gimili3979 Reviews

The Alamo (2004)

The Alamo keeps the historical theme overall

[7/10 · 7 April 2024]

The movie, The Alamo (2004), was actually a box office bomb. But the actual movie is rather good and keeps with the historical theme behind the story the Alamo and the Battle of Texas.

The movie starts off slowly but picks up the pace later on. I thought it kept the overall historical story well. It was also interesting that the movie added in the subsequent Battle of Texas. This is important in that the battle for the Alamo was part of the larger overall Battle of Texas for Texas independence.

There are some well-known actors in this film who play major parts including Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton. I think it is difficult to tell a story that has already been told without trying to add some type of Hollywood story to it. To this film's credit, they did not do that. Yes, they added some Hollywood flare to the acting here and there, but there was no major plot outside of the one you know from history about the battle of the Alamo. The acting was good and once the story started to flow about 20 minutes in, I stay interested throughout.

I thought this was a very enjoyable movie about an important event in American history.

Touching the Void (2003)

Touching the Void is one of those movies people may have never heard of, but those that have seen it know how good it is

[9/10 · 12 December 2023]

I am going to start this review by letting you know the trailer for this movie is sort of deceiving. The movie is way better than the trailer.

The reason this movie was so successful was because they used a movie and documentary set up for the film. Regular actors played out the events on screen, but the narration is done by the people that it actually happened to. It is similar in style to the television show, I Shouldn't Be Alive.

For this film that setup worked so well. The story is so well told by the narrators(the people who actually lived it), that you forget the people acting it out are actors, and you want to know what happens next.

Touching the Void is such a great name for this movie too. The movie is based on the book of the same name. Since watching this movie, I have yet to find another mountain climbing film that was this good. This is one of my favorite movie documentary films.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

The worst Mission Impossible film in the series

[3/10 · 4 December 2023]

Mission Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One is not a bad movie because of the acting or the action or even being a part one.

It is a bad movie for one very simple reason that I think many people will agree with: the plot. In this case, the plot of the movie is no longer about people. That is where the movie took a very absurd turn.

There are aspects of the plot that are going to leave you wondering how one thing can happen, but another cannot happen. The plot took a turn towards technology and left people behind. I cannot tell you what Ethan Hunt is doing in this film or what his mission even is. I still do not understand what the plot of this movie is, but it definitely is not about people. And that is so disappointing because even other Mission Impossible movies that came before this that did not have great plots, the one thing they stuck to was people.

The acting I think was good. The action I think was good, except for a very long sequence towards the end that is definitely CGI or looks that way. In order to define this movie and what makes it different from Mission Impossible Fallout (6), look at the car scenes. There is a car scene involving technology that is a mess towards the middle of the movie. The characters play with buttons and act like new technology baffles them. Compare that to the car scene in Mission Impossible Fallout and you will see the striking differences between the two movies. Like so many movies today that seem to want to try to define society, they tried to take a modern spin on an issue, new technology and its affect on society, and turn it into a Mission Impossible movie. It did not work. I admit I am curious to see part two, but only because I want to see how they are going to sell this movie to audiences after part 1 and its ridiculous plot. They should have made this its own movie because now with a part 2 people are going to be expecting much of the same. If they had made these movies like they did part 5 and 6(you need to see 5 in order to understand character development in 6), then they might have been able to try and change before the next movie.

Some people may really enjoy this film if they like the plot. Even the trailer makes this seem like it is a good Mission Impossible movie. Maybe part two will explain the plot so it all makes sense? But people literally and figuratively seemed to disappear in Mission Impossible- Dead Reckoning. The enjoyment of this Mission Impossible film went along with it.

This movie is a cautionary tale about all movies. If a movie has nothing else, it needs to at least have a good story. There is none to be found in Mission Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One.

Arctic (2018)

Arctic is a decent movie with an overly dramatic Hollywood ending

[5/10 · 5 October 2023]

The movie, Arctic, asks the question when lost: Should you stay where you are or go for help?

