What movie are you viewing at the moment?

[rodak]

You Can Beat City Hall!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090217/

[Oh hi Mark!]

Game Over, Man!





A brand new Netflix original movie, one that I was reading about recently as being very funny. So, I decided to give it a try. It seems to be the baby of the people behind the show Workaholics. So, a well-documented chemistry, transitioning from a show that lasted 7 seasons, to a full length movie. I only watched one episode of the show, and it was only because Robert Englund guest starred in it. Around late 2015, I was in a major Robert Englund kick following A Nightmare on Elm Street. Of course, I watched all of those Freddy Krueger movies, and then I saw episodes of shows he guest starred in, as well as interviews and Q&A panels. Also, Never Too Young To Die, which he had a little role there as basically the brainy henchman for a transvestite Gene Simmons (yeah, I'm serious). I remember that episode being funny, even when Englund wasn't involved. The three stars of that show star in this film, and one of the executive producers/creators of that show, Kyle Newacheck, helped with the story for this movie, and was the director of this film too. So, it's essentially Workaholics The Movie, though they aren't working some kind of office job, rather, as housecleaning guys for the Level Hotel. I should give out the names, Adam Devine, Anders Holm, and Blake Anderson. To clarify, Anders Holm wrote the screenplay, but he, the other two stars, and Kyle Newacheck came up with the story. I'm sure the movie was named after a line from Aliens, spoken by the late, great, Bill Paxton.


To be honest, I contemplated whether I should review the movie. I mean, I don't feel like running down the plot. One reason is that it's on Netflix, it's so accessible. Actually, this is my first Netflix original movie viewing. It's funny when the opening credits played, “Netflix presents...a Netflix film.” That's a bit much, technically, it's a Mail Order Company and Point Grey production, which the latter is run by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, and James Weaver, who all produced this film actually. Also, Scott Rudin, a notable name there, and Eli Bush, produced the film as well. Another reason of my hesitation in reviewing it, the thing is that the plot is just simple. If you've seen comedy movies such as Superbad, The Hangover, these R-rated comedies that love their shock humor, you have a good idea on what's to come. The twist, and what ultimately makes it worth watching, is the violence and gore on display, putting a cut above those aforementioned movies in some ways. I'll give some broad strokes and try not to spoil too much, especially since there is a bit of a twist in the middle of the movie.


What you have are three guys, Alexxx, Darren, and Joel, played by Devine, Holm, and Anderson respectively. They're lowly housekeeping workers at the Level Hotel, who have aspirations of selling some kind of business venture. The one that comes up and is ultimately pitched, is something called the “Skintendo Joysuit.” That must be named after the Nintendo Joycon, which are the little gimmicky controllers for the Nintendo Switch. Their idea takes the Joycon a step further, rather than it being little controllers, it's a suit that turns the human body into a game controller, with a video game pitched that involved a black lumberjack. I didn't know black lumberjacks exist, but there you go. I tried to think of who the trio compares to, but I couldn't nail it down perfectly. The closest was Ed Edd N' Eddy, but the thing is that there is no definitive Ed. For those that don't know, Ed was the idiot of the cartoon trio, Edd was the brains, Eddy was the over-eager salesman, a loudmouth. Those kids would make their own businesses, to get some money and most of the time, so they could buy jawbreakers, which in that show are gigantic gum balls. That kind of goal is similar here, three men wanting to break away from the mundane hotel job, and make some big money. I would say Darren and Joel are two halves of Edd. Darren is kind of the idea guy, while Joel puts the idea components together, and Alexxx (that really is his name) pitches the idea, like Eddy being a loud salesman trying to peddle some silly invention. Alexxx is kind of an idiot though, so he would take up the otherwise empty Ed spot as well as being Eddy. As per the story, they find their opportunity to pitch the Skintendo Joysuit when some internationally popular Instagram celebrity throws a party in the hotel. They want to pitch it to him. One thing about the project, Darren and Joel had already made it and made a blueprint about the project behind Alexxx's back, so they have some issues with the shorty of the group. This Instagram star, which I assumed it's Instagram, some kind of social media star, as his thing was he posts pictures and videos of stupid stuff, and he uses his heir money to get people to do big dares. One dare mentioned was having someone poop from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Anyways, it's a man of Middle Eastern descent, played by Utkarsh Ambudkar, his name was Bae Awadi. His father is some big rich guy, and that's used against him in a Die Hard-styled way where a bunch of men and one woman infiltrate the hotel as security and hold him and the guests hostage. Actually, the token black man of the group name-dropped Die Hard, as he looked like an overweight version of Theo from that movie. This would make Neil McDonough the Hans Gruber. I recognized McDonough from Red 2. He plays an American though, while Alan Rickman played a German man in Gruber. However, there is a twist that brings the Die Hard comparisons back into conversation, someone revealed to be pulling the strings. There is a similarity with the projected motive. That being some kind of terrorist act, the people are calling Awadi (I don't want to call him “Bae”) to task over “invading” American soil, McDonough's Conrad mentioned something about the US Military Force or something. It kind of comes off as it being a sanctioned government act, but with holding innocent people hostage, then knowing it's more about the money, $500 million to be exact, it's clear what the actual motives are.


