asage19 Reviews

Jurassic World Dominion (2022)

Excellent!

[10/10 · 7 October 2022]

Excellent film. I am certain it will resound more deeply with those who have been around since the first movie was new :) It's a sentimental journey of sorts, and brings the story full circle.

This film was such a wonderful wrapping up of the entire mythos of Jurassic Park. It was absolutely the best thing to see the "old gang" back together, a very nice touch that Ellie and Alan end up together (finally!).

There are a few "easter eggs" for those who have seen the first series, which are fun, and a bit of a gift.

The concept of the dinosaurs being allowed to continue to exist with a sort of freedom is quite pleasant; maybe a reflection of the times we live in - in previous films, especially the first three, the focus was on eradicating them.

With changing perspectives about the earth we live on, our place in the vast range of lifeforms on this planet, the resolution that is this film makes sense, and leaves one with a warm, cozy feeling, big smile on one's kisser :)

The action is stellar, there are a few extremely violent moments, though I suppose that is also a nod to the times we live in, and what is expected in an action film.

I didn't find any logic holes in the story.

It's just a very satisfying experience, as a film in its own right, and as the resolution to the whole saga.

Last Seen Alive (2022)

Boy I don't often give a 5 :(

[5/10 · 10 September 2022]

The actors are good. Gerard Butler is a seasoned pro, does just fine here. My complaint is that there seems to be just way too much extemporizing. I suspect it is a function of the direction. I hate it in any movie. It makes the actors seem to be not good actors, even when they do well in other movies.

I don't go to the movies to see actors behaving like normal people ;> There's plenty of that in daily life.

They want more words from me. Hmm... Okay, the scenery's lovely. Films that take place in backwoods sort of settings are interesting, they lend a lot of atmosphere.

Of all the cast, Gerard Butler seems to be doing the least of it, and I'm glad. He knows his beans.

13 Minutes (2021)

I quit it at about 13 minutes ;>

[9 September 2022]

Not because it isn't a good movie. I was liking the acting, the setting, the lack (so far at that point) of country music. The apparent lack of farming country good ol folks tropes. It was looking like being a refreshing movie.

Then the scene in the clinic where the doc is trying to talk the kid into having her baby. Nope. I don't even care where the movie goes with this, because I feel certain that she's going to keep the baby, or she's going to lose the baby on account of the tornado, or she's going to die, but they save the baby, or she and the baby both die.

Please. Just no. This is too important an issue to have it as a subplot in a movie whose agenda I now doubt.

Death on the Nile (2022)

Brilliant in every aspect.

[10/10 · 7 September 2022]

Kenneth Branagh is the the real goods. Only gets better with time. This adaptation of Poirot is the Poirot I've been waiting all my long life to see. The older versions of Poirot, in movie and tv series, were good each in their own way.

Some played him as a very serious character. The ones I really didn't care for were the ones where he was played as a curious, 'cute' character.

This version reveals Poirot as a human being, still the character written, but wholly developed. Branagh really is that good, both as producer and as actor.

The story is a tragedy, as it was written to be. Agatha Christie's mysteries could be considered light reading, I suppose, but the breadth and depth of human emotion informed her plots and her characters. This movie gives the stories, and her perspective as told in the stories, their due.

This adaptation is simply breathtaking.

Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

This is a terrific movie. Ignore the naysayers.

[7/10 · 22 August 2022]

I don't know what they were saying about it slowing down in the last half hour. It all made sense to me. Good direction, great cast. If people can accept Bruce Willis as an interesting, accomplished character actor in these past few years of movies he's made, they're going to enjoy the movies he's in a lot more. He contributes a great deal to any movie he's in.

I missed his presence when he left town, in this movie, but Emile Hirsch and Lukas Haas are certainly strong enough actors to keep the whole thing moving along.

Megan Fox is kind of not a great actress, but good enough, I guess.

Nifty movie.

Megalodon Rising (2021)

Not completely awful

[5/10 · 3 July 2022]

Not as bad as 1 star... I often wonder if the people who rate a movie so low actually watch the whole thing. If they don't watch it, their review really doesn't count. If they watch the whole movie and then rate it 1, well, if they found it that bad, why did they watch the whole thing?

This movie was exactly what I wanted to watch tonight. Short, action from the getgo, some fair acting. There was some not great acting too, but the dialogue wasn't really inspiring, gotta say.

Tom Sizemore is always worth watching :) Also of note were the actors playing Chinese characters. The acting brought to those roles was uniformly good.

