Category Archives: 7 Star Movies

Baby Driver Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

I remember seeing a whole lot of promotion for this film back in the day when it was coming out. It really got to be quite the big deal back in the day and who doesn’t like a high speed car film right? now that I’ve seen it I can safely say that it is a solid title. It’s a pretty well rounded film with a solid cast of characters.

The movie starts by introducing us to Baby who is the best getaway driver out there. He doesn’t want to be living this life of crime but doesn’t really have a way out yet. Doc has some serious dirt on the guy and he’s a powerful mobster in general so if Baby crosses him then it’s lights out. At least Doc says Baby just needs to do one last job and then they’re square. Is that really the truth? Well, Baby can’t really risk that either way. His foster parent Joe isn’t happy about this life of crime but it’s hard for Baby to explain exactly what’s going on. Then he falls for a lady named Deborah while at a café. Baby is trying to move forward in his life but the past just keeps on catching up.

Baby makes for a fairly unique character as he’s always listening to music because he suffers from tinnitus. Definitely a really rough condition to have and one that can be hard to fix even in modern times. So listening to music helps him tune out the constant whistle at least. He’s got a ton of different pairs of glasses and Ipads at the ready and even makes mixtapes in his spare time. This all makes for a fairly compelling main character and I think most impressively is how he’s able to stay strong and not flinch when the other villains try to mess with him.

I also liked that he isn’t naïve about the whole thing. Sometimes you see the main guy being blackmailed to being a villain but is really slow on the uptake the whole time. That’s not the case with Baby, he’s always alert and always ready to make a move. His plans towards the end of the film were actually really solid, just the wrong thing kept happening at the wrong time. So he’s definitely a unique main character and worked well in the role.

I also enjoyed Doc as the main villain. He’s a fairly ruthless guy who definitely doesn’t take no as an answer from the other characters. He will make sure they get their money and are fairly compensated though. The guy is a full businessman, an evil one but he’s not crazy. So the guy has had a steady business as a result and just keeps it moving. Perhaps his last scenes felt a bit rushed in terms of character but I’ll just take the scene at face value for now and he just wasn’t all bad.

As the main heroine Deborah is a fun character as well. She tries to cheer up Baby when he seems down and generally seems like a nice person. She had the right attitude on the job and she was quick on the uptake when Baby walked in with the gang. Deborah really didn’t make any mistakes so I appreciated that and she didn’t just freeze when the villains show up. She grabs a pipe and actually hits one of them which was really key since it bought enough time for the heroes there.

Then for the other villains, I would say Bats was the highlight. He’s a very tough guy who has been around the block a lot of times before. Nothing bothers him and he is always ready for a fight. The guy can be a little too perceptive for his own good at times but nothing just gets past him. I enjoyed having him around and he’s the kind of villain you want on your side in a heist. You don’t want to be going against him or it’s not going to end well.

Finally we have Buddy and Darling who really love flaunting their relationship in front of everyone. Darling in particular seems to get a kick out of it since she’ll have Buddy murder anyone who takes a look at her. They make for a solid toxic duo on the villain roster and Buddy is definitely a really determined guy. At first he seems like one of the nicer ones on the villain squad but once you’re on his bad list then it’s over.

What helps put Baby Driver at a solid level here is that the characters are fun. I feel like I’ve seen a ton of films with the main guy helping some gangsters and they’re all super forgettable criminals. You finish the film and you just won’t remember these guys at all. In this film they all had full character personalities so you won’t be forgetting them any time soon. I’d say that’s a good credit to the movie.

While the soundtrack’s fairly well known here I would say it can be hit or miss. I wasn’t particularly impressed with many of the tunes here but it certainly did have a lot of them. Music is a good way to build intensity during the chase scenes so that is appreciated. The specific songs just weren’t all that great compared to what they could have been but they were all fast paced which is the main important part. I enjoyed all of the car scenes and there was a lot of effort put into them. The actual shooting battles were also on point. They felt like true gunfights with a lot of back and forth. The whole climax is very hectic in a good way.

Overall, Baby Driver is a pretty good movie. It lived up to the trailers and you don’t always know what’s going to happen next. The pacing is on point and the writing was solid too. It works really well as a stand alone film and covers everything that it needs to. I think a sequel to this could be fun too since there’s a lot of avenues you can go for it. Baby Driver isn’t trying to be super ambitious or anything like that, just a good film to pass the time by and that works out well. It is a lot of fun and you’ll finish the movie feeling satisfied. I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

3:10 to Yuma (2007) Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

3:10 to Yuma was a pretty fun film back when I saw the original and this remake does it justice. It’s a remake that keeps very close to the original with minimal changes but they work well. The lead’s wife gets less of a role here as his son gets to do more instead but the film makes the main villain and his right hand man a little more memorable. Ultimately it’s close but I would say this one does beat the original. There’s a whole lot to enjoy here.

The movie starts off with Dan in a rather rough place. He isn’t very well off as it is and then gets all his stuff stolen and burned due to the debts he has. It gets worse when he watches someone get robbed and does not help. Now he feels like his kids won’t respect him as much and so this leads him to join in with a posse to stop the legendary robber Ben. It’s actually not a job that sounds very hard. Ben has already been wrapped up by the proper authorities. Dan just needs to get him to a town where he will be taken in to jail. They just have to last a few days until the train pulls in. The only real complication is making sure that Ben doesn’t get into their heads. Most of the fighters are in the same boat as Dan. They have big debts and need money badly. Often times money can really mess with your morals and of course if there are less people around then each person’s cut of the money might be a little bigger eh?

Perhaps you can cut a deal with Ben rather than getting money from the company. Either way Ben may be the guy in handcuffs but Dan and the others are the ones who feel outnumbered. Another complication is that Ben’s crew is very loyal. Particularly his right hand man Charlie who will not rest until he has found Ben and freed him from these guys. Dan may have bitten off more than he can chew but at the same time he knows there is no turning back now. His honor and reputation is on the line right now.

