I had not thought I would enjoy this movie as much. An almost 2h romance comedy (romcom) which kept me interested throughout its duration..

I had not seen this in the past, but when I saw it on Netflix, I knew I would watch it.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22740896/

Vacation, traveling, meeting people, romantic and comedy. What's not to like?

Story:

Poppy wants to explore the world and Alex prefers to stay home with a good book, but somehow they are the very best of friends. They live far apart, but for a decade they have spent one week of summer vacation together.

The story is around two best friends and their relationship, how it started, how it evolves and what kind of funny (or sometimes hurtful) things that happen to them.

From the very first moments, I was pleasantly surprised, as the movie starts with a few twists.

The movie starts as familiar setup, but quickly reveals layers, playful plot, and some pretty enlightening flashbacks that reveal the true story.

The film is an adaptation of the popular novel by Emily Henry, a book from an author that built a loyal fanbase thanks to its modern take on love, friendship, and timing.

Its transition to the screen was a must. The story is interesting, built on a good plot and has some really interesting characters who feel more real than idealized.

People We Meet on Vacation follows two protagonists whose relationship unfolds over time, places, and emotional phases.

Vacations become milestones, of who they are and who they are becoming.

Can a man an a woman be true friends? Is Poppy in love with Alex, or vice versa? How can their partners allow them to go on vacation with each other every year, without them?

One of the film’s biggest strengths is its flow. The pacing feels natural, the story moves back and forth through time using flashbacks, which are absolutely necessary. As viewers, we don’t fully understand what went wrong, what changed, or what is being avoided until the puzzle pieces slowly come together.

The cast is made up of fresh and young actors (I did not know them to be honest, but I think that we will be seeing more of them in the future)

Their chemistry between them feels effortless and natural.

This film earns its place in the good rom-com category. It has humor, romance, and unpredictability to keep it from feeling cliché.

Overall, People We Meet on Vacation is a warm, funny, and surprisingly layered film that leaves a very nice aftertaste after you watch it. I would definitely rate it over a 6, and for rom-com fans, I think it's worth the watch.

Quote by Poppy:

Home is where you can be entirely yourself. In fact, home doesn't have to be a place at all. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do. When you're with the person who loves you for you, you're always home.

Director: Brett Haley

Writers: Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon. Nunzio Randazzo

Stars: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth, Sarah Catherine Hook

My rating? 6.1 (on the plus side) Imdb rating? 6.7

Here are a few of the featured reviews:

You can watch the trailer and please let me know your thoughts when you watch the film!

Stand your ground

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On Episode two of Hijack season two, Sam basically has the whole world thinking he is the bad guy now but we all know thats not whats going on here, theres no way he actually blew up Freddy with that briefcase bomb even tho they made it look that way when everything cut out at the end. That cliffhanger was insane but I am calling it right now its total bullshit, something is going on with that lighter he kept messing with and maybe that trash can full of paper in the security room, my guess is he set off the fire alarm or did something to cut the camera feeds to make it look like an explosion went off when really nothing happen at all, the whole point is Sam does not want to hurt anybody and you can see it written all over his face every single time he has to threaten someone or act violent. The John Bailey Brown situation is what this whole thing is about and I got to admit I do not remember that name being a big deal in season one either but apparently this is the guy who was behind the plane hijacking from last season, now Sam is tearing through Germany on a train trying to track him down which makes sense I guess but also why not just go to your scheduled meeting with the German authorities and tell them exactly where this guy is hiding instead of hijacking a entire train full of innocent people, there has got to be way more going on here that we dont know about yet and I think it all ties back to his family.

• IMDB: URLHERE
• Platform: AppletTV

My big theory right now is that Marsha his ex wife is in some kind of danger and probably being held hostage at that cabin we saw her at and its almost like there is somebody else with her at the cabin that they havent shown yet, this could also ad another motive other than trying to just locate this man he is after because is entirely stupid to hostage a train to try to work with the authorities, just like when they were waiting for him at the meeting? why not showing up and try to do things the right way?, its all suspicious. The fact that we have not seen Kai their son at all this season makes me think something really bad happend to him, maybe he died and it has something to do with John Bailey Brown or the people who work for him, that would explain why Marsha is at this isolated cabin for some kind of anniversary and why Sam has gone to such extreme lengths to find this guy, its revenge but also justice in his mind. The flowers she received with her old married name Marsha Nelson on them is super suspicious too, someone is definitely watching her and I would not be surprised if its the same people who are forcing Sam to do all this, like maybe they grabbed Marsha or threatened her and told Sam if he wants to see her again he needs to hijack this train and bring them John Bailey Brown, that would make Sam a pawn in somebody elses game which fits with how desperate and stressed he looks the entire episode.

