The Review: The Banker

The Banker 7/10

I liked this movie. I can't quite describe it because there is a whole lot of math and bank talk. Its also based off a true story as L. mentioned to me. This dude Bernard Garrett grows up a smart kid but because it is 1954 he is pretty much told to cut that shit out and stay Black. As he grows up he wants to get into doing real estate but can't because Black. He meets this guy named Joe Morris who has a lot of money and clubs and convinces him that they can work together. They hire this kid named Matt to be the face of their business and things go great. Then they head to Texas and things go great until they go really not great. They pretty much run two banks and help out Black people with loans for their homes and businesses but that is not looked kindly upon. I would give this a higher score if the pacing was a bit faster and less time was spent showing me math. Its on Apple+ so nobody watching this.

Anthony Mackie as Bernard Garrett

Nicholas Hoult as Matt Steiner

Samuel L. Jackson as Joe Morris

Nia Long as Eunice Garrett

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The Review: The Protege

The Protege 2/10

This film should have been awesome considering who was in it. But between the shoddy camera work, writing, plot twists, and directing this didn't stand a chance. I randomly decided to watch this because of the cast thinking that it would at least be a fun one to watch. I was wrong. Like, goofy wrong. This dude named Moody finds a room full of dead dudes he was supposed to kill and a little girl did it. He takes her under his wing and she is a assassin now. Moody gets “killed” and she looks for revenge and finds out he ain't dead and they go to kill someone. I'm still not exactly sure why she wants to kill him but she is sidetracked trying to kill two other dudes. Its fucking weird and confusing. The lady, Anna, who is the assassin gets shot and hurt so many times but a shower is like a reset for her and her injuries only affect her enough to have someone catch up to her. Everyone double crosses each other. The ending is ridiculous and became one of those times where I wondered how this trained killer managed to stay alive so long based on what I saw.

Maggie Q as Anna Dutton

Michael Keaton as Michael Rembrandt

Samuel L. Jackson as Moody Dutton

Robert Patrick as Billy Boy

Patrick Malahide as Vohl

David Rintoul as Edward Hayes

Ori Pfeffer as Athens

Ray Fearon as Duquet

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The Review: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

Cat On A Hot Tin Roof 10/10

This movie was awesome. Last weekend L. and I watched this movie. I had heard of it but had absolutely no idea what it was about. I did think for some reason that Marilyn Monroe was in this. She isn't. Not sure why I thought that. This dude named Brick is drunk as hell and hearing the roar of crowds that aren't there and decides its a great time to run and jump hurdles on a field. He eats shit and breaks his ankle. He is now back at his family's place with his wife Maggie that he seems to not like at all. His father, Big Daddy, is coming home for his 65th birthday party and everyone is all excited, especially his brother Gooper and his wife Mae. The children they have are some of the most annoying children to ever grace the screen. Brick just stays in his room staying drunk while Maggie tries to sleep with him and reminding him of the money they could get from Big Daddy. Brick is like “I don't care about you, that money, my family, or myself. I just want Skipper back!” After a while I started to gather that he and Skipper were more than just football teammates and friends if you catch my drift.

The Review: 21 Bridges

21 Bridges 8/10

This movie was actually good. I say that because when I saw the trailer for this a few years ago they showed the entire movie in it and while watching I was hoping that that wasn't true. Turns out it is. They give away way too much in the damned trailer and I could imagine watching this and being surprised by the twists and turns. Oh, right. Plot. This kid named Andrew Davis is at the funeral for his father who was a cop that was killed. Years later he is a detective and has a reputation for killing guys. Meanwhile these two dudes are robbing a food spot for cocaine when there turns out to be ten times as much as they were expecting. Cops show up cause every single cop in this film is dirty. Like, all of them. Andre is taking this personal cause his dad was killed and is hunting these two dudes down while also dealing with police who become cartoonishly dirty. This is another one of those movies where it seems like some people know what it is and others are acting like this is a straight to streaming film and not really giving their all. I would still recommend this because it goes fast and something is always happening. I watched this on Netflix.

