To each their own. Not a terrible movie but I wouldn't be in any rush to sit through it again anytime soon.

DP, I saw THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD today. First of all, wow, I cannot believe the cast of characters. I continued reading them out loud as they scrolled by on the screen: Max von Sydow as Jesus, Charlton Heston as John the Baptist, Martin Landau as Caiaphas, Angela Lansbury as Claudia, Donald Pleasence as the Devil (that was a sweet surprise), Sidney Poitier as Simon of Cyrene, Claude Rains as King Herod, Telly Savalas as Pontius Pilate, and even John Wayne as a Centurion! As for the film itself, I was moved by it early on when Jesus was first performing his miracles, but then it seemed to jump around quite a bit, just hitting well known highlights. I understand trying to condense the Bible or the story of Jesus into a 3 hr and 20 minute version is a difficult task but some of the continuity I felt was lost by the consistent skipping around. Finally, and I don't mean this disrespectfully at all as I like and respect von Sydow as an actor; however, I felt his portrayal of Jesus was missing some passion. For example, when he's kicking out the money changers and freeing the animals to be sacrificed at the temple, he seems to lack enthusiasm and is just going through the motions. However, I had heard of this movie previously and again, appreciate the recommendation.

Gotcha, I like it all and look forward to watching that an Jesus of Nazareth every Easter season.

SOLOMON AND SHEBA

Stumbled upon this (don't remember how) and wanted to give it a shot to see another biblical story. It was good, a little slow pacing, ran a little long at 2 hours and 21 mins. However, Yul Brynner was the star of the show as Solomon. Between his performance in this and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, I've really enjoyed his work. He has such a towering, and confident disposition that is easy to be captivated by. Gina Lollobrigida who played Sheba I wasn't as enamored with. She was fine but I wasn't mesmerized by her beauty or her performance (I would have went with Marisa Pavan who played Abishag). 5/10

MORTAL KOMBAT

Finally, a reboot that is worthy of praise! That brings something new, fresh, and wanted, rather than just dollars to the studio. This is the Mortal Kombat that we've craved for over the years. A compelling story primarily centered around Sub-Zero and Scorpion. Yet, with a cast full of unique individuals, still pays respect to all of them (with the exception of Sonya Blade, who's the butt of many jokes). This is a violent, bloody, brutal, and funny film. As such, Kano actually turned out to be my favorite character as this guy was hitting on all cylinders on open mic night. Mortal Kombat was a brutal video game upon it's release in the 1990's and I'm glad they didn't shy away from that here with this film, as it's a hard R. I'm very pleased studios are waking up to the fact that films that are rated R can still be bank, rather than a watered down PG-13 version to "appeal to the masses." Great action, Special FX, and script, count me in for a sequel! 6.5/10

Rewatched PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN today and I enjoyed it even more the second time around. If you haven't seen it, I endorse a viewing of it. Carey Mulligan got robbed on Sunday at the Oscars.

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE bypassed theaters, heading straight for VOD and for good reason: the film is nothing but an average tale about regret, bereavement, betrayal, and revenge. The studio is hoping Oscar winner Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan will entice viewers enough to give this a shot. Sadly, they shouldn't, but I did just that based upon them and the semi-interesting trailer. The film follows Philip (Affleck), Grace (Monaghan), and Philip's daughter Lucy (played by India Eisley) who are dealing with the loss of their son/brother in Evan, who tragically dies in a car accident that Grace is driving to open the film. From there we're introduced to Philip, who is a psychiatrist and for the entire film, he's nothing more than an emotionless, detached, and broken man who's still trying to cope with the accident 3 years later. His coping mechanism is to occupy himself with his work and patients, while neglecting his family. Grace attempts to cope by reaching out to Philip both emotionally and physically but is rebuffed at every turn. Feeling unsatisfied, she has no outlet or other ways to cope other than to continually swim laps in their backyard pool. Lucy meanwhile is seeking attention and as such, gets kicked out school for doing a line of cocaine in a science lab. Garnering her father's wrath, she soon turns to hate him with the attention she had previously been seeking. A patient that Philip has been treating for some time and is a prototype of a possible new therapy technique that he's been experimenting with suddenly dies. Her brother James Flagg (played wonderfully by Sam Claflin) enters the picture and begins to form a relationship with the family, before Philip believes his intentions aren't as noble as first perceived. From there James slithers his way between Philip and his family, questioning if the family is strong enough to survive James' charm and ulterior motives. Being an R rated film, I would have suspected this would have been made for a younger, PG-13 audience as the twist at the end, can be seen so obviously within the first 10 minutes of the film. Knowing this while watching, the audience can see the trail of verbal cues and breadcrumbs James leaves in some of the dialogue he chooses to use. From there it's watching everything unfold exactly as you'd expect and as such, the film is very mediocre and painfully predictable. On one final note, with a title of EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE, they didn't capitalize on the Sting & the Police song at all during this film, which is a missed opportunity if you ask me. 5/10

