The Invitation

Thank you Netflix, for letting us stream this film!  Anyone who is a true fan of real film and can appreciate things like mystery, implied subject notions, irony, and tense emotion will absolutely love The Invitation.  This is a hard review because I don't want to give away any part but I will give you the vague overview of the plot.  Young couples are invited to a dinner party with other friends the hosts have all shared.  The first twist is that the party is hosted by the ex wife of a guest in which they share the horrible past of losing a son together, and the party is at their old house.  The ex husband has clearly not gotten over the past and it starts to show the longer he is in his old environment.  He begins to get suspicious, unstable and paranoid causing the party to become extremely uncomfortable.  There is a sense of evil and deceit in the air, or is it him just going crazy?  The direction of this is amazing and having good acting along with great dialogue makes it even better.  It may seem a little slow at times but if you get into it, you will understand what the film maker is trying to do, and works brilliantly!  Definitely watch this movie!

FYI:  This film was only released in a few select theaters with complete creative control given to the writers and directors.

*****

Standoff

Classic take on the old "Odd Couple" movie.  The crazy shenanigans are around every corner, for some great laughs, intelligent banter, and a warm hearted tale of love and appreciation.  Well, actually, this film is none of those things but if you dig deep enough into your hipster intellectual movie mindset, you may have actually bought that load of crap!  Netflix gets it right once again with this little flick.  Not too memorable but a good one time watch when surfing through the action selection.  Fishburne, who is a really good hit man, meets his match with Jane who ends up protecting a 12 year old little girl since she witnessed a murder.  Its a good little cat and mouse with Fishburne shining in his delivery.  The writing was pretty good, and the situation was a good dose of reality.  The dialogue between Jane and Fishburne is what stole the show.  I would say there was a bit of cheese and its low budget showed but good for a one time watch for sure.

FYI:  Jane and Fishburne actually killed eachother during the filming of this movie!

***1/2

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Wow, how did it take me this long to watch this movie?  I am a complete failure since I just finished it and now rate it in my top 5 favorite war movies of all time.  Well done Mr. Bay, you are better than Transformers!  So the question is, "how many bullets does it take to mow down an entire country of crazy, rebel psychopaths with a never ending arsenal?  Not enough apparently.  This movie is based on the true story of a group of military contractors hired to secure a secret CIA out post in Benghazi while offering support to a make shift temporary embassy down the road.  Well as you can imagine in a failed society that is like a pressure cooker, things go awry.  Many people have called this movie an anti American political movement blaming Hilary Clinton for the lack of military support to help these soldiers out.  Others call it a blame game by throwing the Republican lead of the House of Representatives under the bus.  I say they should shut the fuck up until they know what they are talking about.  Life isn't a movie, you cant just make a quick call to the Commander in Chief and say, "Hey we need some air support in this 3rd world country in the next 10 minutes."  The movie was outstanding, exciting, great action that didn't have the cheese effect, and the writing was awesome.  I think it portrayed the rough-neck lingo pretty well even if it did have some Hollywood mixed in.  Watch this movie, it is awesome.  And damn, Krasinski from The Office must of got his hands on some serious steroids!

FYI:  The real life "Tanto" lives in Nebraska as an Insurance Adjuster.

****1/2

Hush

Could have been titled "Shut UP!  But I like Hush better.  So, Pop Quiz hot shot!  What do you do if you are in a remote cabin all alone, you have had some wine, and a masked killer shows up at your door with weapons such as a cross-bow?  Oh, and by the way, you are deaf as a door-nail!  You try to escape of course?  Nope, not in this situation.  Ole boy killer is way to smart, fast and hearing privileged for that!  Well you can use your resources to negotiate, turn off all the lights, maybe even try to make a weapon.  Or, just channel your inner MMA Fighter and start kicking some ass!  This was a pretty decent find on Netflix simply because horror films don't usually have a lot of context or plot but due to the  girl being deaf, its a good thriller.  The old cat and mouse technique is always a good way to make your movie better as long as it doesn't drag on.  Not a lot of substance here and the acting is sub par but I would recommend.  I even made my wife sit through it and she gave it a bit of approval by not looking at her phone 100% of the time.

