Minggu, 31 Desember 2017

American Assassin: DVD Review

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American Assassin: DVD Review


Cast: Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, Taylor Kitsch, Sanaa Lathan
Director: Michael Cuesta

American Assassin: Film Review

Some time ago, in the late 80s to the early 90s, a thriller like American Assassin would have been all the rage.

Thanks to the pulpy page-turners of John Grisham et al, and Harrison Ford in the likes of Patriot Games, the action-thriller was de rigeur.

In American Assassin, the Maze Runner star Dylan O'Brien is Mitch Rapp, a man whose fiancee is murdered on an Ibiza beach when terrorists strike just moments after he's got engaged.
Understandably angered, Rapp trains himself to infiltrate the terrorist cell to wreak revenge.

But when his quest goes awry, he finds himself sucked into a secret counter terrorist group run by CIA Head Irene Kennedy (Sanaa Lathan) and headed up in the field by Hurley (Michael Keaton).

With a nuclear football in play and a rogue agent at the centre of it, the race against time is on.

American Assassin is a solid enough, if generic, thriller.

American Assassin: Film Review

Anchored by a fairly emotionless O'Brien as Rapp, and a suitably over the top Keaton in the final stretches, the film's pace is solid, if never spectacular and is predictable as they come in terms of twists and turns.

Based on Vince O'Flynn's novel series, the faux 24 vibe complete with punkish emo arrogance translates to set pieces that seem lost in 2017, where sophistication is jettisoned in favour of by-the-numbers formula aimed at hitting the expected beats of the genre, but never exceeding them.

Whilst its initial Americans-beating-the-terrorists vibe feels like an answer to the current global ills, the film soon settles for your average cliched dialogue and macho bon mots as it hits its unchallenging straps.

O'Brien's a little too bland as the lead and his hirsute haunted earlier incarnation in the film offers the most dramatic meat, which he does reasonably well with. But post the initial burst, the film turns him into a spiky arrogant know-it-all, a Johnny come lately whose rogueish sensibilities rarely backfire.

American Assassin: Film Review

It's all so familiar and so predictable, that unfortunately American Assassin ends up being plodding and TV movie like in its execution. A truly laughable Battleship CGI finale wraps things up but leaves you feeling that this is more a missed opportunity than a geo-political thriller with some potential.

The titular American Assassin may never miss his target - but the adaptation of the first novel sadly does.


Hot Toys 1/6th scale Die-cast Iron Man 2 - Mark IV figure with Suit-Up Gantry Collectible Set

Watch Movies TV -“It's good to be back!” – Tony Stark

Making a grand and spectacular entrance in the opening of Marvel Studios’ blockbuster Iron Man 2, Tony Stark’s Iron Man Mark IV suit has become a fan-favorite armor throughout the years! As we enter the year of 2018, Hot Toys is elated to add this beloved armor to our MMS Diecast Series and proud to present the new 1/6th scale Mark IV with Suit-Up Gantry collectible set!

Beautifully designed with gorgeous detailing, the movie accurate 1/6th scale Mark IV is made with diecast materials and sophisticatedly crafted based on its appearance in Marvel’s Iron Man 2. The over 32cm tall diecast figure features a newly painted head sculpt of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, interchangeable LED light-up helmet, movie-accurate proportion and highly detailed armor design with fully enhanced articulations, metallic red and gold painting on armor, interchangeable shoulder and forearm weapon-firing armor parts, LED light-up functions on eyes, palms, and arc reactor, as well as the sunglasses, donut, and coffee cup from a very memorable scene in the movie!


One of the most of exciting aspect of this amazing collectible set is of course the Suit-Up Gantry that comes together with the Mark IV collectible figure. It features remarkable movie-accuracy, substantive details, great articulations, all-new paint application, and LED light-up function to let fans recreate Tony Stark’s dazzling entrance from the film!

Scroll down to see all the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.


