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Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Criminal (2016) in Movies
Jul 21, 2017
Bad dialogue (2 more)
Rubbish Ending
Poorly written script
How To Waste A Great Cast
The trailers for this movie had me sold, as did the top class cast and the plot also sounded interesting, even if it is very similar to something that Ryan Reynolds was involved in previously. Last year he was in a film with Ben Kingsley called Selfless, in which Kingsley played an old millionaire who wanted his brain to be transferred into a young man’s body, and so he took over the body of Reynolds’ character. In this movie Reynolds plays a government agent who gets killed in action, but before he died, he had information that no one else knew and that the government needed. So the head of his team, played by Gary Oldman, recruits a scientist, played by Tommy Lee Jones, to use pioneering biology to transfer the memories of Reynolds’ character into Kevin Costner’s character, who is a psychopath with a child’s mind and has spent the majority of his life in prison. Predictably, Costner’s character starts developing symptoms of multiple personality disorder and having memories of Reynold’s character and from this point on, the film is kind of a mess. A poorly written script results in the audience struggling to find anyone to root with and this lack of a protagonist causes the movie to feel aimless from the start. The closest thing we get to a good guy is Ryan Reynolds and he dies at the very start of the movie, but then the filmmaker expects you to suddenly root for Kevin Costner’s character, even though he is a murderous psycho with absolutely no morals. Gary Oldman certainly isn’t a good guy, since he’s willing to go to whatever measures necessary to get this information that Reynolds’ character had when he died, no matter how extreme or morally ambiguous. Honestly this is one to skip, there isn’t even any payoff at the end of the movie and most of the dialogue throughout is pure cliché nonsense, go see something else instead.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in Movies
Aug 24, 2019
One of the main draws for me to see this movie was that Nolan's @Tenet (2020) teaser trailer was attached. The other was that I haven't seen any movies and wanted to recoup my $20 for my AMC A-List.
This was a standard big, dumb, fun(ish) action film. The stunts were interesting to watch, though unbelievable. In fact, most of them were very similar to M:I6 Fallout's stunts. Hell, this film also had Vanessa Kirby in it.
The story line was predictable, and only slightly amusing. Ryan Reynolds appeared like a wild unicorn and did his Ryan Reynolds thing. Kevin Hart also appeared, and again, was slightly humorous. It was overly long, they should have cut at least half an hour out. The last part was a big ol' ode to the Rock (I will NEVER cease calling him the Rock).
This was a standard big, dumb, fun(ish) action film. The stunts were interesting to watch, though unbelievable. In fact, most of them were very similar to M:I6 Fallout's stunts. Hell, this film also had Vanessa Kirby in it.
The story line was predictable, and only slightly amusing. Ryan Reynolds appeared like a wild unicorn and did his Ryan Reynolds thing. Kevin Hart also appeared, and again, was slightly humorous. It was overly long, they should have cut at least half an hour out. The last part was a big ol' ode to the Rock (I will NEVER cease calling him the Rock).
David McK (3425 KP) rated The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) in Movies
Jan 23, 2021
Kevin Reynolds - who also directed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - take on the classic Alexandre Dumas (probably more famous for The Three Musketeers) tale of love, loss and revenge, starring Jim Caviezel as Edmond Dantes, who is wrongly imprisoned for treason and who - 13 odd years or so later - finally escapes with the aid of another Prisoner, who vouch safes to Dumas the location of a vast treasure that Dumas then spends to gain his revenge on those who betrayed him (including his former best friend).
Since I've never read (or listened to) the book, I cannot speak to how accurate this is to the source.
I can say, however, that it is an enjoyable enough watch, that reminds me (somewhat) of the likes of 'The Man In The Iron Mask' as well as 'The Three Musketeers' - no surprise there!
Since I've never read (or listened to) the book, I cannot speak to how accurate this is to the source.
I can say, however, that it is an enjoyable enough watch, that reminds me (somewhat) of the likes of 'The Man In The Iron Mask' as well as 'The Three Musketeers' - no surprise there!
Sarah (7798 KP) rated R.I.P.D. (2013) in Movies
Oct 24, 2018
So bad it’s actually vaguely enjoyable
I remember watching this when it first came out at the cinema and I wasn’t particularly impressed, however on watching it again recently I can admit that this is definitely one of those films that’s so bad it’s actually quite entertaining. Mostly due to Jeff Bridges.