For nearly ninety percent of the movie, it is slow, but realistic. I enjoyed the first ninety percent of the movie. Then came the ending, and the very ending.

And before you see the final frame of the end scene, you know it can only end one of two ways. The film has hardly any dialogue in it for the first 90 percent of the movie, but then at the end the main character could go on and on talking about whatever? I thought to myself at the end I was watching complete melodramatic Hollywood movie ending.

For a movie that did such a good job of being ambiguous and thought provoking for most of it, it went complete Hollywood at the end. The ending to this film is not ambiguous or thought provoking.

The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

A great movie about life, not golf

[9/10 · 9 September 2023]

If someone asked me what makes the movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance, such a great film, my response would be that you do not have to appreciate or even like golf to like this film.

This is such a great movie because it is not a movie about golf. It is a movie about life. Golf is the metaphor and the catalyst used to tell the story.

This movie, directed by Robert Redford, is memorable because of so many great scenes. Some movies simply surprise you with great dialogue, music, and story. This movie has so many good set pieces of dialogue between the actors that you feel the dialogue and the moral of the story.

I definitely recommend this movie.

The Equalizer 3 (2023)

The least enjoyable of the 3 Equalizer movies

[5/10 · 4 September 2023]

The movie, Equalizer 3, starts out well. There is a rather good slow action scene to start the movie. But it is all downhill from there.

Without ever really establishing a plot or a reason for why the Equalizer is where he is today, the movie does not flow like the other films. There is a mafia connection, but nothing else to really tell us why the Equalizer is doing what he is doing or why he is even still there.

Like so many sequels, there is usually either more sex, blood, or violence. For Equalizer 3, it is definitely violence. There are some scenes where you almost have to look away because of how violent they are.

It is just an awful story line about mafia, drugs, and possible terrorist ties that did not make sense. Like the film itself, everyone seems to know that Mr. McCall, the Equalizer, is a special person whereas the previous films tended to hide his unique abilities. There is no anonymity to the person or the story anymore.

The previous plots were personal in nature while this one is completely impersonal. We get a hint at the end of the movie that there might have been a personal connection, but the story line is so convoluted that I could not figure out what the personal connection was or how it fit.

The movie has enough action to get through it. But do not expect the level of story and plot line like you found in the first film or even the second. It simply is not there. Like a lot of sequels, this movie gets away from what made it such a good first movie to begin with.

Duel (1971 TV Movie)

Steven Spielberg's first film was great

[9/10 · 21 August 2023]

Duel is a great movie because it is such a simple movie of man and car versus truck. It is actually based off of a real life truck driving encounter that never went as far plot wise as this movie does.

The plot of this movie is a very simple one. There is a car with a man in it who has to get to a business meeting to meet up with an important client. He is on a 2 lane road in a desolate part of California and comes upon a truck. The truck driver starts messing with him by using his truck as a weapon.

Duel is such a simple movie that you literally are thrust into the feeling of what it would be like to be this random driver. There is an absolutely great scene of mental thoughts out loud in a diner that gives the viewer such a unique sense into feeling what this driver was feeling when dealing with this semi truck.

What makes this movie so great is that it is probably one of the simplest movies around as most of the movie is literally a car and a truck. You might think that would make it a boring movie. It is not. It is a very enjoyable and entertaining movie. I highly recommend it.

Oppenheimer (I) (2023)

Oppenheimer is not a very enjoyable movie to watch

[5/10 · 21 August 2023]

I will start this review by stating that I have yet to compare the movie to the "true story" of Oppenheimer. I think that is a good thing as I do not want my review to be based solely on whether or not the movie is historically accurate, but whether or not I enjoyed the movie overall.

It is 3 hours long. It feels like it is 3 hours long. From a strictly movie perspective, I would advise against thinking this movie will be as riveting as the trailers make it. It is not.

Most of the problem regarding this movie centers around the understory, which by the end becomes rather long and boring. I wonder how historically accurate it is too?

