A Real Pain




PRAISE: As soon as the characters David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) meet up at the airport i could tell there was turmoil brewing between the two.The story of two cousins traveling to a place where unspeakable pain was inflicted on humankind does a slow reveal of the aforementioned turmoil, which contains envy and and sorrow,which are part of the movies title. Eisenberg and Culkin display all the right amounts of raw emotion as they go on their journey with James (Will Sharpe) that also includes four other travelers played by Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egiywan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes. Each speak of their own pain and regret and at times there's an uneasiness that leaps off the screen especially when the characters are charmed into awkward moments. Blended in are moments of humor,and losing touch with who you once were either out of being more responsible or being bogged down by depression. Some can brush off pain or just deal with it inwardly and some must display whether through tears or angry outbursts and I think writer and Director Jesse Eisenberg does an excellent job of bringing the aforementioned laced with some tough subject matter to the screen. In the end Eisenberg left me with wondering if the characters will make peace with their pain.

PROBLEMS: NONE

Scale of 1 to 10 a 10

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera




Praise : Putting together a sequel to a film that was very good and well liked and that's at least on the same level can be very tricky.
This sequel has the benefit of its two main characters and actors
Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) and the brains of the criminal operation, Donnie Wilson (O’Shea Jackson Jr.). The two have their own charisma but put them together and its fun,intense and with all the right amounts of swagger to watch unfold.This time around O'Brien wants in Wilson's next beyond big heist. The additions to the cast and heist crew are Jovanna (Evin Ahmad) Salvatore Esposito as Slavko and Orli Shuka all do well here. There's a lot from them to build up enough tension,the question of who can be trusted is included i couldn't resist becoming attached to their characters. Writer and Director : Christian Gudegast gives the audience just enough detail about the major heist. Sure you see some planning and diagrams but there's nothing like the suspense and tension of watching it play out on screen.I actually let out a wow that was cool during a specific part of the heist. Gudegast also throws in a couple of side complications that makes things more interesting and involving. There are several fun action sequences and one was really great to see on the big screen.

PROBLEMS: Some things were to easily resolved.I had a problem with certain parts of the ending. Anyone that saw the first trailer will know how one ultra predictable story thread will play out. The thought of well maybe it's going to go this way never entered my mind,because even though one scene was telling way into the film as soon as a couple of characters said a few words to each other at the beginning of the film i knew what was going down. That kind of watered down some of the movie for me but this is still a worthy sequel.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7

The Last Showgirl






PRAISE: I've been to Las Vegas many times,and I've definitely crossed paths with people like the characters in this film. The cocktail waitress with the nice smile handing me drinks as I sat at a slot machine, or shimmering Showgirl dancing around on a stage. I've also seen how Vegas is changing seemingly every day as a Casino is torn down and a decades long Vegas show suddenly shuts down. I liked how i went through the aforementioned with the characters particularly Showgirl Shelly (Pamela Anderson) and casino waitress Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis)both actresses give very strong performances. Shelly chafes at what being a showgirl has become. She basically feels what she's been doing for many years is classy like Playboy magazine not leaning into the raunchy like some current performance spaces are demanding. I really enjoyed the slow reveal of her characters personality, from time of being ultra irresponsible, her disconnect from people, particularly and especially with her daughter Hannah (Billy Lourd) Anderson and Lourd are great in a gut punch of emotions scene together. It's also how Shelly chose to do certain things in her life that lead to some eye opening moments. The rest of the cast including Brenda Song ,Jodie Kiernan Shipka, and Dave Bautista have some good soulful moments.

PROBLEMS: Definitely some predictable moments. I knew a scene of the reality of Shelly's career reaching its end game was coming even though it had some nice raw emotion to it. As a whole I thought the movie would be a bit more solid with more to take in but at times it felt like I was just getting glimpses of characters. The movie reminded me of 2008's The Wrestler but it was far more compelling than this film.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 7½

Just watched this and I need my almost 2 hours back

Wolf Man





PRAISE: Leigh Whannell & Corbett Tucks Werewolf story about a family man seeking to protect his wife and daughter from a werewolf is definitely effective at certain points in the movie. It's well acted by the cast including Julia Garner as Charlotte ,Christopher Abbott as Blake ,Leigh Whannell as Dan and Matilda Firth as Ginger,as it is well established there is a level of estrangement and disconnect in their family and the actors definitely brought that out.Director Whannell use of light,sound and point of few moments are the most effective in the film. Though not a gorefest the moments of gore are involving and got several gasps out of the audience. At times the movie reminded me of the 1986 version of The Fly and 1973's The Boy Who Cried Werewolf. Whannell definitely infuses a few new things into the Werewolf legend that were very likeable.

PROBLEMS: The pacing definitely couldn't have been better as I found myself not to involved in what was happening to the characters and the predicaments they found themselves in. I didn't like the Werewolf design to much. It looked like one of the Orcs from the Lord of the Rings films. There is an ultra predictable turn in the movie.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 6½

Back In Action






PRAISE: This Action comedy about two retired spies who now spy on their daughter but trouble finds them again is truly uplifted by its cast. Cameron Diaz returns to acting after an almost 11 year braak and her team up with Jamie Foxx as Emily and Matt, is nice and the two share some good moments together. Watching the movie which at least has a couple of action sequences in which the decks are nicely stacked I found myself saying at least they gave me something.
I even found myself genuinely laughing a few times especially when the character of Nigel shows up portrayed by Jamie Demetriou . I thought some of his dialogue and physical humor was very funny. There is a character that is constantly talked about in the first hour of the film so much so I couldn't wait to see who would be portraying the character and fortunately the pay off is very good.

PROBLEMS: As I said in the praise portion it's the talent that uplifts the film from its generic and dull quicksand. I love Fola Evans-Akingbola but what they had her going through with a certain character was painfully predictable. The talents of Andrew Scott and Kyle Chandler are also wasted as both of their characters enter the realm of the predictable. The CGI is standout awful in one particular scene. The script is just so much of what I've seen before. The way Emily and Matts kids are written,corny interrupted moments of intimacy between the two lead characters and ultra lame hand to hand combat moments. I wonder how movies like this still get made with the same formula. I really don't see movies like this being released in theatre's anymore they go straight to streaming on either Netflix or Apple TV. It has to be the fact that movies like this get the attention of families they watch consistently for a couple of weeks and the aforementioned streamers get a good return on their investments. In my opinion the last movie like this that did it to a capital T and then some was True Lies this flick is far ,far from that.

Scale of 1 to 10 a 5