Recent viewings

 OK, a few notes about things I have watched recently.

Acts of Vengeance (Stoic) with Antonio Banderas. From what I recall, it was a servicible and nicely efficient movie. Some people got punched and shot and there was some suspense and then other people got shot. I think I might have enjoyed it.*

Redemption with Jason Statham. This is a "real" movie -- it rises above the level of not just "Statham punches people" movie. It actually rises above the entire genre of "lone wolf beating people up" movies. It is an attempt at a a "serious" movie, one with "important" messages and significance. It needs to be compared to and measured against other "real" movies, a rareified air that is never accessed by Action Flicks. I am reminded of that Natalie Portman movie, "Leon: The Professional".

Thing is, now I have to look at in in the light of and context of great serious films and apply that genre's standards -- the aesthetics, traditions, cliches and expectations. So is this an "action movie that is a HUGE cut above" or "a bad serious film, hamfisted and obvious"? Then there is the question of intent. Was this written and directed as to be a real piece of drama which happens to have Statham in it?

Doesn't matter -- you get abou half way through the movie and all that promise of seriousness and style disappears and the rest of the movie is purely meh.

Another Statham movie, "Safe". I don't know what year the various Statham movies came out so I can't really trace growth or development but I can say that each movie seems to try something new and different so I applaud Statham's attempt at reinvigorating the genre. Safe is full of style and interesting fights and settings. The bad guy's name is Alex Rosen.

I also watched more episodes of Adam-12. It is a really good show. I tuned into season 2, episode 11.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0505305/

Wow. It is, for most of its runtime, a standard, though slightly darker and more intense episode. Then, about 2/3 of the way through, Malloy and Reed go see the woman.

The rest of the episode was clearly written by and for people on acid. I wasn't on acid, but I have a good imagination and a strong sense of empathy and this was bizarre. What is even more weird is that these episodes are based on actual events.

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*edit with more info about this movie:

There is a lot of potential in this movie but at 1 hour in, it feels like the bottom drops out of it and you, and you are standing there holding a sign that says "Yikes". The whole movie shifts and not in the good way.