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Peter A. Davidson
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Peter Davison
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Big Time Adolescence (2019)
Movie
A suburban teenager comes of age under the destructive guidance of his best friend, an aimless...
The King of Staten Island (2020)
6.3
Rate It
Movie Watch
Scott has been a case of arrested development since his firefighter dad died. He spends his days...
The Jesus Rolls (2020)
2.5
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Movie Watch
The Jesus Rolls is an upcoming American crime comedy film written, directed, and starred by John...
Thank U, Next by Ariana Grande
7.3
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Album Watch
Thank U, Next (stylised in all lowercase) is the fifth studio album by American singer Ariana...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The Suicide Squad (2021) in Movies
Aug 5, 2021
James Gunn returns with the sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad. This time, the nefarious company woman Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), returns to Belle Reve to recruit the next iteration of Task Force X. Initially, we are introduced to the new recruits: Savant (Michael Rooker), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), Javelin (Flula Borg), Mongal (Mayling Ng), T.D.K. (Nathan Fillion) and The Weasel (Sean Gunn). We meet our favorites from the first film: Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney). They have signed on to be dropped into a small island nation, Corto Maltese.
This country, just taken over by a military coup has a lab with a 30-year secret weapon. Ms. Waller offers them years off each team member’s sentence to “Save the World”. Or, in this case, infiltrate Corto Maltese to find and destroy the project. Our hapless but highly skilled group lands and takes on heavy fire.
Meanwhile, we have Team B led by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (The physical, John Economos with the voice of Sylvester Stallone). As the separate teams go forth and bond in violence, we find out more about their personal childhood traumas that made them the criminals they have become.
This sequel has James Gunn’s DNA all over the film. He raised the bar from the first film by providing bright, visual treats. The action is violent in a cartoonish manner that buffers the impact when one looks at the many ways one can dispatch a human. The story goes from sarcasm, dry wit, demented clown to the stooges’ physical hilarity. As we watch the Squad fight their way across the island, there are points where these characters are skilled killers despite the humor in their murderous madness.
I was laughing throughout the film, it certainly felt like a panacea for these challenging times. Pay attention, there are little moments of snappy comebacks that feel like they’re from old-school Mad Magazine. The pace runs steadily which helps the dissonance become more impactful. The Suicide Squad was not boring, it was very entertaining and such a campy ride. FYI: there are TWO after-credit scenes.
The Soundtrack is so very good from the first shot, to the after credit, shotsThis Summer Blockbuster certainly delivers the entertainment.
4.75 out of 5 Stars
This country, just taken over by a military coup has a lab with a 30-year secret weapon. Ms. Waller offers them years off each team member’s sentence to “Save the World”. Or, in this case, infiltrate Corto Maltese to find and destroy the project. Our hapless but highly skilled group lands and takes on heavy fire.
Meanwhile, we have Team B led by Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), Polka Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), King Shark (The physical, John Economos with the voice of Sylvester Stallone). As the separate teams go forth and bond in violence, we find out more about their personal childhood traumas that made them the criminals they have become.
This sequel has James Gunn’s DNA all over the film. He raised the bar from the first film by providing bright, visual treats. The action is violent in a cartoonish manner that buffers the impact when one looks at the many ways one can dispatch a human. The story goes from sarcasm, dry wit, demented clown to the stooges’ physical hilarity. As we watch the Squad fight their way across the island, there are points where these characters are skilled killers despite the humor in their murderous madness.
I was laughing throughout the film, it certainly felt like a panacea for these challenging times. Pay attention, there are little moments of snappy comebacks that feel like they’re from old-school Mad Magazine. The pace runs steadily which helps the dissonance become more impactful. The Suicide Squad was not boring, it was very entertaining and such a campy ride. FYI: there are TWO after-credit scenes.
The Soundtrack is so very good from the first shot, to the after credit, shotsThis Summer Blockbuster certainly delivers the entertainment.
4.75 out of 5 Stars
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated The King of Staten Island (2020) in Movies
Jan 25, 2021
Incredible
An amateur tattoo artist is forced to grow up when his mom (who he is living with) falls in love with a new boo.
