Flight Risk review

 

I recently saw “Flight Risk" and here are my thoughts…

 

A US Marshall and a mob snitch must survive in an airplane with an assassin while also trying to fly the plane…

 

Now there are a lot of gorgeous wide landscape shots of Alaskan mountains that go on for miles, which is good to look at, but also it’s there so Mark Wahlberg can eat it all while he’s chewing scenery as the bad guy 😂. Now the pilot is straight-up cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, and it’s all those performances that in a lesser actor could seem way, way too over the top or cartoonish, but Mark Wahlberg is so good at playing intense and charming characters, he actually pulls it off and makes the character very unpredictable and interesting to watch.

 

Now, on the other end of the acting spectrum, you have Michelle Dockery, who is giving a very down-to-earth and earnest emotional performance; she really is the heart of the film. So between her and Mark Wahlberg, they sort of strike this balance of, like, realistic peril with over-the-top action.

 

The special effects are kind of all over the place. Some look like they are straight out of any $200 million summer blockbuster, but there are some shots like this one with an animal that look great… For the 1995 Sega game. And man, one shot when they were getting on the plane, I literally thought… That’s Neil Brain shit right there. It’s obviously a lower-budget movie, so I’m not trying to be mean or anything; they did the best with what they could and, for the most part, did a good job, but just be prepared; there are a couple of shots where you really are going to have to suspend your disbelief.

 

Topher Grace is also good in the movie; at first, his dialogue consists of nothing but witty comebacks and jokes, like he went full Eric Foreman from That 70’s Show at first, which may play different depending on how much you like that kind of thing, but by the end, he has some good character beats and emotional scenes, so he feels like a three-dimensional character.

 

There are some other actors who show up in voice roles; they all do good jobs, but there’s one character who’s like a little out there… I’m not going to spoil anything, but I will say this… I get you’re trying to cut tension, but this might not be the best time for that sort of thing, dude 😂 

 

The whole plot of the movie is seeing the characters trying to survive in an airplane, not knowing how to fly it. It’s very straightforward, but Mel Gibson is a talented enough director that he knows how to rack it up and convey the danger and intention in a way that you keep thinking… Man, how are they going to get out of this one? And that climax… That would’ve been cool to see in D-Box.

I didn’t know where to put this, but in the film, Mark Wahlberg’s character has really bad male pattern balding, like he’s balding in the front and back, and there’s like a little strip of hair covering the top of the head like a strap… It has mixed results, like some scenes definitely make him look crazier, and in other parts he looks kind of ridiculous, almost like a real-life Homer Simpson, but honestly it’s not too bad.

 

So this movie is very much “what you see is what you get,” but what is on the screen is fun. It’s a perfect movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon; did you watch it? Have a good time and move on… I give it a high three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Presence (2025) review

I just saw Presence, and here are my thoughts…

 

A family going through emotional turmoil, moving to a new house, unaware that a ghost lives there and is watching them…

 

So there is a gimmick to this movie, and it’s that the entire film is shot like a POV from the ghost point of view, which I’ve never seen before. Now this does lead to a lot of long and art shots that some people might find a tad boring… This movie has been marketed as a conjuring or paranormal activity type movie, and so you’ll have some people thinking they’re about to get scared when in actuality, the film is much more of a family drama than a straightforward ghost story… Now they do work the ghost element in well, and it does have this like creepy. Depressing, unnerving feeling, but I would just advise people not to go in thinking you’re about to watch the next insidious movie.

 

Now the fact that a lot of this movie is a family drama, I got to say… This family has some good drama going on. I’m not going to give away any details, but let’s just say the daughter is going through some stuff, the mom is pushing her son, the siblings aren’t getting together, and the dad is just trying to hold everything together while also dealing with something his wife is up to… Like you’re looking at this family thinking like it can’t get any worse, but then the ghost shows up and you’re like, Oh man, leave these people alone; they’ve got enough going on already.”.

 

 

This actor, Chris Sullivan, plays the dad, who apparently was on This Is Us (I never saw it, but my mom loves it, so I’m sure he’s good in that) and was everyone’s favorite MCU character… Taserface in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (I didn’t recognize them; I saw that when I googled him afterwards), so he’s been around, but I got to ask… Where the heck has this guy been? This actor is so good in the role, I’m surprised I haven’t seen him in other things. He comes off as an “established character actor” like Michael Chiklis or Paul Giamatti, but this is the first thing I’ve ever seen him in, and I’m like… This guy is about to blow up and become the next David Harbour.

 

Lucy Liu is very good in the movie and takes what could be a normally two-dimensional and not very likable character and actually adds a lot of depth and humor to the role. 

