DezmoTheMovieMan Reviews

Amsterdam (2022)

A movie about accountability - Well done!

[9/10 · 14 November 2022]

I like many others walked into this movie having no idea what it was about. I saw the cast and thought it was a must see.

Prior to this movie, I've liked Margo Robbie, but didn't have anything that I could base her talent on, after this movie I feel shes amazing and my respect has grown big time. I didn't want to see Margo Robbie, I wanted to see Valerie Voze, and that's exactly who she gave me.

Christian Bale is Christian Bale, you get what you get and its always going to be brilliant. He once again did not disappoint.

John David Washington did a great job as well, even though his role in my opinion was not as significant and stand-out-ish as the other characters.

The journey started pretty slow, but by half way though, I forgot Taylor Switft had ever appeared. That's not discounting her role, its more so pointing out how much the movie changed pace and grew post her appearance.

This movie was an art, and it deserves to be watched more than once to fully appreciate the message, the political connection and the true talent of the ALL STAR CAST.

The movie can sound so simple. Three friends that met in Europe are reunited after two of the friends are twined in a murder, only to find the third friend is mixed in with the controversy as well. With a group pact of love and respect, they navigate through a plethora of emotional and physical damage only to be surprised with involvement from those they are connected to.

Poker Face (2022)

Very slow start, slow beginning and kinda slow ending

[4/10 · 13 November 2022]

(lots of spoilers) The movies starts off slow, and its intention is to take you on a journey. You see how a few friends start off, then you wander to present time to see Jake Foley (Russel Crowe) as a filthy rich man on a mission.

Overall the movie was mildly entertaining, but I didn't love the fact that even after being 20 minutes into the movie, I had no clue what was happening.

In the middle or more toward the end, it all starts to come together, but even then, I feel like it didn't make a lot of sense. Jake Foley is rich, but every friend but one is deceitful and doing bad, including one friend that is sleeping with his wife and expecting a child with her.

He decides to meet all of them at his home and has a high stakes poker game, and even then, one of the friends is planning on having him robbed by his brother to pay a dept. But he, still leave them all 50 million dollars?

Hey friends, I poisoned you... but not really... I just want you to see how I feel because I'm terminally ill... This movie has more twists than a pretzel, and not in a great way.

So the movie is called Poker Face, but why? The catch line is "everyone has a limit", but whats the limit? Is it having me robbed when I invite you to my house? Is the limit sleeping with and impregnating my wife? Well obviously not, since I still give you all millions of dollars.

It wasn't the acting, it was the writing. Russell Crowe went in with good intentions, but the movie was too hard to follow and frustrated me.

I guess the Poker Face is not a good one.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)

I had no idea

[8/10 · 11 November 2022]

I had no idea how this story would play out, and I had no idea how well this movie was written. I initially had a hard time picturing Brad Pitt as Jessie James; however, 20 minutes into the movie Brad Pitt was Jessie James.

Casey Affleck did a spectacular job playing Robert Ford, and Sam Rockwell was equally impressive playing Charley Ford. The incredible acting did for this film what the story did for the entertainment; this story was poetry, and I enjoyed reading every second of it.

It's a pleasure watching a movie that's not filled with action, but still has strong entertainment value, and that's just what this story did.

The Woman King (2022)

I'm a fan of the entertainment/historical value in that order

[7/10 · 2 November 2022]

I found this movie to be entertaining and well played. The Agojie were cast well, and Viola Davis did a great job playing Nanisca and leading her warriors to battle. The supporting cast did well also; while they didn't have as serious and impact as Viola, they are respected.

It's not easy making a movie where you need to cover so much in so little time. There is a lot going on, and you don't wank to leave too much to assumption. This is in the middle of the transatlantic slave trade. Most tribes, including the Dahomey Tribe, were trading slaves to the Europeans for goods.

