Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is a mixed bag with decent action.

Elite spy Orson Fortune must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds. Reluctantly teamed up with some of the world’s best operatives, Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star, Danny Francesco, to help them on their globe-trotting mission to save the world.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre certainly does in fact exist that’s for sure, to cut the movie’s long history of just not coming out short. The movie was delayed a few times January 2022 and March 2022 to be exact, it was pulled due to featuring gangsters of Ukrainian nationality as the main antagonist. Which you could probably figure out was because of the war in Ukraine sparked global outrage, the film producers thought it would inappropriate so they pulled it.

As for the movie itself, what exactly is there to say? While the cast is actually pretty good particularly Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes (always great to see him) and Jason Statham. Plus I do think there’s some decently fun action scenes here, there’s ultimately very little this movie does better than a lot of other movies in the same exact same genre.

Guy Richie does put in his traditional elements he uses in his action films and they actually work here, some fast paced action, some decently put together moments that really engage the viewer and bring you close to the action. It’s all there and works pretty well, it’s just been done far better in other places heck some of Guy Richie’s own films have the exact same sort of elements and do them a lot better (The Man from U.N.C.L.E and The Gentlemen)

Having that said the movie is decently made and does have it’s fair share of fun moments that can be very fun, it’s definitely not one of Guy Richie’s absolute best but it’s not terrible either.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre is available in theaters.

5/10 C

80 for Brady is a charming movie with a fantastic cast!

Four best friends live life to the fullest when they embark on a wild trip to see their hero, Tom Brady, play in the 2017 Super Bowl.

80 for Brady was one of those movies I immediately wrote off as “this is going to be terrible” due to the trailer and just the whole concept alone, I did not think they were going to be able to execute the premise all that well.

But as I have said in the past in my reviews I like to be proven wrong and that’s the case here, for starters the main four Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Lily Tomlin are all quite great. They combine their character’s personalities and make the movie incredibly charming, the Guy Fieri cameo is also pretty fun as well. I haven’t been a really huge fan of cameos as of late but I will give credit where credit is due the Fieri cameo was at least very fun.

The movie’s strongest parts come from the interactions the main four have with each other and the other characters, there’s a lot of genuinely charming scenes that you just can’t help but smile at and some scenes are actually pretty funny as well. I don’t think the movie really succeeds in the comedic department as a lot of the humor is very hit or miss, but I do think it most certainly makes it up with charm.

As far as execution on the idea the movie does it fine enough, the movie executes it the best it could have possibly could, sure there are some missed opportunities when it comes to humor. But as it stands 80 for Brady is a fun little comedy that has a very charming cast.

80 for Brady is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Sweetheart is a charming coming of age story.

A socially awkward, environmentally conscious teenager named AJ is dragged to a coastal holiday park by her painfully ‘normal’ family, where she becomes unexpectedly captivated by a chlorine smelling, sun-loving lifeguard named Isla.

I really don’t have much to say about Sweetheart, it’s a very sweet little film (no pun intended) about trying to figure out who you are with some family dynamics.

The performances are all quite great and really move the film at a satisfying pace, the direction is solid enough to the point where it captures plenty of heartfelt moments. The family dynamics in the film are quite interesting and really give the film the extra push it needs.

Admittedly Sweetheart is very familiar in a lot of areas, if you have seen a lot of coming age films in the past you probably know what to expect. However I still can’t help but feel that the movie is still genuinely interesting. I’m not exactly sure why but I think it’s mainly due to the writing, which does actually feel like it captures how teenagers or everyday people talk.

Overall Sweetheart is a cute little movie that for the most part accomplished what it was sent out to do, it might not be one of the best coming of age stories. But it’s still a very satisfying little movie.

Sweetheart is available on all VOD platforms.

6/10 C+

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is a weak addition to the trilogy

Mike Lane takes to the stage once again when a business deal that went bust leaves him broke and bartending in Florida. Hoping for one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse — and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, he soon finds himself trying to whip a hot new roster of talented dancers into shape.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is the third installment of the Magic Mike trilogy, the Magic Mike movies aren’t something I’m not that huge of a fan of. But I can still appreciate the work that was put into them and a lot of the filmmaking in general. The first two movies are solid movies with a lot of chemistry and charm that really work, so how does the third one stack up?

