Do Revenge

 

                                I can't honestly tell you my choices on what lead me to this bizarre but good movie, and God's truth I really can't explain it to you I'm not joking around when I say that I can't honestly explain how this movie came into my watchlist. Though I'll do the best I can at explaining it because, well it's my job per say. I guess the best way I can describe me finding this movie I was probably binging on YouTube of House of the Dragon and for some reasons search related stuff of Sophie Turner aka Sansa Stark showed up where she overacts about cocaine and for some bizarre sense of reason I had, I simply couldn't stop watching this I wanted to study this. For which lead me all the way to Netflix, Do Revenge is what I like to call as the stepsister to Promising Young Woman combined with Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train and with a kiss of Clueless. I will say, I was a little iffy on whether to continue watching this movie through, mainly because this was a teen movie and anything teen related wasn't my forte great example trying to get through Friday Night Lights show then desperately erasing it from my mind. But there was something about this movie that impress me in ways I couldn't imagine. Oh, and Sarah Michelle Gellar is in this movie too.

                                Popular Drea (Camila Mendes) wants revenge on her boyfriend for publishing her sex tape, and exchange student Eleanor (Maya Hawke, whose parents just so happen to be Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke) is haunted by a rumor. The two teenagers team up to act against their tormentors.

                                I will tell you the truth on why majority of teen films or shows are officially not my cup of tea. Sure, as a teenager I was huge into watching Smallville secretly watching parts of Bring It On, or watching Varsity Blues because of Ali Larter, but now being 35 years of age and looking at movies like Friday Night Lights or even the show itself I've began to realize that none of these so called teen movies are as good as I want's remembered and moreover felt like their a high school reunion and after years of being away realizing how awful being a teen was moreover for seeing how stupid people can be, now granted I didn't mention Mean Girls, but let’s be honest that movie has Lindsey Lohan before she went super crazy. Though it also had a lot to do with illogic scenarios of decision making like when James Van Der Beek never punching his dad in the face all because he's not taking football seriously, or the insanely dumb love triangle in Friday Night Lights show, where the Cheerleader cheats on her QB boyfriend for the rebellious Fullback friend then when the QB gets back with his cheerleader girlfriend cheats on her with another girl. And I'm not joking just these types of issues alone and I know this sounds insanely dark, but it makes me want to go back in time and shoot up my old high school, sorry not sorry. In god's honest truth, when I go into a movie like this I got to see what the writer and director brings to the game, moreover with a teen movie like this that has some dark comedy you really need to bring your A-game to the table, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson does in outstanding job in creating a twisted world where all of these prep school snobs can get away with so much murder than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, what research I found of Ms. Robinson was that she started off her writing career creating a show for MTV call Sweet/Vicious about two college students becoming vigilantes on sexual abusers, so I can see where the subject matter comes in her work. Here's the funny thing, the entire cast is all in their mid-twenties to early thirties and for some bizarre way they all look like teens in this movie well, most of them because once you see Sophie Turner in the movie then it becomes a little funny that she's trying to be so young despite that she's thirty-five. Now, I should point out to everyone before you think about maybe wanting to watch this movie after reading my review I should point out that this film is one hundred percent fantasy, because in fair I may not have rich parents nor went to prep schools but I can tell that there is no way in hell that all of these high school kids can do God knows how much drug use or spreading more STD's than Magic Johnson had during Basketball career, though granted I thought it was humorous moreover liked the idea of spoiled teens trying to look at themselves in the mirror then some refusing too. For which I've kind of like the idea of one popular student who’s at the top of being popular in high school then suddenly turning into in outcast, then having the obsessions of revenge then realizing how low you've gone in terms of being a human. And to be fair when I was browsing through the plot on Wikipedia because I became weary of this being like Strangers on a Train, but once I've seen all of the twist and turns and most importantly the final act of the movie that's when I've started to like the film more because this whole movie is deep down a look in the mirror of one's soul and realize how much you don't see yourself or how much you wanted to build this perfect life then seeing it was all a lie, and the two important characters experience that moreover some of the supporting cast but the main antagonist is the one that doesn't nor refuse to see himself in the mirror, for which that's when I've began to see a lot of similarities with Do Revenge and Promising Young Woman the only difference is that this movie I really like the how the main villain got what he deserved at the end, and seeing how everything turns out in the end for the two important characters. I will say that this was a great movie find, moreover a great movie to watch and granted movies about teens in High School aren't my cup of tea, but there's something about this film that made me impressed in terms of the writing and the direction moreover the vision of these types of movies, hell I hope there's other movies out there that can impress me more. As for a recommendation I would highly recommend it but if you as the audience don't want to watch it on NetFlix, I can understand your reason.

