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The Harder They Fall (2021)
The Harder They Fall (2021)
2021 | Drama, Western
8
8.0 (3 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A good old fashioned revenge story (2 more)
The villains are brilliant
Music is very atmospheric
Was skeptical, but enjoyed it!
I was initially skeptical of this film, thinking it was going to be an all black cast just for the sake of it, but I was very wrong!

The film is really enjoyable, and what colour-orientated aspects to it worked really well (the "white town" made me chuckle when I saw it).

The principal cast are all excellent, and I actually found the group of villains to be the most enjoyable to watch (the train heist is great).

Gory, entertaining and often heartfelt, I'd recommend giving it a watch. There aren't any lulls, there are a few twists, and the action is really well-paced and choreographed.
  
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Dean (6927 KP) rated Obi-Wan Kenobi in TV

Jun 29, 2022  
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
2022 | Sci-Fi
8
7.9 (8 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Great cast (2 more)
Big battles
James Earl Jones
Some short episodes (0 more)
May the force be with you
So just finished this shortly after seeing the two series of The Mandalorian. Thankfully this is more in keeping with the feel of the 2nd series of The Mandalorian.
It's on a big scale, big battles and sets and most importantly key characters are back. The overall cast is very good but it's a big difference to have the actors from the films showing again. Very glad James Earl Jones is the voice of Vader again.
Set 10 years after The Revenge of the Sith it sits nicely between that and A New Hope. If you are a Star Wars fan I can't see how you cannot like this.
  
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
2022 | Sci-Fi
10
7.9 (8 Ratings)
TV Show Rating
Well hello there...
Ok so we finally have a bridging story surrounding the mystery of what happened to Obi Wan Kenobi after the events of Episode3 Revenge of the Sith.

Set 10 years after the events of Episode3, Kenobi now living under an alias and working a regular job and avoiding the force almost entirely, is slowly pulled back in when the last of the jedi (untrained) are basically wiped out and a very young Princess leia is kidnapped... And after being asked repeatedly to rescue her and saying no, Kenobi succumbs to his old ways.

From a rescue mission to a cat and mouse chase with Darth Vader... This is one epic tie-in to the saga.
DO NOT MISS IT!
  
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David McK (3557 KP) rated John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) in Movies

May 26, 2019 (Updated Mar 11, 2023)  
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
2017 | Action, Crime, Thriller
Ask anyone to name Keanu Reeves best action movies, and there's a very good chance they'll name either The Matrix series, Speed or this: John Wick.

Essentially a revenge movie (and following the events of the first movie), John Wick is forced out of retirement by a blood oath to carry out an assassination against a high profile target, with the individual doing so then putting out a hit against John - aka The Boogeyman - himself. This film, then, takes the opportunity to build the world in which John Wick inhabits, in particular the role of the chain of the Continental Hotels, in which no blood can be spilt under threat of becoming excommunicado (and thus setting up John Wick chapter 3)
  
JL
Jacy’s Lesson ( Teach Me book 2)
Raven Dark | 2022
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
🔞🔞🔞🔞


142 of 230
Kindle
Jacy’s Lesson ( Teach me book 2)
By Raven Dark
⭐️⭐️
🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶

Class is in session, and Jacy is about to learn a hard lesson. After a wild night of passion together, her hot college professor Tyson Wright completely ignores her. Instead of wallowing in her sudden rejection, Jacy plots her revenge. What will she do when she discovers Tyson has a lesson for her, one she won't soon forget?

This book is exactly as it says spicy and short. Exactly like book 1 but this one lost that something and seemed a bit rough in writing. This author is usually quite up there on my list but this one just ugh.
  
Cold Pursuit (2019)
Cold Pursuit (2019)
2019 | Action, Drama, Thriller
Entertaining Neeson revenge-porn offering (0 more)
Bonkers and nonsensical at times plotting. (0 more)
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.)
  
47 Ronin (2013)
47 Ronin (2013)
2013 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Story: 47 Ronin starts as we learn how Kai (Reeves) a half-breed is discovered in ancient Japan, he is bought into village by Lord Asano (Tanaka). Attracted to his daughter Mika (Shibasaki) and looked down on by her brother Oishi (Sanada) and the rest of the samurai Kai lives on the outskirts. Even after saving Oishi from a beast he is looked down by the samurai.

When Lord Kira (Asano) visits not everything is as it seems as Kai believes one of the members is in fact a witch. When Lord Asano becomes bewitched into harming Lord Kira he must accept the ancient act of Seppuku the rest of the samurais and Kai go out for revenge once they discover that Lore Kira has been planning this all along.

47 Ronin gives us a very simple samurai storyline that we can easily follow and offers us very little fresh. We get the revenge story that is driven by honour as is apparently based on real events I am guessing it doesn’t include the mental supernatural side to everything. I do feel we could have had more in this story because I found Kai was kind of a confusing character one minute he is the main character the next he is the support. I would have also liked to have seen more of the supernatural side to the story. This is an easy watch but never challenging.

 

Actor Review

 

Keanu Reeves: Kai is a half-breed in the middle of Japan, he is loyal to the man that saved him even if the rest of the men disapprove of him being part of their village. When he is the one to first notice the witchcraft he is questioned but after the master is killed he must work with the samurai that final see him as one of their own to get revenge. Keanu is solid but does sometimes look out of place at times.kai

Hiroyuki Sanada: Oishi is the son of the Lord Asano, he is in charge of the samurai and doesn’t like Kai around because of honour. When his father is framed he most turn to Kai and his men to lead a revenge mission against Kira. Hiroyuki does well in this role getting to show off his skills.oishi

Ko Shibasaki: Mika is the daughter of Lord Asano that is involved in a forbidden love is Kai, when her father is killed she is forced into marrying Lord Kira so he can take over the village. Ko is solid in this role where she does become the damsel in distress.

Tadanobu Asano: Lord Kira is the evil man using witchcraft to take over the ancient kingdoms, he takes Mika to be his wife while taking out anybody who gets in his way. Tadanobu is solid in this role but I feel we needed to see more from his character.

Support Cast: 47 Ronin has a supporting cast that are all involved in the fights without being overly memorable.

Director Review: Carl Rinsch – Carl gives us an easy to watch film without really testing the audience.

 

Action: 47 Ronin has plenty of action when it comes to the fight scenes.

Adventure: 47 Ronin puts our characters on the adventure to get their revenge.

Fantasy: 47 Ronin shows us a world where witches and demons are in fact real.

Settings: 47 Ronin doesn’t create any truly memorable location which doesn’t help when it comes to the story.
Special Effects: 47 Ronin has solid effects when entering the supernatural side of everything but if it is based on a real story where did they come from?

Suggestion: 47 Ronin is one to try, it isn’t the most memorable but could be enjoyed without having to think much. (Try It)

 

Best Part: Final fight.

Worst Part: Slightly too long.

 

Believability: It is based on a legend.

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: No

Budget: $175 Million

Runtime: 1 Hour 59 Minutes

Tagline: This Christmas, seize eternity.

 

Overall: Samurai film done in very easy style.

https://moviesreview101.com/2017/09/02/keanu-reeves-weekend-47-ronin-2013/