This movie had to have a story, so it's based on relationships and discovery, while at the same time attempting to be historically accurate to a point. This is hard, as you want to be entertaining, but valid. My high rating on the movie is more so for entertainment value, I feel like Gina Prince Bythewood did a great job cutting this film down to 2 hours, and still covering a lot of information.

Of course based on the trailer, I like many others went in expecting lots of fight scenes and hand to hand combat. This wasn't the case. Most of the movie was telling a story, and a decent story was accomplished.

While the film lacked climactic highlights that would classify this as a great movie, it holds its own special place in the category it lands in of historical meets entertainment.

Where I feel the movie missed its mark is in the area the movie 300 hit the mark. There's a perfect line of combat and entertainment that a film maker can achieve, and it's a science.

I'm a fan of Sheila Atim, I would have loved seeing more of her in fight scenes. I'm also a fan of Lashana Lynch; I feel she too could have been in more fight scenes and created a different feel. John Boyega did what I would consider just an OK job portraying King Ghezo, I feel that role could have been played to be more controversial. King Ghezo was not as open and correct as the role was made out to portray.

Overall a good watch, but could have been a blockbuster with a few minor tweaks.

Accident Man (2018)

Fun movie with great fight scenes

[8/10 · 31 October 2022]

I watched the movies in reverse order, starting with number 2, then number one. Prior to today, I have no idea this movie even existed. As it turns out, it was pretty entertaining. I've never heard of Scott Adkins, but he did a great job and kept me entertained the entire movie. I also love Perry Benson's support role, he was funny and kept the story clean.

On a Sunday afternoon, this type of lightly funny crime and martial arts movie was just what I needed.

I loved the building of the characters and how Mike Fallon is an unspoken hero, but still antagonist that's really the protagonist.

The different assassins and their roles made part one a must watch, I was never bored and loved the whole movie. There are some excellent martial art scenes.

I haven't seen David Paymer in a long while, he did a great job as Milton, and I hated the two faced role he played which was awesome. The movie as a whole was fun, awesome, full of action and entertaining.

Accident Man: Hitman's Holiday (2022)

Are you not entertained? I was!!

[7/10 · 31 October 2022]

I watched the movies in reverse order, starting with number 2, then number one. Prior to today, I have no idea this movie even existed. As it turns out, it was pretty entertaining. I've never heard of Scott Adkins, but he did a great job and kept me entertained the entire movie. I also love Perry Benson's support role, he was funny and kept the story clean.

On a Sunday afternoon, this type of lightly funny crime and martial arts movie was just what I needed.

I will admit, the character Dante Zuuzer got on my nerves, but that's what he was supposed to do, so I would argue George Fouracres did a great job.

I really enjoyed the role of Sarah Chang as Wong Siu-ling, I love the fact that she existed mostly as a way to punish himself due to guild from part one of Accident man and how it ended with the killing of his workmates.

It was awesome to see Big Rays role as well, after watching part one, I was able to see how he was defined and why he was angry. I would argue the Accident Man duo is a must watch. Don't got in expecting a serious movie, walk in expecting great fight scenes and fun characters and you'll have a blast.

Movie 43 (2013)

One of the dumbest movies I've ever seen...

[9/10 · 10 October 2022]

One of the dumbest movies I've ever seen... but I could not stop laughing. From start to finish, this was some of the most disrespectful, crass, low-blow humor I've seen in a long time.

But I loved it!

Terrance Howard delivered a victory speech to his black football team that rivals any coaches speech, but it doesn't stop there. From Hugh Jackman and the scrotum, to Emmma Stone and Kate Winslett. This movie has more a-listers than the grammys. Anna Faris, Halle Berry, Chris Pratt, and they all cross the line with dirty humor and hilarious comedy. Its like SnL but without limits.

I read some of the reviews and I guess its not for everyone, but if you want to laugh and don't want to face limits on how you laugh, this movie is awesome.