 

Callina Liang plays the daughter, and she’s very good at playing this character who is very introverted and going through a lot of heavy emotions, and it feels too much, and she doesn’t know how she’s gonna get through it… But then she’s able to pull herself together and have agency and really stand up for herself and point out what’s going on… It’s a very complex role, but she’s able to pull it all off, which is very commendable.

 

The brother character was interesting (played by Eddy Maday). The movie starts with you thinking about a certain way, and there are just so many twists and turns that happen with his character that you don’t know how it’s all gonna turn out with him. I go with his character was really well done.

 

So the movie starts out as what appears to be another “The Conjuring” style horror movie with jump scares and an implied spooky ghost trying to get you, but I would more describe this as like an episode of The Twilight Zone where there is a supernatural element, but it’s to cause conflict for the main characters… Like throughout the film, there’s this uncomfortable and spooky feel, but in a more traditional ghost story or thriller type way, like John Carpenter’s The Fog, Wuthering Heights, or Rebecca, where there is a physical manifestation or spirit that can also represent the loneliness or isolation of the characters or their internal sadness.

 

Holy cow, does this thing have one twist, like it’s appropriate for the Twilight Zone, because it has a "Seeing The Sixth Sense" for the first time level of a twist ending that almost recontextualizes the whole movie and what kind of movie you’re seeing… Like it’s gonna be a real shame this movie does not do better than I hope it does because, man, is this thing, like, just one of the most interesting everything-together twist endings I’ve seen in a very, very, very long time, maybe ever.

 

Boy, that David Koepp is one heck of a writer. He knows how to write very nuanced and interesting characters, he knows how to craft a story for maximum enjoyment and twist in a timely fashion, strikes the perfect balance of having witty dialogue but also feeling natural, and it must be said that for a guy who is 60, he can write teenagers very well… Which is impressive in its own right, lol.

 

Steve Soderbergh does great directing; he knows how to get very strong and meaningful performances out of his actors and really get you into the story and the stakes.

 

I will say, if you have seen a lot of these kinds of ghost movies, you’ll definitely see some returning tropes… People being scared of things moving on their own, no one believing that something scary is going on, eventually a down-to-earth and heavenly sweet medium comes in to give a very emotional and foreboding speech about the ghost and things to come… So if you watch a lot of these types of movies, you might think, Oh, here we go again, and feel like they’re repeating standard clichés of the genre, but I would say stick with it because it all leads somewhere special.

 

There was this one subplot going on that really didn’t play into the final as much as I hoped. I wish they had a stronger connection or a more relevant plot-type ending for the subplot because it set up like it’s gonna be a big deal, but then just kind of fades away.

 

I didn’t know where else to put this, but actress Julia Fox has a small role in the movie, and I haven’t seen her since Uncut Gems, so it was nice to see her pop up, and I hope to see her in more films in the near future because she’s really fun and talented.

 

If I had one word to describe it, I would use tight. Every actor plays the scene and character very well and understands the material; all the shots are well choreographed and executed; the cinematography is so natural and seamless; and man oh man does it have one Mind F’er of a twist that really drives the whole film home… I give it five stars.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 

 

 

It was a very nice surprise since I wasn’t expecting much from the movie, but it was like going to a candy store, wanting a chocolate coin, and then finding an actual gold coin like… What a good score, lol.

Wolf Man (2025 Review)

I saw The Wolfman recently, and here are my thoughts.

Writer Blake takes his family to his father’s cabin in the woods to help ease family tensions… Only to be attacked by some sort of wolf-like man, and then slowly become one himself.

Leigh Whannell’s direction is good; he’s a master of building tension, makes interesting and effective camera choices, and knows how to get good performances out of his actors.

The main actor, played by Christopher Abbott, gives a very good performance. He really knows how to act in a way that makes subtle internal acting choices come off as very powerful and intense. He knows how to convey a lot while doing little, and you can really tell the internal struggle his character is going through.

Julia Garner is good as his wife; she gives a very natural, down-to-earth, realistic performance.

There’s a little girl in this who’s pretty good; for a 10-year-old, she handles a lot of big emotions and concepts that would normally be out of an actor of her age range, but it’s impressive how mature and natural her character deals with them while also coming off as funny and silly in parts.

So some footage of the Wolfman design leaked before the movie came out from a Universal theme park scare night attraction, and to be honest, I definitely threw some shade at it. I thought it looked like the hillbilly inbred cannibal character “Three Fingers” from the Wrong Turn series, who looks nothing like a Wolf Man. So I like, “Really, this is the design we’re going with, a redneck with a bad skin condition lol” (plus it was filmed during the day and on a regular camera, so it was not doing itself any favors). But having seen the film, it comes off much better within the story… It’s filmed at night with a lot of shadow, which definitely helps; you see the transformation in stages, higher-end makeup effects and prosthetics, and color grading all come together to help you buy the look, which, combined with the acting, makes it much more convincing and wolf-like. So for all of you out there worried that this would not work, it works within the movie and does look like a Wolfman.

