Sean’s movie thoughts

My Spy is okay. Dave Bautista is good in the role of a CIA agent who befriends a young girl. He is surveilling her mom's apartment in case her uncle, who is an arms dealer, contacts the family. This is not revolutionary but it was enjoyable. A lot of action heroes have movies where they befriend young children. This is a standard example and it would not work if Bautista was not good.  Of the wrestlers turned actors (there are a lot of them), Dwayne Johnson probably has the most star power or charisma. I think Bautista has a good screen presence and he has a wry sense of humor at times.  Bautista used to play villains and still does sometimes. Okay, maybe I am being generous because this was streaming on Amazon Prime and I like Bautista. Perhaps I would have been more critical if I saw this in a theater after watching 25 minutes of previews and adds. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/my-spy-movie-review-2020 I think this review is fair.

Master Z Ip Man Legacy is good. Max Zheng stars as his character Cheung Tin Chi from Ip Man 3 and he wants to live a quiet life. He tries but he has run ins with a crime family and needs to fight back. There is a British criminal too. Max Zhang is good in this. He was also good in the latest Escape Plan movie and I think he has another movie coming to home video next month. I think I would like to see him play this character again. He is really good in the fight scenes and good in the quieter moments. Dave Bautista plays the villain, which the trailer reveals (this is not a spoiler) and Tony Jaa has a few scenes. Both are good here. Michelle Yeoh has a supporting role as the head of a crime family who wants to move the family into legitimate business. (If anyone tries to convince you to see this because it is a Tony Jaa movie, it is not.) Yeoh’s character wanting to move away from crime is similar to Zheng’s character wanting to leave his past behind. I thought that was nice. Fig...

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.

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 i...