Lamar Reviews - "The Killer's Game" (Airdate 9/20/2024)



What’s not to like? I love Dave Bautista. He was great in Guardians of the Galaxy, he was really good in My Spy, and he surprised me with his acting talent in Knock at the Cabin. The trailer for this movie looked a lot like a John Wick movie, with non-stop action, violence, and blood. The problem is, Keanu Reeves has put his stamp on those movies, and he has ruined it for everyone else. Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth have done the same thing to the manbun. I know how you think it looks, but trust me, it looks exactly the opposite. Get that damn thing off your head! I’m not saying that The Killer’s Game is sad like a manbun, it’s not. But it’s not John Wick, so you should manage your expectations.

Dave Bautista plays Joe Flood, a top line assassin who only kills bad guys, as in drug dealers, pedophiles, arms dealers, and hairdressers that suggest manbuns to their clients. I never actually saw that last one but I’m sure it’s on his list.

So, since Joe is only murdering bad guys it’s ok to pull for him and laugh at the gore.

During one of his kills he meets a beautiful ballet dancer named Maize, played by Sofia Boutella. Joe’s doctor diagnoses him with a life-threatening illness. To avoid the pain and slow death Joe authorizes a kill order on himself. After the order is in place he finds out he was misdiagnosed and faces an army of assassins out to kill him. Let the game begin.

The movie is 1 hour and 44 minutes, Rated-R for strong bloody violence, and tons of it, language, some sexual material, brief drug use and nudity.

Besides the bloody action, there is a lot of dark humor. Some of it hits, a good bit of it misses.

The funniest scenes are between Joe and his handler Zvi Rabinowitz, played by a very funny Ben Kingsley, and his exuberant wife, played by Alex Kingston. They treat him like a son they never had.

Pom Klementieff, who played Mantis in the Guardian movies, plays a villainous part that adds to the humor. Terry Crews is another actor you will recognize.

Dave Bautista has the ability to be intimidating and scary, but also friendly and comforting while snapping a guy’s arm. He has the perfect mixture of charm and menace to keep you engaged and prevent the movie from being a bloody waste of time.

My wife Carla went with me, and even though this is not her kind of movie, surprised me by liking it a lot.

If you are a Bautista fan, and you can manage your expectations and don’t walk in thinking John Wick, you will like it. I did.



My Score: 4 Buds

Lamar Reviews - "The Killer's Game" (Airdate 9/20/2024)
 
What’s not to like? I love Dave Bautista. He was great in Guardians of the Galaxy, he was really good in My Spy, and he surprised me with his acting talent in Knock at the Cabin. The trailer for this movie looked a lot like a John Wick movie, with non-stop action, violence, and blood. The problem is, Keanu Reeves has put his stamp on those movies, and he has ruined it for everyone else. Jason Momoa and Chris Hemsworth have done the same thing to the manbun. I know how you think it looks, but trust me, it looks exactly the opposite. Get that damn thing off your head! I’m not saying that The Killer’s Game is sad like a manbun, it’s not. But it’s not John Wick, so you should manage your expectations.
Dave Bautista plays Joe Flood, a top line assassin who only kills bad guys, as in drug dealers, pedophiles, arms dealers, and hairdressers that suggest manbuns to their clients. I never actually saw that last one but I’m sure it’s on his list.
So, since Joe is only murdering bad guys it’s ok to pull for him and laugh at the gore.
During one of his kills he meets a beautiful ballet dancer named Maize, played by Sofia Boutella. Joe’s doctor diagnoses him with a life-threatening illness. To avoid the pain and slow death Joe authorizes a kill order on himself. After the order is in place he finds out he was misdiagnosed and faces an army of assassins out to kill him. Let the game begin.
The movie is 1 hour and 44 minutes, Rated-R for strong bloody violence, and tons of it, language, some sexual material, brief drug use and nudity.
Besides the bloody action, there is a lot of dark humor. Some of it hits, a good bit of it misses.
The funniest scenes are between Joe and his handler Zvi Rabinowitz, played by a very funny Ben Kingsley, and his exuberant wife, played by Alex Kingston. They treat him like a son they never had.
Pom Klementieff, who played Mantis in the Guardian movies, plays a villainous part that adds to the humor. Terry Crews is another actor you will recognize.
Dave Bautista has the ability to be intimidating and scary, but also friendly and comforting while snapping a guy’s arm. He has the perfect mixture of charm and menace to keep you engaged and prevent the movie from being a bloody waste of time.
My wife Carla went with me, and even though this is not her kind of movie, surprised me by liking it a lot.
If you are a Bautista fan, and you can manage your expectations and don’t walk in thinking John Wick, you will like it. I did.
 
