INTRO:

I’m Hank, longtime podcaster, filmmaker, and YouTuber, and this is my review of The Running Man. This is a spoiler-filled review of the movie so you’ve been warned.

CORRECTION:

• Predator Badlands dropped off the face of the earth and looks like it will lose money

BUDGET:

The Running Man has an estimated budget of $110 million dollars.

• Currently bombing

SETTINGS:

The world of The Running Man is a combination of grungy and futuristic. It blends perfectly with the concept of the movie which is both dystopian and a technologically advanced surveillance state. I really liked the dark grungy look of the rundown areas juxtaposed to the high-end studio we’re introduced to. I can’t say enough good things about the choices made.

CHARACTERS:

• Glen Powell as Ben Richards
• Josh Brolin as Dan Killian
• William H. Macy as Molie Jernigan
• Lee Pace as Evan McCone (the lead hunter)
• Colman Domingo as the game show host Bobby T. Thompson
• Michael Cera as Elton Parrakis plays a character with an axe to grind
• Scott Pilgrim!
• Emilia Jones as Amelia Williams
• Her role is the worst part of the movie!
• We get a lecture on wealth and how wrong it is.
• Daniel Ezra as Bradley Throckmorton
• He’s an anonymous YouTuber type character exposing truth.
• Jayme Lawson stars as Sheila Richards
• She does fine acting
• However I don’t believe their relationship

HITS:

• Fun Twink cereal lifetime supply pay off
• Bold choices in direction and cinematography
• Cinematography when Ben matches the wanted poster
• BobbyT. is great!
• Josh Brolin is fantastic!
• Great reveal when it comes to the Lee Pace character
• The overall look and feel of the sets
• The YouTube style videos and conspiracy style content
• Resisting the establishment

MISSES:

• Conflicted character actions
• Ben spares a vicious hunter after killing others
• Too much misdirection
• I don’t buy the relationship between Ben and Sheila.
• There’s simply no chemistry
• The sick baby trope is uninspired
• Stop lecturing your audience!
• You can include themes without telling people what to think
• The movie is too long

MOVIE SCORE: 6/10

DIRECTION: C (Edgar Wright)

WRITING: C (Steven King adaptation) (Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: B (Chung Chung-hoon)

POST PRODUCTION (score/sfx/color grade): B

REWATHABILITY: C

INTRO:

I’m Hank, longtime podcaster, filmmaker, and YouTuber, and this is my review of Disney’s Predator: Badlands.

This is a spoiler-filled review of the movie so you’ve been warned.

BUDGET:

Predator Badlands cost $105 million dollars to make. It would appear the 20th Century Studios (a Walt Disney Company) is going to make money. That hasn’t been a very common occurrence lately in film.

SETTINGS:

I didn’t like the scaled down look of Yautja Prime. From the lack of scale to the hazy look, I wasn’t a fan at all. When I say scale I don’t simply mean the size of the area. I like to see expansive worlds that are populated. There were parts of the planet Genna that felt expansive but it mostly felt like we were in front of a green screen for two hours. If your budget wasn’t $105 million dollars I’d let it slide.

CHARACTERS:

• Dek portrayed by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. The concept is universal so it works for the most part. I simply couldn’t wrap my mind around all the emotional dynamics of a human family coming from Predators.
• Thia & Tessa portrayed by Elle Fanning. The first several minutes of Thia’s appearance were like nails on a chalkboard! She was so annoying that I regretted going to the film. Over time, thankfully, that leveled off. That dynamic works in many different types of movies, just not a Predator movie. She was the comic relief that had a strange motivation that I didn’t quite understand because they didn’t give us any insight on how or why she was so connected to Tessa. The Tessa version was a one-note villain that doesn’t hesitate to lie to Mu/TH/UR.
• Father is portrayed by Reuben de Jong.
• Kwei is portrayed by Michael Homik.
• Bud is the baby Grogu style ripoff. She’s even referred to as a baby Kalisk. She’s funny and extremely important to the story but the comedy distracts from what a typical Predator movie should be.

HITS:

• The concept of going on an adventure to prove your worth is tried and true.
• The action sequences work well and are exhilarating in most instances.
• If they were going for a couples or family movie they hit the mark. I was about 20 minutes in when I said to myself, “oh, this is a couples/family movie.”
• The marketing appears to have worked as the first weekend was pretty solid.
• I like that they attempted to go in a different direction with the franchise even though it doesn’t work for me.

