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Posted: |
Apr 3, 2025 - 12:37 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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A WORKING MAN (2025) – 7/10
Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham have been working together since 2010 when they teamed up, along with a passel of other male action stars, for THE EXPENDABLES. They co-starred in two additional EXPENDABLES films, and then Statham took over the lead for THE EXPENDALES 4, in which Stallone was relegated to a supporting role. Stallone also co-wrote the first three EXPENDABLES films. In between EXPENDABLES 2 and 3, Stallone wrote a vehicle for Statham called HOMEFRONT, about a former DEA agent who moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth drug lord.
Statham has made a career of late of playing retired special operatives who are called back into the fray to right some wrong. In last year’s THE BEEKEEPER, he was a retired CIA black ops guy who avenged the death of his landlady at the hands of some internet scammers. Now, from that film’s director, David Ayer, comes A WORKING MAN, which was co-written and co-produced by Stallone.
The film finds Statham as “Levon Cade,” a retired British military special ops guy who is now the foreman of a Chicago construction firm. When the teenage daughter (Arianna Rivas) of the firm’s owner (Michael Peña) is snatched from a bar by some human traffickers, Cade unretires to do what he does best. The search for the girl runs him afoul of a local biker gang that happens to be in cahoots with the Russian mob. And of course, the mob has some local cops on their payroll as well. With all those forces arrayed against Cade, the bodies start piling up fast.
Naturally, the film is just one body-crunching fistfight and blazing gun battle after another, with a few interludes for Cade to have some quiet time with his young daughter (Isla Gie). Cade, it seems, lost his wife to suicide, and his father-in-law is trying to take his daughter away from him because, as he tells Cade, “Violence follows you everywhere.” Duh.
Ultimately, the film is a retread of Liam Neeson’s 2008 TAKEN, which Neeson re-trod twice himself, in 2012 and 2014. A WORKING MAN is as good as either of Neeson’s re-dos, if a bit more brutal—Neeson’s films were all rated [PG-13], while Statham’s is [R]. If you’re a Statham fan, this will tide you over until his next opus.
None of the music in the film made much of an impression on me—neither Jared Michael Fry’s score, of which there is a lot, nor the song excepts, of which there are many. Fry’s score is available as a 49-track, 98-minute download. I have no idea if it was all used in the film.
A WORKING MAN cost $40 million to produce and had a worldwide gross of $35 million in its first week.
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BOB TREVINO LIKES IT (2025) – 10/10
The poster for this film informs us that this picture was the “Winner of 13 Audience Awards.” I was in one of those audiences that gave the film its award, and I couldn’t have been happier that it won. It’s also telling that the film didn’t win many awards at film festivals where juries of film industry professionals hand out the awards. BOB TREVINO is an audience film through and through.
The film is the story of “Lily Trevino” (Barbie Ferreira), a somewhat overweight young woman who is having trouble getting her life together. She is going nowhere at her job, has few friends, and is burdened with an unreliable father, “Bob” (French Stewart), who only contacts his daughter when he needs something from her (usually money). During one such connection, Lily says some harsh things, and the two have a big falling out. After some time goes by, Lily, feeling guilty, decides to try and reconnect with her father via Facebook. But Lily finds not her father, but another man, also named “Bob Trevino” (John Leguizamo). Trying to discover if they are related, she makes a post and gets the response that “Bob Trevino liked it.”
After communicating through Facebook for a while, the two arrange to meet. This Bob Trevino is similarly at loose ends, with a distant wife (Rachel Bay Jones) and a lot of time on his hands. The reason for his predicament is best left for your own discovery. Suffice it to say that the new Bob Trevino becomes a stabilizing presence in Lily’s life. And the less said about the rest of the story, the better. Rest assured that the film is genuinely heartwarming all the way up to its moving ending and beyond, when one last revelation is made.
The film definitely plays on the audience’s emotions, but in the best way imaginable, through great characterizations and wonderful performances by Ferreira and Leguizamo, who has rarely been better. Writer-director Tracie Laymon is making her feature film debut here, having previously created numerous award-winning short films. She has given us a true gift with this picture. But let’s face it, heartening adult stories are a hard sell. BOB TREVINO LIKES IT is not the type of film that sets the box office on fire. Roadside Attractions recently expanded its release from 5 theaters to 99 theaters. Try to find one if you can.