Let’s start with this obvious: I know this is based on a comic, but this is such a blatant rip off of Men in Black, it’s just a shame it comes off as a much poorer relation. Everything about this from the plot progression to the deados just echoes MIB, and that’s high expectations to live up to.
The main humour from this film comes from how the characters look normally versus how they appear in the real world, which admittedly is pretty hilarious but this is the only decent attempt at humour. The plot is completely dull and the Kevin Bacon as the villain is uninteresting too. The special effects are surprisingly good in parts, but then ruined by the downright terrible effects used on the deados. The true saviours of this film are Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds. The relationship and communication between their characters is the most entertaining thing about this film and Jeff Bridges is in fine form hamming it up to the max as Roy. He may be going a little over the top, but it’s damn funny to watch. Just a shame they couldn’t have put more effort into the rest of the story.
Let’s start with this obvious: I know this is based on a comic, but this is such a blatant rip off of Men in Black, it’s just a shame it comes off as a much poorer relation. Everything about this from the plot progression to the deados just echoes MIB, and that’s high expectations to live up to.
The main humour from this film comes from how the characters look normally versus how they appear in the real world, which admittedly is pretty hilarious but this is the only decent attempt at humour. The plot is completely dull and the Kevin Bacon as the villain is uninteresting too. The special effects are surprisingly good in parts, but then ruined by the downright terrible effects used on the deados. The true saviours of this film are Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds. The relationship and communication between their characters is the most entertaining thing about this film and Jeff Bridges is in fine form hamming it up to the max as Roy. He may be going a little over the top, but it’s damn funny to watch. Just a shame they couldn’t have put more effort into the rest of the story.
LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in Movies
Jun 25, 2021
We all know the drill with this series by now - it's loud and stupid and dumb, entertaining as fuck, but manages to keep a heart and sense of family, even if that motif is sometimes a little forced. Hobbs & Shaw carries over the vast majority of all of that into the franchise's first foray into spin-off territory - the action is suitably ridiculous, and it has a lot of fun with The Rock and Jason Statham, building on the humorous relationship we saw briefly in The Fate of the Furious.
However, H&S is the first time throughout all of these movies that I felt like it disappeared up its own arse a bit too much. The rest of these films know how silly they are for the most part, but the comedy always well balanced. There are some funny moments in H&S certainly, but it's a constant barrage of jokes that don't stick a lot of the time. Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart both appear in painfully unfunny supporting roles that serve no other purpose than be comic relief, in a movie that's already full of comic relief, and the insults that Hobbs and Shaw consistently hurl at eachother become tiresome after a while. The runtime is definitely over long, clocking in at just under 2 and 1/2 hours, when it could have easily been 40 minutes shorter without losing any substance, and it results in a narrative that is both bloated, and riddled with plot holes, especially in the final third. On top of all of this, despite good chemistry between the two leads, and a welcome addition in Vanessa Kirby, H&S lacks the heart and soul of the series that comes part and parcel with the main crew of characters.
There's plenty of criticism to be thrown at Hobbs & Shaw, but as expected, it's still pretty entertaining. Most of the set pieces are high octane, and it's an acceptable level of switch-your-brain-off fun, but it ultimately suffers from the knowledge of how genuinely good the Fast & Furious movies can be, and joins the huge pile of generic action comedies out there.
However, H&S is the first time throughout all of these movies that I felt like it disappeared up its own arse a bit too much. The rest of these films know how silly they are for the most part, but the comedy always well balanced. There are some funny moments in H&S certainly, but it's a constant barrage of jokes that don't stick a lot of the time. Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart both appear in painfully unfunny supporting roles that serve no other purpose than be comic relief, in a movie that's already full of comic relief, and the insults that Hobbs and Shaw consistently hurl at eachother become tiresome after a while. The runtime is definitely over long, clocking in at just under 2 and 1/2 hours, when it could have easily been 40 minutes shorter without losing any substance, and it results in a narrative that is both bloated, and riddled with plot holes, especially in the final third. On top of all of this, despite good chemistry between the two leads, and a welcome addition in Vanessa Kirby, H&S lacks the heart and soul of the series that comes part and parcel with the main crew of characters.
