Some Dude's Reviews (2025)

11/08/2025

Weapons (2025)
A
Holy crap Y'all!
This show is Rated R and for good reason. I think most adults should be able to handle it, but leave the kiddos home! At risk of sounding like a prude, I hope your young ones were sheltered enough that this kind of movies is not a shrug and yawn.
When I was a kid, I was terrified of ghosts, black magic, and anything C.H.U.D.-adjacent and this film would have traumatized me for life!
I didn't really start watching in the Horror genre until decades later and found that like all genres, much of it is dreck, but some of it is really good!
THIS is one of the really good ones!
I have not seen anything so original and so well put together as this film! It is basically a Horror/Mystery and it depends on having the story roll out as you watch it and therefore you don't want any spoilers. It works best going in completely green. I won't spoil it for you.
The theater is the best place to watch this. I watched it in standard-format, and I don't see how 3-D, XD, or any of the gimmick screens would add much. It doesn't need it!
What does add to it is the shared experience of the theater. Having that communal moment with a big room of strangers really shows how connected we all are. The fine crafting of the film really helps! All throughout the film, we (the audience) gasped together, swore together, and laughed together...just to gasp together again! It was quite a ride and was made better with a crowd. The tension was so thick, so quickly, that every B-hole in the theater puckered and stayed clenched for the next 2 hours!
The tension was so suffocating that a knock at the door nearly made the entire theater “ahh hell naw-ed” as one!
The format was very interesting:
Tell a portion of the story from one character, and then see the same time period with another character and another. With each new perspective you get to see the connections, and as they weave together, you get more and more of the grander story. I’ve seen several movies try this and it often doesn't work well, but it was done masterfully in this one!
The mystery was so good. The suspense started immediately and just builds and builds. The action does not come at you in drips and drops, it literally runs right at your face and you can't look away!
The cinematography was excellent! Everything was lit perfectly for the mood and tone and it allowed the things you were supposed to see to actually be seen! You didn't miss one anxious moment! The sound design and score were on point and carried you right along.
I spent the entire movie trying to guess what was going to happen next, or to figure out why the thing that just happened, happened. It was all parsed out just right.
One extra creepy thing…not a spoiler:
There was this walk that happened (You’ll know it when you see it) that I wanted to point out. Mostly because I thought it was silly...at first...then it became one of the big confusing, scary things in the show. (You'll know it when you see it!)
So this silly walk happens. I sit there thinking how goofy it looks, but the walk keeps going on… and it changes from silly, to bizarre, to creepy as hell, and ends with one of the times the entire audience nearly crapped their pants in unison! When it was over we had no idea what happened, but we all knew it wasn't good...and it wasn't over!
The big reveal kinda wasn't. It was a fairly simple thing, really and we were walked right to it. Of course, by that time, the situation seemed impossible. The conclusion was super satisfying one one way, but there was a lingering "Yeah...but what about..." that has me still thinking about it.
This is one of my favorite things from a movie: The parking lot/water-cooler chat that comes later. So few films have that, but this is definitely one that has it! There's lots to talk about.
About the performances:
Julia Garner is perfectly cast here. Her character is so flawed, and impulsive, and interesting, and she just kills it! She was blessed with resting we-lost-the-farm-to-bankruptcy face and she uses it masterfully here!
Josh Brolin is playing a different kind of role, too. He is one of the "concerned parents" who lost a kid. (His kid was a dick and I thought; "Of course THAT'S his kid!) But he was still a father and was fighting blind through grief and torment and completely out of his depth. It's so cool to watch his character maneuver through the often sudden shifts of the story, too.
Benedict Wong was....I don't even know how to explain it. Glorious. He was such a key element and the contrast from the start of his story to end was crazy cool.
All I can say about Amy is Damn! I hated her character completely and I loved that! That's all I can say there, but damn!
The others were great too, no wasted characters.
Something I really appreciated was that all the "scary" was earned. There were no cheap jump-scares or dumb gimmicks. All the reveals were creepy and completely logical. It didn't waste time with fake-outs and such...it didn't have time for them and it need them!

