Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning- This movie had some very intense and memorable action sequences and stunts, but was probably only the 4th or 5th best movie in the series. I really disliked the over the top exposition dumps where everyone keeps finishing each other's sentences, but overall, I was entertained. Tom Cruise has always shown up and delivered for every film in the series. I give it 7.5 stars.

Ballerina- This was not as good as the prior John Wick movies, but I still liked it. I'm not a fan of movies where the 5 foot 5 inch, 100 pound girls beats up an army of men, but this was a little more palatable seeing Ana de Armas (or at least her stunt double) get thrown around and take some hard hits while dishing out her vengeance. 7.4 stars.

Thunderbolts- This Marvel movie was not nearly as good as Infinity War or End Game, but was much improved over several of their last movies. It had some pretty good performances, but I can't remember the last time there was a really good or memorable Marvel end credit scene. 7.3 stars.

Juror #2- This drama was stressful and troubling. It was kind of frustrating watching the way the main character handled his situation. I don't know what else to say about it. 7.2 stars.

The Amateur- This was like a version of Jason Bourne, but he's from the I.T. department. I like the concept of the movie, but it just didn't deliver like I wish it would have. 6.9 stars.

Captain America: Brave New World- I saw this streaming on a YouTube channel several months ago. It must have been an illegal channel because the broadcast stopped only 80% of the way through the movie. I didn't care enough to find out how it ended. 5.9 stars.

One sentence Reviews

This blog just gets lazier every year. I have now sunk to one line reviews of the movies that I've seen over the last several months. 

The Wild Robot- Everyone told me I would cry, but I didn't. Man card still intact.  7.4 stars

Ordinary Angels- True feel good story, but I kept waiting for Jack Reacher to beat someone up.  7.2

Wonka- Much better than I thought it would be, but nobody tops Wilder's freaky portrayal.  7.1

Carry On- Probably the fakest movie I've seen in a long time, but it was very entertaining.  7.0

Am I Racist- Made me so uncomfortable, I had to look away from the screen several times.   6.9

Gladiator 2- The sequel we didn't know we needed...because we didn't. Sharks in the colosseum?  6.7

Red One- Hollywood: "Just throw more money at it, that will make it better"- NOT   5.8 stars

Civil War

On a recent plane trip I watched Civil War. When I originally saw the trailer for it months ago, it looked promising, but it ended up being a stink sandwich. 

I thought this movie was PG-13, but after the 20th F-bomb I realized it was not. The concept behind the movie of a civil war breaking out in the US had so much potential, but they never explained how it happened. Just vague references. Viewers would be much more interested if they got some details as to what happened. Well, maybe they did explain it later in the movie, but I ended up fast forwarding several scenes because it was so slow.

I had so many problems with this movie. Here is a random list of things that come to mind. 

1. Kirsten Dunst- I didn't like anything about her character. I understand she is a veteran photographer who has seen horrible things and is under a lot of stress, but I grew tired of seeing close ups of her sad, depressed face over and over throughout the entire film.

2. Every one of the photographers/reporters in this movie except Stephen McKinley Henderson just bugged me so bad. I really didn't care what happened to them. I'm sure there are many cool professional photographers, but I wouldn't want to hang around any of the ones portrayed in this movie.

3. Jesse Plemons was a great bad guy in Breaking Bad and he was intimidating as an unpredictable militia member in this movie, but why did they have him wearing those stupid red glasses? It was so distracting. He may as well have worn a white ballerina tutu over his uniform.

4. These reporters were supposed to be working for Reuters but never communicated with their employer. It was like they just went on a depressing apocalyptic camping trip for a week. 

5. There were several scenes when they were not just observing and documenting military campaigns, but were actually along side the soldiers who were in battle. It's like the military had practiced with them being there like they were part of a swat team. It was so fake as they'd turn around a corner and snap pictures at people firing guns at them. 

6. The young photographer girl was taking pictures with a 35MM film camera and winding her film between each shot. I understand that many professional photographers appreciate old school technology, but when you are trying to get footage of a war on the front lines, are you really going to limit your pictures to 36 exposures per roll? How did she develop her pictures?

7. I just did not like this movie. It had so much potential, but I couldn't take it seriously, especially after the final scene when the photographers join the attack on the White House and the President. 

