Sep 25 2018

Any Bullet Will Do (2018)

Director: Justin Lee

Writer: Justin Lee (Screenplay)

Starring: Kevin Makely, Bruce Davison, Jenny Curtis, Meg Foster, Todd A Robinson, Mark Ryan

 

Plot: Taking place during 1876 in Montana, a ruthless headhunter tracks his own Brother through Big Sky country with the help of a young fur trapper.


Tagline – Mercy is something you beg for.

Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Gritty Western

 

Story: Any Bullet Will Do starts when headhunter Hollis Ransom (Makely) arrives in the small town to collect his bounty from Jonathan Carrington (Davison) before stopping off at Ma Whitman’s (Foster) bar. Everett Ransom (Robinson) the brother of Hollis who is a murderous man, that Hollis is hired to eliminate them.

In need of a guide, Hollis reluctantly agrees to take the services of Rose Gage (Curtis) who knows how to deal with the snow-covered mountain ranges of Montana, can Hollis get his revenge.

 

Thoughts on Any Bullet Will Do

 

Characters – Hollis Ransom is lone headhunter that isn’t afraid to collect any bounties, he has a tortured past with his wife murdered by his own brother during the war, now he hunts his brother and must learn to trust Rose who can guide him to the end of his revenge mission. Jonathan Carrington pays the bounty hunters, he is ruthless when it comes to business though not always keeping his word. Rose Gage is the young woman that is the only one that will help Hollis in his journey across the mountains, she knows how to survive the terrain proving to be an excellent partner in his journey. Ma Whitman runs the local tavern, she will look after the loyal customers including Hollis.

Performances – Kevin Makely in the leading role as the headhunter is good, he makes us feel like he would be an outsider too which is what we need from this performance. Bruce Davison is solid enough in his supporting role, he doesn’t get that much screen time though. Jenny Curtis is strong in her role and works wonderfully well with Kevin. The rest of the cast do fit the roles they are given.

Story – The story here is a old school western revenge one, with one man hunting down the person that killed his wife, this person just so happens to be his brother though, giving us a sibling rivalry in the fallout of the civil war. When it comes to the lone man on a revenge journey we see how reluctant they are to let others in, this is Hollis, we see how the one person he does let in, is only there dreaming of a better life for themselves. My only issue with the story is not getting to see just how twisted Everett is, sure we see what he did to Hollis’s wife, but on the journey he seems to pick up a reputation which makes him a terrible man, seeing a couple of action would only make us hate him more.

Western – The western theme is one I have spoken about as one that we don’t see too often now, this shows we can do them and we can step away from the heated environment.

Settings – The setting for this film is snow-covered mountain ranges which look as beautiful as they do seem deadly, showing us the man might not be the only danger for the men.


Scene of the Movie – Final showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not using Bruce Davison enough.

Final Thoughts – This is one of the surprise westerns of the year, we get to see just how strong characters can come together in a battle even if it is between a family, we have two strong performances and a shoot-out worth waiting for.

 

Overall: Western full of gritty and determination.

Rating

 

 

Advertisements
Sep 25 2018

ABC Film Challenge – Romance – Y – You’ve Got Mail

ABC Film Challenge

Romance

Y

You’ve Got Mail

Why I’ve Picked this choice – I did my full review on this film back in March, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks were one of the best on screen couples of the 90’s, this being their third outing together and this time we follow a small book shop owner Kathleen Kelly (Ryan) who in search of love uses online dating, here she meets Joe Fox (Hanks) a large book chain business owner that usually eliminates the competition with his cheaper, larger selection of books.

This is a romantic comedy and does hit the jokes very well throughout the film reminding the audience that Hanks is just as capable of doing comedy as he is the more serious film, which is he most known for in the 90s. the idea of online dating was just starting out and while this is a remake of ‘The Shop Around the Corner’ it does show us how we changed our dating habits through the years.

This is one of the best rom coms from the 90s, it can be watched and enjoyed by all, even if some of the next generation might find it hard to see the first signs of online dating with the world circling around fast ways to chat.

Sep 24 2018

Gangsta (2018)

Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Writer: Nabil Ben Yadir, Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah, Bram Renders, Kobe Van Steenberghe, Hendrick Verthe (Screenplay)

Starring: Matteo Simoni, Nora Charib, Said Boumazoughe, Junes Lazaar

 

Plot: Antwerp. The lives of four dealer friends, who want to become real life swaggers, spins out of control when they steal a shipment of cocaine. They trigger a full out war between them, an Amsterdam drug lord and the ruthless Colombian cartels.

 

Runtime: 2 Hours 5 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Fun Twist on the Gangster Genre

 

Story: Gangsta starts as we meet Adamo (Simoni) a half Italian half Moroccan man growing up in Antwerp with his three best friends, Junes (Lazaar), Volt (Boumazoughe) and Badia (Gharib), the four do everything together and believe in the gangster way of life.

Adamo gets the first break working on trafficking cocaine from Morocco to Antwerp and he brings his friends along for this first chance to shine only for things to get out of hand when the coke goes missing and the friends become targets for the dealers.