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The train getting completely stuck because another train pulled up right in front of them blocking the tracks is such a Sam Nelson type of problem, like of course the universe would do that to him right when he needs things to go smoothly but its just Winter trying to gain some time while they somehow figure out who this man is, now he is trapped at this station with the GSG9 which is what they call SWAT in Germany right outside ready to storm the train and a big ass train sitting in front of him blocking any way forward, its going to be very interesting how he gets himself out of this mess because you know he is going to figure something out even if it looks completely impossible right now. Otto trying to bail on the whole operation was actually pretty funny, this dude was ready to just say fuck this I am going home and Sam had to remind him that he got paid a lot of money for this so they are seeing it through no matter what happens but I still dont buy it that Sam is the man in charge of the operation, poor Freddy tho getting himself into trouble just because he was too curious smart ass and could not leave things alone but again I really do not think he is dead. It just seems way too easy and not at all like Sams style to actually blow someone up, the show wants us to think he might have done it but I am not buying it for a second, they focused way too much on that lighter and the trash can for it to not mean something, my guess is he rigged up some kind of fake explosion using fire or smoke to disable the cameras and make everyone think the bomb went off when it didnt, the problem now is how does he move forward from here because the SWAT team is literally right there and they are going to figure out pretty quick that nothing actually explode. The passengers are starting to get restless too especially after being stuck at the station for so long with no real explanation, they dont fully understand yet that they are hostages but I think episode three is when that realization is going to hit them hard and things are going to get way more chaotic, you can only tell people there is a delay for so long before they start demanding answers or trying to get off the train themselves. The whole setup with Sam being forced to hijack this train to find John Bailey Brown while his wife is probably in danger feels like he is caught in the middle of something way bigger than just revenge, like maybe some crime organization or even the same group that did the plane hijacking is making him do this because they want Bailey Brown too and Sam is just trying to save his family while also not hurting innocent people which is a insane amount of presure for one person to deal with.

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Peter Faber that MI5 agent played by Toby Jones is interesting because he seems like he has his own agenda going on separate from what the German police are doing, in fact me says Im just an advisor here, he is not just there to observe he is definitely planning something and I would not be surprised if he is connected to whatever larger conspiracy is happening behind the scenes, guys like him always have secrets and the way he was acting around Ada Winter the police chief makes me think he knows more than he is letting on. Ada herself is trying her best to negotiate with Sam but she does not have all the information either, she thinks this is just a regular hijacking situation when really its so much more complicated than that, Sam is not a terrorist he is a desperate man trying to save people he loves and the authorities have no idea what they are really dealing with here. The apartment they found with all the bomb making materials is another piece of the puzzle, someone definitely made that briefcase bomb there but was it Sam and Otto or did someone else make it and give it to them as part of this whole plan, if Sam thinks its fake but its actually real then he just killed Freddy without meaning to which would be a horrible twist but I still dont think thats what happen.

The pacing of this episode felt better than the first one even tho we are still kind of stuck in one location for most of it, the tension really ramped up during that final scene with Freddy on the platform and everyone waiting to see if the bomb would go off, the fact that the cameras cut out right at that moment was brilliant because now nobody knows what actually happens and we have to wait a whole week to find out. I am giving this episode a solid seven out of ten because it kept me interested the whole time and that ending was wild even tho I dont believe Sam actually killed anybody, the show is doing a good job making us question what Sam is capable of while also reminding us that he is ultimatly a good person who got put in a impossible situation, I just hope they start giving us more answers soon because there are so many questions right now and only six episodes left to wrap everything up. The whole Germany setting is cool and I dont mind reading subtitles at all since that was part of season one too, anyone complaining about that is just being lazy because subtitles are not a big deal, the real issue is whether the show can maintain this level of tension for the rest of the season and actually deliver on all these mysteries they are setting up, so far I am optimistic but we will see where it goes from here.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #hijack, #season, #episode, #recap, #sam, #nelson, #train, #freddy, #bomb, #germany, #cliffhanger, #marsha, #hostage, #john, #bailey, #brown, #otto, #george, #swat, #passenger, #twist, #theory, #anxiety, #explosion, #tension

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Play until the end

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Episode 6 of Fallout Season 2 is one of those times where stuff is building up for the finale but there is not really those big flashy moments that make you feel the dopamine rush of a good episode, its more like the quiet before everything explodes and you know its coming but you still have to sit through all the setup. The whole reveal of the Enclave being the other player was probably the biggest thing here and look I will admit I was not as familiar with them as I have never play any of the games so for me this was actually a surprise even though everyone online was calling it episodes ago because it was just obvious but this is the thing adaptations that brings in a new audience although sometimes doesnt match the game fans and the story splits from the lore. Turns out Enclave is this big bad organization that has been pulling strings from behind the scenes and now we get Ron Perlman showing up as a super mutant who talks about them like they are the real villains in all this mess. The ghoul surviving been implate from last episode was wild I mean the dude got completely run through and just laid there for what looks like a full day on some random sidewalk with nobody bothering to help, classic wasteland stuff really, people just walking by him like he is a piece of trash on the street witch shows how messed up everyones sense of humanity has become in this world, you can tell he did try his hardes to get out of that situation when he just pulls himself up trying to think of why he has done all this but its just too much for his strengh and gave up, ready to stay there fro who knows how long or just die.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12637874/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

Him getting saved by a super mutant who apparently has some intelligence and talks about the war was interesting, I did not know super mutants could be like that because all we have seen are the very violent ones but seems they can have full conversations and even have there own agendas tied to the Enclave witch is cool to see, the super mutant heals him with what looks like some radioactive rock probably uranium I would guess and it sounds crazy although wouldnt be strange thats just how things work in the Fallout universe and he even mentions how the Enclave created super mutants and drove them to extinction, so theres this whole backstory about these experiments that went wrong and now the mutants are trying to fight back against the people who made them into monsters in the first place. The real meat of this episode though is Lucy and Hank because watching Lucy wrestle with this moral question about free will versus safety is exactly where her character needed to go after everything she has been through this season, she spent so long believing in one version of the world and now that is all falling apart on her, so when she sees her dad putting control chips in people to make them civilized and good she wants to reject it at first but then reality hits her in the face. She opens those doors tells people they can leave but nobody wants to go because they are happy being controlled, they have food and shelter and peace even if it means giving up there freedom, then when those two Legion guys who have not been processed yet start fighting each other with a damn stapler Lucy caves and pushes the button to save them both.

