Tag: Russell Crowe

Kraven The Hunter

2024   Sony Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  7min

Action ~ Thriller

Directed by:  J. C. Chandor

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.

“Another Marvel Mess…..more like Kraven The Terrible!”

SYNOPSIS FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Kraven the Hunter is the visceral, action-packed origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.

FROM NETFLIX TUDUM:

Kraven the Hunter has been a mainstay of Spider-Man’s “rogues gallery” for more than six decades — but you’ve never seen him like this. In J.C. Chandor’s 2024 film Kraven the Hunter, the Russian big-game hunter of comic book fame is reinvented as a vigilante conservationist with a taste for vengeance. Played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Tenet), this time Kraven is on the hunt, piecing together a vast global conspiracy — and you’re invited along for the ride.

The latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man universe follows last year’s Madame Web and Venom: The Last Dance, all of which take the world of New York’s most beloved web-slinging superhero and spin it into a whole new multiverse of possibilities.

Here’s everything you need to know about Kraven the Hunter now that the film has prowled onto Netflix in the US.

When will Kraven the Hunter be on Netflix?

Stream it now.

How is Kraven the Hunter related to Marvel?

Both Kraven and his brother Dmitri (who will eventually be known as the Chameleon) were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko during the original run of Marvel’s flagship The Amazing Spider-Man comic series. Chameleon first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in March 1963, with Kraven joining him to take down the wall-crawler in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in August 1964. The pair weren’t revealed to be half-brothers until J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s iconic “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline in 1987.

On the cinematic side, Kraven the Hunter is set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe of Marvel characters, which kicked off with Venom in 2018. While the films are not directly connected to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy (set in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe), they do share the same larger multiverse, as seen in 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which is also streaming now). 

MY THOUGHTS:

I will confess that I am not a hardcore Marvel fan. I have watched a good number of the movies in the past, the good ones. I watched this because it is brand new to streaming and I am a huge Aaron Taylor-Johnson fan. I first saw him in Savages, then Nocturnal Animals, Outlaw King and The Fall Guy. I love him in all those movies. I feel like he did the best he could with what he was given to work with in this movie.

I have to bring up Madame Web because it feels exactly the same to me. Bad acting, bad writing and a completely disjointed storyline. The beginning origin story barely held my attention, but I was done at the halfway mark when Kraven is bouncing off tall buildings, landing on his barefeet and then running (in barefeet) as fast as the escaping van, then holding back a helicopter from taking off (in his barefeet).

But I hung there, gotta write a review. The Foreigner, the Rhino and Calypso were terrible. Really bad acting there. I love Russell Crowe, The Pope’s Exorcist is one of my recent favorites of his. But this was bad although, again, I think he did the best he could with what he was given to work with. That Russian accent started to really get on my nerves. The only saving grace was Aaron Taylor- Johnson.

Nope, this one is a dog like Madame Web.

Don’t watch it.

Gladiator

2000   Paramount Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  28min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ History

Directed by:  Ridley Scott

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, and Richard Harris.

“I will win the crowd, I will give them something they’ve never seen before.”

Russell Crowe stars as the Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius, leading his army to victory in Germania in 180AD. The dying Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) tells Maximus that his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) is unfit to rule as his successor and wants Maximus to become the new Emperor. Commodus does not take that news well and strangles his Father claiming he simply died of natural causes, “He ran out of breath.” He then asks Maximus for his loyalty but Maximus refuses. This angers Commodus and he has Maximus taken prisoner back to the battlefield to be killed, and orders that Maximus’s family be slain.

Upon arriving at the battlefield and just about to be executed, Maximus is able to turn on his captors and kill them all. He rides horseback to his family home trying to stop the murder of his family, but arrives too late. The Commodus’s men had raped Maximus’s wife, and then crucified and burned both his son and his wife. Maximus buries them and then collapses at the foot of their graves. He is found by slave traders who sell him to a former Gladiator named Proximo (Richard Harris). Proximo keeps and train slaves worthy enough to fight in the Gladiator Games. Commodus organizes 150 days of Games in the Roman Coliseum to commemorate his father’s passing.

Proximo takes his Gladiator troupe to Rome to fight in the Coliseum games. Which is exactly where Maximus wants to be, he desires nothing more than to get close to Commodus and exact vengeance for his family. And to restore the balance of power to the senate like Emperor Marcus Aurelius desired before his death. “The General who became a slave, the slave who became a Gladiator, the Gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! Now the people want to know how the story ends.” It is the story of  Maximus’s journey to take down Commodus, exact revenge and set the Roman Empire right, while he battles in the coliseum, fighting for his life.

I have to mention Commodus’s sister Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) and her son Lucius because they factor into Gladiator II. Lucilla and Maximus were lovers in the past before Maximus met his wife. Maximus’s son is eight years old, the same age as Lucilla’s son Lucius. Lucius and Lucilla both show a liking for Maximus in Gladiator, for reasons that become apparent in Gladiator II. Directed by Ridley Scott it is truly an epic film about the Roman times and The Gladiators who fought for their lives in the Coliseum. Fight or die, Kill to live. It was a highly successful film in 2000 winning multiple awards: Best Picture, Actor, Visual Effects, Sound, Costume Design, Director, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Original Score, Cinematography, Art Direction and Editing.

