Bullet Train

“Bullet Train” is a 2022 Action/Comedy starring Brad Pitt (Fight Club), Joey King (The Princess), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Brian Tyree Henry (Hotel Artemis), and Michael Shannon (The Iceman).

Hired killer and recently turned pacifist (Pitt) believes he is taking a simple snatch and grab job by taking a brief case on a bullet train. What he doesn’t know is there are five other assassins on the bullet train, and they all have more in common than he thinks. Now it’s a fight for survival in order to get off at a stop.

I was excited for this movie since I saw the first trailer for it. I love Brad Pitt, and it’s full of violence. Sounds perfect, this movie did not let me down. It is two hours of nonstop violence mixed in comedic relief from Pitt, and Henry. It gives off series “Kill Bill”/ Tarantino vibes mixed with “Seven Psychopaths”, it’s awesome. It is star studded and also filled with cameos from some big names as well. It will have you glued to your chair and rooting for Pitt to hopefully find his way off the bullet train. I give it a 10/10.

Day Shift

“Day Shift” is 2022 Netflix original Action/Comedy starring Jamie Foxx (The Soloist), Dave Franco (Unfinished Business), Meagan Good (The Intruder), Karla Souza (How to Get Away with Murder), Steve Howey (Shameless), and Snoop Dogg.

A down on his luck L.A. vampire hunter (Foxx) has a week to come up with some fast cash to pay for his daughters braces and tuition. When he kills and defangs an older vampire, he unknowingly causes a chain of events that results in a much more powerful vampire coming after him. Not only that but he is stuck with a union worker (Franco) assigned to watch his every move.

This movie is star studded. Jamie Foxx is a brilliant actor and Dave Franco is one of the funniest guys in Hollywood. So, them teaming up together to hunt vampires, you know it’s going to be good. Plus, you get to see the Dogg father himself hunt vampires, where else are you going to see that? “Day Shift” has the perfect blend of action and comedy to make it a great watch. Don’t get me wrong it is plenty violent with them killing and defanging vampires, but with the comedic relief it makes it a pretty lighthearted action film that will appeal to most. I give it a 7/10.

They/Them

“They/Them” is a 2022 Peacock exclusive horror movie starring Kevin Bacon (You Should Have Left), Theo Germaine (Work in Progress), Anna Chlumsky (My Girl), Austin Crute (Daybreak), and Darwin del Fabro (Dangerous Liaisons).

A group of LGBTQ teens go to a conversion camp, all for different reasons while a horrifying experience awaits.

This is an LGBTQ movie, and it is getting slammed online with a 3.3/10 on IMDB, and a 32 percent on rotten tomatoes, while all the reviews seem bad. Some have gone on to call it too “woke”. Which to a degree is true, but that’s not why it is bad. They focus too much on them being LGBTQ instead of the story. It’s supposed to be a slasher film, which to me it doesn’t matter who’s getting killed. A slasher film is a slasher film as long as it has a good story. However, the word slasher and horror movie are used very lightly. The first murder doesn’t happen until almost an hour in, around the 45 min mark. When there’s more gay sex scenes than killings, is it really a horror movie? It’s not the worst horror movie I’ve seen, but it’s not good either. Not even the worse Kevin Bacon horror movie, that would be “You Should have Left.” That one is just a huge mess. Overall, this one could have been good if they cared more about the story, they missed a good opportunity. I would give this one a pass with a 4/10.

Escape from Pretoria

“Escape from Pretoria” is 2020 thriller/drama starring Daniel Radcliffe (The Lost City), Daniel Webber (The Dirt), and Mark Leonard Winter (Elvis).

“Escape from Pretoria” is based on the true story of two political prisoners who escape prison in South Africa in 1979.

If you’ve read my other reviews dealing with Daniel Radcliffe, you know that I’m a huge fan, and not because of the “Harry Potter” series, but because of his offbeat obscure movies he has done since then. He always nails the role; this one is no different. “Escape from Pretoria” is a powerful movie, that has you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Even though you know it’s a true story based on the prisoners escaping you can’t help but having your heart racing the entire time. It ranks up there with the other great prison escape films such as “Shawshank Redemption”, and “Escape from Alcatraz.” It is a must watch, and you can currently catch it on Hulu. I give it a 10/10.