My Score: 4 Buds

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Lamar Reviews - "The Killer's Game" (Airdate 9/20/2024)

When you are strolling though Netflix looking for a movie and you come across one with two beautiful actors set in an exotic location you think, “This should be good”. Sometimes you are right, and you find a hidden gem. But sometimes you are wrong and come up with a dirty piece of gravel. At least you feel strongly one way or the other. This movie does not fall into either one of these categories. This is what I call a “Nothing Movie”, and that is the worst movie to review.

If a movie is good, it is exciting to talk about, and if it is terrible, it is exciting to talk about. But if it evokes no emotion at all, who cares?

I am not a huge fan of Laura Dern, but she has been good in everything I’ve seen her in. The main two that come to mind are Jurassic Park with dinosaurs and Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage. Liam Hemsworth was good in the Hunger Games movies, and Expendables 2. In none of the movies I named were Dern and Hemsworth the main thing you were looking at.

In Lonely planet they are doing the heavy lifting. They have to have chemistry. They have to be interesting. We have to care about the decisions they make, and the outcome of what they do.

Laura Dern plays Katherine Loewe, a successful writer who goes to a writer’s retreat to break her writers’ block and finish her novel after a messy breakup. Liam Hemsworth plays Owen Brophy, some sort of investor that is never quite explained. His girlfriend Lily, played by Diana Silvers has written a best seller and has dragged Owen to the same retreat. Owen is an outsider in this situation and is left to walk around trying to find a cell signal so that he can buy a property for the investment company he works for. In doing so he meets Katherine. We know instantly that they are the stars, this is a romantic movie, and they are destined to be together. Sadly, there are no sparks. No titillating conversations, and at no time do you really care if they get together or not.

When the thing that you know is going to happen to separate them so that we can cheer for them to get back together does happen, you don’t care. In fact, you don’t care enough to pause the movie while you go to the bathroom and get something to drink.

The movie is 1 hour and 34 minutes, or as I call it 94 minutes I can never get back, it is Rated-R for regret, and language, but mostly regret.

It was never going to be good, but it didn’t even have the decency to be bad. To say it was bland would give it too much credit for some type of flavor. I wish I had seen it in a theater and paid money to see it. At least I would have the satisfaction of being pissed off, it robbed me of even that.

My Score: Nothing

When you are strolling though Netflix looking for a movie and you come across one with two beautiful actors set in an exotic location you think, “This should be good”. Sometimes you are right, and you find a hidden gem. But sometimes you are wrong and come up with a dirty piece of gravel. At least you feel strongly one way or the other. This movie does not fall into either one of these categories. This is what I call a “Nothing Movie”, and that is the worst movie to review.
If a movie is good, it is exciting to talk about, and if it is terrible, it is exciting to talk about. But if it evokes no emotion at all, who cares?
I am not a huge fan of Laura Dern, but she has been good in everything I’ve seen her in. The main two that come to mind are Jurassic Park with dinosaurs and Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage. Liam Hemsworth was good in the Hunger Games movies, and Expendables 2. In none of the movies I named were Dern and Hemsworth the main thing you were looking at.
In Lonely planet they are doing the heavy lifting. They have to have chemistry. They have to be interesting. We have to care about the decisions they make, and the outcome of what they do.
Laura Dern plays Katherine Loewe, a successful writer who goes to a writer’s retreat to break her writers’ block and finish her novel after a messy breakup. Liam Hemsworth plays Owen Brophy, some sort of investor that is never quite explained. His girlfriend Lily, played by Diana Silvers has written a best seller and has dragged Owen to the same retreat. Owen is an outsider in this situation and is left to walk around trying to find a cell signal so that he can buy a property for the investment company he works for. In doing so he meets Katherine. We know instantly that they are the stars, this is a romantic movie, and they are destined to be together. Sadly, there are no sparks. No titillating conversations, and at no time do you really care if they get together or not.
When the thing that you know is going to happen to separate them so that we can cheer for them to get back together does happen, you don’t care. In fact, you don’t care enough to pause the movie while you go to the bathroom and get something to drink.
The movie is 1 hour and 34 minutes, or as I call it 94 minutes I can never get back, it is Rated-R for regret, and language, but mostly regret.
It was never going to be good, but it didn’t even have the decency to be bad. To say it was bland would give it too much credit for some type of flavor. I wish I had seen it in a theater and paid money to see it. At least I would have the satisfaction of being pissed off, it robbed me of even that.
My Score: Nothing

Lamar Reviews - "Lonely Planet" (Airdate 11/15/2024)

