Tag Archives: movies

2024 Year in Review: YouTube

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I spend a lot of time watching YouTube. It is probably the app I watch the most on my Roku TV. There are so many channels and programs on this site that I watch regularly. So every year I have to find the list of my favorite YouTube shows and personalities.

I am counting down the Top 15 YouTube series/channels of 2024. Many of these are repeats from last year and several have moved up or down.

#15. Songs from a Suitcase. Vocal coach watching cool stuff. She watched Agatha All Along.

#14. Alex Hefner’s TV and Movies. A reaction channel that has slipped a bit this year for me. As in most reaction channels, it depends on what the reactor is watching. I do enjoy Alex even if I do not watch him as often as I used to.

#13. Dodgers Nation. A big year for my Los Angeles Dodgers meant I spent more time watching this Dodger discussion show.

#12. Jeremy Jahns. Jeremy Jahns has been one of my favorite online reviewers for years. I always thought our opinions matched up. It seems as if some of my thought differed more this year than in the past, but I still think Jeremy is a good time, no alcohol required.

#11. Dan Murrell. Another of my favorite online critics, Dan is also very well spoken and intelligent. His Charts with Dan show featuring box office reports is always informative and compelling.

10. Fatman Beyond. Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin together are always a good time. I will admit that I do not watch this as regularly as I have in the past, but anytime I have the time to watch FB, I have a laugh and enjoy myself.

#9. Ashleigh Burton. Another reactor, but I seem to enjoy seeing her react more than some others. I just watched her react to Spider-Man: No Way Home and it was wonderful. She does the MCU and is currently doing Buffy season two. All of that interests me.

#8. New Rockstars. When a great new Marvel trailer comes out, there is no better place to go than to New Rockstars for the break down with Eric Voss. There are a lot of other shows on the New Rockstar lineup, but the breakdowns are still the bread and butter here.

#7. The Geek Buddies. John Rocha, Michael Vogel and Shannon McClung have excellent chemistry, being close friends. Their opinions on geek culture is not always the same, which makes it all the better. I love their long reviews of certain projects, including the great review of Agatha All Along this year.

#6. Ups and Downs. Simon Miller from WhatCulture Wrestling uses that finger of power to give the good bits and up and the bad bits a down. I watch him do these reviews for WWE wrestling and Simon is such a Positive Pete that he brings such an energy that makes the show even better than it was.

#5. Settle the Score. I enjoy this game show very much as Matt Knost hosts and Andy Merryweather plays the music. A combination of movie trivia and name that tune, Settle the Score is a hoot each week. I will say that when I know the contestants, I enjoy the show more, but there are still some winner from people I do not recognize.

#4. FYC. An Oscar discussion show featuring Scott Mantz, Perri Nemiroff and Jeff Sneider. The hosts are the strength of this show. They can disagree with one another and yet hold a civil and intelligent conversation. They clearly respect one another and it shines through the show.

#3. The Reel Rejects. Another reactor channel, but this year the team has exploded. They are doing a ton of movies, TV shows and trailer reactions and they are thoroughly entertaining, whether it be Greg and John, the original rejects, Roxy, Coy, Andrew, Tara, Aaron or any other, The Reel Rejects have had some awesome live streams that are extremely fun, such as the one this year where they were following news from ComicCon and found out Robert Downey Jr was going to play Dr. Doom in the MCU. It is great.

#2. pReview’d. It’s Jay and Adam… it’s pReview’d! Hey Peaches! The highest of the movie/TV reactors again this year is the pReview’d boys. Jay and Adam just feel so authentic and they are downright funny. So whether it is them watching Agatha All Along, Deadpool and Wolverine, Shogun, Cobra Kai, The Princess Bride, Daredevil, The Penguin, or doing a trailerpalooza in order to GAME THE SYSTEM, BA-BEEE!, Jay and Adam are awesome.

