Social Icons

Samaritan (2022)

Samaritan (2022)

 


3/10


Starring

Sylvester Stallone

 

Directed by Julius Avery

 

I know Stallone did Dredd in the past and has played the hero in his days. Playing a superhero with some powers is a new one for me which he failed to deliver much. His character was an oldie who just was indestructible. The intro of the movie plays like you are watching the Nickelodeon’s Avatar intro and ends just the same, in the end the hero vanishes when he is needed the most.

From here the movie falls into being so predictable that what was supposed to be a revealing ending turned out to be what you would expect. It was like everyone else in the movie except Stallone skipped the acting class where they taught them to sell the character and make it believable.

Then the lazy writing seems to forget about a lot of things. Like the aftermath of the chaos the Nemesis crew started. The aftermath of the town it shutdown everything electrical or some parts of the town affected. What about cops? Seems this movie forgot about them too, we never hear of them investigating anything or trying to solve this.

You may say the movie decided to focus on other things except the above, but now watching this movie I can see why other movies do not do this. It sells the whole event when we see the entanglement with the police as the things are going down. Also, when we see the city trying to overcome the damage done.

The plot is about two indestructible brothers who grew up in a place where they were feared. A tragic incident in their young lives drew them apart and created two different views, one wants to save the world as a hero from the evil of the world (Samaritan). The other wants to watch it burn (Nemesis).

Then another tragedy struck and one of them dies in an inferno that the other started. Now years later the world is not better, and a young boy comes across an old man who saves him from being beaten. He saw the man grab a knife and bent the edges. He knew he had found one of the brothers, Samaritan. This was further confirmed when the old man survived being ran over.

Now a group of criminals in the name of the brother Nemesis wants to destroy the world and watch it burn and this young boy wants to convince Samaritan to get up and be the hero again.

In the end, what a complete waste of time this was, the whole potential of what this could be died the moment you see the copied Avatar intro.

 

Bullet Train (2022)

Bullet Train (2022)


 7/10

 


Starring

Brad Pitt

Joey King

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Brian Tyree Henry

Andrew Koji

 

Directed by David Leitch

 

Bullet Train is one of those uselessly entertaining movies you can watch. The movie has a Kill Bill vibe, but then thrives on linking all the action with some comedy.

The fun for me is the way the movie is written. Everything seems loose and you are unable to fit everything to make sense, then the bad guy White Death helps you to link it all in the end. His identity and face did not show until the very end (like the novel Moby Dick) when everyone involved had to take on the big bad guy and his goons.

Every one of the main casts on the train is linked in one weird way or another and it was sad to see the death of any of the main cast, because I was enjoying seeing them a lot. Each on a separate mission, fate brought them all together (you will think).

The director did a nice work so did the screenplay writer who adapted this Japanese novel Maria Beetle by Kōtarō Isaka. The action sequences are smooth and slick. The fights enjoyable with some elements of comedy added to each punch.

We are introduced to a man named codenamed Lady Bug (Brad Pitt) who believes he is one of the unluckiest man alive. He left his job as an assassin to try and center himself. He wants to overcome the disbelief that anything good can happen to him. After some sessions with a therapist (which are things, we do not see) he is feeling better, and he is ready to go back to work. His handler gave him a simple snatch and grab job. He is to get on a bullet train, snatch a suitcase and get off. He got on the train saw the suitcase with ease and he was uncomfortable, because he saw the twins on board Lemon and Tangerine (assassins).

Seeing them and his ease of finding the suitcase his mind starts messing with him and he feels something bad is going to happen and he needs to get off the train. He tries to get off the train, but was attacked by another assassin who by some luck happens to be at the same door he was tying to get off and he was trying to get on.

Lady Bug had to deal with this unforeseen attack while Lemon and Tangerine notice that their suitcase is gone. The suitcase Lady Bug took was the ransom money they were to retrieve for White Death when they saved his son. While discussing their current predicament they also discover the man they saved has been killed while the stepped aside to argue.

Now they suspect the person who took the case had a hand it in. Meanwhile Lady Bug who took the case did not have a hand in their situation but was in a life or death situation of his own.

Fun movie, worth the theatre money.

 

Day Shift (2022)

Day Shift (2022)


 

3/10


Starring

Jamie Foxx

Dave Franco

Snoop Dogg

Natasha Liu Bordizzo

 

Directed by J. J. Perry

 

This review contains spoilers:

I have seen movies done for the fun of it and you can see the characters having fun as they go about making the movie, causing you the viewer to also enjoy the viewing. This movie felt like they were the only ones laughing and we were the joke.

Badly written, woefully directed, and other than the actors doing what they are paid to do there is nothing good to say about this movie. This movie is one of those reasons you know Netflix needs other studios to get out of the streaming market so they can give great movie makers chances to go wild.

What is the point of writing a movie with a straight to textbook buddy pairing we have seen many times over. And their way to spice it up is the weaker one will pee his pants when scared, what the hell?

Day Shift is a vampire movie about a vampire hunter (Jamie Foxx), who is down on his luck. He needs to raise money to be able to keep his ex-wife from moving to Florida and taking their daughter with her. He has been kicked out of the vampire union and for the most guessable reason, he is known to be reckless. But the only way to raise the money needed to keep the family is for him to join the union and work paired with a rookie. He was told to work the day shift and keep to all the rules of the union if he does not want to be kicked out again.

The challenge is, while working solo out of the union he killed an old woman who happens to be related to a vampire lady who has taken over everything vampire in L.A. killing off all the former leaders. So she is hunting for him for revenge.

You know that one thing we all hate in movies, when the bad guys capture someone and talk all day and do not kill them.

Well, she has been chasing him down for killing a member of her family, so you would expect her to kill one of his in return, but nope. You see she tracks him down to his ex-wife home captures, the ex and daughter, here is the icing on the cake and captures him too.

I was lost for words I was like ok, the movie still has a long way to go, so she is dragging so that someone can come and save his ass. But nope, she takes the family unhurt to her lair and leaves him alive.

No broken bones, no bite nothing – he is left alive. The writers had no idea how to make him mad so he will go save his family other than leaving him alive to come do a rescue and secure a revenge and kill the main bad guy.

I will give this a miss, it is worthless.