I'm sure I will be accused of being simple minded and not appreciating the deeper stuff this movie had to offer, but I felt like the title was clickbait and it was more a focus on how cool reporters/photographers are. I  can only give it 6 generous stars. 

Reviews of The Last 5 Movies I've seen

Many years ago, watching and reviewing movies was an exciting hobby. Today it is drudgery and reminds me of how it felt when you got behind on homework in a class. Each time I watch another movie it adds to the burden of having to report on it. Nobody reads blogs anymore, but I will still share my brief opinion of the movies I watch here. Since my last post, I've seen 4 movies and as usual, I will rank them from worst to best. 

A Quiet Place: Day One- This is a prequel in the series. It was kind of nice to get an insight as to how the original invasion took place, but overall, the movie was kind of boring. The acting was fine, but it was very slow and I almost fell asleep a time or two. My least favorite thing about this movie was that I could only eat my popcorn during scary loud scenes since so much of the movie takes place in absolute silence and everyone could hear you reaching in the container and chewing during the quiet scenes. I give it 6.2 stars. 

Twisters- This reboot had some interesting scenes, but was too fake. Apparently during tornado season, you can follow and drive up inside of tornados every day of the week and on some days, you have to choose between multiple ones. It was ok, but I can't say I enjoyed it enough to recommend it to anyone. 6.4 stars

Arthur The King- I would not have gone to see this in a theater, but I did catch it on a long flight. I'm not usually a big fan of Mark Wahlberg's acting skills, but this was one of his more convincing portrayals and his character felt real. It's more of a family friendly film about a dog that a team of endurance athletes encounter, who ends up helping them on their race. It's based on a true story and I give it 6.6 stars.

Argyle- I was really looking forward to this movie. It has a great cast and I thought I knew what it would be about from the movie trailers, but it had some unexpected surprises. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, but ironically, I enjoyed it more than the other previously mentioned movies even though the critics were of the opinion that it was the weakest of the 4. I still give it 6.7 stars.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga- This movie did not perform well in theaters. I'm a huge fan of Mad Max Fury Road, so when I saw George Miller was doing a prequel about the back story of Furiosa, I was excited to see this. It had a similar look and feel to Fury Road, but relied on too much CGI. It was not quite as good as a Fury Road, but I enjoyed Chris Hemsworth as a villain and was really surprised more people didn't like this movie as much as I did. I give it 7.7 stars and it was by far my favorite movie of these five.

5 More Movie Reviews

Here is a brief summary of the movies I've seen over the last month. I'm ranking them in the order of how much I enjoyed them from the most to least. I know that some of these ranking may be controversial, but I'm sticking with my ranks.

The Fall Guy- I was not expecting much from this action/rom-com, but I was pleasantly surprised. The thing that did it for me was the humor. There were enough funny and amusing parts, that I'd actually classify it as a comedy, more than an action film. It was a nice ode to all the stuntmen who don't get enough credit for making movies better. I also enjoyed Ryan Gosling performance. I give it 7.6 stars.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes- There have sure been a lot of these movies since the original 1968 film with Charleton Heston.  I wasn't very excited to see another one, but the thing that really kept my attention were the visual effects. This installment seemed to focus much more on the ape characters and their interactions, but there were eventually some human characters. I was fascinated with all the CGI detail and I give it 7.5 stars.

The Iron Claw- I wanted to like this more. I grew up watching the Von Erich brothers wrestle, so I had specific expectations of what they would look like. My biggest hang up was the fact that they used average size actors to portray some big athletes. The acting was very good, and I'll be the first to admit that they all got in great shape for their roles, but I could just not look past Kerry Von Erich, who was 6' 2" and about 260 pounds, who had a similar physique to the Ultimate Warrior, being played by a Jeremy Allen White who is about 5' 7". That's like Kevin Hart portraying Shaquile O'Neal in a movie. The same goes for Zach Efron and the other actors. This film is not a pick me up sports movie, but is instead loaded with tragedy. Aside from my prejudice against the actor's size, I had previously seen a documentary about the family, which was more thorough and accurate, so I felt a little let down and only give it 7 stars.

The Boys in the Boat- Everybody loves an inspiring sports movie where the underdogs come out on top, espceially when it's based on a true story, but I felt this movie was just a little flat. I couldn't put my finger on why. Maybe because it was rowing instead of a more popular sport, or the depressing back drop of depression times. They did a good job with the "old-timey" setting, wardrobe, props, etc. I hardly recognized Joel Edgerton, and it made me realize that he's a pretty versatile actor. It was a nice feel-good movie, but I never felt myself pulling for the characters like you do with Rocky, Creed, Rudy, etc., so I only give it  6.8 stars.

