Underrated Films - Pain & Gain

 

Pain & Gain is a satirical black comedy crime movie based on the crimes committed by the Sun Gym gang. Productions was done by De Line Pictures, Bay Films and Paramount Pictures, who also distributed too. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote while Michael Bay directed.

The story is, Sun Gym manager Daniel Lugo feels as though he deserves more in life after everything he's been through. After convincing his friend/fellow bodybuilder Adrian Doorbal and manipulating born again Christian Paul Doyle, the trio kidnaps and extort a wealthy man. They might being enjoying the high life now, but soon it'll come crashing down.

Why It's Underrated

Now back in 2013 the movie successfully grossed a total of $86 million worldwide on a $26 million budget, and despite Bay's name being attached, I've read reviews and watched videos of people speaking favorable about it. However over the time it started spilling under everyone's radar. I don't recall it ever having a TV showing, but for a quite awhile it was on free streaming services such as Tubi & Pluto TV.

My Thoughts

Now while I do enjoy this movie I do have a slight issue with the pacing. For awhile it can be slow, but once the crimes start happening the pacing does become very brisk.

One positive for this is the visual style.

Now this is just one of many great shots of Miami. The city is given this beautifully bright color palette made even better with crisp cinematography. Sticking with the visual style let me give you a snippet of the colors.

Now I'll fully admit, it did take time for me to get use to the over saturated colors. But when rewatching and thinking about it, I think it might work in the film's favor. The story is already excessively larger than life, so why not match that with excessive colors? And also, this isn't really the worst look for movie.

Let's move onto the comedy. One of two parts that make it work is the dialogue. There's a huge amount of hilarious lines. I think the number one is "Jesus Christ himself has blessed me with many gifts! One of them is knocking someone the fuck out!" I remember very well being in the theater back in 2013 and everybody laughing loudly at that line. The second part of the humor comes from the satire. While not the most deepest, the movie does satirize the American Dream. Primarily touching upon the theme of entitlement. With the Sun Gym gang all thinking they're owed something.

My last praise goes to the performances from Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and Anthony Mackie. Wahlberg does an exactly job nailing Lugo's delusions, manipulation, and charisma. Then you have The Rock given what's probably his best performance out of his entire character. While he has brought humor to his other roles, in this we see a more vulnerable character. Then there's Mackie. He has a more quieter role, but it works because his character is more grounded than the others. And all three perfectly showcase how unintelligent the Sun Gym gang were as well as how awful they were too.

Guys, I love Pain & Gain. It has flaws, yes, but there's a lot of good going on in it too.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Monday, Apr 14th, for the next part of the Road to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, with my review of Fantastic Four (2005). Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Superman (2025) - Superman Returns Review

 

And were back with Superman yet again.

Superman Returns is a comic book movie based on well, Superman. While it's the fifth movie in the franchise it serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II, thus ignoring III and IV: The Quest for Peace. It was produced by DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Peters Entertainment, and Bad Hat Harry Productions with Warner Bros. Picture also handling distribution. Superman Returns was written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris and was directed by Bryan Singer.

The story is, Superman traveled to a location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of Krypton. Five years later he's come back to Earth, and while the people of Metropolis rejoice, Clark is saddened to learn just how much Lois has moved on from him. During all of this, Lex is planning something that'll kill billions of people.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Alright let's get to it. First off, the story. Now I actually appreciate the story took a good portion of focusing on character. It makes sense. Superman hasn't been seen for five years so we might as well have some focus on how things have changed while he was gone. But we brings it down a peg is it's pacing. I get they wanted a slow burn, but even slow burns have their quick moments.

The next aspect I'll touch on is the tone. While I admire the tribute to the Donner films, there also lies the problem. On one hand it's trying to capture a nostalgia feeling, but on the other it also feels like it does want to be modern, well 2006 modern not this year's modern. The point is it's trying to do a balancing act, but each side keeps tipping one way and they have to run quickly to the center before falling.

• Positives

Alright let's get to the positives. One being the style. Yes, I know hard to give Bryan Singer credit giving the controversies surrounding him, but let's separate the art from the artist, then go back to hating him. The look to the movie is beautiful. It's very cinematic and clean. And it has a very warm color palette for more easy going scenes, but dark for the intense moments.

