gotten some mixed reception. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 64% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 56/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,1/10.

“Filth” certainly isn’t for everybody, but I found it to be a really solid movie. It has a really good plot, really good characters, great performances, great music, and really good directing. My flaw with it came from the aforementioned tonal shift. Time for my final score. *A-fucking-hem!*. My final score for “Filth” is an 8,98/10. So while it is flawed, I’d say that it is wroth buying.

My review of “Filth” is now completed.

McAvoy is one of the most underrated actors ever.

Movie Review: Man on a Ledge (2012)

I am not very fond of heights. Sure, it could lead to a pretty awesome view or two, but overall I don’t see the purpose of being high up. Especially if shit gets fucked and you fall off that height. Just increases the chance of your death. So I’m gonna stay on the ground, thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen… “Man on a Ledge”.

Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) is a man on a ledge (hehe). And as people gather to witness this man’s apparent suicide attempt, police psychologist Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks) gets brought in to try to talk him down. All while a heist is happening in the building across the street. So now we have our plot. And I’m just gonna say it, the idea behind this movie is actually really good. However the execution on the other hand is not that great. While not the worst execution of a plot ever, it is still really bland and convoluted, not making a lot of sense. It also lacks the tension that so clearly could be achieved from this premise. And the twists throughout are… not great. They often add to the convoluted aspect of the plot that I mentioned earlier, not making too much sense. So overall the plot is… meh.

The characters here are meh… there’s no other way to put it. None of them are particularly interesting. At least I didn’t want to hit them for sucking (so that’s something). Sam Worthington as an actor is the very definition of hit and miss… more often miss than hit. But to give credit where it’s due, his performance here isn’t bad, it’s fine. One of the better performances I’ve seen from him. Elizabeth Banks plays the police psychologist brought in to talk Worthington off the ledge (presumably through the window, rather than off the ledge towards the street). And she’s fine in the role. Jamie Bell plays Worthington’s brother, and he was fine in the role. Genesis Rodriguez plays Jamie Bell’s girlfriend in this and she isn’t very good in the role. Sure, the material she’s given isn’t great, but her delivery isn’t very good either. Edward Burns plays a cop who is on this case, and he’s fine in the role. Anthony Mackie plays a cop who also happens to be an old friend of Worthington’s, and he’s good in the role. Titus Welliver plays another cop who’s a douchebag, and he’s fine in the role. We also get Ed Harris as a businessman that is important to the plot, and while he isn’t in the movie too much, he’s great… he’s Ed fucking Harris… presumably collecting a paycheck. So overall the acting here is… fine.

The score for the movie was composed by Henry Jackman and it was fine (using that word a lot in this review). I am usually a big fan of Jackman’s work, he’s composed a whole bunch of scores that I’ve liked. But the stuff he did here was generic action-thriller stuff that you won’t remember in an hour. It’s just there and it’s… fine.

This movie was directed by Asger Leth who did a fine job. And by fine I don’t mean like a fine wine, but just… fine. His directing here doesn’t build a lot of tension, and it doesn’t give us any awesome shots, but it’s also not offensively bad. It’s just fine, passable directing that works for a bland action-thriller like this. The action scenes too, they’re okay, nothing memorable, but nothing awful.

This movie hasn’t been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 31% positive rating. On Metacritic it has a score of 40/100. Roger Ebert gave it 2/4 stars. And on imdb.com it has a score of 6,6/10.

“Man on a Ledge” is an okay thriller. It has a meh plot, meh characters, okay performances, okay music, and okay directing. The main flaws with this movie is that nothing stands out in this movie… all of it is just passable. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “Man on a Ledge” is a 6,12. While not great, it is maybe worth a rental.

My review of “Man on a Ledge” is now completed.

Meh…

Series Review: The Defenders – Season 1 (2017)

At long last, it is here. The culmination of all the Marvel/Netflix shows. It’s a really exciting time to be alive. Four characters from four different shows (three great, one meh), coming together for one big event. Let’s get into it.

