Director: Seth Gordon

Writer: Damian Shannon, Mark Swift (Screenplay) Jay Scherick, David Ronn, Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant (Story)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Priyanka Chopra, Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jon Bass

Plot: Devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchanan butts heads with a brash new recruit. Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Standard Action Comedy

Story: Baywatch starts as hugely popular lifeguard Mitch (Johnson) and his team CJ (Rohrbach) and Stephanie (Hadera) look to make fresh addition to their elite team. The first two candidates Summer (Daddario) and Ronnie (Bass) fit what Mitch wants, commitment to the cause and no showboating. The final recruit is forced upon Mitch, that is disgraced two-time Olympic Gold Medallist Matt Brody (Efron) that is only there on probation.

With the training under way, Mitch starts investigating the increase level of a drug washing up on shore he starts using his team to look into the actions Victoria Leeds (Chopra), a rich woman that has been buying up all the real estate along the bay. As the investigation deepens Mitch must overcome his superior, the law and Victoria herself to bring the calm back to the bay.

Thoughts on Baywatch

Characters/Performance – Mitch is the lifeguard that has all the respect on the bay, the physical presence and is a born leader, he knows how to get the best out of his team and will risk his own life before theirs.  Matt Brody is the disgraced Olympic Gold Medallist who is forced to join the lifeguards and must learn to work as part of a team and stop being selfish. Victoria is a ruthless growing reputation drug dealer who is making it her aim to make the bay her empire but the lifeguards keep getting in her way. I do feel we needed more from her character because it did feel very generic. Now looking at the female life guards, this would be fair to say they are very undeveloped as characters when you compare them with two leading guys. Ronnie is the increased level of comic relief and you will either enjoy his story or hate it.

Performance wise, Dwayne Johnson is good as always knowing how to get the most out of this character, Zac Efron does continue to show he can handle comedy and uses his body for extra statement. Priyanka looks fantastic in this role and does the best she can with a weakly written role. The rest of the cast are all good without being excellent and not overshadowing the leads.

Story – I never saw the original show, I loved 21 Jump Street and I fully expected this to become the latest idea, but the story does fall short. The story is very generic which is unlikely couple team up to solve crime with the police avoiding getting involved, yes it does sound like the show. It is easy to watch though but does miss certain moments we needed to see.

Action/Crime/Comedy – The action is just what you have come to expect from the action comedy genre, there is nothing new here, the crime story is also by the books and the comedy is adult and is very hit or miss with most of the best lines in the trailer.

Settings – The setting gives us a chance to have beautiful people not wearing much showing off their assets to grab sex appeal.

Final Thoughts – This had potential to get to the next level but it isn’t terrible, it can be enjoyed by the fans of the actors with good moments of comedy.

Overall: Easy to watch and enjoyable in places.

Rating

Director: Alan J Pakula

Writer: Frank Pierson, Alan J Pakula (Screenplay) Scott Turow (Novel)

Starring: Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, Bonnie Bedelia, Paul Winfield, Greta Scacchi, John pencer, Joe Grifasi

Plot: When a female D.A. is killed, the D.A. assigns his assistant to handle the investigation. Only problem is that he was having an affair with her. And the evidence reveals that he is the killer. So he suspects that the man who wants his boss’ job is trying to frame him. He turns to Sandy Stern a highly celebrated defense attorney to represent him.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow Courtroom Drama

Story: Presumed Innocent starts when Carolyn Polhemus (Scacchi) an assistant D.A. attorney is killed the D.A. Raymond Horgan (Dennehy) assigns chief deputy Rusty Sabich (Ford) to investigate a case that doesn’t make sense for the cases Carolyn takes part in.

When the case gets complicated it is her past with Rusty that doesn’t make the case easy for him to investigate as what seems like a rape case could turn out to be set to look like a rape case pointing the finger at one of the criminals she had put away.

When Rusty becomes the main suspect for the murder and must turns to his courtroom rival Alejandro ‘Sandy’ Stern (Julia) to take on the D.A. office who have all turned on Rusty using his previous affair as the main motive for the murder.

Thoughts on Presumed Innocent

Characters/Performance – Rusty is a very questionable character, he has had an affair which takes away any respect you could have for him even if he is a brilliant attorney, Sandy you can see as a brilliant attorney in his own right that goes out of his way to get the case in his direction which is good to see playing about what could be considered the disgraced attorney. Raymond the D.A. does feel like your typical political figure that abuses their power as often as they like.

Performance wise everything is good but not their best work no one does anything that stands out and by the end you don’t think this will be a memorable role for the iconic Harrison Ford or Raul Julia.

Story – I am usually a fan of a good courtroom drama as they can pull us in until the final outcome of the crime. This story flows very slowly with a court cast that does feel like you could see solved with ease. I felt this story just doesn’t pull us in enough to care about the case mainly because our defendant isn’t painted to be the most respectable character in the first place so we just don’t care who if he is innocent or not.

Mystery/Thriller – We get a mystery but we don’t get many suspects for the crime which disappoints the thrilling side as we don’t get a chance to figure out who could be behind the crime.

Settings – We have the traditional courtroom settings that show us just how most of the suspects would have understood just how to cover up murders with ease.

Final Thoughts – This just doesn’t capture us like the other courtroom dramas and then could have been a lot more intense.

Overall: A Courtroom drama that just doesn’t hit all the levels it could.

Rating

The Simpsons Challenge

Season 2

Episode 19 – Lisa’s Substitute

Couch Gag – This time the living room is empty, in what is a short start to the show.