There's plenty of criticism to be thrown at Hobbs & Shaw, but as expected, it's still pretty entertaining. Most of the set pieces are high octane, and it's an acceptable level of switch-your-brain-off fun, but it ultimately suffers from the knowledge of how genuinely good the Fast & Furious movies can be, and joins the huge pile of generic action comedies out there.
Neon's Nerd Nexus (360 KP) rated Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in Movies
Aug 5, 2019 (Updated Aug 6, 2019)
Genocide, Shmenocide.
Hobbs and Shaw had an easy job, we have these two great characters that have already been set up for us in other movies so all they needed to do was let them loose in an over the top action spectacle that knows exactly what it is. So why does what we actually got feel like an overlong, overstuffed film with characters (the reason why we are here) that aren't likeable anymore?. Is it the banter thats either worn thin or feels like its trying to hard, the scenes full of characters constantly explaining the plot or whats going to happen, the paint by numbers villain with generic motives or the many random nods to pop culture and other popular things that people like that didnt do anything but make me feel like a carrot is being dangled in front of us the entire time or im watching a peter kay stand up. Answer is im not sure but i know one thing, for every part of this movie i found cool or fun two more things popped up and dragged my enjoyment down. Action set pieces are really cool and well very well filmed with great scale/destruction and the movie overall has a 90s/commando action movie style i really enjoyed which might of worked at an hour and a half but just when you think its over another useless 40 minutes are then tagged on the end and the film becomes basically a big Dwayne Johnson advertisement. Yes i get it he has roots and the tribe thing going on, he has big muscles, he was a wrestler and he has a big tribal tattoo but why does that have to be an integral part of every films plot that he's in nowadays?. I'm just bored of seeing it now and id rather they cut the movie shorter and had a tighter film overall or explored the villain a bit more to be honest. I really did say find some enjoyment in Hobbs and Shaw (especially the action) but it was let down to often elsewhere. Statham steals the show here and clearly tries to have fun with his character but Idris Elba feels wasted as a villain and theres no tension or threat at all when your two leads seem invincible. Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Heart were also totaly unnecessary as was that Italian Job connection. Id say see it for the action scene at about 1h 40m in but other than that is sadly very veru forgettable and a little boring.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Free Guy (2021) in Movies
Aug 13, 2021
Some comedy action feels like a no-brainer really, and I do love a bit of Ryan Reynolds.
Guy is loving life in Free City, his goldfish, the amazing view from his apartment, getting to work with his best pal at the bank, it's all great. But when he meets the girl of his dreams, he starts to realise that there might be more to his world than he ever realised.
Well... this is exactly my sort of film, and yet, I'm really not feeling the excitement for it. The audience experience had me chuckling though, to my left... yawning, to my right... squeals of glee.
I think my main issue is that it felt very much like something I'd seen before. Almost instantly my brain said LEGO Movie and Truman Show, with some Ready Player One thrown in for good measure. Looking at the writers' back catalogue left no real surprises. Zak Penn wrote the screenplay for Ready Player One (one of his first credits on IMDb is for the story of Last Action Hero, and that feels like it gave some contributions too), and I had a mild recognition of bits from Matt Lieberman's Scoob and Playing With Fire.
Guy's initial evolution in the film is quite nice to watch with his days changing slightly each time. Everything then ramps up quite quickly once he steps out of his NPC programming properly for the first time... and this is where I thought I would be on board with it.
Once the video game elements kicked in I did have a bit of Easter egg spotting euphoria. Watching the background players jumping randomly, the generic but obviously named shops and locations. Much like Ready Player One, there were lots of things to discover in scenes outside of the storyline. But the style kept jumping between this "real life" video game and the video game that didn't know it was a video game. Admittedly there's a very fine line between those two realities. I did like that it replicates the way immersive play can feel when you forget that you are just playing a game, but even this, at times, felt a little forced.
As much as I love Ryan Reynolds, this wasn't a very challenging or original role for him. And just like the film overall, this felt like a mish-mash of his role that we've already seen on the big screen.
Comer's performance was great, and her online and real life personas had the subtle differences I'd expect to see... this does however, mildly highlight a slightly wider issue, and that's the stereotyping of gamers.
Computer nerds and gamers living in their mum's basements and being a little odd. That's a staple in media. Matty Cardarople's gamer, Kevin Smith's Warlock, Chris Reed's Todd Zarnecki. We love them, or we love to hate them, but it's getting a little tired.