Acting: 10
Beginning: 7
The very first few moments sees main character Scott Carlin (Pete Davidson) driving on the highway with his eyes closed, seemingly trying to off himself. It’s a powerful scene followed quickly by Scott and his friends tripping out with the typical hilarious banter you find in a Judd Apatow movie. While both great scenes, you still don’t get a full sense of where the story is going after the first ten minutes hence the score.
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 9
Shot in a memorable style that brings out the best and worst of Staten Island at the same time. Director Apatow has a knack for capturing extremely impactful moments, especially the awkward ones. Every scene, no matter how short makes the most of its time and tells its own story. It’s such a hard thing to do yet Apatow finds a way to do it repeatedly.
Conflict: 10
It’s funny, I can’t look at Scott’s character without thinking about my 16-year-old son. He’s kind of drifting about in the same aimless way and, like Scott, doesn’t seem to understand how his now actions will affect his later. The beauty of having a character like this is the ability to be able to drive external conflict through Scott’s internal growth. He is struggling for selfish reasons. He wants his mom to be happy, but not at his expense. The dynamic of conflict is perfect.
Entertainment Value: 9
Memorability: 10
Pace: 8
The story flows along pretty smoothly, although I wasn’t happy with the 147-minute runtime. That’s a bit extensive for a comedy in my opinion. Again, I was impressed about how time was maximized for the most part, but there were a few spots where I felt things could have been trimmed.
Plot: 7
The movie does cheat to meet its end, but I was ultimately ok with it because the rest of the story was pretty incredible. The cheat is a blip on an otherwise quality story that really enhances the growth of the characters. Every scene really does come together well to tell a great story.
Resolution: 10
Overall: 90
From jump, The King of Staten Island hits you in the mouth and keeps you entertained. I enjoyed this movie for multiple reasons, but mostly because it checks all the boxes. Even the things it falls short on is just slightly missing the mark. Highly recommended.
Acting: 10
Beginning: 7
The very first few moments sees main character Scott Carlin (Pete Davidson) driving on the highway with his eyes closed, seemingly trying to off himself. It’s a powerful scene followed quickly by Scott and his friends tripping out with the typical hilarious banter you find in a Judd Apatow movie. While both great scenes, you still don’t get a full sense of where the story is going after the first ten minutes hence the score.
Characters: 10
Cinematography/Visuals: 9
Shot in a memorable style that brings out the best and worst of Staten Island at the same time. Director Apatow has a knack for capturing extremely impactful moments, especially the awkward ones. Every scene, no matter how short makes the most of its time and tells its own story. It’s such a hard thing to do yet Apatow finds a way to do it repeatedly.
Conflict: 10
It’s funny, I can’t look at Scott’s character without thinking about my 16-year-old son. He’s kind of drifting about in the same aimless way and, like Scott, doesn’t seem to understand how his now actions will affect his later. The beauty of having a character like this is the ability to be able to drive external conflict through Scott’s internal growth. He is struggling for selfish reasons. He wants his mom to be happy, but not at his expense. The dynamic of conflict is perfect.
Entertainment Value: 9
Memorability: 10
Pace: 8
The story flows along pretty smoothly, although I wasn’t happy with the 147-minute runtime. That’s a bit extensive for a comedy in my opinion. Again, I was impressed about how time was maximized for the most part, but there were a few spots where I felt things could have been trimmed.
Plot: 7
The movie does cheat to meet its end, but I was ultimately ok with it because the rest of the story was pretty incredible. The cheat is a blip on an otherwise quality story that really enhances the growth of the characters. Every scene really does come together well to tell a great story.
Resolution: 10
Overall: 90
From jump, The King of Staten Island hits you in the mouth and keeps you entertained. I enjoyed this movie for multiple reasons, but mostly because it checks all the boxes. Even the things it falls short on is just slightly missing the mark. Highly recommended.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Transformers Rise of the Beasts (2023) in Movies
Jun 6, 2023
The latest in the long-running and popular Transformer series has arrived with “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”. Taking a cue from the recent “Bumblebee” movie, the movie cleverly serves not only as a prequel but as a platform to introduce a series of stories leading up to the original films.
It is learned that a planet-destroying evil is fixated on obtaining a key that will allow it to travel to any point in the universe to continue its reign of destruction. The animal-based Maximals are able to escape with the key and hide it on Earth where they will also remain in secret as guardians.
