Oppenheimer in AMC Dolby

Oppenheimer in AMC Dolby

Christopher Nolan provides a vivid account of Robert Oppenheimer’s Life as “the Father of the Atomic Bomb. The movie dives right in. There is no slow build up. The movie is based on the 2005 biography written by Kai Bird. The story tracks Oppenheimer across decades starting around the 1920’s and goes on until Oppenheimer has gray hair. 

The movie is heavy, very dialoged, but very well executed. Its event filled and full of intrigue and suspense. The story goes back and forth between black and white and color. Science and history come together nicely in Oppenheimer. You will get a full glimpse of the Manhattan Project. The 3 Hour running time is long, but you get enough in the 3 hours to have a decent understanding of Oppenheimer’s Life, the people he worked with and the Manhattan Project. 

If you are a fan of science and history, you should see “Oppenheimer”.

This is a 4 Star Movie!!

Air

Air

Its 1984 and Nike owns 17% of the Sports Shoe market. Converse owns 56% and Adidas comes in somewhere in between. “Air” is about the unbelievable game changing relationship that was born between Nike and NBA Super Star Michael Jordan.

This moving story follows the career-defining gamble of an unconventional Marketing Team with everything on the line and the uncompromising vision of a mother who knows the worth of her son’s immense talent, and the basketball phenom who would become the greatest of all time.

You definitely get an inside look at what negotiations looked like and what it took to win Michael Jordan.

“Air” is definitely worth a look.

This is a 5 Star Movie!!

The Last Duel

The Last Duel

“The Last Duel” is a cinematic feast and thought-provoking saga set in the midst of the 100 Years War (13th Century). During that time the ubiquitous power of men, the frailty of justice and the strength and courage of one woman who is willing to stand alone in the service of the truth is examined. This movie is based on actual events that did take place. The movie climaxes with what is known as France’s “Last Duel” between Jean de Carrouges and Jacques Le Gris who were once good friends that became bitter rivals. The Story unfolds from there…

This is a Ridley Scott production! Ridley Scott makes very good movies.

The story is Compelling, Intriguing from a historical point, Bloody and Violent. 

One interesting thing to note…Ben Affleck is Blond in this movie and I did not recognize me at first.

If you like historical drama, “The Last Duel” should not be missed.

“The Last Duel” is in Theaters.

This is a 4 ½ Star Movie!!

Stillwater

Stillwater

Academy Award Winner Matt Damon plays Bill Baker, an out of work roughneck who travels from Oklahoma to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) who is in prison for a crime she swears she did not commit. Allison happens upon a new tip that could possibly exonerate her. During a visit with her Dad, Allison instructs him to reach out to her legal team, but Bill wants to take things in his own hands first and with a language barrier and cultural differences, Bill soon finds himself in over his head.

While staying in a hotel Bill meets a French actress Virginie (Camille Cottin) who is a mother to an eight-year-old little girl named Maya. Bill and Maya become best friends. She teaches Bill how to speak French and her mother Virginie becomes attracted to Bill and offers her assistance. The story unfolds from there…

The story has holes and drags a bit, but the strong performances by Matt Damon, Camille Cottin and Abigail Breslin makes the movie interesting and intriguing. There are some very nice views of Marseille throughout the movie.

“Stillwater” is only playing in the theaters, so check it out!

This is a 3 ½ Star Movie!!

No Sudden Move

No Sudden Move

Set in 1950’s Detroit, “No Sudden Move” is about a group of small-time Criminals who are given a job to steal a document, but they do not know who their boss is and they have to work together to uncover what’s really going on. Then the job at hand goes terribly wrong and the Criminals find themselves up against each other and not knowing who to trust.

This is a Steven Soderbergh production. This crime caper is crazy cool! There are no special effects, just plain old-fashion fist fights, regular hand guns and pistols. The movie weaves its way thru Detroit, MI during a time of change…

The cast is HUGE and they all make this movie entertaining, enjoyable; funny at times and even a bit silly.

“No Sudden Move” is not at the box office. It opened July 1st and is streaming on HBO MAX. Check it out!!

This is a 4 Star Movie!!

Ford v Ferrari

Academy Award winners Matt Damon and Christian Bale bring the true story of the visionary American car designer Carroll Shelby (Damon) and the fearless British Driver Ken Miles (Bale) story to life on the big screen. They battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and gravity to build a revolutionary race car for Ford Motor Company. They then take on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966. The story unfolds from there…

“Ford v Ferrari” is everything I had hoped it would be. The movie is very entertaining, emotional, moving and just plain fun to watch. The cinematography is excellent. This movie contains one of the best cast I have seen this year. Strong performances from Matt Damon and Christian Bale make this movie what it is.

