October 11, 2024

Wolfs

Rating: 4 of 5 buddy flicks
The plot leaves a bit to be desired, and is intentionally pretty thin, since the movie is really just about the chemistry between Clooney and Pitt. But, that chemistry is quite good, and makes for a very fun buddy flick.

October 3, 2024

Knox Goes Away

Rating: 5 of 5 Pacinos
A very well crafted and acted story about a hitman who’s loosing his memory, but has loose ends to wrap up while he’s still able to function. Michael Keaton turns in another great performance, and Al Pacino shows up as Keaton’s mentor, amazing as always. It’s a bit of a thriller, and keeps you guessing about how it’s going to wrap up to the end.

October 2, 2024

Cold Pursuit

Rating: 4 of 5 headless bodies
Liam Neeson has a particular set of skills, even though he’s a simple snowplow operator in this action flick, you go with what you know. Not bad, as Yet Another Revenge action movie. Seems like these require their own category, there are so many of them. And nearly always close family member meets with untimely end, quiet/retired protagonist for some reason (cops don’t believe it was foul play, are in cahoots with bad folks, can’t be involved because spies) must kill everyone involved, because that’s how it works.

September 30, 2024

Upgrade

Rating: 4 of 5 root kits
A near future action/revenge story. Nothing particulary novel, bad things happen, main character eventually goes after the people who caused the bad things. Think Robocop. But, it’s fun. And violent, and dystopian. Not a ton of character development, just as well, these characters are sterotypes and don’t need it. But, all in all, a fun ride, if you don’t think about it too much.

September 29, 2024

Dream Scenario

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
A creepy film, hard to categorize. Drama? Thriller? Basic premise is simple, the main character (Nicholas Cage) starts appearing in peoples dreams. He doesn’t know why, nor does anyone else. It gets creepier since the dreams aren’t nice, and people’s reactions start to effect his real life. It’s a bit nightmareish as you watch the fallout. The last 20 minutes is kindof a “4th act” which is both plausable, and even more of a nightmare.

September 29, 2024

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Loosely based on actual events, it’s a wartime tale in the early part of WWII where a group of special agents sabotage a Nazi U-Boat supply ship. Lots of violence, in the actual mission, no one was killed. Team dynamics are good, and action is exciting, if manufactured. All in all an OK action film.

September 8, 2024

Ticket to Paradise

Rating: 4 of 5 coconuts
Mostly a vehicle for Julia Roberts and George Clooney to exchange banter and show us chemistry, and they are hillarious together. It’s also a sweet romance story, with a hint at drama, but not really. Great supporting cast, lovely locations. Really just a very solid rom-com.

September 8, 2024

The Boy and the Heron

Rating: 3 of 5 Totoros
A visually stunning story about a Japanese boy during WWII. The boy looses his mother, his father moves them out of Tokyo, and he has fantasy adventures. That’s about it, without giving any of the adventures away. As seems typical of these stories, it’s sad and scary, but beautiful. I got lost as to what was going on, but just went for the ride. And then it abruptly was over.

August 25, 2024

Haunt

Rating: 4 of 5 Escape rooms
Starts off as a formulaic horror movie, with young folks filling the various stereotypes. They go to a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. And, it’s a bit more over the top than they were hoping for. Not Saw level violence (thank goodness), but it also doesn’t rely solely on jump-scares. All in all, scary with some surprises, decent visuals, competent acting.

August 24, 2024

The Union

Rating: 4 of 5 Parkours
A lot of action, a little plot, just how we like it. During a chase scene a bit in, I realized there was some plot about information or a device, or whatever was in a briefcase being something a lot of heavily armed people with no interest in collateral damage want. But that’s just the substrate on which they put another film with a secret agent who pairs with a regular person who ends up having The Right Stuff to quickly become an action star.