Quick Takes by Des

Ok, so I'm going to start posting reviews here of some of the movies I've seen.
I won't bore you with long, windy narration but will try to keep it my own quick take. Kind of like the immediate thoughts that come to mind as I am watchin it or have watched it.
It's Saturday, college football day and I'm watching a great game between Oklahoma and Kansas State. But in the back of my mind I am thinking about which movies I am going to post.

Ice Guardians (2016)

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Review by Des Saint

Ice Guardians 2016 ★★★★
Watched Oct 18, 2017

Like a lot of things, if you haven't done it it's hard to really relate to it.
This documentary takes us into the world of hockey enforcers, guys that were tasked to protect their team mates, to fight and take out opposing players.
To be in such a role, you had to enjoy fighting. Perhaps you always dreamed of making the NHL but were just not fast enough or good enough to be an elite scorer but you had this toughness and ability to fight, so that's how you made it.
This documentary gives you that glimpse of what it was like to be an enforcer and even though you never had any thing to do with hockey, it enabled you to understand the fact that these guys had a pivotal role in the game and were much more than just*goon.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 2017 ★★★★★
Watched Oct 15, 2017

I recently saw Shot Caller and thought that it was very well done.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, as well.
Vince Vaughn has range. You get used to him watching comedies and then, all of a sudden you see him as this hard core, stone cold killing machine. Now, that's range.
I would be hard pressed to find a prison in the US today, that employs systematic sanctioned torture as a means of correction such as in this movie.
Vince's character is put into a situation that does not appear to have a way out. Not only is he in total jeopardy but he is being controlled by people who have his pregnant wife hostage, from outside the prison walls.
The way he manages to handle himself, in spite of overwhelming odds, is quite miraculous and in a way a testament to the unconquerable human spirit that exists in those individuals that are willing to lay their lives down for the people that they*love.

American Made 2017 ★★★
Watched Oct 13, 2017

I hate dramedies and when you take Tom Cruise and couple with Doug Liman that's exactly what you get.
The cheesy and plenty full cut sequences of 80's Americana and Cruise's smiling face romping through Colombia and Nicaragua as he's transporting cocaine and firearms and acting as if he is in Disneyland, well, that just does not work for me nor does it do justice to Barry Seal, a real life hard guy made in America.
If I was to chose someone to play Barry Seal, I would not have chosen a wanaabee tough guy. I probably would have cast Tom Hardy in the role and hired ether Luc Besson or Antoine Fuqua to direct. Tony Scott would also have done a better job. had he been alive.
A true movie about Barry Seal would need to be dark and gritty and violent, full of realistic action scenes because that's what his life was about. Any thing else is just make believe and does not tell the real*story.

HHhH 2017 ★★★★★
Watched Oct 10, 2017

In the last few years there have been a number of movies made about Reinhard Heydrich, the man who in the early 40's was the third most powerful leader of Nazi Germany and the chief architect of the Final Solution, the extermination of the Jewish race.
This latest movie is probably the best, as it spends a little more time on Heydrich's life prior to his assassination and gives the viewer more insight into the man himself.
Of course, his assassination is an integral part of the movie and it faithfully depicts the whole process, including the valiant resistance of the Checkoslovakian underground and the two Checks sent specifically by the British SOE, Jan Kubis and Joseph Gabcik, to eliminate Heydrich.
Upon his death, the reprisals were very graphic and excessive. A village called Lidice was completely leveled and it's 7,000 inhabitants executed. Thus Hitler paid homage to the man he called " the man with the iron heart " .
Some historians quote some facts that support the theory, had Heydrich lived another 3 years, 10 million more people would have been murdered, as Heydrich was planning the second phase of extermination, which had to do with the Slavic race, mostly*Russian.

This is a related movie Goon.

Our Time Will Come 2017 ★★★★
Watched Oct 09, 2017
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A well made historical piece that takes place in China during WWII.
A small group of small town and country people organize resistance to the Japanese and help smuggle people out into the free territory.
These were every day people that showed real courage against overwhelming odds.
The characters are well developed an their historical contributions well*documented.