Ladies and gentlemen… “The Defenders” season 1!

When something threatens to destroy New York City, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Danny Rand (Finn Jones) have to team up to try to stop this great threat. And from that we get a superhero plot filled with twists, turns, and drama. And I’d say that it’s quite the enjoyable plot. Sure, at times in certain episodes the pacing can drag a little bit, but for the most part it moves at a good pace and it’s just a fun plot to follow. Seeing these heroes we’ve come to know and (mostly) love band together to fight a common threat is just really exciting. And overall it is a solid plot, with a couple of (minor) pacing issues.

The characters here are fun, cool, interesting, and quite entertaining. And most of the characters get some really solid development throughout. Charlie Cox once again plays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, and once again he’s great in the role, giving us the blind(ish) catholic badass that we’ve gotten to know. Krysten Ritter once again plays Jessica Jones, the drunken, cynical bitch who has a heart hidden somewhere behind all the whiskey and trauma. And once again she’s great in the role. Mike Colter once again plays Luke Cage, the bulletproof badass with a heart of gold. He’s charming, he’s likable, and Colter is once again great in the role. Finn Jones once again plays Danny Rand/Iron Fist, and I wasn’t the biggest fan of him in his solo show. As a matter of fact, he kind of annoyed me. But here something happened… he’s fun, he’s interesting, and he’s not the worst thing ever. Sure, at times he has some of those whiny moments that can get on one’s nerves, but he’s much more likable/tolerable here than in his own show. And Jones is good in the role. Rosario Dawson once again plays Claire Temple, the Nick Fury of the Netflix shows. And once again she’s fun and cool. And Dawson is great in the role… she’s Rosario Awesome. Jessica Henwick from “Iron Fist” reprises her role as Colleen Wing in this, the interesting and badass love interest of Danny Rand. And once again she’s really good in the role. Elden Henson and Deborah Ann Woll reprises their roles as Foggy Nelson and Karen Page from “Daredevil” here, and while they don’t have the biggest roles in the show, they’re present, and they’re good in their roles. Simone Missick once again plays Misty Knight, her tough cop character from “Luke Cage”, and once again she’s really good in the role. Rachael Taylor once again plays Trish, Jessica’s best friend, and once again she’s great in the role. Wai Ching Ho once again plays Madame Gao, the mysterious lady from “Daredevil” and “Iron Fist”, and once again she’s great. Also, spoiler for “Daredevil” season 2 coming up here, but this is a character important to this show, so I have to mention her… sorry. Elodie Yung plays Elektra, the dead ex-girlfriend of Matt Murdock. But she’s back here, and she’s tough and interesting (more so than in “Daredevil”) and Yung is great in the role. Now, for the newcomer. We get Sigourney Weaver (oh hell yes!) here as Alexandra, the primary antagonist of this show. She’s interesting and I found myself caring about her. And as expected, Weaver is great in the role. Then we get plenty of supporting characters/performances throughout, and they all range from good to great.

The score for the show was composed by John Paesano, the man who handled the music for “Daredevil”. And once again he has succeeded in a score that works very well for the show. It’s big, epic, cool, dramatic, and even at times beautiful. It’s just overall great. There were also a couple of licensed tracks throughout and they were used well. This show has good music.

The show was created by Douglas Petrie & Marco Ramirez, and written/directed by a whole bunch of different people (and don’t get me started on all the producers). And overall this show is quite well crafted in terms of directing and such. The show looks good and feels tight in it’s directing. The action scenes too are quite fun. They’re well choreographed, and you get a clear sense of what is going on in each action scene. It’s just fun seeing all of these guys kick some ass… even Iron Fist. One little detail that I too liked that was noticeable in transitions and the opening credits is that each character gets a specific color to represent them in those situations. I won’t go through each of them as you’ll quickly pick up on them yourself. Just thought I’d quickly mention it.

This show just came out but has so far been well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 79% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 63/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 9,0/10. (Keep in mind, these scores can and will change over time, but I will not edit this damn post for that, all these scores are at the time of writing).