Chris Grant Wenchell was great. O'Shay Neal didn't have a lot to work with, a pretty thankless role, but he did good things with it.

I really miss the Sharknado movies. This wasn't up there with those, but it'll do for a summer movie.

City on Fire (1979)

Not bad at all

[7/10 · 18 June 2022]

This really hit the spot, for what I was looking for, tonight. It really was a lot of fun. It had the cast, the setting, a *lot* of really great Canadian talent, and a more-than-usually "human" aspect to the story telling and character development (such as it was).

If you stick it out until the end, the wrap-up scene is so interesting, and different than most disaster movies I recall seeing. It's of the people who survived, sitting around, looking gobsmacked. That's just one of the touches in the movie that lift it above the usual dreck of the period.

It was terrific to see Richard Donat (from Haven) as a young man, and quite easy on the eyes, too ;D Cec Linder, Mavor Moore, the always wonderful Susan Clark...

Jonathan Welsh had always been a terrific actor. I found him to be interesting and plausible in this role. I wasn't bothered by lack of specific details about what kind of crazy the character was. He actually underplayed the nutsiness, and (I suppose) he and the director decided to allow his portrayal of the character to tell us what we needed to know. He was very effective. I see just now on imdb that he died young :(

For the time, 1979, this was a decent couple of hours entertainment, and the special effects were a heck of a lot better than some of the straight-to-vid disaster movies of these days.

The Invisible Man (I) (2020)

Who cares about plot holes?

[8/10 · 24 April 2022]

Very nifty take on the Invisible Man story. Totally plausible as presented, that's the thing. I bought into it right from the start.

It's a tiny bit of a thin story, but the action burbles right along. It hinges on the heroine, and Elizabeth Moss is masterful. She handles the emotional roller coaster beautifully well.

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Astonishing.

[10/10 · 21 March 2022]

Do not believe the poor reviews. If you have an ounce of imagination, this film will appeal.

How do you take feelings and big themes and transfer them to the screen? I have no idea. They did it, here.

2020 (2017)

Is not all that bad :)

[6/10 · 23 February 2022]

I've seen soooo much worse disaster movies.

This one isn't great, but it's not all bad. The annoying kid is not revolting, there's a funny character for comic relief, the special effects are tolerable.

You know what you're getting, and it delivers. Explosions! Fires! Earthquakes! Did I mention explosions? :D Best of all, we get to see spots around the world exploding - the really bad ones don't do that, they seem to centre on Small Town, U. S. A., which is really annoying.

This is a fine timewaster. We know we're not getting some expensive Hollywood production (and some of those have been pretty bad, eh?).

When a Stranger Calls (1979)

Astonishingly good!

[9/10 · 16 February 2022]

They sure do not make tv movies like they used to (do they actually make them any more at all?).

This is strong stuff, very effective, without blood or guts. A really good thriller.

What a cast! I've always been a fan of Charles Durning, Carol Kane's in it, Colleen Dewhurts (!). Tony Beckley as the stalker is just fantastic. Ron O'Neal, Rachel Roberts, for pete's sake!

Such a good movie.

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

This is such a good movie.

[10/10 · 12 February 2022]

There isn't a wrong step in the whole movie. The cast is so strong, and every performance is note perfect. Kudos to the director for that, as well.

This is what used to be called "a big movie". They really don't make them like this any more.

I've read the book, all the books, any liberties taken only contribute to the success of the film.

It tells a plausible story, possibly more plausible as the years go by. The ending is a lovely fairy tale, but that is, again, part of what makes the movie so good.

Quality production, terrific cast, uniformly stellar acting, beautiful settings.

I've talked a lot about the cast. I remember the first time I saw this was also the first time I'd seen Ciaran Hinds. I was blown away by his star quality, and became a solid fan.

As a Canadian, I've always been aware of Colm Feore. He's just always excellent in anything he chooses to grace with his presence.

Love Bruce McGill, so odd to see him playing a bad guy in Reacher (the TV series), but has he ever been anything but great, in anything?

Of course, Morgan Freeman.

When the Sky Falls (2015)

It did not suck :)

[6/10 · 10 February 2022]

I watched it because Mimi Kuzyk, Mike Dopud and Krista Bridges were in it. Solid Canadian actors. Mimi Kuzyk was fantastic, as always.

The kids were not horrible. In fact, the teenaged daughter's behaviour was pretty normal for a teenager. Actually, I liked the dynamic between her and her brother. She was a decent actress, as was the boy who played her brother. It's harder to act subtle roles than high drama.

