Tag: amazon prime video

Movies

Pet Sematary (2019)

Not A Walking Tree

I actually enjoyed this one! HEAVY SPOILERS THROUGHOUT but I was surprised that they had the cojones to follow through with the ending. Sometimes the story ain’t about the protagonists overcoming the odds. Sometimes, the story is a cautionary tale of meddling with forces greater than man. Of failing to move on after a tragedy, of not processing one’s grief and coming to terms with it. A story that still made me go “ugh, not zombies again!?” Failure on my part for not reading the book written by a think-tank. What can ya do?

Jason Clarke as the lead character, Dr. Louis Creed, was excellent. A little rough to start, but he grew on me as the plot went on. Although I had different motivations as to how I treated the characters than most audiences… I was rooting for his dumbass to pay the consequences. Not out of malice for the character, but out of hoping for once they have a dark story. They delivered it. Though reading of the alternate ending, I would have preferred that one. That one is a more delicious emotional turmoil of character. I mean if we’re going for horror, may as well go all out. What’s more grim than living with malevolent spirits posing in the flesh of your wife, daughter, cat, and potentially son? Top notch horror.

Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed, the good doctor’s wife, had a whole subplot of horror all on her own. Traumatized by the death of her sickly sister, that she had inadvertently caused through her laziness and fear, her character was forced to relive that moment through haunting visions while living in their new home. Mostly caused by the idea of speaking about death to their young daughter which reminded her of herself. Plenty of psychological horror with that one, especially when she meets her grisly demise at the hands of her undead daughter. But not before being made to confess to being glad her sister died and that she secretly prayed for it when she was younger. More delicious emotional turmoil for horror aficionados.

John Lithgow was the only light in the movie, but even his character was tainted because he wittingly invited this evil upon his new neighbors. I liked that message, if something turns out to be an evil spirit, don’t trust it that this time it won’t be an evil spirit. Also the whole “don’t meddle with ancient forces that you know nothing about especially when they involve ancient Native American legends. See, I ain’t even gonna write it out. Some words shouldn’t be said.” That whole deal.

From a horror standpoint, it was excellent. From a logical standpoint, all of this could have been avoided if you built a fence next to the road with the speeding trucks. Add a large gate. Secondly, if an old white dude ushers you to follow him deep into the woods, after climbing over a clearly foreboding tree wall, and you’ve been seeing hallucinations of a recently dead man warning you against it, just maybe think “hey, this is weird, I’m going back to my initial hole.” Unfortunately, horror requires our sacrificial victims to be dumbasses. And when that happens, my mind switches from being scared for our protagonists to “I wonder how just badly you’ll be suffering the consequences, you monumental imbeciles.”

I digress, it was good movie. I liked how when the camera focused on a certain part in a scene, and it being horror, so you just know that at any moment something is gonna happen. Especially if the camera gaze lingers for a second, that’s when BAM, I close my eyes! I ain’t seeing that gory shit. I can hear the sound effects just fine. Despite that, I still liked the movie and I’d recommend it for horror in this spooky month.

Movies

The Contractor (2022)

Not A Walking Tree

The entire time I was watching this I was waiting for the shoe to drop. The reason why it would have a lower rating than usual action thrillers, and near the end, the plot reveals why. In this day and age, with all the fears around biological warfare, it is perfectly suited. Our hero, played by Chris Pine, is hired to do off the books wet work in the name of national security aka assassins for hire. His flaw comes in the form of a bum knee sustained in active service to his country. After being chewed out by the system, and thrown out with no benefits, he joins the aforementioned wet work mission where things go awry.

In typical fashion, there are twists to be had, and seeing Ben Foster’s name ruined any twists. If the man ain’t in the leading role as the good guy, then he will be playing the character designed to mess with your mind as to his moral code. The drama was good, and raised points and messages about the abysmal treatment of veterans. The action was solid, and carried weight. Soundtrack equally enjoyable.

Overall, I recommend it. It’s a fun watch, has an easy to follow plot, and always a joy to see Chris Pine in the lead role.

Spoilers/Thoughts on the Plot

I really liked the fact that the evil bad guys were stealing a vaccine that would counteract their evil plan of releasing a virus onto the population to make billions off of the untold suffering. Totally not far-fetched. Ben Foster’s character needlessly sacrificed himself which I felt was undeserving of such a fate.

