Category: Movie Reviews

Fight or Flight…try to have some perspective

Movie night always hits a slump the week after a really good movie is released (I saw Thunderbolts in the theater twice). It’s almost axiomatic. I can’t remember the last time I saw a great movie and the next week I saw an even greater movie. With that in mind, this week, the Average Dude journeyed out to my local moviehaus to see Fight or Flight.

Just how many of those are there, anyway?

Fight or Flight stars Josh Hartnett as former CIA operative Lucas Reyes. Lucas is on the run, living in Bangkok because he had a bout of conscience while on an official assignment. In comes high-level CIA director and former girlfriend Katherine Brunt (Katee Sackhoff) to enlist his aid to bring in a ‘ghost’ operative. Unknown to Lucas and Katherine, other forces are at work to kill the ghost. And they are ALL booked on the same flight back to Los Angeles. It’s like Bullet Train for the friendly skies. Lots of close-quarter fights. Lots and lots of blood. If you go in expecting that, you will not be disappointed. I did and I wasn’t.

It could be a new drinking game

For those of you who see Josh Hartnett on screen and say ‘is that Josh Hartnett?’ you’re not alone. I played ‘spot the cameo’ during Oppenheimer and made that very same comment to Mrs Average Dude. Josh was in the M Knight Shyamalan clunker ‘Trap’ last year. I then checked my brainbone to remember the last decent movie I saw Josh Hartnett in, and Pearl Harbor is what came to mind. When I GTS, I remember that he had a part in Black Hawk Down the same year (2001). Looking further, I was surprised to see just how many movies he’s been in.

Spoiler alert. It’s 36

Other than the 5 movies mentioned so far, Josh Hartnett has been in a total of 36 movies. Thirty-two have come out since 2001. Clearly, Josh has been working and I had no idea. That’s startling to a dude who considers himself a movie knowledge source. Ego check, please!
But lets be fair here…the overwhelming majority of these movies have been B grade or less. I’ve at least heard of Lucky Number Slevin, Wrath of Man and Sin City. None of them were star rolls and none of them are annual watches. Honestly, not a single movie on his list is an annual watch. Which is kind of weird, given how much I actually like Josh Hartnett.

To his agent…your fired

Josh Hartnett is one of those actors that I find myself rooting for without even knowing it. Yes, Trap was a really bad movie but I still rooted for Josh. I expect we all have at least one of those actors that we like without having a solid reason. Maybe it’s that he has a quirky good looks. Maybe it’s because he has an empathy to him that seems genuine (like Keanu Reeves).

For whatever reason, I like him. And even in a very basic, nothing new here, filler between expected blockbuster weekends, I liked him. And I’m glad to see a career upturn for him. We can’t really call it a renaissance. Dude has been working steady for nearly 30 years (in a kind of Quik Trip regional manager kind of way). But in his last two movies, his name has been first on the marque and I’m here for it.

So, with a very little bit of fanfare and much good will, I am giving Fight or Flight a satisfying 3.5 out of 5 on the back of a journeyman actor with a best-bud appeal and a sh!te-ton of bloody action. Depending on the box office, there may even be a second helping of Fight or Flight. What they would call it, I have no idea. Having a second flight filled with colorful international assassins is probably a bridge too far. Besides, I think he killed them all already.

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Thunderbolts: is Marvel back?

As always, The Average Dude stays away from actual reviews before I ever start tapping my keyboard. I want to keep it as honest and untainted as possible. That was a little bit difficult with Thunderbolts. Lots of pre-screenings and ‘insider reports’ to try and dodge. Overall, I think I did a good job. Other than seeing a few ‘cringey’ headlines, I went in clean and hopeful. Once again, it’s proved to be a good policy.

If I have to explain how her sister died, we can’t be friends

Thunderbolts stars a motley bunch of lesser known characters in the MCU. Half of them have their origins in the ScarJo Black Widow mythos (Yelena, Red Guardian, TaskMaster). Probably Bucky Barnes is the most well-known of the group. But make no mistake, Yelena Belova is the leader of this group. And the heart. Florence Pugh plays the surviving sister of Natasha Romanoff (well…adoptive sister in a not really legal way) who is searching for a better life than that of a throwaway assassin. It’s remniscent of Natasha’s own redemptive journey. I liked it.

There’ll always be only one Cap

Other MCU additions to the ‘team’ are John Walker, the replacement Captain America before the Sam Wilson replacement Captain America. He and Bucky had their own issues back in Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Disney+). Walker is wrestling with his demons, as well. In fact, each one of the Thunderbolts is broken in various ways. Taskmaster was scarred and abused and experimented on. Ghost lived most of her life unable to even enjoy physical touch due to her ‘abilities’. Someone called them the Mental Health Avengers. That’s totally fair. Avengers with Issues, but that just gives them a whole roster full of stories to work with.

