Tag Archives: Jake Gyllenhaal

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (The Covenant) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A solid action film that knows how to craft tension from its narrative and musical score.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

Looking down a crosshair.

The Covenant Review –

When it comes to war films, the more straightforward the narrative, the defined sides, and the motivations, the more likely a movie will be made. This is why there are more WW2 films than, say, Vietnam. In modern times, it has been a struggle to depict the war in Afghanistan, with the gung-ho narrative falling flat, given how easily the Taliban retook the country back. Any film exploring this terrain needs to work through a myriad of complexities. Which is what the movie we are looking at today at least attempts.     

So to set the scene, in the aftermath of 9/11, America invaded Afghanistan in 2001. It is now March 2018 in Lashkar Gah. Where Master Sgt. John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal), Staff Sergeant Charlie ‘Jizzy’ Crow (Sean Sagar), Joshua ‘JJ’ Jung (Jason Wong), Jack’ Jack Jack’ Jackson (James Nelson-Joyce), Sergeant First Class Kawa Mawlayee (Kawa Mawlayee), Eduardo’ Chow Chow’ Lopez (Christian Ochoa Lavernia), Tom’ Tom Cat’ Hancock (Rhys Yates), are all inspecting vehicles at a checkpoint, when one of the trucks explodes. Returning to Bagram Air Base, they pick up their new interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). Their team is meant to be looking for Taliban weapon caches or IED factories, but after striking out the official way, they start taking unofficial measures, which is when things turn sideways.

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Strange World – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A visually stunning romp through an unknown world with danger at every turn    

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this film

The airship descends into the unknown.

Strange World Review –

There is always a particular joy when you sit down to an adventure film and get to be taken into a majestic new world with wonders at every turn. It is where danger and joy can switch in a moment or be intertwined. It is easy to give lip service to this genre without exploring the depths necessary to bring it off. But today, we look at a film that plums those depths both literally and figuratively.  

So to set the scene, we open in Avalonia, a beautiful land cut off from the rest of the world due to a ring of impassable mountains. Many people have tried to find a route, but all have failed, and most of them gave their lives in the process. But one family, The Clades, decided to buck that trend as father Jager (Dennis Quaid) and son Searcher (Jake Gyllenhaal) fight through every obstacle to find a way through the mountains. However, one day when finding the way through the mountains, Searcher finds a green plant brimming with energy that could be Avalonia’s future. The two fight, and Jaeger walks into the icy gloom alone. Twenty-five years later. Searcher has married Meridian (Gabrielle Union), and they have a son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White) and make their lives farming and selling Pando. But when the Pando starts dying off, Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu), the president of Avalonia, arrives at the farm to go on an expedition to discover why, and Searcher, son of Jaeger, gets roped in, as does a stowaway or two.

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Ambulance – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is non-stop action from the word go, which can get exhausting at times, but it is a riot to watch when Michael Bay is on his game.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film

Ambulance. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Ambulance Review –

For a long time, Michael Bay has been derided for his films, and I think that is both fair and a little bit unfair. Because Michael Bay has a particular style of filmmaking that does not work with every script, however, when a story and cast line up with his filmmaking strengths, well, you can get something special. Today we are looking at a film that does just that as we romp across LA County, one explosion after another.

So to set the scene, Will Sharp (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a war veteran. Still, he is getting shafted by the Department of Veteran Affairs because they won’t pay for his wife Amy’s (Moses Ingram) experimental surgery, and there is no way Will can come up with the $231,000 himself. Well, there is one way, but it means getting in contact with his estranged brother Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), who followed their father’s footsteps into the world of illicit money. This is good news for Danny because he needs an extra man in his crew to take down one of the biggest bank hauls, and Will has five minutes to pick if he is in or not. The robbery was going well, right up until Officer Zach (Jackson White) comes up to the bank to ask out one of the tellers on a date, and things fall apart from there, including Zach getting shot. Well, the police are surrounding the bank, and there is no way out, or maybe because EMT Cam Thompson (Eiza González) has arrived on the scene to save Zach’s life and that big ambulance looks like the perfect opportunity to slip past a police cordon.  

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Movie Review – Spider-Man: Far From Home

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TL;DR – As the swan song for the Phase 3 it delivers of nearly every front but mostly in heaping amounts of charm

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene (you 100% need to stay for the mid-credit at least)

Spider-Man: Far From Home. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

To be a bit honest I had some concerns about this film before I walked into the cinemas. I quite liked the first Spider-Man and the films since has showed that Tom Holland was one of Marvel’s best casting choices. However, this film was coming off the double whammy of being the follow up to both Endgame and also the first film since the revolutionary Into the Spider-Verse, and they are tough acts to follow. However, literally five minutes into the movie I knew I was in for a good time, but I didn’t know was how much of an impact this film would have on the greater landscape.

So to set the scene, we open with a quick recap of everyone who dies in Endgame, so if you have not seen it yet get ready for that band aid to get ripped off real quick. It also gives a little perspective as to how the world adapted to what they now call the blip with half of the people disappearing then reappearing 5 years later. It looks like most of Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) friends got snapped and have to suffer through doing the school year all over again. Well after all the stress of Endgame, Peter is happy that he is able to take a break because he and his friends MJ (Zendaya), Jacob (Jacob Batalon), Betty (Angourie Rice) and unfortunately Flash (Tony Revolori) are going to Europe on a school trip. However, before he leaves Happy (Jon Favreau) arrives at his aunt May’s (Marisa Tomei) charity dinner to let Peter know that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is looking for him and Peter does the only normal thing and ghosts Nick Fury. Well you can guess how well that went.

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Movie Review – Okja

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TL;DR – Beautiful, moving, devastating, unsettling, emotional, heart-breaking & powerful

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a post-credit scene

Okja. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Wow, just wow, for a long time Netflix has been moving into the movie distribution industry, but so far they really have not put out anything truly remarkable, focusing more on Adam Sandler type movies, when they actually get around to promoting them. So when some friends in the industry mentioned that Okja was the real thing, I was surprised, then I found out that it was made by Bong Joon-ho, whose Snowpiercer was a fascinating film, even if I did have a couple of issues with it. So I loaded up Netflix, put out my lunch, and wondered what we were going to see, and I can honestly say I was not prepared for the feels, in any way shape and form.

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