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jgarymatthews
Reviews
Memory (2022)
Solid cast but script/editing could have been tighter.
If this is Liams' last film, it's a solid effort. Getting hard to believe a near 70-year-old can whump ass. Source material was dark and timely. The movie tuned to meander a bit with some scenes not need to move the story forward, this tended to take away from the overall experience. A solid movie with a few mistakes, it's by no means liams best work, but not his worst.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
America's power must be drained to save the universe.
Now that we have got to see behind the curtain at the evil corporation that owns Marvel by way of leaked Zoon calls. I saw some interesting 'theories' that are present in this film. I tuned out most comic book movies a few years ago but took my 13 year old son. There was noting too gratuitous to scare him which was nice. Having a character in the film named 'America' led to some interesting dialog, "America is running out of time', "we need to take America's power". The connection to the real life satanic led evil corporate owners not lost on me. As well, the use of a secret group in the film that controls things called the 'Illuminati' was a little to on point. Lastly, if the scene of the satanic witch Black Widow trying to sacrifice the character 'America' doesn't tell you Mickeys evil overlords ain't hell-bent on destroying western society your not paying attention. Their message is loud and clear.
The Northman (2022)
Very good attempt but I left feeling unfulfilled.
Can't quite put my finger on why this film did not move me. Almost everything was perfect, cinematography was excellent, set design was perfect. Main actor was excellent. Not having a good grasp of Norse mythology hurt my understanding. And sad to say, the amount of plastic surgery Nichole Kidman has had led to me gawking at her more than enjoying her performance. Her sceneing were supposed to show passion, something hard to do when your forehead/cheeks don't move. If another actress had played her role, this movie would have been brilliant.
Ambulance (2022)
Please stop with the shaky camera action.
Ok movie, saw it in the large format theater and started to feel sick from the jerky camera action and 3/4 second cuts. Editor must have watched Bad Boys for life 100 times for inspiration. Too much.
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Interesting choice to stay with Old English. Only english majors will immerse themselves.
Not having studied Shakespeare since university, I was lost in the dialogue for about 50% of the film, at that point I simply listened for the vocal inflections to follow along. Visually stunning with great cinematography, an interesting film with a story that has been told many times before, I simply did not enjoy it. Well-acted and run time was about perfect, but I could not 'get into' it as much as I would have liked. Certainly, others will think it's the best thing ever and other will hate it. Give it a try if you are up for it, it's not your typical movie going experience.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Cut the circus scene entirely and it's a much better movie.
About 45 minutes too long. Great cast, well acted, but the story is flat. Some of the characters make puzzling choices. The script needed another month worth of debate to trim it down. With a softball of the story most directors could not miss, sadly this one did.
The Gentlemen (2019)
A slow burn, more so that Guy's other films.
Thought I was going to dislike it, but the final 20 minutes tyed things together better than I had anticipated. Great cast , slow pace but its not boring. A bit silly in some parts (crack on a Chinese name, gangster boxers? Or something).
Overall enjoyed the watch.
The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021)
Can't decide if I like it or not.
By the third act it gave me a headache. One of the few movies that beats you over the head with dialog. Cinematically, probably the finest movie I have ever seen, the weak story is where this movie falls flat for me. I spent most of the last 1/3 of the time trying to count how many actors had appeared in James Bond films. Too much dialog to keep up with.
Malignant (2021)
A decent movie for movie night.
Not ground breaking but a decent movie with attractive cast. Main actress is easy on the eyes and hold her own with a decent script. The big star of the film is the villian, rainy cold Seattle also gets a shout out, nice to see a different location instead of a deserted house in the middle of nowhere for once. Left satisfied and had a fun time at the movies, all it needed to do.
Candyman (2021)
So is your beef with white people or democrats?
A decent movie if not for the 'white people destroyed our city' every chance it gets. City's predominantly run by democrats of either persuasion, but let's over look that. Some cool animation and solid acting throughout. But if you want to tell us how much we suck in your next movie, perhaps give us a heads up and I'll mail you the 7 bucks instead. But unity, yea right.
The Night House (2020)
Perfect spooky movie
Great acting, pace, storyline. One of the best films of 2021. Kept me completely engaged until the very end. A perfect movie night film, and a reason to go to the theater.
John and the Hole (2021)
Should be negative stars. Worse than The Green Knight.
One of the worst movies going experiences ever. Please don't go see this, it will give the director a false sense of hope people enjoyed giving the theater their money. There is simply nothing redeeming about this film, it slow, plodding narrative is boring and without and the ending will provide nothing of substance to feel your time was worth spent watching it. If you found this garbage entertaining, you are without a soul and I urge you to find a purpose. I will absolutely never watch another film by this director. Go see the latest trash movie by Bruce Willis which also sucked over this one, at least it felt like they were trying. Kid goes off his med's, puts his family in a hole. That's it, that's the movie. I just saved you 12 bucks.
