Month: June 2024

Retro and violent are the two words to describe The Bikeriders

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Rating: Full

Genre: Drama, Crime

Studios: Focus Features/Regency Enterprises

Cast: Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Mike Faist and Norman Reedus

Director: Jeff Nichols

Writer: Jeff Nichols

Based on: the photo book by Danny Lyon

Producers: Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Arnon Milchan

Music by: David Wingo

Rated: R for language throughout, violence, some drug use and brief sexuality

Release Date: 06/21/24

Runtime: 1h 56m

Tagline: Freedom is for the fearless

Favorite Character: Benny Cross

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: The tattoos on Austin Butler’s Benny looked so real but aren’t. But the interviewer also thought it was real and asked him about it.

The Review: We may heard of films based on books, real life events, plays, etc. But I haven’t heard of a movie based on the photographs. That is until 21 years ago, when writer and director Joe Nicolas decides to read some of Danny Lyon’s photography book that filled with not just photos of one of the Chicago’s biker gang but also him interviewing them as well.

And then, it was 2022 when Nicolas finally, (I mean FINALLY) has a chance to make that authentic film a reality. Fortunally, he does not leave Lyon out of the film as he is a important character, being Kathy Bauer (Jodie Comer) assistant and all. He is played by Challenger’s Mike Faist.

You may be surprised to see the film first focuses on Kathy interviewing the motorcycle riders in a bar while they do some of stuff you normally see them do. Drink, play pool, hit on ladies, etc. Kathy became lucky when she stumbled upon a biker that has quite a hairdo. That biker, named Benny Cross (Austin Butler) isn’t really much of a big talker. Despite that, he marrys Kathy Five weeks later after she ditches her asshole boyfriend, becoming Kathy Cross.

There is actually one more great main character to meet, a tough talking leader of the Vandals Motorcycle Club, Johnny Davis (Tom Hardy). We do get to see the origin of the Vandals, or at least an inspiration of it. Johnny was sitting at home with his family watching The Wild One, a 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando which is also about, you guess it, a motorcycle biker.

We met the three main characters, now the drama commences, sorta. The most dramatic moment during the 1965 scenes was when Benny comes out of the bar and get into the argument with a couple of non-Vandals that ended very ugly! One of them actually stabbed Benny in his foot with a shovel! Ouch. The rest of the shots in that year just goes with on with them partaking some of the biker activities like a motorcycle rally. It doesn’t go too big on the seriousness until we get time jumped to 1973, then not only it gets very serious, but really dangerous too.

People come to the movies sometimes just so they can see the times they grew up in and Bikeriders did that well with all the authentic sets, costumes and plenty of hair gel. Some of you may consider the 1960s Chicago the good old days when civil rights has boomed and when life was simple, you know, before the internet. But let’s not forget, Chicago is also a dangerous city in general.

Regardless with all the authentic and retro stuff, there wasn’t too much of a story in it. Bikeriders was actually more aimed for the love of the characters and those who admired 1960 than it is for the plot. Really good performances in the film. But the question is, Is it enough for Tom Hardy get an Oscar nod for being a Bike gang leader? Who knows? What about Austin Butler and Jodie Comer? Maybe.

Glen Powell is already a rising star and Netflix’s Hit Man really helps with that.

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Action

Studios: Netflix/AGC Studios/Monarch Media/ShivHans Pictures/Barnstorm

Cast: Glenn Powell, Adria Arjona Torres, Austin Amelio and Reeta

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Richard Linklater and Glenn Powell

Based on: the Texas Monthly magazine article by Skip Hollandsworth

Producers: Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan, Dylan King, Richard Linklater and Glenn Powell

Music by: Graham Reynolds

Rated: R for language throughout, sexual content and some violence

Release Date: 06/07/24

Runtime: 1h 55m

Tagline: He’s not a killer, but he can pretend.

Favorite Character: Gary Johnson

Quote: “All pie is good pie.”- Gary Johnson

Fun Fact: Why doesn’t Hit Man take place in Texas like it did in real life? Well there are financial difficulties down in that state, so it was much easier to set the film in New Orleans.

The Review: Have you heard of someone named ‘Gary Johnson?’ Neither do I. And no, it’s not the 29th Governer of New Mexico. It’s someone who was played by Top Gun Maverick’s Glen Powell who we are about to see as a cowboy from the upcoming disaster film ‘Twisters’. Before the action comedy starts, there is a little reminder that this is sorta a true story, after all, why wouldn’t Hollywood exaggerate? Then it wouldn’t be Hollywood.

Gary Johnson (Glen Powell) lives in New Orleans with two cats, living a simple life (oblivious to Powell’s simple narration) making a living by giving wisdom to his students as a Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at University of New Orleans. Doesn’t sound like it was all that exciting, but most people don’t know he has another job, a secret job, a part time Undercover Cop job. At first he doesn’t actually get into a role as a fake hitman until his trusty-ish coworker Jasper (Austin Amelio), who does play that part, got suspended.