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Posted: |
Apr 11, 2025 - 4:24 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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WILLIAM TELL (2025) – 8/10
British writer-director Nick Hamm has loosely based his film on Friedrich Schiller’s play about the legendary Swiss marksman William Tell. Hamm casts Claes Bang as William Tell, an ex-Crusader, now reluctant to take up arms against King Albert of Austria (Ben Kingsley), who rules the province of Switzerland with an iron hand. Finally, the indignities of the King’s tax collectors and the need to kowtow to Albert's vassal Gessler (Connor Swindells) is too much, and Tell agrees to lead the assembled Swiss tribes in rebellion. He is aided by Rudenz (Jonah Hauer-King), a Swiss nobleman who had previously tried to appease the Austrians, and by Albert’s niece Bertha (Ellie Bamber), who is in love with Rudenz but has been promised in marriage to Gessler.
The film gets an extra point for its visuals—magnificent vistas of mountains and meadows, castles and villages, shot in the Italian province of South Tyrol, which borders both Switzerland and Austria. The story is a familiar one of revolution, but at least it’s one that has not been oft told. And of course, we get the obligatory scene where Tell shoots an apple off his son’s head. One thing I hadn’t expected—Tell uses a crossbow rather than a longbow.
The cast is competent, but a little more star power could have raised the film a notch. At least they speak English, in this multinational coproduction. Steven Price’s score is OK, with a nice main title theme, but the balance of it could have been tracked into any recent historical epic, from GLADIATOR II to THE LAST DUEL. It’s a throwback film, to be sure, but one that ends with a modern touch…a tease for a sequel. That’s not likely to happen. The film, which opened in Europe a few months back, has generated only half a million dollars at the worldwide box office so far. Most people are destined to see it via streaming.
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One thing I hadn’t expected—Tell uses a crossbow rather than a longbow.
Thought everyone knew that. It came from England ( or wales).
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Posted: |
Apr 16, 2025 - 3:55 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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THE AMATEUR (2025) – 6/10
“Heller” (Rami Malek) works at the CIA as a data analyst. From an anonymous European contact, he has received evidence that his boss, “Director Moore” (Holt McCallany), has been approving unauthorized operations that have cost the lives of American allies. Meanwhile, Heller’s wife “Sarah” (Rachel Brosnahan) is on a business trip to London, where she is taken hostage by four terrorists and subsequently killed. Heller learns that the CIA knows who the terrorists are, but they refuse to go after them, because they ostensibly want to “roll up the entire network.”
Heller decides to take matters into his own hands, and blackmails Moore into sending him to agent training camp. There, as he studies under trainer “Henderson” (Laurence Fishburne), we see that although Heller is useless in a gun or fist fight, he knows his way around computers and mechanical things, and is a natural bombmaker. With these limited skills, he sets out on his path of revenge.
This film is an adaptation of Robert Littell’s 1981 novel, which was previously made into a 1981 Canadian film of the same name, starring John Savage. I haven’t seen that earlier version, but I hope is it better than this new one. The filmmakers were undoubtedly shooting for something more realistic than we usually get in revenge thrillers. We expect the action and characters in the John Wick films or Jason Statham’s outings to be somewhat over the top. Here, we can feel the screenwriters and director straining for verisimilitude. But it just isn’t there.
First, there are so many plot holes in the story—questions that never get answered—that we just can’t suspend disbelief. How does Heller come by his mechanical knowledge? How did he ever make contact with his European source? How does that source know what it does? Which side is Henderson really on? Second, Rami Malek is a particularly inexpressive actor. He has a single facial expression that he uses to register grief, concern, anger, or attraction. His voice rarely changes tone or volume. Perhaps that is supposed to be his character. If so, it makes for an uninteresting one. Third, in a genre where good villains make for good films, we never get to know the villains. We never hear from them or see them up close until they are about to be dispatched. The only compelling character in the piece is the mysterious source, whom we finally meet.