You would think with Steven Soderbergh returning as director (he directed the first) that this would repeat the quality of the first movie, unfortunately that’s not the case here. Magic Mike’s Last Dance starts out promising enough, with some really great charm and chemistry between Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek. Those first several minutes are by far some of the best moments of the movie.

After that however is when the movie starts to take a nosedive, while the choreography is fantastic and there’s some solid song choices here that do match the movie. It’s mostly the writing and chemistry that are completely missing, there are a lot of moments where it really did feel like the writers had no idea what to really do so they threw a bunch of ideas at a all to see what sticks. The chemistry between Tatum and Hayek just doesn’t work here, after the beginning the chemistry starts to fall apart and doesn’t reach the sort of chemistry that the other movies had (in terms of Tatum’s character with the other characters from the previous movies.)

There’s just a whole lot missing here that is very noticeable after the opening, the movie itself is well made and has a lot going on in terms of choreography and music. But lacks when it comes to storytelling and writing. I definitely don’t think Magic Mike’s Last Dance is a bad movie, it’s just a very noticeable drop in quality from the other two movies.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Cocaine Bear is bizarre classic B movie entertainment.

After a 500-pound black bear consumes a significant amount of cocaine and embarks on a drug-fueled rampage, an eccentric gathering of cops, criminals, tourists, and teenagers assemble in a Georgia forest.

Where to even start with Cocaine Bear? In some ways the film is exactly what it says it is, an American black bear gets a hold of cocaine and goes on a rampage. Cocaine Bear is loosely based on a true story that happened in 1985.

To start with Cocaine Bear does a really great job of mixing genres together, it combines the horror comedy genre with the killer animal movie genre and does it quite well. There’s tons of hilarious moments and even some thrilling ones as well, the film also has that classic B movie type feel that really works in the film’s favor. It’s B movie entertainment that really has just about anything you could want.

The acting can definitely be a hit or miss at times, a lot of the characters are admittedly only there to be killed by the bear, which I do have to say the kills are a lot better than I expected. There’s some quite gory and gnarly kills that really add to the film’s B movie atmosphere, whether it was intentional or not it does feel like a bit of a callback to how gory some very low budget films from the 80s were.

As far as execution on the premise goes Elizabeth Banks did a really solid job here, she definitely found her footing after Charlie’s Angels (2019) and Pitch Perfect 2. She makes sure to make the film as bonkers as it possibly can and while the third act isn’t quite as strong as it could have been, it’s still a very satisfying way to pull off such a bizarre premise.

Overall there might not be a whole lot going on in the story and character department, but that doesn’t stop Cocaine Bear from being an incredibly wild ride from beginning to end. It’s a very solid film that I do recommend checking out!

Cocaine Bear is currently in theaters.

8/10 B+

Champions is a sports comedy that exists.

A former minor-league basketball coach receives a court order to manage a team of players with intellectual disabilities. Despite his doubts, he soon realizes that together they can go further than they ever imagined.

The Regal Mystery Movie was Champions and well it definitely does exist. Champions is actually a remake of a 2018 Spanish movie of the same name.

I’ll start by saying that I am very happy to see disabled actors on screen especially with a huge studios behind the movie (Gold Circle Entertainment as the production company, Focus Features for the United States distribution and Universal Pictures for the International distribution.) there were a few standouts such as Joshua Felder, James Day Keith and Kevin Iannucci who really gave such strong performances as well as touching ones as well. All the disabled actors did such a fantastic job and brought a huge amount of heart.

The rest of the movie unfortunately is very frustrating, while Woody Harrelson is great, Kaitlin Olson does well with the script she’s given and Ernie Hudson is a nice addition to the supporting cast. A lot of the movie boils down to yet another inspirational sports comedy, it has the exact same elements as you would expect and really doesn’t do anything different. It’s incredibly predictable and becomes a bit tiring very quickly.

