Blu-ray thumbs

[Johann]

TED 2 (2015)


This sequel is not very good. Whatever “bar” the first Ted sets, it’s lowered here.
It’s set three years after the first movie, with Ted trying to legally establish himself as a person and not property.
Patrick Stewart narrates both films, Michael Dorn has a cameo in this one, and there’s more love for Sam Jones and Flash Gordon. Seth hired Morgan Freeman and gave cameos to Liam Neeson and Tom Brady.
The story just never gets a foothold.
I like the pop culture references and enjoyed the New York Comic Con sequences/fight.
It’s the crude humour that rankles- is it really necessary?
There will probably be a third Ted, it’s a popular franchise.
Mark Wahlberg was good in the first one. Here he’s just hanging on.

[Johann]

THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985)


80’s Gold.
This very basic and simple film defined a generation.
John Hughes directs Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson in THE coming-of-age movie.
5 students are sent to detention on a Saturday.
They have unique personalities and outlooks. They are thrown together, and by day’s end they bond.
Part of the fun of the movie is the vice-principal, who’s a dick.
The kids manage to avoid their essay assignment, smoke pot, and generally skirt their punishments.
Eminently watchable classic film.

[Chris Knipp]

Rewatched recently because a new movie inspired by it was coming out, Nicholas Celozzi's The Class (2022). Nothing compares with Hughes. Peter and I share the taste.

[Johann]

Yes, John Hughes is special.
I read that John Cusack was going to play Bender, but Hughes felt he didn’t look menacing enough.

[Chris Knipp]

Good decision.

[Johann]

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (2010)


Annette Bening and Julianne Moore star as a lesbian couple who’ve successfully raised two kids.
The kids are curious about their father (Mark Ruffalo), and track him down via the sperm bank.
They meet, they hit it off and he goes to dinner with the moms.
He’s charming and attentive, something Julianne feels is lacking in her marriage.
She eventually kisses him, in an awkward moment. Things lead to a sexual fling, defying her lesbian marriage. This movie focuses on marriage in general, it’s not a statement or manifesto.
There is no movie like this, and It’s topical, addressing real world problems.
Golden globe winner for Bening!
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko.

[Chris Knipp]

I reviewed it at the time. I found the acting excellent, but thought it got mired in detail. It was popular with some, and a critical hit.

[Johann]

UNFORGIVEN (1992)


"I'm here to kill you Little Bill. For what you did to Ned".


Clint Eastwood's masterpiece.
See it at all costs. It's the story of a farmer with a bad past who does one more killing job for money.
This won 4 Oscars, including best picture and director and supporting actor for Gene Hackman.
Hackman is thoroughly loathsome as Sherriff "Little Bill" Daggett.
Morgan Freeman shines as Ned, Eastwood's pal. And even the guy who plays the Schofield Kid is great.
One of the best westerns you'll ever see.

[Johann]

TAKERS (2010)



One of the best heist films you'll ever see.
A group of professional bank robbers pull off spectacular robberies- the opening one is great, the last one unbelievable.
Idris Elba is the leader, and they make a hasty plan with "Ghost", an ex-con to pull off a major heist involving C-4 and armoured trucks. Problem is Ghost involves too many people, including the russian mob. The heist gets pulled off, but not without hitches; 2 LAPD cops are on their trail and the russians are seriously pissed off, leading to a bombastic (slow-motion!) shootout at the Roosevelt Hotel.
Of note is a really exciting hot pursuit chase of Chris Brown- very well shot and edited!
Well worth your time.
I'd never heard of this film until today.

[Johann]

AEON FLUX (2005)


Karyn Kusama’s futuristic film about the last city and an underground operative named Aeon is not that interesting.
I remember the anime being much more exciting and visceral.
Charlize Theron is the emotionless Aeon Flux, fighting her way thru oppressive situations.
It looks ok- they had some vision for the production design and costumes and weapons.
The problem is a lot happens and we’re not engaged…

[Chris Knipp]

Metacritic rating 36%!
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/aon-flux

[Johann]

THE WOLFMAN (2010)




I can't believe that this was a box office bomb.
Loved it.
Joe Johnson directs Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving in this gothic atmospheric film.
It won a well deserved Oscar for best makeup. The creature is rendered extremely well.
The movie really takes off after Benicio is attacked by the werewolf.
Two thumbs up!

[Chris Knipp]

Probably many enjoyed it and will do. But look at Metacritic (as I do) and you'll glimpse why critics didn't, finding it a "totally unnecessary remake", contains "little genuine human emotion," and off-puttingly "races through its opening scenes," despite good points such as makeup, for a score of 43% but ratings at the top of 75 and 63; nothing higher. It may also be though that the horror genre lacks caché despite its current appeal.

[Johann]

POINT BREAK (2015)




This is the remake of the 1991 action/adventure film.
Directed by Ericson Core, I highly enjoyed this movie. You want thrilling daredevil stunts?
Look no further. This movie has big wave surfing, extreme motorcross, skydiving, high mountain snowboarding, basejumping, and extreme rock climbing, to name a few.
The FBI is on the trail of a group of extreme sport enthusiasts who perpetuate extreme crimes and get away with them. They have to enlist the help of a new recruit familiar with the stunts named Utah (Heath Ledger lookalike Luke Bracey). Utah chases them all over the globe, with spectacular results. One by one he closes in. Co-starring Ray Winstone & Delroy Lindo. Wonderful cinematography- Core captures every stunt flawlessly, the most impressive being the rock climb at Angel Falls in Venezuela.

[Chris Knipp]

You don't sound like you've seen the classic Kathryn Bigelow original with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, which revolves around surfing. It's a movie I loved from when I first saw it and have rewatched any number of times. Surfing is essential to its mystique, and the edgy bromance between the cocky FBI tyro "Johnny Utah" and the exciting, mystical bad guy known as "Bodhi," lost in this new version. I went to see the remake, of course - but went away feeling empty. I think it would have probably been better to copy the original slavishly, even though the chemistry would never have been there. But they didn't even halfway strive for that; they just put together a "related" story. It might seem exciting and diverting - compared to some of the duds you've been watching. But it got terrible reviews (on Metacritic 34, way into the red zone), because a remake must be judged in relation to what it's a remake of. See Bilge Eberi's Vulture review here.

Uninterested in competing on the bromance front, or even on the action-thriller front, this new Point Break often plays like an extreme-sports documentary with bits of narrative interstitials to carry us along. The production brought together stuntmen and athletes from all around the world for the film’s many setpieces, which include BASE jumping, big wave–riding, motocross, snowboarding, and free-climbing. If you really like that sort of thing, you should see this on the biggest screen you can.

I'm having trouble accessing this website again, by the way. I happen to have access to a computer that accepts me and it together. But my main computer can't connect with "Filmleaf". It's annoying and mysterious. Like somebody up there in computer land doesn't like me.

Talking about Point Break, the 1991 one, makes me want to see it again - though I can never quite recapture the magic of the first watch. Eberi points out the FAST AND FURIOUS films are built on that same kind of macho bro competitive vibe, with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, a really solid duo broken of course by Walker's tragic death at 40. Swayze is gone. But Keanu has a durable persona, it has turned out with the John Wick franchise.

There's also the exhilaration of the (off-season) bank robberies int he dead presidents masks. The original is just so much mindless fun.