I love this review of Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone by Patton Oswalt.
Originally posted by Dreampanther
I love this review of Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone by Patton Oswalt.
For me its:
Punisher Warzone (2008)
Punisher (1990)
Punisher (2004)
It covered some guy who had a family reunion in Puerto Rico, not the Punisher.
I rarely say "this movie wasnt good". I'd rather say "i didnt like this movie". This movie wasnt good.
Waaay too much time on a convoluted origin story that wasnt true to the character (1990 Punisher was also a policeman, but it wasnt dragged out nearly as long, and the "bigger star" Louis Gossett Jr. Didnt eat up 1/10th the screen time Travolta did; the 2008 version made him a Marine as intended and neatly covered his origin in a couple of scenes.).
The 2004 movie took a few concepts from the then most popular Punisher book at the time, so yes, it had a few good scenes, but thats it.
Originally posted by Dreampanther
I love this review of Lexi Alexander's Punisher: War Zone by Patton Oswalt.
One of my fav movies.
Got it tattooed on my leg.
Zodiac (2007) 6/10
It was interesting to see a film where Robert Downey Jr for once had a less notable role. The film is about Cartoonist who works on a San Francisco newspaper who tracks the crime spree of the Zodiac killer, and tracks leads/works with Mark Ruffalo (playing Davis Toschi) to uncover the identity of the Zodiac killer. The film does a good job in terms of setting (looking like post 1960s California, setting up the crime scenes, and re-enacting the killings), as well as showed the natural progression in looking for suspects and the toll the investigation took on the characters. All of the actors performed well with Jake Gyllenhall being the standout. The main drawback being the length of the film, as I felt it could've been cut down a little. Overall, a good film if you're interested in serial killers and criminal investigations, but your average moviegoer would probably be bored unless they're interested in serial killer lore.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009) 6/10
For a revenge film the story at times takes a lot to be believable, i,e Clyde's abilities to set up traps and his almost comic like ability to kill people with prep and weaponry. The film is like a mixture of the Jackal, Prisoners, Seven with elements of court room drama. Gerard Butler plays a rich engineer who seeks out revenge for the murder/rape of his wife and daughter, and takes out his revenge against the Criminal justice system via bombings, hits, and killing of the officials involved in the case. The methods being diverse and labor intensive on his part, and an interesting dynamic of loss and motivation is usually discussed between Butler's character and the lawyer who took the plea played by Jamie Foxx. I found the nature of how he was able to commit the crimes cartoonish at times, and Jamie Foxx sucked in his performance and those elements bring it down slightly. Overall, if you can get past some of the craziness of how Clyde accomplishes his work, and Foxx's bland performance its an enjoyable crime thriller.
Sicario (2015) 8/10
My second time rewatching this film coming off of a high of Narcos, and the film holds up even better for a second go. I felt like Emily Blunts character had very little if any to due, and at times she even gets in the way of the operations the CIA takes against the Cartels. While she's instrumental in tracking down the lead guy, she is more or less a means to an end for Alex to capture/track X bad guy and just was irritating. Brolin and and Benicio Del Toro both play shady government and Medellin cartel hitman team to attain control of the drug trade. Benicio is a somber and silent character who is out for vengeance, and a master of killing while Brolin plays a subdued and covert role pulling the strings in the operations with the task force. The realism of the movie and cinematography takes you from desolate wastes of Mexico, to the barrios of Ciudad Juarez and immerses you in Narco culture. Great film
Lucy (2014) 7/10
Definitely a film that is more style over substance but for some reason when its good it towers over the paper thin plot. Johannson plays the reluctance of her role well, and then turns it up a notch when she is endowed with the drug that awakens her inner potential. The villain is utterly forgettable and while I understand where Besson was going with him, and the links he had with Lucy he obviously was out of his depth in their final confrontation. Johannson however carries the film with her goal for sharing her performance, godlike feats of telekinesis, telepathy, and the visuals and scenes when she reaches 100% of brain function sold me on the film when I saw the last 10 minutes at work. I can understand why the film is polarizing especially with the thin plot and at times haphazard use of imagery (the jumps the movie takes with Morgan Freeman's speeches in the first half)- but overall I loved the visuals, Johannson's performance, and her motivations really stuck out to me. A good film for sure.
Arrival (2016) 10/10
My score jumps a point or two mainly due to the fact I'm not sure if I can get my head around the motivation of the Heptapods. Without going to much into the plot for those who haven't seen it the film, and how Louise deciphers their language is complex and is tied to Louise as a character. The visuals, social commentary about human nature, and scenes with the aliens were well done as well as immersing the viewer into Louise's mind. It asks questions about humanity's place in the universe, lifes choices, and predetermination. While weaving an incredible story. Definitely proof that Scifi in the 2010 decade is probably among the best, and the film sits aside future classics like Gravity, the Martian, and Interstellar as one of the best scifi films of the decade. There is clearly a lot being juggled between Louise's character and the aliens, and the film is a must see for fans of philosophy and science fiction. Recommended!
Pete's Dragon. Not bad, decent family film that is typical middle-of-the-road Disney. I can't help wondering what exactly the point was of this remake, though. The original was a lot of fun mixing humour with fantasy and imagination. With this one I almost got the feeling somebody got a budget and the opportunity to play with models and special effects (Elliot, the dragon is excellently modeled) but then didn't have any original ideas, and thus this movie.