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Death Wish (2018)
Death Wish (2018)
Why do we like vigilante justice? I think that it is because someone does exactly what we are thinking should be done or we would like to do, ourselves. Also, vigilante justice in the movies is often portrayed as sticking up for ones that cannot stick up for themselves. If you are like me, then you enjoy rooting for the underdog.
Death Wish is about a doctor who decides to take matters into his own hands after an attack on his family. He decides to find the men responsible and serve up his own form of vigilante justice.
The movie was directed by Eli Roth and the noteworthy cast includes Bruce Willlis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Dean Norris, Camila Morrone, Beau Knapp, Kimberly Elise, Len Cariou, Jack Kesy, and Ronnie Gene Blevins.
I am not usually one to be into remakes. It seems like Hollywood remakes or reboots just about everything these days. Often, I say leave well enough alone, but sometimes the right remake idea comes along and the right actor is cast in the lead role.
In this case, Willis was very fitting for the role in Death Wish. It was his best performance since Looper (2012). He has been making a lot of B-rated straight to DVD movies lately, so it is nice to see him return to his former glory. I am glad to see that he has not gone the way of Nicolas Cage (spitting out one piece of trash after the next). Death Wish is a one-man-show and Bruce was clearly up for the task.
This movie is a scary concept because of how realistic it is. What I mean by that is that it shows just how worthless the police department and justice system can be sometimes. Too often, it is the people that deserve to see justice be done, that are the ones stuck without any justice at all. It also goes to show just how vulnerable we all are.
The likable Dean Norris has quickly been typecast as the police or detective type thanks to the success of the television series Breaking Bad. His part in this movie is good, but it does quickly make you think of Breaking Bad.
There are a few noticeable gruesome scenes in this movie that had Roth’s signature all over it. So far, I believe that this film is Roth’s best work as a director. He did a terrific job setting the tone of Death Wish and sticking with it throughout.
It has been a very long time since I have seen the original Death Wish (1974), but watching this version has made me want to go back and watch the original sometime soon. The new film is a quality remake done with today’s technology. The original movie is now 44 years old and it shows its age.
This movie is a murky suspense/thriller with good old fashioned popcorn-popping action. Willis as the protagonist doing bad for good reasons will keep you on the edge of your seat hoping that justice gets done.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
If you liked this film then you might also enjoy:
Death Wish (1974)
Death Sentence (2007)
The Brave One (2007)
Man on Fire (2004)
The Equalizer (2014)
The Punisher (2004)
Sin City (2005)
Harry Brown (2009)
RED (2010)
John Wick (2014)
John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
Defendor (2009)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
I had never even heard of A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints until I rented Charlie Countryman (2013) at the Redbox. When you rent Charlie Countryman, you get A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints as a bonus movie. They give you a two-for-one, a double sided disc for the price of one movie. It’s a Shia LaBeouf double feature. They are both indie films. This was all the more intriguing to me, so I watched each movie the other night. You can guess what one of my next reviews will be.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints was based on the book with the same title. Surprisingly enough, the man who wrote the book, Dito Montiel, also directed the movie. The movie is a film adaptation of Dito Montiel’s life growing up in Astoria, New York in the 1980s. The story is a look into a messed up childhood in a rough part of the city. It follows the struggles of inner city teenagers, Dito (Shia LaBeouf plays young Dito, and Robert Downey Jr. plays grown up Dito) and his friends as they are becoming adults. The circle of friends are pitted against drugs, violence, sex, love, hate, loss, and hardship. All the while, Dito wants to escape New York and try to make a better life for himself somewhere else.
The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Channing Tatum, Chazz Palminteri, Dianne Wiest, Rosario Dawson, Melonie Diaz, Martin Compston, Scott Michael Campbell, Anthony DeSando, Adam Scarimbolo, Peter Anthony Tambakis, Laila Liliana Garro, and Eric Roberts.