Godzilla Minus 1- Did I say there were a lot of Planet of the Apes movies? There are even more Godzilla movies. I'm not a Godzilla fan but liked the effects of Kong: Skull Island when it came out years ago. I had no interest in seeing this, but I heard so many people singing it's praises. Even people who did not like sci-fi or creature movies were raving about the back story and how good this was. I saw it on Netflix last night and must have had too high of expectations. I felt it was slow and kind of boring. I acutally bumped up the speed to 1.25 because there were so many slow pauses and long dramatic stares in this movie. I think I would have liked it more in Japanese with subtitles, becasue the dubbing into Enlish made the dialogue sound kind of corny. This may have been one of the best Godzilla movies of all time, but I guess I'm not a Godzilla guy since I only give it 6.6 stars.

Dune Part 2

Dune part 2 did not dissapoint. I give it 8.4 stars. (And you thought my reviews coudn't get any shorter)

The Last 3 Movies I've seen in Haiku form

 The Shift-

Film from VidAngel

Sci Fi Religion Hybrid

Not bad but not great

6.6 Stars

The Flash-

Time Travel Movie

Liked it more than expected

Keaton was nice touch

6.8 Stars

Sound of Freedom-

Serious Drama

Depressing Subject Matter

Cavizel was good

7.3 stars

4 More Movie Summaries

I've seen four movies since my last post, and as usual, here is my short take on each, ranked from best to worst. 

Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes- This prequel to the Hunger Games tells the story of the early years of President Snow. I enjoyed this more than I expected. I always enjoy movies where the main characters have to fight against a corrput and powerful system that controls them. Towards the end of the movie, when he goes to a military academy, I was a little distracted since I thought the main character looked like Eminem with his short haircut. Overall, it was good, but it's definitely a dark and depressing tragedy. I give it 7.3 stars.

The Creator- This futuristic science fiction movie covers the topic of man vs AI/robots, as many other prior movies have. I liked this flm. It was directed by Gareth Edwards who also directed Rogue One, and I recognized several similarities between the two films. The acting and special effects were good and I give it 7.2 stars.

A Haunting in Venice- I have really enjoyed all of Kenneth Brannagh's Poirot movies. The previews made this one look more like a dark horror movie since it takes place on Halloween, but it definitely turns into a mystery. I liked it, but not quite as much as the prior two installments. I still give it 6.7 stars.

Lady Ballers- I thought I would be entertained by a film that satirizes men abusing women's sports, cancel culture, and extreme wokeness, but this movie was horrible. The concept had potential, but no subtlety. It felt like it was written by a 5th grade boy who watched a bunch of Adam Sandler movies, then tried to copy their formulas. The problem was, this was not funny. Aside from the many political pundits making cameos in the film, the only actor I recognized was Tyler Fischer who is a hillarious impressionist, but he was limited with what he could do with his character. I consider myself to be fairly conservative, but I was embarrased by this. I was also surprised for how much The Daily Wire bashes Hollywood, and claims to be pro- family, how much crude and raunchy humor it contained. I give it 4.6 stars. My message to the Daily Wire- Don't quit your day job. 

65

A Couple Monthe ago I saw 65 while on an airplane. This is a science fiction movie starring Adam Driver and 65 refers to 65 million years ago. In this film an astronaut crashes on a planet and soon realizes it is the home to dangerous dinosaurs he has to avoid while protecting a young girl.

This movie was trash. I like Adam Driver and think he's a good actor but he didn't have a chance in this movie. I'm usually a fan of sci fi./action movies, but I'm not sure if it was the script, directing, or acting, but this movie was just missing something. I got bored watching it. I was shocked when I learned the writer/directors were the same guys who did A Quiet Place.

Anyway, the best part about this movie was probably the poster. I don't even remember if I finished it or how it ended. I give it 5.5 stars.

MI 7 Vs. Inferior Action Movies

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1

I have loved the Mission Impossible movie franchise and was looking forward to this latest release.  I liked this installment, with one exception.  