Now there’s always a question of how far is too far with honor. Of course you need to do the right thing always and you can’t stop on that. The real question is if you should be risking your life for respect when it’s something you don’t actually need to do. In this case Dan absolutely could have stayed home and lived a decent life. Sure he would not have been known as a tough guy but he’d be around. I think if he was doing this because he really wanted to see justice done then that’s one thing but I’d say he should have stayed home after getting the money. It’s not like he’s trained as a police officer or anything like that.

That said, I agree with him on staying to see it through once he was there. It’s not like it went any better for the guys who left since they all got shot anyway. Particularly back in the wild west I never get why people just leave and assume the villain will keep their word. Seriously you’re just going to get shot right away I can guarantee it. So instead of putting your gun down you should at least go out blazing. Maybe you take one or two of them with you. Ideally you take out the villain leader that way. When you have a gun like this, you can always guarantee mutual destruction for at least one person.

Meanwhile Ben is a great villain and I would even say the best character in the film. He’s a villain through and through but at least he is one who has his own set of principles and an honor code. He’s not just going around blasting everyone randomly. He steals and generally does whatever he wants but he’s not going after kids or anyone who is not in his way. For example he was not going to go after Dan initially and he let him go. Then by the end he was actually helping out a whole lot in trying to get Dan to safety.

I also liked the fact that Ben was shown to be a great shot. He was probably the most skilled fighter in the whole movie and that really goes to show how he wasn’t trying to hurt the main characters. If he wanted them dead then they would absolutely be dead. The film is fairly light on gun fights but at the end his fight scene is really impressive. Definitely not someone that most of the characters could dream of taking on.

I’d say the only one who was close would be Charlie and to an extent you feel bad for him. He’s definitely a cruel villain and someone who has no mercy but he is loyal. He never waivered in his mission to help Ben out of the jam and really didn’t take any disrespect towards the guy. If Ben actually was as evil as the rest of the characters thought he was then these two would have been the perfect duo and really impossible to stop. So when they have to fight it’s one of the most emotional moments in the film to be sure.

Yeah this is definitely a very satisfying film all around. It’s also a movie where I think you can take a message about being careful what fights you jump into. You may not start a fight but after you jump in you suddenly find yourself as the last one standing. Everyone abandoned Dan by the end and of course there were legitimate reasons for doing so. The mission did start to seem impossible so you definitely get it and Dan had his own reasons for sticking around but it’s got to be tough when everyone is just gone like that.

Perhaps it’s better that way in this case though as most of the other “heroes” were extremely annoying. You had one guy who spent the whole film trying to pick a fight with Ben which made him easy to manipulate. It was another impressive moment for Ben with how he took him out. One of the older guys just got super greedy, etc. These were moments to show how Ben was able to easily turn everyone against each other but you feel like in part it’s because the characters were all just lousy people to start with.

Overall, 3:10 to Yuma is a pretty good movie. It gets all the positive elements of the wild west in there and has good pacing. It never ends up dragging on and the characters are very interesting. The verbal battles between the main character and villain are on point. Some characters definitely look pretty bad in how easily they are manipulated but for the main two they at least have a good respect for each other. The tension is constantly high with Dan knowing that he could die at any point and even Ben realizing that this won’t be an easy situation. Ben definitely does have the edge since even if he is captured he could escape. Definitely a must watch if you like the wild west genre.

Overall 7/10

Shazam! Fury of the Gods Review

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Shazam returns for another big adventure in this one. At this point he’s really been overshadowed by Black Adam but in theory Shazam should be able to reach similar levels of power so it would be interesting to see how he fares here. Ultimately I would say he’s still not on the same level but he doesn’t look bad here. Mainly he just needs to get way better at fighting and his durability could use a lot of work too. Once he masters those things then he should be set. This film’s pretty good overall, I’d probably give it the slight edge over the first one. It’s a good blend of humor and action.

The film starts off with Shazam feeling bad because he doesn’t think that he’s been doing a great job of leading the team. It’s like a junior version of the Ruby character arc from RWBY. The rest of the fighters keep ditching him too and they seem to think he’s trying to restrict them too much. They want to come into their own as solo fighters and he thinks it’s too dangerous. Well now there are a trio of gods coming after him. Can Shazam keep his family safe while taking all of these guys down or will it be too much for him?

What the film does right here is the humor. I still find Shazam and his antics to be funny along with the rest of the crew. While some Shazam fans probably still won’t like how he’s basically a joke compared to the rest of the league, he balances the humor well. If he was serious then you’d have to really amp up the villains to Superman level but this way you can put some average fighters in front and have Shazam just mess up every time they attack. Perhaps not the most satisfying resolution for Shazam fans but it’s a way to get him.

I also think the movie had more clever dialogue than the first one. Freddie actually gets a number of funny scenes here as well. Then the fights are also good as we actually get some more super speed usage here. The comedic moments do tend to take away from the fights a bit so you’ll usually get a cool moment, then a comedic break, then a cool moment, etc. I think if the film wanted to pull off a really good fight scene that it probably could but that wasn’t the main goal here.

For example, one of the goddesses can manipulate the environment, moving buildings and such. This made for some really cool visuals and is a form of reality warping that I can actually find appealing. If you did that for a longer period of time then that would have been great but it’s only for quick bursts so that it’s over just as it has begun. It was also done in a way where you can see how even someone with Shazam’s speed could have a hard time dodging it. I’m not saying the fights we got were bad but they could have been a lot better. The best battle here was definitely Shazam against the leader of the trio. The battle with the large dragon isn’t as impressive since it feels more one sided even when the dragon is landing hits.

The special effects all look cool here. I feel like Shazam’s costume getting singed and turning black was possibly a nod to Black Adam. The energy effects are cool and the movie didn’t hold back with the visuals. The soundtrack is a bit more forgettable but I enjoyed seeing the hero song play. Now that was a good bit of fun especially with how often the song has been appearing lately. It’s a really good song so why not have it just keep on appearing right?

