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Movie Review

Standing Up, Falling Down (2019) Movie Review

Director: Matt Ratner

Writer: Peter Hoare (Screenplay)

Starring: Billy Crystal, Ben Schwartz, Grace Gummer, Eloise Mumford, John Behlmann, David Castaneda

Plot: The unlikely friendship that kindles between a struggling stand-up comedian from L.A., forced to move back home with his tail between his legs, and a tragically flawed, but charming and charismatic, alcoholic dermatologist.

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Standing Up, Falling Down starts when struggling comedian Scott (Schwartz) returns home after failing to make the impact he wanted in his mid-30s with no idea what he wants to do next with his life. Scott randomly meets Marty (Crystal) a dermatologist with an alcohol problem.

The two become friends, even they are at different stages of their lives and are clearly in need of a friend, which they both offer each other that could put them back on the right path.

Thoughts on Standing Up, Falling Down

ThoughtsStanding Up, Falling Down brings us a story that follows two men that have been through difficult times and are in need of support, leading to them meeting each other and giving each other the position to put their lives back on track. The story will show you the importance of trying to help people, seeing the impact strangers can have on people. Billy Crystal is fantastic in the leading role of the film where he covers up his performance in comedy, while being tragically broken inside. Marty is such a tragic character that you could never see the pain he is going through. Ben Schwartz is the more modern approach to a lost soul, with a comedian who has always run from things in his life, needing to put his life back together. This is a such an emotional story, despite having a calm approach that just plays out like an everyday situational comedy drama about life.

Final Thoughts Standing Up, Falling Down is a wonderful film about finding yourself in life.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – X – Xtreme (2021) Movie Review

Director: Daniel Benmayor

Writer: Ivan Ledesma (Screenplay) Genaro Rodriguez (Story)

Starring: Teo Garcia, Oscar Jaenada, Oscar Casas, Andrea Duro, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Albert Jo Lee, Luis Zahera, Juan Diego

Plot: Two years after the murder of his son and father, a retired hitman sets in motion a carefully crafted revenge plan against the killer: his own brother.

Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Xtreme starts when Max (Garcia) sees his father and son killed by his brother Lucero (Jaenada), he goes into retirement from his previous criminal life. Two years later a young drug dealer Leo (Casas) finds himself in trouble, where Max steps in to help him, building the first relationship with a human in 2 years.

As Max gets unleashed, he works with Maria (Duro) to track down Lucero, as they look to get the revenge they have been planning since her turned on them both.

Thoughts on Xtreme

ThoughtsXtreme is an action crime movie that will follow a former hitman that gets betrayed, forcing him into retirement, until a teenager in need of help turns to him for help, as they look to get the revenge Max needs to put away the pain his brother put him through. This will play out like nearly every other revenge movie, as one person will need to overcome large amounts of odd to go face to face with the person that took everything from them. The action is relentless with the highly over the top action fight we see, and violence is never held back, as well as using a host of unique weapons when it comes to fight back. The performances are strong with Teo Garcia shining in the violence leading role.

Final Thoughts Xtreme is a violent action movie that never holds back.

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Movie Review

Reprisal (2018) Movie Review

Reprisal – Entertaining Action Film

Director: Brian A Miller

Writer: Bryce Hammons (Screenplay)

Starring: Bruce Willis, Frank Grillo, Johnathon Schaech, Olivia Culpo, Natali Yura

Plot: A bank manager haunted by a violent heist that took the life of a coworker teams up with his ex-cop neighbor to bring down the assailant, initiating an explosive counterattack that brings all three men to the breaking point.


Tagline – A Life for a Life

Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Reprisal starts when bank manager Jacob (Grillo) sees his bank robbed at gunpoint by Gabriel (Schaech) leaving one member of his security team dead, causing Jacob to suffer nightmares about what happened, while the suspect escapes free.

Turning to his neighbour James (Willis) an ex-cop to help investigate the cases, which will see the three of them getting caught up in a game of cat-n-mouse involving Jacob’s family.

