Reviews by BAMF

Initial Thought: I have been watching this series since it started. I have even seen Los Bandoleros. The first one honestly was my least favorite, but the sequels just keep getting better in my opinion. It's probably because I never used to be much of a fan of racing stories. So when they changed up the formula a bit for me it got more interesting. I really like the cast and the new additions in this one make me even more interested. Also have to watch this for the memory of Paul Walker. He was a really enjoyable actor to watch.

Characters/Acting: Well all of our main crew returns for this which I really like. Plus we get old friends showing up again as well as a few new ones. We also get some pretty cool new enemies as well. I have to say the line up here is truly a great selection. It's good to see Nathalie Emmanuel in something other than Game of Thrones! I love Iggy Azalea so I don't really care what others think. I can't wait to see her 5 seconds of screen-time haha. Even if it really does nothing for the story. I wish Tony Jaa and Ronda Rousey were in this more. They still get to do what they are good at but nothing really beyond that. Jason Statham as a villain is just wicked awesome. He is the kind of villain you just can't help but enjoy. Ludacris and Tyrese are still the great comedic duo they have been since they started working together. Nathalie was just as great as I thought. She is incredibly intelligent with all the right equipment if you get what I'm saying haha. Dwayne Johnson felt like a glorified cameo here. He was still fun and awesome to watch, but he just wasn't in it very much. Paul Walker is the heart and glue of this series he will be sorely missed. His send off was tastefully done. I sure hope they won't be thinking to put Lucas Black in his spot though. He was basically a cameo to link this with Tokyo Drift. Vin Diesel is awesome as usual and with his speech in the end I respect him even more. Everyone here did a wonderful and entertaining job.

Story: Well we have fast cars during car chases. We also have a brother out for revenge of those who put his brother in a coma. I mean this is a pure adrenaline action movie. The story only adds to the fun of the action. I don't get why the beginning starts off as if the end credit scene of the last movie hadn't happened. I found that a little bit odd. They probably changed up the continuity because of Paul Walker though. I have to admit the stunts here are completely ridiculous in reality, but they are always quite fun to watch. Who cares about physics! We have car chases, badass hand and weapon combat, and some pretty great shootouts. Although the matched up fights here would have the heroes win if they were fair fights. The ending was beautiful and a great tribute to a wonderful actor. If they still go through with making the next sequels it's going to be so different. The atmosphere of the whole thing just feels like it will have a great big empty hole.

Directing/Writing: Gary Scott Thompson is behind all the characters from this series except the Tokyo Drift film. He is also the guy who unfortunately made the Hollow Man films possible. Chris Morgan wrote the previous 4 films so this guy is really grabbing my attention. He even brought us Wanted and 47 Ronin. The guy worked with Jason Statham on Cellular as well not the best movie, but it was watchable. James Wan one of the most mainstream horror directors takes on an action film. I have to say this is really an interesting choice. I loved Dead Silence and enjoyed The Conjuring. Even Saw (he only wrote the third part, but I loved that one too) and Insidious: Chapter 2 were good. I'm not a big fan of Lin Shaye though. I really wish he would stop giving her work. It shall be interesting to see his take on the Fast & Furious saga. They did a great job with body doubles and CGI because I couldn't ever tell what scenes Paul Walker wasn't actually there for. That is a pretty impressive feat. I honestly don't even want to know. For a horror director to make something this great is incredible. He truly captured the essence of the Fast & Furious family. I really have mad respect for the director that never worked in the franchise to make the most enjoyable entry.

Final Thought: I have to admit I teared up with the tribute for Paul Walker. It was Vin Diesel not Dom giving the speech at the end, but it still worked for the film. Just as I expected this one topped the last one by far. This is a fun action packed thrill ride with a message at it's heart. Keep your family close and love them no matter what. You never know what will happen next. For fans of the series if you haven't seen it yet you should. I also think fans of Paul Walker should check it out too for the tribute. It's going to be hard to imagine this saga without it's heart, but I will watch them hoping they don't try to put someone in his spot. Anyways I absolutely enjoyed this movie.

