Sean’s movie thoughts

This is based on a true story. It is inspired by the real life expirence of Director Sean Anders and his his wife. Rose Byrne and Mark Wahlberg Star as Ellie and Pete, a couple who flip houses for a living who go through the foster care system to adopt three children, one teenager and two pre-teens. It is not easy, many of the children in the foster care system have had hard lives. Byrne and Wahlberg are good as the married couple. I don’t think I have seen Byrne give a bad performance.  This might be the best movie Wahlberg has made in five years at least. This is a comedy, there are some laughs but the movie doesn’t romanticize the process of being foster parents. There are challenges and there are times when the couple thinks maybe they made a mistake. I did not like all the plot points but I still liked the movie overall.  Octavia Spenser and Tig Notaro  are the agents working for the foster care system. That is good. I like it when a movie gets a really good actor for a supp

Ralph and Vanellope return in this sequel to Wreck It Ralph. Ralph is happy with his life and it’s routine but Vanellope is a little restless and wants something else. When Vanellope’s game breaks the pair goes to the Internet to fix it. While doing this the pair starts to grow apart and this only grows after the pair goes to an online game called Slaughter Race. This is pretty good. It was fun to see all the various princesses hanging out together and it was fun for them to meet Vanellope. Also it seems like Storm Troopers are not more effective here than they are anywhere else. (Heh.) There is a good joke or two that I don’t want to spoil.  I don’t think there needs to be a third movie in this series. There probably will be but I think these two are enough.

The Rocky theme is cheating. It is nice to hear it, so maybe the Rocky and Creed movies should be selective in using it.  Even a slow down piano version of the Rocky theme is really good to hear. Michael B. Jordan returns as Adonis Creed, the illegitimate son of the former boxing champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Adonis is now the champion but Victor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago, is a contender and wants his shot at the title. Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed in a boxing match. This is good. It is nice to see Dolph Lundgren return as Ivan Drago. Jordan is good as Adonis Creed and his relationship with Rocky is given some time. It is always nice to see Stallone as Rocky (if you think I am forgetting a few of the lesser Rocky movies, maybe I am). Tessa Thompson returns as Bianca, now Adonis’ wife. She does not have a plot of her own but she has nice moments. The fights are brutal.

The new Robin Hood is getting terrible reviews. I was pretty sure I was not going to see it, so the reviews only confirmed that. Someone said the best movie version of Robin Hood in the last fifty or sixty years is the animated one from Disney. I enjoyed Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindlewald. I did not love it but it had some nice points. It would be nice to see more of Jude Law as Dumbledore. I can see why some critics don’t like it and I kind of wish Dumbledore was the lead of the movie. I guess if I buy this movie digitally and rewatch it, I will write another review. People didn’t go to see The Girl in the Spider’s Web, so that I guess that franchise is over. I heard Claire Foy was good in the lead role. Maybe she will bounce back from this. Today I am off to see Creed 2 and Ralph Breaks the Internet. I hope they are good.

I did not hate this movie. There were some really negative reviews that gave me pause. It is not a great movie and maybe this series should be about a young Dumbledore. Jude Law is really good in the role, even if he does have not a lot to do. The opening sequence of Grindelwald’s escape is good. It is probably the best set piece of the movie. Perhaps that is a not great thing though. Perhaps another set piece, later in the film, should be the best  set piece in the movie. (A movie should build towards something.) Newt Scamander is sent to find Credence, and Grindelwald is also looking for Credence. Newt has a brother and his brother is about to get married to Leta Lestrange, who Newt dated at one time. Credence wants to find his family. It was nice to see Hogwarts on screen even for a few moments. Maybe this series won’t become a beloved series like Harry Potter. Nothing against Redmayne but he is not Jude Law and I think I’d like to see more of Law’s younger Dumbledore.

I am not going to see Once Upon a Deadpool. I don’t feel like paying to see an edited version of a movie that I already own. Maybe it will be decent. Maybe it won’t. It just seems like a shameless crash grab. Accepted, the Justin Long comedy about a teenager who starts his own college, holds up better than I expected. It is not a classic or anything but it has Lewis Black in a supporting role and Long is likeable. I guess I wish the school’s name was not South Harmon Institue of Technology but there aren’t too many jokes about the acronym. Aquaman trailers look good. I hope the movie is good. It is definitely a different take on the character than in the comics or the cartoon.

