Reviews by BAMF

So I ended up seeing this for a special screening at a local theater that wasn't mine. I'm a huge fan of comic films specifically the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I ended up tagging along unexpectedly with some friends from work. It was even more worth it than I expected. I would even go so far as to saying this is probably either my favorite or at least tied with Guardians of the Galaxy. The Russo brothers really know what they are doing here. They actually have an understanding of the source material. They keep things interesting and only two movies in and you know you can trust them with everything. The writers here know what they are doing as well. They have done all the Captain America films as well as Thor: The Dark World. I feel the only film they didn't quite grasp me with was their second trip to Narnia with Prince Caspian. This is the kind of storytelling that Batman V Superman should have tried to do. They did just fine here with having all these main/side characters and still managing to make it all interesting rather than a jumbled fiasco. Just to throw it in I'm team Iron Man. I honestly say of the two he is my favorite. I also feel like he tends to show more range of emotions. The fight scenes are constant, brutal, and keep you at the edge of your seat. I swear some of the punches thrown just make you want to wince. The MCU veterans keep strong here as expected. Some people are missed, but the new additions make for worthy entries. Chadwick Boseman was excellent as Black Panther. If I didn't know any better I would think he wasn't even really American. Tom Holland was probably my favorite Spider-Man so far. He had the jokes. He had the courage. I'm interested to see how his solo film will be. I would have like a tad bit more of Paul Rudd as Ant-Man. What we did get was pretty great though. Specifically him turning into Giant Man! I wish we had gotten more Hawkeye as well. I'm a sucker for bows and arrows. This is typically my weapon of choice if I have the option in video games. I feel Alfre Woodard and Martin Freeman were high talents for such tiny roles. I actually quite enjoyed the route they went with their villain here. I would say technically Zemo came as a secondary antagonist, while Iron Man was the main antagonist due to the storytelling perspective. It was a very unique way of doing things. This had some good comedy albeit it being a darker tone of story. I liked the little hints of true comic knowledge throughout. If you are a comics fan you will catch what I'm talking about. The ending was quite good and leaves you of course longing for more. Make sure to stay until the very end as there are two credits scenes for this one. I couldn't believe this was the longest of the series so far and yet still felt short. It's definitely a must see!

So as you should know if you follow me. I do enjoy myself zombies quite a bit. This was on my to watch list for a bit, but never got to watching it. Then I saw it on Netflix so I figured why not give it a go. The name is goofy, but it can't be all bad considering it does have decent talent. Stanton Barrett who directed this has no prior behind the scenes activity. He is mostly just an actor and probably doing extras work or something. This is the only writing credit for A.K. Waters. As for Matthew Carpenter he has one other credit which I'm sure nobody has heard of. The opening shot was kind of lackluster. It's looking a bit low budget already. I wonder if a lot of the budget went to the first shot. Well it was pretty obvious that was the situation. I hope the zombie attacks and such will get better. That first one was pretty weak. The fact that this takes place in New Orleans seems a bit cruel. I wonder why they chose Lolo Jones to be in this and as a politician of all things. I mean it's definitely not bad to see this beautiful woman. It's just an odd casting choice. Why exactly does he need to get down during a zombie attack? Okay what the shit was that? A zombie lifted herself up from laying down by her feet. That just defies all laws of zombie physics. I hope this will mean these are explained as different or else I will be pissed. The acting isn't all that bad so that's a plus. This Italian guy is a pretty awful actor. The writing is noticeably jumbled throughout. Wow these SFX are just dreadful. They even CGI'd a freaking window breaking. There are a lot of repeated shots, explanations, and lines. Okay I'm not understanding how some people get infected quick, slow, or not at all. They have a lot of grenades for a mission where they weren't supposed to bring any. Well that explains at least one thing I was questioning. That final shot was pretty dumb. There weren't enough deaths in my opinion. Most of the ones that did happen were boring. I would highly recommend avoiding this one. It was a waste of time.

