The Accident Man (2018)

The Accident Man (2018)

Director:

Jesse V. Johnson

Starring:

Scott Adkins

Ray Stevenson

Amy Johnston

Michael Jai White

Ray Park

Plot:

Mike Fallon, the Accident Man, is a stone cold killer whose methodical hits baffle the police and delight his clients. He is the best at what he does. But when a loved one is dragged into the London underworld and murdered by his own crew, Fallon is forced to rip apart the life he knew in order to hold those accountable and avenge the one person who actually meant something to him.

Review:

Mike, Scott Adkins, is an assassin and he’s the best at what he does, he is not, however, good at romantic relationships and even though he loves a woman he can’t or won’t change and she leaves him because he’s an asshole.

She’s killed and he’s not happy about it, it doesn’t help that she was pregnant with his baby. Lots of violence and death ensue.

The story was surprisingly good in The Accident Man. The world wasn’t quiet as interesting as a John Wick movie, but there were still several good characters. Mick and Mac, Michael Jai White and Ray Park, were ex-special forces that made killings look like normal violent crimes. Amy Johnston’s character was an expert with a katana and decimated anyone in her way. Mike makes his killings look like normal accidents. It’s all kind of fun.

A surprisingly good story adds to what sets this movie apart from other direct to video action movies, the fact that everyone in this movie is great at fighting. Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, and Ray Park are incredible on their own but add them all together and it makes things even better. We got several great fights, next to no shaky cam, a bit too many quick cuts considering the level of fighters we had but since I’m sure this was filmed fairly quickly I can understand. Honestly I really enjoyed this movie, definitely one of the best direct to video action movies.

As Mike started his rampage I kept hoping that the characters would live so that we could get more, and there is definite room for another movie in this universe, but I almost wish they’d just make another movie with all these people all over again. I want another fight scene with those three, only this time I want it to be one shot.

The Accident Man was very great and I was very happy with it.

4/5

Acts of Vengeance (2017)

Acts of Vengeance (2017)

Director:

Isaac Florentine

Starring:

Antonio Banderas

Christina Serafini

Karl Urban

Atanas Srebrev

Plot:

A fast-talking lawyer transforms his body and takes a vow of silence, not to be broken until he finds out who killed his wife and daughter and has his revenge.

Review:

I watched this movie, then literally completely forgot I had. It’s been an effort to remember enough to write this review.

Antonio Banderas character is a hot shot lawyer that talks his clients problems away. He’s a criminal defense attorney, something that pays well if you’re good and is required, but also comes with the price of knowing that you’re potentially getting bad guys back on the street. As long as the money is coming in he doesn’t care, but when his wife and child are murdered things change.

Karl Urban was jacked in this movie and I kept hoping for more, sadly I did not like his character and felt like he was wasted.

The action was alright, but this was not an action movie despite what the trailer seems to say. Yet another misleading trailer.

The idea is unoriginal, the acting is fine, the payoff is eh. Would not recommend.

2/5

Delicious Emily: Message in a Bottle

Delicious Emily: Message in a Bottle

Publisher:

GameHouse

Developer:

GameHouse

Platform:

PC

About:

Enjoy an amazing story while you cook divine dishes in Italian kitchens!

Review:

The story in this started out pretty dark. Delicious Emily: Hopes and Fears ended with a donkey and postman showing up saying that he had a letter. Well DE: Message in a Bottle opens thirty years ago when Emily was three and she was spending time with her grandfather. Her grandmother has recently passed away and he’s depressed. The first five levels are pretty fast but end with the grandfather giving a three year old a goodbye letter and sailing off into a horrible storm. I got definite suicidal undertones and was really surprised at the dark tone. Eventually, meaning at the very end after the main story ended, you discover that wasn’t his intention, he was just storming off like a child and sulked for thirty years.

In this story we get to see more of Emily’s father’s family. They aren’t very pleasant, even after they learn their lessons. They bring stubborn to a whole new level, which I can easily understand, but isn’t very sympathetic. They also seem to bring out the worst in Emily’s dad.

All and all, story wise, I enjoyed this much more than DE: Hopes and Fears.

Game play things were slightly changed. You did not have a diamond to get on every level, which made this game easier than the rest. I did feel like you had to work harder to unlock things, though, and so I still had nineteen hours in to beat and unlock all achievements. Thankfully, I kept track of all the items and I don’t have to replay the game to get the final achievement like I’ll have to do with Hopes and Fears.

Message in a Bottle was a nice installment to the series, it expanded the family and history, though, Emily was not a very big part of the story. It set up some potential conflict for the next installment, so we’ll see what happens and if the rest of the family ever shows up again.

4/5

The Punisher (2017-?)

The Punisher (2017-?)

Network:

Netflix

Starring:

Jon Bernthal

Amber Rose Revah

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Ben Barnes

Jaime Ray Newman

Daniel Webber

Deborah Ann Woll

Plot:

After the murder of his family, Marine veteran Frank Castle became a vigilante known as “The Punisher” with only one goal in mind, to avenge them.

