Reviews by ImminentOrbit

A mediocre end to a mediocre series. There was such a long pause between this movie and the second that I didn't recall all of the characters, but it seemed that most were extra, anyways. Nonsensical decisions by the characters and a confusing disease I didn't remember much about, other than it kinda made zombies. Everyone got burnt out on apocalypse movies when this series put out the second, so I understand the delay, but it hurt the story as the previous movie wasn't really good enough to bother watching a second time.

On another note, this series missed out on an opportunity to make the two sides of this both be good guys, but with different views of what that means. Instead, the antagonists are clearly bad, but the movie only tries to pretend otherwise at a couple of points. So, Teresa being lured to them wasn't convincing.

That said, it had a strong start and the action was decent. However, I ended up being bored at different points. If you've seen the first two, you might as well, but if you've not, I wouldn't bother getting caught up on them to see this. 6/10

An interesting tale of Churchill becoming Prime Minister and his securing of his position within the first month. It was difficult to understand Churchill at a number of points, which I get that he talked like that, but it makes it difficult to understand what is going on. Also, the movie wanders at points, focusing on characters that don't really have a role in the movie, like his assistant. Also, too much focus is put on times when nothing is happening, and not enough on significant things, like when people are changing their mind about things for unknown reasons.

Still, it was worth a watch for the history. The tone was great, and the speeches powerful and well done. 6/10

Surprising hilarious sequel to the original Jumanji. This time, Jumanji takes the form of a video game and is explained (well enough) in the movie. I enjoyed it from beginning to end, more than the original. The characters in the game being out of sync with the players controlling them may be cliche, but it was done well by all the actors and was just plain out funny. 8/10

A surprise musical, as I don't recall any of the previews indicating as such. Music was OK, but not memorable. Story was predictable and likely glossed over many details. Entertaining, but I found myself bored at parts. 6/10

Boring. That is the one-word answer to summarize this movie. The protagonist was a weirdo and unrelatable and the pacing between scenes of interest dragged. Intentions of the main character were also questionable. Well, whatever, I enjoyed the popcorn bucket, so there's that, I guess. 6/10

This was a fun, interesting story revisiting the world of Bladerunner full of impressive imagery and special effects, marred by a number of scenarios that didn't have a satisfactory reason behind them and an unsatisfying conclusion. 7/10

When I first saw this one in theaters, back in 1997, I thought it was great, except for the annoying DJ played by Chris Tucker. I hated that character. So, imagine my surprise when, this time, I found the movie to be pretty meh, but the DJ character was OK.

Generic, poorly thought out action flick, with weak action and rubber-masked aliens. The reasons why things are happening and the motivations of the villains are confusing. Just a bunch of poorly thought out events happening one after another. 6/10

A classic western from 1959 about a murderer being held in a small town until the marshal could come collect him and the gang that wants to free him.

It is clearly a movie from a different era, where even a western needed to have a musical number shoved into it. Regardless, it was enjoyable, if somewhat long.

The characters were clever and the interactions between them were engaging and interesting. It had sufficient action via shoot-em-ups as well as comedy that didn't feel forced. The love interest felt a bit tacked on, but not terribly so.

I also enjoyed that the protagonists weren't untouchable; they made mistakes and sometimes the bad guys got the jump on them or outsmarted them.

Why it was called Rio Bravo, "Brave River," is beyond me. Maybe it just sounded sufficiently "western" at the time. Always nice to see some of these old ones on the big screen. 7/10

This was a remake of a movie from 1990 that I only thought was OK. Hopefully, I thought, they will add to the original story and improve upon it. Instead, they just retold the original story with new characters.

The concept and story was fine for a movie in 1990, but didn't really work for me now. I had a hard time believing that there was no research done anywhere on near-death experiences available online that they could have referenced instead of making it up as they went along. And, why are they special? No one that has had a NDE has woken up with improved abilities, nor were haunted.

And, their planning was terrible. That it was such an ordeal to resuscitate the person every time makes you wonder how these fools ever got into medical school in the first place, since that they kept undergoing their procedure was clearly a sign that they were all stupid.

Realism in little areas annoyed me a bit, too. For example, they needed to do chest compressions every time, and a ton of them, and that they never broke any ribs was hard to swallow.

Not really scary, the "sins" they were being punished for were weak, and just a rehashing of the original movie had me waiting for the movie to be done. Better than "Friend Request" but let's not pretend that is high praise. 5/10

Our protagonist is a criminal, and one that made a big, negative impact by transporting drugs, guns, and contras. Yet, the character is separated from these actions and is presented as a decent, likable family man. Despite myself, I found that I was rooting for his criminal exploits to succeed. In the end, though, crime doesn't pay, and I am content with that.

Based on a true story, it was interesting to see how it worked itself into the events that were occurring in the late 70's and early 80's. It humanized some of the well-known names from that time, again glossing over their terrible aspects.

Dealing with success was a funny theme. The storing of tons of cash, as well as the local investments, community improvements, and in-laws added to the story.

Though the laughs and charm is front and center, there is a tragic tale throughout. A man, bored with his hum-drum life as an airline pilot, makes one decision that could be seen as patriotic, but leads to a bunch of developments that seem inescapable. 8/10