Posted Using INLEO

I'm gonna get right to the point and keep this short. "Honey Don't" SUCKS! I wasted an hour and a half of my life watching this terrible movie; don't make the same mistake I did.

The movie felt so far from what I thought I was gonna watch based on seeing the trailer, that I've been rewatching the trailer to see how I made the mistake of walking in on such a horrible movie.

The first thing missed based on the trailer was that this was a lesbian movie. I don't dislike lesbians or anything, but "Honey Don't" is SUPER lesbian. Any males that you see in the movie are either a creep, an abuser of women, a sex obsesed womanizer, or gay. It was weird how that worked out.

And the movie as a whole was obsessed with sex. They jammed as many sex scenes as they could into the film, and tried to use titties to make up for bad storytelling. The titties were the only good things about the movie, outside of the character Hector.

Hector was the only good character in the film. None of the other characters in the film were believable. All of the men were ridiculously dumb. They would try to use the men's lack of intelligence to land jokes throughout the film, but the jokes weren't funny. The women of the film had nice titties, but their characters didn't feel real. Nothing seemed to work.

The plot doesn't flow at all throughout the movie. Characters are presented with problems, then the problems come to an end without any buildup. Some problems end without it feeling like a solution was ever reached; the problem just no longer exists. There are a good number of plot holes in this storyline as well.

The crappy characters, terrible storyline, and hyperfocus on sex come together to form a really bad movie in "Honey Don't". It's crazy to me that someone felt this was a good enough movie to put in theaters. If you've watched the trailer for this and thought it might be a good movie, don't waste your time; it's horrible. Just watch a different movie or do something else entirely. Overall, I rate "Honey Don't"

Lightning Affiliates

|

ZEEBEEDEE

Support Via Lightening

|

V4V APP Lightning Address

Right now its one of those times of the year that Im short on movies so Im just picking from my bucket list, a very long bucket list because when things get on fire between movies and TV series there is just not enough time so have to put things aside, comes in a movie that I have put aside for some time, not only because I didnt have time but because its the kind of movie I wouldnt watch every day but its a good drama from 2018 that at some point I had to watch, Trial by Fire dropped back in 2018 and honestly took me forever to finally watch it, mainly because I wasn't sure what to expect from another prison movie but damn this one really hit different than most of them. The whole thing tells the story of Cameron Todd Willingham who got executed in Texas for supposedly burning down his house and killing his three little daughters, except the evidence was complete garbage and he was probably innocent the whole time. Jack O'Connell plays Todd and this dude really knows how to carry a heavy movie on his shoulders, I mean this is the third prison movie I've seen him in after Starred Up and Unbroken and he just has this way of making you feel every single emotion his character is going through. What really gets me about this movie is how it doesn't try to be flashy or over dramatic, it just sits with you and makes you uncomfortable in the best possible way, like you're watching something that actually matters instead of just another Hollywood cash grab. The movie starts with this house fire scene that sets everything up perfectly, you see Todd running out of the burning house screaming about his babies being inside and right away you know this is gonna be one of those movies that stays with you for days afterward.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3263946/
• Platform: AppleTV+

Rottentomatoes Rating

Laura Dern shows up as Elizabeth Gilbert, this playwright who starts writing letters to Todd after he's been on death row for years, and their relationship becomes the heart of the whole movie even though they barely know each other. The movie does great in many aspects specially how it shows that sometimes the people who care about you most are complete strangers who just see something in your story that resonates with them, not the family members or friends who are supposed to be there for you but end up abandoning you when things get tough. The way Todd's wife Stacy just completely gives up on him after the trial really pisses me off, I mean I get that losing your kids would mess anyone up but the guy is sitting on death row claiming he is innocent and you just walk away? That's some cold shit right there but it also makes Elizabeth's involvement even more meaningful because she's willing to fight for someone she doesn't even know personally. Their conversations through letters and visits show how two broken people can find hope in each other, Todd dealing with the reality that he might die for something he didn't do and Elizabeth trying to process her own grief and find some kind of purpose in life. The movie does this really well where it doesn't make their relationship romantic or weird, it's just two humans connecting over shared pain and the desire to find truth in a world that doesn't seem to care about justice anymore.