There was a scene towards the beginning of the movie where several top government officials were discussing what they were up against. It was basically an excuse to explain the plot. Movie plot exposition is a common thing in many films, but this was the most blatant example of this I've ever seen. The camera panned around the table as each person said a few sentences and then the next person would take over the briefing and pick up right where the last person ended. It was like the director said instead of having one person give the plot explanation to get the viewers up to speed, let's spread it over six actors. It just felt so forced and unnatural that it really bothered me. Sorry to spend so much time nitpicking that one scene. 

Besides that, I found it very entertaining and Tom Cruise was great, as usual. I think I actually enjoyed the prior Fallout installment a little more, but I still give it 7.9 stars. 

Contrast that with two different action movies that recently came out on Netflix. These were Heart of Stone starring Gal Gadot and Hidden Strike starring Jackie Chan and John Cena. Both were ridiculous and I couldn't take them seriously. I wanted to enjoy them but they were so unrealistic.

I know Mission Impossible is not a Ken Burns documentary and is also totally fake, but it's done well enough that you can entertain the premise. That is something I could not do watching 120 lb. Gal Gadot defeat multiple soldiers in hand to hand combat or watching her supervisor pull CGI surveillance data displays into the air and knowing what was happening all around the world at any given minute. Nor could I believe that John Cena has a jet engine in the desert that can create a dust storm to create cover for him to hijack 2 buses from a military convoy with a couple guys on dune buggies. Maybe he learned those physics from the Fast and Furious Franchise.

Anyway, I couldn't even finish the last two movies so it's unfair for me to give them a number rating, but they made me much more grateful for Mission Impossible 7. Now I just have to wait a couple years for part 2.

Ranking the 5 Last Movies I've Seen

Since my last post several months ago, I've seen 5 movies. I'm ranking them by how much I enjoyed them. I really don't care who agrees with me.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves- I am the furtherst thing from a D&D enthusiast, and know little about that nerd world, but I still really enjoyed this movie. It was kind of like a comedy version of Lord of the Rings and I laughed hard several times and that's enough to move it to the top of my list. I give it 7.5 stars. 

Guardins of The Galaxy: Volume 3- Marvel/Disney has been cranking out a ton of stinkers since Infinity War, so I didn't have super high expectations about this. It was better than I thought it would be and much better than so many of the recent super hero movies, so I give it 7.4 stars.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny- Speaking of low expectations, after seeing Crystal Skull I was afraid they'd further taint the image of one of my all-time favorite movie characters with this 5th Indiana Jones installment. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I really liked the first half and enjoyed the action and thought they did a good job making Harrison Ford look younger for trhe flashbacks. The second half kind of bogged things down. I didn't care too much for his female sidekick companion in this movie. I give it 7.0 stars.

Greenland- This disaster/action movie came out years ago during Covid, but I only recently saw it on a plane flight. It was more engaging than I expected for an end of the world film. I know it was not a great movie, and would love to get an explanation why Gerard Butler's character had a thick Scottish accent, or why he and his family were selected for the salvation lottery, but it was at least entertaining and I give it 6.9 very generous stars.

Creed 3- I've really enjoyed the Creed series so far and was looking forward to this movie. I liked the first half, but then I had a hard time looking past some really dumb details like how an ex con with minimal boxing experience could rise through the ranks so fast or how he could be watching a Steven A. Smith broadcast on ESPN, then pull out his cell phone and calls the program and immediately get put on the air with him. Then there was the scene at the end when the two rival characters talked to one another in a completely empty sports stadium. So after a huge championship boxing match there were no fans,trainers, media, security, janitors, or anyone else right after the event? I know those are nitpicky things, but little things like that really bothered me. I give it 6.7 stars. I wanted to like it more.

I guess one thing I need to work on is my movie watching endurance. I've noticed a trend where I enjoy the first half of a movie much more than I do the complete film. 

Time for Sequels: Murder Mystery 2 and Avatar 2

Murder Mystery 2- I thought the first Murder Mystery movie was funny so I was glad when I saw a sequel was coming out. I watched the second movie last week and enjoyed it. When I later went on IMDB to look up the cast and trivia information, I was baffled to see it had such a low rating. As of today it is only 5.6 stars. I think that is very harsh. I just had to remind myself that Nacho Libre only has 5.8 stars, so I guess some people just don't understand what a comedy is. I'll be the first to admit that not all Sandler movies are winners, but I was entertained and laughed out loud several times during this movie and that's exactly what I wanted out of it. 