TOM CLANCY'S WITHOUT REMORSE

Michael B. Jordan stars as John Kelly, a NAVY Seal who, along with his team, is tasked to extract a CIA asset in Allepo, Syria. The mission goes according to plan until Kelly realizes the hostiles they've taken out are Russian, not Syrian forces while rummaging through one of the dead assailants pockets. Having completed his mission and tour, Kelly heads back home to his 9-month pregnant wife. He isn't afforded much R&R until his team are hunted down one-by-one. In Kelly's case, they were only able to kill his wife, however, he was able to kill all of the intruders save for one. That puts Kelly on his mission to find the missing person and kill them; however, other players within the U.S. government are secretly using these attacks as a way to restart the Cold War. Overall, this is a disappointing film. Jordan's much better than this. He has a few action-centric one liners that come off as forced. Sprinkle in a bit of SJW virtue signaling about how African-Americans "fight for a country that doesn't love them back," and you've checked the woke crowd box (along with other "marginalized people" who are represented in this film in positions of authority). The action scenes are sloppy and that's by design to give it a more "gritty" style, but it fails in that endeavor and is nothing more than 2 people rolling around on the floor. Furthermore, the story wasn't enticing enough to hold my interest for the full 1 hour and 50 minutes and the reveal of the conspirator was obvious, as the person cast in that role typically is typecast for just that purpose. A pass even on Amazon Prime. 5.5/10

CHERRY

Tom Holland stars as Cherry, an Army medic, who returns from war to his Ohio home and his wife Emily (Ciara Bravo) while struggling to readjust to life due to his PTSD. Unable to cope with the horrors he's seen abroad, he soon turns to drugs to self-medicate his pain away with the aid of his friends, who are users themselves. Before long, the drugs are controlling him rather than him having control over his habit. His wife Emily, to deal with her husband's, at times violent outbursts and distance, soon turns to the drugs herself in order to get back at Cherry in a way, with them both eventually becoming addicts. Their shared lifestyle forces Cherry to rob banks to finance both of their addictions that turns from pills like Oxy to heroin. What makes this tale especially sad is how lovely their love story is setup. They're two college kids with Cherry being the more awkward of the two, while Emily suppresses her feelings due to trust issues she has from her father having an affair that she caught him having. The cinematography is very well done as in a lot of the scenes during the first couple of acts, the audience is right in the middle of the action, feeling like either a fly on the wall or an active participate in the scene. The lighting the Russo's utilize also really stands out throughout the film. The scenes where Cherry's in basic training are framed differently as well, with the scope of the screen shrinking to signify his lack of freedom within the service. The Russo's use a lot of various techniques throughout the film, which is very appreciated as it changes the aspect of the film, holding the audiences attention, as well as eliciting certain emotions from the viewer as well. Wonderfully strong performances by both Holland and Bravo, they make a great couple onscreen and their chemistry can be seen for the entire duration of the film (nothing seems forced). What makes the film especially sad is that it's based on true events. Available through Apple TV+, this is definitely worth watching. 6.5/10

Rewatched SCARFACE today and I always fall in love with this movie every time I watch it. Still hard to believe that little ol' Italian Al Pacino could so seamlessly embody the role of Tony Montana. A true American classic with a fantastic script, director, cast, and soundtrack. Treat yourself to another viewing at your next opportunity.

