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Flash Movie Review: Next Goal Wins
NO ONE I KNEW HAD A ping-pong table in their home when I was growing up. I had a couple of friends who had pool tables and one had a mini-roller coaster in their backyard, but that was it. The only opportunity I ever had was when we would take a driving trip, during my summer vacation, and the hotel happened to have a game room with a table set up. My feeble attempts at playing did not go unnoticed by me, but I was always willing to play. Though I did not play the game well, I still enjoyed it because it reminded me of a miniature tennis court. This was another game I rarely participated in because I did not have a tennis racket and with a borrowed one, I still was not good at playing it. Most of the time I was either running after balls I missed hitting; or, retrieving them after I had hit the ball into the tennis net. After a while I would get so exhausted from the running around that I had to stop playing. That is why I was curious about ping-pong; they were always set up indoors, in a room; and there was hardly any running around involved. Most of the time I could just stand in the middle, on my side of the table and try to hit the ball back. IT WAS NOT UNTIL I WENT away to college that I had the opportunity to play ping-pong consistently. The student union hall on campus was the place to go to socialize with fellow students. There was a restaurant, television room, quiet space, and other various activities available for the student population. I lived in a studio off campus where each floor of the building had a communal kitchen. Across the hallway from me was a graduate student. I would meet him in the kitchen periodically because we had similar class schedules. He helped me with navigating through first-year requirements and I would share some of my food with him. The union hall was showing a movie over the weekend, and I asked if he wanted to go. He did and as we were walking past the game room, he asked if I played ping-pong. I explained my history and he offered to teach me. From that day we would be at the union at least three times a week playing the game. For eighteen months, I lost every single game. I still enjoyed myself despite the losing results; I was determined though to win at least one game and when it finally happened, that was the last time he played ping-pong with me. Having such determination was what I found myself attracted to in this comedic, sports drama. MAKING THE HISTORY BOOKS FOR THE worst defeat in World Cup history, the American Samoa soccer team recruited a down on his luck coach, who had disciplinary issues in his past. Also, no one else wanted to take the job of coaching a team that had lost 31-0. With Michael Fassbender (The Killer, Song to Song) as Thomas Rongen, Oscar Kightley (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Samoan Wedding) as Tavita, newcomer Kaimana as Jaiyah, David Fane (The Tattooist, Eagle vs. Shark) as Ace and Rachel Howe (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire) as Ruth; this film inspired by true events had potential, but did not have the right mix in the script to connect with me. I did not care for the acting and cringed at some of the dialog. Also, I did not find much to laugh or chuckle about in the story. If the writers would have taken a more serious stand, I might have enjoyed watching this picture more, because the idea for the story was solid. Instead, what came across was a silly, slapstick mixed bag of emotions and feelings, with truly little for me to care about or want to invest in. There was an extra scene at the end of the closing credits.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Ricky Stanicky
WHILE AT A FRIEND’S HOUSE, THERE was a crash we heard coming out of the kitchen. We both raced to see what happened. On the floor were scattered ceramic pieces mixed with what looked like to me, broken chocolate chip cookies. Over to the side of the mess was their young son. When asked what happened, the little boy said the cookie jar fell off the counter. Their parent asked if they did it and the young son said he did not. I stayed near the kitchen door because I could see where this conversation was going, and I did not want to find myself in the middle of it. I assumed there was going to be crying or wailing soon, so I wanted to make sure I could step quickly out of the room while my friend managed the situation. It did not take long for the crying to start, so I made my exit and sat back down on the sofa. I only had to wait a couple of minutes before my friend returned. We were both amused about the situation, commenting on how most kids’ first response when confronted by a troubling situation is either “I do not know” or “not me.” Granted at an early age, responsibility can be an obtuse concept. I can tolerate a young child not grasping this concept; but not for an adult, who should know better. WHEN I ENCOUNTER AN ADULT WHO does not take ownership of their actions, that is when I have a tough time engaging with them. I worked at a company that had an employee who never admitted to any kind of wrongdoing or inconsiderate action. They worked in a different department than I did, but we all worked close together in a large office. Because I was not a coffee drinker, I was not involved with the perpetual employees who would come out of the kitchen and ask who left an empty coffee pot on the burner