I really did not know what to expect from this movie, I'd seen the trailers and like most people I was pretty fixated on why a 2nd American Civil war was happening. The western forces of California and Texas? The Florida Alliance? A third term president of the loyalist states. Some pretty interesting choices for factions of a 2nd American Civil War and if you were thinking would dive much into this you would be wrong. Civil War is fundamentally about a civil war occurring in the modern USA, journalism specifically war journalism and the people on the ground. We follow a group of journalists as they make their way to DC. Our lead is Kirsten Dunst as Lee a war photographer, followed by Wagner Moura as Joel her college, Stephen McKinley Henderson as Sammy as their old mentor and Cailee Spaeny as Jessie as an aspiring photographer who tags along. Kirsten Dunst is quite the battle hardened pro while Cailee Spaeny's Jessie is the extremely green newcomer and a good part of the movie is Jessie learning the ropes.
Really wised i got around to playing more this year on top of the giant backlog. Though I did play some other things besides WoW:Dragonflight. My GOTY is below plus some other highlights
It's been quite a while since the YA craze and the last Hunger Games movie but here we are 2023 and a new movie, a prequel, the origin story of the main villain. The Hunger Games series were some of the better movies to come out of the YA craze, the quality was a bit un even especially at the end with Mockingjay being split into 2 part but overall solid movies.
A Haunting in Venice is Third movie is Kenneth Branagh's Poirot movie series, coming just a year after Death on the Nile though I think that movie got caught up in the Fox acquisition and the pandemic. Personally I thought Murder on the Orient Express was decent, Death on the Nile not so much, serviceable but not great for this third I did not have high hopes. Anyway turns out this movie is pretty good and is the best one out of the three.
Love and Mercy is the Biopic about Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. If It was not for work I probably would not have heard of the movie till maybe closer to Oscar season and though I am a little bit familiar with the Beach Boys music I never really knew much about the band. Rating online indicated the movie was decent so I expected the movie to be decent and it turns out it was pretty good.
The fast and the Furious Franchise is a pretty interesting thing, starting off with the first few movies being about street racing, it has become one of the biggest action movie franchises in the world. The fast and the Furious is universals biggest movie franchise and Furious 7 this year's first billion dollar movie.
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Get hard is a comedy starring Will Farrell and Kevin Hart, and while they are very funny people the movie itself ends up being a bit of a mixed bag. For people not aware the gist of the story is that Will Farrell a successful stock trader/investment banker/financial something has been found guilty of fraud and faces hard time for his crimes. He enlists the help of Kevin hart to get himself prison ready. Not the worst premise in the world and some potential for good jokes. I feel like I have been saying this for a lot of my reviews lately but the movie does not start off strong. Before Will Farrell gets arrested and he and Kevin Hart are just living their normal lives I feel the movie is pretty weak. The jokes are pretty meh, the way will Farrell goes about his life is absurd and Kevin Harts set up is also a bit odd. Once Will Farrell gets arrested the movie gets better and then when Kevin is training will for Prison the movie gets pretty decent. The jokes become better, the banter is good and Kevin Hart and Will Farrell work pretty well together. There Will Farrell has some pretty good scenes at the beginning of his training, at one point the two have to go into the hood and that’s pretty funny and at one point during the movie there is a confrontation with neo Nazis which is really good. The finale has some decent jokes but the ending is a bit predictable. Not all the jokes are good and there are a few that could probably considered homophobic and racist though I don’t think there mean spirited. I guess I should also mention the rest of the cast, they are fine. Alison Brie is in it and I did not recognize her at the beginning, but she is in it. Her character is a lot different than Annie on community, though as usual she is pretty hot.
Overall the movie was decent and Kevin hart and Will Farrell are pretty funny in. is this their best work? defiantly not Will Farrell has been in way funnier movies and Kevin Harts stand up is also a lot better than this movie. If you're looking for a comedy to watch this movie is not too bad, but defiantly check out Will Farrell's other movies or Kevin Harts stand up if you're looking for something better.
"One Shot, One Kill"
Run all night is an action movie that stars Liam Neeson, it is very similar to the other action movies starring Liam Neeson in recent years, though it is more of a redemption story than a power fantasy. Liam Neeson portrays Jimmy Conlon a former hitman/enforcer. He has son Mike who is not a fan because of the whole organized crime, murder and generally being a bad father thing who lives more or less a normalish life and is a good person. The main antagonist is Ed Harris as Shawn Maguire a mob boss turned legit and Jimmy's BFF, they talk a lot about crossing lines together. Shawn also has a son who is a terrible person and more or less wants to follow in his father's footsteps before he went legit.