As helmed by British television director James Hawes (his second feature), the film is too long and slow for the level of suspense generated or action shown. Last month’s BLACK BAG gave us a lot more suspense in 30 minutes less time, and we got much more action in a similar amount of time from Jason Statham’s recent A WORKING MAN. The main thing going for THE AMATEUR is its European locations (England, France, and Turkey). Volker Bertelmann’s alternately pounding and droning score is available on vinyl or as a 62-minute download. The $60 million production is off to a modest start, with a $33 million one-week worldwide gross.
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Dorian Gray (Oliver Parker, 2009) – 5/10 (First watch)
A somewhat tame, uninspired spin on Wilde's immortal tale of vanity and decay.
It is watchable, sure, but when the credits roll, you are already starting to move on and forget about it.
Noah (Darren Aronofsky, 2014) – 7/10 (Re-watch)
The Book of Genesis gives you a few stark pages on Noah and the saving of a remnant of mankind from God's wrath, Aronofsky gives you two and a half hours of fantasy spectacle. As a result, the movie adds some subplots into the narrative, changes the perspective, and throws in imposing rock monsters (a take on the "watchers" from the apocryphal book of Enoch), and lets Tubal-Cain ride the flood for one last round of villainy. Perhaps a bit heavy-handed in places, but as a mythic fantasy with philosophical grit, it works. There's depth baked into the bones of the story. Definitely entertaining, if a tad overwrought. Bonus points for Russel Crowe in the titular role, he's good.
Ford v Ferrari (James Mangold, 2019) – 8/10 (First watch)
Classic cinema - the kind they don't make anymore. Frankly, I'm shocked this got even made in 2019, no superheroes, not a remake, not a franchise setup, just a good old fashioned big-screen "adult" movie. The type Hollywood used to do once. A few decades back, this would've been Newman and McQueen lighting up the screen, perhaps with Charles Durning as Henry Ford II. Nowadays, we get Damon and Bale, and they deliver just as well.
What really drives the film is the character focus. It takes its time, lets the drama breathe. I was reminded of that old Seinfeld “National Geographic” bit, where one week the predator's the hero, next week it's the prey.
Here, the multi-billion corporation Ford becomes against all odds the "David" of the story, challenging the small Italian family carmaker Ferrari, the "Goliath", on its own turf: racing. Though, as a Ford Executive notes in the movie, Ford makes more cars in a day than Ferrari in a year.
And yet… it works. The film stays lean, sharp, and on track. Strong cast, smart script, and a steady hand on the wheel. Perhaps my favorite James Mangold movie.
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THE VOURDALAK - 2023 - 7/10
I think I'll stick with the Boris Karloff & Gianni Garko.
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THE VOURDALAK - 2023 - 7/10
Quirky, strange French period vampire tragi-drama/black comedy.
Great atmosphere and vibe, similar to Eggers recent NOSFERATU effort, with a smaller budget.
Endlessly intriguing and fascinating (I still can't decide if I loved or hated the puppetry of the titular character), with an effective acoustic/period score (ala Debbie Wiseman with her Locrian Ensemble scores).
Pretty cool overall.
I saw this last week and I'm still deciding if it was alluring or barking bonkers. All was intriguing until the green terminator skeleton showed up n starting biting.
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Posted: |
Apr 22, 2025 - 9:16 AM
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By: |
Tall Guy
(Member)
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“You know,” says she, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Diamonds Are Forever all the way through.”
Not a conversation you’d expect unless Shirley Bassey had just belted it out on the radio. So, there being no time like the present, we watched it that evening.
It must be twenty years since I’ve seen it myself, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s completely silly, of course, and I repeat my wish that Lazenby had hung on for another go. That said, there’s a lot to enjoy. It’s as familiar to me as an old leather jacket, having seen it on release and many times since, but this time I particularly noticed the lounge music (which I love btw) and I enjoyed watching Mrs TG reacting to the outrageous Wint and Kidd scenes.
I’ll watch it again, probably many years hence, not sure she will though despite her enjoyment of it overall.
I’m loathe to rate it, because I’ve lost all objectivity when it comes to the Bond films, and can only really calibrate it as part of the series. If FRWL and OHMSS are 9/10, this is 7/10.
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Man, there are nearly as many Poliziotto as westerns. I'm fond of many
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Carry On Abroad
Seen so many times but still find it one of their best. So many Brits went on package tours to Spain in the 60s and hotels weren't finished etc - they pitched it perfect. Butterworth is superb in this.