So, bottom line:
This was a refreshingly original film that truly messed with me! For a horror, there's really no better praise.
Also...there's nothing mid or post credits. When the show is over, it's over

09/08/2025

The Naked Gun (2025)
B+
This is damn funny! I dare say I enjoyed it more than the original Naked Gun! Liam Neeson has the perfect deadpan delivery, and does Frank Drebin proud!
He delivers this role as seriously as Taken and for the love of all that is holy, will someone PLEASE get this man some coffee?!
There is some fairly racy content and I’d advise giving the kids the olde “Birds & Bees” talk before bringing them in or they’re going to miss some of the better visual gags.
From the first scene I knew I was in for a treat and it delivered bite after bite from that apple!
The snowy, mountain getaway alone was worth the price of admission!
The villains were great and the costars brought the heat…especially Pam Anderson! She was a hoot!
If you enjoyed the shtick of the OG Naked Gun movies, Airplane, and Dracula: Dead and Loving It…then this is right up your alley!
The trailer did not prepare me for how smart some of the bits were and there were plenty of “and don’t call me Shirley” moments.

Stay for the end-end credits and enjoy the in-credits Easter eggs.
Very fun movie and I plan to watch it again!
(But yeah, leave the little guys home.)

03/08/2025

F1 (2025)
A
I am the target audience for this film!
Brad Pitt was the perfect guy for this film. His “Guy on a spiritual personal journey” character has been used in films before, but this takes that character and ages him up to real life.
The pace of action was excellent. It allowed you to breathe. There was no long setup needed, you knew who this guy was pretty quick.
What pulled me in was his arc. He is a man both hiding and searching, but always furiously living. His characteristics are those I strive for and I imagine many of us do, so that made the show immediately relatable.
The setting of car racing is a perfect metaphor for the path he’s on. With racing, especially at the F1 level, you as the driver are a cog in a machine. A very important cog, but one that needs to work with all the other parts. This metaphor for living is so compelling and so well depicted by adding and subtracting parts that don’t fit.
The cinematography was epic. Other shows have put us in the driver’s seat, but this was able to elevate that by degrees. The dynamic camera movement (or they shot in 360) really kept us in the moment and Brad was really in the car…or looked so convincingly so that you felt the tension with him.
Personal note: From age 8 to 15, my mother was married to an older Italian guy and he introduced me to a great many things in life that ignited passions in me that exist today. When he was a boy, he built and raced cars with his father. He too quit racing after an accident. (and an ultimatum from his girlfriend) He was an avid Indy racing fan and the Indy 500 was the SuperBowl of sporting events at our house. So we watched a lot of Indy, F1, and Superkart racing. (Not much NASCAR)
He got us an overpowered go cart and I know I learned some powerful lessons about respecting your equipment and understanding the environment…or you just end up spun out on the sidelines. Had my mother not divorced him, who knows where that passion would have gone. Maybe I'd have wrecked a few cars persuing a racing career…life is funny.
I saw so much of my Pop's lessons in this show, some learned and others being learned.
Those experiences clicked and connected me to the story.
All that said, you don't need a family history of car racing to enjoy this ride. The relationships carried me through and the personal journey gave it extra heart.
Brad was not the only guy in this film, by the way…Javier, Damson, and Kerry (and so many others) created a rich world of nuanced motivations. There were no throwaway characters.
I really enjoyed this film and you’re doing yourself a disservice if you miss it on the biggest screen available. This is where it was meant to be seen.
If you love sports movies, car movies, or movies about the heart’s mission to understand itself…I think you’ll enjoy this one!e

30/07/2025

The Fantastic 4 : First Steps
B+
I enjoyed this film a lot, and I enjoyed it for much the same reason I liked the latest Superman.
We step into a world that's 100% a comic book world. Expectations were instantly set once they showed the 1950's-meets-the-Jetson's world. We are not put through yet another origin story that takes the first 30 minutes of the film to tell us something we already knew. Instead, it jumps right into the action. It shows a highlight reel of their feats and shows the world’s love and respect for them. It even shows clips of the the cartoon version, and their "real-world" reaction to it. "What time is it, Ben?! SAY IT!"
It also shows that the general public is now used to crazy stuff happening. I love that they treated us like fans, or at least as normal humans with access to the general zeitgeist.
It set me up to not expect a gritty realistic movie, just a fun comic's-inspired ride.
All very cool.
Then I was treated to a very heartfelt family story. Remember that these guys are family! It was super-relatable and their choices were motivated by real emotional stakes. Of course there are “and therefore” consequences to their decisions and they had to give their all as a family and a team or all is lost.
There was a flavor of "The Incredibles" which is totally appropriate since F4 inspired it!
I enjoyed the ride and I was able to follow the story arc without scoff or contempt...and I was even surprised a time or two. In fact, one of the surprises involved some gritty, realistic drama, and that's cool, too!
Remember that this is a Marvel film, so stay for the mid-credits and post-credits scenes and enjoy the ride that got you there.
If you look closely, you'll see cameos from Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, and Michael Bailey Smith...you'll remember them from the doomed 1994 "unreleased" Fantastic 4 movie. (That you can totally find online, btw!)
Bottom line: This was fun, and VERY Family-friendly! It's PG-13 for a couple swears and some action/violence, but is quite tame compared with most PG-13 movies.
I totally recommend it.

