Target Practice

A smart movie about a series of idiots. There are so many well established tropes in movies about spies and federal agencies that it’s refreshing to see them all sent up, subverted and smashed to pieces once in a while. This is a killer cast playing against type for the most part and clearly having a lot of fun with the material. Infidelity, vanity, insecurity, paranoia and bureaucracy are all thrown into the mix in this satire where all the characters seem out of their depth. A fun watch.

Seriously overrated I don't mind a slow burn when there is a great payoff but in this case the payoff is predictable, underwhelming and frankly nonsensical. The acting is solid, the production design and practical effects are great, but the story, such as it is, amounts to little more than a Twilight Zone short. The final reveal makes no economic sense which undermines the impact of everything that has gone before and frankly the whole thesis of the film. If a course of action is pursued by a heartless corporation for solely economic reasons, it ought to look like it would cost LESS than doing things in a more traditional way, which in this film it decidedly does NOT. Most people seemed to like this movie, so maybe understanding math, economics and the cost of implementing complex bio-technology systems are relatively rare qualities. If you do get those kinds of things or tend to challenge the ideas in a movie to decide if they're really plausible or not, do NOT watch this movie. You'll find it dumb, despite some good acting and set design.

The twist wasn’t much of a twist and nothing else was really surprising or creative. The barest sliver of plot serves as an excuse for a series of action set pieces. The only really original sequence occurs in the cold opening where a drug cartel leader is attacked. The rest was competent but uninspired. Watch the first ten minutes.

Listened to several podcast reviews to compare notes and the reaction was universally anger at how nonsensical this show is. I tend to agree. The theme seems to be that anyone could be pushed to murder but in the show the sequence of events that make that happen are so stupid and preposterous it makes me want to scream. Stanley Tucci is the not subtly named Jefferson Grieff (see what they did there… grief) who solves mysteries from Death Row. The examples of secondary cases meant to show how clever Stanley Tucci’s character is are just dumb. SPOILERS One The first example relies on mistaking “Pay therapist “ for “Pay the rapist” due to text size. Would never have happened and no way anyone could have figured it out despite the convoluted explanation. Two There’s no way a super successful real estate mogul wearing a tux and carrying a trophy would take a train home. He’d have his own luxury car, or have hired a limo or at least would take a cab. But the dumb bit of reverse engineered detective work only works if he took public transit so that schedules could be checked so train it is. The series of events that leads to the central dilemma between Janice and the Vicar relies on a series of misunderstandings and coincidences that is 3 Stooges level stupid. Questions: Why doesn’t Janice use the tools to try and break out instead of hiding them? What interior door in any house only unlocks from the outside? What interior door in any house is so thick that it is 100% sound proof? Why would the floor above a cellar level be soundproof? It’s just wooden joists and flooring. The tone is brutally uneven, it seems to be going for dark comedy but it’s played so darkly I didn’t laugh, but neither was it so compelling that I felt real suspense because I ended up spending the whole time parsing out how stupid it was. Long story short, read a spoiler synopsis if you’re curious, but don’t waste 4 hours of your life watching it.

This is an overrated film that makes no sense for most of the run time. It opens on a raid where it is revealed that dozens of bodies have been hidden in the walls. Since the house is located in a remote location surrounded by desert, it seems impractical and needlessly risky in the extreme to mess with all the plastic wrap, drywall and plaster when you could just drag them into the dessert and bury them. Realism and logic isn’t important though when we can shock the audience with a vision of rows of rotting corpses. Our protagonist gets roped into joining a task force where no one bothers to brief her on what they’re doing, where they’re going or even who works for what agency and in what capacity. The confusion is deliberately and improbably maintained until the film’s final act when the protagonist and audience finally find out what’s going on. The slow reveal is to increase the dramatic effect but it feels contrived and unrealistic. People get briefed on what they’re doing, even if it’s shady. The moral conflict also feels very contrived. It’s a film with a moral message that undermines itself with the improbability of the plot and the unrealistic interactions between the characters. I was left more annoyed than awed or thoughtful.

So basically we have a character who’s a mashup of La Femme Nikita and Jason Bourne. He’s in a black ops group called Sierra which is basically Treadstone from the Bourne movies but recruiting from prisons. Like both of you aforementioned characters he find’s himself at odds with his own organization. It seems even James Bond was in a similar situation in several movies. Amidst a lot of familiar tropes including the main character wearing impenetrable plot armor we have some decent chases and an amusing appearance of Chris Evans (Captain America) as a douchy, pornstache sporting villain. This would have franchise potential if James Bond, La Femme Nikita and Jason Bourne didn’t already exist. Unlike the John Wick series, this story didn’t bring anything sufficiently different or interesting to the table. It’s not a BAD action flick. It’s just not terribly original and contained no cool world building or memorable lines. The closest thing to a surprise plot twist occurs early in the movie and barely counts as such. The titular character sadly ressembles his name. He’s pretty bland and boring when he’s not dispatching armies of bad guys. I’m betting they’re not going to green light a sequel.

Me too the movie. If you are a woman who fantasizes about exacting revenge against an entire gender, then maybe this movie is for you. I’m not. It wasn’t. You might not be either. I’m not sure why they’re calling this a dark comedy. There was nothing even remotely comedic about it. Plenty of dark but no comedy. I don’t know maybe I’m just not the target demographic. It was refreshing to see a more realistic heroine. No Pulp Fiction’s the Bride or Marvel Black Widows here, but that in itself doesn’t make for an engaging story. In the end I just felt like I’d been forced to sit through a 2 hour mandatory training video on consent and “rape culture” that I didn’t really need. Rape bad. Consent good. We get it. Important maybe but not entertaining.

An interesting idea, that was very poorly executed. Gags are crass and overdone, the SFX of muppets walking around in the real world look creepy and unnatural and Melissa McCarthy misses on all cylinders. On the rare occasion that you do laugh you feel embarrassed that you did. Not worth the time, even ironically.

A film In the tradition of innovative classic horror being made on a shoestring budget, the Babadook follows in the footsteps of such classics as Halloween, Friday the 13th and Blair Witch. What it lacks in outright scariness, it more than makes up for in message and style. The titular boogeyman serves less as outright scary monster and more as a metaphor for grief and mental illness. Watching with this in mind the film is a kind of psychological drama where negative emotions are personified and given a sort of agency and personality. I found the film not so much frightening as disturbing, with scenes and images lingering in my mind after the credits had rolled. Particularly distressing are the scenes depicting the stress, exhaustion and frustration of being a parent with a difficult or special needs child. In this aspect film will hit very close to home for some parents. I think even non parents can come to sympathize with the mother’s plight. Even without the supernatural aspect of the story, her situation is in many ways disturbing and horrific. I bought the Blue Ray disc which includes some interviews and behind the scenes footage that help put the themes into context. Watch for the black/white/grey colour palette. Especially in the house, police station and all the mothers’ clothing at a child’s birthday party. Admire what can be achieved with practical effects and a limited budget. Listen for sound effects nabbed from video games. Definitely worth a watch.

A true classic. Must-see example of the British, historical, war picture.