Initial Thought: Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most dramatic role ever. Not only is he trying to seriously act here, but this also kind of has zombies. Put two and two together and you can count me in. I couldn't wait to see how everything gets pulled off.

Characters/Acting: This is the most serious role I have seen where Arnold Schwarzenegger puts his acting chops to the test. Abigail Breslin in another zombie film on a different spectrum though is pretty nice. I was listening to the radio and someone was complaining that Arnold still has such a strong accent that Wade is a nonsensical name. Maggie is short for a more foreign name so maybe Wade is a simplified version of whatever his name actually is. I thought everyone did a wonderful job here except Joely Richardson. She was unusually horrible and annoying here.

Story: It's always interesting to see different styles of the zombie sub-genre. I watched a similar movie about people trying to survive with infected and it was pretty good. I'm hoping this will be a good watch as well. The atmosphere of this gives off an impending sense of doom throughout the entire runtime. It is interesting to see the stages of a virus rather than it being a quick transition. You don't really see that kind of thing in most zombie stories. The ending could have been better.

Directing/Writing: The director here only directed the 84th Academy Awards ceremony. Other than that this was his only work. You can't really go based on skill with that. The writer here is a newcomer to filmmaking so nothing of note from him. The director did a great job here really making the story something you want to see until the end. The writer however could have done better. It seemed as if he just couldn't make up his mind on a few of the plots.

Final Thought: I was only slightly disappointed with this one. I didn't feel like the ending wrapped everything up. I guess it sort of made a little sense that it ended the way it did though. I thought Schwarzenegger did a good job here being serious. The acting was good and you feel for the characters. It makes you wonder what you would do if your family went through the same thing. I wish we got more than what we did though. It just felt some plots were just left behind. Anyways I say check this out, but understand it is a bit slow for viewers expecting action and gore.

Initial Thought: Well it looks like a slightly different take on the Taken series. Liam Neeson is now becoming typecast as the middle aged badass. He is awesome I just wish they could do something different with him now. Anyways besides being unoriginal it still looks somewhat entertaining.

Characters/Acting: It has a pretty interesting cast that includes rising actor Joel Kinnaman and veterans like Ed Harris and Vincent D'Onofrio. I don't expect any bad performances, but then again everyone stumbles as some point take for instance Cuba Gooding Jr. who just can't stay away from AWFUL Direct to DVD films. It's a shame Liam Neeson is basically the same character as usual. Although he is quite unlikeable in the beginning. Joel Kinnaman was great, but there were a few moments where I wanted to smack his character upside his head. Ed Harris was great as the "villain". I like a good villain that can be sophisticated and intelligent while still doing what they deem is right. Even Common was pretty entertaining here in a different role than I'm used to for him.

Story: So it's a kill or be killed kind of movie. The death of one mobster's son makes him want the head of the other one. I couldn't help but think that this movie didn't really have too much originality. Hell there are a few moments that are almost redone takes from Taken. The writer also took some of his ideas from Out of the Furnace and put them here. I think Liam Neeson broke many of the rules of Fight Club with Holt McCallany. Near the ending reminded me of Out of the Furnace where the bad guy is running away, but he gets shot in the back. The story is so sluggish and even with the action it barely held my attention. I think the last 15 minutes or so were the best and most original of the entire movie. It was somewhat bittersweet.

Directing/Writing: So this is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who has typecasted Liam Neeson in 2 other films Unknown and Non-Stop. Both of which I actually thought were enjoyable. Hopefully he can do it a third time. He had also directed Orphan which was a really twisted but well done movie. His first movie that I saw was House of Wax though with Paris Hilton. He has definitely learned his lesson though since then. The only other movie I saw written by Brad Ingelsby was Out of the Furnace which I really enjoyed and it was a plus because of Zoe Saldana.