I’m surprised that this movie got past me 8 years ago, because the cast is excellent. I should have been aware of this film earlier. It’s another low-budget independent film that slipped through the cracks.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints was hard to watch, at times, but it was also hard to stop watching. The film was an excellent depiction of how rundown certain areas of the country can be and how it affects the people living there. It’s indeed unfortunate, but it’s in-your-face honesty. Some people won’t be able to handle the honesty of this movie. The trashy characters, obscene language and other vulgarity, along with the sex, nudity, and mindless violence, among other things, will be too much for some.
But, you have to take the sweet from the sour. There is indeed a silver lining in this story. The headlining actors in this film are exceptional. The movie makes you feel like you are in the slums with the characters experiencing it all. The actors portray a remarkable friendship and camaraderie that helps you come back to the reality that people often try to be good even if they are bad.
The story is rigid and rocky, but the writing and acting make it all worthwhile. Here is an unknown gem for those who are willing to give it a chance.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
If you liked A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, you might also enjoy the following movies:
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
American Hustle (2013)
American Hustle (2013)
Back in August of 2013, when I first heard about American Hustle, this was my viewpoint on it:
David O. Russell has taken 3 stars from his film Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and 2 stars from his film The Fighter (2010), and brought all 5 of them together to make a movie. If The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook had a baby, it would be named American Hustle.
Not only is this film a guaranteed Oscar contender, but it will likely be amazing.
I have been excited about seeing American Hustle ever since.
What do you get when you cross two conniving con artists, a crazy FBI agent, corrupt politicians and the mob? The answer, American Hustle. Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and his girlfriend Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) have developed an excellent partnership of swindling desperate people out of their money. Everything is going great until one day, a power hungry FBI agent (Bradley Cooper) catches the couple in his web. In order to keep from going to prison, Irving and Sydney are forced to work with the FBI to try to help bring down other criminals. One thing leads to another and they find themselves butting heads with the mafia. The beauty of it all is that you can’t tell who is conning who.
The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Pena, Alessandro Nivola, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Robert De Niro, and Paul Herman.
I have to say that I loved the trailer for this movie. It tells you what the movie is about without telling you much about the movie at all. They leave a lot to the imagination. It was refreshing. You get excited to see the movie because of the cast of characters and how they are acting, but you are dying to know what the movie is really about. In this day and age, this is a risky concept because there are multiple movies out there that appear like they are about nothing because their trailer does not tell you much, and when you go to watch them they are pointless. Their secrecy sucks you in, but in reality they weren’t keeping a secret. They just really suck and you just wasted your time. American Hustle is not like that, at all. There is far more to this film than the trailer leads you to believe.
I did not expect there to be as much humor as there was. The movie was laugh-out-loud hilarious. It was very smart, well thought out dark humor.
The film oozed with elegance. Everything about the movie seemed classy. It was clean and crisp. The colors were so clear and bright. From a filmmaking aspect alone, the movie was perfection. Picture that, but then throw in some of the best actors in the business into a flawlessly put together movie.
So, now you have a diamond of a movie with a cast that is worth its weight in gold. What do you get now? Fireworks. American Hustle recreates the 70s believably and the soundtrack is there to prove it. The actors play the game like the all-stars that they are. The chemistry was electrifying between everybody. The actors kept one-upping each other.
Chistian Bale, with a porky belly and the cheapest comb over imaginable stood out among the rest. His performance was not surprising, but it was every bit as good as anything he has ever done before. His performance was not surprising because he has been acting at such a high level for such a long time, that it’s hard to expect anything less out of him. His acting was power and precision. For a long time now, Johnny Depp has been my favorite actor and Bale has been my second favorite. I think Bale just surpassed Depp. Dare I say, lately he is more consistently in better movies. Bale is capable of almost any role and he proves it time and time again. I have not seen all of the movies that are up for Academy Awards, but as of right now, Bale gets my vote for Best Actor, and he should be competing against himself for Out of the Furnace (2013)(that movie was snubbed), as well.
