Category: Movies

“Samaritan” (2022) Starring Sly Stallone / Z-View

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Samaritan (2022)

Director:  Julius Avery

Screenplay by:  Bragi F. Schut

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco, Sophia Tatum, Moises Arias, Martin Starr and Jared Odrick

Tagline:  25 Years Ago the World’s Greatest Hero Vanished

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Sam (Walton) is a thirteen year old who lives with his single-parent mother (Polanco) in an apartment in a rough part of Granite City.  Sam’s a latchkey kid since his mom has to put in a lot of hours at work.  Sam spends a good deal of his time researching Samaritan.  Samaritan was a superhero believed to have died twenty-five years ago along with the villainous Nemesis (who happened to be his twin brother!). while they were fighting in a burning building.

Sam has come to think that Joe (Stallone), a garbage man who lives in an apartment across the street is Samaritan!  Despite the mounting evidence, Joe denies he’s the missing superhero.  As Sam comes home one day, some gangbangers jump and begin beating him.  Joe rushes to the rescue, displaying super strength as he runs off the thugs.  Now Sam and Joe are in the sights of the gang led by Cyrus ( Asbæk)… who plan to kill the old man…

Sly Stallone is back!  He’s excellent in the role of Joe/Samaritan and supported by a well-cast group of actors.  Javon Walton is extremely likeable in the role of Sam.  Often child actors have a hard time finding the balance of cute and instead come off annoying.  That’s not the case with Walton.  I expect big things from him in the future.  Pilou Asbæk, Dascha Polanco and Sophia Tatum are also excellent. Asbæk is a great bad guy.  I’d love to see him play an anti-hero in the future.  Polanco and Tatum aren’t given a lot to do, but when they’re on screen all eyes are on them.  I hope to see more leading parts for them in the future.  I enjoyed Julius Avery’s direction.  He’s not flashy, but puts the camera in the right place to maximize drama and/or action.

If you’ve seen the Samaritan trailers, there’s a dialogue change from the trailer to the film which is great for a surprising laugh.  Joe is hit by a car and left mangled in the street, he starts starts to heal and in the trailer Sam asks, “Are you okay?” Joe responds (in pain), “I’m cool.”  In the film the same set-up but this time Joe’s response is, “F*** no.”  I burst out laughing.  That was well-played.

There’s a twist in the film that happens near the end.  I won’t give it away, but will say I absolutely did not see that coming.  I loved it.  The twist took the story up a notch.  As to the Samaritan story itself, some folks are complaining it’s too simple.  I agree, it is simple, but let’s not lose sight that Samaritan is modern day mythology.

Samaritan is a tale of good vs evil.  Another theme is that good and evil live can live in each of us and we have to decide which way we will go.  If you’re okay with a story about super-heroes who happen to be twins… with one being good and the other being evil… that takes place in a town called Granite City… and a young boy who is searching for the missing hero and finds him living basically next door… and the missing super hero now has a job as a garbage man (a person who cleans up the city) but you want a more complex tale, you may be missing the point of the modern mythology that is being created.  Or Samaritan may not be for you.

As for me, I loved the ride.  At first I thought Samaritan would be a movie best loved by younger kids.  But later in the film, it gets darker and then there’s the twist.  I still think teenagers and adults open to this newly created mythology will enjoy Samaritan.  If I was going to pick any nits, it would be the fire cgi used in the extended fight scene at the end.  But why nitpick when Samaritan is such a fun time.  I hope to see a sequel — it certainly opens the door for more movies or a tv series.

Samaritan earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Machine Gun Kelly” (1958) Starring Charles Bronson / Z-View

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Machine Gun Kelly (1958)

Director: Roger Corman

Screenplay by:  R. Wright Campbell

Starring: Charles Bronson, Susan Cabot, Morey Amsterdam and Richard Devon

Tagline:  Without His Gun He Was Naked Yellow!

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Charles Bronson, in his first starring role, plays Machine Gun Kelly in this fictionalized account of the gangster’s exploits.  Machine Gun Kelly was also the first gangster film directed by Roger Corman and the film that Corman said began to get him respect as a filmmaker.  It was also the first feature film for Morey Amsterdam, who plays the flamboyant Fandango.