I decided to finish of this month strong. This was an Oscar submission a few years ago so I expect good things. It's along a similar line as Night of the Wild which I recently watched. Although it's definitely not going to be as corny or whatever. I haven't seen anything from writer/director Kornél Mundruczó (who also has a role in the film). I also haven't watched anything from the co-writers. I have never seen any of these actors anything as well. Oh wow that has to be really scary. I'm glad there was no CGI or something similar there. I wonder if that was a real cow carcass because it looks quite realistic. What's wrong with dogs man? That food looks good. Aww man don't do that. Well at least he isn't a complete jerk I suppose. I guess not every dog can be as beloved as Air Bud. That was so uncool! Aww how sad. Disney needs to watch this and see that dogs can express and be understood without all the voice overs. I thought that scene was about to go a completely other disturbing route. Damn it what is that all about?! Oh I know where this is going. All these poor adorable dogs. People are so twisted. So that's how they make them so aggressive sometimes. No! Oh my God! No! Okay so while dog fighting is horrible and disgusting. I did find the way they train them to be quite interesting albeit disturbing. Why do people hate mixed breeds so much here? Oh man that's really heartbreaking. Kind of bittersweet there. Gosh this movie is really messing with my emotions. I feel bad for some people, but others totally have what's coming to them. All hell is breaking loose and that's awesome. Hey that is not okay! You deserve what will happen to you! This is pretty realistically brutal as well as pretty sad. I thought the ending was quite powerful. I don't recommend this for those who don't want to see animal violence even if fictitious. There is quite a bit of it. It's a bit long, but it pays off well. Overall this is a great film. It's a rough watch, but as long as you get that it's just a movie you will be fine.

I have been waiting for awhile for this to come out. So imagine my excitement when my theater got it. I watched it as soon as I got out. I have heard of Jeremy Saulnier before. He has written Murder Party (a different and comical sort of horror that was okay, but not like crazy good) and Blue Ruin which I need to go ahead and watch. This has a little bit of a slow build up. Then once things get intense they practically spiral out of control. The death scenes are somewhat quick, but that doesn't take away from the brutality. I liked the fact that when they used weapons they weren't pros out of nowhere like you get with a lot of movies. Despite the raw violence and the fact this is about Neo-Nazis there are a few moments of humor that warrant some chuckles. I think the most brutal scene wasn't even one of the deaths. I liked all the characters. They each brought their own little quirks to this. It was a little odd seeing Alia Shawkat out of her usually best friend role in comedies or romances. Patrick Stewart's Darcy was excellent. He had a way about him that really made him seem genuine even with knowing the truth. The ending was perfectly timed. I wouldn't call this a horror film. It's more along the lines of a gory thriller. I don't feel Nazi villains have been overused yet. I do highly recommend checking this out when you can.

I've heard many great things about this, but to be honest I didn't even actually know about it until it was released. The subject matter sounds disturbing, depressing, and intense. I don't know why I didn't check this out sooner. Plus to note it has quite an excellent cast. Oh Leonard Abrahamson also directed Frank which was an interesting movie itself. It seems this guy likes to deal heavily with the emotions of his characters which is awesome. You don't see it too often, but Emma Donoghue who wrote the book also wrote the script here. At least this should prove that the source material is legit. Sean Bridgers role here is slightly similar to the disturbing film he was in called The Woman. The long hair makes him look like a girl. He is such a sweet, adorable kid though! Aww if only he could understand what is going on. Well maybe he does, but he wishes things were normal. I wonder if we will find out what happened if it even really matters. It's a disturbing reality to know of nothing else existing besides as room that you live in. I'm curious to see if we will be finding out how this whole situation happened. Well I spoke too soon. It's hard for people to believe what they have never known especially if your idea of reality is altered. All of this would be quite terrifying when you are too young to really understand. Her plans are quite ingenious though. This is just too powerful not to at least tear up. That has to be quite overwhelming. To go back to a world that has changed or one you never knew has to be intense. It was interesting to see how everyone dealt with things. The ending was kind of bittersweet. The whole movie has your heart in the palm of its hand. It tosses it around quite a bit. It's an amazing film for sure, but it's a very rough watch. I highly recommend it as long as you watch some sitcoms or comedies after it.

My first thought when I saw what this was about was that this was a lot like Armored with Columbus Short and Matt Dillon. This one however has a lot of A listers. This has a pretty great director as well. John Hillcoat directed The Road with Viggo Mortensen as well as Lawless. This is Matt Cook's only credit so far. Ah very smart with the accents and such. Oh so the red is only in the beginning. I was hoping it would be a constant theme. Norman Reedus is playing the older brother for once. It's hard to believe he is almost freaking 50 years old. That's an interesting front for disguise. "Instagoogletweetface" hahaha. A little feel of Training Day now. Oh dang! So uncool. That's disturbing and definitely not something that would Americans feel comfortable living near. I was wondering if and who were all cops. Oh they're related. That is sure change some things up. Oh my I did not realize that was who Michael K. Williams would be playing. Damn that was a crazy shoot out. I mean was that really necessary? I guess so all things considered. I can't take Kate Winslet as the villain here very seriously. Whoa I did not see that coming! Well that was brutal. I had sort of a feeling that would happen. Uh oh that's not good. What the hell!? I definitely wasn't expecting that. The ending was decent, but it felt a little weak. This had a bit of The Departed and Sabotage mixed in with it. I honestly didn't see how or when something was going to happen. Despite the cast and the directing I felt the writing was a bit weak. Don't get me wrong it had some really great moments, but they were far and in between. There was also way too much going on with all the little sub-stories. It did have some great twists and turns though.

