I FINALLY WATCHED 'FALLOUT'!

'Fallout' (2024)

When I first heard that Amazon Prime was making a show based on the “Fallout” video game series, I’ll admit that I was immediately hesitant. After all, “Fallout 3” and “Fallout 4” are two of my favorite games and they are massive open world games with a ton of lore. While it was a TV show as opposed to a film with a more limited runtime to tell the story, I still doubted whether or not a series could do any better. Then, I learned that Prime was dropping the entire series at once instead of making it a weekly event. I feel that when a streamer that normally releases weekly drops everything, it’s showing that they don’t have much faith that the final product would work out. Well, even if my speculation turned out to be true, Prime wouldn’t have had anything to worry about. “Fallout” is a fantastic show that everyone should (and apparently is) watching. It is also set in the game’s canon, set 15 years after the events of “Fallout: New Vegas”. The show primarily follows three characters. First, there is the vault dweller named Lucy. She doesn’t know anything beyond Vault 33, the vault where she was born and raised. After Raiders assault her vault and kidnap her dad, she decides to set out to the Wasteland in an attempt to rescue him. Then, there is Maximus, a young man who wants to become a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. He is eventually assigned to a mission where he must assist his Knight in recovering an important object. Finally, there is The Ghoul, a mutated bounty hunter that has been alive for over 200 years and was once a man living before the war that destroyed the world began. He is a calculating figure and, at first, you don’t know where his allegiances lie due to being a cold blooded bounty hunter.

Walton Goggins plays The Ghoul in 'Fallout'!

Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten are great as Lucy and Maximus, respectively. They are both naive to the world around them due to their surroundings. Lucy knows nothing except for the “morals” of the vault. The moral that one day her people will return and repopulate the surface. Maximus, on the other hand, knows very little about the world outside the Brotherhood, so both characters have plenty to learn about what is really going on in the Wasteland. The one man who definitely knows about the real world is Walton Goggins as Cooper Howard, a.k.a. The Ghoul. He has lived for over 200 years and may know even more about the world before the war than he lets on. We actually learn about his pre-war past through flashbacks that also help set up how this crazy Wasteland was created to begin with. To say that Goggins steals the show would be an understatement. He’s the Han Solo and Captain Jack Sparrow of this world. He’s more of a supporting character when compared to Lucy and Maximus, but when he’s there, he’s the one you’re paying attention to. That’s not to say that Purnell and Moten are lesser actors as they give fantastic performances. It’s just a testament to how good Goggins is in the role and I can’t wait to see him reprise the role in the second season. As far as the tone of the show, it captures the same feel and aesthetic as the games. In fact, as I was watching, I was wishing I could play as some of these characters. I also immediately redownloaded “Fallout 4” because the show had me wanting to revisit the Wasteland myself. The effects are top notch, the action is solid throughout, and the show manages to capture the slightly over-the-top violence and beauty of the Wasteland. However, it also doesn’t skimp out on the drama as well and you really do find yourself caring, hating, and loving to hate the various characters you meet along the way. The show is eight episodes long, but most of them hit the hour mark with only a couple being around 45 minutes. Producer Jonathan Nolan and his team certainly pack in quite a lot this season. It does end with the promise of a second season and the good news is that it has already been renewed by Amazon. This is one of those rare shows where I really didn’t have anything bad to say about it when I finished the season. There wasn’t any one moment where I wasn’t entertained. There has been a resurgence of video game adaptations lately, both in film and on television. As it stands right now, I might have to say that “Fallout” has been the best adaptation yet!

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'

'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' (2024)

READ THE FULL REVIEW BELOW THE RATINGS!

In “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”, director Guy Ritchie has assembled a good cast of characters in a film that is a heavily fictionalized telling of Operation Postmaster. This is the operation that came at a critical time for Britain in World War II and it put the Special Operations Executive (SOE) on the map as a major tool of espionage to be used against the Nazis.

In the movie’s version of events, Britain is being strangled by Nazi attacks. They are not only enduring grueling air raids, but their ships containing much needed supplies are constantly sunk by German U-Boats. The U-Boats are steadily resupplied by a German ship, the Duchessa d’Aosta, which is docked at the Spanish-controlled island of Fernando Po. Being that Spain is a neutral country, the British cannot act against this supply line in an official capacity.