Yep, a cult classic that gets overlooked alot. Been a few years since i watched this. Onc of Pacino's best roles

My Octopus Teacher. 2020

A documentary of a marine biologist who found himself welcomed into the life of an Octopus, amazing.

I loved it and heard it won an Oscar.

8.5 / 10

I have not been able to score a movie that high in a long time.

I need to watch this. Octopuses are extraordinary animals. The more I learn about them, the more amazed I am

WRATH OF MAN

Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie reunite and all is right in the world. WRATH OF MAN follows Patrick Hill (Statham) or H as he'll annoyingly be referred to in the film, a cash truck delivery courier who seeks to find the people responsible for his sons murder. The film opens with said robbery, followed soon thereafter by a Bond-esque opening title. Statham plays the role of H wonderfully, emotionless yet not robotic as you can clearly see there's malicious intent behind those big, bulging eyes of his. Statham is one of, if not the best action hero working today besides The Rock, and he single-handedly carries this film. Without his star power, this is easily a VOD title. He's always clam, cool, collect, and suave. Outside of his performance, everyone else's (with the exception of Josh Hartnett) are phoned in. It's tragic to see Hartnett's star fall so much to this testosterone/frat boy, prototypical, wannabe alpha male. About halfway through this film splinters into 2 separate stories that come together nicely at the end. A good, but not great action film. Worthy of your time and viewing. Definitely superior to Ritchie's previous outing, THE GENTLEMEN. 6.5/10

SHADOW IN THE CLOUD

Set in 1943, SHADOW IN THE CLOUD stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Maude Garrett, a mechanic and female pilot in the RAF. She nearly misses a flight leaving from New Zealand to Samoa with orders and a top secret package to be delivered upon landing. Coming aboard at the last minute, there's nowhere to store her, save for the gunner position underneath the plane that's made up entirely of glass and steel. Much of the first act is shot from within this tight bubble, terrifying any audience members who are either claustrophobic, have a fear of flying, or both. While underneath, Garret soon sees a gremlin lurking about on the wing and while unsuccessfully trying to convince her crew members of its presence, the gremlin begins to disable to plane, forcing it down. Honestly, I enjoyed this film way more than I thought I was going to. I enjoy Chloe's work as an actress, but she's also on my list of actors who, no matter what film I see them in, I know it's either going to be average or I'm not going to like it at all. This one actually surprised me and was probably my favorite movie of hers to date. The first half of the film starts out as a suspense/horror film while we're introduced to Garrett, the crew, and the gremlin. However, about halfway through it transitions (and quite well I might add) to an action film. In dealing with the subject matter, yes, some suspension of disbelief is required on the audience's part; but if you can get past that, and one cringe worthy action spot shortly after the transition, it's a fun ride. The film doesn't take itself too serious and it's nice to see Chloe breakout into other genres as well. Without credits the film comes in around 80 minutes so it's short, sweet, and to the point. 6/10

SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW

It's been 4 years since our last foray into the SAW franchise with 2017's JIGSAW. Attempting to breath new life into an exhausted property, Lionsgate is now attempting another route to capitalize off of this IP with a spinoff staring Chris Rock as detective Ezekiel Banks. Banks is one of, if not the only, honest cop in his department and as such, has no friends as a result of it. As a patrolman 15 years prior to the events in this story, he turns in his partner for murdering a witness in order to silence him. Banks works alone due to his mistrust of his fellow coworkers who in turn, don't want to be partnered up with him either. Against his wishes, and as a punishment from his captain, Banks is partnered up with rookie detective William Schenk. Murders begin in gruesome ways that hearkens back the Jigsaw killings. It becomes clear early on the killer is focusing on cops to punish, rather than drug addicts or criminals that the SAW franchise dealt with. With that exception, there's nothing new here with this latest installment. A handful of elaborate contraptions are setup where the individual will have to literally sacrifice a piece of their body in order to live. By the end of the film, they're just walking through the motions and the big reveal of who the killer is was obvious as well. My money was on one individual early on and it turned out to be true, which was disappointing because I respected the SAW movies for their cleverness and twist endings. If you're a fan of the franchise it's not bad enough to completely ignore, but I would suggest doing yourself the favor, saving some money, and passing on a theatrical run. 6/10