Lamar Reviews - "Martha" (Airdate 11/8/2024)



Martha Stewart has had one of the most interesting lives I’ve ever heard of. Also, she is one of the strongest, most determined, and definitely most focused women you’ll ever come across. She was a “daddy’s girl” that learned about gardening from a man that demanded perfection. She spent hours in the kitchen with her mother. She became a model at 16 so she could pay for college. She went from 50 cents an hour babysitting, to 50 dollars an hour posing. From there she became the first woman stockbroker on the New York Stock Exchange. She started a catering business, then started writing cookbooks. She developed a new magazine, Martha Stewart Living that sold more than 2 million copies per issue. Turned that into a TV show, and eventually put it all under Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and went public to become the first female self-made billionaire in the United States. She continues to be the majority shareholder. Went to prison for insider trading that saved her $45,673.

She was sentenced to 5 months in prison. Of her trial she said, “Those prosecutors should have been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high.”

She returned to daytime tv with the Martha Stewart Show, which was not her wheelhouse. It was not her brand. She said, “Mark Burnett, the producer, missed the point of “Martha Stewart”, live audience and crummy music, ugh!” That was more like prison than being at Alderson Federal Prison.”

Because she could not be the CEO of her company, it went down the tubes, and she sold it off, losing over a billion dollars. But she has 2 mottos, “Learn something new every day, and “When you are through changing, you’re through.” She said, ‘If you don’t like the garden, change it, rip it out and start all over again.” Which is exactly what she did.

She got invited to Justin Bieber’s roast on Comedy Central. In the introduction Kevin Hart said, “For all the black people that are confused about that old white woman on the couch, that’s Martha Stewart.” Nobody had warned her that she would be roasted too. They all expected her to go soft, she did not! She was the star of the evening. I re-wounded and watched her jokes 3 times. For those of you that don’t understand the term re-wounded, there was this thing called a videotape, that you could re-wind, and if you didn’t before you returned it, you had to pay $2. But that’s another story. She sat beside Snoop Dogg and she said, “For 7 hours he was smoking blunt after blunt and I was just getting higher and higher sitting there.”  Snoop asked her to hang out, and the comeback was on!”

Netflix 1 hour 55 minutes, Rated-R for language.

Oldest Sports Illustrated Cover ever, she is the original Influencer. The is a very interesting, eye-opening, and inspiring documentary. It really is a must see, just to watch how she handles the questions, and how honest and frank she is.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Budweisers

Lamar Reviews - "Martha" (Airdate 11/8/2024)
 
Martha Stewart has had one of the most interesting lives I’ve ever heard of. Also, she is one of the strongest, most determined, and definitely most focused women you’ll ever come across. She was a “daddy’s girl” that learned about gardening from a man that demanded perfection. She spent hours in the kitchen with her mother. She became a model at 16 so she could pay for college. She went from 50 cents an hour babysitting, to 50 dollars an hour posing. From there she became the first woman stockbroker on the New York Stock Exchange. She started a catering business, then started writing cookbooks. She developed a new magazine, Martha Stewart Living that sold more than 2 million copies per issue. Turned that into a TV show, and eventually put it all under Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and went public to become the first female self-made billionaire in the United States. She continues to be the majority shareholder. Went to prison for insider trading that saved her $45,673.
She was sentenced to 5 months in prison. Of her trial she said, “Those prosecutors should have been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high.”
She returned to daytime tv with the Martha Stewart Show, which was not her wheelhouse. It was not her brand. She said, “Mark Burnett, the producer, missed the point of “Martha Stewart”, live audience and crummy music, ugh!” That was more like prison than being at Alderson Federal Prison.”
Because she could not be the CEO of her company, it went down the tubes, and she sold it off, losing over a billion dollars. But she has 2 mottos, “Learn something new every day, and “When you are through changing, you’re through.” She said, ‘If you don’t like the garden, change it, rip it out and start all over again.” Which is exactly what she did.
She got invited to Justin Bieber’s roast on Comedy Central. In the introduction Kevin Hart said, “For all the black people that are confused about that old white woman on the couch, that’s Martha Stewart.” Nobody had warned her that she would be roasted too. They all expected her to go soft, she did not! She was the star of the evening. I re-wounded and watched her jokes 3 times. For those of you that don’t understand the term re-wounded, there was this thing called a videotape, that you could re-wind, and if you didn’t before you returned it, you had to pay $2. But that’s another story. She sat beside Snoop Dogg and she said, “For 7 hours he was smoking blunt after blunt and I was just getting higher and higher sitting there.”  Snoop asked her to hang out, and the comeback was on!”
Netflix 1 hour 55 minutes, Rated-R for language.
Oldest Sports Illustrated Cover ever, she is the original Influencer. The is a very interesting, eye-opening, and inspiring documentary. It really is a must see, just to watch how she handles the questions, and how honest and frank she is.
My Score: 5 Ice Cold Budweisers

