absolutebadasses

A covert team of immortal mercenaries are suddenly exposed and must now fight to keep their identity a secret just as an unexpected new member is discovered – I’m always excited to see a new action movie, especially one that’s based on a graphic novel with such a cool premise…. I’ve not read the novels so I went in blind and was pleasently surprised by the overall darkness of Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s THE OLD GUARD – obviously we all know about the action prowess of the Fury Road star Charlize Theron playing Andy the leader of the Immortals, her action scenes are without doubt the best bits in the movie but I also enjoyed watching the emergence of KiKi Layne ACTION STAR her screen time especially opposite Theron as Nile were fun to watch, the plane fight scene between the two being a definite highlight – the style of the action and the films flashbacks as we discover more about the team and Andy’s friendship with fellow warrior Quynh were exciting, Chiwetel Ejiofor was his usual high standard taking on the role of Copley and I was also impressed with Harry Melling’s villainous turn as Merrick, not that I should have been surprised as the Harry Potter star is also very good in the Coens The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Overall The Old Guard is an enjoyable action romp, yes I’ve seen better but the director’s vision and exciting style in this genre has given me hope that a sequel led by Gina Prince-Bythewood would be something I would look forward too ★★★½

A young couple having trouble with their relationship take a trip to the families Beach House only to find their getaway turns into a struggle for survival – Jeffrey A Brown directorial debut THE BEACH HOUSE is my kind of movie jam, a slow burning chiller with enough going on to keep you interested and then WHAM BAM all shit rains down – It’s impressive how Brown keeps everything so damn eerie, from those opening 10mins to the final ten you really are biting your fingernails and sat on the edge of your seat in anticipation at what’s coming next, the drug induced scene is freaky in an almost uncomfortable sort of way and that cellar and beach scene messes with your mind – However the real payoff with The Beach House is that you have no idea how it’s all going to play out and more importantly what the actually shit is going really going on…. from Jeffrey Brown’s original story, it’s idealic yet sinister location but most of all Liana Liberato & Noah Le Gros innocence & fear driven performances make this one helluva trippy, atmospheric ride and a delicous horror gem that I’d highly recommend ★★★★

Joe a trucker who’s pretty down on his luck meets a mother who can contact spirits whilst suffocating – NICOLAS CAGE is the most charasmatic, entertaining actor out there, he loves dipping his toes in the odd blockbuster but equally the guy loves to star in low budget thrillers that pay the bills, keeps him busy and helps young interesting filmmakers get their films seen by a bigger audience – the latest of these is Maria Pulera’s BETWEEN WORLDS a rather Lynch-esque thriller that’s weird yet engaging and has elements of the supernatural and is strangely erotic whilst showcasing the infamous Cage meltdown that’s still bloody great to watch – I loved the film’s story and little homages to Twin Peaks & David Lynch in general and it’s cast including the exciting German actress Franka Potente & the sexy Aussie Penelope Mitchell give exciting performances alongside the outrageous and at times out of control Nicolas Cage – Overall Between Worlds is certainly worth a watch, especially if like me you love the genre, the trashy at times low budget feel and of course CAGE who in my eye’s is always worth 90mins of ones time ★★★½

Here’s 3 great Behind the Scene shots from 1968’s Once Upon a Time in the West – Directed by Sergio Leone and stars : Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards & Woody Strode : A mysterious stranger with a harmonica teams up with a notorious gunslinger to protect a beautiful widow from a ruthless assassin working for the railroad in the old west : The late great Ennio Morricone composed the musical score and it’s one his finest in my opinion.

Just revisited the Director’s Cut of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and it’s one of those movies that has grown on me over the years, it’s a remarkable, entertaining and thought provoking epic and THANK the gods that Ridley gave us this 3hr plus definitive cut of his 2005 movie – It’s story is richer, characters more defined and the film’s battle scenes have a much bigger impact on the picture as a whole – If you own the theatrical version then throw it in the trash, go out and buy the extended cut of Kingdom of Heaven and treat yourself to a rewarding rewatch, it’s an overlooked gem that’s certainly amongst the top tier of Ridley Scott’s magnificent cinematic library ★★★★½

Trespass (1992) – Movie Thoughts

Posted by absolutebadasses on July 4, 2020

Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews. Tagged: art evans, back to the future, Bill Paxton, bob gale, de'voreaux white, film blog, film rewatch, gang warefare, ICE CUBE, ICE T, like, love, movie poster, photos, robert zemeckis, treasure hunt, Trespass 1992, Trespass movie, walter hill, William Sadler. Leave a comment

