Movie Night (Official Movie Discussion Thread)

Bad Boys: Ride or Die





NOT BAD

PRAISE: The formula of these BB movies still works for the most part as the characters are dealing with multiple personal issues the Bad Boys are set up and while on the run must clear their names.
There's still a lot of fun and funny moments because of not only the fact that the characters Mike Lowery (Will Smith) and Marcus Miles (Martin Lawrence) knowing each other so well but also the bond between the two actors shines through. The banter between the two was very funny at times.I liked how the movie leans heavily into some dramatic threads in the story and how there are some truly involving moments. I think Eric Dane did pretty good as the sadistic McGrath. I think he should be considered to take on the role of Deathstroke if WB ever gets around to really using the character. By now I'm used to the side characters being sidelined in these movies but there are a couple of moments when they pick up the slack. I appreciated that the movie took the time to explain away a couple of things to avoid plot holes. There are multiple action sequences with kills but one particular kill was outstanding.

PROBLEMS: While I didn't mind some of the call backs,the film goes to repetitive mode several times, in which scene from a former BB movie is just tweaked a little with a bit of different dialogue. A character was thrown in with absolutely no development. I kept saying are they going to give this character something to say aside from a few lines? The cameos felt forced to me but I did like the outcome of one of the quick appearances. A character shows up and I immediately knew they were up to no good ten minutes into the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½






HIT MAN





Fake it & Make it

PRAISE : I thought the trailer for this movie was kind of bland and i wasnt going o give it a minute of my time but then i heard it was based on a few true stories i had read about a few years ago. Glen Powell portrays Gary Johnson, a college professor who has been assisting the police department with menial tasks but has to step in as a fake hitman to lure people into hiring him and basically getting them to talk about murder set ups. Powell has charisma and then some and is pretty funny as he alters his appearance and voice throughout the movie. His romance in the movie with Adria Arjona as Maddy Masters works not only because of the chemistry between the two but the rules they set up for each other that sounds like they're going to work.Writers Richard Linklater & Glen Powell wisely place a The Town thread in the movie that adds to the this is going to be a problem factor.Plus there's another complicated twist that worked partially. There's a good amount of clever writing in this that adds up to some fun and involving moments in the movie.Nice nods to Hit Man movies and T.V shows


PROBLEMS: I do feel like the climax of the film felt a bit abrupt,and they throw something in to easily eliminate a problem,just a little to neat and clean for me.


Scale of 1 to 10 an 7½




The Watchers




Woods Weirdness

PRAISE: ♪♫ I always feel like somebody's watching me♪♫
The movie starts off well enough with an off balance woman named Mina (Dakota Fanning) who takes a simple bird delivery trip but finds herself right in the middle of the woods and in something very mysterious. Following in the footsteps of her father director and writer M Night Shyamalan,Ishana Shyamalan directs this story that pulled me in mainly because of trying to figure out how and why things are happening. Fanning does well as Mina trying to figure out just what is going on as the audience is. I liked that she didn't want to sit around and play along like the other three characters housed behind a glass window in the woods.As Madeleine Olwen Fouere is always a welcome unflinching presence.Theres also Ciara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) who are jittery and seemingly in a trance.
Shyamalan provides some cold and creepy moments. Several scenes standout visually as the story unfolds and I think that they're the most effective scenes in the movie, actually made me think of Guillermo del Toro SFX and practical effects work. Ishana has that similar eye and I'm hopeful to see what she does next with it.

PROBLEMS: The plot holes disrupt a lot of the good things about the movie. I even sat there trying to rationalize about why certain actions weren't taking by a character because it would have been the most logical thing to do. Even the excuse i came up with was washed away. Sure I can also give the movie the excuse that they had budget limitations but there should have been a lot more in the setting in which the movie is placed. The movie aims to be multiple things but in the end it just becomes jumbled.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 4
 
Trigger Warning



Weak Warning

The Last movie I saw Jessica Alba in was 2016's Mechanic: Resurrection so I was up for seeing her in an action movie with a story about A special forces commando returning home after her father's death and takes on a weapons trafficking gang.
Alba is good here and there in the film. I liked the opening of the movie as it displays how tough Alba's Parker is supposed to be.
There are some lines of dialogue that I enjoyed. I did enjoy watching a few of the action sequences. Some of the cinema photography was nice to take in
There are plenty of unintentionally laughable moments

PROBLEMS: There are some awkward racist moments and conversations when it comes to Parkers ethnicity. There are definitely some moments of ultra bad acting. Yes Parker is supposed to be a skilled soldier but not a stealth super hero. Characters don't make logical decisions or steps. What the bad guys are up to and why they commit murder doesn't hold up when I actually saw how casual they were about going about illegal measures. How a couple of things play out don't make sense. There are some unnecessary drops of information that just draws the movie out.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 4½
 
Man, Quentin Tarantino really dropped the ball on the Kill Bill franchise. He had two movies he could’ve made with this opportunity:

1) DiVAS (The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) - Who doesn’t love a prequel? It would’ve show all six of them as their most baddest. Ass kicking, stunts, all that. Plus, we wanted to know what Bill do to piss Honzo off THAT bad to make that sword, even after swearing the blood oath never to make another one.

