David Wak

It was better than I expected after reading several bad reviews. The animation had that classic Japanese feel and gave Middle Earth a richness that's impossible with live action even with computer generated effects. I would actually love to see LTR redone as animation. That being said the plot, which started out strong if somewhat predictable, meandered towards the middle and introduced half explained plot lines like bringing in Southerner mercenaries with little follow up. Still, it was cool to see a LTR movie with a female hero who kicked ass throughout. Overall not great but quite watchable if you're a fan of the books or films.

This movie started out promising with a compelling lead character, Lee Harker (Miaka Monroe), an anti social and obsessive FBI agent with a talent for seeing patterns no one else does and an almost 6th sense about criminals motives. She is tasked with finding an elusive serial killer Longlegs ( Nicholas Cage) who's been murdering families for over 20 years through a twisted form of manipulation. The movies tone at the begining is stark and sinister with depressing and gloomy locales drawing one in (Directed by Oswald Perkins, the son of the original psycho killer Anthony).As agent Harker gets closer to her prey she finds out Longlegs is no ordinary killer but has Biblical motives. However, once the so-called mystery was unraveled I found more unanswered questions than answers and realized there were no logical answers anymore as the plot descended into the realm of superstition and became less an less believable as time went on. By the end the premise was so sloppy and weak I lost interest. Nicholas Cage's performance as the weird and creepy Longlegs was supposed to be the most compelling of a serial killer since Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lector. Instead I found him to be almost cartoonish and not that scary but rather weird and pathetic truthfully. To me a great villain has to be on par with Heath Ledger's Joker and Javier Bardem's Anton Chiggurh, these are villains I want to get away from out of fear whereas Cage's villain mostly annoyed me because he was just weird and underwhelming. All in all don't waste your time and money on this muddled movie, wait for it to go on streaming so you can get disappointed at home.

This was "watchable" movie but not a great one. This fictional history of a Chicago based biker gang was rather thin on plot or character development IMHO although there were some good performances. The standout performance was Jodie Comer as the reluctant biker chick and narrator Kathy, who seemed to be one of the few fleshed out characters in the film. She delivers an authentic portrayal as the wife of Benny, the sexy rebel and wild man of the gang, sadly resigned to her man and his unpredictable and often violent life and delivers it with a spot on upper Midwestern accent ( If they make another season of Fargo, which I'm sure they will, she needs to be cast in it 100 percent!). Micheal Shannon as gang member Zipco also gives a believable and heartfelt performance and steals most of the scenes he's in. Besides that the male lead, Austin Butler's Benny, has the Marlon Brando surly rebel stance down but doesn't say or reveal himself much which gives his character a sort of hollow feel. Tom Hardy, who plays the gangs leader Johnny, gives a somewhat interesting performance as a guy who created a beast he can't always control, especially towards the end of the film. Still, even he feels more like a sketch than a full blown character. It doesn't help that the movie obviously imitates Goodfellas down to the character narration but falls short of of being nearly as compelling. Another thing I found off putting about the movie was the lack of real Midwestern accents, Ms Comer aside. Some of the characters seemed to be speaking some kind of New Jersey accent and having grown up in the Midwest I found that annoying. I think more fleshing out of the story and the characters would have made this a better film and perhaps it might have worked best as a 10 episode TV series. Overall it wasn't a terrible movie yet little of it stuck with me in the end.

The previous writer stole my thunder so I'll add my few other thoughts. The characters were cardboard with no fleshing out so it was hard to care about them. They never seemed to be in too much danger and only one gets wounded in an intense fire fight and survives. They go about killing the Nazis with as much concern as buying a lotto ticket so once again there's no there's emotional investment. The team just acts like nothing bad is ever is going to happen to them and they're right which makes for a boring movie really. Maybe in the hands of Tarantino this could have been a compelling watch. They whole thing seems phoned in to quote the previous viewer. Too bad, it had the ingredients for a good movie.

A stark warning to every American, those who are unwisely eager to try war out over their grievances, and those who ignore the signs. It's not overly political, in fact politics and the cause of the war are only vaguely hinted at here. What it does show are the effects should such a conflict come to pass here; The empty and often war torn cities and towns, the abandoned highways, the hints of death everywhere. It's also strangely beautiful at times, with horrific acts taking place in idyllic settings, much like Apocalypse Now or the Clive Owens movie "Children of Men. And through the eyes of it's Journalist characters we see a familiar looking America turned into a war-torn Hellscape that has a surreal and unsettling effect. Anyone who thinks only violence will solve our problems needs to see this film and imagine what their actions might bring about, especially those politicians who play with the idea of solving our differences with gun fire. After all, no matter which side you're on in the great American divide should such a war occur many will suffer some kind of terrible loss.

A very interesting and innovative Horror movie. I've never seen a film quite like it. For one it captures the vibe of late 70s late night television very well from the clothes and haircuts to the look of the film that was used. It really takes you back if you were around them ( I was). It has elements of other horror films, particularly The Exorcist.Unlike other 'Found Footage' Horror movies like The Blair Witch Project there's no shaky camera work or shadowy images, everything is out in the open like the live TV broadcast the film depicts, which makes it scarier. Most of the film takes place on the set of the show which gives it a somewhat claustrophobic feel which adds to the tension. The story itself, a classic theme of a Faustian deal gone predictably bad, moves along fairly quickly and is riveting. It's one of those movies where I hated that I had to go to the restroom for fear of missing something. It really draws you in until it's horrific climax and at 93 minutes never feels to drawn out or watered down. My only criticisms are with some of the acting, where the characters of the psychic and the skeptic deliver their lines somewhat rushed and clumsily. Also, the very end was a little confusing where the sense of reality was suspended leaving me wondering what really happened ( I suppose with a rewatch it might become clearer). There were also some exchanges between the main character and his wife that alluded to actions he may or may not have done that were never quite clear. I suppose it was up to the audience to fill in the holes but I would have liked a little more clarity myself. Overall though I highly recommend this movie, especially for fans of Horror films.

It was an exalerating ride of a movie. Got silly and over the top like a John Wick movie yet very riveting. A great revenge movie for people who are tired of seeing entitled douchebags get away with everything. I said three stars but more like 3 1/2 for it's entertainment value.

They really tried to cram a lot of history into a two plus hour movie so it's pace was uneven and the history half explained. Would have made a great 10 part series to help the story unfold better. Joaquin Phoenix's performance was kind of wooden, like he was mailing it in and I never got a sense of who Napoleon was through him. For an actor with such impressive credentials I have to wonder if he enjoyed doing this picture. Vanessa Kirby's turn as Josephine was a bright spot acting wise but I still didn't get a full picture of her either. The battle scenes were very impressive though, I'll give the film that, but not much else. It wasn't a terrible film but not overly memorable.

Too over the top for me in the acting and violence. They tried to give it some steampunk Game of Thrones vibe, just didn't work for me. Glad I saw it on cable and didn't go to the theater and pay good money. Kind of a dog in my view.

It's a hilarious, if at times gory, black comedy/ horror movie. A funny, cheesy B movie guilty pleasure akin to Bruce Campbell's "Army of Darkness "