Revisited one of Walter Hill’s lesser known movies 1992’s TRESPASS – made for $14 Million and written by the Back to the Future pair of Gale & Zemeckis – I absolutley loved the film’s pace, it’s raw & gritty premise but most of all I LOVED watching Bill Paxton & William Sadler going to work against the ICE duo of Cube & T – the film is set in a deserted warehouse and is somewhat a treasure hunt mixed with a bit of gang warfare, it’s pretty relentless and a bit of Die Hard reunion with the already mentioned William Sadler (Colonel Stuart in Die Hard 2), De’voreaux White (the Limo driver from the first movie) and the wonderful Art Evans (the air traffic controller in Die Hard’s sequel) all of course contribute highly to the movie’s overall story – So if like me you love Walter Hill and his style of no-nonsense filmmaking or you just want to reminisce in the presence of the great and much missed Bill Paxton then Trespass is for you ★★★★

Olivia De Havilland – Happy 104th Birthday

Posted by absolutebadasses on July 1, 2020

Posted in: Views. Tagged: academy awards, happy birthday olivia de havilland, joan fontaine, movies, olivia de havilland, oscar winner, silver screen. Leave a comment

Ian Holm (1931-2020)

Posted by absolutebadasses on June 19, 2020

Posted in: Views. Tagged: actor, alien 1979, ash, ash alien, bilbo baggins, bluray, chariots of fire, dvd, film blog, film franchise, films, IAN HOLM, ian holm rip, love films, movie website, movies, the hobbit, the lord of the rings. Leave a comment

The GREAT actor IAN HOLM has died aged 88 – what a wonderful, versatile performer Ian was – his roles such as Ash in ALIEN, Sam in CHARIOTS OF FIRE and Bilbo Baggins in THE LORD OF THE RINGS are all memorable, some are disturbing but all are pure cinema – he is an incredible actor to watch and truly one of the great actors of our time RIP

Becky (2020) – Movie Thoughts

Posted by absolutebadasses on June 15, 2020

Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews. Tagged: amanda brugel, becky, becky movie, Cary Murnion, cinema, dark comedy horror, film blog, film geek, film review, films, home invasion films, home invastion, horror, horror movies, joel mchale, Jonathan Milott, kevin james, like, love, love films, love movies, lulu wilson, lulu wilson horror icon, movie, movie website, photo, poster, scary films. Leave a comment

A teenager’s weekend at home with her dad takes a turn for the worse when a group of escaped convicts decide to interupt their plans – From the fab duo of Milott & Murnion who in 2014 gave us the insanely good Cooties comes their new horror picture BECKY a home invasion movie that will no doubt upset someone, somewhere at somepoint – There is no question that this film is the darkest of the the duo’s three movies to date, you get a nasty performance by Kevin James who plays a neo-nazi convict, some blood thirsty Home Alone style action scenes that’s not for the faint hearted, a real eye-catching moment during the film’s second half and the star of the show Lulu Wilson who is quite simply wonderful playing Becky this teenage girl who’s loss of her mother has hardened her mentally and given her this moody chip on her shoulder that serves her well in trying to survive – My only criticism is that the film runtime could have been slightly longer to allow a bit more characterization which would have helped explain Becky’s relationship or lack of with her father Jeff played by Joel Mchale BUT nevertheless the film is a credit to Milott & Murnion a real heart-stopper, a violent exciting horror thriller that I will no doubt revisit again and again ★★★★

Four African-American vets return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their friend and fallen Squad Leader and the gold he helped them hide – Back in 2013 after watching the Oldboy remake I honestly thought the great Spike Lee maybe past it, possibly spent as a filmmaker and only to be reveared for past glories…. In 2018 he delivered one of the best movies of that year in BlacKkKlansman and today in his first outing with Netflix Spike Lee has once again rolled back the years…. DA 5 BLOODS is not only an exceptional picture but it’s a timely history lesson that’s high on emotion, tense as a butt cheek in a landmine, a riverting adventure romp and one of Lee’s more violent and ambitious movie Joints to date – Rather than the deaging of actors (like Scorsese did in The Irishman) Spike Lee decided on a different and in my opinion more refreshing approach seeing the old guard play their younger selves in the film’s flashbacks which helped the film’s narrative and was exciting to watch, the music from the grand master Marvin Gaye, the message throughout of Love over Hate and shooting on location in Vietnam gave Da 5 Bloods it’s heartbeat…. and did I mention Delroy “Mother Fucking” Lindo in his fourth collaboration with Lee and in my opinion his best, Lindo’s character Paul is an all kinds of messed up, racist war vet that harbor’s a secret, his performance reminds me of Bogey in Sierra Madre as you watch his character slowly unravel in quite a devistating way – Overall there can be no doubt Spike Lee is back making film’s that connect with it’s audience in an entertaining, shocking yet relevant way ★★★★½