How do the main three guys, mistaken as “waiters” tie into this? Well, unlikely hero stuff, everyone just happened to be in the party area except for them, so they are the only ones who can act and maneuver around the building. There is their manager, who is a sexist horny dog, and I thought he was Chris Elliot. He didn't sound like him, but he looked like him if he gained weight. It was Daniel Stern, as Mitch. There's a little theme about a women's place in the workforce that involves another hotel worker, Cassie, played by Aya Cash. Also, one can argue that theme also extends to a certain humiliating scene involving Rhona Mitra, who plays that one female in the bad guy group, Erma, as well as her overall handling of business. It's that handling of business that made me think she was an MMA fighter in real life. At the climax she did some spinning submission move, putting my theory up to a higher position, but no, she's not an MMA fighter. That just makes her badass status impressive in a different way. Back to Cassie, she gets kind of mistreated, backhanded comments by an openly ignorant Mitch, and there's comedy there involving balls. In an early scene she claimed to have big balls, inside her, they're called “ovaries.” She is eyeing a promotion, and she kind of was tasked to be a hostess, organizer for the party, but it goes sideways. Erma shows patience to Cassie too, giving some advice about respect, and that you have to take it, which obviously comes into play much later into the movie.


Back to Mitch, he's part of the shock humor and gore on display. Actually The Hangover is a good comparison. If you've seen the movie, you know about Ken Jeong and his dick, right? Well, Mitch, dick, that comes into play in a big way throughout the movie. Again, I won't spoil much there, but, it's...big. There is kind of a desensitizing aspect to the dick because I've seen wacky horror movies with similarly graphic treatments of penises, that predate this movie considerably. So, in a way there is no shock to that, but this is a Netflix original movie, not a low budget horror film, thus there is a measure of shock there. Penis humor comes back at the first instance of the Dude Crew (that's what they call themselves as) actually beating on bad guys.


Going further into the shock humor aspect, I must say that nothing much really shocked me, overall a lot of things here, I've seen before in low budget horror/comedies, especially in Troma movies. Those films, when you see them, almost nothing shocks you afterwards. As a result, this movie may come off better to people who haven't really experienced Troma movies or things of that nature. That being said, there's still a great deal to enjoy about the movie. As far as nudity, there is only the male variety. Considering there's a good deal of that and an underlying girl power theme here with Cassie and Erma, I'd say that's a bit clever. There's also a serious gay theme here. At first it's the henchmen that try to find the Dude Crew early on, and they find one of them in a David Carradine situation, I won't explain more, it's obvious what that means anyways. So, instead of checking for the other two, and not seeing for sure if Alexxx is actually dead, they strip and have sex! Now that would be shocking, if they actually showed the gay sex. You only see them get topless, kiss, and that's it, you can only go off sounds and dialogue such as “Put it in my butt.” With my shockmeter being really high, it is disappointing that they didn't really go graphic in the gay sex. Also, if not for another twist in the end, they kind of imply that only bad guys can be gay. Back to the Die Hard comparison, I was pinning Rich (Steve Howey) to be the Karl of the group. Karl in Die Hard was the villain version of being hard to kill, and Rich, one of the gay guys, was hard to kill. I'm glad too he didn't die in that scene because it would not have made sense, as he was struck with a lamp multiple times to the head. That's not enough. In comparison, his gay lover, who is also ginger, dives at Joel, misses, slams his head on a marble looking nightstand, and dies from that. I can believe that, a lamp to the head, hell no, and good thing they didn't roll with that. Anyways, to an extent, Rich is the Karl of the group, but he had a really funny scene at the climax that makes me respect the actor, I'll touch on that later.