15/07/2025

Superman
B
I enjoyed this a lot.
The tricky thing with comic book movies has always been the fact that there are fantastical things that happen that you just need to accept. Movies have long tried to create a world where superheroes exist, but also is one that regular folks can relate to. I think this movie did a great job doing that, but Gunn did it in a way that hasn't really been done in a live action film. Rather than making a world that's as realistic as possible and justifying some fantastical elements, this is a fully comic book world, complete with a super-strong, flying, cape-wearing dog and an inter-dimensional plasma-jellyfish. (among others)
This world just IS and the people of the world accept the crazy things that happen as normal and that allows us as the audience to just settle in and accept it as a given as well. It's a bold move and I think it totally worked.
There was no justification, no origin stories, no anything other than saying; Here are some characters you know from the comic books and this is their adventure story.
If you don't know who the characters are....well, I don't believe you. Everyone knows who Superman is. Guy Gardener, maybe not so much, but it's okay, you know about Green Lantern. Anyway, what I'm saying is that you don't have to know everything except that superheroes exist in comics and there are a million-and-one stand-alone stories that are not required to live in the same universe or be tied together to some grand collective narrative.
Another thing that I enjoyed here, was that this Superman was not utterly invincible...there were stakes. James Gunn said that there have been many Superman stories that focused on the "Super" part and he wanted this movie to focus on the "Man" part of his story. This is where the movie shines. His power is not unlimited. He can be hurt and he doesn't have all the answers. It humanizes him in a way that I haven't seen since the 1980 Superman II where he literally gave up all of his power and was just a man. This version was a super man.
This film does not go to the extreme of having him walk away from his powers. (which I always thought was a little hokey. Instead it points out that while he does have incredible power, at heart he's still just a guy trying to figure things out and make the best decisions he can...and he's not always right.
I really enjoyed this Superman. I enjoyed the world that he lived in. I enjoyed the other heroes and the fact that they too were not always "ON".
These heroes were, to a large degree, regular people.
It made them just a little ridiculous, and I appreciated that about them.
If you're a little bored with over-hyped spectacle and want to see a movie with likable characters trying to figure things out...and they just so happen to be famous heroes, then I think you will enjoy this movie. Not because it's realistic, because it is not, it's fanciful and a little silly...but not overly so!
The actual story was dead simple, but I felt it was handled well. Much like the comics, there was some retconning of the history we're most familiar with, but this is done in the comics all the time and it didn't really bother me.
If this is the new direction for DC comic book movies, then I think we can look forward to so very entertaining movies to come!

24/05/2025

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
A-
The cherry on top of a great series!
This final installment was not what I was expecting. Sure it had a very exciting journey, but it also had a lot more depth. The previous movie was an excellent setup. It showed us a practically unbeatable threat and presented the most dangerous obstacle to defeating it:
Human nature.
It pushed and pulled and rocked the world with calculated reliance upon the predictable fallibility of human motivation, so I was on the edge of my seat.
That said, it also had plenty of time to let the story breathe.
The stakes were raised by leaning into Ethan’s own predilections. Ethan is predictable to the A.I. because of his dogged loyalty to his team. He has ghosts that follow him and a history that defines him and this is exploited to great effect!
They explore this history in a very refreshing way by going back through the previous movies and tying them together into a larger narrative. There is a bit of retconning, but it’s pretty believable for a show that stretches believability. It had me WANTING to believe and I accepted the tie-ins in favor of telling a greater story. The remarkable amount of practical stunts were essential in keeping my belief suspended with such a wild adventure!
There were real stakes and high drama. The returning characters came with all of their baggage woven into the story and helped to maintain an interesting level of unpredictability.
The frequency of laughs was surprising. Tension was built and broken and rebuilt again and again. It was an emotional roller coaster.
The impossibly of the mission and the absurdity of the plan were fully acknowledged and the assorted humans acted accordingly with regard to their individual desires, fears, and conscience.
After the film was over, I spent the next several hours thinking about how many different characters, large and small, had their choices impact the narrative.
This was not an 8-character arc!
There was grave sacrifice and sadness, but also dramatic redemption, and satisfying comeuppance.
The core team members were all fully engaged. This was not as much of an Ethan Hunt movie as others in the franchise, despite it being ever more reliant on Ethan’s daring and judgment.
What a delight.
I’m sure I missed a lot and I plan to watch this again.
No spoilers, but there is an Easter egg for the ages! It calls back to Pulp Fiction, of all movies…and I loved it. (And I’m 1000% sure I read it right!)
I’d love to talk about it after you’ve seen the movie.
Before the film, there was a special message from Tom inviting you to the party and thanking you for joining the theater experience.
Following the film is simply the credits. The talented men and women who worked on the film get their acknowledgment, but afterwards there is nothing more. (No mid or post credit scenes)
Fun movie. I fully endorse it.
Get some popcorn and get comfortable, this is a muncher movie for sure!