I cannot go any further other than to state that Oppenheimer is to documentary movies what the movie, JFK, was to documentary movies. The entire time watching it I felt it was Hollywood script and not reality.

The one thing I did like about the movie was the overall message that you arrive at. In today's world, I thought it was an important message. But if you are looking for a great Christopher Nolan film, watch, The Dark Knight. It was far better than Oppenheimer in terms of enjoyability.

Even great directors need to realize that historical cinema needs to be told with a level of actual human emotion that is accurate and to the point. It works much better for real life events than to try to come up with something you think will work as Hollywood "based on a true story" movie making. The acting is great, but the film is not.

But there is no doubt that for whatever reason people seem to really like this film based on the current review ratings. Overall, I thought it had a good moral message, but was otherwise incredibly long and boring with a questionable amount of historical accuracy.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Better than John Wick 3, similar in style to the original

[6/10 · 20 May 2023]

I was apprehensive going into this movie because I did not like John Wick 3 at all. This movie was sort of a surprise.

It still lags the story and style of the first John Wick, but you could tell they tried to go back to the film's roots. One area where this showed up consistently was with the fighting and the soundtrack of the movie. The soundtrack of this film was very good, even imitating some of the action and soundtrack of the original film.

The one aspect of this film you will probably really enjoy is the fight scenes tied to the soundtrack of sounds during the fight scenes.

That was very similar to the original film even if trying to go back to the same type of story was more difficult. The fight scenes had more purpose, and the combination of the songs and the fighting worked very well. If nothing else, you should enjoy that aspect of the movie.

Do not go into this movie thinking about John Wick 3, which was an action mess. Except for one really long fight sequence, this film is more stylish and similar to the original one.

Creed III (2023)

Creed 3 is boring and predictable

[2/10 · 5 March 2023]

This might have been the shortest Creed film of the series, but it felt like the longest. Creed 3 is just boring. It might be even more predictable than Creed 2 which at least had a better storyline, if only a rehashed one.

Creed 3 is the story of Adonis Creed getting visited by a teenage friend from back in the day. His friend ended up going down one path in life. Adonis Creed went down another. Through some predicable plot points they no longer like each other.

The only shining star of this movie was Adonis Creed's daughter. That was the only new and interesting part of the entire movie.

After watching this film, I can understand why there is no Rocky Balboa in it. Not having Rocky Balboa in it did not make the movie better either. The Creed movie franchise is over. I will not watch another one because there is nothing new and original about any of it.

Creed II (2018)

Creed 2 is a very formulaic movie

[3/10 · 4 March 2023]

Creed 2 is exactly what you would expect. That is the problem. It is basically a rehash of Rocky 4. If you have seen Rocky 4, you probably do not even need to know what Creed 2 is about. You can probably guess.

I kept wondering how long the movie was going to last because of how formulaic it was. It was like watching a sequel about a sequel. Rocky 4, for its part, was not the greatest movie in the world either.

Watching Creed 2 was like watching a movie where you already know what is going to happen. The first Creed was at least a new idea, even if it was based off the old Rocky series. Creed 2 is like a movie trying to copy an old movie and that is why I did not like it.

Creed (II) (2015)

Creed works as a movie to watch

[6/10 · 4 March 2023]

Overall, this movie was ok, but lacked that charisma and storyline that were so compelling with the Rocky movies.

The story of Creed is sort of disjointed with the film being so much different from the original Rocky films because it is not a Rocky film. But it works as a continuation movie and has built up into its own franchise.

Overall, it works as a movie to watch, but it was hard to not continually think of the Rocky films because of Rocky Balboa still being a part of the movie. In order for this film to work there had to be Rocky Balboa in it.

I think the mark of a good film is how much you remember it from before and while I remember it was a decent movie to watch, there was nothing that stuck out about the movie that was very memorable from the movie or the storyline.

But it is a decent movie to watch if you liked the Rocky films.

Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007 Video)

Wrong Turn 2 is not even close to the original

[1/10 · 11 June 2022]

Wrong Turn 2 is a bad movie and a bad sequel. Basically it tries to keep the same story going with more blood, violence, and sexual content. And every Wrong Turn movie sequel made after it are just as bad, if not worse.

They never made another one that came close to the original Wrong Turn movie. The original Wrong Turn is a good movie. But skip all the sequels.

Unhinged (I) (2020)

Unhinged is entertaining

[6/10 · 11 June 2022]

If you like the trailer to this film, you will probably be entertained by the movie. On the road, this is a good movie. Once the movie goes off the road, it is not as entertaining. It has enough action to get you through it.

This movie is about a single mom who runs a little late most of the time. The man in the pickup truck she is behind is already having a bad day. When she has a very slight altercation with this unknown person in the pickup truck at a stoplight, it turns into something much more.

What really makes this movie is Russel Crowe's character, the man in the pickup truck. He does a great job in this role and the acting brings you back to an earlier time where great acting and great actors can make a film entertaining, even when the story line is a little over the top.

I recommend seeing this film because it is entertaining even if the story starts to fall apart later. This movie is an example of a great actor in an entertaining film with just enough story to keep you watching till the end.

The Little Things (2021)

You are left looking for the Little Things

[7/10 · 3 March 2022]

This is a strange, but good movie set in the early 1990's. Based on a script nearly 30 years in the making, it is a movie that follows a Kern County deputy named Joe Deacon who is sent on an evidence gathering assignment to L. A. While there, Deacon becomes involved in a local murder case that may have ties to an old case from his past. It is a murder mystery where you follow along with the detectives, Deputy Joe Deacon(Denzel Washington) and Detective Jim Baxter(Rami Malik).

The Little Things has a story to tell, but getting to the moral of story relies on events and people doing things that seem rather over the top and overly strange. But strangely enough it relies on this general sense of madness and paranoia to get to the moral of the story. It works even if it does not make complete sense all the time. I suppose many of these scenes were to lead you down that road of suspicion as you follow along.

With a better story line that flowed better, I think this could have been a great film. Nevertheless, the actors carry the script over the finish line quite well. The acting in this film is very good. Without it, this film would not be nearly as good.

I recommend seeing The Little Things. The irony about this film is that if you focus on the little things you may or may not end up feeling disappointed. It is a film that will leave you to come up with your own interpretation of what it all meant.

Mindhunters (2004)

Mindhunters is entertaining

[6/10 · 27 December 2021]

The movie, Mindhunters, has a very simple plot. A group of profiling trainees are sent to a deserted island used by the U. S. military to play out a simulation involving their profiling skills. Once there, things start to go awry and the simulation is not what it seems. What follows is a clever scene by scene, clue solving, movie that keeps the audience interested in what is going to happen next.

While Mindhunters can be faulted for some of its realism, it cannot be faulted for being entertaining. Once the simulation begins, the movie keeps your attention to the very end. Each scene is a "clue" that the agents have to try and solve.

Movies like this are not great acting or great dialogue. However, there are some well known actor names in the movie that play their parts well.

Was Mindhunters an entertaining and attention keeping film? Yes, and that is why I think it is a decent movie.

Crawl (I) (2019)

Crawl is one of the most poorly thought out survival movies

[2/10 · 5 September 2021]

Crawl revolves around a college aged swimmer who goes home during a Category 5 hurricane to check on her father. What happens next is a duel between humans and alligators.

It is understandable that for some survival movies you have to suspend reality a little. In the movie, Crawl, you do not have to suspend reality a little. You have to pretend it does not exist at all.

I do not think I need to go into all the reality checks you will spot in this movie. They are so huge and noticeable it was like the scriptwriters decided that reality does not exist.

There is one scene where an alligator grabs a victim and throws that victim to another alligator who goes up and catches said victim. If this example does not help you understand the type of movie Crawl is, nothing will.

I kept thinking this movie should be called "Deep Blue Alligator". It has some action so I gave it some stars for that, but you need to forgo reality in order to watch the movie, Crawl.

