Gladiator

2000 Paramount Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 2 hr 28min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ History

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!

Last Known Location

2024 Quiver Distribution

Rated: 16+

Length: 1 hr 54min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller ~ True Story

Directed by: Danny Donnelly

Starring: Aimee Theresa, Sophia Lucia Parola, Jennifer M. Kay and Danny Donnelly.

“Will Detectives find them before it’s too late?”

Last Known Location is an Indie movie made by Silver Octopus Productions, a small Production company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are owned by the Husband/Wife team of Aimee Theresa and Danny Donnelly. The movie was filmed in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It is reportedly based on a True Story but I couldn’t find info on the true story it is supposedly based on. It could be a Philly area story I’m guessing. Aimee wrote the script and plays the main character Callie Holloway. Danny Donnelly directed and starred as Matthew Martin.

It is the story of three women who were abducted one by one. Each of them not having many family or friend ties so their disappearance goes unnoticed for a considerable time before anyone notifies the police. A Detective and her partner are assigned to the case and start piecing clues together and decide it is foul play and the work of one person. The three women are seen chained up in a basement somewhere with only a toilet and a laundry sink. They arrived there one by one. I don’t want to say anymore about the plot so as not to spoil it.

It does keep you guessing right up until the end, because the end is a complete surprise you didn’t see coming. There are some things that bothered me about the movie. The acting was a little forced at times, kind of like a bad TV movie. There wasn’t enough depth to the characters, or the villain. And why didn’t the three girls fight harder, I saw opportunities early on they could have exploited. Why did he do what he did? The Movie alludes to it but doesn’t really say. The Hooks in the concrete basement floor the girls were chained to were obviously there for a long time. Had he been abducting women for a long time? Or was it something to do with the villain’s mother?

Later in the movie Callie finds two little green toy soldiers that boys play with hidden in a crack next to her Chain hook in the concrete? Was the villain chained there as a kid, perhaps by his mother because he was “bad”? The upstairs of the house has an old feel to it…the furniture, the decorations. It almost looks like he’s living in his mother’s house, but you never see the mother. It did leave me with those questions, I felt like it could have been better with a little more back story and depth. But it wasn’t all lacking, the plot and the girls kept me intrigued. Wanting to know more and see where it all ended up. And the end is a complete surprise, good one there!

From what I could find out this is a very young Indie film outfit with this being their first Major full length feature movie. Given all that, I’d say it was pretty good. In fact I’d say they would be ones to watch in the near future as they hone their craft and produce better and better movies.

So, yes, it’s worth a watch.

Blink Twice

2024 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 42min

Drama ~ Horror ~ Thriller

Directed by: Zoë Kravitz

Starring: Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan, Geena Davis, and Alia Shawkat.

“Are you having a good time?”

SO, where do I start?……………alright, how about this…..

TRIGGER, SPOILER AND RANT WARNING!

The movie starts out with this warning on the screen:

Here is the synopsis of the movie per MGM’s Blink Twice website:

When tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum) meets cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) at his fundraising gala, sparks fly. He invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation on his private island. It’s paradise. Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone’s having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality. There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive. BLINK TWICE is a wild new psychological thriller directed by Zoë Kravitz.

GENRE: Drama, Horror, Psychological Thriller

Here is the Rating for the movie:

Rated R for Strong Violent Content, Sexual Assault, Drug Use and Language throughout, and sexual references.

COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY WARNING!

That is a spoiler as far as I am concerned. It is a DRAMA, HORROR, and PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER. Part of the appeal of Horror and Thriller movies is being surprised, it’s what’s been driving audiences to them since the dawn of Horror movies.

I don’t want to know the plot going in or what’s going to happen, I WANT TO BE SURPRISED. The more surprised and shocked the better, that’s what I expect to get from a Horror Psychological Thriller Movie. He did WHAT?…….HOLY CRAP, I DIDN”T EXPECT THAT!

I don’t want to see a warning that there might be scenes of violence, sexual violence, mature themes and abuse of power that might make me squirmish and uneasy. It’s what I expect going into an R Rated Horror Psychological movie with strong violent content. If you don’t want to see that, take some accountability for yourself and read the rating. Then go see an appropriate PG-13 movie for yourself so we don’t have to label everything for you and spoil it for others……

Because now I know from the warning that the rich Tech Billionaire who invites women to his exclusive island secretly drugs and sexually abuses them, and it blows the whole plot wide open. So the drug-fueled parties on the billionaires island end up in violence, in this case sexual assault and violence. And now I don’t even get to be surprised by the billionaire’s actions because somebody who shouldn’t be watching this type of movie, and has no accountability for themselves, has to be warned that they might be upset by a movie they shouldn’t be watching in the first place.