#1. Bonus Action Vol. 2. Jay Schmidt and Adam Lash from pReview’d are back with their D&D roleplaying group, creating one of the most thrilling and engaging story around. DM David Armstrong creates the story for Adam, Jay, Amanda Nichols, Ja-Ron Young, Josh Hurley and Jason Spina. These players are as creative and outstanding as improvisers which brings the gaming session to such an entertaining result. This was the #1 YouTube show on the list last year and the second season/volume has returned to the top spot. I’m not a fan of their time slot (Mondays, meaning I have to watch it the next night), but that is my only complaint. These players are so in touch with their characters that it is a joy to watch them play them and to interact with each other. So much chemistry among the group! And David is one of the best DMs I have ever seen.

2024 Year in Review: The Expendables Award for Acting Excellence

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It is once again time for the annual look at the best and the worst of films/TV etc. from the world of the cast of the Expendables. Yes, this might be a bit of a joke award, and a little too easy, but … whatever.

Best Movie with an Expendable: Hit Man. This was an excellent film starring Expendable 3 star Glen Powell. Powell has become a real star and he could dominate these Expendable Acting Awards moving forward if he continues to take these interesting roles.

Best Expendable Actor: Harrison Ford (Shrinking). It is the second year in a row for Harrison Ford winning this award for his work on the Apple TV + series, Shrinking. He is just perfect in that role, steals every scene he is in and absolutely rules. His comedic timing is so great and he has chemistry with every actor on the show. He has made the grumpy old man trope his own and his is brilliant on this show.

Worst Movie with an Expendable: Monster Summer. Starring Mel Gibson, this film was a weak 1980s type film that wanted to be like Monster Squad, Goonies, Hocus Pocus or Sandlot, but just lacked any of those films’ strengths or any of those films’ charms. Gibson was miscast in the role too.

Bruce Willis Quantity over Quality Award for Most Movies Made by an Expendable: Antonio Banderas. He had four films (five if you include the London release of Paddington in Peru). The four films were Cult Killer, The Clean-Up Crew, Babygirl and the short Mercedes-Benz: In Her Shoe. I expect to see Babygirl, but the others I missed.

Best Expendable Cameo: Wesley Snipes (Blade, Deadpool & Wolverine). One of the best cameos of the year came from Snipes, reprising his classic role of Blade for the new MCU film. Despite the rumors of a feud with Ryan Reynolds stemming from Blade 3, Snipes appeared in the love letter film to the MCU and was an absolute highlight.

Top 6 2023 Movies in 2024: 2024 Year in Review

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Every year, EYG watch movies that are released in 2023, but we do not watch it until 2024. These film do not go on the final Best or Worst film list, so I have been giving them their own list. I did not see very many early in January (perhaps only one), but that was because I wanted to save the other films for the June Swoon.

There are six films on this list. As with the year end best and worst lists, star ratings are not the final score. They may help me generalize where they may go on the list, but it does not require me to put them in that numerical order.

Starting off…

#6. Flamin’ Hot. The story of the creation of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and the man behind them. It was a comedic biopic with some creative adjustment… but hey, it was “based” on a true story. It was a very entertaining film.

#5. Thanksgiving. One of the big surprises in the list was this slasher movie from Eli Roth being a movie that I really enjoyed. Eli Roth has never been my favorite director, but this ne was clever and creative and well worth the watch. We just passed the holiday so it may be a perfect time for you to revisit this movie.

#4. 20 Days in Mariupol. A truly tough documentary following some media individuals through the war tarn land in Ukraine. It was real, too real at times and it was a very difficult watch. It was a very important watch too.

#3. The Zone of Interest. One of the big Oscar nominated International films from last year, The Zone of Interest focused on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig and the life they lived during the Holocaust.

#2. Anatomy of a Fall. Another Oscar nominated international film, Anatomy of a Fall told the story of a woman who was suspected of the murder of her husband, her trial, and what exactly her blind son knows. This is an extremely compelling mystery that keeps you guessing to the end.