Machine Gun Kelly isn’t bad for a low-budget film shot in just eight days.  Reviews were generally good.  There is one unintentionally funny scene that I call Fandango the Escape Artist Who Brought Down Machine Gun Kelly.  If you’re a Charles Bronson fan, it’s definitely worth a watch.

Machine Gun Kelly earns 2 of 5 stars.

“SECTION 8” Starring Kwanten, Lundgren, Mulroney, Adkins, Rourke – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Section 8 has a cast, plot, poster and trailer that has me sold.  Deal me in!

After avenging the murder of his wife and child, a former soldier (Ryan Kwanten) is sent to prison with a life sentence. He’s given a shot at freedom when a shadowy government agency recruits him for an off-the-books assignment. He soon realizes Section 8 isn’t what it seems.

Starring Ryan Kwanten, Dolph Lundgren, Dermot Mulroney, Scott Adkins and Mickey Rourke
Directed by Christian Sesma

“100 Rifles” (1969) Starring Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds / Z-View

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100 Rifles (1969)

Director: Tom Gries

Screenplay by: Clair Huffaker, Tom Gries based on The Californio by Robert MacLeod

Starring: Jim Brown, Raquel Welch, Burt Reynolds, Fernando Lamas, Dan O’Herlihy andHans Gudegast (aka Eric Braeden)

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Joe (Reynolds), robbed a US bank and used the money to purchase 100 rifles which will be used by Yaquis to fight the Mexican army led by General Verdugo (Lamas).  Sheriff Lyedecker (Brown) tracks Joe to Mexico and finally catches up to him in a small Mexican town.  General Verdugo learns of the rifles and thinks Joe and Lyedecker are partners, so he sentences them to death by firing squad!  They escape and join Sarita (Welch) and other Mexican revolutionaries.  But the Mexican army is close behind…

Any movie with Jim Brown, Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds should rate at least three stars.  100 Rifles is the exception to the rule.  The movie lacks real tension.  We see a bit of Reynolds’ loveable rogue film persona, but since he’s the third billed actor there’s not enough to save the film.  Brown and Welch are the stars, but together they lack chemistry.  Their love scenes don’t feel sexy which is surprising since they were two of the hottest sex symbols of that time.  Tom Gries is a competent director who did most of his work in television and quite often 100 Rifles feels like a movie made for tv.

100 Rifles earns 2 of 5 stars.

Samaritan: JoBlo Interviews Pilou Asbæk PLUS Sylvester Stallone On Playing A Superhero!

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Exclusively streaming on Amazon Prime Video starting on August 26, Samaritan is a gritty superhero flick that sees Stallone playing Joe Smith, formerly the Samaritan, a super-powered vigilante thought to have died years ago, hiding in plain sight as a normal everyday guy, but is forced to come out of retirement due to crime on the rise! And we here at Joblo are excited to sit down with Pilou Asbæk for an EXCLUSIVE interview, while the great Sylvester Stallone weighs in on his first superhero movie!

The Stolen Jools (1931) / Z-View

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The Stolen Jools (1931)

Director: William C. McGann, John G. Adolfi (uncredited), Thomas Atkins (uncredited)

Screenplay by:  (All uncredited) Al Boasberg, Edwin J. Burke, Arthur Caesar, George Arthur Gray, Howard J. Green, Harrison Greene, Percy Heath, Carlisle Jones, Harry Myers, E.K. Nadel, Edgar Allan Woolf

Starring: Wallace Beery, Buster Keaton, Edward G. Robinson, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, Our Gang: Farina, Stymie, Chubby, Mary Ann Jackson, Shirley Jean Rickert, Echo, Wheezer, Pete the Pup, Norma Shearer, Hedda Hopper, Joan Crawford, Victor McLaglen, Irene Dunne, Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Richard Dix, Gary Cooper, Maurice Chevalier, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Loretta Young, Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Fay, Jack Oakie, Fay Wray, George “Gabby” Hayes, Mitzi Green and Joe E. Brown

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

The Stolen Jools is a comedy short co-sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes and used to raise money for the National Variety Artists tuberculosis sanatorium.  The Stolen Jools was distributed by Paramount Pictures but featured movie stars from Paramount, Warner Bros., MGM, Hal Roach Studios and RKO.  After each showing of the short, a theater worker would explain the charity involved and collect donations from those in attendance.

