The Equalizer 2014 Denzel Washington
On Peacock
What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting much because I’d seen both tv shows.
I liked the blue collar approach. Robert McCall works at Home Depot and lives quietly for the first half of the movie.
His initial burst of violence against the pimps only makes the situation worse for the hookers. McCall soon finds himself fighting the Russian mob.
Excellent movie and very entertaining. Peacock has the first sequel and I plan to watch it.
The sequels are awful. Big payday for Denzel I suppose.
I’ve seen that once back around 90 and I’ve been looking for it for the past couple years to watch again. I think it’s on Apple but otherwise I haven’t found it.
Watched Kraven the Hunter on Max. They might as well have called it a A Circle Jerk of Elmer’s Five Least Favorite Spider-Man Villains. With the faintest exception of Venom, Sony is milking a dead cow with their “Spider-Man movies without Spider-Man” franchise.
As mentioned above, it’s one of those “good actors, terrible writing” films.
Thanks for the warning. The first movie was good because McCall was a normal guy at the beginning. The sequels are like the tv shows with him seeking out people to help.
I tried to watch, but it was so ludicrously terrible that I had to bail after about 25 minutes. Just absolutely dreck in all areas, but particularly the writing. SO BAD.
You’re welcome. Basically they’re a sequel nightmare–same shit, different setting. Highly unmotivated character–in the first one, they set up Denzel to strike up an acquaintance for whom he was willing to risk life and limb, and then they do that over and over. I hope he got a lot of cash.
I guess I would say that YMMV. Personally, I enjoyed the sequels, but like John Wick it really depends on how much you like the character. Interestingly enough both the Equalizer and John Wick came out the same year (the Equalizer in September and John Wick in October) the parallels are of course there but really they are rather different.
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The Electric State (2025). As others mentioned before, it is an OK movie. The premise is interesting and executed fairly well. I did get a kick out of a blink and you miss it display of the original flying windows screen saver at one point in the movie. Overall, a fine enjoyable movie without too much depth.
Captain America: Brave New World (2025). A middle tier Marvel Movie. It is a bit of a continuation of The Falcon and the Winter Solider, though that is not strictly necessary to understand the plot. On the whole it was an enjoyable movie though there were some sequences of the film that left you scratching your head as to how they fit in and some CGI that was a little too obvious. I really liked the performance of Harrison Ford because he showed a lot of range in how he portrayed Thaddeus Ross. Watching it so soon after the election was a bit troubling to me because it does start at the end of a campaign with an acceptance speech and all that.
I was surprised to see two of the main actors in this film also appear in The Electric State. Anthony Mackie (or rather his voice) and Giancarlo Esposito.
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Armour of God
Recommended.
A really fun Jackie Chan movie with all the stunts you might expect to see. Also just a really fun adventure.
Armour of God 3: Chinese Zodiac
Mildly recommended.
A couple of fun sequences, but honestly a disappointing third movie in the series from Jackie Chan. Just kind of silly. It’s a family film for sure, but not a great one. Some fun action, but not as much as you’d expect.
I went through a Jackie Chan phase in the late 80s and watched all I could find. I didn’t realise they did a AOG 3 eventually, Seems that the billing of it as an AOG is merely a footnote in the imdb entry. A couple of new Police Stories in there too.
But I got the sense he’d lost a lot of his skills by Shanghai Noon, more from huge injuries than old age.
I assume you’ve seen what I regard as THE classic JC movie, Drunken Master? There’s a DM2 but it’s 20 years later, and I can’t remember anything about that, but the original, I remember as being a damn fine ride though very dated in the “films around Enter the Dragon which look much worse than it” genre. That is recommended.
DM2 is a masterpiece. It’s one of Chan’s best movies.
Concur. I’d probably call it his best, if forced to choose. But you need to get the original Chinese version, not the one edited for North American audiences.
The other day, my teen and I watched UHF. I could have sworn that I showed this to the teen before but he actually hasn’t seen it.
IMO, the jokes and the weirdo stuff holds up. It is a bit dated with the 80s references but it the movie is still funny. Really the only thing that is subpar is when they actually have to drive the plot forward.
On October 30, 2016, I went to a showing of UHF that was done in a strange way. This was at the Lincoln Theater in Washington, D.C. as one event in a comedy festival. They had Tig Notaro, Weird Al Yankovic, Emo Philips, Dave Hill, and Seton Smith as a panel talking about the film while behind them it was showing with the sound turned off most of the time. Every once in a while they would turn the sound back on for a few minutes.
See my take on the uneven, but mostly disappointing, 2025 Snow White remake with Rachel Zegler here.
The Monkey
Recommended…with reservations.
Oz Perkins is in my group of directors I anticipate. Longlegs was a top movie from last year and it took so long to be released, he has made and released another movie already.
Hey, so this is a comedy. Mainly. I think I figured it was a horror movie and a more bizarre/intense one like his previous movies, but no. It’s kind of like Evil Dead 2, but sadly not as funny.
Did I laugh? A few times, yes. What an odd sense of humor he has and so unexpected.
Was it scary, too? No.
Good movie? I mean, yes. It’s fine, even really good in parts. I find myself, kind of like Mickey 17, somewhat disappointed, though. I can’t put my finger on it, but it just didn’t quite meet my hopes.
I would recommend it, though. It does have the best final shot of 2025 so far. I mean…what a way to go to credits!
I may warm up upon a second viewing. I think I just went in so blind, my brain lagged at reacting, if you know what I mean.
I started watching The Misfits yesterday. And just got sucked into it. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen more that just clips. Infamous for being Gable and Monroe’s last movie, and nearly Clift’s last. Screenplay by Monroe’s husband Arthur Miller as they were splitting up.
Very small credited cast by later standards. And who gets a credit is odd. E.g., Kevin McCarthy is listed despite only being shown for a quick bit on the courthouse steps. Meanwhile the blonde Gable is dumping in his first scene is left out. John Huston is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it extra.
I think the names for Gable and Wallach wouldn’t fly today: Gay and Guido.
Lots of interesting touches, e.g., the pinup pics of Monroe shown on the inside of a closet door.
But still it is a character study of a group of very messed up people who do messed up stuff. The last hour+ is especially full of sad. It is a riveting tale nonetheless.
It’s interesting that oftentimes I saw Gable as just Gable, but then he turns it on and is Gay. Ditto with Monroe as Rosyln. Those bits show just how great of actors they could be and how hard it is to hide ones persona.
Give it 4 tires.
Saving Private Ryan Tom Hanks
I can’t watch it very often. The landing on Omaha Beach is so brutal. The horrific memories of the survivors seems too personal for film.
I remember reading the intensity of the fighting varied at the different beach landings. Omaha may be the absolute worst for casualties.
Saving Private Ryan is a movie people need to see. It lays bare the horrific conditions of war.
The entire cast is excellent.
I connect strongly with the clerk that gets pulled into the mission because he speaks French and German.
The men’s comments about risking their lives to save one guy and send him home sounds accurate. Yet they fulfill their orders while griping they are FUBAR.
Wasn’t Hank’s character supposed to command a Company? But got sent with a squad to locate and save Ryan? His rank didn’t matter because his orders came first.