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Matthew Krueger (10051 KP) rated Clear and Present Danger (1994) in Movies
May 15, 2020
The Cover-Up
Clear and Present Danger- is a thriller pacted movie. It has action, suspense and drama. Its downfall its long and somewhat boring and waits a while to get to the action. The action is also decent, not as good as patriot games.
The plot: Agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) becomes acting deputy director of the CIA when Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on a yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As CIA agent John Clark (Willem Dafoe) is sent to Colombia to kill drug kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.
Harrison Ford is excellent as Jack Ryan. He is the best Jack Ryan in my opinon. He nails Jack Ryan perfectly.
Clear and Present Danger- is a decent thriller with the only downfall is it being a little long and boring.
The plot: Agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) becomes acting deputy director of the CIA when Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on a yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As CIA agent John Clark (Willem Dafoe) is sent to Colombia to kill drug kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.
Harrison Ford is excellent as Jack Ryan. He is the best Jack Ryan in my opinon. He nails Jack Ryan perfectly.
Clear and Present Danger- is a decent thriller with the only downfall is it being a little long and boring.
Jim Broadbent recommended The Wild Bunch (1969) in Movies (curated)
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.
Kelly Knows (95 KP) rated The House of Doors in Books
Jun 28, 2019
Worlds of Horror
Wow, what a fantastic book. I am still surprised this story has not been optioned for a movie adaptation. House of Doors is a unique tale with a simple concept, the age old question of man meets aliens and how that first contact would go down. What if we were tested? Brutally? Would we measure up? This book answers those questions and more in terrifying fashion. Brian Lumley spins a rich tale of daring and adventure, with a new even more terrifying world behind each door the characters open. The illustrative text will illuminate wondrous monsters in your mind and fill your head to the brim with images of strange worlds twisted by alien machinery, born of the desires and fears within us all. The alien species in this story is unlike anything you've seen before. The characters are witty and engaging. Even the ones you hate are written so well you can't help but question your instinct to despise them. My personal favorite aspects of this book are the world designs. No spoilers, you'll just have to find out what I mean, but it is seriously awesome. Also bringing a lot to this fast paced thrill ride is the main character, Spencer Gill. A wry, clever man with more to him than meets the eye, Spencer Gill reminds me of the Indiana Jones/Jack Ryan, kind of heroes I grew up admiring. All of the characters involved have their moments to shine, whether it be a bright light or a darker moment. Even the sinister alien Thone get a role in the narrative in an unlikely writing style that pays off the investment, with interest. This is the kind of book that gets you into reading books, and if you like it, there is a pretty good sequel as well. Sci-fi and horror clash spectacularly as humanity finds out if they measure up, and the terrible consequences that will occur if they don't.
Lee Richmond (19 KP) rated Blade Runner 2049 (2017) in Movies
Mar 2, 2019
The key to the future is finally unearthed.
I must admit, my hopes where not high. Since 2012 I have witnessed Ridley Scott wiping his arse on his past glory with the ever worsening Alien Prequels. I hated Prometheus and the less said about Alien Covenant the better. Not only that but did Blade Runner really need a sequel? I was of the strong belief that it did not. The original was a beautifully told, self contained flick with a strong start, middle and end. Throw in to the mix the fact that generally a movie sequel that appears a few decades after the original is rarely as good as what came before. I'm talking about you Indiana Jones, Dumb and Dumber and so on..
Taking that all into account I sat down to watch Blade Runner 2049 with the most open mind I could muster and as the end credits rolled the only thought in my sci-fi frazzled head was "holy shit what a movie"..
I loved it. Not just liked it. Not just found it to be ok (which was about all I had hoped for). I fucking loved it. My wife found it slow and eventually wandered off for a bath but I loved it. I loved the visuals that burst forth from the screen and penetrated my brain through my eyeballs. The story was equally as compelling as the original. Ryan Gosling was great. Harrison Ford was great. The nods to the original all great and never sickly nostalgic.
I can honestly say that I have never been so happy to be wrong. Although there is a 30+ year gap between both films I didn't feel that the special effects (although stunning here) did anything to spoil those of the original. Hopefully this movie has taught me to be more open minded but somehow I imagine I will always be this cynical old bastard that those who know me have come to love or loathe.
