micglou Reviews

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)

It's just an unoriginal mess

[4/10 · 20 April 2024]

Visually the movie looks great at times, every Snyder movie does. But when it comes to everything else is just messy and unoriginal. Already said about the first movie, it's a blatant Star Wars rip off with a twist of Western and a bit steam punk. Almost not a single scene where I haven't seen something similar, almost not a piece of dialogue I haven't heard before. The story is sloppy, the characters underdeveloped with a weak attempt to make you understand them better (that table scene... ouch, painful). The cast is not given much to work with, some of the more veteran actors get away with it, but it's painfully obvious who doesn't.

Only watch it for the sweet visuals, the rest is a big waste of time.

Road House (2024)

Messy but entertaining

[6/10 · 21 March 2024]

Even though the writing is absolutely lacking and not a really strong cast, the violence (great fight scenes) and silliness kinda makes up a good part of it. It's basically a violent comedy movie, it never takes itself too serious... and that's what I think is what some don't get and give it a bad review. Just sit back for violence with a smile.

Gyllenhaal maybe not the perfect guy for the part, his performance was a bit flat, but he does well enough. Also although I hear a lot of criticism about McGregor, let's be honest he obviously isn't an actor, I do think he was hilarious, probably because it was ridiculous. He basically plays an exaggerated version of himself, every scene he's in he brings a smile to my face with the trademark McGregor bravado... and his introduction was especially hilarious.

The Beekeeper (2024)

Lots of potential for sequels

[7/10 · 7 February 2024]

Great action flink, despite some of the weakers characters, it also has a lot of great characters... Statham, Irons and Witts delivering. The way they setup the Beekeeper "mythology" makes it have lots of potential for a great franchise, of course Statham doing his thing preferably, but I feel other beekeepers can be the main character. Irons did serve as a great storyteller to what Beekeepers are and what they do... it just feels like a solid basis for more. This could could be Stathams 'Wick" and let him have a solid run of sequels, something The Transporter never really did for him. I fully expect 'Beekeeper 2' to be announced very soon.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

Action packed thrill ride, but...

[7/10 · 23 October 2023]

M:I Dead Reckoning Part One will keep you on the edge of your seat almost every minute, it rarely slows down. Cruise doing his thing, we get a couple of his iconic running scenes and stunts... that's all good. The problem I have is with the plot, usually the M:I movies are well written with great twists and surprises, this one however is quite predictable... and I think I'm being polite. Most if not all of the attempts at twists and surprises have already been done in previous movies, I saw them coming a mile away. Still liked the movie, don't love it.

I've read and heard here and there that because the movie is about AI, they probably had the script written by AI... and that actually makes sense. It does seem the plot is a mash up of previous scripts implementing some of the cliché points an action spy movie should follow.

Cruise does seem to have a thing for gorgeous British women now... Ferguson, Atwell and Kirby in one movie... that's British classy but hot babes overload if you'd ask me.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

Messy story, feels hastely made...

[6/10 · 4 February 2023]

I expected more of this movie. Right from the start the movie looked hastely made... the set during the T'Challa funeral looked hastely; the buidlings looked fake and cheap, the street looked like it was made an hour before and wasn't even completely finished. And this actually kinda continued throughout the movie. It looked like most of the budget went to the special effects, but as soon some real scenery was in front of the camera it looked cheap and unfinished.

Story also felt messy, the basis of it is great but they rushed through everything... and they still made a movie over 2,5 hours long. Also even though Letitia Wright did a great job with her character in the first movie, the character itself and her screen presence isn't strong enough to carry a movie like this. It is a bad choice making her the Black Panther, Lupita Nyong'o would've been a much better choice to end up as the Black Panther, much better actress and stronger screen presence.

Angela Bassett though... what a regal woman she is, she carried the movie until her death. 60+ years old but looking fit, strong and gorgeous and she poured everything into her character.

Samaritan (I) (2022)

Solid movie, nothing really special but entertaining

[7/10 · 27 August 2022]

I don't get all the low ratings this movie receives. It's a superhero movie on a budget, so of course it isn't going to compete with the likes of Avengers. But it's quite solid, good acting and a decent story. Nothing really outstanding except the little twist at the end, but absolutely not badly written and for what the movies is and what it tries to be it's a decent movie... and in a genre where most of it has already been done, it has quite an original angle. Sly pulls it off, the boy lead does a good job and the bad guy is not bad either (pun intended).

Anyone looking for an entertaining movie on a boring Sunday evening, Samaritan will keep you entertained.

Carter (2022)

Crazy directing and camera work... good and bad

[5/10 · 6 August 2022]

Good entertainment, but two hours is too long for what this movie brings to the table... acting is mediocre, story does make the viewer question who's good and who's bad... and it's quite bloody and pretty mad.