Thoughts on Reprisal

Characters & Performances – Jacob is a mild-mannered bank manager who has always been committed to his job, his staff and his family, he finds himself in the middle of a bank robbery, which will see people die, causing him trauma and unable to return to work. He turns to his neighbour for help as he starts to investigate the person himself tracking them around the city to try and stop the latest crime. Frank Grillo does a strong job here, we are used him being the villain in crime movies recently, but seeing him on the right side of the law shows him in a more caring manor. James is the ex-cop neighbour who offers to help Jacob through his experience offering him someone to talk too, before turning into someone who will help him track the criminal down. Bruce Willis does well in this role, it is one of his better recent performances, which he often gets questioned on his commitment. Gabriel is the calculated bank robbery, he plans his attacks down with no communication through words and he will make sure he gets in and out without being seen, he will kill is needed and is doing this for his own reasons, this is one of the characters weaknesses, we just don’t get a full reason for the amount of robberies he is doing, he isn’t afraid to get into a gun battle though, a place he seems comfortable in. Johnathon Schaech does gives us a villain we could fear, with his ruthless nature to everything his character is doing on the criminal side.

StoryThe story here follows a bank manager who turns to his ex-cop neighbour to track down the man who robbed and killed in his bank before he strikes again and to recover from the trauma caused by the event. This is a by the book revenge style movie, seeing the innocent victim turning to his own form of vigilantism to get the person that wronged him, the fact he solves the case so easily compared to the FBI who have been tracking him down for a while now, is surprising and is easily a plot point we can over look. Everything does unfold well, with the ruthless nature of Gabriel shining through, even if we don’t get a firm enough spotlight on his motivations.

ThemesReprisal is a tidy action film with relentless action be it chases, gunfights or robberies, that will keep us engaged in the cat-n-mouse battle between the two sides, which will take them across the big city, where the criminal is operating in.

Reprisal is an easy to watch late night action treat that will keep you entertained and engaged from start to finish.

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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – W – Dark Web: Cicada 3301 (2021) Movie Review

Director: Alan Ritchson

Writer: Joshua Montcalm, Alan Ritchson (Screenplay)

Starring: Jack Kesy, Conor Leslie, Ron Funches, Alan Ritchson, Andreas Apergis, Kris Holden-Ried

Plot: Follows hacker Connor, his best friend Avi and a cunning librarian who find themselves over their heads when forced to compete in a sophisticated dark web secret society’s global recruitment game.


Tagline – We are looking for highly intelligent individuals. Good Luck.

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Dark Web: Cicada 3301 starts when Connor (Kesy) finds himself needing to answer a host of questions as to how his meant to have commit a serious crime. Connor is a bartender that ends up getting into a fight with a disrespectful customer, looking to get revenge by hacking his computer, uncovering a secret society known as Cicada.

As Connor got further into his investigation, he teams up with Gwen (Leslie) and Avi (Funches) as they look to uncover the code, finding themselves getting drawn into the underworld.

Thoughts on Dark Web: Cicada 3301

ThoughtsDark Web: Cicada 3301 is an action comedy that is told in the flashbacks, as we see how a small hacker Connor got involved in a bigger secret society that will see him need to fight for his life. One of the main problems with this story is just how much of an asshole Connor comes off as, with the petty arguing with the agents trying to prove his guilt. The story does follow everything you would expect from a secret society investigation to get including within one, without being anything fresh, going from literally nothing to a high society party within one clue. The performances don’t make an impact in this film, with Jack Kesy struggling as a leading man, but Ron Funches getting all the laughs. This is a largely dull thriller that gets caught up between going for a serious idea or a comedic version of this world.

Final Thoughts Dark Web: Cicada 3301 is a thriller lacking the punch it wants to deliver.

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Movie Review

Songbird (2018) Movie Thoughts

Director: Jamie Adams

Writer: Jamie Adams (Screenplay)

Starring: Cobie Smulders, Richard Elis, Jessica Hynes, Emily Atack, Holli Dempsey, Daisy Haggard, Noel Clarke

Plot: A rock musician enrolls in college after she breaks up with her boyfriend and her band falls apart.


Tagline – Sometimes you’ve just got to Rock n Roll With It!

Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Songbird starts as we see how Joanne (Smulders) once famous 90s band has fallen out of the limelight, with her relationship ending, needing her to turn to her old friend Sara (Hynes), where the pair slowly get drunk and sign up for university.

In university, Joanne doesn’t want to take it seriously, just looking for more parties like her younger years, where she meets Pete (Elis) an administrator at the university, teaching him to become more confident.

Thoughts on Songbird

Thoughts Songbird follows a washed up musician that is trying to keep the magic of how important they are, but not passing on the lessons to the next generation, being mostly annoying more than anything else, it does seem to want to show how Joanne’s life is spiralling out of control, but we just don’t get enough focus on that side of things. We do have attempted comedy, which misses badly on nearly every level and by the end of the film, you will be left wondering if anything worth while happens. The performances don’t help make anything better, with Cobie Smulders bringing us an awkward performance more than life changing, which seems to be the target of the character. 



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Movie Review

ABC Film Challenge – Action – V – Vanquish (2021) Movie Review

Director: George Gallo

Writer: George Gallo (Screenplay) Samuel Bartlett (Story)

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ruby Rose, Patrick Muldoon, Nick Vallelonga, Julie Lott, Hannah Stocking

Plot: A mother, Victoria, is trying to put her dark past as a Russian drug courier behind her, but retired cop Damon forces Victoria to do his bidding by holding her daughter hostage.

Runtime: 1 Hour 34 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Vanquish starts when retired cop Damon (Freeman) looks to collect on what he has been collecting for years, his money from the local gangs. Damon uses the former drug courier Victoria (Rose) to complete this over the night.

As the night unfolds, Victoria will find herself getting into ever increasingly dangerous situations, but always finding a way out, with the desire to save her daughter being the thing pushing her through the night.

Thoughts on Vanquish

ThoughtsVanquish is an action thriller follow the reluctantly former criminal getting thrown back into the world to protect their family. It will continue a series of pick up missions that will become increasingly difficult through the night, with each one giving Victoria a different obstacle from her past to overcome. Vanquish might well be completely by the book for how things are played out, it doesn’t seem to have the spark to make it one of the best out there. The action scenes do seem to be similar each time around, some quick shooting and motorcycle chase on repeat. Ruby Rose does well in the action side of things, with Morgan Freeman handling the dialogue in his always calm voice. This is an easy to watch film that could do with a few extra sparks to make it one of the strongest of recent years.

Final Thoughts Vanquish lacks the sparks to be one of the best, falling into the by the books range of actions films.

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Discussion Piece

Which Stars Could Have a Movie Starring Themselves?

Which Stars Could Have a Movie Starring Themselves?

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent has proven that once again, we can have movies where a star can play a version of themselves, like Being John Malkovich, JCVD or My Name is Bruce have done in the past. This style of movie doesn’t happen too often, with most real performances being cameos for character motivations. For this list, I am going to look at stars who could easily get a movie bringing their larger-than-life personalities into the movie scene, usually in a more comedic tone.

Sarah Michelle Gellar – The Buffy the Vampire Superfan

Sarah Michelle Gellar became one of the biggest names in television history with the plucky vampire slayer Buffy Summers and while the shows creator has shown the darker side of how he operated, the character Buffy Summers will forever be loved. Sarah did step into the movie side of the industry, where she often went against the typecasting as Buffy, with ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’, ‘Scream 2’ and ‘Cruel Intentions’, she did struggle to make as big of an impact as she could, with her performances as Daphne in the Scooby Doo movies being the highlight. In Real-life Sarah seems to be happy away from the limelight not, doing voice work, and working on projects away from the industry. Where this concept could come, would be similar to ‘Mr Name is Bruce’ who has found themselves fighting vampires, who turns to her, believing she is the real Buffy who can fight evil, this could offer plenty of horror comedy, as we could see the damsel in distress figure she has in horrors, with the fighting side when needed of Buffy, as well as including a surprise cameo from Kristy Swanson as the wrong Buffy found by the fan. We can get plenty of laughs, we could have the cameos, for example Sarah phoning Anthony Head for help and after seeing Alyson Hannigan do comedy for years, she will bring that to the table for a bit of a Buffy reunion.