Season 1 of “The Defenders” is one hell of an entertaining show. It has a really good plot, great characters, great performances, great music, and great directing. The only flaw I have with it is that in a couple moments throughout the pacing drags a little, but it’s not too deal-breaking for me. Time for my final score. *Ahem*. My final score for “The Defenders” season 1 is a 9,32/10. While mildly flawed, you should definitely watch it!

My review of “The Defenders” season 1 is now completed.

It looks unclear right now, but let’s face it… there will be a season 2 at some point.

“The Punisher” Teaser Trailer!

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen of the internet! A trailer has dropped and I want to talk about it… so let’s talk about it.

So we finally have our first look at the upcoming Marvel/Netflix series “The Punisher”. For those who don’t know, “The Punisher” is based on a Marvel Comics character created by Gerry Conway, and making his first appearance in “The Amazing Spider-Man” #129 in 1974. Then he’s gotten his own comics and various movies (and even a video game). Then he made his MCU debut last year in season 2 of Netflix’s “Daredevil”, where he was played by Jon Bernthal. And shortly after that it was announced that he would be getting his own Netflix series. Skip forward to earlier today when we got our first teaser trailer for his show. All caught up? Great. Now, while we don’t get too many details from this teaser, we can tell that it will be an intense show featuring a lot of military-based action/drama. Also, Frank/Punisher (Jon Bernthal) is smashing his logo (a skull) into some concrete. And yeah, I’m excited. Sure, I was excited for this series as soon as it was announced, but I’m even more excited now that we have a little bit of actual footage. So I am pretty hyped. “The Punisher” has no official release date, but will most likely premiere around November of this year.

What are your thoughts? Are you excited for “The Punisher”? And what’s your favorite out of all the MCU/Netflix shows so far (not counting “Defenders” which just came out)? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments.
Have a good one and enjoy the trailer!

Movie Review: Magnum Force (1973)

I know what you’re thinking. “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?!

Ladies and gents… “Magnum Force”.

Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is back to solve crimes. This time he is trying to find and stop a group of vigilantes who are killing a bunch of less than desirable people in San Francisco. So now we have our “Dirty Harry” adventure set up. And it’s actually a good plot. It’s simple and straightforward without being dumb. Sure, it’s not particularly deep or engaging, but it’s not a bad plot at all. As a matter of fact, I kind of love the premise of it, it’s just that it isn’t as engaging as it could be. So overall the plot here is pretty good.

The characters here are fine, nothing special. Clint Eastwood of course plays everybody’s favorite San Francisco badass, Harry fucking Callahan. And yeah, he’s just as gruff and tough as in “Dirty Harry”, and Eastwood gives his typical Eastwood-y performance here (which I’m a fan of). Hal Holbrook plays the police lieutenant that Harry constantly butts heads with, and he’s great in the role. Felton Perry plays Harry’s partner, Earlington “Early” Smith, and he’s good in the role. Then we get supporting performances from people like Mitchell Ryan, Robert Urich, David Soul, Tim Matheson, and Kip Niven, all doing fine here.

The score for the movie was composed by Lalo Schifrin and it was good. It was very much a product of it’s era, but I do think it worked for the movie, being overall well composed and slightly elevating certain scenes. Though I do wonder about that theme song… I don’t have any specific questions, it’s just weird to me.

Unlike the first movie, “Magnum Force” wasn’t directed by Don Siegel. Directorial duties instead went over to Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in the 1968 western “Hang ‘Em High”. And I think he did a really good job here. His directing is tight and pretty tense. The shots also look really good, with some fancy camera tricks being used at several points in the movie. The action scenes in this are also quite good. They’re fun, badass, and entertaining as hell. Sure, they’re not the most memorable, but they’re definitely fun to watch.

This movie has been pretty well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an 81% positive rating. On Metacritic it doesn’t even exist. And on imdb.com it has a score of 7,2/10.