2) Kill Bill Part 3 - Nakia’s revenge. Trained by the now-totally blind Elle Driver, the daughter of Nakita Green grows up with only one thing on her mind: vengeance for seeing her mother killed by Beatrice right in front of her, in the first fight of the series. Could make up for some real drama. I’m sure they’d target BB to lure the retired “Bride” out into the open. How does this saga all end, tho?

Damn, I wish we could’ve seen it. With David Carridine dead for years now, we’d never get the DiVAS movie, and everyone else is twenty years older, so it wouldn’t be worth shooting KB3.
 
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Mister B. M. Ed. said:
Man, Quentin Tarantino really dropped the ball on the Kill Bill franchise. He had two movies he could’ve made with this opportunity:

1) DiVAS (The Deadly Viper Assassination Squad) - Who doesn’t love a prequel? It would’ve show all six of them as their most baddest. Ass kicking, stunts, all that. Plus, we wanted to know what Bill do to piss Honzo off THAT bad to make that sword, even after swearing the blood oath never to make another one.

2) Kill Bill Part 3 - Nakia’s revenge. Trained by the now-totally blind Elle Driver, the daughter of Nakita Green grows up with only one thing on her mind: vengeance for seeing her mother killed by Beatrice right in front of her in the first fight of the series. Could make up for some real drama. I’m sure they’d target BB to lure the retired “Bride” out into the open. How does this saga all end, tho?

Damn, I wish we could’ve seen it. With David Carrdine dead for years now, we’d never get the DiVAS movie, and everyone else is two years older, so it wouldn’t be worth shooting KB3.
Click to expand...
One aspect of KB3 that would’ve been good: Bea’s final conversation with Bill about her “true” identity as a killer would make a good theme of the film.

Also, to drive the point home, a plot twist:

BB reveals to Beatrix that she saw the whole fight between her mother and father at the end of KB2. The first gunshot Bill shot at Beatrix woke BB up after they watched Shogun Assassin, and she went to the door and watched the whole scene play out before going back to bed.

This further complicates the relationship between mother and daughter, knowing that her dad tried to kill her mom, but also seeing her mom kill her dad.

QT dropped the ball on this. I stand on it.
 
My top 12 (couldn't crop it to 10) films halfway through the year

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A Quiet Place, A: Day One




Suspenseful in Places

PRAISE: 6 years after the original movie there's still gas in the tank in this franchise. This time around the story is about A woman named Sam who ends up finding herself in the middle of an alien invasion but still goes off on a mission that is very personal. I liked the Sam character right from the start and part of it has to do with funny but sympathetic performance from Lupita Nyong’o. I can't talk about the character and not mention her fearless and smart cat Frodo. I can see why the pet was written in to the film.There are charming and heartfelt moments in the movie that are attached to some great suspenseful moments. When the character of Eric is introduced portrayed by Joseph Quinn the charming parts of the film are reved up because they both depend on each other not only for survival but encouragement. The aliens are still an intimidating and vicious force to be reckoned with and really stand out in some key scenes. This is a smaller film than the first 2 but there's enough here to connect all 3 movies and this is still effective as a stand alone film.

PROBLEMS: Sure like any film franchise things that made the first film so great and that inspired sequels,(including box office numbers)starts to thin out. There are definitely moments that are not that involving and there's definitely a been there done that feel around the edges coupled with a few predictable moments.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½




Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1




Ponderous but hard hitting Horizon

PRAISE: Kevin Costners passion project hits the big screen and I could definitely tell this is the R rated western that he has always wanted to make. He and Co writer Jon Baird have created multiple story threads for this film and it took some time for me to warm up to the characters and once that happened I definitely found myself more involved in what was happening in the story. The characters I felt the most for were Frances (Sienna Miller) and daughter Elizabeth (Georgia MacPhail) through harrowing unforseen occurrences have to depend not only on each other but U.S Army officers including First Lieutenant Trent Gephardt (Sam Worthington) I liked the characters blunt honesty towards the settlers who even though facing obvious hard truths didnt accept or didn't want to accept such truths because they were sold a false dream.Then theres Russell (Etienne Kellici) who's going through his own trauma after an attack by the Apache.The Apache, and its warrior Pionsenay (Owen Crow Shoe) still wants to fight for their land against all odds but the tribal-chief father Tuayeseh’s (Gregory Cruz) seeks peace.
Costner doesn't pull any punches in his story telling, with the brutality,hard living,take what and who I want mindset of the old west. When his character is introduced Hayes Ellison it's a laid back I just want to handle my business persona to him but of course with a lot of Costners western characters there is more than meets the eye. Especially when Ellison is being hounded by psychopath Caleb Sykes (Jamie Campbell Bower. The action and attack sequences are hard hitting as I said before NO punches are pulled. There are string themes throughout the movie. Seeking revenge and vengeance comes with a price. Costners direction is on point as usual especially in several suspenseful scenes. There's a nice who's who of familiar actors and actresses blended in the film. I thought it was cool when the words spoken by Danny Huston as Colonel Houghton are exactly what's playing out in the Yellowstone series.