#1. American Fiction. This was the film I watched in January because I did not want to wait until June to see it. I had heard a lot of great things about it and I was not disappointed. Jeffrey Wright is an author who, frustrated with his inability to sell a book, writes a “black” book under a pseudonym and suddenly finds a ton of success. That success made Wright all the more frustrated. This is a great movie with stunning performances and Oscar nominations, from not only Wright, but also Sterling K. Brown.

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year- 2024 Year in Review

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2024 was a down year with comic book movies. Marvel only put out one movie. Sony had one of the worst films of the year. Nothing from DC. It has been slow. 2025 will have a whole bunch of choices, but 2024, there is one clear standout.

I feel confident that I can make this pick before seeing Kraven the Hunter in a few weeks. Even if it surprises us and becomes one of the few Sony Spider-films that was any good, it will in no universe match the winner of this award this year. I feel sure in that statement. I mean, I did see Madame Web.

The previous winners:

The Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year

Previous Winners: Batman (1989), Dick Tracy (1990), The Rocketeer (1991), Batman Returns (1992), Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), The Crow (1994), Batman Forever (1995), The Phantom (1996), Men in Black (1997), Blade (1998), Mystery Men (1999), X-Men (2000), From Hell (2001), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (1993), Spider-Man 2 (1994), V for Vendetta (2005), 300 (2006), Superman: Doomsday (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Watchmen (2009), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Captain America: First Avenger (2011), The Avengers (2012), Iron Man 3 (2013), Captain America: Winter Soldier & Guardians of the Galaxy [tie] (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Logan (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Birds of Prey (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

2024 Christopher Reeve Memorial Comic Book Movie of the Year:

Deadpool and Wolverine

(Marvel Studios)

This film accomplished so much… such as:

  • Brought Deadpool into the MCU
  • Brought Hugh Jackman back to the role of Logan
  • Gave a tremendous love letter to the FOX Marvel Universe
  • Made $1.3 BILLION dollars at the Box Office becoming the highest grossing R rated movie of all time.
  • Final got everyone to shut up about Disney meddling in the rating. This was a full blown R rated movie.
  • Created a huge number of unbelievable cameos
  • Got Madonna to help decide where her song would work best.

And so much more. Deadpool & Wolverine is the best super hero movie of the year by far and is well deserving of this award.

2024 Year in Review

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It is that time of the year. It is time for the 2024 EYG Year in Review!

Over the next month (or so) I will be posting the winners of the awards that we give out this time of the year every year. This is our 14th year of giving out these awards and it is one of my favorite times of the year.

There are also several lists where I list my favorite and least favorites in a plethora of categories. Everything from the world of geek culture including movies, TV shows, comic books, WWE, YouTube and so on. The biggest hole in the year in review is video games as I do not play them (for fear of never stopping).

We have the records of all of our winners from the past found on the site. I will post the records during each award post. Here is an example:

The EYG Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award

Previous winners:  Stan Lee (Big Hero 6*, Deadpool, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse* ), John Cena (Daddy’s Home), Chris Evans (Thor: The Dark World, Free Guy), Sigourney Weaver (Cabin in the Woods), Hugh Jackman (X-Men: First Class), Yoda (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man: Far From Home), Harrison Ford (Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker), Rudy Giuliani (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), Val Kilmer (Top Gun: Maverick), Rhea Perlman (Barbie)

There are a ton of potential winners in this category for 2024 so it will be interesting who receives the Stan Lee Movie Cameo Award this year.

We will end the year in review with our typical Best Movie and Worst Movie lists. It is unclear as of yet how many each list will be. Last year I had 40 films on the Best list and only 20 films on the Worst, but I think that may not be as split this year. I know there are about 5-6 films competing for the worst film of the year spot and I am unsure which one will land in that spot.

I should say that, even if there are films on the worst list, or something receives a ‘Batman and Robin Award for Rottenness,’ I have the utmost respect for those who create movies and TV shows. I know it is an amazingly difficult job. However, I do believe it is okay to criticize or critique these projects. I will never get personal though.