Stillwater (2021)
Superbly acting, well thought out movie.
I only gave it one less star as I felt it was 20 minutes too long. The young girl actress was a scene stealer. Very entertaining film for your regular movie night.
Out of Death (2021)
Even the title sucks. One of the worst ever.
This is the worst movie ever. A top to bottom s**t show. I think Bruce may have had a stroke, he doesn't sound well in this movie. We left wondering if he would be OK and felt sad.
We were waiting for the dukes of hazard narrator to voice over this crappy soundtrack. The movie is worse than bad. Everything stunk, it high-school equivalency movie making.
Gekijôban Kimetsu no yaiba: Mugen Ressha hen (2020)
???
Have no idea if this was good or bad, no idea what was going on except a pig head dude and swords. Dont use this as your foray into the genre, you won't have a clue.
Separation (2021)
Simply too long to be enjoyable.
They should have started the movie at the funeral scene and it would have been much more enjoyable to watch. The monsters were interesting but their presence wore thin.
Ci sha xiao shuo jia (2021)
An enjoyable evening with amazing effects.
Watched it based on the trailer which looked interesting. The subtitles made for a few head scratching moments, and the first 20-30 minutes you may not be able to figure out what's happening but eventually the movie settles in and its a very good movie. I took 5 friends who never watch foreign movies and they really enjoyed themselves. All of them said they would have never picked the movie on their own but were glad they saw it. The theater was empty except for us, we go see at least one movie a week and this was a unique experience that is very different than most Hollywood stuff. Think if it as Pan's Labyrinth meets Lord of the Rings meets John Wick.
Recommended.
Monster Hunter (2020)
Perfect covid escape movie.
Not the best movie by far but these days if you need an escape for 2020 and your local theater is open, its worth it. It's an easy 1.5 hour escape from the real monsters shown to us daily with higher body counts. I enjoy the movie going experience and this movie will do just fine for me.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Yet another lecture from your Hollywood elite.
I understand that the original Godzilla was symbolism for nuclear war. I can understand this as Japanese society was coming to terms with nuclear war after Hiroshima. This movie is yet another lecture from smug Hollywood elites who know better than you. This time about global warming, deforestation blah, blah, blah. Hollywood, we go to the movies to be entertaining, if you are going to continue to politicize everything along with sports we will stop giving you our hard earned money. If theaters survive dont think you can continue, It's may take a decade to recover from 2020. And dollars will be harder to come by. I give this movie 5 stars only because of the history of this beloved franchise. If you need to be lectured to yet again see it. Just be warned going in.
Fantasy Island (2020)
With some editing this movie would be twice as good.
First off, they need to keep this to 1.5 hours, the last chapter felt way to long. The first hour or so is tight, suspenseful, kept me interested. Worth noting there was only 2 of us in the theater on opening night so the pre-reviews kept people away but I say go see it but don't expect Citizen Kane. Maggie Q and Lucy Hale can captivate an audience both very beautiful and easy to watch on screen. Michael Pena holds his own even if the accent was not working. Director should have let him loose but sadly he was restrained in this one. The location was amazing and the cinematography was very well done. Go with some friend and have a good time, its not gory and all, a nice change of pace as one scene has the potential to rival the torture films of the past, thankfully they choose to skip it. If your tired of superhero movies lets support those studios doing something different.
Downhill (2020)
Appropriate Title.
Walked in thinking 'if this is half as good as Veep or Old School, this should be great." Sadly its not to be, about an hour in I said to the friends 'this ain't funny, is it supposed to be?' I truly could not tell, I had not laughed yet. I think the premise was 'Hey Will, want a free ski trip? Sure! Oh you also have to sleepwalk though a movie. Sure no problem.'
Also, if you know anything about mountain life, the story is laughable. No Resort would allow a avalanche chute to become so dangerous as to put people life at risk, let alone blast chutes during operation hours with a bunch of people sitting out on a deck below it.
IF this was not intended to be a comedy, when will Hollywood learn people don't want to watch a family fall apart. The wife was a basket-case, the husband, a wimp, yet another example of the fall of the straight white man. We use movie to escape, especially two comedy legends with the resumes of the 2 stars, I so wanted to laugh my head off, sadly my expectations went downhill.
Don't waste your time unless you have taken your med's or are very very tired, you wont laugh anyway.
Mile 22 (2018)
Worst editing ever.
Editing was so bad it made me physically Ill. Left after an hour.