And don’t even get me started on Bob

Probably the most mentally fractured Thunderbolt is Bob. Not much else I can say here. I’m already dancing around spoilers. Suffice to say, literally, every one of the Thunderbolts has a haunted past. I mean when Bucky Barnes is the most stable member of the group, you know you’re in for a ride. And its good that they didn’t play it too seriously. That would have been a bad, bad choice. Much to the writer’s credit, they tread very adeptly on the whole dark past/emotional damage story. It needed a certain amount of delicacy. And to do it with this much humor was masterful.

I like this movie more the more I think about it

It probably doesn’t hurt that Thunderbolts is coming on the heels of one of the worst Marvel movies ever (in a long line of bad Marvel Movies). Captain Falcon Brave New World was a nearly total disaster. No way to sugarcoat that turd and make it digestible. Compared to BNW, Thunderbolts was bound to be a huge upgrade. And I think that only adds to the joy we, the viewing public, felt leaving the theater. That’s kind of unfair, because Thunderbolts is great on it’s own merits.

I guess you gotta lay in the bed you made

I can understand the hate that Disney is getting from people. For awhile now, they have injected politics into their product in an effort to influence society. And it eventually failed majestically. They had control of some of the greatest marketable IP in history and ran it into the ground. Star Wars. Indiana Jones. Marvel. And nearly all of their original characters and stories. Even after it was proven to be a financially bad direction, Disney stayed the course. And the loss of interests in their product is the result. I think there is a pathway back, but it’s not gonna be a quick fix. So I get it. I’m with you. You got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.

What I don’t understand is the hate coming from some folks who have actually seen the movie. Were there some plot holes? Yep. One of them was pretty glaring. But we have overlooked plot holes in pretty much every sci-fi movie ever (and Marvel movies in particular). Suspending disbelief after the stub gets torn is a given. So the question is: was there enough good in the movie to overcome the shortcomings? For Mr and Mrs Average Dude (and tons of others, from what I’m hearing) the answer is a resounding ‘YES!’

Always save your receipts

So, why the hate? I can maybe understand that some folks feel so betrayed by Disney/Star Wars/Marvel that the synapses in their brains are now conditioned to see flaws. Receipt: calling Thunderbolts another ‘woke’ Disney movie. I didn’t see that. Show us, please. I’ll wait. Receipt: Yet another ‘girl-boss’ destroying a bunch of trained men twice her size’. Funny, I didn’t hear the ‘girl-boss’ outrage when ScarJo was doing it in Iron Man 2.

Here’s the thing: if you’re going to call yourself a movie reviewer, review the movie. Don’t look for flaws for the flaw’s sake. Because, as everyone knows, if you are looking for fault, you’ll usually find it. Likewise, if you are looking for the good, you can usually find that, too.
SO…it is with great enthusiasm that The Average Dude gives Thunderbolts a much-deserved 4.65/5. There are a couple of points knocked off. One was fair and one was personal*.

Even so, Thunderbolts was a genuinely good watch that will go into the annual watch list, no doubt. Spring for the large corn and ignore the nay-sayers. Is Marvel back? Too soon to tell. But you can enjoy Thunderbolts while we wait.

The Bed You Made 2.0

*I won’t name them here, but there was a character in this movie that I recognized – sadly – from the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. A movie so bad it haunts me. I didn’t realize how much it haunted me until I saw this person again in a movie that I was really enjoying. It immediately catapulted me from the fugue-state where the world outside is gone (as a good movie will do). And every time they appeared, it was a jolt. I don’t wish this person any ill, but for me, its the consequence of a really bad career choice. The bed you made, so to speak.

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The Accountant 2: Now with even more OCD

As with most sequels, Mr & Mrs Average Dude like to watch the original right before seeing the second. So, on Friday night, we viewed The Accountant to get up to speed on the characters. And boy, am I glad we did. Accountant the first was a gem of a movie that I had forgotten a lot about. Getting the refresher course before seeing The Accountant 2 absolutely enhanced the experience. So saying, you’ve now been advised. You’re welcome.

The Accountant 2 is the continuing story of Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), an OCD savante who is supernatural with numbers and details. Chris lives by a moral code that is gray at best. He sometimes uses his ablities in service of very bad people but will turn and burn on them (in more ways than one) if they break that code. That’s kind of an opaque reasoning for the things he does, but the nature of the character makes it believable.

Didn’t I mention he’s everywhere these days?

Back again is Chris’s younger brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) who is himself a very skilled and successful mercenary. When Chris embarks on a new mission that will require his exceptional talents, he contacts Brax to back him up. Braxton is angry at the 8 years of silence from his older brother. It’s a love-hate relationship that started in the first movie and is expanded on in the second, and it’s portrayed magnificently by both actors. In fact, I would say the personal dynamic between Chris and Brax was the greatest part of this movie. The very heart of it.

It may be stating of the obvious, but the Jon Bernthal star is on a rocket to Mars rise these days. We’ve dug on him since we first saw him in The Walking Dead. He is to Punisher what RDJ is to Tony Stark. A great talent in a perfect fit. Jon Bernthal delivers once again in The Accountant 2. I am absolutely her for it.

Where other sequels miss the mark, Accountant 2 hits it

Not that it is always necessary, as it wasn’t with Die Hard 2, The Accountant 2 brings back existing characters and actually evolves them. Lots of sequels just do another helping of the first and no more (Fast and Furious, anyone?). And lots of times, that’s okay. But Accountant 2 goes the extra mile, and it totally pays off. Where the story and action are fairly cliche, it’s the interpersonal relationships that are expanded upon that make this movie SO ENJOYABLE.

No Spoilers, as always

And it’s not just Jonnny B who’s back. Also returning are Ray King (JK Simmons) and Agent Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). Even Chris’s internet chat support person returns and grows. They all play their part and it all works really well. I’ll say no more. You’ll just have to watch and see.

Another good example

And once again, I highly advise watching the original the night before seeing the second. It really enhances the journey in ways that watching Die Hard the series doesn’t, but Bad Boys does. Character evolution. That’s the mark of a quality extended story. With that in mind, The Average Dude gives The Accountant 2 a rousing 4.3/5. All the action you expect and some genuinely funny and heart-warming moments. Easily my favorite move so far this year. Enjoy it in sequence and thank me later.

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Warfare tells it like it is

This week, the Average Dude is reviewing Warfare, the true story of Seal team Alpha One who, on an observational mission during the Battle of Ramadi (2006), are attacked by Iraqi forces. What sets Warfare apart from any of the other Iraqi war movies we’ve seen is the fact that this story was written by Ray Mendoza – an actual soldier in the actual battle. All the details were put together from the testimonies and memories of the platoon. As far as true to life accounts of battle, it doesn’t get any more accurate than Warfare.

This ain’t Hollywood’s Seal Team

As always, I wait until after I’ve seen a movie before I watch any reviews of it. I try not to absorb anyone else’s take so that I can give you a very honest AVERAGE DUDE’s opinion. And, having watched Warfare, I can tell you two things:

1: it is absolutely worth watching. It’s a reminder that even the much lauded, infinitely capable and imminently deadly US Navy Seal can be overcome. They can be hurt and killed. They are not indestructable. They are most definitely in harm’s way.

2: Seeing a movie about a real deal, honest to goodness battle brings with it some heavy emotions. Completely without thinking about it, we mentally separate reality from fiction, and that fact shouldn’t be ignored. If you are looking for a little escapism, Warfare is actually a reminder of how brutal this life is in some places. And Warfare is brutal. Not even kidding a little.

It’s just…different

Watching the blood and violence of Warfare is different from, say, a John Wick movie. In your head, there’s always the knowledge that Babayaga is not real. Heck, even in a true life movie like 13 Hours: the Secret Soldiers of Bengazi (I watch it several times a year), you know that Michael Bay did some of his magic on it.

Not so with Warfare. From all accounts, this is just as it happened. No Hollywooding here. Just the raw, horrible truth.

 

No real good feels walking out though

I guess you would have to say that Warfare had a happy ending of sorts. Most of the home team made it out alive. Some with less of themselves than when the movie started. And we feel for them and we were happy when they got the hell out. But we didn’t really feel relieved. We weren’t smiling. We were uneasy. And I think I know why.

Honest but kind of pointless

Warfare was an honest portrayal of an actual event. There were no real heroes (except that all of them are heroes). And there wasn’t really a heroic mission. It was just a mission that didn’t seem to have a purpose. People died, soldiers were maimed for an objective that was unclear at best. Not defending a strategically critical bridge. Nobody was taking out an enemy airfield or storming a beach. The entire reason Alpha One was holed up in that building was just so mundane. Maybe that is part of the point. In Warfare – as in war – soldiers often die for little reason. And that is an uncomfortable thought.

This may be an unpopular take…

Some of the reviewers I really like have heaped high praise on Warfare for it’s gritty realism and keeping amazingly true to actual events. That’s fair. Hollywood doesn’t deal in things like truth and honesty and realistic all that often. And that’s kind of the whole point of movies…to take us away for a couple of hours. It’s our numero uno form of escapism. Is there room for a Warfare that gives us the unvarnished truth? Sure, yes, absolutely. But in this case, don’t look for an uplifting message or good feels on the way home. And while I liked Warfare, I can’t really say I enjoyed it. Weird, but true.

So, with some genuinely mixed feelings, I’m giving Warfare a 3.5 out of 5. If you want to give it higher marks, I’m not gonna argue. For this Average Dude, it just felt bleak. Honest, but bleak.

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The Amateur would have been an above par movie…for February

Mrs Average Dude and I were somewhat eagerly waiting for The Amateur to arrive at our local moviehaus. I say somewhat because, at least from the trailers, the premise was not horribly overused and the star seemed very believable in the roll. It’s worth noting that I have had to dramatically adjust my movie expectations downward over the past year or so. With that in mind, The Amateur was okay and even a little bit of a surprise.

Funny how a 110 lb girl can do it

The Amateur is the story of Charles Heller, a mid-high level tech genius for the US Government, who is driven into action when his wife is killed by terrorists half a world away. Mostly, Heller’s field of expertise is decryption. So, in a efficient bit of story, Heller’s bona fidas are established…he’s super smart. That is his power.

The writers of The Amateur are smart enough to realize that turning Malek into a full-fledged action star like John Wick would be stretching disbelief beyond its breaking point. Heller’s nerdy brain-power is believable. Unlike, say, Lioness. Or Charlie’s Angels. Or the children of Sucker Punch, which are totally unbelievable. And therein lies the hook. Like John McClane and Sarah Conner, tech-nerds needed a hero, too.

Oh, and along for the ride but mostly wasted are Lawrence Fishburne and Jon Bernthal (who is in just about everything these days and I’m here for it).

Rami Malek is the hero we never knew was possible

Of all the suspensions of disbelief we are called on to adopt when we step into the theater, maybe the most subtle one is this basic premise…nerdy tech genius focuses his grief and anger and channels it into revenge. The Average Dude has a lot of friends and among them are a number of nerdy tech geniuses. I have to say, I don’t think a single one of them would respond in the way that Charles Heller did in The Amateur. I also don’t know a single average dude that would strap on a fire hose and jump off the top of Nakatomi Plaza, but that’s beside the point.

Point is: these are one in a million guys who don’t know what they’re capable of until they are in the sh!t. And that’s every man’s fantasy.

Alpha Nerd

And I think that may have been the goal of The Amateur. Outside of Revenge of the Nerds, there really hasn’t been a techie star to stand toe to toe with the bad-guys lone wolf style. Someone called them the Alpha Nerds, and that’s really cool. Charles Heller is a much needed hero for the tech-nerd class. Maybe that was the whole thinking behind this movie.

Only the $$$ will tell

I loved how this movie didn’t try to make Charles Heller into the smartest guy in every room. Sure, he’s super smart…in his field. But putting him in the deadly world of spy-catching and globe-trotting, Heller was a fish out of water. He was out of his element, learning as he stumbled along. An helping of luck was necessary for him to keep living and that was not left out. In the end, Heller prevails (sort of). Will there be a second Heller adventure? Could they still call it The Amateur? I dunno. Only the box office will tell.

Passing grade

The Averaged Dude is giving The Amateur a passing grade of 3 out of 5 for decent story that didn’t make us throw logic too far out the window and providing a very emotionally relatable hero. Again, this would be totally overlooked if released in July. For April, it was good enough. Never going to be an annual watch. But they can’t all be Die Hard.

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Black Bag for a black time

Well, the gloom of February’s movie Dead Zone has swallowed up March. When the best theater movies for the year have been Last Breath, Unbreakable Boy and A Complete Unknown…its been beyond bleak. Literally, there has not been one single movie that your Average Dude has been truly excited to see and, for most of them, much less than excited to review for you. And Black Bag, yet another star-studded feature film by a well-known and loved director (Steven Soderbergh) is the pickle on top of this crap sandwich of a movie season.

Not much to review but here goes nothing

Steven Soderbergh is no slouch when it comes to film-making. He has 14 Oscar nominations and five wins, including Best Director for Traffic in 2000. That was a pretty great year for Soderbergh, as he was also nominated for Best Director for Erin Brockovich. Crazy.
Soderbergh’s bona fidas established, there was reason for optimism going to see Black Bag. However, it became very apparent fairly early on that this movie was not going to end well…for the audience.
Black Bag boasts some excellent stars to go along with an Oscar-winning director. Michael Fassbender has been one of my favorites ever since I saw him in Band of Brothers. Cate Blanchett still carries celebrity cache even after the tragedy that was last summer’s Boarderlands.

And yet, here we are

Those three names attached to Black Bag were enough to give me more than hope…they gave me expectation. So, my post-movie disappointment and frustration are understandable. When you get a big nothing burger out of a show you expected nothing from, the taste of that burger is what it is. But when you expect a juicy steak and it tastes like sawdust…it’s bitter.

When I say ‘Snoozer’, I mean that literally

I’m giving Black Bag a pretty low review. But to be totally transparent, I didn’t watch the whole movie. I literally fell asleep for a few minutes somewhere in the middle if this slogging, single-tone chore of a ‘thriller’. And when I say single-tone, it wasn’t like a John Wick movie, where the bloodletting barely gives you time to shove some corn in your face, lest you miss something cool. I’m talking about a tone so devoid of energy it was akin to playing white-noise on your headset while working. It was just. that. ssssssllllllloooooooooooooooowwww.

The Positive Take-away

To say something good about Black Bag is kind of a stretch. It’s not that the acting was bad. In truth, I would have found it increadibly hard to play a character that, BY DIRECTION, was supposed to show as little emotion as possible at all times. To Michael Fasbender’s credit, he managed to convey an intense, all-consuming adoration to his co-habitant (the weren’t even married). Blanchett was able to subtly portray a woman who knows her man is a total cuck, yet not demean him TOO much. If that was the goal of this movie, it did it’s job. But here’s the biggest rub…

Just like Drive Away Dolls. Or Mickey 17.

Yet again, Hollywood does the old switcheroo on us. Instead of giving us the tense, whodunnit thriller that the trailer promised, we got a barely fleshed out generic plot that was presented so blandly that I didn’t care enough to try to figure it out before the final reel. Instead, we got a movie about a brilliant, respected, capable yet broken man and a brilliant, respected, capable yet narcisistic woman in a relationship of convenience that seemed about an inch deep (by necessity, I’ll grant you). Nothing to admire. Nothing to aspire to. And very little in this movie to appreciate or remember.

I’m giving Black Bag a disappointing 2.5 out of 5. I’d love to discuss a different opinion if anybody has one. But the Average Dude stands by the score. You’ve been warned not to expect much. Unless that’s your thing.

Not for Nothing

As always, I wait until I’ve seen a movie before reading anyone’s reviews. I saw one reviewer call Fasbender ‘James Band’. That was so good I should have thought of it.

Then, an NPR reviewer called Black Bag ‘a witty, sexy, espionage thriller’. Sexy? Meh, I’ll give it that. There certainly is enough cross-character sexing to add to the ‘intrigue’ (although I found it about as titilating as a prostate exam). But witty and thriller are not words I wouild use to describe Black Bag. So I will say this about the NPR review…consider the source. I said what I said.

Not for nothing 2.0

Go to Google, call up Black Bag 2025 film and click on images. You will see the movie poster, a couple of stills from the movie, and uncountable number of women’s fashion accessories instead of images from the film. Literally, there was not enough in this movie to produce even a handful of press images. That kind of backs up my review. Take that, NPR.

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A Working Man…to BEE or not to BEE

This week, Mr and Mrs Average Dude ventured out to our local moviehaus to see A Working Man, the latest action flick from the ageless Jason Statham. A Working Man is the story of Levon Cade, an ex-special ops agent who has chosen the simpler life of a mild-mannered construction foreman. When the daughter of the company owner gets abducted by human traffickers, Levon is forced back into old habits.

Let’s get this right out front…I like Jason Statham. His unconvential good looks and British accent set him apart from the generic, @$$ kicking action star that is everywhere. He has a trademark killer stare that just doesn’t seem to grow old (like the man himself).

Having said this, I’ll say that Statham’s career trajectory seems very much to be on the downward slide. My receipts: Mechanic. Spy. Safe. Parker. Both Megs. And of course, Beekeeper. His movies are as BEE movie as BEE movies can get.

And that’s okay

Like Bruce Willis in the twighlight of his career, it almost seems like a natural progression for action stars. None of the greats were immune. Stalone has his Escape Plan, Bullet to the Head, Smaritan (and don’t get me started on Driven). Ahnold has his Escape Plan, The Last Stand, Maggie, etc. All of those are a steep dropoffs from the movies that made their star great. We see them for nostalgia, for the mindless action. We see them for their fun-factor, like riding a roller coaster we’ve ridden a hundred times. They definitely have their place and that’s fine. That’s where I’m putting A Working Man.

Nothing new here

So, did the Average Dude like A Working Man? I did. It was everything I expected from a Statham movie. No surprises, good or bad. Unlike the aforementioned Beekeeper, there were really no poorly done, over the top special effects (an understatement…they were horrendous). If you don’t count the unkillable hero as a suspension of disbelief, there was nothing I saw that made me lean over to Mrs Average Dude and say ‘yeah, that’s never going to happen’. That counts as a plus in my book.

So, I’m giving A Working Man a modest 3.1 for meeting expectations, low as they were. And maybe a +.1 for being so much better than Beekeeper. It also helps that it was rolled out to us in what might be the biggest dip in Hollywood movie quality I can ever remember, and that includes the year of covid. At least that year had Free Guy. A saving grace if ever there were one.

And What is going on with THIS?
While searching for images to add to this review, I came across this movie poster.

Call me crazy, but I think I might have remembered this scene. Was A Working Man originally supposed to be a very different movie? If anyone knows the answer, message me. Thanks!

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The Electric State was an easy choice

To my own professional shame, I had not heard a peep about The Electric State. I found out about it from the always magnificent Mrs Average Dude. Since we went to see Novacaine on Friday, we found ourselves at home in the Mancave home theater Saturday night and looking for a streaming movie. I have yet to find a Chris Pratt movie that didn’t have something to offer. The Electric State was an easy choice.

The Electric State is an alternate reality retrofuturistic movie where automated sentience evolved in the early 1990s. By the 2000s, a war between robots and humans has been fought, with flesh and blood being the victors. Because of society’s compassion for ‘robotic rights’, the defeated automatons are not disassembled and repurposed, but exiled to a massive walled internment camp in the desert.

I was a little uneasy watching the band, not gonna lie

What makes The Electric State different than Terminator or The Creator is the cartoonish form of the robots. Think about the old Showbiz Pizza animatronics. Or if Five Nights at Freddies were a PG movie. I watched the Showbiz Pizza Rockafire Explosion as a kid. I was fascinated but also had a nightmare or two about them. Seeing Mr Peanut lead a rebellion that reinforced those childhood ‘discomforts’ was special and I loved it.

Trusting the science

The theory behind the title is that consiousness exists in an electric state and creates a bond between people that can exist outside of distance, time or even death. The theory is akin to quantum physics, which theorizes that objects can remain linked after physical contact. I don’t know whether the Electric State theory has any real scientific juice or not. But we’ve been asked for much greater leaps of faith in our escapism, so we’ll suspend any disbelief and go with it.

The Electric State stars Millie Bobbie Brown as Michelle, a ward of the state due to a car accident that that un-alived her mom, dad and tra-genius little brother, Chris. Michelle now lives with her foster father played perfectly but briefly by Jason Alexander. Depressed and lonely, Michelle is visited by a robot avatar of Chris’s favorite childhood cartoon – Cosmo.

Wanting so much to believe that Chris is alive, Michelle and Cosmo embark on an adventure that takes the to the desert of misfit robots. Chris Pratt (playing Keith, an ex-soldier-now smuggler) and his own robot side-kick Herm get tangled up with Michelle and Cosmo in a search for her flesh and blood brother.

Who Knew Mr Peanut was a bad-@$$?

The Electric State was short on story, short on character development, but long on retrofuturistic robotic special effects. Pratt’s Keith was Starlord with Bon Jovi doo. Stanley Tucci was never given enough room to grow. Ke Huy Quan (Short Round, remember) had a brief appearance, Giancarlo Esposito continues his recent run of short, one-dimensional bad guy roles (Captain America 4) and Woody Harrelson shows up as Mr Peanut, the deposed and exiled leader of the robot rebellion.

A case can be made (and I’m one who would make it) is that the least deserving live actor got the most screentime. Bobby Millie Brown as the life-hardened angsty teen (though she looks like she is in her late-twenties) chewed up scene after scene and never felt very relatable. I was more emotionally invested in Herm. And speaking of…

The Real Stars of the show

Even though the ‘star power’ was there, the scene-stealers were definitely the automatons. Sure, there were the usual cold steel battle-bots that we’ve come to expect. But the real attraction – the retrofuturistic robots – were both charming and discomforting at the same time. I was enthralled, looking for more and more of our commercial cultural icons to make an appearance. I honestly expected to see the Michelin Man or Shoney’s Big Boy marauding through cities like the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man. In a movie world where CGI has all but replaced actual story-telling, the special effects here were actually ‘special’.

Well, no wonder!

Having no advance knowledge or The Electric State, I found myself saying throughout the movie ‘this is really Marvel-like’. Starlord, check. Dr. Erskin, check. Short Round, check. Captain Iron-Falcon-man, check. When the credits rolled around, I finally figured it out. Directed by the Russo Brothers. Music by Alan Silvestri. The Electric State was an off-Marvel production. Not a slam but clearly, there is a signature style that the Russos adhere to. And a successful one.

The Average Dude is happy to give The Electric State a solid 3.75 out of 5. If they had added maybe 20 minutes of character dev for Pratt or Tucci, that might have elevated the score. And Millie Bobbi Brown was, in my opinion, a poor choice for Michelle. Jenna Ortega might have been a better choice. Either way, The Electric State is a really decent choice for a Saturday night at home popcorn pusher. Enjoy!
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Ho-lee crap. Mickey 17, wtf was that?

Once again, we see that the Hollywood marketing machine is on point. Anyone who saw the trailers for Mickey 17 were intrigued. We thought we were going to be treated to a futuristic dark comedy. What we got was…well, I’m not really sure WHAT we got.

O Coens, where art thou?

Creating good dark comedy is hard. It may be the hardest kind of movie to make. Mostly they’re a kind of niche that you either get or don’t get. Example: I don’t think my mom and dad would ever be able to appreciate most of the Coen brothers dark work*. They might like a gag or two from Raising Arizona or Big Lebowski or Bad Santa. But some of the more nuanced elements of the Coen brother’s work will escape them. They may laugh at ‘Gimme back mah baby, you warthog from hell’ and totally miss the irony that the baby was stolen to begin with.

I bring up the Coen Brother’s work because there are times when Mickey 17 seemed to channel its inner Fargo. Those times are few and far between, unfortunately. And in total honesty, there are as many times it channels its inner Drive Away Dolls.** Truly polar opposites.

You’ll always be Glen to us

Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson as Mickey Barnes. Mickey and his business partner Timo (Steven Yeun – Glen from The Walking Dead) are on the run from a small-time loan shark and decide their best course of action is to flee off-world to a cult-like space colony on a snow-bound planet.*** Leading this pilgrimage is TV Evangelist and failed politician Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo) and his back-stage controlling wife Ylfa (Toni Collette). It’s all very over-the-top farcical in the same vein as the Coen Brothers work.

 

Timing is everything

I don’t think I’m overstating things by saying that Mark Ruffalo has a particular political leaning. He’s been very vocal about it over the years. His portrayal of Kenneth Marshall is a very thinly veiled commentary on who he sees as a political adversary. And Ruffalo plays it with utter commitment. In a time when the national sentiment is weighted against that leaning, it casts a shadow over his performance, making it somewhat polarizing. In short, it’s too on the nose. Now, if the part had been given to Mel Gibson? The juxtaposition would be comedy gold.

Kind of like Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys

I’ve never been a big fan of Robert Pattinson’s work. Admittedly, I steered clear of anything Twilight related. His small part in Harry Potter was a non-factor and his take on Batman was infuriating (though I don’t necessarily put that on him. I blame the writing). Regardless, I am happy to admit that his portrayal of Mickey 17 was eye-opening. Dude showed a bit of range and I won’t be so dismissive of him going forward.

So, what went wrong?

Mickey 17 seems to be suffering from a complete lack of identity. Is it a dark comedy? Is it a space adventure? Is it a socio/political commentary? Is the message about technology run amok? Mickey 17 touches on all of those but never really commits to any of them, giving us a disjointed movie full of unresolved strings and uneven, inconsistent behaviors. Its all over the place, which is frustrating. And what the heck was that ending about? I still don’t understand wtf that was about. Sigh…

I’m very sorry to say that I was utterly disappointed with Mickey 17 and can only muster a weak-@$$ rating of 2.2 out of 5. Feel free to watch it on streaming. I’m sure it will be there soon. So far, this year, the stuff coming out of Hollywood has been really, really pitiful, like the studios are cleaning out their cinematic junk drawer. I kind of wish I had stayed home and cleaned out my own junk drawer.

*I may be beating a dead warthog with this, but I am on record as saying that the Coen brother (singular) movie **Drive Away Dolls is the WORST movie I’ve ever seen and absolutely taints any desire to see Coen work in the future.

***And lest I forget, Mickey and Timo owe their loan shark a whopping 35k, for which he sends a thug into space to ‘collect’. That’s couch cushion change in a futuristic world, I would imagine. Coen-esqur or just crappy writing? If you can’t tell, it’s the latter.

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The Unbreakable Boy will be overlooked by most of us

Thankfully, we are into the home-stretch for the early 2025 movie Dead Zone. From here, we might find a decent theater-watchable show peppered here and there. This week, there were two new offerings…The Unbreakable Boy and The Monkey. And even though the Average Dude has read nearly everything that Stephen King has published (I currently have 3 of his books in progress), I chose The Unbreakable Boy. Why did I choose The Unbreakable Boy over the latest King to big screen adaptation? That’s a discussion for another place.

A movie with the heart of a lion

I have to hand it to Lionsgate, they stepped up to the plate and took their swings with The Unbreakable Boy. With the rising popularity of movies like Cabrini, Possum Trot and the wonderful Sound of Freedom (all from Angel Studios), Lionsgate fearlessly threw their hat into that ring to give us another wholesome yet conscience stirring offering. And just like most of the Angel Studio movies, wholesome content that stirs the soul just isn’t a big box office draw.

Some Marvel movies can’t hit that mark

The exception to this rule is Sound of Freedom. SoF is based on a true story so shocking that America took notice to the tune of a $184M domestic ($251M worldwide). The amazing success of SoF was, in part, the catalyst for every true story of hope to follow. And therein lies the rub. But more on that later.

Choices

The Unbreakable Boy is the story of Scott and Teresa LeRette and their son Austin. Austin was born with autism AND brittle bone disease, a genetic disorder passed down from his mother. The basic message of The Unbreakable Boy is one of hope, love, optimism and the choices we make (both good and bad). If you’re a sucker for true stories about hope triumphant – as is the Average Dude – then you’ll enjoy this movie. Make sure you watch the ‘where are they now’ part of the end credits.

The Unbreakable Boy stars Zachary Levi (Shazam, Chuck) as Scott LeRette, a medical supply salesman from Oklahoma with big city dreams. Scott meets Teresa (Meghan Fahy) while shopping for some new pants and romance ensues. The magic moments.

Life Intervening

Due to a quite unexpected pregnancy, Teresa is forced to reveal that she has brittle bone syndrome and that there is a very real possibility the condition will be passed down to their child. Scott chooses to accept his responsibility as a father and so the family is formed.

A hint of the divine

Austin narrates the story, emphasising his many, many bone breaks. But the story is acually about how Scott and Teresa handle being constantly on the edge of crisis. As Life is fond of doing, it intervenes. Difficult times that fall on all of us are made exponentially harder when stacked on top of the LeRette’s already extraordinarily tough challenges. Yet, for reasons mostly taken for granted, Austin (Auz-man) develops an attitude of wonder. In his world view, he accepts that he has limitations. You never hear him bemoan his fate. A chatterbox he is. A whiner he is not. Auz-man is a mile-a-minute optimist. And though his constant verbal onslaught is a trial for his parents (and at times, the viewer), I think it’s fair to be reminded that their reality could have been much worse.*

Why do stories of hope generally make squat at the box office?

Movies, by their nature, are transporting. They take us out of our day-to-day. They are escapism, pure and simple. Except movies like The Unbreakable Boy don’t remove us very far. These types of movies often remind us that we take a lot for granted. If we are wise, we take the hint and nurture gratitude in ourselves, in our family and friends. Gratitude or victimhood…it’s always a choice. Stories of overcoming adversity can inspire hope in us and also shame us. Nobody likes to be reminded of their own selfishness. Making our lives all and only about ourselves is also a choice.

So how does the Average Dude rate a movie like this?

Movies like The Unbreakable Boy nearly always get overlooked. They’re not flashy. There’s no special effects budget to speak of. No thrills. They’re just stories of real life that we usually choose to ignore. I’m no different. I nearly chose to go see The Monkey. Pretty sure that would have been a big mistake. The AD is not a horror fan AND I read the short story from King waaaay back in high school. I’m glad that I decided to walk willingly into a movie I suspected would be a reminder that I spend too much time focused on self. These movies don’t transport. They force introspection. They drive it home and hopefully, remind us to be better people.

The Average Dude is giving The Unbreakable Boy a sound 3.5 out of 5. Be ready to look inward. Be ready to get choked up. Be wise enough to not dismiss the lessons. Be brave.

*The Average Dude has had a decent amount of exposure to autism. I know of one young person on the spectrum that is very much the opposite of the Auz-man. Always crying, always in a state of chaos. I imagine the turmoil in that household and I have a new compassion for them. My choice.

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