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.