The Accountant

2016 Warner Brothers Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 8min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Starring: Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick, J. K. Simmons, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Lithgow.

CALCULATE YOUR CHOICES

Ben Affleck stars as Christian Wolff, an Autistic Accountant with hidden talents. He operates a small accounting office in Plainfield, Illinois, that serves as a front for his money laundering enterprise. He assists a farmer and his wife with their tax problems, and is seen living a regimented life in a suburban property. His criminal clients contact him via an unnamed woman, who also organizes his business, identities and life. Christian is hired to audit the firm Living Robotics after the company’s CEO, Lamar Blackburn (John Lithgow), and his sister Rita learn of accounting irregularities. They assign in-house accountant Dana Cummings (Anna Kendrick), who discovered the issue, to assist Christian.

Meanwhile, Treasury Director Ray King (J. K. Simmons) meets with data analyst Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), who has a criminal record as a juvenile but failed to disclose this on her federal employment application. He warns her she faces prison if he chooses to reveal the information and assigns her the task of finding a shadowy figure known as ‘The Accountant’ before King retires in a few months. Medina realizes that Christian is using a series of aliases, chiefly names of great mathematicians. She tracks the Wolff identity to the accounting office and adjacent businesses in Plainfield, realizing he is using them to launder money, most of which is then donated to Harbor Neuroscience.

Which is the key to uncovering who The Accountant is, his ties to The Harbor Neuroscience center. The race is on as Christian gets to the bottom of the cooked books and the missing money, The Treasury Department tracks down who, what and where he is, and the bad guys led by Christian’s estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal) try to put a lid on the cooked books and the missing money. Along the way we find there is more to the Autistic Christian as he has special skills instilled in him by his Military father as a way to prepare his autistic child for a cold harsh and cruel world.

This is one of my favorites, I have seen it countless times. I went back and re-watched it last night before I watch the sequel The Accountant 2 tonight. Ben Affleck at his best along with Anna Kendrick, Jon Bernthal and J.K. Simmons. Big fans of all of them, I did want to see more of a relationship between Christian and Anna’s character Dana, felt like that would have been a good road to go down storywise but it wasn’t in the script apparently as she is not in the sequel. So if you haven’t seen it you are missing a good one, give it a go. I hope the sequel measures up, we’ll see tonight.

The Accountant 2 And 3

The Accountant 2 Coming To Amazon Prime Thursday June 5, 2025

A Working Man

2025 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 56min

Action ~ Thriller

Directed by: David Ayer

Starring: Jason Statham, Michael Peña, Jason Flemyng and David Harbour.

HUMAN TRAFFICKERS BEWARE!

Jason Statham stars as Levon Cade, a construction foreman on a big commercial job in Chicago, Illinois. He works for Joe Garcia, his wife and their daughter Jenny. As the movie opens we see Levon waking up in his truck and getting out and unlocking the gates to the construction site. As the men come in to start their shift Levon gives them a morning pep talk before they all go to work. Shortly thereafter a group of men pull up in a pick up truck, get out and start to harass and beat on one of Levon’s workers. Levon grabs a metal bucket full of nails and just like that, Jason Statham is back in action. A construction site battle ensues and Jason proceeds to kick all their butts and sends them packing……

Jenny sees the fight and has a conversation with Levon about it. Levon promises Jenny that he will always have her back, no matter what, if she needs anything, gets into any trouble to let him know…….

That night Jenny goes out on the town to celebrate her first semester of school being over with some friends. While in the bar and helping one of her drunk friends get to the bathroom, Jenny is abducted. Her parents contact the police and Joe asks Levon for his help, knowing that he is ex special ops. At first Levon refuses saying, he’s a changed man……

But Levon’s promise to Jenny to always have her back starts to eat away at him and he decides that he must go find Jenny and bring her home…….

And that’s where the fun begins! Levon goes to work doing what he does best. He has a mission and won’t stop until the objective is achieved, no matter the human cost…….

I am a Jason Statham fan and this is another good one. It is based upon the book Levon’s Trade: A Vigilante Justice Thriller (Levon Cade) by Chuck Dixon December 8, 2021. The movie was produced and directed by David Ayer, who also produced The Beekeeper starring Jason Statham. Jason and Sylvester Stallone also Co-produced the movie. Just like in The Beekeeper, Jason plays an ex special ops guy who goes after the bad guys to right his world. It is a Jason Statham formula that works every single time.

