Tag Archives: Ryan Reynolds

The Adam Project – Movie Review

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TL;DR –  While it is not doing anything revolutionary, what is there, is perfectly fine.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this movie.

The Adam Project. Image Credit: Netflix.

The Adam Project Review –

There are many things a film can be, it can be revolutionary, it can be a disaster, or worse still, it could just be boring. But then a film can also just be okay, not dull, still perfectly watchable, yet not looking to shake anything up. Today, we look at a film that fits into this category, full of neat things, but not a whole lot else.   

So to set the scene, we open with the very ominous phrase “time travel exists, you just don’t know it yet”, as, in 2050, a fighter pilot Adam Reed (Ryan Reynolds) blasts into the atmosphere and makes a time jump as another ship tries to shoot him out of the sky. In 2022, Adam Reed (Walker Scobell) is running for his life after mothing off to several bullies. His mother, Elli (Jennifer Garner), picks him up from school because he was also suspended even though he was attacked. As his mum goes out for a date, a crash explodes in the forest behind the house, and that is when Adam finds Adam sitting in his late father’s garage.

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Red Notice – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Personality can only go so far in covering over narrative shortcomings   

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription that viewed this film

Red Notice. Image Credit: Netflix.

Red Notice Review –

Heists, betrayals, double-crosses, and more. Look, these films are usually my jam. Watching two groups try to outmanoeuvre each other, not knowing if a plan will succeed or fail, is a lot of fun. When you get a film that fails on that front, it can be more disappointing than usual.   

So to set the scene, apparently, when Cleopatra and Mark Anthony married, Marc presented her with three ornate eggs. With their deaths, the eggs were thought a myth until two were found by accident. Today, one of the eggs is held in the museum in Rome … or is it. For FBI profiler on art crime John Hartley (Dwayne Johnson) has had a tip-off that notorious thief Nolan Booth (Ryan Reynolds) is about to steal it. Insert action scene here.

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Free Guy – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that works through the sheer charisma of its cast but left me feeling hollow when I left.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Free Guy. Image Credit: 20th Century Studios.

Free Guy Review –

I had wanted to catch Free Guy for a couple of weeks now, but schedules never lined up, well that was until today when I managed to slip in just in time for the start of the film. I was intrigued because I like Ryan Reynolds as an actor, and I enjoy the video game/streaming intersection that the game is delving into. However, as I walked away from the cinemas there felt like a lot of opportunities were not taken. 

So to set the scene, every day, Guy (Ryan Reynolds) wakes up, wishes his goldfish a good morning, gets a coffee, and goes to work at the bank, where he gets robbed multiple times a day. Because Guy is an NPC (non-player character) in the video game Free City. However, one day he notices one of the player characters in the game is humming a song that he loves, and it breaks him from his gameplay loop. It is here where he discovers a whole new world is just under his fingertips … or glasses.

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Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – More of the same, so if you know how you feel about the first film, well, not much has changed    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene and something at the end.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard). Image Credit: Roadshow Films.

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Review –

A few years ago, there was this small weird film that slipped into cinemas. The Hitman’s Bodyguard was a fairly average action film, with all the narrative beats that you would expect. However, with some good cinematography, action set pieces, and a cast that bought entirely into the premise, it turned out to be more than the sum of its parts. I wondered if they could capture that same energy twice, and the answer is both yes and no.

So to set the scene, Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) is no longer an AAA-rated executive protection agent, as the organisation took umbrage that he took a bullet for a known hitman. After some counselling from his therapist (Rebecca Front), he decides to instead of waiting for the review board he would take a sabbatical from bodyguarding and fly to Capri for a relaxing holiday. Which lasts about five seconds until Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek) arrives guns blazing as the Mafia has captured Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), and only Michael can set him free.

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The Croods: A New Age (The Croods 2) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A blast from start to finish     

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene, but not one you need to stay back for

Awards –

Nominated: Creative Animation, Most Fun & Fascinating Worldbuilding

The Croods: A New Age. Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

The Croods: A New Age Full Review –

There is this common misconception that animated films are somehow an inferior form of cinema, especially those slated for a younger demographic. However, this is simply just not the case, and several animated films over the last few years have proved that point. This week we get to see another movie enter that frame with the follow up to The Croods. 

So to set the scene, we begin with a tragedy as Guy’s (Ryan Reynolds) parents get caught in a tar pit and force Guy to move on without him hoping to return to a mystical place known as tomorrow. Fast forward and a lot of time marching he runs into the Crood Family, father Grug (Nicolas Cage), mother Ugga (Catherine Keener), daughter Eep (Emma Stone), son Thunk (Clark Duke), baby Sandy (Kailey Crawford), and grandma Gran (Cloris Leachman). They live a simple life of foraging for food and trying not to get eaten, but romance blossoms between Guy and Eep, much to Grug’s consignation. But everything changes when they find a big wall in the middle of the wilderness hiding mountains of food behind. 

