Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label Jonathan Majors

Devotion | Average Guy Movie Review

The story of the US Navy's first African-American aviator, Jesse Brown (Jonathan Majors), and his wingman Tom Hudner (Glen Powell). From their training in the years after World War 2 for the much anticipated war with the Soviet Union. To combat operations during the Korean War. At first glance, and with the proximity of their releases - as well as other obvious connections - it's almost impossible to not make comparisons between Devotion  and Top Gun: Maverick . However, in reality this is like comparing Sense and Sensibility with Shaun of the Dead . Granted,  Top Gun: Maverick  is a movie about (or at least revolving around) Naval Aviators. But it's really about the flying, looking cool while doing it, and of course... never leaving your wingman. That is one way in which these two movies do connect. Because Devotion  - a title that may seem like an odd choice, but isn't - is more about the men than the flying. Which is under-stating it slightly. More accurately, it

The Harder They Fall | Average Guy Movie Review

Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) reassembles his old gang when the man that murdered his parents; Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), gets out of jail. Jeymes Samuel makes his directorial debut with The Harder They Fall , a story of revenge in the American West. And as directorial debuts go, this is a pretty good one. Falling somewhere between the stark, gritty reality of life way back when and the cool depiction of it seen in many westerns, Samuel doesn't exactly do anything new with the genre, but he does do it with style. With a cast like this it would be difficult to do it any other way! Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Regina King, Zazie Beatz, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Edi Gathegi, RJ Cyler, Danielle Deadwyler, all of whom exude cool as they battle their way across the plains. Needless to say, all of the performances are spectacular. Even the nasty characters are in some way likeable, most of them anyway. Stanfield's 'Cherokee Bill' is a particular scene stealer as the man who&

Captive State | Average Guy Movie Review

Nine years after an alien invasion, the Earth is under occupation. The invaders have installed a subservient human government in order to keep the population in line, while they strip the planet of its resources. But when a long thought dead resistance group emerges from the ashes with a plan to ignite an uprising, it becomes a race against time for the security services to track them down and prevent the attack. Director Rupert Wyatt ( Rise of the Planet of the Apes / The Gambler ) delivers a different take on the alien invasion movie with Captive State , which couldn't be farther from the likes of Independence Day  and Battle Los Angeles . In fact it looks more like a gritty sci-fi/mystery/thriller, with elements of a police procedural story. At the heart of which is a young man named Gabriel (Ashton Sanders), whose family died at the hands of the invaders. He's simply trying to make enough money to escape the city, but when a job draws him in too deep he lands on William Mul

Da 5 Bloods | Average Guy Movie Review

Four veterans return to Vietnam to recover the body of their fallen squad leader, Stormin' Norman (Chadwick Boseman)... and the stash of CIA gold they buried with him. But they soon discover that returning is not as easy as it first seemed, and finding the gold might just be the least of their worries. Director Spike Lee delivers another brutal examination of the racial and political climate in the US. This time he's looking at the Vietnam war and its undying legacy, once again proving that not much has changed in the supposed "land of the free". In depicting events, Lee draws inspiration from some classic Vietnam war movies - shooting in some beautiful locations - and despite going a little over the top on the Apocalypse Now references, it does give the movie a level of authenticity. Shooting the flashback scenes in a different aspect ratio, using film available at the time only adds to this. There are times where the plot feels a little convenient (people showing up