The cinematography has this muted color palette that makes everything feel heavy and serious but not depressing to the point where you want to turn it off, the hole prision and about to get executed auro is heavy AF. Edward Zwick directed it and you can tell he understands that this story doesn't need fancy camera work or dramatic music to be powerful, it just needs honest performances and a script that respects the real people this happened to. The prison scenes feel authentic without being over the top, you see Todd struggling with the daily reality of death row but the movie never makes it feel like its too depressing about to take your live and it also doesnt try to shock you with unnecessary violence, people have this misconception about prison, after all at some point in time everybody inside a prison is a human too, they are not 24/7 savages. Jack O'Connell brings this quiet intensity to Todd that makes you believe he was really living this nightmare that came out of no where into his life, there are moments where he was just sitting in his cell and you can see the weight of everything crushing him but he never gives up hope completely, thats some really cold moments and its the waiting and uncertainty that eats you up from the inside. The supporting cast does great work too, especially the guards who could have easily been written as more traditiona side villains making his life imposble but instead feel like real people doing a difficult job in an impossible situation. There is a lot of legal stuff on the movie to make it belivable, not going to say everything in here sticks with the law but it really impressed me is how the movie handles the legal aspects without getting bogged down in courtroom drama, it shows you enough to understand how the system failed Toddand never loses focus on the human story.

The fire investigation stuff is where the movie for the most part got me piss off because you start to understand how completely fucked up the whole case was from the beginning. They bring in these so called experts who basically make up evidence to support what they already decided happened, drawing conclusions about arson patterns that modern fire science has completely debunked since then, I had to look this up just to make sure so just to clarify I'm no fire fighter myself but you get my point. Watching these people destroy a man's life based on junk science while acting like they are serving justice made me want to throw something at the screen, especially knowing this actually happened to a real person who got executed because of their incompetence. The movie doesn't beat you over the head with the political message but it makes it pretty clear that the death penalty system is broken beyond repair when innocent people can get killed because prosecutors care more about getting convictions than finding the truth. Todd's final scenes are brutal to watch, not because they are gory or dramatic but because you are watching someone die for something he didn't do while the people responsible just go on with their lives like nothing happened. The fact that Texas still refuses to admit they made a mistake even after all the evidence came out shows how fucking stubborn and corrupt the whole system really is, they would rather let an innocent man stay dead than admit they screwed up.

Trial by Fire works because it treats its the entire story with the respect it deserves while still being entertaining enough to keep you engaged for two hours, yeah not a short movie and it drags a big so got to stay strong but its worth the wait which is harder to pull off than it sounds. This isn't one of those movies that makes you feel good about the world or gives you easy answers about right and wrong, it just shows you what happened and lets you figure out how to feel about it. Jack O'Connell continues to prove he is one of the best actors working today especially when it comes to playing characters who are trapped by systems bigger than themselves but refuse to give up their dignity. The movie made me think how sometimes a single moment can turn around your life in matter of minutes it actuall scare me, we often dont think about this things, a very common case is when driving a car people either talking over the phone, watching the phone or too drunk to drive and we dont understand how that moment right there can change everything, no the specific case because we talking about an innocent guy but its just a single quick split of a minute that changes everything. Then there are those innocent people in prison who got railroaded by prosecutors and junk science while the rest of us go about our daily lives not thinking about them. Elizabeth Gilbert represents all of us in a way, someone who could have just minded their own business but decided to get involved because sometimes that is what being human requires. If you can handle watching something that will probably make you angry and sad but also give you some hope that there are still good people fighting for justice, then you need to check this movie out, all I can advice you is to be prepared to lose some sleep thinking about it afterward because this is the kind of story that sticks with you whether you want it to or not, a solid 7/10 for me.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #trial, #fire, #prison, #death, #row, #innocent, #texas, #execution, #justice, #wrongful, #conviction, #arson, #evidence, #lawyer, #appeal, #system, #broken, #family, #children, #tragedy, #investigation, #corrupt, #science, #expert, #witness

Posted Using INLEO

Over recent years, audiences—whether literary or television-based—have had numerous opportunities to discover the talents of Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish crime writers, resulting in many authors from these countries achieving fame previously unimaginable. Local television studios quickly recognised this trend, producing a string of exceptionally popular TV series capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with the most polished crime dramas from the BBC and American networks. One of the most successful examples of this phenomenon, now widely known as Nordic noir, is The Bridge, the 2011 Swedish-Danish series. The story of a police detective duo forced to solve a bizarre and morbid murder case on the Øresund Bridge, which spans the sea between Denmark and Sweden, gained immense popularity, with the eccentric Swedish detective Saga Norén becoming one of the most striking television characters in recent memory. Given all this, it was inevitable that The Bridge would spawn several remakes—American, Russian, and British-French.

