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Showing posts from June, 2018

Sicario: Day of the Soldado | Average Guy Movie Review

When four suicide bombers are smuggled into the US by one of the Mexican cartels, the President designates these criminal organisations a terrorist threat. In an effort to weaken the cartels' position, CIA Agent Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) is brought in to start a war between them. Naturally Graver turns to his old ally, lawyer turned sicario Alejandro (Benecio del Toro) for help. The job involves kidnapping Isabela Reyes  (Isabela Moner) , the daughter of one of the cartel leaders, but when things go south Alejandro is forced to choose between his job and the girl. With Denis Villeneuve busy working on Blade Runner 2049, directing duties fell to Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah) who does a brilliant job picking up where Villeneuve left off. This is thanks in part to Taylor Sheridan, who delivers yet another fantastic script. Not only are his scripts fantastic, they're also incredibly relevant in today's society. Existing in the murky grey area established so well by the fi

Ocean's Eight | Average Guy Movie Review

After 5 years, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) gets out of prison with a plan for a big score. She intends to steal a Cartier necklace worth $150 million from the neck of the Hollywood socialite wearing it (Anne Hathaway), during New York's annual Met Gala. If she's going to pull this off, Debbie will need to assemble a crew of skilled individuals...maybe 7 or 8 of them. Director Gary Ross (The Hunger Games) has done a reasonable job of filling Steven Soderbergh's shoes. Ocean's Eight - much like its predecessors - is a lot of fun. It's also a sequel, not a remake. Debbie Ocean is the sister of the now deceased Danny, something the movie repeatedly reminds you of. But apart from the references to Danny and a couple of cameos, Ocean's Eight does a good job of standing on its own two feet. The casting is perfect, our crew of quirky criminals all have excellent chemistry. Bullock and Blanchett are excellent as the ring leaders, just don't try any of Debbi

Super Troopers 2 | Average Guy Movie Review

When it is discovered that a piece of land just inside the Canadian border is actually part of the US, Vermont State Governor Jessman (Lynda Carter) hires our favourite band of misfits to police this new patch. But the residents of the local town aren't all that happy about becoming American citizens, and they're even less happy about their new Highway Patrol officers. Will the guys strange antics and quirky approach to law enforcement be enough to win over the locals? Probably not! The fans of Super Troopers have been waiting a long time for a follow up to the cult classic. 17 years! Clearly, they wanted more. In order to raise funds for the production budget, Broken Lizard started a crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo with a goal of raising $2 million. They reached that goal in the first 26 hours. By the time the campaign ended, $4.7 million had been raised, making it the 5th largest successfully completed Indiegogo project. However, 17 years is a very long ti

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Average Guy Movie Review

It has been three years since Indominous Rex went on a rampage, and with the park forced to close, the dinosaurs have settled into a free and undisturbed existence on the island. That is until, after decades of being dormant, Isla Nublar's volcano - Mount Sibo - exploded into life. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) now heads up the Dinosaur Protection Group, a non-profit organisation who's goal is to protect the animals. Dearing wants to evacuate all the dinosaurs before an eruption wipes out all life on the island and recruits Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to help. But upon reaching Isla Nublar a third party's true intentions are revealed leaving Claire and Owen caught up in a web of conspiracy that could have global ramifications. The Jurassic Park franchise has had a rocky life. Jurassic Park was a smash hit, 20 years after creating the summer blockbuster with Jaws, Spielberg was back to revolutionise it with more animatronic monstrosities. Then 4 years later he t

Den of Thieves | Average Guy Movie Review

When an armoured car heist results in the death of multiple police officers, the Major Crime Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department are brought in to investigate. Led by Detective Nicholas "Big Nick" O'Brien (Gerard Butler), the unit's investigation leads them to a highly skilled crew, who are planning their biggest heist yet...the Los Angeles Federal Reserve. Have you ever wondered what Michael Mann's 'Heat' would look like if it had been made by a bunch of teenagers? If your answer is yes, this could be the movie for you. Ridiculous is one word that I'd use to describe Den of Thieves. The cops seem to do very little actual police work. For the most part they run round acting like arseholes and despite several stupid moves, just happen to get lucky. In fact, they seem to break more laws than the bad guys! Usually cops in movies that are a bit of a bum and let their family lives go to shit are still likeable, enough that you fe

Solo: A Star Wars Story | Average Guy Movie Review

After a troubled development - which included hiring a new director and a lot of reshoots - the scruffy looking Nerf Herder's origin story is here. Starting with his early years on Corellia, the movie charts Han Solo's (Alden Ehrenreich) time with Imperial Fleet and the beginnings of his criminal career. Along the way he makes a few friends, some familiar, some not so much. At this point Han hasn't become the jaded cynic we see in A New Hope, he's young and more of an optimist. He's also introduced to the Millennium Falcon, after all, what would a Han Solo movie be without "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy"? Disney's latest foray into a galaxy far, far away is a little lighter and more fun than the last two. Some have described Solo (the movie, not the man) as a box ticking exercise, and in a way they're right. But that is only a small part of the movie. There are certain events that had to happen and some that were fun to