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JT (287 KP) rated The Losers (2010) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
If you want an action film that does precisely what it says on the tin, then this is clearly going to be the film of choice for you.
It’s thoroughly enjoyable without taking itself too seriously as other films of this genre do, and includes one of the funniest scenes I have seen for sometime. Hats off to the talented Chris Evans for that one.
The story is as straight forward as it could be, a group of CIA black ops narrowly miss being assassinated after a smash and grab rescue mission in the Bolivian jungle. So of course they want pay back, who wouldn’t, and they link up with the beautiful Aisha (Saldana) who has motives of her own.
The group are a somewhat mismatched bunch, but then any good special ops team is a mixed bag of personalities, just look at the A-Team.
It’s thoroughly enjoyable without taking itself too seriously as other films of this genre do
Jeffrey Dean Morgan leads the way as Clay a straight talking no nonsense commander, Jensen (Evans) a wise cracking tech, Idris Elba as the not to be believed Roque, Pooch (Columbus Short) whose handy at the wheel of anything with a motor and Cougar (Óscar Jaenada) who is deadly at long range with the sniper rifle.
The villain of the piece is Max (Jason Patric) a billionaire with plans for world domination, he dresses smartly and even has a villains affliction in the form of a damaged hand which he covers up with a variety of classy gloves. There are times though in a plot that is loosely built around a sonic bomb, that they better developed an ending worthy of a film that had everything in it.
Still, you won’t be overly bothered too much and when the adrenalin levels increase and the sharp shooting beings you’ll be keeping your fingers crossed for any signs of a possible sequel.
It’s thoroughly enjoyable without taking itself too seriously as other films of this genre do, and includes one of the funniest scenes I have seen for sometime. Hats off to the talented Chris Evans for that one.
The story is as straight forward as it could be, a group of CIA black ops narrowly miss being assassinated after a smash and grab rescue mission in the Bolivian jungle. So of course they want pay back, who wouldn’t, and they link up with the beautiful Aisha (Saldana) who has motives of her own.
The group are a somewhat mismatched bunch, but then any good special ops team is a mixed bag of personalities, just look at the A-Team.
It’s thoroughly enjoyable without taking itself too seriously as other films of this genre do
Jeffrey Dean Morgan leads the way as Clay a straight talking no nonsense commander, Jensen (Evans) a wise cracking tech, Idris Elba as the not to be believed Roque, Pooch (Columbus Short) whose handy at the wheel of anything with a motor and Cougar (Óscar Jaenada) who is deadly at long range with the sniper rifle.
The villain of the piece is Max (Jason Patric) a billionaire with plans for world domination, he dresses smartly and even has a villains affliction in the form of a damaged hand which he covers up with a variety of classy gloves. There are times though in a plot that is loosely built around a sonic bomb, that they better developed an ending worthy of a film that had everything in it.
Still, you won’t be overly bothered too much and when the adrenalin levels increase and the sharp shooting beings you’ll be keeping your fingers crossed for any signs of a possible sequel.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Sicario (2015) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Those expecting Sicario to be a high action film will be disappointed. Instead what they will find is a slow burn suspenseful drama with fantastic acting and a more realistic take on the drug war than Hollywood traditionally likes to show us.
Emily Blunt delivers another strong acting performance as a “girl scout” FBI agent who raids drug houses in Arizona. She is somewhat of a “Bad Ass” among her crew, as her life has become dedicated to the job and she believes in the cause. So when Josh Brolin comes in as the head of a “spook” CIA taskforce and recruits blunt to make some “noise” and go after the head of Mexican drug cartel, she jumps at the chance to stop the men responsible for the drug houses and make a real difference. The only problem is that as the low man on the taskforce, she is not told much which frustrates her when things start to not appear by the book.
To make things worse, Benicio Del Toro is a suspicious part of Brolin’s taskforce who doesn’t seem to fit into the puzzle. It is through Del Toro that we learn the truth about the operation and the real meaning of the word Sicario. Del Toro’s performance burns with silent chaos as you just know he is the “coolest guy” in the room, both in style and nerves. He is someone who is not to be trifled with as an ally or an enemy but still maintains a sincerity towards Blunt and her idealism. This is one of his best performances in years.
Ultimately Sicario is a slow paced suspenseful action film that feels real. Even though the pacing is slow, at no point did the film drag as you are constantly wondering what is really going on just like the strong and refreshing female lead in an action film like this.
Emily Blunt delivers another strong acting performance as a “girl scout” FBI agent who raids drug houses in Arizona. She is somewhat of a “Bad Ass” among her crew, as her life has become dedicated to the job and she believes in the cause. So when Josh Brolin comes in as the head of a “spook” CIA taskforce and recruits blunt to make some “noise” and go after the head of Mexican drug cartel, she jumps at the chance to stop the men responsible for the drug houses and make a real difference. The only problem is that as the low man on the taskforce, she is not told much which frustrates her when things start to not appear by the book.
To make things worse, Benicio Del Toro is a suspicious part of Brolin’s taskforce who doesn’t seem to fit into the puzzle. It is through Del Toro that we learn the truth about the operation and the real meaning of the word Sicario. Del Toro’s performance burns with silent chaos as you just know he is the “coolest guy” in the room, both in style and nerves. He is someone who is not to be trifled with as an ally or an enemy but still maintains a sincerity towards Blunt and her idealism. This is one of his best performances in years.
Ultimately Sicario is a slow paced suspenseful action film that feels real. Even though the pacing is slow, at no point did the film drag as you are constantly wondering what is really going on just like the strong and refreshing female lead in an action film like this.