The picture below shows what is supposedly the famous superhero landing pose that is achievable with this new die-cast Iron Man figure augmented with additional articulation but if you see carefully, you will notice that his left thigh is in a vey awkward and unnatural position as it is being turned too much to the side rather than the front which is where it's supposed to be facing. Someone shared with me pictures of Iron Patriot in the supposedly superhero landing pose but again, the figure looks a bit "off" in most of the pictures except one seen from a different angle. You can see the pics posted on my toy blog HERE. Ideally (for me), the left leg should be more to the front and closer to the body with the body a little hunched up and compacted - see pictures HERE of the Phicen Limited 1:6 scale Super-Flexible 12-inch Male Seamless Body to have an idea of what I mean.


Related posts:
Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series MMS123 Iron Man 2 1/6th scale Mark IV Limited Edition Collectible Figure Review posted on my toy blog HERE, HERE and HERE
Comparing Hot Toys Iron Man Mark III with Mark IV: how they stack up - pics HERE
Just some random Hot Toys Iron Man and War Machine / Iron Patriot pictures from my collection posted HERE
Hot Toys 1:6 scale Collectible Iron Man Armor Suit Comparisons: Mark I, III, IV, XLV, WM & IP (pics HERE)

Hot Toys Die-cast Iron Man 2 - 1/6th scale Mark IV 12-inch (32cm) Collectible Figure Preview

Watch Movies TV -It looks like Hot Toys is going back to the drawing board and trying to correct its mistakes. The Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series MMS123 Iron Man 2 1/6th scale Mark IV Limited Edition Collectible Figure (released in December 2010) was plagued with the "pink panties" syndrome, a term coined by collectors who discovered that the groin region of the Mark IV armor began to fade and loose color quickly over time, resulting in the Mark IV looking rather silly with full dark red armor but pinkish panties.

Today, Hot Toys is thrilled to expand our MMS Diecast Series by presenting the new 1/6th scale Mark IV collectible figure and celebrate the new year of 2018! Built subsequently as a replacement of Mark III, the Mark IV armor is one of the fan-favorite classic Iron Man suit throughout the years since its introduction in Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 2.


Made with diecast material, the 1/6th scale Iron Man Mark IV collectible figure is meticulously crafted in reference to the appearance of the armor suit in Iron Man 2. The over 32cm tall diecast figure features a newly painted head sculpt of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, interchangeable LED light-up helmet, movie-accurate proportion and highly detailed armor design with fully enhanced articulations, metallic red and gold painting on armor, interchangeable shoulder and forearm weapon-firing armor parts, LED light-up functions on eyes, palms, and arc reactor, a figure stand, along with the sunglasses, donut, and coffee cup from a very memorable scene in the film!

Scroll down to see the rest of the pictures.
Click on them for bigger and better views.


Related posts:
Hot Toys Movie Masterpiece Series MMS123 Iron Man 2 1/6th scale Mark IV Limited Edition Collectible Figure Review posted on my toy blog HERE, HERE and HERE
Comparing Hot Toys Iron Man Mark III with Mark IV: how they stack up - pics HERE
Just some random Hot Toys Iron Man and War Machine / Iron Patriot pictures from my collection posted HERE
Hot Toys 1:6 scale Collectible Iron Man Armor Suit Comparisons: Mark I, III, IV, XLV, WM & IP (pics HERE)

My 2018 Blind Spot Selections and Blog Plans

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First, I have something to say directly to each and every one of you reading this, and even those who aren't but managed to stop by this site at least once in the last 12 months. With over 343,000 pageviews, you've made 2017 the most trafficked year in this blog's history. You've also put me in position to finally reach 1 million views all-time well before the end of 2018. You guys are awesome!