While the biggest highlights for the movie were the the violent scenes, blood flowing pretty freely, kills, gore, all that, I must say that one major strength here is the chemistry between the Dude Crew. I've been watching Power Rangers, and have grown to really love Bulk and Skull, played by Paul Schrier and Jason Narvy respectively. What I learned from them is that to be funny together is a really hard thing, it's about timing, and you need a good chemistry with another person, or persons, to be a successful comedic act. I would say these three had their own chemistry, and it must be that they starred together in a show for 6 years. I think they were even part of the creative force behind the show too, so they just know each other and it really shows. Now that I think about it, a comparison to South Park could be made, inasmuch that they're three of the main four boys. Alexxx is Cartman definitely, Joel is Kyle, and Darren is Stan, though he loves his salvia, so I'd also add he has a Kenny feel to him. Darren's habits are a running theme here. Despite being a smart man, when he takes salvia, he turns into a brain-dead goof. That's showed in the first scene actually, but most of the time he's vaping. I don't watch modern movies, so this is actually the first time I've seen vaping in a movie. Maybe that's still a rarity in movies, they make a big deal out of that habit, which shows that it's not a regular thing in movies. One can argue they make the gay theme a big deal here, but there is a comedic twist at the climax that puts it in a different discussion, which I appreciated.


I keep skirting around something. Early into the movie, they did pitch their Skintendo Joysuit to Awadi, but his assistant, who kept being called a butler by Alexxx, was giving lots of pushback to this idea. Awadi loved it, but it was mostly to spite his assistant, Mr. Ahmad, played by Jamie Demetriou. Awadi ordered Ahmad to write them a $200k check, but Mitch takes that and gives it back to Ahmad, kicking the Dude Crew out. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise as somehow they were the only ones roaming around this massive hotel, everyone else was at the party. Yeah, a little question of logic, aren't there more employees? You only see some people in the security cam room, the Dude Crew, Cassie, and Mitch, that's it. This hotel comes off as the Nakatomi Tower from Die Hard, and notice how there were a bunch of employees who stayed there for the Christmas party. Dozens actually, but here? The ratio of guests to employees is practically 100:1. That's just ridiculous.


Let's discuss cameos. There are quite a lot in here actually. In no particular order: Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Shaggy, Action Bronson, Donald Faison, Fred Armissen, Jillian Bell (she shat her pants, yeah they went there), Joel McHale, and I'll stop there. A big cameo at the end, won't spoil it. There's also a camgirl cameo! I was dying at that scene, it was early on, showing how the bad guys entered the hotel parking lot, killing a worker there. He was an old man doing a cam-2-cam session with a girl via his phone! No nudity, the woman just shakes her big ass in a doggystyle position. I loved it because it speaks to me personally. Most of my porn consumption these days is through camgirls, but I never went that private route, no C2C especially. Judging by the token sound, it's a camgirl from MyFreeCams. Chaturbate's 100 times better, but that's just my opinion. Overall the cameos are pretty nice, and they're easy shock tactics too. Granted, I'm not familiar with Shaggy, Action Bronson, and I thought Faison was Damon Wayans. They all work really well actually, some even get into bloody situations, which is a bonus.


There's a nice portion of the movie where the Dude Crew are hanging off a zipline fashioned rope while on an upside down ironing board. They're right in the middle of the two adjacent buildings, the Level Hotel and some other tall structure. Talk about a precarious situation, I liked that. It does go on from a bit too long, and my imagination ran wild, putting more stock into the thing. I've seen stuff like that, actual footage of someone hanging for dear life, but falling down...far, and...yeah. I've seen some shit, it's the internet after all. That's what I expected, and it plays into a general prediction that one of the Dude Crew would bite the dust. Spoiler, sorry, that doesn't happen.


How the Dude Crew survive is really through luck and circumstance, but past the halfway point, they really start to man up and turn into badasses. I mentioned the death of Rich's gay lover, that's an example of luck and circumstance. Along that vein, when they are saved from the zipline breaking off, crashing into a hotel window, coincidentally the one for the security cam room where the Theo guy and Robert Maillet (he used to be in the WWF, now a notable henchman in movies, see also Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes), and they knock the latter into a TV monitor, and it's shown soon after that his face landed on a sharp edge, cutting into him. The Theo guy got dragged out of the building, again by accident, and that was funny. The gore, again, isn't too shocking, when you watch Troma movies, it just downplays the value of even bigger budget movies doing this. At the same time, I've seen some shit. Again, internet, real life images of bashed heads and such. So, there is a shock that they'd show it on such a movie like this, but without context, that itself isn't shocking. I'm referencing the Theo guy's mashed head, Alexxx made a comment about it. The effects are great in this movie actually, CG blood and practical movie blood combined.


Unfortunately the gore stretches to something that made me sad. They teased it early on, and I thought it would stay that way, but no. I don't want to say more, but I think one can easily tell what I'm referring to when they are put into that situation. I will also say that it does involve some smart use of suspense. Or easy, knowing my sensitivity to a certain topic. Actually, fuck it, I'll spoil it, you've been waned.


