Sean’s movie thoughts

 This stars Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd. Jonas plays Danny a former boy band member who meets Rick at a wedding. They played together at the wedding and they hung out after the wedding. During this time they worked on a song. Back in LA, Danny is playing that song maybe looking for inspiration when his girlfriend says he should record and release it. He does and it revives his career. Paul Rudd stars as Rick. He was in a band in America, how big/famous his band was is not clear but they were big enough to tour Ireland. Rick married an Irish woman and they had a daughter. Rick works as a wedding singer and while he is not actively unhappy, he feels this wedding singer job is a come down. Rick hears his song and he wants some money as a co-writer.  He tries to sue but the lawyer says he does not have a case if he cannot produce some evidence that he worked on the song before he met Danny. Rick becomes bitter.  Maybe this could have been funnier but I think it was worth seeing....

 The Mandolorian, Masters of the Universe, and Minions among other movies did break out at the box office. I am not sure these movies failing means a lot. I think each failed for their own reasons. Masters of the Universe is a dead brand. Okay, that was too harsh. It is a brand that peaked in 1986 or 1987. There have been attempts to revive the brand over the years but those attempts did not last. This movie failing is not a surprise. Minions came out less than 3 weeks after Toy Story 5. If you took a family of four or five to Toy Story 5, maybe you aren’t up for taking the family to another film so soon. Also this is the seventh film in a franchise. Maybe people are tired of the Minions.  Maybe the Mandolorian felt like warmed over TV. Also the Mandolorian perhaps peaked three years ago. (I would  have to check with a friend about this but that is my impression.) This was the wrong move for Star Wars it seems. So I am not sure these failures mean that much or signal a ch...

 It has been too long since I have seen any of the previous Toy Story movies, so I cannot say how much better any of those films are than Toy Story 5. Maybe the first three are better than the last two. In this one, Bonnie gets a tablet and the toys are worried that she will abandon them. Jessie has been hurt before and she dreads being hurt that way again.  Bonnie is having a hard time making friends and the toys are worried about that too. I liked it. Maybe Tom Hanks’ Woody is not needed in the movie. Oh well if that is the worst thing I can say about the movie, that is okay. I think this is worth re-watching.  At no point do I remember thinking this movie is too long or how much longer is this film.

 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

Mexicali is really good. Bren Foster stars as an Australian soldier who has retired to Mexico. He retired but he retains his special skills . One day he has to use his special skills after an encounter with a drug lord's son. There is a price to be paid for that. Foster gets to show off his fighting skills. This is a worthy follow up to Life After Fighting and it might be better.  Kris Van Damme has a role as a henchmen. It was nice to see him. I don't think his character was supposed to be Mexican but his character's background is not detailed.  Louis Mandylor appears, briefly, as his character from the Debt Collector series, which is pretty good. (The director of those films wrote this one.) He compares Foster's character to his partner French (played by Scott Adkins).  Now a movie pitting Foster vs Adkins needs to be made (someone on Twitter suggested this). This review  is fair. Maybe I like the film more than the reviewer did.

 Scream V was decent, maybe worth seeing again. I had not seen it before but I decided to see it after watching Scream VII. (That film will not be mentioned again in this post.) I am not a huge fan of this franchise. I am not sure if I ever saw Scream III. I remember liking Scream IV.  A new Ghostface strikes and nearly kills a young woman named Tara. Her sister Samantha (Sam) is called and she returns home to Woodsboro. She has a secret. Survivors of previous Ghostface attacks like Dewey get involved in the hunt for the new Ghostface.  I liked it. It was nice to see David Arquette again in this franchise.  I was a bit surprised how nice it was to see him again.  Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega were good in their roles. I can see why they were the future of the franchise. That future did not turn out to be as long as originally planned.  Maybe it is time to see Scream VI.

Scream VII is not good. It was not awful but it feels unnecessary. Neve Campbell returns. She is probably the best thing in the film. This essay will be mostly spoiler free and vague about plot details. The reveal of the killer is bad. Maybe it is worse than bad, maybe it is bad and stupid. Up to the reveal, the movie might have been average or slightly below average. (I have seen worst movies in this genre or subgenre.) I think the reveal makes the film worse. Melissa Barrera and Jena Ortega who stared in the last 2 films in this series are not back. Barrera was fired over politics. There are theories about why Ortega left or maybe she left for a combination of reasons. I have not seen the last two films in this series but from what I've heard, they were better than this. Jeremy Jahns on his You Tube review called this the Rise of Skywalker of Scream films. I am not sure I’d go that far but I can see his point. The review  from Roger Ebert.com  is also negative and cites the ...