The British-French version differs from its original primarily in setting the action not on a bridge but in a tunnel—one equally impressive as a modern engineering marvel, fulfilling centuries-old dreams only once technological progress aligned with specific political circumstances. The Channel Tunnel, linking Britain with France and the rest of the European continent, becomes the scene of a horrific crime after the torso of a French anti-immigration politician is discovered precisely at its midpoint, severed cleanly in half. The investigation is jointly launched by Elise Wasserman (Clémence Poésy), a captain in the French Criminal Police, and British Inspector Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane). Though jurisdictional disputes are resolved in a Solomonic manner, the inquiry is complicated by stark contrasts in temperament—Roebuck is significantly older, more experienced, and politically astute, while Wasserman, though younger and physically striking, suffers from a serious personality disorder manifesting as social ineptitude, her only salvation being exceptional intelligence and a detective’s talent evident even to her superiors. Over time, Wasserman and Roebuck develop mutual respect and trust, which proves crucial as the case turns out far more serious than it initially appeared. The second half of the bisected corpse belongs to a British prostitute, and this spectacular crime is merely the first in a series growing ever more brutal and ruthless. The mysterious perpetrator, possessing extraordinary technical expertise, begins communicating with the public via a slimy British journalist, Danny Hiller (Tom Hiller), and the internet, claiming his murders aim to expose society’s hypocritical treatment of the elderly, children, and immigrants. The investigation, which uncovers uncomfortable intricacies tied to shady dealings among European elites, politicians, and intelligence agencies, gradually points toward a far more personal motive.

The first season, comprising ten episodes, largely adopts its plot from the Swedish-Danish original but adds a distinct dose of political engagement from the left hemisphere, as anticipated. Roebuck and Wasserman must contend not only with a warped yet highly intelligent and dangerous killer but also with the fallout of the global economic crisis, which has created a volatile mix of poverty, crime, and resentment on both sides of the English Channel. Meanwhile, the grand project of European unity reveals its dark underbelly: corrupt eurocrats, arrogant tycoons, and shadowy paramilitary groups tasked with preserving a shaky order. Against the backdrop of subsequent events—political upheavals once deemed unimaginable and now interpreted as consequences of these very trends—the first season of The Tunnel takes on an exceptionally bleak tone. Like many examples of Nordic noir, the series unsettles viewers with its willingness to brutally dispatch characters presumed to survive until the final episode, alongside scenes depicting torture and violence, including child victims.

Though the diverse cast delivers committed performances, Poésy’s exotic presence shines in the complex role of a woman who must simultaneously excel as a brilliant detective and embody the grace of an elephant in a china shop. Dillane, renowned as Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones, is equally compelling as a seemingly macho yet emotionally vulnerable officer who, unlike his partner, navigates relationships with the opposite sex but carries a string of failed marriages and a less-than-functional family life. Yet even outstanding acting only partially compensates for scripting flaws, including underdeveloped characters and subplots, alongside clichés that viewers unfamiliar with Bridge adaptations would spot from a mile away. The killer’s identity is telegraphed early on the moment a character actor specialised in villainous roles appears seemingly by chance, while the ostensibly emotional finale bears too much resemblance to the conclusion of Fincher’s Se7en. Nevertheless, the ending forms a cohesive whole, suggesting that the next two seasons—where the creators might deviate further from the Nordic template—could prove more original and finally bring new light at the end of The Tunnel.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo

LeoDex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7 BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9

There's just something about heart wrenching movies that makes them impossible to watch humans impossible to stop watching. This movie is one that has been on my list for quite a long time, I still remember the scene that made me write the name on my list of movies to see and I pat myself on the back for such a good decision.

I Am Sam

In 2hrs and 14 minutes and there's no time that I wasn't moved. Despite being two decades older, this movie tugged at my heart because it tackled something that everyone fears; The fear of not being enough.