Final Thought: This was full of cliches and rehashes of the works of the writer and director. Nothing here was anything new. The only thing good thing about this was Ed Harris's performance and Liam Neeson still kicks some ass. The action was alright too, but nothing that really stands out in these kinds of movies. It's not awful. It's just unoriginal and kind of boring. The ending just wasn't impressive enough to fix the mess that this film was. If you have seen Taken and/or Out of the Furnace then you have already seen this. I would say to skip on this one.

Initial Thought: So this is one I am watching out of sheer boredom. The trailer looked awful and boring. I do like the cast so I say what the hell.

Characters/Acting: Well there are some big names here that I like so that's a plus. I wish Johnny Depp would stop making movies like this. I get he is expanding his horizon, but he should really do that with movies that actually seem like they will be good. I did like how everyone comments on the ridiculous mustache. I wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow didn't show up for Avengers: Age of Ultron because of this. That wouldn't be the smartest decision on her part. She does have a really great smile in my opinion. Ewan McGregor was astonishingly pathetic here. It's like he was forced to be in the role. Paul Bettany is probably the best thing about this film though. His character is just so badass and funny.

Story: Well it's about art and Nazis that's about all I know at the moment. Some of the gags in this are actually kind of amusing, but most of them are just childishly lame. It also has a lot of cliche twists and turns. It's basically like the Pink Panther remakes and just about as awful. It isn't all bad though. I mean it does have alright moments and some of the dialogue can be slightly funny. It just doesn't take itself seriously enough.

Directing/Writing: The director here has actually done several movies I enjoy. He wrote Panic Room (and the book), Angels & Demons, Mission: Impossible, the first 2 Jurassic Parks, War of the Worlds, Premium Rush, and the first Tobey Maguire Spider-Man. He directed out of those only Premium Rush. He even worked with Johnny Depp on Secret Window. Never heard of the screenwriter before though. I didn't know this was based off a book. I wonder if it's just as boring as the movie looks. It's a shame that someone with the talent behind the movies mentioned can do such an awful interpretation of supposedly great books.

Final Thought: Okay so it wasn't as bad as the trailer looked, but then again it wasn't much better. It's very seldom funny and most of the gags left a bad taste. The only really enjoyable thing about this is Paul Bettany. Other than that this is pretty boring. Skip this one it is not worthy of your time. Unless of course you are interested in constant distasteful body and sexual humor.

Initial Thought: I have been waiting for this one since the mention of them revealing a sequel. I didn't get to see it until today (Wednesday), but I am so glad I finally did. I used to own an Ultron action figure so I was super excited to see him in film. Also I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth Olsen so that's a plus here.

Characters/Acting: We get all the characters we know and love again. Everyone was great as usual. We also get a few new characters that were pretty great. There were a few characters that I missed, but there are only so many people you can fit in a movie before it's too many. I really appreciated Hawkeye getting more fleshed out because his previous appearances were kind of overlooked when the other Avengers were around. It seemed that with the expanding of some characters others were kind of shortened like Thor. He just didn't seem to have much development this time around. James Spader was amazing as one of my favorite comic villains. He just had great comedic timing. He was insane, but at the same time he seemed so innocent. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were fun to watch. It seems their sibling chemistry is just as great as when they are lovers. Quicksilver is apparently 12 minutes older than Wanda, but in the real world he is a little less than 2 years younger. Jarvis is awesome as usual, but now that he is embodied as Vision he can expand. Stan Lee's cameo is pretty hilarious if you ask me.

Story: World Peace comes at a high price. That's basically the motto for this entry in the Avengers Saga. Ultron sees that with mankind around there can never be peace. We are our own destruction. The intro scene was pretty badass with how they introduced the characters and the team as a whole. The action is pretty awesome and intense. The dialogue is great as well with some perfectly timed one liners. For a family friendly comic book movie there sure is a lot of cleavage this time around mostly from Wanda (not that I'm complaining! I loved the Hulkbuster fight with the Hulk with a mixture of pretty great action with a realistic touch as well as humorous bits throughout it. The Mjolnir scenes were great especially the characters reactions. Quicksilver's death was basically a mirror of Wash's death in Serenity. Both characters said a line twice with the second time being the part where they died. I thought that three of the four recruits in the end deserved to be there, but Falcon didn't do anything to help them fight Ultron! His only other scene was at the party. I guess he is here because of Winter Soldier and he was on the team in the comics. For the casual viewer I think they won't get the scene in the mid credits. If they stay that long that is. It's a very short scene and doesn't really do much except show a small taste of what we will be expecting next.