Brian and the Boz

 

                        Well, we're during Football season and usually I'd hand out some football movies to recommend but there not like Baseball movies because let's be real the most famous football movies like Varsity Blues are ones, I can't stand so I'm going to try and limit the amount of football movies I can find but thankfully ESPN's 30 for 30 is a good place to look at some football movies to watch. And the story of Brian Bosworth is a quintessential and relatable story about having both a good side and a bad side when it comes to being a college football star. Also, this is a great modern-day story of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

                       For those who don't know who Brian Bosworth is, well a great example is he plays the sheriff on the Dr. Pepper commercials on the fictional world of Fansville. But he also was well known as an Oklahoma football legend who was excellent at his position as a middle linebacker but through the course of his three seasons in College Football, he let his mouth get the better of him for which led to the dismissal of him playing College Football then playing NFL. Though the more interesting aspect when it comes to Bosworth is that it wasn't the drugs (well a side from the steroid use) that lead to his downfall like Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden, it was mostly his mouth plus his mullet that became most of his self-destructive behavior, moreover, throwing his entire teammates as well as his coach Barry Switzer under the bus by publishing his autobiography.  And in all honesty, I kind of look at his entire football career as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type persona where the man Brian Bosworth is clearly the Dr. Jekyll and the alter ego The Boz is without a doubt Mr. Hyde, and in all honesty that's really something you don't see every day of course but if this was ever made into a movie it would defiantly be like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type movie mixed with the Wolf of Wall Street. Though the other thing on what makes this a great story is you've kind of in a sense relate because he had in overbearing father that was proud of him but didn't show it in a very sensitive sense, so that's something in a sense that both Bosworth and Strawberry have in common that they both had terrible fathers, though that's something you shouldn't be proud of. But in the end, each of them found a way to get themselves out of the darkest moments. Now that Disney + has been putting more of the 30 for 30 into their category of sports related category? I'd defiantly give this a must see for your football needs and granted this is just my sense of humor kicking in, have your kids watching this because let’s be fair when they get to that age of puberty this is going to be a documentary for them when their ego will be more uncontrollably for anyone to contain. 

 

The Natural

 

                                      I know it's way too late to talk about Baseball since we're near the end of the season coming up on Baseball playoffs moreover everyone caring more about Football season. Though the big problem for me is that my two Football teams suck (Nebraska Football and Dallas Cowboys), also this year marks the final years end for St. Louis Cardinals legends Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright furthermore in order to tell why I chose to watch The Natural now, I might as well go back to March. It was during the week of St. Patty’s Day and my week was like a train wreck from hell firstly my car was having problems moreover going to cost be big in terms of repairs also putting up with people at work, and the Academy Awards came along and as usual I had to sit through this mockery due to working at a TV station, and after work I heard what was the greatest news of my life. Albert Pujols was coming back to play for the Cardinals one final time and boy I never felt so happy in my entire life. For which to my time of sitting down and watching The Natural, for which now beginning to realize it know I began to see similarities with Roy Hobbs and both Pujols, Molina and Wainwright.   

