Fighter (2024)

Fighter (2024). Saw this moving pop up on my Netflix account with a label of "Newly Added." I thought I'd give it a try.

I was a little hesitant because I thought it was a movie I'd have to watch with subtitles, mainly because I wasn't prepared to watch a movie where I had to read subtitles, but I thought I'd give it a brief start to see if it was just parts or the whole movie requiring subtitles.

So, I'm here to tell you that the movie can be watched in mostly English audio with the occasional India (I think) dialect spoken but with subtitles so you can understand what is said.

Almost immediately into watching, I got the vibe of watching the India version of Top Gun. You have all these pilots who were chosen and summoned to a flight school for special "extra" training for some possible upcoming missions. "Practice, practice, practice" as the flight school captain/man-in-charge says. You have the ace pilot with an ego who you eventually find out has some baggage from a tragedy having to do with flying. You have the group of pilots who are supposed bond so they can work better as a team. They all seemingly arrived on motorcycles to the flight school...because you know motorcycles and pilots always go together. You have the ace pilot and a potential love interest who have a banter that turns into an attraction. You have the ace pilot fail the first training mission because of his ego.

I think you get the picture.

In between all this "action and drama," you will be graced with a couple of Bollywood performances. At first, I didn't know if they were actually singing with the music but they were definitely dancing. After the second Bollywood-type moment, they were definitely singing and dancing.

FINAL VERDICT: Overall, the movie wasn't too bad. I think people will find it somewhat enjoyable. The plot wasn't original and the acting wasn't stellar but I've seen some mainstream movies with well-known actors that I'd consider to be about equal with this one or even worse. If you got some time to kill, you might give this movie a watch especially if you already have Netflix as it's "free." 

American Fiction (2023)

American Fiction (2023). I originally did not know what this movie was about. I ran across it on some website, read the synopsis and thought it sounded somewhat interesting. I also saw it starred Jeffrey Wright who I recognize from one of the Hunger Games movies and also Westworld on HBO.

During and after watching, I thought this movie was pretty interesting. I think there is a movie with maybe a vaguely similar story line but I can't really think of it off the top of my head.

The acting was good and I never felt bored or that the movie was drawn out while watching. 

I also watched this movie before I realized it was nominated for some Oscars. Again, I thought the screenplay was creative and the characters were interesting. 

FINAL VERDICT: It would be well worth your time to watch this movie. I do not think anyone who watched it would be disappointed or have "watcher's regret."

Cult Killer (2024)

Cult Killer (2024). I saw this movie while perusing a movie list and thought it might be worth watching since it had Antonio Banderas in it. In my opinion, he's never really been in a horrible movie. For me, all the ones I've seen with him as a "major" character have been watchable and I didn't really regret the time used for watching. It also has Alice Eve as a lead character. That's probably about all who would be easily recognizable.

The concept of the movie is pretty similar to other films in this type of genre. This wasn't a fast-paced movie but it also didn't drag. There was no real over-the-top action or scenes in general.

There was a section near the end of the movie that was out of character or out of the M.O. for the 'antagonist' (IMO) which helped lead to some drama for the ending. I could see this coming a mile away and it literally made me call bullshit. Again, unnecessary in my opinion but maybe the writer/director was like, "Oh shit, the movie's getting long so I need to an ending" clip, clop, stomp "Here it is." So anyway...

FINAL VERDICT: Unless you catch this for "free" on streaming, you can probably pass on this movie. It wasn't horrible but it also didn't make me want to tell people they need to give it a watch.

Wanted Man (2024)

Wanted Man (2024). This movie "stars" Dolph Lundgren with supporting cast of Kelsey Grammer, Michael Pare and a few "unknowns" actors.

I went into this movie knowing it probably wasn't the highest caliber of cinematography or acting but in all truth it really wasn't too bad.  I mean it's based on a storyline, script or whatever that's already been done at least half a dozen times or more.  There are moments of action and storytelling along with this and that which makes a movie decent enough.

Of course there were parts where I was like "WTF?" or "That would never happen like that" or whatever the case may be.  I had to remind myself that it's not real, it's a movie so let these things slide.  However, it just chaps my hide sometimes when movie makers do things in movies that are based on reality but are way off base in the movie.  Like when guns in movies have unlimited ammo and no one ever has to reload or reloads after firing a hundred rounds from a 30-round clip.  Another is when a person hides behind a 1/4 inch thick plywood as protection from rounds of a 9MM Baretta, Glock 45 or AR-15-style rifle.  Anyway, I digress.

FINAL VERDICT:  If you can catch this on a streaming service you already pay for or find it for free somewhere, it might be worth a watch.  I've seen better but I've also seen much worse that even had bigger name actors in it.  Of course, you won't miss out on anything if you don't watch it as I previously mentioned the storyline is the same or similar as many other movies.

Rob Schneider: Woke Up In America (2023)

Rob Schneider: Woke Up In America (2023). I must say that I kind of went into watching this with a predetermined expectation of this is going to suck and all he's going to do is bash Democrats, Liberals and the like. I mean you have to admit that the title leads one to believe this would be so. While he didn't spend 100% of the time on this, he did spend quite a bit on it.

I am open minded and am not offended by this kind of one-sided bashing. But it's got to be funny. Most of Rob's material wasn't really funny. The audience laughed here and there but that's the type of audience he had. They were 98% white people in Tampa Bay, Florida so if he were to say repeatedly, "Liberals suck, pandemic scamdemic and trump" they would laugh like he actually said something really funny.

