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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | Average Guy Movie Review

A lot has changed for the Guardians since the blip brought back all those that Thanos snapped away. They have taken over Nowhere, turned it into a haven for refugees and lost souls, and in the process become de facto governors of this potentially smelly colony. They've even got a cool new ship - the 'Bowie' - and discovered the spirit of Christmas. Not that any of this has helped Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), who is still struggling with the loss of Gamora (Zoe Saldana). But when Rocket (Bradley Cooper) is badly wounded in an attack, the gang head off in search of the technology that could save their friend, and in so doing draw the attention of someone from Rocket's past; the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji). It would seem that James Gunn's parting gift to Marvel before going on to head up DC Studios was to give them their mojo back. Put simply,  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a return to form for the MCU . The last couple of movies have been a tad under par f

Black Adam | Average Guy Movie Review

After 5000 years imprisonment, Teth Adam (Dwayne Johnson), a slave bestowed with the powers of the Egyptian gods is awoken to find his home country of Kahndaq overrun by mercenaries. The ensuing chaos draws the attention of Amanda Waller, who tasks the Justice Society with capturing Teth Adam before his reign of destruction gets out of hand. Watching Black Adam , the first thing that strikes me - and I know I'm late to the party on this - is that it was never going to save the DCEU  (in its current form). The story is weak. Every twist can be spotted a mile off. The characters aren't exactly compelling. Especially the villain! There's a lot of obvious green screen/CGI, all of which has a nasty habit of taking you out of the movie. And it all builds to a rather uninteresting finale that includes a whole lot more bad CGI. The movie's biggest selling point, by far, is seeing Dwayne Johnson playing this dark and brooding, badass comic book role - one that he happens to be r

Sisyphus Unbound | Average Guy Movie Review

Virgil, a college writing student, hopes to have his latest story published, but he must first get over one major hurdle before his work gets out to the world, his mercurial writing professor Richard Laymen. Sisyphus Unbound proves to be the perfect title for this oddly relatable and rather compelling tale of student and teacher - and yes, I did have to look up who Sisyphus was (Greek mythology is definitely not my strong suit). We've all had at least one teacher who seemed to have it in for us, or at the very least we didn't like. Now this may be an extreme example, but it's a role that Timothy J. Cox seems to revel in, because there is something delightfully despicable in his portrayal of the evil professor. While - in complete contrast - Frederick J. Todd turns Virgil into a kind of hero of the downtrodden. It would have been easy for Todd to play Virgil in a way that makes him appear a little pathetic. Instead he makes it about a man finding his voice, and his courage.

Doomsday Stories | Average Guy Movie Review

After a virus wipes out most of humanity, a lone survivor wanders the ruin of the old world. All he has for company is a journal he took from a corpse, filled with stories of the apocalypse. A realistic depiction of the chaos that such an event would cause, Doomsday Stories cleverly, but not too closely references the coronavirus pandemic, whilst rarely straying from the realms of believability. Made up of four stories, all varying in their luridness, there is an appropriately disjointed feeling to the whole thing, with everyone from governments to individuals witnessing the collapse of society from their own unique view point. Which begs the question; 'How did all these stories end up in the same book?'  Having met our storyteller, Zorack (Phil Herman), on his travels, we are quickly thrown into the horrors of the MEANIES virus apocalypse. Beginning with 'Broken Promise', the story of a man and his dog searching for food and simply trying to survive. Shot in a cool we

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre | Average Guy Movie Review

When a dangerous weapon is stolen by gangsters, the British Government hire a team of private contractors - led by Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) and Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) - to acquire it. Their plan; get close to the broker responsible for organising the sale of the weapon (Hugh Grant), using a Hollywood actor (Josh Hartnett) with whom the broker has an obsession. I'm starting to think Guy Ritchie wasn't too happy about not getting to make a sequel to The Man from U.N.C.L.E.  (I know I wasn't). That's the feeling I get when watching Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre  (what a title!). It's like he decided that instead he would do his own take on James Bond and Mission: Impossible . Unfortunately, after a fun opening involving the recruitment of Elwes and Statham, it becomes inescapably clear that the movie suffers from a lack of Ritchie's signature flair - not to mention pretty much everything that made The Man from U.N.C.L.E. so cool. Making Operation For

Boston Strangler | Average Guy Movie Review

In the early 1960's Boston was hit with a string of murders in which women were strangled in their own homes. Initially investigated by the Boston Police Dept. as individual killings, it was Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) - a reporter for the Boston Record American newspaper - who originally connected them. She and fellow reporter Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) struggled against obstructions put up by law enforcement and their own colleagues, as well as the sexism and misogyny of the time to report on the case of the Boston Strangler. Another 20th Century Fox property has arrived on Disney+  with relatively little fanfare. With this gritty noir writer/director Matt Ruskin attempts to make sense of the mystery surrounding this illusive killer and his reign of terror over the city of Boston. The movie - which sits somewhere between Zodiac  and Spotlight  - follows the case from the point of view of both McLaughlin and Cole as they carry out their investigation into the killings, ass

Body Farm | Average Guy Movie Review

An independent film company sends a videographer ahead of a story to investigate a body farm where human decomposition is researched. The footage she sends back leads the rest of her team to follow her footsteps to uncover a grisly medical abyss. As you can probably guess from the title, this is not a tale of happiness and wonder. Nope, the appropriately named Body Farm  is body horror in its truest form, and rather gory at that! Clearly a great deal of creativity has gone into the make-up and gore effects. They are striking in their realism. Needless to say, this is not a movie you want to watch during breakfast... or lunch, or diner. Unfortunately the same cannot always be said of the plot, which is your typical horror movie fare. One in which a bunch of guys - the kind you will only find in a horror movie - visit a place they probably shouldn't. And even though everything they see screams "leave and never come back" - something to which the aforementioned gore effects