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oldschool85
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Embrace (2016)
The future is self love
If there's one thing that has been present in this world since the dawn of time, it is judgment. Judgement on others and especially on ourselves for how we look, act, feel, eat, live, breathe. Every aspect of human life is under some form of scrutiny and the toxic brainwashing influence of the media has spawned a human race that has become completely obsessed with aspiring to be something that doesn't exist: "The Perfect Body".
Rising from the platform of social media that is plagued by the worst forms of judgment imaginable, writer/director/positive body image warrior Taryn Brumfitt took the most courageous step to begin moving the human race from self-loathing to a place of self love and love for others. After posting on social media what is considered to be a rather unconventional before and after photo of herself, this very powerful documentary about love and acceptance of the self and others as we all are was born.
Embrace demonstrates how alarmingly many of us around the world are in the space of self-loathing and self hate. Taryn has clearly done her homework, splicing in numerous heartbreaking facts and statistics throughout the running time attributing to this fact. Blowing the whistle on the media and how grossly and increasingly manipulative it has been over many decades, she travels the globe in search of people from all walks of life, of all shapes and sizes, and shares their real life unique stories. She bares her entire life and soul with gusto and confidence, and Embrace achieves its goal in spades in a very blunt but yet delicate and tasteful manner.
Embrace is a triumphant documentary about a very pressing topic that needs to be seen by everyone around the world, owned in every household and shown in every school. Absolutely essential viewing!
The Expendables 3 (2014)
An awesome end to the trilogy!!
To begin with, I sincerely don't understand why The Expendables 3 is copping as much flack as it is. The film is pure unapologetic fun and has everything (well most things) that fans are looking for. It still has the same winning formula and changes things up just enough to make it a little more fresh.
So Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) and his team (Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Randy Couture)are back again to take down former Expendable-turned-arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson). On the way, they bust Doc (Wesley Snipes) out of an armored train prison to give them a hand. When one of the team is seriously injured, Barney recruits new blood (Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz) to join the fight. Along the way, they pick up motor mouth Galgo (Antonio Banderas) and are then later joined by Trench (Arnold Schwarzenegger), old team mate Yin Yang (Jet Li) and CIA official Max Drummer (Harrison Ford) for all out war against Stonebanks and his cohorts.
This felt like more of an ensemble piece, which means each action legend has their chance to shine and the chemistry between them all flowed very naturally . Mel Gibson reminds us why he is just one of the most awesome screen presences in cinema as he delivers a wacky and memorable performance as the main antagonist, and more than holds his own against Sly. Speaking of Sly, its amazing what he can still do physically at 68, and as screenwriter, he's put together an awesome throwback trilogy to the movies of yesteryear. Its wonderful to see him share the screen again with his Demolition Man and Assassins costars.
The rest of the cast do really well, with the standout performances being from newcomers Antonio Banderas and Wesley Snipes, who steal every scene they're in. The younger Expendables do quite well also, but Kellan Lutz is the prizewinner here with his rebellious take-no-s@#t Smilee.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jet Li have very minimal screen time but it was an action fan's wet dream to see them mow down bad guys together. Spoiler Alert - Jet Li has zero fight scenes here and most critics are complaining about this. Normally I would also, but I'd bring to light that he has been battling hyperthyroidism for a number of years, which doesn't allow one to exercise much, so this may explain it.
A surprise cameo from Agent Johnson himself, Robert Davi, just adds even more charm to the proceedings. If only he broke out into Sinatra and it would've been perfect.
The action sequences are really well done, particularly the finale. Does the PG-13 rating take away some of the gusto? Yes it does, but they're still very hard-hitting and it easily has the highest body count of all 3 films. An R rated DVD/Bluray will be released so fans ought to welcome that.
All in all, the entire cast are fantastic in a really fun and enjoyable movie filled with the classic one-liners and self- deprecating humor we've all come to know and love. Should the Expendables journey end here, they have well and truly gone out with a bang!!