Underrated Films - The Rundown Review

 

The Rundown is a 2003 action comedy film. The movie was produced by Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Strike Entertainment, and WWE Films and distributed by Universal Pictures. The Rundown was written by R.J. Stewart and James Vanderbilt and directed by Peter Berg.

The story is a retrieval expert named Beck is hired for a simple job, travel to Brazil and get his employer's son Travis back to him. They both soon learn of a population control plan run by an evil treasure hunter, now they must work together or suffer at the hands of an evil tyrant.

Why It's Underrated

The reason why The Rundown is underrated is because it's kind of been forgotten about. I haven't seen this movie be played on TV in years. Which kinda sucks because this movie is a perfect popcorn flick.

My Thoughts

Now let's get this out of the way, yes, the story is simple and doesn't really do anything new. But, the movie makes up for that by giving us a really fun ride to watch with The Rock and Seann William Scott front and center.

Speaking of The Rock and Seann William Scott, these two were amazing together. They had just great chemistry and it really became the entire highlight of the movie. Seeing them banter with one another was really funny.

What also makes The Rundown a pretty good movie is the comedy. I can't tell how hard I laughed at this movie, it was truly funny. Every bit of the jokes in here worked.

Another aspect of the film that makes it good is the character of Beck played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He's backstory isn't fully explained but, in retrospective the movie was better off with just the hints that were sprinkled throughout the runtime. What I also liked about the character was this is The Rock's most calm role yet. Sure it's awesome to see play someone similar to Hobbs in the Fast & Furious movies, but because he's playing a more relaxed character he really shows off more of his acting.

The other thing that makes the movie work is Christopher Walken as Hatcher. Now, Hatcher isn't a deep villain by any means, but what made his character work was Christopher Walken putting a lot of effort into the role. He has this bit of dialogue about the tooth fairy and it's somehow great because Walken made it work.

Since this IS an action movie, you're probably asking "how is the action?" Well folks....it's awesome. You got fight scenes where the hits look like that actually hurt, guns firing all over the place, and of course, explosions. All of the action in the movie was truly a blast.

While the story of The Rundown doesn't break any new ground what made it a fun movie was the chemistry between The Rock & Seann, the comedy, the character of Beck, Christopher Walken as Hatcher, and the action scenes.

My final rating is Good.

Alright everyone, that's it for me. Come back on Thursday, Jul 1st for a special post about comic books. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

F9 Review

 

F9 (aka F9: The Fast Saga or Fast & Furious 9) is an action movie, the sequel to 2017's The Fate of the Furious, and the ninth movie in the main film series but the overall tenth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise. The movie is produced by One Race Films, Original Film, Roth/Kirschenbaum Films, and Perfect Storm Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. F9 is written by Justin Lin and Daniel Casey and directed by Justin Lin.

The story is set after the events of The Fate of the Furious, and Dominic Toretto along with his wife Letty and their son Brian are living a peaceful life. That all changes when someone is planning on destroying Dominic along with everyone he loves and cares for, this someone is no other than Dominic's brother Jakob. And just to make matters worse he's teamed up with their old enemy Cipher.

Initial Reaction

Having enjoyed The Fate of the Furious and this franchise's spin-off Hobbs and Shaw, I was pumped for this one. Then...well....COVID happened and the movie had it's release date changed numerous times. Thankful it was coming out this year, and what was gonna make this specific viewing experience even better was my local theater was finally reopening.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

One thing about the movie I've got a mix feeling on is Jakob. While I understand the motivation it still felt like more could've gone into how and why he became what he is. Another gray area with F9 is really the story itself. There were somethings I didn't mind, but other times there was quite a lot of exposition going on. And there were some scenes where they got self aware, which just made me roll my eyes. Kinda makes me hope that maybe, hopefully that Chris Morgan (writer of Tokyo Drift all the way to The Fate of the Furious, and the spin-off Hobbs and Shaw) will come back, but from what I've seen so far, he might not.

Pros

One thing I liked about the movie is the action. Everything you heard about the action scenes being ridiculously crazy is true, and I loved every moment of it. They were fun! So I really don't understand why critics were complaining? Have they NOT been paying attention of the previous installments? Another good thing about the film was Justin Lin's directing. The way he directed the action sequences from car chases to fist fights was great. The last thing I'll give F9 credit for is that mid-credit scene. Really made me wonder what's going to happen to those two specific characters given their history.

