Dec 13 2019

6 Underground (2019) Movie Review

Director: Michael Bay

Writer: Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick (Screenplay)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Adria Arjona, Melanie Laurent, Ben Hardy, Dave Franco, Sebastian Roche, Corey Hawkins, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Plot: Meet a new kind of action hero. Six untraceable agents, totally off the grid. They’ve buried their pasts so they can change the future.

Tagline – They Say No One Can Save The World. Meet No One.

Runtime: 2 Hours 7 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Completely Bonkers Entertainment

Story: 6 Underground starts as we meet the agents, One (Reynolds) the billionaire, Two (Laurent) the Spook, Three (Garcia-Rulfo) a hitman, Four (Hardy) the skywalker, Five (Arjona) the doctor and Six (Franco) the driver, whose latest mission in Italy has gone sour, seeing them use their skills to escape the threat coming their way, only to lose a member of the team, needing to find a new member to become a seven.

Recruiting Seven (Hawkins) we learn about the plans they group have, they look to eliminate dictators that nobody else would touch, placing the rightful person in charge of the country, with the latest mission being to head to Turgistan.

Thoughts on 6 Underground

Characters – One is the leader of the squad, he is a billionaire that faked his own death to build the squad which will fight against the dictators of the world, he recruits the very best, he uses the code name, he wants to use his wealth to solve the problems in the world, in a way being known really works, often given commentary on what is going on. Two is the ex-CIA spook that is the most deadly with a weapon, she is willing to lead any assault the team goes on. Three is a hitman that has been given a new life, he is the most reckless of the crew, he will break the rules, but give him a gun and he will get the job done. Four is known as the skywalker, he parkour skills are unbelievable, he will run through building roof tops, searching for routes for the team, getting involved when required, he is easily the most entertaining character of the squad. Five is the doctor, while she might have the weakest character development of the whole squad. Six is the driver that enjoys the thrills that come from the high speed chases. Seven is the newest member of the team, a former soldier bought in for his own skills, he does question the true identity of One, unlike anybody else.

Performances – Ryan Reynolds, is like he always is, wise cracking, fun to watch and always confident, something he needs to be for this role, thinking Deadpool, without the costume. Melanie Laurent does an excellent job in the spook role, with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco and Corey Hawkins are strong too, though it is Ben Hardy that seems to steal the show.

Story – The story here follows an elite group of soldiers that have come from around the world to work together to stop dictators from maintaining their reigns of terror over their nations. While this story is hugely ambition and original, it shows how wealthy people could use their money for the right reasons, to help the world instead of just watching it get destroyed. Outside of just dealing with the problems in the world, the story is very simple, go from one mission to the next, with plenty of banter between the squad, usually revolving around film references, which if you understand add humour to scenes through the film.

Action – The action in this film is massive, it is almost relentless for large parts of the film, we see so much happening, from car chases, the gun battles, parkour on rooftops and that boat sequences, well wow.

Settings – The film does take us all over the world, with the main country being fictional, it is implied which country we are seeing wanting to have a change. The film does make the most of the locations, with the environment playing a big part in how each scene can be won.

Scene of the Movie – The Parkour rooftop.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Sometimes it does feel like it is just Deadpool commenting on an action film.

Final Thoughts – This is a truly bonkers action film that you can switch off and just let everything unfold to the crazy levels it is meant to reach.

Overall: Wildly Over the Top.

Dec 13 2019

Black Christmas (2019) Movie Review

Director: Sophia Takal

Writer: Sophia Takal, April Wolfe (Screenplay)

Starring: Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O’Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes, Simon Mead

Plot: A group of female students are stalked by a stranger during their Christmas break. That is until the young sorority pledges discover that the killer is part of an underground college conspiracy.

Tagline – Slay, Girls

Runtime: 1 Hour 32 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: All Over the Place

Story: Black Christmas starts as we meet our sorority sisters Riley (Poots), Kris (Shannon), Marty (Donoghue), Jesse (O’Grady), Helena (Adams) and Fran (Morris) who are preparing for the Christmas break, with Riley having history with the alpha sorority, which never got dealt with by the authorities.

They decide to get revenge through song and soon find themselves getting picked of by a masked killer, where they need to find themselves fighting to survive.

Thoughts on Black Christmas

Characters – Riley is previously a victim of sexual assault by one of the rich college students, 3-years-later she is still dealing with the effects, being the big sister to the rest of the sisters and is one of the few that worries about the locations of the other girls. Kris has been on a crusade to get equality, she spends most of the time preaching about how men have it easy and mostly gets annoying. Marty is another member of the sorority and like Jesse, we don’t learn much more about any of the other girls.