The movie starts off introducing from the characters, their circumstances and some of the history between those characters, it's interesting for the most part but is pretty slow and probably could have been handled better. Anyway this being a Liam Neeson movie something needs to happen so that Liam Neeson is forced to do his thing. That thing happens and spoiler alert but someone dies and Liam Neeson and co. have to Run all night. Just one thing on this incident, Liam Neeson's kid is involved and it looks like whole reason the entire movie happens is because Mike Conlon closes a door too loudly and gets himself seen. That silliness aside Neeson and co make their way through the city evading Shawn Maguire and his men until well you know the rest final confrontation, the end. Its not quite that simple but is the gist of it.
Run all night was not that bad apart from it starting slowly, the action was good the characters were good notably Neeson and Ed Harris and while it was not the most original movie in the world it was executed very well. There is one minor villain whose story is resolved at a stupid time. There is a detective who has a history with Jimmy Conlon who is a bit contrived. As I said before the movie starts slow but once the characters have to "Run all night" it gets good. The climax and final confrontation between Ed Harris and Liam Neeson is done well. The actual ending is flows a bit weird it does not really take anything away from the good 60-70% of the movie.
Overall there is not much that surprising in the movie but its executed well. Its starts pretty slow and the ending is a bit odd but the movie ramps up pretty well and most of it is good. It was Much Better than taken 3 and for the most part an enjoyable movie.
Thug Life
Initially had pretty low expectations, had seen the trailers and it looked pretty average. After learning it was directed by Mathew Vaughn(Kick-Ass, Xmen First Class) and had an R Rating my interest was piqued though the trailers still gave my doubts. Anyway after seeing it I have to say it was pretty tremendous, it really was a Kickass Spy Movie.
Stand out of the cast was defiantly Colin Firth, being known for his dramas and romantic comedies you don’t really know what to expect but wow he was really good and had some great action scenes especially a certain one he as in a church. Rest of the cast was fine, Sam Jackson's(Richmond Valentine) accent was kind of strange but overall good villain, the protagonist "Eggsy"(Taron Egerton) was good, "Roxy"(Sophie Cookson) was decent though I wish she did more and Sofia Boutella as Gazelle, (Richmond Valentine 2IC) was really good and had some great fight scenes. Mark Hamill is also in sounding like a less crazy British version of the Joker.
Story was fairly interesting, it’s a spy movie so a few twists and turns which is to be expected but its not your usual spy movie. It brings some original stuff and is overall also solidly executed. The action was really where it was at, the action is in the same vein as Kick-Ass very violent but really really good and very creative. There isn't too much blood but its definitely there and the damage inflicted is definitely above and beyond what you will see from your usual PG13 action movie.
♫Take me to Church♫
Overall really good movie, did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did. If an action movie a notch above the usual or a spy movie that will probably be way more violent than the next Bond movie sounds good to you than go see this movie you're in for a treat.
Really liked this movie, really interesting to see everyone age and I think that ads to the character growth you see in the movie. There is some kind of dark stuff in the movie especially in the middle, it's also quite long. If you looking for a good coming of age movie than this fits that bill.
Quite interested to see this, did not really know what to expect and it was a lot different than I thought it would be. Its shot to look like one big take and between the music, the camera movements and everything everyone is doing it feels a bit trippy. About 1/2 way through the movie I was on board but yeah it did take a awhile. Decent movie, very different probably not everyone's cup of tea.
This was a pretty good movie, David Oyelowo as MLK is really spot on. Everyone else is pretty good, Oprah is in it because I guess that’s what she does(to be fair she isn't bad). There are some scenes that are a bit unsettling but I guess that’s what it was like and people definitely had and some still do have these terrible views. It was good seeing a side of MLK that you don’t really see when you hear his speeches.
Pretty decent movie, the design of Baymax is amazing and the themes were handled well in what is ostensibly a kid's film. San Fran Tokyo is a really weird setting though, kind of cool a bit silly but I guess it was interesting at least. Quite a few questions brought up such as how on earth it came to be a thing. Anyway decent movie not as good a Disney's Animations last movie Frozen and not as good as the Lego movie but solid nonetheless
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