of the coffee machine. No one ever confessed to this “crime” as far as I could tell. However, I remember one time walking into the kitchen just as this one employee was drinking the last bit of coffee from a Styrofoam cup the company provided with the coffee. Before they turned to acknowledge me, they quickly tossed the cup into the garbage. We exchanged a couple of pleasantries before they walked out. I noticed there was an empty coffee pot sitting on a burner that was still on. I turned it off before I got my cup of water and returned to my desk. Whenever someone would come out of the kitchen and ask who left an empty pot, I always took a glance at this employee. They never let on that they were the culprit. Granted, in the scheme of things, this is not a major thing; however, if you want to see adults not taking responsibility for their actions in a big way, then you might want to watch this comedy. THREE ADULT MEN WHO KNEW EACH other since elementary school had a friend that was always getting in trouble for them. The friend, however, was not a real person; he was made up. With Zac Efron (The iron Claw, The Greatest Showman) as Dean, John Cena (Freelance, Vacation Friends franchise) as Ricky Stanicky (Rod Rimestead), Andrew Santino (The Disaster Artist, Me Time) as JT, relative newcomer Riley Stiles as Young Dean and Brian Jarvis (The Greatest Beer Run Ever, Daddy Knows Best-TV) as the Police Chief; this film was lucky it had John and Zac in it. The script was a mix of slapstick and lowbrow humor, with some crassness thrown in. I gave John credit for all the situations he was put in which he wholeheartedly took on. Also, he does have a certain screen presence that makes the viewer root for him. With some scenes not being believable to me, I was bored part of the time. I am afraid the writers have no one to blame for this car crash of a story but themselves.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
FROM WHAT I CAN REMEMBER, I was not fond of being part of a team on a school project. Even after school, with some of the jobs I had, I disliked having to do something as a team. It never failed in school, I would be on a team that had someone who was a bully or a “goof-off.” It was rare to be on a team where everyone was in synch, who shared in the work. I remember one project, where the four of us had to give a presentation on a cultural tradition of our choosing, using props and physical examples to show the classroom. One of the students on my team spent most of the time doodling on paper, never offering a suggestion or opinion. When it was our time to present to the students, he did one physical example and that was it: his entire contribution to our team effort. I did not think he deserved the grade the teacher gave us. I felt the same way after school, when I was teaching my fitness classes. Whenever there was a special occasion and our fitness director announced we would be holding team taught classes, I cringed. Everyone had a different style and personality, where they did not always mesh well together. Plus, I thought pairing someone with a big personality, which I had, with a quiet or more rigid instructor made things awkward in the class. I never wanted a situation where one instructor would outshine another. ONE OF THE COMPANIES I WORKED for had a series of huge mailings, where samples and advertisements would be boxed and mailed to our customers. Many of the employees, no matter what type of position they had, were asked to participate in the process. It may have sounded like a request, but all the employees knew it was not one. I found myself stuck with an employee who I knew did recreational drugs on the job. We would sit together and try to create an assembly line where one person gathers the samples, and the other person places them in a certain order inside the shipping box. After a time, we would switch roles, so no one would get tired of doing the same thing over and over. Many times, they would stop to go outside for a smoke or inside would go to the kitchen to see if there was any food to eat, leaving me to do both parts of the job. I soon became irritated. What annoyed me further was the lack of respect; they never even apologized or made an excuse for being away, leaving me to do the work. Where everyone else finished earlier, we were the last ones to complete the task. I never wanted to work with them again. I hoped the two enemy titans in this action, sci-fi adventure had better luck than I did. WHEN A THREAT TO MANKIND THAT could destroy the planet begins to form, Kong and Godzilla would have to find a way to work together if they wanted to overcome the evil force. They were not the type to trust each other. With Rebecca Hall (The Night House, The Prestige) as Ilene Andrews, Brian Tyree Henry (Bullet Train, Widows) as Bernie Hayes, Dan Stevens (Beauty and the Beast, The Guest) as Trapper, relative newcomer Kaylee Hottie as Jia and Alex Ferns (The Batman, Joyeux Noel) as Mikael; this latest in the monster universe world had a script that was nonsensical. There were so many different things taking place in the story that I was bored most of the time. The special effects were okay for the most part but did not make me go “wow.” I felt the writers were trying to cover too many bases, from a heartfelt family story line to a mystic wonder one to a good against evil one; this movie left me not carrying about the outcome.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Freelance
