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^ I went to see Doctor Strange 2 at a theater earlier this year, and as I recall, there were previews for Don't Worry Darling, Amsterdam, and See How they Run. It was quite the retro trifecta. I'm mildly interested in seeing Amsterdam, but I guess I should go with Run first!
You want a few reviews? I've got a few reviews!
RRR (2012)
Thanks to videos from Honest Trailers, Patrick Willems, and Pitch Meeting, I was alerted to the existence of RRR, a three-hour Indian historical action/fantasy epic starring two Indian megastars, plus Rome's Ray Stevenson and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's Alison Doody as the villains. While I wasn't as blown away by it as some, I did thoroughly enjoy the film, and think director S. S. Rajamouli would be an excellent choice to helm the next Thor. (Surely we can all agree the MCU is long overdue for a Bollywood-style dance ending.) RRR is utterly devoid of subtext or subtlety, but sturdy storytelling and ecstatic direction keep things humming along. I think a skilled editor could cut out 15-20 minutes of superfluous action beats and make it even better.
Grade: B+
The Running Man (1987)
The Arnold Schwarzenegger dystopian sci-fi flick The Running Man seems to be less remembered than 1993's Demolition Man, and I'm not sure why. Is it because The Running Man is overshadowed in Arnie's filmography by Total Recall, which features lots of similar aesthetics? Is it because Demolition Man has Sandra Bullock and Wesley Snipes, not to mention Denis Leary, while TRM merely has Yaphet Kotto and Jesse Ventura? In predicting reality shows and deepfakes, TRM seems just as prescient. It's too bad, then, that the movie didn't keep the ending of Stephen King's story, in which the protagonist flies an airplane into the media corporation's skyscraper... actually, that was a lucky break, wasn't it. Maybe if Edgar Wright does indeed make a remake/new adaptation his next movie, TRM will get some more love.
Okay, but how's the movie itself? Well, it's a lot of fun. Despite being rated R for violence, it lacks the OTT gleeful carnage of Verhoeven's film, but it's got some satisfyingly hard-hitting action beats nonetheless, and plenty of classic Arnie one-liners. The movie is also one of the loudest I've ever seen; no joke, some 10-15% of the runtime seems to be shots of crowds cheering wildly. And of course the murderous titular game show has a troupe of female aerobics dancers to juice up the proceedings, because why the heck not? The Running Man isn't one of Arnie's all-time classics, but it's got to be one of the better runners-up.
Grade: B+
Escape from Mogadishu (2021)
This Korean film is based on a true story of South Korean and North Korean diplomats and their staff/families who find themselves forced to band together when the Somalian capital devolves into civil war in 1991, two years before the events depicted in Black Hawk Down. Now, I'm no expert on that particular conflict, and I know neither of those two films are documentaries, but... yikes. Escape from Mogadishu doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of English-language press, so I don't know how many of its details are accurate, but it's certainly a pulse-pounding, tense-as-hell ride.
Grade: B+
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
It's Lawrence of Arabia. What more is there to say? I'd love to see a big-budget HBO miniseries attempting a more accurate telling of the exploits of Lawrence and his fellow British officers over 10-12 hours, as the movie gives the erroneous impression that Lawrence was the only one who really gelled with the native tribesmen, and the Ottoman antagonists, in their one significant scene, are given just about no depth whatsoever. I admit I was distracted, however, with how much Maurice Jarre's score sounded like Alan Silvestri's from The Mummy Returns. Of course, I got that backwards, but... y'know.
Grade: A
Glass Onion (2022)
Rian Johnson is an imaginative writer and a skilled director, but I'd like to see him go back to the 2-hour or shorter running times of his first three films. The Last Jedi, among other faults, was inexcusably long, and Knives Out, while generally delightful, was a hefty 130 minutes. Glass Onion is only nine minutes longer than that, but, given that A) we already know Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc, B) his co-protagonist this time around isn't as compelling, and C) just about everything in this movie is bigger and flashier, I felt the length. Edward Norton is lots of fun as a character with several agendas, but, while I'd happily return to Knives Out from time to time, I wouldn't be heartbroken if I didn't have to cut through Glass Onion again.