While I didn't hate F9 I will consider it a weak edition of the Fast and Furious series. The script had some good stuff in it but did need some rewrites here and there. And Jakob could've used a lot more to his character, because what he got felt like step one to his villainous origin story. The good things are the absolute insane action scenes, Lin's directing, and the mid-credit scene.

My final rating is Okay.

Well, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Jun 28th for my Underrated Films review of The Rundown. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One Review

Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One is a animated direct-to-video comic book movie based on the storyline of the same name. The movie is produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One is written by Tim Sheridan and directed by Chris Palmer.

The story Bruce Wayne is still in the early days of his career of the vigilante Batman. One day he gets a call from both Commissioner Gordon and district attorney Harvey Dent about a mysterious killer who's murdering people around the holidays. Now Batman must find out who this serial killer is before another life is taken.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I looked forward to this one is because Batman: The Long Halloween is one of my favorite Batman storylines. It's a great mystery comic with fantastic art by Tim Sale. So when I heard a two-part animated movie was going to be made, I was excited.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

One mix bag I have with the movie is the art style. With this movie I found myself at a very similar situation with previous Batman animated movie, that being Batman: Hush. Where I didn't mind the art style they used, but it definitely would've been so much better had they stuck with the style that was used in the comic storyline. Another thing I was kind of alright with was some of the changes. I didn't hate any of them, but there was one HUGE change they made to the story that has more worried. I'm not giving it away cause it's a spoiler, but what I will say is, there's a suspect that played a big part of the original story arc but it was changed, and now I'm wondering how they're gonna pull off Part Two without this character. I think I'll get over these changes when we get part two very shortly.

Pros

Now for the more positive things about part one of Batman: The Long Halloween, for starters good animation. Even though I've seen this style with Superman: Man of Tomorrow and Justice Society: World War II, I still really like it. Another thing that made the movie good was the voice work. Everyone did a really great job, I especially liked how Josh Duhamel as Harvey Dent. The way he plays Harvey he can really hear him slowly start to lose it, he's right on the edge. The last thing I'll give the movie credit for is how suspenseful it is. Much like the comic story arc it was based on the movie gives a great mystery and some intense moments, I remember this one scene with Carmine Falcone and his son Alberto where they get into an argument and it escalated really quick.

Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One is a pretty good DC animated movie. It has good animation, great voice work, and much like the comic it was based (or half of it anyways) it's quite suspenseful. The gray areas are while I didn't mind this art style, I still would've loved to see Tim Sale's art be brought to life. And the changes, I wasn't against them, they just have me a tad bit worried about the part two. But I'm certain when part two comes out my slight worries will be put to rest.

My final rating is Good.

Okay that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Jun 26th for my review of F9. I'm really excited to see that one because my local theater is FINALLY gonna be up and running again after an entire year. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Luca Review

 

Luca is a 3-D animated coming-of-age fantasy comedy movie. The film is produced by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Luca is written by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones and directed by Enrico Casarosa.

The story is in the seaside town of Portorosso two boys/best friends named Luca and Alberto are enjoying their time just being kids. They seem like your typical young boys but, they hide a secret. You see Luca and Alberto are actually sea monsters who came to the surface to see what the world from above is like. Now in order to make sure nothing goes wrong they have to make sure they don't blow their cover.

Initial Reaction

When I first saw the trailer for Luca it actually did peak my interest, it seemed interesting and also looked like it was going to be a fun movie. And really that's all I gotta say as to why the movie pulled me in.

Cons

One issue I had with the film is the art style. I tried to like it for what it is but I just couldn't. Mainly because as someone pointed out, it kinda looks like the Grubhub commercial. You know the one, with the really bad dancing, the really bad character designs, and the even more awful music. Yeah that one. Another thing I didn't like about it was the villain Ercole. Now I wasn't expecting much a big super evil bad guy especially with this film but he was so generic. Almost every bit of his dialogue can be replaced with "People love me because I'm me!", "I'm amazing just because I simply exist!", "Everyone in this town sucks expect me because well I'm ME!" and so on and so forth. The last of my complaints come from the post-credit scene. I am so over post-credit scenes that are just in the movie for one last laugh or simply added nothing. Especially with the character that was used. I don't think anybody needed to know what happened to him, I even think maybe some people treated him as an afterthought.

