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[theredeemingfactor]

Avengers: Infinity War

So ... Avengers: Infinity War (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154756/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2) coming in with an IMDB rating of 8,5 and a Redeemer rating of 9,0. This is a brilliant comic book movie .. perhaps one of the best. Sure it has its kinks, but because of the ending .. this movie sort of rides on the tail of a movie masterpiece from the past, Empire Strikes Back. I think, at least I hope, that at this point there is no way for anyone who is into movies to not know how this movie ends. Endgame would not need to exist if this movie did not end the way it did. That is a big part of my high rating for this. There is so much more you can do with a movie when the big bad comes out on top. This movie certainly takes full advantage of that fact. 

The plot. Thanos is finally, well sort of, taking personal charge of his grand plot. He still uses lackeys in the scenes when he is not supposed to win. Thanos’s goal is to collect the so called infinity stones so that he can bring the power of all of them together and bring to an end half of all the life in the universe. The Avengers sort of team up, in a few separate groups in an attempt to stop Thanos. 

The movie. For two hours and 29 minutes this movie allows every single Avenger to shine. I would even argue that it allows Thanos and the Black Order, (or the Children of Thanos) also get to shine and/or show off their individual powers. This movie really just goes from rewatchable scene to rewatchable scene . Oh man .. I have made a rule for myself that I am not allowed to really spoil a movie that gets higher than a 6,5 rating from me. And so I will not tell you about every scene of the movie here. Even though I would really love to. So much awesomeness. Oh well . moving on somehow. With what .. umm .. umm .. ok. At the end of Civil War, the Avengers were sort of thrown to the wind and have scattered. The “criminal” contingent of the Avengers have gone underground and Iron Man is attempting to keep the rest of them together. And so, of course this movie needs to bring certain characters out from the shadows again. And it does it so well. Every introduction to a character in this movie is amazing. There are so many “oh yeah” and “oh shit” moments. 2,5 hours may seem like a long movie, but this movie has some masterful pacing and just keeps moving. The actors are doing a fantastic job. The fight scenes are all brilliant. This movie is just epic. Now, that is not to say that there are not some holes in the movie. One, spoiler filled .. yes spoiler spoiler spoiler, hole is something that many people have mentioned and commented on. In a scene Dr Strange uses his portal creation power to cut the arm off of one the Children of Thanos. The main goal of the avengers in the movie is to separate Thanos from his infinity gauntleted hand. Portal open, hand through, portal close, job done. But we never see that power used again, and not that there were not places where it would have worked. There are also a few in movie character decisions that don't make a lot of sense. A few other nit picks that you will all see when you see the movie. But most of these things just don't bother me, this is an enjoyable movie. 

The demeaning factor. Dr Strange portal power ends the movie really quickly. But a half hour director’s cut of Infinity War would just suck. All the same, they could have made a scene where they try to use this move and fail. This is just something that needed to be addressed, and perhaps could have been made into a joke for Endgame .. MISS.

The Final Word. This movie is solid gold for the comic book fans out there. It does justice to like every single character in the movie. It is amazingly shot, superbly animated (where necessary, CGI) well acted, amazingly casted, masterfully paced and just made to be enjoyed. If you are a fan of action/sci-fi/fantasy movies, this movie will not disappoint. I think the only way you don't like this is if you hate comic books or action movies that stretch the rules of reality. For me, this is just a movie that should not be missed. Watch it. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Pokémon Detective Pikachu

So ... Pokémon Detective Pikachu (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5884052/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,0 and a Redeemer Rating of 6,0. I think, at least, that this is a fair assessment of the movie. I tried to take into account the actual target audience of the movie, and not just my own feelings regarding the movie. Cause for me I think this was not the best movie, but I did at least enjoy it to a certain extent. Having Ryan Reynolds in the movie made it a must see for me. But I feel like this movie really could have been used better. 

The plot. Young Tim Goodman, estranged from his father after the death of his mother, finds out that his father has passed away while on the job .. as a policeman. When looking through his father’s apartment he comes across a Pikachu with amnesia that can talk, at least to him. Everyone else simply hears “pika-pika” .. but Tim and Pikachu can speak to each other. Together they must solve the murder of Tim’s dad, the memory loss of Pikachu and the major bad guy plot that evolves in the background. 

The movie. For this review I am going to try something new. Something bad followed by something good and on and on through the review. One of my major issues with this movie is that whoever made this movie could not really settle on a target audience in doing that made a movie for no one. It seems to me that this movie was billed as a bit of a darker and more adult Pokemon movie made mostly for the people a few years younger than me who grew up with Pokemon but are now adult. Just a bit of a stroll down memory lane movie. What we got was a movie that tries to skate the line of adult content  .. doing everything possible without loosing a PG rating. But, the pokemon animation is wonderful. Pikachu is fantastic, he just looks furry and awesome. Super happy with that. The dialogue in the movie is so blatantly over with what it is trying to get across that I just feel like I have had the plot of the movie beaten into me over and over. The cast is actually really good. The emotion of the movie really comes across when it needs to. That was well done. There are some serious child pandering scenes .. I mean, let’s see how many Pokemon that we can get onto the screen all at once. Completely pointless. The plot of the movie is actually really good. The movie could have been twenty times better as a PG-13 movie. I really wish they had gone that way. You have Ryan Reynolds, fresh off of Deadpool 2 and you don’t give him a character that can sweat at all. 

The redeeming factor. Having Ryan Reynolds be Pikachu and use his recognizable voice to bring this character to life. As I said before, I wish they would have let him go loose a bit more .. but he works and makes Pikachu a little child friendly Deadpool. But seriously, Ryan Reynolds FTW.

The Final Word. Here it is. If you Pokemoned as a child and are now in your 30′s .. there is a chance that you may like this movie. Better if you kids to go with, as it may turn them onto the craze. Best case scenario for who should see this movie .. parent-children combos who do Pokemon Go together. This is the movie for you. If you are neither a Pokemon person or a die hard Ryan Reynolds fan (like me) .. then this is NOT the movie for you. 

[theredeemingfactor]

The Man Who knew Infinity

So ... The Man who Knew Infinity (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787524/?ref_=nv_sr_1), coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,2 and a Redeemer Rating of 7,7. A movie like this one makes me wish I understood more about math. It also makes me feel like I short changed when they were handing out brains to newborns. Clearly a man like Srinivasa Ramanujan is akin to someone like Mozart. Just gifted with a version of total recall in regards to mathematics. This movie does a brilliant job in showing that, along with his relationships in life. In this movie we have both a compelling story and an accomplished cast. What a wonderful movie we have here. 

The plot. Srinivasa Ramanujan, a pioneer of mathematics. This movie tells the story of his life from young adulthood till his death. The movie deals with his complicated relationship with his mother, his wife and his great friend, and fellow mathematician, G.H. Hardy. 