One thing I couldn't fault the film for was the look of everything. Vibrant colours, a bit of fun with the costumes, and the effects throughout the action. It worked as a whole package, and for the most part, it balanced out the danger of the comedy getting a little too ridiculous.
I didn't overly notice an excess of IP/brand plugs, but there was one little cluster in Free Guy. One of the few things I truly enjoyed was where the Disney property merged into a fight scene towards the end. It amused me because I was expecting something like it to happen. It may have gone a smidge over the line of enjoyable, but I'm going to give it a pass. (And I do have a point that would have made this scene better, and I'm honestly disappointed that they didn't think to do it.)
I had been hoping that Free Guy would be a 4 star film, but I don't think I could give it more than a 3. It's watchable, but I don't feel any great need to own it or hunt it down before it's streaming. That being said, I am going to see it again. In the same vein as Ready Player One and 1917, I've watched it for the story, now I'm going back for the background detail.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/08/free-guy-movie-review.html
Guy is loving life in Free City, his goldfish, the amazing view from his apartment, getting to work with his best pal at the bank, it's all great. But when he meets the girl of his dreams, he starts to realise that there might be more to his world than he ever realised.
Well... this is exactly my sort of film, and yet, I'm really not feeling the excitement for it. The audience experience had me chuckling though, to my left... yawning, to my right... squeals of glee.
I think my main issue is that it felt very much like something I'd seen before. Almost instantly my brain said LEGO Movie and Truman Show, with some Ready Player One thrown in for good measure. Looking at the writers' back catalogue left no real surprises. Zak Penn wrote the screenplay for Ready Player One (one of his first credits on IMDb is for the story of Last Action Hero, and that feels like it gave some contributions too), and I had a mild recognition of bits from Matt Lieberman's Scoob and Playing With Fire.
Guy's initial evolution in the film is quite nice to watch with his days changing slightly each time. Everything then ramps up quite quickly once he steps out of his NPC programming properly for the first time... and this is where I thought I would be on board with it.
Once the video game elements kicked in I did have a bit of Easter egg spotting euphoria. Watching the background players jumping randomly, the generic but obviously named shops and locations. Much like Ready Player One, there were lots of things to discover in scenes outside of the storyline. But the style kept jumping between this "real life" video game and the video game that didn't know it was a video game. Admittedly there's a very fine line between those two realities. I did like that it replicates the way immersive play can feel when you forget that you are just playing a game, but even this, at times, felt a little forced.
As much as I love Ryan Reynolds, this wasn't a very challenging or original role for him. And just like the film overall, this felt like a mish-mash of his role that we've already seen on the big screen.
Comer's performance was great, and her online and real life personas had the subtle differences I'd expect to see... this does however, mildly highlight a slightly wider issue, and that's the stereotyping of gamers.
Computer nerds and gamers living in their mum's basements and being a little odd. That's a staple in media. Matty Cardarople's gamer, Kevin Smith's Warlock, Chris Reed's Todd Zarnecki. We love them, or we love to hate them, but it's getting a little tired.
One thing I couldn't fault the film for was the look of everything. Vibrant colours, a bit of fun with the costumes, and the effects throughout the action. It worked as a whole package, and for the most part, it balanced out the danger of the comedy getting a little too ridiculous.
I didn't overly notice an excess of IP/brand plugs, but there was one little cluster in Free Guy. One of the few things I truly enjoyed was where the Disney property merged into a fight scene towards the end. It amused me because I was expecting something like it to happen. It may have gone a smidge over the line of enjoyable, but I'm going to give it a pass. (And I do have a point that would have made this scene better, and I'm honestly disappointed that they didn't think to do it.)