He called himself some kind of liberal but said he voted for trump. He also said he knew the guy (trump) as they were in a movie together: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Which I do recall trump being in it a little as they were in the trump hotel. I just don't recall Rob being in it. Anyway, he said he didn't really talk to trump, hang out with trump or much of anything but he "knows" trump. So knowing trump in this capacity and so well, he voted for him in 2026.

There was a bit where he mentioned good for the LGBTQ for getting 'rights' and such but they got an entire gay pride month. He was like but there's just Veteran's Day, Memorial Day and President's Day. His ignorance shows through as the difference is there is no official "holiday" for Pride Month. It is not recognized as a govermental holiday. The three previously mentioned "Days" are official government holidays where people, particularly government employees, get days off.

FINAL VERDICT: This is a hard pass unless you have time to waist and you like suffering through boredom. As per usual, I suffered so you don't have to. It had it's moments like just a handful. He wasn't totally on the stupid anti-woke machine, just mostly, and he did do a lot of material on it to pander to his audience. What it did show is that he's now a has-been comedian who wanted to jump on the anti-woke train to sell tickets and make money because, as he correctly stated, he has been in any Adam Sandler movies lately! He is smart enough to know how to play to a specific base of people. Hence, why he had the show in Tampa Bay. And there is a reason why it was released on Fox Nation because they have no experience in broadcasting quality programming. Just spreading lies and propaganda. Anyway, watch if you really want to but I'm pretty sure you won't find much of it entertaining or funny.

Roseanne Barr: Cancel This This! (2023)

Roseanne Barr: Cancel This (2023). I came across this show a few weeks ago and just got around to watching it. I was cautiously optimistic that she would be entertaining although I don't recall ever seeing her previoulsy do a stand-up show. I think I've only ever seen her in "Roseanne" the TV series and maybe the occasional-but-rare movie part.

So first off, her voice is still as annoying as ever but the environment like in her TV series was not present to help lead people to thinking this is part of her character she's playing. I feel like she pushed the annoyingness of her voice to push her agenda and negative feelings of what happened to her BECAUSE OF HER!

Overall, she sounded like a disgruntled, bitter person. There was NO real humor in her bit. Everything was full of vitriol, disgust and anger. She made fun of her children because they disagreed with her actions and some of her beliefs. Rightly so as far as I can tell.

While the show was in Houston, the audience seemed lackluster at best. There was some occasional cheering but hardly ANY laughter. At times, I almost felt like a laugh track was added because there were moments when the audience could be seen looking bored, confused and unentertained. However, there would be sounds of laughter but the audiences faces did not reflect this.

Once the show ended, I saw it was featured on Fox Nation. She did mention Fox early on about how they approached her to do the show but it did not click with me until I saw the Fox Nation logo. It looked just like the Fox News logo graphic. That's when I realized why it was full of hate, anger and stupid as well as not being funny. Fox does not give a shit about quality but wants to "push the buttons" of the weak-minded people that believe Fox is real news/TV.

Anyway, I will leave with this quote from another review on IMBD as they stated exactly what I think. I figured they already wrote it so I'll share it.

"... I think the best comedy is often politically charged and offensive to a lot of people. But the best comedy is also ... well ... funny and that's what's really lacking here. Even in front of a Texas audience, which should be her audience, there was very little laughter. There's lots of cheering at any mention of Texas or Fox News, and booing at any mention libtards and Hillary Clinton, but the jokes mostly land flat. When they pan the audience there's women who actually look like they're crying.

There's obviously a disconnect from her core audience at this point. She'll take shots at the rich elite and then make jokes about her Tesla. When she first mentions theTesla, the audience is completely silent while she waits for a reaction. Again, lots of cheering when she bashes trans people, the me too movement, how children need to be hit more, etc. But only an occasional smattering of laughter from the audience. As the material gets more disturbing, even the Texas audience gets quieter and quieter.

The biggest laugh comes with a joke that starts "When I was alive..." and that pretty much sums up the night.

I have to give her credit for getting out there again and doing what she loves. She's over seventy, she's lost weight and she's never made any effort to change who she is. The thing is, most people do change, and become better people over time and the times have definitely changed. Not sure if there's a place for comedy that makes angry people cheer, but doesn't make anyone laugh.

FINAL VERDICT: Hard pass! Regardless of her ignorance in basically everything in life, I cannot recommend this. It just wasn't funny at all. If you are a glutten for real pain and suffering, then maybe you can watch this. I perservered just because it's my duty as a reviewer of things. But I cannot stress how non-entertaining it was!

Spencer (2021)

Spencer (2021). Finally got around to watching this movie today. It just didn't seem like a greatly entertaining movie so I kept avoiding it to watch other mindless and a bit more entertaining (most times) movies. But I finally decided to focus and get this movie off my list.

For me, it was very slow and took a lot of power to maintain focus to even watch much less finish the movie. In all truth, I ended up watching this movie over a few days spread throughout a week or so.

There were moments of good where one was able to see the kind of 'anti-establishment' person Diana kind of was. It also did a good job showing that she seemed unhappy and miserable (at least that's what I got from the scenes).

But again, as I mentioned, it was very difficult to want to continue to watch this movie as it just dragged on and on.

FINAL VERDICT: I cannot recommend this movie. Some people may find the portrayal of Diana good, accurate or whatever but it was just tedious and taxing to watch.