I also like Sandler's character in these movies. He's aging, a little more relaxed, and can make fun of himself. Overall, it was a silly movie and I liked it enough to give it 7.1 stars. I don't remember what I gave the original one, but it was pretty close to that too.

Avatar 2- I'm too lazy to look up the official sequel name, but it's something about water. I originally decided I wasn't going to see this, but a friend bought it and shared it, so I gave it a shot. It was better than I thought. Even though I didn't see it on a big screen, I was impressed away with the FX details behind the movie. I was blown away when I realized they had all the actual actors in the water when they filmed it and then later added the CGI and skins to everything. James Cameron's attention to detail and willingness to do things the hard way should be commended.

I give this movie 7.4 stars mostly because I still can't believe how much time, money, and details went into making it. 

2 Recent Mystery/Suspense Movies

Since I last posted a review, I have watched two mystery/suspense genre movies. The first was Glass Onion and the second was Missing. I enjoyed them both but am too lazy to write a real review or even post pictures from the movies so I am just going to write a Haiku about each movie along with how many stars I give each film.

Glass Onion-         Sequel to Knives Out

                              Sad fate for Mona Lisa

                              Benoit is too smart

I give Glass Onion 7.3 stars

Missing-                Sequel to Searching

                              Different story, but same style

                              I recommend it

I give Searching 7.5 stars

Movies That Didn't Look Interesting To Me

As I get older I am getting more particular as to what movies I watch. I used to be on board to see any new big release but I've gotten fussier these days. In this post I will list some of the movies that were released over the last year and why they didn't appeal to me and as a result, I never saw them.

First of all, I am usually not a fan of animated films. Some of the cartoon movies I've seen and enjoyed over the years include The Incredibles, The Emperors New Groove, and Coco but usually when I see an ad for an animated feature, I have no desire to see it, even if it is a fun movie like Toy Story or Minions: The Rise of Gru.

I loved most of the Marvel movies and felt they reached their pinnacle with Avengers End Game but I have not been a fan of the frequency or quality of what they produced since then. I had no desire to see WandaVision, Loki, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, or really anything put out by Disney over the last couple years. Below are some other movies that just didn't look enticing for me to watch.

Morbius- It seemed like the trailers for this movie were teasing the public for years before it was finally released. I know you are not supposed to judge a movie from a preview, but I did and from what I heard about this film, I'm pretty sure I made the right choice.

Uncharted- I love action movies but seeing Tom Holland jump out of an airplane and run across cargo boxes falling out of it turned me off. I can occasionally suspend my sense of reality at times in order to enjoy a Luc Beeson movie but this one featured the physics from a Fast and Furious movie and did not appeal to me at all. 

Moon Fall- I usually enjoy a good disaster movie but my Spidey senses warned me not to watch this one for some reason. I'm not even sure if it was good or not, but something told me not to pay to see it in the theater so I didn't.

Jurassic World: Dominion- There have been too many sequels to this series and I already had enough of watching Chris Pratt hold up his hands in front of a green screen to control imaginary dinosaurs in the prior installments. I think it sounds cool to see the original cast meet up with the next generation of dinosaur advocates but it just didn't look like it had the substance of the original movies.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore- I've only seen some of the Harry Potter movies. I really liked the final two darker episodes more than the earlier ones featuring cute little kids. I just have no desire to see a prequel or origin story of some wizard and a bunch of characters in a magical world that I don't know anything about.

Devotion- I usually like war/military movies but for some reason the preview for this movie just didn't do anything for me. The co star pilot that was in Top Gun sure got type cast quickly. I'm looking forward to seeing Jonathan Majors in Creed 3 soon but this role did not appeal to me . It's not that I don't respect those who served in Korea or care about racial injustices, it just looked really boring. I hopefully it wasn't but I was not going to take the risk.

Avatar: The Way of Water- This might sound a little blasphemous but I don't really care to see this massive James Cameron movie that has been in the making for years. I was blown away with the special effects when I saw the original on an IMAX screen in 3D, but I actually liked the story more when it was called Dances with Wolves or the Last Samurai. I'm sure the sequel will look amazing and considered seeing it, but I heard it is over 3 hours long and I just don't feel like watching giant blue people for that long.