Movies

Without Remorse

Not A Walking Tree

I went into this one straight away without watching the trailer because I am a fan of Michael B. Jordan, and I was curious as to how Amazon would treat another Tom Clancy property. I came away from it pleasantly surprised, and I see why a lot of other reviewers panned it negatively. It is not nice to American propaganda outside of the usual CIA fluff, which is obvious otherwise it wouldn’t be a Tom Clancy movie. You could see the ending a mile off, but that did not negatively impact my enjoyment. In fact, I was hoping it would be the case of what I thought it was and in that regard I was happy.

“I’ll show them what a pawn can do to a King.”

The plot, which is simple, and not indecipherable as several reviews I’ve read have said, is that John Kelly, played by Michael B. Jordan, goes on a hunt for the men responsible in the death of his pregnant wife and unborn child. Along the way he uncovers a conspiracy to frame the US and Russia in order to provoke them into war. The writer responsible for this movie is Tyler Sheridan, of Sicario fame. His script has similar themes to that movie, of the dirty business that the US utilizes to get results and/or wealth. You can see who is the main villain because of whom they cast in a certain role, for they wouldn’t cast an A list name if they didn’t have a larger purpose. I don’t mind that, because it is about the journey and how it is told.

The journey is accompanied by some spectacular action set pieces, carried by the strength of believability from Michael B. Jordan’s acting skills. Two particular scenes are still ingrained in my mind, one from the trailer – his jail cell fight, and the other involving a plane sinking into the ocean. There is plenty of hand-to-hand combat, along with shooting. These scenes are always fun, and the guns have a nice sound and heft to them when fired. It was gritty, and at times, a little intense. The scenes held my attention well – no looking at my phone.

Spoiler Alert

I’ll give you a second to avoid this. Skip down to the conclusion if you wish to not be spoiled.

Here Be Spoilers

I knew the big reveal was gonna be that the US, or rather, a corrupt D.O.D official was going to be behind everything and that it is because of money. Because nothing generates more war for a large country like the US than spending money on the horrors and tools of war. I particularly enjoyed the bad dude’s speech on how world war two was won for the economists because how much wealth it generated for them. I also liked that they said the problem is that the US has no real enemy anymore, that one half thinks the other half is the enemy and that doesn’t generate any real wealth. The people need a new common enemy to focus their anger and fear on. That fear generates the idea of patriots fighting for their country and in turn, the cycle of war and wealth continues. The spending continues. Corporate reviewers have to pan the movie negatively because of this, their bosses, especially in the US, are a part of the propaganda machine that always turns. Hence why the CIA are made out to be the good guys in the movie – luckily, hopefully, people still remember Gary Webb. So, no matter of propaganda will ever have the CIA be seen in a good light. Well, at least to those educated in such matters.

End Spoilers

Overall, I really liked the movie. The action was clear, and easy to follow along. The main character; that is, Michael B. Jordan is a bonafide action hero. He has that charisma to him, and believability that he can kick ass and take names. He also has the acting chops for when strong emotions are required. I enjoy watching his career with great interest. The other actors in the movie are sufficient at their roles, I wasn’t taken out of the immersion by anyone. Gunplay is solid, and I feel we have John Wick to thank for that. I feel that movie has positively affected every new action movie to have a certain standard when it comes to guns. I digress, I recommend this movie for a watch.

Movies

Chick Fight

Not A Walking Tree

What a colossal waste of time! An absolute steaming pile of garbage writing; it’s like the writer decided to take a look at all the tropes he (Joseph Downey) could find, put in them in a hat and then pulled them out at random and wrote around that. You’ve got your morbidly obese, sassy black woman that is also a lesbian (Dulce Sloan), you got your down on her luck and severe money issues main character (Malin Akerman), a stereotypically and overtly flamboyant gay man (Alec Mapa) with his just out of the closet partner (Kevin Nash), and a villain that’s mean for the sake of being mean but secretly applauds the main character for their attained skills (Bella Thorne). We also have the love interest who happens to be a sibling of one of the other characters and is a doctor (Kevin Connolly), and we have the coach that trains the main character with unorthodox methods (Alec Baldwin).

The plot is also very simple, main character is on the brink of bankruptcy and discovers a fight club run by her sassy, fat black friend who also happens to be a cop. She joins said fight club which is revealed to have been founded by her mom who was a therapist and all the members of said club are her patients. Legality aside, how very silly. Colorful language aplenty with sexual jokes that fall flat and are cringeworthy, are sprinkled numerously throughout. The so-called unorthodox training methods employed by her coach are downright stupid and harmful to the idea of boxing and MMA in general. It’s like zero research was done into how actual boxing works, and how people actually fight. The writer wrote it off the top of his head based upon movies that have long since deteriorated in his imagination.