I had been hoping that Free Guy would be a 4 star film, but I don't think I could give it more than a 3. It's watchable, but I don't feel any great need to own it or hunt it down before it's streaming. That being said, I am going to see it again. In the same vein as Ready Player One and 1917, I've watched it for the story, now I'm going back for the background detail.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/08/free-guy-movie-review.html
Kiruji (13 KP) rated X-Men: First Class (2011) in Movies
Jul 18, 2018
I'm not an X-Men fan. I know, it's strange, right? I mean, I'm a comic book fan in general. Iron Man's a dude. I dig the Hulk. I love all things Batman (except when Joel Schumacher tweaked the Batman's Batnipples). I geekgasmed all over my trousers in the lead up to THE DARK KNIGHT and actually watching it at an IMAX was like losing my virginity again. But the X-Men? Kinda leave me cold. Even though, on the face of it, it should be pretty awesome. Mutant humans with the ability to do just about anything you can imagine, fighting each other and various other bad things? Why the hell wouldn't I like that? But I could never get into it. The first X-Men movie, way back in 2000, left me feeling indifferent. It was OK, but nothing special. The second one was worse. The third one just plain awful. WOLVERINE: ORIGINS was quite fun, but then, a hard drinking, smoking, swearing brawler with friendly mutton-chops and blades in his hands was always going to be appealing to me.
And so, it was with a feeling of complete indifference that I flashed my Cineworld Unlimited card at a bored usher and got my ticket and a mixed slushie last week. I only went to see it because my buddy wanted to and, well, we'd missed the start of THE HANGOVER PART II.
So, into the darkened room early for a change. Managed to get prime seats. Mainly because the auditorium was pretty much empty. Something I didn't think was the most fortuitous portent to the movie we were about to watch. On the plus side however, as we were watching a comic book movie, we got the comic book trailer reel... First was THE GREEN LANTERN, which excited me a little (mainly because I have a man crush on Ryan Reynolds). Then came CAPTAIN AMERICA, which excited me a little more (mainly because it looks FREAKIN' AWESOME). Then we got RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which intrigued me (mainly because James Franco was doing a 'learned man' accent). Presumably because Cineworld were already scraping the comic book movie barrel, they then repeated the APES trailer, which killed the mood and left me feeling indifferent again.
But I digress. I think you get that I didn't really give a crap one way or the other about the movie I was about to watch. The opening scenes however, are set in a WWII concentration camp and I found my interest piqued. At first, I couldn't figure out whether it had been newly filmed or if they were recycling one of the flashbacks from one of the earlier movies. Then, Kevin Bacon. Suddenly, I was transfixed by the German pouring forth from his mouth which seemed authentic and I couldn't quite work out if he was lip-synching or not. That's somewhat besides the point though, as the scene itself was very tense and only marginally spoiled by the child actor when it was his turn to scream the longest NOOOOOOO!!! (sorry, NEEEEEEEEIN!!!) since Adolf Vader in Episode 3.
The film very quickly moved on in leaps and bounds, sucking me in and winning me over. Kevin Bacon seemed to enjoy hamming it up as the evil Sebastian Shaw. James McAvoy is an exceptionally talented chap and made for an excellent Charles Xavier - a cocky, beer-swilling, genius ladies man. Similarly, Michael Fassbender did a top notch job in playing Erik Lehnsherr, coming across as a Holocaust-surviving Bond, maybe even slightly cooler. Even Jason Flemyng was pretty good, although I don't think he actually spoke at all, which might have helped his case.
I loved the whole origins story, seeing how Xavier and Lehnsherr were good friends despite their obvious differences and started the School for the Gifted together was pretty cool. The only little blight on the movie (after the whole NEEEEEEEIN!!! incident) was that when it came time for Fassbender to don Magneto's helmet, the prop department had obviously measured his noggin wrong and it was clearly too tight. I say that because, every time he slapped it on his dome, his accent turned from gruff-hero-of-indeterminate-country-of-origin to... Well, to Oirish. The only reason I can think of is that the helmet was squeezing his bonce a bit too snugly. It didn't happen when Kevin Bacon was wearing it.
Helmet business aside, on the whole, I left feeling like I'd just seen a proper comic book movie. Full of fantastical, incredible things dancing around a plot that made sense and characters that I, on the whole, cared about at least a little. There was even a Wolverine cameo in it, which made me chuckle more than it should have. Far from being indifferent towards the X-Men now, I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes next. I just hope Matthew Vaughn is directing again. He's turned out an X-Men film that is much, much better than mediocre and they'd be idiots to give it to anyone else.
And so, it was with a feeling of complete indifference that I flashed my Cineworld Unlimited card at a bored usher and got my ticket and a mixed slushie last week. I only went to see it because my buddy wanted to and, well, we'd missed the start of THE HANGOVER PART II.
