Sunday Movie Review: The Upside

When The Upside was doing the theater circuit, I saw the ads and was not all that interested. I’m not a fan of “based on true stories” type movies. The topic itself looked fairly depressing and I have plenty enough in my own life to be depressed about as it is. I don’t need help.

Then there is the fact that I have never thought Kevin Hart was all that funny. Too often, his jokes fall flat or seem really forced to me. That left Bryan Cranston. I am a fan of his and was glad to see a movie out with him in it.

So, earlier in the week, the movie arrived by way of Netflix and we watched it. For the most part, it was a positive flick, inspiring, and a little funny in various spots. Dell gets just as much if not more from his association with Philip.  

Spoiler--A major part of the movie is how Philip goes on, not just because he is paralyzed from the neck down, but because of the loss of his wife to cancer. This sis something I am still struggling very much with every day. Both depressing and inspiring, that part very much connected with me.

All in all, The Upside was a good flick and Scott and I enjoyed it.

Netflix Synopsis:

A recently paroled ex-convict, Dell, strikes up an unusual and unlikely friendship with a quadriplegic billionaire, Philip Lacasse. From worlds apart, Dell and Philip form an unlikely bond, bridging their differences and gaining invaluable wisdom in the process, giving each man a renewed sense of passion for all of life's possibilities.

Sunday Movie Review: Cold Pursuit

Earlier this week, Scott and I watched COLD PURSUIT. A movie that did not do that well when it hit theaters due to some controversy about various comments Liam Neeson had made while doing promotion work for the movie. Then there was the fact that critics did not much care for it.

Liam Neeson plays the classic traumatized father who seeks out those responsible, one by one, after his son is murdered. Because of toxicology results, the local police believe the kid is just another junkie that predictable overdosed. He wasn’t. Liam Neeson eventually begins to cope with his grief by going after those involved in a bloody and violent pursuit of the kingpin that caused the death of his son. He does so despite being vastly outnumbered and out gunned.

Think a less stylish done version of any John Wick movie and do it in the ice and snow and not the rain. There are also no dogs, no partial or frontal nudity, and no neon. Massive amounts of snow. There is plenty of violence and a bunch of folks get shot and die. Not nearly the body count of a John Wick movie, but they do make a run at it.

The bottom line is that Scott and I liked it. COLD PURSUIT is certainly not the greatest in action films, but after a slow start, it does get going generating plenty of action and a high body count. There is also the occasional dead pan humor which we both enjoyed. One of those films that must not and should not be taken seriously and yet some will anyway because they do that.

If we are doing the old star rating system, the number of guns rating system, the dead body count system, or any other clichéd system where 0 is utter crap and 5 is epically good, call this a 4 and move on. Fun, violent as hell, and easily forgettable.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019

Netflix Synopsis:

The quiet family life of Nels Coxman, a snowplow driver, is upended after his son's murder. Nels begins a vengeful hunt for Viking, the drug lord he holds responsible for the killing, eliminating Viking's associates one by one. As Nels draws closer to Viking, his actions bring even more unexpected and violent consequences, as he proves that revenge is all in the execution.

Sunday Movie Review: Black Water

I like action movies. A movie that has Jean-Claude Van Damme is sure to get a look. Even if what they are doing has been done to death. Black sites and escapes from them have all been the action movie rage the last couple of years in between the flood of cartel drug gang violence flicks. BLACK WATER takes the black site deal from the oil tanker or underwater base and puts it on a submarine.  

A skeleton crew of Navy personnel works in one part of the submarine while a CIA team works in the other part doing what they do. Dolph Lungren plays the role of a captured German intelligence dude who is already onboard when Jean-Cluade, in the role of Scott Walker, CIA operative and studly hero, is brought on board to be tortured about missing files.

The interrogation by the CIA team led by a traitor goes wrong—or right if you are Jean-Claude—and he escapes to do his version of Bruce Willis causing trouble in a skyscraper –submarine style. This is a decent action movie as long as you don’t think about it too much. Plenty of violent action, but nothing that is excessive or gory. There is no frontal nudity though there is a very little bit of side nudity of one of the actresses.

We got it by way of Netflix who also provides the synopsis/details below.  For those who wonder, there is no frontal nudity though there is a very little bit of side nudity of one of the actresses.

After he's spirited away to a submarine being used as a secret CIA interrogation site, operative Scott Wheeler learns that he's been framed for treason. But to prove his innocence, he must team up with a fellow prisoner and find a way to escape.

Cast 

Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, Patrick Kilpatrick, John Posey, Jasmine Waltz, Courtney B Turk, Tandi Tugwell, Lance E. Nichols, Tom DeNucci, Mark Sherman

Director 

Pasha Patriki

Genres 

Action & Adventure, Action Thrillers, Indie Action, Indie Suspense & Thriller

Moods 

Violent, Exciting

Sunday Movie Review: The Jurassic Games (2018)

The Jurassic Games was a flick Scott spotted on Netflix and had sent to us. When he told me what the deal was supposed to be about, I was less than impressed. But, an action movie is an action movie and we had it here, so I figured, what the heck?

Synopsis:

In the near future, every year 10 of the world's most lethal death row criminals compete for their freedom in "The Jurassic Games", a TV show where contestants must survive against ferocious dinosaurs and each other. The last survivor is granted freedom, fame, and fortune.