If you are triggered by mature, violent or sexual themes……………

or acts of violence of any kind……..

DON”T GO TO SEE AN R-RATED HORROR PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER OF ANY KIND!

So there you have it. I’m done with the rant, on with the movie.

I liked it, I thought it was great. Very suspenseful, there was an air of dread that started to build pretty quickly. Paradise on the island started to get very cloudy and ominous. You know something bad is going to happen but what you don’t realize until later on is that it is already happening. And just like Frida (Naomi Ackie) and Sarah (Adria Arjona), when they realized what was going on, you are horrified. I love how the tables get turned after Frida and Sarah discover the truth. It reminded me of READY OR NOT with Samara Weaving. She thinks she is going to a nice family wedding only to end up in a bloody violent fight for survival (No Trigger warning on that movie and they even used crossbows and axes..).

It was good to see Christian Slater and Geena Davis in this, I haven’t seen them in a movie for quite a while. Seeing Channing Tatum as a complete Narcissist Asshole Scumbag with a complete disregard for another human’s well being while he constantly asked, “Are you having a good time?” was a complete change of pace. A nice one, I thought he did a good job. This was Zoë Kravitz directorial debut and I thought she did an outstanding job. Everybody did a great job, especially Naomi Ackie evoking all the emotions of her character as she finds out the truth behind the island and Slater.

And in the end it is a very surprising twist that you didn’t see coming…………….

Don’t worry, no spoiler alert on that one, no warning either.

Yes, it is an R-Rated Violent Horrifying Psychological Thriller.

If you don’t want to be triggered or upset by violence of any kind….go see a PG-13 movie.

If you do want to be triggered and upset by an R-Rated Violent Horrifying Psychological Thriller…..

This is one you should watch!

Back In Action

2025 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 54min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Comedy ~ Family ~ Spy

Directed by: Seth Gordon

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, Kyle Chandler, and Glenn Close.

“What if Mr. and Mrs. Smith had kids?”

Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz star as Matt and Emily, Secret Agents for the CIA. Matt and Emily have done what spies aren’t supposed to do, fall in love with each other. Right before their assignment, Emily realizes she is pregnant. Their mission doesn’t go as planned and they end up on a plane fighting off the crew who turn out to be covert spies themselves. Right before the plane goes down, they share a parachute and escape, landing safely. They both agree that, since Emily is pregnant, this is the perfect time to fake their deaths. Disappear off the grid, start from scratch and build a family.

Fast forward fifteen years and they are the typical suburban family. Matt and Emily are raising their fourteen year old daughter Alice and their twelve year old son Leo. Constantly battling too much screen time on their children’s devices, juggling work and after school activities. They even drive a mini-van to soccer practices and games that Matt coaches. As they try to control Alice’s covert underage nightlife activities, their cover is blown and they are forced to take the kids into hiding with them. They head to England where Emily’s Mom Ginny (Glenn Close), a former Secret Agent for the MI6, lives on a sprawling countryside estate outside of London.

There are plenty of story twists and turns as they try to vanish again, and protect their kids. It is a familiar storyline but then aren’t all the spy movies. The agents go on an assignment to retrieve the thing the bad guy has that will disrupt the working order of our world. That’s always the mission, but this time it involves kids, and Matt and Emily love their kids. The kids are awesome on their own, they have been raised well and being a spy runs in their blood. They just don’t know it yet. I really liked McKenna Roberts as Alice, and Rylan Jackson as Leo. There is plenty of action and a few laughs as Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz hold their own on the fight floor and the acting stage.

It has been over a decade since Cameron Diaz made a movie. She had decided that she needed to focus on her personal life, raise a family, and get off the Hollywood grid. Jamie Foxx approached her with this film and she said, “If I’m going to do a movie, I’m going to do it with Jamie. No questions asked.” It was really good to see her “Back In Action”, I think she did an awesome job, kicking butt and taking names, the Cameron Diaz we all know and love. You could feel the chemistry and the love between Jamie and the kids. She can still hold her own acting and fighting. Job well done and welcome back Cameron Diaz.