The movie. First and foremost this is a fantastically compelling story. And based on my limited research that I felt compelled to do, it seems to tell the story honestly. Which is something that I rarely find to be the case with biopics. A movie that is largely about math .. how can that ever be entertaining in any way. And I am sure that there are plenty people who would find that to be true. This movie is a pure drama, and pure drama built up on the relationships between the people of this story and the fantastic job done by the cast bringing them to life. There is barely a bad performance anywhere to be found in this movie. Jeremy Irons is fantastic. He often is, but this is one of his better performances .. at least as far as I am concerned here.  Devika Bhise, unknown for me, is brilliant as his wife. Playing the ostracized and shy role perfectly. Toby Jones, playing another mathematician, is great as Littlewood. I fear that this review will be amazingly short, at least compared to ones written recently. But when a movie is this good it it hard to criticize. Clearly the best things it has going for it is story and cast. But the cinematography is on par, with the adaption for the screen, set design, costuming and the rest of it. I suppose the only thing that I really found to be lacking for me is that the story becomes rather rushed when compressed into a 2 hour movie. I would like to know more, learn more about his life .. his other relationships .. more in depth talk about the math. This cast just makes this story and the topics of it come to life. 

The demeaning factor. Looking for something that I dislike about a movie that I enjoyed so much is usually hard. But in this case it was rather easy. In a very blunt attempt to drive home Ramanujan’s encounters of racism in England, they simply had 3 soldiers attack, beat and laugh at him. For a movie that does such a great job of telling a powerful, yet understated, story .. this was just too blunt. This could have been done far better. 

The final word. This is a brilliant movie, at least according to me. Now, I realize that not all of you reading this will feel the same .. but .. I think it is worth watching. Those of you who are fans of math should have a particular fondness for this movie. And those of you who enjoy great character driven stories should enjoy the crap out of this movie as well. With that said .. do what you will. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Erik the Viking

So ... Erik the Viking (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097289/?ref_=nv_sr_2) coming in with an IMDB rating of 6,2 and a Redeemer Rating of 3,8. This is basically what happens when you take a legendary writer and director like Terry Jones and give him a less skilled cast. This movie just does not live up what I would have expected from a Monty Python alumni. There is just something missing, something that does not work here .. something. I will try to put my finger on just what is wrong with this movie, at least according to me. 

The plot. Erik the Viking .. who I suppose is a viking. Decides to lead a band of his men over the seas, braving dangers unknown, seeking Valhalla to ask the gods to not bring about Valhalla. 

The movie. Writer/ Director Terry Jones had quite a run leading up to this movie. Jones directed Monty Python and the Holy Grail (with Terry Gilliam), The Life of Brian (alone) and Meaning of Life (with Terry Gilliam) before doing this movie. But there is something that all those movies had that this one did not. In fact, there are quite a few things. First of all, I think that it is actually generally accepted that the entire Python crew had a hand in writing the three Python movies. And clearly, the entire crew made up the majority of the cast in those movies. This is the first movie that Jones wrote and directed after the Python trilogy .. and it is basically the first time he works with a cast that does not star his fellow alumni. I don't know if it is the case that he was not ready to work with a different cast, or if this cast was just wrong for this very Monty Pythonesque movie. Now, I know that Cleese is in this one, but he only plays a minor role. And I think that his presence is not enough to make this a Monty Python movie. And let’s be clear, that is exactly what this movie is. This movie is made in the spirit of The Holy Grail and Life of Brian .. and with that I mean that all these movies are essentially skit based. They make clever/ funny little bits and try to string these together with a red thread. And that worked to perfection with the right cast. This movie did not have the right cast. Perhaps some of them would be more suited for this later in their careers, but when this movie was made it was just not meant to be. I think a large part of the high IMDB score with this movie has to do with the fact that Jones made this movie, but I also believe that these people are not looking at this movie objectively. The characters in this movie just don't make any sense, they don't feel very flushed out, they are not brought to the screen with an abundance of skill and the scenes that they are in fall well short of being entertaining. To be honest, most of the time while watching this movie there was nothing I wanted to more than to fast forward. Which is a shame, cause he went on to do a lot of good things .. and certainly came from some magnificent things. This movie just stands as proof that there was no way to recreate Python without the Python boys. 

The redeeming factor. The cloak of invisibility. Ok, that scene is one of the good ones. Actually both scenes involving it, which is why I am calling the cloak that redeeming factor. Brilliant. 

The final word. While it pains me to say it, cause all the great things that Jones did leading up to this movie are worthy of great praise and a certain amount of leniency. But not enough leniency to recommend this movie. It is just not good enough for that. There is too much that does not work with this movie. Sure, there are some entertaining bits .. but taken as a whole it comes up lacking. 

[theredeemingfactor]

The Meg

So ... The Meg (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779682/?ref_=nv_sr_1) comic in with an IMDB rating of 5,7 and a Redeemer Rating of 5,5. This is one of those times where I feel like the general crowd of IMDB followers has basically gotten it right. This movie is a bit of a 50/50. It is on many levels reasonably entertaining dumb action. At times I do feel like this movie takes itself a bit too seriously and tries to explore real emotions that have no real place in a movie like this one. When a movie is dealing with a shark the size of a small house we don't really need to get engaged with characters on too deep of a level or anything like that. A movie like this just needs to be ridiculous and entertaining. And this one is just that about half of the time. 

The plot. Not that it really matters. Giant shark kills and eats. Some people die, some get injured and some survive to kill the shark .. or do they. #questionable ending, #sequel? Or I could give you the serious version. Super underwater rescuer guy “fails” to rescue some people and claims that a 70 foot shark attacked them. A, on the surface, colleague calls him crazy and has him removed from the job and basically excommunicates him. But the, suddenly, a job that only he can do comes along, saving some people under water .. and one of them happens to be his ex-wife .. all while he meets a new love interest in the shape of widowed woman with child .. all while it turns out he was right and 70 foot sharks exist .. all while more things happen. 

The movie. Where to begin with this movie. It is essentially a, completely and utterly, paint by numbers dumb action movie. But never funny. And I think that that was a big mistake. An action movie, particularly one like this one, needs some proper humor to fill up the empty space between the action sequences. Space that this movie tried, and did not succeed, to fill with an approximation of drama and story. Ok, let’s discuss what I meant with “paint by numbers” for those of you who don't understand. Movie begins with setting the scene, our protagonist is given a hurdle of some kind to overcome later in the movie. Our antagonist is slowly built up and we are made to believe that the only person who can be the hero is our protagonist. And then the unending can they, can’t they, can they, can’t they .. rollercoaster that these action movies use. And then finally .. success .. and then of course the questionable ending. And, to make sure that the asian, in particular Chinese, movie going audience is buying tickets most of the movie takes place there and the new love interest is asian. But this all basically boils down to this movie being utterly predictable. Now let’s move on with the rest of the movie. Jason Statham .. great action movie star .. as far as I am concerned .. really great and super entertaining. But, and this a ginormous but .. there needs to be fight scenes along with his smart ass comments. Look at Snatch, 100% smart ass .. and equally entertaining. The Transporter, 100% bad ass fight scenes .. bad ass movie. Crank, a good mix of both .. supremely fun to watch. This movie’s action scenes are entertaining, but there is no room for a cool round house kick when the antagonist is a huge CGI shark. The action is really just a lot of yelling in front of a green screen. The script of the movie does not do much to help in that category, and for me it did even less with creating a meaningful story. This movie makes some sort of half hearted attempt at making me connect with the characters that get killed off .. but it fails. And that is because that attempt is half hearted at best. In the end, all that we are left with here is an entertaining antagonist that looks really well animated and kills people in exceptionally entertaining ways. And that is all this movie has. 

