Tag: Rated R

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)

Prior to watching Kevin Costner’s first directed film in over two decades, I looked at my Letterboxd account to realize that this film would only be the eleventh western film I have ever seen in the theater.

Granted, this is largely due to my age (which is why my first “western” experience in the theater was sadly 1999’s infamous Wild Wild West), so it is safe to say all the westerns I have seen have been on a smaller screen. It was with this lack of big screen western experience and the fact that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has a 40% score on rottentomatoes (it was not screened for many critics, which is rarely a good sign) that I went to see the film,…and was actually surprised at it.

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4 Stars Movies

The Bikeriders (2024)

You know how you can sometimes be oblivious to any form of accent you have when speaking?

As someone who has grown up in the midwest his whole life, I definitely never picked up on having an accent of any kind. Even so, it was impossible for me to not notice the accent work of Jodie Comer is using in The Bikeriders.

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3 1/2 Stars

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

In the week or so I spent catching up and rewatching the previous Mad Max films, a rather unrelated film scene popped into my head.

In 1941, there was a film released called Hellzapoppin’. While I have not seen the film, I have seen what is arguably the film’s most popular scene when the characters do a dance called “The Lindy Hop”. When you watch it on YouTube, you will most likely have trouble concluding that these talented people are not being sped up on film: they are just that bleepin’ fast.

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4 1/2 Stars Movies

Civil War (2024)

Over the last month or so, I found myself watching three films from the 1950s that were definite products of their time (which is not to say they were bad).

The three films (The Incredible Shrinking Man, Them!, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers) most assuredly dealt with fears of the times: radiation, political invasion, and nuclear war. Thankfully, none of that has happened since then (well, maybe the invasion part, but that is not something I want to dive into), but they surely seemed like possible outcomes.

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3 1/2 Stars

Monkey Man (2024)

Going as far back as Kurosawa’s 1961 classic Yojimbo (and probably even before that), the revenge flick always has a unique place in the heart of the audience.

Whether it be a samurai, a war vet (ala Rambo), a 21st century Liam Neeson role, or (most recently) the John Wick films, we all have that inner being that wants to exact revenge. Whether it be a bully, a boss/co-worker, or someone who cut you off in traffic, our (much safer) alternative to vengeance is watching it dished out on screen.

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4 Stars

Suncoast (2024)

I was a Junior in High School when the Terri Schiavo case made headlines.

From what I remember, it was brought up in at least one of my classes as a potential debate topic, and it also was something I thought could hurt the film Million Dollar Baby at that year’s Oscars (it didn’t). Being what introduced the world (or at least me) to the term “euthanasia”, the whole impact of the ordeal seems to have been lost to time.

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2 1/2 Stars

I.S.S. (2024)

Premise alone is not always the best way to intrigue me, but that is definitely what happen when I first saw the trailer for I.S.S.

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4 1/2 Stars Movies

May December (2023)

There is not as much shame as there used to be when I would admit to going into a movie thinking it was bad and it ends up being good (or vice versa).

 I had more of a “mistaken identity” when watching May December. I’m not sure where I read it (or where I thought I did) but I went into the film thinking that the two main actresses, Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, were a married couple. Regardless of how I came to this false conclusion, it is not the case the new film by Todd Haynes, but that does not at all take away from the true film, with one of the more unique and admittedly disturbing premises in recent memory.

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3 Stars Movies

Napoleon (2023)

Try as I might, my prior knowledge of Napoleon Bonaparte heading into the latest movie based on him is considerably less than normal (I was going to make a height joke here, but couldn’t think of one).

Aside from knowing him as one of the greatest generals in history, being considered short, and having a complex named after him, I knew nothing more (unless you count him being a fan of water slides thanks to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure). Even still, it seems to make sense that director Ridley Scott, equally as fearless as Bonaparte (and in his mid 80s, no less) would make a film about the historical figure, which results in the film Napoleon.

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4 1/2 Stars Movies

The Holdovers (2023)

There is a strong argument that can be made that we have been undervaluing Paul Giamatti. 

My earliest recollection of him must have been his small parts in 1998’s Dr. Dolittle with Eddie Murphy and the war classic Saving Private Ryan (the same year). It was then in 2003 he got deserved claim in American Splendor and then his big break a year later in Sideways (two movies I have needed to revisit for some time now).

For some baffling reason, the only Oscar nomination of his career came in 2005 with Cinderella Man. Of course, he has been in his bad share of movies, but (at least from the ones I have seen) has yet to give a bad performance. 

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