FYI:  Has less than 15 minutes of dialogue.

***1/2

Green Room

Who doesn't love a really shitty punk band, playing for a bunch of skin heads, in a herpatitus infested bar in the middle of nowhere???  Well unfortunately this little punk band wanders into the wrong situation.  But I blame them fully!  First of all there are basic rules of etiquette while wandering through a dingy, rat infested Neo Nazi club.  Rule #1, always knock.  Rule #2 make sure you have a hefty supply of penicillin on you at all times!  Rule #3, don't look at the dead body of a teenage girl lying on the floor.  And finally, rule #4, always refer to rule #1!!!  Well these idiots broke every one of those crucial rules and found themselves up shit creek.  C'mon!  Everyone knows these rules!  Things go from bad to worse when they lock themselves in the green room and try to get the cops.  Unfortunately for them the owner of the place, played excellently by Patrick Stewart is a meticulous psychopath who leaves no stone uncovered.  This movie had amazing tension, great acting, and an awesome story that brings a little uniqueness back into the mix of suspense movies.  I am also a sucker for revenge flicks and I really like Anton Yelchin (RIP).  You should definitely watch this flick, it was a good breath of fresh air!

FYI:  The first song the band plays in the skin head club is a Dead Kennedys cover.

*****

Marauders

May have been cooler titled "Pirates", or maybe even "Raiders"?  At least that way people could have pronounced the name that means the same thing.  (I think)?  I thought we had the formula for a Hollywood blockbuster here.  Scary masks on the bank robbers, check!  Inner city movie about bank robberies involving the FBI, check!  Bruce Willis, Check!  Wait what happened?  I think I can give you a clue.  Terrible acting, followed by a rare version of the exact same plot as many other movies made in the last few years, followed by more bad acting, and to top it off Adrian Grenier!  Oh, if you didn't notice from the poster, Dave Batista is in this!  He is actually pretty cool, and huge!  I like Meloni but was a little overacted in this, he is better in comedy where he tries to play a bad ass but gets made fun of.  And how can we forget old Bruce?  He takes some really stupid roles and in this one is as dramatic as can be.  Basically its about a ban of "Marauders" who have an agenda to rob banks owned by one man in order to expose his involvement with a not so ethical military operation.  Throw in a gay political scandal, a cop who has a wife dying of cancer, and a so called twist with lots of slow motion and you got it.  It was in my opinion Triple 9 part 2 1/2.  Worth a watch on a lonely night but that is as far as I will take it.

FYI:  Ahhhhhh, I got nothin.

**

Money Monster

Ahhhh, greed!  It's a wonderful thing!  Especially when you throw in media attention, firearms, stock market scandals, and sob stories.  Oh, wait I think I was just describing America.  Anyway, here we have a not so unique story of a down on his luck guy who takes extreme matters into his own hands for the world to see.  He listened to blabbing finance idiot on TV which we all know too well, looses his savings, and holds up the host in order to find the bigger fish.  All the while, the world is watching the live telecast.  As always, they form an improbable bond, and go after the real bad guy instead.  Oh, and its all on live TV, in New York City.  Sounds far fetched, but hey its a movie.  I really liked it.  It was entertaining and Clooney plays a good douche.  The best part of the film was when the bad guy has a live conference call with his pregnant girlfriend as the cops think this will help.  She destroys him in front of everyone by basically taking his manhood and stuffing it in her purse.  What does Clooney say about all of this?  Don't worry about it man, we have all been there.  Ain't that the damn truth!  Good suspense, good action, and great dialogue.  Definitely worth a watch and from Jodie Foster as a director, she did great.

FYI:  Easter Egg:  One of the reporters speaking at the end is named Terry Benedict! (if you don't know I wont explain it)

***1/2