Flash forward to 1994 when Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), following his stint in the Army is looking to find gainful employment to help his mother as well as his ailing brother. Despite being a wizard with electronics Noah is not considered to be a team player which has hampered his job prospects and leads him to consider criminal activities in an effort to obtain much-needed funds for his brother's medical bills.
In a moment of desperation, Noah attempts to steal a loaded Porsche but finds he is unable to follow through on the act as it is against his moral compass. Unknown to Noah the car is actually an Autobot named Mirage (Pete Davidson), who soon enlists Noah to help them find the key which they have recently detected.
This does not sit well with Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), who believes that humanity will only act in your best interests and that his crew needs to find the key so that they can return to their war-ravaged, Cybertron.
It is learned that a crafty but perpetually overlooked museum intern named Elena (Dominique Fishback), has accidentally activated the key and in doing so has allowed the evil Scourge (Peter Dinklage), and his minions to zero in on its location as he attempts to obtain the key for his master and is willing to destroy all were in his way.
Noah and Elena soon find themselves paired with their unexpected allies as they race to stop the evil from obtaining both parts of the key and find themselves with some unexpected allies in the form of the Maximals.
What follows is a frantic action-adventure film that cleverly combines humor, action, dazzling visual effects, and a tail that is part Indiana Jones, and Transformers with a surprising amount of humanity.
It would be easy for the human cast the overshadowed by the massive and visually spectacular creations that frequently transform and battle it out across numerous action sequences. However, director Steven Caple Jr. takes advantage of his young talent both of whom are clearly potential stars in the making as they provide a grounding humanity to the film which makes it more than a lavish FX showcase.
The film also has an impressive era-specific soundtrack and a scene near the end that offers up some intriguing and exciting possibilities for the future. "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is a highly enjoyable summer action adventure as well as one the more enjoyable films in the franchise and should delight fans of the franchise and has me for the first time in a long time eagerly awaiting what comes next.
4 stars out of 5
It is learned that a planet-destroying evil is fixated on obtaining a key that will allow it to travel to any point in the universe to continue its reign of destruction. The animal-based Maximals are able to escape with the key and hide it on Earth where they will also remain in secret as guardians.
Flash forward to 1994 when Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), following his stint in the Army is looking to find gainful employment to help his mother as well as his ailing brother. Despite being a wizard with electronics Noah is not considered to be a team player which has hampered his job prospects and leads him to consider criminal activities in an effort to obtain much-needed funds for his brother's medical bills.
In a moment of desperation, Noah attempts to steal a loaded Porsche but finds he is unable to follow through on the act as it is against his moral compass. Unknown to Noah the car is actually an Autobot named Mirage (Pete Davidson), who soon enlists Noah to help them find the key which they have recently detected.
This does not sit well with Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), who believes that humanity will only act in your best interests and that his crew needs to find the key so that they can return to their war-ravaged, Cybertron.
It is learned that a crafty but perpetually overlooked museum intern named Elena (Dominique Fishback), has accidentally activated the key and in doing so has allowed the evil Scourge (Peter Dinklage), and his minions to zero in on its location as he attempts to obtain the key for his master and is willing to destroy all were in his way.
Noah and Elena soon find themselves paired with their unexpected allies as they race to stop the evil from obtaining both parts of the key and find themselves with some unexpected allies in the form of the Maximals.
What follows is a frantic action-adventure film that cleverly combines humor, action, dazzling visual effects, and a tail that is part Indiana Jones, and Transformers with a surprising amount of humanity.
It would be easy for the human cast the overshadowed by the massive and visually spectacular creations that frequently transform and battle it out across numerous action sequences. However, director Steven Caple Jr. takes advantage of his young talent both of whom are clearly potential stars in the making as they provide a grounding humanity to the film which makes it more than a lavish FX showcase.
The film also has an impressive era-specific soundtrack and a scene near the end that offers up some intriguing and exciting possibilities for the future. "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is a highly enjoyable summer action adventure as well as one the more enjoyable films in the franchise and should delight fans of the franchise and has me for the first time in a long time eagerly awaiting what comes next.
4 stars out of 5