So I decided to go ahead and see this because I was bored. Also I love me some Kristen Bell and who can down Peter Dinklage. I'm not really a big fan of Melissa McCarthy, but she isn't the worst. It's written and directed by Ben Falcone whose only other behind the scenes was the awful Tammy. That itself doesn't get me much hope. Steve Mallory who is usually an extra in Melissa's film has a writing credit here after having no previous experience. Melissa herself also co-writes again after only doing so on Tammy. This does not bode well for this at all. Okay that beginning was a little sad. I don't know if it was really supposed to be funny or if it was a serious part. Damn okay I don't think many business type people are that flashy. In fact I think most would end up boring. I didn't know T-Pain cut his hair! Okay this teeth scene is kind of amusing. These outfits and her hair are just dreadful to look at. Who thought this was okay? That little girl was quick to change her mind about things. That is just wrong on so many levels. Adding a bunch of fowl language doesn't make a movie funny. In fact nothing here has been really all that funny. This could very easily be a kids movie if they cut the language and the crudeness. That street fight was pretty great. The bra scene hahaha. Wow yeah definitely a horrible babysitter. The ending was alright. I was bored through a lot of this though. Not quite as bad as Tammy, but I do wish it wasn't so bland. All the fowl language kind of hindered it. People have already done that fowl mouthed character who is hilarious. From Melissa McCarthy it just felt awkward. Peter Dinklage, Kristen Bell, and Eva Peterson (the tall girl who always wants to fight) were the most enjoyable here. I wouldn't recommend this though unless you like the typical Melissa McCarthy film. I did like the message about family it gives off. Too bad it's not one for the whole family.

This was another Dallas International Film Festival entry I watched. I didn't plan on watching it as I didn't know what it was. My friend though really wanted to see it. I can say I am happy I did. The director here is Ben Wheatley who has done some other wild genre mixers. He did one of the best segments in the ABCs of Death (U is for Unearthed) and a feature film called Sightseers. The writer Amy Jump was also the writer for Sightseers. This film is one crazy ride. My friend made an observation about this and It seems reasonable enough. Several hints in dialogue and activity point to the idea that this high rise they live in is actually an institution. The characters are all quite unique and well portrayed. As the movie progresses things get crazier and more intense. It's darkly comedic while also being serious considering some of the content that is dealt with here. The ending was a nice finish to such a seat gripping movie. I definitely recommend seeing this once it's widely released.

So working in a specialty theater that always has something interesting going on we had DIFF. Also known as Dallas International Film Festival. Now to be honest the only real interest I had in watching this was that it was horror and David Arquette would be showing up. I met him, but that wasn't until after watching this. The director has only one other movie which I've only heard of. This is probably one of the strangest, artsiest, horror films I have seen in possibly ever. There are some scenes that are just off the wall. It's most likely not everyone's cup of tea, but for me I found it quite intriguing. It's very symbolic and mixes a plethora of different religions and science. It feels like the love child of Mad Max, Book of Eli, and even strange as it seems Passion of the Christ. Now I'm definitely not saying it's for Christians to watch. The look and feel of the whole thing is what I mean. Hell the villain ends up being a mash up of all that terrifies. He at one point reminds me of Leatherface in a way. It's inventive and keeps you wondering. It's one heck of an oddball, but I believe if you have an open mind you will enjoy this.

I'm not sure why I want to watch this other than it's on Netflix and the killer's mask in the poster looks cool. I haven't seen or even heard of anything by the director. The same goes for the writers. It does have a few pretty recognizable faces. Well we know what the first weapon will be. Oh no don't take the dog. Those kills were a bit on the lame side. Nice scene transition. Okay that's pretty damn creepy. So this is actually really good at setting up the creepiness. I'm sorry, but this kid has one of the girliest voices. That's not good. Ouch that cannot feel good haha. Now the torment begins. Okay the masks are an even better idea than I thought. Lady don't it's not worth the risk! These squatters are definitely some demented people. Ah no they talk that's a little disappointing. I feel like I know the twist, but not the why of it. Hmm well I was wrong about part of that already. That was not cool Mr. Mouse. Why does no one ever try to chew on the plastic bag? It can't be that unfathomable an idea. Okay well that twist was expected in my opinion. Oh damn! I figured that would happen. I did not see that final twist coming though. It was definitely a strange one albeit quite interesting. It was a decent watch. The acting was good and I liked the characters.