Bandit (2022)

I found this movie entertaining

[7/10 · 10 October 2022]

Sometimes all it takes is a good story, then the remaining pieces fall into place. Josh Duhamel did a great job portraying Gilbert and carried a strong presence throughout the movie with the accompanying cast. I've always been a fan of Elisha Cuthbert, and felt adequately sorry for her as her character navigated through a complicated relationship.

Nestor Carbonelli was my least favorite character (he played the detective Snydes). He was not my least because he did a bad job, I was more so annoyed with the detectives obsession with catching Gilbert and wanted the bad guy to get away.

I left this movie feeling fulfilled and slept good. It didn't have my running to my friends to tell the awesome story, but it was entertaining and kept me interested the duration of the movie.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022)

I wanted so bad to like this show....

[2/10 · 7 October 2022]

I'll just start by saying, why would you have a twerking superhero? She Hulk is so horrible I want to break my TV. I feel like Marvel is trying to hard to drive an agenda, they are falling off of what a superhero movie should be. Who wrote this crap? Ever read a comic book?

I like the story, I even read the original She Hulk when it came out back in the day. How do you ruin something so easy to make great. I feel like in the beginning of the show, it was a point to show she was stronger than the hulk; then in walks the jokes and silliness. C'mon, She Hulk had an opportunity to have a few fight scenes, squeeze in a love story line if that's your thing, and kill the comedy act, so you can have a mature audience attach to a character while developing a story that connects to a story.

Instead we get Ally McBeal meets Marvel with a side of Meghan the Stallion twerkling? What an embarrassment.

Meet Cute (I) (2022)

Surprisingly Kinda Fun Movie

[6/10 · 22 September 2022]

I've never really been a big Pete Davidson fan, its not that I don't like him, I'm more so just not that entertained by him. I went into this movie expecting to be turned off to the point that I cut off my TV, but was surprised to see that the story was interesting enough to keep me watching. I actually bought into the characters after the first twenty minutes and was concerned what would happen to them.

Kaley is beautiful and does a great job with this so-so script; Pete's acting was surprisingly decent, and by the half way mark, I was no longer annoyed with this comedian attempting to break into the world of acting.

I would not call this a romantic comedy, but it whatever it was, it's worth a watch if you have a couple hours.

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

This movie could have been so much more than a failed Disney comedy

[4/10 · 8 September 2022]

I happen to be a comic book person, I loved reading Thor as a child and don't recall the humor. I feel like this movie went full on Disney mode, you may as well have had a dancing mouse.

While the movie was MILDLY entertaining, and I do emphasize MILDLY, it was more of a slapstick comedy with a few serious scenes. Just as I wasn't a fan of "fat Thor", I wasn't a fan of the jokes and kids and fat Zeus. I kept waiting for the movie to get just a little serious, but it never go there.

The only scene I like seeing with Russel Crowe was when he was alive and angry, and ready to send his son. Christian Bale was incredible just as expected, but his role stood out like a sore thumb since he was the only serious piece in the movie. I get that its routine to add a joke or two, Guardians of the Galaxy does a great job doing this, yet still being serious at the right moment. Thor: Love and Thunder had a bad script along with too many jokes, and left me feeling empty. I've never felt this empty after a Marvel Movie.

The of course you gotta throw in at least 3 gay couples just put the Disney stamp on it. I think Disney was the single worse thing that could happen to Marvel. I get it Disney, I'm woke now, can you please stop putting an agenda in every movie just to make a point?

From stuffed animals and kids with pajamas fighting monsters, to a joke every five minutes. This movie failed in so many ways. After a while, even the soundtrack got annoying. I get it, we play rock songs with Thor movies, Ragnarock did a pretty good job of combining new and old. This movie was like listening to an 80's soundtrack, then repeating the scene where Thor jumps in slow motion repeatedly. Oh yeah, lets have a few kids get in on the Thor jump as well...

Prey (I) (2022)

Went in with low expectations

[8/10 · 22 August 2022]

I started this movie ready to bash it, I was ready to criticize based on the reviews I've read and the fact that the main character is a 100lb girl. I was wrong.