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW

An updated version of Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW, THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW stars Amy Adams as Anna Fox. A child psychologist who suffers from agoraphobia, a condition that gives her panic attacks and anxiety whenever she leaves her home. Confined, isolated, and self medicating with alcohol and pills, Anna is the nosy neighbor of the block, spying on anyone with an open blind to pass the time (and I have to point out the fact that ALL of her neighbors have their blinds open, which is pretty strange for New York, but I digress). The Russell family (comprising of Ethan, Alistair, and Jane - played by Fred Hechinger, Gary Oldman, and Julianne Moore/Jennifer Jason Leigh respectively) quickly move in across the street. On Halloween night, Anna (pretending not to be home in order not to have to pass out candy to the neighborhood children) attempts to go outside and shoo away said children, who are egging her house. Before she is able to, she passes out and wakes up with Jane (Julianne Moore) in her house, who brought her inside. They introduce themselves and tell their backstories over drinks. Anna is happy and proud of the fact she's able to connect and make new friends. However, one night she hears a scream coming from the Russell's house across the street and believes Jane (Julianne Moore) is murdered. After calling the police, the Russell's and police believe Anna to be nothing more than a crazy drug addict as Jennifer Jason Leigh is then introduced as the real Jane Russell. The rest of the film is a mess, immersing the audience into Anna's drug and alcohol infused lose of reality. It's purposefully disorienting, attempting to decipher fact from fiction until the real story is finally ironed out at the end; however, by that time, any momentum the film has gained has already lost its steam and I'm waiting for the credits to roll. Great performances by Amy Adams and Gary Oldman, but unfortunately, neither of them can save this flop. 5/10

Rear Window is one of my favorite films ever and I hate how they keep trying to update it instead of doing something fresh and original. The only film that I felt did a good job with the same idea was Fright Night(1985) because it took elements of Rear Window and mixed them with elements of Hammer horror films

That's Hollywood for you: too afraid to put money into new films and would rather continue milking dry older properties with sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, etc.

Absolutely. That’s why I mostly watch older films. Very rarely do I watch or enjoy many post 1999

The East on Amazon Prime, pretty good war movie about the Dutch-indie War. Still an obscure part of our history with at least 100.000 deaths.

HUD is such a great film. Kind of a modern western/dark character study.

INTO THE WILD (2007)

Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), just graduated from Emory University, gives away his bank account, burns his cash, destroys his credit and Social Security cards, and runs off to hitchhike to the wilds of Alaska without telling his parents or his sister. Along his meandering way he meets many gentle souls who shelter and help him with food, money, and work (the least they can do for a total stranger, right?), while he keeps a diary and lards it with quotes from Thoreau. Hirsh is excellent as Chris, and Hal Holbrook was nominatd for an Oscar as an old guy who wants to adopt him. It's easy to see why this metaphysical neo-hippie saga would attract Sean Penn's attention (he directed). The photography is stunning, but the constant time shifts are annoying, and the supposedly lofty theme (young man with promising future abandons all materialism) falls flat against the cruelty he inflicted on his family and his general aimlessness. Held my interest, though.

Gary Oldman was very good, he should work more.

Wife loved it, I felt as you mentioned it being a bit messy.
5 / 10 fits perfectly for me Wife may have gone a bit higher.
I think because she read the book too and that fed her a bit better into wtf was going on with her.

Check it out, its really good....I watched it on a rainy day just thought it would be good background for what else I was doing and found myself captivated.
Enjoy.

If she read the book and enjoyed it, then yes, I could definitely see her enjoying the film more than you and me (if you didn't read the book that is).

I came out where both you guys did on "Woman in the Window." My wife read the book and liked it a bit better than I did.

