Nowhere To Run 1993

After a daring escape from a prison transport, Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) needs a place to lie low. Clydie (Rosanna Arquette), a young widow with two small children, needs someone to help fight what appears to be a losing battle against the corrupt developers trying to drive her off her land. Mookie (Kieran Culkin), Clydie's son, seems to have solved all of their problems when he ends up befriending Sam, who's hiding out on their property. Sam soon becomes involved with Clydie and her kids, who offer him a sense of purpose and fulfillment he's never known. Sam discovers something in himself that will make him do anything to protect the family that is protecting him. With Ted Levine (The Silence Of The Lambs) as the ruthless hired gun sent by the developer to "persuade" Clydie to sell her land. © 1993 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Yes..he's pretty to look at(and plenty here),but in actuality,he's not bad here.less stupid violence and a more sensitive tone here.my only problem with this film was a dinner between this actor,two young children and their mother discussing the "size" of van damm' s penis.not exactly dinner table manners ! The story line is not very new and in fact,pretty lame and not worth being troubled by screen discussion.and not much dialogue.like I said..he's pretty to look at,and thank God,the noise level is low,but for a van damm film,this is one of his more sensitive performances.get it for a lonely Saturday night and Don't expect great art,and even a few tears can be shed for the ending,but hey,every one deserves a good hug now and then..even for van damm !

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Action, Crime, Drama,

Us and Them 2018

Ten years ago, on a train home during the busy Spring Festival travel period, fate brings Xiaoxiao and Jianqing together. Like many young couples, they meet, fall in love, and strive to make it work, but eventually, the harsh realities of life make them drift apart. Ten years later, they run into each other again. Will they make the most of this second chance and rekindle what they once lost?

I usually do not like to watch subtitled movies since reading the subtitles can be distracting. I came across this movie on Netflix and decided to give it a go and I am very glad that I did. The story itself is nothing extraordinary. However, the movie does an excellent job in building up the characters and drawing you closer to them. I think it is well worth the journey to spend time with these characters and look back to your own unfulfilled love or the ups and downs of fulfilled love. There is also an underlying theme about family, which was carefully and masterfully woven into the story.

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Drama, Romantic,

A Quiet Place 2018

Two parents do what it takes to keep their children safe in a world full of creatures hunting every sound they can hear. Not a sound can be heard from the family hiding in silence, but all it takes is one noise and everything can go wrong.

A Quiet Place starts with racking up the tension which doesn't let up in a nerve shredding 1hr 25. The premise is simple, we get no back story as to why the family have to stay silent, but within 5 minutes with an unexpected moment we can see what the consequence of making noise is. From then on our focus is on this one family as they strive to stay safe in what seems like a helpless situation. I enjoyed this film immensely. I found it to be nerve shredding and so tense to watch i had to try catch my breath a few occasions as i had been holding it so long. It is the silence for a majority of the film that makes this work and i was grateful for a silent cinema hall (this i will go back to) I found myself caring for the characters (rare in horror) and hoping for a positive outcome. It also doesn't suffer from an overlong run time and imo is not for the most part predictable.Those who like a decent movie monster i feel will be pleasantly surprised i believe as well. Those who are looking for gory in your face horror may struggle to engage and i think coming back to my point earlier if you end up in a hall full of restless noisy people filling the silence the tension will somewhat be lost. A solid 8/10.

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Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi,

Legend of the Demon Cat 2017

Taking place in the Tang Dynasty, a demon cat appears and breaks the peace of Chang'an City, causing a series of strange events. Poet Bai Letian and Monk Kukai join hands to investigate the death of Concubine Yang by following the trial left by the cat, unveiling a buried fact.

Seeing that this film is adapted from some Japanese series, I would like to say that I have not heard or seen this series so I watched this film without any expectations, not even having seen the trailer or poster before watching it.

To begin, at the beginning it seemed really interesting and the plot pointed to a deep involvement of the main characters, and seeing how it contains mystery, I expected there to be many mystifying encounters occurring TO the main characters. However, as surprised as I was, this is the first show I have seen that sidelines the main characters into simple narrators quite early on.

The plot is also kind of disconnected, with a few main plot lines just barely having any connection with each other. Regarding the genres listed for this movie, I would say it is 70% drama, 20% fantasy and 10% mystery, which is pretty amazing for how the movie was trying to develop. Well, it is only 10% mystery because the presentation in the movie is so obvious that I don't feel bewildered at all. It's like a roller coaster ride with a straight track likening a railway, barely any twists and turns and just totally boring. My friends and I were dozing off at times, one kept asking when the movie ends and the other wanted to leave 30 minutes before the movie ended.

There were some very beautiful scenes, which add points to this movie, however they were usually used for some scenes which do not progress the story much. Oh yes, there are quite a few scenes which felt like they could be removed and nothing else would be affected, also known as fillers.