A famous writer finds inspiration for her next piece of work after she and her husband take in a young couple – Josephine Decker’s latest movie SHIRLEY is a riverting slice of hazy dreamlike filmmaking that I will need to rewatch several times as it’s that bloody good – the film’s atmospheric sound, it’s gorgeous closeups and facinating story by Susan Merrell makes this picture top notch viewing – the scenes between Michael Stuhlbarg & Elisabeth Moss are captivating & seem quite effortless but I have to say the star of SHIRLEY is Odessa Young who’s quite brilliant as Rose, those moments shared with Moss and Lerman set the tone of the story and it’s easily her best performance to date ★★★★

In the future and as a final response to crime the United States government plan to broadcast a signal making it impossible for anyone to knowingly commit unlawful acts – Oliver Megaton’s THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME is one cool, relevant and fucked up action movie led from the front by “ice for veins” Edgar Ramirez, “looney tune & totally unhinged” Michael Pitt and the “wired for sound kickass” Anna Brewster – at times the story is a little messy, but if your a fan of this French filmmaker and his stylized action movies then boy this one’s for you, it’s quite relentless, bonkers at times and it sure is an almighty fun way to spend 2hrs – leave your brain in isolation and enjoy the ride ★★★★

Capone (2020) – Movie Thoughts

Posted by absolutebadasses on May 13, 2020

Posted in: Movie Reviews, Reviews. Tagged: al capone, capone 2020, capone movie, cinema, film collection, gangsters in the movies, hollywood, josh trank, josh trank capone, Linda Cardellini, love films, Matt Dillon, movie, movie love, tom hardy. Leave a comment

After serving time in prison a 47-year old Al Capone starts suffering from dementia and is haunted by his violent past – Blurring his past with the present comes a facinating character study into one of the most evil gangsters of all time – Josh Trank’s CAPONE is an absorbing watch, with flashes of violence & brilliance that shows once again the might of Tom Hardy and the formidable work of Linda Cardellini – along with the film’s injection of black humor such as Capone’s fishing meltdown alongside Matt Dillon and the brilliant Tommy Gun scene you also get to feel quite sad for this monster as you watch his final moments decend into lunacy, incontinence and utter mayhem – My only criticism is that CAPONE felt 30mins too short, Trank could have delved further into Capone’s fascinating backstory, more carnage and maybe let the viewer discover a little more about his wife and best friend Mae Coughlin (maybe a prequel Josh?) but that being said the film is outstanding, well written and almost Kubrick in style and I for one can’t wait to revisit Capone many more times ★★★★½

Based on Peter Carey’s novel about the story of Australian Outlaw Ned Kelly and his gang of misfits as they tangle with the local fuzz during the 1870s – TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG is Justin Kurzel’s 4th feature film and from start to finish the film is harrowing stuff with it’s violence, harshness of the times depicted in brutal fashion by the Aussie filmmaker who broke onto the scene with his raw yet brilliant debut Snowtown back in 2011 – George MacKay, Russell Crowe and Orlando Schwerdt are terrific in the movie as is Charlie Hunnam and Nicholas Hoult both adding some menace to proceedings, and is there a better Aussie actress than Essie Davis at the moment? a totally committed, ballsey actress that has such a screen presense as she commits to her role 120% – Some of the movie was shot in the Winton Wetlands which I found such a perfect location lending to the movies haunting, barren yet majestic landscape – Kurzel’s movie is certainly not everybody’s cup of tea but it was mine and I would recommend the True History of The Kelly Gang to anyone who loves movies, I just hope it gets the exposure it deserves ★★★★

Kirk Douglas (1916-2020)

Posted by absolutebadasses on February 6, 2020

Posted in: Views. Tagged: bluray, collector, dvd, film geek, hollywood, im spartacus, kirk douglas, kirk douglas fan, love films, love movies, movies, spartacus, the vikings. Leave a comment

Spiral (2020) – Movie Trailer

Posted by absolutebadasses on February 5, 2020

Posted in: Trailers, Views. Tagged: chris rock, cops, films, horror, horror movies, like, love, movie trailer, movies, Samuel L Jackson, saw, saw movies, scary films, spiral, spiral movie, spiral poster, spiral trailer, summer movie, teaser trailer, the book of saw, thriller. Leave a comment

I’m a sucker for these type of movies and this looks BRILLIANT – the premise looks fresh, dark & truly twisted and has a small hint of Fincher’s Seven blended with the bloody terrifying franchise we love so much !! Spiral (aka: Spiral: From The Book of Saw) is the ninth installment in the Saw franchise. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman who brought us Saw II, Saw III and Saw IV, and starring Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Max Minghella, and Marisol Nichols