The Long Shadow of Chernobyl
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Red Team: How to Succeed by Thinking Like the Enemy
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Red teaming. It is a practice as old as the Devil's Advocate, the eleventh-century Vatican official...
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated JFK (1991) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020 (Updated Nov 26, 2020)
"𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶."
Jesus Christ. Back when conspiracy theories were good, now all it takes is a shitty, debunked, and obviously phony Facebook meme to get people to believe 5G causes coronavirus or whatever stupid shit Trump retweets from hate groups this week. On the other hand you have this seemingly never-ending and soul-stirring barrage of lies, cover-ups, threats, deaths/suicides/murders, extensively planned attacks, and general anguish which still plays more truthful and earnest than most things that come out of the CIA, White House, and/or FBI. Not a single word wasted, crams more exhilaration into a group of people talking at a dinner table than the vast majority of MCU 'action' scenes - and the meticulous, airtight extent of the writing is nothing less than utterly flooring. As a result of the beyond exceptional jam-packed conspiracy narrative I can't say any of these characters are that compelling in their own regard (even though the cast is an unforgettable all-timer of screen legends), but given the end result it's a fair tradeoff for the type of movie that bangs around in your head like a rubber bullet after watching it. Feverish, hot-blooded, commanding provocation - even made *my* ass paranoid. The final thirty minutes of - essentially - one long courtroom speech shouldn't work in theory; but not only is it thrilling as can be (and *that* moment just pierces your mortal soul), but it offers some of Costner's finest work throughout his entire career as an actor. Imagine this coming out and still getting shit like 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘉𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺, and 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘺 - would have loved to have been there for the ensuing shitstorm this caused back in its day, must have been legendary. So great that it *actually* caused a big deal change in government legislation immediately upon release.
Jesus Christ. Back when conspiracy theories were good, now all it takes is a shitty, debunked, and obviously phony Facebook meme to get people to believe 5G causes coronavirus or whatever stupid shit Trump retweets from hate groups this week. On the other hand you have this seemingly never-ending and soul-stirring barrage of lies, cover-ups, threats, deaths/suicides/murders, extensively planned attacks, and general anguish which still plays more truthful and earnest than most things that come out of the CIA, White House, and/or FBI. Not a single word wasted, crams more exhilaration into a group of people talking at a dinner table than the vast majority of MCU 'action' scenes - and the meticulous, airtight extent of the writing is nothing less than utterly flooring. As a result of the beyond exceptional jam-packed conspiracy narrative I can't say any of these characters are that compelling in their own regard (even though the cast is an unforgettable all-timer of screen legends), but given the end result it's a fair tradeoff for the type of movie that bangs around in your head like a rubber bullet after watching it. Feverish, hot-blooded, commanding provocation - even made *my* ass paranoid. The final thirty minutes of - essentially - one long courtroom speech shouldn't work in theory; but not only is it thrilling as can be (and *that* moment just pierces your mortal soul), but it offers some of Costner's finest work throughout his entire career as an actor. Imagine this coming out and still getting shit like 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥, 𝘉𝘰𝘣𝘣𝘺, and 𝘒𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘥𝘺 - would have loved to have been there for the ensuing shitstorm this caused back in its day, must have been legendary. So great that it *actually* caused a big deal change in government legislation immediately upon release.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2293 KP) rated Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation in Books
Oct 9, 2019
Can Charlie Be as Smart as Einstein?
Meet Charlie Thorne. She is highly intelligent, a great athlete – and twelve-years-old. She is attending college, if you can call only showing up on test days to be attending college, just biding her time until she is legally an adult. Until the day the CIA shows up and strong arms her into helping them on a mission of critical importance. It is believed that Albert Einstein developed an equation in the 1930’s that rivals his theory of relativity in importance, but he hid it to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. While people all over the world have been looking for it for decades, the race to find it has heated up, with the fate of the world potentially in the balance. Because Charlie is so smart, they think she can more easily decode the clues that Einstein left behind. Will Charlie be able to follow the clues to find it?
I was excited to dive into a new series from middle grade author Stuart Gibbs. It takes a little time to set up the characters and the story in the first half, but the second half is packed with action. When I got here, it was nearly impossible to put down. The main characters got some nice character growth over the course of the book. The rest of the characters aren’t quite as sharp, but they are developed enough to keep us engaged in the book. This doesn’t have quite as much humor as some of Stuart Gibbs’s other books, although I did laugh some. The more serious tone is reflected in the more serious nature of the story. There isn’t anything that isn’t appropriate for the intended audience, but there is more violence off the page than in his previous books. Only the most sensitive kids will be bothered by what happens here, however. The ending of this book will leave you ready for Charlie’s next adventure. I know I’m anxious for it.
I was excited to dive into a new series from middle grade author Stuart Gibbs. It takes a little time to set up the characters and the story in the first half, but the second half is packed with action. When I got here, it was nearly impossible to put down. The main characters got some nice character growth over the course of the book. The rest of the characters aren’t quite as sharp, but they are developed enough to keep us engaged in the book. This doesn’t have quite as much humor as some of Stuart Gibbs’s other books, although I did laugh some. The more serious tone is reflected in the more serious nature of the story. There isn’t anything that isn’t appropriate for the intended audience, but there is more violence off the page than in his previous books. Only the most sensitive kids will be bothered by what happens here, however. The ending of this book will leave you ready for Charlie’s next adventure. I know I’m anxious for it.
Gestograma de Embarazo
Health & Fitness and Medical
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Monopoly Deal Card Game
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(from the box): The fast-paced, addictive card game where your luck can change in the play of a...