Change Your Image
chpribb
Reviews
Warhorse One (2023)
Knock off Mashup of Lone Survivor and Mandalorian
The movie gets started right away with a SEAL who is the lone survivor of a helicopter crash being chased by a large group of Taliban (who by the way look super fake and have the absolute worst dialogue). Yet the SEAL is able to gun down quite a few and escape them without a scratch. Marcus Luttrell would be impressed! Then he comes to the rescue of a little girl who is the lone survivor of a family that the SEALs had set out to rescue before they were shot down. The performance from the girl is dull at best. I eventually stopped watching this movie because of how poorly written/filmed/directed this was. The scenery was beautiful though! Looked nothing like Afghanistan, more like Montana or Wyoming.
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
Another Victory for Pandora, but maybe too easily
It was really cool to see how they brought back some of the cast from the first movie and how they introduced the marine avatars, though all those marine avatars guys were killed off a little too easily. I think they should have been a little bit more effective than they were considering how lethal they were supposed to be in regard to their physical attributes mixed with their military training. Of course the visuals and special effects and the 3D were all fantastic, just like the first movie. They also added some pretty good new characters that will be interesting to see developed in future movies, especially one of those characters who may be a little conflicted with his feelings. There were some predictable or cliche scenes, like when a character is being chased by a big monster though you know they are going to survive. Or when a character was being held hostage at gun or knife point, but again, you know they were going to be rescued. I was disappointed to see how easily those gunships get shot down; you think by now they would have had arrow proof glass! The climax scene might have been a little too overdone and was a little messy, and I think their victory was a little too easy, like did not see enough sacrifice or loss from the natives like we did in the first movie. I was also wondering why we were introduced to this new military base and military general in the first part of the movie but they had really no part of the rest of the movie, although I get they will be a big factor in the movies to. There were a couple sort of sad scenes but this movie could have better portrayed the struggle of the natives, like the first movie did. Still a fun and very entertaining adventure movie and I'm looking forward to the next one!
The Outpost (2019)
Low Budget, horrible acting
REALLY low-budget movie. A bunch of random talking and messing around with very brief scenes of shooting at an enemy that is barely even SHOWN! Orlando Bloom is pretty boring in the 30 minutes he is even in the movie. The rest of the actors are pretty horrible.
1917 (2019)
Very underwhelming and lacks character development and bonding
I will not have any spoilers in my review
First of all, the battlefield landscape/setting was nicely done and littered with bodies, artillery shells, barb wire fences. The camera footage is cool how it only focuses and follows the two main characters continuously, only showing the other soldiers and the landscape that immediately surrounds them. It makes you feel like you are there and it is certainly an unique way of filming.
However, filming like that has its consequences. The movie is really limited in what it can show. It maybe puts too much focus on these two main characters without showing the bigger picture of the war they are in, as a perspective. The movie lacks a strong beginning and ending; it jumps right into the mission and has a rather abrupt ending. The climax of the film is very short and not much of a climax at all. But the biggest bummer is the severe lack of character introduction/background/development. Very little is revealed about the personal lives of either character, which is a bit shocking considering the entire movie only focuses on these characters. I was unable to connect with them or feel any emotions toward them during the scenes that were supposed to be much sadder than they ended up being. There is no bond or great dialogue between the two, either. The movie dragged on for too long with too much of the same thing.
Because of how the movie was filmed in a continuous scene following the two characters, this movie would've been so much better if we learned more about the characters and saw more of a brotherly bond so that we could connect to them more.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Repetitive plot that falls short
Just saw Dark Fate immediately after watching the first two earlier today. I certainly don't like how abruptly they kill off John Conner. Too easy and sudden for such a key figure! I am also disappointed that the movie is pretty much repeating the plot of the first two movies with some random woman (Dani) being hunted by a Terminator from the future while protected by someone else sent back to protect her. I mean, really? They couldn't think of a more creative and more complex plot? The plot of this movie really fell short of expectations and I like the storyline of Terminator 3 much, much better as a sequel of the first two movies. T3 did better of showing Skynet's development and setting the tone for the next movies to follow, no matter how bad Salvation was.
However, the antagonist Terminator and Sarah Conner were both pretty badass in this movie and the special effects action scenes were fun. They have come a long way since 1984!
Toy Story 4 (2019)
One movie too many, doesn't live up to previous three
Toy Story 4 may've been one movie too many, as it didn't quite live up to the first three and left me with too high of expectations that wee not quite met. The climax and plot of this movie weren't as exciting and climatic, and this movie lacked a true antagonist like the other movies. The ending did have a sad moment, but could've been much more dramatic and was too abruptly cut short. After Woody, Buzz, and Bo Peep, the other main toys like Rex, Slinky, Potato Head, and Jesse all had such minimal roles and were cast aside, while the new Forky character was rather stupid and annoying. I did like the crisis that troubled Woody, and the new spunky version of Bo Peep. But overall this movie just didn't ride up to the level of the previous movies, and was an unnecessary addition to the franchise.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Forget the Storyline, Focus on Making Giant Monsters Look Cool!
Warning, spoilers.
This movie is nowhere in the same league as the Peter Jackson/Jack Black film. Does not even come close to comparing.
I do like the Vietnam war era setting. But when the expedition arrives in their helicopters, they decide to let the giant ape take them all down rather than, oh, flying higher up or flying away? Hey, as long as the special effects are legit, right? And I think they made Kong look TOO big in this film. There was VERY minimal special bond between Kong and any of the characters, which is a huge aspect of the past films. No friendship was really made that led to trust and respect. And the characters died so randomly, rather than heroically, especially John Goodman's character. I thought he was a main character and he died so suddenly with no build up to it. This felt more like the 6th Final Destination movie. This movie seemed to care more about making giant monsters look cool, rather than the story line. And the ending of the film was so sudden and bizarre. Kong defeats the giant lizard thing then it really just ends and we do not see how the characters interact with Kong or go home aside from the WW2 pilot., even with the post- credits scene that hinted more crappy movies are yet to come. So aside from the action, special effects and visuals, not a good movie or story line at all!