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David McK (3369 KP) rated Hawkeye in TV

Dec 27, 2021  
Hawkeye
Hawkeye
2021 | Action, Drama
8
7.6 (9 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
The latest 9at the time of writing) of Marvel's post-blip TV shows, and the last to be aired in 2021, finally giving one of the OG Avengers who was oft-overlooked in the mainline movies a bit of his own agency and character development.

Released in late November and running through to December, there is a definite Christmassy feel to this one, which the series leans heavily into: indeed, getting home in time to spend Christmas with his family is one of the drivers of the plot.

This also sees the return of certain characters from the mainline movies tied to the former Black Widow, as well as - finally! - introducing character who made their live-action debut in the Netflix Marvel TV show of Daredevil (shows whose canonicity is now dubious).

Oh, and there's no end or mid credits scenes in this at all until the very last episode.

Which has, perhaps, the best such scene Marvel has ever produced.
  
Metal lords (2022)
Metal lords (2022)
2022 | Comedy, Drama, Music, Musical
6
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
If you're into heavy metal then you will find something to enjoy with Metal Lords, a teen comedy/metal love letter from Peter Sollett.
It drags in a few places, and some of the humour doesn't quite land, but it did get a few genuine laughs out of me, and is pretty damn wholesome - there's surprisingly very little musical gate-keeping from any of the characters. The students who are into Ed Sheeran are mostly respectful towards the main characters metal leanings ("Post death metal") and even he appreciates the rival pop band by the time the credits roll. It's a refreshing take on a genre that is rife with elitism.
Other than that, Metal Lords has a banging soundtrack, and some great original music courtesy of the incredibly talented Ramin Djawadi (who is just everywhere these days, and deservedly so).
Metal Lords won't change your life, but it's a fun time. It's pretty much Deathgasm without the gore and demons.
  
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
Angel Has Fallen (2019)
2019 | Action, Drama, Thriller
Nolte steals the movie
It's always interesting to me that when I leave a film and realize that the best part of the movie I just saw was the extra scene during the credits. What were the folks that made this movie thinking? Did they save the best for last? Most of the time it is - unfortunately - that this scene shines BECAUSE it really has nothing to do with the rest of the film, in both style and substance.

Such is the case with ANGEL HAS FALLEN the 3rd film in the "Fallen" series (following OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN and LONDON HAS FALLEN) that follows the trials and tribulations of White House Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) as he tries, once again, to save the President (a game, stern - yet sincere - Morgan Freeman) from an assassination attempt. But this time...the twist is...that Mike is framed for the attempt, so he has to go on the lamb "The Fugitive" style to clear his name and to find out who really dunnit.

I figured out who dunnit - and who was behind it - in about the first 3 minutes those characters/performers were on the screen - but it's the destination, not the journey, that counts in these types of films and this journey is..."so-so".

The plot contrivances, action sequences and chase scenes are all pretty middle-of-the-road with Director Ric Roman Waugh (SNITCH, FELON) resorting to the quick-cut, jittery camera "cinema verite" style of action shooting that, to me, shows laziness in choreography and originality and ends up giving me a bit of a headache.

So...failing a good plot and good action sequences, a film like this must have good, interesting characters and good, interesting actors inhabiting them. And...for the most part...that part of this film generates some interest as the previously mentioned Morgan Freeman, the always dependable Lance Reddick, the oily Danny Huston and the quirky Tim Blake Nelson all share the screen to good effect. Piper Perabo also joins the fray as Mike's wife and she elevates that side of the proceedings.

In the end, it comes down to the screen presence and charisma of star Gerard Butler as Mike and - unfortunately - he just doesn't have enough of that to keep things interesting. Especially when he spends a large part of the film playing against an actor who plays Butler's father - the one and only Nick Nolte.

And he...just about...steals the movie. Here is an actor that has screen presence and charisma to spare, even under long hair, a beard and a voice that has seen many, many cigarettes and booze.