The film has a pair of after credit scenes here and I can safely say that both of them are pretty good. The first one could have maybe been a little more hype but I like the setup. I’m doubtful on if it’ll go anywhere with the DC direction often changing but if it does it would be fun to put Shazam in a new environment. Most likely he couldn’t bring his friends along so they’d have to lose out but from a power levels standpoint that makes sense. Without shenanigans or depowering rays how can you stop a whole group of Shazams right?

The second scene is also a lot of fun. In a way it really works because the humor is breaking the fourth wall to an extent. For fans who have been waiting for something in particular this tease is basically saying that it’s not happening anytime soon if ever. I feel like that was the film’s way of slamming the door on it but it also could still mean something for a Shazam 3 if it ever came out. Jury’s out on that but regardless the scene itself was executed well.

So a lot of good positives here but now onto the negatives. The first one is I think Billy can still be a little too obsessive about Wonder Woman. That seems to be a core part of his character in different continuities at this point but cmon now. He’s a superhero, you need him to have some more dignity here. Also while he is slowly getting more used to his powers, I feel like he’s been a hero for years now so I’d expect him to do better here. Did he really think that he beat a goddess by slamming her to the ground?

I think writers often underestimate how strong the heroes are. For example the goddess throws a box at Shazam at one point which knocks him over. A normal box…. Here’s the thing, the writer probably figured that the box was thrown at super speed so it would work. The reason why it wouldn’t is that the box would just shatter on impact at any speed where it would be enough to come close to hitting Shazam. There is no scenario where the box itself pushes him, likewise the ground isn’t knocking someone out who is at his strength level.

So some of the power levels can be a little interesting but that’s how it goes I suppose. Shazam’s foster parents don’t get as much of a role in this one but they’re still nice enough. Most of the siblings don’t have a lot to do either. I would say the main one with a big role is Freddy since he gets a romance subplot with a new girl in school named Anne. They hit it off right away and so he now has extra incentive to be a big hero all on his own without waiting for Billy. The romance may be a little heavy handed with Freddy not handling things so well but it could be worse. By the end I just don’t think this should really work out long term.

Now there is one part of the film where I definitely disagree with Billy. So the other kids, mainly Freddy want to go out and do hero things but Billy says they either all have to go or none of them do. Here’s the problem with that, they have super powers and can realistically save a ton of lives. Functionally it’s like having half a dozen Supermen at the ready. They should be going around making the world a better place, not waiting until everyone is together. I know it’s safer when you’re in a group but realistically they can solo over 90% of the threats on the planet. If Freddy wants to go stop some thieves or escaped convicts then he should be able to. So the characters were right about Billy holding them back a bit.

That said, I still found the Wizard annoying because he spends a large chunk of the film bashing Billy and it doesn’t feel deserved. Like when he tells Billy that he regrets giving him the powers. Kind of a nasty thing to say to a kid just trying to do his best. By the end of the film they try to make the Wizard more likable but those opening scenes for him were really rough. It’s definitely hard to come back from that.

As for the goddesses, they were okay but could have used more scenes. For example the oldest one is all about getting revenge and seems like a decent villain but gets a little wishy washy by the end. She starts getting sloppy and dropping her guard which is never a good idea. The middle one is the most intense and ready to do anything for the mission. You can definitely respect that but at the same time I wanted to see her fight more. Physically she doesn’t do much here and she’s actually lucky the heroes didn’t try to take her down during the cheesesteak lunch because she would have had no way to defend herself. It was a tactical blunder.

Finally you have the youngest one who seems nice enough but can also be a bit wishy washy about the whole thing. Ultimately you need to pick a side and while she has more compassion than the others, it doesn’t mean as much if she won’t actually step in there to stop things right? I wanted to see her get more of a real fight too. There’s a cool scene of her dodging an energy blast but of course she ends up letting her guard down anyway. Not her best moment.

Overall, Shazam! delivers another pretty good film here. The skittles scene definitely feels like ultimate product placement but the fact that the film is so shameless about it does make it more impressive to an extent. Reminds me of an infamous Transformers scene involving beer. Ultimately the movie has got a solid amount of replay value and was a cheerful film so you could really watch it at any point. I’d like to see more of a prolonged fight in the third film but in the end this is still one that you could pop in and watch any day because it is easy to watch again. It definitely feels a lot shorter than 2 hours which is a good credit to the writing/pacing here.

Overall 7/10

S.W.A.T. Review

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SWAT is one of those franchises that I have heard about on many occasions but I still wouldn’t say that I knew a whole lot about the actual details of it. In the end I suppose it doesn’t really matter though as in a lot of ways the film is a fairly standard adventure. You’re not really going to see a lot of things that surprise you here and I would say the biggest knock against the film could be in how it’s satisfied being a normal thriller. That said, I always defend a film for being just a regular action film as long as the execution is good and that was on point here.

The movie starts with showing us the Swat team in action. They show up and clean out the bad guys rather quickly although in the process they do end up shooting one of the hostages. While the civilian lived, the issue is that this still broke protocol and so Brian is fired while Jim is demoted to being the guy who checks in the guns. Jim’s not happy but figures he’ll just stick around until he can move up again. That opportunity comes soon as Hondo is brought in to help the Swat’s poor public image. He is putting together a team of his own and decides that he wants Jim on it. This is Jim’s chance to finally make a comeback, but can he still hang with the rest of these professionals? Only time will tell!

First off I have to give the film credit for the soundtrack. There are quite a few lyrical songs that show up in this film which sound really good. The fast paced rock and high intensity of the action really mix well together here. The movie may lay it on a bit thick with the songs as they just show up out of nowhere in max volume but I had a lot of fun with it. It certainly makes the film stand out more than it would otherwise.

The action scenes here are also pretty solid as you would expect. Then the film also did subvert my expectations in one way that was fun. So there’s this big villain who gets his big intro scene with a lot of hype as you’d expect. He destroys someone, laughs about it and starts to monologue about how awesome he is. The guy then takes his car out for a joy ride…and gets pulled over by a cop and ultimately arrested. This…is the big bad. No, it’s not a big master plan like the Joker and he actually just made a mistake.