07/04/2025

Black Bag (2025)
A-
This is a solid film. I enjoyed it.
It is an English film, so expect subdued action and deliberate movement.
That said, thhis film kicked off in mid-sentence, (figuratively) and that was great! The characters appeared in final form and on the hoof. It didn’t waste a bunch of time trying to set up every little thing and actually treated the audience like it had a brain.
(Thank you, Steven Soderbergh!)
The trailer tried to make it look like an action/thriller, which it is not.
It is a slow-burn who-can-you-trust spy mystery. Michael Fadssbender is a cold, analytical spy machine. Kate Blanchett plays his cunning spy wife. The deception, mis-direction, and manipulation are so skillfully executed in the story that I was transfixed trying to figure out who was lying, who was telling the truth, and if anyone at all could be trusted.
It’s impossible to say that I guessed the baddie, (I mean, technically I did, but….) because at one point or another I suspected everyone! Any one of them could be the culprit.
I mean, everyone has done some dirty business. Shady behavior is inherent to their field work and it made everyone seem like perfect liars.
Solid storytelling with cunning characters and excellent performances!
I recommend this film if you love a cerebral mystery and an ending that left me a little ashamed of myself for thinking some of the cynical thoughts I had!
Man I want to talk specifics, and I’m happy to AFTER you’ve seen it!
So go and see it and let’s talk!

29/03/2025

Snow White (2025)
D+
I didn’t like it.
I’ve been pouring over this one to understand why. So I checked my privilege and really examined what my beef was with this show. (There’s a lot)

Simply put, it’s not Snow White.