Speaking of Academy Awards, Amy Adams. She was absolutely wonderful in American Hustle. She was stylish and sophisticated. Instead of being dressed down, like she was in The Fighter, her beauty was really able to shine through to her core. She played a woman who was always in control and it was the best performance by an actress that I have seen since perhaps, Hilary Swank in the film Million Dollar Baby (2004). It certainly was Amy’s best film that I have seen to date. It was even better than her performance in The Fighter.
Bradley Cooper had more curlers in his hair than Amy Adams. He pulled it off though and it was funny. He brought a level of insanity to his role in American Hustle that showed similarities to Silver Linings Playbook. He was allowed his moments to shine, but you could tell he was along for the ride in the back seat behind Bale. Amy Adams was riding shotgun and Jennifer Lawrence was in the back seat behind her, sitting next to Cooper.
Jennifer Lawrence seemed to pick up right where she left off in Silver Linings Playbook. She was the broken housewife with an attitude and an appetite for wreaking havoc and turmoil. I thought she played the part about as well as she did in Silver Linings Playbook.
David O. Russell has come a long way since Flirting With Disaster (1996) and I Heart Huckabees (2004). He took a page right out of Martin Scorsese’s book by having multiple narrators in American Hustle. The movie actually was very Scorsese-esque. Russell’s last three films have all been Oscar contenders and American Hustle is as deserving of an Oscar as either of the other two. My only concern is that this movie gets screwed out of the Academy Awards that it rightfully deserves for the sake of diversity.
This film was like the acting all-star game of 2013.
I rate this movie a 10 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Note: I usually do not rate a movie a 10 after the first showing, but I could not find anything wrong with this movie. I thought that it might drag on a little bit because of the 138 minutes running time, but it didn’t. It was just an exercise in excellence. I am often reluctant to give a movie a 10 rating right away because I think that it should prove the test of time. I think this one already did.
If you liked American Hustle, then you will most likely enjoy the following films:
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Redbox Movie Reviews January 2014
Redbox Movie Reviews January 2014
I have seen 94 of the movies that are currently available at the Redbox. Of those 94 films, I have written a review for 61 of them. My reviews will let you know what I think are the best movies currently available at the Redbox and what are the worst movies currently available at the Redbox.
I like a wide variety of movies. My list consists of comedy movies, horror movies, action movies, drama movies, western movies, science fiction movies, foreign movies, comic book movies, family movies, war movies, etc. I’ve reviewed almost every genre you can think of, so hopefully it will suit whatever mood you are in.
Note: I will continue to update this list throughout the month of January. Each month I will keep updating a new list that will have more and more movies on it. If you like what you see, I hope that you will come back for more in the future.
Click on each title below for a trailer, pictures, cast list, my rating, and my review of that movie.
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (2006)
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
If you like what you see then click on this link: www.brockingmovies.com to check out the rest of my site. Movies are what I do.
Out of the Furnace (2013)
Out of the Furnace (2013)
There are certain movies that appear to be destined for greatness and Out of the Furnace looked like one of them.
Christian Bale is one of the most versatile actors of our time. I’ve been a fan of his ever since I watched Newsies (1992) for the first when I was a little kid. Bale has become such a great actor that I eagerly await all of his new movies. Out of the Furnace especially sparked my interest after I learned how many other big names are in the cast.
Russell Baze (Christian Bale) goes looking for his younger brother, Rodney, (Casey Affleck) after he goes missing. Russell will stop at nothing to get his brother back and release his own form of justice on whoever is responsible for taking him.
The film was directed by Scott Cooper and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Woody Harrelson, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Zoe Saldana, Sam Shepard, and Tom Bower.
As the title suggests, the movie is rough and only gets more severe. It’s out of the furnace and into the fire. The title did, in fact, suit the film quite well. The movie was injected with pain and anger. Eventually the intensity boiled over and the film sizzled. Out of the Furnace stirs up the emotions and lights them on fire. It’s easily the most powerful movie of the year.
