Movies
With the Hong Kong movie industry in a pickle, it's nice to see the West take over the art heist/conman genre. Red Notice is a pretty typical blockbuster, with its signature cast and familiar set pieces, but that's pretty much the entire reason for watching this film. And in that sense, it's not too bad. Hartley is an FBI agent who is looking for Nolan Booth, a notorious art thief. Booth has his eyes on Cleopatra's eggs, of which a third one is rumored to exist. When Hartley is close to apprehending Booth, he is conned and the only way to clear his name is to join Booth in gathering all three eggs. Reynolds is Reynolds, The Rock is The Rock, Gadot is Gadot. They're not so much typecast as the roles were specifically written for them. The action looks decent, the comedy is passable, the varied locations give the film some extra flair. It's nothing too noteworthy, but it's pleasant enough filler.Read all
Dwayne Johnson and the skyscraper. Some films offer exactly what you expect from them, Skyscraper is such a film. That's not too surprising for a Johsnon-led blockbuster, but this modern Die Hard clone makes very little effort to add anything unique, except maybe its Hong Kong setting. Johnson plays a security guy who gets to oversee one of the most hi-tech buildings in the world. Of course, it's a setup and terrorists have to get involved. They take over the tower, use all the fancy tech stuff to their advantage and force Johnson to be the action hero he's supposed to be. The film is quite spectacular, Johnson is a decent lead and some of the hi-tech stuff helps to spruce up familiar action scenes. It's also extremely cheesy though and if you expect anything remotely serious, you're definitely picking the wrong film. It's solid blockbuster entertainment, but nothing more. They do deserve props for keeping it short.Read all
Kevin Hart teams up again for a crime comedy, this time with Dwayne Johnson. The result is a bit disappointing. Not that my expectations were all that high, but I'd hoped for something a bit more entertaining. The movie plays it safe though and director Thurber fails to put his stamp on the film. Hart is the high school prom king, whose live didn't really turn out the way he wanted it to be. Johnson was the high school clown, the kid everyone bullied. He grew up to be all muscles and a heart of gold, so when Hart meets up with him before a high school reunion, he can't believe his own eyes. What follows is a dumb story about a terrorist who stole launch codes, with Hart and Johnson teaming up to save the world from harm. The chemistry between both isn't fully there, the comedy is a little too simplistic and the action scenes are pretty basic too. It's not terrible as simple entertainment goes, but it's just not very memorable.Read all