In the beginning of the movie, we see an imperfect human having a perfect life with his family. Sam, a few sticks short of a bunch, the understanding of a seven year old, yet he manages to take care of his daughter, love her and nurture her till she's seven. Then due to a misunderstanding, she was taken away and we get to see the deutrogonist, Rita Harrison. A perfect human having an imperfect life with her family.

All at once we see the difference between them and the circumstances that draw them together.

Yet that's not the main aim of this story, because this movie isn't a romance. Sam was trying to win the court, the legislation, the public over that he doesn't need to be smart to be Lucy's father. The fact that Lucy loved him was enough. If anything, he convinced me that that was the truth.

The major winners here are the cast. They acted this so well that it's unbelievable that only two of them are actually special needs in real life. Brad Silverman and Joseph Rosenberg.

Sean Penn did a wonderful work in displaying the intricacies of someone with special needs. Highlighting their strengths and also their weaknesses. It was a true sight to behold.

The most heartbreaking thing was when Sam argued at Rita. His despair after losing Lucy and his dispair with always losing in life after fighting so hard for everything.

In this post I've mostly rambled about what happened in the movie without giving specifics or about interpretation. That's because this isn't really a movie that one can use words to explain. I can only tell you if it's good or not. And I assure you, it is good. Check it out now.

_{All Images are Screenshots of the Movie.}

_{My Instagram page.}

✓Text translated with DeepL.

✓Fotos de mi galería personal, editadas con Fotocollage.

✓Texto traducido con DeepL.

Hola, hola mis queridos amigos cinéfilos! Espero estén muy bien! Estoy muy feliz de estar nuevamente por aquí para compartir mi opinión acerca de una película que tuve la oportunidad de ver la semana pasada, se trata de Freakier Friday la cual fue estrenada recientemente a través de Walt Disney Pictures y está protagonizada por Lindsay Lohan y Jamie Lee Curtis. Espero les guste.

22 años después de la primera película Anna y Tess Coleman vuelven a intercambiar cuerpos pero esta vez no entre ellas, sino con Harper (hija de Anna) y Lily (hija de Eric, prometido de Anna). Harper y Lily de odian y no están de acuerdo con el matrimonio de sus padres así que aprovecharán esta oportunidad para separarlos, ya sea tratando de reunir a Anna con su exnovio Jake, o haciendo lo posible para separarlos. A medida que avanzan en su plan, ambas se hacen amigas y se dan cuenta del verdadero amor que se tienen sus padres y terminan haciendo de lado sus diferencias y aceptando su unión.

De verdad estuve esperando esta película muy ansiosa ya que la primera es de mis favoritas de mi infancia, me emocionó mucho saber que Lindsay Lohan y Jamie Lee Curtis estuviesen de vuelta, realmente me encantó su trabajo y en mi opinión tienen mucha química juntas. También me gustó mucho ver otras caras conocidas de la primera película como Chad Michael Murray, Mark Harmon, Cristina Vidal, Ryan Malgarini, entre otros, enserio me dió mucha nostalgia que muchos personajes regresaran y enserio hicieron muy buen trabajo, al igual que las nuevas adiciones que le aportaron mucho a la película. De verdad quede satisfecha y aplaudo el trabajo de todos.

Tuve la oportunidad de ir la semana pasada al cine con mi amiga @aimara08 y realmente disfruté la película, me pareció bastante cómica ya que me la pasé riendo en la sala, la fotografía en general me pareció bastante buena y tiene una amplia paleta de colores que funcionó a la perfección. En mi opinión, no había estado muy satisfecha con los últimos trabajos de Disney sin embargo, pienso que dieron en el blanco con esta película, para mí que era niña cuando salió la primera película fue un golpe de nostalgia, y el que Lindsay Lohan estuviese de vuelta realmente me encantó ya que en la época de la primera película ella era de mis actrices y cantantes favoritas y enserio el verla nuevamente junto a Jamie Lee Curtis hizo a mi niña interior muy feliz.