Chadwick Boseman as Andre Davis

Sienna Miller as Frankie Burns

J. K. Simmons as Captain McKenna

Stephan James as Michael Trujillo

Taylor Kitsch as Ray Jackson

Keith David as Deputy Chief Spencer

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The Review: DMZ

DMZ 3/10

Its a show. As I described to L. this is one of those shows where you could do some laundry or clean up while its on and not feel like you really missed anything. I never read the comic that it is based off of but had heard it existed. I also know that it ran for a lot of issues and maybe that is why this four episode series feels so rushed. I never got a sense of what life was like outside of the walled city that they live in or why it is so bad out there. Yeah, the plot. This doctor sneaks back into the walled city to find her son who she lost eight years or so ago. Turns out he didn't get lost but made sure he didn't leave with her. His dad is one of many people running the city and is so ambitious that it turns into stupidity. Her son is this dude who is an assassin for his father now. I got annoyed a lot watching because people would make silly decisions or actions to keep the story going. The series is shot well but the acting seems to be from different shows. Some acting is very serious and others seem like characters from a network television series. This is on HBO Max. Y'all can check it out if you want. Its not horrible. Just feels extremely rushed until it slams on the brakes in the last episode and wraps up everything perfectly.

Rosario Dawson as Alma "Zee" Ortega

Hoon Lee as Wilson Lin

Freddy Miyares as Skel

Jordan Preston Carter as Odi

Venus Ariel as Nico

Amandla Jahava as Nicole

Benjamin Bratt as Parco Delgado

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The Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 8/10

Newt is back! But first they gotta transfer Grindelwald out of the US and back to Europe. This dude is spooky as hell and there is more action in this first scene that all the Potter movies combined. I am exaggerating but not too much. Meanwhile Newt is trying to appeal his ban on traveling and they are like “We will but you gotta capture the kid that turned out to be the demon cloud” from the first film. Yeah, I didn't cover everything in my first review. The dude that was hunting the kid Credence turned out to be Grindelwald in disguise and the kid turned out to be the cloud demon thing even though he was too old and a male. Credence is also being hunted by this other guy, Dumbledore wants Newt to find him thinking he belongs to the Lestrange family. Everybody want this boy to kill him, use him as a weapon, or help him out.

The Review: Meet Me In St. Louis

Meet Me In St. Louis 7/10

Back in December I watched this movie for the first time with L. She had seen it before but I only knew the name from cartoons and such which tends to be my reason for knowing most things made before the 1960's be it an actor, actress, or song. I have to point out that this movie was crazy as hell. I kept referring to one of the children as Purge because she was nuts. This takes place in the early 1900's so shit is weird. This Smith family is stank ass rich and doing well. The daughters just need to find a man to marry and then they will be off to, like, be married and take care of homes. Whatever. They need men because 1903. There are four daughters and a son who ain't important to the story. The oldest daughter is waiting for her dude to propose while Esther is clamoring for the guy next door. This poor bastard.

The Review: F9

 

F9 4/10

So this was a movie. An very expensive looking movie. I have seen all of the Fast & Furious movies and this one looked crazy as hell from the trailer. It is. This movie is fucking nuts. At this point they have gone way off the rails and if they do another movie it needs to be more grounded. I mean that literally since they go into fucking space in this one. That's right. They go into actual outer space. The movie even makes fun of itself with one of the characters recapping all of the things that they have survived without being hurt. Hell, even a character that was dead came back in this one! The basic story is that it turns out that Dominic had a brother all these years and he is back to try and take over the world. This actually didn't feel like a Furious film so much as a crazy superhero movie with the cast from the Furious films in it together. Make one more but stay on the planet, actually do some street racing, and focus on maybe two people instead.

Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto

Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz

Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce

Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej Parker

Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey

Sung Kang as Han Lue

Helen Mirren as Queenie Magdalene Ellmanson-Shaw

Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody

Charlize Theron as Cipher

Thue Ersted Rasmussen as Otto

Anna Sawai as Elle

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The Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 9/10

A few months back I finished watching all the rest of the Harry Potter films with L. We even watched the reunion special and everything. She had asked if I saw Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and I hadn't but knew they were somehow connected to the Potter films but not how or anything. Only thing I really knew was the star of this and that was it. Why didn't anyone tell me that this movie was this damned good? I'm mad. This is about a wizard from Britain named Newt Scamander who is in New York (this is in the 1920's). He spots a woman talking mad shit about witches even though she looks like one. Newt ends up mixing his suitcase that is full of dangerous ass magical animals up with this guy named Jacob who is looking for a loan to open a bakery. One of the animals that gets loose is a Niffler and it is the best creature ever. I want one. This wizard named Tina arrests him for bringing dangerous animals to the country and we got to see the Magical Congress of the United States whose answer to everything is “Just erase their memories.” Oh, and the city is being attacked by this demon cloud. Like, it just rips through buildings, people, whatever and then disappears. Its spooky as hell.