Grade: B
You want a few reviews? I've got a few reviews!
RRR (2012)
Thanks to videos from Honest Trailers, Patrick Willems, and Pitch Meeting, I was alerted to the existence of RRR, a three-hour Indian historical action/fantasy epic starring two Indian megastars, plus Rome's Ray Stevenson and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade's Alison Doody as the villains. While I wasn't as blown away by it as some, I did thoroughly enjoy the film, and think director S. S. Rajamouli would be an excellent choice to helm the next Thor. (Surely we can all agree the MCU is long overdue for a Bollywood-style dance ending.) RRR is utterly devoid of subtext or subtlety, but sturdy storytelling and ecstatic direction keep things humming along. I think a skilled editor could cut out 15-20 minutes of superfluous action beats and make it even better.
Grade: B+
The Running Man (1987)
The Arnold Schwarzenegger dystopian sci-fi flick The Running Man seems to be less remembered than 1993's Demolition Man, and I'm not sure why. Is it because The Running Man is overshadowed in Arnie's filmography by Total Recall, which features lots of similar aesthetics? Is it because Demolition Man has Sandra Bullock and Wesley Snipes, not to mention Denis Leary, while TRM merely has Yaphet Kotto and Jesse Ventura? In predicting reality shows and deepfakes, TRM seems just as prescient. It's too bad, then, that the movie didn't keep the ending of Stephen King's story, in which the protagonist flies an airplane into the media corporation's skyscraper... actually, that was a lucky break, wasn't it. Maybe if Edgar Wright does indeed make a remake/new adaptation his next movie, TRM will get some more love.
Okay, but how's the movie itself? Well, it's a lot of fun. Despite being rated R for violence, it lacks the OTT gleeful carnage of Verhoeven's film, but it's got some satisfyingly hard-hitting action beats nonetheless, and plenty of classic Arnie one-liners. The movie is also one of the loudest I've ever seen; no joke, some 10-15% of the runtime seems to be shots of crowds cheering wildly. And of course the murderous titular game show has a troupe of female aerobics dancers to juice up the proceedings, because why the heck not? The Running Man isn't one of Arnie's all-time classics, but it's got to be one of the better runners-up.
Grade: B+
Escape from Mogadishu (2021)
This Korean film is based on a true story of South Korean and North Korean diplomats and their staff/families who find themselves forced to band together when the Somalian capital devolves into civil war in 1991, two years before the events depicted in Black Hawk Down. Now, I'm no expert on that particular conflict, and I know neither of those two films are documentaries, but... yikes. Escape from Mogadishu doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of English-language press, so I don't know how many of its details are accurate, but it's certainly a pulse-pounding, tense-as-hell ride.
Grade: B+
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
It's Lawrence of Arabia. What more is there to say? I'd love to see a big-budget HBO miniseries attempting a more accurate telling of the exploits of Lawrence and his fellow British officers over 10-12 hours, as the movie gives the erroneous impression that Lawrence was the only one who really gelled with the native tribesmen, and the Ottoman antagonists, in their one significant scene, are given just about no depth whatsoever. I admit I was distracted, however, with how much Maurice Jarre's score sounded like Alan Silvestri's from The Mummy Returns. Of course, I got that backwards, but... y'know.
Grade: A
Glass Onion (2022)
Rian Johnson is an imaginative writer and a skilled director, but I'd like to see him go back to the 2-hour or shorter running times of his first three films. The Last Jedi, among other faults, was inexcusably long, and Knives Out, while generally delightful, was a hefty 130 minutes. Glass Onion is only nine minutes longer than that, but, given that A) we already know Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc, B) his co-protagonist this time around isn't as compelling, and C) just about everything in this movie is bigger and flashier, I felt the length. Edward Norton is lots of fun as a character with several agendas, but, while I'd happily return to Knives Out from time to time, I wouldn't be heartbroken if I didn't have to cut through Glass Onion again.
Grade: B
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