Hay muchas escenas que realmente me gustaron mucho y me hicieron reír pero mi favorita, es la escena en la que Harper y Lily (en los cuerpos de Anna y Tess) visitan la tienda de discos de Ryan para hacer que él se vuelva a interesar en Anna, y ella se puso a coquetearle de una manera muy graciosa, y con un vestido peculiar. Enserio casi me muero de la risa ya que al fondo se encontraba Lily (en el cuerpo de Tess) asesorándola no muy bien, y se escondía detrás de discos de vinilo (de varios artistas de mi agrado) para luego ser descubierta por Ryan tirada en el piso 🤣. Creo que es la escena más graciosa de la película. El soundtrack de la película también lo amé, ya que no solamente agregaron nuevas canciones, también trajeron otras de vuelta como "Take me away" la cual volvió a interpretar la banda, y "Ultimate" esta vez como fondo en los créditos, realmente me dió mucha nostalgia y me hizo muy feliz cantar a todo pulmón. Enserio todas mis expectativas fueron cubiertas!

La imagen de despedida fue realizada por mí en canva, y las fotografías de la película fueron tomadas por mí a la pantalla del cine cuando ví la película.

Source Now, I finally get why the ratings were so low. Compared to what I watched when I was younger and them giving me this now that I’m older? Yeah, terrible. I finally watched The thunder man return movie, after about a year ago from its release.

The Thundermans Return is a Nickelodeon movie featuring the former cast in the series, The Thundermans, that used on the Nickelodeon channel. Those were the days guys. Those were the days.

The Thunderman family has been living their best life in Metroburg for three years as full-time superheroes . Like, they finally made it, you know? Phoebe and Max are the golden twins everyone loves, saving the city left and right. But then disaster strikes during what should be a routine rescue mission, and everything just falls apart spectacularly.

They lose their superhero status completely and get sent back to Hiddenville , which is basically superhero exile. The parents are actually kind of relieved because they missed the quiet life, and Billy and Nora are thrilled about regular high school stuff, but Max and Phoebe? They are absolutely devastated.

These two are obsessed with getting their hero status back . Like, it becomes their entire mission. You can feel how desperate they are throughout the whole thing. But then the real threat shows up.

Dark Mayhem Jr. appears and he’s not just angry, he’s got serious daddy issues and this insane plan to use something called the Power Plant to turn everyone into supervillains . I’m talking world domination level stuff here.

Source The worst part happens when Max and Phoebe get trapped in some other dimension while Dark Mayhem Jr. escapes with this Power Plant device . The family is completely broken apart, their strongest heroes are gone, and this psychopath is loose with a weapon that can destroy everything.

The whole movie is about family falling apart and coming back together when everything seems impossible.

It was just there, I mean I tried to ignore the bad acting and stuff. Thinking about this now, I wonder how Henry Danger’s gonna be.

Thanks for reading…

Ahhh, you want gist? Okay, let me gist you about BMF like I was sitting with you on a Friday night, shaking my head, because the drama inside this show will leave you questioning loyalty, power, and how fast dreams can turn into nightmares. So, the whole thing starts with Meech and Terry—two brothers from Detroit who want more than the hard, broke life they grew up in. And see ehn, at first, it feels like a hustle story, right? Two young guys trying to build something for themselves. But from the moment they start BMF, you just know this isn’t going to end clean.

The way Meech moves? Bold, flashy, confident. He’s the one who wants to show power, dress big, throw parties. But Terry? Terry is the calm brain, the one who calculates, who sometimes thinks maybe they’re going too far. That clash alone is enough drama, but then you add enemies? It’s chaos.

The show starts by painting that picture of Detroit in the late ‘80s, a city drowning in poverty, crime everywhere, and hope feeling like some distant dream. That’s the environment where Meech (Big Meech) and Terry (Southwest T) grew up. You could already see the hunger in them — they weren’t just surviving, they wanted more, something bigger. And that’s how their empire started.

One of the shocking scenes that stuck with me was when their rivals set up an ambush. Omo, see tension. The way it was shot—you could almost feel the air shift. Bullets flying, people scrambling for cover, and Meech standing there like a man who refuses to bow down.

That’s when it hit me: this isn’t just street hustling; this is war. And war doesn’t spare anybody. That ambush was bloody, but what shocked me most wasn’t even the violence it was how quickly trust can vanish. One minute, someone is by your side, the next they’re plotting with your enemies. It made me think about how fragile loyalty really is when money and power enter the mix.

