The Hitman's Bodyguard Review

The Hitman's Bodyguard is some of the most fun I've had at the cinema all year.  This is just a pure fun old-school action comedy that worked on almost every level for me.  The film has great direction from Patrick Hughes whose previous work Expendables 3 I enjoyed more than most.  Tom O'Conor's script is great.  I was laughing non-stop but was also fully invested in the story and cared about what happened to these characters.   Ryan Reynolds is great here as Michael Bryce a bodyguard down on his luck. He plays the straight man here although becomes less so as the film progresses. Samuel L. Jackson is essentially playing a crazy version of himself as the hitman Darius Kincaid but he's clearly having the time of his life doing it.  Reynolds and Jackson have perfect chemistry and their banter is the highlight of the film and would not be surprised to learn a lot was improvised.  Elodie Yung is also great in a side role as Interpol Agent Roussel and Reynolds love interest.  Salma Hayek is hilarious in a small role as Jackson's imprisoned wife. While she gets little screen time her scenes are all hilarious.  Our villain is played by the legend Gary Oldman who does well with what he is given but could've been played by almost anyone. The Hitman's Bodyguard also includes several well shot, fun and thrilling action sequences that get crazier as the film progresses and are always a blast to watch.  My one main flaw with this movie as there is some very odd use of green scene occasionally which does cause the background to look a bit blurry at times and took me out of the movie a few times.  Otherwise, Hitman's Bodyguard is pure cinematic fun and a great end to a pretty good summer movie season.

9.5/10

The Dark Tower Review

The Dark Tower is a good movie that had the potential to be an amazing movie.  All the acting here is great.  Idris Elba makes a great Gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey is having a blast playing The Man in Black the films villain.  Tom Taylor is also great in his first ever role as Jake Chambers.  He is our main character and takes us on a journey through this interesting but crazy world.  The story here is interesting and compelling but also insanely underdeveloped and desperately needed a few script rewrites and a longer running time.  The best part other than the acting is we are treated to a couple really fun action sequences although the final fight was underwhelming.  The visual effects are a mess sometimes they look amazing other times they look like a Direct to DVD movie.  This movie had potential but needed three things to fix it. 1. A script rewrite focusing more on Idris Elba  2. A much longer running time than 88 minutes.  3. AN R RATING  this movie deals with some dark themes but so much is hidden off-camera or shrouded in darkness and it gets really annoying at times.  You won't feel like you wasted your time but you will feel underwhelmed at this fun but disappointing fantasy adventure.
6/10

Atomic Blonde Review

Atomic Blonde really surprised me.  I was interested in this movie due to it being from David Letich the director of John Wick which I think is one of best action movies ever. Despite mediocre trailers, I went into movie optimistic. Well, this movie grabbed me from the opening scene and held my interest through its entire running time.  Charlize Theron is great as our lead Loraine but to me, this movie belonged to James McAvoy as Percival stole the entire film and gave one of his best performances to date. Sofia Boutella continues to impress but isn't given much to do.  As expected from this director the action sequences are fantastically shot and thrilling to watch.  The standout action sequence is a continuous one-shot action scene that lasts for 10 minutes.  I really enjoyed the soundtrack most of the time although it occasionally felt out of place. One of the best things about this movie is the costume design it all looks great and felt perfect for the time period.  However, this movie does have a few storytelling flaws.  There is a lesbian side plot that felt really forced into the story and could've been easily taken out.  Also, there is a small gap between second and third act where the movie stumbles as it's not sure where to go with the plot.  Despite that though Atomic Blonde was a great addition to the Spy genre and a movie I'll watch again and again.

9/10