                                      On the way to a tryout with the Chicago Cubs, young Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) is shot by an unstable woman (Barbara Hershey). After 16 years, Hobbs returns to pro baseball as a rookie for a last place New York Knights. Despite early arguments with his manager Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley, who may or may not have diabetes), Hobbs becomes one of the best players in the league, and the Knights start winning. But this upsets the owner (Robert Prosky), who wants Hobbs to lose games, not win. 

                                      In a very short summary review, there's really nothing much to say in my mind The Natural is defiantly in the top ten best of Baseball movies and as far as Robert Redford, this is defiantly one of his top-notch performances behind Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's men and the Sting too. A little fun fact Robert Redford is a big time Ted Williams and during the making of the film he insisted on wearing number 9 and batting third because that's where Williams batted, along with his catch phrase "there goes Roy Hobbs the best that ever was", though granted Redford had to take the Ted Williams part out but deep down you can see the resemblance. I will say yeah there's a lot of questions in terms of logic like Michael Madsen running into the outfield and dying which, I'd guess it was because he angered Wonder Boy? Though director Barry Levison did state that the film in a sense is fantasy so we can defiantly scratch that part but through the years he told Bob Costas “Through the years, these outlandish things actually happened, like Kirk Gibson hitting a home run and limping around the bases, Curt Schilling with the blood on the sock in the World Series". While writing this review I began to realize that "oh dude" both Pujols, Molina and Wainwright both share in interesting comparison with the character of Roy Hobbs via memories I cherish. And the best way to start off those cherish memories is basically starting off with Adam Wainwright, in the first scene or flashback scene we see Roy Hobbs striking out Joe Don Baker whose supposed to be this Babe Ruth type character, well that scene just reminded me alone of the 2006 NLCS, when he faced off with the Mets power hitter Carlos Beltran and since Izzy (Jason Isringhousen) wasn't able to close, rookie pitcher Adam Wainwright came up in the crucial moments and struck out Beltran to send the Cardinals to the World Series. The best way I can compare both Roy Hobbs and Yadier Molina is they're both clutch hitters, and yes I'm referring to in the final game of the movie where Roy Hobbs hits the game winning home run to win the game, but one great example is of course the NLCS against the Mets in 06, and of all rookie's besides Wainwright, catching sensation Yadier Molina steps up in the crucial moments and give the Cardinals a chance to win over the Mets, and in all honesty that wasn't the only clutch moment Yadi did as I remember watching him in 2016 against the Reds in a crucial moment when the bases where fully loaded with Cardinals and all it took was a hit by a pitch to win the game, furthermore that's why I depict him as one of the Greatest Catchers of All Time because no matter what when it comes to those crucial moments Molina delivers and if you don't believe me I'll give you another great memory, and that's when he hit a sack fly in the 2019 NLDS to advance us to game 5 against the Braves, man was I ever jumping for joy just like he was when he threw his bat and helmet. Albert Pujols was easy in terms of comparing him to Hobbs, Albert to me is single handily one of the greatest hitters the Cardinals has ever produced, and I can back it up with the walk of homer in 2005 against the Astro's in NLCS, blasting a home run off of Verlander in game 1 of the 2006 World Series I mean the list goes on, I mean I could also talk about the most memorable moment is when he came back to St. Louis as an Angel in game 2 of the series and he hits a home run and everyone in Busch Stadium was just going nuts including my family and nephew. And granted the list goes on and on including my brother having me watch him hit number 3,000 and Albert reaching the goal of 700 home runs, so in fairness there's a lot of ways to compare Albert to Roy Hobbs but the only difference Pujols doesn't need a special bat to become the greatest hitter of all time. Now, with all portraying three Cardinals greats I consider heroes of mine especially when it comes to Baseball, I do consider The Natural in the category of go to Baseball films to watch, despite it being a while since I've watched it, the film really lifts you up inside in a very strange way even I can't explain moreover I'd rank this in the top ten greatest Baseball films of all time.

