Crazy Heart features one of the best Jeff Bridges performances I’ve ever seen. That is definitely saying something as he has made a career of low key but brilliant performances. I admit my bias here. He is my favorite actor, as far as dramatic movies go. The story here is also something that is very much in my wheelhouse again, as it is a music … Continue reading Crazy Heart Review
I include this movie as the final entry in the Death Wish review series because in a sense it is kind of a reboot of said series. Once again a white collar business man witnesses an unspeakable tragedy with his family, and fed up with how the law fails to act, decides to take matters into his own hands. There were a few things I … Continue reading Death Sentence Review
Paul Kersey had the worst damn luck of perhaps any movie character in history. I would say tied with John McLane, but all McLane had to worry about was getting trapped in the occasional building. Kersey repeatedly has loved ones mowed down in gruesome life scarring ways. At the time of this movie he is officially a grandpa aged gentleman looking, once again to settle … Continue reading Death Wish V: The Face of Fear Review
Paul Kersey is headed west, again for the fourth installment of the Death Wish series. This time around there is a bit more plot, but still just as much action including what is admittedly a pretty awesome finale involving a bazooka. That said, Bronson really started looking to old and worn out for the part by this time and obviously could not have given a … Continue reading Death Wish 4: The Crackdown Review
Death Wish 3 is as perfect a bad movie as I can imagine. It is completely over the top and makes absolutely no pretenses as to what it is about. Paul Kersey is far removed from the meek and mild architect from the first movie and has now become a professional “neighborhood population control expert”. Armed with a hand cannon (.475 Wildey Magnum for those … Continue reading Death Wish 3 Review
Death Wish goes west is probably a more appropriate title to this sequel. As a kid in love with macho badasses Charles Bronson was, of course, one of my heroes. And in retrospect it is Bronson’s presence alone that saves this one from being a nearly complete dud, that and cheesy lines every now and then such as “Do you believe in Jesus? (Punk says … Continue reading Death Wish 2 Review
This is unapologetic male revenge fantasy, made all the more powerful and terrifying by how gritty and realistic it is portrayed. The character of Paul Kersey is not the sort of man you expect to see played by Charles Bronson, at first that is. He’s a quiet architect whose politics definitely lean toward the anti-gun side of the fence, but that all changes when he … Continue reading Death Wish Review
Tom Hanks is one of the biggest box office stars of all time, so it is usually worth taking note of which of his movies don’t become huge smash hits. A month or so back I reviewed such a movie with Larry Crowne, and here today we have another in The Terminal. This movie has Hanks playing a man from the fictional nation of Krakozhia … Continue reading The Terminal Review
This was the last movie that John Huston made with Humphrey Bogart, and one of the more overlooked ones as well. World War II veteran Frank McCloud visits a sleepy little bed and breakfast in Key Largo to give his respects to the family of an old war pal who has passed on. Along the way he meets his buddy’s widow (Lauren Bacall), his father … Continue reading Key Largo Review
This movie packs the feels. Like I said with the last review of Rocky 5, I find it works best if you skip the third and fourth installments of this series to keep things on an even keel, and for this movie, perhaps just skipping straight from the first movie this one is best for continuity’s sake. This movie is just one big sentimental moment … Continue reading Rocky Balboa Review