I think the film actually could have capitalized on this more because it’s a fun turn of events. Sometimes mistakes happen and this one just so happened to nearly end the villain’s plans in a single instant. It was really good fun there and it takes the guy a whole long time to get back in action. There is a double edged sword to this which I’ll get into in a minute, but yeah that was fun. I just kept waiting for some super big plot twist to happen and it didn’t arrive.

Don’t get me wrong, there are twists here but nothing too crazy and you can probably see one coming a mile away. Now the double edged sword of this is that without a main villain, the first half of the film is very low key. I even want to say the first 70% but that might be going too far. Mainly we get to see Jim train with the Swat team and a lot of setup as they locate each of the members for the team one by one. You get to see the team learning to get along, the training montages, etc. It plays out like an origin story to a large extent but that means there isn’t a lot of time for the high stakes battles.

It feels like we’re closing in on the end by the time this arrives. It delivers though and I still enjoyed the whole getting the team together part of the movie. It’s a classic way to set things up and it was satisfying. I would have just altered events slightly to setup the climax earlier and maybe thrown in an extra fight scene or two near the middle to really shake things up. Then this would really be a perfect setup.

Jim makes for a pretty solid main character here. He’s someone who does the right thing and he doesn’t rat out his partner even when someone tries to tempt him into doing so. You have to give the guy props for that and he also didn’t let his skills get rusty while he was on the bench. His partner Brian is annoying throughout the movie though. The guy really didn’t have a great plan and then didn’t take the consequences well. I don’t mind him running in there to try and save the hostage, that actually made sense but ultimately you still need to be able to take responsibility for that. If you don’t then you’re just being petty at that point and doubling down.

Meanwhile Hondo is definitely a solid character. He definitely doesn’t take too much disrespect from the Swat head who keeps trying to make new enemies. Ultimately Hondo trusts his team and puts them in the best position to win. You can’t really ask for much more than that out of any leader. He shows up in crunch time and gets the job done. The rest of the team also tend to be solid. One guy is perhaps a little too cocky and always ready to pick fights but it helps throw some tension into the mix. Then you have the tough heroine who is definitely ready to beat up anyone in her way.

The film does throw in some classic romance really just to tick off a box. There isn’t much point to the romance and it doesn’t change the film at all. It’s the definition of the Hollywood romance that doesn’t work as these people barely even know each other and it’s all so sudden. Not enough to really hurt the film mind you, but you’ll probably be rolling your eyes at that. If you want to go the romance route that should probably be saved for the second or third film so that enough time has passed for this to make sense.

Overall, Swat’s a pretty good film. I had a good time with it and can also see why the franchise had enough potential to keep on going. There’s a whole lot you can do in terms of different adventures with this crew. There will always be villains to beat up and since the Swat is the best of the best, I like the idea of their always arriving at the end once the villains have been around for a while. They should be treated as the climax of an adventure they weren’t apart of each time because that’s really their role. They show up when local law enforcement is having a difficult time. Even the weakest member on Swat should be an excellent, top of the line fighter. We’ll see if the next film can keep up the momentum but I had a good time here.

Overall 7/10

Hunter Killer Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a tense adventure beneath the waves in this title. While you may think it will be difficult to pull off an intense film while the characters are all trapped in a submarine, this one does a pretty good job of it. The writing is solid and the characters are good so in the end that makes for a very complete adventure.

The movie kicks off with one of the US submarines vanishing so the government is a bit concerned. They’re in the middle of a cold war with Russia and tensions are high so a submarine “vanishing” isn’t something that they can just let slide. They send in Captain Joe to handle this and the guy basically spent his whole career in a submarine so he is ready for action. Joe is a free thinker and doesn’t always play things by the books though so that does cause some concern for his crewmates. Will this guy really be able to seal the deal and get them a proper victory over the Russians? Only time will tell.

Even aside from recent news about submarines I’ve never wanted to go under the sea. I can easily get claustrophobic in that kind of setting and to me the helplessness of the situation is the worst part. If something goes wrong then there is absolutely no escape. At least in a plane you can hope for a safe landing or jump out with a parachute but under the ocean that’s it. So with the ship that went down you already know the crew is basically doomed but at the same time you still do have to go with the rescue operation and find out.

One of the moral dilemmas Joe is faced with here is his crew’s not too eager to help out any Russians even if they’re drowning. Fortunately Joe has no such hesitations and points out that they have to save anyone who needs help. I’m definitely glad he made the right call here and never wavered. At the end of the day you have to do what’s right there and it’s not like anyone else would be in a position to help out. He even asks for help from their captain, Andropov when trying to navigate through the territories.

Things could have gone badly in a lot of ways but of course that could have happened regardless. I would say Joe consistently made the right decisions and was rewarded for doing so quite regularly. He also handled himself with a lot of authority the whole time so that nobody could capitalize on any moment of weakness. That’s really the trick to making the hard calls and getting everyone through the situation. The crew could get annoying the whole time with how much they tried to double think him but ultimately he never let them get the last word in and quickly got them out of the control room.

The other captain, Andropov ultimately did good as well. He was able to see past the sides in the war and do the right thing to help out. He was cautious about it being a trap initially but after a point that just wouldn’t make sense so it was time to get on board. You definitely need to enjoy the tense atmosphere within the submarine to enjoy the film since that’s really the bulk of the adventure but it’s very well done so you should have no problems. The pacing always feels fast with a lot going on.

Then you have the subplot with Beaman’s team having to infiltrate Russia and secure the president from people trying to take over the country from within. This part’s more like a Jason Bourne type adventure with a lot of action and gunfire everywhere. It definitely works out pretty well and helps to give the film some action along with the tension. It also does a good job of showing just how important a sniper is. One guy manages to take out a bunch of enemies including tanks and cars by himself. If you have a good vantage point and powerful ammo then there are very few limits to how you can contribute in a battle.