The redeeming factor. The big shark was cool. That is really all that this movie does have going for it. I wish that the factor of this movie was Statham, but he was a shadow of himself in this movie .. thanks mostly to the script. And so the thing that this movie has .. is a big shark. Pretty cool. 

The final word. This movie is just another rehashed of a good idea made super exaggerated in an attempt to reinvent it. I think that this movie could have been far better in many ways, and it chose not go that route. It could have been so much better. But as it wasn't, I can easily chose to not recommend this movie for watching. And that is my final word on this movie. 

[theredeemingfactor]

The Dark Tower

So ... The Dark Tower (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1648190/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 5,7 and a Redeemer Rating of 3,9. Author Stephen King has written well over 50 novels and something in the vicinity of 200 short stories. Clearly everything he writes is not great. He has also, as far I understand it, been willing to sell the movie rights to many of his stories for very little money to give up and coming directors the chance to make movies out of his properties. I think for me, this story would have been better off staying on the pages of the book rather than being transferred to the so called silver screen. There are some nifty ideas and scenes that I could see working pretty well being read and played out in one’s imagination, but trying to actually pull it off in a movie makes it fall flat. 

The plot. The gunslingers are a noble warrior race that fight an eternal and hidden battle against the powers of evil that seek to destroy life in the entire universe. This particular story picks up when the gunslingers, who are guys with guns that shoot at demons, are down to their last man. The mortal/eternal enemy of the gunslinger is the man in black, and he seeks to destroy the dark tower. And of course, a young kid that the man in black wants because he has this power that can be used to bring down the tower for good. Good guys with guns vs bad guys with supernatural powers .. with a kid in the middle of it all .. seems fair. 

The movie. First of all, they make no mention of there ever having been a female gunslinger, and since King wrote this in the 70′s and intended for it to be a sci-fi western .. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there have never been any female gunslingers. Moving along, there is a lot more to unpack here. Let me begin by attacking the story. The script is pulled from a set of 5 short stories, and I really believe that they would make for an interesting read. Too bad this did not make for an interesting watch. As I mentioned earlier, certain concepts just work better as written word rather than watched image. This is certainly one of those cases. I mean, basically what we have here is angels dressed up as cowboys with guns and a super zen/ hyper focused ability to shoot those guns. The enemy, the man in black .. well, I mean .. he’s the devil. Right? I mean who the hell else would he be. Kidnapping kids who display certain abilities and harnessing their something or other in an attempt to power a weapon that he uses to strike at the Dark Tower in an attempt to unravel the universe and bring an end to life. Speaking of the Dark Tower .. what the hell is it. Is that supposed to be god, or god’s house. That is just completely glossed over leaving my wondering what the hell. To be honest, when I first heard about the movie and saw trailers .. I thought that the Dark Tower was the home of the bad guy, the man in black .. and that the gunslingers had to attack his home and bring it down. But oh no ., the Dark Tower has to be the bastion of goodness. But let's move on, the cast. When you get Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in a movie, you figure it should be pretty good. Well you would be mistaken. And it is not their fault. Sure some of the extras left me wanting, and the children don't have the range that their roles required .. but the performances in this movie are bad because they were not given anything good to work with. As far as the movie itself is concerned, production value, stunts, scenography. I am going to sum all that up with a “not too bad”. Far from great, but really not terrible. Nope, my main complaint will remain with the script. Oh yeah .. and one more thing. You all know how in most movies guns never seem to run out of ammo. I mean, perhaps modern handguns do come with a clip that hold 2000 bullets, but I doubt it. And in this movie the protagonists fire 6 shooters. Now I may not have intensely studied every sequence with guns .. but for the most part the guns the gunslinger uses seem to fire 6 shots and then require reloading. Amazing, you might think .. but no. You see, they found a loophole. The ammo he carries in his belt never runs out .. haha. Sneaky. My word on this movie is that it would have been better off staying on the pages.

The redeeming factor. I think for me, the best thing going on in this movie is they just straight up murder the kids step father (real dad was already dead) and his mother. I mean, we don't mind seeing the step dad eat it, but killing that mother is really brutal. Cudos for not pulling any punches there. 

The final word. Read the book. I think that really says it all as far as I am concerned here. There is an interesting story here. A cool premise .. but only when left on the pages of the book .. or in the readers imagination. Just not right for the screen. Read the book or watch a different movie. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Captain Marvel

So ... Captain Marvel (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4154664/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,1 and a Redeemer Rating of 7,4. To begin with I have to say that I have done something new with my last two reviews, something that I have never done before. I have reviewed out of order from viewing. But, because I treated myself to a movie theatre double header .. I wanted to get my review in right away. Captain Marvel was number two in the double header, and it certainly did not disappoint. Now it had a lot of things going for it, best of which was having it set in the 90′s. Captain Marvel is probably one of the characters in the MCU that I knew the least about before watching it and that added a level of enjoyment to it as well. Before I move on I want to mention two things. One, while I will try to be completely spoiler free in this review .. no promises. On that note, this movie is worth watching .. knowing that you can decide to go see it now and read later, or just read and take your chances that I don't write anything that might possibly ruin the movie for you. All right, not ruin the movie, but perhaps spoil some events.  

The plot. This movie is basically the origin story for Captain Marvel. Born Carol Danvers on earth .. we find out, via the subplot of the movie, how she get her powers and became the person she is and will be in the MCU movies to come. The main plot of the movie, at least in my opinion, is Vers, noble warrior Hero of the Cree, helping to hunt down and contain the threat of the Skrull as they expand their domain in the galaxy. The mission takes Vers to earth where she begins to learn more about herself. 

The movie. I feel like this may become a rather short review since there are a lot of cool things going on in this movie that just can't get mentioned here. What can we discuss. My favorite thing this movie does is taking place in the 90′s But I think it also missed a golden opportunity there. They decided to make some hammer, seriously HAMMER, a few references. Blockbuster, Radio Shack and the Grunge look. Now sure, they could have left these things in the movie the way they were .. but there really needed to be some more hidden/ easter-egg-style references. Those are the things that a movie goer like me loves, catching a detail in the background that does not even have to have anything to do with the actual story or plot. Missed opportunity to be sure. The casting in the movie. Solid. Actually really solid. While Brie Larson may not have been an obvious choice coming in, she was really good .. even with a slightly goofy running style in one part of the movie. Jackson, even with what I assume is de-aging animation, embodies Nick Fury. Jude Law, I’m a fan .. and he is really good in this. The story/script was really good. Not that I was not expecting that from the MCU, as they have a track record of doing good work. But there are a couple pretty telegraphed punch lines throughout the movie. And just disappoints as I feel like a movie of this caliber should be better than that. Special effects, also solid. Action sequences, really good. Brie Larson and her stunt crew really impressed on me in this movie. In Black Panther, there were a lot of action sequences with female characters .. and they came out looking pale in comparison to the ones with the male characters. And for me that always weakens the character in my eyes. Captain Marvel was solid throughout for me. Properly strong character. This movie was just solid all throughout, good pacing, nice scenes and entertaining from beginning to end. 

