Russ Ferdico

It is a worthy sequal to a once great movie. Action and battle scenes were awesome. Music and sound were great. There is a rightful Ode to Maximus and a decent tie-in story. It was good. As was the same with the first movie its not histoically accurate. But, it does give a window into the mess Rome became before the total collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The ending does give a closer look at what really did become a time when Roman generals marched on the city. Its a movie worth seeing. I let my 17 year old watch it to expose him to a bit of Western history. Im surprised at all the 1 and 2 Star reviews. Three is fair but the battle and fight scenes were pretty awesome, so I gave it a 4th Star.

Senseless. This movie/retro-musical is far from "entertainment." After the first hour I was wishing for a fast forward button. DC's surrealist approach to their universe continues to disappoint. RIP Joker...indeed.

It's a great movie for history buffs and anyone wanting to explore our nation's Cold War foreign policy. The movie highlights how Reagan was the President that understood how to take down the nuclear armed Soviets without global annihilation. It also reiterated the daunting threat of a modern nuclear attack. The film focused on the dangers of Communism, how it infiltrates democracies, and its unyielding challenge to freedom. The ending was sentimental and respectful but abrupt and dull. Still, Reagan's core values and personality were vividly explored - fun at times but focused and poignant. I appreciated the recognition of the key role Nancy Reagan played during his presidency and their strong bond. There was also a re-introduction of the positive sides of Reagan's personality such as his optimism, horse riding skills, sarcastic wit, and love for jelly beans. It's a very "Pro-Reagan" movie with challenges such as an unbalanced budget and the Iran-Contra scandal quickly glanced over. It also drove home the mantra of low taxes, "Reaganomics," and peace through strength. The movie captures the essence of what was the most successful Cold War presidency. The narration is that of an old Soviet KGB official that spied on Reagan and understood his commitment to victory. Like him or not Reagan ended the Cold War, brought down the Berlin Wall, and bankrupted the Soviet Union. Overall, this movie explains how for a moment in time our country and the world was safer because of one person's courage and effort.

This one was for the real Marvel Fans. If you're not a fan there's parts of the movie you won't understand. Overall...Excellent!

It's just another exhausting "Woke" reboot. The pace is slow, the acting was mediocre at best, and the fight scenes were anti climatic. NPH was entertaining and fun but that's all the movie had to offer. Reeves' script was poorly written and redundant. They missed the boat on this one and forgot their target audience. I feel bad for the people paying to see this movie in a theater.

Emotionalism infused with dark realism is the tone of this latest reboot of DC's now kicked-to-death comic book classic, Batman. This installment to me felt lazy, too closely reminiscent if not a direct copy cat of Todd Phillps,' "The Joker." I left the theater saddened by a clinically depressed Dark Knight, the surreal City of Gotham and the psychotic villains that plague their world. Like Phillips, the writers and directors of The Batman removed the fantasy and fictitious fun from the Batman dogma, and this latest edition added poor editing that dragged the movie forty-five minutes longer than needed. The "Car Chase Scene" was as it should have been: Exciting and relentless. However, more streetcar version of the Batmobile and less beat-up, old motorcycle would have better suited my taste. The movie redundantly highlighted Bruce Wayne's privileged life but the multi-gazillionare as The Batman was short on gadgets galore. This version of Batman offered only an awesome streetcar and a last resort adrenaline shot. The character costumes including that of Batman were desperately avant-garde. Costumes were the antithesis of the clownish garbs seen in Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever." Costumes seen in The Batman came dangerously close at times to looking like minimalist S&M outfits. The music fit the script and the tone of the movie: Depressing and redundant. As a high school student during the early 90's, I thought a Nirvana song would have been cleverly incorporated into the movie. This was another missed opportunity. Hollywood should have left its successful Ode to Nirvana in the 2015 Peter Pan reboot, "Pan" and just called it a day. Overall the movie had a cast packed with talent. That's why I am blaming The Batman's shortcomings on editing, directing, and writing. It's also why I can in good conscience push this movie to a three star rating as opposed to a two star rating that is arguably well deserved. John Turturro's acting was great as always, but it was a tough sell to see him casted as a crime boss. Sorry, but to the 40-50 year old crowd that took our kids to see The Batman he's still "The Jesus" or the leader of a geeky alien task force, Sector 7. In a more joyful and less dreary version of Batman Turturro would have played a great Joker. Overall, it was an okay reboot - daring yet pompous and self absorbed. It wasn't terrible, just terribly long.

It's another "Post Infinity War" failure. Sadly, Marvel movies can go either way these days and its a gamble seeing them in theaters. The MCU product can no longer be candidly classified as "good." Its either very good (No Way Home, Loki) or very, very bad (Love & Thunder, Wakanda Forever) with the latter being more prominent since the demise of Thanos. In this latest flop, Disney sucked the life...and the fun...out of an Antman movie! Bill Murry couldn't even save it. And, the Star Wars rip offs were a plenty. What disillusioned group of geniuses at Disney thought that was a good idea? I can't wait until MCU movie sales plummet so low that Disney has no choice but to spare us from their tedious political sermons. Sci-fi ticket buyers just want to have fun, geek out, and see their characters in action. If I'm looking for political opinions or a sociology lesson I can easily find them on CNN and Fox News. Both are already included with my cable TV package. It looks like Marvel has gone the way of DC and will continue disappoint. Thanks, Disney!

In true John Wick fashion...awesome!