SPOILER: Awadi has a tiny chihuahua looking dog. Yeah, need I say more? His death, fuck man. I'm glad it was quick, but the bloodshed shows that it had a really profound effect on me. He was blown up, so, quick. I was afraid Conrad would shoot him in the head. This movie is pretty liberal with headshots and death scenes involving the head, exploding, cutting, smashing, whatever.


Knowing that Seth Rogen helped produce it, there is a Pineapple Express vibe to the action, since you have slackers turning into action heroes at the end, looking goofy holding guns, but doing serious damage when the time comes. This effect lasts longer in this movie, but that's not to say it's better than Pineapple Express. It's still very much appreciated and honestly the movie would've been just an average comedy if it stuck to the funny, and didn't veer into action movie fodder. Or hell, even if it did a little action movie stuff, it would still be average. I enjoyed the chemistry between the Dude Crew, but I've seen movies with groups and pairs that have amazing chemistry, I'm seeing a show that constantly shows that in Power Rangers with Bulk and Skull. This is a notable chemistry, but I've seen some of the best already anyways. In that respect, they really needed to be violent and graphic to sell the product, and I will say they succeeded in that.


Going back to Erma, I really thought in her humiliation scene that she would be naked, it would lead into rape, but it was something much more childish, and thus more comedic. To kind of set it up, she and some black henchman are caught in a room filled with salvia, a harebrained scheme by Darren. The effects of the weed kick in as Erma can't tolerate it, putting her in a vulnerable position. The black man is used to that weed I guess, because he turned off the makeshift machine, and has his way with Erma, but not in the sexual kind I predicted. Drawings on the face, let's just say. The funny thing is she never washed it off! She appears in the climax with that face, and even though she does some serious work in the climax, there's a sense of not being able to take her seriously with that crap being easy to read. It was nice though, plus the phone picture they showed of her with that face is pretty realistic. As in, it would end up on 4chan as a thread about humiliating women. I'm familiar with that, trust me. Erma punishes the black man, so, girl power.


Cassie's girl power journey is more comical, as she tries to rebel when the hostages are put into a conference room. She tried to be aggressive, but her hands are tied up, and she gets easily placed right back down to her seat. I think she was tied to other people as well. She takes a more serious, but still comedic stand after things die down a bit, and she has a confrontation with Mitch, basically telling him to fuck off. I should mention the situation the hostages are in specifically. They have collars around their necks that are rigged with explosives. Each one is paired with a detonator that goes off when the two parts of the detonator are separated. It's more notable with the front hotel doors, where basically if you open them, the bombs there go off. It was demonstrated a few times, the first one being comedic because the goon gave a 9, instead of a 6, they're labeled by numbers. He noted after the death of someone (head explosion, nice), that he mistook it as an upside down 6.


Oh yeah, there's salad tossing. Actually, in hindsight that's the most shocking thing, definitely not in The Hangover, I don't recall such a scene in any Troma film I've seen. I have feeling there is one though, I just haven't watched it yet. I won't go into more detail, it's just something that has to be seen to be believed, and it goes on for a long time. It's funny they show that in somewhat graphic detail but not some gay sex between henchmen. I will add that the hostage treatment isn't too one-dimensional, and it leads to some funny moments. One in particular, two hostages are forced to fight to the death, a male and a female. Someone does die, in a comedic way, and also involving the head. Seriously, they love head related deaths in this movie. I like that actually, typically it's always shots and blows to the chest, gut, and limbs, headshots back then were rare. They are cropping up more and more since the turn of the century, in R-rated movies, but this film kind of takes the cake, it's the peak of head deaths. Still, the best head death in my opinion, The Departed, those who have seen the movie will know what I'm talking about. Goddamn, it's still something from out of nowhere. There is a desensitizing aspect here as I got used to the head stuff here, as well as explosions. That's why Erma's death (she's a villain, not a spoiler) stands out, as it wasn't an explosion or a head shot.


SPOILER: while I'm on that, Rich's death was not too impressive, machine gun bullets (those guns are foldable, nice) from Alexxx, making it his first kill, which was a huge issue for him, but they made up for it with using him as a weapon, seriously. It's really funny, and that's why the actor who played him, Steve Howey, earned my respect. Being that weapon, he acted really well, and that included being funny. To sum it up, they did put the Skintendo Joysuit to use, as it was already finished behind Alexxx's back. Rich becomes the test dummy even though he's dead. That warm dead body was still useful, and it led to a hilarious climax, topped off with the use of Metallica's “Fuel.” That's the perfect song to use in that situation.