So, into the darkened room early for a change. Managed to get prime seats. Mainly because the auditorium was pretty much empty. Something I didn't think was the most fortuitous portent to the movie we were about to watch. On the plus side however, as we were watching a comic book movie, we got the comic book trailer reel... First was THE GREEN LANTERN, which excited me a little (mainly because I have a man crush on Ryan Reynolds). Then came CAPTAIN AMERICA, which excited me a little more (mainly because it looks FREAKIN' AWESOME). Then we got RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which intrigued me (mainly because James Franco was doing a 'learned man' accent). Presumably because Cineworld were already scraping the comic book movie barrel, they then repeated the APES trailer, which killed the mood and left me feeling indifferent again.
But I digress. I think you get that I didn't really give a crap one way or the other about the movie I was about to watch. The opening scenes however, are set in a WWII concentration camp and I found my interest piqued. At first, I couldn't figure out whether it had been newly filmed or if they were recycling one of the flashbacks from one of the earlier movies. Then, Kevin Bacon. Suddenly, I was transfixed by the German pouring forth from his mouth which seemed authentic and I couldn't quite work out if he was lip-synching or not. That's somewhat besides the point though, as the scene itself was very tense and only marginally spoiled by the child actor when it was his turn to scream the longest NOOOOOOO!!! (sorry, NEEEEEEEEIN!!!) since Adolf Vader in Episode 3.
The film very quickly moved on in leaps and bounds, sucking me in and winning me over. Kevin Bacon seemed to enjoy hamming it up as the evil Sebastian Shaw. James McAvoy is an exceptionally talented chap and made for an excellent Charles Xavier - a cocky, beer-swilling, genius ladies man. Similarly, Michael Fassbender did a top notch job in playing Erik Lehnsherr, coming across as a Holocaust-surviving Bond, maybe even slightly cooler. Even Jason Flemyng was pretty good, although I don't think he actually spoke at all, which might have helped his case.
I loved the whole origins story, seeing how Xavier and Lehnsherr were good friends despite their obvious differences and started the School for the Gifted together was pretty cool. The only little blight on the movie (after the whole NEEEEEEEIN!!! incident) was that when it came time for Fassbender to don Magneto's helmet, the prop department had obviously measured his noggin wrong and it was clearly too tight. I say that because, every time he slapped it on his dome, his accent turned from gruff-hero-of-indeterminate-country-of-origin to... Well, to Oirish. The only reason I can think of is that the helmet was squeezing his bonce a bit too snugly. It didn't happen when Kevin Bacon was wearing it.
Helmet business aside, on the whole, I left feeling like I'd just seen a proper comic book movie. Full of fantastical, incredible things dancing around a plot that made sense and characters that I, on the whole, cared about at least a little. There was even a Wolverine cameo in it, which made me chuckle more than it should have. Far from being indifferent towards the X-Men now, I'm looking forward to seeing where the story goes next. I just hope Matthew Vaughn is directing again. He's turned out an X-Men film that is much, much better than mediocre and they'd be idiots to give it to anyone else.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated X-Men Origins - Wolverine (2009) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
The 2009 summer movie season has arrived with the releases of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”, which once again stars Hugh Jackman in the role of the razor clawed Wolverine.
The film follows the characters origins in the mid 1800’s and how circumstances forced a young Logan to leave his home and spend the years hiding who he was.
With the only link to his past, a fellow mutant named Victor (Liev Schrieber), Logan and Victor ride out the years side by side taking part in wars ranging from The Civil War to Vietnam all the while trying as best as they can to hide their true nature.
When Victor starts to enjoy killing too much, and Logan tries to intercede, the duo find themselves the subject of unwanted attention in the guise of an officer named William Styker (William Houston), who recruits the duo to be part of a special team.
Victor and Logan find themselves part of a team of special powered operatives which includes the marksman Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), the Blade twirling Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), The Blob (Kevin Durand), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan), and more. When an operation goes too far, Logan turns his back on the team for a peaceful life as a lumberjack and lives for years in peace with a woman named Kayla (Lynn Collins) very much in love.
Try as Logan may to escape his past, he is unable to when Stryker arrives and tells him that someone is hunting down the former team. Logan ignores the warning and is devastated when Victor is revealed to be behind the killings and strikes a devastating blow to Logan.
With nowhere to go, Logan agrees to Stryker’s plan and undergoes an experiment which infuses his body with the indestructible Adamantium but soon finds himself again on the run when he is betrayed and learns the true nature of Stryker’s plans.