Then there was the music once the credits rolled. Huh? This is one of the most poorly thought out survival movies you can find.

Frozen (I) (2010)

A scary survival movie that that falls apart

[5/10 · 27 June 2021]

Frozen is a good average movie. Without a doubt this is a movie you should see. The comments about it being tension filled are right on. But as you watch it you will probably have to leave the realism at home as the movie progresses.

Basically this movie is the movie, Open Water, on a ski lift. The difference is that the premise for Open Water was much better and way more believable. In the movie, Frozen, there are so many coincidental things that have to go wrong for the premise of the movie to even begin. Then there are so many things that have to go right for the end of the movie to finish.

If this ski lift scenario happened today, I thought the character's actions regarding what might happen were well thought out. I could see people trying to do the same things as the characters in this film. However as time and the cold progress, I started to wonder if a real person would even be of the right state of mind to make a decision. The movie starts off well and then trails off.

There are not great actors. The story is somewhat unrealistic. But the movie works from an edge of your seat perspective, and for that reason I think you should see the movie, Frozen.

The Transporter Refueled (2015)

The Transporter Refueled is an ok movie to watch one time

[5/10 · 6 May 2021]

Let me start this review by stating the obvious. When a movie franchise changes the main star to someone else, it is going to be very hard to pull it off. The Transporter Refueled, which stars Ed Skrein as the Transporter instead of Jason Statham, is not that bad because of Ed Skrein. That was the surprising part. He tried to keep to the script of who the Transporter is and why he is the way he is. He even restates the rules.

But then you have everyone else. This is where the movie really falls apart. With a plot line in which the main characters are so good at predicting the future, you are left wondering what the point is in this movie. The basic plot is a revenge plot that relies on things happening in a sequential order so that everything works out and everyone believes it. If you do not understand then you will probably understand why this movie plot is not that good. But this Transporter movie needed a plot.

Then there are the ridiculous reality checks throughout the movie that any viewer is going to notice. A character has blood, scratches, and bruises on them one moment from a fight or some other confrontation and then in the next scene they are completely fine. I understand the Transporter movies expect you to believe certain unrealistic scenes at times, but overlooking such simple things really drove this movie downhill. There are a lot of these moments in this Transporter movie. The fight scenes can only be described as fragmented too. They do not flow like the first Transporter films.

Finally, Ray Stevenson plays the Transporter's father. He is senior. The Transporter is junior. It did NOT work. The Transporter is serious. The father is not. Both men share the same sort of background, yet are completely different in how they approach life. Even in serious scene situations the father is trying to crack sarcastic jokes. It did not work on any level.

The good about this movie are the driving scenes. They tend to rival the first films. The other good part about this movie is that overall the action tends to continue to flow so it is watchable almost until you get to the end. Even with all the criticism, I would recommend watching this film once because it does keep moving. I try to review movies based on how watchable they are, and this movie is watchable as a Transporter movie, but just barely.

Backcountry (I) (2014)

A loosely based true story

[6/10 · 14 March 2021]

Backcountry is the type of film where early dumb decisions come back to haunt people later.

It was hard to enjoy this film because it does move rather slow. However, the build-up is worth it. But there is not enough story to make this film memorable.

The film is worth watching once.

Wrong Turn (I) (2003)

Wrong Turn is an example of a great cult classic horror movie

[8/10 · 11 March 2021]

Wrong Turn (2003) is an example of how horror movies used to be made. I remember seeing this movie for the first time and never looking at my watch. It is short and gets straight to the point. But what really sets it apart is how realistic it felt. Whenever I have gone hiking in the forest I think about this movie.

This is a movie where they do not use sex and violence to make the horror movie work. There are always hints at both, but not like the movies you see today. It is the suspense in this film that keeps you watching. That is the horror and probably why so many people like this movie. And it is also probably why so many people check out the remakes(which I think are all "sequel" movies and not very good).

