The Whistlers (La Gomera) (2019)

Apparently there’s a whistling language from the Canary Islands that serves as the central plot device, although not used to its full potential in my opinion. The editing and timeline of this Romanian crime drama were rather confusing. Characters weren’t fleshed out enough. A good movie is buried somewhere in the script. Perhaps a remake from a more competent director can find it.

Rating: C-

The Salvation (2014)

Wow, do they ever do a great job setting up the bad guys. Pure evil. The Walking Dead fans will cringe at the similarities to Negan. It’s tough watching this table get set for the battle between our Danish immigrant heroes and the American outlaw villains. Twas a hefty price paid when the dust finally settled on the last henchman.

Rating: B-

Chicken Run (2000)

Wallace and Gromit style animation is used to tell the tale of chickens escaping from their concentration camp poultry farm. Some fun references to The Great Escape, Cool Hand Luke, and other classic films. Plucky British humor is hit or miss.

Rating: C

The Dawn Wall (2017)

As amazing as Free Solo was, both of these rock climbing docs are worth seeing. The Dawn Wall has its own unique backstories and points of drama outside of the climbing itself.

As a viewer, I was physically sweating while watching each one. For us non-extreme athletes, it’s hard to imagine simply camping on the side of a cliff, let alone climbing one. Then you see the dude crapping off the side of his platform into a plastic bag, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, these guys are nuts!”. I thought I was hardcore when I crapped behind a cactus in the desert during an ultramarthon and wiped my ass with a rock. Nope.

There are levels I’m not willing to aspire to. Not as stressful to watch as Free Solo (less risk of death), but you’ll still burn calories watching.

Rating: B

Top 10 Samuel L. Jackson Films

Top 10 Samuel L. Jackson Films

Rank	Title	Year	Country	Grade
1	Pulp Fiction	1994	US	A+
2	Kill Bill: Volume 2	2004	US	A
3	Django Unchained	2012	US	A-
4	Black Snake Moan	2007	US	B+
5	Jackie Brown	1997	US	B
6	Jurassic Park	1993	US	B
7	The Long Kiss Goodnight	1996	US	B
8	The Other Guys	2010	US	B
9	The Incredibles	2004	US	B
10	Hard Eight	1996	US	B-

 

Color Out Of Space (2019)

The color pink from outer space infects a rural farm, causes mutations, kills its hosts, and then implodes. This ridiculous plot serves as a platform for Nicolas Cage to deliver some of his epic freakouts in vain. There’s also a Wiccan subplot for no apparent reason.

Rating: F+

The Babadook (2014)

It’s quite unnerving and scary; at first because you pity this poor mother trying to take care of an absolute hellion of a kid, and later because of the creepy Babadook. Unfortunately things unravel in the final 30 minutes. Horror movies usually do a good job setting the stage but rarely deliver a satisfying final act.

Rating: C-

The Hunt (2020)

A few twists on the hunting-humans-for-sport genre, of which I’ve seen my fair share. The concept was fun, but I would have preferred to see more hunt and less everything else. The lady-on-lady fight-to-the-death ending was anticlimactic.

Rating: C