A few years back, Ryan at The Matinee came up with The Blind Spot Challenge. He challenges us film buffs to watch one film each month that we deem significant, and that we've never seen before. Lots of bloggers play along. 2018 will be my fourth year participating. While not perfect, I am going to declare my 2017 Blind Spot Series a success. I managed to watch 11 of my 19 choices. Yes, 19 and not 12. That's because I've been trying to fit in a rather prominent franchise into one month and I just haven't done it. I'll talk more about this a little later in this post. I will also deduct a point from myself because I watched four of them in December. That was tough. I need to do better.



For 2018, I'm digging deep into my own collection. All but one of this year's selections (October) are currently sitting on a shelf collecting dust about fifteen feet from where I'm typing this entry. Some are pretty recent purchases, while others have been sitting there for years. Let's find out what I'll be watching this year.


January
Bad Education


February
Bird


March
Reefer Madness


April

Dirty Dancing


May
Ronin


June
Rebel Without a Cause


July
The Towering Inferno


August
Trouble Man


September
The Lady Vanishes


October
Eyes Without a Face


November
Fist of the North Star


December
Spaceballs


Bonus Pick


The Harry Potter Franchise

Let's talk about that bonus pick. It's not "officially" one of my selections this year. However, after trying and failing to watch this series for two consecutive years, I'm hoping the third time is a charm. If I don't get to it, no worries, I'll try again in 2019. If I do, that's icing on my Blind Spot cake.

Now, let's talk about why I might actually get to it this year.


One of the things I plan on doing this year is visiting or revisiting a number of franchises in full. Of course, The Harry Potter movies are included in those plans. Other series I plan on tackling in 2018 include, but are not limited to, the Ocean's movies, Star Wars, Mad Max, Alien, some Marvel properties that include movies prior to the MCU, and at least one other major horror franchise. I hope to do at least one per month, but I'm not holding my breath counting on that.

Blogathon wise, the usual suspects will be back. Therefore, be on the lookout for exact dates for Against the Crowd 2018 (sometime in August) and Girl Week 2018 (late November). I MAY have one in February for Black History Month and I MAY have one in October during my annual 31 Days of Horror, which will certainly be back.

Awards and lists will also continue to be a big part of things around here. I will have the 2016 Dellies up during the first quarter of the year. The question there is whether I'll be able to do the 2017 Dellies before 2018 runs out. Wish me luck on that one. The big list project is the ongoing "The 100 Project." The end-goal of this is my list of my top 100 movies of all-time. Along the way, I'm making lists for decades, and eventually, individual years. Next up is the 1970s, which I hope to have up fairly soon. To help you, and me, keep track of it all, I'll be creating a page dedicated to this endeavor.

As far as reviews go, expect more Quick & Dirties and fewer full-length reviews. This is partially due to this being my preferred method to cover the franchises I plan on covering. It's also because I'm watching more movies than I care to write longer reviews about. Don't get me wrong, there will be plenty of full-length reviews. They'll just probably fall into one of three categories: really good, really bad, or really current (things I see in theaters).


Speaking of watching more movies, I do have plans to actually count what I'm watching this year. I've had a Letterboxd account for years, but really only started using it about six months ago. I've cataloged lots of things there including every movie I can actually remember watching in full. By that measure, there is a good chance I'll go over 4,000 movies watched in my life. Sounds like a lot to some, a little to others, and I'm okay with both. The counting I'm more interested in, however, is just how many movies I watch or rewatch in a given year. Letterboxd gives me an easy way to keep track of that. It's not to impress any of you guys, but to fulfill my own curiosity. Just to have something down on record, I'm guessing the number will end up somewhere around 200, if I maintain what I believe to be my normal pace of 3 to 5 movies a week. I may write about this, I may not. Whatever.

The hard part of this is that everything I told kinda contradicts my other plan. My post total has gone down for several years in a row and I plan on that number either stays the same as 2017 (140) or drops a bit once again. Real life, ya know.



Now let's see how this goes. 


Oh, I almost forgot about Kevin of Speaks in Movie Lines. He won Spot the Movie Titles Contest No. 5, earning him a link on my first seven posts of the year. It's his own Quick & Dirties style post...