The movie actually stays on topic, tells a great story, and there's reason for everything that transpires. The girl is facing the criticism of her tribe for wanting to be a bigger role than that allowed by a woman, the journey she takes us on is one where we see her attempt to overcome her fear and fight for something much bigger than just an alien. Her victory is questionable, but her steps to get to her destination are obvious and intentional.

Amber Midthunder does a great job.portraying Naru, and I love the relationship between her and her brother. There's a bond and they are both protective of one another.

Their journey as a family, as a tribe, as a force against the Predator; it's a good one, and all I needed was a little more popcorn.

Take the Night (2022)

Great story with mediocre acting

[5/10 · 8 July 2022]

I'll start off by saying that I did actually enjoy this movie, I feel it had a great story-line and had enough going on that I never lost interest. The premise is not a secret, the "screw up" brother wants the "smart" brother to enjoy his birthday; they are wealthy. The "smart" brother works too much. Roy Huang plays Willian Chang the "screw up" brother, and Sam Song Li plays Robert, the overworked brother. William decides to have his brother kidnaped and force him to loosen up, so he hires some guy he doesn't know to take Robert after he leaves work.

The rest of the story is filled with questions and decent story that shows who, what, where, why and how for both the antagonist and the protagonist.

My big problem with this movie is that I feel Seth McTigue overacts in every scene. His character is Chad; he's the bad guy, and I get it that Chad is conflicted, but c'mon man. I feel his overacting was so severe, it made me question the other actors in the movie even though they did fine. I've always believed that you don't need a-list actors to pull off a great movie, but you do need actors that do a decent job playing a role. You can't take yourself TOO seriously, or you come off too stoic and overact your role. Brenna Keel Cook had a significant role and did a great job as did the other two bad guys. Matter of a fact, all of the remaining actors pulled off their roles equally well, but I honestly think Seth McTigue hurt this movie more that he helped it by casting himself as the antagonist.

The cinematography was actually pretty well done, I love the angles, the lighting, the feel. Some of the long-held poses became distracting, but not too over the top. I get it, a good looking guy like Roy Huang giving us a silhouette in the perfect lighting. But lets not hold that pose too long, else you over-do a moment.

Overall the movie was enjoyable, but I gotta be honest and say that this movie would have been 10 time better had there been an actor cast as Chad that didn't overdo the role.

Old Henry (2021)

This movie is a sleeper!

[9/10 · 29 March 2022]

Tim Blake Nelson is under-rated. I watched this movie on a bored afternoon and thought I would skate through another decent western. The story builds at just the right speed. As the plot thickens and you begin to see a fathers love for his son, you realize there is more to this movie just as there is more to this plot that you know.

When the climactic scene occurs, the rest of the movie has you on the edge of your seat biting your nails while the hairs on your arms stand up.

Stephen Dorf did a great job portraying the bad guy, he nails it with his very western feel and demeanor. But back to Tim Blake Nelson, HE NAILS IT!

You love him, then you hate him, they you root for him while you hate him... what a journey this movie takes you on.

Peacemaker (2022– )

A dissapointment

[2/10 · 27 January 2022]

Upon watching the first episode, I found it to be crass and unapologetic.. but in a bad way. Lets take a bad script, add some bad language and sex, then squeeze in a little weak story-line.

I watched this expecting DC would do for Suicide Squad what ANY MARVEL MINI did for Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead what I got was a waste of time with 9th grade sexual humor. If you're going to make a movie and fill it with cursing and out of context sexual references and scense, at least do like Deadpool and make it clever.

The Last Duel (2021)

Less action, more story, but written well enough to deliver

[7/10 · 8 December 2021]

I walked into this movie expecting to see violence and war, but left seeing a story. After the first chapter, one starts to see the ruse. We are watching different perspectives.

Pros: The story was strong, the acting was great and the flow was clear enough that I never lost interest. Adam Driver is an incredible actor, and I loved hating him.