I’d like to see more movies really show off the sniper and what he can do with fire bomb bullets and things like that. It was a really impressive showing. I also thought the leader of the group looked great in going back for him instead of descending with the sub. At the end of the day you should never leave someone behind. Doing that would just be a massive mistake on all accounts. The villains probably should have just murdered the Russian president though. I don’t see a whole lot of benefit to keeping him alive with a situation like this could happen.

I feel like usually the US is the one having to deal with traitors and such in these thrillers so that was a nice change of pace. This also worked well in giving a war atmosphere without actually starting the battles in the main plot. I probably wouldn’t have stood there and trusted the former crew to protect me like Joe did in the climax but hey it ended up working out. I can’t say that I really had any problems with the film, it was a strong ride from start to finish. At best you can probably say that there just isn’t enough memorable moments to this film. It’s likely that you will just end up forgetting about it at some point but it’s still a title I could easily recommend.

Overall, Hunter Killer is a pretty intense name for this movie and it ultimately lives up to the hype. You have solid action, characters, and pacing all throughout. The submarine backdrop is probably not one that you want to use too often but it works for getting the job done. If you want to see just how stressful it can be to make decisions while your life is in the balance then this is a good title to check out.

Overall 7/10

The Cheap Detective Review

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It’s been a little while since I’ve seen a parody but I’m always up for this kind of a film. A well written parody will absolutely go a long way because when you understand the gags and see how the film pulls them off it can really be a blast. I would say that by and large this film really succeeds at it too. It probably ends up front loading most of the best gags into the first half but ultimately it’s a film I would recommend all the way through. There is also a good amount of replay value to be found here.

The main character here is a detective named Lou who is always in over his head. The guy’s not very good at his job and just barely manages to hang in there. This time he is in a particularly tough spot though as he is framed for the murder of his partner. He’s the main suspect as it was common knowledge that he had been cheating with the partner’s girl and she isn’t doing a whole lot to try and prove his innocence. She even shows up with the cops to his door on multiple occasions. Lou needs to put some distance between all of them and quick. He has some leads including old flames and very sketchy underworld figures. Will they be enough to help him crack this case once and for all?

Naturally as a parody this film never really takes it self seriously and you shouldn’t either. You’re here more for the laughs and smiles than the actual mystery. Right from the opening scene they set the tone on this as everyone has just been murdered yet they were all in odd poses and never broke formation even after the bullet hit them. That is impressive to be sure but also really crazy. All of the conversations tend to start getting nonsensical after a while which is part of the point.

One of the better scenes is when the heroine calls Lou up but openly allows the cops to listen in on the conversation. The film even pokes fun at how the hero always has a bunch of heroines after him as he gets involved with 3 during the course of this film and they all end up at his place at the same time. It takes a lot of agility and quick thinking to keep them all from meeting up with each other. Lou is ironically quick witted when it comes to situations like this as opposed to the actual case.

Although the case would be difficult for anyone to solve. There are always more and more twists here as more and more players jump into the action. Also you have to consider that even the best of detectives would start to run into trouble when every character is lying through their teeth and half of them make absolutely no sense. Honestly after the film is over you’ll have a hard time keeping track of everything as well. It almost feels like the characters’ stories are changing as the film goes on although that might just be my imagination. It would be a nice extra detail if that was the case though.

The main thing to keep in mind is just that the characters are trying to get some kind of special object the whole time and you’ve also got a war going on in the background. As long as you have all that context then the rest is easy. You’re bound to be laughing at quite a few of the scenes here and the pacing is good so the jokes don’t tend to overstay their welcome. Not every gag will land for you of course but in a film like this there are always a bunch of other jokes to pick up the slack for the ones that did not do so well.

This film just never runs out of jokes and that’s a good thing because it’s important for a comedy film to just keep plunging ahead without missing a beat. The writing is good which is also important and the story is engaging. As I said earlier my only issue to an extent is that they used all the best material in the first half. The second half had a tendency to just not have as many all star jokes the whole time. It was still funny but the first half is absolutely what put it on the map. That’s regrettable to an extent because the ending is always what people remember so you want to end really well.

If there’s anything the film is lacking it’s that we could have had a good rival to Lou. Someone who is super competent perhaps but somehow always gets foiled. That could have been a nice contrast to Lou because in the end none of the supporting characters were particularly memorable. They all just sort of fade off into the distance by the end and while that’s fine since the focus is on the lead, having one more really distinctive character would be good. In the end I’d say that the main police officer was the second best character as is. I liked how calm he was while munching on his snacks the whole time.

Overall, The Cheap Detective is definitely a very good film. I was super close to even giving it one more star but ultimately I would say a 7 is fair. It’s got a lot of replay value and a whole lot of great moments all throughout but in the end I would say it loses just enough steam not to make the jump to the next level. Either way I definitely recommend checking this film out. The more detective films you’ve seen over the years, the more you will get out of this one since it really does a thorough job of destroying the normal tropes.

Overall 7/10

The Thing with Two Heads Review

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It’s time to talk about this film which is definitely one of those titles that I really didn’t know about before watching it. It’s definitely not one that went on to win a lot of awards or anything like that but it embraces the absurdity of the whole story and ends up succeeding because of that. A certain car chase scene will either make or break the film for you though, that’s a guarantee!

The movie starts with Maxwell succeeding in his grand experiment to give a gorilla a second head through a surgical operation. This whole thing seems so crazy and yet it is now a reality. The real reason why he wanted to do this is so that he can put his head on another body since he is slowly dying. There ends up being a bit of a mixup though as the surgeons put Maxwell’s head on the body of Jack, an inmate who was sentenced to death. They wanted an inmate since the process will ultimately destroy the original host but Jack’s a little too smart for them. When he wakes up to find that he has an extra head, he breaks out and holds another doctor hostage, Dr. Fred. Now they are in a chase against the police. Even if Jack evades them, will his life ever be normal again?