Once again Jason Statham does not disappoint, It was everything I expected. There is A Working Man 2 sequel in development as we speak. I have to say I am already looking forward to it. I just wonder who is going to get Jason’s wrath next………

The Beekeeper

Havoc

2025 Netflix

Rated: TV-MA

Length: 1 hr 47min

Action ~ Thriller

Directed by: Gareth Evans

Starring: Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda Luis Guzmán, Yeo Yann Yann, Timothy Olyphant, and Forest Whitaker.

NO LAW. ONLY DISORDER.

FROM NETFLIX:

Tom Hardy is no stranger to gritty roles, having taken on historical figures, criminals, and iconic supervillains. Now, the Oscar-nominated actor stars in action thriller HAVOC, currently streaming on Netflix.

The high-octane film follows Walker (Hardy), a bruised detective fighting his way through a criminal underworld that threatens to engulf his city. After a drug deal gone wrong, Walker finds himself with several factions on his tail, including a vengeful crime syndicate, a crooked politician, and his fellow cops.

While attempting to rescue the politician’s estranged son, whose involvement in the drug deal starts to unravel a web of corruption and conspiracy, Walker is forced to confront the demons of his past.

FROM BOBBY:

I watched this last night with some pretty high expectations. A new movie from Netflix starring Tom Hardy, Luis Guzmán, Timothy Olyphant, and Forest Whitaker. I love Luis Guzman and Forest Whitaker. Tom Hardy as Forrest Bondurant in Lawless is one of my favorite roles of his. I love that movie, it is one of my favorites. So my expectations were pretty high. As Havoc started I was waiting anxiously for the same feelings that I get watching Tom Hardy in Lawless. They never came.

It was the same gruff exterior and voice we have come to expect from Hardy but the role and character seemed shallow, hollow. His estranged relationship with his wife and daughter was not really explained. Thinking about it the whole movie and all the characters felt hollow. Just a backdrop to all the extreme violence and massive gunfire. More gunfire than any human being should be able to escape from, and yet they did. And apparently there is a big Chinese crime syndicate in the city with tons of Kung Fu trained mercenaries with meat cleavers. Meat cleavers flying in a nightclub amidst the massive gunfire. Meat cleavers…..I shake my head in disbelief now.

It just seemed way over the top violence wise. The story was pretty shallow as well, no depth to it. Again just a framework of an excuse for massive firepower and violence. It wasn’t long, maybe thirty minutes or so, before I debated on whether to keep watching or not. I lost the debate on Streaming Movie Night’s behalf and watched the whole movie. I was disappointed. It was definitely a letdown. I wouldn’t recommend it nor would I watch it again.

That’s it, that’s all I’ve got.

Nah….don’t watch it.

Only The Brave

2017 Sony Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 14min

Action ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by: Joseph Kosinski

Starring: Josh Brolin, James Badge Dale, Jeff Bridges, Miles Teller, Alex Russell, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Hardy, Thad Luckinbill, Geoff Stults, Scott Haze, Andie MacDowell, and Jennifer Connelly.

Based on The True Story of The Granite Mountain Hotshots.

I came across this movie on Netflix and had to watch it again. I remembered seeing it when it first came out and that I really liked it. It is based on the true story of The Granite Mountain Hotshots, a Fire and Rescue Team in Prescott, Arizona. They lack the Hotshot Certification they need to be able to fight fires and are delegated to cleaning up after the Hotshot crews that are flown in. “Hotshot” crews are certified elite teams of Wildland firefighters that get called in to battle the big wildland fires local crews aren’t equipped or certified to handle. Josh Brolin portrays Eric Marsh, the Superintendent of the team, who is frustrated by having the best firefighting team around but because of a technicality, can’t get the certification they need to become “Hotshots”.