Middle Ground

The only real mix bag I had with Luca is we don't know very much about the underwater world. We know bits and pieces but not much. We know that Luca and his family are farmers and they have neighbors who are also farmers but, what else? I really would've enjoyed seeing more of that part of this world.

Pros

My first bit of praise for the movie is gonna be quick cause it goes without saying, the animation is wonderful, even though I wasn't a fan of the art style one of the aspects that really kept me going with the movie was the animation. Another thing I liked about Luca was it was just a fun movie. This is definitely one of Pixar's more laid back films, yes there are stakes and yes we do get drama but, it's just a simple movie with a simple story of two buddies hanging out and finding out about the surface world. And I think a lot of people are going to enjoy that. What also made Luca pretty good movie was the voice acting. Of course I wasn't surprised with the adults they were great, the cast that REALLY made me enjoy the movie was Jacob Tremblay (Luca), Jack Dylan Grazer (Alberto), and Emma Berman (Giulia), all three of them provide very good performances and they all work well off of each other.

Luca has it's flaws but still enjoyable, what with great animation, a more summer fun/simpler story, and a great voice cast. I did wish we could see more of the underwater world other than what we got. My real issues were the art style, a bland villain, and another pointless post-credit scene that I can add to my list of pointless post-credit scenes.

My final rating is Good.

So, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Thursday, Jun 24th of my review of Batman: The Long Halloween - Part One. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to The Batman - Batman Returns Review

 

Batman Returns is a 1992 comic book movie and the sequel to 1989's Batman. The movie was both produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Batman Returns was written by Daniel Waters and Sam Hamm and directed by Tim Burton.

The story is a deformed man calling himself the Penguin is receiving praise for heroically saving a baby from a kidnapper. He seems like a good guy but he isn't. He's planning something but what? That's what Batman is going to found out. However, he may have his hands more full than he thought because not only is the Penguin the newest villain in Gotham City but so is the beautiful but deadly Catwoman.

• Negatives

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

• Mix

One thing that's just a little bit of downside but I feel can be forgiven is there are times when the movie can get slow. But after those slow moments things really do start to pick back up again.

Another grey area with Batman Returns is the action. Some of it is good and I liked it, but thing we have scenes where it's very much of a downgrade compared to the previous movie. Such as the final act, sure I liked it but it didn't have the same intensity and suspense as the first movie.

• Positives

One positive I'll give the film is the soundtrack. Danny Elfman yet again delivers such like he did for Batman. You got the classic Batman theme, but the one I always enjoyed was the music that played during the Penguin origin scene at the beginning.

What also made this film enjoyable was the Penguin. I thought he was good bad guy. Mainly because the guy is just disgusting. Both with his innuendos and what he's planning to do with the first born sons of Gotham. Hearing and seeing that stuff just really made wish Batman would just punching that guy already.

Another good aspect of Batman Returns is the very thing it was criticized for back in the 90's is the dark tone. You all probably know me by know to know that I do enjoy darker stuff for the comic book genre, so naturally I would dig this. And I'll never understand the complaint about this movie back in the 90s. It's Batman, he's stuff is suppose to be dark.

The last thing I'll give the movie credit for and it's the biggest highlight of the movie and that's the performances. Michael Keaton is once again great as Batman, and this time around I actually kinda liked his Bruce Wayne. Michelle Pfeiffer as Selina Kyle/Catwoman was great. She was really good when she was sharing scenes with Keaton. Then we have Danny DeVito as Penguin.....holy crap was he amazing. Despite all of the makeup that was on his face he still gave us an amazing performance. There were also times when I completely forget that was him in the makeup, not to mention he was committed to this role. When you see the Penguin eating a raw fish, that's real. Danny DeVito is actually eating a REAL raw fish.

The only mix bag with Batman Returns for me is the slow bits and some of the action. Where the movie redeems itself is the great soundtrack, a gross villain, the darker tone, and the performances from Keaton, Pfeiffer, and DeVito.

My final rating is Good.

Well, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Saturday, Jun 19th for my review of the newest Disney/Pixar movie, Luca. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Awake Review

 

Awake is a science fiction action movie. The film is produced by Entertainment One and Paul Schiff Productions and distributed by Netflix. Awake is written by Gregory Poirier and directed by Mark Raso.