Regarding the cast, I'm not sure it is just me but some of the acting and actors/actresses do not seem to fit into their roles that well, for example the monk, whose behaviour and facial expressions seem quite uninhibited for "a renowned monk".

After seeing a few stellar reviews, I am still confounded as to what makes this a great film. Sure, there were great graphics and a few twists here and there, but overall it felt more like a documentary. It felt like a history documentary instead of some suspense drama that keeps the watchers' interests going.

My overall verdict is that unless you like terribly straightforward movies that presents content to you straight up, it is much better to invest your time and money watching another show instead.

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Drama, Fantasy, Mystery,

Ninja bugeicho momochi sandayu 1980

In the middle of the 16th century, Hideyoshi, a power hungry warlord sets out to destroy the Momochi clan. He sends his war commander in search of the clan's hidden gold only to find that two daggers are the key to the hiding place of the treasured gold. Spanning decades, the quest for the missing daggers takes Shiranui through war and ancient tradition.

Yeah, this movie is that good. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The best thing about this movie is the music. I know very little about it, but know that I would trade my little sister for a copy of the soundtrack. It also is that good. It seems to have been composed by the troll of the Japanese composing scene at the time. The whole movie is a series of bizarre sound effects and some sort of jazz-pop backing. It's like this guy was watching the film and went, "Hey, this part of the movie is sad. They're killing off a major character in a very noble and touching way. Hmm... I seem to have this disco-beat left over from another movie that never got made. What if I layered it with some blues-funk? That would be killer." And then he did, and it was. No, seriously, that's not meant to be funny. That is what happens. So keep in mind that, even if I am not describing the music happening at any given time in the movie, it is definitely going to be some sort of wholly inappropriate dance-pop with some urban sound thrown in and then mangled all up for good measure. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, you really should, because the culmination of every part of it makes it so adorably awful/awesome. I'll try my best not to leave anything out, and briefly explain about historical or cultural knowledge that may be less familiar to those who don't live off of these movies like I do. Got it? Okay, let's begin movie time!

Right off the bat, the title screen is overlaid with this horror-movie-esque riff, quickly bleeding into some sort of opening song that tells me that football is coming on. It doesn't.

All the music stops, and we are suddenly jolted into a room with two very important-looking people. The man seated elevated seems to be some sort of daimyo. The guy closest to us is giving some sort of a report. He's name-dropping, a lot, things that get my inner dork all fired up. Iga ninja! Really? Behind him, two men are bowing, and the vassal explains that he has trained these two ninja; one cannot speak, the other cannot hear.

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Action, Adventure, Drama,

The Haunting in Connecticut 2009

Charts one family's encounter with the dark forces of the supernatural. When the Campbell family moves to upstate Connecticut, they soon learn that their charming Victorian home has a disturbing history: not only was the house a transformed funeral parlor where inconceivable acts occurred, but the owner's clairvoyant son Jonah served as a demonic messenger, providing a gateway for spiritual entities to crossover. Now terror awaits when Jonah, the boy who communicated with the dead, returns to unleash horror on the innocent and unsuspecting family.

First of all, Virginia Madsen proves once again that she is a very beautiful woman who can really act. She is superb as the mother of the cancer-stricken boy and carries this film. It starts out as a legitimately creepy film. I think I found the mortuary scenes to be more grisly than anything else. Also, I like many other people can unfortunately relate to the cancer-related treatments of loved ones scenes, which are very hard to watch. I just didn't find the film to be as scary and frightening as I had imagined it would be from the trailers and some of the critics comments. On the back of the dvd box, once such critic commented: "Will make you afraid to turn off the lights and go to sleep". Not me anyway. Did anyone else find the plot just a bit confusing when it came to explaining the history of the house?? I gathered the people who ran the mortuary were up to no good, but I sort of lost the plot as to just what they were doing and hoping to accomplish. I missed seeing this movie on the big screen and had to wait for the dvd release. I went for the unrated version and am not really sure just what was added to the original release. I enjoyed it for the most

part, but I do think it could have been a lot better. Ultimately I came away a bit disappointed. As for blood and gore making a scary film, not always. Sometimes the things you don't see, but only hear and imagine are far more frightening. The original 1963 film "The Haunting" is a fine example of this done on film. I wish I could say the same for this film. I am also puzzled as to why the film's running times have been listed as being 92 minutes and 102 minutes. My dvd player was displaying at nearly 103 minutes at the end of the unrated edition's credits.

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Drama, Horror, Mystery,

Journey's End 2017

Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, as they await their fate.

I've seen the West End play, read the play transcript, and read the novel too. This (in my humble opinion) is a magnificent adaption of this very powerful play based upon R C Sherriff's real-life experiences in the trenches of World War One. It captures the tragedy of war, courage in the face of hopelessness, friendship, and regret among a host of human emotions. The acting is superb, the sets and attention to detail like nothing I remember seeing in a film set in World War One. I cannot recommend it enough. How sad that it has had such a limited cinema release on the Centenary of the year in which the film is set. Almost as if these men are all forgotten now? Not by me.