I usually don’t talk about specifics because “No Spoilers”, right, but this one needs all the context I can muster. But honestly…there was nothing to spoil.
=SPOILERS AHEAD=
Had this movie been called Dumpling Bess, this review would have been a bit kinder because I would only be commenting on the awful storytelling and could have disregarded the original, letting it stand on its own. Still terrible, but at least it would not have had any expectations on it.
I’m fighting the urge to detail everything or just stick to the broad strokes. We’ll see how it goes:
90 seconds in and the lore was fundamentally changed.
Snow White was born in a snowstorm. That’s why the name.
Okay. Then we introduce the kingdom, also new. Then we introduce the governing system for some reason, but it makes no sense. It’s literally a kingdom, but the serfs “own the production of their labor”…okay, this is a fantasy after all. The plot points in the original movie are a little thin, so sure, let’s throw in some extra scenes and why not re-use the “provincial life” scene from Beauty and the Beast.
Then we get the new tradition of the apple pie festival. I mean, that Apple later doesn’t come from nowhere, right?!
Since both parents die before the animation starts in the original, this is all new. Anyway, mom gets sick and dies. Turns out this is the most emotionally charged moment of the movie and it lasts all of 5 seconds.
Dad remarries and now we have the new Queen. She starts warning about dangers at the border and militarizes the kingdom. (Read: unwanted political tie-in) Dad goes off to fight some foe and doesn’t come back and now it’s just the Queen and Bess…err, Snow White. The Queen drafts half the kingdom to be guards. Here Disney wasn’t as diverse, because they only took the men-folk.
Here’s a really strange thing:
The Queen is vain, (we knew that) but now her literal beauty is a political philosophy that they go all in on. It’s literally what she thinks she needs to run the kingdom, physical beauty!
Snow White is relegated to the role of skullery maid and the kingdom (that was invented for the film) kinda forgets her.
She then sings “Waiting on a Wish”. This is a good song and the actresss sings it very well, but it replaces “Someday My Prince Will Come”. This is not a girl-power movie. It’s Snow White! It wasn’t ment to be and doesn’t need to be. Regardless, I mean, it could have been, but it isn’t because she literally does nothing.
Shortly thereafter, we get more philosophy when we meet the Thief.
Now we have a taste of Les Mis thrown in, stealing is okay if you’re hungry, but dude (and everyone else) seems to be eating just fine.
Anyway, here is one of the only significant similarities between this and the original: The Magic Mirror recognizes Snow White as being more “fair” AFTER meeting the boy. Different reasons, but same meaning: Beauty comes from within.
The jealous Queen has the Huntsman kill her, but he lets her go. She seems to be pretty accepting of her death, even offering her bare neck.
Dude doesn’t do it, but he doesn’t bring back a heart for some reason…he brings back a stupid 🍎 apple! What the hell? He doesn’t bring back a pig heart or anything. He’s so noble that he walks back to his certain death?
So stupid.
Then we see the Dwarves’ house. She goes in and immediately goes to bed. The dwarves apparently work in the vaults of Gringotts and have glowing hands? (What is that about?)
When they get home, they find Snow White who makes them clean the house and they immediately decide she’s got to go. They kick her out in the morning and they go about their lives. The entire encounter equates to a bed for the night.
Queen sends her guards to the forest to find/kill her. She runs into the thief and his gang who claim to be resistance fighters loyal to the true King. So new plot point: The King may be alive in exile or something, although they drop that later and admit the Queen had him killed somehow…completely inconsequential.
The “fighters” are actually just failed musicians. There are 7 of these folks. These were the folks Disney put in to replace the Dwarves, but because of the public outcry, they re-introduced the Dwarves. Rather than replace the band of thieves, they shoehorned the Dwarves into the mix, but made them completely irrelevant. These other folks are also all but irrelevant as well.
Anyway, one of the fighters/musicians is a dwarf, but not THAT kind of dwarf. He is also “Master of the crossbow”. You know this because he repeats it at least 3 times! No one else gets more than 3 lines.
There’s a fight with the guards and the thief takes a crossbow bolt for Snow White (Because he loves her?) and she takes him to Doc the Dwarf to get fixed up. Of course, Doc is not THAT kind of doc. There is a stupid “I’m sorry, I did everything I could.” sad moment with a mid-sentence “Yo, I’m good! Totally NOT dead” reveal from the patient.
Then there’s a song number where they saved a lot of money by not having the other characters in the shots.
The Queen finally decides to be “fairest” by becoming ugly and doing the whole poison 🍎 apple thing. This time it’s literal.
The way the Queen/hag presents the apple is so stupid. “I know you’re looking for your dad. Take this for your journey and also eat it right now.” Stupid.
Queen goes home. Dwarves do nothing about it. They don’t chase down the Queen until she dies like the original, they just get her some flowers. No glass coffin, btw.
So Snow White is “dead” for roughly 2 hours when the Thief returns and kisses the dead body. At least that part was equally weird, but hey, closure right?
Now it’s time to take the kingdom back.
Snow White enters the kingdom in a red riding hood. Coming through the gates like Jesus. My wife even commented “Where’s the ass?”.
So the villagers (Basically all women, because the men are guards) who had forgotten her, now remember her and march without weapons to face certain death at the hands of the Queen’s guards. The Captain of the guards you’ll know well because he’s been murderously hunting her for half the movie, is there looking menacing.
The Queen comes out and orders her death again. That doesn’t happen for the most unlikely reason (and why didn’t that happen sooner?!) so the Queen decides to kill Snow White herself after a rousing song number. Snow White again offers up her neck without resistance.
At just the right moment, Deus ex machina happens, but the Queen is still alive!
More nonsense and the Mirror finally deals with the Queen.
Then they bake apples and they try to make D***y poignant and wise.
The end.

This girl-power version has her fighting for her rightful kingdom, but she literally never does. It has her being independent and not needing a “Prince” to come save her, but the Huntsman spares her, the Thief literally takes an arrow for her AND is “true love’s first kiss”, and then another dude literally saves her life at the end.
She does nothing but walk around and hope things go right, but offers to die gallantly when things go south. She didn’t end the Queen.
She didn’t do anything!
The Dwarves were basically irrelevant. They tried to make D***y the poignant little cherry on top of the movie and they telegraphed the moment almost immediately after introducing him. I hate the “Silent Bob” trope. It worked a couple times until it became stale and predictable.
Snow White is not a girl-power movie and it didn’t need to be. It said that love made you more beautiful. That was point.
This movie could have been something. It could have been a REAL girl-power film that inspires. Young girls could have had posters of their new Disney Princess: The wise and brave Dumpling Bess, but no.
Instead, Disney ruined Snow White.

For the record, this WAS for the broad strokes!

Some Dude's Reviews

11/08/2025

09/08/2025

03/08/2025

30/07/2025

15/07/2025

24/05/2025

07/04/2025

29/03/2025

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