Bit saucy but i think I can get away with giving it a 7.9. Bloodinks stove!!
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Posted: |
Apr 25, 2025 - 11:20 PM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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SINNERS (2025) – 8/10
For a horror film, SINNERS is such a ripping good yarn, takes place in such a unique setting, has such a fine cast, and is so well shot that it doesn’t much matter that it doesn’t work very well as an allegory. The story takes place in 1932, as identical twin brothers and World War I veterans “Smoke” and “Stack” (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return to the Mississippi Delta after years spent working for the Chicago Outfit. Using money stolen from gangsters, they purchase a sawmill from racist landowner “Hogwood” (David Maldonado) to open a juke joint for the local black community. Their cousin “Sammie” (Miles Caton), an aspiring singer-guitarist, joins them despite opposition from his pastor father “Jedediah” (Saul Williams), who warns that blues music is supernatural.
A large crowd comes out for opening night, including shopkeepers “Bo” (Yao) and “Grace Chow” (Li Jun Li), Stack’s ex-girfriend “Mary” (Hailee Steinfeld), pianist “Delta Slim” (Delroy Lindo), and sharecropper “Cornbread” (Omar Miller). Then, at the height of the party’s musical frenzy, the gathering is set upon a group of vampires, led by “Remmick” (Jack O'Connell), who start to pick off the attendees one by one.
From this point, the action is all straight from the vampire playbook, with the recently killed and bitten becoming reanimated as vampires themselves. Here also is where the allegorical references come in, as Remmick tries to convince those as-yet-undead, that the only true freedom from their earthly burdens of poverty, discrimination, and possible lynching at the hands of the KKK lies in his promise of eternal life.
But it’s a half-hearted plea, that no one takes seriously, and that everyone recognizes as a ruse to allow the vampires to enter the sawmill. (Per vampire lore, they must be invited into a dwelling.) So, the idea that the film has of juxtaposing the harsh realities of black life against the supposed untroubled existence of the undead doesn’t go very far, and is only addressed fitfully thereafter. What does motivate the people is the normal fear for their earthly lives and the lives of their loved ones who are placed in danger.
With its juke joint setting, music becomes a big part of the film, through both diegetic music and Ludwig Göransson’s score. Sony Music has digitally released 22 songs (72 minutes) performed by an array of blues musicians and the cast members, and a separate score album (19 tracks, 71 minutes). Those who don’t love the blues need not apply.
Ryan Coogler wrote and directed the picture. The film looks great, being shot on location in Louisiana in Ultra Panavision 70, with selected scenes in IMAX. The $100 million production has grossed $93 million in its first week, marking the best start for a non-sequel or franchise film in 6 years.
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Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014) – 8/10
It takes a hell of a script to make a compelling film about people you don’t like, you certainly wouldn’t want in your house. NIGHTCRAWLER by Dan Gilroy pulls it off. (The script was rightly nominated for an Academy Award.) It’s always interesting when you see a movie with practically no redeeming characters that nevertheless pulls you in and has you engrossed with it.
Lou Bloom is a sleazeball from frame one. He’s a petty thief, a criminal, someone with no perspective, but who has ambition, who wants… something. By accident he stumbles upon an accident (that’s how these things go) and notices freelance videographers who sell their footage to local news stations. An idea is born… Lou steals an expensive bicycle at Venice beach, pawns it in for a camcorder, and is off to his career as a “Nightcrawler”, basically the equivalent of a human vulture, feeding of brutality, pain, murder, accidents that happen in Los Angeles at night (curiously all at night… the whole movie plays at night and mostly outside, as if no murders or accidents ever happen during the day?)
Lou Bloom (a creepy performance by Jake Gyllenhaal, one of his best) has no arc, no apology tour, no tearful redemption. Just ambition with dead eyes and a camera. And the sad aspect of the story: Lou probably has no hope for change, no hope for redemption… he is empty, soulless… but functioning.
This movie is not a cautionary tale, rather a snapshot, a clear, cold, clinical, laser-focused look at the underbelly of tabloid journalism. In the movie, it’s about local news, but it could just as well be about the hunt for clicks and headlines on the NET.
Fascinating. Disturbing. Good movie.
Very fitting electronic/guitar score by James Newton Howard.
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