The Thing (1982)

The Thing (1982)

7/10

Starring

Kurt Russell

Directed by John Carpenter

I will not tag this movie as horror because there was nothing horrific about the movie from my view, this is more of a thrilling ride. The acting and directing is top notch and movie delivers on a script based on a 1938 novella named Who Goes There? The book was written by John W. Campbell Jr.

What I like most about the movie is the confusion, and the ending. Other than solving the problem your brain is left to deduce on what to do in the present situation. Just the same way your brain has been hard at work with everything going on at the moment.

The plot shows a team working in Antarctica going face with an alien which has the ability to mimic and absorb any living creature. When it is done absorbing the creature, it can behave speak and act like such a creature. Every cell of this being has that ability and every cell is coded for survival.

Now imagine the chaos when a team of men lets this alien into their midst before realizing what the alien is capable of. The whole confusion also has you lost and wondering who to trust and what you would have done if you were the one in such a situation.

All these starts with a Norwegian helicopter chasing and shooting at a sled dog. The dog runs until it gets to the American research station also stationed at Antarctica. The Norwegian gets off his helicopter, mistakenly blows it up killing his pilot and seems to have lost it. He shoots at the Americans, who came out to see what the commotion was. The Norwegian was killed by one of them.

They let the dog into their station and allowed it to roam about. When they visited the Norwegian station, they found every one of the men there dead. Some in awkward ways. At the station grounds there was something dug up enclosed in a huge block shape. Then they noticed a weird looking mangled like humanoid body.

They take that to their station and took the Norwegian log along. The dog was locked up with the other dogs when at night they heard barking, loud ones. They go to the dog cage to see the dog from earlier before transformed to a weird looking monster, attacking the other dogs.

After killing the monster, they read from the log what the monster was and difficulty in killing it was. Add to that, the dog has spent time with many of them alone, now that we know that any part of the dog can mimic a whole human, how do we know who is human or not.

Wonderful movie and be ready for a thrill when watching.

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

7/10

Starring

Eddie Murphy

Keegan-Michael Key

Mike Epps

Craig Robinson

Directed by Craig Brewer

Dolomite is my name is a beautiful film. That is just the best way to describe the movie. It is a biography, drama and comedy all rolled into one and while watching you keep asking yourself, “where did Rudy get this courage to always bet on himself?”

This movie is about the man named Rudy Ray Moore (Eddie Murphy) who created a persona called Dolomite and made a name for himself with that persona. It was a hard road for him and it was this hard road to get what he wanted, which was fame that this movie is all about. The explicit nature of this movie may make you think the movie has nothing much to offer than cursing and other silly stuff, but then that’s what the character Dolomite is all about.

The movie starts with Rudy trying to get a DJ on a radio show to play any of his songs. The DJ works at radio station which broadcasts from a record store to which Rudy works.

Rudy also works part time at a comedy club as an M.C., he keeps trying to get some jokes rolling, but his material was not any good.

One day, a homeless man who regularly comes into the store comes in and started rhyming. He tells the tale of a man named Dolomite and his weird adventures, which the homeless man rhymes in an explicit nature.

One day when hanging with his friend, Rudy gets the idea that the Dolomite character could be a good persona to tell jokes. So he goes to the homeless man and his friends who rhyme also and records their rhymes. He takes it home and works on the material to make them funnier and make the rhymes better.

He tried it out at the comedy club where he works and he was a hit. Day after day he sold out, he then records a comedy album and sold it from his car to anyone who wanted to hear Dolomite rhyme.

One day when he took his friends to the movies he gets the idea to make a movie about his Dolomite character and that is where this movie takes off.

The movie production is captivating and the way the script develops just keeps you glued. The movie is almost two hours long, but I wished it went on longer. The comedy in the movie does not start until the production of the movie in the movie begins.

Every actor in this movie wanted to deliver and they did, huge kudos to Eddie Murphy, he went above and beyond. Wesley Snipes also out did himself when it came to his time to play his character, D'Urville Martin.

Dolomite is my name is a movie I can not wait to see again, just to see a man put everything he had on the line to make sure he gets the needed boost to go the distance.