Plot Synopsis – Lisa has a crush on her substitute teacher, who seemingly represents everything that Homer is not. Meanwhile, Bart decides to run for class president, and becomes the overwhelming favorite.

What is going on really – When Miss Hoover is signed off sick, Lisa’s class is left in the hands of Principal Skinner before Mr Bergstorm arrives with a new style of teaching.

While in Bart’s class he shows the class the video of Snowball 2 birth and they are going to start looking for a class president with Martin Prince going against Bart, with Bart getting all the attention from the class.

Lisa’s starts to get a crush on her teacher who suggests she visits the natural history museum before it is closed forever, this forces Homer to take her where Mr Bergstorm a chance to explain to Homer about how to have a relationship with Lisa.

Lisa learns how she needs a positive male role model and for now she will only see one leave her, with Bart losing his presidential race to Martin. This gives Homer a chance to prove his parental skills to all of his children.

Star Character

Lisa

Guest Appearance

Dustin Hoffman

Final Thoughts – I did like this episode because it shows how important a possible role model for someone with the genius of Lisa would need. We also get a chance to see how Bart has popularity but not brains.

Rating 4.5/5

Director: Jason Bourque

Writer: Paul A Birkett, Jason Bourque (Screenplay) Ian Birkett, Roger Patterson, Paul A Birkett (Story)

Starring: Sean Bean, Patrick Sabongui, Mary McCormack, Maxwell Haynes, Joel David Moore, Viv Leacock

Plot: Ideologies collide with fatal results when a military drone contractor meets an enigmatic Pakistani businessman.

There may be spoilers the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow Thriller

Story: Drone starts as we see a drone hit in Pakistan, one year later we are back in America with Neil (Bean) and Ellen Wistin (McCormack) a married couple dealing with everyday problems and a teenage son Shane (Haynes). Unknown to them they are being followed by Imir Shaw (Sabongui) a Pakistan business man.

Neil is a drone pilot working with his partner on the coms Gary (Moore), their craft is searching Pakistan for the latest terrorist subjects and they are an effective team. Imir coming into the lives of the Wistin’s who are also dealing with the loss of Neil’s father, just as the release of government employees information has been leaked. Imir comes into the lives to purchase a boat, but his true motives become clear and the secrets of the Wistin family are revealed.

Thoughts on Drone

Characters/Performance – Neil is a secret private drone pilot contractor for the government. He keeps this job secret from his family, he is also going through the loss of his father, he now must face the consequences of the collateral damage on his mission. Imir is a calm businessman from Pakistan who has alternative motives, he wants to confront the pilot of the drone that killed his innocent family. Ellen is the wife of Neil, the two have become strained leading to her getting involved in an affair.

Performance wise, Sean Bean is good in this role but his accent is slightly all over the place. Patrick Sabongui is good in this role, he never shows any emotion which is needed for the character who has lost everything. Mary McCormack is solid but her character doesn’t get enough development.

Story – The story is one that asks the moral questions about drone pilots and victims of their attacks as well as offering a suspenseful revenge story. the problem with the story is that is doesn’t get going quick enough because we clearly know where it is going, so why hold us back? There is also another glaring problem with this film and that is making Imir come off as villain, when it was clearly the American that committed the villain act first, but the final moments of the film do make everything important in the message.

Thriller – The final third of this film does keep you on edge throughout the film but getting to that stage does seem to take a while.

Settings – The settings do show us that the two men have similar lifestyles, they work hard and raise a family, but the cultures see things differently and this causes the conflict in the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a very slow thriller which could have been so much better, but it does have a good message by the end of the film.

Overall: Slow burning thriller with rewarding ending.

Rating

2017 Movie Watched List

Movie Watched list are always interesting to read to see what order people watch films in, over the past two years I have started doing watched lists with two different styles to talk about the over 1000 movies I had seen. This year I decided to mix it up once more. This time I will be listing the films in 10 like before and then picking just my favourites on a couple of subject’s I am picking favourites over best because sometimes the best films are difficult re-watches which is why I like the term favourite.

Here is 101 – 110

1.    August: Osage County

2.    Bethany

3.    Rings

4.    Road Trip

5.    Chariots of Fire

6.    Dallas Buyers Club

7.    White Men Can’t Jump

8.    Train to Busan

9.    Hacked

10.Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Favourite Film
Train to Busan

When it comes to zombies films I will always have a soft spot for them, but this one gives you the emotional punch unlike any other zombie film has ever offered us. This is a must watch for all film fans that will eliminate any questions when it comes to action horror.

Worst Film
Rings

This is a sequel that completely re-writes everything we have come to know about the original couple of films. I did like part of this but it is the part that seems to get forgotten half way through the film.

Favourite Character
Sang-hwa – Train to Busan

Sang-hwa is travelling on the train with his pregnant wife, he will not let anything get near his wife and he will go through anything or anybody trying to hurt her and works with our hero Seok-woo to survive the train journey. His fighting skills were brilliant and what happens to his character will make you support him from start to finish.

Worst Character
Yon-suk – Train to Busan

While I didn’t think, he is the worst performed character he is one character you find yourself hating him from the first moment you meet him because of what he does through the film.

Star Performance
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

When you look at all around acting this film has the very best on this list and you can look no further than Meryl’s performance as the mother, grandmother, wife and sister as she interacts with the whole family while suffering with her own problems.

Any other question you would like to know about the selection feel free to leave a comment and I will answer or maybe even add to future Watched Lists.