Because of that moment, Gary realized he must step in to slap on different disguises and accents, something Split’s James McAvoy would have been proud of. That pretty much gives us a full on montage of getting his into mug shot photos. The montage may slow down the first act, but damn it was so funny and entertaining to see Powell portraying some made up characters within the movie (especially when he tries to impersonate Patrick Bateman)!

His agency coworkers (Sanjay Rao and Reeta) was so impressed that by the time Jasper comes back, he was replaced much to his annoyance. Gary’s improvising works, maybe a little too well. He was just sitting in a cafe as a hitman named Ron, eating pie, when comes in a distressing woman (Adria Arjona) seeking his make believe service to take out her asshole husband. And according to the movie, all it took to get the romance motor running was a couple of cat jokes, which may or may not work in real life, at least Gary didn’t try to woo her with couple of awful pickup lines.

Along the rest of the movie, is those two lovebirds getting on, while Gary tries to balance between his University job and playing the role as sexy Ron. All while dealing with a speed bump of Madison’s abusive husband (Evan Holtzman) they ran into at the club. Consider this to be a Hollywood movie, I know Madison will eventually find out ‘Ron’s’ true identity sometime in the running time. So whenever the time comes, brace yourself.

Now thinking about it, Hit Man may be a campaign to have Powell voted as People Magazine’s sexiest Man of the Year for 2024! Writers Linklater and Powell seems to have done that and add some twists and turns as well as some of the other ingredients to make an almost perfect romantic action comedy. If so then mission accomplished.

For my first Mad Max movie, Furiosa freaking ROCKS!

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Rating: Overflowing

Genre: Action, Post-Apocalypse

Studios: Warner Bros/Kennedy Miller Mitchell

Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke and Alyla Browne

Director: George Miller

Writers: Nico Lathouris and George Miller

Based on: the characters by George Miller

Producers: George Miller and Doug Mitchell

Music by: Tom Holkenborg

Rated: R for sequences of strong violence, and grisly images

Release Date: 05/24/24

Runtime: 2h 28m

Tagline: Fury is born

Favorite Character: Furiosa

Quote: “That is the Dark Angel, the 5th horseman of the apocalypse.”- The History Man

Fun Fact: Anya Taylor-Joy didn’t have a drivers license while shooting, despite doing a car stunt.

The Review: Some of us didn’t notice, but Clint Eastwood is 94 years old and is still directing movies, and has an upcoming movie ‘Juror No. 2’ This man just doesn’t know the definition of ‘Retirement.’ Australian film mastermind George Miller is kinda like that. He’s 79 and and still has plenty of Wasteland stories to tell. I mean come on, he should be the ONLY one behind the camera of the Mad Max franchise. No other director. Not even Spielberg.

This badass female origin story is the only Mad Max movie I have seen so far. And it’s really pathetic that I haven’t even seen any Miller films with Max Rocktansky, an action character with cinema’s most awesome name (next to Gladiator’s Maximus). I know. Sad. Regardless, It is such a blessing to have Furiosa be the first of the Mad Max franchise for me to see.

Once the metal Warner Bros logo shows up on the screen, your mind is gonna be like ‘Gentlemen, start your engine!’ matching with a vrooming sound on the screen. If you have seen Fury Road, you might remember Charlize Theron explaining to Max as well as the audience of her origins. She once lived in a last remaining earth like area in Australia (and probably on earth) Green Place (Alyla Browne) getting kidnapped and taken to the camp of the mighty Dementus, Chris Hemsworth’s baddie that doesn’t include the mighty Norse mythological hammer. I also should let you know that Furiosa is split into five chapters throughout the movie.

The journey throughout the movie eventually leads to Fury Road’s Furiosa growing up in the fortress from the previous entry and she is being more fury working for the returning but younger and more fit antagonist Immortan Joe (only this one was portrayed by Lachy Hulme). Also returning was the insane chalked covered soldiers! And that was the first half of the movie, which has a well paced narrative with Browne turning into Taylor-Joy. Some of you may think that that half is slow, which I doubt that you’ll think of that, I don’t. Then we go into the second half that’s full of dynamic energy and the fast and furious action and stunts. That one truck chase scene that took 78 days is truly a wild ride!

Prequels can be unneeded some times. Prequels can be unwanted often times. But when Prequel stands out to all of the other prequels out there, especially when it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that easily sucks us into it. Oh what a movie! What a lovely movie!

Part 2 of the Rebel Moon saga is completely shallow even though it is full of Snyder spectacle

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Rating: Half-Full

Genre: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Studios: Netflix/The Stone Quarry/Grand Electric

Cast: Sofia Baoutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher and Anthony Hopkins

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad and Zack Snyder

Producers: Wesley Coller, Eric Newman, Deborah Snyder and Zack Snyder

Music by: Tom Holkenborg

Rated: PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, brief strong language and suicide

Release Date: 04/19/24

Runtime: 2h 2m

Tagline: N/A

Favorite Character: Titus

Quote: “Power over the grain is power over all!”- Atticus Noble

Fun Fact: N/A

The Review: Zack Snyder is known for giving the audience some of the comic book style visuals. It’s no wonder he gave DC fans some of the DC treatment. So the question is, why did he rip off the Star Wars franchise?