Repo Man (1984)

Repo Man (1984)

3/10

Starring

Harry Dean Stanton

Emilio Estevez

Directed by Alex Cox

After I was done watching the film I had one of those challenges. I have nothing good to say about the film even though it is a cult classic and upon release it was met with critical acclaim. Not everyone will like every movie that received universal acclaim as good, today concerning this movie I am part of everyone. The movie felt disjointed. Even though it introduced the alien Sci-Fi feel in the early stages of the movie, the connection between that and everything else was just plain silly writing. I felt the directing needed work and it was way too obvious that someone with little or less idea of how to get things like this done was at the drivers sit. The movie was written and directed by Alex Cox

Our lead is a young 80s man in the punk rock feel of the time. He was a dropout and wanted to coast through life without lifting much of a finger. His character was hard to digest for me, maybe because I was not a teenager at time.

He just lost his work as a store clerk, and also his girl to a friend.

Otto after seeing his girl with his friend was walking down the street when a man offered him money to drive a car and follow him. The man told him a lie, which Otto believed, but the moment he started the car to drive off he was attacked by a man, he managed to get away with the car and followed the other man to a garage of some-sort. Otto realized then that the man was a Repo Man and he was offered a job, he turned it down.

He went home to his parents who looked like hippies to find out they have given money promised to him to a televangelist. So he took the job of a Repo Man which was offered to him earlier.

Before we get to meet this young man (Otto played by Emilio Estevez). We see a man driving fast and was stopped by a cop who asked him to open the trunk of his car. The trunk was opened and a bright light shines out of the trunk and the cop is killed. Killed is putting it mildly, he was vaporized with only his shoes were left.

The car the man was driving was also wanted and Otto and his fellow Repo Men were the ones who were after it, but remember in the trunk of the car, there is something alien. As the movie develops we get to find out more about the contents of the car and why the man was driving with it.

Regardless of how the plot sound, the movie just didn’t do it for me. Alex Cox did a follow up comic and another movie to this, called Repo Chick.

Badlands (1973)

Badlands (1973)

6/10

Martin Sheen

Sissy Spacek

Ramon Bieri

Warren Oates

Directed by Terrence Malick

If you are down for a movie about an insane couple going on a killing spree, then Badlands is that movie for you. Even though is more like an insane couple where the man in it is the one doing the killings. Filled with a nice performance from Martin Sheen and a good director who had his work mapped out well to keep you watching as these two in a way did not have enough power between them to be interested when they are by themselves on screen. I found the movie average regardless of its critical acclaim. You can spot easily that the production budget on this movie was low.

The movie was written, produced and directed by Terrence Malick and the plot as said above is about a couple on a killing spree, which was their go to behavior when cornered or need something. Kit (Martin Sheen) is the unstable character who did the killings and his partner was Holly, a young fifteen year old whom Kit at twenty-five has fallen in love with.

Holly’s mother died when she was young and she and her father have a strained relationship.

Kit on the other hand was a Korean War soldier finding it hard to get on with life, after coming home. He is finding it hard to keep a job and moves from one manual labour job to another.

After they met and have been having secret meetings behind Holly’s father’s back. They were found out. Holly’s father forbid the relationship and Kit could not see why he could no longer be with Holly. He goes to her house and packs her things, but when confronted by her father Kit kills him, Holly was present. Even though Holly didn’t wish her father ill, she didn’t feel much remorse after he passed.

Kit burnt down the house and ran off with Holly.

They started their lives living off the land, until they got found out and one killing too many everyone was on their case. Even Kit’s friend was not immune to what has now seemed like an uncontrollable union.

How it all ended for this two is something you have to see if you are already happy about the synopsis. The movie is tagged significant and was nominated for numerous American Films Institute lists for being very good. The claim that this movie is a classic is something I personally do not agree with, but you as the viewer can come to that conclusion on your own when you take the time to see this movie.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

8/10

Starring

Walter Matthau

Robert Shaw

Directed by Joseph Sargent

I have to say this movie is more intense and more thrilling than the 2009 Denzel Washington and John Travolta remake. The screenplay was adapted from a 1973 novel of the same name written by Morton Freedgood. The film itself was a critical and financial success and it was tagged as one of 1974's finest films. The movie’s strengths is in the suspense even if like me you saw the 2009 version first you still going to be left surprised by what is going to happen.

The movie shows us four men getting on a train. Each of these men seems to be positioning themselves, the moment the train gets to a particular stop one of the men Mr. Blue pulls a gun on the trains driver. Telling him this was a hijacking as another Mr. Green gets to the train’s lever he will now be driving the train. Another man Mr. Brown pulls a gun on the conductor ordering him to close all doors. The last one Mr. Grey positions himself at the other end of the train as Mr. Brown and Blue with himself pulls out machine guns and holds everyone in the train hostage.

