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Bornless Ones (2016)
Bornless Ones (2016)
2016 |
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Take 4 Outrageously good looking guys and gals, A 5th guy with some sort of life challenging disease… Move them into a new out of the way house with a secret history, not to far from an Institution, Have them desecrate and destroy what look to be supernatural symbols boarding up the windows and you have Bornless Ones… Oh and there is scary possession, Craziness and a fair bit of really well done gore, Seriously well done Gore!!!

Now that’s not to say that this movie lacks originality in any way because it really does not. Ok we may have seen the creepy house in the middle of nowhere that scares the crap out of its occupants before, but can we really ever get too much of that. The difference I found was that Bornless Ones is in many ways a spiritual cousin to movies like Evil Dead and in many ways actually betters what has come before in its Genre. One of those ways is the performance our cast put in.



Emily (Margaret Judson – The Newsroom) has decided that she cant look after her Cerebal Palsy suffering brother Zach (Micheal Johnston – MTV’s Teen Wolf) anymore, she is going to move him to an institution. However fearing he is going to be too far away from her, Emily and her boyfriend Jesse (Devin Goodsell) buy a house nearby, the house has a past. Emily and Jesse are accompanied by there friends Woodrow (Mark Furze – Home and Away, Underbelly) and Michelle (Bobby T) to help them move in. That’s when the movie cranks it up to 11 and everything goes nuts as our core characters are taken hold of by a paranormal force one by one and must fight for survival.

My horror kick has absolutely continued into 2017 and Bornless Ones was a fantastic place to start. Its a hell of a lot more Evil Dead than the Evil Dead Remake which sucked and this movie really had me in from the start. It does help that it wastes no time at all, no sooner had they all moved in and the shenanigans began.

Alexander Babaev has done a great job on Directing and Writing with this movie and while it falls into the Indie bracket of movies it deserves to be seen by a wider audience. The acting from our core cast is better than you might expect, infact they all smash it out of the park. The acting once possession has taken hold is creepy as shit and utterly compelling.

Bornless Ones is definitely worth a watch if you are a fan of this genre, it is a lot better than most of the possession movies coming out these days. Give it a try…
  
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LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) in Movies

Dec 2, 2019 (Updated Jan 13, 2020)  
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
With the (eventually true) whispers about the Disney-Fox merger doing the rounds around Dark Phoenix's release, it arrived to little fanfare. Most people had already written off as a pointless film, and it was a prime target for negativity. So much so, that it was actually the first and only X-Men film I ended up missing in the cinema.

I recently watched it on home release, really not expecting much. After the swing-and-a-miss of Apocalypse, I wasn't feeling too invested in the characters.
So imagine my surprise when I remained glued to the screen for most of the runtime.

Dark Phoenix isn't perfect by any means, and far from the lofty heights of the top tier X-Men movies, buts it no where near as awful as I had heard.
I thought the story was actually ok. I was glad that it partially took place in space, like the original comic, and unlike The Last Stand.
Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are fantastic as they usually are, as is Nicholas Hoult. I also thing Jennifer Lawrence I makes a good Mystique, even though I'm still not a massive fan of this franchises portrayal of her character.
Ty Sheridan and Sophie Turner are given more to do this time around, and are both fine. It's a shame that Evan Peters' Quicksilver is sidelined for this particular adventure.
There are some genuinely powerful emotional beats throughout the film, and it's clear as day that all the actors involved care about their characters, and are having fun.

My main criticism is predictably the villains. The D'bari are a fairly uninspired choice for such a big storyline, and they look like generic CGI aliens. I found Jessica Chastain quite wooden and uninteresting, and they made for a very underwhelming force if evil.
The main focus of Dark Phoenix is of course in Jean Grey's turn to the dark side, so vanilla bad guys shouldn't really be that important anyway.

Dark Phoenix does a slightly better job than The Last Stand of adapting this beloved storyline, but so can't help but feel that it would benefit from multiple movies, instead of cramming into one feature, a I really hope that's something that happens going into the MCU with these characters.

We still have New Mutants to go (if it ever actually comes out) but as a last main entry into the FOX X-Men franchise, you could do a lot worse. It's not the best, it's not the worst. Dark Phoenix sits somewhere quite comfortably in the middle.
Dare I say, I think it might actually be better than the first film...
  