Ron Lea (as the boss) is always reliable.

It was just a nifty little disaster movie, kept my attention, didn't go on too long.

I suppose people were expecting melodrama, retribution, death of less desirable characters by lightning or stupidity.

It was refreshing that this didn't happen ;> Nice little time-waster. Worth watching.

Not the dog it's being touted as. Hell, lots of people really hate the high-budget Hollywood disaster movies. Some people can't be pleased.

Don't Look Up (2021)

great cast wasted

[4/10 · 2 February 2022]

This movie's pretty much unwatchable. It's tedious. It's a joke given way, way too much time to be told. I suppose this is the 2020s version of satire, and it will appear to young people to be genius at work. It isn't.

I'm embarrassed for the really great actors wasted in this. I guess it demonstrates that actors are just people, pretty much like you and me, who make bad choices too. Maybe it's the script, maybe it's the direction, don't know, don't care. Colossal waste of time.

Dream House (2011)

Really very good.

[8/10 · 4 January 2022]

Would you pay to see big stars in a small movie? I certainly would. Solid cast, believable acting. I didn't for a moment doubt the characters on the screen were real. Great supporting cast too. I'm proud that Elias Koteas comes back to Canada to appear in films made in Canada. He's an actor of subtlety, experience and great talent.

This kind of film used to be called a 'study'.

I enjoyed it all tremendously.

Kudos to the two young actresses playing his kids.

A Castle for Christmas (2021)

Was going to go with 7

[6/10 · 30 December 2021]

For most of it, it was a charming movie, quite nice for Christmas, especially if you're familiar with the tropes. Great, solid cast.

Here's the problem. Brooke Shields and the character she plays are solidly American, so the ending must also appeal to Americans.

The device for the climax ruined it for me. The situation was clumsily handled, not as people of their age would likely handle it. She suddenly turned back into a shallow American woman, a caricature, while his perspective was reasonable and understandable. She goes off in a hissy, he ends up apologizing. Hallmark audience requirements fulfilled.

So, it turns into a typical Hallmark effort, with mature actors in the roles that would normally be given to young unknown actors and actresses, and those mature actors *behaving* as those usual young characters would be behaving. Cary Elwes was reasonably believable throughout, given what he had to work with.

The inclusion of Drew Barrymore contributed nothing but annoyance.

It's really a missed opportunity to do something half-decent, wasted.

Too bad.

The Ice Road (2021)

Not an action adventure.

[9/10 · 25 October 2021]

I don't get the really poopy reviews. This is an excellent movie - a great story, great acting, incredible cinematography... well, I had figured that the real reason people hate it is because it's set in Manitoba, and filmed in Manitoba, and after all, where the heck is Manitoba? If it had been filmed in Alaska or Wyoming or Montana, it would have been on their list of classics ;> It's on *my* list of classics. This is nominally an action/adventure, but it is truthfully a *yarn*. A yarn is an old-fashioned sort of movie concept. I think of movies like Windjammer or other films that have been done in the north, stories set against a big canvas, man against nature, like that.

It's about risk, danger, human relations, redemption. All that. This is a terrific movie.

Asteroid (2021)

A comedy that lost its way a bit

[7/10 · 18 October 2021]

I'm giving it a 7 because it's clearly a comedy, and within that structure, it worked really well - it was even hilarious. I'm cutting the producers/directors some slack. I haven't looked it up, but I suspect this is a beginner effort?

I don't know why it's listed as a drama.

It falls short at the end, where it abandons the comedy. An opportunity was missed here, by veering away from the 'madcap'/farcical/goofy-guy-comedy that it had been throughout, into genial feelgood territory.

Also, worth mentioning is that a lot has been created from not very much in terms of resources and a fairly small cast.

It isn't anywhere near being a 6.7, though.

Oddly enough, all the actors are spot on (within the context of a comedy). The acting's good, the characters are completely believable, within the strange world they inhabit.

It has a slight flavour of a British end-of-world series called You, Me and The Apocalypse, in terms of the subject matter and the absurdity.

I wish, here, they'd kept better focus.