But the real trouble with this movie is the directing, camera work and the fights... all of them all around the board, going from amazing fights with amazing tricky camera work and directing over into scenes where you'd might think the people behind the camera are absolutely pissed drunk. A stand out excellent action scene with amazing camera work, directing etc is a scene where three vans drive side by side and the fight goes from one van into the other and back... very tricky to do, never before seen work. But on the other hand it has scenes like the fight in the chemical factory that doesn't make sense at all, it's hard to impossible to follow the action and crazy bad camera work. Not even talking about the overuse of the shaky camera, even in scenes where it doesn't make sense at all.

Movie could've been much better if the director just toned it down a bit with all the camera trickery he's trying to do and 30/45 minutes of it was left on the cutting floor.

The Boys (2019– )

So much fun... ridiculous fun

[9/10 · 21 June 2022]

I know, I'm late to the party... but I'm really enjoying The Boys, it's f-in diabolical! It's over the top, ridiculous and violent... even more than I expected and I'm loving it. Karl Urban and Tony Starr are amazingly cast, they both hit it out of the park. Still not quite sure if I like Urban better as Butcher or as Dredd... but both parts are absolutely made for him.

I also catch myself thinking regularly that Eric Kripke should be involved in a future Deadpool movie, he has that sick sense of humor and violence that would absolutely perfectly fit a Deadpool movie.

An absolute must watch for anybody that likes the more "mature" superhero movies.

The Contractor (2022)

Rushed, unfinished and predictable.

[4/10 · 5 May 2022]

Had potential, but overall feels rushed and cheaply made, it also seems full op gaps, too much left behind in the editing room. I had a couple of moments I had to rewind because I felt I completely missed something, but I didn't.

American Sicario (2021)

Bad acting, very predictable story

[3/10 · 16 March 2022]

I see a lot of movies with low ratings that deserve much higher ratings... but it's quite rare to find one with good ratings that should be a lot lower... this is such an example.

I love a good B movie, but this one is just bad across the board... the lead actor is a very poor actor, the story lackluster and very predictable and it seems whole segments were left on the cutting floor which made some scenes and dialogues out of place because parts of the story were left out.

Not worth the time...

Eternals (2021)

Weakest MCU movie

[4/10 · 10 March 2022]

Nothing about the movie makes me as the viewer connect to it... the story is lackluster, the characters are stale. Plot holes all over the place and parts of the story and characters that seem to have no real meaning or the meaning got lost. Also most of the dialogues and conversations are hardly above that of the average tv show. The few characters that did have some actual personality had minor parts in the story. The thing that holds the movie up a bit is the mostly good looking special effects. Marvel can do so much better than this.

The King's Man (2021)

Failed to capture the wit of the first two movies, stellar cast wasted

[5/10 · 2 March 2022]

I had high expectations, but I'm disappointed. The movie tried to capture the smarts and wit from the first two movies, but failed to do so for the most part. It had a couple of good moments, but also a lot of bad ones. They had quite a stellar cast to their disposal but gave them quite poor material to work with... story is all over the place and most characters felt stale, there was no attraction. Also the period in time the movie takes place in doesn't seem to work for what you'd expect out of a 'Kings Men' movie... I think this one would've worked better if they made this a gritty one, something different to set it apart from the first two movies but still give it a good origin story.

Peacemaker (2022– )

Cena was born to play Peacemaker, he enjoys it and it shows

[9/10 · 20 January 2022]

As the title says: John Cena was born to play the title character. It shows he's really having fun with it... and the show looks great, it'ss funny and it seems to have a solid cast. Good job!

The Matrix Resurrections (I) (2021)

Great looking movie, none of the original magic

[5/10 · 16 January 2022]

As the title says, it's a good looking movie... but it has none of the original magic, not even the lesser magic from the two parts after it. The movie was predictable, the story seems rushed and full of holes and cliches.

Don't Look Up (2021)

Great concept, good acting... but they stretched it too much

[6/10 · 30 December 2021]

The concept of the movie is great and scarily realistic... it seems this is what the world is moving to. But they stretched 'the joke' way too much... at a certain point I couldn't help to think 'we get it! Move the plot forward!'.

Great cast though, great acting..

Jolt (2021)

Kate makes it watchable

[5/10 · 25 July 2021]

I'm biased here... Kate Beckinsale I think is the most beautiful woman on this planet... so I'd be pleased watching anything with her in it.

But seriously, she is the thing holding this movie up, because most of it was pretty lackluster. The humor was kinda good and it had a couple of good action scenes, but there is no real character development beside the main character, almost every scene felt rushed. Lots of potential, poor execution... poor writing, poor characters. Could've been A LOT more better, but they were either very tight on budget or on time... or both.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

Expected better

[5/10 · 27 April 2021]

People are being quite generous with their ratings, with 5 stars I think I'm being pretty generous. Acting is poor, story is lacking, so is character development. Special effects go back and forth from excellent looking to really terrible 90's quality. This should be a straight to DVD movie, definitely not cinema worthy.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)

Much much better, but still flawed.