And I will say this many times… this is my opinion. You may have a different opinion on some of these and that is great. I had someone on Twitter/X this year get mad at me for my review of Kinds of Kindness and was very insulting to me about it, calling me names and being disrespectful. All art is subjective and what I hate completely (like Kinds of Kindness) may be your favorite film of the year. And that is OK. To attack someone for their opinions is not OK and goes against everything that we believe at EYG.

So here we go. 2024 is almost in the books. It flew by and we look back before we look ahead.

Hate* [*A Comedy] (1999)

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So it is Black Friday and I went to Comic World in Dubuque to partake in the sale on back issues. I started talking with Ben, the owner, who was working the front of the store. We were discussing some of the movies I had watched recently, and i came around to talking about Rumours, which was totally crazy, a black comedy with some of the craziest stuff in it I had seen in a long time.

This led Ben to bring up a short that he called a ‘college’ short film, giving me a quick synopsis of the film. He mentioned a chicken moving next door to a guy. It certainly fit in with the weird films we were talking about (yes, we even mentioned Beau is Afraid).

Ben told me that it was available in full on YouTube, so I decided that I was curious to see what this comedy was and how I felt about it.

The film centered around a man named Paul Wilson (Paul Hungerford) who had a chicken move next door to him, and the chicken began tormenting him. Calling him Moriarty, the chicken, named Pembroke Arbaghast (voiced by Brian Carr), was trying not so subtle things to kill his new neighbor… or at least so Paul thought.

When his poker friends died from poisoned chimichangas, Paul decided that he had to do something to stop the chicken’s crazed spree.

This was hilarious. I loved this short. It was so funny and well presented. The key to something like this is to present it in all seriousness, despite it being totally ridiculous. Paul was really scared and bothered by the foul creature and so the silliness of the situation became funny instead of stupid.

It seemed as if every time the chicken was shown, I was laughing, because of its look, and yet, I found a lot of this to be fairly sinister. The puppeteers did a wonderful job making this chicken believable with its playing poker, driving or sending threatening emails.

The final confrontation between man and bird was excellent too. This was a lot of fun and definitely worth the time. The twist at the end was funny too.

The acting was very solid. In particular, Paul Hungerford delivers a strong performance. You are convinced that he is scared of this chicken and that he legitimately is afraid for his life.

This goes to show you how a creative mind can take even the weirdest of concepts and turn it into an entertaining film. Hate* [* A Comedy] was well worth the 22-minutes it took to watch it, available on YouTube, but do not forget the asterisk when searching.

Blitz

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Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, has a new film that is currently streaming on Apple + and has been in discussion for awards considerations.

It is 1940 and London is experiencing deadly bombing from the Nazi air force. Because of this, the people of London were sending their children away to try and protect them from the bombings. Rita (Saoirse Ronan) was a single parent sending her son George (Elliott Heffernan) away on a train. George was not happy about the situation, going as far as telling his mother that he hated her.

About an hour into the trip on the train, George jumps off with the intent of going back to his home in London.

George faced a ton of troubles along the way, including several of the seeder characters on the streets of London, as if it were right out of the stories of Charles Dickens.

Saoirse Ronan was excellent in this film, bringing the anguish of her situation and the absolute fear when she discovered that her son was missing. Elliott Heffernan does a very solid job with the mostly physical role, providing the right amount of grit and determination. George never gave up despite situations that clearly could have led many people to give in. The film certainly depended upon the skills of Heffernan.

The special effects and the war-torn areas of London were amazingly constructed and portrayed in the film. There was a sequence in an underground area with water flooding in that was seriously stunning and anxiety-driven. The first half of the film went a little slowly, but the film definitely picked up as the time went on.

Blitz is available on Apple + and is a very strong film.

3.8 stars

Moana 2

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The sequel to the hit Disney animated movie Moana, Moana 2 came out today with every indication that it is going to be a huge hit for Disney.

According to IMDB, “After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.“

Moana 2 is a perfectly fine movie. I thought this had a lot of positives to it. I just would say that it does not reach the level of the original, and that is okay.