Oh. Good grief. The director is described on Wikipedia as being a conspiracy theorist. Well, nevermind that. I didn't know it before or during watching the film, so it didn't colour my viewing. It might explain the lack of focus, I guess, if it's supposed to be a message movie? Also, turns out he's from Oneonta LOL Watch it for the laughs :)

Alex Cross (2012)

Not bad at all

[8/10 · 2 July 2021]

I get so tired of the one star reviews - what does it take to impress these people? Maybe Solyaris (the Russian original remade as Solaris with Clooney) ;> In that case, why are they watching this movie? So that they can give it a one star review, no doubt.

Anyhow, this movie isn't Oscar material, but it delivers. The acting is good all around, with some really stellar actors in the cast. Matthew Fox (who afaik, I've never seen in anything else) was really, really good as the psycho. I adore Jean Reno, and am pleased to see him here, being the pro that he always is.

The continuity is a little choppy, especially at the beginning, but it is resolved by mid-point.

The scenery is interesting and locations are well used. It's crisp, kind of high-contrast - what is it called? - cinematography?

There's an odd sort of Euro vibe to this movie (and no, not because of the presence of Jean Reno). There's also something sort of edgy and dark about the movie. I'm thinking that the movie suffered, at the time, because it wasn't Morgan Freeman, it wasn't a great big Hollywood movie, it was a smaller, darker, more intimate take on the Cross legend.

The differences that I can't quite put my finger on are intriguing, rather than jarring. It's a shame that the movie didn't do well at the box office. I would like to have seen more from Tyler Perry as Cross, and more of the style of this movie.

Something ahead of its time maybe. If this movie were to come out in today's social climate, I'm pretty sure it would have done a lot better.

Laura (1944)

Clifton Webb is fantastic

[8/10 · 1 July 2021]

It was all pretty good, and rolled along nicely, enjoyably. It really became pretty awesome at the end. Clifton Webb is fantastic.

The whole cast is excellent, the movie is stylish, smooth, tightly paced... Pretty darned good.

I preferred Gene Tierney in Leave Her to Heaven, and actually preferred that movie, but this is a pretty darned good film too.

They are a different type of film, of course, and this might be the best of this type of film.

Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)

Just a lot of fun

[8/10 · 26 June 2021]

I really, really enjoyed this movie. I loved the Mummy movies, but I think I almost liked this one more. It was just a lot of fun. Great effects, lighthearted, the female lead was refreshing, Josh Hutcherson was more than equal to his role, and Brendan Fraser, of course! Love Brendan Fraser in everything I've seen him in.

Interesting thought - this is a very small cast. Clearly, the casting was important, and very effective. As always, kudos go to the director of a successful movie.

Kinda wish they'd made a follow-up movie, going to Atlantis. Anyway, really enjoyed it, breath of fresh air in these dark, awful times.

Boss Level (2020)

Nah, it's great - ignore the ridiculously low ratings.

[7/10 · 25 June 2021]

Loads of fun, a lot of humour, lots of sly humour, great action. Lots of references to other films... Watch it :D.

Super Cyclone (2012 Video)

Yes! I'm giving this 10 stars ;>

[10/10 · 23 June 2021]

Come on, people! I've seen *much* worse bad disaster movies than this. It has a couple of solid actors in the lead, some fairly decent and capable support cast, not too many not-great-actors, and absolutely *no* bikini-clad bimbos with absolutely no purpose LOL It has an interesting story and premise. It has a not-great-script, but thanks to the cast, it almost never sounds as bad as it probably is. The special effects range from pretty damned bad to not too bad at all.

I actually came in halfway through on Roku Live, and found it on Tubi to watch all the way through with ads. Worth it.

Perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon avoiding housework ;> Lot of fun :D.

Sniper: Ultimate Kill (2017)

Actually pretty decent

[6/10 · 19 June 2021]

My expectations weren't all that high. I signed up for a timewaster, with lots of action and perhaps some decent acting, judging by the cast.

Got lots more! Great to see Tom Berenger - he just gets better. Billy Zane is reliably good, lots of good acting altogether.

Great action, decent script, not taking itself too seriously, the female lead is wonderful. Lots of explosions.

Did its job and more. Give it a shot.

The Woman in the Window (2021)

Not bad, not great.

[7/10 · 15 June 2021]

Haven't read the book, now have no desire to.

The acting is excellent right across the board.

The issue for me is that I found the characters so uniformly unsympathetic, that I really didn't care what happened to any of them, to the extent that I bailed after about an hour.

Then I decided that I did want to find out what it was about, so I turned it on again.

The ending's great, but it simply doesn't make wading through the rest of it, to get to it, worth it.

So, 7 stars for acting, directing, screenplay. That's about it.