The demeaning factor. I think that underusing the 90′s setting was the most disappointing thing for me. Being a teenager of the 90′s it is one of the decades that I associate most with. For me, this movie would have been even better with some 90′s detailing around the edges. 

The final word. This is just another notch on the MCU’s bedpost. Another rung on the MCU’s ladder. Another feather in the MCU’s cap. You get the idea. The MCU is a success machine and this movie makes my top 5, and I just can't wait to see how she will be used in Endgame. If you are a fan of the MCU, watch this movie. If you want to see a movie with a strong female protagonist, watch this movie. A movie I could arguably rank above Wonder Woman. So yeah, I think this movie is certainly worth watching. Enjoy. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Alita: Battle Angel

So ... Alita: Battle Angel (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437086/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,6 and a Redeemer Rating of 5,7. What we have here is some great Japanese source material that is made into a semi live action, semi good movie. There are just a few classic Hollywood changes that just bring the overall rating of the movie down. I have yet to see the all the source material movies, and I have not actually read any of the manga comics. But I have done some research on the subject and looked over the Manga movie that seems to be the source of most of this remake. And the one thing that I took away from that was that, to my surprise, this movie was actually not whitewashed. The characters from the source manga movie where not all asian either. Lets get on with the review.

The plot. Cybernetic cyborg surgeon Dr Dyson Ido is out scavenging the scrapyard when he comes across the torso of a female cyborg. He manages to attach her to a new body and reactivate her, but she cannot remember anything from her time before the scrapyard. As she struggles to learn about her origin she meets new people and interacts with the people in Ido’s life. In time, certain memories are triggered giving her an insight to who she was, and how important she might actually be. 

The movie. Ok, let's begin with the good .. as opposed to .. to .. the bad. The animation is stunningly good, even though I will come back to this later as well. The world creation is rather stunning and the characters in this movie, most of whom are motion capture a la Avatar, are really cool. The cast is good. The story is a good one. There are some good performances in the movie. And lastly I am, in spite of all the things that I am about to say, really looking forward to the sequel. And yes there will be a sequel, cause of course there will be. The movie has made too much money already to not have a sequel, and the movie ends so amazingly open ended that it would be impossible for there not to be sequel. Now .. the bad. Amazing animation, yes .. but there is still a clear lack of human reality. This might be partly due to bad acting as I don't know how much of a performers face is unaltered for MOCAP (motion capture). Some of the scenes in this movie are just not engaging. So, while there are some good performances in this movie, there is an equal number of lackluster performances. Good story, yes .. great, no. Much like some of the performances .. the main story does not engage at all. Moving on to casting .. yes, it is good .. like in the case of Mahershala Ali, but not with Christoph Waltz. Waltz just was not right for this movie. Same thing goes for Keean Johnson, who just happens to be the anchor in the main cast. Lastly for the bad, we have that classic Hollywood need to make characters older than they should be so there can be a romantic subplot in the movie. Alita, in the source material, is much younger. Having a young kick ass female character works, just look at .. Kick Ass .. Hit Girl is brilliant and bad ass. The wrap things up here .. this movie is a still really fun to watch. And I suppose part of the reason it did not appeal to me more is that I was not the target audience for this movie. This movie is aimed a 13-17 year old demographic. For me, this movie could have used an R-rating and a bit more character development and backstory. It also overuses some over stylized battle shots/sequences that work really well in cartoons but not in live action. Longer un-cut battle scenes would have been much better, too many quick cuts. But for what is was, enjoyable. 

The redeeming factor. Dr Dyson Ido’s hammer. That thing is so cool, and clearly has a backstory all of its own that I would like to hear. A thruster powered spike hammer that Ido uses in his bounty hunter life. That thing is wicked. 

The final word. This was an enjoyable movie, but feels like it was made for a younger audience than myself and also for people who have to some extent read some of the manga comic source material. Watching this, I understand for the first time how someone who has never read a comic feels like when they watch a comic book movie that is not an origin story. I feel like I am missing out on half the movie because they almost do nothing to talk about why the world is the way it is. I think it would have helped a lot to add some depth to this movie. But by all means, go ahead and watch the movie .. it ain’t that bad. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Lost Horizon

So ... Lost Horizon (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070337/?ref_=nv_sr_2) coming in with an IMDB rating of 5,3 and a Redeemer rating of 5,0. This is just straight up and down a seriously weird movie. From the outset I think that I was just expecting a sort of dated movie from the seventies about Shangri-La. But, to quote the wonderful show IRONCHEF from Japan, “man-a-live” how wrong I was. This movie is definitely not what I thought it was going to be, and I am not sure that I really liked that. But let me tell you why.

The plot. Ok, one easy way for my to tell you the plot is to take the summary from IMDB .. and here it is, “While escaping war-torn China, a group of Europeans crash in the Himalayas, where they are rescued and taken to the mysterious Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La. Hidden from the rest of the world, Shangri-La is a haven of peace and tranquility for world-weary diplomat Richard Conway. His ambitious brother, George, sees it as a prison from which he must escape, even if it means risking his life and bringing destruction to the ancient culture of Shangri-La.” Well, aside from some very American Europeans, I suppose that is more of less the plot. And of course there is very little mention of the musical numbers here. But I will get to that. 

The movie. Yeah, this movie is a musical. If you go to the IMDB page for this movie you will see absolutely no information about this being a musical. And not just a musical, but a dance musical. Well, I mean what kind of musical would be without dancing. This one certainly isn’t. And to the quality of that singing and dancing .. well, it certainly isn’t the best of either in this movie. I mean this is a movie with actors in it, some pretty good ones .. or at least with names that I recognize. But these actors/actresses are not singers, and yet we are forced to endure their attempts at it. Ok, that might be enough about the singing and dancing. But at least you know about it. Moving on. This would not be a review if I did not mention the obvious amount of whitewashing in this movie. This movie is supposed to take place in China, and/or the Himalayas. All the main asian characters are played by Europeans and Americans. I was looking over the cast list, and there was at least one asian actor, and I he was cast as laughing man refueling the plane. Hmmm. And I’m not sure that Hollywood has gotten all that much better since this movie either. As I am speaking of the cast, let's deal with them as well. Well, they are, umm, well, fine I guess. And it is not like some of these people have not been good in other movies, I guess it is just that this movie isn't that good. God, I could really go on and on. But then I am just droning .. which is sort of fine to do when talking .. but droning with typing is not cool. But that does not mean that I am done with this section quite yet. I want to bring up one nice positive. The set design for this movie is really nice. The set pieces are lovely. The sets are cool. And like most things done in the movies in this era .. it is all practical. And I like that. 

The redeeming factor. I think in the end, the one thing that brings this movie as high as a 5,0 rating is the surprising entrance of song and dance in this movie. It made me happy in a very sort of confused way. 