Directing/Writing: Jack Kirby and Stan Lee get credit for their comics again here. They have created and been behind so many characters that it's just remarkable. It's great that Jack Kirby is still getting the credit he deserves after his passing. Joss Whedon's final entry into Marvel. I love Joss Whedon. There isn't a single thing he has worked on that I didn't like. He is fun, funny, and badass. I am going to miss his humor in this series. Hopefully whatever is to come next for him will be as amazing as always.

Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was way more intense than the first one. I was thinking it would be darker the way the trailers had been, but it was still for the most part fairly lighthearted. Obviously if you are a Marvel fan then you should definitely be seeing this one. It's a fun and amusing ride from start to finish. It does have a few moments where it gets a bit darker than the first one gets though. Anyways I will definitely be watching this again. If you haven't even seen it once then get on it.

Initial Thought: Honestly I'm only watching this because Heather Cohn is hot and because I'm curious about Omar Gooding playing a killer. Other than that I expect this to be a pretty bad watch.

Characters/Acting: It has many unknowns and actors who have fallen under the radar. So with that I'm not expecting Oscar performances. As expected the acting is pretty awful. Everyone looks like they are impatiently waiting for their queue. Yeah these teens are extremely dumb. "Lock the doors!" If the guy with the keys outside is dead do you think that will stop the killer from getting into the limo!? Omar Gooding looks the same as he did from Smart Guy! Most of the characters were tolerable until near to the end and then I hated two of them at the least.

Story: Well it's about a limo that gets hijacked on it's way to prom. Supposedly the plot thickens with twists and turns. It just seems pretty generic if you ask me. The dance number is so hilariously awful. The funny thing is the guy seems so uncomfortable and just as awkward as the song suggests. What's worse is that girl is so stricken by this gesture. I can't tell if this is a found footage or normal movie. It just keeps switching back and forth more so being filmed like a found footage. There were a few sexual scenes that are just really uncomfortable to watch. The twist was really awful. That can't be a reason to kill people. You have to be really messed up in the head for that. The end really just went straight downhill after the reveal. There was like one good death scene though and the rest were just average.

Directing/Writing: Never heard of the director before seeing as he has only done one other thing that no one else has seen either. Some of the dialogue is just awful. There was one scene a girl asks another girl what kind of drink she wants and the girl responds with a change of subject.

Final Thought: It's not the worst thing I have ever seen, but it was really predictable. The only thing surprising was the twist and that's because I didn't think anyone could come up with such a lame idea. It had several awkward scenes from dialogue to sexuality. Do yourself a favor and give this a pass it's not worth it.

Initial Thought: I thought from the trailers that it looked quite visually stunning. I think this was hindered when they prolonged the release date. The Wachowskis have been having a roller coaster of a career making entertaining or just decent films. I really hope I am at least entertained by this.

Characters/Acting: This has a pretty good cast. Sean Bean being in it makes me wonder if this is one of those films he dies in. There is a really good mixture of different ethnic backgrounds here which I always like to see. I always like to see diversity in life and film. What the hell is going on with Eddie Redmayne here? His character is so weird and I have to turn the sound up to hear most of what he says. I understand he is extremely old, but whisper talking is really annoying. When he yells most of the time it just feels kind of awkward and out of place. It's like he immediately yells without any reason or even a chance for others to do something. I think the aliens all look rather unique and very detailed which was awesome. Mila Kunis and Channing Tatum made me roll my eyes constantly with the way they talk to each other. I really couldn't see the chemistry there. I love Mila Kunis, but she was really awful here. Sean Bean is always a pleasure to watch. What I want to know is how is he a splice of a bee. There is no indication of this other than several bees swarming around. Unless he has a stinger on his ass (which would fit here with all the rotten cheese) I just don't get it. I'm surprised they let him survive this one. I don't understand why they had so many characters if they were barely going to use them all. Some just disappeared and are never seen again. There are at least a few that get mentioned. When Balem is falling to his death I was half hoping he would scream in his whisper voice. With all the cheesiness this has I'm surprised they didn't do that.