The biggest issue was that you could absolutely tell that Lin Manuel Miranda was not involved in this new film. His music was some of the best parts of the original Moana, but these songs in Moana 2 are, at best, passable. There were even a few of the times when the lyrics of the songs were weak.

Dwayne Johnson and Aulii Cravalho are great voicing their characters. They are definitely the strength of the film. The story of Moana heading out trying to find other groups of people was solid and made sense.

I’m not sure how much I loved the secondary characters that were brought aboard Moana’s crew. They were kind of annoying at times, but it was okay. I did enjoy the wrap up of the movie and the third act felt better than the first couple of acts.

Of course, the film looks incredible. The animation is beautiful and the designs of the film were sensational. The storms were amazing and looked fantastic.

I thought Moana 2 was a fun movie, but it was not terrific. It was definitely enjoyable overall. I did not think it matched the original, and the songs were not memorable. Moana 2 was good enough.

3.4 stars

The Piano Lesson

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Netflix does release several Oscar-worthy films this time of the year as they give out films that they have agreed to back on their platform. While many of the films that are made expressly for Netflix come up short, these releases are usually fairly high quality.

That is the case for the new film The Piano Lesson, which came out this past Friday on the streamer. It had appeared at TIFF this year to soundly positive reviews and now can be seen by the nation as a whole.

According to IMDB, “[The Piano Lesson] Follows the lives of the Charles family as they deal with themes of family legacy and more, in deciding what to do with an heirloom, the family piano.”

There is much more than that simplistic summary gives, including an air of supernatural in the house where the piano is being stored. There were some really creepy moments in this movie that were weirdly out of place, or at least felt that way. However, these moments do work for the film, you just do not expect them to arrive in this type of movie.

The conflict between Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is remarkable. They have an amazing chemistry with each other as brother and sister, but they were both determined that they knew what was best with this piano and it was clear that this conflict was not about to be resolved through discussion. Both Washington and Deadwyler brought their best work and presented powerful characters that each had an understandable argument.

Samuel L. Jackson is great in the film as well are Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Corey Hawkins, and Malik J. Ali.

The film definitely felt like a stage play turned into a movie, and, after watching it, I did find out that it was based on a stage play by August Wilson and that Jackson, Washington, Potts and Fisher all starred in it. You could see how they all felt very comfortable in their roles.

Danielle Deadwyler was the standout. Coming off her amazing Oscar snubbed performance in Till, she is once again exceptional. Her emotions are on the edge through the whole film and her dogged determination that the piano with the faces of her family carved upon it was going nowhere.

This is available to stream on Netflix.

4 stars

Wicked

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The classic stage musical Wicked has arrived in theaters with a part one. Part two will come next year. When I first saw the trailer for this film, I was not very impressed. However, after seeing this, I can comfortably say that this is one of the best movies of the year.

According to IMDB, “Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda (Ariana Grande), a popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. After an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), their friendship reaches a crossroads.”

There is so much great about this movie. I’ll star with the performances of the two leading ladies, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who were both sensational. I would venture to guess that both Erivo and Grande will receive Oscar nominations for this movie. They absolutely shine on the screen. Erivo looks awesome in her green makeup and Ariana Grande proved that she was a better actress than anyone every thought she was. And the two of them had amazing chemistry with each other and it worked so well.

Both of them were amazing with the music too. You would expect Grande to knock the music out of the park, but Cynthia Erivo matched her with every note and her performance of “Defying Gravity” is goosebump inducing.

Though we did not see much of him, Jeff Goldblum was excellent as the Wizard of Oz and it was cool to see Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible too.

The movie is gorgeous. The cinematography is next level and the colors are great. Much like other versions of Oz, the colors are an important aspect for the land.

I loved the world building going on here too. Everything made sense and it did not feel that anything was forced. The writing was epic and told this adaptation well.