I had watched Jamie Foxx’s Netflix special on Netflix What had happened was….where he talks about his medical ordeal for the first time. Very touching story, if you get the chance you should watch it. In a nutshell Jamie came down with a mysterious illness, basically his brain started hemorrhaging for no apparent reason. He almost died, was in a coma, came to but couldn’t move his body. He then spent agonizing months in rehab and physical therapy learning how to walk again. Seeing him “Back in Action”…..you want to jump up and scream YEAH! GO JAMIE!!!! Job Well Done on all accounts, and welcome back Jamie Foxx. Ya still got it!

I love the soundtrack to the fight scenes, perfect! I loved the story, I loved the action, I loved seeing Jamie and Cameron together raising kids, I could feel the love! They did everything to protect their kids and it shone through in the movie. I didn’t pay much attention to what the bad guy was up to or the device he wanted, a mere subplot behind the parents fighting for their family and their kids.

Yes, yes and yes. I can’t wait to watch it again, and I just know there’s a sequel coming…BRING IT ON!

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!

Number 24

2024 Motion Blur/Netflix

Rated: Not Rated

Length: 1 hr 52min

Biography ~ Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by: John Andreas Andersen

Starring: Sjur Vatne Brean, Erik Hivju and Philip Helgar

“I have five drawers in my head. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th, 1945 and I haven’t opened it since.”

Sjur Vatne Brean (as the younger Gunnar) and Erik Hivju (as the older Gunnar) star as Gunnar Sønsteby in this Norwegian Film by Scandinavian Motion Picture Company Motion Blur. They also released the Movies Troll and Troll 2. It was released in October 2024 in Scandinavia, and released by Netflix worldwide January 1, 2025. It became the most popular film of 2024 in Norway at the time of it’s release, and it was viewed over 9 million times in it’s first week on Netflix. Number 24 is the True Story of Gunnar Sønsteby who was a young man in Oslo, Norway in 1940 when the Germans invaded. The movie is based on the autobiographical Novel Report From #24: The Thrilling Tale of Norway’s Most Decorated World War II Hero by Gunnar Sønsteby ~ May 1, 2017.

The movie starts with the elder Gunnar getting ready to speak to a group of University students. He spent the rest of his life after the war giving lectures about his experience in WWII to pass on the lessons learned to future generations. “As long as I live, I will tell the important facts. The Historians can analyze, but I was there.” As he starts to recount his story, the movie flashes back to Gunnar in 1940 as the Germans invade Oslo. He was a 21 year old young man working as an accountant when Germany launched it’s Blitzkrieg on Norway. The movie flashes back and forth between the elder Gunnar giving a lecture, and the younger Gunnar in Oslo during WWII as he narrates the story.

When the Germans invaded Oslo, Gunnar made a very deliberate decision to fight no matter what. He joined the initial Norwegian Resistance fighters which was a very unorganized rag-tag group of young Norwegian Citizens determined to fight the Nazi’s. Gunnar quickly saw that they needed to be better organized, and rose to the forefront of the resistance as an organizer and leader. He was eventually recruited by the secret British Special Operations where he became known as “Agent 24”. An undercover agent largely responsible for a lot of the covert operations in Norway. He later became a member of the infamous “Oslo Gang”, a sabotage group responsible for halting German operations in Norway.

Gunnar Sønsteby is Norway’s most Highly Decorated Citizen, having been awarded several medals including the War Cross, Norway’s most prestigious medal for his war efforts. It is a somber but fascinating story and a great movie. The sadism and inhumane cruelty of The Nazi regime is hinted at in the movie. Most notably in one scene early on where the Nazi’s torture one of the resistance fighters with hot motor oil. Barbaric. I was completely transfixed by the story and the movie. Unbelievable what Gunnar went through and the risks he took to stop the Germans.

I only have one complaint, and it is totally a personal one. It has nothing to do with Gunnar nor the movie. I am not a big fan of foreign movies that are overdubbed or sub-titled, in fact I avoid them. I really get immersed in a movie, I like to transport myself into it. Really get lost in it, feel like you are right there with the characters. There is nothing like a sub-title to completely blow the illusion for me. Or really bad overdubbed voices that don’t match the physical movement of the actor’s mouth, that really gets me. I can’t watch, if it’s bad right off the bat, I’ll quit watching.

That being said, Netflix did a good job with this one. At first it bugged me because I’m such a snob about overdubbing, but they did a good job and the story quickly overcame any discrepancy in the dubbing. It is a fascinating look at a horrendous time in Norway and a young man who said no and took a stance. The courage, determination and bravery of Gunnar Sønsteby helped change the course of the war in Norway and saved his country.

Bravo to Gunnar Sønsteby and Number 24, a great man and a great movie!

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!