Last time we saw Nora (Sofia Boutella) have defeated…no…killed the space terrorist Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) in the climax of Rebel Moon’s first part, The Child of Fire. But because there is a sequel and Skrein is returning, we all know he isn’t going to be dead for too long. And Snyder chose to just resurrect him with a machine that puts him in a cocoon like a Mogwai coming out to wreck havoc. Oh and it includes a obviously rubber chest for Skrein. Nothing else.

If you haven’t seen The Child of Fire. Then no need to spend two hours and fourteen minutes watching the whole story just to catch up. Our good friend Sir Anthony Hopkins (who voiced Snyder’s C3PO that goes by JC-1435) is able to save us time by giving a recap to Child of Fire. And for the entire movie, the Warriors from other planets we met in Part 1 and Villagers prepping for a climatic battle that actually started earlier than any action movie, so that was actually cool.

There is one thing about making a good world building movie, and that is that it takes time. Snyder should really have taken a year off just to put together a decent space opera. Snyder tries to be a next George Lucas and it all ends with weak storyline with an okay battle scenes. However, despite Snyder’s lousy way of telling a story, it is pretty much a visual feast like his other films. Given Rebel Moon Snyder’s project, we see some cool visuals, decent looking FX and had Tom Holkenborg had composed siren song filled score.

For my One Liner review for the 1st part of Rebel Moon, I asked if part 2 will win over the audience. The answer was that there is no easy answer. Some will watch in awe, some will watch in cringe. And I had no doubt Snyder could put more love into this space opera, but the VFX was fine the way it is. Many people not know this but Part one made the 10 finalist list for the Visual Effects category at the Oscars!

The new Garfield Movie was not awful but it had botched the source material that was so beloved to me and the fans of the comic strip.

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Rating: Empty

Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family

Studios: Columbia Pictures/Alcon Entertainment/Prime Focus/One Cool/Wayfarer Studios

Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillen, Brett Goldstein, Bowen Yang and Snoop Dogg

Director: Mark Dindal

Writers: Paul A. Kaplan, David Reynolds and Mark Torgove

Based on: the comic strip by Jim Davis

Producers: John Cohen, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Namit Malhotra, Craig Sost and Steven P. Wegner

Music by: John Debney

Rated: PG for action/peril, and mild thematic elements

Release Date: 05/24/24

Runtime: 1h 41m

Tagline: He gets bigger

Favorite Character: Jon Arbuckle

Quote: N/A

Fun Fact: Current Garfield voice actor Frank Welker was disappointed that he wasn’t asked to reprise his role in the movie.

The Review: Growing up, I was obsessed with Garfield comic strips. In fact, I was so obsessed with a bunch of comic strips. Reading them in Sunday papers was the best moment of that day, it is such a shame the newspapers are starting to go digital. And the fact Hollywood adapting them once in a while just isn’t the same. Blue Sky’s The Peanuts Movie truly worked out in the end (needs more recognition though, it deserves it). For Garfield, did the writers even read the comics?

We start with a little fourth wall breaking intro that Garfield (Chris Pratt) always does in media before cutting to him as a baby sitting in the box, seemly abandoned by his father but then a smell of the fresh pepperoni pizza lured him out of the box, running past Lorenzo’s Music store, (Get it? Because Lorenzo Music is the OG Garfield voice actor?) across the street and towards the Italian restaurant where we see a lonely Jon Arbuckle (Nicholas Hoult) before a cute tabby cat comes into his life as well as ours.

Life was easy for him and his canine sidekick Odie (Harvey Guillen) before was taken by a couple of pooches. Suddenly, it’s dad to the rescue! And he goes by the name Vic (Samuel L. Jackson)! Garfield, of course wasn’t too please to see him since he abandoned him long ago. And with the writers mind, the reunion turns into a Mission Impossible type of mission, They even had the theme song played in it.

If you are a Garfield fan, you know that Garfield has a lovable mother, but Sony decided it was wise to replace her with his father we knew nothing about, it isn’t the worst change of the film and hopefully may be canon to the comics, depending on what Jim Davis said. That wasn’t an only issue though. From the first announcement, we probably think ‘Did they just casted Chris Pratt as iconic cartoon characters for no reason?’ He’s done Mario last year, and the next thing you know, they will cast him as an animated Inspector Gadget. Seeing him as Garfield, just isn’t right. He doesn’t capture the fat feline too well. Bill Murray does it better than Star Lord. And yes, Murray probably doesn’t want to hear this.

This animated version of the beloved cat was kinda an insult to us fans. It could be the writers excuse to get Garfield to act like he was Tom Cruise. Those who aren’t familiar with the strips will find it cute. And shoutout to its father and son moments and easter eggs.