I do think that the movie is a little long. Some of the first act could have been trimmed to make things work a little better. The third act though was exceptional. I knew where the end of the film was coming so the big “TO BE CONTINUED” popping up on the screen did not bother me. It felt like a perfect place to stop. I know some people may not be happy about a film that is a part one.

I did not ever see the stage show and I was very limited with the music too, but I thought the film does a great job creating a world that I want to keep watching. It was an epic film and director Jon Chu really did a fantastic job. It is one of the best movies of the year.

4.8 stars

Gladiator II

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There are not a ton of Oscar winning movies that have gotten sequels, especially over 20 years later. However, director Ridley Scott has done it with Gladiator II, a sequel to the Oscar winner from 2001.

According to IMDB, “After his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum and must look to his past to find strength to return the glory of Rome to its people.“

I was disappointed with this movie. I had not expected it to be anywhere as good as the first film was, but this was considerably lesser than that movie. There were several problems with the movie.

Before I get into the negatives, there were some good things about the movie. I did not hate this film, and they did have some good things. Starting off with Denzel Washington, who is as good here as he always is. Denzel was excellent as the manipulator/villain of the piece and he brought that slimy feel to him.

Another positive for the film was most of the action was pretty good. The fights are brutal and well constructed, especially the hand to hand battles and the swordplay. There was some cool animal fights too. I saw a criticism that the Romans may not have used them in the coliseum and I could not care about that at all. Most of the animals were awesome.

However, there were sharks too and that was just one of the most ridiculous of all the animals involved. That was easily the worst coliseum scene we got.

So the problems. First, the film is too long. You could have trimmed 15-20 minutes off the run time of the film and make it feel tighter. Next, the writing, specifically the dialogue, was just not very good.

Another major issue I had was the first ten minutes, which nearly lost me. There was a weird, almost James Bond type introduction and I felt like it was such a waste. The classical music was great, but what was the purpose of this? Then, the story started and they introduced Lucius’s wife, who was an archer, and I immediately thought to myself that there was no way she was making it through the movie, and I was proven right almost immediately. The problem with that was that they tried to make this relationship the key to Lucius’s anger, but we barely got to know her so I did not feel anything when she died.

I liked Pedro Pascal in the film, but I felt like his character was muddled and inconsistent. The twin emperors, played by Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, were cartoon characters and out of place in this movie. Paul Mescal is fine as Lucius, but his motivation was shaky too. Was he anger over his love’s death or something about his mother?

As I said, I did not hate this movie, but I did not like it much. It lost me early and was never good enough to pull out of the spiral. The original Gladiator is considered one of the best films by many, so you should go watch that. This one is just not up to snuff.

2.8 stars

Emilia Pérez

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I had heard this was an Oscar favorite. With it now on Netflix, I was excited to give it a chance. I was not expecting what I saw.

First, this was mostly in Spanish. I guess I should have guessed that from the title, but I did not.

Second, it was a musical. Simply did not see that coming.

According to IMDB, “Mexico, today. Overqualified and exploited, lawyer Rita is wasting her talents working for a large firm far better at whitewashing criminal garbage than serving justice. But an unexpected way out appears, the sort of offers you can’t refuse : to help feared cartel boss Juan “Little Hands” Del Monte – aka Manitas – retire from his business and disappear forever. Manitas has a plan he’s been fine-tuning in secret for years : to become, at last, the woman he’s always dreamed of becoming.”

The performers were spectacular in this movie. Zoe Saldana was Rita, the lawyer who was brought in as a way to help Manitas, played by Karla Sofía Gascón. Selena Gomez played Manitas’ wife, Jessi. All three of these performers were sensational. And they all did a tremendous job with the music/songs.

The movie was 2 and a 1/2 hours long, but it absolutely did not feel like it. The film flew by. In fact, when it came to its dramatic conclusion, I was looking at the clock wondering how this could be over already. That means this long film was paced brilliantly or else you are going to feel that passage of time.