There’s quite a lot to unpack right here. Lets put aside the fact that you can now remove someone’s head and put it on another body. That sounds pretty crazy but it’s the basis of the whole film so lets accept that as possible for now. There is a whole lot of plot convenience to Jack’s escape as he pretends to be asleep and then knocks out the staff but you’d think they’d be ready for that and have more security measures. Once he gets in the car though, that’s when things really get intense.

The police to their credit weren’t messing around. When they got the call that the convict was on the escape they basically sent the whole platoon of every officer in the state after him. We’re talking well over 40 police cars here and yet they all fall one by one to Jack. His car is just way more agile, nimble, and can hit those turns in a way that the police cars can’t as they all crash one on one.

The sequence goes on for an extraordinarily long time and like I said this is where the film will either lose you or you’ll be 100% on board. Personally I found the whole chase scene to be hilarious so this ended up helping the film in the end. Effectively this ended up making the film because it really got to embrace how hilarious the whole thing is. The same scenes just keep replaying like they were going out of style. I haven’t seen so much recycled footage in a very long time. that’s part of what makes it funny though even if it’s possibly a bit unintentional, it’s also fully possible that it was 100% intentional. We can’t rule that out.

In general the film has a lot of fun with the humor and I tend to enjoy the banter between Maxwell and Jack. See, a big part of the plot is that Maxwell is incredibly racist to the point where he tried to fire the new doctor Fred since he turned out to be black. Then when he’s merged with Jack….well he’s furious because Jack’s also black and so part of the dynamic is that Maxwell just can’t stand him. It’s to the point where Maxwell can’t even pretend to be nice to try and perform some kind of double cross. No, he’s as obvious as it gets the entire time.

Maxwell’s definitely the main villain of the film so the movie goes all in with making him as unlikable as possible. Meanwhile Jack’s a fairly calm guy who just wants to get out of this crazy predicament. He certainly never would have expected that he’d lose his body like this but he adjusts rather well. He doesn’t always make the smartest decisions like allowing Maxwell to knock him out but I guess as a scientist Maxwell would have a fairly strong will. Jack definitely has great skills with vehicles and escape though since he evaded all the cops.

There is a subplot about Jack saying that he’s innocent and trying to find the real criminal but that plot never goes anywhere so don’t worry about it. As for Fred, he’s hesitant to help the whole time so he spends most of the film waffling in the middle. Eventually he finally makes the big decision to be helpful though which was good. I feel like it should be an easy call to side with Jack in getting rid of Maxwell and restoring Jack’s body after all.

The cast is fairly small as those are really the main characters here. There are other scientist and you also have Jack’s girlfriend but for the most part the film is really focused around the main 3 here. They are the ones in the huge car chase scene after all and there isn’t really any room for the other characters. The film does throw an interesting misdirect at you with the gorilla that has 2 heads early on. Based on the title you’d expect that would have been the main plot so this was really a big shift. I got to watch the film without seeing the poster so that really helped to make the storyline a bit of a surprise.

I think it’s fair to say that the movie could have done more with the premise. Cut out the chase scene and throw in more dialogue and you would really have more opportunities for banter. That said, we still got a good amount here so I was satisfied. Honestly it’s the kind of film that I could definitely watch again because of how crazy it is so it’s got good replay value.

Overall, This is a pretty good movie. The plot certainly isn’t sound and you’ll find plot holes/conveniences throughout but the movie never forgets its sense of humor. There are a lot of good burns coming in from all the characters and you’ll have a good amount of laughs. Definitely check this out if the plot sounds intriguing to you. Not a whole lot happens technically since the plot goes on break for a while but you’ll still have a lot of fun either way.

Overall 7/10

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Review

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Crouching Tiger is one of those movies where I know the name well but I really couldn’t tell you what it was about. So it’s nice to finally be able to have checked this one out and it holds up. The fight scenes are on point and the story is good. My only issue is that the film does lose a lot of steam during the desert scenes. That side trip lasted way too long and reminded me of how John Wick 3 destroyed its momentum with a desert adventure as well. Maybe the moral here is if your story is going well then you don’t need to go to the desert. Sometimes that’s the way to go.

The movie starts with Mu Bai retiring from the way of the sword and asking Yu Shu to give away his prized sword to the governor. Unfortunately it is stolen right away by a mysterious warrior. This warrior even manages to escape Yu Shu after a lengthy battle. Suspiciously the governor has a daughter who really claims not to know anything about martial arts but Yu Shu is convinced that this is the culprit. Still she doesn’t want to ruin the young lady’s life by exposing this and tries to get her to return the sword. Meanwhile a hardened killer known as the Jade Fox has reappeared and this fight is personal for Mu Bai because his master was murdered by her.

There’s definitely a lot going on here but one of the real strengths of the film is how it actually spares the time for long fight scenes. We’re not talking a quick 2 minute fight but prolonged action scenes with a good amount of back and forth. For example the fight with Yu Shu and the intruder at the start is surprisingly very long with a ton of good choreography. We really get to see how good Yu Shu’s skills are here as well as the intruder’s. They’re fighting while the intruder is trying to escape so you get to see these shifts in combat. If Yu Shu isn’t careful the intruder will leave and so the situation does favor the villain here because you never know when the situation will be a fight or flee moment.

This movie definitely does use the flying techniques quite a lot. The characters fly over buildings and jump with the power of the Hulk. It may not be realistic but it makes this feel more like an anime adventure so I was 100% on board with this. It makes for a lot of very satisfying battles. It also really shows the gap in ability between the trained ninjas and the average fighters. If you can’t move with tremendous speed and jump over leagues then you’re not going to win the fight. You’ll have no shot at all.

Yu Shu is a really solid heroine. She gets less to do in the first half but the opening was such a great way to introduce her character. You also see her compassionate side in trying to drop hints to make the fighting stop with everyone coming out on top. There is also a sub plot where she likes Mu Bai but the two have a hard time connecting because she had a fiancé who died. So she doesn’t want this to be a rebound which is very honorable and same for him. It’s a nice way to look at things and I think you just have to be satisfied staying as just friends there. You made your choice and it just didn’t turn out well. Ultimately she still looks out for the guy and they have a good dynamic.