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Drama, War,

Summer1993 2017

In Carla Simón's touching autobiographical film, six-year-old Frida looks on in silence as the last objects from her recently deceased mother's apartment in Barcelona are placed in boxes. Although her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin Anna welcome her with open arms, it's only very slowly that Frida begins to get used to her new home in the countryside. Punctuated by moments of youthful exuberance and mature ruminations, this coming of age drama, set amongst summery hues, is an extraordinarily moving snapshot of being a child in an adult world, anchored by flawless performances by its two young stars.

"Summer 1993" (2017 release from Catalonia; 97 min.) brings the story of Frida, a 6 or 7 yr. old girl. As the movie opens, we see Frida's stuff being boxed up, and Frida along with a couple driving out of the city. The couple discuss the situation in hushed terms but we pick up quickly that Frida's mom just passed away (we're not quite sure of what), and that Frida is now taken care of by her mom's brother Esteve and his wife Marga. The couple have a daughter of their own, 3 or 4 yr. old Anna. How will Frida adopt to her new environment? more importantly, how will the little girl process the death of her mom? At this point we're 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

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Drama, Family,

Titanic 1997

84 years later, a 100 year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell and Anatoly Mikailavich on the Keldysh about her life set in April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Caledon Hockley. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Oscar-nominatee Kate Winslet light up the screen as Jack and Rose, the young lovers who find one another on the maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" R.M.S. Titanic. But when the doomed luxury liner collides with an iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic, their passionate love affair becomes a thrilling race for survival. From acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron comes a tale of forbidden love and courage in the face of disaster that triumphs as a true cinematic masterpiece.

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Drama, History, Romance,

Fahrenheit 451 2018

Fahrenheit 451 is a 2018 American dystopian drama film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani, based on the book of the same name by Ray Bradbury. It stars Michael B. Jordan, Michael Shannon, Sofia Boutella, Lilly Singh, Grace Lynn Kung and Martin Donovan. Set in a future America, the film follows a "fireman" whose job it is to burn now-illegal books, only to question society after meeting a young woman. After premiering at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, the film aired on HBO on May 19, 2018.

Though it was strong in a couple moments, for the most part I was disappointed with this, it really could ave been so much better, especially considering the immense resources of HBO. It goes back and forth between completely ridiculous to somewhat interesting. Unfortunately it is also a pale imitation to the novel its based on, only using the bare skeleton of the story, and not delving into what truly made the novel profound. Michael B. Jordan's character was so completely ridiculous and different than the novel version in the first 15 minutes that I nearly stopped watching it, but thankfully that subsides. There were many things from the book I expected to see, only to piss me off when they were either not there at all, or altered in some way for no justifiable reason. So while many of the basic plot points are there, tough some of them changed, it just didn't possess what the book did.

I did like Michael Shannon's character and his acting, and while Jordan's character is completely off-putting, it does get tolerable as the film goes on. There were a couple of meaningful discussions, but the essential meaning of the book burning is completely missed, it was to create a people void of free thought, and while that is hinted at, for the most part its nowhere near as deep and introspective as the novel, its a very basic rendering of and incredibly deep story. I for the most part was disappointed, it could have been so much better, all the had to do was pay attention to the source material, and not just scan over it. Also the re-writing of many of the characters is inconceivable to me, no idea why they would do it.

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Drama, Sci-Fi,

Tomb Raider 2018

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer, lost to her when she was barely a teen. Now 21 and struggling to make her way in the world, Lara is determined to forge her own path rather than take the reins of her father's global empire...so even she can't understand what drives her to solve the puzzle of his mysterious death. Going explicitly against her dad's final wishes, Lara leaves the familiar streets of London in search of a mythical island -- which may or may not exist -- somewhere off the coast of Hong Kong. With her life threatened at every turn and with no training or experience to fall back on, Lara's sharp mind, blind faith and inherently stubborn spirit are the only weapons she’ll have on this non-stop, action-packed, trial-by-fire adventure into the unknown.

The Angeline Tomb Raider films were made in 2001 and 2003. The first was great and the second so-so. The movie series has been given a reboot with Alicia Vikander as the eponymous heroine. I did not play the original Lara Croft games but have enjoyed the recent ones with the new look Lara. This film takes a lot of cues from the modern Tomb Raider games. The action sequences draw heavily from the modern games. I particularly liked the crashed plane sequence. It feels like a direct port from the games in some places. The plot is decent and the principal actors do a very good job with the material they are given. The preformances of Alicia Vikander and Walter Goggins are exceptional. Goggins carries off the intensity of the main villain very well. Fans of the original Lara will prefer the Angeline Jolie version. Fans of the modern game will find this familiar and enjoyable.

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Action, Adventure, Drama,

Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds 2017

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Action, Adventure, Drama,