Story: Okay so I have watched at least 15 minutes so far an I'm not entirely sure what is going on yet. All I know is she is an immigrant or "alien" as she describes herself as which is super cheesy given the nature of this film. Then you have a group of actual alien siblings looking to take over planet Earth. They are basically the rich dysfunctional family of outer space. The jokes here come off as burnt cheese rather than anything I found particularly funny. The story here is really weak and cliche. It seems like they put all their emphasis on the action and CGI. Some parts of the plot are repetitive and unoriginal. I even noticed parts of the plot just suddenly disappear especially with characters. Is this supposed to be part of a series of movies. If not then I would say this did a poor job of making a complete story. The ending was somewhat cute, but the fact that she couldn't tell given the way it was wrapped that it was a telescope was ludicrous!

Directing/Writing: I have seen all the Wachowski's films except for Bound which I have only seen bits and pieces of. Also they wrote another movie I haven't seen. called Assassin which they didn't direct. They are always entertaining in my opinion. Just more so for some of their work than others. The writing of Eddie Redmayne's character was kind of weak in my opinion. What were the Wachowskis on when they made this?

Final Thought: The aliens were interesting to look at. The fight scenes were pretty fun and constant. The story here was lacking though and there are many plot holes here. This was really awful storytelling that just uses action to compensate for a weak and cheesy plot. The action just isn't enough to save this one unfortunately. You should definitely skip this unless you absolutely can't miss an actor or actress in this that you love.

Initial Thought: I admit this didn't look all that interesting to begin with. It doesn't help that it has so many negative reviews and ratings. I still decided to watch it since it was on Netflix. Also the main reason I was even interested to begin with was for pretty much only Selena Gomez.

Characters/Acting: It does have a pretty good cast of old Hollywood and young Hollywood. Interesting tidbit of information is that Scott Evans that stars in this is the brother of none other than Chris Evans. If you have a cameo as bad as Justin Bieber and part of your cast has the likes of Gary Busey, Mindy Robinson, and Wee Man (of Jackass) don't expect for the audience to take you too seriously as a filmmaker. I have to admit a lot of the characters were actually fairly interesting. Lachlan Buchanan is actually pretty hilarious (his previous film I watched Muck had him as one of the best characters). Here I have to say he still holds that position.

Story: It's a teen angst comedy. It's pretty much got a lot of the usual cliches you would expect. It does have a few of it's own little ideas, but nothing really all that great. The story is a bit all over the place. I think that they strung together way too many plots that you kind of lose count. Some of the running jokes are good particularly involving the school plotline. A lot of the sex jokes were pretty awkward. Also why did the saints have to be sexualized versions of the characters mothers? The ending was cute, but the journey towards it was rocky.

Directing/Writing: I have never heard of the writer or the director who have worked together on a few things. Apparently this is based off of a book to which I had no clue or even heard of. It must be hard to establish yourself in Hollywood, but you have to actually try. Big names don't make the movie good they just improve what is already there.

Final Thought: Okay this had it's moments here and there. For the most part I was kind of bored even with all the bigger named celebrities. I just felt they tried to throw too much into one story. It really didn't work for me. If they had expanded on some things and cut other stuff out it would have been much better. This really isn't worth the time.

Initial Thought: I am one of those people that really gets a kick out of found footage. This one looked interesting to me. Despite the ratings I decided to go ahead and check it out for my curiosity.

Characters/Acting: So the acting is decent. Nobody really stands out beyond the typical characteristics. In fact I hardly cared about any of the characters except of course the dog. With such a small cast I was hoping there would have been time to know and care for the characters. Instead you get 2 that disappear for 2/3rds of the movie who basically come back after the writer remembered they were still part of the story and one person dies off way too early so that they could have a death. I am fine with pacing out the kills so I just wish that they flushed out their characters more.