French director Jacques Audiard creates a wonderful film, bringing out some of the best performances of the year while handling a topic that can be divisive with a deft touch. The story is not the controversy. The story is the emotions and feelings that it elicits. Emilia Pérez is top notch work that caught me off guard.

4.4 stars

A Real Pain

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A Real Pain is a perfect example of an independent movie.

For me, an independent movie does not have a plot, or at least one that drives most of the story. It is a film where we take some characters and drop them into situations and let them see what happens. You could define it as character based films. I don’t want to imply that I do not like that style of movie, but it is distinct.

In A Real Pain, two cousins take a trip to Poland after their beloved grandma passed away to go on a Holocaust tour and visit her childhood home.

The movie was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, who starred as David Kaplan. Kieran Culkin played his cousin Benji Kaplan. They both brought Oscar-worthy performances in these roles. Their performances were very important since the characters were so important to the story.

The tour of Poland and a nearby concentration camp was very powerful and the actors did a great job responding to it.

The film was only 90 minutes long, but it did feel longer than that. That is probably because of the dense material that the film featured. However, there were some really funny moments too, which you do not find too often with Holocaust films. A Real Pain is an ambitious film with great performances that had some challenging moments to watch it.

4 stars

Red One

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans and J.K. Simmons star in the new Christmas themed film, Red One, opening this weekend to a large budget.

Santa (JK Simmons) is preparing for his yearly trek across the globe when he gets kidnapped. Cal (Dwayne Johnson), head of St. Nick’s security, has to reluctantly team-up with 4th level naughty-lister Jack (Chris Evans), the man who unwittily provided specifics for the kidnapping to be successful, to save Christmas.

Johnson, Evans and Simmons are all very likable and entertaining in this movie. Johnson is playing the same version of The Rock that he always plays, but he is enjoyable at it. Evans’ character is another version that we have seen before.

The story had some fun moments, but truthfully there was not much that we have not seen before. I did like the Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) section of the film, but we saw a good chunk of this in trailers. In fact, one of my favorite lines of the trailer was not in the film. Still, I did like the section.

Some of the special effects looked great, but a lot of the CGI was not great. Again, most of the Krampus parts of the movie were good, mainly because they seemed to be mostly practical effects.

I had heard a lot of negative reviews about this movie, but I did not hate it. It was okay. It may not be a great movie, but it is about what you would expect when you watch it. It has a place as a Christmas movie watch that can be fun for the family. It is never going to be considered a classic, but it has likable actors and some fun action.

3.1 stars

Bates Motel S5 E9, E10

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Spoilers

“Visiting Hours”

“The Cord”

The rewatch of Bates Motel came to an end tonight as I watched episode nine and ten of season five. I did not remember any details of this finale so I had no idea of what was going to happen.

I was afraid that I would not feel that the end of this show would have a satisfying end. I was wrong.

It has been fairly clear the last season that this is not a prequel to the movie Psycho. It just had the character of Norman Bates and the setting in place, but they did not feel the need to keep things so they would line up with the movie.

I mean, Norman died at the end. That would make it difficult to have the movie come after this.

The scene between brothers with Dylan killing Norman in self defense, because Norman wanted him to. Dylan was shocked by the corpse of Norma at the dinner table. Freddie Highmore and Max Thieriot brought some amazing emotion and energy to this final confrontation.

What did feel like a letdown was the end of Alex Romero. The ending was always going to be about the Bates brothers and not Romero, but I loved Romero and Norma as a couple as I have mentioned several times so I wanted Alex to have some kind of retribution. Of course that was not going to happen. Alex’s emotions over the Norma body is what cost him his life. He should have killed Norman first, but he was not thinking, he was still in total grief.

I was very happy that Dylan and Emma wound up together. I was a little worried that they would no longer be together because Emma was mad about her mother being murdered by Norman. However, the end of the episode showed Emma, her daughter and Dylan meeting up and they shared a kiss. This was a wonderful moment that made me very happy. At least one of the great couples from Bates Motel made it through the series.

I am glad that I have made it through this series. It was a quality show that flew under the radar while it was on TV.