Freedom anyway. Having seen this deal, I am not so sure about the fame and fortune part. All in all, this was a decent action movie. Not epic, but certainly not hideous either. The CGI is a bit weak in some spots, but for the most part, pretty good. Dialogue was decent and those involved did not practice the sin of overacting. The movie had a bit of a secondary storyline that also was not only interesting, but had some relevant social commentary.

Both Amazon and Netflix have it as non-rated as is typical with straight to DVD flicks. There is no frontal nudity, let alone nudity of any type in the movie. Language, at times, is on the adult side, but nothing that just burns your ears off.  Violence, human upon human(s) as well as creature on creature and creature on human(s) is off the charts. Depending on the individual viewer involved, I would think teen and beyond. Atthe same time, my late eighty year old Mom would have been bothered by the violence so this one would have not been appropriate for her either.

Bottom line…..we enjoyed it for what the movie is. Did not expect much out of it and was pleasantly surprised. Enjoyed it much more than Escape Plan 2: Hades from last week and way more than The Hurricane Heist from early June.

Sunday Movie Review: Escape Plan 2: Hades

Having seen and enjoyed the original ESCAPE PLAN starring Sylvester Stallone, Scott and I were looking forward to the sequel, ESCAPE PLAN 2: HADES.

Netflix Synopsis:

“Security expert Ray Breslin returns to face a highly personal challenge when his best operative, Shu Ren, is abducted and held inside a state-of-the-art prison, making any attempt to free him virtually impossible.”

Well, they may all have had the best of intentions, but movie two is a far weaker version of the original. They ramped up the special effects, ramped down the dialogue, and created a semi yawn of a movie where Stallone is hardly around at all. Present for a few scenes in the early stages of this epic and a bit more at the end, but nowhere in between as various folks from his team are grabbed and thrown into the prison to meet each other and plot their escape.  And, if they did not escape, one could not as easily do the third movie as implied at the end.

Hopefully, if they do a third movie, at the very least they do a better job of working in the stunt double for Stallone if they must do his fight scenes. Not sure, but this visually could be worse than what is done for Steven Segall in his fight scenes these days. It is a close call and I am not willing to make the sacrifice of repeat viewings to clarify my impressions one way or another.

Do not buy this unless you have a collection of every Sylvester Stallone movie ever made. Do the rental thing through RedBox where they have both the first and the second one as a double feature deal or as this movie only by way of Netflix like we did.  Our issue was having too high expectations as we liked the first one so much. This one does not come anywhere close to that level of action adventure.

Sunday Movie Review: GUARDIANS (2017)

As I said last month when I reviewed  The Hurricane Heist, I am not that great at reviewing movies. My late friend, Glenn Walker, was the man as far as I was concerned on movie reviews. Still, when I see something and I like it, I plan on trying to tell folks. Such is the case with the 2017 release, GUARDIANS.

Synopsis:

During the Cold War, an organization called "Patriot" created a superhero squad that included members of various Soviet republics. For years, the heroes hid in the shadows, but now they must emerge to defend Mother Russia from a threat unlike any other they have faced before: the diabolical scientist Kuratov.

That synopsis comes from the Dallas Library system where Scott found it listed and thought it might be fun. It was! Basically, this is a Russian Marvel studio style superhero movie. Their budget was reportedly five million dollars. At times that shows a little bit as while the special effects are pretty cool and give Hollywood a run for their money, there are some things that needed a little more work. The dubbing of the voices works pretty well though they tend to sound a bit flat at times.  

All in all, we both enjoyed it. Has some funny laugh out loud moments, intentional and otherwise. Typical super hero movie so there is a lot of violence, explosions, buildings and objects destroyed, and the like.  Moscow takes a beating much like New York does in every single superhero movie. Decent origin story told through flashbacks as are a couple of other story plot points. There are rumors that they are working on a sequel. This one tied off pretty well so if they can't do a sequel, seeing this will not leave you hanging. Both Scott and I are hoping that they do get the sequel done as this one was pretty good. 

I went looking in the course of working on this review and was surprised Netflix does not carry it. They carry other flicks with the same title, so do not get fooled. They don't have it. While it does not come up in the Netflix system, if you can’t do it by way of your local library like we did, you can find it by way of Amazon, both to rent or own. Rental is $3.99 and we would say it is worth it.

We would recommend it. GUARDIANS is definitely a B movie, but it is fun and well worth your time. Not the greatest epic ever, but pretty good and fun. Popcorn optional.

Sunday Movie Review: "San Andreas"

Earlier this week Sandi and I saw the epic disaster movie San Andreas.  Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson flies a search and rescue helicopter and is losing his wife to a very wealthy guy for reasons that gradually become clear during the movie. They are not yet divorced as Dwayne has not signed the papers. Instead of going to a brothel in Nevada to get away from it all for a few days, "The Rock" soldiers on with a stiff upper lip, muscles, and the ability to contain his emotions regarding his crumbling marriage. When the earthquakes start hitting, he has to save his wife from a collapsing building by plucking

her off of what is left of a rooftop. The two of them eventually head to San Francisco by any conveyance necessary to save their daughter. It becomes increasing difficult to get their thanks to various events.

This journey will result, as things progress,  into unintentional audience amusement. The last twenty minutes or so are so over the top that all one can do is laugh and wonder how those involved did their scenes with a straight face.

Netflix Synopsis: In the wake of a cataclysmic California earthquake, a search-and-rescue chopper pilot and his ex-wife embark on a perilous journey from Los Angeles to San Francisco in hopes of saving their daughter.