That is why Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Rory Kinnear) unofficially authorizes Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes), the head of the SOE, to put together a secret operation. Gubbins then recruits a rogue commander named Gus March-Phillipps (Henry Cavill) to put together a team that will go to Fernando Po to destroy the ship. The only problem is that since this is an off-the-books assignment, if the British capture them, they’ll be arrested and if the Germans catch them, they’ll more than likely be killed.

Henry Cavill is Gus March-Phillips in 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'.

March-Phillips’ team includes Alan Ritchson’s Anders Lassen, a knife-wielding operative who is also quite talented with a bow and arrow. Hero Fiennes Tiffin stars as Henry Hayes, an accomplished sailor tasked with getting the team to the island. Alex Pettyfer is Geoffrey Appleyard, a friend of Gus’ that was already sent ahead to gather intelligence and finally there is Henry Golding as Freddy Alvarez, an explosives expert and frogman.

Meanwhile, on the island, Eiza González’s Majorie Stewart and Babs Olusanmokun’s Mr. Heron are undercover on the island. Their mission is to gain intel. They do this through two methods. One is through Mr. Heron’s casino business that he has established. The other method is that Marjorie is to seduce the SS commander, Heinrich Luhr (Til Schweiger), and get whatever she can from him.

Now, this movie has more style than substance. All that means is that you shouldn’t expect any grand drama or major character development. This is an old-school “soldiers on a mission” movie and that is its singular focus. It’s a movie about secret patriots who disrupt the system in order to get the job done because they’re the only ones that can at the end of the day.

Cavill and crew are ready to covertly take the fight to the Nazis!

Front and center in the movie is Cavill as March Phillipps. Not only was the real March-Phillips a primary inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, there is not a better example than his performance in this movie for why Cavill would make an excellent James Bond. He’s charismatic yet he has a razor-sharp edge and a good sense of dark humor as he goes around killing Nazis.

The rest of the performances are good as well. I particularly liked Olusanmokun as the cool and collected Mr. Heron. González is also good at playing Majorie, the femme fatale role in the movie. Back at the headquarters in London, Elwes is great as Gubbins and Kinnear is a convincing Winston Churchill.

Of course, this movie is primarily an action-packed spy film, so how does it do on that front? Not bad at all, to be honest. The action is fun and exciting and since this is a movie about a group of people fighting back against the Nazis, it’s hard not to root for the good guys here.

Ultimately, Ritchie and co. set out to make a fun actioner and provide audiences with pure escapist entertainment for a couple of hours. If it makes you curious about an important moment in the history of WWII, then that’s just an added bonus. 

If you’re looking for a movie that has more substance than style or for a film that is truer to the events it portrays, then this one may not be for you. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an action packed movie that harkens back to war films such as “Kelly’s Heroes” or “Where Eagles Dare”, then look no further than “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare”.

MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #8 - 'The Toxic Avenger'

'The Toxic Avenger' (1984)

READ THE FULL REVIEW BELOW THE RATING!

In the 1980s, Troma Entertainment became synonymous with intentionally silly, sleazy, and gory low budget movies. The flick that put them on the map more than any other was “The Toxic Avenger”, a movie that has no rules and no one, including kids on bicycles, is safe from the carnage.

In the movie, Melvin Junko is a well-meaning but awfully nerdy janitor at a gym that includes four of the meanest bullies around. That’s because they are also hit-and-run serial killers that target anyone they can. When they hit someone with their car, they get awarded points and kids are double the points.

With the bad guys firmly established, they taunt Melvin with a terrible prank at the gym and he falls through a window and into some toxic waste. He then mutates into the Toxic Avenger, a deformed superhero that has a desire to clean up the filth in Tromaville!

The Toxic Avenger is here to clean up the filth in Tromaville!

Now, here’s the thing. This movie is definitely a silly, sleazy, gory, extra low-budget affair, but it’s of the highest order of its kind. If you don’t like a good ole splatter film, then you will hate this movie! If you don’t mind it’s intentionally lower quality, then you can definitely be in for a good time.

The movie’s action sequences are pretty great for a low budget movie. Also, the make-up effects and gore are pretty good for a B movie. This could most definitely be due to the fact that the make-up effects are done by Jennifer Aspinall, a make-up artist that would go on to work on several big budget movies and acclaimed TV shows.