PROBLEMS: The first hour and fifteen minutes definitely meander. It took me time to actually care about the characters that were being introduced. Some characters are so blatant about what they are all about it made parts of this film and will make parts of the next film very predictable.
I thought it was odd how a character couldn't read the room even though other characters were spelling it out.A better editing job should have been done at the end of the movie because I'm absolutely sure other people who watch this movie will be as confused as I was.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½




In a Violent Nature




Vivid Violence

PRAISE: Writer and Director Chris Nash must be a huge fan of The Friday the 13th movies and the relentless killer Jason because it truly shows in this movie. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that because I'm a fan of those movies too even when they became ultra campy and silly. This story about a killer rising again to obtain a gold locket is definitely an over the top,and dwelling gore fest and it provides several moments so crazy I laughed a lot and sure it made me wince a few times. The mute killer appealed to me because as aforementioned im also a Jason fan.There are a couple of obnoxious characters I couldn't wait to see become just memories and I was given just that.

PROBLEMS: The characters are dumb and then some. If anyone that watches this and loves long and i mean really long nature walks during different times of the day visually this is the movie for you. I found these scenes to be obnoxious and that Nash was just trying to make it to the 92 minute mark. The backstory doesn't even make sense when I sat there and really thought about it and what actions weren't taken by a certain character. The last 15 minutes are so dull I picked up my phone to watch Friday the 13 in 3D trailer to amuse myself.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6
 
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F





Fun Foley

PRAISE : 30 years after........(WOW 30 YEARS !!!!) the last BHC of course there have been major changes in Axel Foley's life and those changes are complicated with a lot of strings attached as Foley returns to Beverly Hills after his daughter's life's threatened
Murphys pairing with Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a good one especially in an action sequence which made me laugh several times. As Captain Cade Grant Kevin Bacon chews up some scenery and is in one mode but i actually found him amusing especially when he got into complaining monologues several times. I thought Taylour Paige did well as his daughter Jane.
The movie is filled to the brim with fun BHC nostalgia and call backs. It was fun to see the characters of Foley Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton) still in contact and circling each other.
Murphy still has it and of course he slips right back into Foley's Detroit Lion's jacket with ease,with the mannerisms,perceptiveness and snark intact. The production value of the movie is great and i can tell Netflix definitely didnt cut back in that area. While the callbacks are fun i was glad the movie didnt rely on them.


PROBLEMS:When the trailer dropped for this movie i knew who the villain would be so nothing shocking there. There is some old hat estranged parent story threads that hit the repetitive button to many times. There are definitely some predictable moments. The why dont you retire,im to old for this sh** threads felt a bit overdone and also repetitive.


Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½
 
Maxxxine



Trilogy reaches Maximum

PRAISE: Taking place in 1985 another period of time in which people suddenly woke up and got upset about the Adult Film Industry and salty lyrics in music adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break but is threatened by her past and a killer.
Director and writer Ti West perfectly captures the mood of the aforementioned time period with the look and inclusion of music. I love Mia Goth and she does a good job here as a woman who is determined to make the leap from adult films to mainstream movies.Giancar Esposito has a good turn as her agent. Kevin Bacon was good as a swarmy detective. I almost didnt recognize Michelle Monaghan but i thought she had a moment that was pretty funny.There are definitely some good kills and a couple of them do stand out because of how dwelling they are and are given that extra flare of gore.
The climax of the film was pretty good around the edges. I liked a couple of haunting moments that had nice touches in what was provided visually. Nice nods to classic horror movies.

PROBLEMS: I didn't find this movie to be as involving as X or Pearl. It felt lackluster at its core. I couldn't get on board with how a few things played out. The ending was definitely predictable.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7


Boneyard




The screenplay for this movie written by Vincent E. McDaniel,Asif Akbar,Hank Byrd and
Koji Steven Sakai is not that great but at least it's heart is in the right place and it is amusing at times. The story about an FBI agent (Mel Gibson) and the Chief of Police in Albuquerque (Curtis Jackson) on the hunt for a serial killer known as The Bone Collector and loosely based on the West Mesa murders works at times but definitely has some blatant faults. Even though characters are provided tons of information about the Killer and are personally connected its as if they forget the information from one day to the next. There are several unnecessary scenes because they are provided to get the viewer to care about a couple of characters but I didn't and just found their fates unintentionally funny. The cast does their best but they are bogged down by twists that lead to absolutely nothing.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5½
 
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