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If there have to be vanity projects about modern war and warfare they may as well be done by soldiers that actually participated in the bloodshed. Otherwise movies of this caliber (and stress level - this movie is intentionally intense) are down right perverse at this point. A tight 96 minutes of real-time chaos, torment, pain, and unbelievable bravery, from a young group of men performing in a war that never should’ve occurred in the first place.

The final shots are haunting alone, but when you take in the historical elements of how all of this loss and suffering were ultimately for nothing… I mean, fuck me….

I really dug the last entry, “Beyond”, but this one was largely a dud with a few decent and strong effects shots scattered throughout the shorts. I’ve seen every VHS and this one was my least favorite. Worth a spin if you’ve got a SHUDDER account, if only for the key gore moments. But I’d say it’s not worth a rental.

Watch this only if you like beautifully shot movies, with amazing soundtracks and tightly written dialogue from tragically sad, mournful characters that are all trying to love fully, before it’s too late.

Oh yeah, and bring those tissues…

Mr. Robot takes on a space monkey from Fight Club with help from Morpheus. Then, eventually, randomly, has a Russian coffee date with the Punisher for no apparent reason, all while on a quest to avenge the death of his beloved Mrs Maisel. He mostly bumbles through murdering three people with a handful of bolts, tubes, nuts, wires and screws that you'd find in a Home Depot return bin. Bullets would be so much cheaper than the mayhem he commits to (because, apparently, shooting someone who you are going to kill regardless is impossible when it’s up close and intimate).

Woof… all this said, all of these actors have been in much better films/TV shows.

I'd watch, or revisit those.

I heard the hype for this one two years ago so I intentionally went in cold and man…this movie fucked with me in a way I’ve never had a movie do in a long, long time.

The writing/acting really elevates the first half which is intentionally derivative, but by the time the second half starts and the story kinda takes a big exhale, that’s when things got really interesting. The soundtrack is kinda bonkers and highly adds to the unnerving nature of the first half. Giovanni Ribisi (who remembers this guy? I sure do!) does a bang up job as cinematographer and the saturation of his work in this just adds to the off kilter weirdness/vibe of the whole piece. It started out as a film I didn’t think I was going to like really, but slowly it became something else entirely that I really dug by the time the credits rolled.

This review may contain spoilers.

It’s never pleasant watching a genuine asshole be a real asshole to everyone he meets. And that’s honestly what this film is. All 101 minutes of it. And you know how no one likes assholes? Well, no one ends up liking Craig.

This just might be my new cinematic comfort food! What a special movie this was… my goodness! Meditative in pace, the soundtrack is literally a character, all actors involved are meticulously exceptional, there’s hope and grace in here… but also genuine sadness and grief. The main character’s patterns in daily life resonated so much with me that, even though it was a completely different culture, I felt seen somehow.

“Worlds can touch other worlds…” indeed!

Man… such great actors in this and I even liked the characters but sheesh did it all fall flat for me. There were some genuinely funny bits in this, but not enough to save it. It was either bad writing, or I am officially Marvel’ed out for a bit. Possibly both. Probably.

If Harbour wasn’t in this, it would’ve been a complete dud for me.

A 2 hour film about the deadliest piece of copper US currency ever minted!

I have seen the entire series and this is the best of the bunch! There’s an actual storyline in this one instead of the movie being a bunch of wildly sadistic set pieces for people to die in incredibly inventive ways. Which, woof, they sure do in this one! Just a lot fun to be had watching this, and there’s a great homage to my second favorite FD movie at the end too! 💀

This movie could’ve easily been one chapter shorter but, despite the beautifully filmed and acted slog, it does have one hell of a final 30 minutes that made it all worth while. It also has a good entry into my “solid object gets thrown into someone’s face” top ten list.  Oh and it does get major points for having a lot of genuinely well timed humor in it and that is REALLY hard to pull off in a horror film like this. While laughter in a horror film is often ill-gotten, this definitely earned its outbursts from the crowd. Which is always fun to experience to share with strangers. 

In the end, my spouse said “well, that was fun” when we got in the car, and I agree.

Osgood Perkins films are apparently not for me. There are aspects of The Monkey (a demented, jet-black comedy) and Longlegs (his try at a procedural Lecter-esque film) that I absolutely adored but, it doesn't take away the fact that both films had me looking at my watch several times during their respective viewings. And The Monkey is 97 minutes long for Christ's sake! He's a good film maker, he's just a boring story teller. I should see if there's a film he directed, but didn't write, out there before I write him off completely.

Beatrice Kiddo and Furiosa face off in a film that, minus about 5 minutes (a cleverly handled, literal walk through time), is inferior to the first in almost every way. I'm glad it was made because I do like the premise (and the characters) but, the whole vibe of this one was off by a mile. The music and the writing especially. A missed opportunity on all fronts. Hopefully the next one is better?

Middle aged suburban Dad goes to heavily guarded concert, lies about childhood cancer, brings up carbon monoxide at amazingly odd times, periodically sees geriatric ghosts, brags way too openly about his hobbies to complete strangers, underestimates those that are closest, takes his shirt off for no reason, and knows precisely how to use a bicycle in the end.

This film was so damn long and had just about as many false endings as Return of the King. I thought the film ended the first time and, no shit, there was FOURTY FIVE MINUTES left!

One star for the uneven whackadoo Hartnet performance. And another for the concert-based first half which, on a technical level, had to have been a real bitch to pull off.

57 year old construction worker with a military past, after proclaiming he's "not that man anymore", very ably becomes "that man" and kills an entire family faction of the Russian Mafia to save his employer's kidnapped and sex-trafficked daughter. You basically get it all in this one: bad guys aim is horrible, the henchmen are often entertainingly inept, if there is a moon on the horizon it is always enormous, kidnapped girl is extraordinarily violent for a music major in college, bad guy on a motorcycle goes through a window for absolutely no reason at all, and Statham keeps poisoning the water supply with crystal blue meth from Breaking Bad… oh and his young daughter is cool with it all and kinda sorta doesn't like her gramps, who's a weird douchebag. 

This is about the most modern “Statham movie” you can get. Better than the Beekeeper and co-written/produced by his good pal Stallone. A silly movie for sure that is 30 minutes too long but… at least it was more entertaining/amusing than not.

If you want to know what one half of the directors who made the mostly excellent REC franchise are up to, you won’t go wrong here! It’s definitely a horror sub genre that is prone to jumping the shark and boy howdy… does it ever in the last third!

A nice looking film with some characters that earn the right for you to root for. It’s takes a bit, but there’s definitely some blood and gore to be had if you are a little patient. Some of the digital gore effects fall flat, but there’s plenty of practical stuff to make it worth your time.

Woof… this was a hard watch for me. Mostly because my Dad is in a similar community for elderly folks (though without the staff) and it was heart-breaking watching that kind of extreme elder abuse occurring in such an environment.

Well made, well acted, really nicely shot… I can’t say I enjoyed this film at all, but I certainly respect that it was made and that clearly there was a lot of passion behind creating it.