This movie was pretty crazy.
Here's the synopsis: "The amazing true story of Billy Moore, an English boxer incarcerated in Thailand's most notorious prison. Thrown into a world of drugs and violence, he finds his best chance to escape is to fight his way out in Muay Thai tournaments."
I lived in Thailand for a little while and heard about how bad Thai jails are, and watching this movie....i could completely picture this shit. They did a good job with this movie, at times it almost felt like more of a documentary than a movie. I also enjoyed the camera work, especially during some of the boxing and physical scenes.
Shit makes you think about what would you be willing to do to survive in a place like that..
Bottom Line: Incredibly fast paced… so that your brain won’t have time to digest that you are watching a hollowed mess, albeit a funny, semi-entertaining, mess.
There hasn’t been a truly great Predator movie since the original 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Shane Black’s The Predator is not going to change that status quo. Black returns to take writing/directing reins for the fourth installment (six if you count the AVP movies) and the results are a mixed bag.
The story begins when a predator ship crash lands in Central America. Army sniper Quinn (Boyd Holbrook) stumbles upon the spaceship, obtains some alien tech and ships it to his son in the US. The predator piloting the ship is taken under custody by a shadow-y government agency and brought to the States. In order to silence Quinn on what he witnessed, the agency sends him to a loony bin where he meets a bunch of damaged former military soldiers on the way there. The predator escapes custody and is heading towards Quinn’s son to retrieve his tech. With the help of the “Loonies,” Quinn must find a way to stop the unstoppable predator.
The plot moves at an incredibly fast paced, there is hardly any time to build character drama or tension. Black injects a lot of humor and plenty of famous quote references to the original film. The humor doesn’t always work but there are some pretty funny moments that do work (the Gaylord, the “predator” designated name and “get to the choppa” bits were some of my favorites).
For me, one of the biggest mistake of the casting is they cast Thomas Jane as a supporting character when he is more suited as the lead for this film. Boyd Holbrook’s Quinn doesn’t have the charisma to pull it off as the main star, he’s just a serviceable bland character. The film’s quick pacing and the flippant, irreverent attitude the characters exhibit makes it hard for the audience to connect with the players, at worst, makes their whole dire situation a farce like nothing is at stake.
I understood what Black was going for with the ragtag crew of the “Loonies” but the script needed a bit more polishing to make these characters more memorable and endearing. With that said, Trevante Rhodes as Nebraska, Keegan-Michael Key as Coyle and Thomas Jane as Baxley were likable and the standouts among the team. Latino Johnny Depp almost made the passing grade. Sterling K. Brown as the jackass government agent was too cartoonish.
Olivia Munn plays a biologist and serves also as the walking exposition role on the film. Providing some eye candy, Munn’s character’s gung-ho, fast & furious actions seem out of place. The lovely Yvonne Strahovski (still mine!) has a very minor role as Quinn’s ex-wife.
The film earns its rated R as the violence and gore are a welcome sight for this type of action sci-fi genre. The lone predator was a bad-ass and the story of him hunting the kid while the Loonies protect the boy would have been a good enough plot on its own. So introducing the “Ultimate Predator” seemed unnecessary and the ending twist was lame (see spoiler box below). With that said, the 11-foot ultimate predator looked really good in action.
There is enough action, humor, gore kills and the introduction of new elements to the mythology to satisfy fans of the Predator films but it’s very far from being labeled as a great Predator movie. Having said that, I feel The Predator will be more appreciated as time goes by, the same way Predator 2 is now being accepted by the newer generation.
Rating: 6/10
The lone predator was protecting a tech or gear that’s called “Predator Killer.” It’s like a bracer that when equipped turns the wearer into, what I dubbed, Iron Man Predator. I find the concept to be a bit lame and makes the whole man versus predator theme obsolete.
The Predator - Extremely fast opening that comes to a hokey turn. Exposition throughout the whole movie just gets thrown at out like a broken pitching machine, and it's really easy to miss. The dramatic moments aren't taken seriously, and there is never any time spent on reactions. They setup a lot of characters that never get their emotional arc because it's just too damn fast. It has some decent jokes, and the characters are put together well, but they are just used story pieces, not full characters because no one really changes. The action and gore are presented very well, but it comes off that when the idea of this movie was thought of, Shane Black was only thinking about the action. Because it could have led to some great moments. The ending was also a huge copout. If you don't understand english it would be a lot more entertaining. 5.5/10
Mandy -
A slow build up of a drug filled, psychedelic tranced story that leads to a good old revenge flick towards the end. Nick gets let out of his proverbial "cage" very well, and it turns into a hallucinogenic gore fest. Great ending, and if you love extremely colorful visuals, combined with satanic and religious symbolism that ends with head popping and blood spewing fun, then you might want to check it out if it's in a theater near you. Just don't expect crazy Nick Cage to be in the whole movie. The directors build up to that shit, and the dude has like 11 lines in it. 7/10
*Edit* - I just realized it's on demand. Check it out!
I've been doing to see both and both work the wait. The chick in Unsane is really sexy. And that premise is terrifying to me. Being trapped in a mental institution, knowing you might be crazy, but not that crazy. It maybe you are.... Dun dun dun....