The final word. In the end, this is not really movie that I would advise seeing. It is certainly not the best script. No one in the cast does themselves any real justice. The singing and dancing makes for an interesting little addition to the movie. But in the end it is a rather weak movie that did not do all too much to entertain me.

[theredeemingfactor]

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

So ... Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4881806/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 6,2 and a Redeemer Rating of 1,9. If I were to sum up this movie in as few words as possible, then it would be “oh come on”. What the hell is this crap. I mean, the first movie in a franchise should never be the best one. Especially not after 25 years. Special effects should have improved and somewhere down the line someone should have managed to write a reasonably good script. But in this thought I would be wrong. The first Jurassic movie is still by far the Best of the bunch. Jurassic two was ok, but three was complete crap. Then came Jurassic world, which was about on par with Jurassic Park 2. Then this turd rolled out and took the bottom spot away from the Third Park movie. Yes, this movie is actually worse than the movie where Alan Grant has a nightmare in which a Velociraptor calls to him. Now, let me tell you why this movie is so bad. 

The plot. Like any follow up movie, the movie starts by creating a reason for getting the band back together again. The second Park movie grabbed Ian Malcolm by involving his girlfriend and creating a second island. Park 3 got Ian Grant to come back by tossing a child on one of the islands. Then the franchise tried a reboot with Jurassic World .. and for this one they needed to get Owen Grady back to the island. An erupting volcano and his raptor blue bring him back, on a mission to save as many dinosaurs as possible. Then the good guys turn out to be bad, and then turn out to be badder and badder. A new dinosaur is once again genetically manipulated. And this one is even better than the Indominous Rex, or whatever the hell that thing was called, but in that is also equally unlikely. I think the movie’s ending is supposed to be happy, but who can tell. 

The movie. Ok, let us deal with the unlikely set of genetically manipulated qualities put into the Indoraptor. This dinosaur was genetically modified to have all the the little tricks and things that Grady had taught the raptors from when he raised and cared for the raptors in World 1. Basically the indoraptor was born fully schooled with taught traits from one of the dinosaurs DNA that was used in its creation. Now I am not any kind of geneticist, but I DOUBT IT. It also has a superior sense of smell to any animal in the world, except for when he needs to not be able to smell for the plot to advance. It is super smart, except for when the plot needs it to do something stupid. And then there is the last little thing that it can do. When someone is pointing a gun at someone, with a laser pointer .. instead of pulling the trigger, it can activate a sound that makes the dinosaur attack the person. Makes sense in a sort of wait no it doesn't kind of way. But the indoraptor was just one of many, MANY, antagonists this movie. We have the helper of Benjamin Lockwood, who of course turns out to be a sort of half inept evil mastermind. Lockwood by the way, being the former partner of John Hammond, but they had a falling out years ago .. before Jurassic Park. Their falling out was because Lockwood used the technology to create a clone of his daughter. Sure .. mix and matching old DNA with frog DNA was an advancement on cloning human beings. Sure .. ok. yeah, ok. NO. Just no. Let us also not forget Mr Eversoll .. the other half of the inept bad guy leader duo. I’m not sure what he has to do in the movie. And Dr Wu, who seems to have less and less morals with every passing movie. Oh and then an entire host of evil gangster and similarly morally dubious people who show up in the second half of the movie to buy dinosaurs. And I still haven't mentioned all the bad guys .. but I can't deal with anymore. I mean my god, this movie is just all over the place. The first half of the movie is just a pointless explosive CGI-fest. Just a collection of “there’s no way they can survive that” kind of situations. But all that unnecessary running around is just there to bring the dinosaurs back to the mainland. Some people die, and others don't. But who cares since no character is flushed out enough for anyone to care about. And then the second half of the movie is a mix between escaping the newest dinosaur and trying to thwart the bad guy’s plan of selling dinosaurs. This is two movies consistently struggling for position. They win and the viewers lose. I mean, maybe some of the CGI action is cool, some scenes are worthy of a chuckle .. but taken as a whole this movie really sucks. 

The redeeming factor. Honestly, for me the redeeming factor is the volcanic eruption of Isla Nublar, at least I think it is Isla Nublar. And I don't mean that in the sense that the effects are really cool. They are all right. I mean that in the sense that destroying one of the islands of this fictional world makes it that much harder to make yet another shit sequel that will make money for some ungodly reason. 

The final word. This movie is terrible. Don't watch it. Find Jurassic Park 1. Watch it again. Remember the feeling when dinosaurs came back into the world. When the story of the movie was good. When the actors did good work. When the characters were people that we cared for or hated or were annoyed by because that was what we were supposed to feel. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a terrible movie and should have all existing DVD copies of itself shipped directly to a landfill. It is garbage. 

[theredeemingfactor]

The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

So ... The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086856/?ref_=nv_sr_3) coming in with an IMDB rating of 6,4 and a Redeemer Rating of 5,4. And to be perfectly honest, that rating has a lot to do with the fact that this movie was so utterly strange that it deserved something over 50%. Had I been a bit more objective and taken a harsh look at this movie, then it should have gotten a considerably lower rating. But let's leave that behind now. This movie was just not something, in fact not something at all. It is a lot of nothing. But in that nothing there is a whole lot of weirdness. Jesus, this review is about as random as this movie was. Let me try to move along and get some structure to keelhauling that lies before me. 

The plot. I found this review on Wikipedia .. Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, a physicist, neurosurgeon, test pilot, and rock musician, to save the world by defeating a band of inter-dimensional aliens called Red Lectroids from Planet 10. That’s right, the main character of this movie is a near surgeon, and a test pilot, and an adventurer, and a rock musician, and an internationally acclaimed physicist and a .. and a .. and a .. I mean, COME ON. IMDB backs up this synopsis and I can find no better way to sum up the movie either. 

The movie. Yeah, going back the main character .. Buckaroo Banzai. The movie starts with him carrying out brain surgery, the most advanced kind of brain surgery that only he can do. While in the operating theatre he is running late for testing out his new “Oscillation Overthruster”. This is amazing piece of machinery allow Buckaroo to drive his car through a mountain. While phasing through that mountain Buckaroo inadvertently brings some aliens from another dimension with him back into his own. Then after driving his car through a mountain he heads to a club, I think, Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers ( the rockband ) play a gig. While playing that gig, an evil scientist breaks out of an insane asylum and more aliens start showing up. All while a woman who Banzai thought was dead turns up in his life. I know I am just summarizing up the movie here .. but I feel that those of you who have not seen the movie need to understand just how weird this movie is. There is just a clusterfuck of confusion all over the place. I guess that this movie was sort of intent on taking the piss out of sci-fi and similar movies .. but I feel like that the cast is taking themselves seriously while their characters so clearly are not meant to be taken seriously. I mean seriously, take a 2 minutes and google “characters from Buckaroo Banzai” ..   ..   ..   ..   .. OK, are you done. Now try to tell me that these people should in no way be done seriously. I mean for gods sake, Goldblum spends the movie running around in an enlarged child’s cowboy costume. Another simple problem with this movie is that it REALLY does NOT hold up. The story that hides behind this piss poor excuse for a movie would have made, and could still make, a great tv show. But this movie is simply a poor product of its time. I don't really think that the acting is that bad, but .. the lines they are fed, the way the movie is filmed and the how the story unfolds .. this movie is just bad. There is way too much happening in every single second of the movie, things that require a lot more background and/or explanation. As I mentioned earlier .. a tv show. Something that would allow for a deeper dive into the story. More time to give context and background to the characters. This movie was not a good way to tell this story. Yuck.