There you go. I'm done venting and showed that I am a judgmental, cynical, party pooper when it comes to many popular movies. I can't really rate any of these movies since I haven't seen them but I'm okay going with my gut and missing out on these films.

Black Panther Two- Wakanda Forever

Wakanda Forever started with a nice little introduction honoring Chadwick Bosman. When they usually play the opening Marvel theme and show highlights of all the superheroes, they just showed images of him with silence. That was one of my favorite parts of the movie. That doesn't necessarily mean it went down hill from there. I actually liked it a little more than I expected I would.

This sequel features the upheaval and problems Wakanda experiences as Black Panther has just died and world powers are beginning to plot against their country in order to obtain vibranium. During this time, a new adversary from the ocean is introduced who gives Wakanda an ultimatum that they can assist him to attack the rest of the world as an ally or be destroyed. 

Other things happened but I really don't want to write a book report about this movie. Proceed to last paragraph for summary.

I was afraid Marvel/Disney would mess with this movie sequel like they did with the most recent Thor installment. There were plenty of plot holes and problems with the movie, but it was not that bad.  Black Panther 2 was alright. I give it 6.9 stars.

Black Adam

When I saw the trailer for Black Adam I was not very excited. I've been conditioned not expect too much from DC comics movies over time (aside from the Batman movies.) I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and liked it more than I thought I would. 

I'm not a comic book nerd so I had never heard of any of the characters, which was kind of nice because I didn't have expectations or preconceived notions about this movie. Black Adam is basically an anti-hero who doesn't want to cooperate with the other superheroes who are policing the world against their enemies. There are many action scenes and just the right amount of humor.

There were plenty of predictable moments and shortcomings in this movie but I found it entertaining enough give it 6.8 stars. I also enjoyed Pierce Brosnan's performance
as Dr. Fate.

RRR

Last month I watched RRR on Netflix which stands for Rise, Roar, Revolt. I wasn't sure what to expect from this Indian action movie but was pleasantly surprised. The first several scenes of the movie got me hooked mostly from the beautiful cinematography and special effects. A few minutes into the movie I realized that this movie was not going to be bogged down by the laws of physics. Much of the action was incredibly fake but it looked so amazing I didn't even mind.

This movie takes place in India in the 1920's. A young Indian girl is kidnapped from her village by a cruel British governor. A warrior is dispatched from her people to go and find her and bring her back. At the same time, an elite Indian soldier serving in the British military is sent out to locate and stop this man. They meet one another unaware of each other's true identities or intentions and quickly become good friends. There are some plot twists and surprises as the film progresses but I won't spoil them here.

All the British people in this movie except for one woman are portrayed as heartless, sadistic colonizers. The near three hour movie features a bromance among the two main characters that crosses the entire spectrum of intense emotions. There is plenty of crazy, unrealistic CGI, but because it was so beautiful and entertaining I could not really hold it against the movie. Since this was an action movie, I was unprepared for the two or three traditional Bollywood musical/dance numbers it featured. It felt kind of like watching Indian Jones and then having it morph into the Sound of Music.

After seeing many mediocre superhero movies over the last few years, I felt this was a breath of fresh air and very entertaining even though it is a little long. I give it 7.7 stars.

4 Big Summer Movies

I recently saw four movies that are currently in theaters. I'm ranking my reviews in the order that I enjoyed them from best to worst.

Top Gun: Maverick- I wasn't a huge fan of the original Top Gun when I saw it as a teenager. It's crazy that someone could do a sequel nearly 35 years after the original movie and it could be so successful. This movie has been postponed since 2020 because of Covid so I think people were ready to see it when it finally made it to theaters. I liked this sequel. I especially enjoyed the fighter scenes. They were so intense that I found myself clinching my muscles in the theater so I wouldn't pass out with the excessive G force. I hope Hollywood takes note at how successful this pro- America, toxic masculinity movie was and realizes not every film has to be politically correct and push a woke agenda. It was like going to the movies in the 80's again. I give it 7.8 stars.

The Gray Man- I only heard of this movie a week ago. I noticed it was playing in theaters but then realized it was also on Netflix so I watched it from home. This movie is extremely fake and predictable but I still liked it. There was more globe trotting around Europe than most James Bond movies. The action was non-stop and it was fun to see Chris Evans as the villain. I was thoroughly entertained and surprised at what had to be a huge budget for a Netflix movie. I give it 7.3 stars.

