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The Hunt (2020)
The Hunt (2020)
2020 | Action, Horror, Thriller
After some controversy surrounding the release of this movie I was a bit curious as to what all the fuss was about. After viewing, I figured it out.

Perhaps what's the most disturbing in reflection is that in the climate of the world today, I can actually see something similar being played out in real life. Obviously without the twists and turns of Hollywood, but suffice it so say that there are some bonkers things going on in the universe we live in.

Back to the movie...

Incredible acting by everyone involved. I can think of at least three different occasions where I began to really track and follow a character thinking that they were going to be a main protagonist (or antagonist, depending on your point of view) only to then almost immediately watch them get snuffed quicker than a bag of nails at a hammer convention. Pretty interesting way to approach it. But honestly, it worked well for this particular movie.

The choreography of the final sequence was remarkable. Humor was appropriately injected and the scene made you actually believe that it could happen under similar circumstances, to a degree, of course.

All in all, I'm thankful that everyone involved finally had the fortitude to release this movie. Regardless of what side of the political fence you fall on, there are lessons to be learned, even though it might be uncomfortable to do so. And to be frank, at the end of the day, just a bit of compassion and understanding would have prevented the events of this film from unfolding. But that wouldn't have made for much of a movie.
  
Whew, what a way to begin a series! Jordan pulled me in from the beginning and made me so curious about her as a person and how Allen Steadham would mold her as a character. She was/is a complex person with really well described internal struggles that I think everyone goes through at one point or another in their lives; I mean what is your purpose in life? It seems to be one of Jordan’s biggest questions and I truly admire the way Jordan goes about finding the answers to that question. I also really enjoyed the secondary characters and the layers of laughter, sarcasm, sass, and humor that they brought with them. They are so loyal that I cannot imagine the story without them! All the characters show a great amount of strength and courage when faced with the unknown.

The plot was also really good and hooked me from the first page (Just read it and you will see why) Allen Steadham definitely knows how to pull you in and commit you to the story. The twists and turns that this story takes will have you dreaming of conclusions and wishing you had already bought the second book so you could see what happens next. I know I did. I totally enjoyed this story and definitely recommend it if you are willing to take a leap into a world not quite our own. 5 out of 5 stars for the great character build up, faith interwoven themes, and for leaving me wanting more…. Now I am off to read book two, Jordan’s Arrow.
  
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
1971 | Crime, Sci-Fi

"A Clockwork Orange I’ve seen about 35 times. I remember first seeing that and I certainly didn’t get half the movie, but when I was young, I just thought it was just kind of weird and strange and I really appreciated it as I got a little older and saw it more often and more often. Then it became this sort of like a party background movie, something that just became part of my life. I certainly appreciated the language. Not profanity or anything but its own language, and the visual of it, I really appreciated the visual, because the visual is such a storytelling part of it and the language was so bizarre in its own kind of language. I really appreciate the work that goes into that. This is more like a highbrow sort of snobby film pick, but a sick demented sense of humor is kind in that movie as well. Ultimately it’s the visual storytelling and the language that I thought was so tremendous. It’s an absolute acid-trip fantasy weird thing. I never did drugs growing up because I watched Clockwork Orange enough so I didn’t have to do drugs. There’s a lot of shock value to it, but I really appreciated it for that. It was really kind of interesting for me and it all was put together in a very smart way, I believe. It’s not just sensationalism or anything like that because that kind of s— bothers me. But anyway, there’s a lot of things in that movie that I really like and appreciated. it really well in that film."

Source
  
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
1954 | Crime, Mystery
A mid-tier episode of "Law & Order" from the 50s that's as mildly rousing as it is boring in a nearly 1:1 ratio. Yes the writing is impressively airtight, and always leaves you looking for some sort of holes to no avail - one of those films where you play a fun little guessing game in your head every time a character says or does something. Could they have slipped up? Do the other characters know that? But here's my main problem with this: it's so DRY holy shit. Yes the story is rigorously optimized for this sort of deal, but that's all there is to chew on here - nothing else. The characters in this movie exist only to explain and inform each other about the story as it happens - outside of the first couple scenes there are no little moments of interpersonal interaction between characters that involves anything else besides telling people what just happened, no moments of humor outside of a bad gay joke and a couple telegraphed duds, no personality building beyond how they react in relation to - again - the singular crime narrative. That's virtually every single scene, so it quickly feels like you're just watching the same thing over and over again. This goes straight past staunchly formal and almost into rudimentary, but Grace Kelly and Ray Milland are wonderful enough to carry this very talky one-trick pony along with the sheer attention to detail of the plot. Still definitely fair but way too straightforward, I can't act like dozens of better ones have been done even if this did potentially pave the way for a lot of them.
  
Daredevil (2003)
Daredevil (2003)
2003 | Action, Sci-Fi
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘺?"
"𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴..."

*Director's cut*
Old proverb states: can a movie *truly* be bad with a Colin Farrell performance this fuckin' gonzo? Just as hokey as you remember, that playground fight is one of the worst things to make it through to pass in any superhero movie - and it's hilarious. Really funny when it tries to be, too though - for that matter. Overstuffed and contrived for sure but not too much more or less cartoonish than most of the stuff in the Raimi 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳-𝘔𝘢𝘯 movies, and this at least endearing market-tested clumsiness is - at the very least - twenty times more palatable than the intolerable formula market-testing in most of the Phase One/Three MCU flicks. This at least tries to have some fun, good humor, comic book replication, varied story beats, and a palpable edge beyond just its superficial emo-ness. I just can't help but smirk at the moon physics fight sequences or corny needledrops ("All this time I can't believe I couldn't see" with a lingering cut to Matt's eyes, come on man lmao). There's also a pretty rock solid backdrop in here about how most of the characters - good or bad - are motivated by greed or self-interest, so ultimately what we have to judge in the end is what's left when that wealth, pride, and/or power is unceremoniously stripped away from them. That final fight/scene with Kingpin is epic. Comes out much more sorta dorkily awkward as opposed to corporately sinister than it did in its day, because of what this has been replaced with and how immeasurably worse it is.