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Showing posts from September, 2017

Kingsman: The Golden Circle | Average Guy Movie Review

When the Kingsman organisation is targeted by an unseen enemy, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) look to the Statesman - their cousins from across the pond - for help. Much like Kingsman, Statesman is an independent intelligence agency operating under the guise of a whiskey distillery in Kentucky. Together they must figure out who is targetting them and why. At the same time Eggsy tries to maintain some form of normal life with his girlfriend Princess Tilde (Hanna Alstrom). Director Matthew Vaughn returns to the world he created with Kingsman: The Secret Service. A parody of the classic James Bond movies, Kingsman was fun and cheesy with a modern twist. "Give me a far-fetched theatrical plot any day" as Harry Hart (Colin Firth) put it. Although t he movie does raise an interesting moral question about the legality and taxation of alcohol and cigarettes while other drugs remain illegal , it seems Vaughn may have gone too far with the cheese this time roun

Blade Runner: Black Out 2022 | Moustache Reaction

If you weren't excited about Blade Runner 2049 before, you certainly should be now. The longest and most informative of the three shorts, Black Out 2022 tells the story of a major event that had global consequences. The roll out of the Nexus 8 - a new replicant with full human lifespans - saw the rise of human supremacy movements. These groups used the Replicant Registration database to identify and kill replicants. In response, a group of replicants sought to destroy the records, their actions led to the prohibition of their kind causing many to go into hiding. Black Out 2022 is a brilliant piece of filmmaking! Not only is it well written, but the use of multiple animation styles make it both visually stunning and perfectly grounded in the Blade Runner universe. This spectacular short is a perfect bridge between Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049. Don't forget to check out the other two Blade Runner 2049 shorts: What did you think of the three

American Assassin | Average Guy Movie Review

When his girlfriend is killed in a terrorist attack, Mitch Rapp (Dylan O'Brien) goes in search of vengeance. His activities soon draw the attention of the CIA and Deputy Director Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) who decides to recruit Rapp. Kennedy sends him to the Orion Group - a black ops unit - where he'll be trained by Stan Hurley (Michael Keaton), a former Navy Seal and the team leader. On Rapp's first mission, Orion are tasked with finding missing plutonium and the American (Taylor Kitsch) who has it, a man Hurley trained. The movie is based on the 11th book in the series by Vince Flynn. I can't say how closely it follows the book, but this is  one of those spy movies where the spies do very little spying before shooting up the place, combined with a typical trainer/trainee story in which the trainer continues to doubt the trainee until he proves himself in the third act.  As a generic action movie it's fine, the fight scenes are well choreographed and O&

Wind River | Average Guy Movie Review

While hunting on the Wind River Indian Reservation, US Fish and Wildlife Agent Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) discovers the frozen body of a Native American girl. With jurisdiction falling to the FBI, Agent Jane Banner asks Lambert - a skilled tracker with detailed knowledge of the reservation - to assist in the investigation. Together they must battle a snowstorm and the harsh conditions on the reservation in order to catch the killer. Taylor Sheridan's directorial debut received an eight minute standing ovation after its premiere at Cannes. According to Sheridan - who also wrote the script - Wind River is "based on thousands of actual stories just like it". Two researchers were commissioned to find a statistic on missing Native American women and after three months work were unable to come up with one. This and the harsh life on the seventh largest reservation in the US are the underlying themes of this brutal crime drama. The two leads go together pe

American Made | Average Guy Movie Review

Doug Liman directs this biopic on "the Gringo who always delivers". American Made tells the story of Barry Seal; a commercial airline pilot who went to work for the CIA flying reconnaissance and supply runs between the US and Central America. It was on these runs that Seal began working for the Medellin Cartel, bringing illegal drugs into the US. Liman has managed to make a Tom Cruise movie that isn't a Tom Cruise movie. In recent years it seems Cruise's movies have been more about spectacle, some sort of death defying stunt to tick off of his bucket list; the Vomit Comet in The Mummy, strapping himself to the side of a plane during take off or climbing the world's tallest building in the Mission Impossible movies. But American Made is more character driven, about one man and the crazy life he led. That's not to say Cruise didn't get to feed his adrenaline addiction on this one, because he did, flying solo in some pretty dangerous places. On t

The Hitman's Bodyguard | Average Guy Movie Review

What do you get when two people from opposite sides have to work together? Well you get a buddy comedy of course. When notorious hitman, Darius Kincaid agrees to testify at the Hague against Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman) - a former dictator charged with crimes against humanity - it's up to his bodyguard, Michael Bryce to get him there. What follows is a mad-cap, explosive road trip across England and Holland as these two natural enemies have to work together in order to survive. The Hitman's Bodyguard may not be revolutionary, but it will have you laughing from start to finish. The reason for this is the chemistry between its two leads. Reynolds' clean cut protection agent and Jackson's rough and ready assassin play off each other beautifully. It's even more amusing when you realise you're essentially watching Nick Fury argue with Deadpool. Patrick Hughes - director of The Expendables III - has managed to find the right balance between story, hu