VinsendVega Reviews

Heart of Stone (I) (2023)

003.5 A minimum effort mediocre spy movie

[4/10 · 13 August 2023]

Heart of stone is one of the least original movies I've ever watched. (I wouldn't be surprised if it was written by some A. I.) Pretty much every aspect of the story has been done before and frankly it has been done better.

This whole movie seems to aim for mediocrity. Nothing is really bad, nothing is really great and with a nice looking trailer and a famous lead actress I'm sure many people will watch it and maybe even give if it a 'like'. That really seems to be the only goal here.

So.. If your bored and you've already watched all the better spy movies available, I guess you could watch it. But you won't miss anything if you don't.

I've rated this movie a 4/10 due to the extreme lack off effort or originality.

Extraction II (2023)

Hard to believe a stunt coordinator directed this movie.

[3/10 · 23 June 2023]

Nothing about this movie is even remotely believable. So... Unless you can turn off your brain (like a fast and the furious fan) You probably won't be able to enjoy it. The story makes no sense at all, but for me the worst part were the terrible fighting scenes. I had high expectations since the director is also a stunt coordinator. Unfortunately the fighting scenes are a joke! Every enemy henge man is waiting his turn to be shot, they keep speeding up the action and every time Chris turns his back on someone, they apparently decide not to hurt him to seriously or just do nothing at all. Most of the action comes from fancy camera work and ridicules sound effects. I found the movie unwatchable and stopped after about 40min. My wife did finish it and apparently it got even worse. Ps: It's a lot worse than the first movie.

Kaleidoscope (2023)

Ocean's Eleven for idiots.

[5/10 · 17 January 2023]

I really expected to like Kaleidoscope. I've been a big fan of Giancarlo Esposito since Breaking bad, I like Heist movies and the randomized episodes seemed interesting. Unfortunately the writing and the characters are absolutely terrible. Completely ridiculous choices, zero depth and no attention to details. What a huge disappointment! This show could have been so much better... I like most of the cast. The acting is solid, the cinematography is good and it has the appearance of a fun action packed heist series that isn't to serious. However 'not to serious turned out to be a massive understatement. Great scenes are followed by absolutely cringe worthy dialogue and big moments that make no sense at all. It's just so stupid. Unless you can completely turn your brain off and focus on the good moments. You probably won't enjoy this series...

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Warning: It's a Thor parody!

[5/10 · 10 July 2022]

Although I realy enjoyed Taika Waititi idiosyncratic style in Jojo Rabbit, It doesn't work for a movie like Thor. Previous Thor movies where never too serious and already had plenty of humor. Making a parody of a character like this just feels fake and turned the whole movie into a somewhat childish joke. The relationship between Thor and jane is very different from previous movies and I should probably tell you the director has taken a lot of artistic liberties with their back story. Thor is turned into a goofy Homer Simpson-type of loveable Idiot and the entire first half of the movie feels very empty. Some parts do get a good laugh but for me the whole movie was far too silly and childish.

Positives: Christian bale makes great villain and the visuals are great (even by marvel standards).

Not for serious fans. Woman and children seem to be the target audience here.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022)

He's Back!! (...Not that he ever left) --- Highly entertaining, original and one of the funniest movies I've ever watched.

[9/10 · 8 June 2022]

It's been a long time since I laughed this much during a movie. Honestly I knew from the title and the trailer that this movie would have some funny moments and that it is a bit of a goofball. But its so much more than that and far exceeded my expectations. This movie really has a bit of everything (Comedy, Action, Drama) and although it doesn't take itself very seriously... somehow it really works. Nick Cage is a bit of a joke here, he makes fun of himself a lot and there are loads of throwbacks to his success years. But it's the chemistry with Pedro Pascal and his performance that really makes this into a great movie. The rest of the cast gives a solid performance as well and I would highly recommend this movie to any movie fan with a sense of humor.

So, He's Back (...Not that he ever left)

Tenet (2020)

A creative, fast paced and action packed sci-fi puzzel that requires your full attention.

[8/10 · 27 August 2020]

Time travel has been done many times, but Nolan manages to do it in a way that is new, creative, exiting and sometimes a little hard to follow. I don't want to spoil the story. So lets just say; It will give you plenty to talk/debate about and you really need to pay attention to details if you want to get this movie on the first viewing. A little warning: Compared to Inception its a lot less linear and harder to follow.

The fast paced action and the great acting form all the main characters (Even from Robert Pattinson, who came a long way since that vampire disaster) made this a very enjoyable movie. The only downside was that the movie is a bit too long and because of this and the 'reverse time thing' the second halve had more trouble keeping my attention than the first. Additionally the final battle had way too much going on, even a movie nerd like me couldn't keep up with everything. (Although that does give me a reason to watch it again... :)

The science of this new idea also has quite a few issues, even if you accept this unexplained technology, the movie only seems to follow its own rules to the level that it helps the story. Personally I think its important that a Science fiction movie follows its own rules, but I guess such a complex issue like this allows for a few short cuts and paradoxes. At least, the timeline does make sense and if you pay attention there are plenty off hints that will let you figure things out before the big reveal. If your interested in a clever action sci-fi you should definitely go see Tenet.