Meanwhile Mu Bai may have retired from fighting but he still retains his skills at a really high level. It was impressive seeing him take on all challengers in this film. It’s clear that he was easily the most powerful fighter here and if we discount any cheap shots, nobody was really able to land a hit on him. The closest was the intruder to be sure but even she was no match. This guy absolutely lived up to his rep of being a martial arts master.

For the villains Jade Fox was a bit underwhelming. She is strong when faced against the lower ranking fighters to be sure but can’t hold a candle to Yu Shu, the intruder, or Mu Bai. Regardless she is older so I suppose in her prime things may have been different. She’s a villain through and through to be sure and doesn’t have some kind of sympathetic backstory set up. Her reason for murdering the master made sense and that guy definitely didn’t sound very good but of course any non-villain would have just left. When you go into murder that’s when you step over the line.

The intruder (So I don’t spoil who this is I’ll just keep using this phrase for the mysterious fighter) is a great character. She is a prodigy when it comes to fighting as she didn’t have the best teacher and yet she became one of the strongest in the verse. Her style of fighting is very smooth and it was always impressive to just see her get in on the action and face off against anyone. Not backing down is impressive. I would also say that she’s a big reason as to why I enjoyed the film. In live action you don’t get to see the “I want to fight strong opponents!” character adapted all that often. She felt like she was out of an anime film as someone who just wanted to test her limits and I like that kind of fighting spirit in any character. She also lived up to the hype and didn’t hide behind any characters.

Meanwhile Jen is a nice enough character. She doesn’t really seem thrilled about her arranged marriage and I don’t blame her. That always seemed like a custom that would really lead to disaster. Unfortunately everyone in her circles are used to this so the advice tends to be that she won’t mind eventually. Not great advice if you ask me but Jen had an affair with someone in the desert and now she misses those days. She really beat up Lo (The guy she met) quite a lot but eventually they liked each other. They’re in different stations though and so it was a romance that could never be. Truly tragic…but completely out of place here.

The movie basically pauses the plot for a really long trip down memory lane in the desert. You definitely understand what they are doing here but I felt like this detour was just not needed. Seriously we could have understood the story in a few minutes, this didn’t need to be so long. It’s to build up the romance of course but at the same time I would say it’s still hard to buy because the whole thing is still very quick. She also tried to murder him several times and it’s a bit hard to let that go. I’ll say that the film tried harder to make the romance work than most others but no I wanted to go back to the real action.

Overall, That was really my only issue with the film though. So while the pacing isn’t as great as it could have been, the film still has a whole lot of great things going for it. The action is on point and the characters are good. The fight scenes are really given a lot of focus here and the martial arts can hold their own with any title. There are a variety of different settings for the fights and the visuals at the ending are also really good. This movie was definitely the complete package through and through and I can definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to see an action film with good writing or someone who wants to check out a well thought out drama since the dramatic moments are here as well.

Overall 7/10

Young Sherlock Holmes Review

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This film was interesting because I just don’t remember ever hearing about it, but clearly it must have been a fairly big deal back in the day. It’s Sherlock Holmes after all! If that isn’t enough to make this a really big household name then I don’t know what would be. The movie is part mystery to an extent but to be honest it’s more of a thriller all the way. It works out well though and while I could see some Holmes fans being a little disappointed, this was before he was a true detective so I’d say it works out fine. He gets to have one explosive adventure before things turn realistic again.

The movie introduces us to a younger Sherlock Holmes who is already widely known for his genius level intellect. The guy isn’t afraid to show it off either and is 100% confident in his abilities. Holmes has no need to be humble when he’s the best although he does tend to lose in fencing to professor Rathe. It’s the only thing in which he isn’t the best. Well, the quiet days are over when a mysterious group begins murdering people using powerful hallucinations. It’s as if the Scarecrow is around. Basically this dart that they hit people with makes them see their worst fears before dying. The body count is slowly starting to rise and when one of Holmes’ favorite teachers is bumped off it is time for him to act. Unfortunately he will have to do it while on the run since he has been kicked out of school. Can he pull this off or is it game over?

One thing you’ll notice right away is that the film is having a blast showing off all of its special effects. You have CGI dragons running around and lots of moving objects as part of the hallucinations. There is even a giant throne room like something out of Harry Potter for the villains’ hideout. It’s all very fantastical and so again it doesn’t feel like Sherlock Holmes but the visuals are still really fun to look at. I do feel like some of the deaths from the hallucinations were a bit convenient though like one guy stabbing himself and another jumping out the window. To an extent you have to know that the hallucinations aren’t real so you want to break through them but you have to know that certain actions will still hurt you in the real world.

The most tragic part of the film is definitely that the heroes are rather late to make a difference. For example, the villains have this whole human sacrifice thing going on and so they’ve been murdering people for a while. The heroes make it in time to see a woman get burned alive and they don’t end up saving her which was unfortunate. They only manage to save the main heroine and it’s just a rough way to go. It makes the police detective Lestrade look even worse because Holmes keeps trying to get the guy to help but he couldn’t care less. Usually he isn’t very helpful in these things but he may as well have been a complete villain in this case. He actively did his best to prevent Holmes and the others from helping out. If he wasn’t an established character in the mythos I would have assumed he was in on the take the whole time. That’s how absolutely corrupt the guy was.

At least you can always count on Holmes to be a really solid character. He did well analytically and this was also before he would get more emotionless so you actually get to see him get mad and put up a real fight. This version of Sherlock Holmes may lag behind the experienced one but the film does a good job of making him stand out and showing how he has changed over the years. Watson also gets to help out a bit here. Ultimately not a ton but his contributions are never forgotten and so he’s always an easy character to root for.

I wasn’t as impressed with the quirky Rupert. I felt like he was only here to help out with one particular invention for near the end but otherwise he just felt a bit out of place. At least professor Rathe was an expert fighter and had a lot of lore behind him. I rather enjoyed Rathe, now here was a character who contributed a lot to the plot and was also very interesting. He could actually hold his own against Holmes which is something that almost no other character could pull off.