Cons: At times, I found it complicated to see Mat Damon as Jean de Carrouges; it could have been because I watched The Departed a few days earlier. While seeing three perspectives proved worthy, I feel it could have been accomplished with two and been more effective.

There's a clear protagonist and antagonist, but it still manages to have you question who the real villain in a few time, this is a talent that Ridley Scott handles perfectly. Upon completion, I felt as though I got what I was waiting for; violence and revenge. The last duel.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

Marvel got this one right!

[9/10 · 16 November 2021]

Shang-Chi is one of those movies that starts off strong and never stops entertaining you. From the beginning, I felt connected to the characters and the story made sense.

Shang-Chi had just the right amount of funny comments or jokes that you can still take it seriously, and at the right time, everyone was serious. I must admit, I had my doubts about Awkwafina when I saw her as the role of Katy, I was afraid she would crack jokes the entire move, but that's not the case. When the time was right, there was a joke, when the time came to be serious, she displayed her strong acting skills and carried her role perfectly.

Simu Liu was nothing short of perfection for me from start to finish, but to be honest, that's what I expected.

Both Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Fala Chen were incredible as well as the rest of the cast. Everyone played their part and played it well.

I feel like the movie was a great story and we took a great ride alongside the ten rings, their origin and progression of power. The father was a villain, but he had his reasons and was made to feel human.

I have no bad comments regarding this movie other than I don't want to wait a whole year to see part II.

Copshop (2021)

Interesting movie with lost of action

[6/10 · 27 October 2021]

I was pleased with how this movie was written, I feel it had a great flow and the character building was strong and effective. Joe Carnahan did a great job keeping the watcher interested with both visual and verbal chemistry.

The movie flipped around kind of like Tarantino flips around.

Gerard Butler, Frank Grillo and Alexis Louder add did a great job portraying thier very complex characters. Toby Huss was an added bonus, he does "crazy" very well.

From the very start, the movie takes turns and creates complexity that you can't wait to figure out. When it finally all comes to play, you are in the middle of a roller coaster ride of action and violence comparable to Reservoir Dogs.

While the story didn't leave me guessing for too long, I feel the action, acting and plot were enough to warrant a strong watch.

The Guilty (2021)

How does Jake manage to make a story that takes place in one room GREAT?

[8/10 · 4 October 2021]

I had no idea what I was in store for when I started this movie. The movie is a literal roller coaster ride of emotions. Jake Gyllenhaal manages to take you through his journey and keep you interested in his story as it grows into a complicated situation that requires decisions and consequences.

Afterlife of the Party (2021)

Went in expecting to hate this movie....

[8/10 · 5 September 2021]

I've never been a big fan of Victoria Justice, I guess it may have been her roll in Victorious... or the fact that my kids watched every episode 100 times.\

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself forgetting her previous roles attaching myself to her character. Good job Victoria Justice. The story was easy to follow and clean enough that I watched it with my 11 year old son. I'm not sure if the ceiling fan was on and the air hit my eyes or what, but I may or may not have teared up a couple times... I'm a Dad, so a few of the scenes hit me emotionally...

I thought the movie was well thought out and acted accordingly. I am a fan of the movie and will watch again with my 15 year old daughter later today.

Good job Victoria Justice, and welcome to the majors.

Sweet Girl (2021)

Not a hard pass, but...

[5/10 · 5 September 2021]

In this movie Aquaman loses his wife, and his daughter Dora The Explorer joins him as they run.... well wait... that's not actually how it went down... but it may as well have been...

At some point we have to ask ourselves who writes these movies, and do they think we are so COVID struck that we will allow movies to roll with no sense of reality or truth.

I'm all good with a fib or two here and there, but c'mon man... this movie took it to the next level. You never get a chance to love the main character because he is in fact the bad guy. The daughter has super powers evidentially, since she can beat up grown men... not just grown men, but hitmen...

Within the first fifteen minutes, I was already aware of what I was in store for, and I still watched the entire movie.