Now, I can say that the sound design of the movie can be annoying at times. The audio was pretty atrocious, at least in the version of the movie that I saw. Some may think that it adds to the movie’s low budget charm, but that was the only part of the low production that I didn’t like.

It’s crazy to think that this also launched a media franchise, but that was the ‘80s. Violent films such as this one, “RoboCop”, and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” drew legions of fans, especially kids. Hell, Freddy Krueger even had a doll for kids and he was a child murderer!

With “The Toxic Avenger”, not only did he get several sequels and a new remake on the way, but he had a Saturday morning cartoon! “The Toxic Crusaders” lasted for only one season and 13 episodes, but I still remembered seeing it advertised on TV.

That’s not bad for a splatter film that intentionally set out to break all the rules other films followed. You either love or hate “The Toxic Avenger”, but you can’t deny the success that the film generated. As far as low-budget gore movies are concerned, if it’s your kind film, you can’t do much better than this one.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Civil War'

'Civil War' (2024)

FIND THE FULL REVIEW UNDER THE RATING!

I don’t know. Maybe a few too many zombie films from the 2000s and several seasons of “The Walking Dead” have turned me against dystopian films in general. Because that is essentially what “Civil War” is. It’s a zombie movie without the zombies and at the end of the day, I wasn’t won over by it despite some great direction, good performances, and pretty zany third act.

In the movie, we are already in a second Civil War. There is no context as to why we’re in a new civil war or how long it’s been going on. Well, I'll take that back. There are hints that by this point, a third term president has become tyrannical and has sealed off Washington D.C. while the Western Forces of California and Texas are closing in.

But that’s about it and you’re not really sure who you’re supposed to be supporting throughout the movie. Perhaps that’s the point, but I really couldn’t buy into this particular dystopian world that writer and director Alex Garland built to play around in.

Kirsten Dunst plays a weary photojournalist in 'Civil War'.

The president has also driven away the press entirely over the past 14 months. That’s why Joel (Wagner Moura) wants to go to D.C. from New York. He wants to be the first to get the story and he’s accompanied by Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), a photographer who is starting to break from all the things that she’s seen throughout the war.

They are also joined by Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), a young photographer that looks up to Lee and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), a veteran journalist who also wants in on the story. They soon begin a road trip across a war-torn America and encounter various soldiers and battles along the way. The question now is whether or not they’ll make it to their final destination.

I should state that I do get that the movie essentially wants me to follow this team of journalists and experience their story. While I liked the characters, I didn’t really care for what I thought was a rather generic “been there, done that” dystopian.

Cars piled up and rusted along the major roads? Check. Burned out towns? Check. Soldiers doing shitty things just cause? Check. A government on the brink of or going through a major collapse? Check. Seriously, the only thing missing were the zombies, replaced here with bad people doing bad things.

Garland wanted to create a bleak and unforgiving world. He maybe even wanted to comment on the current state of our divided political society. Hell, maybe he didn’t want to say anything at all. Instead, he created a generic dystopian film that doesn’t really add anything else to the formula. 

It’s a movie that had a lot of promise but ultimately just doesn’t work.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'The First Omen'

'The First Omen' (2024)

READ THE FULL REVIEW BELOW THE RATINGS!

In “The First Omen”, Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) has arrived in Rome in 1971 to work at an orphanage. She is also a novitiate, set to become a nun in the Catholic Church. Soon, she meets Carlita Scianna (Nicole Sorace), a troubled girl that the nuns keep a particularly strict eye on but Margaret becomes close to Carlita and wants to discover why they’re being so strict with Carlita.

Then, a priest named Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson here and Patrick Troughton in the first movie) comes to warn her that a great evil is coming and it feels like it is surrounding Carlita. Margaret soon finds herself having to figure out a grand conspiracy that is set to bring the ultimate evil into the world.

Okay, so first I’ll note the movie’s biggest criticisms. Number one, it does take its time to get going and can be a bit of a slow burn in the first half. I was enjoying what I was seeing but could also see that maybe they could have trimmed this movie down a bit in order to make a tighter movie.

Margaret and Carlita are looking at something ominous in 'The First Omen'.

Secondly, it suffers from what I like to call “Prequel Syndrome”. We know where this movie has to go and we know what its ultimate destination is. When certain characters showed up, I couldn’t help but immediately think, “Well, that person isn’t dying.” That can take a little bit of the bite out of the story.

