Sean’s movie thoughts

Aaron Eckhart stars as a CIA agent, Steve Vail, who retired and is now a bricklayer. (Hence the title of the film.) He is called back to action when someone goes on a rampage killing journalists in Europe and framing the CIA. Nina Dobrev stars as a rookie agent who works with him. I liked it. The action scenes are good and I liked Eckhart and Dobrev in this. They don't become romantically involved but there is some respect developed. I liked that.  At one point the villain demands to be paid in Bitcoin to stop his rampage. In five or six years if Bitcoin dissolves that will date the film. I liked think this will be worth re-watching.

 Last film of 2023 I watched was Instinct to Kill. I liked Drive and this also has Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison. This is good but less fun than Drive. I liked it. Melisa Crider plays Tess. It turns out her husband (Tim Abel) was a more than a creep, he was a serial killer. Tess turns to J.T. (Dacascos) when her husband breaks out of prison and J.T. teaches her how to fight.  I had never seen it before and I enjoyed it. I liked Dacascos in this, I think it would have been nice to see him play this character again. I don't think I had seen Melisa Crider in anything  besides this, she was good. Hardison is a cop but this is less of a buddy movie than Drive. Also are modern action movies sexless? This has a shower scene, and two sex scenes (although in two of the scenes more is suggested than shown). This is a 2001 movie but if it was made now, I think at least one of the sex scenes would be cut.  I think I will watch this again.

 It is nice to hear Anthony Hopkin's voice. That is the nicest thing I have to say about Rebel Moon. This is Zack Snyder's latest movie and maybe his films aren't for me. This is his version of Battle Beyond the Stars. It is Battle Beyond the Stars without the charm.  A woman gathers warriors to fight an evil invasion force. The woman goes around to various planets to recruit warriors. This is basically the plot to Battle Beyond the Stars (the hero of that movie was a young man who hasn’t left his planet before and was inexperienced). The major plot difference in this film is the woman has traveled to other planets/fought.  I last interest in about half an hour or so. I know I bailed before an hour. I was not invested. People like this movie. Cool, like what you like. Someone gave it four and a half stars on letterbox. I did not finish this. I saw some people say/post on social media to wait for the director's cut and it will be really good. Why would I want to see a lo...

 The 2009 film Solomon Kane stars Robert E Howard's puritan adventurer and perhaps most popular character after Conan. James Purefoy stars. This is not an adaptation of a Howard story. This is good. The action scenes are good, I like sword fights in films. There is a grim amostsphere to the film. Kane is trying to be a man of peace and he feels he is damned. He meets a family and is forced to fight after the family is attacked. Witchcraft and sorcery exists.  Purefoy is good as Kane, both before and after he takes a vow of nonviolence. He does get a one-liner but it is not delivered in a quippy way.  I had not seen this in a few years. I think it holds up. 

Terrence Howard and Dolph Lundgren star in this film. Howard plays a man who owns a one screen movie palace. People are pressuring him to sell. (I am not sure why Howard's character dresses like a cowboy. I like the fact that no one asks him about that.) Lundgren plays a faded action hero and idol of Howard's. During an appearance by Lundgren's character at the Grand, Howard and Lundgren have to defend the theater. They use props from Lundgren's old films.  Okay, it is possible that this sounds like a bad movie to you. Oh well, not every film is for everyone. I am not saying Lundgren should do Shakespeare but I liked a lot of his films over the years. I like Terrence Howard in this. There are scenes from some of Lundgren's character's old films. These are fun. I am not sure I want to see any more of these films within a film than we get here. This is not a great film but there is a charm to it. I think I will watch this again.

Kenneth Branagh returns as detective Hercle Poirot in this movie. I like him as this character and I think he has gotten better in each film. I think he might have been a bit too mannered in the Murder on the Orient Express. Michele Yeoh is a psychic and Tina Fey is on hand as a mystery novelist who made Poirot famous. Poirot thinks the psychic stuff is fake and perhaps some of it is fake. He is having visions though. Yeoh and Fey are good in their roles, although I think Fey's character is usually depicted as older and a bit of a spoof on Agatha Christie. Of course it might be that I had an audiobook where an older sounding actress played the character. https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/haunting-in-venice-a  I feel this is a fair review. This is said to be more loosely based on writer Agatha Christie's work than the previous two films in this series. This is said to be inspired by a novel called Halloween Party.

 Alain Moussi and Frank Grillo star in this movie about assassins hired to kill another assassin. There are, of course, surprises along the way. The contract becomes, or is revealed as, a contest. This was fun. I think it was worth buying. I like Moussi, so I felt good about buying it. Maybe the last Kickboxer was more fun than this. This is a direct to DVD movie. If you expect this film to match the spectacle of a James Bond or Mission Impossible film, that would be wrong. If the sequel tease bothers you, well I might not agree but I get it. I dislike the opening of the film a bit. It throws you into the action and then there's a flashback to one year earlier. I might rewatch this.