And this takes us back to the beginning (or should I say, the end) of the film...Nolte and Butler share the end credits scene and it's, by far, the best darn thing in this mediocre film.

If you're going to sit through this, make sure you stay for the end credits scene.

Letter Grade B-

6 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Among the Stars
Among the Stars
2012 | Card Game, City Building, Science Fiction
If there is a mechanic that we at Purple Phoenix Games seem to really love, it is card drafting. One such game that has been a big hit for us (well, at least for 3 of us….) is 7 Wonders. Draft a card, pass the rest to your neighbor, draft another card from those received from your other neighbor, and repeat. Set in the Ancient World, you are working to build the most wondrous city. But Laura, why all the 7 Wonders talk in this review? Well, because Among the Stars gives me major 7 Wonders vibes, but IN SPACE. Keep reading to see what I mean.

Disclaimer: Among the Stars can be played in two different modes – Aggressive and Non-Aggressive. This review covers the core game Non-Aggressive mode of play. -L

Among the Stars is a game of card drafting and tile placement in which players take on the roles of different alien races attempting to build the most efficient space station over the span of 4 years (rounds). After the 4th and final round, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score is the winner! To setup for a game, assemble the Location deck as described in the rules. Each player takes a Main Reactor card and score marker in their chosen color. Score markers are placed at zero on the score board, and players put their Main Reactor card face-up in front of them, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Players choose, or are randomly given, a Race Tile with a special Racial Ability to be used throughout the game. Randomly draw the requisite number of Objective cards and put them face-up near the score board. The game is now ready to begin!

Over the course of 4 rounds, players will be drafting cards and playing them into their Space Station. At the start of each round, every player collects 10 Credits (game currency), and draws a hand of 6 Location cards. Every turn, players will select one card from their hand, place it face-down in front of them, and will pass the remaining cards in their hand to the next player (in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the round). Players will then simultaneously reveal their chosen card and perform one of three actions: Build a Location, Build Power Reactor, or Discard and gain 3 Credits. To Build a Location, you pay its listed cost in Credits and/or Energy and add it to your Space Station. Locations must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Location. When you build a Location, you immediately gain the listed number of VP (tracked on the score board), and may use its ability. Some abilities are immediate and earn you extra VP now, while some are delayed and will be counted at the end of the game. To Build a Power Reactor, you will first discard your selected card for the turn. Pay the 1 Credit cost of a Power Reactor and place it into your Space Station, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Every round, you get 10 Credits, but Energy Cubes do not replenish unless you build more Power Reactors, so keep an eye on your resources! The last possible action is to Discard and gain 3 Credits, and is pretty self-explanatory.


Players continue taking turns (drafting cards, passing cards, and playing cards) until they are left with no cards in hand. The round is now over. Move the round marker to the next space, and begin a new round by drawing another hand of 6 cards. After the 4th round of play, the game ends and final VP are scored. Victory Points have been earned throughout the game, but now any delayed abilities are triggered and scored, Objective points are added, and players gain points for Power Reactors and remaining Credits. The player with the highest score is the winner!
See what I mean about being 7 Wonders in space? The overall gameplay is pretty much the same thing – draft a card, pass cards, play the card – even though thematically they’re on opposite ends of time. That familiarity and simplicity of the gameplay definitely added to my enjoyment of the game. And when I say ‘simplicity’ of gameplay, I do not mean that it is an easy game necessarily. It still requires a decent amount of strategy! Not only do you have to decide what card to draft for maximum benefit, but you also need to figure out exactly where to put it in your Space Station too. Some Locations may give you extra VP for being adjacent to certain other Locations, or they may even earn more VP for distance between two Locations. You’ve got to be thinking in advance, but also able to adapt on the fly. Do you draft a card that you don’t necessarily want because you can see your opponent needs it? Or do you keep your head down and try to fly under the radar? The strategy and mechanics work very well together in creating an engaging and entertaining game.