I also liked how it shows Meech as the visionary, the man who could make anyone believe in him, bold, charismatic and so on. In the meantime, Terry was more strategic, the one who considered sustainability and strategy. It is sort of fire and ice trying to travel in the same direction. Their brotherly chemistry is bonkers and you can see the tension and feel the love. And believe me, that tension increases.

And then, ahh, the part where the Feds started circling them? That one pained me. You know when you can see a storm coming but the person inside doesn’t realize how close it is? That’s what it felt like watching Meech and Terry. The FBI was just patient, waiting, gathering every small detail. Wiretaps, snitches, surveillance—you could almost feel them tightening the noose around BMF’s neck. The brothers kept trying to outsmart them, but it was like watching someone run in quicksand: no matter how fast they moved, the ground kept dragging them down.

But this is where it struck me as being emotional: at the heart of all this street hustle, they were family men. Meech would do anything and everything for his people and Terry was always in a dilemma whether to play or to protect his family. That internal struggle was so solid It made me stop and reflect - how much would I do with money and power and what would I give up?

And I am not going to get into the betrayals. In that life, there is no 100 percent loyalty. Friends, enemies attack when least expected and even family is occasionally caught in the line of fire. The one moment that I remember where I thought, “Chai, trust does not really exist in this game” was when one of their close allies turned on them. I liked that part because it made me think about real life, not on a gangster level but how people who you think are on your side switch up when power or greed comes into play.

Now here is what made me personally vulnerable watching it: the family drama. Yes they are drug lords but there are those instances when their parents are pleading them to quit, when Terry tries to walk out to save his future and when Meech cannot because he is too far gone?. That one reached me. It made me think of the idea that sometimes when you go chasing greatness, you end up losing the ones you are trying to achieve. It is seen when Terry informs Meech that he wants out, and Meech simply gazes at him- hurt, angry, but mostly scared that he is losing his brother. That scene was heartbreaking to me since it is not only business but blood.

When you think they are at the top, bang- another betrayal, another ambush. It is the same cycle, the more money, the more enemies, the more danger. By the time that the Feds actually shut it down, I was no longer shocked. I was sad only Sad because it could be seen that all the ambition, all the sacrifice were leading to a dead end.

Now, my vulnerable take? BMF made me think about ambition. About how sometimes our hunger to escape poverty or “make it big” can push us into dangerous paths. The brothers wanted something more than the hand life dealt them, and I respect that. But at the same time, it showed me the cost of chasing power without limits. You gain the world, but you risk losing family, peace of mind, even your life.

What really stayed with me was the bond between Meech and Terry. No matter how much they fought, disagreed, or drifted apart, that brotherhood kept pulling them back. It’s bittersweet because love and ambition kept clashing, and sometimes love wasn’t strong enough to win.

By the time I finished watching, I felt heavy. So yeah, BMF isn’t just entertainment; it’s a mirror. A raw, dangerous, but real story of ambition, love, family, and the dark price of street life.

If I’m being honest, BMF shook me. Not because of the guns or the drugs—we’ve seen that before—but because it showed how thin the line is between building a legacy and building a prison for yourself. Watching their rise and fall, scene by scene, felt like sitting in a rollercoaster you can’t get off. And me? I was just holding my breath, waiting for the next crash.

#ecency

#actionmovie #hive #bmf #street #vampire #weekendvibes #education #moviereviews #whattowatch #top5 #ladiesofhive #cinetv #tvshows #film #entertainment

If Sicario the movie was a person it would have a lot damn of confidence, it never shouts, it never tries too hard, it just moves with a steady hand that knows exactly what it wants to do and how to do it and that alone keeps you dialed, hooked the hole time. The opening already tells you you are not getting some flashy action ride, you get bodies in walls, dread in the air and immediately a sense that every choice after this is going to be complicated. What really works for me is how the movie builds pressure without cheap tricks with the sound mix keeps your shoulders tight even in the quiet moments and on top of that the camera feels like a character, always in the right spot, never screaming look at me, just doing the work, it makes the border run and the traffic jam standoff feel like time is slowing down before it snaps. I like how the desert is used, not pretty, not dramatic, just heavy and when the convoy cuts through it, you are right there in the heat. That tunnel sequence near the end really hits, the switch to night vision and thermal feels earned, not a gimmick as it usally is, specially with all the killing we get while on night vision mode plus the blood on the dirt, you feel the claustrophobia and the uncertainty and the way they hold on shots long enough for your brain to fill the gaps is kinda brilliant, you get the idea without them spoon feeding you whats next, it is just solid, tight, clean movie making that does not waste your time.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3397884/
• Platform: PRIME VIDEO