        

September Recommendation: The Princess

 

                                      I'm aware that this film came out about two months ago but granted when I saw the trailer for this movie (which is on Hulu as seen on the poster) I kind of looked at this film as nothing special, nor anything exciting. Unfortunately, it was a night where I couldn't find a movie to watch, though I did find an original Solaris film that was re-made by George Clooney a long time ago, sadly though it was all spoken in Russian, and I really didn't have the strength nor energy to watch it full so luckily The Princess won for a chance to exceed my low expectations. Even though that this was something of a mindless action film, I honestly did not expect the way it was going, and the way it was constructed moreover the way it was in terms of length of the film that's when I was thinking to myself that we have a winner for the best mindless action film of 2022 and worthy of my recommendation for the month of September.

                                      The Princess is a 2022 American period action film directed by Le-Van Kiet. The film stars Joey King, Dominic Cooper, Olga Kurylenko, and Veronica Ngo. The Princess was released as an original Hulu film, July 1 of 2022.

                                       Now, I'll say before I really had no interest in wanting to watch this movie the day it came out for many reasons that first seeing the trailer it looked like a predictable mindless action film where I can tell where it obviously was going to turn out. So, while watching the first act of the film I slowly begin to realize why this film is awesome, see the first part of the movie the Princess is locked away she wakes up noticing she's in chains then begins to realize that her father's kingdom is taken hostage. That's when the light bulb popped on top of my head and realized that this is a DIE HARD! That's right they literally combined one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time with a period piece, for which I have to give props to writers Ben Lustig and Jake Thornton for combining these two ingenious ideas, moreover I almost picture them sitting around a couch either watching Game of Thrones on TV during Christmas time, then switching it over to Die Hard then maybe watching the 90's Mortal Kombat, they both called each other on the phone and said that we should combine Period piece meets Die Hard, and they both have a mind blown experience and each other say's it's going to be awesome mostly five times and then the other says "wait dude, dude, DUDE!", "we should also incorporate some martial arts fight sequences too", then they both just go full throttle, over joyed on how awesome there idea is turning out to be. What even makes this movie awesome is the fact it doesn't mess around with the storyline it just goes from point A to point B and C very quickly and so this movie lone is a great example of what makes a great mindless action movie is the fact that it's ninety-four minutes long which in real standards that's a perfect length for a typical mindless action film is moreover it also doesn't overstay it's welcome and for a film that's completely and utterly ridiculous, well let's just say that's a perfect length for what it is. The newcomer Joey King does a great job playing the title role, but Dominic Cooper really does in excellent job playing the villain in the movie too, although I'd wish he had a better send off, not as good as Alan Rickman's send off. A side from its many, many flaws The Princess is a perfect B-Action movie of 2022, for a movie that doesn't overstay it's welcome gets straight to the point deserves my recommendation for the month of September. 

         

Vengeance

 

                                     To all fans of the Office, Ryan Howard has made his directorial debut. also known as B.J. Novak, has finally come out of the shadows of Steve Carrell, Brad Pitt, John Krasinski, and Quentin Tarantino furthermore has officially made a movie for himself. And to make a crime drama/comedy are always a dime of dozen when it comes to making your big leap into the director’s chair. Vengeance is basic Black Comedy with a spin of both a detective story and in all out revenge but trying to make big story turned into a podcast phenomenon. As always stars B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook who is in a lot of things some are basic crime stories, and Ashton Kutcher who plays the unlikely character I've never in a million years would have thought he'd pulled off in the best way possible.

                                     An up-and-coming Podcaster/Journalist (B.J. Novak) goes to a funeral in Texas to mourn a loss of a woman he only had a one-night stand. But is suddenly pulled into this revenge quest of evidence that has no lead, though doesn't stop him from making this no lead story into a Podcast sensation.