Typical in comedies, there is a point of dissension between the buddies, and here it's related to Alexxx being left in the dark about the Skintendo Joysuit. His oafish qualities are called out by the guys, and in the middle of the movie, it leads into a three way shootout. Yeah, but they shoot near each other, deliberately. There is some shit on Joel too, who was mostly called “Baby Dunk” by the guys up until that point. Also with Darren being a slacker stoner once he takes just a bit of that salvia, which Alexxx sells him, from his own home, which is in the hotel. Alexxx is revealed to be a tenant there, and he shows his little grow lab. It's a bit stupid, I was thinking “Why doesn't he just stick to being a drug dealer?” He did reveal only Darren buys his stuff, and some JV softball team, but that's it. So, there's that, but still, he could just stay and improve on that field. Anyways, they work it out in the end, of course, in fact when they do, there is a bit of cliché dramatic music playing. It's faint in the background, so I appreciated how light it was, it would've easily been the worst part of the movie. I get more annoyed with that cliché, you just know they all make up in the end. One good usage of it though was Starsky & Hutch, but a big part of that was the use of classic 70s music, namely “We've Only Just Begun.”


I did appreciate how the shutdown of the hotel involved also turning off the wi-fi. Not a case in Die Hard, but I was going into it wondering why the internet wasn't proposed, but it's shown that it was cut off. Speaking of internet, porn. Speaking of porn, Alexxx's room is revealed and part of that includes a porn parody DVD of Flubber being shown. The DVD cover, not the movie itself, sadly. It was called “Flubbher.” Aha, good one, sarcasm. This ties into the internet thing, if the internet was on, that DVD should not have been shown, something like that could easily pop up in a big tube site. For a movie that makes strides in realistic depictions of gore, they could've botched there if the internet was still on. It's a silly nitpick, but still.


Speaking of silly, Awadi overall was just that. A bit over-the-top, and not really so funny. He does get into an outrageous scene, which I mentioned earlier, hint, that makes him special, but other than that, he's just an overbearing social media personality. I read a comment that the character was written seemingly for Aziz Ansari, but he couldn't make the shoot. It's a good comment, he probably would've killed it in that role. Still, Utkarsh Ambudkar did a fine job at being annoying. He's kind of like what would happen if Ellis from Die Hard brought his yuppie persona to social media, the current age.


Going back to Rich's return briefly, lava stones make for a good weapon, I learned. He used one to torture the Dude Crew, he did not take the death of his lover, his “everything” as he put it, lightly. This leads into the climax. I'll touch back on that soon, I have to get something out of the way, the money. Alright, things do go sideways when the Theo guy is killed, it meant no hacking access to Awadi's father's money, and it leads to a simple ransom thing between the bad guys and the cops. The cops are barely shown in this movie actually so it explains why I'm only just getting to this ransom deal. The most significant part really is that a helicopter was requested, and that chopper is put to use at the end of the movie, bringing up more comparisons to Die Hard, since every film in that series involves helicopter action. This one is closest to the original Die Hard, both blowing up with their respective tower in the background. The Die Hard version is much more impressive, the one here is almost put to the side, like they ran out of money to really show that in greater detail. Ah well.


Alright, some spoiler notes about the climax.


SPOILER: first, with Rich. They made a funny observation about dead bodies, how they defecate. It's something I learned from South Park, I never checked to see if that was legit. Well, they mentioned Rich doing that, and it explains why he has car fresheners around the Skintendo Joysuit, to try and fight that stench. I loved that attention to detail. Also, quickly, Joel comes out to the guys, but it's downplayed in hilarious fashion. Basically, they already knew, bringing up that he has come out to them many times due to drunk episodes. Another theme in the movie is Joel being a nerd to the point of not knowing who Tom Brady is, at one point thinking he's part of the Brady Bunch. Also, he finally lets his hair down at the climax, when he suddenly transforms to an openly gay action hero, I enjoyed that a lot. In the final scene, he really lets his gayness fly in stereotypical fashion. That was also funny, but again, stereotypical. Actually, I think that makes Joel the first gay action hero in movies? I guess the next big step is having a movie where the action hero is openly gay from the start. We just received “Love, Simon”, so, it's possible.


Non-spoiler territory, I want to mention the climax a bit more. Just that it's really entertaining, pretty much all the highlights of the movie come together in the third act, thus it's the one to least nitpick about. It just kept firing bullets of violence and comedy in perfect consistency, and for a movie only lasting 101 minutes, you approach that third act in good time. The movie isn't really slow paced, which is definitely appreciated. I was really exhausted going into the movie, it had to be really good in order to keep me up and energized. It did, and that's great. Going back a bit, I'm all over the place, Alexxx almost got his first kill in a kitchen brawl with a henchman. Man that got gory, as an automatic slicing tool was used on the henchman's face, his left cheek peeled off, showing what's inside. I loved the detail there, and how that didn't lead to a kill. A shit ton of blood, but no kill. The kill came after that, with Joel stepping up to the plate, a badass moment for him.