Champions also did not need to be 2 hours and 4 minutes long, you could have easily cut at least 15-20 minutes of the movie and it would not have changed a single thing at all, perhaps the biggest frustration comes from the movie looking like it was actually going to talk about ableism but quickly moves on from it and doesn’t bother to touch the topic, there is a scene where Benny’s boss at a restaurant treats him like garbage because of who he is, It’s a shame that was glossed over within seconds.

Overall Champions does not have a whole lot to it, I’m sure there will be people who will enjoy it as a little inspirational sports comedy or even a feel good movie. But if you are looking for anything more you won’t get it here.

Champions releases in theaters March 10th

5/10 C

We Have a Ghost is a flawed but fun gateway horror movie.

The discovery that their house is haunted by a ghost named Ernest makes Kevin’s family a social media sensation. But when Kevin and Ernest get to the bottom of the mystery of Ernest’s past, they become targets of the CIA.

Christopher Landon really has shown he’s quite a great director in recent years. He went from Paranormal Activity The Marked Ones and Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse to Freaky and the Happy Death Day movies. So how does his newest film We Have a Ghost stack up?

Let’s start as usual with the performances, I got to say David Harbour is quite great here. He doesn’t speak out the movie and instead uses his facial expressions to tell his character’s story which I have to give credit where credit is due is not an easy task. He really does a great job of building his character and really making him charming to the viewer, his bond with Jahi Di’Allo Winston is also really beautiful as well. Sure it might be another one of those “child or teenager befriends a creature or something supernatural” type of story but the two really make it entertaining and charming.

Jahi Di’Allo Winston and Anthony Mackie are also pretty great, as I said before Winston has a beautiful bond with Harbour. Mackie just has some really strong screen presence here, the humor can definitely be a bit hit or miss but for the most part I do think they get the jokes down pretty well. The movie is definitely a gateway horror movie which as I said before in my reviews while I’m not a huge fan of the sub-genre I’m glad it exists. We Have a Ghost is actually one of the better ones, mainly due to the combination of dramatic moments, comedic and a few horror ones as well.

The glaring problem however is it’s 2 hours and has absolutely no business being this long, this is what ultimately really holds this movie back from being anything more than just a harmless movie. You really start to feel it’s length by the time the third act rolls around and the third act is what you expect it to be. Luckily Christopher Landon’s style is present here and one thing Landon is quite good at is he knows how to entertain an audience, and there is tons of moments here that do just that.

Overall while We Have a Ghost isn’t one of Landon’s strongest movies it’s at the very least quite fun, this is something I will probably never come back to but I am glad to have watched it.

We Have a Ghost is available on Netflix.

6/10 C+

The Amazing Maurice is not so amazing.

Maurice is a streetwise ginger cat who comes up with a money-making scam by befriending a group of self-taught talking rats. When Maurice and the rodents meet a bookworm called Malicia, their little con soon goes down the drain.

Would you believe if I told you that The Amazing Maurice was at the Sundance Film Festival? I didn’t see it at the festival mainly due to two things, one the movie looked horrible and two it was coming out very soon anyway. And I don’t think I needed bragging rights for The Amazing Maurice of all movies.

Anyway the movie itself is quite honestly about what you would expect, while it’s definitely not as bad as I thought it was going to be. As it does have some genuinely interesting ideas floating around, the rest of the movie is just more on the bland side. Perhaps the most baffling thing about it is Hugh Laurie voicing Maurice, there’s some unintentional funny moments that really make Laurie quite fitting for the role plus he honestly does not do a half bad job. He works with what he has with the script and actually makes the most of it, in fact the same applies quite well to the rest of the cast. Particularly David Thewlis as The Rat King.

The animation while not anything good could have been a lot worse, does it look like one of those mobile game ads you frequently see? Yes but here it’s not as bad or very obvious, as they do try to change it up at times and some darker tones or get creative with the animation.