LEAVE IT TO FATE TO PLAY a cruel trick on me, being chosen to be the driver for a presenter that made me have a bad attitude towards her. It was the year prior; I was attending a fitness convention where she was one of the headliners. To lower the cost of attending, I joined as a volunteer. Being in such a position, I was able to see the things that were taking place behind the scenes. To say this presenter scared a bunch of us may be an exaggeration; however, most of us were cautious around her because she was demanding. She needed things done her way, even if the results would come out the same as us. The part that I disliked the most was the way she would sometimes talk down to a volunteer, as if they were her personal indentured servant. It was appalling how rude she could be. Now, I understood she was a big name in the industry and had to be tough to get to the position she was currently in, but couldn’t she still get there with a little kindness? What is that phrase about being kind to the people you meet on the way up because you will be meeting them on the way down; it could certainly happen to her, I felt. During the convention, I made it my mission to stay out of her way. FAST FORWARD TO THE FOLLOWING YEAR’S convention, where my volunteer assignment was to drive this same person around for the weekend. This entailed picking her up first thing in the morning and returning her at night, besides any errands she might need throughout the day. I could not believe that I got chosen for this position. The first day I went to pick her up, I had to convince myself not to show my dislike for her, besides not getting into an argument if she started treating me like I remembered how she was acting the year prior. She was waiting outside when I arrived; I took her gym bags and put them in the trunk before we began our route to the convention spot. On the way we started out making small talk, but our conversation took a more serious turn when she asked how I became a fitness instructor. I had nothing to hide so told her the facts about being picked on for years for being overweight, flunking P.E. in school and how I found a group of people who accepted and made me feel welcome in their exercise class. It turned out she had a similar experience with being overweight and shared some horrific things that were done to her. By the time we arrived at the convention I had a better attitude about her. She even talked about the reservoir of anger she still has that comes out when she sees someone not taking pride/ownership in their actions/responsibilities. This change of attitude was like how I felt about one of the main characters in this action, comedy film. AN EX-SPECIAL FORCES SOLIDER AGREES TO help a friend’s business by being the security detail for a journalist traveling to interview a dictator. Soon after they arrive a military coup takes place that forces them to hide out into the jungle alone. This was only the start of their troubles. With John Cena (Ricky Stanicky, Hidden Strike) as Mason Pettis, Alison Brie (Promising Young Woman, Somebody I Used to Know) as Claire Wellington, Juan Pablo Raba (The 33, The Marksman) as Venegas, Christian Slater (Chupa, Very Bad Things) as Sebastian Earle and Alice Eve (Star Trek into Darkness, She’s Out of my League) as Jenny Pettis; this film came across like an action wannabe. It had similar elements to films like Romancing the Stone and a similar vibe to some of Dwayne Johnson’s movies. Though there was little chemistry between John and Alison, I did not mind their characters and thought John had a similar quality that matches Dwayne’s persona in his pictures. The script was super basic, not providing many surprises or thrills. It felt like a hodgepodge of previous movie bits that were hobbled together to try and make a coherent story; it did not work. Sadly, this was an easily forgettable film that I was glad I did not go to the theater to see.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Locked In
I KNEW HIM BEFORE AND AFTER. We were acquaintances; he was a friend of a friend of mine. He had few filters, so he shared more information about his life than most people cared to hear. However, because he was fun and engaging, many folks just went along with whatever he was saying. I am not a mind reader or psychic, but after hearing about several of his dating exploits, I had a sense he was not as interested in the person as he was in what they did for a living. The more time I spent with him socially, the more I felt I was correct about my feelings. He was looking for someone with a large bank account who could take care of him. It was not my place to judge him; if there was someone out there who wanted to take care of him, then I had no issues with it. When he talked about a recent date he was on, he did not mention some key words like fun, enjoyed, kind. He would make mention of their fancy watch or expensive car or large residence. For me, these were not important things that I cared about when dating a person. These types of comments were mentioned over and over during his “before” years. THE “AFTER” YEARS WERE THE ONES where he found what he was looking for in a date and they settled down to form a couple. The person he found came from money, something about a family company in business for a few generations. If you care to know; yes, they had an expensive watch, a fancy car and a huge home. They had traveled all