Category: Action
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Spider-Man: Far From Home (****1/2) continues the winning streak
One thing that should not be disputed by now is that Tom Holland is the best Spider-Man, and it’s not even close.
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Shaft (*****) is damn right
John Shaft is the urban answer to the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.” It’s a remarkable statement that no doubt has lead many critics who live in big cities to blanch at the apparent crudity espoused by the filmmakers. Now in their 5th film and going on 5 decades. All it really does is show…
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Godzilla: King of the Monsters (***) – Too much breaking stuff
“This is not a great film. It’s barely a good one. The feeling that this is just a placeholder for the real battle coming overwhelms the last half of the film. Once we see images of Kong in passing, it’s hard to guess who is going to come out on top in a film with…
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John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum…if you want peace (***1/2)
This would be much less interesting were it not for the kind, world weary face of the protagonist. He never has much time to recover or explain. He just keeps going taking non-vital shots and delivering death blows after a prolonged series of battles.
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Another Look: Full Metal Jacket (***)
“In total, this film means the same thing to me that it did back in 1987. It’s schizophrenic and frustrating. In the effort to make mirror images of life before and after being honed into the “full metal jacket” they forgot to make the story a believable one. It might have been more effective if…
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Golden Sombrero: Enter The Ninja (no stars)- How to blow through 1.5 million
Is this a film of its time? Yes, in that it plays like a bad episode of Magnum P.I. or a good episode of The A-Team.
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Avengers: Endgame(*****) – I love you 3000 (no spoilers)
“After four Avengers films, they’ve finally made the perfect one. There’s but one overly gratuitous moment for me. It easily washes out, though, when the rest of the film feels so comfortable, so tense and anything but inevitable.”
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Hellboy Film Chronology 2004-2019
Harbour is actually really good as Hellboy. He makes the character within the lines that Perlman draws, but he also makes it very much his own. There is much more nuance with fewer annoying characters to bounce off of in this rendition. He’s at least on par with his incredible predecessor.
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Shazam! (****1/2) – All hands on deck
“The concept of the film is relatively simple, Big with super powers. If we limit our expectations to this idea, we’re in for a decent surprise. The characters are painted simply, but given a shade by a plot that seems predictable in hindsight. The pleasant part to the viewer is one enjoys the film enough…
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Another Look: The Highwaymen vs. Bonnie and Clyde
“The Warren Beatty film has received a gentle critical wind in the ensuing years, remembered more for its groundbreaking violence than for any of the many nominated performances. In retrospect, its not a bad film, but it’s not a classic, either. The main thing it lacks is a cohesive story that’s not real accurate with…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 