I liked the first half. The story disappears in the 2nd half. It’s just one fight scene after another.
For example. She enters the town that headquarters the assassins cult. There was an opportunity for her to do surveillance or maybe question some people. Develop the plot. Nope, soon as she enters the town there’s several extended fight scenes. I consider them as nothing more than choreographed dances with loud foley effects.
I got bored and started clicking on my phone and reading the news. I could hear the tv and there was very little dialog. It was only exaggerated fight sounds.
The John Wick films also have too many fight scenes. Imho But, there are scenes where they develop the plot. It think it makes the films more interesting and I’ve seen all of them.
I prefer seeing movies where dramatic tension is steadily developed as the plot progresses. The climax with the characters epic fight is more satisfying.
Its kind of recent movie but i really enjoyed “The Menu” honestly its what brought me back into watching movies and Tv shows, thought they all kind of went downhill, but after watching it i had to watch it two or three more times. Actors were really enjoyable and as a food worker i thought it was pretty funny. And WAY too true about certain “fine” dining establishments.
I had ZERO knowledge or expectations for this film and it blew me away. It was fun, had great action, was hilarious at times, and was thrilling all the way through. Great performances.
I won’t even tell you anything about it other than “a girl goes to rescue her sister”.
That was my reaction at the end in the cinema. I think the whole screen felt the same because no one, and I mean no one, moved when the credits started rolling. I think everyone was just sitting there in stunned silence at how good it had been. Later, I did read a comment about how silly it was because ‘they could have just sent a pigeon’, which made me wonder, but hey who cares when they did such an amazing job?
Maybe they should have addressed this. A well trained homing pigeon is probably far more valuable than a person, and quite likely to be shot down. Ok, so maybe not, but it does suit the first world war. Also really valuable information would probably need a few to guarantee they got through.
And it’s easier to ignore a pigeon than it is a runner. Remember that in the movie, the colonel receiving the message really wanted to launch the attack, and the protagonist had to get in his face, in front of witnesses, to get him to read the general’s letter ordering him to stop - and even then it was a close thing.
The Painter 2024 Charlie Weber, Jon Voight, Marie Avgeropoulos
Paramount+
Retired CIA operative receives a package from his ex. A CIA wet team arrives to kill him. The operative is forced to defend himself and discover why the CIA has marked him for elimination.
There are some good moments in the movie. There are also a lot of clichés and ridiculous scenes. The psycho killer with headphones, bopping and dancing needed to dial back that bad performance.
Marginally recommend as a way to relax and watch a lot of gunfire.
At this point, between films like Red Sparrow, Black Widow, and of course Ballerina, I’ve more or less expected that any Eastern European ballerina is “also” a ballerina in addition to her normal day job as an assassin / spy.
I watched Bugonia last night. That’s a weird-ass movie. In fact it was so weird that the twist wasn’t much of a twist because I was already thinking “what’s the most weirdest fucked way this could end”…and it did!
I re-watched most of it last night for at least the second time. It reinforced my opinion that it’s a damn good movie, and that Yorgos Lanthimos is a really talented director. I peg him right up there with the Coen brothers.
I watched Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, starring Vince Vaughn, James Marsden and Eiza González on Netflix yesterday. It’s a crime action-comedy with a time travel twist. The action is decent, but the comedy is mostly unfunny, the science-fiction elements are rudimentary yet nonsensical, and Vince Vaughn is so stiff he’s practically embalmed. Despite some potential, it’s basically another half-assed streaming “product”. Not recommended.
I re-watched Hacksaw Ridge the other day. It’s a strange movie. It’s an interesting story that is totally Mel Gibsonized with over the top gore and some awful over-acting, but Vaughn is the worst part of that movie. His drill-sergeant character comes off like a complete weirdo. Wooden, stiff, awkward, not really intimidating at all. And by the time they got to battle he seemed totally misplaced, like what is that mannequin doing with a grease-gun?
On the other hand, his dead-eye delivery worked pretty well in Brawl in Cell Block 99.
How could you miss them? It was a HUGE plot point