The story is a mysterious catastrophe has not only wiped out all electronics across the world but has also taken away people's ability to sleep. Scientist are trying to find a cure for these sudden unexplained cases of insomnia before the effects become so fatal that it wipes out humanity. While this is going Jill has discovered her daughter may be the key to solving this problem.

Initial Reaction

The main thing that go my attention for this particular movie was the premise. This sounds like an absolute nightmare, sure I've pulled some all nights in the past but I never had a case of insomnia. So I could only imagine what it would be like one an apocalyptic level. Like I said that sounds like a nightmare, especially for people who do suffer from insomnia.

Cons

One of the sadly many bad things about this movie is the editing. This movie was not pieced together very well, there times when it felt like we didn't even smoothly transition to the next scene or there was something odd about the scenes. For instance, Jill gets into a car crash and the car goes into the nearest body of water, she gets both her son and daughter out of there, and we see the daughter swim perfectly to the top while Jill is trying to rescue her son. Then 20 seconds later, your daughter apparently drowned. Cause the next shot is her getting CPR by a cop! Did I accidently hit fast forward or something? What happened? Why is she all of sudden getting CPR when we saw her swim just fine? You get quite a lot of scenes like that and it's very distracting. Another issue with Awake is it's just too short. This is one of those movies were a longer running time was needed. Because when we're watching the film there doesn't seem to be a good amount of progression. The movie wants you to believe the events going on around the characters took months but yet, from my viewing experience it seemed like only three days went by and all of sudden everyone is freakin' insane and the environment looks like it's in the middle phase of the apocalypse. I know when you don't get a lack of sleep for a large number of days things get serious, but I doubt it happens as fast as the movie made it out to be. The other flaw with the film is there was no consistency for the insomnia. Jill was able to keep her sanity for weeks upon weeks, her son Noah barely showed any symptoms at all, and there was also a character named Dodge who even though much like everyone else he hasn't gotten any sleep, he didn't look nor sound tired at all. I don't know how it was possible for the filmmakers to screw up their own basic premise but they did. The other problem with Awake is the characters. They are boring. That get a slim to none level of character development. I mean, Jill has somewhat of a backstory but it's so small that you're gonna forget about it or it might as well not be in the movie to begin with. Now we arrive at the movie's biggest issue, and that's nothing is explained. I don't need a movie to give me every single small tiny detail about the world it builds but come on. I understand the filmmakers wanted to keep things as vague as possible but sprinkle in some clues here and there. They gave us no hint of what caused the catastrophe, or if it was possibly man made. Then, just to make matters worse, the ending shows us how to cure the insomnia but of course, it's not explained! Again, let me repeat, you don't have to show every little thing but give the audience some sort of hint.

Middle Ground

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Pros

The only good thing about the movie is Gina Rodriguez's performance. Her acting is the only thing stopping me from giving this movie my lowest rating.

Awake is really bad. The editing is off, it desperately needed a longer runtime, there was no consistency with the insomnia, the characters are very much underdeveloped, and nothing is either explained or hinted at. The only good thing was Gina's performance.

My final rating is Awful.

First Infinite and now this. Two letdowns in the span of three days. Oh well. Come back on Thursday, Jun 17th for part two of the Road to The Batman, with my review of Batman Returns. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and don't bother with this movie.

Infinite Review

 

Infinite is a sci-fi action movie based on D. Eric Maikranz's The Reincarnationist Papers. The film is produced by Paramount Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Closet to the Hole Productions, New Republic Pictures, and Fuqua Films and distributed by Paramount+. Infinite is written by Ian Shorr and Todd Stein and directed by Antoine Fuqua.

The story is Evan McCauley has been having hallucinations, he thinks this is because he is a schizophrenic. However, he soon finds out these aren't hallucinations, there memories from his past. And not just any past but his many past lives. Now Evan must find out what this all means while at the same time avoid other forces that want answers to this bizarre question.

Initial Reaction

There were three reasons of why I wanted to see this movie. Reason #1) Antoine Fuqua has directing a lot of good movies. Training Day, Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen, and Southpaw. Reason #2). That premise. It really drew me in. It sounds like it would make this movie very good. and Reason #3) I like some of Mark Wahlberg's movies so naturally I would want to see if this was gonna be one of his good ones.