 

Thoughts on Gangsta

 

Characters – Adamo is the leader of the four he can get the contacts to the drug underworld, which he does showing his confidence walking into that world. he knows how to use his team the best and wants them to have a future outside of the small neighbourhood. Badia is the kick ass of the group, she has studied every Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and will hurt anyone that touches her or her friends. Volt is the loose cannon that is hyper active which can only cause problems as the story unfolds. While Junes completes the gang believe he is all style when fighting. We do get the drug supplies, the bigger deals and the dirty cops to deal with through the film that complete the line up of character like we would expect to see.

Performances – The cast do a good job, with Matteo Simoni in the leading role making us believe his wild ambition to be a gangster. Nora Gharib does look like the badass when it comes to the fighting scenes, she seems to make the biggest impact, the rest of the cast are good through the film embracing their characters well.

Story – The story follows four want to be gangsters as they take their first steps into the deadly world of drugs and soon find enemies as they bring a drug war down on their city. Where this story can stand out from other gangster movies, is by having the film broken down into the chapters of the seven deadly sins which is important to Adamo’s beliefs. Outside this we see the story unfold in the traditional method of everything getting out of hand quicker than the crew can manage and we even get a false ending to trick you into thinking the credits are rolling.

Crime – The crime we enter is one the gang want to be part of only to find themselves left in the world they can’t handle when the drug war comes to them.

Settings – The film is set in Antwerp which beings us a new setting for the drug war because we have seen one on in the places around the locations the characters are coming from.


Scene of the Movie – The final shoot out.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Failing to use Babia in the final act when we could have seen how deadly she could be.

Final Thoughts – This is a gangster film with its own style which is one that you will remember, it uses the deadly sins to show how the crime world can be for the people involved.

 

Overall: Fun stylish gangster flick

Rating

 

 

Sep 24 2018

ABC Film Challenge – Romance – X – Ice Man & Rogue – X-Men 2

ABC Film Challenge Non-Review Selection

I won’t be doing reviews for everything letter, so here are my pick for today.

ABC Film Challenge

Romance

X

Ice Man & Rogue – X-Men 2

Why I’ve Picked this choice – Time for the first cheat of this round, we return to X-Men once again and this time we are focusing on the second film in the franchise, this circles around the idea of Rogue and Ice Man who both want to be a young couple that do help each other through life problems and this makes us care about these two young characters in the X-Men franchise. Their romance shows us just how attraction can come from people that can’t be together for life and death reasons.

Sep 23 2018

Franchise Weekend – Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)

Director: Hiroyuki Seshita, Kobun Shizuno

Writer: Gen Urobuchi (Screenplay)

Starring: (Voice Talents) Mamoru Miyano, Lucien Dogde, Kana Hanazawa, Ken’yu Horiuchi, Yuki Kaji, Kenta Miyaje

 

Plot: Humanity’s desperate battle to reclaim the Earth from Godzilla continues. The key to defeating the King of the Monsters may be Mechagodzilla, a robotic weapon thought to have been lost nearly 20,000 years ago.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Same Sequel

 

Story: Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle starts right where the last film finished, our ground teams are lost to the command ships who must make the decision to retreat to safety, Haruo is rescued by a group of surviving humans on Earth, hidden underground, where the remaining ground team including Yuko, Adam and other species must work to figure out how to escape and defeat Godzilla.

Using the knowledge of the remaining humans, Haruo leads the next battle attack on the Godzilla by searching for the long lost Mechagodzilla and with new weapons they can now stand a battle chance in battle.

 

Thoughts on Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

 

Characters – Haruo Sakaki continues his fight against the Godzilla, he shows his leadership skills by offering the soldiers a choice, to stay or fight. He will work with the locals on Earth that no one new existed and now he can finally get his revenge. Metphies continues his shady figure based on religious beliefs from his species, he remains calm through the situations people are going through. Yuko continues to show her willingness to go onto battle proving to be a worthy warrior on the frontline. Godzilla is bigger than the humans does imagine, now the deadly side of it can come into battle.

Story – The story picks up right where the last one finished, this helps for a sequel, the idea the humans need to prepare for a bigger battle shows us the same story unfolding, the preparation for battle before going head to head with Godzilla, it works and is all we need because constant small battles just would get boring. There are twists with the truths about the species involved fighting with the humans. The sad thing about this story is that it is too similar to the last one in every way which only disappoints on the larger scale of things.

Action/Sci-Fi – The action is bigger as is Godzilla this time around, we get a lot of large scale battles being used with explosions all over. The sci-fi world still works well for this film as we see just how far the species will go to try and defeat Godzilla.

Settings – The film keeps more of the action on the Earth, this shows the different ideas in the past used to try and stop Godzilla with the MechaGodzilla. The abandoned Earth looks wonderful and bleak just like you needed it to be.

Animation – The animation standard is still high throughout which is what we would expect after the first one.


Scene of the Movie – The final battle.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough of Godzilla.

Final Thoughts – This is a solid enough sequel that works well for a Godzilla movie and is pretty much just more of the same.

 

Overall: Solid sequel.

Rating