Wrath of Man

I wasn’t even aware that this movie existed until last week when I saw a trailer for it before Godzilla vs Kong. To be honest I wasn’t all that impressed. From the trailer it looked like just your stereotypical revenge movie. But with not that many options right now and the fact that I like Jason Statham I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did because while in some ways this does follow many of those same tropes, rarely is it done this well. I was throughly entertained every minute of this movie. 

Everything fit together so well. The way things are slowly revealed throughout the story to the action/heist scenes which had my eyes glued to the screen the entire time. Even the actors worked well together and looked like they were having a blast filming this. Yes, you’ve seen Jason Statham play this type of role a million times. But he does it so damn well. 

If you’re into good old fashioned crime thrillers I definitely think you’ll love this. Guy Ritchie did an amazing job. These types of movies I feel are where he’s at his best. 

The only real complaint I have, and it’s very minor, is I started to feel the length a bit towards the end. 

There’s so much more I want to say but I don’t want to spoil this for anyone. I highly recommended it. Don’t let the trailer fool you- this is a damn good movie. I can’t believe I’m about to say this but it’s probably my favorite movie of the year so far. I may even buy a copy when it comes out on blu ray. That’s how much I enjoyed it. 

My Rating: 9/10

Godzilla vs. Kong

Yes, I’m well aware that I could've stay home and watched this on HBO Max. But this was one of those movies that I felt should be seen on the big screen. I’ve been looking forward to it since it was first announced and now that theaters are finally opened up around here I figured why not. So what’s my verdict? It was exactly what I expected and so much more! 

Pros:

•The action scenes were completely bad ass and had me on the edge of my seat. 

•Special effects were very well done, especially when it came to Kong 

•even though the human characters weren’t exactly three dimensional, I actually gave a shit about most of them. Unlike the characters in Mortal Kombat 2021. 

•Moved at a really good pace. I believe the movie was a little under two hours long and the time just flew by. 

•Definitely worth paying to see it in theaters. 

Cons:

•I feel like they did a better job developing the Team Kong side of things vs. the Team Godzilla side. 

•I can’t say too much without spoiling things but, even though I like him as an actor, I hated what they did with Demián Bichir’s character. 

•Kyle Chandler was completely useless. 

My Rating: 8.5/10

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Pros:

•I’m glad they decided to go all out and not shy away from the blood and gore. 

•The fight scenes were of course the best part of the movie. My eyes were completely glued to the screen each time one came up. Bad ass and very well choreographed. 

•Considering this is Simon McQuoid’s directorial debut I think he did a pretty decent job. You can tell he’s a fan and at least tried to make a somewhat coherent story out of this. Is it perfect? Far from it. But I appreciate the effort. 

•Fans of the game will definitely have a good time. 

•Most of the visuals looked decent. 

•Not sure how well it’s doing financially but I hope it makes enough to warrant a sequel. They set some cool stuff up at the end. 

Cons:

•I know this is not one of those movies you go to for great acting but good lord some of them in here  (with the exception of maybe two people)  were so terrible it was embarrassing. 

•Not something you really need to see in theaters. I do recommend it but watch it on HBO Max or stream it through other means. 

•Some very bizarre editing in certain parts. 

My Rating: 6.5/10

The Personal History of David Copperfield

Pros:

•The main things that stick out to me are the cinematography and costumes. It’s certainly a gorgeous movie to look at. They also do some creative things visually while telling the story which I thought was interesting. 

•All of the actors looked like they were having a lot of fun filming this. The highlights in my opinion were Peter Capaldi and Hugh Laurie. 

•I’m not as crazy about Dev Patel like some people are but I thought he was charming in the title role. 

Cons:

•The story itself was kind of... meh. Not bad by any means but I’ll most likely forget about it in a few days. Wouldn’t really recommend you see it in theaters. 

•The tone was all over the place. One minute it’s serious and the next it feels like a satire. It’s the same issue I had with the director’s last movie, The Death of Stalin (which despite this flaw is a far superior movie and one that I revisit often). 

•If you’re looking for a good period piece there are so many better ones than this. Emma (2020) for example. 

My Rating: 6/10

Tenet (IMAX)

My first review in over seven months. Wow! So much has changed since then. The world has gone to hell as you all know but some good has come out of this. When my work closed down for over two months, and I needed something to occupy my time and keep my sane, I actually started writing again! I’ve been wanting to write this story for over two years and it feels so good to get it out of my head and onto paper. Currently writing chapter 21 of what will probably be around a 30 chapter novel. Will definitely share it with you all when I’m finished. 

Between working on my novel and the fact that the studios aren’t really releasing much for the rest of the year, I probably won’t be doing reviews on a weekly basis but I’ll try to post some as often as I can. 

Anyway, onto the review. I’m very happy that it gets to be the latest Christopher Nolan movie 😊 

Pros:

•It’s a fascinating story but definitely one that I’m going to need to watch a few more times in order to process it all. Who knows, maybe it’ll make my rating go up. 

•It was nice to see John David Washington in a movie again. While I enjoyed his performance in BlacKkKlansman more, I still thought he was good here. I also really liked Robert Pattinson in this as well. 

•Amazing fight/action choreography. 

•Of course it was a gorgeous looking movie, especially on an IMAX screen. 

•Probably one of Nolan’s weaker movies in my opinion. Still, even one of his movies that isn’t the best is still a million times better than most of the movies that are released. That being said, I would recommend it. 

Cons:

•The sound mixing would sometimes be so overwhelming/loud that I could barely make out the dialogue. 

•I didn’t care much for Kenneth Branagh (whom I’m normally a fan of) in this. There were times where he was fine but other times he was a little too over the top. 

•As much as I love Nolan, he still doesn’t know how to write good female characters. 

•Started to feel the length a bit towards the end. 

My Rating: 7.5/10

Emma

Pros:

•Gorgeous cinematography and costumes.

•I’m a sucker for a good period piece. And the fact that it’s Jane Austen makes it even better. 

•Anya Taylor-Joy was perfectly cast as the title character. She’s a very talented young actress and I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve seen her in so far. 

•It’s always a delight whenever I see Bill Nighy in a movie. 

Cons:

•It got off to a bit of a slow start and I wasn’t feeling it at first. Luckily things picked up in the second half. 

My Rating: 8/10 

This will probably be my last review for a little while. I’ve been meaning to take a break to focus on other things. Mainly my other writing including several stories I’ve had floating in my head for a long time. And with this horrible coronavirus sadly affecting everything, who knows when we’ll get more new releases. 

The Way Back

I didn’t even know about this movie until just recently. But when I heard this was directed by Gavin O’Connor (who also directed Warrior, one of my favorite movies ever) I knew I had to see it. He’s definitely your go to guy if you’re looking to make a sports movie. I’m happy to say that once again he did not disappoint. The Way Back was absolutely amazing. 

What I really love the most about Gavin’s movies is that you don’t have to be a sports fan in order to enjoy them. Honestly this movie wasn’t as much about basketball as the trailer lead me to believe. It’s a big part of it yes, but it’s more than that. It’s a really well done drama about a man named Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck, who gives one of his best performances in my opinion), a former high school basketball star who has gone through some really tragic things in his life and is battling severe alcoholism. And that’s putting it mildly. 

You can tell how personal this movie is for Ben Affleck given his own struggles with addiction. He really put everything into this and gave a raw, brutality realistic performance. I would love to see him get some recognition come award season but given that it’s super early in the year who knows. 

There were some rough spots with the dialog but that really my only complaint. I highly recommend everyone check it out. 

My Rating: 9/10