Eric enlists the help of his Fire Chief friend Duane Steinbrink (Jeff Bridges) to help him convince the Mayor to allow them to get Certified. He agrees and the team is given until the end of the fire season to achieve their certification, which they end up receiving. Miles Teller plays down on his luck Brendan McDonough who hears there might be a slot open on the crew. He has the right certification and is looking to turn his drug fueled existence around after finding out his ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child. He does exactly that by giving it everything he has to prove to Eric and the team that he is clean, sober and fighting to make a change and be an integral part of the team.

Jennifer Connelly stars as Eric’s wife Amanda and in doing research for her role spent time with the real life Amanda Marsh. I love Jennifer in this movie, I think she did an excellent job of being the tough cowgirl wife of Eric not afraid to speak her mind. Josh Brolin is an absolute winner in this movie. I think it is one of his best performances in a movie, absolutely riveting. I really liked everybody in this movie as well, Jeff Bridges, Andie MacDowell and all the guys on the crew. The scenery was southwest beautiful and the fires themselves were intense. The action of the firefights themselves had me on the edge of my seat.

It is an incredible story portrayed well by the cast. I never knew The Granite Mountain Hotshots but this movie made me proud to know them through the movie. I love the relationship between Eric and Amanda, Brendan and his girlfriend, and the comradery of the guys on the crew. I had seen it before but I was glad I watched it again. Well worth a second viewing, I’d have to put it up there as one of my favorites. If you haven’t seen it, It is a damn good movie, well worth a watch. Give it a go!

G20

2025 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 50min

Action ~ Drama ~ Suspense ~ Thriller

Directed by: Patricia Riggen

Starring: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Marsai Martin, Ramón Rodríguez, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Sabrina Impacciatore, Clark Gregg, and Antony Starr.

“Never Underestimate A Patriot”

President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) of The United States is scheduled to travel to Cape Town, South Africa to attend the annual G20 Summit. But first she must contend with her underage teenage daughter Serena (Marsai Martin) who has bypassed Secret Service Security and has been spotted dancing at a night club by the press. Secret Service Security intervenes, apprehends her and brings her back to the White House. President Sutton and her husband Derek (Anthony Anderson) decide that Serena and her brother Demetrius (Cristopher Farrar) will travel with them to Cape Town.

When they arrive in Cape Town they discover that Security is very tight and the First Family feels secure. But as the Summit commences things quickly escalate out of control. A small army of highly trained and organized Terrorists take over the building and the conference room where the World leaders are gathered for the summit. They secure the perimeter of the resort grounds and blow up the building that houses the G20 Summit Security forces. As they storm the Conference room where the G20 Leaders are, President Sutton and her security team dive for cover and look for a way out.

President Sutton’s Military background and experience jumps into action and the race is on to fight their way out of the chaotic scene. As President Sutton, her bodyguard and a few World leaders they have taken with them escape out of the conference room, her husband and children are fighting to escape capture by the terrorists. The First man is no slouch and holds his own against the terrorists. Their children are quick on their feet as well and Selena’s Tech savviness comes in handy in hacking into the Terrorist’s Wi-Fi.

There is non-stop action as the movie unfolds. Lots of gunfire, explosions and hand to hand combat. Viola Davis as President Sutton, who has war experience in Afghanistan, is a complete bad-ass fighting to save her family and Democracy. I am a big Bessie Smith fan who is a Blues singer from the 1930’s and Viola Davis played Ma Rainey (Bessie Smith’s Mentor) in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey was a rough and tough, take no shit kind of woman. So it was interesting to see Viola Davis in this, it was like seeing the rough and tough Blues Singer Ma Rainey in action with a semi-automatic.

Anthony Anderson held his own duking it out with the terrorists, protecting his children at any cost. It is exactly what you think it is, an action filled terrorist political thriller. Shades of White House Down, Olympus Has Fallen and Die Hard all rolled into one. Throw in a Female Black American President with Middle East war experience and some Crypto for some extra spice. There are a ton of similar movies with the same familiar plotline. But with that said, I liked it. I thought Viola Davis was a complete bad-ass and pulled it off. I don’t think the movie would have survived without her, it would get lost in the mix of all the others that came before.

So, yeah…it was good and I enjoyed seeing Viola kick some butt, but I wouldn’t watch it again. Definitely a one-off, not a favorite repeater I’d watch over and over again.