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That moment where they reset and decide to help each other instead of killing each other is when you see Lucy questioning everything, like maybe her dad is not completly wrong about this aproach even if it feels so wrong, the show is doing a great job making you question what is right or wrong in this world because nothing is black and white here, its all shades of gray and Lucy is right in the middle trying to figure out where she stands on all of it, after all she had to press the button. I think the philosophical side of Fallout has always been interesting but seeing it play out with actual characters you care about makes it feel different, Lucy has always been the moral center of the show but now even she is starting to see that maybe survival requires some ugly choices, what the Ghoul has been trying to explain her all this time but probably not in the best way, Hank explains to her that people in the wasteland just want to kill each other over nothing, they fight over bottlecaps and scraps of food and they will never stop unless someone makes them stop, his solution is to take away there ability to choose violence by programming them to be good, witch sounds like something out of a dystopian nightmare but when you look at the alternative of endless bloodshed you start to see his point even if you dont want to admit it. The show makes reference to that book All Quiet on the Western Front witch Lucy was reading, Hank asks her what she thought about it and she says the most troubling part was that everyone seemed to be fighting over nothing, witch is exactly what Hank sees happening in the wasteland every single day, factions killing each other for petty reasons while the world burns around them.

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Source Hank surrendering to her and admitting he should face justice for Shady Sands was a huge moment too but I cannot tell if that is for real or if he is just playing her to get her on his side, I mean the obvious is that he is playing the fool but its like he is actually trying to teach her and make her go through that process herself and giving up is basically forcing her to take action, either way it seems to be working because Lucy looked conflicted as hell about the whole thing, she puts him in handcuffs and tells him they are going back to Vault 33 so he can stand trial but then he asks her to just let him explain what he has been doing here and calls it redemptive, Lucy does not want to hear it but you can tell part of her is curious about whether her dad can actually be redeemed after everything he has done. The flashback scenes with Barb were probably the most important part of the episode for understanding how we got to this point, we see her at VaultTec watching highlight reels of bomb blasts and talking about marketing strategies for there vaults, the whole meeting is disgusting because they are discussing premium freeway lanes for people trying to escape the bombs and talking about how there water chips will fail in a third of the vaults like its no big deal, these people are literal savages and Barb is sitting there trying to keep it together while her coworkers just casually plan the end of the world, but probably the most important data dump is that she did not come up with the idea to drop the bombs herself, someone from the Enclave told her to plant that idea in the board meeting so she was being used as a puppet by an even bigger organization that we still dont know much about yet, this makes her slightly more sympathetic because she was being threatened and forced into doing these things to protect her family but it does not excuse the fact that she went along with it.

The episode ends with the Ghoul getting dropped off by the super mutant after getting healed and he runs into Maximus and his buddy Thaddeus, so now we got some of the crew coming back together witch means Lucy is probably next and that reunion with Maximus is going to be something because for the most part I find Maximus annoying AF but it would be also interesting how Lucy is going to react since they hit it off the last time. Maximus still has the cold fusion thing that everyone is after and Thaddeus is trying to convince him to just sell it for caps instead of trying to find a good person to give it to but thats the Ghoul talking probably. There is this whole debate between them about whether good people even exist in the wasteland or if thats just something rich vault dwellers can afford to be because they grew up with food and safety. Thaddeus makes a good point when he says he would be a good person too if he grew up on a mountain of supplies in some protected vault but instead he grew up in the boneyard on the hole side witch sounds terrible the way he tries to explain it, meanwhile Maximus keeps insisting that he saw good people in Shady Sands before it got nuked so he knows its possible for people to be decent even in the wasteland, this whole conversation goes along the themes about morality and whether humans are naturally violent or if there environment makes them that way. Overall this was a solid episode even if it was not my favorite, everything it is doing is setting up what I think is going to be an insane finale, the pacing felt a bit slow compared to last week but I understand they need to move pieces into place for the endgame, plus we got a ton of data dump about the Enclave and super mutants and Barbs role in everything witch makes me exited to see how it all comes together in the last two episodes.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #fallout, #recap, #season, #episode, #lucy, #hank, #ghoul, #enclave, #wasteland, #vault, #maximus, #barb, #control, #survival, #mutant, #vegas, #choices, #morality, #violence, #humanity, #future, #television, #gaming, #adaptation, #finale

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Pig is one of those movies that might sounds absolutely stupid, just the title itself "PIG" I bet many viewers from the 90s thought is this a "Babe" like movie? but then see Nicolas Cage on the poster and knew this might be good but wtf is it about. You hear Nicolas Cage is playing some truffle hunter looking for his stolen pig and you probably think this is going to be some crazy action packed revenge thing like John Wick but with a pig instead of a dog. Wrong, because what you get is so much better and so much quieter, this thing is slow and really thoughtful and Cage does not go full crazy mode here like he does in some of his other stuff, this is one of his best performances in years and I almost felt sad because it took me so long to watch this movie, well back then I was a Nicolas Cage but was not so deep into content as Im now after the Pandemic, this turn out to be my hobbie so go figure. Nicolas Cage plays Rob as this broken guy who is just trying to exist in the woods with his pig and nothing else matters to him anymore, this is way more about loss and grief than it is about revenge, Rob used to be this big shot chef in Portland but he walked away from all that after something tragic happened and now he just wants to be left alone in the forest with his truffle pig. When his pig gets taken he has to go back to the city and face all the people and the life he left behind, thats where the movie really starts hitting different because you realize this is not going to be what you expected at all. Michael Sarnoski directed this and was his first feature movie which is insane because this thing looks and feels like it was made by someone who has been doing this for decades, the guy gets how to make everything feel real and heavy instead of just cheap entertainment.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11003218/
• Platform: AppleTV+

