Blockbuster – Page 19 – Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare

“Nobody”

By Brett_G on March 28, 2021

8.5

Turns out Saul Goodman never needed Mike to be his enforcer after all. Also turns out that Doc Brown was sandbagging it when he was taken out by Libyan terrorists in the parking lot of the Twin Pines mall that fateful night in 1985.

Everything about this film is beautiful—the soundtrack, the stunt choreography, the script… all well refined and expertly executed. A tight hour and a half runtime keeps this film from getting bogged down by unnecessary plotlines or extraneous scenes. Of course, it’s the Russians causing a ruckus. Of course, he’s going to go full John Wick, kick-ass, and take names. However, this movie does what I love to call subtle exposition better than most action flicks I’ve seen of late. The backstory isn’t just dumped on the audience but slowly exposed throughout the film without you even knowing it’s happening as a member of the audience.

Extremely well done. Well worth a watch!

Action Blockbuster HBO

“Zack Snyder’s Justice League”

By Brett_G on March 23, 2021

8.7

Worth every second of the 4 hour runtime.

Everything lacking from the first go-round or that didn’t fit, fixed. One of the few times I’m thankful for the power of a hashtag. Everything from the color palate to the soundtrack has been redeemed to it’s initially intended glory. I had my doubts, as I think we all did. Zack Snyder went ahead and blew expectations out of the water, and singlehandedly put the DCEU back on the map.

The characters finally get the screen time and TLC they all deserve, leaving each fulfilled to a degree not imagined in the first version. No more odd jokes, no more creeping on Wonder Woman, no more rushing the story to fumble the ending. A well thought out and constructed masterpiece, leaving hope for the legendary stable of superheroes once again, instead of the feeling of doubt and turn back to Marvel. The darkness in this film and unabashed nature of the consequences experienced was refreshing. The finale battle topped by one of the greatest 5 minute finale scenes I’ve seen in a superhero film in some time. The actors seemed engaged, and to fully buy into their roles in this version. You can feel the passion that went into the project. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, flying off to claw the eyes out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It took a couple days to process before I felt fully ready to write this. Great call on the part of Warner Bros. to green light this hairbrained idea, and even better call on Zack Snyder foregoing a salary for complete creative control.

Bravo!

Blockbuster Suspense/Thriller

“The Deep”

By Brett_G on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021

6.5

So… what to say about this one. *strokes beard*

If you’ve read the book “Jaws,” you know it’s far more horny than the film adaptation. For this reason, the film’s story was able to become much more rich with multi-dimensional characters and deeper relationships between them. Instead of Hooper just perving on Chief Brody’s wife.

This film, based on another Benchley novel, missed that memo. And clearly just tried to coast off the fumes of JAWS. Honestly, if you’re looking for that, watch JAWS 2. It’s much better. This one is just a bunch of unexciting underwater scenes with bubbling sound effects for 15-minute intervals—diving off a boat that looks like the Orca’s cousin. Instead of a shark, there are eels.

This time, Quint joins in on the scuba diving, and almost dies as a result. Instead, the wife ends up as a damsel in distress just as often as they go scuba diving. Overall, this thing’s a hot mess. Nothing you can’t see watching an aquarium screen saver. Robert Shaw’s acting and Jaqueline Bisset preferring to scuba in a tight whit t shirt can’t even save this one.

Action Blockbuster Suspense/Thriller

“No Country For Old Men”

By Brett_G on February 23, 2021February 24, 2021

7.7

… because they killed each other. But you’ll enjoy the adrenaline-soaked, razor-sharp story that leads to there being no country for old men. It turns out two face isn’t the only one who leaves fate to chance. A definite slow burn, but worth it.

Action Blockbuster

“Greenland”

By Brett_G on February 1, 2021

5.5

I’ll save you two hours of your life. Remember the whackadoodle notion that the U.S. was going to buy Greenland? This movie is just as, if not more baffling.

So few f**ks were given, Gerard Butler is Scottish for half of the movie… and his character’s from Florida.

Get ready to snooze your way through the most boring, cheap, light on everything possibly cool disaster movie, where the biggest disaster is that it didn’t end a half hour earlier. Honestly, go watch “Airplane!” or “San Andreas” instead.