[8/10 · 22 March 2021]

I'm happy Snyder got the chance to release his vision on this movie, because it needed it. A lot more back story, more character development, a lot darker, a lot more serious. He did justice to Cyborg and Flash had a more serious part, not the comical release. Would've loved that he utilized Aquaman and Wonder Woman more, but at least they didn't come off as completely useless. Even though Batman has no super powers, Snyder definitely made him more of an integral part of the story as the one that brought them together and being the motivator in the team. CGI looked a lot better, especially Cyborg didn't look completely fake... everything looked better. A bit too long, some of the story felt like filler material and some scenes were stretched too much... could've probably told the same story in 3 hours without missing out on any part of the story... on the other hand I rather have it this way then cutting too much and being presented with the original cut.

Boss Level (2020)

Very entertaining

[7/10 · 4 March 2021]

I gotta be honest my expectations were kinda low for this movie, but it's surprisingly entertaining. It's basically kinda like 'Edge of Tomorrow', but it takes it self less serious, but not to a cringe level... in terms of not taking itself too serious, think 'Lethal Weapon' level of humor.

Good pace, nice action scenes, solid acting and pretty funny. Absolutely would recommended for an entertaining evening with a bucket of popcorn.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

disappointing

[4/10 · 28 December 2020]

I'm not the one to trash a movie because most critics are doing so, critics can be overly harsh... but the criticism I read about this movie are mostly spot on. The story is weak, it had non of the darker tone all DC movies had before, childish even. It felt really dumbed down, hastily written with poorly fleshed out characters and story. I'm really having a hard time naming something positive about this movie... well maybe Pedro Pascal got the most of what he was offered to work with, Kristen Wiig was kinda alright in what she had to work with... and I cracked a little smile here and there with the awkward things around Trevor (Chris Pine). But overall... 2,5 hours for this movie was quite the waste of time.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 14: The Tragedy (2020) Season 2, Episode 6

Best episode yet, couldn't ask for more.

[10/10 · 7 December 2020]

Till this point I thought season 1 is better than season 2, as in season 1 was a solid 8/8.5 to me and season 2 a 7/7.5... so still very solid for both season. But chapter 14 brought it all, amazing episode... John Favreau is a genius.

Embattled (2020)

Movie with a lot of heart

[7/10 · 23 November 2020]

Pleasantly surprised by this movie, strong performances all around... especially Stephen Dorff hit a real homerun with this one. His character is very obviously based on a famous MMA fighter, but he has put his own twist on it and he doesn't miss a beat. Even though the story is great, it could've been fleshed out a little bit more concerning the history and relationships... but despite that it still has a lot of heart and a lot to offer. Absolutely recommended to watch.

The Old Guard (2020)

Wasted potential

[6/10 · 16 July 2020]

Not saying it's a bad movie, but it could've been A LOT better if it was directed properly. It feels cheap, uninspired and hastily made; camera work is not much better than yer average tv police drama, the scenery looks boring... also not a strong cast, even Theron acts pretty stale. It only holds up because of a story with potential and a couple of good action sequences... and a bit of dry humor here and there.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Not as bad as some say, but also not a GOOD movie

[5/10 · 18 April 2020]

Just watched the movie... it wasn't as bad as some reviews would like to make you believe, but it's also not a good movie that is a worthy follow up from T1 and T2. The visuals are great, the movie has a good pace and good action. Also I kinda liked the enhanced human Grace, it actually makes sense having enhanced people in the future.

But the Rev.9 didn't feel nearly as menacing as the T-1000, even T-X was more menacing. The character Carl made even less sense as Pops from Genisys. Also the alternate future angle didn't work for me... people/fans have invested in the Skynet future with John Connor and now it's a different thing which we have no connection with... weird choice. Sarah... not the same as in T1 and T2, felt like Hamilton wasn't really connecting with the character.

I really hope there one day will be a Terminator movie that is as menacing as T1 and has the heart of T2.

The Mandalorian (2019– )

Excellent, this is Star Wars as it meant to be

[8/10 · 30 November 2019]

Is Jon Favreau the most underestimated producer/director in Hollywood? I think so, you never hear talks of him in the mix, but this man could be held responsible for catapulting the MCU into the stratosphere... and now he's doing it with the excellent 'The Mandalorian'. This is was a modern production of Star Wars should look, feel and sound like... he should've done the new movie trilogy because this tv show is close to perfection.

My hat goes off to Jon Favreau, this is more than great to watch.