Hustle (2022) - Movie Review

Over the lifespan of this blog, what began as me going after Happy Madison films for the sake of cheap shots has gradually resulted in me reconnecting with how much Adam Sandler basically ruled my world as a kid. There’s just something about his socially-awkward, hair-trigger, good-natured schtick that still finds ways to warm my neurodivergent heart. Not that that really applies here, though, as this film has Sandler in one of his more dramatic roles, and as the last few years have shown, he’s as much in his element here as he is with his more memetic deliveries and one-liners.

Hell Or High Water (2016) - Movie Review

Last year, one of the bigger critical successes was the harrowing war thriller Sicario. It also represented one of the few times when I met the critical consensus not just in opinion, but in the magnitude of that opinion. Sicario, structurally, was easily the best film of the year and all of its individual pieces were genius on their own and created sheer magic when brought together. Since almost everyone involved already laudable careers to fall back on, I sincerely hoped that writer Taylor Sheridan would also stick around. I mean, if that was his first attempt, I legitimately can’t wait to see what he’s cooked up for us this time.

Inferno (2016) - Movie Review

Growing up as I did when the big debacle concerning The Da Vinci Code made headlines, I’ve probably got the same mental association with Dan Brown films as the rest of the world: Convoluted mystery stories justified by a business-casual approach to history. Of course, I’ve spent the years since first watching Da Vinci and Angels & Demons playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed, so fidelity to history and genuine science clearly isn’t an entertainment factor for me… most days, at least. As such, I don’t take as much issue with these films as the general consensus. Sure, they fall into some pretty illogical pitfalls with alarming regularity, and main character Robert Langdon can shift erratically from smartest man in the room to worst investigator ever, but as a couple of potboiler mystery thrillers, they serve their purpose. Yes, I realise how long I’ve spent lambasting Akiva Goldsman’s work, but the Dan Brown adaptations are easily some of his most tolerable contributions. Since Akiva has stepped away from the typewriter for this one, there’s nowhere to go but up for this series… maybe?

Warcraft (2016) - Movie Review

With every passing season, there is a video game movie released to cinemas. Likewise, there is also a flood of people declaring it the worst yet because it seems that the Internet filters out any semblance of perspective and leaves only the bile. While there is some precedent to the notion, as video game adaptations have a pretty failure rate with only one or two notable exceptions (and even then, those are often contested), I will try and let the film speak for itself on this one. I’ll be forced to do so anyway, as Warcraft is a franchise that I have very limited experience with. I vaguely remember playing Warcraft III in a few LAN parties in high school, and of course World Of Warcraft helped give us one of the best South Park episodes ever with Make Love, Not Warcraft, but other than that I’m going into this as I’m sure a lot of filmgoers are: As a casual observer. But even with that in mind, is this film as bad as its already prominent reputation has decreed? This is Warcraft.

The Finest Hours (2016) - Movie Review

The Program (2015) - Movie Review

 

Earlier in the year, by sheer luck, I happened to be in the same room as my uncle while he was watching a documentary on Netflix. That doco was Bigger, Stronger, Faster*, a film that looked at the issue of steroid use in professional wrestling and dare to ask if maybe, just maybe, the world was overreacting to performance enhancement just a bit. Since sitting through that, I have been rather dubious about today’s film concerning the infamous Lance Armstrong drug scandal. The reason for that being that, unlike the rest of the world, I don’t see how demonizing his character helps anyone. As such, I am seriously worried about this film devolving into a lot of beating down on an easy target and acting like a slightly more sophisticated Mr. Mackey about how drugs are bad, mkay? Well, there’s only one way to find out if my rather pessimistic expectations are met, and bear in mind that these are even greater than usual.