Christian Bale does not cease to impress. Nobody could have done a better job in his role, and the only thing better than Bale’s performance was the fact that the rest of the film was filled to the brim with extraordinary talent working alongside him. The entire cast was firing on all cylinders.
This movie is not for anyone with a weak stomach. The violence is brutal and the language is harsh. The filmmakers’ gloves came off in order to make a film so sharp that the jagged edges will cut into your mind and all sorts of emotions will come leaking out. Out of the Furnace will stick with you long after it ends.
The movie deserves to be nominated for an Academy Award in just about every category available. It gets my vote for Best Picture of the Year and Bale deserves the Best Actor award, hands down.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
If you liked Out of the Furnace, then you will probably enjoy the following films:
Now In Theatres Movie Reviews November 8th – November 14th
Now In Theatres Movie Reviews November 8th – November 14th
I have seen and reviewed 24 movies that are currently in theatres. Some of the films have been in theatres for a while now, and others are newer releases. If you are having trouble deciding what movie to see in theatres, I hope that you will consult my list for help. Movie ticket prices are pretty expensive these days, and I might be able to help save you some of your hard earned cash. My ratings will help you decide what are the best movies currently in theatres and what are the worst movies currently in theatres. Also, at the bottom of the list I have provided you with trailers of movies that are out that I have not seen yet.
Click on each title below for a trailer, poster artwork, and my full review of that movie:
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Click on each title below for a preview and poster artwork of that movie along with my opinion of whether or not I think that film will be any good:
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
I hope that you find my reviews helpful. I will continue to update this list when I have seen more movies, so feel free to check back regularly. Also, I plan on making a new list each week as more films are released. Happy movie watching from www.brockingmovies.com
Don Jon (2013)
Don Jon (2013)
I have always been a fan of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I grew up watching his films and television shows. When I was a little kid, I liked him in the films Angels in the Outfield (1994), Beethoven (1992), A River Runs Through It (1992), and the television shows Family Ties, Murder, She Wrote, and Roseanne.
As I grew older, I watched Gordon-Levitt grow up and his roles slowly mature. When I was a teenager I enjoyed his part in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You(1999), and I liked him in the television shows That ‘70s Show, and 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Shortly after 3rd Rock from the Sun ended in 2001, Gordon-Levitt started accepting edgier roles. For the most part, he stuck with low-budget independent films until the blockbuster Inception (2010) boosted him to superstardom.
Ever since Inception, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has been on fire. He was excellent in the film 50/50 (2011), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) speaks for itself, he made Premium Rush (2012) watch-able, Looper (2012) was awesome, Lincoln (2012) was a film of epic proportions, and he has returned to his roots of independent, edgy filmmaking with Don Jon.
Don Jon marks an impressive new milestone for Gordon-Levitt. It is the first film that he has written, directed, and starred in. Also, he bulked up a lot for the movie.
Don Jon is an atypical dysfunctional drama that hits on a touchy topic, porn addiction. Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a New Jersey man who seems to have all of his priorities straight except that he is a total ladies man and he is addicted to pornography. When Jon meets Barbara (Scarlett Johansson), the most beautiful woman that he has ever seen, she changes him. He is forced to confront his porn addiction and how he treats women.
The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly, Brie Larson, Rob Brown, and Jeremy Luke.
The movie is definitely an adult drama. It tackles the subjects of pornography, masturbation, and addiction. There is a lot of nudity and language.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a very solid track record when it comes to acting and I was very excited to see Don Jon because of his writing, directing, and starring credits. He does not disappoint. The film was delightfully different from the norm. It touches on topics that people tend to shy away from and it throws them in your face. Although it will be considered a controversial movie and it proves that Gordon-Levitt likes to takes risks, Don Jon has a lot of heart.
I saw Don Jon two nights ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. It stuck with me. The more I think about it, the more that I like it. It’s a good date movie if you have an open mind.