“Ford v Ferrari” is definitely a must see movie.

This is a 5 Star Movie!!

Downsizing

“Downsizing” has an impressive cast, too bad the movie wasn’t as impressive as it should have been. The end of the movie is very anti-climactic.

When Scientists discover how to shrink humans to 5 inches in an attempt to combat over population, Paul (Matt Damon) and his wife Audrey (Kristin Wiig) decided this is the way to go for them, so they sign up. Half way through the procedure Audrey changes her mind, she calls Paul to tell him, but Paul has completed the procedure and is now 5 inches tall. The Story unfolds from there…

The movie starts off Ok, but after the first hour, the movie tanks. It does not make sense. It’s all over the map and becomes boring. This was supposed to be a Comedy, but I never laughed once.

This is a 2 ½ Star Movie!

Suburbicon

“Suburbicon” is a new Black (Dark) Comedy directed by George Clooney.

The ideal quiet, peaceful suburban community with manicured lawns, children playing together and nosy neighbors is at the center of attention in “Suburbicon”.

It’s 1959 and Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) and his family must deal with the town’s deceit, violence and betrayal. This is a movie that exploits people making very bad assumptions and very bad decisions.

I can honestly say that “Suburbicon” is the worst Dark Comedy that George Clooney has ever directed. He is usually a master behind the camera, but not this time. There are too many agendas, plots and stories all mixed up and going no-where in the movie. There is a tale of Racial Injustice, a tale of Violence, a tale of what appears to be Extortion, a tale of Deceit. There is also a tale of Adolescent Confusion. None of these tales really provide a backbone to the movie.

Movies are supposed to be enjoyable, not confusing or twisted. The subject matter should be somewhat straight forward. You get nothing from “Suburbicon”. I will admit that the ending is extremely surprising. The best part of “Suburbicon” is the trailers or previews that aired over the last 10 months. You could probably watch the trailers a few times and get enough out of them about “Suburbicon” without investing your time and money. The trailers do in fact showcase the best parts of the movie.

I don’t fault Matt Damon. He did what he could do with what was given to him. I usually love his movies, but there is nothing to love or even like about “Suburbicon”.

View at your own risk!

This is a 1 Star Movie!

The Great Wall in Real 3D

“The Great Wall” is an Action/Fantasy set in 11th century China, two Mercenaries (Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal) from the west find themselves battling for their lives against a Chinese Military. They are soon captured, but once their captors witness their archery and weapons skills, the military command at the Great Wall needs their assistance to battle a super-natural menace who continues to try and scale the wall to get at them and their people. Meanwhile there is a stranded visitor (Willem Dafoe) who has been at the great wall for twenty five years. He states there is a treasure to be had and tries to convince the Mercenaries to help him steal it. The story unfolds from there…

“The Great Wall” is an action epic and visual feast. Matt Damon is the best element in the movie. It’s a shame that the story wasn’t put in proper context so that it was understood how the super-natural menace came to be and why it wishes to attack and destroy an entire nation and where did the supposed treasure come from.

Because the story as a whole is dis-jointed and unclear, it’s boring. If it weren’t for Matt Damon, the movie won’t be worth seeing. The 3D aspects are pretty good.

“The Great Wall” will be a great movie to watch on Blue-Ray, DVD or Cable.

This is a 2 ½ Star Movie!

Jason Bourne: The IMAX Experience

Jason Bourne is Back!!

The 2012 “Bourne Legacy” was not received very well, so it’s great that Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) and Matt Damon came back to the Franchise that they together made great!

This installment finds Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) on a serious fact finding mission to get to the bottom of why he is who he is and how did he get there. Jason continues to have haunting memories of events past. He tries to put things together with the help of Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles). When the CIA receives an alert that their system has been breached and files are being copied, Director Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) calls on all of his available field assets to track down and stop the breach. This leads them to Greece where Jason Bourne just happens to be. The story unfolds from there…

“Jason Bourne” dos a good job of tying in events from “The Bourne Identity”, “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum”. While we live in a world where CGI is used a lot in movies, this is NOT the case with “Jason Bourne”. All of the scenes are real and the action is live and intense. The camera angles are awesome! The signature car chase is there. It’s good but not as good as the car chase that occurred thru Germany in “The Bourne Supremacy”.

The paid critics complained that “Jason Bourne” was more of the same, well that’s what we want. I say do not pay the paid critics any attention. “Jason Bourne” is good and I am very happy to see Matt Damon back in the role. The door was left open at the end.

“Jason Bourne” should be viewed in IMAX. Do you want to see Jason Bourne? Or do you want to ride with Jason Bourne thru the streets of Las Vegas?

This is a 3 ½ Star Movie!