TheMovieman

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) — Entertaining in parts but a mess of a plot with some shoddy visual effects even by 2009 standards. Some stunt work was alright but nothing that really stands out and none of the cast really were all that memorable. Did appreciate some of the nods to the cartoons but otherwise just very forgettable. **¾/*****

JANK

Quantum Of Solace — UNsure of the lack of love for this sequel to Casino Royale. We found it top-notch and the action sequences and editing were above par.

TheMovieman

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) — This is actually the third time seeing this, not because I liked it nor am that big of a fan of the toy line it spawned from, but saw this in the theaters, then again on Blu-ray and now on 4K Ultra HD, the latter two times for review. I had doubt this third viewing would make much of a difference and while I found it entertaining and perhaps a slight upgrade in rating (2.75 vs 3.0) and that it was better assembled compared with The Rise of Cobra, including visual effects that was a massive improvement over the video game-y crap in that film), it's still not all that great.

I liked the cast including Dwayne Johnson and cutie Adrianne Palicki; while Bruce Willis was alright, albeit phoning it in (I assume he needed to pay off his mortgage to appear in this as the 'Joe' of GI Joe). Doubt there will be a fourth time outside of the "Extended Action Cut" (not included in the 4K Ultra HD set unfortunately), but it's a non-descript and somewhat forgettable popcorn sci-fi action-thriller. ***/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

Netflix

This was not bad and a good time killer and nice to see Vanessa Bayer who was smoking hot in this though this came out in 2016 when she was still on SNL.

Whatever happened to Jason Ritter? He has not done a lot of movies lately.

RichC2

he had a kid in late 2018 and I believe took some time away, and with 2020 being what it was, probably just increased his sabbatical.

TheMovieman

Batman: The Long Halloween, Part Two (2021) — Conclusion to the The Long Halloween is solid and taken as a whole, a fine adaptation to a great graphic novel. It's not to the standards of The Dark Knight Returns animated movie but a step up from Batman: Hush and its lame change to the villain's identity. Some nice character moments and decent voice work but no real stand outs. Looking forward to the release bridging the two parts together and checking it out in one sitting and see how it holds up.

3.5/5 - Part One
4.0/5 - Part Two

JeffTheAlpaca

I liked the characters Ritter would play. Hope he comes back in 2022.

JeffTheAlpaca

I wonder how they got Madds Mikkelsen, Cynthia Erivo, and Demian Bichir for this turd.

Looks like Daisy Ridley has had bad luck picking good movies when she is not in the Star Wars Universe.

JeffTheAlpaca

I wonder why I waited 5 years to remove the shrinkwrap and watch this again

I thought it was from 2017 or 2018 but 2016 wow.

Maybe it is slow and not for everyone but I liked it and the setting of the movie was interesting.

The ending though is kind of strange.

TheMovieman

And even then... IMO of course.

As for the others, it's not like they're not beyond taking a payday. Heck, Bichir was in that shitty Nun movie.

Goonies85

Didn't watch this for years when it initially came out, as I loathe Stephen Sommers, but I really actually felt this was a great movie, and a great adaptation. It's silly, it's over-the-top, but it's a G.I. Joe movie, so for me that worked. It's funny, because everyone seems to agree that the sequel was superior, but I really, really hated that movie. I thought this one was a terrific popcorn movie. Doesn't hold a candle to the best episodes of the original cartoon (or the GREAT cartoon movie, IMHO), but I thought this one worked...I've pretty much hated everything else Sommers has done (including all of the MUMMY movies and DEEP RISING), but I thought this was really, kind of great...

JeffTheAlpaca

Netflix

Two Frank Grillo movies in one week

A forgettable action flick though it was only 90 minutes long which is a good thing.

DWilson

Wrath of Man Fandango 4K Streaming
Jason Statham. Directed by Guy Ritchie
“H” is the mysterious “new hire” at a cash truck company that has recently been hit by a violent robbery.

Despite the somewhat pretentious title, this felt like a newly-discovered Walter Hill film from The ‘80s. It’s a lean, mean “Tough Guy” film with a great supporting cast, an eye-grabbing title sequence and a relentlessly aggressive score. A brutally violent film that plays no favorites. I really enjoyed this one.

Jolt Amazon Prime
A bouncer with a slightly murderous anger-management problem that she controls with the help of an electrode-lined vest she uses to shock herself back to normalcy whenever she gets homicidal.