Rottentomatoes Rating

Source Alex Wolff is also great in this as Amir, this young guy who sells the truffles and has his own issues with his father and their weird relationship, the two of them together make this strange partnership work really damn well even though they are completely different people from different worlds. Amir shows up in his yellow Camaro blasting music and wearing expensive suits, he is trying so hard to be this important person in the truffle business but you can tell he does not have the respect he desperately wants from anyone including his own dad who treats him like shit. Rob on the other hand does not give a shit about any of that anymore, he just lives in his cabin in the woods and digs up truffles with his pig and that is his whole life now after everything fell apart for him years ago when his wife died. The chemistry between Cage and Wolff is one of the best parts of the movie because you watch Amir slowly start to understand Rob and what he has been through, there is this slow realization that happens where Amir starts to see that all the fake stuff he cares about does not really matter at all when you compare it to real loss. Rob has this quiet strength to him that comes from someone who has lost everything already so there is nothing left to take from him except this pig, the damn pig, the pig is the one thing he still has that means something real to him and when its gone he has to go back into a world he left behind like 15 years ago. You get little hints throughout about who Rob used to be and why people still remember his name even after he disappeared, his name still carries weight in the Portland restaurant scene even though he walked away from all of it and never looked back.

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The movie takes you through this journey where Rob is tracking down his pig and along the way you meet all these different people from his past life, there is this whole secret underground network of chefs and restaurant people in Portland that he used to be a part of and everyone knows who he is so it starts giving you clues of his past life. One of the best scenes in the whole damn movie is when Rob goes to this fancy restaurant and calls out the chef who used to work for him, he does not yell or get violent or anything like that, instead he just calmly tells this guy the truth about his life and how he has been lying to himself for years. The chef thinks he is successful and important but Rob just breaks him down with words, he reminds him that he always wanted to open a pub but instead he ended up cooking pretentious food at this fancy place that does not even make him happy at all. It is one of those moments where you realize Rob is not going to fight anyone or hurt anyone, he is just going to make them see the truth about themselves and its way more powerful than any action scene could ever be in this type of movie, knowledge is true power. There is also this weird underground fight club thing for restaurant workers that Rob goes to, you think maybe this is where things are going to get violent but even there he just stands and takes a beating to get information about where his pig is. He does not fight back or go crazy, he just lets it happen because he has already been through so much pain that a physical beating does not even matter to him anymore at this point in his life, what is a few punches compared to losing your wife.

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The movie really surprise me with how it connects back at the end to Amir's father Darius who turns out to be the guy behind everything, he had the pig stolen but not because of business like you might think, its way more personal and fucked up than that which caught me completely off guard. Years ago Rob cooked this perfect meal for Darius and his wife, it was one happy night in what was otherwise a shit marriage, and Darius blames Rob for giving them that moment of hope before everything fell apart on them, his wife tried to kill herself and now she is in a coma on life support, Darius will not let her go and he also will not forgive Rob for making him remember what happiness felt like, so he steals the pig as revenge for opening old wounds that never healed. When Rob finds out he does not go and kill the guy or beat him up or anything, instead he cooks Darius the same exact meal that he made for him and his wife all those years ago and it completely destroys him emotionally in front of everyone. This is where you see that Rob and Darius are both dealing with the same kind of loss, they both lost their wives and they both handled it in completely different ways but neither of them have really moved on from what happened. The meal scene is really nice but at the same time a lot of tension almost devastating to be honest, you watch Darius eat this food that takes him back to a time when he was happy with his wife and he just breaks down crying like a little kid. It is in that moment that Darius tells Rob the truth, the pig is already dead and has been dead for a while now, it got hurt when the guys stole it and it did not make it through the night. Rob just collapses when he hears this because the pig was the last thing he had left that connected him to any kind of happiness or love, now that its gone he has got absolutely nothing left in this world and you feel that pain so hard, for many other reasons Nicolas Cage is my favorite actor and he knows how to sell a scene like this one without saying much at all, you just see it all on his face and in his body language and its devastating to watch this man lose the one thing he still cared about.

The ending of the movie is quiet and sad but there is also something hopeful about it in a weird way, Rob goes back to his cabin in the woods and finally plays the tape of his wife singing that he has been avoiding this whole time because he was not ready. Throughout the movie you see him pick up the tape and then put it back down because he is not ready to hear her voice but after losing the pig he finally has the courage to listen to it and start dealing with his grief properly instead of just running away. The movie ends with him looking up at light coming through the roof of his cabin, its this moment where you realize he is finally starting to accept what happened and maybe he can start to heal now that he hit rock bottom but honestly how does this connects to the pig? is it because he feels he cant even protect a pig?. This movie is not going to be for everyone because its slow and quiet and does not give you any of the action or revenge you might be expecting when you see Nicolas Cage on the poster but if you give it a chance you will see why people are calling it one of the best movies of the year and one of Cage's best performances ever. The whole thing is shot beautifully with lots of scenes in the Oregon forest that look amazing, the music is also really good and adds to the sad atmosphere without being too over the top about it or trying too hard. I would give this movie an easy 8 out of 10 because it completely surprised me and its a deep movie that makes you think about the little things that matter, like a Pig or a pet, this is the kind of movie that reminds you why you love movies in the first place when they are done right and respect the audience.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #pig, #nicolas, #cage, #truffle, #portland, #chef, #revenge, #loss, #grief, #amir, #wolf, #quiet, #movie, #restaurant, #underground, #cooking, #darius, #father, #wife, #death, #forest, #hunter, #emotional, #performance, #surprise

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How do you know it's an alien?