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Movie Review – 6 Underground

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TL;DR – An incredibly stylish and well-produced film that just didn’t quite nail the substance portion.     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

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

6 Underground. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review –

Sometimes in life, you want to shut your brain off for a bit, sit down, and watch some explosions flare to life on your screen. The action flick is the king of this, especially if you pivot it in the direction of an action/comedy. However, today we are looking at a film that should be all this and more, but I walked away feeling that something was missing.   

So to set the scene, we open in on a special ops team, which is having a very bad day, because everything is going very wrong, very, very, wrong. This is not your usual black ops team because while black ops teams are sometimes called ghosts, this team is for all intents and purposes are actually ghosts because the world thinks they are all dead.  We have One (Ryan Reynolds) The Billionaire, Two (Mélanie Laurent) The CIA Spook, Three (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) The Hit Man, Four (Ben Hardy) The Skywalker, Five (Adria Arjona) The Doctor, and Six (Dave Franco) The Driver. Their aim was to find information out about Rovach Alimov (Lior Raz) a dictator with the predilection for using chemical weapons against civilians.   

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Movie Review – Detective Pikachu (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu)

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TL;DR – I had a smile on my face for the whole film, filled with joy and heart.     

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

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

Detective Pikachu (Pokémon: Detective Pikachu). Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures.

Review –

Before we start I should mention that I am probably the easiest sell when it comes to a live action Pokémon movie. I grew up with the show and the video games, so this is honestly the perfect setting for me if you want to hit that rose-tinted nostalgia that people in the industry crave. With this in mind, I walked into the cinemas with a sceptical mind, but I have to say it got caught up in the world almost instantly.

So to set the scene, we open in on Tim Goodman (Justice Smith), there was a time long ago when he wanted to be a Pokémon trainer, but that time has passed and now he is happy being an insurance claims adjuster (which I think they chose because it sounds like the most boring job in the world if you were a child … or adult). His best friend Jack (Karan Soni) is about to leave town to be a Pokémon trainer and he fears for his friend being left all alone, so they try and catch a Cubone, this way he will have a companion. After that all falls apart they walk back into town only to discover Tim has several missed messages from Detective Hideo Yoshida (Ken Watanabe) from Ryme City where his dad works. There has been an accident and his father has been killed in the line of duty and Tim needs to come to the city to settle his affairs. However, when he arrives he finds someone lurking in his dad’s apartment, a Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds) that only he can understand.

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Movie Review – Deadpool 2

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TL;DR – Takes everything that worked in the first film turns it up to 11 and then gives it real emotional stakes.

Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – there are two mid-credit scenes

Deadpool 2

Review –

Back in 2016, there was this little film that could that exploded out into the zeitgeist of the film world. The first Deadpool (see review) was a passion project for all involved because it took years to get it greenlit, indeed, it took test footage being leaked to finally convince the studio to start it, and even then they cut the budget drastically before shooting because they had fears about what an American R-rated film would make at the box office. Well as we know it make bank at the box office and now we get to see the fruits of that decision with Deadpool 2, well also it probably helped convince 20th Century Fox to finally let them do Logan (see review) as they really wanted, so thanks for that too. So today we are going to look at the follow up to the merc with the mouth, can they capture that same feeling that exploded out on screen both literally and metaphorically, well let’s dive in and see.

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Movie Review – The Hitman’s Bodyguard

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TL;DR – A good case study on why it is so important to get your casting right

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is an end credit thingy

The Hitman's Bodyguard. Image Credit: Lionsgate.

Review –

Making a film is a very difficult process, at every point, there are decisions that you need to make, some of which can make or break your film, and you might not even know what the outcome is until the film is released. Should you rewrite your dark realistic film to be a comedy week’s out from shooting, it’s a big risk, but it is one that I think made The Hitman’s Bodyguard a better film, or at least a film that suited its cast much better. Though before we go on, while I kind of liked it, you need to know it is a type of film that I’m pretty sure the f@#$ counter is in triple digits, and you probably know just from that if this is a movie for you.

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Movie Review – Deadpool

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TL;DR – Is it as good as its marketing campaign, no, that was pure genius, but it is still pretty darn good and a fun film to watch, though so so so so so not for kids.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

P.S. yes there is something after the credits

Deadpool. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

This is a really interesting film for a number of reasons, firstly most (if not all) comic book movies stick hard and fast to the American PG-13 rating, it’s safe and opens it up to a wider audience, instead, Deadpool went for its American R rating with gusto. It’s also a film that has to fit in the X-Men universe, but then it also has to stay true to the source which has a unique style that destroys the 4th wall at times. It has Ryan Reynolds as its lead, and unfortunately he doesn’t have many more chances left to be a headliner (after The Green Lantern, which to be fair was not his fault), it is also a film that has been in development hell since the early 2000s, taking a ‘leaked’ proof of concept trailer for people to greenlight the film. So here we are after a simply brilliant advertising campaign, what kind of film do we have? A pretty good one, but also a very adult film, I mean a very adult film, like seriously the whole 9 yards, like how did they get away with that, adult film.

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