The cast is awesome! Gordon-Levitt was a rockstar both on and off camera. The chemistry between Johansson and Gordon-Levitt was perfect. They also had their accents down wonderfully. Moore was a great addition to the movie and it was fun to see Danza and Headly acting again.
Don Jon deserves a few Oscar nods, in my opinion. Joseph Gordon-Levitt should be recognized with a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor or Best Director, or both, and the film should be nominated for Best Picture. Johansson and Moore also gave Oscar worthy performances.
Don Jon is one of the best, if not the best movie that I have seen all year. Prisoners (2013) and The Iceman (2012) are my other favorite films of 2013.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt has proved himself to be a very capable filmmaker. I’m excited to see what he will do next.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Note: The first movie that I remember seeing Joseph Gordon-Levitt in was Angels in the Outfield (1994). That film was also the first movie that I remember seeing Tony Danza in. It’s interesting to me how almost 20 years later Gordon-Levitt has gone on to be a superstar and Danza’s career has tanked. If this movie does not revive Danza’s career, then nothing will. If Danza suddenly pops up in everything, it will be because of his comeback in Don Jon.
Prisoners (2013)
Prisoners (2013)
Before seeing Prisoners, I guaranteed to people that it would be good. Sometimes it is as if I just know. I did not have any doubts about this movie at all. I am not narcissistic. I just sort of have a sixth sense. I am like Haley Joel Osment’s character in The Sixth Sense (1999). However, instead of seeing dead people, I see good movies.
Can’t you just hear me whispering softly? “I see good movies.”
Bruce Willis responds, “In your dreams?”
I shake my head no.
“While you’re awake?”
I nod.
“Good movies like, in graves? In coffins?”
“Walking around like regular movies. They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don’t know they’re good.”
Bruce Willis asks, “How often do you see them?”
I whisper, “All the time. They’re everywhere.”
Prisoners is about two little girls who go missing. Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) is the father of one of the girls. He will stop at nothing to find out who took his daughter and will do whatever is necessary to get her back.
The movie was directed by Denis Villeneuve and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrance Howard, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis, Paul Dano, Wayne Duvall, Len Cariou, David Dastmalchian, and Dylan Minnette.
Prisoners was gripping. It did not take long to pull me in to the disturbingly chilling story. It’s the next day and I’m still thinking about the film.
It should go without saying that it’s not exactly a feel good movie. Two little girls disappear. There is nothing good about that. Because of the subject matter, some aspects of the film are hard to like. However, the film was so well-made that it doesn’t pull any punches, and rightfully so. You have to see the bad in order to appreciate the good.
The movie is brutally violent and gory. There is plenty of language and blood. It captures the eeriness of the twisted plot perfectly.
Jackman plays a broken man who does not hesitate to do whatever is necessary to get his daughter back. His performance was excellent. It might be his best and more realistic role yet. It is Hugh Jackman unplugged like you haven’t seen him before.
Gyllenhaal plays the detective on the case. He is obsessed with his job and has solved every case that he has been assigned to. He is not about to fail now. This movie is equally Gyllenhaal’s movie as much as it is Jackman’s.
The rest of the supporting cast all play their parts well and Leo stands out among them.
The film is just over two and a half hours long, but I was so in to it that I did not notice. Time flies when you’re have fun, or watching a good movie. Prisoners never gets boring. It absorbs you and keeps you guessing until the end.
Jackman, Gyllenhaal, and Leo all gave Oscar worthy performances and the film itself is the best movie that I have seen so far this year.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale on 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
If you liked Prisoners, then you will probably enjoy:
Mystic River (2003)
The Most Anticipated Movies Coming to Theatres in September 2013
The Most Anticipated Movies Coming to Theatres in September 2013
Click on each title below for a brief synopsis, trailer, movie poster and release date of each film.
Prisoners (2013) (Click here for my full review.)
Don Jon (2013) (Click here for my full review.)
If you would like to read my reviews on films that are currently out in theatres, simply click on the link below:
brockingmovies 