Without a Paddle (2004)
Without a Paddle (2004)
2004 | Comedy
7
6.2 (5 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Verdict: Enjoyable

Story: Without a Paddle starts as three best friends Tom (Shepard), Jerry (Lillard) and Dan (Green) return home after the sudden death of their fourth member Billy, spending time together they remember a promise they once made when they were children about searching for D.B. Cooper Bounty.
The three head off into the wilderness following a map that Billy left them, on an adventure they couldn’t imagine, search for a treasure and learning the importance of life.

Thoughts on Without a Paddle

Characters – Jerry has become a businessman, he isn’t enjoying this career choice, he likes to surf and isn’t the most committed in remember important dates in his relationship, he must bring the guys back together for the funeral, he is on the edge of a mid-life crisis, which will get the focus of his decision making process on this adventure. Tom is the lose cannon of the friends, he has always got a story from what he has been doing in his life, while most seem to be tall tales, which often get them in trouble. Dan has become a doctor that is nervous in life, he keeps everything safe and this adventure is completely against his lifestyle, where he spends most of his time worried about what happens.
Performances – Matthew Lillard, Seth Green and Dax Shepard are the three friends, they do have great chemistry, they play into their comedy strengths and make this movie more enjoyable with their performances.
Story – The story follows three friends that go on an adventure in the woods in search for D.B. Cooper’s treasure in memory of their friend who passed away. This is a story that is about finding themselves, learning to overcome their fears in life, learn their place in life and making the most of the life they are given. While some of what happens is silly and plays into parodies of many films, it is an enjoyable story that shows the strength of friendship through the good times and the bad.
Adventure/Comedy – The adventure shows us how friends will need that moment in life where the can be together even through the adult struggles in life. The comedy can be silly at times, which does take away from the serious time of the story.
Settings – The film is set in the wilderness, which sees how the different locations from the river rapids to the cannabis farm they stumble along, it plays into the fears of going into the wild.

Scene of the Movie – The treehouse of memories.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the comedy.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun adventure about finding yourself in life, the cast has a great chemistry only for the comedy to come off slightly short at times.

Overall: Fun Adventure.
  
DT
Don't Turn Around (PERSEF0NE, #1)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Where there's walking, there's bound to be running. Ironically enough, it wasn't too long ago that I read a <a title="View Sophia's review of The Queen's Choice" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-the-queens-choice-by-cayla-kluver/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">book mainly focused on walking</a>.

Michelle Gagnon's first young adult thriller goes straight into the action as soon as the book starts – Noa wakes up to find herself on a table in a warehouse with an IV in her arm and no clue of how she got to that table in the first place. Noa manages to get away from the warehouse and eventually teams up with fellow hacker Peter to find out more about a company called AMRF (who starts threatening Peter's life randomly for reasons of the unknown and attacks the hacktivist group he founded called ALLIANCE).

<i>Don't Turn Around</i> is basically about two hackers on the run – not necessarily together – and being chased by or threatened by an armed group of men. Running and being chased isn't typically my favorite book to read, but walking around and not being chased is much more boring to go through. In this particular case, an exception might have to be made – Gagnon reveals more information about the two hackers as they're on the run and trying to find out the reasons why they're being attacked or got swooped up from somewhere and experimented on in an abandoned area.

Noa is also an interesting character and has officially landed in as my favorite characters of 2015 – even though she didn't have a great childhood, it's amazingly admirable how she manages to remain a cucumber as everything around her falls apart. Noa actually reminds of <a title="View Sophia's ARC review of Tabula Rasa" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-tabula-rasa-by-kristen-lippert-martin/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">that one character (Sarah?) from <i>Tabula Rasa</i></a> – a fearless female character. What's different between Noa and Sarah, however, is how Noa admits she's scared but doesn't appear to be scared even after she is eventually caught by the bad guys originally going after her and Peter from the beginning of the story.

Similar to the likes of Alex Rider and James Bond, <i>Don't Turn Around</i> is a slow (though fast-paced) yet sure beginning to a series – Gagnon seems to be setting us up for better things to come in the future of the series, and I'm hoping it won't fail when the end finally comes.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-dont-turn-around-by-michelle-gagnon/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
Bad Boys for Life (2020)
Bad Boys for Life (2020)
2020 | Action, Comedy, Crime
It's says a lot about this third entry into the Bad Boys franchise, when there's been a 17 year gap between movies, and it still manages to be this good!