One big cameo happens after the climax that basically leads to the Dude Crew's action movie appropriate story being sold and turned into a video game. The guys loved it, and suggested actual actors to portray them in the game. For Alexxx, Sean Astin, yeah! Maybe a Netflix decision since he was in Stranger Things season 2, and this is also a Netflix original product. For Darren, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and for Joel...Cara Delevingne. Yeah, it makes more sense when the ending credits play and there's a sweet video game looking sequence that shows these actors' likenesses portraying the Dude Crew. The actual Dude Crew celebrate on a boat, and the movie ends with something of a cliffhanger, and then “Game Overboard” hitting the screen, leaving one to believe a sequel could happen. Maybe it's a comedic thing, not to be taken seriously, think of the ending sequence in 22 Jump Street. Still, I'd be up for a sequel if it has this same winning formula of bloody action and comedy, just increase the former, make it something Troma would appreciate. That's just me.


I pretty much hit all the points I wanted to make for this movie, and in such a short amount of words in comparison to my last reviews. I think because the last movies I watched had personal connections with me, I felt the need to go into insane detail and do some comparisons, but this one is not like any of those films. It's a totally unrelated product, a new thing for me to watch, one that came out of nowhere as it wasn't in my queue, which I don't even follow anymore, I'm just picking movies I want to see. I only learned about the film a few days ago, and I acted upon watching it. I don't regret it at all, I'm thankful of that. That indicates my overall opinion of the film. It's great! In a way it's a natural progression from The Hangover because it's more violent, but I enjoyed the comedy of that film more. I mentioned Superbad briefly, this is much better than Superbad. I personally feel that movie's a bit overrated. The other movie I brought up, Pineapple Express, not at that level, that Rogen/Franco team-up was awesome and still holds up 10 years later. This movie probably would've been better if it was released 10 years ago, the shock would be just as big as the humor, but for me, again having seen a bunch of Troma movies and horror/comedies that let the blood flow, even action movies like Rambo 4 that are still super violent after at least 10 years of existence, the movie falls a bit short on its intended goal for me. However, to the general Netflix crowd, I think the movie could be more appreciated. For me, it's just great, and it needed that violence to really sell it home for me, otherwise it would've been a simply passable comedy. I like a statement by Every Frame A Painting on Youtube, who said a great line in his Jackie Chan video. When he discussed Chan's brand of entertainment, he said that for Chan, “Action is comedy.” Though this is not a Jackie Chan movie at all, take that statement really broadly and apply it to here. This is a case where the action is comedic, and it's why this movie has a replay value for me. In comparison to Superbad, I don't really want to watch that many times. This, if it came out it in 2008, I'd be re-watching it like crazy in 2009, like I did for Pineapple Express and even The Hangover. Still, for 2018, it has a high replay value even though older movies surpass it in its many main aspects. Since it's on Netflix, it's extremely accessible, it's probably plastered on the front page. I quickly go into Power Rangers when I go on Netflix, so I don't really make time to just browse, though they really do fill up the browsing page with their original products. It surprises me now how many Netflix originals are being churned out, they used to be a rare commodity. I guess I'm just really slow on the times. Anyways, this is the best Netflix original movie I've seen...even though this is the only Netflix original movie I've seen! I may watch Bright, I'm a huge Will Smith fan, but that movie has gained a split response, so, it's a risk I may regret taking. The most anticipated Netflix original product, apart from Stranger Things season 3, is The Irishman, the most expensive Netflix original movie to date apparently. Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci! Holy fucking balls, this has to be good. I'm hoping so. Anyways, back to this, definitely give it a watch. If you're a Workaholics fan, I guess this is must-see. I'm more recommending it based on my love for action/comedies. Funny performances from most of the cast, badass stuff from Rhona Mitra, great effects, lovely use of blood, violence, and gore, a very good balance between all that content. Some funny cameos too, though in hindsight, knowing this was a Point Grey production, it would've been sweet if Seth Rogen appeared here. I'm overhyping the feat, but this broke my 2018 movie drought, already. What I mean is seeing a movie released in the current year. For 2016, I had not watched any movie released in that year until Christmas 2017, Bad Santa 2. For 2017, nothing in that calendar year, finally breaking it last month with The Disaster Artist. Here? Not long at all, 2 ½ months, but that speaks more on accessibility and the fact that my Sunday was very empty, I needed that expense in time. Still, a big feat, I'm not going to theaters to see 2018 movies, they have to come out quickly for me to give them a shot at this time period. So, again with Netflix, original product, only came out a few days ago, an easy breaking of my 2018 cherry. Anyways, great film.