If you haven't seen this film yet, or if like me you're expecting the worst, my advice would be "stop being an arse and enjoy the spectacle and dare I say masterpiece? That Blade Runner 2049 truly is".
Taking that all into account I sat down to watch Blade Runner 2049 with the most open mind I could muster and as the end credits rolled the only thought in my sci-fi frazzled head was "holy shit what a movie"..
I loved it. Not just liked it. Not just found it to be ok (which was about all I had hoped for). I fucking loved it. My wife found it slow and eventually wandered off for a bath but I loved it. I loved the visuals that burst forth from the screen and penetrated my brain through my eyeballs. The story was equally as compelling as the original. Ryan Gosling was great. Harrison Ford was great. The nods to the original all great and never sickly nostalgic.
I can honestly say that I have never been so happy to be wrong. Although there is a 30+ year gap between both films I didn't feel that the special effects (although stunning here) did anything to spoil those of the original. Hopefully this movie has taught me to be more open minded but somehow I imagine I will always be this cynical old bastard that those who know me have come to love or loathe.
If you haven't seen this film yet, or if like me you're expecting the worst, my advice would be "stop being an arse and enjoy the spectacle and dare I say masterpiece? That Blade Runner 2049 truly is".
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Cold Pursuit (2019) in Movies
Mar 15, 2020
Comments on revenge are best kept on the screen.
I'd completely forgotten the furore about Liam Neeson's comments back last February during the press-tour preceding the film's release. In discussing the destructive feelings of revenge experienced by his character, Nels Coxman, Neeson revealed something he did 40 years ago: after the rape of a friend by "a black man", Neeson went out on the streets to find another "black man" and do them harm. (As a fellow Ballymena-born man, David Moody (from the "Mark and Dave" blog) has an interesting theory about this... that it was not a "rascist" statement in the true sense, but something else entirely. See here - ).
The comments undoubtedly impacted the movie at the box office. Which is a shame. Because in his catalogue of bonkers and violent revenge-porn flicks, this is one of Neeson's more entertaining ones.
Revenge is a dish best served cold. And where colder to serve it than in the ski-resort of Kehoe where Nels Coxman is the local snowplow operative and "man of the year" for his services to the community. But the tracks are about to fall off his orderly life. For his son Kyle (Micheál Richardson) winds up dead through a drugs overdose and his strained marriage with wife Grace (Laura Dern) disintegrates. (One of the most cutting and best-written "Bye" notes ever seen in the movies).
With revenge in mind, Coxman pursues the Denver-based drugs lord Trevor Calcote (Tom Bateman) who dished out the drugs to his son. But he inadvertently manages to stay just below the parapet as he sets in train a gang war between Calcote and a Kehoe-based native-American drugs gang led by White Bull (Tom Jackson). The snow turned progressively pinker as the body count rises.
Calcote (aka "Viking") is painted as a colourful family man, with an annoyingly bright son Ryan (Nicholas Holmes) that he controls with a rod of iron. Viking is estranged from wife Aya (Julia Jones), who seems completely unafraid of him and happily embarrasses him in front of his men. This relationship never really works. Since given all the terrible and irrational things Viking does to people, whether they obstruct him or help him in equal measure, putting a quiet bullet into Aya's head seems to be to least he could do!
Where there is fun to be had is in the "Stockholm syndrome" linkage between young Ryan and Coxman. When his father insists on controlling his diet, feeding him the same insipidly healthy meals morning, noon and night, the alternative of being kidnapped and fed burgers seems eminently more preferable!
The film is at times really difficult to follow. There are lots of inexplicable leaps of logic and really inexplicably bonkers scenes that you can only patch together later. It's as if the filmmakers randomly filmed 5 hours of footage and then tried to edit it all into a cohesive plot!
As one example of this, the relationship between Coxman and "Wingman" (William Forsythe) was poorly introduced such that I was left baffled by a later plot twist.
In another scene, Neeson smashes the head of enforcer "Santa" (Michael Adamthwaite) into his steering wheel, but in the next scene collapses with him utterly exhausted in the snow. There was clearly a significant fight here that was cut out of the finished cut. But as a result the final cut makes no sense at all!
Of course, the local law enforcement team are average at best. Average because although young and keen-as-mustard detective Kim Dash (Emmy Rossum) is hot on the trail of the truth, her partner Gip (John Doman) is f*ckin' useless... wanting to do nothing but drink coffee and eat donuts in true Simpsons style.
