zarathustramidi

Investigating and bringing to justice human traffickers is a good idea for a plot. I am sure it would make a real good movie someday. Add to that a kind of "MI double-trouble rip off" hostage person has intel about out agents and we need to get him before others get him. OK, that could work too.

But.... it doesn't work in this mess of a movie. Its a yawn. That new gay MacGyver kid could have shined here, he does have a casual manner that could work. But...his "stealth" intro segment is so bad, he is stalking but crunching leaves and ground cover under every step as he approaches his target area. The baddies are 25 yards away, I guess that's the tragic-I mean magic of movies. He's a loud ninja against deaf henchmen. The combat knife bad-girl was the worst actress I've ever seen. There are a lot of tactical errors, hit squads approach in vans right up to the target house... with headlights on? This base of operations house has no surveillance? Of any kind? It's that important. Oh, boy.

Tonight, in truth, watched it to see just how bad it was, so I could write a review here. The thing that boggles the mind is the lineup of cast actors. Poorly used name talent here. Top grade actors are being put into these looser productions - there is a lot of them as of late! Don't understand the studio/production financing mindset that green lit these, Do they really think they will make any money in return??

The Collective...stupidity~? No, flat out stupidity.

I'm going back to B&W films with this review. Mainly because the story of Plane (2023) is nearly identical to few older classic films but with way more action. There were a number of plane-crash-in-the-jungle type of movies throughout the decades. Many Tarzan films had crashed-plane plot-starts going back to the 1930's.

Plane (2023) closely resembles a film called Back from Eternity (1956) with Robert Ryan, Anita Ekberg, Rod Steiger and Gene Barry in a unusual role where he unravels to be a real slimy guy in the end. This film was a remake of Five Came Back (1939) notably with very young Lucille Ball.

Both (3) movies have a Pilot that knows his stuff, a Criminal who is brought onboard with police escort most likely facing the death penalty upon their destination, Crash landing in the middle of the jungle with hostiles due to a storm AND the criminal is the one who stays behind when the plane takes off at the conclusion of the movie. There are more minor items that match both films.

Back From Eternity (1956) is a drama adventure story with a very good pulse building ending. The captain and co-pilot can repair the engine, all passengers work together to help repair, make meals, fish, hunt, etc. They are nearly finished the plane when the police detective is discovered, body without a head. The Chicago mob character swears he heard a drum way in the distance - He goes missing. Then the drums start and come closer and louder. The crew and survivors make haste in completing the repairs to plane. Drums. But 3 persons must stay behind due to weight and 1 engine take off. The elderly couple and criminal stay. Drums. In a rush-panic a man is shot. Drums. The others are overwrought at having to leave them behind, then....the Drums STOP. The plane is able to clear its takeoff over the mountains. The criminal (Rod Steiger) has 2 cartridges left in the revolver. The 3 await what comes.

Plane (2023) has its own thing going of course. Its a classically constructed action drama thriller. Think Die Hard (1988) meets Back From Eternity (1956) less the cannibals. With a touch of Rambo 2/4 (1985/2008) action violence, ramped up with onscreen beheading. A hint from Dark of the Sun (1968) due to a mercenary vs militia/rescue escape plotline at the end, minor but with cash instead of diamonds. Gerard Butler is a modern action, rugged aged Rod Taylor type if you think about it. Just Scottish.

I highly recommend watching the classic films mentioned after watching Plane (2023). Its B++ action all day long.

I am laid up with surgery, binge streaming many shows that were recommended to me. I dont really stream shows. Movies yes. What drew me in to Yellowstone was Costner.

I have not completed the first season but thus far it seems rather accident prone. Oops I shot someone at the res/ranch border, oops tnt explosion unearths Dino bones, oops grandson almost drowns in river, oops slip and fall in the middle of school fight - crack my head. Need I go on? Every time these ranchers go out, on their own ranch, you guessed it - accident. Don't they know their ranch, that their pappy and his pappy before him built on their own?

The clincher for me getting up (ooh my ribs) and writing a review was... the tropes of this episode. Mainly with the Grizzly Bear and the Asians. Come on, for the love of Mike! For all the accidents...one shot takes out a Grizzly, head on? Really. If its not a 30-30, then it's a 45 colt lever rifle. Two shots more like it with 45. 45-70 would be appropriate. 300 Win Mag would be prudent. The Griz-posse before hand, leave their guns at home, knowing that they are being sent out to track Griz. Is this... another accident? Yes, inside another accident. Back to the end bear scene. Poof! Asian hikers appear. Another accident; ran back to get the rope off the horse, but left the horse! A pull rope is easy enough with 1 horsepower, lasso them folks, use that horse! We can shoot a Griz, staring him down without a flinch, but when it comes to block & tackle work, we're all ape-man thumbs.

My own fault, I kept watching. I seem to be waiting for a all encompassing story arc, something meaningful, that is principled, smart and a thought out win.

If a Lassie Dog comes into the story I am done! LOL!!