Tom Hanks – No Mr Nice Guy

Tom Hanks is known as one of the nicest men in Hollywood, everyone has only ever had good things to say about him, he always helps people. What if for the fun of this movie, we see how Tom Hanks isn’t a nice guy, he pays everyone around him to keep people quiet while terrorising everyone within his entourage with fear of being blacklisted if they go against him. This will be a very dark comedy, one that would get plenty of laughs along the way, while getting a message across that not everyone is who their public persona truly is.

Vin Diesel – Family Man

Vin Diesel with the backing of the juggernaut of the Fast and the Furious franchise behind him, has created one of the biggest meme lines of ‘Family’. Vin Diesel has always tried to do movies that aren’t going to be guaranteed success, constantly pushing for the Riddick movies to happen, letting the Fast movies finance his decisions. In this comedy, we will get to play heavily into everyone is Family elements of his persona, showing him meeting everyone who he is every going to work with and treating them like a family, inviting himself into their homes, like he has been there before, too much hugging, not showing any of the tough guy attitudes Dominic is known for.

Rowan Atkinson – Too Serious

Rowan Atkinson is known for his comedy presence, from Blackadder’s clever word play to the slapstick Mr Bean and dim-witted Johnny English. Outside of the world of acting Rowan did get degrees from Oxford University, which poses the big question, what is Rowan Atkinson like away from the spotlight. In this concept we will see how a journalist is looking to write a story about Rowan, following him around type of interview, only to learn he isn’t anything like his characters on screen, playing ever interaction straight, no comedy in sight, apart from the viewers laughing at the deadpan delivery to each line.

Ryan Reynolds V Hugh Jackman – Box Office Battles

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman have one of the biggest inside joke rivals in Hollywood today, they always poke fun at each other when they have a new movie coming out, or birthdays etc, they know how to get a headline with the jokes without every getting into a position where they are offending each other. The twist in this film, will see the pair struggling to find the latest joke, putting the pressure on their teams to help them, seeing their loved ones neglected in their pursuit to get the flashy headline, boarding obsession over playful fun, with the pair needing to learn a life lesson over getting a playful headline.

Jackie Chan – I Will Just Do it All

Jackie Chan is known for doing all his own stunts, he has a huge reputation, what if for this movie we get to see him given a basic leading action man role, only to slowly take over the whole production of the movie, with his demands, styles and determination to get the movie made in his own vision. This would get to play into the roles and actors that are overly demanding on set, setting up a chance to Jackie Chan to do some silly stunts to prove to stunt performers how easy certain stunts are, casually doing them without any effort, as they escalate as the film rolls on.

Who would you like to see play themselves in a movie?

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Movie Review

Chloe and Theo (2015) Movie Review

Director: Ezna Sands

Writer: Ezna Sands (Screenplay)

Starring: Theo Ikummaq, Dakota Johnson, Ashley Springer, Andre De Shields, Mira Sorvino

Plot: From the northern ice comes a gentler kind of hero.

Runtime: 1 Hour 21 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Story: Chloe and Theo starts as Theo (Ikummaq) leaves his home in near the North Pole, heading down to New York, where he gets thrown into the chaotic world, flying past him, before homeless woman Chloe (Johnson) finds him.

As Chloe helps guide Theo on his mission to help inform the leaders of the world about climate change, he will get to meet a string of different characters along the way, who will listen to his message.

Thoughts on Chloe and Theo

ThoughtsChloe and Theo is a drama that will follow an Inuit from the Arctic that heads south in an attempt to speak to world leaders about the damage climate change has caused to the world around him. He is guided by people who have their own fights, which will show how the smaller people in the world will need to challenge the people with money to make the difference, when they see the consequences, they are causing upon the world. The message is big, as we hear endless stories of people who want climate change, but showing us a man that is going through the consequences, searching for answers for a change, is what is important in this movie. The performance Theo Ikummaq is fantastic, as he shows the man that is left with no other option, with Dakota Johnson bringing the character that needed to find a purpose in her life to life.

Final Thoughts Chloe and Theo is an important drama, that wants to help show the change needed.

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ABC Film Challenge

ABC Film Challenge – Action – U – The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) Movie Recommendation

Full Review Here