3.5 stars

Wolf Warrior 2

Fun action movie.

I first heard about this movie on the Trick or Treat Radio podcast. I jumped onto this one without seeing the first entry in the series. I will probably catch the first one (streaming on Netflix as of Dec 2017).

You have the main character from the first movie, Leng Feng, heading to Africa after leaving the military. Some rebels attempt to take over the country he is currently in and Action Movie ™ ensues. We get enough plot to keep Leng Feng in the midst of the action.

The stunts and gun play were amazing. The CGI blood less so. Two words. Improvised Crossbow.

Starring: Jing Wu, Frank Grillo, Celina Jade, Gang Wu, Hans Zhang, Qian Yu, Nan Yu, Shanshan Chunyu, Haifeng Ding, Oleg Prudius, Heidi Moneymaker, Aaron Ly

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Star Wars: The Last Jedi

The Last Jedi did not feel as focused as the Force Awakens to me.

I felt the pacing was off and some of the transitions between scenes were rather sharp.

The story gets darker than the first, but ends on a note of hope.

I’m conflicted about the final fate of some characters. Some we learn nothing about (guessing it is being held back for a Tales movie) and others almost felt like clearing the board for the new class.

Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran

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Justice League

While Justice League comes nowhere near Wonder Woman, it is loads better than Batman V Superman.

We learn that Parademons have been sighted across the world, abducting people associated with Star Labs. After an attack on the Amazons by Steppenwolf, Diana approaches Bruce and they begin getting the team together.

As with a typical intro team-up, it does not come together the first time. We get snippets of backstory for the new characters to the DCEU: Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Just enough to give us a hint of where their solo movies may go.

Part of the plot is bringing Superman back after the League fights Steppenwolf, but cannot stop him. Superman’s inclusion does bring everything together.

The plot is decent, but does feel rushed. You can tell DC/Warner Bros are playing catch-up to the Marvel movies. But it is still a fun movie.

The CGI was … not great. The very first scene of the movie opens with Superman and a CGIed out mustache. The main villain is all CGI as well. Poor CGI.

Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Henry Cavill, Jeremy Irons, Ciarán Hinds, JK Simmons, Connie Nielsen, Joe Morton, Amber Heard, Diane Lane, Amy Adams

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The Foreigner

The Foreigner is portrayed as a Death Wish style movie in its trailer. And there are many similar plot points, but it has more than that.

The emotions Jackie Chan brings to this movie are intense. There is political chicanery spread throughout as well.

Does he get his revenge? yes. Is it hollow? unfortunately. Nothing is going to bring back his family.

The choice for using the IRA versus religious terrorist organizations is fitting for this movie. As Jackie Chan’s journey of revenge for his daughter’s death, mirrors some of the facets of the IRA struggle.

You kill one of mine, I kill 2 of yours. You retaliate to that with 4, I retaliate with 8. So on and so forth. The cycle of revenge and retribution never truly ends.

It is nice to see that Jackie Chan still handles action scenes well. He may not be performing stunts as extreme as he used to, but everything fit well here.

Starring: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy, Orla Brady, Tao Liu

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Happy Death Day

Happy Death Day can be summed up with Groundhog Day with a slasher. This is not a bad thing.

Just like Groundhog Day, the protagonist, Tree – yes that is her name, is not sympathetic at first. But his changes as she goes through the day over and over.

The most annoying thing in the movie – her ringtone. And since the day is repeating, we hear the damn thing over and over.

The movie opens with Tree waking up hungover in some guy’s dorm room. She quickly leaves and returns to her sorority house. She interacts with her roommate and other members and goes to class. She is of course having an affair with a professor. All of this is basically setup to introduce us to the key characters in her life, the events we will be seeing variations of, and her crappy demeanor.

Then she gets killed. By someone in a Baby mask. Apparently, her college’s mascot is a baby. So there are a lot of people out and about in similar masks.

She wakes up and repeats the day. And she dies.

At this point, she begins working to figure out who is after her.

There is no real gore. It is a PG-13 rated movie, after all. But it was a nice fun movie. Not a sequel. Not a remake.

Starring: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken, Rachel Matthews

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