                                     For a lot of people who don't know who, B.J. Novak is, though technically for Office fans, he's Ryan Howard, though he also was one of the original writers of the show that both writes and is one of the main cast of characters on the show, he stared in some supporting roles like Inglorious Bastards, Saving Mr. Banks and The Founder. When watching the trailer for the first time my first thoughts were aw cool, he's finally going into the spotlight then my second thought was of course this movie was intriguing because I love the fact that it's a New York Journalist whose kind of on the Blue Statesman and he travels to the Red State of Texas to investigate a murder that's in obvious open and shut case, but suddenly becomes more than what you can possible believe. And Novak does a fantastic job doing the research on the state of Texas and its people, but most importantly doing a great job in turning this into a original detective story as well. I've never really, well ever in my years of criticizing pop culture along with movies and TV shows have I ever given any compliments to the success of Ashton Kutcher because let’s face it Punk'd was an entertaining show for when I was still a teenager, and all his movies are just pure crap, so bottom line what I'm trying to say is that he's only remembered for was Kelso in That 70's Show. But this is probably the first time ever I watch in on TV and say that he does a great job playing a mysterious fellow that has some skeletons in his closest, and this is me completely forgetting that he was in the trailer. Without giving any details this is a movie worth seeing from start to finish, the movie does have a great sense of humor as well as the family of the movie being relatable as towards your real-life family in general. B.J. Novak does in excellent job in his directorial debut as well as the writer and star of the movie, and I hope he does more movies in futures to come.

          

Robin and the 7 Hoods

 

                                So, this is a long story I'm not sure I can reasonably explain in the best way possible. So, my brother told me about this song Mr. Booze, that both Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr, may have written? Anyway, and what I found funny and yet interesting about the song other than it was also used on an episode of Family Guy, was that it’s a bit on the modern side and you can also think about other ways to make this song work in the new generation, for which leads to this movie, Robin and the 7 Hoods, which is a Musical from which I've accepted that no matter what when it comes to Musical's don't accept logic. Although yes, I did give this movie a shot but, in all fairness, I never quite expect how bizarre and in all out confused on what the purpose this film was supposed to be, or in a most honest way of explaining things not a great movie I'd recommend.

                                 Robin and the 7 Hoods is a 1964 American Musical film directed by Gordon Douglas and staring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, and Bing Crosby. The Picture features Peter Faulk, Barbara Rush, and an uncredited Edward G. Robinson.

                                  Throughout my years of watching movies, I've begun to understand when it comes to logic in Musicals, there's basically no such thing, which explains why both The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis and Jesus Christ Superstar are my only three favorite musicals’ because they at least have logic. This was one of the many few musicals I can point at and say I don't ever want to watch this film ever again. At first the film seemed promising but through the course of the songs, all I just wanted to see was the Mr. Booze singing. Even watching this movie whole, I still didn't understand what this film was marketed for though in fairness this was supposed to be a spoof of gangster movies, but this just seemed bad on so many levels. And this movie came out in 1964 just two years after Sinatra's best performance in The Manchurian Canidae, for which I still and while writing this review don't understand why he would make something that's so bad. Although in researching this movie I've heard that production was kind of hell for him due to that his close friend President John F. Kennedy being killed, and Frank's son being kidnapped and held for ransom only weeks later, in which yeah I can understand that the man was going through some rough times while making a movie but, this is just me saying this you can always close down production and take couple of months off but again that's just my opinion. What really bothered me about the movie was that this was in fact a spoof of gangster films while using a Robin Hood spin on the story but this doesn't really follow in a Robin Hood story would tell, for example the female character of maid Marriam wants revenge on her father but she never found her killer nor even cared and Sinatra's character is supposed to be this Robin Hood type figure but he's also a horrible person who didn't want the money Marriam gave him so he threw it to in orphanage and that somehow makes him a hero? And at the end of the movie, they basically don't find any justice for the Big Jim character who’s supposed to be this father figure to Frank Sinatra's character. Either way this was one of the many movies I can look at and say that this is just bad on so many levels, and what's disappointing is that I purchased this movie on my phone and now I must live with it. So, listen if you’re thinking about wanting to watch this film I would strongly suggest running away and save yourself, this film is not worth seeing.