8/10

[Silicone Carne]

The Condemned



IMDB
YouTube Trailer

I'm a big fan of this movie.
Sure it's a no-brainer action flick produced by the Word Wrestling Federatin in order to amplify Stone Cold Steve Austin's popularity but still, it's a good movie. The story has been told many times and it centers around a few convicts stuck on an island and forced to fight until only one of them survives, but this time a Television Guru is filming them for an illegal internet show.

The Condemned is very brutal. It's a hard-R flick. Women get violented by assholes without pity, people explode or die in spectacular and very hurting ways, all the chicks are really hot, it lasts 110mn but never gets boring in any ways.
The only real complain I have is about the annoying shaky cam during some combats which doesn't allow to clearly see all the action, which is a shame when the hero is played y a famous wrestler.
Also, british footall player turned actor Vinnie Jones as some pretty good time playing the main villain.

But overall, The Condemned is worth a watch. It won't change the face of cinema but it's a cery cool and entertaining moment if you wanna relax from a bad week. A sequel was made a few years ago, starring Randy Orton and Eric Roberts, but it's not that fun, unfortunately.

[rosestone]

Finally got around to seeing this. Given that a black superhero is long overdue, I was ultimately quite disappointed (see also, Wonder Woman).

As I‘m somewhat of an expert on Africa (well, I’ve seen the Lion King, anyway), it was nice to see the continent presented in a movie in a way that wasn’t just rampant poverty and ruthless warlords, and absolutely nothing else. So thumbs up for that.

The Black Panther himself, Charlie Bozeman (I think he’s called), is curiously detached I thought, he doesn’t actually seem to be given much to do, almost as if he is a bystander in his own movie. Strange, particularly as I thought he was wonderful in the first Avengers (or Iron Man, or whatever) movie it was he was introduced in.

The other performances are where it’s at, there’s a great fun appearance by Andy Serkis as a South African arms dealer, who seems determined to enjoy himself, then there’s the chap who plays the main baddie (not sure of the actor’s name), who I also thought was very impressive. Some great performances by some very attractive ladies (including Angela Bassett, hot damn), then there’s Forrest Whittaker, who appears to have decided to use the best years of his career lending credibility to big budget mediocre movies, which then underuse him quite spectacularly. Which is a shame.

The action is great, so long as it’s genuine. As soon as they switch to cgi, it’s bloody annoying. Real action, great, then *yawn* back to cgi again.

Then of course, we had to stay in the cinema for the obligatory after-after credits sequence, although I always irritate the missus by not knowing the significance of any of it nor what the hell is going on. (Me – "Who’s that guy again?" Wife: "That’s Bucky." Me: "Ah yes, of course. And who’s he, again?" Wife: "He’s Captain America’s best friend." Me: "Ah yes. Hang on a second, isn’t he Captain America’s worst enemy?" Wife: *exasperated noise, pushes me out of cinema*)

7/10

[Brecht]

L'eclisse (1962)



Trailer

Vittoria (Monica Vitti) works as a translator in Rome. After a long night of arguments, she leaves her longtime boyfriend Riccardo (Francisco Rabal). She goes straight to the Roman stock market to meet her mother who's addicted to speculating. There she meets the smart stockbroker Piero (Alain Delon) and as the story slowly progresses, they begin a relationship in the hope that the inner emptiness they both share will bring them together. But the relationship is doomed due to Piero's materialist nature and Vittoria's emotional absence.

Too much of the film is focused on Vittoria wandering around aimlessly and rather bland scenes of the stock market. My impression was that the film's main premise is kind of misleading. It's a beautiful film nevertheless but not among Michelangelo Antonioni's finest.

[Brecht]

52 Pick-Up (1986)



Trailer

Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider), a manufacturer from Los Angeles in possession of a juicy patent, is blackmailed by three men led by the sociopath Alan Raimy (John Glover). They demand $105.000 for a videotape showing Mitchell and his mistress, Cini (Kelly Preston). Since his wife Barbara (Ann-Margret) is running for a political office, Harry decides to take the matter into his own hands in order to protect his wife's ambitions.