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American Perfekt 1997 ★★★★
Watched Oct 05, 2017

Here's a quirky movie that's under the radar.
It has an excellent character actor cast: Robert Forster, Paul Sorvino, David Thewlis, Amanda Plummer and Fairuza Balk.
What makes the movie interesting is that the characters are really not who they appear to be and the most gentlemanly and assuming of them all hide a deadly secret.
From stranded motorists to psycho drivers to serial killers to sheriffs with good gut instincts, this ride is for those who enjoy the weird and*wild.

Warsaw 44 2014 ★★★★
Watched Sep 30, 2017

Great movie about innocent but valiant Polish youth trying to take back Warsaw from the Germans in 1944. Amidst the chaos love*flourishes.

Riphagen 2016 ★★★★★
Watched Sep 29, 2017

WWII Holland. A guy pretends to help Jews escape and takes their money only to betray them. He does this to countless people throughout the war. Based on a true story and filmed exceptionally*well.

Never heard of that Vince Vaughn movie; on the watchlist it goes.

Bad Day for the Cut 2017 ★★★★
Watched Oct 22, 2017

:
This review may contain*spoilers.

For the love of a mother with bad Karma.
The setting is present day rural Ireland.
An elderly but devoted son still takes care of his mother,
and then, inexplicably, she is executed in her own home, setting of
a chain of murderous events, as her son looks for answers and vengeance.
The story line is interesting, as is mom's past, but at present
there is a much more deadly woman lurking around and she is a hand full.
The action is pretty good and the ending has a message but leaves me slightly disappointed.
The movie, however, is dark and gritty with a twist, and that's the way I like them.

Wheelman 2017 ★★★★
Watched Oct 23, 2017
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A grittier Driver, this movie delivers with non stop tempo and great drive sequences.
Frank Grillo is intense and a natural for this role.
The story is well written and with non stop New York*dialogue.



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The Game Changer 2017 ★★★★
Watched Oct 23, 2017

This is one of those action packed Chinese movies with extraordinary fight scenes and two guys with that ability to fight off an army.
Many of the scenes are shot in the rain and in accelerated slow mo, with exceptional stunts.
This is a must see for fans of martial arts*genre.

Long Shot 2017 ★★★★
Watched Oct 25, 2017

A documentary that explores one man's odyssey to produce an alibi that would clear him of the charge of murder.
It also sheds light on questionable police tactics used to attempt to frame him and it features the determination of an excellent attorney, going far and beyond to prove his client's*innocence.

Out of Thin Air 2017 ★★★★


An interesting documentary about multiple murder.
In the early 70's, Iceland was a very small country and it's capital, Reykjavik had about 200, 000 people.
A lot of the residents knew each other and many of them were inter related.
Murder was practically unheard of. People did not lock their doors.
In this environment a bad seed was growing until one day, it manifested itself.
A group of 6 individuals got implicated in two murders and this is their*story.

The Eternal Zero 2013 ★★★★★
Watched Sep 15, 2017

What a great war movie! A war movie that most people can relate to, no matter what side one fought on. That feeling of total commitment to one's family and at the same time to one's brothers in arms is remarkable and exceptional but in the end is universal. It is one of life's great ironies that the same thing that tears us apart, also brings us together. War is a bitch but life goes on, one way or another.
The air fight scenes were some of the best ever and cinematography was*superb!

Shot Caller 2017 ★★★★★
Watched Jul 13, 2017

About as realistic a prison movie as I've seen.
Graphic and thorough in explaining how a mild mannered white collar guy, originally incarcerated for vehicular manslaughter, winds up doing hard time and running the Aryan*brotherhood.

This sounds decent from what you describe. Movies need more New York dialog..whatever that really means, I wanna find out.

Guys from New York have this East Coast accent and way of talking, so yeah, there is plenty of that authenticity.
This is a low budget movie so it was never marketed like The Driver, when Ryan Oneal was at his height, but I think it's just as good, if not better..
Ryan Gosling also had a similar part in the movie Drive.
I do prefer Walter Hill as director.