A very funny spoof to all this would be a Field of Dreams type but with soap opera characters that drift down from the mountains and pass through the ranch and interact with a Costner type. Lassie comes by. The little boy from Shane, that's how he comes in just echoing "Shane". Eastwood from High Plains or Pale Rider. Shirley Temple as Heidi comes out asking about "Grandfather-grandfather!" The little boy from Close Encounters, he walks out of the mountains gets hugged by mom. Arnold crawls out of the mountains yelling to get back to the chawppah! Field of Dreams in Yellowstone, movie personalities show up. SNL skit.

Honestly, I made it a half hour. Yep, 30 mins. I just couldn't take it 1 min more. These actors will be doing odd jobs for a very long, long time. Most of the dialogue sounds like Who's Line Is it Anyway. When they adlib and switch to using questions ONLY in the middle of a plot line. There its funny, Here its really strange. Got's to be the worst acting I've ever seen. This looks like a SCI FI channel original movie. We all know the high class entertainment they bring to the world. As regards to the subject of Tesla's electrical theories, they are at a loss here. This review is already too long. Night folks.

Very Good crime thriller with good cast. Interesting plot with science fiction twists. I must have missed this one when it came out and if/when it was on cable ever. Denzel Washington is very watchable, nice seeing Val Kilmer in another role as always is good. Many of the other cast you have seen before and have enjoyed. The plot is simple a bomb is set off on a ferry carrying mostly naval sailors and their families and civilians. Main character is a ATF agent sent to investigate the clues. We travel along the way with him as it unfolds. Which leads us to a high tech surveillance station. At first this station video unit is explained as a combined satellite data image from multiple views, of the last 4 days, all compiled into one. Used to hunt and find clues that may lead them to their bomber. At some point, the main character's instincts is to test if this surveillance is just data images or something else. Apparently, these data images are a small window, looking into the past fabric of time. The surveillance video is a portal.

This was a very interesting crime thriller, science fiction, a little of romance, action, some drama too.

As for the time travel "supposed" inaccuracies. All I can say is NO to them. This movie is true to "thinking fourth dimensionally." Much of the movie unfolds with elements that tell us that there is a looped element to these events. The main argument to other reviewers is that the final loop does not match the evidences, phone calls, and other time elements that are shown us. Mainly the dead woman washing up on shore, the ambulance at the bombers place and the bloody bandages at the dead woman's apartment. This film reveals that there have been 2 loops total, as far as we know. In theory, a time continued event can loop forever on repeat. So there is no plot hole/time hole to the conclusion of this movie. What I have concluded is that the first time loop reveals that ATF Agent Doug must have arrived at the bombers place late - bomber had already loaded the woman in truck, Doug managed to escape the ambulance when it all exploded, the bomber took the woman to kill her later (earring found at bomber's place in real time). Doug drove the Bronco to the woman's apartment because he did not know she was with the bomber. Doug cleans his bullet wounds up without the woman's help (they were running late as it was when she helped him the 2nd time). Doug gets to the ferry late - bomber is already on the bridge with bike - Doug was too late to disarm bomb. HOW DO WE KNOW THIS? When Doug is on the dock, with the stretchers and body bags lined up, a phone rings, Doug thinks its his cell phone, he then notices that a body bag is ringing with the same ring tone. He passes it off. NO, That was HIS BODY BAG. The woman washes on shore because Doug was late on the first loop, or maybe this is the 2nd loop and the end is the 3rd. As far as Clair's answering machine saying that she can't talk now, someone is with her right now. Yes, these time elements can change the course of future time, in an instant. This is also apparent because Doug notices his partner's BMW in the impound when he goes to LEAVE the police office, He did not notice it coming into the office, because the timeline had not changed yet. Remember, 3 days later the letter was sent to the past of 4 days. Doug was sent into the past. This also explains Doug's notes feeling like someone is watching HIM. He is experiencing Deja Vu because his future self is about to enter the past at that moment in time. Also, Clair's thinking that someone is in her apartment - her time. There are apparently elements to this portal that do have effect on the past in present time, which is also theory.

Clearly this is not a bad film, its not even a OK film. Its a thriller! Good enough for most families, even with adult themes and crime scenes. There must be only 1 reason for the negative reviews. Denzel Washington is a fine actor, has made many fine movies, he is here to stay and I can't wait for the next installment from him. He always delivers the cinema.