The redeeming factor. Clancy Brown. I love that guy. He is always cool in every movie he does. Just a guy that never seems to get enough of the respect that he deserves. 

The final word. Simply no. Well, not simply. But no. Many noes. Perhaps a nose of no:s. No no no. If am not being clear here, don't watch this movie. Unless you have some sort of weird desire to waste 103 minutes of your life. But otherwise, just no. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Thor: Ragnarok

So ... Thor: Ragnarok (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3501632/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,9 and a  Redeemer rating of 8,3. Well what is to not like about this movie. amazingly little. “Newcomer” director Taika Waititi, called a newcomer simply because this is his first big scale/budget movie. Fresh from making more indie scale hits like What we do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, he is another great addition to the Marvel cinematic universe. He brings his own unique style with him while also showing that he has learnt a thing or two from watching the other movies in this universe. Thor: Ragnarok is, to me at least, that beautiful blend of comedy and action that makes a movie enjoyable and memorable on multiple levels. This is easily in the top 3 of all Avenger Marvel universe movies, and probably top 5 for all comic book movies ever made. 

The plot. Our boy Thor starts the movie by vanquishing a great evil monster only to return home to find that his brother, Loki, has spirited away their father to Norway. Odin, who goes ahead and dies shortly after that sets into motion the entire plot of the movie. With Odin no longer guarding the many gates that he was apparently guarding, a new villainess is released upon the world .. or at least upon Asgard. In his first encounter with her Thor has his hammer destroyed and is transported to a far-off world where he is imprisoned and forced to be a part of gladiatorial games on this planet. Can Thor and Loki, who is also on this world, both find their way back in time to stop Hela from conquering/destroying Asgard. 

The movie. Right now you might be thinking .. Marcus, cause that is my name, how can you be saying that this movie is in the top 3 of this and top 5 of that and then still “only” rate it at 8,3. Well, let me tell you. First off, let me begin that my rating system is rather subjective and I rarely sort of go back and look at old ratings to see if claims of topness are accurate. What I can say here is that 8,3 sounds about right, and that right now it feels like it belongs in the top 3 and 5 respectively of what I mentioned before. That is one way to answer that question. The other one is to begin pointing out some of the things that I did not like in this movie. One major thing is an enormous pet peeve of mine that has come about in the last number of years due to advancements in CGI and the multitude of space movies. Space movies almost always require space battles, and that means people sitting in little spaceships alone and fighting other people in other similarly small space ships. Back in the day one would build actual cockpits and film people sitting in them. Today, more and more, a person is sat down on a chair in a green room and told to act like they are flying a ship. After everything is done, controls and backgrounds and other things are added by the all mighty computer. First off, these scenes always come off looking sort of fake. The other thing is, I think, that because the actor/actress does not actually have to push any buttons or hold any joystick, they are left free to make quippy ill placed remarks. These pointless remarks are a staple these days. That or randomly yelling power words, or just yelling, while firing their imaginary guns. I don't like it. Another thing about this movie was this .. how did Thor and Loki end up on the same planet. The way I understood the Bifrost is that it basically worked like a wormhole to quicker transport Asgardians from one place to another. But in this movie they suddenly introduce a time element instead. Loki falls out of the Bifrost, mid trip, earlier than Thor. Instead of ending up on two vastly different worlds .. Thor comes to the same planet, just months later. Hrmm. One other little thing that was so so for me, was that Taika Waititi’s voice was not exactly right for his character in the movie. But now let us look at some things to like about this movie. Hemsworth has proven himself to be an excellent Thor, Hiddleston is a magnificent Loki, Hopkins perfect as Odin, Goldblum brilliant as the Grandmaster and so on and so on. Casting is brilliant. Including getting to see some Waititi regulars from other projects. The soundtrack is great and the main song is f:ing brilliant. Love that. The humor of this movie is seriously on point. The fight sequences are really good, for the most part. I have one small issue here, and that seems to be a reoccuring issue for some movies. Casting a big bad villainess who is simply incapable of doing the fight scenes means that they have to CGI her some major powers that makes her seem unbeatable. And then it just never makes sense when the hero inevitably does beat her. But the Thor vs Hulk fight was brilliant. And even the Banner and Thor scenes were great. This movie is just through and through entertaining. 

The demeaning factor. Unnecessary into the camera quippy remarks while flying space ship or doing things in a one hundred percent CGI environment. Oh man, they make me cringe. 

The final word. This movie, while certainly benefitting from the viewer having seen all other Marvel movie, can stand alone as a seriously entertaining movie. If you like action and comedy come together then I think you will like this. If you are a fan of the developing Marvel cinematic universe, then you should love this movie. With those words, go watch this movie. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Justice League

So ... Justice League (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974015/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 6,5 and a Redeemer Rating of 6,1. Oh man. I mean, I know a lot of other people have made this point, but what the hell is DC doing with its material. Trying to desperately do battle, movie battle, with Marvel and just coming up short at every turn. Being amazingly inconsistent with how they make their movies. and just making mistakes all over the place. Now look, I liked Man of Steel, it was a cool dark tone that really set it apart from Marvel. And then they made Batman v Superman, which also kept a dark tone that I really enjoyed. But since they did not make as much money as Marvel, or did not reach the same level of acclaim .. DC suddenly started scrambling and doing other things. Suicide Squad was supposed to be like Guardians of the Galaxy, I think. Slightly off beat, a kind of funny. And then this movie came along that is just a jumble of emotions and uncertainty. This was, at the end, a weak movie.

The plot. With Superman “dead” and Batman has his faith in humanity rekindled. Realizing that threats to the world would continue to come in larger and more threatening packages, he sets out to gather beings with special powers to create a league of people who were interested in justice. Starting with Wonder Woman, he manages to recruit the Flash .. and then Cyborg and Aquaman join up cause the plot demanded it of them. Oh yeah, and they bring Superman back to life as well. A bit of rambling here, let's get on with it. While Batman is gathering his league of people seeking justice, the big bad (Steppenwolf) has begun doing things that can lead to the end of the world. It is never super clear to me what is going on with him. I suppose this entire bit could have been said in one sentence. League forms while bad guy does bad thing and eventually come together to stop same bad guy.

