Sean’s movie thoughts

 The Furious is great. The fights are amazing. Two men investigate a human trafficking operation and beat up a bunch of people.  This is worth seeing on a big screen. (This is not related to the Fast and Furious franchise.) I guess we are not getting a Masters of the Universe sequel. I am glad I saw it. I thought the Dolph Lundgren cameo was decent. They were not bringing in Frank Langella (who played Skeletor in the 1987 film) for a cameo. I went to another theater to see the Furious. Both are part of the same chain, so it was not too different. Maybe I should try another chain this year. I saw a trailer for the movie One Night Only. The stars look like they have decent chemistry but the premise seems dumb. Maybe I will wait for reviews before deciding if I want to see it.

 Masters of the Universe is good. Maybe it is 10 or 15 minutes too long. Maybe the opening act is too long. Adam Prince of Eterna is exiled on Earth after Skeletor and his forces invade Eterna. Life on Earth has not been great for Adam. He finds a magic sword and returns home.  The movie is good. Maybe it would have better if it were shorter. I guess it was hard to know how to balance Adam's life on Earth with his life on Eterna. I feel the makers of the film missed the balance. Also maybe the movie was a bit too jokey.  I think there was at least one joke at the wrong time. Maybe a moment should have been allowed to play out without the joke. This film is not quite as overly jokey as Thor Ragnarok. (I would cite Thor Love and Thunder but maybe that would be unfair considering I did not finish Thor Love and Thunder.) I liked the star Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam and Jared Leto was good as Skeletor. I don't think I have seen Galitzine in any movie or TV show. People w...

Scott Adkins stars in Reckless. He plays a paroled criminal on the run with a woman who accidentally kills someone. It is decent. It is not as good as Prisoner of War or Diablo. I think it might worth seeing again. This is set in the UK.  I am looking forward to the Furious. I hope it plays near me. A fight scene was released after the trailer and it was good. I heard mostly negative things about the Mandolorian movie. One you tuber I trust said that the movie might have been much better if it were 90 minutes long instead of 2 hours and 12 minutes long. Apparently a lot of reviewers feel compelled to say "this is not the way" at some point in their review.   I might catch up with Mandolorian movie later.  I don't like to go to movies on holiday weekends.

 It is time to plan the 2026 re-watch film festival Rules None of the films can ones first seen since Jan 1st, 2024 No Marvel movies No Star Wars movies No Batman movies (live action or animated) At least three different genres should be represented  At least one film should be in black and white I think those are decent rules. Maybe I need another rule or two. I am not sure. I think I need at least six films for it to be a festival.

 Infiltrate is a low budget action movie. I saw a review of it on Bulletproof action. I had not heard of it before the review.  Agent Lily Chen's husband has been kidnapped and she is called by a mysterious voice on the phone giving her orders if she wants to see her husband again. Seized with Scott Adkins had a similar plot. (It is a little vague what this agency is.) However, she survived a kidnapping and she might not be completely over it. There are flashbacks. Did her husband's kidnappers know about her kidnapping and her trouble leaving it behind? Alain Moussi, the star of the new Kickboxer series, is on hand as the villain. It is good to see him again. He makes a good villain. Fights are good. There is one that gets a bit odd but it is still good. Moussi having only one fight is a bit disappointing but it increases my interest for the next Kickboxer movie. I got this film mostly due to his presence.

 Sniper No Nation is good.  This takes place after the events of the last film and our heroes have been disavowed after evidence of their origins is found. (This was hinted at during the end of the last film.) With the help of Thomas Becket, Brandon Becket and Zero return to Costa Verde. It is nice to see Tom Berringer back in the series. A few supporting characters from the previous films are mentioned and one appears only as a voice on the phone. I thought that was a nice touch. Hopefully some of them will appear again, if there is another film in the series. The action scenes are good and I like these characters. I am not sure if there is a standout sequence that people will take about in an end of year review of DTV action or action films in general.  The movie ends on a cliffhanger, so there should be a sequel. https://open.spotify.com/episode/1TtJJabVXxFEGkUlbctMDE?si=vSysqnKMR5O-gbPdQSjkV  my podcast episode about the film