I liked the new take on the werewolf mythos, where it’s more of a virus like in “28 Days Later” or “Resident Evil.”. Plus they include other cool ideas, like how the transformation affected Blake's hearing, so everything was enhanced (the sound mixing feels like a character in and of itself, so big ups to the sound department). Blake would struggle to understand what people were saying; also, he started to get this like glow-in-the-dark, bright-colored vision that also distorted people's faces. All of these little details were very interesting and felt fresh.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is just kind of... plain. Like I wouldn’t say this is a bad movie, but so much of it is an “in real time survival under siege” movie. So there’s not a lot of dialogue or in-depth character interactions; most of the film is characters either trying to figure out how to survive, walking around dark corridors looking scared, or trying to defend themselves against a Wolfman… It gets very rinse and repeat. And when they do have dialogue, it’s nothing special. It’s a lot of “I love you” and “You mean so much to me” and stuff like that. It’s all big love confessions you’ve heard in romantic dramas or Hallmark movies before.

There’s a theme of generational trauma in the film; Blake’s father was very stern with him, and Blake got a little bit of an angry side that he’s trying to deal with and not pass down to his daughter… Very “he’s got a beast inside him that was given to him by his dad,” which is very much a metaphor for being like a werewolf… Which is an interesting idea, but they introduce it and do not end up doing a lot with it. Also towards the end there are some pieces of dialogue that really spell out the theme that makes it feel like the filmmakers are going, “OK, we really gotta hit this on the nose so people know what we’re talking about, so let’s really spell it out,” and it’s like… You didn’t have to go that far; we got it.

This movie’s been getting a lot of criticism, and while I don’t think it’s as bad as people say, I do understand their criticism, but I wouldn’t say this is a bad movie; it’s not. The actors all do a good job; Leigh Whannell knows how to build tension, plus the film looks good. Unfortunately, the overall story is just so straightforward and ordinary that there isn’t much to get out of it besides regular jump scares and watching people fight to survive. It’s like a werewolf biting the skin and muscles off your arm… It’s too bare-bones, lol.

I give it three stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️ it’s right down the middle between good and bad.

The Lady Showgirl review

 

I recently saw The Last Showgirl with my friend Ami, and here are my thoughts…

After her show is announced to be closing, showgirl Shelley tries to figure out what’s next in her life…

 

Pamela Anderson gives one of the absolute best performances of the year; she plays it with such class, humor, tragedy, and childlike excitement… All at the same time. I’m just saying if she doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for this performance, I think we should legally be able to riot lol.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis is hilarious in the movie; she’s very sassy, and you can tell she’s having a ball in the role.

 

Dave Batista gives a very subtle but heartfelt performance; he felt like a protective bear.

 

I was happy to see Brenda Song. I haven’t seen her since her Zack and Cody days, but I always thought she was very talented on that show, and she is still talented, so it is good to see her again in a cool flick.

 

Kiernan Shipka was very good at playing such a vulnerable and sweet character. They introduced some stuff with her character that I wish was delved into more, but the actress was fantastic and very enjoyable.

 

Billie Lourd was great; she’s one of those actresses who’s always solid in whatever she’s in and this is no different. She gives a very grounded insincere performance.

 

I don’t want to spoil a cameo, but when you see someone playing a casting director, I was happy to see this person because I like them, and they gave us a sort of different performance than they are usually used to; it was a nice surprise.

I had never seen a Gia Coppola movie before, and I got to say she has a lot of creativity, knows how to get great performances out of actors, and has a great eye for storytelling.

Kate Gersten (the writer) knows how to write a very entertaining and take what could be very silly dialogue and make it very sincere and heartfelt.

I liked the look of the movie; it tried to recreate the glitz and bright colors of Vegas, showgirl venues, and it did a good job at doing that while also feeling realistic and grounded… I know that sounds contradictory, but contradictions are a theme of the movie, so it fits within the story.

 

They were scantily clad ladies in fun outfits… That’s always a blast.

 

There are some good 80s rock ballads that pop up throughout the film, which I enjoyed.

 

A lot of the movie has handheld close-ups, which can be a bit much after a while. Like it’s a very personal movie, so I assume they were trying to make you feel like you’re in the character's shoes (or Brazzers in this case lol), but when every shot is the same thing, it can get a bit repetitive, and you end up wanting a little variety… But then again, that could just be the nitpicker in me. Plus, when actually filming in Vegas, I’m sure there were tons of people around, so they had to work tight.

I did have issues with the ending, it just lacked a sense of closure and really bringing all the themes and ideas together and putting a fine period on them, instead it just kind of ends… go a great song by Miley Cyrus I must admit.