Normally with these sort of films, it's difficult to keep track of the body count. No such problem here. Every death is celebrated with a tombstone graphic so it's easy to keep count! Needless to say, there are a lot of tombstones registered.
Directed by Norwegian Hans Petter Moland, it's all good violent cartoonish fun, that keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek for most of the running time. The snowy setting, the partly native-American cast and the presence of Julia Jones brings to mind the truly excellent Jeremy Renner / Elizabeth Olsen movie "Wind River". But there the similarities (and quality levels) definitely stop. It's not a clever movie; it's borderline bonkers for most of its running time (never more so than with a totally bizarre "joke" final shot); but it is entertaining. As a 'park brain at door' action comedy it just about makes the grade.
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/03/15/one-manns-movies-dvd-review-cold-pursuit-2019/. Thanks.)
The comments undoubtedly impacted the movie at the box office. Which is a shame. Because in his catalogue of bonkers and violent revenge-porn flicks, this is one of Neeson's more entertaining ones.
Revenge is a dish best served cold. And where colder to serve it than in the ski-resort of Kehoe where Nels Coxman is the local snowplow operative and "man of the year" for his services to the community. But the tracks are about to fall off his orderly life. For his son Kyle (Micheál Richardson) winds up dead through a drugs overdose and his strained marriage with wife Grace (Laura Dern) disintegrates. (One of the most cutting and best-written "Bye" notes ever seen in the movies).
With revenge in mind, Coxman pursues the Denver-based drugs lord Trevor Calcote (Tom Bateman) who dished out the drugs to his son. But he inadvertently manages to stay just below the parapet as he sets in train a gang war between Calcote and a Kehoe-based native-American drugs gang led by White Bull (Tom Jackson). The snow turned progressively pinker as the body count rises.
Calcote (aka "Viking") is painted as a colourful family man, with an annoyingly bright son Ryan (Nicholas Holmes) that he controls with a rod of iron. Viking is estranged from wife Aya (Julia Jones), who seems completely unafraid of him and happily embarrasses him in front of his men. This relationship never really works. Since given all the terrible and irrational things Viking does to people, whether they obstruct him or help him in equal measure, putting a quiet bullet into Aya's head seems to be to least he could do!
Where there is fun to be had is in the "Stockholm syndrome" linkage between young Ryan and Coxman. When his father insists on controlling his diet, feeding him the same insipidly healthy meals morning, noon and night, the alternative of being kidnapped and fed burgers seems eminently more preferable!
The film is at times really difficult to follow. There are lots of inexplicable leaps of logic and really inexplicably bonkers scenes that you can only patch together later. It's as if the filmmakers randomly filmed 5 hours of footage and then tried to edit it all into a cohesive plot!
As one example of this, the relationship between Coxman and "Wingman" (William Forsythe) was poorly introduced such that I was left baffled by a later plot twist.
In another scene, Neeson smashes the head of enforcer "Santa" (Michael Adamthwaite) into his steering wheel, but in the next scene collapses with him utterly exhausted in the snow. There was clearly a significant fight here that was cut out of the finished cut. But as a result the final cut makes no sense at all!
Of course, the local law enforcement team are average at best. Average because although young and keen-as-mustard detective Kim Dash (Emmy Rossum) is hot on the trail of the truth, her partner Gip (John Doman) is f*ckin' useless... wanting to do nothing but drink coffee and eat donuts in true Simpsons style.
Normally with these sort of films, it's difficult to keep track of the body count. No such problem here. Every death is celebrated with a tombstone graphic so it's easy to keep count! Needless to say, there are a lot of tombstones registered.
Directed by Norwegian Hans Petter Moland, it's all good violent cartoonish fun, that keeps its tongue firmly in its cheek for most of the running time. The snowy setting, the partly native-American cast and the presence of Julia Jones brings to mind the truly excellent Jeremy Renner / Elizabeth Olsen movie "Wind River". But there the similarities (and quality levels) definitely stop. It's not a clever movie; it's borderline bonkers for most of its running time (never more so than with a totally bizarre "joke" final shot); but it is entertaining. As a 'park brain at door' action comedy it just about makes the grade.
(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/03/15/one-manns-movies-dvd-review-cold-pursuit-2019/. Thanks.)
