At the Movies with Kane and BN

[Kane52630]

The Marksman

Liam Neeson has fully taken over the Clint Eastwood/Charles Bronson role (if he hasn't already since Taken) in this mostly serviceable neowestern thriller. It uses the same formula as a lot of westerns and Samurai stories like Lone Wolf and Cub, but set in the US/Mexico border where he has to fend off some cartel members and crooked American cops and while trying to save and protect a kid. While the story is very predictable, I do think it's a bit more elevated than your usual direct to video trash and I don't think Liam Neeson phoned in it this time. I do admire the direction and cinematography where is it trying to be a Clint Eastwood film and there are some smaller moments that I thought really worked. Also shout out to Amber Midthunder for being great in two useless scenes that they could have given to a lesser known actress. What brings the film down was predictable story, the unnecessary subplot with Katheryn Winnick and some underwritten characters especially with the villains (even though they try to make that up in the last couple of scenes). There's also some obvious white savior complex, but it didn't really ruin the film for me. Overall, it's pretty average.
2.5/5

 

[NDX]

In the Earth

Really enjoyed this. It's Ben Wheatley going back to his horror route where it's seemingly a horror film on the surface when it's actually something else (and it's pretty psychedelic). With how it's filmed and the plot mechanics of the story, the film felt like he combined Annihilation with some sections of The Last of Us pt 2. Unlike Songbird, it was made with the current pandemic in mind that works extremely well with the plot. I really enjoyed the performances by the main two leads in here, Joel Fry and Ellora Torchia, but the movie really belongs to Reece Shearsmith who steals every scene he's in. Overall, it's an phenomenal film that touches themes of isolation in a very weird horror/sci-fi way. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this really worked for me.
4/5

This movie had me from start to finish. It had a trippy 70s vibe from beginning to end. It would have been a complete waste of time if that ending flopped. Thankfully it didn't.

 

[Kane52630]

The whole scenes with Reece Shearsmith were amazing. It felt like I was playing a Last of Us DLC.

 

[NDX]

I've never played that so I'll take your word on it but Shearsmith was very good. But that last line is what made the film for me. It was a visual spectacle and I hope it gets a proper release by a company like Second Sight did with Upgrade. Day 1 purchase for me.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Ben Wheatley making a good movie again, tis' been a while. I'll definitely check it out asap.

 

[Kane52630]

Raya and the Last Dragon

Mostly decent for what it is. It's without question Disney's answer to Avatar the Last Airbender and while there's a lot of ambitious world building going on that takes inspiration from a lot of Chinese and southeast Asian folklore and cultural elements, it feels crammed in as a single movie. You do see the formula with the story and they don't try too much to stand out against the rest and the dialogue just didn't feel as interesting as it should be. That being said, I will say I absolutely love the animation that almost feels photo realistic at times... especially with the skin textures and backgrounds which reminded me of Moana. The voice cast was solid and I did enjoy Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, and Gemma Chan the most despite some pitfalls I had with the dialogue and story. Overall, It's pretty good, but I feel like this would be much better suited as a big budgeted Disney+ animated show.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

Really felt the possession horror movie fatigue with this one. James Wan didn't return to direct and it's almost like they ran out of ideas of what to do now that they are several movies deep into the Conjuring cinematic universe. The marketing/trailers almost tricks you into thinking this might be more of a court case, but it quickly moves away from that to a more traditional possession horror flick with some satanic cult elements as the main centerpiece. It's also disappointing that Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga were kinda sleepwalking in this, but I thought Sarah Catherine Hook, John Noble, and Ruairi O'Connor (who I can see play Johnathan Crane) were decent enough. The scares themselves was probably the more predictable part about it considering the previous Conjuring films. The execution was so lazy that the real life audio recording of the events that was in the credits was the only horrifying part of the film. Overall, pretty basic and disappointing.
2/5

 

[Kane52630]

The Courier

A really well made cold war era spy thriller that doesn't try to do anything too flashy or even original, but it does tell the story of Greville Wynne & Oleg Penkovsky in a pretty captivating way if you got the attention span for it. While this is pretty much Bridge of Spies with a lower budget, they do a good job ramping up the tension and suspense of the Cuban missile crisis as the film goes along and when the film switches to another kind of drama, it becomes even more darker. It's the performances of Benedict Cumberbatch and Merab Ninidze that really work here and the supporting cast does enough to keep the pace going like Rachel Brosnahan and Jessie Buckley. Overall, while it might not be for everyone who wants something more action packed, it's a gripping spy thriller that is totally reliant on the phenomenal performances and some of the stage direction.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Chaos Walking