 Crime 101 was good. Maybe it would better if it was a little shorter. Chris Hemsworth stars as a thief who commits crimes near the 101 Freeway. Mark Ruffalo stars as a cop determined to catch the mysterious 101 thief, who other cops don’t believe exist. (Other cops think Ruffalo’s character is seeing a pattern that doesn’t exist.) Harry Berry stars as an insurance agent who writes and sells policies for the rich. She, correctly, feels she is being jerked around on a promotion. Their lives converge. Hemsworth’s character meets a woman and they start to date. He tells lies about his job and reveals very little about himself. He risks losing the new relationship if he continues  with his career. I didn’t recognize the actress playing this character but I looked up the film and she is Monica Barbaro (she played Joan Baez in a Complete Unknown). This is good, not great. It might be worth rewatching My podcast episode about Crime 101  

I might like the original Running Man too much to enjoy the the new version a lot. I also feel the new version took too long to get started. I like short movies. The new Running Man is decent once it gets started. I am not sure if I would re-watch this. I have not watched the new Matt Damon and Ben Affleck movie, the Rip, on Netflix yet.  Maybe I will get to it after football season. I heard that it is decent. Nothing coming to theaters in the next few weeks interests me. Maybe that will change next month.   

Holy Night Demon Hunters was an attempt to do something a little different for star Don Lee. Maybe it was not different enough. Don Lee, star of the Roundup series, stars as a demon hunter in this film. He has two people supporting him. The fight scenes are good. Maybe I expected too much. I enjoyed it but I am not sure if I would watch it again. I feel the Roundup movies are better and I would rather watch one of those again than this. Lee seems to get show a little more humor in those films. Or maybe the supporting cast played off of Lee better.

I might have corny taste. I don’t try hard to deny it.  (A friend and former coworker would say I have corny taste and sometimes terrible taste.) I have watched a few Hallmark channel movies lately and I have enjoyed them.  Maybe I wanted a break from direct to video action movies or maybe I like romcoms but don’t like some of the modern romcoms. We will see if I continue to watch Hallmark movies in January or take a break for the NFL playoffs. If you, assuming someone reads this, feel like you would never watch a Hallmark movie that is okay. I recently watched  Unexpected Valentine  Three Wise Men and a Baby Three Wiser Men and a Boy  Three Wisest Men The Groomsmen First Look

 How many Focker jokes will be in the upcoming Meet the Parents sequel ? I would guess at least six. At a certain point there can be too many. I remember the last Vacation movie had maybe 5 jokes about the family renting a weird car. Maybe a few were too much or unrealistic for a relatively realistic film. Roger Ebert was not a fan of funny cars in films. He called them a sign of desperation. I saw a good mini review of Wicked for Good . There was a full review later, which was also positive. Most early mini reviews I saw were negative and mentioned splitting a play into 2 films. Wicked, the play,was under 2 hours long, so turning it into 2 movies was going to be a stretch.  The new Deathstalker is decent, more more than decent.  The practical makeup effects are good, and most of the jokes are good. There is not too much comic relief. (Yeah I still complain about too much comic relief.) I think it might be worth watching again.

  Exit Protocol was decent. Dolph Lundgren , Michael Jai White , and Scott Martin star in this movie about assassins. I liked it but maybe it would be better with someone else in Martin's role. He was not terrible but maybe Frank Grillo would have been better in the role.  Michael Jai   White has maybe an extended cameo in Exit Protocol but it was nice to see him. His character was named Isaac Florentine . The real life Isaac Florentine is a director who among films directed Undisputed 2 , which starred Michael Jai White. There is another sequel to Meet the Parents coming out next year. I saw the first two but I don't remember if I saw the third one. I don't remember wanting to see the third one. Expect more jokes about the name Focker. Some of these years later sequels have been kind of sad.

I re-watched Xanadu and it is a fun movie but kind of odd. Olivia Newton John, Michel Beck, and Gene Kelly star in this musical. It was Kelly’s last appearance. Beck did not sing. That might have been just as well. It might be time to re-watch Grease, it has been a while since I last saw it.  Okay, I know that one of the songs has a line or two in poor taste (and at least one line was removed from the live TV version) and  a few of the actors playing high school students don’t look like high school students. It is still worth re-watching.  Gladiator Underground is fun. I think it is worth re-watching. Two brothers are in an illegal tournament  and they have a strained relationship. Fights are good. It could have been better and maybe it is not worth re-watching.  Five recent movies I liked a lot Affinity Diablo Prisoner of War Fantastic Four: First Steps Under Fire  

Affinity stars Marko Zaror. He plays a man named Bruno. One day Bruno meets a mysterious woman named Athena. Some goons take her.  Bruno uses his special skills to find her and he has two friends helping him. Bruno might been in a special forces unit. Zaror is good in this. He plays a more likeable character than he did in Diablo. After seeing this I am more interested in his upcoming project based on a real life person. Louis Mandylor has a supporting role. It is always nice to see him. Brooke Ence, an actress I am not familiar with, plays Finch, another of Bruno's friends. It is a short movie, which I like. The action scenes are good. I am not sure who played the special henchman but he looked familiar. This is worth seeing again.