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Sound of Freedom (2023)
Incredibly important message, but with imperfect delivery
This is the kind of film that everyone should see. Just like 12 Years A Slave showed the horrors of slavery in the 1800s . Sound Of Freedom shows the horrors of slavery that is still happening right now in the modern world.
It's certainly a difficult watch, especially at the beginning where they show real CCTV footage of children being kidnapped off the streets. But there was no way a movie about such a disturbing subject was ever going to be anything other than a hard watch.
I have huge amount of admiration and respect for Tim Ballard, Jim Caviziel and everyone else involved in making this film. It is terrifying that the corporate owned media desperately did not want people to watch this. You would have thought recognising child molestation as evil was a universally shared belief that transcended all other political views but apparently not... its almost as if there are members of the ruling class who would like to make out child sex trafficking is merely a conspiracy theory, a myth that isn't really true (you can decided for yourself why they would want to cover up that subject...)
As for the film itself though, as important and admirable as it was.... it wasn't a great film in itself, purely from a cinematographical level. A lot of the dialogue was was quite ham-fisted, the characters didn't really have any depth, we know Tim Ballard is a good guy but that's all we know about him. There are some dodgy montage scenes and half the film seemed to have dramatic spanish music blasting over it, which worked at times but wore a little thin come the end.
They were working with a small budget and had to face countless obstacles to get this made so have to give them credit where its due, I just wish the film had been of a slightly higher quality, so it could stand on the merit of its own quality, rather than simply holding a very powerful and important message.
Fury (2014)
Exciting simplistic film with personal attachment
Fun fact, I did 120 hours of community service at Bovington Tank Museum in the UK where the tanks in this film were sourced (long, non-violent story). This is clearly a source of great pride for the museum, as they have screens inside of it playing Fury continuously on a loop. I had watched the film before my unfortunate spell there, and as I mowed their grounds hour after hour I can't say I was exactly appreciative of the history around me at the time. As I rewatch the film now, I look back on my time eating lunch atop one their many tanks (not the last functioning Tiger in the world shown in the film sadly) and realise how lucky I was to be in a place so abundant with historical relics, aswell as a place so deeply connected to a major Hollywood piece featuring a cast of incredible A-list actors. Nostalgia aside, this is a great little film. Whilst it may be lacking a little in nuance and historical accuracy, it certainly isn't lacking in excitement and gritty brutal action. Watch this already! Bovington museum needs the shout out, and to hire a full time groundskeeper at last!!!
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Much Ado About Nothing
I'm a big Tarantino fan and enjoy all of his movies. Other than maybe Hateful Eight though, this is definitely his weakest.... yet it seems to be his most beloved! Honestly ask yourself, why do you really like this film so much? Sure it has a couple of great scenes like with the gimp in the basement, and some great dialogue such as Jackson's bible quote. There's one major problem though... nothing really happens!!?? I love a good piece of Tarantino dialogue that breaks all the scriptwriting rules, where characters talk like how people actually speak, even if that conversation doesn't serve a purpose to the story. A whole movie made up of them though!?? Just no. I wish he had spent as much time thinking of some point to all of this and less on idle chit chat.
This movie is like a beautiful car with no engine. Sure you can look at it and say wow how beautifully made, but it doesn't have an engine, so it never goes anywhere.... this movie just don't go anywhere, and I just don't get the appeal.
Black Mass (2015)
How to turn a fascinating true story into a mediocre snoozefest 101
James 'Whitey' Bulger was a ruthless murderer, gangster and snitch, who committed probably every conceivable sin known to man. One thing you can't say about him is that he wasn't a fascinating character. This film somehow manages to turn him, his story and all of his accomplices into boring 1 dimensional cliches. From serving time in Alcatraz, to being experimented on by the CIA, to surviving brutal wars among Irish gangs, to becoming the number 1 criminal in Boston, to outlasing OSAMA BIN LADEN on the FBI top ten most wanted list.... somehow with all that real life material, they managed to make one of the most boring forgettable gangster movies in as long as I can remember. Boring, boring, boring. Whoever the director and screenwriters were should never have worked again after this. That story, that cast, to produce such an absolute dud... almost as unforgiveable as Whitey's crimes. AVOID.
The Iceman (2012)
Could have been a classic, instead it's about as average as they come
Given that Richard Kuklinski made up more stories than Forrest Gump, and the all star cast, this could have been a masterpiece. Instead when the credits roll you're left with an empty feeling of what could have been. This whole story, especially Roy DeMeo and his crew of serial killers which is such an insane tale its amazing it actually was true, definitely needs to be retold with this same level of cast and budget.
Arrival (2016)
Was waiting for some great scene to 'Arrive', it never did...
Am I the only one who just doesn't get what other people clearly got out of this film? It was SO incredibly boring.... I actually fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it, which says alot. When I woke up again, rewinded to where I left remembered (about two thirds of the way in), and the final third was just as boring. Not a huge fan of Sci-fi films that have no action, but this was incredibly disappointing.
Get the Gringo (2012)
I love Gibson but....
This was incredibly weak. Not to mention pretty stupid. If you don't know how South American prisons work, then maybe this will provide you with some interest..... or if you're trying to binge everything the great Gibson ever made.... otherwise steer clear would be my advice.
Gridlock'd (1997)
As sadly relevant today as it was 25 years ago.
Seeing how great 2Pac was here makes his shockingly young death even sadder.... he'd be one of the top actors on the globe if he was still with us today.
The Many Saints of Newark (2021)
The only Mafia involved in this film were the Woke Mafia who destroyed it
Why in a 2 hour movie, was a solid 30-40 minutes dedicated to a random black character who has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SOPRANOS, barely has anything to do with even this story?
Seriously we could have gotten to see Uncle Junior and Johnny Soprano's in their prime, running North Jersey in the 60s/70s. We could have gotten to see Tony's early ascension in the crime family. Jon Bernthal plays Tony's dad for the love of God and he cant be on screen longer than 5 minutes. Instead we got anonymous black characters talking about 'how hard black folk got it', with lines such as 'bet they would have investigated his murder if he wasn't black'.... umm guess he never watched the countless killings on The Sopranos that lead to precisely zero murder convictions....
Thanks PC Gestapo, you managed to completely destroy yet another classic! Getting to see a young Paulie Walnuts & Silvio is the only reason this didnt get 1 star....
Django (1966)
Anybody order there Spaghetti Western with extra red sauce?
Still holds up as a classic today, I can only imagine how mind-blowingly brilliant it was back in 1966. If its good enough to inspire Quentin, its good enough for you.