I remember watching it a long time ago but didn’t really remember the whole movie. With Gladiator II out, I had to go back and watch Gladiator first. Streaming Movie Night tonight is Gladiator II and I can’t wait to see Denzel Washington . He is one of my favorites and I am excited to see how he factors in to The Gladiator story,  and how the story plays out. Obviously I Highly Recommend Gladiator, especially before Gladiator II, as the story line continues where the first one ended fifteen years later

Two Thumbs Up!

Unhinged

2020   Solstice Studios

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  30min

Action ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Derrick Borte

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Caren Pistorius, Gabriel Bateman, Jimmi Simpson, and Austin P. McKenzie.

“Here’s your courtesy tap!”

Russell Crowe stars as Tom Cooper, a guy who is having a really bad day. He has just left his ex-wife’s house where he has broken in, killed his ex and her boyfriend, and set the house on fire. He is constantly chewing Hydrocodone to kill pain and driving his pick-up truck around contemplating his next move. While sitting at a red light that has turned green, and not moving initially, he is honked at by…….

Rachel Flynn (Caren Pistorius) a single mother and hair stylist. She woke up late and is rushing to get her son to school so she can make her first appointment of the day. But before she can get her son to school her appointment calls and promptly fires her for consistently being late. Extremely frustrated and still rushing to get her son to school she encounters Tom Cooper in his pick up truck who just sits through the green light. She snaps in a fit of road rage and lays on the horn. As the light turns red she whips around Tom Cooper’s truck and runs the red light.

Tom catches up to her and apologizes and demands that she apologize too. She refuses and tells Tom she has nothing to apologize for. Tom insists that she should have given him a “Courtesy Tap” instead of laying on the horn like she did and should apologize so they can “re-set”. She defiantly refuses and Tom completely snaps telling her he’s going to teach her “what a bad day” is. She takes off leaving Tom behind but not for long. What follows is a cat and mouse game full of terror and completely unhinged human aggression of the worst kind.

Russell Crowe is absolutely terrifying as the unhinged Tom Cooper. Caren Pistorius delivers a completely believable performance as the terrified single mother trying desperately to escape from the unhinged mad man full of road rage. It leaves you on the edge of your seat as it twists and turns, and gets deeper and darker. There are absolutely no limits to Tom Cooper’s rage as he stalks Rachel and everyone she knows vowing unbelievable vengeance.

We’ve all experienced road rage and this is everyone’s worst nightmare come to life.  I’ve seen it three times and still like it. Remember this….it starts with what should have been a courtesy tap, and ends with a courtesy tap. Jus’ sayin’…………..

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

The Pope’s Exorcist

2023   Sony Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  43min

Horror ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by:  Julius Avery

Starring:  Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe,  Peter DeSouza-Feighoney and Franco Nero.

“When we jeer at the Devil and tell ourselves that he does not exist, that is when he is happiest.”

Russell Crowe stars as Father Gabrielle Amorth, The Pope’s personal exorcist. As we learn in the movie he answers to no one but The Pope. He is tasked with handling the most extreme cases of possession that the Church encounters. He travels by moped and carries his case filled with Exorcism tools and Holy water. In the first case in the movie, Father Amorth goes to an Italian village where a man is being possessed by a demon. He asks the farmer to bring in the pig that he saw him with outside. Father Amorth then proceeds to trick the demon into leaving the man’s body and possessing the pig. As soon as he does they shoot the pig, killing it, freeing the man from the demon.

Father Amorth is then sent to San Sebastian Abbey, where a widow and her two children have come from America to renovate the building. They inherited it when her husband died in a horrific car accident. He was impaled in the car and her son Henry, who was in the backseat, witnessed the horrible death of his father. He has not spoken since, and upon removing a stone in a basement wall, has apparently become possessed. As Father Amorth begins to investigate the boy and the demon, he senses something deeper and sinister within the property.

He uncovers evidence that the church long ago covered up something deep within the property to seal off a demon and a gateway to hell. He has to learn the name of the demon in order to defeat it and free the little boy Henry before the Demon destroys him. He learns that the demon is Asmodeus, The King of Hell. And he goes head to head with the Demon to free Henry, assisted by Father Esquibel, a younger less experienced priest.

It is supernatural horror at it’s best. The little boy possessed by a demon conjuring, cussing, screaming obscenities, and wreaking havoc on the poor little boy’s body. Peter DeSouza-Feighoney plays Henry, the little boy. He is a newcomer to the movie scene, this being his Hollywood debut. Peter…I give you a standing ovation for that performance. WELL DONE! Alex Essoe plays his mother Julia, she has done a number of horror movies. I am not familiar with her work but I like her and will keep an eye out for her. Father Amorth is a very likeable fellow, completely faithful to his faith and his work. He even carries around a little flask of whiskey to quench his thirst after fighting with The Demons. I really like Russell Crowe in this, I thought he did a really good job of portraying Father Amorth.

This is based on the true life story Of Father Gabrielle Amorth, a Roman Catholic Priest who performed over 60,000 exorcisms in his lifetime. He also helped found The International Association of Exorcists. He wrote more than 30 books in his lifetime, I have bought this one and am reading it now:

There is a sequel in the works, slated for release sometime next year, THE POPE’S EXORCIST 2 with Russell Crowe again playing Father Amorth. I am looking forward to it, I am becoming a fan of Father Amorth and this movie series.

It is Horrorful Halloween season and I will be watching and reviewing a lot of Horror movies over the next couple of weeks.

This was a good one.

Yes I recommend it.

Two Thumbs Up!