Mike “the Miz” Mizanin returns as Marine and EMT Jake Carter in this movie. He has been the star of this franchise since the third film. He and his former CO Luke Trapper (Shawn Michaels) are checking in on another veteran when they discover a teenage girl who has been kidnapped. Her father is a juror in a major criminal trial and the gang of criminals is using her to force him to cause a mistrial. This is a fun action movie. Okay, the villains are a bunch of goons for the most part. The main villain is Becky Lynch, another wrestler. (Lynch, from what I’ve learned, is a rising star in WWE.) The fight scenes are pretty good and the heroes make a likable pair. The movie moves at a good pace, which probably helps. I have not seen any other films in this series, so I have no idea if this better than the last movie or two. Mike the Miz Mizanin is likable and fights well on screen. He is earnest, at least in this film. He is not at Dave Bautista’s level as an actor but I wouldn’t mind se

This movie feels like a John Wick spin-off or at least that it was inspired by John Wick. This hotel is a place for criminals and it includes a nurse to tend to the injured. The hotel has strict rules. Sofia Boutella is on hand as an assassin. She did not get enough to do in the Mummy and it was nice to see her here. She is here to kill someone. She has a nice action sequence.  Jeff Goldblum is the owner of the hotel and he comes in need of medical attention. Jodie Foster is the nurse and Dave Bautista is the orderly. Charlie Day is annoying. I think Bautista was good as the orderly/enforcer. Foster is unrecognizable but also good.  Sterling K. Brown is on hand as a man who wanted to leave his life of crime but couldn’t. He is good. There is a subplot about water being privatized. I am not sure what the point of this plot was, unless it was to make the movie feel futuristic. (I guess it is also used to explain the riots.) The movie is set in 2028.

Creed II opens next week. I hope it is good. Previews have looked good. I liked Creed more than I expected to, so I have high hopes for this one. I saw a good review of Instant Family by Matt Singer on Screen Crush. The trailers did not interest me that much, so I was surprised to read a rave review from a critic I follow. Maybe it is worth seeing. Maybe I will see it next week. I have seen two really negative reviews of Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindelwald and these are by internet critics who loved the Harry Potter series. Jeremy Jahns called it “cashgrab” several times.That is not a good sign. Other reviews are mixed but there are of negative reviews.

Sudden Death was a good Jean Claude Van Damme movie where terroists take over a hockey arena. This film, Final Score, is a Sudden Death rip-off where Dave Bautista takes the daughter of his dead friend and former fellow soldier to a soccer game when terrorists take over. (Yes Sudden Death is a Die Hard rip-off.) This is good. Bautista might not have the same charm as Dwayne Johnson but Bautista is a good actor and has a likeable screen presence. He can be tough when needed, of course. He has a good relationship as a surrogate uncle with the teenage girl, Danni, he takes to the football game. I did enjoy seeing Danni punch her bad boyfriend. I know the scene was there to show that she could defend herself so we would know that later. It was still a nice moment though. The action is well staged and I liked the fight in an elevator. There is also a good fight in a kitchen. This might not be special but I did enjoy it  and I’d recommend it to people. Pierce Brosnan is barely in it, d

Ben Foster was really good in Leave No Trace. That is a good movie but not a fun movie. I am not sure Foster has made a fun movie since Warcraft. (Warcraft is not as bad as you’ve heard.) Foster is also good in Galveston. Foster, outside of Warcraft, seems to specialize in playing damaged men or men whose best days, even if they were not that good, are long in their past. Can he find something slightly more fun? Ben Foster’s best films I have seen Leave No Trace 3:10 to Yuma The Mechanic Warcraft Galvaston I still haven’t seen Hell or High Water.  I hear it is pretty good. I might watch it before the year is year out.

Gremlins 2 doesn’t hold up. I re-watched it recently and I lost interest. I did finish the film though. I am not sure why I lost interest. Gremlins 2 happens a few years after the original and Billy, the main character from the first film, is working at an office building when he finds Gizmo, who has been separated from his owner. The office building is owned by Daniel Clamp, who is meant to suggest maybe Ted Turner crossed with Donald Trump. Gizmo gets wet, more Gremlins are created, they eat after midnight, and havoc ensures. It is still funny in places but I remember it being a lot funnier and more engaging the last time I saw it. Christopher Lee had a supporting role, it was always a pleasure to see him. I am not sure if I am ever going to see this movie again, so maybe I will not figure out why I lost interest in it.