Performances – Imogen Poots is a talent actress when she is given something to work with, she is the strongest of a weak story, where nobody comes off like they are giving a good acting performance because of the material they are given to work with.

Story – The story is meant to be following a group of sorority sisters that get picked off and attacked by a masked killer over the Christmas break. Well, where do we start to break this story down, first thing, this isn’t any sort of remake or sequel to either movie seen before, it uses the location of the house and one look at a death, don’t think this is a remake. Secondly, we spend more time trying to get the message over about men thinking they can walk all over women and the only good men in life are nervous wrecks around the women. Thirdly, this is meant to be a horror and doesn’t even know what tone to stick to. Finally, the trailer gives away everything. This is a social message that uses an existing horror franchise to try and get a point over, without using any sort of subtitle approach.

Horror/Mystery – The horror in this film is almost non-excitant, it tries to use the slow slasher traits early on, which show glimpses, only to go, ‘you know what, we want to do an action horror now’ by the end. The mystery is also poor, because we get zero potential suspects and the only person it could be is revealed in the trailer.

Settings – The college location is fine, though it is the weird college I have ever seen.

Special Effects – When it comes to the effects, we get basic horror ones, sadly, the film decides to hide away from showing any actual gore, even though the injuries are designed to show it.

Scene of the Movie – Nate grabs an axe.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The girls leave a party at what they say is midnight, we cut to one that left early and it is suddenly 10.45, seriously can people not tell the time?

Final Thoughts – This is a very bad social message horror that spends more time banging you over the head with the message, than actually giving us a coherent story or any scare.

Overall: Social Message, without a scare.

Dec 13 2019

Killing Them Softly (2012)

Director: Andrew Dominik

Writer: Andrew Dominik (Screenplay) George V Higgins (Novel)

Starring: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta

Plot: Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.

Tagline – In America you’re on your own

Runtime: 1 Hour 37 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Slow & Uninspiring

Story: Killing Them Softly starts when Frankie (McNairy) and Russell (Mendelsohn) rob Markie’s (Liotta) mob protected card game, putting a bounty on themselves. With the men not happy with this incident, they hire Jackie (Pitt) to clean up the mess, he enjoys killing his victims, softly, with his Driver (Jenkins) filling in the information about the hit he will need to take out, while the man Jackie wanted to help with the job, Mickey (Gandolfini) isn’t the man he used to know.

Thoughts on Killing Them Softly

Characters – Jackie is a hitman assigned to clean up a mod owned robbery, he has his own ways to get the job done which will see him slowly calculated kill his targets, but he will get the job done smoothly. Frankie is one of the thieves that commits the robbery, he has bought in his own friend to help with the latest job, he must try to stay low while he waits for the bounty to go away. Russell is the loose cannon that is bought in by Frankie, he isn’t liked by the boss, but is given the chance to help with the job. Mickey is the former hitman that just isn’t the man he once was, he can’t be seen in public which doesn’t help with his job. Driver fills in the information for Jackie, he shows him where the job could be done too. Markie is the host of the poker game who sees the money stolen, knowing what it will mean for him.

Performances – Brad Pitt is the highlight of this film, which isn’t saying too much, he does keep the cool persona we know him for through the film, but isn’t as incredible as we could have seen from him. The supporting cast all struggle in this film without getting any moments that will make us want to support their characters.

Story – The story follows a hitman hired to clean up a gangster robbery but unsuspecting thieves, only for him to see the people are not the same as they once were. This story goes at a slow pace which just doesn’t ever get going before ending without seemingly finishing. We have too many characters being introduced to enjoy this film which just seems to be a lot of talking and never hitting the criminal world style that you would be expecting from the gangster underworld.

Crime – The criminal side of this film just seems to follow different people in the criminal world, they are at different levels and are force to be against each other.

Settings – The film is set in a city which is filled with the chances to be a criminal without making any location feel iconic.

Scene of the Movie – Frankie drive.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too much pointless talking.

Final Thoughts – This is a slow non-moving crime thriller that just drags along even with Brad Pitt trying his best to make something of nothing.

Overall: Slow and dull.

Rating

Dec 13 2019

ABC Film Challenge – Anticipated for 2020 – M

ABC Film Challenge

Anticipated for 2020

The year 2019 is coming to a close and it is time to look ahead to the new year, through December the subject is the films I am looking forward to seeing, hopefully I will be able to select one film for each letter even if we dive into actors, directors or themes. Join in if you want and let’s get this conversation going about the next hopefully wonderful year in film.

Malignant

Stars – Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, Jake Abel

Synopsis – Not much is known, but James Wan is directing, so we are excited