They could never rehash the magic from the original film. I think this is because the original had a story that felt true. A med student named Chris Flynn gets stuck in highway traffic. He is in a hurry and cannot afford the time to wait so he decides to try some back roads. And the story goes from there.

But the main point of this film is that you can see this happening to you. And that is the magic of this film. The missing person posters, the random car trying a shortcut, the group of friends going for a trip to camp in the woods, it is all believable.

Yes, one of the female characters is kind of annoying and whiny. And it is not award winning acting. But Wrong Turn is that rare example of an "average" movie that people can relate to because the story feels real and the suspense creates the horror. It is hard to find horror movies "like" this anymore.

I highly recommend seeing this film.

The Shallows (2016)

The Shallows could have been so much better

[5/10 · 24 January 2021]

The Shallows is a movie with a good premise and suspenseful action. As a movie, it is worth a watch. But be prepared to leave realism behind after a while.

A woman named Nancy, played by Black Lively, finds herself stranded on a rock after being bitten by a shark. The shark, like the movie's realism, is over the top. It is not a small shark. And it wants what it came for even though you would think it would be full. But whatever, I could at least understand the shark having elements to it that were over the top. The plot line is a different story.

At first Nancy devises completely realistic and intelligent ways to stay away from the shark long enough to try and survive. But then the movie thinks it needs that spectacular action finish where the split second ideas are so fantastic as to be completely unbelievable. Nancy can see things really well too.

This movie had a great opportunity to be more realistic and yet still suspenseful. But it chose shallow Hollywood action over great story and because of that, whatever story was left at the end I did not care about. The Shallows is a one time watch movie.

Adrift (I) (2018)

True love and survival story

[7/10 · 8 November 2020]

I thought this movie moved rather slow at times as the story consisted of flashback. But the main actress, Shailene Woodley, does a great job with her role.

My main criticism of this movie was going to be trying to make a love story and a survival story at the same time. I noticed something that did not make sense at the beginning of the movie, and I noticed it again towards the end. And then it made sense why the story was structured in that way.

So if you watch this movie make sure to watch it all the way through or you will miss it. In terms of other movies, "Adrift" has the same feel as the movie, "All is Lost" if you are looking for a comparison. The movie is only an hour and a half long. It is probably a movie you will only watch once, but it is still worth a watch.

The Hangover Part III (2013)

Hangover 3 is different from the first two movies

[7/10 · 20 September 2020]

I give a director credit when they can come up with a new idea instead of trying to rehash the same old one over and over. Hangover 3 is different mainly because it does not keep with the formula of the first two films.

One of the more unique things about this Hangover film is that is uses plot points from the first Hangover film to explain this story. For that reason alone, I felt this was a good movie. Most directors probably would have just gone with more sex and gratuity.

So I think this Hangover film has a good plot that flows with the first film. The irony is that by taking this approach it actually left the door open for a 4th Hangover film that could realistically go back to the original formula and it be believable as a story.

But maybe like some of the cast members have said, the Hangover films have run their course. Overall though, I enjoyed Hangover 3 and would recommend it.

Escape Room (I) (2019)

It keeps you interested to the end

[6/10 · 23 August 2020]

Escape Room is a movie with an average plot, average dialogue, and average actors. But I look at a movie based on how much I enjoyed the film. I enjoyed watching this film to the end.

Six random people receive an invitation to participate in an escape room. What follows is sort of a plot that resembles the movie Saw, but with escape rooms instead of one room.

You are constantly invested in seeing what is going to happen next because escape rooms are about finding clues in order to escape. The plot does show you that there is some reasoning behind how the participants find clues, but often times you are just along for the ride. The great majority of this movie takes place in the escape rooms.

The dialogue in this film disappointed at times. Participants would sometimes bicker with one another instead of trying to help each other. The actors are nothing special and the plot is only loosely explained regarding why the participants were chosen.

But it is a fun movie to watch. You have no idea what is going to happen next or whether time will run out. Escape Room is a good watch if you need a thriller to keep you interested to the end.