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I just watch the first movie a few days ago and it was because of the sequel actually, if not I would probably just skip leaving it behind considering how flooded we are in content now days, the sequel does not disappoint at all actually cranks everything up a few notches and somehow manages to be better than the original in almost every way possible, probably around 30 or 40 minutes into this thing I was thinking yeah this sequel seems to be done right for what the first movie was, Road to Revenge takes everything that worked in the first movie like the relentless action, the ultra violence, the silent badass main character who refuses to die no matter what gets thrown at him and just goes harder with all of it with bigger set pieces, more vehicles getting destroyed, more insane kills and somehow they even managed to squeeze some real emotion out of it by the end which I was not expecting at all. I think sequel work so well because it just keeps moving forward the entire time literally, the whole thing is designed like a Finnish version of Mad Max Fury Road where our guy is on the run from the start and never stops, the first movie was more contain just one dude with his gold trying to survive but this one throws him into trucks motorcycles planes and trains and each vehicle gets its own crazy action sequence that feels fresh. There is this early truck chase that mixes that classic action movie vibes with the nonestop chasing and with the Sisu style of being cranked up to 11 with gore and violence, then a plane sequence that does its own thing while still feeling like a callback to Last Crusade without doing a carbon copy of it, the whole finale takes place on a train and it gets absolutely nuts there is a stealth scene where he has to move through a room without making noise while dealing with pain which sounds simple but they make it tense then it explodes into shootouts and bombs and pure chaos. Every action scene tries to set the bar higher than the previous one and they never run out of creative ways to put this guy in impossible situations and then find some batshit way for him to get out of it like watching a fkn cartoon but with actual stakes and blood everywhere, the action is relentless and the movie never slows down.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31844586/
• Platform: AppleTV+

Rottentomatoes Rating

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The Finnish culture is all over this movie too which gives it something most action movies do not have anymore an actual personalty, the director wanted to make something that reflected his people their history with World War II how that shaped them and this very stoic way of dealing with heavy shit. Aatami the main character still does not talk much, from what I found about the movie production, the director said if it was up to him this would be a silent movie but you cannot sell that to studios so there is some dialogue but the movie functions without it most of the time, all of that ties into the ending wich I cannot say anything about without spoiling it since its a short movie everything is so tight together. A movie this violent and over the top should not be able to pull off something that emotionally sweet but it does because everything connects back to what matters to this character what he values and what he has left in this world, its not just about revenge or survival anymore there is weight to what he is doing. You get the sense that every brutal kill every insane stunt is driving toward something meaningful and when that payoff comes it hits harder than you expect from a movie that spends most of its runtime blowing shit up and finding creative ways to murder people, the balance between the crazy action and the genuine emotion is what makes this way better than just being another dumb action sequel.

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Stephen Lang plays the villain and he is a damn good upgrade from the first movie the guy just has this presence that makes every scene better, the revenge angle is way more personal this time because Lang ties directly into Aatami character past, what happens to his family and why he is doing what he is doing. Its not about gold anymore like in the first one this mission is about everything that matters to him, everything he has left and he will destroy anyone and anything that gets in his way to make sure he succeeds, that personal connection between hero and villain makes all the action feel like it actually means something instead of just being cool looking violence for the sake of it though the violence is still cool do not get me wrong. Lang brings this intensity to every scene he is in and you can tell he is having a blast playing this character, he chews up the scenery without going too over the top, theres this scene where he is just standing still while bullets are flying around him and you can see in his eyes that he knows exactly who he is dealing with and respects it in a weird way. The dynamic between him and our silent badass creates this tension that runs through the entire movie, you know these two are gonna have to face off eventually and when it finaly happens its worth the wait, the final confrontation between them is brutal and satisfying and gives both characters there moment to shine.

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The movie also does a great job of using the environment as part of the action, every location feels like it was chosen specifically to create unique set pieces, some felt a bit cliche as it almost speaks to you telling whats going to happen next but still doesnt matter because every other action scene is great. The truck chase through the forest has branches slapping the vehicle and obstacles everywhere that Aatami has to navigate while being shot at by motorcycles covered in armor and grenades, the plane sequence takes place in these tight spaces between trees where the jets cannot maneuver properly so they have to get creative with there attacks wich leads to some absolutely ridiculous moments that somehow work. Then theres the train scene towards the end wich is just non stop chaos from start to finish with our guy having to sneak through cars full of enemies while injured then turn around and go full Rambo when the stealth approach stops working, the way the movie uses each location to its fullest potential feels more than just a cool set with awesome visuals, its like they wanted every scene to feel unique and that it sticks to your mind since thats what basically action movies are, a set of cool scenes that sticks with you, nobody remembers the drama for the most part. The environment gives the movie a very unique Finnish identity, from the frozen landscapes to the industrial settings everything feels real to the place and the people, you get this sense that the director really cares about representing his culture in a way that feels true instead of just using it as window dressing for an action movie.