Cons

One negative with Infinite is the villain, Bathurst. He's got a good motivation, he wants to end reincarnation because he views it as a curse. But here's the thing, he made a device called the Egg that will every single living thing that was there isn't any to be reincarnated in but, HE ALREADY HAS A DEVICE LIKE THAT! Throughout the whole movie he's walking around with a gun that kills people and stops them from being reincarnated, so if he hates being reincarnated so much, why not just turn that special gun on yourself? He literally doesn't have to do any of this. Then we have our other characters...they are not interesting. They go through no development at all nor does the movie really attempt to really make us care, sure there's some reason but it wasn't enough. I literally see them either get hurt, nearly die, or die and I didn't care. When you put your characters through all three of those things and nobody cares, you did something wrong. The other issue Infinite has it's forgettable. As I'm writing this I only remember two scenes from the movie, everything else is a blur. Then when the movie's not being forgettable, it's being predictable. One example of this is when they try to build suspense of if Evan will get his memories back. Now had this been written better this could've work but, because the movie's poorly written you know what scene specifically he's gonna get his memories back.

Middle Ground

One grey area with the film is the acting. For the most part it's fine, nothing really spectacular but at the same time nothing that feels like you'd rather watch paint dry. Another grey area is the special effects. For a good portion of the movie they're really good, other times you can tell that it's CGI. Then we have the action. It's fun to watch, I just wish there was more of a good movie for me to be fully invested in them.

Pros

I've got nothing to say.

Infinite has okay acting, a lot of good special effects, and some fun action scenes, however those can't save itself from a villain that makes no sense, boring characters, and being both forgettable and predictable.

My final rating is Bad.

So...this was a let down. But do come back on Monday, Jun 14th for my review of the newest Netflix movie, Awake. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It Review

 

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (or simply The Conjuring 3) is a supernatural horror movie as well as the sequel to both 2013's The Conjuring & 2016's The Conjuring 2. The movie is also the eighth installment in The Conjuring Universe. The film is produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster Productions, and The Safran Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and directed by Michael Chaves.

The story is a young man named Arne Cheyenne Johnson is charged murder, it seems like it's going to be a normal trail until Arne claims he committed the crime via demonic possession. Soon Ed and Lorraine Warren are called in to investigate such a claim, however there might be more to this case than they thought.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was because I've reviewed previous movies from the Conjuring Universe so why stop now? But also because those first two Conjuring films were really good. So naturally I was looking forward to this one, I'm mainly hoping that it does suffer what I refer to as "The Third Curse". Where we have two great movies but then the third one comes along and it's either okay or bad.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

The mix bag is the story. We still do get the case of Arne Johnson (aka The Devil Made Me Do It case) but, we often do go away from that part of the story to focus on another case. Sure those other cases connect but I wouldn't be surprised if some people get the impression that this almost feels like a different movie.

Pros

One pro to the movie is once again Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga's performances. Their acting really help the movie where it's both at it's weakest and at it's strongest. Another positive would be Michael Chaves' directing. He did a great job setting up shots that have a creepy atmosphere, intensity, and the scary scenes. Speaking of those scare scenes, I thought that aspect of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It was good. Some scary scenes just didn't do it for me, others were pretty good. The last thing I'll give the film credit for is this time around the stakes are higher for the Warren's. Because for this movie Ed has a health condition where if he's not careful he immediately has to go to the hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And for Lorraine, she now has to deal with an enemy who has the same ability she does. So now the Warren's have to deal with health problems and all the creepy demonic stuff.

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is the weakest of the three Conjuring movies, but I still think there's a lot to enjoy from the film. Wilson & Farmiga's performances, Chaves' directing, some scary moments, and things being even more complicated for the Warren's. The only gray area for the film is the story.

My final rating is Okay.

So, that's going to do it for me. Come back on Friday, Jun 11th for my review of Infinite. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

No A Quiet Place Part II for Me

 

Hey guys,.....so looks like my chances of likely not seeing A Quiet Place Part II were right. For any of you that don't know during my Cruella review I mentioned that I may or may not have a review for the movie at question for Jun 3rd, and sadly I'm not having a review. Even though my theater is going to open back up they haven't announced a date yet. So yeah, there's not going to be a review for A Quiet Place Part II, thankfully though I'll be able to review The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It like a said in the Cruella review...so I guess that's some sort of good news.