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djchurney-55734
Reviews
Blood for Dust (2023)
Gritty portrait of desperate man in over his head.....maybe.
While looking to see what new releases came out today, I noticed Blood for Dust, and saw the cast and went in blind. What a pleasant surprise. There is great acting throughout especially by the co leads. Scoot McNairy, who is one of the top character actors in the business, thoughtfully carries this movie on his shoulders as a desperate man who can't shake the past and gets mixed up in some nefarious doings. While Kit Harrington is also phenomenal in an against type role as the loose cannon Ricky. They have good chemistry as old acquaintances maybe even friends. The action is well done, and there is some pretty brutal kills. The climax is extremely intense and had me on the edge of my seat. This is a must watch, especially if you like the movie Fargo. There is also amazing character actors sprinkled throughout in cameos. Josh Lucas chews scenery with ease and makes you wonder how we don't see more of him.
Stranger in the Woods (2024)
Screenwriting For Dummies!
For the past 40 years I've been a sucker for horror movies. Every Tuesday and Friday I will check to see what horror movies have released and over the weekend I will binge watch them. Over the years I've seen it all, the good and the bad. Well this movie is on a spectrum that is below bad. You might ask, "Is it so bad it's good?" The answer is no! I would add some part of the plot for this review, but I really can't, because the plot is completely incoherent. The acting is atrocious, the writing is some of the worst I ever seen, and I'm not exaggerating. When making a horror movie, you want to make the characters likable, so when they are killed off it leaves a lasting impact, and it also gives you a reason to root for them to beat the killer. After 15 minutes into this movie, I wanted it to end, and was hoping the killer would just dispatch everyone, especially the lead girl. She's accusatory, judgmental, and thinks she's better and smarter than everyone else, and the rest of the cast isn't much better and I was hoping they would also be killed quickly. The only character that was solid, didn't even speak, and that was the dog, who is there one minute, then gone the next, then shows up at the end only to be forgotten about for the remainder of the movie. As for the writer of this mess, find another hobby, because this screenplay is an absolute mess, and that's probably giving it to much credit. When I watch a movie I wanna sit back and relax and have a good time and escape the daily grind of life. I definitely don't want to end up being infuriated by characters that I immediately hated, and by a screenplay that uses zero logic. So I'm going to do you a favor and give you some advice. Don't listen to the one planted review, stay far away from this trash. I watched this garbage so you don't have to!
Sick (2022)
Best slasher I've seen in a while!
First I want to say, welcome back Kevin Williamson! It's a shame this didn't get a theatrical release, as I believe this would have been a hit. Once you watch, you will be able to figure out why there was next to zero marketing put behind this film. This film has so many good scenes, and Williamson turns the intensity to the max. This movie gets going pretty quick and never stops until the credits roll. The acting is good across the board. The two lead girls are the two standouts. I hope to see Gideon Adlon and Bethlehem Million in future horror projects, as they easily carry this film on their backs. I highly recommend watching this, if you take the time you will be rewarded.
Purple Hearts (2022)
Good weekend movie with a very lazy script at times.
I wanted to make a quick review. First this movie was a decent movie that kept my attention for the most part. The leads were both solid, especially Sofia Carlson. She is very talented, and has a very nice voice. Where the movie gets lazy is with the drug dealer friend. First he tries to get our male lead to go do some more drugs with him, after the guy tells him he's in the Marines. Then he gets mad at the lead because he won't go do drugs and make sure he tells him he wants his 15K that is owed to him. Very contradictory. I'm also not sure why he stopped paying the drug dealer, Luke got his legs blown off while on a deployment. The military doesn't just stop paying you, and he would have still be making that extra money. Then the dealer breaks in the mother in law's house, so then he goes and beats the dealer up and pays him in full. So then the dealer goes to the in laws house and tells the mom, oh I broke in your house(incriminating himself) and your daughters marriage is fake. Then the next thing you know a day later he is arrested by the military police. This is so laughable. I was in the military for 6 years, and now work in a civilian job with many military members from different branches, and I can tell you this is not how things work. Also in all my time I've never seen any military member arrested or kicked out of the military for a sham marriage, as it is next to impossible to prove. Some random dude who happens to be a drug dealer is not going to make a report, and even if they did it would go nowhere, as military members don't get charged for fraudulent marriage. Definitely not one who got wounded while fighting for his country, as that would be a huge PR nightmare for the Marines. Also if some idiot threatened to harm a Marines family, more then likely that idiot would end up in the ground. Marines are a different breed, and once a marine always a marine. So if you were to threaten one, or one of their family members you will have to deal with them all. The director/writer could have researched google for 10-20 minutes and come up with a much better and realistic movie. The movie wasn't bad, everything that involved the military was terrible, and poorly written, and not researched at all.