Friends of Eddie Coyle(1973). Great crime/mob movie with the legendary Robert Mitchum. I feel it’s a film not talked about nearly enough especially by crime/mob movie fans

FINAL ACCOUNT

FINAL ACCOUNT is a documentary about the last living generation having been born and raised under The Third Reich. About a dozen or so individuals are interviewed throughout and all perspectives are covered: men, women, those who are remorseful now, those who are still unapologetic all these years later, etc. The subject matter was enough for me to take a gamble on this but overall, it was nothing more than average. Initially the film opens up, introducing us to our cast of characters and describes their roles during the war. Many of them were very young so a lot of them were in youth programs before seeing some war action. Because of the time period, the focus is mainly on the men and the war as the women are only slightly touched upon. Unfortunately, after the opening, some color photos and videos of the time, the film bounces around from subject to subject, with most people denying they had any knowledge or participation in the atrocities their countrymen engaged in. An interesting concept that failed to deliver. 5.5/10

ARMY OF THE DEAD

Dave Bautista stars as Scott Ward, a cook who's hired to lead a team into zombie infested and quarantined zone Las Vegas in order to pull off a $200 million heist from a casino. Zack Snyder throws his hat into the zombie apocalypse genre and for my money, it's one of the better ones as I'm typically not a fan of zombie movies. The film quickly opens with the escape of the host zombie, who then infects anyone and everyone within Las Vegas. The mayhem is wonderfully transitioned during the opening credits as by the time they're finished rolling, we're on the other side of the outbreak. Las Vegas is walled off (because apparently walls work now) and quarantined, keeping the zombies contained. The President, unnamed but an obvious jab at Trump, is set to nuke the area on the 4th of July to rid the country of the zombies because it's "patriotic" and "would be cool" according to a news report we're shown. With military forces evacuating, awaiting the incoming bomb, Ward's team takes the opportunity to break into the quarantine zone at their chance to become rich. There's a lot of action to open it up but once the team arrives at the casino and attempts to break into the vault, the story comes to a screeching halt. With a runtime of 2 hours and 28 minutes, Snyder definitely could have trimmed some parts here to aid in the pacing. In addition, typically Snyder wonderfully places the right piece of music in just the right places; however, this time around some of the songs are covers of classics by The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Elvis (definitely a missed opportunity for a killer soundtrack). Overall, this was a very fun, Zack Snyder action film ride, and besides Dave Bautista who continues to pad an impressive resume, Tig Notaro shines the most as the wisecracking pilot Marianne Peters. Worth a watch on Netflix. 6/10

PROFILE

Another computer screen only based "thriller" (and I use that term loosely) from producer and director Timur Bekmambetov. As with previous projects of his including UNFRIENDED, SEARCHING, and UNFRIENDED: DARK WEB, this film takes place entirely over Skype and a MacBook. While I understand this is a cost cutting measure designed to keep cost down and maximize profits, I certainly hope this trend does not continue. For UNFRIENDED and this, I could see this concept working (SEARCHING to a lesser extent could work but also could have not leaned so heavily on it either); however, at the end of the day, you're watching a 90 minute Skype conversation between a handful of actors. At this point in time, the experiment is over and they should try a new approach. The film takes place in 2014 and follows Amy, a journalist who is posing as Melody, a 19 year old and recently converted Muslim in order to be recruited by jihadist in Syria so she can report on and expose them. She quickly begins an online relationship with Bilel, a high profile target with ISIS by secretly recording their Skype sessions and reporting back to her editor Vick. By the time Amy gets in too deep with Bilel, Vick wants to pull the plug for her safety and run the story as is. Amy, sacrificing so much of her time, energy, and her real life relationship with her boyfriend Matt, believes she can dig deeper and pleads with Vick to hold off. Before Amy and Bilel can meet face-to-face, Amy is doxxed and a bounty is placed on her life. What does make the film somewhat chilling is it is inspired by true events. With the exception of Valene Kane who plays Amy and puts forth the most grueling performance, everyone else is rather lackluster, especially Shazad Latif as Bilel as he tries to come off too aloof and his constant use of "baby" becomes quite irritating by the end. This is definitely a film that can be passed over. 5.5/10