In a race against time, Logan must find the mysterious Island where Stryker has captured several mutants for his experiments and exact his revenge.
The new film was plagued by rumors of issues, which were heightened by reported reshoots and script changes, but thankfully manages to pull together to be an enjoyable summer film. Some may say the film took a bit to get up to the action sequences, but thanks to the great play between Jackman and Schrieber, the film keeps your attention.
There are some solid action sequences in the film and Jackman does not disappoint as we gain insights into the mercurial nature of Wolverine, and how various aspects of his character such as his memory loss came to be.
I would have liked to have seen more action in the film as the main action scenes were a bit to restrained and infrequent for my liking. When I go to a summer movie, I expect to be blown away by the action, and with this one, I had a sense of being underwhelmed by the films action sequences, even the climactic battle.
This is not to say the film is bad, simply that it lacks the needed gear to shift the film into overdrive. I did enjoy Jackman’s performance and it was great seeing the new characters in the film especially Gambit. Fans with sharp eyes will note many characters pop up in cameos and there are some real surprise visits in the film. In the end, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is better than the last X-Men film and should prove enough life in the series for future projects.
The film follows the characters origins in the mid 1800’s and how circumstances forced a young Logan to leave his home and spend the years hiding who he was.
With the only link to his past, a fellow mutant named Victor (Liev Schrieber), Logan and Victor ride out the years side by side taking part in wars ranging from The Civil War to Vietnam all the while trying as best as they can to hide their true nature.
When Victor starts to enjoy killing too much, and Logan tries to intercede, the duo find themselves the subject of unwanted attention in the guise of an officer named William Styker (William Houston), who recruits the duo to be part of a special team.
Victor and Logan find themselves part of a team of special powered operatives which includes the marksman Agent Zero (Daniel Henney), the Blade twirling Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), The Blob (Kevin Durand), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan), and more. When an operation goes too far, Logan turns his back on the team for a peaceful life as a lumberjack and lives for years in peace with a woman named Kayla (Lynn Collins) very much in love.
Try as Logan may to escape his past, he is unable to when Stryker arrives and tells him that someone is hunting down the former team. Logan ignores the warning and is devastated when Victor is revealed to be behind the killings and strikes a devastating blow to Logan.
With nowhere to go, Logan agrees to Stryker’s plan and undergoes an experiment which infuses his body with the indestructible Adamantium but soon finds himself again on the run when he is betrayed and learns the true nature of Stryker’s plans.
In a race against time, Logan must find the mysterious Island where Stryker has captured several mutants for his experiments and exact his revenge.
The new film was plagued by rumors of issues, which were heightened by reported reshoots and script changes, but thankfully manages to pull together to be an enjoyable summer film. Some may say the film took a bit to get up to the action sequences, but thanks to the great play between Jackman and Schrieber, the film keeps your attention.
There are some solid action sequences in the film and Jackman does not disappoint as we gain insights into the mercurial nature of Wolverine, and how various aspects of his character such as his memory loss came to be.
I would have liked to have seen more action in the film as the main action scenes were a bit to restrained and infrequent for my liking. When I go to a summer movie, I expect to be blown away by the action, and with this one, I had a sense of being underwhelmed by the films action sequences, even the climactic battle.
This is not to say the film is bad, simply that it lacks the needed gear to shift the film into overdrive. I did enjoy Jackman’s performance and it was great seeing the new characters in the film especially Gambit. Fans with sharp eyes will note many characters pop up in cameos and there are some real surprise visits in the film. In the end, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is better than the last X-Men film and should prove enough life in the series for future projects.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Longest Yard (2005) in Movies
Aug 14, 2019
Continuing the current trend of remakes, Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company set their sights on remaking the classic prison football film The Longest Yard. Like most projects that Sandler puts his Midas touch upon, this too has some moments of true gold.
The film stars Adam Sandler as Paul Crewe, a former NFL star quarterback who was banned from the league after allegedly throwing a game. As the film opens, Crewe is spending his time as a boy toy for a snobby socialite who is happy to capitalize on being seen with him, and parading Paul through various promotional ventures.
After reaching his breaking point, Paul lashes back by “borrowing” her car and leading several police officers on a high speed, and drunken chase through the streets. The resulting carnage is not only captured on live television, but awards Paul a three year prison term.