The best part by far was getting to see it with my friend Ami, she liked it too and it was fun having discussions about the film afterwards

 

I overall enjoyed this movie, enough that the issues I do have with it don’t outweigh the fun I had. The movie had a lot of style and truly excellent performances by the whole cast with likable and unique characters… I give it a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Brutalist review

I saw The Brutalist, and here are my thoughts…

After surviving the holocaust and coming to America, a famed architect struggles to survive and manages to be-friend a very rich man and gets the opportunity to build a very lavish building…

So let me start with the good… This movie looks incredible. I saw it in 70 mm, and I’m not usually someone who goes, “You have to see it like this to really enjoy it,” but this movie is so gorgeous and stunning, I think if you’re going to go to a nearly 4, you might as well go in style.

 

The cinematographer better start working on his Oscar speech, because this is one of the most beautiful and stunning movies I’ve seen this decade. The use of lighting and color, despite being filmed in 2024, feels right for a movie from the 40s or 50s, and it actually fits within the context of the story. That award is locked and loaded. 

 

The soundtrack is beautiful, absolutely elegant and heartfelt. 

 

Adrian Brody gives such a powerfully emotional and vulnerable performance, one of the best of his career; I wouldn’t be surprised if you want best actor.

 

This movie is unexpectedly hilarious, especially with Guy Pearce. Now he gives a grounded and great performance, but he’s so rich, and obviously to his own richness, he can come off like the Monopoly Man with his humor.

 

Felicity Jones has always been one of my favorite actresses, and she gives a very raw and scene-stealing performance, definitely bringing a lot of elegance into the role.

 

A lot of different actors, big and small, some known and some unknown, pop out throughout the movie. Everyone gives a great, memorable performance.

 

Speaking of humor, there were actually some pretty good jokes in here that got big laughs out of the audience, and I had a pretty full theater, so that was fun.

 

Now this is a nearly 4-hour movie, and while slow in parts, it was never boring. It’s the cinematic equivalent of reading a novel. Now there were a couple parts where I thought, “Well, this could’ve been shortened, or this could’ve been elongated”, but that’s just personal taste. I got to give Brady Corbet a lot of credit, dude knows how to make… cinema lol.

 

Now for the criticism... I thought some of the rich elite characters, especially Guy Pearce’s son, played the whole “elite looking down on poor foreigners” stick a little too broadly. It’s obvious the movie's trying to make some kind of comment about class and the difference between the rich and the powerful, but it does come off a bit too off-ish at times.

 

So for the first 2/2 of the movie, the film moves at a fairly good pace. I may have my ups and downs about what parts they choose to focus on, but nothing I can really complain about. It’s an artsy film about characters, and it’s doing a good job, and I’m rolling with it… And then the story decides to do something, start a storyline to introduce conflict for the third act, and honestly it kind of comes out of nowhere, like when you’re watching you’re like… Oh, we’re doing this? That’s an odd choice; why are we doing this? And then the movie just kind of goes back and forth, not feeling as cohesive as it was before, and while there is one really good performance scene for Felicity Jones, the movie then just sort of stops very abruptly, and there is a big, big, big thing that they do not resolve in any sort of satisfying way, and I do not know why you very obviously could’ve; it seems like the director made a choice, and honestly I don’t think it was the best one. Then the movie just wraps up quickly, and it’s like… what the hell was that? I mean, I just spent the last three hours following these characters in the story, and that’s how you’re gonna put a bow on everything? That anticlimax, really? There is one bit of dialogue that explains something that when you think about it through the rest of the movie actually brings a whole new context and dimension and heart to the film, but honestly the way they decide to handle the ending and wrap up really just a turd in the punch bowl. I don’t want to be mean because I can tell the filmmakers all had a lot of passion and put a lot of work into this, but they had to have known this ending would’ve pushed people the wrong way; this is some Joker: Folie à Deux stuff right here.

On a positive note, this film coast a little less than 10 million dollars, which is SUPER impressive, this looks like a 30-50 million dollar movie, so a big tip of my hat to the filmmakers.

 

To sum up my feelings, this movie has a quote that sums up my feelings: “No matter what the others try and sell you, it is the destination, not the journey.” … This movie started out in the first 2/2 like a beautiful scenic cruise with all sorts of style and class and elegance... And then it stops, and you fall face first in the mud. No matter how much good that starting gave me, the only thing I’m going to remember is the dry cleaning to get all this guck off me.

 

If I’m being honest with myself, it’s really a three-star movie ⭐️⭐️⭐️ but the level of work that went into it with the filmmaking and acting just barely pushes it over the line to a low four stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and that may feel like a copout, but honestly, there is just a next level of detail and work put in that does merit praise. To take an architect analogy… No matter how beautiful the house is, if you have a shaky foundation, everything will fall apart.