Lamar Reviews - "Martha" (Airdate 11/8/2024)

Lamar Reviews - "Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare" (Airdate 11/1/2024)



The first thing I look at on Netflix is documentaries. I was slow on the uptake of documentaries but I quickly discovered that the majority of them are very interesting, and really good. Just the title alone drew my interest. When I first started to hear about the “Catfishing” thing I was very skeptical as to why anybody would fall for that. I do understand it a lot better now that I’m familiar with more and more stories. I still look at these stories and immediately see tons of moments that in my opinion the person should have suspected what was happening. But I have to remind myself that I’m not emotionally connected to what was happening, and the victim is.

In the Sweet Bobby story, Kirat, a young Indian woman who is feeling the pressure to be married. In that culture to be of a certain age and not be married is looked down upon. She is contacted by this handsome, well to do man that is interested in her.They started an online relationship that lasted 10 years. 10 years without ever having sat down and seen each other face to face. How do you have a 10 year relationship without ever physically meeting? That really is the question. In this situation the desperation she feels in not letting down her parents in front of their community is enormous. I think that is the main reason she did not see the red flags in this relationship that were constantly popping up. It is very easy to judge her and blame her, while seeing all of this in hindsight. But, you have to put yourself in her place. 

There is also a second victim, Bobby. The real Bobby who did absolutely nothing to get involved in this situation. His images were taken and used one hundred percent without his knowledge. He knew nothing until an unknown woman showed up at his door, hysterical and accusing him of stuff.

This is on Netflix, the movie is 1 hour 22 minutes, Rated -TV14.



While I was watching this I was yelling at the TV, “how are you falling for this? Can’t you see this doesn’t make any sense? Well, if you are believing this, I can’t feel sorry for you!” But I did feel sorry for her. She truly did not do anything wrong. She just trusted someone who loved her, someone she was prepared to spend the rest of her life with. The only person in this situation to be mad at is the “Catfisher”, not the catfish, or the bait. And I honestly don’t get what that person got out of all of this. In some catfishing stories there is a scam for money, but there was no money involved in this story. The only commodity given or lost was love. And in Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, love can be a cruel and dangerous thing.



My Score: 4 Buds

Lamar Reviews - "Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare" (Airdate 11/1/2024)
 
The first thing I look at on Netflix is documentaries. I was slow on the uptake of documentaries but I quickly discovered that the majority of them are very interesting, and really good. Just the title alone drew my interest. When I first started to hear about the “Catfishing” thing I was very skeptical as to why anybody would fall for that. I do understand it a lot better now that I’m familiar with more and more stories. I still look at these stories and immediately see tons of moments that in my opinion the person should have suspected what was happening. But I have to remind myself that I’m not emotionally connected to what was happening, and the victim is.
In the Sweet Bobby story, Kirat, a young Indian woman who is feeling the pressure to be married. In that culture to be of a certain age and not be married is looked down upon. She is contacted by this handsome, well to do man that is interested in her.They started an online relationship that lasted 10 years. 10 years without ever having sat down and seen each other face to face. How do you have a 10 year relationship without ever physically meeting? That really is the question. In this situation the desperation she feels in not letting down her parents in front of their community is enormous. I think that is the main reason she did not see the red flags in this relationship that were constantly popping up. It is very easy to judge her and blame her, while seeing all of this in hindsight. But, you have to put yourself in her place. 
There is also a second victim, Bobby. The real Bobby who did absolutely nothing to get involved in this situation. His images were taken and used one hundred percent without his knowledge. He knew nothing until an unknown woman showed up at his door, hysterical and accusing him of stuff.
This is on Netflix, the movie is 1 hour 22 minutes, Rated -TV14.
 
While I was watching this I was yelling at the TV, “how are you falling for this? Can’t you see this doesn’t make any sense? Well, if you are believing this, I can’t feel sorry for you!” But I did feel sorry for her. She truly did not do anything wrong. She just trusted someone who loved her, someone she was prepared to spend the rest of her life with. The only person in this situation to be mad at is the “Catfisher”, not the catfish, or the bait. And I honestly don’t get what that person got out of all of this. In some catfishing stories there is a scam for money, but there was no money involved in this story. The only commodity given or lost was love. And in Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, love can be a cruel and dangerous thing.
 
My Score: 4 Buds

Lamar Reviews - "The Killer's Game" (Airdate 9/20/2024)

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