Rottentomatoes Rating

Let me get something out of the way before moving forward, I respect Emily Blunt and she is doing the best with what she is given but her character is basically a spectator with a badge, the movie pretends she is the moral center but most of the time she is running behind the story, not pushing it forward and for me that kills some of the momentum around her scenes. She gets dragged into a mission she barely understands, she keeps asking what are we doing here and by the time answers land she is either shut down or sidelined, it becomes a pattern that makes her feel stuck and yes that is intentional, but intentional does not mean interesting, it just means she is stuck. her partner played by Daniel Kaluuya suffers even more, he shows up for a couple of beats, he argues a bit, he helps set a contrast, then he fades when the movie needs to get back to the real engine of this story, it is not on them as performers, it is just the characters being shaped to react rather than act and I do not think the movie needed that to make its point, in fact the runtime could have used their minutes to deepen the operation or push Alejandro even harder into focus. the bar scene with Bernthal is one of the few moments where Kate’s perspective feels necessary because you feel how every choice has a consequence and how the mission has a long reach even when you think you are off the clock, but outside that, she mostly gets used as a witness so the audience does not get lost, and that is fine once or twice, not for two hours.

Now the two reasons this thing bites down and never lets go, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, OMG did this two send it out of the park, one is the smiling wolf in flip flops, laid back on purpose, never sweating even when everyone else is tense, he treats war like logistics, not emotion and that calm is scarier than any bark. Every time Brolin is in front of the camera you know he is three moves ahead and lying by omission, not because he enjoys it but because he thinks this is the only way anything gets done and the movie makes that feel believable without turning him into a cartoon. Then there is Del Toro, the heartbeat you are trying to read but can never catch, the smart choice they made is how little he says, the silence does the heavy lifting, the posture, the stare, the stillness before a room goes dark, cmon he is as badass as it gets, Medellin. When he finally moves on his personal mission the movie goes from tense to ice cold, not flashy, not loud, just clean, deliberate and merciless, and you finally understand what all that calm was hiding its like the finally unleash the beast to claim revenge, it is not twist for shock and it is payoff for everything they set up about order and chaos and who actually benefits when you cut off the head of a snake. That dinner sequence late in the movie is one of those scenes I will remember for a long time, the way it locks into a rhythm, the quiet, the last look, it is all brutal without yelling, it lands because the movie earned the right to be that quiet, its funny how Fausto Alarcon goes from the big boss "balls to the wall I dont give a sht" to this puppy like when Alejandro kills his wife and KIDS in front of him.

There is a thing this movie does that I really enjoy and its that never pretends the rules are going to save anyone, you get told point blank that nothing will make sense to your ears and the more you insist on procedure the less you will actually touch the people at the top, the result is a mission that is equal parts legal and not, useful and poisonous, and that is where the movie shows that awesome grey area that let army units go almost rogue against Narcos. The border sequence is the perfect example, it is slow, methodical, and then it breaks in seconds, you do not get a big shootout for show, you get target identification, tiny body movements, windows cracking, civilians in line who are just trying to get home and that is the weight here, operations are not done on empty stages they happen around real people and that messy overlap is always present. Also the aerial shots work as more than pretty pictures, they give you the chessboard, not to look cool but so you see how many pieces are moving at the same time and how small a single agent will always be against that system, it makes the later tunnel breach feel earned because you have been oriented, you know where the danger is coming from even when the lights go weird and your ears are doing most of the work

It would be easy to call the movie cynical, I think it is more honest than that it shows how people justify ugly things to get uglier things to stop and it does not tell you they are heroes for it, it just says this is what it looks like, decide how you feel about it, I respect that approach even when it makes me uncomfortable. Towards the ending the movie doubles down on that idea, especially with the signature scene where Alejandro lays out a document and asks Kate for a signature under a threat, it is not about good guys or bad guys anymore, it is about power and what happens when you fall under it, the line that follows about wolves is not subtle but it is memorable because the entire movie prepared you to accept it, it hits hard because by then you already saw what happens when sheep ask nicely, how the goverment took advantage of Alejandro skills and vendetta, or who took advantage of who because Alejandro got exactly what he wanted and remains free too. In my opinion the Kate thread does not land, her fights are either shut down by chain of command or put into speeches that go nowhere so her story end feels more like a device than an emotional punch, some will say that is the point, to show how institutions break you if you fight the wrong way, I just wish she was more than a constant warning that everything been done is against the law because seems thats all she cares about and not reading things for what they are and not realizing they are in a war that will never win and their only chance is to keep fighting back.