I like this movie. I like it even more after rewatching it earlier this year. I think I might watch it again before the year ends. This probably is not one of the 10 best horror movies of its year but it might in the top 15 or top 20. In a small town a strange creature lands and starts to cause havoc. The creature, the Blob, eats people and gets bigger as it does. The military come to investigate but are their motives what say they are? I think the effects are good for the time and the Blob seems menacing. Maybe the effects would be better today but you need to expect that when watching an older movie. The death of the person trapped in the phone both was a highlight. I like Kevin Dillon in this movie. His character is not the obvious choice for the hero but he rises to the ocaasion. I think he played well off leading lady Shawnee Smith. As bad as the show Entourage was later, I will always like Kevin Dillon as an actor.

Wreck It Ralph 2 (Ralph Breaks the Internet) comes out this month. Trailers look decent. The original was good, so maybe this will work. If there is a Goosebumps 3, maybe they should adapt one of the novels. That might be fun and they already used the same basic plot for both films. If there isn’t a Goosebumps 3, I guess that would be okay. The Girl in the Spider’s Web is out. Some of the reviews are decent but I don’t feel interested. Maybe I will catch it later or maybe I won’t. I liked the Girl with Dragon Tattoo when I saw it but it has been a while since I have seen it. There is going to a third Kingsman movie but set before the first two movies. I never saw the second movie and I am okay with that. I did not think it made enough money to greeenlight another one. I thought there were talks of a third Kick Ass Movie. Maybe those talks died out.

I have not seen the Unnameable in years. This is a 1988 horror movie where college students go to an old house where a monster lives. (The monster was trapped in the house by a spell. The monster is a legend.) Two of the students are going there looking for a friend who disappeared and four of them are on a double date. It is not bad. The actors are mostly likeable or relatable. I liked Randolph Carter, who is usually just called Carter, and his friend Howard.  One of the female leads is more likeable than the other but that is a writing issue, not a talent issue. The monster is creepy and the abandoned house is a good location for this type of film. The monster make up and suit is pretty good for a low budget movie of the era. I don’t think it is great and it probably is not a great adaption of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story. (If I read that story, it was a long time ago.) There was a sequel, maybe it will come to Blu-Ray. I think it is worth seeing if you have not seen it. I need

Three movies in this series and we are on our third Scorpion King, Victor Webster. He is not bad. He will return for the fourth movie, so maybe he will get better. The Scorpion King has lost his wife and his kingdom by the start of this film. He has become a mercenary again.  This time he is hired by a king to help against an evil warlord played by Billy Zane. Our hero has a sidekick named Olaf in this movie. Yes, I know there were characters named Olaf before Frozen. It just seems kind of funny now that the sidekick in this film is called Olaf. The fights are fun. Zane is not taking this too seriously and Dave Bautista is on hand as a warrior summoned by a magic book. He is underrated a bit. The fight scenes are fine. I guess guess I like this kind of film more than most people.

A doctor returns to his small California hometown to discover people there seemingly suffering from a delusion that their relatives are not their relatives. Their claims seem impossible but more and more people in the town are making them. Also there were people wanted to see him and made appointments while he was gone who suddenly say everything is okay. Since this is the original and there have been 3 remakes (with another one being developed at this time), it is likely that you know the plot secrets already. (It is also based on a novel.) Some strange duplicates are growing out of pods, henceforth to be known as pod people. These pod people replace people but lack emotion. This is pretty good. Kevin McCarthy stars as the doctor and he is good. I liked his narration, I thought it was not overused. The pod people coming out of their pods is creepy. Don Siegel directed the movie, he would later make films with Clint Eastwood such as Dirty Harry. I have not seen any of the remakes

Ghostbusters 2016 is not that bad. The first trailer was bad. I have gone to an average of 20 movies a year for the past five or six years and I have seen a lot of trailers. That trailer was bad. Ghostbusters 2016 is not as bad as Sisters or the House. Those movies were terrible, Ghostbusters 2016 is bad and misguided perhaps but not terrible. I would watch a sequel to Ghostbusters 2016 but I wouldn’t watch a sequel to the House or Sisters. Some of the negative response to Ghostbusters 2016 was partially sexist in nature. To say that sexism played no part in the negative response to Ghostbusters 2016 (GB2016) is a mistake. I have seen worst comedies with a majority male cast that did not get a backlash like GB2016 did. GB2016 has some faults It copies the original too much Cameos from the original movie cast bog down the film There is one running gag that doesn’t work or was used too often The dumb character is too dumb to live Cameos from the original cast hurt the film at