Upon arriving in the remote prison location, Crewe is introduced to Warden Hazen (James Cromwell), who attempts to recruit Crewe to help him with his semi-pro team. Crewe declines as he was urged to forcibly by Captain of the Guards Captain Knauer (William Fitchtner).
Paul eventually meets a helpful inmate known as Caretaker (Chris Rock), who shows him the ropes of prison life, and becomes a good friend for Crewe, who certainly needs friends, as there are more than a few guards and prisoners who lost money on the game he through years ago.
In time, Crew is forced by the Warden to organize a team of prisoners for a tune up game with the guards. In a series of comedic moments, Paul and Caretaker have to take drastic measures in order to organize a team from the prisoners including a game of basketball that is rougher than most games Paul had to face on the playing fields of the NFL.
Onboard to assist Paul is Coach Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds), who provides a much needed spark and wisdom to the team and as a former football great, allows Paul to unload some of the burden of getting the team and himself ready to play.
Of course there will be some subterfuge afoot, and the guards are not about to allow the prisoners any sense of hope, which all leads to a very funny series of point/counterpoint moves on the part of both teams to undermine the other.
When news of the game gets out, it is not long before ESPN 2 wants to televise the return of Paul Crewe, and the game soon becomes a national showcase. Since Warden Hazen has political aspirations, the outcome of the game in his favor becomes paramount forcing him to increase the pressure, and forces Paul to make a very important choice.
While the film follows the basic premise of the original, it has been updated to take advantage of modern humor and fine supporting cast. Many ex-NFL players ranging from Brian Bosworth, Michael Irvin, Bill Romanowski, and Bill Goldberg are in the film as well as wrestlers Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, and rapper Nelly.
While some may say the film is predictable, Sandler and the supporting cast do a great job in mixing humor with some of the more serious issues of prison life which results in a film that masterfully mixes humor, sports action, and human drama to create one of the better sports films in recent memory.
The film stars Adam Sandler as Paul Crewe, a former NFL star quarterback who was banned from the league after allegedly throwing a game. As the film opens, Crewe is spending his time as a boy toy for a snobby socialite who is happy to capitalize on being seen with him, and parading Paul through various promotional ventures.
After reaching his breaking point, Paul lashes back by “borrowing” her car and leading several police officers on a high speed, and drunken chase through the streets. The resulting carnage is not only captured on live television, but awards Paul a three year prison term.
Upon arriving in the remote prison location, Crewe is introduced to Warden Hazen (James Cromwell), who attempts to recruit Crewe to help him with his semi-pro team. Crewe declines as he was urged to forcibly by Captain of the Guards Captain Knauer (William Fitchtner).
Paul eventually meets a helpful inmate known as Caretaker (Chris Rock), who shows him the ropes of prison life, and becomes a good friend for Crewe, who certainly needs friends, as there are more than a few guards and prisoners who lost money on the game he through years ago.
In time, Crew is forced by the Warden to organize a team of prisoners for a tune up game with the guards. In a series of comedic moments, Paul and Caretaker have to take drastic measures in order to organize a team from the prisoners including a game of basketball that is rougher than most games Paul had to face on the playing fields of the NFL.
Onboard to assist Paul is Coach Nate Scarborough (Burt Reynolds), who provides a much needed spark and wisdom to the team and as a former football great, allows Paul to unload some of the burden of getting the team and himself ready to play.
Of course there will be some subterfuge afoot, and the guards are not about to allow the prisoners any sense of hope, which all leads to a very funny series of point/counterpoint moves on the part of both teams to undermine the other.
When news of the game gets out, it is not long before ESPN 2 wants to televise the return of Paul Crewe, and the game soon becomes a national showcase. Since Warden Hazen has political aspirations, the outcome of the game in his favor becomes paramount forcing him to increase the pressure, and forces Paul to make a very important choice.
While the film follows the basic premise of the original, it has been updated to take advantage of modern humor and fine supporting cast. Many ex-NFL players ranging from Brian Bosworth, Michael Irvin, Bill Romanowski, and Bill Goldberg are in the film as well as wrestlers Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, and rapper Nelly.
While some may say the film is predictable, Sandler and the supporting cast do a great job in mixing humor with some of the more serious issues of prison life which results in a film that masterfully mixes humor, sports action, and human drama to create one of the better sports films in recent memory.