The acting is the only thing its got going for it, nothing was particularly horrible except for Bella Thorne. She was a disaster, and very obvious that this was nothing more than a paycheck with zero acting required – walk in, say your lines, step out when the stuntwoman is doing her thing and come back. Also Malin Akerman has fallen so low, a long way from Watchmen and it’s like she’s trying to stay relevant even if it means that people are lamenting how bad this movie is. Alec Baldwin has entered the realm of Bruce Willis and friends, he’s clearly here cause the pay was enticing enough to spend a couple weeks in Puerto Rico. Dulce Sloan wasn’t even funny, every single one of her jokes was like nails on a chalkboard. She was just agonizing to watch. I don’t even know why Kevin Nash was in this movie.

I do have to say that I applaud the stuntwomen and stunt work in this movie, they clearly tried the hardest out of everyone here. They outdid all the actors and actresses, the director, and soundtrack and even the cinematography, and especially the writer – it’s like the man had no experience with girls in his entire life. I don’t even understand who greenlit this movie, even less so who decided to throw money on it. Is it so hard to invest or spend money on, I don’t know… a good idea maybe? Just a thought for next time.

Do not pass go. Do not waste your time on this movie. Just kindly avoid it as best as possible. Show Amazon or whoever has it that it doesn’t deserve any effort or time spent on it. I would rather recommend you play some solitaire and then go to sleep early than this. Hard pass.

TV Shows

The Purge Season One

Not A Walking Tree

After a series of movies about the so called Purge, where all law is suspended for 12 hours and everything is legal including murder, comes a television show about the said events. I was hoping for a real in-depth exploration as to what such an event would mean, and the impact it would have on the lives of people after such an event took place. Unfortunately, season one is merely yet another torture porn scenario where the politics are glazed over in favor of showcasing brutal violence. There is quite a bit of societal comparison to current events and political climate, and some allegory to be had, but not nearly as much as there should have been.

Season one focuses on an interconnected story of several individuals that culminates in an explosive finale with all parties involved, but the steady rise to get there is not worth the journey of all involved. Only one of the stories was truly interesting, while the rest merely served as allegory on current events. We have a couple, Jenna and Rick, that make a deal with the devil, a founding father/billionaire to invest in their company so that they can help change the world. We have a finance manager, Jane, and her struggles to make it in the world as a professional, black, business woman. We have Joe, an iron worker who feels misplaced and angered at the treatment of his kind in the world, and his solution to it all when Purge night comes. And finally, the best and most captivating story, a brother, Miguel, trying to save his sister, Penelope, from a cult and the entire night of the Purge.

The main story, and that which you root for most, is that of the brother trying to save the sister. It also brings the most emotional impact. The couple serves to narrate how billionaires run the world and their funding is what keeps events such as the Purge going. Similarly to real world events, and how politicians are kept funded by similar entities. Jane speaks volumes as to how all professional women have to bide their tongues and wag their tails, so to speak, while being passed on for promotion and ridiculed by small time jokes about their “ass”. To put it more eloquently, they have to bide their tongues while being the brunt of sexism and gender jokes, bide their tongues while men make small racist jokes, and have to apologize when they don’t feel interested in a man as if it’s somehow their fault and not the man who should simply learn to move on. Joe is the antagonist of the story and the reason why everyone connects in the end. He is angered at being replaced by foreign workers, and by machines. He is angry for being played by legal loopholes that screw over the common man while ensuring those above continue to line their pockets.

Besides these characters, we have minor characters that help develop such a world. Such as Pete the cop, who runs a bar during Purge night to help ensure there’s a safe haven for all. We have the Matron Saints, a collective of trained women that go around saving and protecting other women found in dangerous situations. We have the Stanton family, the aforementioned people that are the deal with the devil, and their socialite lifestyle. We have Lila Stanton who provides an intimate experience with the couple and helped rekindle their marriage. We have Rex the collector, so called because he collects people on Purge night to be given over to a sadistic carnival that allows for bidding of humans to be massacred. And we have Henry, the ex-boyfriend of Penelope and hardcore drug user that provided the reasoning as to why Penelope joined a cult – run by a social worker by the name of Tavis.

It was well acted by all, and I particularly enjoyed Lee Tergesen as Joe. He had quite the charisma as to what basically amounted to as an incel. The camerawork was well done and helped capture an uneasy attitude with crooked angles and rotating the picture to appear upside down. Overall, I recommend it if you’re a fan of the Purge series. And if you’re not, and torture porn/brutal violence is not your thing, give it a pass. You’re not missing anything.