The Bad Boys films are known for being over the top, sweary, violent, funny, and action packed, and thankfully, this tried and tested formula sticks again.
It's silliness is hugely toned down from the overly gratuitous Bad Boys II, (it's still pretty silly mind), and we're presented with a host of characters that actually ground the franchise a little, and it's all the better for it.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are once again hugely likable as detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, the chemistry between the two is still hilariously beautiful and bro-tastic after all these years.
BBFL also introduces a group of new characters, a law enforcement response team known as AMMO, who are also all pretty likable. I feel that the writers are perhaps testing the waters for a potential spin off.
The movies bad guys are drug-queen Isabel Aretas and her son Armando (Kate del Castillo and Jacob Scipio respectively) who both do a pretty good job at playing imposing and dangerous villains.
We also get some back story regarding Mike Lowrey that has never been touched on before - a possible avenue for a prequel maybe?

The action set pieces are exciting and well choreographed (best motorbike chase since John Wick 3) and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah - taking over from Michael Bay - do a solid job of delivering a well shot action packed adventure, with just enough nods to the original duology's style.

The only criticisms I have really stem from pacing. The movie feels very staggered for much of the first half and takes a while to really kick into gear, but once it does, it's hugely entertaining.
Also, the comedy is laid on pretty thick and fast from the get go, and there were quite a few moments that didn't land, (predictably, there was plenty of too-old-for-this-shit jokes) but by the same merit, there were plenty that did.

Bad Boys For Life is overall a fun time that is pretty hard to not enjoy, and it actually might just be the best of the series, if not, then it's certainly on par with the first.
The narrative makes a good effort to set up potential directions for the franchise going forward (I counted at least three obvious set ups) but based on the strength of this entry, it something that I would actually like to see, and considering I went to the cinema content in the apparent knowledge that this would be the last one, that can only be a good thing.
  
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JT (287 KP) rated The Grey (2012) in Movies

Mar 10, 2020  
The Grey (2012)
The Grey (2012)
2012 | Action, Drama
8
7.0 (15 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Director Joe Carnahan has a popular back catalogue. One that is considered his best to date is Narc. Of course he helmed the bat shit crazy, guns-a-blazing Smokin Aces and who could forget for a minute the over the top and some what bonkers reboot of The A-Team.

Here, Carnahan teams up with Liam Neeson once again, although it was very nearly Bradley Cooper, but we’re glad that Neeson got the gig! Neeson plays Ottway, a crack shot with a rifle whose job it is is to keep the many oil drilling workers off the menu from the local four legged carnivores.

When the plane transporting the crew back from the end of season crashes in Alaskan no man’s land, Neeson must battle the elements and inhospitable terrain to find safety – while at the same time avoiding a rather pissed off pack of hungry wolves. If there is anyone you’d want by your side in this type of situation (Bear Grylls not present) it’s Nesson. With a few choice words for his new found friends “nobody’s going to find us….and if we don’t move we’re all fucked!” They abandon what little is left of the plane and set out into the wilderness.

This is clearly not the best idea, and it’s not long before the group are picked off one by one as the race to safety intensifies. With the Alpha male calling the shots wolf side, it’s Neeson doing the same for the humans, as he battles with his own issues as well as those around him. A few nights opening up round the fire and you realise that these men have a significant reason to want to get home alive.

Neeson is level headed and cool, but then put into a situation like this you have to be. The film, lacking in any visual landscape must use the survivors to really build the story, and Carnahan delivers enough tension to the audience to keep them on a knife edge.

The action is integrated well into the emotional side of the plot and that makes the film all the more enjoyable, as by the end you feel for each and everyone of those guys. The scenes are a little more believable, no tanks shooting down planes here. Although we do wonder if Carnahan took inspiration from Cliffhanger for one particular scene.

The Grey packs an intense punch all the way through and it will play on the heart strings as well. Neeson is the stand-out but has a solid supporting cast who don’t let him carry the burden all the way through till the end.
  