Then there is Elizabeth who gets a decent sized role as the main heroine. She helps Holmes out when he’s in a pinch and can always be counted on to support him. Ultimately she does about as much as she possibly can during the course of the film. Holmes had a lot of enemies here so it was always good to have some allies. Watson was helpful too in his own way. Just like in the other films he always comes through when it counts even if he can’t follow Holmes on an intellectual level. He can pull off the physical feats that help make a big difference here.

I enjoyed the action a lot here and so this worked well as a prequel. In a lot of ways this felt like a Harry Potter film too but going at a lightning fast pace. I would have enjoyed staying at the school a little longer and you could have turned this into a whole movie series. The instant Holmes left the school though, it felt like the only logical step would be to pick up with him being an experienced expert. After all, that would be his big reunion with Watson and that would tie into the main novels. Feels like they left a lot of potential stories on the chopping block here by switching things up like that.

Overall, Young Sherlock Holmes is a pretty good movie. It’s an action film which pretty much plays things by the book so I wouldn’t expect anything crazy to happen here. The special effects go all in though and your attention will be captured the whole way through. There is a mystery here but for the most part that never really seems to be the focus. The answers just sort of appear as Holmes is fighting his way through all of the villains and that works out well enough as this is more of a thriller but it’s why I’d say you shouldn’t go into this one expecting a full blown mystery. It’s just not that kind of film so enjoy the action scenes and quality dialogue instead.

Overall 7/10

Paparazzi Review

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The Paparazzi is always a team you hear about a lot on the news for usually controversial reasons. They have to get the news and will use any means to do it. So why not make a thriller film about them right? Well this one plays out in a fairly interesting way and makes them as unlikable as possible. So when the main character decides to become a vigilante you have to decide what team you’re on. Is it time to put these guys away or should the main character flee the city?

The movie starts off with Bo finally becoming an A list celebrity so of course he’s exciting. His movies are doing well and now his family can really enjoy a pleasant life. Unfortunately the Paparazzi decide to get involved. Led by Rex they start invading Bo’s personal life and intentionally try to push him over the edge by taking pictures of his young son. Bo takes a swing at the guy but it’s recorded so the whole thing becomes a big incident. Rex decides to keep on going and next he rams into Bo’s car and sends both his wife and kid into the hospital. Maybe it’s time for Bo to start his counter attack.

Now I would say that Bo was holding back for quite a long while here. It’s not like he just jumped into the action right away. He did his best to stop this through legal means and then with threats but ultimately Rex just kept on escalating more and more. After his family was injured (Bo’s son even falling into a coma) Bo went to the cops but they said there was nothing they could do without evidence. Detective Burton was looking into this but no results were coming. Then Rex and friends broke into his home and attacked Bo’s wife which was really the last straw.

By this point Rex and friends were just going to keep on causing more damage so Bo had to add a personal touch. Now even then the first time it wasn’t anything premeditated. One of Rex’s buddies was messing with him but then later on drives too quickly and nearly falls off the mountain. So the villain is hanging on for dear life and Bo goes over to help him out. Just as Bo is about to push him back up to safety, the guy explains that he’s really going to start going after Bo even more intensely now and will sue him/wreck his life. So…Bo decides not to help him out and the guy falls. This villain was really not smart. Why would you antagonize the only guy who can possibly save you at this point? At least start messing with him afterwards instead.

Regardless this was where Bo really stepped into vigilante mode as he took the guy out. The villains are so comically evil though that you really don’t feel bad for them. Put it this way, Bo tried every possible method of de-escalation first and only when that didn’t work did he take the next steps. Being a vigilante always needs to be the last straw only to be used in a situation where there are no legal means left available to help you. Bo was completely out of those and since these guys were not about to stop, it was time to put them in their place.

So the whole climax ends up being very satisfying here and Bo is a fun character to root for. He is the definition of a nice guy who can only be pushed so far before he ends up having to react. The film also manages a bit of a Death Note kind of vibe here with him and Burton having a lot of veiled conversations. Burton seems to suspect a lot about Bo’s involvement here but has no proof while Bo is new to the game and plays dumb, but sometimes a little too dumb. They both basically end up at an impasse for a while there but it was very engaging to watch.

Burton isn’t a great detective though. Near the end of the film he finally realizes that he should check the security cameras around the crash to find evidence. Shouldn’t that have been the very first thing that he tried? Yeah this guy wasn’t very helpful and without Bo doing his thing I feel like Rex and the gang would have outsmarted him easily. Maybe they would have just dug up some blackmail or something. Meanwhile Rex is barely a character as he’s just a super antagonist here to make Bo’s life miserable. He takes the whole situation extremely personal so he just won’t back off. His crew is also thrilled to be doing this so there wasn’t any sympathetic moments to be had here.

What makes this film succeed is that it feels like a Batman movie but if an ordinary joe had to try and solve the case. Bo has no fancy gadgets or anything like that and he doesn’t have any connections. He has to pull this off on his own while not letting anyone get suspicious. It’s not easy in any setting but he pulls this off anyway and it makes for a fun ride. The first half can drag a bit as you wait for him to start making his move but once he does then everything really turns up.

Additionally I really liked the ending of the film. It’s one of those endings that you can take in a very light hearted way or a threatening way. It’s clear that nobody will be messing with Bo anymore if they know what is good for them but was he actively making a threat at the end or was he just having a little fun? It’s likely a mix but I would say the implied threat is absolutely there. He’ll take everything in stride as he always does but if anyone makes a wrong move then that is curtains.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. You could easily figure this to be a comic book origin movie with how it plays out. The movie has a lot of tense scenes, light hearted moments, and most importantly a good script. The verbal battles between the characters are solid and the final plan is executed very well. There are a lot of clues to pick up on and nothing feels like it was thrown in at the last moment. I’d definitely be up for a sequel to this movie someday and in the meantime I’d recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10