over the world and as far as I could tell they loved him. My friend’s friend started coming to our social events dressed in the latest fashions, talked about the places the two of them traveled, flying to New York City for the weekend to see a Broadway show, the expensive restaurants they had visited; you get the idea. This is why I refer to him as “before and after” because there was such a drastic change in him once he found and dated someone who could provide him with all the things he had been searching for. I could not tell you if love was involved on his part; I have only heard him express his love for inanimate objects. Through my life experiences, I have never met anyone else like him except possibly one of the main characters in this dramatic, mystery thriller. LINA, PLAYED BY ROSE WILLIAMS (MRS. Harris Goes to Paris, A Quiet Passion), was grateful for the kindness her mother’s friend showed her by taking her in after her mother’s death. The kindness began to wear thin once Lina found the woman’s son attractive. With Famke Janssen (X-Men franchise, Redeeming Love) as Katherine, Alex Hassell (The Tragedy of Macbeth, Violent Night) as Doctor Lawrence, Finn Cole (F9: The Fast Sage, Peaky Blinders-TV) as Jamie and Anna Friel (Limitless, Land of the Lost) as Nurse Mackenzie; this film had the trappings of a good suspense story, but the script kept getting in the way. The characters were never fully developed, and the dialog lacked authenticity. I was drawn by the scenes with Nurse Mackenzie, but there were not enough of those good scenes to make up for poorly done ones. The twists and turns offered seemed more done to provide a shock value than giving them some added weight to make sense. I enjoyed the look of the movie and the settings, but again, I did not feel a connection to the characters. This film was more like a jigsaw puzzle, where the writers took bits and pieces of other films and recreated them for this one without giving much thought to the fact, they made no sense.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: Meg 2: The Trench
TO ME, ENTREES ARE SIMPLY THE vehicles that get me to desserts. I always like to say I want to have something sweet as the last thing I taste at a meal. I have always been like this, even when I was a small boy. In fact, there were many times I would avoid eating everything on my plate so I would have room to eat dessert. Gratefully for me, I made changes to my eating habits so I would not stuff myself with sweets after lunch or dinner and gain hundreds of pounds. It is funny, if it is homemade desserts, I can chow down on them. If they are store bought, I have better self-control. However, as I have gotten older that idiom, “too much of a good thing” has come into play. These days if I overeat too much sugar, I feel lethargic and heavy, not to mention feeling guilty. I do not know what it is about homemade sweets, but if I love them on first bite you can rest assured, I will go for more of it. There is a way that works for me on how to control my urge to overeat on desserts. If possible, I will freeze dessert items, then slowly dole them out to myself throughout the weeks. This way I won’t find myself getting ill from eating so much of a good thing. MY PHILOSOPHY OF TOO MUCH OF a good thing, is not good for you covers more than eating desserts. I recently discovered a supplement I was taking twice a day was the reason for my stomach issues. In my brain, I thought if I took more of the product, I would feel better faster; it turns out that was not the case. Since I stopped doubling the dose, I have been feeling much better. Another area I noticed where moderation could come in handy is the application of people’s makeup. I have seen individuals with so much makeup on their face that you can see where it cracks from their expressions. I know this is my personal taste, but I am also not a fan of houses that are decorated with an overabundance of holiday items. Do not get me wrong, I am on board when the decorations are within a theme; however, when there appears to be no rhyme or reason to how the decorations are placed on the lawn, the house, the surrounding trees/bushes and garages, it looks like a mess to me, and things just get loss in the mass of a glowing aura around the property. To sum up, all that I am saying is it is not necessarily a good thing to have so much more of something that it loses its distinctiveness. It certainly was the case in this action, adventure horror film. WHILE ON AN EXPEDITION AT THE bottom of the ocean, a research team discovers an unknown mining operation wreaking havoc with nature’s boundaries. What ensues could tip the balance of power in nature’s pecking order. With Jason Statham (Wrath of Man, Wild Card) as Jonas Taylor, Jing Wu (Wolf Warrior franchise, The Wandering Earth) as Jiuming Zhang, Shuya Sophia Cai (Somewhere Only We Know, The Meg) as Meiying, Cliff Curtis (Doctor Sleep, Risen) as Mac and Page Kennedy (Bad Roomies, The Upshaws-TV) as OJ; this film took what was in the original movie and supersized everything. I will say there were some exciting action sequences and a few thrills; but overall, I found the script a clumsy mess. The dialog was stunted, and it had a formulaic plot. For Jason, this picture was geared to him; it was loaded with a bunch of action scenes. For me, I would have preferred more depth and variation in the story and scenes. This is one fish fry that you might want to miss.