“Magnum Force” is a solid follow-up to the awesome first movie. It has a good plot, okay characters, really good performances, good music, and really good directing. The main flaw with it is that the plot isn’t as engaging as it could be. Time for my final score. *Bang*. My final score for “Magnum Force” is an 8,88/10. So while the movie is flawed, I’d still say that it’s worth buying.

My review of “Magnum Force” is now completed.

A man’s got to know his limitations.

Movie Review: We Make Movies (2016)

Full disclosure: The people who made this film offered me a free copy of it in exchange for me reviewing it. And since I’m a greedy sucker that doesn’t say no to a free movie, accepted. I just wanted to let you know that. I’m not letting the kindness/generosity of the filmmakers cloud my judgment of the film, but I still felt like it would be best for you to know about this sponsorship (for lack of a better word). Alright, let’s review this thing.

Ladies and gentlemen… “We Make Movies”.

Stevphen (Matt Tory) is a young, ambitious, and kind of arrogant filmmaker who wants to make a movie that he can show at the local film festival. So he gathers a bunch of friends to make this “masterpiece”. And we then follow them through the ups and downs of this process. And this plot was handled quite well. I found it quite fun to follow these people go through all the steps of making an ambitious movie on a ham sandwich budget, with all the problems that comes with it. It’s quite entertaining following the “behind the scenes” antics of this crew. It even manages to be a bit inspiring with how they never give up despite clearly running into more problems than Wile E. Coyote. The plot here is simple, but good.

The characters here are all distinct, interesting, and quite entertaining. Matt Tory plays Stevphen (no, I didn’t have a stroke, that’s how it’s spelled), the determined yet arrogant and selfish director of this “masterpiece”. He’s a fun character even if he is a bit of a dick. And Tory is good in the role. Jordan Hopewell plays Donny, Stevphen’s nerdy friend that is helping him out on this movie, and while he is portrayed as the typical nerd character, they don’t overdo it and he never feels annoying… as a matter of fact, he’s quite fun. And Hopewell is good in the role. Jonathan Holmes plays Garth, another friend of Stevphen’s, a slightly more serious and logical man. And Holmes is good in the role. Zack Slort plays Leonard, a “method actor” that the crew brings in to play the main role in their film. He’s kind of pretentious, but that’s what makes him fun. And Slort is good in the role. Anne Crockett plays Jessica, a young woman that joins the production to be their film’s female lead. And Crockett is good in the role. We also have Matt Silver as Curtis, a dude that shows up every now and then throughout the movie. he’s very chill and Stevphen just doesn’t like him. And Silver is good in the role. Really, all actors in the movie do well for themselves.

When it comes to the music in the movie, there is no real original score, but they instead used music from various artists throughout. But there’s not too much music in the movie, it’s used pretty sparingly. And that is fine, too much music might not have worked with the movie’s overall style. But when music was used it was used well.

The movie was written and directed by the star, Matt Tory. And I think he did a really good job here. The movie is shot documentary style, with fake interviews and everything. I think this style really helps the movie out as a “normal” directing style wouldn’t have worked that well with the story they wanted to tell. And since this is a comedy we should talk about the jokes… and they’re funny. And while I admittedly never had a laugh out loud moment at any point, I still found myself laughing at most of the jokes. And the ones that didn’t get a laugh at least got a smile out of me. The humor (to me at least) was never boring or cringey, it was genuinely funny. It’s also a sense of humor that actually gets elevated by the mockumentary style.

This movie barely exists on the sites I usually refer to in this little “critical reception” section. At least it exists on imdb.com where it (as of writing this) has a score of 8,3/10.

“We Make Movies” is a fun little indie comedy that I really enjoyed. It has a good plot, good characters, good performances, good music, good directing, and really good comedy. Time for my final score. *ACTION!*. My final score for “We Make Movies” is a 9,57/10. So it gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “We Make Movies” is now completed.

Once again, huge thanks to the filmmakers for giving me a free copy of the movie! Really appreciate it! Now, if any of you reading this wants to check it out, you can find it on Amazon.