Watchmen (2019)

This show kept getting better, having finished the season, I'm putting it among my favorites!

[9/10 · 17 December 2019]

Honestly.. I wasn't sure I was going to like this show. The trailer looked a bit like 'Arrow' and after the first few episodes... Well... I liked it, but it wasn't even close to the movie. Also, some of the characters felt a bit weak.

Anyway, I'm writing this review to tell you: This show gets a lot better along the way and if you liked the movie you should definitely watch it!

I don't want to spoil anything and considering the awesome plot twists and revelations in the final few episodes, you should definitely avoid spoilers!

PS: Just go watch it and don't write a review if you haven't even finished the first season ;)

6 Underground (2019)

Okay for Netflix, but not worth your money.

[5/10 · 16 December 2019]

Fast and the furious style car chases, Deadpool-ish narration mixed with some over the top Michael Bay action. These may sound like the ingredients for an enjoyable action movie. However the complete lack off story and emotional depth put this movie more along the lines of those unnecessary sequels. Ryan Reynolds is occasionally funny, but not funny enough to keep me from feeling very bored trough the second half of this movie.

I guess it's okay if you have low expectations and a Netflix account, but it was a lot worse then I expected.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019)

Taken meets Home Alone in this disappointing end to the Rambo Saga.

[5/10 · 27 November 2019]

Although this type of kidnapping story has been done many times before, Last Blood starts out pretty good.

John has retired and spends his time taking care of his adopted family, rescuing some people and prepping for the next world war. When his daughter gets taken in Mexico and forced into prostitution Rambo has to go save her.

This movie succeeds in showing the ruthlessness of these cartels and the horrible situation these girls live in. I really liked the bond with his family and the idea of him having to take this Cartel on in an Urban environment.

Unfortunately that did not happen... Instead he just stupidly walks up to te cartel leaders house, gets cornered by 50 or so armed guys and only survives because the guy in charge is an idiot.

After recovering for a few days he just walks into some brothel with a hammer murders a few people and rescues his daughter without any resistance. -Can someone explain why this is suddenly super easy? When they know exactly who he is and who he is looking for!?

Then after all this trouble... She dies and it becomes a revenge story.

Rambo murders one of the brothers and the entire cartel follows him to his to his house where he installed some fun surprises for them. The fight starts like some good old Rambo fun, but then everyone just keeps running into every single trap like some gruesome home alone movie... The whole fight only takes 10 minutes or so and it seems like there trying to cover up the stupidity in gore and blood. Then when everybody is dead he blows everything up, what he could have done from the start, rips the guys hard out and dies...

Disappointing story, bad decisions and very few good action scenes. For me this was the worst Rambo movie and at least two stars below the previous installment.

Gemini Man (2019)

Average action movie gets ruined by unwatchable special effects.

[4/10 · 25 November 2019]

I just can't believe the praise this movie is getting over the special effects... Did everyone suddenly go blind or not see any other CGI movies in the last decade?

The de-aged will smith looks like some cheap Instagram-filter. You can literally see the lines where his real eyes are pasted into the young CGI version and sometimes the whole section seems to be floating in front of his face like some weird eye-mask.

However, what really ruined the movie for me were the completely fake CGI fighting scenes. It reminded me a bit of the moments from the matrix reloaded where Neo pulls of a move the stuntman couldn't do and is replaced with a CGI version for a few seconds.

But that was a small annoyance in a movie from 2003. In Gemini man the entire fighting scenes are officiously fake. The movement is unrealistic and defies physics in a way that just made me cringe.

Except for 'Young' Will the acting in this movie was good, the story was below average and if the CGI didn't ruin it there could have been some great fighting scenes.

Its obviously to soon to start replacing stuntman/actors with CGI and I hope Hollywood will learn a lesson from this flop!

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

It's not bad, just incredibly slow and boring...

[4/10 · 24 October 2019]

I don't understand the high ratings. I can honestly say this is among the most boring movies I've ever watched and the first time I actually fell asleep in the cinema.

It's not that everything is bad, because it's not. Its just that everything is so slow and dull I couldn't care about the positives anymore.

I mean the whole world look pretty amazing and definitely succeeds in displaying a dystopian future.The problem is that the dull colors just ads to the fact that for most of the film nothing interesting happens. It's 2 hours and 44 minutes that could have easily fit into half that time. The acting was good, but not good enough to keep me awake and the action scenes where almost all in the trailer.

You wont miss anything worthwhile by not watching this movie.