Story: So we have have a bunch of dumb teens (obviously) who decide they want to play silly games in a suicide forest. What could possibly go wrong with that idea? Why would anyone grab a barbed wire fence with their bare hands? In all actuality this has the look and feel of a found footage, but after starting it I realized there is no camera involved. The film is actually shot from the perspective of a flashlight. It sounds a bit strange and weird but creative. The ending kind of seemed like what would of happened past the basement scene in Blair Witch Project. It was the only good part of the whole movie and it isn't really saying much.

Directing/Writing: This is the first movie made by Bryan Woods and Scott Beck. So let's see what they brought to the world of film. I appreciate that they wanted to take a serious topic and make it in to a horror movie. The problem is that they had no idea how to make it entirely interesting.

Final Thought: I found myself really bored throughout the whole thing. There was like one jump scare that got me the rest were either expected or just lame. It isn't the worst thing ever. It's just that the writer/directors are amateur and it's not all that entertaining.

Initial Thought: When I saw the trailer I knew this one I had to see. It looked so fluid, funny, and just plain badass. The cast also really caught my attention. The question was when would I get the chance. Well now I have and I'm super excited to get the show on the road.

Characters/Acting: There is quite a power cast here which is always awesome for comic book related films. It gets the fans to come while getting newcomers interested as well. Mark Hamill is looking probably the best he has in awhile here. I just love Samuel L. Jackson's character because he is evil yet his behavior and lisp make him quite likeable. His right hand girl is a badass too! I realized the cliche of having a British villain constantly is reversed where the British are good and the villain is played by an American. I thought that it was a wonderful change seeing as Mark Strong was in a commercial pointing out why is usually picked for villain roles. Why am I always attracted to the mostly deadly of female characters? I have to say Gazelle was fun to watch and kind of reminded me of Hit Girl and Gogo Yubari (from Kill Bill).

Story: Well this is a spy movie based off a comic book involving teens taking down terrorists. The action scenes are a pure adrenaline rush. I highly enjoy stylized action especially when it isn't toned down for a PG-13 or under rating. I am kind of tired of the asshole step-dad/boyfriend cliches in movies, but I guess it kind of works here to explain character traits a little. I had wondered about a certain scene so I had to look up if I was correct. There is a scene where Samuel L. Jackson is talking to someone and the camera pans out and you hear a voice that sounds quite close to Barack Obama and you realize he is in the White House! I have to say that was a really well done scene. The whole initiation process reminds me of several of those kind of movies like Ender's Game or Starship Troopers. I love seeing all the different spy gadgets movies come up with. They always seem to find something fun and different. This has by far some of the most beautiful gory violence I have seen in film. The death scenes are brutal and incredibly creative. The ending was really well done.

Directing/Writing: Matthew Vaughn is a blast to watch. Every movie I have seen of his are just plain awesomeness. He has yet to make something that isn't fun. So this was co-written by Jane Goldman who collaborates with Vaughn a lot so it's no surprise that I would enjoy her too. Even her solo work on Woman in Black was good as well as X-Men: Days of Future Past. This is based off the work of Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar who both have good comics that were made into popular violence oriented movies. Dave Gibbons had Watchmen while Frank Millar was behind Wanted and the Kick-Ass films. The writing here is just fantastic. Everything said here usually has a meaning that is mentioned before or explained later. I also love all the little mentions of pop culture throughout. They really made an enjoyable world here. If a sequel is made I sure hope they return behind the scenes instead of someone else at the helm.

Final Thought: This has to be one really amazing movie. The acting was great. All the characters were fun to watch and get to know. The action was badass and really gets your attention. It has a lot of James Bondesque stuff in it while being much more mature than the latter. I liked how Mark Hamill played a character, but in the comics it was him as the one who first gets recruited. Anyways I really can't wait for a sequel because this was just so much fun. If you haven't seen it yet you better get on with it!