It’s a somewhat derivative film that plays like a mash-up of “Crank” and “Atomic Blonde”, but it’s just entertaining enough, and Kate Beckinsale shows more personality than she usually does in her Action roles.

Messiah of Evil Shudder Streaming
Mariana Hill. Directed by William Huyck and Gloria Katz
A young woman goes searching for her missing artist father. Her journey takes her to a strange Californian seaside town governed by a mysterious undead cult.

Surprisingly, I had only heard of this film recently, but when I looked it up on Amazon Prime it was in SD and cropped. Recently Shudder has added it in an HD, widescreen version. It’s a very low-budget film that borrows a lot of atmosphere from “Carnival of Souls”. Unfortunately, the characters aren’t that involving and the first hour has a certain slowness and “Art House” pretension at times. The last half-hour gains some definite momentum and amps up the Horror. Overall I'd say it was a nice discovery.

TheMovieman

Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021) — Generally I love crime-thrillers (both fiction and non-fiction) and this had some good elements, but the editing was shoddy, performances uneven with Bruce Willis once again phoning it in. He has maybe 10-minutes of a screentime and is a non-factor with the plot outside of being Megan Fox's partner who disappears only to briefly show up at the end.

As for Fox she at least was okay, though not entirely believable as an FBI agent and Emile Hirsch and his southern accent sounded off, not entirely sure why he had it, didn't really play into his character nor the region. Lukas Haas as the serial killer has his moments though his performance and the character isn't anything different than what had been done on Criminal Minds.

Wanted to really like this but never quite works. Has an ending that should've been filled with suspense but instead was awkwardly edited and just was lackluster. **¼/*****

JeffTheAlpaca

Netflix

Maybe I underestimad Dave Franco but he was great in this and Abbi Jacobson can do drama.

Maybe if you somebody that is a addict this is something you need to see and it is only a hour and 16 minutes.

asianxcore

The Forever Purge (2021)

The series is far away from its best film (2014's The Purge Anarchy) and this film was fairly average.

The issue is that the series has run out of interesting things to say and what is presented is flat & blunt.

With that said, I did enjoy the change of setting, which the series sorely needed.

asianxcore

Spiral (2021)

I was fully expecting this film to be a train-wreck but was pleasantly surprised.

Traps were surprisingly gory (even for this series) and pacing felt solid.

Chris Rock does a decent job here as lead but his delivery of lines is incredibly inconsistent, at times creating the desired reaction and other times sounding like he's reading off a cue card.

RichC2

Till Death - Megan Fox was solid in this single location thriller. Enjoyed it and worth a watch.

How It Ends - Shot during the Covid in LA and taking advantage of the empty streets. It's sort of just Zoe Lister-Jones walking around on the day a giant meteor is expected to end life on Earth. She also has a metaphysical construct of her 15ish year old self walking with her that people can suddenly see. Silly time waster with people shouting at each other from 10 feet apart, but also a likeable cameo fest. Considering almost the entire cast of Always Sunny is in this, I'm surprised she hasn't been in an ep or two.

asianxcore

Fear Street Part Three: 1666 (2021)

Though I still don't care for Kiana Madeira (Deena) as lead, this film had a surprisingly great payoff and fun pieces throughout.

This was probably my favorite film of the trilogy.

JeffTheAlpaca

I thought I saw this before

asianxcore

Old (2021)

It isn't nearly as bad as The Happening (2008) but at times it feels like M. Night Shyamalan was trying for it to be.

I thought the child actors as well as Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff & Eliza Scanlen were all solid. Couldn't deal with the incredibly wooden line delivery from almost every adult on that beach.

Appreciated the Body Horror aspects of the film. Wished there was more of it.

JeffTheAlpaca

Epix

A great tragedy and based on the Holomodor but that subject deserved a better movie than this with better actors.

asianxcore

Memories of Murder (2003)

I've watched this film countless times and I've never grown tired of it.

It's absolutely amazing.

Nick Danger

The Man in the White Suit (1951) Alec Guiness is great as an odd duck scientist who's fighting the establishment. I had to struggle to get through Kind Hearts and Coronets, but I loved this movie from beginning to end.

JeffTheAlpaca

Showtime

First movie I watched and realize Christopher Plummer is not with us anymore

Lily James showed her melons though I think they used a double for her ass scene.


It was not bad but not great either.