Overall Road to Revenge is everything a sequel should be, yes call it over the top, yes call it exaggerated but it takes what worked in the original and makes it bigger while adding new stuff that makes it feel fresh and exciting. The action is bigger and more personal and the whole thing moves at this fast pace that never lets up, its the kind of movie that reminds you why action movies can be so much fun when they are done right. I cant say the success of the movie is its short runtime but the movie use it as an advantage because its like it has to cramp a lot of action into a small amount of time considering its about 90 minutes long, not much but it just keeps pumping adrenaline none stop with sprinkles of drama and context. If you liked the first Sisu you are gonna love this one and if you have not seen the first one you should probably watch both back to back as I did because they make a great double feature, this is the kind of sequel that actually makes sense to exist instead of just being a cash grab and I hope we get more movies like this that are willing to take risks and do something different with the action genre. I give it a solid 8 out of 10 its not perfect but its a hell of a good time and exactly what I wanted from a sequel to one of the most fun action movies of the last few years, definitely worth checking out if you want something that balances insane action with genuine heart.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #sisu, #sequel, #action, #finnish, #revenge, #stephen, #violence, #train, #truck, #motorcycle, #plane, #combat, #brutal, #chase, #explosions, #shootout, #survival, #finland, #world, #war, #silent, #hero, #villain, #emotion, #chaos

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This is a cross post of @gwajnberg/having-fun-with-dinosaurs-again by @gwajnberg.

Review about Jurassic World :Rebirth

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This movie is not complicated at all, actually one I would recommend to watch, its about Jeffrey Manchester, this guy who was in the army reserves and comes home to his three kids and baby mama who works at McDonalds, he cannot hold down a job for some reason even though he is clearly smart as hell, like he can memorize every house on his block with all the details without even trying, his observation skills are insane, but somehow he still makes the dumbest decisions possible, his friend even tells him straight up that he is the smartest dumb person he knows and thats basically the whole movie right there. Jeffrey decides to start robbing fast food places by breaking through the roof, he did this over 40 times across multiple states before getting caught which is absolutely wild. The way he does it is kinda funny too, he breaks in through the roof early morning and waits for employees to show up, then comes out all polite like good morning everyone this is a robbery but please get comfortable, he even makes sure people have their coats on before locking them in the freezer because he is worried they might get cold, like what kind of criminal does that, its this weird mix of threatening people with a gun but also being considerate about it. Then he gets busted and sentenced to 45 years which seems harsh as hell considering he did not actually hurt anyone physically, the judge threw the book at him with kidnapping charges just because they knew he did other stuff they could not prove, that whole scene pissed me off because its like you cannot just add time for crimes you think someone did without actual proof, thats some bullshit right there and you can see it on Tatums face he is thinking the same thing.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4627382/
• Platform: Paramount+

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Source Jeffrey breaks out of prison in this really clever way, he works in the mechanic shop and builds this box thing under a delivery truck so he can hide when guards check underneath, once he is out he decides to hide inside a Toys R Us in Charlotte for six months which again sounds absolutely insane. The Toys R Us stuff is probably the most fun part of the movie, watching him figure out how to survive in there is entertaining and hilarious, he finds this little spot behind where they keep the bikes and sets up a whole nest like a big human rat, at night when everyone leaves he turns off the security cameras and runs around the store doing whatever, washing his ass in the bathroom sink and eating baby food and peanut MMs because thats all he has got. Peter Dinklage plays the store manager Mitch and he is hilarious too, this guy is such a dick to his employees for no reason and all his facial expressions are perfect, the running joke about someone eating all the peanut MMs is great because Mitch keeps blaming this other employee Otis but its obviously Jeffrey the whole time. What I do not get is how nobody noticed like 10000 dollars worth of video games missing from inventory or that the security cameras were not recording for months, Mitch seems like the type who would check that shit constantly but I guess he is too busy being a jerk to everyone, maybe if he spent less time bullying Otis he would have noticed someone was literally living in his store.

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Source Things get complicated when Jeffrey sees this woman Lee who works at the Toys R Us, Kirsten Dunst plays her and she has got two daughters and just got out of a bad relationship with some asshole also named Jeff, Jeffrey starts obsessing over her because he is listening to everyones conversations on baby monitors like a total creep. He finds out she is organizing a toy drive at her church so he shows up there and they start dating, this is where the movie gets emotionally heavy because you know this whole thing is built on lies but they actually have great chemistry together, Tatum and Dunst are really good in these scenes and you cannot help rooting for them even though you know its gonna end badly. Jeffrey makes up this whole identity as John Zorn and tells everyone he is a secret federal agent which is the dumbest cover story ever, just writing this and Im still laughing because its so stupid, one of the women at this singles brunch even points out she did not know there was an intelligence branch in Charlotte and he just stumbles through it, Lee buys all his bullshit somehow which makes no sense. He tells her he lives in a secret federal building so she cannot come pick him up and she is just like okay sure that makes sense, she even lets this man around her kids when she knows absolutely nothing about him, her oldest daughter is suspicious at first but he wins her over by buying her a car because she does not want to drive her moms stick shift, that whole test drive scene where he is racing the car like its Fast and Furious with the daughters in the back is wild, I get he was trying to loosen everyone up but damn dude. The romance stuff takes over a lot of the movie and I wish they had focused more on the actual survival and heist aspect of it, the hasle and hoops and stuff about living in a retail space for six months is way more fascinating than watching him fall in love, do not get me wrong the emotional scenes work because Tatum and Dunst are both really good actors. That last scene between them is very sad and Dunst does such a great job but the whole time you are watching you realize how much damage he is doing to everyone around him, he is not a bad person necessarily but he is making terrible choices that hurt people who do not deserve it. His baby mama cut him off completely after he got arrested the first time which seemed cold at first, but when you think about it his daughter had to watch her dad get arrested on her birthday right after he finally got her the bike she wanted, that bike is tainted now, its not a pure gift from her dad its the thing that sent him to jail, same thing with Lees family, he comes into their lives and gives them this false hope and gets close to the kids knowing the whole thing is gonna blow up eventually, what kind of person does that, the oldest daughter even asks why this big goofy dude is around every day and its a fair question.