Review:

The Punisher is an antihero that chooses to kill anyone he perceives as a bad guy. He starts off by going after the people that killed his family and it goes from there. He’s a ‘hero’ that when I was young I thought was super cool. Just bypass the system and take them out, but now that I’m older I just can’t get behind that method of justice, if the laws are broken then we need to fix them not just go around killing people. I guess I’m more Superman/Batman brand of justice and for whatever reason I can’t put that aside when I watch a Punisher that’s purposefully placed in a realistic environment.

I wasn’t planning on watching this series, after Iron Fist and Defenders I’ve almost given up on Marvel. Pair that with the fact that I just did not want to watch a show that tried to make me sympathize with a man like Frank Castle, Jon Bernthal, I had planned to sit it out. Next thing I know several friends are telling me I have to watch it, that it doesn’t try to make my empathize, that it does a great job of showing a different side of things, that it’s just the best thing ever and I broke.

One of the main complaints for the Marvel shows on Netflix is that thirteen episodes is too long. I personally didn’t feel that way with the first season of Daredevil or Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, because I really liked the characters and what was going on. I felt every minute of some of these episodes of The Punisher, though, and not in a good way. There was lots of dragging, lots of inactivity, and too much effort put into making The Punisher sympathetic.

The side story that followed Lewis Walcott, Daniel Webber, as he dealt with reintegrating into society was more interesting than The Punisher side for a while. I can see what they were trying to do, show a parallel between The Punisher and Lewis and how they reacted to trauma and coming home. However, they decided to push Lewis over the edge and then kept calling him a coward and trying to say that The Punisher was better. In the process they made Karen, Deborah Ann Woll, sound like an idiot because she refused to acknowledge the similarities.

David ‘Microchip’ Lieberman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, was also another heavy handed parallel to The Punisher. He faked his own death and left his wife and two children alone to think he was dead. Naturally he spied on them with multiple cameras all over his old house. He was very willing to use The Punisher for a means to an end but acted like he was better than him. My main problem with Microchip, which has nothing to do with the story, is when he’s finally reunited with his wife, Jaime Ray Newman. After some time when she’s been understandably angry with him, they hook up in the bathroom. He finishes superfast, they laugh, he says he’s sorry, she says it’s okay, end scene. Why couldn’t they take two seconds to just show him slipping his hand down her panties? Why did he get to finish, but not her? Why couldn’t they have him saying he’d take care of her? Something? We’d already watched the whole awkward scene why did the wife get nothing?

Which brings me to my main complaint with the series, and something I already knew would be the case going in, but I was convinced it wouldn’t be this way by others. The Punisher is just male fantasy erotica, female fans of the Punisher get almost nothing from this series. Karen is made to be stupid. Dinah Madani, Amber Rose Revah, sleeps with a man she basically only originally talked to because he had connections to Castle and the criminal investigation she’s obsessed with, then of course develops some feelings for him, and is nearly killed by him. Microchip’s wife relies on her daughter for common household issues, then the Punisher as he comes along, and is just a damsel in distress. She at least protects her children as much as she can, but she allows her son to just walk all over her and kisses Castle because he’s of course the only man she’s come in close contact with since her husband has passed.

Tons of bullets flying, bad guys getting beat up, sex with hot women. I like action movies, but this was basically all my least favorite parts rolled up into one.

2/5

Side Note: I wasn’t able to pay 100% attention to this show, I just couldn’t, it would annoy me and I’d distract myself with something else while it played in the background.

Cliffhanger (1993)

Cliffhanger (1993)

Director:

Renny Harlin

Starring:

Sylvester Stallone

John Lithgow

Michael Rooker

Janine Turner

Caroline Goodall

Michelle Joyner

Plot:

A botched mid-air heist results in suitcases full of cash being searched for by various groups throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Review:

This movie was filmed at the height of Stallone’s career. His accent is almost nonexistent and acting wise it’s pretty good. It’s an older movie and not filled with the normal action I’ve come to expect from his films, but it makes sense considering his filmography, and there’s still certainly a number of butts kicked.

I liked the fact that he got his ass handed to him a time or two, even though he did come back and win, just because it made sense for his character. He was a mountain climber, not someone who fights for a living.

The opening scene is pretty intense and my fear of falling from great heights really had this scene freaking me out. I literally knew exactly what was going to happen but was still almost driven to tears while watching it.

After what happened Stallone’s character was understandably shaken and second guessed himself for a little bit, but he didn’t let it drag him down too long once shit started happening.

There were three female characters in the movie. One died immediately. Two were pilots, one was killed by the bad guy, her lover, to prove that he’d do anything. The third was Stallone’s love interest and other than flying the helicopter was fairly useless. She was sort of just there as his romantic partner. In fact all of the women were romantic partners. Interesting.

The movie was entertaining and Stallone was great.

3.5/5