The plot of The Stolen Jools is that Norma Shearer had a huge Hollywood party and afterward her valuable jewels came up missing.  A detective is questioning stars who were there in short comedic scenes.  I love seeing all the star cameos.  I wish we had shorts like this these days — especially to raise money for good causes!

The Stolen Jools earns 5 of 5 stars.

You Were Never Really Here (2017) / Z-View

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You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Director:  Lynne Ramsay

Screenplay by:  Lynne Ramsay based on the novella by Jonathan Ames

Starring:  Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts and Ekaterina Samsonov

Tagline:  Bring the hammer.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Joe (Phoenix) is ex-FBI and ex-military.  He suffers from post traumatic stress disorder due to an abusive childhood, as well as his FBI and military experiences.  Joe lives with and takes care of his elderly mother.  These days Joe makes his living brutally righting wrongs.

Joe is hired by a state senator to rescue his daughter, Nina, from the upscale brothel where she is being pimped out. Joe gains entry, killing security guards and men patronizing the underage girls.  He finds Nina and makes it back to the hotel where he is to meet Nina’s father.

While waiting for her dad, they see on the news that her father apparently committed suicide!  Suddenly two men bust in.  One grabs Nina and takes off, while the other attempts to kill Joe.  Joe is wounded, but kills the man.   Joe makes his way home to find his mother murdered and two assassins waiting for him…

You Were Never Really Here might sound like a typical action film where a hero overcomes his personal demons and overwhelming odds to win the day, but it is far from that.  Ramsey takes her time using Phoenix’s acting, quick cut flashbacks, sounds and music to emphasize his trauma.  I liked You Were Never Really Here, as did audiences and reviewers.  I almost gave it 4 of 5 stars, but settled on 3.  You Were Never Really Here might be a film that grows on me.  If so, I’ll update my rating.  For now…

You Were Never Really Here earns 3 of 5 stars.

“Fuzz” (1972) Starring Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch / Z-View

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Fuzz (1972)

Director:  Richard A. Colla

Screenplay by:  Evan Hunter based on Fuzz by Ed McBain

Starring:  Burt Reynolds, Raquel Welch, Jack Weston, Tom Skerritt, James McEachin, Bert Remsen, Brian Doyle-Murray, Charles Martin Smith, Tamara Dobson and Yul Brynner.

Tagline:  Here Come The Fuzz

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Fuzz follows cases involving detectives of the 87th precinct.  Detective’s Carella (Reynolds) and King (Skerritt) are looking for whoever is setting bums on fire.  Detective McHenry (Welch) is after a serial rapist.  There’s also a string of robberies in the precinct that has their attention.  Those cases lose their priority when city officials start getting murdered.  All of the 87th precinct’s detectives must work together to find The Deaf Man before he kills again.

Fuzz is supposed to be a comedy.  Sadly most of the humor derives from making the detectives look incompetent.  The scenes in the precinct house reminded me of a bad, bad imitation of Barney Miller, except without the interesting characters and funny jokes.  Check out the poster for Fuzz and if you think it’s bad, you can imagine the movie.  Burt Reynolds and Raquel Welch co-star, but she refused to have any interactions on screen with him due to problems on a previous film!

Fuzz earns 2 of 5 stars.

Prey (2022) / Z-View

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Prey (2022)

Director:  Dan Trachtenberg

Screenplay by:  Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg based on characters created by Jim Thomas, John Thomas

Starring:  Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers and Dane DiLiegro

Tagline:  None

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

The year is 1719.  When a Comanche warrior is attacked by a mountain lion, Taabe (Beaver) leads a group of braves to attempt rescue. Naru (Midthunder), Taabe’s sister is allowed to join the men since she has been trained in healing herbs.  They find the wounded warrior along with tracks of a unknown beast.  The prints are  big as a bear’s but different.

When the others return to their village, Naru stays behind to track the beast.  She soon discovers that something new is in the forest.  It is a Predator!  Naru sees it kill a bear.  The Predator is a hunter and humans are now the prey!

Prey is an excellent and worthy addition to the Predator franchise.  The screenplay by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg avoids being preachy while at the same time is respectful of the Comanche culture with a female lead.