Dr. Strange In The Multitude of Madness- At least they named it accurately. The last Spider Man movie set a high bar for confusing plots spanning multiple universes and realities, and this movie tried to keep that concept going or even surpass it. I have not seen the WandaVision series on Disney so I'm sure I was missing something about her backstory which didn't help. It was interesting and action packed but I felt it was too busy and jumbled. I also didn't care for the new America Chavez character that much. It was ok but I only give it 6.8 stars.

Thor: Love and Thunder- There have been too many movies and spin off series from the Marvel Universe over the last 4 years. I feel they really hit their peak with End Game and have just been pumping out mediocre stuff since then. I liked Thor Ragnarok and appreciated the light hearted and humorous style. Korg was funny in that movie but is starting to turn into Jar Jar Binks the more we see him. Christian Bale was a great in his role and I wish he had more screen time. Some of the special effects were amazing but others, not so much. I usually like most stuff from Taika Waititi but some parts of this movie just bothered me. An example of this is Thor giving the kidnapped kids a big group hug and each of them shooting lighting out of their fingers and stuffed animals to kill the monsters. It's hard to take a superhero movie seriously when it's so whimsical and keeps changing gears. Also, it appears that Chris Hemsworth hogged all the budget for personal training, gear, and nutrition. He looked incredible, but he should have shared some of his secrets with Russell Crowe. I give Thor: Love and Thunder 6.4 stars. 

Last 5 Movies Scene Ranked

Here are some of the movies I've seen over the last couple months. As usual you are lucky to get more than two sentences from me on these. I've ranked them in order by how much I enjoyed them.

The Batman- I saw this movie twice and actually liked it a little bit more after the second viewing. This version of Batman is a little more goth, broody, and withdrawn, but I thought Pattinson did a decent job. The film  was very dark, in fact during some scenes I was wondering why the police and forensic workers didn't bother turning on any lights to look for evidence. I enjoyed it and am glad to see DC produce a better super hero movie. I give it 7.9 stars.

Death On The Nile- I've been waiting for 3 years for this movie to finally come out in theaters. I may be in the minority here, but I really liked it. Having re-watched the original recently, I was concerned there would not be any surprises but this remake took some liberties by modifying original characters, creating some interesting back stories, and still keeping some twists and surprises for viewers who may think they already know how it will turn out. I really like Kenneth Branagh and he moved up the ranks as one of my favorite actor/directors with this. I give it 7.7 stars.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife- This was a nice sequel. My kids were unfamiliar with the original Ghostbusters movies so I had to get them up to speed about the plots of the prior movies and certain details like the stay puff marshmallow man.  I liked seeing the second generation's experience with Ghostbusting and I thought it had a touching tribute to Harold Ramis and the original cast in the end. I give it 7.1 stars.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings- Not a fan of the long title and maybe I'm a little burnt out on Marvel super heroes, because I've had a hard time getting excited for one since Infinity War had such a nice conclusion but I guess Disney will continue to pump out sequels, prequels, alternate universe movies, etc. Overall, I liked it, but it's not one of my favorites. I give it 6.9 stars.

The Lost City- I was not expecting anything more than a silly romantic comedy and that's what I got. I thought it was a fun movie and it didn't take itself too seriously and that always makes it easier to overlook movie flaws. I think it makes a great date movie. I give it 6.7 stars. 

Spider Man: No Way Home

I recently saw Spider-Man: No Way Home and I really liked it. I'd rank it as one of the best Marvel Movies. I didn't think Marvel could outdo Infinity War with complicated plots and multiple characters from different movies interacting with each other but they did a great job doing so with the entire Spider Man franchise. I give the writers, researchers, and comic book geeks who contributed to the story a lot of credit for a job well done of using the Metaverse concept and having a complicated yet entertaining plot.

I've enjoyed Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland in the role of Spider Man, but Holland is probably my favorite. It was fun to see all three of them working together at the end of the movie and to see the things each of their characters had in common despite their differences. It was also a nice touch to let Garfield Save MJ from the fall in this movie since he was unable to in his own universe.

I think all the performances were good but Willem Dafoe stole the show. He was even better as the Green Goblin in this film than he was in the original. The other villains paled in comparison to him. The only thing that could make it better would be if Bully Maguire also made an appearance.

Anyway, I thought this was a fun movie and I give it 8.1 stars.