Honestly what really hurts the movie mostly is the narration, the fourth-wall breaks and the writing, the movie attempts to be a bit darker which I guess makes sense since the movie is based off of a book that was a twist on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Pied Piper.” Which may seem a bit off putting to some since the movie sort of marketed itself as this cute cat movie, which I’m all for the movie being a bit darker. In fact that was the movie’s strongest elements by far, it’s just when they mixed with fourth-wall breaking jokes and some very forgettable writing it became sort of an identity crisis.

The fourth-wall jokes really don’t land and as said before really don’t match the tone that some of the movie is going for, the characters are just sort of there. None of them are particularly memorable outside of Maurice himself and The Rat King everyone else doesn’t get a whole lot to do.

Overall The Amazing Maurice is definitely not as bad as expected, there is definitely some level of wanting to make the movie itself work. But is dragged down from bland writing and unfunny fourth-wall breaking.

The Amazing Maurice is available in theaters.

4/10 D+

Die Hart the Movie is a mess.

Follows a fictionalized version of Kevin Hart, as he tries to become an action movie star. He attends a school run by Ron Wilcox, where he attempts to learn the ropes on how to become one of the industry’s most coveted action stars.

Die Hart the Movie I somehow didn’t hear about up until Friday when it got released and that’s mainly due to a friend of mine who said that the movie was also released (I did the usual out today posts on Twitter I do that every Friday). The premise of the movie did have me a bit intrigued, I do like the whole idea of actors and actresses playing themselves…but this was rough.

The positives mainly come from John Travolta and Josh Hartnett who are both very fun and really try their best with such an unfunny script. Everything else is very hard to sit through, Kevin Hart is once again just not funny at all. Every single joke that Hart has made in the past is shown here and if it didn’t work back in the other movies it most certainly doesn’t work here.

Perhaps the most noticeable issue is how strange the editing is or how much of a mess of the story is, well when you find out that this movie is just an re-edited version of Die Hart the TV series from Quibi things start to make a lot more sense when it comes to why the movie is such a gigantic mess. I can’t comment on the series since I haven’t seen it (I hadn’t even heard of it until doing research a few days ago) but trying to cram in everything from a series into a movie that has horrendous pacing was never going to work.

Die Hart the Movie is available on Amazon Prime Video.

2/10 F

Quick Reviews: At Midnight and Maybe I Do (2022)

Fate brings ambitious hotel manager Alejandro and movie star Sophie together when the shoot brings them to Alejandro’s hotel. Despite their radically different lives, Alejandro and Sophie begin to secretly meet at midnight.

At Midnight is directed by Jonah Feingold who’s previous film I actually really liked which was Dating & New York, so despite a not very good trailer I was hoping that I would actually like At Midnight…that did not happen.

At Midnight is essentially a huge romantic comedy plot point checklist, it checks all of the key moments that need to happen and doesn’t bother to make itself standout among a very crowded genre. Monica Barbaro isn’t bad here but she isn’t enough to save the movie from being very forgettable, the writing is about what you expect it’s painfully dull and despite being 1 hour and 40 minutes it’s a complete chore to sit through.

It’s unfortunate because I do think with a far better script and much more focus this could have been a decent little romantic comedy, Diego Boneta and Monica Barbaro are honestly not bad here and do have a few moments of great chemistry. But unfortunately the rest of the movie is really holding that back from being even better.

At Midnight is available on Paramount+

2/10 F

With their relationship at a crossroads, Michelle and Allen invite their parents to finally meet. As it turns out, their parents already know each other, maybe a little too well.

In hindsight I should have probably skipped this one after I saw the terrible reviews Maybe I Do was getting, but the cast was just too interesting to pass and I was very curious how they can screw up this bad with a great cast.

The main issue with Maybe I Do is it presents itself as a comedy but lacks so much charm, there’s a few jokes that might get a chuckle out of you, but for the most part almost all of the jokes fall flat. The idea of the movie itself might be interesting at first, but it quickly becomes repetitive as it goes on. The movie doesn’t seem to know when to properly utilize it’s own idea and do something interesting with it.

The lack charm also comes from the characters who are one dimensional, the performances are all forgettable. They aren’t necessarily anything I would call bad, but despite the cast being quite strong very little is done to show their talent.

Maybe I Do is available on all VOD platforms.

1/10 F