While its not a waste of time, it has scenes that are so "unrealistic" that you may be annoyed.

I think Jason Mamoa can hold a movie by himself, I think he's a strong enough actor, but the script needs to match the play, and they need to humanize him a bit more like they did in the beginning of the movie when he cried.

Vacation Friends (2021)

For once, I finally LOVE a John Sena movie

[8/10 · 2 September 2021]

It's not that I don't like John Sena, its more so that its hard to find roles that he just "fits" into. Well, they found it. Typically when I'm watching a movie and John Sena is in it, I'm thinking "what is the Sena gonna do next", in the movie, it just flowed and you forget he's even John Sena.

Now onto the movie. It started off light, and went crazy after you get a minute to learn the characters. As the story progresses, you learn more and more about the soon to be married couple, along with some history on their new "best friends".

Through a lot of crazy twists and mixes in the story, you start to really like Ron, and even Marcus grows on you. Kyla is naieve and follows her man blindly, I love her character, and of course the conflicted Emily has to choose between family and love.

Some of the other characters added value as well, such as Andrew Bachelor playing the brother. He was a bit of an ass, and they take a while to explain why.

Overall, I needed a movie like this, it's a great release and a lot of fun.

Out of Death (2021)

I knew it was going to be bad, but not this bad

[2/10 · 4 August 2021]

The movie was just silly, like really silly. The plot was not great, the character build was bad and unexpectedly the acting was absolutely horrible. Bruce Willis deserves better than this, I can't beleive a movie actually got budget to film something as bad as this movie.

The acting is so bad, it becomes distracting.

Of course once the acting stinks, it makes the holes in the story that much more obvious, so you spend the rest of the movie (however long you last) saying "why would you do that?"

I wanted to watch a no-thinking basic movie, it was late and I was tired. Instead what I got was pure garbage.

Jolt (2021)

Movie did not put me to sleep

[6/10 · 3 August 2021]

The movie was good enough that it didn't put me to sleep.

I'm love that we are casting more women in lead roles, and love the power of the message. That being said, at some point when 100lb woman can beat up 3-4 200-250lb men, it starts to get a little over the top for me.

The premise of the movie sound very familiar; anger issue, jolt of power calms her down, else she kicks everyone's butt.

I didn't feel like there was a lot of meat on the bone of this movie. You never get a chance to know the characters. The protagonist needed more building in my opinion, so I can have a chance to really like her, this would probably give more depth to her sudden "super strength" when fighting people.

The good news is Kate is super hot and is getting better with age. She's an amazing actor and does a good job of playing crazy. The bad news is that its not super believable when there's no backstory to support the super strength other than some military type training.

The love at first sight type storyline was also a bit off charm for me... I get that the storyline was meant to take you on a rollercoaster ride, but next time perhaps add some loopty loops.

Infinite (2021)

It was entertaining, but could have been so much better

[6/10 · 11 June 2021]

I honestly felt like this movie was a hybrid of several other movies. I felt like I was watching The Matrix at one point, then it flows into a scene in the woods and it's like Katniss Everdeen. The movie was not horrible, it just never really felt unique.

Mark Walburg as the protagonist did not impress me one bit, he felt very one dimensional, and I mean VERY ONE DIMENSIONAL. Dylan O'Brien on the other hand nailed it. I feel like maybe the roles should have been reversed.

Overall, during COVID, this movie provided a distraction with a few decent effects, but there were so many holes in this story it felt like Swiss cheese.

Walburg goes from schizophrenia to undeniable trust in a matter of minutes and jumps on a plane going who knows where.

The bad guys find the hidden hub somehow and show up shortly after to take the secret egg... how'd they know it was there? How did the antagonist get a video feed of the testing room where Treadwell was being stored? I think that Cidwetel Ejiofor did a great job, but the role itself was a bit unbelievable.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great... I would have enjoyed it more if it sucked, because it was so close I found myself saying "what if they did this or that" through the whole movie.