The movie. Before I get into this movie, let me discuss the road leading up to it. DC releases Man of Steel, something that I felt was a good movie .. at least if you take Jor-El riding a giant lizard out of it. Then came Batman v Superman that kept going on the same beaten path, and it brought us a really cool new iteration of Batman. Then for some reason Suicide Squad was released before this movie. In what universe do you think to gather a bad guy squad before a good guy league. Then came the overrated Wonder Woman movie .. which was good, but had plenty of faults. Then we got this movie which somehow is being followed by an origin movie for one of the characters in this movie. DC .. what the hell are you doing. Stop confusing, pick a tone and tick with it and write a good story. Well what about this movie in particular. The biggest mistake has to be Cavill’s CGI face. The first time I saw I did not think it was too bad, but then I watched it again and was simply appalled at how bad it really was. I mean, Henry Cavill looks like he is a ventriloquist. Just the way the different characters join up is laughable. I mean there is nothing clever going on. I could say the same about the big bad. Steppenwolf is so seriously underdeveloped that it makes me sick. I’m sure comic book fans know who he is and his motivations, but for the rest of us .. a 3 minute flashback montage is not enough to cover the big bad of a major movie like this one. Maybe this movie just should have ended with the League being formed and a big bad being introduced. But no, DC decides to cram every little bit of everything into this movie. Now lets address killing superman in the previous movie and the “shocking” “surprise” of him returning in this one. Was there ever any doubt. How do you have the Justice League without Superman. I mean come one. If you want to make it look like he’s dead in a previous movie, at least just start out with bringing him back. Make that act 1 and then let him dealing with his resurrection be why he does not immediately join the league. Make some more time for the bad guy. This movie felt a need to give mini origin stories to everyone that has yet to have had their own origin movie. This movie is so cluttered with things that it takes a detective to unravel what is going on. Underdeveloped is what this movie is. But then why give it a 6,1 rating. Well, it is still the Justice League. That is pretty cool. A lot of the scenes, if you remove the plot points they are trying to convey, are actually kind of cool. Aquaman sitting on the lasso of truth, Superman and the Flash racing, Batman quipping with a mugger, Wonder Woman kicking ass .. and so on.

The redeeming factor. Aquaman sitting on the lasso of truth. His character was just a douchy frat boy until that scene. It actually lended the whole movie a bit of gravitas. It gave some emotion to the battle they were heading into.

The final word. I think the comic fans out there need to see this movie to follow along with the DC storyline. The rest of you don't need to bother with this one. It is not good enough to be seen by people who are not comic book fans. It is, at best, a decent movie that some comic book fans will enjoy.

[theredeemingfactor]

Pacific Rim: Uprising

So ... Pacific Rim: Uprising (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2557478/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 5,6 and a Redeemer Rating of 3,6. I don't know how to spell a “gurgling vomiting” sound, but that is what I would like to write down when describing this movie. This is really just basically a shitty cash grab with a half-assed story, two dimensional characters and just some crap acting influenced heavily by the predictable script. As you continue reading I will try to explain exactly why this movie is as bad as all that. By now you should be perfectly aware that I am going to spoil the crap out of this movie. An awareness that comes about because any movie with a rating under 7 never come with a spoiler warning. But since it has been a while since I mentioned this, I thought I would bring it up now because I will not pull a single punch from here on out. Enjoy.

The plot. Here is the IMDB synopsis, “Jake Pentecost, son of Stacker Pentecost, reunites with Mako Mori to lead a new generation of Jaeger pilots, including rival Lambert and 15-year-old hacker Amara, against a new Kaiju threat”. Certainly not a bad synopsis, but at the same time a very clinical and non-explanatory synopsis. Here comes mine. The son of a character from the first movie is troublemaker and not living up to his potential. Will he be able to shape up, while reconciling with the people he disappointed while bringing a new unnecessary character into the mix and have her come of age and be part of the group that saves humanity. That might not have been the most grammatically correct sentence ever, but you sort of get the gist of it. 

The movie. This movie is crap. I a time where there are so many, and I mean MANY, big blockbuster movies out .. it should be considered criminal to put out a movie like this from a major studio with a proper budget. Now, I was not the biggest fan of the first movie either, and since I really am anti sequel . you can just guess what I think about this movie. Well, you already know what I think about since I made that rather clear in my opening statement. This movie should never have been made. They lost Guillermo del Toro, who directed and had a hand in writing the first Pacific Rim movie. You replace him with a man who, while being a good producer, has not directed anything of value before doing this movie. In the mix here with changing directors, is the changing of the writers as well. This movie has the director as the main writer. This movie may have found a better audience if it had been made as a tv show for tv on FOX or something like that where people with lower expectations can enjoy themselves. This movie is really nothing but inexplicably connected events filmed in succession held together by CGI action, Abs and bad acting. What the hell was the idea behind making this movie, seriously. Couldn’t someone have spent at least a day or two reading over the script and just getting them rethink a thing or two. Or three or four or more. Couldn’t this movie universe have developed some new technology .. no no, we will continue turning the same rusty wheel that requires two linked brains to run a giant robot. Come on. Nobody got that in the first movie ..but we accepted that plot and allowed the movie to mostly about the odd couple learning to get along. Don't reprise that story again. Clearly I did not give this movie a 0 ranking, and so there had to be something good here. Well, the CGI was nice .. as I would have expected. And the basic plot of the story I thought was actually good. It did not do a Jurassic Park 2 and create a second island ..instead they found a human enemy in the movie. I liked that, but the movie .. I did not like. 

The redeeming factor. The choice of the bad guy in the movie. The fact that the rift had not reopened, or that new Kaiju were coming from space or something like that. They accepted that the first movie closed the rift, and just made a new enemy out of what already existed. A betrayal. I liked that idea. This movie could have been really good, but will have to settle for having been a good movie. 

The final word. This movie just sucks. It was really bad. It should not be watched .. by anyone else. Again I say, the signal must be sent to studios that movies like this should just not be made to begin with. I think that Atlantic Rim was a better movie than this. Stay away from this movie people.

[theredeemingfactor]

Kill Bill: Volume 2

So ... Kill Bill: Volume 2 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0378194/?ref_=tt_rec_tt) coming in with an IMDB rating of 8,0 and Redeemer Rating of 6,9. I always have some mixed feelings about this movie and this made it rather hard for me to look down my rating on this one. Now, according to IMDB people basically like both Volume 1 and Volume 2 equally. I do not. The first one is far and away a superior movie. I gave Volume 1 an 8,4 rating, and with that in mind this movie should have gotten a much lower rating. But then there are things that really swing in favor of this movie, and I’ll get into that later. Oh, and one more thing before I move on. In my last review I said that Kill Bill: Volume 1 was the second best Tarantino movie, with Pulp Fiction being the best. Pulp Fiction is still my favorite, but second place is a share with Reservoir Dogs. Just wanted to put that out there. 

The plot. At this point I would advise you to read my review for Volume 1, which was the review just before this one. Cause here comes the plot outline. The Bride continues of rampage for vengeance. Will she complete the task she has set for herself. Well, what is the title of the movie. Of course, it could all just be a double cross by the director .. or whoever chose the title here. 