1 ¾ stars
Flash Movie Review: The Exorcist: Believer
ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS FOR me to witness is a sick animal or sick baby/child. I still remember watching a relative of mine carrying their sick dog down three flights of stairs so that it could relieve itself on the grass outside. The poor dog tried to remain standing but fell over every time he tried to raise his leg. It was so sad to see, and I was only seeing it this one time; my poor relative was experiencing it multiple times a day. I gave my relative credit for managing the situation, but I did wonder about the quality of the dog’s life. The dog reminded me of this other dog I met at a small hotel I was staying at on vacation. The owner of the hotel had this small black dog that looked like Toto from The Wizard of Oz. Except, the poor thing lost its sight and hearing. I was sitting in the lobby, waiting for my ride, watching this little dog rely on its sense of smell to navigate around the open space. However, that sense did not help with some objects in the way like leg chairs and walls. I watched as the dog bumped into a table leg, a wall and a floor lamp. Luckily, it was not running; instead, it was carefully and tentatively moving its way forward. THE OTHER THING THAT IS HARD for me to see is an ill child or worse, a sick baby. I knew these parents who had their baby in the hospital’s ICU for four to five months. The poor baby was hooked up to a variety of machines via tubes and wires. I kid you not; it looked like a scene out of a horror film. To make matters worse, the only way one could see the baby was through a glass window. I wondered if this would influence the baby as it grows up, the lack of human touch besides the kind that was sticking it with needles and probes. It was such an awful situation; the parents looked like walking zombies because they took turns spending the entire night with the baby, just so the baby could hear a soothing voice without experiencing something painful happening to it. I honestly do not know how those two parents did it, but they did. I have said this before; children come into this world with a pure clean slate. They have no prejudices, no hatred, no negativity. Many of them learn these traits from their parents. To see a child unable to take care of itself, having to suffer for something out of their control is just as sad to me as a child being taught how to hate. This is why I had a tough time watching what happened to the kids in this reboot of the horror franchise. A SEARCH WAS INITIATED AFTER TWO neighborhood girls went missing. Gone for three days, the two girls returned with no memory of what happened to them. It would be soon after when the parents realize something indeed had happened to their young daughters. With Leslie Odom Jr (Hamilton, One Night in Miami) as Victor Fielding, Tracey Graves (Sebastian, Super Turnt) as Sorenne Fielding, Lidya Jewett (Hidden Figures, Good Girls-TV) as Angela Fielding, Danny McCarthy (Stronger, Prison Break-TV) as Stuart and Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale-TV, Hereditary) as Ann; this horror film had a good start for the story. It was suspenseful as it mixed the past and present together, encompassed in excellent filmed scenes. However, as the story neared its halfway point, everything started to break down. I lost interest because the suspense was gone, and the horror scenes were not frightening. I felt the script was just rehashing previous scenes from the franchise, including using similar music from the original film. By the end of this movie, I felt bad for the cast getting stuck in such a non-scary mess.
1 ¾ stars
moviejoltz 