Dan Trachtenberg’s last film was 10 Cloverfield Lane, a sequel different from the original, yet fit perfectly into the franchise.  Trachtenberg has captured lighting in a bottle, by again creating a sequel different from the original, yet a perfect franchise fit.  I can see Prey serving as a springboard for future Predator movies set in different time periods.  Imagine a Predator/samurai film, or a Predator/gladiator movie, or… well, you get the idea.  I hope we don’t have to wait as long for Trachtenberg’s next feature.

Amber Midthunder excels in her role as Naru.  She is able to effectively portray the range of emotions required as well as the athletic exploits of an action star.  I look forward to seeing what Midthunder does next.

Prey is exciting and lives up to it’s potential.  There were quite a few folks writing the film off even before the first scene was shot.  I love that Prey turned out to be surprisingly good.  Some even think it better than the original with Arnold Schwarzenegger.  While I’m not in that camp, I did really like Prey and figure I may like it even more on subsequent viewings.  For now…

Prey earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Parlor, Bedroom and Bath” (1931) / Z-View

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Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931)

Director:  Edward Sedgwick

Screenplay by:  C.W. Bell, Mark Swan and Robert E. Hopkins (additional dialogue)

Starring:  Buster Keaton, Charlotte Greenwood, Reginald Denny, Cliff Edwards, Dorothy Christy, Sally Eilers and Edward Brophy

Tagline:   You’ve seen great lovers of the screen- but you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Buster Keaton doing his stuff- a dozen sweethearts- and every one landed him in more trouble.

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Jeffrey (Denny) wants to marry Gini (Eilers), but Gini refuses until her older sister, Angelica (Christy) marries.  The problem is no man is exciting enough for Angelica.

When Jeffrey accidentally injures mild-mannered Reggie (Keaton), Jeffrey brings Reggie back to the mansion to recuperate.   Angelica thinks Reggie is handsome and that gives Jeffrey an idea.  He will pass Reggie off as a dashing ladies man.  This turns out to be harder than first thought.  Reggie is not only timid around ladies, he’s totally inexperienced with dating them.

So Jeffrey gets one of his lady friends to spread the word about Reggie’s prowess.  Jeffrey then reserves a hotel room where Reggie will be “caught” with a woman and a jealous Angelica will want to marry him.  That’s the plan.  Poor Reggie ends up on the run with multiple women, a jealous husband, a hotel detective and bellmen after him.  If you enjoy farce and/or Buster Keaton, you should get a kick out of Parlor, Bedroom and Bath!

Parlor, Bedroom and Bath earns 4 of 5 stars.

Day Shift (2022) Starring Jamie Foxx / Z-View

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Day Shift (2022)

Director:  J.J. Perry

Screenplay by:  Tyler Tice, Shay Hatten from a story by Tyler Tice

Starring: 
Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Oliver Masucci, Snoop Dogg  and Zion Broadnax

Tagline:  Some Jobs Really Go for the Throat

The Overview:  Beware of spoilers…

Bud Jablonski (Foxx) is separated from his wife who plans to move to Florida with their little girl due to mounting bills.  Bud convinces his wife to give him until the end of the week to raise the needed several thousand dollars.  She agrees.

Although his wife thinks he’s a pool cleaner, Bud is actually a vampire killer.  The trouble is, Bud was kicked out of the vampire-killing union due to multiple rules violations.  In order to get a chance at raising the kind of money he needs, Bud gets Big John Elliott (Snoop Dogg), a legendary vampire killer, to vouch for him and is reinstated in the union.  In order to make sure that Bud follows the rules, he’s paired with a nervous union desk clerk (Franco) with no field experience.  Now all Bud has to do is kill enough vampires to raise the needed cash — little does Bud know that a vampire queen has him and his family in her sights.

If you’ve read this far, you might enjoy Day Shift.  It has it’s moments, but is so far from reality that there’s little tension.  We never really fear for the deaths of any of the stars, and when we’re surprised that one does die, the post credits scene reveals what we thought happened, didn’t.  The lack of tension would be okay if the comedy really hit home, but again, there are moments but not enough to make it a laugh fest.  My favorite scenes involved the Nazarian brothers (Howey and Adkins) who are vampire hunters extraordinaire.  Day Shift isn’t terrible, but I was expecting better.

Day Shift earns 2 of 5 stars.