Components. This game basically just consists of cards, a score board, and some tokens. So even though it’s nothing too fancy or anything, they’re still pretty decent quality! The artwork is thematic and fun to look at, and the layout of the cards is easy to understand. The cards are square, so that makes for some interesting shuffling, but the square shape really lends itself well to the tile-laying aspect of the gameplay. So all in all, good production quality. Just be warned – as the game progresses, it turns into quite a table hog, since you are constantly adding cards to your Space Station. Not a knock on the game, just a heads up so you give yourself plenty of room!
Will Among the Stars replace 7 Wonders for me? Ultimately, no. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but 7 Wonders just offers a little more strategy that bumps it to a higher level than Among the Stars. To introduce players to these mechanics and gameplay style, I would use Among the Stars because it is a little ‘lighter’ than 7 Wonders, if you ask me. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders and are interested in a more futuristic theme, I would definitely recommend checking out Among the Stars. It’s a neat game that has been hiding on my game shelf without the playtime it deserves. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stellar 15 / 18.
  
Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)
Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf (1985)
1985 | Horror
5
6.5 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
One of my favourite parts is the bit where the creepy dude looks straight into the camera and say "Schnitzeeeel".
Honestly not sure if Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (Stirba, Werewolf Bitch in some corners of the world) is a 5 star film, or a 1 star film.

I always have time for Christopher Lee, and here is no different, and Sybil Danning is a bonafide B-Movie icon, but everyone else is hamming it up to the max (not necessarily in a good way), spouting the terrible screenplay and making silly growling noises constantly.
The werewolf costumes look terrible (a bit of googling told me that the production was sent monkey suits by mistake, and they just had to roll with it) and the movie constantly attempts to force it's theme tune down your throat - I lost count of how many times it plays throughout the runtime, but it starts off well enough, but by the end of the film it's grating as fuck.

It's certainly a far cry from the genuinely good first movie but for all it's faults, I actually really enjoyed it.
The last review I wrote on here was for Species IV, where I commented on how it was so awful, and had no charm to it at all, which was in stark contrast to a lot of bad horror movies, especially a bunch from the 80s. Howling II is one of those movies.
It rarely gets boring, it's has some decent practical gore effects, and the terrible script is often so ludicrous, it ends up being unintentional comedy gold.
Not to mention that it's has the most unnecessarily gratuitous end credits roll I've ever seen - in fact, if you can't be bothered to watch the whole thing, just find the end credits and you'll get the vibe of this whole glorious mess of a film.

So yeah, is it a 1 star movie or 5 star movie? I still don't know but I know I low key love it, so 2 and a half stars with a love heart seems fair. I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch though, just to experience the sheer cheesy absurdity.
  
Deerskin (Le Daim) (2019)
Deerskin (Le Daim) (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Anarchic concept and lots of surprises (1 more)
Dujardin and Haenel act well
The violence won't be for everyone (0 more)
Killer style… but bloody bonkers.
This French movie (with subtitles) by Quentin Dupieux is a black comedy that veers towards the violently absurd. So it certainly won't be for everyone.

Positives:
- There's an anarchy to the black comedy on show in Deerskin that's mildly exhilarating. It really IS bloody bonkers. But the absurd story, of a man spiralling into a deerskin-lined black hole, is delivered in an extremely entertaining way.
- It's all delivered with a straight face by Dujardin (famous of course as the Oscar-winner from "The Artist"). And very good he is at it too.
- Adèle Haenel was one of the two lovers in "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" (actually completed after this movie, which has been on the Covid-shelf since 2019). Here she again shows star-power as the barmaid with dreams of hitting the movie-making big-time. Every absurd twist and turn seems to be believable in her hands, once you understand that she is "into it".

Negatives:
- The anarchic story and the extreme violence will not be for everyone. There were 2 walk-outs in my cinema (about 10% of the Cineworld Unlimited audience).
- A few of the lines irritate: Georges mistakenly saying "creditor" instead of "editor" was an example.