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Source The thing about this movie si that Roofman never feels like its fighting with itself tonally, one minute you are laughing at something ridiculous like Jeffrey running around the Toys R Us literally doing as he wants, the next minute you feel heavy because you remember this balloon of lies is about to pop and take everyone down with it, you literally feel guilt and ashame for him that it becomes so tense every time he is telling lies. Derek Cianfrance directed thi movie and he does a good job balancing the comedy and drama without making it feel cheap or forced, the movie lets you have fun but it also keeps reminding you that Jeffrey is a menace who probably deserve to go to jail to learn one or two leasons to be honest. The supporting cast is solid too, Laith Stanfield plays Jeffreys army buddy Steve and he is great in the scenes he gets, he tries to help Jeffrey escape the country but Jeffrey screws it up by going back to see Lee on Christmas, Ben Mendelsohn shows up as this pastor at Lees church and he is so funny too with his whole look, I wish he had been in more of the movie because every scene with him was gold. Juno Temple is also in it briefly as Steves girlfriend and she is always good, the whole cast elevates the material even when the script is romanticizing stuff that probably should not be romanticized, like the movie wants you to think Jeffreys charming but it also shows you he is destroying peoples lives. The ending is brutal, Jeffrey needs 50000 dollars for a new identity so he tries to rob more places and it goes wrong every single time, he falls through the roof of a massage parlor instead of the pawn shop and its hilarious watching him crash around, for someone who has broken into over 40 places you think he would be better at falling but he just slams into everything. The massage parlor had bulletproof windows for some reason which makes no sense, then he blows up a dentist office to get rid of his dental records and the movie tries to play it off like whoopsie but its like no dude you just destroyed that womans whole business, the dentist was already annoyed with him for having 14 cavities from eating nothing but MMs. On Christmas Day he is supposed to leave the country but Lee calls him saying the girls miss him and you can tell its a setup at least thats how I got it from the very first moment like how convenient it was, anyone with half a brain would know its a trap but Jeffrey shows up anyway with balloons and flowers and gets arrested immediately, like come on do you even believe in coincidence??, the movie makes it clear Lee turned him in which makes sense, she finally figured out whats going on and did what she had to do to protect her kids.

At the end they show clips of the real people and its wild, all the employees he robbed are like yeah he was really nice which is crazy to hear, the real Jeffrey Manchester looks nothing like Channing Tatum, he is more like a regular white dude who looks kinda rough, they show he has tried to escape prison two more times since getting caught again and he is eligible for parole in 2036. The text says he works as a prison librarian now and promises he will not try to escape again but after everything this movie shows I think its just hard to believe this guy is a menace in disguise, there is a scene towards the end where Jeffrey says he is exactly where he needs to be and he deserves to be in prison for hurting people, it felt like real emotional growth from someone who lacked any kind of emotional intelligence the whole movie but the end credits reveal he tried to escape prison two more times in 2009 and 2017 which shows that acceptance speech was probably bullshit. Overall Roofman is entertaining as it is hilarious and Tatum gives probably his best performance, he is charming and funny but also does the heavy dramatic stuff really well, Kirsten Dunst is fantastic too and their chemistry makes the whole thing work even when the choices do not make sense, its one of those movies where you have fun watching it but afterwards you think about all the problematic elements and it complicates how you feel about everything. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would even though the main character frustrated the hell out of me with every decision he made, if you like character driven movies with weird true stories this is worth checking out, just do not expect a straightforward heist comedy because its got more emotional weight to it than the trailers let on, 8 out of 10 for me.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #roofman, #channingtatum, #kirstendunst, #peterdinklage, #moviereview, #truecrime, #heist, #toysrus, #mcdonalds, #prison, #escape, #romance, #drama, #comedy, #criminal, #robbery, #2025movies, #derekcianfrance, #laithstanfield, #benmendelsohn, #junotemple, #truestory, #emotional, #survival, #recommendation

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Sisu dropped in 2023 and was a movie I had in my bucket list for a long time, actually did not know when I was going to watch but notice the 2025 sequel drop so yesterday at a family gathering decided to start watching and see how many get curious about, very well got another 4 to join me. This Finnish action movie ended up being way better than I expected, when you hear about a dude walking around with gold getting chased by Nazis during World War II you might think its going to be another boring historical war movie but nope this is something completely different. The whole movie is super simple and thats what makes it work so well, you got this old prospector played by Jorma Tommila who finds a massive stash of gold in the middle of nowhere Finland during the final days of the war and all he wants is to cash in his gold and go home but then he crosses paths with a retreating Nazi squad who decides they want his gold for themselves, bad mistake on their part because this guy turns out to be a legendary one man army who the Russians used to call The Immortal after he racked up over 300 confirmed kills fighting for Finland. The movie is divided into chapters which gives it this epic feel like your watching someones urban legend come to life instead of just another action movie, the main character barely speaks maybe three lines total in the entire thing and you learn everything about him through other people talking about his past which is pretty damn cool because it adds this larger than life quality to him. What really got me hyped was how committed this movie is to being a balls to the wall action fest without apologizing for what it is, director Jalmari Helander knew exactly what kind of movie he wanted to make and he went all in on the violence and over the top set pieces.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18177528/
• Platform: TUBI

