Tag: review

Bridge of Spies is a decent offering from Steven Spielberg. It is very much one of his more serious offerings in the vein of Munich. Yet, it wasn’t as serious because the Coen brothers contributing some very subtle witty dialogue. Tom Hanks is an elderly version of himself. He sort of reminded me of Joe from Joe Versus the Volcano, a somewhat down beat character who finds the heroic side in him from being brave.

Here Hanks is James Donovan, a lawyer who stumbles into the ungrateful task of defending a Soviet spy. Donovan gives the spy as good a defense as deserved. He also makes the case that by giving the spy a decent defense he is following the spirit of America. Or even Jesus. America is about dignity and grace. Contrasted to the Soviets, America is upholding human rights. It isn’t about ramming people into jail. It isn’t about torture. It is about taking the high road. If only we remember this. America is better than what the GOP let’s you believe.

Anywho, Bridge of Spies is worth watching as a Spielberg movie. It’s not a classic, but it is rather solid, and it would be a pleasant film to catch on a lazy Sunday as it plays on USA network.

3 of 5 stars.

Everyone cries in a Nancy Myers film including the leads in The Intern.

It was better than expected. And I liked how the ending left much to your imagination.

3 of 5 stars.

The Martian.

It was just like the book. Focused on the technical aspects. The only thing about it though is that the characters were caricatures. They showed up, did there thing, then left. Not sure if the book itself allows for them to be people.

It was good, but not as great as we expected.

3 of 5 stars.

Before Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, the theatre showed the trailer for the next James Bond movie, Spectre. In it, Bond is chasing after a shadow organization bent on taking out MI-6. Spectre is just one charismatic person, the uber Bond villain.

As I watched Mission Impossible, I had the distinct impression that I was watching the James Bond movie.

Mission Impossible had a charismatic bad guy running a shadow organization bent on taking down IMF. No need to watch the next James Bond. Catch this instead.

This installment of the Mission Impossible films rolled all the previous Mission Impossible movies into one. It had the back-stabbing of the first installment, the boring-ness of the second, a nod to the rabbit’s foot in the third, and Simon Pegg as Benjie, the comic relief from the previous one. It should’ve been awesome. It wasn’t. This installment lacked the propulsive force of the previous two and returned back to the sneaky capers of the first two. In fact, it felt like the first Mission Impossible film — the intrigues was more important than the action pieces.

Cruise was running in this one. He also had his stunt hanging on the plane. Good, but not the best. The girl was a Bond girl. She was very competent. I hope she shows up in the next one.

Watch it, but it will be better on FXX.

3 of 5 stars.

Ant-Man is the beginning of Marvel Cinematic Universe’s end.

Not really. I’m just making that up because I have nothing better to write in this blog post.

It’s been over two weeks since I saw this. I liked it at the time. I still do like it, but it ain’t the best summer movie.

I liked Paul Rudd. I liked Michael Douglas. I thought that Evangeline Lilly was ill used even after she was granted the Wasp costume. (SPOILER ALERT!) I thought Michael Peña was the best thing of this movie. They need more of that criminal group. In fact, that looked to be the stuff left over when Edgar Wright left the movie in a huff.

At least, it’s not Fantastic Four.

3 of 5 stars.

Dope reminds me of the early 90s. Not because the protagonist was a 90s hip-hop loving nerd, but because the movie felt like it was made by a black director of the new school 90s auteurs.

It’s worth seeing, but only for the N.E.R.D. culture.

3 of 5 stars.

Was everyone dumb in Jurassic World? Chris Pratt and his horde of velociraptors? The head of the park, her heels, and her fear of kids? Her underling acting babysitter? Those kids! Gaah! Those kids: let’s roll out of bounds! THOSE KIDS? The park visitors? The control room duo?

Gaah! Everyone was dumb! Including me to have watched this film and expected something else.

I wanted this to be rated R so that we could’ve gotten more gore. I wanted to see the fleeing victims ripped to shreds. I wanted to see the dumb park wranglers get ripped to shreds. I wanted to see THOSE KIDS ripped to shreds. I wanted mayhem level of blood on the screen. But I didn’t get it.

This was epitome of mindless summer entertainment. Don’t be fooled.

2 of 5 stars