On the flipside of that, though, the writers did a good job with the story and you’re more into seeing the journey rather than the final destination. The writers also do a good job of staying true to the original film and what it had already established. The movie’s biggest goal was to expand more upon the conspiracy that was mostly only hinted at in the first movie and on that level, they mostly succeeded.

The good news is that when the movie truly gets moving, it goes for it. There are some genuine jump scares and the tone is just right for a movie set in “The Omen” series. If you’re a fan of the first movie, I believe you’ll enjoy how they expanded upon this world.

Now, if anyone remembers the first movie, you know that the movie contains more than a few notable kills. I mean, everyone remembers the famous scene where Damien's nanny jumps to her death and hangs herself outside the Thorns' house while exclaiming, "Look at me, Damien! It's all for you!" Well, this movie has a few memorable deaths in it as well.

I will say that there were one or two deaths that tried to replicate and even one up the deaths from the original movie. That was a little too "wink-wink" for me, but they were well executed nevertheless.

The cast is also great, especially Free and Ineson as Margaret and Brennan. Margaret feels like a genuine character with a genuine past and a genuine story. Free is also able to handle the various twists and turns that they take with her character pretty much flawlessly.

Ineson does a great job recreating the essence of what Troughton did in the original film, but in his own way. It’s not just a simple impression of another actor’s performance. The moment he hit the screen, I recognized him as Father Brennan and ran with it. He also has the luxury of playing a younger version of Brennan before the character completely lost his mind trying to warn others of the impending doom.

The movie may take its time a little bit in the first half and it is a prequel with a set destination. However, it’s a damn sight better than any of the other films that followed up “The Omen”. It has a genuine story, performances, and most importantly the scares to back it up. “The First Omen” is a solid horror flick that does the original proud.

70 YEARS OF GODZILLA! - 'Godzilla 2000' (1999)

'Godzilla 2000' (1999)

REVIEW BELOW THE RATING!

NOTE: For this review, I watched the American dubbed version of “Godzilla 2000” that was released by Tri-Star.

In “Godzilla 2000”, things kick start right away with Godzilla returning to terrorize Tokyo once more. Also, this movie started the “Millennium” era, named that due to the fact that the movie was called “Godzilla 2000: Millennium in Japan. It was a series of films that was largely noted for ignoring the events of all preceding Godzilla films aside from the 1954 original.

While Godzilla is also terrorizing the good people of Japan, the group called the Crisis Control Intelligence (CCI) has uncovered a meteor that is millions of years old under the ocean. When they try to lift it up to the surface, it suddenly comes to life and it is revealed to be an ancient spaceship/lifeform.

When the ship, known as Orga, senses Godzilla… well… you know what happens then.

The main protagonist of the movie is Yuji Shinoda (Takehiro Murata), a man who runs his own Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN), something that he runs with his daughter Io Shinoda (Mayu Suzuki). They also have Yuki Ichinose (Naomi Nishida), a freelance photographer that’s trying to get good photos of Godzilla for the paper she works for. Shinoda feels that Godzilla is a force of nature that should be contained but also protected and studied. 

Godzilla returned to terrorize Tokyo again in 'Godzilla 2000'!

The antagonist is Mitsuo Katagiri (Hiroshi Abe), the head of CCI who thinks that Godzilla should be destroyed. I will say that Shinoda is clearly the good guy as Mitsuo is more than a bit over-the-top with his menacing demeanor. I think it would have been better had there been two protagonists who disagreed with how to deal with Godzilla and that would have led to more genuine drama.

My only other problem with the movie is that Orga is not really a memorable monster. It’s just a monster that is there for Godzilla to fight because at this point in the series, Godzilla had to fight something.

Beyond those minor complaints, though, I actually found that I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. Now, of course the suitmation and other effects are dated as hell and if you can’t get over that, then why are you watching this movie to begin with? For me, though, the dated effects and the old school suits add to the movie’s charm and you know you’re watching a classic Godzilla film.

There are primarily two fights in the movie between Godzilla and Orga and it’s actually quite impressive to see how far suitmation had come along by the end of the 20th century. I also found that I really enjoyed the characters, particularly the trio of Yuji, Io, and Yuki as they feel like a solid trio that support each other even if they sometimes annoy each other.

At the end of the day, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Aside from a laughably over-the-top human villain and a forgetful monster for Godzilla to face, I enjoyed the old school effects, most of the characters, and most importantly, the monster fights and destruction!