Sean’s movie thoughts

 Dave Baustia stars as a hitman who gets told he is going to die from an incurable disease. This is at the same time as he is starting a romance with a ballet dancer played by Sophia Boutella. He puts a hit on himself. He gets a call from the doctor and is told he is not dying. He cannot call off the hit. I liked it. It was nice to see Marko Zaror and Daniel Bernhardt in supporting roles. Bernhardt is underappreciated. Terry Crews is on hand as another assassin and I am thought he was good. The action scenes are good.  Ben Kingsley has a supporting role. It was nice to see him. In one scene, his wife is offscreen and asks if their visitor knows what time it is. “Yes dear, he owns a watch” was Kingsley’s reply and that made me smile. I know Kingsley was put in the movie to add a touch of class and well, it worked. There is not too much humor. (Yeah, I know. I still complain about too much humor or comic relief from time to time.)

I did not finish the new Salem’s Lot. I don’t blame the actors. I think the writer/director made some bad choices. I don’t like how the film started. I think it was the wrong choice. Also there should have more mystery.  The novel is large and has a large cast of characters. Maybe some of the choices were made to ensure the movie was less than 2 hours long. The previous two live action adaptations were both TV mini-series and in hindsight that makes sense. Going back to the idea of mystery, maybe the writer/director felt that since this is a 3rd adaptation of the story that people already know the story. I think that was the wrong approach. Or maybe the writer/director was given a runtime he had to meet and decided to cut some mystery from the film. I am not sure if I will go back to finish the movie or re-watch it. Stephen King saw this and really liked it. His posting about film might have saved it from being destroyed for tax reasons. I don’t get what he saw in this film that I did

 The John Wick spin-off The Ballerina is called, at least on the trailer, From the World of John Wick the Ballerina. That just seems tacky. If I go to see it at a theater I am not saying “From the World of John Wick” when asking for the ticket. I will buy the ticket at a self-service machine if need be to avoid saying that. There is a movie called Master Z Ip Man Legacy. That title feels a bit better. Maybe it is because the actor and his character appeared in Ip Man 3. The title does not seem tacky. Master Z is a good film. I hope the Ballerina is good. Maybe it will be good but it will at least have Ian McShane to bring class/gravitas to the project. The trailer looked decent at least. How large a role Keanu Reeves has in this is unknown at this time. This takes place between John Wick chapters 3 and 4. It was nice to see Lance Riddick even briefly in the trailer. I still don’t know if John Wick  halter four needed more of Riddick. Maybe he was in it was much as he was in the previou

I have a backlog of movies to rewatch, it is football season. There are some I have not seen in 10 to 15 years. However, I wonder if I should give Rebel Moon another chance. I tried the first one and I lost interest after an hour or less. I am not a fan of this director Zack Snyder (Man of Steel is a bad Superman movie) but some people are and I have Netflix, maybe I should give Rebel Moon another chance. I looked at my review of the first Rebel Moon and I wrote that I liked hearing Anthony Hopkins as the robot. That might have been the only thing I liked about it, I cannot think of another at a moment. That is not a lot for a 100 million dollar movie. I like, maybe even love, Battle Beyond the Stars. Battle Beyond the Stars is the original Star Wars meets the Magnificent Seven. I have called Rebel Moon “Battle Beyond the Stars without the charm”. 

This is the sequel to One Shot. Enough will be explained if you have not seen One Shot. A terrorist suspect is going to be handed to the CIA for interrogation. However some mercenaries take over the airport where the exchange will take place.  I thought this was good. It is nice to see Tom Bringer in a supporting role. Michael Jai White is one of the mercenaries, and he and Adkins get to square off. This is not revolutionary but I thought the action was good. A couple of the supporting performances were really good. https://www.blu-ray.com/One-More-Shot/1785254/#Review I liked that review.  I think this film is worth checking out. I might watch it again before the year is out.

This is an old movie, maybe early 90s. Stephen Dorrf stars as a high school student obsessed with a cheerleader. He teams up with Michael Dudikoff’s Mac when the cheerleader, Ginny, is kidnapped.  I am not claiming this is a lost classic. It is not lost and not a classic. I would say it is underrated but maybe it is not well known enough to be underrated. It was a fun action comedy. I know Dudikoff from the American Ninja movies, so I probably like this movie more than someone who isn’t a fan of that series. I also liked his film the Platoon Leader (which is a budget Platoon).  I thought Dudikoff and Dorrf had a good chemistry. I have seen Dudikoff  in five or six other films over the years, and this might the only one where he plays a father figure. The movie might be a bit corny but not overly corny. I might watch this again next year. There was one cliche that I am surprised the movie did not use.