The movie. Now, as many of you know .. I am not a huge fan of sequels. But that is usually reserved for movies that rush to make a sequel just because the first movie was good, and someone is looking to make even more money. That, in my opinion, was not the case here. Tarantino filmed both Volume 1 and 2 at the same time. He just realized early on that the movie he wanted to film was always going to be too long to fit into just one movie. The best thing that Tarantino did in Volume 1 was film things out of sequence. Too bad that he did not do as much of that in Volume 2. This just feels like a linear movie with some flashbacks. Filming out of sequence really allowed the first movie to keep a much better pace than the second. Perhaps the pacing problems of this movie have something to do with what was left to tell of the story. Perhaps not. All I know is that there are times when this movie just creeps along painfully slowly. Between those slow scenes there are a few fantastic fight scenes. Between the two movies, the best fight scene is the very first of the movie. Black Mamba vs Copperhead, Beatrix Kiddo vs Vernita Green, Uma Thurman vs Vivica A Fox. So much greatness in that scene, just so much. In Volume 2 we have the fight between Uma and Daryl. While the fight between Uma and Vivica is technically beautiful, the one between Uma and Daryl is just a brutal street fight with swords. Another great bit from this movie is the flashback to Uma’s Character’s training in sword fighting. Good stuff there. But between these great scenes are the slow scenes. The ones that almost grind the movie to a halt. But there are some cool thought provoking scenes baked into these slow scenes, so they are not all bad. This is a good movie, just not a great one. 

The redeeming factor. The character Pai-mei, played by Gordon Liu. Just a classic old school asian kung fu movie character. Brilliantly played. His scenes do so much for this movie. 

The final word. This is where I attempt to answer one simple question. Should you watch this movie or not. Well, I think that if you plan to watch the first movie, then you should watch this one as well. I would never suggest just watching this one .. nor is just watching the first one a good idea either. They are a package deal. The first movie can almost/sort of stand on its own as it is a far superior movie. But there is information that adds layers to the first movie in the second one. I think the best way to watch Kill Bill is a single seating marathon viewing. Go for it. Together they make a good watchable movie. 

[theredeemingfactor]

Kill Bill: Volume 1

So ... Kill Bill: Volume 1 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/?ref_=nv_sr_1) coming in with an IMDB rating of 8,1 and a Redeemer Rating of 8,4. This movie just ranks right up there with some of my personal favorites. Now there is no denying that it is a Tarantino movie, and by that I mean that it is, too some extent, overly violent. There are some scenes that could perhaps be dialed back a bit in this movie, but much like Pulp Fiction (Tarantino’s best movie) .. the violence seems to work for the movie. Regardless of that though, this movie would be basically as good of a movie without the violence. It is a gripping story that is told well. 

The plot. The Bride, or Black Mamba, used to be a member of the Deadly Viper assassination squad .. and when she tried to leave the group .. they found her. At her wedding rehearsal, the other members of the squad kill everyone including the priest. And they nearly succeeded. The Bride survives and lives to go on an epic revenge rampage. 

The movie. I will start by saying that I really like this movie. But it is not a perfect movie. Some of the overly violent scenes really do bring down the ranking for this movie. There is the violence alone which .. while sometimes cool from a special effects standpoint .. just feels slightly over the top. But the use of violence also plays with the pacing of the movie and takes away from possibilities of advancing the plot with the great cast of this movie. With my negative thoughts about the movie over and done with, let's discuss the good things. The things that those of you who have not seen the movie yet can look forward to. First of all, the 5, 6, 7, 8′s. They are a group that is playing in a restaurant in a scene in the movie. And they are awesome. Second, the cast. While Uma Thurman is not my favorite actress out there, she is wonderful in this movie. But then again so is everyone else. Tarantino really cast the crap out of this movie. I honestly think he got every character just right. Third, the fight scenes. There are so many great sword fighting scenes in this movie. Great work by stuntmen and cast alike. Fourth, the way the movie is filmed. Tarantino is a fan of filming out of order. He did a lot of that when making Pulp Fiction, and this movie is no different. I really like that technique because it keeps a viewer on his/her toes. Fifth and Sixth .. Quentin and Tarantino. 

The demeaning factor. In spite of the multitude of fight scenes in this movie, you would think there would be a lot more blood splatter going around. But there really isn't. Except for a few times when there is just too much. Just fell too much. 

The final word. Tarantino’s second best movie, and really good movie on its own merits as well. I like it a lot and I think there are many of you out there that would enjoy it as well. But I don't think that there are too many of you that have not scene the movie yet. But if you haven't, then do. Just remember, this is definitely not a child friendly movie. 

[theredeemingfactor]

John Wick: Chapter 2

So ... John Wick: Chapter 2 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4425200/?ref_=nv_sr_3) coming in with an IMDB rating of 7,5 and a Redeemer Rating of 7,0. The first John Wick movie was pretty damn sweet. Wonderful long uncut action sequences with plenty unique combat moves and kills. And let us not forget about how Wick Chapter 1 really brought the headshot from video games to the movies. With the success that of the first movie, and the prolific way that the studios are green lighting sequels today .. there was just no way for this movie not to happen. But it of course also suffers from a lot of common sequel related problems. Despite falling victim to many classic pitfalls of follow up movies, Chapter 2 is still wonderfully exciting and fun to watch .. all while being perhaps a bit overly violent for no reason. 

The plot. After avenging the death of his dog in Chapter 1, John Wick is once again forced back in to the hitman lifestyle by a “marker” that forces him to complete one more hit. That hit, which he completes, gets him a hole slew of new enemies, Being double-crossed by the holder of the marker gets him even more enemies .. and finally certain actions by Mr Wick gets him even more enemies. Needless to say, plenty of enemies for the good Mr Wick to kill. 

The movie. The first Wick movie had a great mix of action and acting. In this movie, the balance is skewed. In chapter 1 Wick kills 77 people. Of course this would never be enough for the sequel. And so, in this movie Wick fires 302 shots, and tallies up 128 people. As far as I know, in spite of the massive amount of shots fired .. there is not a single “innocent” casualty. But that is beside the point. What I am saying here is that two movies with essentially the same run time have vastly different kill counts. With so many kills, there is just way too much time spent killing and too little time spent actually acting and advancing the story. This is my main complaint with the movie. The movie just goes blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam and more blam, blam blam. I think out of the 2 hour runtime there is mayhems twenty minutes of story. The story is all right, but is essentially a ramped up version of the story in Chapter 1. And of course, with a third movie on the way .. we will see Chapter 1 on super duper mega steroids. While the action scenes in this movie are certainly as good as those from the first movie, at times perhaps even better. But due to the ramped up kill count, we get a massive amount of repeats of moves and kills. And that does get boring to be honest. Now, perhaps I am a bit jaded when it comes to movie violence at times. but since I know full well that this is all make believe, I am allowed to get bored by seeing the same thing over and over again .. even if it is violent. All things considered, this movie had a really quality lined cast and they all do good work .. too bad they have too little time to actually act. The movie also has a lot of fantastic action sequences .. too bad that there is just so much violence that the people behind the camera ran out of creative ways for Wick to kill people. 

The demeaning factor. I was just rewatching it. Keanu Reeves keeps making this really errking “grr” face while going on shooting rampages. After the third time I got bored with it, after twice as many more it began to really bother me .. and when it still did not stop .. hrrrmmmph. 

The final word. If you saw the first movie and liked it. I’m sure you'll like this one as well. This is a good action movie and is still entertaining. But for me, I was happy having seen the first one. This second one did not really need to be seen. My recommendation is for you to wait for a new original action movie.