Movie Review: Baby Driver (2017)

VROOM! VROOM VROOM! What? That’s what cars sound like… don’t fucking judge.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, right now I got to tell you about the fabulous, most groovy… “Baby Driver”!

Baby (Ansel Elgort) is a young man who also happens to be one hell of a getaway driver. And after being brought in by his boss (Kevin Spacey) he finds himself having to take part in a heist that is seemingly doomed to fail. So now we have our heist plot. And I thought it was pretty great. Now, it’s not just about this guy pulling heists with a couple other people. It’s really about this guy and how he deals with falling in love, while dealing with this dangerous situation. And it’s so well handled, because it’s presented both as a fun, fast-paced action flick and a tense thriller. There’s also a surprising amount of drama in here that works very well. And it’s just an incredibly well handled plot.

The characters here are fun, unique, and really interesting. Baby, like I said, is a young and highly skilled getaway driver. What I didn’t mention though is that he uses his personal playlists to keep him moving in life. He also has a lot of layers to him, with us getting to see most sides of him. The cold and calculating driver, the traumatized young man, the music loving fun dude… he’s just a really interesting character. And Ansel Elgort is great in the role. Lily James plays Debbie, a waitress that Baby meets and falls in love with. And Lily James is really good in the role. I also have to mention that I actually bought into their romance. It was cute. Kevin spacey plays Baby’s boss, Doc, and he’s great in the role… it’s Kevin fucking Spacey, what else did you expect? Jon Hamm (aside from being unnecessarily handsome) plays Buddy, one of Baby’s colleagues (for lack of a better word), and he’s a tough and charming man. And Hamm was great in the role. Eiza Gonzáles plays Darling, Buddy’s wife and partner in crime (HA!). A tough, fun, and sexy lady. And Gonzáles was really good in the role. Jamie Foxx plays Bats, another one of Baby’s colleagues. He’s kind of a psychotic asshole, and he was quite a cool character. And Jamie Foxx was great in the role. We also got to see Jon Bernthal, CJ Jones, Lanny Joon, and Flea in supporting roles in the movie, and they were all great. It’s overall a really well acted movie.

The score for the movie (yes, there was a score) was composed by Steven Price. It wasn’t too prominent in the movie (as we’ll talk about in a second), but when it was used it was used very well to build up tension and such. Now, onto the real meat of the music. And by that I mean, let’s talk about the soundtrack. ’cause this movie uses a lot of licensed tracks used throughout. Not only are most of those songs fucking great, but they also play very integral parts in the filmmaking itself. Really, they are used absolutely perfectly in the movie.

This movie was written and directed by Edgar Wright and I think he did a fantastic job here. His directing is slick, fast-paced, and really tense, perfectly suiting the plot he wanted to tell. Which brings us to the music. The directing and editing perfectly matches the music. It’s almost like a musical in how the music is used in combination with the directing and editing. I mean, the action scenes here are absolutely fantastic. Not only because they are like 99% practical, but because they are timed to the beats of the songs, which is really fun to see. Gunshots, cars drifting around, jumps, everything is choreographed to match the music. But the quieter moments too are often done to work with the music. The amount of love and care that went into the craft of this is astonishing and gives me hope for the movie industry. Must’ve been a pain if an actor or stunt person missed a beat and had to redo it.

This movie has been very well received. On Rotten Tomatoes it has a 94% positive rating and a “Fresh” certification. On Metacritic it has a score of 86/100. And on imdb.com it has a score of 8,2/10 and is ranked #183 on the “Top 250” list.

“Baby Driver” is one of the coolest and most exciting action movies to come out in recent years. It has a great plot, great characters, great performances, fantastic music, and fantastic directing/choreography/editing. Time for my final score. *Vroom*. My final score for “Baby Driver” is a 9,90/10. So it of course gets the “SEAL OF APPROVAL!”.

My review of “Baby Driver” is now completed.

Your move, action movies.