I guess I'm going to be one of the weird ones who mostly enjoyed it. It's essentially a high concept futuristic western where every man's inner monologue becomes a loud speaker and is visible to everyone once they've entered this new planet. It takes inspirations from several westerns that kinda follow the same plot where it's basically a hunt and find chase and some obvious Lord of the Flies ideas. While the main plot isn't too remarkable, I thought everything on the margins of the world-building was fascinating. It's an obvious analogy to American/British colonialism as well as nationalist propaganda, but I thought it really worked or at least enough to keep me watching. The overall aesthetic that Doug Liman brought felt like something you'd see in a Hideo Kojima game which was interesting. As for the performances, they were decent enough, but nothing that really stands out outside of maybe Mads Mikkelsen. One big thing that takes the film down was the concept wasn't nearly as fleshed out as it should be... but I suppose the film would of been rated R or NC 17 if it did. There's also some typical YA dystopian elements that feels lazy and the 3rd act really drags it down where it becomes generic. Overall, I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would despite its problems.
3/5

 

[Kane52630]

In The Heights

Exactly the summer movie that is needed to bring back a sense of normalcy. It's a very well produced musical drama that takes Lin-Manuel Miranda's storytelling and combine it with Jon M. Chu directing sensibilities that he had back in the Step Up days where it's heavy on choreography. I thought it did a decent job highlighting a section of Manhattan and the Dominican culture that often gets overlooked for the popular areas. While I am not usually a fan of American musicals, they do enough here just like with Hamilton where it is tolerable and the story is gripping enough to keep you going. The cast was solid and I thought Melissa Barrera, Anthony Ramos, Olga Merediz, and especially Gregory Diaz were the highlights. Also there's a really fun Stephanie Beatriz role where she shines for a bit. My only problem with it is the film goes on for too long once it gets to the 3rd act, other than that it was fine. Overall, it's a solid musical drama that is culturally relevant to to day.
3.5/5



I feel like the future history books will have a Covid19 timeline that will be placed in between the release of Cats to the release of In The Heights.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Censor

A British film censor links a disturbing horror movie to her sister's mysterious disappearance.

Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond. I went in not knowing nothing much about this movie, watched the first teaser and that was it. I didn't look up the director till after the movie was over. She seems like a badass lady. I'm also kinda in awe at how much more women can be even more bloody and violent than some male directors, if it ever came down to it. From various recent examples from my own viewing like, 'Revenge', 'The Nightingale' , 'Raw', You Were Never Really Here' etc. But done so with care and even I'd say a certain elegance to their methods, which when the violence comes, it hits you like bricks. More women doing genre flicks is something I could keep watching over and over. More of it!


What a great gem of a film. Yes, the 'Videodrome' reference is there and I also got a bit of a 'Mandy' type feeling, which helps that this has a good score to set the mood. But honestly, this reminded me of that Nic Cage flick '8mm' that is very under rated imo. Still, this is its own thing. Genre film-making at its finest. Can films be too violent? Who are these ppl who decide what to cut/edit out, how does it affect them in their personal lives. You take a missing sister mystery and add these gore filled B level movies in the background, it just makes sense. This is still handled with a slow burning pace, which left me feeling with a bit of anxiety in certain scenes.

I hope more folks give this a watch and rent it, it is worth it.

8/10

 

[Kane52630]

Wrath of Man

For a knockoff of a knockoff (in this case, Den of Thieves and Heat), this was surprisingly enjoyable. Guy Ritchie takes the common tropes of a heist film and combines it with a typical revenge plot, but it uses a nonlinear (and maybe meta?) story in execution much in the way of The Gentleman minus the humor. It kinda takes you aback when every character who's not Jason Statham has dialogue that sounds very NPC, but it feels very intentional. For the most part the film operates in a montage-esque way... which can be very grating if they don't have a reason for it, but they somehow make it work which created some of my favorite moments in the film and the music was great. It's got a loaded cast and most of which are a lot of notable character actors like Holt McCallany and Josh Hartnett, but the most surprising thing about it is Guy Ritchie manages to make Scott Eastwood look good as an actor. The action is top notch and gruesome as you would expect from Guy Ritchie where they don't pull any punches. Overall, one of the more impressive crime/revenge dramas in recent years.
3.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

Where the first one had some balance of comedy and and action drama, this one leans fully into Deadpool absurdist comedy. The movie strips away any focus for drama or the main plot which leaves Ryan Reynolds, Sam Jackson and Selma Hayek in a comedy road trip for most of the film. The gags and the comedy bits does keep the movie afloat for the most part even though you do not care what happens to any of them. Most of the side characters falls flat even if they got one or two good jokes in. The action itself is basically what you'd expect from Ryan Reynolds which is basically Looney Tunes. Overall, while I did appreciate the comedy a lot, the movie itself is very much a summer movie that you would forget in a couple of months.
2.5/5

 

[Black Narcissus]

V/H/S/2

A rewatch. I hadn't seen this since it was first released. Man, this is still a lot of fun. Holds up very well. The Edwards directed sequence is still my favorite, followed by Wingard's. How do I get these ghost like creatures to go away, cue in hot pixie looking gal with big 'eyes', that will do the trick! Eh, damn shame this series went to trash with the following movie, this had the potential to be a trilogy of sorts. The first two flicks still plays!