Summary Thoughts on "Deerskin": Based on the trailer, I really wasn't sure I was going to enjoy this one. But it has a style about it that is unmistakable. I had no idea where it was going, and the denouement was surprising and satisfying.

It'll be a "marmite" film for sure - some will love it; many will hate it. I doubt there will be much middle ground for this one.

BTW, there is a mid-credits scene, a few seconds into the end credits. Doesn't add much, to be honest.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on t'interweb here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2021/07/15/deerskin-killer-style-but-bloody-bonkers/ . There's also a new Tiktok channel at @onemannsmovies. Thanks).
  
When a pirate radio station goes off the air suddenly, a Navy sub disappears, and a small island is overrun with killer plants, Lethbridge-Stewart and the 5th spring into action.

A breathless, well-paced action yarn that's also a hard hitting sci-fi. Great characters, great characterizations of existing friends and enemies, much military co-operation and maneuvering, it felt like a 70s era Bond flick. And like all good Bond flicks, everything blows up at the end.

If I have a complaint, it's the end. We rush headlong toward that climax and once it arrives, it feels like we barely have time to register what has happened before plummeting down the other side and the story is over. But perhaps that's the greatest compliment. The fact that the book felt and read so much like a movie, that my brain was filling the cinematic strokes for me, and I was brought back to earth by no credits at the end, well, that's an adventure tale done right!

For a full spoiler filled review, visit www.travelingthevortex.com
  
Instant Family (2019)
Instant Family (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Drama
Great casting (2 more)
Great script
Great message
Made me cry! (0 more)
This film was amazing!
Totally heartwarming to the point where I cried several times, however there were brilliantly timed comedic lines, that you could have tears streaming down your face but still be laughing.
Although crammed in to a 2 hour film I think they really accentuated the parts that needed to be. That fostering children is going to be hard especially if that childs parents are in the picture and wanting contact, that these children have sometimes been through more in their short lives than most people do in an entire lifetime but really all they want, even if they won't admit it and push against it, is a family, hugs, attention, to feel wanted, be safe and feel loved.
The message behind the film was beautiful and for me the cherry on top was during the credits where they had pictures of real families with their foster or adopted children, beautiful way to honour them.
Please go and see this film if you are on the fence because it was beautiful.
  
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
2018 | Action, Sci-Fi
The start and the ending (0 more)
The middle (0 more)
Almost the perfect film
Contains spoilers, click to show
So having just watched captain marvel and the final 'End Game' trailer I felt a need to rewatch this film, and to change my underwear - my god that trailer!!!....So this is probably my 5th or 6th watch of 'war' and it keeps getting better. It starts at a pace that barely let's up all the way through. There's a slight pacing issue in the middle but that's just because the action let's up in lieu of story - I'm nitpicking really. Then we get duelling battles on titan and wakanda which was really great. When Thor, rocket and groot turn up I lost my shit!!! Then the ending! My god the ending. I mean I knew their would be 'casualties' but bloody hell. I expected capt or iron man to die but half the avengers and pretty all the guardian's was unexpected!!! And then the credits scene with captain marvels signal! Unbelievable...such a dark ending but perfect cliffhanger...I really cannot wait until 26th April.
  
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery
Tough watch...
Let me preface by saying I'm a fan and thoroughly enjoyed the Harry Potter franchise. The first of the Fantastic Beast series was passable at best so my expectations were low, to say the least heading into the sequel. And this film hit that low spot like a dart to a bullseye. I enjoy many of the actors and actresses in the movie, too. Redmayne does a great job and I really don't mind Johnny Depp as Grindelwald. But this movie is just a dark and confusing slog from start to finish. Every time you get to the point where you think you're about to give up on caring, they are like "Look, we have a cute creature." These little cute distractions are the highlight and lone fun part of the film. My ending thought with the closing credits was the same as it was for its predecessor: I wish Deathly Hallows would have been the end of this franchise. This is just blasphemy to Potterheads everywhere.