Then there's the action. Yes, there is action in this movie! That airplane rescue scene is amazing. When Metropolis is crumbling, we see Superman use all of his powers to stop all of the disasters. Then we have the intense scene of Superman lifting a whole mountain despite his weakened state. I think when people say action, what they mean is they wanted to see Superman fight someone. An understandable thing, after all prior to this movie we fought three different enemies. But this is also a confusing complaint because he didn't fight anybody in the first Reeve's movie, he stopped natural disasters.

My last praise will go to Brandon Routh and his performance. While the material isn't the strongest Routh provided enough strength and charm to make it work. So I'm glad years later he was given the chance to be Superman again in the Arrowverse's version of Crisis on Infinite Earths.

While Superman Returns isn't perfect, I do believe it gets way too much hate.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 10th for my Underrated Films review of Michael Bay's Pain & Gain. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. Also, if you can, please help me get my X account unsuspended by contacting @elonmusk, @X, and @Support.

Screamboat Review

 

Screamboat is a comedy horror movie based on the 1928 short film, Steamboat Willie. Iconic Events Releasing did distribution while studios such as Sleight of Hands Productions, Kali Pictures and Fuzz on the Lens Productions did production. The movie's written by Matthew Garcia-Dunn and Steven LaMorte who also directed.

The story is, deckhands and passengers were expecting a nice, calm experience on a boat ride. But then those passengers and deckhands are soon being killed by an evil monster. What started as just a simple boat ride turns into a struggle for survival.

Why The Delay?

Well for starters, on Thursday (when I was originally gonna post this) my mom's sister came off because she was visiting other family members and was staying at her house for some rest. So I decided to hold the review to spend time with an aunt that don't see all that much. Then on Friday a huge pain in the ass came. X (formerly Twitter) thought I was a bot because of "inauthentic behavior". I guess being more activate then usual on your own account makes the algorithm thinks you're bot even when you're comments aren't bot at all or spammy. So I send an appeal that day but I got the reason for why I thought my account was suspensed. Thanks stupid brain. When Saturday rolled in I was feeling sorry for myself, but now on Sunday I'm tired of feeling sad. So I decided to suck it up and post the review already. Hopefully things will change by Monday. If not I'll continue to post reviews not matter how long it takes for me to get my account back.

Initial Reaction

Like I said in my Peter Pan's Neverland Nightmare review, I've pretty much become the public domain horror guy. It's tough burden, but somebody's gotta do 😆.

Cons

My only negative thought is Willie's design. Now let me start off by saying I have no ill will towards the effect teams and/or David Howard Thornton. But I'm sorry, the costume isn't good to me. It's just David in a mouse costume. It's especially annoying because they did have a puppet for a few scenes, which begs the question why not use that? I would understand because of budget but if that was the case either start a Kickstarter to get more money or hold off releasing the movie until you've got more money.

Middle Ground

First let's start off with the cinematography. While it's clear the movie's budget is tight, the cinematography isn't too bad. It's decent. Enough to seem like a movie but not too little to feel like a student movie. Then there's the pacing. It drags on for a bit in the first half, but as the movie goes on it does pick up. So overall it's okay. Now onto the dialogue. One half is fine. Nothing to get too bent out of shape about. It works. But often times you get some lines that are very uninspired. So sometimes the horror and drama can get cut down a bit because of the dialogue. The last part for this section goes to the performances. David Howard Thornton once again does a spectacular job. Whether he's Art the Clown, The Mean One, or now Steamboat Willie, David is able to give a great performance through his incredible body language and facial expressions. Everybody else is meh. Some do a fine enough job, but others were very wooden.

Pros

There's two genuinely good things that the movie has going for it. Both the effects and kills are really good. Some of effects are iffy in some areas, but in some areas they really shine. Regardless of how you feel about the movie both because the overabundance of public domain horror movies or if you just didn't like the movie despite that, the kills don't disappoint.

So if you're in the mood for a horror-comedy, I say give this a try. If you don't want to watch it at all. More power to ya, I'm gonna twist your arm.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's all for now. Come back tomorrow, Monday, Apr 7th, for the next part of the Road to Superman (2025) with my review of Superman Returns. Also, if you can, maybe help me out with my X account. Contact either @X, @elonmusk, @Support, or all of the above. If you can't because you don't have an account or some other reason, I'll understand. Anyways, until then, enjoy the rest of your day and I'm sorry my self pity delayed this review.