Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare
Cinematic Sommelier
8.2
This score excludes everything after season 2. The first 2 seasons of this show are nothing short of brilliant, and the other Nolan brother at the height of his complex storytelling powers. The second two seasons made me sad, and left me not sad that they cancelled the show and took it off HBO Max. The premise, acting, and the twists of the first 2 seasons are amazing. The first season finale being one of my all-time favorite HBO episodes.
7.3
It’s basically “Breaking Bad,” but instead of making meth, this teacher/coach decides to sell himself to rebuild his life. A great cast, a lot of great laughs. The only complaint I have is the clunky ending. It ends like hitting a brick wall. Very strange, and unfortunate. But then again, this kept it from overstaying its welcome. Solid B-tier HBO television.
6.5
Beautiful film. Meh story.
I was hellaciously intrigued by the trailer and what I thought was the film’s premise. Sometimes that intrigue hits; sometimes it misses. Unfortunately, this one ended up being a trapeze act of a narrative, swinging wildly all over the place for far too long and with no rhyme or reason. All to, I think, come full circle. I’m still not quite sure what I was supposed to take away from this one. There are some great premises and possibilities, but the story opts for the path of least resistance and goes for tricking the audience into thinking that misdirection and the resulting confusion is evidence of its cleverness, instead of just a cheap Christopher Nolan rip-off. Honestly, I think the overall lesson here was a “don’t stick your dick in crazy” cautionary tale dressed in a noir disguise.
6.7
If there was such a thing as a “Goodfellas” cover band… this would be it.
They check off all of the boxes for “making a mob movie,” but with little to no creativity. Almost purely riding the coattails of the legendary series. It was cool that they cast Michael Gandolfini to play Tony Soprano, but that was about all of the novelty you get here.
7.8
Exceeded expectations! Definitely the strongest video game adaptation in quite some time.
Thankfully, the fighting is everything you imagine and more. It’s just the right amount of blood and cheesiness. A well-told story of tradition, facing adversity, and working together against a common enemy. Where they could have just made a cheap adaptation that just hits all of the high notes, this film really took the time to tell a story while also delivering on the action and adventure you would expect, all while keeping the runtime reasonable. Similar to “Godzilla vs. Kong,” it gives you exactly what you’re looking for, executed at the highest level of the craft.
Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare 