Category: Reviews

Released: September 2019

Director: Adrian Grunberg

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Rated R

Distributor: LionsGate Studios

Genre: Action/Thriller

Cast:
Sylvester Stallone: John Rambo
Paz Vega: Carmen Delgado
Yvette Monreal: Gabrielle
Sergio Peris-Mencheta: Hugo Martinez
Oscar Jaenada: Victor Martinez
Adriana Barraza: Maria Beltran

The 80s was a decade of extraordinary film-making.  When it came to science fiction, we got Aliens, The Abyss, and The Terminator.  For horror, we got A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Evil Dead, Poltergeist,and Hellraiser.  The action genre was dominated by two powerhouse action stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.  Arnold got Commando, Predator, Conan The Barbarian, The Running Man, and Red Heat.  Sylvester Stallone had Cobra, Nighthawks, and Tango & Cash.  The one franchise that he had that helped define the 80s action scene was Rambo, more specifically, First Blood.  While the film was not a straight-up action flick, as it had some serious dramatic moments, First Blood became a smash hit.  A few years later, First Blood: Part II was released and eventually Rambo III.  While not great masterpieces, these films were a huge part of many kids’ childhoods growing up at this time.  In 2008, Mr. Stallone would return to the second of his signature roles: John Rambo in the simply titled, Rambo.  11 years later, Stallone returns for one(possible)last outing as the legendary John Rambo in Rambo: Last Blood.

11 years have past since John Rambo returned from Thailand to his home in Bowie, Arizona.  His father has since passed and now he lives on his ranch with his friend, Maria and her granddaughter, Gabrielle.  While dealing with PTSD from his time Vietnam, Rambo likes to spend time with Gabrielle riding horses.  One night, she gets a phone call from her friend in Mexico saying that her deadbeat father was found.  Wanting answers as to why he abandoned her, Gabrielle heads to Mexico to find him only to be kidnapped and forced into prostitution by a nefarious cartel headed by the violent Hugo Martinez.  When Maria tells Rambo that she never came back from her friend’s home, Rambo sets off to find his kidnapped niece.  It will take all his training as a Green Beret to find her and bring her home.  If that premise sounds familiar, it should.  It’s a very similar story line to Taken which came out back in 2007 with Liam Neeson also tracking down his lost daughter.  Essentially, Rambo: Last Blood is Taken: Rambo Edition.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.  It’s a simple premise that that gets you pumped.  While sex trafficking was purported to be a huge part of this film, it’s surprisingly superficial.  I like the fact that the premise is so simple, because it doesn’t allow for any real major twists.  It’s as straight-forward as you can get, and that’s what the Rambo films have always been about: Simplicity and over-the-top action.  Having Rambo tackle a real-world issue like sex trafficking isn’t a bad idea, but I think it could’ve been explored a little bit more.

Peformances in Rambo: Last Blood are actually really strong across the board.  The opening act when Maria, Gabrielle, and Rambo are all interacting together are some of my favorite character moments in the film.  Don’t get me wrong, watching Sylvester Stallone go full on murder-mode when he needs to is something to behold.  However, I do like the interactions that he has with Gabrielle.  I was heading into the film expecting Yvette Monreal to be this extremely annoying character, when I actually found her to be a charming and likable young woman.  I think Yvette has a real future in the industry.  Adriana Barraza is fantastic as Maria.  She hits all the right notes playing a grandmother and being Rambo’s friend and caretaker.  The villains of the film, the Martinez brothers, Hugo and Victor, are nothing more than cardboard cut-out cartoons, essentially.  Sure, they’re suitably ruthless, but it’s all skin deep.  Sergio Peris-Mencheta plays Hugo and Oscar Jaenada plays his brother Victor.  They do well enough with what they’re given, but what they are given is paper-thin.  To be fair, though, the Rambo films have always had one-note over-the-top villains, with the exception of the sheriff from the original film.  The one character that I think got the short end of the stick was Paz Vega as Carmen Delgado.  She basically only exists for exposition, despite the fact that her character also has history with the Martinez cartel.

There have been a lot of folks saying that Last Blood is one of the most violent movies released this year.  I don’t think that is necessarily accurate.  Make no mistake about it, this film earns its R-rating with some hard-hitting violence, but is it the goriest and most violent film in the series?  No.  That goes to 2008’s Rambo.  That being said, the level of violence in Last Blood is well worth the price of admission.  The final 30 minutes alone are absolutely bonkers.  There is some CGI blood in here, but the way the movie was filmed and put together, it blends seamlessly with the practical effects.  Watching Stallone’s character go to town on the cartel truly is a spectacle to behold.  The music by returning composer Brian Tyler is absolutely phenomenal.  It’s equal parts action-packed and tragic throughout, and there are certain tracks that are simply beautiful, like “Dusk.”  I’ve always loved the music from the Rambo films and this is no exception.

While I absolutely enjoyed the film, there are a few issues that do bring it down.  The movie is beautifully shot with wide-camera angles and amazing cinematography, but some of the editing is really bizarre.  I looked at some of the images from IMDB(Internet Movie Database), and some of those shots don’t appear in this version of the film at all.  It looks like entire sequences were cut out at the last minute to try and bring the run time down.  I’m honestly expecting a director’s cut or an extended version of this film at some point in the future because of all this.  Some of the characters make some bone-headed moves.  When Rambo first heads for the cartel’s headquarters for example, he goes without a plan and ends up getting the crap beat out of him and his niece targeted for even more abuse by her captors.  While I absolutely like Gabrielle as a character, the truth of the matter is that she was written to be a victim.  In a revenge film, that’s to be expected and I would say that Last Blood qualifies as a revenge film, but some of the screen-writers don’t seem to think very highly of the character at certain points in the film.

Before I wrap up this review, I want to discuss a few things that were said about Last Blood by other reviewers.  I’m not going to name names, but some have accused Last Blood of being a right-wing, xenophobic, 2nd Amendment and Trump-loving affair.  To be honest, all the Rambo films have had some political slant, but I’m not seeing the the whole right-wing angle here.  This is a story that’s been in Stallone’s head for over a decade now and has finally come to fruition.  I’m honestly not seeing a political bias here, and this is coming from a liberal who can pick up on things like that in a movie.  It’s not a movie that’s going to be for everyone, that’s for sure, but I’m pretty damn sure it’s not some propaganda piece for the NRA or our current administration.  That being said, I actually liked this movie far more than I thought I was going to.  It’s certainly not perfect and has some glaring issues that could have been solved if the film-makers had more time or made better decisions.  If this is to be Stallone’s last ride as John Rambo, what a way to go out.  If you are a fan of the previous Rambo films, this comes highly recommended.  If you’ve never liked Rambo, this isn’t really going to change your mind.

My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10.

Released: May 2019

Director: Guy Ritchie

Run Time: 128 Minutes

Rated PG

Distributor: Disney

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Cast:
Will Smith: Genie/Mariner
Mena Massoud: Aladdin
Naomi Scott: Jasmine
Marwan Kenzari: Jafar
Navid Negahban: Sultan
Nasim Pedrad: Dalia

When it comes to movies that defined my childhood, I would normally think Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Krull, Willow, and various films in those genres.  But some of my favorite movies growing up were Disney movies:  Snow White, Pinocchio, The Fox and the Hound, Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and……Aladdin.  I have very fond memories of these films.  The animation, the music, the story, the voice acting, you know, the things that really made these films stand out.  Can somebody please explain to me what the hell happened to Disney?  Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen Disney switch from traditional hand-drawn animation to fully CGI-animated films.  Truth be told, some of those CGI films are pretty good: Wall-e, Up, Moana, and Tangled.  These are good movies.  So why are we seeing more and more live-action remakes of some of my generation’s beloved classics?  It all started with Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which wasn’t that good.  The Jungle Book was extremely annoying, while The Lion King remake was not very good.  The only remake that I actually thought  that was really good was Beauty and the Beast.  But every other live-action remake they’ve done was generally pretty awful.  That brings me to the 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin.  Oh, man.

The story follows Aladdin, a young street urchin trying to survive on the streets of Agrabah by stealing bread and outrunning guards.  During one of his excursions, he runs into Princess Jasmine, who is in disguise.  Together they end up outrunning the guards and reach Aladdin’s home.  After learning that he’s a thief because he stole her bracelet, she returns to the palace.  After returning the bracelet to Jasmine, he’s captured by the Sultan’s vizier, Jafar.  Jafar makes Aladdin an offer he can’t refuse by taking to a mysterious cave in the desert that holds a magical lamp.  After getting trapped in the cave, Aladdin rubs the lamp and releases the all-powerful Genie.  After “wishing” to get out of the cave, they end up in the desert when Genie discovers that he was tricked.  Using one of his wishes, Aladdin becomes a prince so he can marry Jasmine.  Like the animated film, Aladdin’s story is still really strong.  The problem here, is that it’s not as competently executed.  Certain story elements from the animated picture aren’t here.  In fact, we don’t get to see Jasmine escape from the palace for the first time.  Beat for beat, it’s pretty much the same movie, except that it’s not as good and it’s much longer, and you can feel the run time.

When it was announced that Will Smith would be taking on the role of the Genie, the response was….mixed.  A lot of people were not very happy, because this role was basically Robin Williams’ creation.  In fact, the animated film was animated around Robin’s performance, which made the film all that much more special.  When we got our first look at Will Smith as the big blue magical being, people were pissed.  He did not look that great, and the CGI looked pretty poor.  I can honestly tell you that the Genie looks a lot better when he’s in motion, but most people can’t really get past the way the character looks.  Thankfully, Will Smith does a fantastic job as the Genie.  He doesn’t use anything that Robin Williams did, but rather adds his own unique flavor to the role, and…..it actually works.  I was hoping for Will Smith to get the role in the even that they tried to do a remake after Robin Williams passed away, because Smith was the only other person that could make it work, and he does.  I love his performance.  Another shout-out has to go to Naomi Scott as Princess Jasmine.  Not only is Scott gorgeous in the film, she brings a real commanding and yet vulnerable presence to the character that almost rivals the original performer.  Even Nasim Pedrad does a pretty decent job as Dalia, the handmaiden.  Everyone else, though, was terribly miscast.  I don’t blame Mena Massoud for his performance.  He did the best he could, but he didn’t have the right personality or qualities that made the character so endearing.  The real sin of the casting though was Marwen Kenzari as Jafar.  I’m sorry, this guy’s not threatening at all.  Jonathan Freeman, who voiced the character in the animated feature, was a lot more threatening and sinister.  You believed he was a major threat.  Marwen?  Not so much.  He’s too much of a pretty boy to play a character that’s supposed to exude that kind of evil.

Let’s talk about how the film looks.  For a film that had a budget of nearly 200 million bucks, it looks like garbage.  The sets and costumes, for the most part look extremely cheap.  The only person that looked good in her outfit was Naomi Scott.  She pulled off her character’s look incredibly well.  Aladdin?  I don’t know what they were thinking when they went with that look.  The same issue extends to the sets.  These things look like they were made in a backyard.  The CGI?  Oh, my god.  This is easily some of the worst CGI I’ve ever seen in a major theatrical production this year.  It’s incredibly obvious when they’re using a green screen and when certain elements are CGI against live-action elements.  The Genie’s design is the only one that manages to be….okay.  But everything else feels like they didn’t have time to finish.

For the most part, the music manages to survive the transition.  Will Smith is an incredibly talented actor and musician, so for him to star in a musical is brilliant casting.  He’s version of A Friend Like Me and Prince Ali are pretty top-notch.  There are a couple of new songs in the film that are sung by Naomi Scott and she does a fantastic job.  She did a lot better than Emma Watson did in Beauty and the Beast, and it doesn’t sound like she was auto-tuned.  Mena Massoud, on the other hand….not that good.  His rendition of One Jump Ahead feels horrendously generic and doesn’t have the kind of pizzazz and fun factor that Brad Kane delivered in the original film.  The actual musical score, without the singing, just doesn’t have the same kind of epic feel.

I really hate to come down this hard on movies like this, but when you see that Disney doesn’t actually put that much effort into making their remakes stand out from the rest of the pack, it’s hard to take it seriously.  It breaks my heart, because the original Aladdin is one of my all-time favorite Disney movies.  The sting from how bad this movie was lessened, because it never looked good from the previews.  The whole thing feels rushed and artificial.  It feels less organic and expressive than the original film, and that’s not a good thing.  What’s even worse, is that this film more than made back its budget, so we can expect a sequel somewhere down the road, and I wish they wouldn’t.  Outside of some really strong performances by Will Smith and Naomi Scott, I can’t recommend this film over the animated one.  It’s too long, has a lot of questionable visual effects, and the humor just doesn’t land, unless it’s Will Smith landing the jokes.  He’s hilarious, nobody else is.  This is one film I won’t be adding to my collection.

My Final Recommendation: 4/10.  This is worse than The Lion King remake, by far, and one of the worst theatrical releases I’ve seen this year.  Skip it.

Released: October 2017

Director: Rudolf Buitendach

Not Rated

Run Time: 94 Minutes

Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

Genre: Horror/Drama/Thriller

Cast:
Frida Farrell: Isobel
Gabriel Olds: Peter
Matthew Marsden: Mark
Lew Temple: Viktor
Amber Benson: Chloe
Stelio Savante: Alfonso
Alyson Stoner: Katie
Samantha Esteban: Maria

There are few things that surprise me in this world:  Corporate greed, religious intolerance, political corruption.  These things are all part and parcel of the world we live in.  But the one thing that never truly ceases to amaze me is the extent of human cruelty.  You can have the bloodiest and most violent horror movie in the world(and I’ve seen quite a few), but none of that compares the horrors that we inflict on each other in real life.  War, poverty, genocide, racism.  These things are genuinely terrible enough, but human trafficking is something that I consider to be much, much worse.  You’ve got illegal labor, black market organ harvesting, and what I consider to be the worst of these atrocities:  Sex slavery.  Each year, millions of women and children are kidnapped and sold into the illegal sex trade around the world with less than 5 percent being able to escape.  Those that do suffer post-traumatic stress disorder and other forms of horrific psychological and physical scarring.  There have been a lot of movies and documentaries that detail this illicit trade.  Whenever I review a film that has human trafficking as a backdrop, I do so in the hope that maybe some people out there will pay attention and help raise awareness of a crime that very well could be happening next door to you.  For this post I picked a film from 2017 that is based on a true story(I assume): Apartment 407(a.k.a. Selling Isobel).

The film follows Isobel, a Pilates instructor who is approached by Peter, a seemingly nice guy who apparently offers jobs to aspiring models.  Tempting her with a $7,000 payday, Isobel accepts and shows up at his “studio” for photographs.  It seems to have gone well, as she was invited to return the next day.  When she shows up again, Peter has adopted a very different kind of demeanor and locks the door behind her.  At a loss for what’s going on, Isobel is drugged and wakes up in a completely different room being assaulted by a random stranger.  Discovering that she has no way of escaping, she’s forced to endure multiple violations while trying to keep the will to live so she can see her family again.  When I listed the genre for this movie above, I wasn’t sure which one it would truly fall under, but then I realized that from the perspective of a woman, this is definitely a horror film and a nightmare scenario.  It’s as compelling a story as they come and just as disturbing.  The story is based on Frida Farrell’s personal account of what happened to her in London in the early 2000’s.  Having Frida play a character that’s going through what Frida went through is very unusual.  It’s also very brave because of the enormous emotional impact that her experience had on her.

I have to commend Frida Farrell for tackling such an emotionally charged topic as both an actress and a producer.  Most people who would’ve been through that experience what come out pretty broken in many ways, but not Frida.  It took her 14 years, but this was a story that she felt she was ready to tell.  Again, I give her full marks for bravery.  What that also shows is that she cares very much about this particular project and subject matter and you can see that in her performance in the film.  She absolutely knocks it out of the park.  While there are other actors in the film, the other major player is Peter, played by Gabriel Olds.  He did a pretty good job going from a guy that seemed like a real nice person, but turns out to be the scum of the earth.  While some of his performance borders on the “mustache-twirling” variety of acting, there’s no doubt that this guy means business.  The entire film is structured around these two characters, and keeping it on a very personal and intimate level makes it far more intense and brutal than you would think.  It also helps that the film generally takes place in very few locations, obviously because of the low-budget, but it helps give you an understanding of how isolated she became despite being in the middle of a big city.

I think in order for a film dealing with sex trafficking, it has to show the audience just how horrific and harrowing the situation can be for a lot of victims.  That means you really have to get in grime and be willing to show what goes on with this stuff.  Now, there have been some PG-13 films that kind of shuffle around the real nature of the industry.  Now, a lot of people are probably going to strongly disagree with me for saying this, and they would have every right to, but for a movie about sex trafficking to truly be effective, you have to show the audience ALL of it, which includes the sexual assaults.  The reason is so the audience can actually have a grasp and an idea of just how terrible this situation is.  Yeah, it’s not entertaining to watch and it’s going to make people very, very uncomfortable, but that’s the point.  You want the audience to feel disgust for what’s going on, and you also want to root for the main character to survive her ordeal.  I honestly can’t imagine any of the actors feeling very comfortable in these scenes, and I certainly can’t imagine what’s going through Ms. Farrell’s head while doing this.  That has to be a very tough thing to deal with.  There are scenes where she fights back a bit, but some of it seems a little far-fetched, but I think that’s okay.  It’s a pretty grim film at times, so having the main character try and fight back gives the audience a reason to hope for her survival.

So, what is Apartment 407?  It’s a powerful film about a woman that’s determined to survive her ordeal.  It’s also a cautionary tale about not trusting the wrong people, despite their initial intentions.  You can never guess anybody’s intentions, and this film shows how these predators trap these young woman and girls by promising them fame and opportunities.  It can be very depressing at times and there are times when it will piss you off, because how can one think that somebody could fall for these scams?  It happens, though.  On a daily basis.  With that in mind, this is actually a very solid movie with some pretty decent production behind it, even though there are some slow-motion shots that feel a little too out of place, but otherwise the cinematography, writing and direction are all top-notch.

Sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Fighting this horrendous practice is no simple task.  It requires people to pay attention to their surroundings and be aware of some of these “photographers” and “modeling agencies.”  It’s a disease that’s infecting every country on the planet, and the United States is no different.  People don’t want to admit that slavery still exists, but it does and the slavers use fear and threats of violence to keep their victims from speaking out.  Below, I’m going to be listing some links to various resources dedicated to fighting human trafficking and helping victims.  At the end of the day, do I recommend Apartment 407?  Yes, I do.  You just have to be aware that it’s not an easy film to sit through and it deals with a very serious problem.

My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10

LINKS TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING RESOURCES:

NATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE

US DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY – BLUE CAMPAIGN

FREE THE SLAVES

OFFICE FOR VICTIMS OF CRIME-HUMAN TRAFFICKING

POLARIS

STOP THE TRAFFIK

There are other various organizations dedicated to the fighting and elimination of modern-day slavery.  You can find them by Googling “Resources for Human Trafficking Victims.”

Buckle up for the wildest tell-all behind the scenes peek into action movie history: FROM THE STREETS OF BROOKLYN TO THE HALLS OF HOLLYWOOD!

Buckle up for what has to be the wildest tell-all behind the scenes peek into action movie history: Prolific stuntman and stunt coordinator Steven Lambert’s brand new thrill-a-second book has just been published and is bursting at the seams with incredible, can-hardly-believe it stories never before told until now!

FROM THE STREETS OF BROOKLYN TO THE HALLS OF HOLLYWOOD chronicles the nearly impossible to fathom origin and rise of self-proclaimed “punk kid from Brooklyn” Lambert, who trained in the martial arts before becoming an in-demand stuntman in the final golden age of Hollywood, as he went from glory to glory, working with and beside screen legends such as Chuck Norris, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sho Kosugi, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and James Woods, and filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Martin Scorsese, and Roland Emmerich, and the infamous producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus of the infamous Cannon Group.

Lamert relates his unfathomable adventures of putting his life on the line for death-defying stunts in films such as Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) where he literally hung from the Statue of Liberty without a harness, doubling Sho Kosugi, the original screen ninja, in films such as Revenge of the Ninja(1983) and Ninja III: The Domination(1984), witnessing the meltdowns and bad behavior from Nicolas Cage and Sean Penn on Racing With the Moon(1984) while doubling Penn, being present during the now-mythic behind-the-scenes fight between “Judo” Gene LeBell and Steven Seagal on the set of Out for Justice, working and boarding the immense production of Titanic(1997) and being a part of the mayhem, Lambert’s tales are as tall as they come…except they’re all true!

At a break-neck pace you can’t imagine, Lambert’s chapter-esque book tells it all, with a uniquely authetic style all his own, and with the inside look you’ve always wished you could see and read, FROM THE STREETS OF BROOKLYN TO THE HALLS OF HOLLYWOOD is truly a one-in-a-lifetime reading experience, the kind of story Hollywood can only dream of adapting into a movie someday because it’s just that incredible.

FROM THE STREETS OF BROOKLYN TO THE HALLS OF HOLLYWOOD is now available to purchase directly from Amazon.