The VVitch. Rate it 6/10. It came highly recommend and I was pretty underwhelmed. There is one very creepy, disturbing scene, but they throw it at you too early and simply can't follow. The overall theme is good and still relevant due to the continuing importance of religion in the United States culturally and politically, but I think the movie is too heavy handed, and the ending is pretty corny.
The Rachels play Jewish bisexuals and I'm not sure it's worth not cutting to the chase.
It's not terrible. It helps if you're Orthodox because it's not otherwise as gut-wrenching as the vibe and tenor intends. I don't think they knew how to end the film, and probably should have used Alessandro Nivola a bit more.
DOWNSIZING
Alexander Payne makes comedies that are just short of funny, which is not to say they're bad but rather his characters are so sympathetic it hurts to laugh at their failures, pain, and all the other things you'd normally laugh at in a shallower comedy. The other thing he likes to do is uncomfortable nudity, the unimaginable bastard.
What I love in stories in when you get little bite-sized nuggets of funny wisdom:
I wouldn't recommend it unless you like lowkey absurdism.
White Boy Rick -
A biopic of a small time hustler who helped the cops get to a local Detroit gang, and more. Matthew Mcconaughey played a great father, the kid who played Rick was aiight, and the story isn't as cliche as the trailer sells it to be. Though a good trailer, it's not fully what the movie was. I enjoyed that, and had some good surprises along the way. The humor is spot on, some jokes even develop in a scene, which is unlike a drama like this, and more like a comedy, which I enjoyed. Altogether, White boy Rick brings the laughs, the worry, the hope, and has an ending that makes you feel a little bit. No heart strings tugged at, but it does end with some catharsis. 7/10
Danger One -
Now this movie sold me on the trailer. It's an action/thriller where 2 paramedics are in over their head, and it just gets worse as they try to get out of the hole they are digging. Very basic story, but the characters help bring out the shinning points of the movie. Even though it relies on overused tropes, the 2 paramedic's relationship and their relationship with the rest of the cast are a driving force to keep you wondering if they will get away. Not too long, and it ends with a dull blah, but the ride there is pretty fun. 6.5/10
Took my wife to see this piece of crap. I can't stand Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively's hotness couldn't stop this movie from being a steaming pile of crap. My wife liked it. I would think a bunch of women who have a girl's night would enjoy this movie. I did not. It was weird. The plot twists were stupid as hell.
I had never seen this film until now. I didn't buy into the hype when it was first released and didn't have a strong desire to see it. It was pretty much what I expected. While it does have a pretty strong cast, the dialogue often leaves much to be desired and some of the action sequences made absolutely no sense.
Some minor chuckles here and there but nothing exceptionally funny. Also good for a little nostalgia, but I don't know who their audience really was here. It felt much like a kids' movie. The overall concept for the film was fairly lame.
You get over it's Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye very quickly. It's one of the best performance from both Olsen and Renner. And it's unfortunate there was not much hype around this movie. I was engaged from beginning to the end.
Reminded me of Blow, but a lot less more engaging. Not a bad movie at all, but it's your typical rags to riches story in the drug game, the only difference is it's a white kid in the inner city of Detroit. Matthew Mcconaughey did a really great job as Ricky's father, a man who buys, mods, and resales guns and is just trying to make ends meet as a single father for his broken family. Ricky starts off by selling guns only, then the government wants him to start selling drugs as an informant for them. I forget how it happens, either the government gets who they want or Ricky gets out for fear of his life, but he ends up selling drugs as a legit drug dealer, which lands him in hot water.
Overall, I did enjoy this movie. I paid matinee prices, so it was worth that.
You get over it's Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye very quickly. It's one of the best performance from both Olsen and Renner. And it's unfortunate there was not much hype around this movie. I was engaged from beginning to the end.
I had never seen this film until now. I didn't buy into the hype when it was first released and didn't have a strong desire to see it. It was pretty much what I expected. While it does have a pretty strong cast, the dialogue often leaves much to be desired and some of the action sequences made absolutely no sense.
This was...pretty darn good, actually. These superhero flicks aren't as difficult to get right as DC would have you believe. All you need is a simple story about a big evil that the hero has a conviction to stop, and fill in the rest with a personal journey of self discovery, mixed with some mild humor, a touch of romance, and just the right amount of darkness to balance it out, and you just hit those beats consistently while building on the main conflict, and then tie it all off at the end with a big showdown and satisfying resolution. You get a good cast and director to bring it all together, and bada bing, bada boom, enjoyable movie. This flick stuck to those basic principles, and look at that, it worked. Easily the best DC movie of the post TDK era.
Not much more to say really. It isn't anything you haven't seen before. It's just a really solid superhero movie. The kind that Marvel routinely churns out effortlessly. DC needs to study this flick's blueprint, and apply it to every project they do. If there is a "secret formula" to these movies that DC just can't figure out for some reason, well, this movie figured it out. Keep it simple, stupid.
Now, if I had any complaints, it would be the length(my god the length of these movies). Some CGI looked laughably bad. There are a few sparse moments of CGI where it simply didn't look finished. Like they just rushed some character models in action that looked so cartoonish and not touched up, and didn't think the audience would notice. Also, while Gal Gadot is great as Wonder Woman the action hero, her dramatic chops need some work. There are a couple of really cringey scenes. Let's just say that emoting sadness is a bit above her pay grade. Small nitpick though, as she is really good outside of those sad emotional scenes.
All in all, pretty good. DC gets on the scoreboard.
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