A call was made to central by Mr. Blue, he gets to speak with Lt. Garber. He tells him that the train has been hijacked and the city should pay a million dollars or he will kill all the hostages. Garber is now the man who has to talk to Blue and keep him calm while he tries to get the money to them.

How they plan to get away with the money down the tunnel is something you have to see for yourself. And unlike its 2009 counterpart this hijacking has nothing to do with the stock market, the hijackers wanted the money.

I was amazed by the production of this movie, in comparison to its 2009 counterpart, if this is a ten, that was a two.

If you look at the actors in this 1974 adaptation you have to just show respect, everyone was so dedicated from the ones who died to the ones trying to keep them alive. The 2009 version on the other hand failed to deliver any performance that is worth acknowledging, which is strange judging by the money spent and the talents at their disposal.

One other great thing I got to enjoy about the movie is the thrilling tension you get when the view is on the train, the movie had tension everywhere. From the control room to the train, everyone involved was getting under the skin of another. You watch this movie and you just hope the people do not jump on themselves before the movie ends.

This is a fine movie one you should see.

The Illusionist (2006)

The Illusionist (2006)

7/10

Starring

Edward Norton

Jessica Biel

Paul Giamatti

Directed by Niel Burger

The Illusionist is another movie done in 2006 that about life as a magician trying to get by. In the case of this movie, trying to be with a woman one loves. 2006 was the year we saw both movies this and The Prestige give us the backstage passes to the life of magicians. The Illusionist was more financially successful and other than featuring two rival magicians like The Prestige here we have two people in love.

The movie plot takes place in Vienna and is set in 1889. A young man who would later be a magician named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) falls in love at a young age to a girl named Sophie (Jessica Biel). Eisenheim’s father was a cabinet maker and Sophie was a Duchess, so their relationship was forbidden, due to their social status.

Their love for one another was stronger than the repercussion of their union so they continued to meet in secret, until they got caught. Knowing he may never see her again Eisenheim dives fully into the study magic and traveled the world, becoming a little wealthy himself.

Fifteen years later he returned to Vienna and meets a now adult Sophie and learns that she is to marry the Crown Prince. It is rumored tha the prince is no respecter of women and is cruel to them. Eisenheim conducts a private show for him and humiliates him in the process, causing him to be banned from performing again in Vienna.

Eisenheim asks Sophie to go with him, they could runaway together and be happy, but Sophie is afraid. She explains that they will be hunted down and killed.

Later on, Sophie tries to end her engagement with the Crown Prince, but he was not having it. He chased her into the stables with a sword, in the presence of his servants. Later that morning Sophie's dead body is discovered. Eisenheim becomes devastated and in his devastation he buys a theater and begins a new magic shows. He starts to practice necromancy.

This would have all been fine, until in full view of his audience he summons Sophie’s spirit from the dead. The spirit then reveals that someone in attendance of the show was responsible for her death. This caused a lot of issues later on for Eisenheim and it is all that, the movie is about.

Edward Norton and Jessica Biel gave us some fantastic performances. You watch this movie and you are taken away by what is happening and until you get to end of it, you are wondering if Eisenheim will ever be happy.

The Prestige (2006)

The Prestige (2006)

7/10

Starring

Hugh Jackman

Christian Bale

Michael Caine

Directed by Christopher Nolan

In 2006, there were two psychological thriller movies which explored the world of magicians. They were The Illusionist and The Prestige. The Prestige got more attraction even though both movies are just equally fantastic and will give you the needed thrill and fun of seeing men going all the way for their act.

The Prestige on the other hand was more into twists and turns. When you think you got a hand on what is happening, things change and until you get to the end of the movie, you have not fully grasped all that is happening. The problem of the movie is that even when it all makes sense, you do not have the hunger to go back in again to the movie once more.

Prestige has going for it fantastic performance from both Hugh Jackman as Robert and Christian Bale as Alfred. Like the narration of the movie goes, it is those who love them that suffered. That sad realization comes on you when the final curtain falls and you just have to applaud the fantastic movie you just witnessed.

The movie plot starts with us seeing two apprentice (Robert and Alfred) sent out by their boss to go watch a magic show. The aim was and comeback and tell him how the magician does his trick. We get to see the difference in the temperament of the men as the movie develops. A rivalry which started when Alfred used a different knot to tie Robert’s wife in a water tank trick that went wrong.