This is a movie I never get tired of watching, I think Sicario is a very good movie that could have been a great one if it committed harder to the point of view that actually drives the story but this is me asking more for something that is not only genuine but does make you feel the right way about a Narcos / War movie, every time either Brolin or Del Toro are in from of the camera its just pure calculated action, but when Kate comes up then the energy dips, not a lot but enough to notice and those dips add up by the end. I would have loved to trade some of those circles for deeper dives into the operation’s map, more time in planning rooms, more time watching Alejandro before and after, maybe even more time with the rival players across the line so the final act has even more bite, IF they only had more context about Fausto in terms of actual scenes and not only what others say about him during the movie. What I got from this movie is sharp, confident and tense as hell, you feel the dirt, the bureaucracy, the violence and the slow bleed of morality when big machines get moving and when a movie can make you feel all that without yelling in your face, that is a win in my book, movies are suppose to make you feel things and have you forget about the world in those two hours. I will rewatch it for the craft, for the border scene, JUAREZ THE BEAST!!!, for the quiet house at the end and at the same time I will keep being annoyed by how Kate kept naging the entire time instead of just going with the river and learn, the rest is too good to ignore and on the action and tension side, it is one of the cleanest and most confident action movies from the last 10 years, because it is 10 years old now in 2025.

#skiptvads, #inleo, #hive, #sicario, #thriller, #cartel, #action, #villeneuve, #deltoro, #brolin, #blunt, #mexico, #border, #drugs, #violence, #fbi, #cinematography, #tension, #deakins, #underground, #moral, #revenge, #realistic, #brutal, #desert, #tunnel, #soundtrack, #compromise

Posted Using INLEO

Imagine being able to turn back and fix the things that went wrong? What would you do if you could travel back? Would you change how things were or leave them the way there are.

Blue Birthday is a thought-provoking K-drama that had me reeling after watching. The main characters are Oh Ha-Rin (Yeri, a member of the K-pop group 'Red Velvet') and Ji Seo-Jun (Hongseok, a member of the K-pop group 'Pentagon').

The Plot

Oh Ha-Rin, a young woman figures out a way to travel back in time to the day of her 18th birthday, to discover the truth behind her best friend/first love's death and tries to bring him back to life in the future.

Ji Seo-Jun is Ha-Rin's best friend/first love who was murdered on her 18th birthday - the day he was going to profess his love to her. Now ten years passed by, and though it was painful for Ha-Rin, she tried to live her life. Until she discovers photos which were taken by Seo-Jun during highschool, which allows her to travel back in time the date the photo was taken.

Ha-Rin's first discovery of the photo was a shock to her...and me. She was staring at the photos Ji Seo-Jun took with tears in her eyes, so she burnt a photo. She wanted to get rid of the memory. And boom, she was back to highschool.

Ji Seo-Jun's death was ruled as a suicide, and during Ha-Rin's time travel, she discovers that his death was actually a murder. There were many suspects running through Ha-Rin's mind (and mine, lol).

The main purpose for her going back was to discover the killer and also prevent Ji Seo-Jun's death from happening. This was where the suspense came in, I have a thing for movies which always have me guessing and cracking my mind for who it might be. This series built up a lot of suspense and climax.

My Thoughts

Blue Birthday is a really good K-drama. The chemistry between the main characters was wow, you really feel for them. It's like being you're on something of the past and you wish you could go back and change it.

What I love about Blue Birthday is that it has a really good pace, it's not too slow or too fast, it just keeps you guessing. The theme of friendship and love is portrayed, it's like you can relate to it all.

I'd rate this movie a 8/10 and would recommend it if you're deeply into K-dramas. It's really worth watching.