Hands down, Jennifer Lawrence is a brilliant actress. She knows how to be human on screen, if that makes sense to you out there. There are several buildup moments that she carries without uttering one word of dialogue, when the pressure of her character is over boiling. Some of these were the funniest moments for me because I understood where she was going and why; example - Joy taking a timeout with shotgun practice, LOL. This movie deals with business innovation but from a completely different angle and starting point. It is in a very specific time frame of marketing, that of network shopping - its even commented on in the film that one day people will be shopping on computers. I remember when shopping networks were coming about. People were glued to watching it. So, Joy makes a new mop. The hoops, the business deals, all the family issues that she has to go through. I appreciated that Joy was an anchor character that kept her house and family, even divorcee, still together/safe. Can I call her a she-wolf for being a pack leader in this motherly way? But much of these character developments and interplay are all disguised within what is called offbeat staging. The story rolls out in a non straight forward way. Whimsical at times, like a narrative diary. The offbeat comes from a switch from dreams/ideas, then back to reality being a mother of 3 with a family that are loons. In this way, the audience wishes to escape with the character and her mop idea. While many parts of this Bio are not fact, they are a composite of sorts of any/many inventors or idea persons. It does make a good moral point, that of remembering to continue believing in the inner child root values. That old saying, to thy own self be true. If you are, who knows how far you can go. Did I mention it is a good cast?

I found this film meandering. Very much like a stumbling cold drunk, who's brain cells have been diminished. Perhaps other reviewers found the "returning murder making his way to redeeming himself" character idea catchy enough to continue watching. The zero dialogue intro held my interest enough to wait for a focused story resolution to take shape. I feel that once the dialogue came into play, much of the basic instincts that held my interest in silence simply fell apart. And the characters shaped out to be more stupid as the dialogue went further, @ 0.5hr mark. I sure hope this is not considered the height of Irish Cinema. The film is bleak, gray, grim, and muddy. The script did not make good use of the lead actor. There are many plot holes, just in the concept that 15 years of prison have passed alone - the main character can't remember, hasn't recalled his crime, made peace? etc. He is given moonshine to drink twice a day to help him remember his crime? Ah, oh, okay. This is your master plan, director? I found that extremely laughable! Two dimensional, character limiting; considering the animosity of grief between characters, it does not make much sense. Unless of course we just throw it in and change directions. "The moonshine will burn the memory out of him! Argh." The reveal of all the holes that have been dug is also wasted. The obscurity could have been banked on much more, to speak about death, life, value, even better symbolized for guilt. The characters are obviously stuck where they are because this story has locked them into it, leaving the actors to do what they can with the equally intuitive voided script. 3 elements thrown together, crossed fingers that it will work, and it doesn't. Void of stars.

Slow start to this storyline. Slow, incomplete dialogue/script. I thought Wonder Woman's intro was rather forgetful. Long shots of her coming to the rescue and her acrobats but with no real threat - a mall heist that is very briefly shown unraveling, there was no investment, there was no style, even, to this intro, at least show some comic book style. Great cast, good production value and cinematography. Much of this is mostly wasted. There is an action sequence that just says that the makers of this film wanted to have a classic "truck chase/fight" sequence, very Raiders/Indiana Jones style, almost structured the same. That's all the action there is - at middle of film. The energy pretty much starts and ends there. The enemies/villain of this story are not compelling in any way. It really is too bad, Gadot is a strikingly perfect figure to flesh out thee Wonder Woman. She doesn't have to do too much to have presence. I don't think these film makers know what they have, they did not sculpt a Wonder Woman/Gadot worthy story. Not too many movie watchers might pick up on the set production mistakes, there were several that were not of the 1984 era. Some wardrobe and the "art trash can" were from 1994. The police cars - Ford Crown Vic's - sported 1986-1990 wheel covers. Police cars of that era would have had what you see on 1984 cop TV shows, like Miami Vice or Magnum PI - baby moon hubcaps. Even the weapons the police were shown using were not early 80's issue. 4 stars because I watched it.

I never knew a science fiction thriller would play out a Romeo & Juliet ending. Very interesting how they pulled this off from a premise of AI. Many elements of this story I have seen before, its many science fiction story concepts thrown into one. This is not your typical Depp film but I can see him wanting to do a movie with an ending like this one. Overall I would recommend this movie to anyone wanting a different but very well told science fiction thriller that takes many different routes to make its moral point. I feel the film was rather intelligent. Great cast by the way.

Yikes. I just got done watching this movie. What a disaster of story telling. Somehow other reviewers tout this movie as a nice "old fashioned" style film. I love old fashioned films, love classic films, I am a huge film buff. I mean Ben Foster is obviously pretending to be a Van Johnson persona here. This movie is a disaster all in all. Its a waste of a good cast, waste of a true story. The script is downright boring, contrived as others have said, and bland. There is no character development so no investment. The efforts of the sinking tanker's engineer was the most interesting parts of the story, the premise of how to keep the tanker afloat and steer the tanker. I would say this was the most suspenseful building potential of the film, that is until the next cut which then spoils any momentum of this story. The damsel fiance wife ending up stuck in a ditch in the snow is probably the worst nail biting twist in the story. When you see this film...Please tell me how in the world a radio that has been drowned in sea water all of a sudden works!? I am not surprised that Disney made this movie. Seeing how they totally dismantled the Star Wars Saga at their first outing baffles the mind. They should just stick with animated kid stuff. This movie has zero suspense for a story that I am sure had real suspense as it was unfolding in the middle of the open sea. I give this movie 3 stars because it has no pulse.