Both parted ways and started their own magical careers. Robert becomes more flamboyant and then more successful financially. Alfred continues his act on a more moderate success. Alfred develops a trick to which he teleport from one side of the stage to the other, in like a second.

Robert sees this trick and becomes obsessed with knowing how it was done. He develops his own version which he used a stunt double, but he is not satisfied with the results. Then upon being missed led to seek out the engineer/inventor Tesla he develops a trick of his own. It also has to do with teleportation but the result is scary. Robert still wanted to ruin Alfred and Alfred seeing the teleportation trick too wanted to know how it was done.

Unlike The Illusionist when you compare the production cost of the Prestige to that of its box office taking, the movie was a moderate box office success. It went ahead to receive Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction. If you have not had the opportunity to see The Prestige or The Illusionist, please do.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

6/10

Starring

Robert Downey Jr.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Don Cheadle

Scarlett Johansson

Sam Rockwell

Mickey Rourke

Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Jon Favreau

I did not enjoy Iron Man 2 as well as I did the first part and felt the movie did not add enough to the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and could be missed. The movie is the third installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the plans for a second movie was in the works after the financial takings of the first movie in 2008.

The movie to me is more like an introduction to the strength and depth of S.H.E.I.L.D and many of its members. Then the movie also worked hard to portray Tony as needing redemption. Since Tony learned he was dying he became unhinged. The movie then tried to make us see what past unhinged Tony was with the partying and the drinking before he came into the inheritance of Stark Industries.

In this movie, Terrence Howard was replaced by Don Cheadle in the role of Rhodes (War Hammer) and Jon Favreau returned to direct. The movie had so much CGI effects it was amazing. The battles between the suits is something you have to see to get a full appreciation of. The movie got an Academy Award Nomination for the visual effects.

The movie follows how Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) reacted to the thought of his impending death. As it is revealed that the reactor in his chest, which keeps him alive and powers the suit is poisoning him. He takes this as a new lease to live his life carelessly, having parties and just showcasing what the suit can do.

He then went ahead to make Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) the new stark CEO so he could be free to live carelessly. From the other side of things we have a man named Ivan Vanko who is building a reactor similar to that of Tony’s.

This movie serves as the introduction of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) who was working undercover as Tony’s new Personal Assistant.

Ivan builds his own suit which has electrical whips and attacks Tony during a Grand Prix event. Tony who had now revealed himself to the world as Iron Man was able to defeat Ivan when he dawned the suit. Ivan saw this battle as a win for himself as he wanted to show the world that Iron Man is not invincible.

Tony’s rival helped Ivan escape and together they built more suits all in the aim of bringing down Tony.

The movie was also a financial success and it was just the needed pathway that opened up more possibilities of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe could become.

The Laundromat (2019)

The Laundromat (2019)

6/10

Starring

Meryl Streep

Gary Oldman

Antonio Banderas

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

The Laundromat can at first come out strange, you have to hold your breath to get through the first five minutes of the movie, before you realize you are watching a drama/documentary. Dramatized with a mix of comedy to tell the tale of the famous Panama Papers which exposed many rich people.

It showed us the illegitimate ways they were trying to hide their money in shell companies around the world especially in places where there were tax havens. Everything done is legal, but the crime was where the money was coming from and where it is going. Everyone who has money was implicated, but as long as their source of money was clean and their spending it was also clean, they was no crime committed.

A pet baby of Steven Soderbergh the movie is based on a book titled Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite by Jake Bernstein.

The movie also showed the various ways many of the people got in, it showed us that the people who used these method of hiding their money from taxes were from around the world. It also showed us how some of the people involved, had so much greed that it was just about time before someone knew what was happening.

A whistle blower who hacked the company was the person who released the papers to the press. This is not a spoiler to the movie, this is something we all know. It is how the movie was able to spin this tales starting from a couple on their way to their honeymoon and ending with Meryl Streep breaking the third wall to pass a message to us (okay, maybe that is a spoiler).

When tragedy struck the couple the woman Ellen (Meryl Streep) got almost nothing for her husband’s death from the insurance. As it so happens the boat company insured their company with a fraud insurance company. Which exist when you are paying your premium, but then does not when you have an accident, file for a claim and need them to pay you. Get ready for some running around before you get the message that the company you are looking for does not exist.