MISSES:

• This is a predator movie in name only.
• This is a human storyline portrayed by brand name that sells tickets.
• The overall look and lack of scale detract from the movie.
• I didn’t sign up for this style of Predator movie. Subverting expectations can work when you stay in the confines of the source material (which they didn’t).
• The father son conflict dynamic is pushed beyond belief.
• The brother references being saved by Dek but they don’t show it.
• The hunt seems irrelevant to the story which is simply a revenge story. Especially once Dek knows he won’t kill the kalisk. So why are we going on this adventure again?
• They borrowed from too many franchises and genres to list.

MOVIE SCORE: 5/10

DIRECTION: C

WRITING: D

CINEMATOGRAPHY: C

POST PRODUCTION (INCLUDES: SCORE, SFX, COLOR GRADE) : D

REWATCHABILITY: D

1 Awful content = Fails on every single level.

2-4 Poor = Terrible on almost every front.

5 Mediocre = Some of the content is...

INTRO:

I’m Hank, a nineteen year podcasting veteran, filmmaker, and YouTuber, and this is my review of Disney’s Tron: Ares.

This is a spoiler-filled review of the movie so if that’s not your cup of tea this review won’t be for you. Note: I saw this movie in 3D and I have never seen Tron: Legacy. I’m neither a Tron fan nor do I know much about the lore.

BUDGET:

$180-$220 million for production and another $100-ish million for marketing. We're looking at around $300 million dollars when it's all said and done. Three weeks in and we're at about roughly $125 million. OUCH! Profitability is way out of reach.

SETTINGS:

The world of Tron: Ares is pristine! The saturated colors jump off the screen even in the often dark settings. I found the visuals of this movie to actually match the inflated budget. Moreover, even the regular settings were shot with depth and attention to detail that is simply missing in most modern movies.

CHARACTERS:

I’m not going to reflect on all the characters, but I’ll talk about the main cast.

Jared Leto plays the one note Ares computer program that comes to life via the permanence code. I’ve heard a lot about how bland the Ares character is and I thought to myself how would I direct an actor to convey lines as a computer program made real? Probably just as stilted as his delivery. Could you have made the character be the one “special” character who delivers lines in a human way to set him apart from the others? I’m sure you could, but the way he delivered the lines, while bland, is probably the most logical course. I did like how he questioned what was happening, but those nuanced lines seem lost on many moviegoers.

Greta Lee plays Eve Kim the CEO of ENCOM who is trying to find Kevin Flynn's "permanence code" to use for humanitarian purposes. While the character type has been done to death I did find myself having a soft spot for her based on her arc being tied to the death of her sister Tess. Her purpose driven story made sense but has been done ad nauseum.

Jodie Turner-Smith as Athena seemed to finally be a role that worked for her. She’s basically a 3D printed Terminator and I liked that they didn’t stray from her mission and try to make her likeable.

Evan Peters as Julian Dillinger was where the wheels started to come off of this movie. This tech billionaire trope is even worse than the Eve Kim checkbox character.

Gillian Anderson’s Elisabeth Dillinger was a waste in my opinion. She should have played the antagonist and been desperate to cement her legacy and then let things go off the rails from there. I’d of yeeted Evan Peters from the film faster than my ex can make a box of Girl Scout cookies disappear.

Jeff Bridges (Kevin Flynn) is the white Samuel L. Jackson. He has devolved to a caricature.

Arturo Castro as Seth Flores is simply miscast. That character has to be much younger in my opinion. Instead of a 40-year old, I’m casting someone in their early to mid 20’s.

HITS:

The overall visuals are astounding! There’s simply too much eye candy to ignore. From the suits, to the literal hacking where programs fight each other, I was blown away by the look and style of the film.

I found the 3D printing insertion into the story to be both timely and cool. The effects for laser printing things in the real world were especially awesome.

The 29 minute time limit for Ares and the others coming through to the real world was an idea I really liked. It reminded me of the recording limits back in the early 2010’s where cameras that could record for 30 minutes or more were taxed at a higher rate than cameras that recorded for less than 30 minutes. It could be a nerdy deep cut