Rottentomatoes Rating Source The action in Sisu is wild with heads exploding left and right, limbs getting blown off by landmines, brutal stabbings and the gore never feels cheap or fake looking which is rare for a movie with only a six million dollar budget. One of the standout sequences happens early on when our guy has to cross a minefield after his horse gets blown up and the Nazis send soldiers after him one by one, he starts throwing rocks at buried mines causing them to explode mid air and hit the soldiers in the face which was one of the most creative kills I have seen in years and had me laughing out loud in the theater. Then there is this underwater scene where he lights himself on fire to scare off attack dogs, jumps into a lake and when Nazi soldiers dive in after him he slits their throats and sucks the air bubbles out of their neck wounds to keep from drowning which sounds completely ridiculous when I type it out but somehow it works in the moment because the movie has already established this guy as damn near invincible. The whole vibe feels like a mix between old school Rambo movies and Expendables, very few words spoken just pure violent action and determination, you can tell Helander was inspired by directors like Sergio Leone with all the wide landscape shots and the way tension builds before fights break out. Every action scene has this raw brutal energy to it that modern Hollywood action movies seem afraid to show anymore, none of that shaky cam bullshit or quick cuts that hide the choreography, you see every stab every gunshot wound every explosion in full detail.

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My biggest complaint and really the only thing that took me out of the movie was some of the stuff that happen towards the ending that pushes things way too far even for a movie this over the top, like I was totally cool with all the crazy violence and near death escapes until the airplane sequence near the end. This guy uses his pickaxe to hook onto the bottom of a plane as its taking off, somehow hangs on while the plane is flying at full speed thousands of feet in the air, cuts his way inside through the metal, fights the main Nazi villain, and then survives when the plane nose dives straight into the ground, he just straps himself to the wall with some rope and walks out of the crash site completely fine except for his previous injuries. That was the moment where I was like come on guys you did not need to go that far, everything else in the movie balanced between believable and ridiculous pretty well but that plane crash survival was just too much. The trailers also spoiled way too many of the best kills and set pieces which sucked because those moments would have hit so much harder if I did not already know they were coming, so if you have not watched any trailers yet do yourself a favor and go in blind because the surprises are way more satisfying. Another small issue is in the finale when all these badass kills could have happened with the pickaxe but instead the movie gives most of the action to the group of women prisoners who our guy saves along the way, do not get me wrong I liked that the women got their revenge on the Nazis who were abusing them but I barely knew these characters so I would have rather seen more of the main guy going ham with his weapons.

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The production quality on this thing is way higher than you would expect for a six million dollar budget, the cinematography looks gorgeous with all these wide shots of the Finnish wilderness and destroyed towns, the practical effects for the gore are top notch and the whole aesthetic has this grimy brutal World War II vibe that feels authentic. Jorma Tommila is perfect as the lead, he has this rugged weathered look that makes you believe he has been through absolute hell and survived, his face tells the entire story without him needing to say a word and when he does finally speak at the very end its played for laughs in a great way. The movie is a very short one at only 90 minutes which I think works in its favor because it allows it to constantly pump dopamine into your brain and so it never drags in the middle, every scene either builds character or delivers action so there is no wasted time. I also loved how the movie shows the physical toll all this violence takes on him, he is constantly bleeding patching himself up with dirty bandages and rusty metal, very John Wick like, at one point he gets hanged by the Nazis and has to stab himself with a piece of rebar to take the pressure off his neck long enough to survive until they leave. The whole time you are watching this guy push through impossible pain and injuries through sheer force of will, the Finnish word sisu apparently means having courage and determination against impossible odds and this character embodies that concept perfectly throughout the entire movie. There is also this dog that follows him everywhere and somehow never dies despite being in multiple firefights and explosions, I was convinced they were going to kill the dog at some point for emotional impact but they never do which was a relief.

Overall Sisu delivers exactly what it promises, a lean mean action movie with incredible violence and a badass protagonist who refuses to die no matter what gets thrown at him, if you are into old school one man army movies like the original Rambo or those crazy 80s action stuff then this is absolutely worth watching. The ending could have been stronger and that airplane sequence was dumb as hell but everything else works so well that I can forgive those slip ups, the movie knows what it is and never tries to be anything more than a fun violent revenge story set during World War II. For such a short movie with little budget it did awesome and no wonder they went with a sequel that I am planning to watch soon, yes at times its a bit over the top but sometimes you just want to leave your brain at the door and watch something exciting although as I mention above there are limits and the movie certainly tests them more than once but they know how to keep things tight and never go too far. The director Jalmari Helander clearly loves action movies and knows how to shoot them, every frame looks intentional and the pacing never lets up once the action starts, I hope he gets to make more stuff like this because we need more directors willing to embrace this kind of unapologetic violence in action cinema. At the end of the day Sisu is a solid 8 out of 10 for me, it delivers on the adrenaline fueled chaos and has a main character who is cool as hell even if some moments push credibility way past the breaking point, if you can find it playing near you or when it hits streaming definitely give it a watch because its one of the better action movies to come out in the last few years.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #sisu, #action, #finnish, #movie, #review, #violence, #nazi, #war, #gold, #survival, #revenge, #brutal, #gore, #prospector, #immortal, #legend, #rambo, #warrior, #finland, #combat, #kills, #explosions, #underdog, #determination, #wwii

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