 

[Kane52630]

F9

They finally did it, they finally pushed that threshold of mission freakin' insanity into full awareness not to mention they did the thing we all want them to do. Justin Lin manages to put together a collection of incredible practical stunt pieces and CG action with an overly melodramatic soap opera about family and street racing. Now that can be said about the other Fast and Furious movies, but this is the one that fully knows what it is with one scene that fundamentally changes how we see this series even if that was played as a tongue in cheek joke. This one centers more on Dom even more so than any other Fast and Furious movie which was both a positive and a negative. I did enjoy the flashbacks even though they relied on them too much to the point where they're doing all the heavy lifting in the story/emotional side so Vin and Cena don't have to do much. The return of Han goes back into the full awareness side of the movie where it made the least amount of sense, but you go with it because they know it's ridiculous. The surprising part of the movie for me was seeing the return of the Tokyo Drift crew interacting with Roman and Tej and how they got all the best jokes in the movie. That being said, one of the bigger disappointments was Charlize Theron's character who doesn't get to do a whole lot. Overall, it's big dumb fun and it's a big improvement over Fast 8 which I still think might be the weakest entry out of all of them.
3.5/5

 

[InCali]

You guys should do a "Sneaking into the Movies" short.

 

[Black Narcissus]

@Kane52630

In a spoiler tag for the rest, but please tell me in detail if you can how the hell Han comes back. Much appreciated. Also, Gal's character gotta come back now, right? lol

 

[Kane52630]

@Kane52630

In a spoiler tag for the rest, but please tell me in detail if you can how the hell Han comes back. Much appreciated. Also, Gal's character gotta come back now, right? lol

Spoiler

You find out Han was recruited by Kurt Russell's character all along and had to fake his death via hologram... yes hologram... for the world ending macguffin.

Gal might as well come back because you got holograms, magnets, and Tyrese who is convinced he's in a simulation.

 

[Black Narcissus]

Spoiler

You find out Han was recruited by Kurt Russell's character all along and had to fake his death via hologram... yes hologram... for the world ending macguffin.

Gal might as well come back because you got holograms, magnets, and Tyrese who is convinced he's in a simulation.

Sweet lord. And to think the first one now plays like some kind of small character indie type flick, if we compare it to the rest. So Cena is also suppose to be a latino man in this or it aint even mentioned. Heh. I'm just going to assume Cena turns back to good guy by the end of the flick or in the next one.

 

[Prison Mike]

By the end of this entire series, Cypher will be at their obligatory bbq dinner.

 

[Black Narcissus]

By the end of this entire series, Cypher will be at their obligatory bbq dinner.

Only if she wears her blonde dreadlocks.

 

[StarLord]

By the end of this entire series, Cypher will be at their obligatory bbq dinner.

Although not in the same room. She'll be there via her command center.

 

[Da-Scribe]

Sweet lord. And to think the first one now plays like some kind of small character indie type flick, if we compare it to the rest. So Cena is also suppose to be a latino man in this or it aint even mentioned. Heh. I'm just going to assume Cena turns back to good guy by the end of the flick or in the next one.

Spoiler

Theron’s character references the mixed Toretto bloodline, but clarifies that she she didn’t detect a “Nordic strain” lol.

 

[Kane52630]

The Ice Road

You would think putting Liam Neeson in cold environments would automatically make it a decent film (Batman Begins, The Grey, Cold Pursuit) but unfortunately that is not the case for The Ice Road. This is the very definition of a direct to video cliche thriller that appeals to the blue collar folks. I will say I was mildly entertained by the first half of the movie where they make the plot look like it's somewhere between Oceans 11 and Fast and Furious where they go into the ice road trucker life as they have to assemble a crew for an emergency mission run to save some miners. Aside from a couple of scenes, this got your typical bad dialogue, bad effects, bad direction, and bad acting. I can't even tell if Liam Neeson and Laurence Fishburne was trying, but it wasn't really working. I will say that I like how Amber Midthunder try to stand out in the movie and had something to go on by. The 2nd half of the movie is where they go into predictable territory as it becomes a bad chase action film. Overall, this isn't what you want.
1.5/5

 

[Kane52630]

Censor

It's a fantastic film that explores the seedy underbelly of indie horror filmmaking that centers on a woman who works on censoring those films coming into the UK during the early 80s. It's also got a slow burning mystery that revolves around a missing person that becomes more of a character drama. Really dug the themes they present in here. In a way, this does feel like a combination of Videodrome, Mandy, 8MM with a little bit of Argento thrown in which really works. This has a standout performance by Niamh Algar, who I can't wait to see what she does next as well as the director Prano Bailey-Bond who does a phenomenal job as a first time feature length director. Overall, it's a worthy indie horror flick that does have something to say and its worth watching.
4/5