Ellen had her eye on an apartment facing the place where she first met her husband. She was showing the place off to her daughter and grand daughter when the place was bought from under her by some Russians. It was her decision to investigate these people that led her to see that neither them or the insurance company who were supposed to pay for the accident exist.

What she did with the info, the challenges she faced are either made believe or true, but you have o catch this on Netflix to find out.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

7/10

Starring

Edward Norton

Liv Tyler

Tim Roth

Directed by Louis Leterrier

After the disastrous take on the Incredible Hulk movie of 2003, Marvel reacquired the rights to the movie and wrote a fantastic entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This new Incredible Hulk movie is the second movie in the MCU and the lead was changed from Eric Bana to Edward Norton. The bad guy in this movie started as a man and grew to become Abomination.

The movie plot starts with a brief history of Hulk. It was as a result of an experiment gone wrong on trying to make super soldiers. The people involved are Dr. Bruce Banner and his girlfriend Betty Ross (Liv Tyler). They were to present the whole program to Ross’s father General Ross.

Bruce got the gamma radiation exposure which turns him to Hulk for a brief time when his heart rates goes haywire. In the Hulk state Banner destroys the lab hurting both the general and his daughter.

He moves to Brazil away from the ones he loves, while he is trying to search for a cure for his problem.

An accident in the bottling company where Banner works, aided General Ross to be able to track him down. The General wants Banner for studies to be able to make more super soldiers. The capture of Banner went wrong, as Banner changed to Hulk and got away from the men led Emil Blonsky.

Emil decided to be injected with the same serum that turned Banner and he became a super human. Banner comes back to the U.S. and joins Betty when he is attacked again by Blonsky and his men. This time Blonsky is starting to lose all sense of sanity.

He loses the fight with Hulk. To see what happens after this and you will have to see the movie.

Edward Norton never got to replay the character of Hulk again in the MCU that role went to Mark Ruffalo. Who first came on the scene in the first Avengers movie in 2012. Ruffalo has remained the Hulk since that movie. The reason Norton was dropped is because Norton is known for wanting to have control over the characters he plays. This is not something Disney or Marvel is willing to abide with.

I enjoyed this Hulk movie more than the 2003 crap version. It is also sad that we will never get to see many of the great Hulk stories because of the deal Marvel made with Universal concerning the Hulk movies before Disney bought them over.

I will be looking forward to seeing this movie again, just to get the fun of it. I do not know if we will be seeing Hulk again anytime soon, since the Infinity Stones Saga (the last movie here were Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home both in 2019) is over. His presence in Thor: Ragnorok (2017) was a breather and made the movie so much fun. Disney is launching the Disney+ streaming service where there will be a She-Hulk series so maybe he will feature in it.

Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man (2008)

7/10

Starring

Robert Downey Jr.

Terrence Howard

Jeff Bridges

Directed by Jon Favreau

The first movie that started the MCU was not done by Disney, even though Marvel had a hand in the production. This movie launched everything we got to know about the MCU and Robert Downey Jr. got a career boost from this movie and grew to be the main cast in the MCU movies till date.

In comparison to the other movies that followed this you just have to respect the CGI and acting from the cast who had to set the pace. This movie was great, the direction was well done and the movie stayed true to what we know about Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). It tried its best to leave enough trails for us to expect more from the franchise.

Iron Man is a superhero film and the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It serves as an introduction to Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineering who inherited the Stark Industries from his father Howard Stark.

Tony was in a war-torn Afghanistan with his friend James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) during the demonstration of a new missile, their convoy gets attacked and Tony is injured. He is captured by a terrorist group who wants him to build a missile for them. He was critically injured and was saved by a fellow captured doctor Yinsen who implants an electromagnet into Starks chest to save his life.

Instead of building the missile they build an armor suit so they can use to escape, putting a powerful electric generator in Tony’s chest to power the suit. During the escape Yinsen dies.

When Stark gets back home after being saved by Rhodes, he decided that Stark Industries will stop making weapons, which did not go well with the present caretaker of the company Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). It was their indifference that is the tune the movie dances too.

This movie is a charm and it sets the pace to which other superhero movies had to dance to. When Disney took over the helm of Marvel they increased the pace and now their MCU movies are one of the best movies out there. Regardless of what others say about superhero movies not being up to the quality of other films, I just feel it is biff that they did not get to make one.

Iron Man is a classic superhero movie one you can see and see again. Further on from this film, Terrence Howard was dropped as Rhodes and was replaced by Don Cheadle.