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)
2016 | Comedy
In the 1st film Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) move to the suburbs when they welcome an infant daughter into their lives name Stella (Zoey Vargas). All goes well with the couple, until Delta Psi Beta fraternity moves in next door. The fraternity leader Teddy (Zac Efron) aspires to join Delta Psi’s Hall of Fame by throwing a massive end of the year party, which end up shutting down the fraternity once and for all.

In the sequel, a few years after Mac and Kelly, pregnant with their second baby, are preparing to sell their house, when another couple agrees to take their property off their hands with one condition 30 days to inspect the house and make sure that everything is up to snuff. Unfortunately there is some bad news; the new tenants of the house next door are going to be louder than the previous ones.

The freshmen, Beth (Kiersey Clemons), Nora (Beanie Feldstein) and Shelby (Chloe Grace Moretz) tried joining to one of their school sororities, but found out that only the fraternities are allow to throw parties, and when they do the girls are victims of constant harassment, the drinks are spiked and the guys trying to have sex with them every minute even if is consensual or not. So Beth, Nora and Shelby decide to start their own sorority, Kappa Nu, where the girls don’t have to dress to impress, where they embrace self-respect and partying hard as a show of defiance.

The member of Kappa Nu are Mac and Kelly’s new neighbors, who are not very pleased about it, but when Mac ask them to keep quiet during the escrow period, he becomes just another man telling them what to do, so the war begins.

Neighbors 2 is uproariously funny, ridiculous and almost breathtaking dirty providing a successful attempt to have a great sequel. Being able to watch Zac Efron shirtless and wearing short shorts for prolonged periods of time is always a plus. It is hard to believe than nine years ago Seth Rogen was the chubby stoner with a terrible idea for a porn site in Knocked up and now He is the father of the year. Although I think that it is a shame that ,LLCoolJ ,didn’t make it to the final cut as was shown in the trailer, but I have to admit it was a nice touch having Zoey Vargas playing Stella for the second time, she is adorable. I only can say you’ll laugh if you’re young, you’ll laugh if you’re old, there is plenty of jokes and many disgusting and strong visual gags, and I loved it.
  
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Ian Anderson recommended Head Games by Foreigner in Music (curated)

 
Head Games by Foreigner
Head Games by Foreigner
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Foreigner was a band that had an anthemic sophistication about their musical approach. It was educated, well-formed, well turned-out British-American music. The primary songwriter and leader of the band [Mick Jones] was a Brit, and the vocal talents of probably rock’s finest ever tenor, Lou Gramm, fitted perfectly with their sound. I got to know Lou many years later after his horrendous illness. When he was making his comeback to singing after brain surgery, me and some other guys played with him on a big German TV show, and we had to change the key of the song we were doing. We dropped it before he came over to Germany and then when he got there we dropped it another couple of steps. I said to him that the Lou Gramm of 20 or 30 years prior, when he was singing at the top of his range, was a pretty hard act to follow. He said that he didn’t write the songs, and just had to sing what was written, and that he could do that in the studio but it was very tough to do night after night on stage. In a sense I have been there myself. I made records in 1982 [The Broadsword And The Beast] and 1984 [Under Wraps] where I sang really well on record, absolutely at the top of my range. I’m a baritone, and my range is usually up to an E or an occasional hasty F, and then I was singing F# and G. I was singing at the top of my range and singing consistently up there, not just the occasional high note. It was something I couldn’t keep up night after night and I lost my voice in 1984 and had to pretty much take a year off to recover. I cancelled three shows in Australia and two shows in the USA. Over the period of a month I cancelled more than 50 per cent of all the shows that I’ve cancelled in my entire 44 years in music. I still have a soft spot for Lou because of his incredible vocal ability and the wonderful controlled quality of his voice. I do believe he is rock’s finest tenor. His diction was good, his articulation and rhythm was great, he was a truly great singer. It doesn’t mean he’s rock’s best singer or best-known singer, because the usually out of tune Rod Stewart and gymnastic Robert Plant were probably more charismatic. Lou was more mainstream, but it was nevertheless a joy to listen to someone, rather like Alfie Boe, who is in complete control of their vocal ability as the result of hard work and a huge amount of natural talent. He may not be the most exciting pop singer, but for me he is the best."

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