A mediocre 80s thriller with a large dosis of terrible acting and dialogues despite a promising start. There's a party sequence with a couple of characters that are no strangers to VEF: Tom Byron, Ron Jeremy, Amber Lynn, Sharon Mitchell, Herschel Savage and I think I recognized Jamie Gillis, too. In the end the only thing that would make this film worth watching is Vanity who's quite a looker here.

[neo2008]

Pacific Rim :Uprisng





Some good SFX,rock em sock em robot action and John Boyega doing his best to throw some charisma around cant save this movie from being grating and obnoxious for the most part.It's like the writers watched Transformer's The Last Knight and Independence Day Resurgence and decided to try and rewrite those films and infuse them into this story.
Wait for cable .So glad i saw this for free

Scale of 1-10 a 3

[Rogerbh]

I watched "The Space between us" (2017) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sp...tween_Us_(film) - A boy accidently born on Mars - mother I guess didn't realize she was pregnant when she left for Mars - she dies in childbirth - longs to go to Earth. However because he was born/raised in the low gravity of Mars, his body cannot stand Earth's gravity. The story was fairly interesting to me because the lead is Asa Butterfield who played Ender in Ender's Game and was the lead in A Brilliant Young Mind. The kid has grown up to be a tall thin sickly looking boy who can passably be a guy born in a low gravity planet. I'd give it a 3 out of 5. The film got many terrible reviews with one critic saying it had the worse performance that Gary Oldman has ever given. I am not a science geek either so I don't know why some said the science in the story was very poor. It bombed at the box office. I didn't think it was that bad.

[Brecht]

Victim (1961)



Trailer

Melville Farr (Dirk Bogarde) is a successful London barrister and married to the beautiful Laura (Sylvia Syms). Life couldn't be better and he's about to become a Queen's Counsel. When a young man called Jack Barrett (Peter McEnery) tries to approach him, Farr reacts with anger, thinking Barrett is trying to blackmail him. But that's not the case and Barrett is actually looking for help. He stole £2.300 from his employer and is on the run. Soon after his arrest, Barrett commits suicide in his prison cell. It turns out that he was being blackmailed for a photograph showing him and Farr in each other's arms and that this is the reason why he stole the money. The devastated Farr becomes determined to expose the blackmailers. He is aided by the well-educated and progressive-minded police inspector Harris (John Barrie) who thinks that the sodomy law serves as an aid to blackmail.

Basil Dearden's Victim is a plea for the reform of Britain's anti-gay laws and must have been very controversial at the time. Also, this part must have been quite an experience for the film's lead actor, Dirk Bogarde. A secretly gay actor playing a secretly gay person. Excellent perfomances, music and cinematography. Highly recommended.

[Silicone Carne]

Ready Player One



IMDB
YouTube Trailer

When the creator of a virtual reality world called the OASIS dies, he releases a video in which he challenges all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune.

Steven...Steven...Steven...
I'm one of your biggest fans but I must tell you: your last film wasn't very good.
I'm a geek, I love pop culture, I'm a video game player, a filmbuff, a comic reader, I used to skate and all that stuff. I grew up in the late 70s and had a blast as an 80s kid. And I use to let nostalgia rule some moments of my life.
But I read the book from where the movie comes from and I wasn't very fond of it. Not a bag book, kinda easy to read but overall it was nothing more than a geek catalogue. So is the movie. Then I do'nt know why...I guess I should have loved it.

Spielberg directed it, Ben Mendelsohn plays in it, and there are plenty o' wink-winks about many things I like. There's King Kong, Robocop, the chestburster from Alien, Tracer from Overwatch, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, a Gundam robot, Freddy Krueger...I should have loved this movie.
So what? Am I too old for this? Regarding my current life, I don't think so 'cause I'm still a big fan of All-things-Geek!

But I guess the major problem of this movie is that it is almost NOTHING but a parade of icons from the past and some from the present. So was the book, finally. No less.
From the start to the end, Ready Player One is a boring blockbuster which almost only higlight is to show fictional characters that people like. And there's a story about a young guy who's a hero and has to find three keys to save the world blablabla...but the story and its protagonists aren't that interesting. The cool guys are the kind of bullied kids we all know, the villain are dull...Alan Silvestri's score is a copycat of John Williams works from the eighties when it's not rock music from that same era (Van Halen, Twisted Sister...). The movie is always trying to appeal the 30 somethings but for mod's sake, it lenghts 140mn!

Ready Player One is clearly a film which has been made for people like me. Once again, I should have loved it. But maybe now that I'm in my 40s, I'm excepting something more than bland predictable blockbusters where the main attraction consists to find on the screen all of your childhood and teen years heroes. It's not a bad film and it's nothing more than what it was supposed to be, a tour in Geekland. So maybe I ain't no geek anymore.