Tag: Ray Liotta

Cocaine Bear

“Cocaine Bear” is a 2023 horror/dark comedy film directed by Elizabeth Banks starring Kerri Russell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), O’ Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Ray Liotta (The Many Saints of Newark), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), and Margo Martindale (Sneaky Pete).

“Cocaine Bear” is based on the true story about a sky diver who in the 80’s was found dead in a driveway in Knoxville, TN with a duffel bag full of cocaine. Before his plane went down, he dumped several bags of cocaine out of the plane across the Chattahoochee National Forest. A mother trying to find her daughter and friend, a cop trying to track down the cocaine, a group of teenage thugs, a park ranger, and two men who the cocaine belongs to are all in the woods for different reasons. Unbeknownst to them so is a big black bear who ingested a lot of the cocaine. Now high on cocaine the big black bear goes on a murderous rampage.

I had a special interest in this movie just because I live near the location the story takes place. It’s cool to see a place you live as a main setting in a major movie. It is a true story that has been highly embellished. A bear did ingest a lot of the cocaine in real life, but instead of going on a murderous rampage it died. However, that wouldn’t make for much of a movie.

“Cocaine Bear” is a wild ride that doesn’t slowdown from start to finish. I figured it would be just a rampage style movie where the bear runs around killing people the entire time. However, it has the perfect amount of gore mixed in with humor. There are several laugh out loud moments throughout the movie. I’m also a fan of unique death scenes in movies, that make your eyes pop, and grab onto the edge of your seat, they mix a few of these in here as well. Also, it’s bittersweet being Ray Liotta’s final film. I highly recommend checking this one out. I give it an 8/10.

The Many Saints of Newark

‘The Many Saints of Newark’ is a 2021 crime/drama origin story of Tony Soprano. It stars Alessandro Nivola (American Hustle), Leslie Odom Jr. ( Hamilton), Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), Corey Stoll (Ant-Man), Ray Liotta (Goodfellas), Michela De Rossi (Boys Cry), and Michael Gandolfini (Cherry).

This story takes place in the late 60’s through the 70s when Tony Soprano is a kid and teenager. He looks up to his uncle Dickie Moltisanti, a prominent figure in the Dimeo crime family. Dickie struggles with his personal life while a race war is going on, and a new player emerges to push back against the mob.

‘The Sopranos’ is one of the most beloved, and watched shows of all time, they racked in numerous awards and are still popular to this day. I have to say this, I’ve never seen one episode of ‘The Sopranos’. If I have my review would probably be different, and I could tell you how well it is tied in. So my review is as it’s based off a mafia movie. It has a run time of two hours, and it feels it. I felt pretty stiff getting up. There’s not a whole lot of action in this, there are several killings, but it’s spread across two hours. It’s more about the daily lives of Dickie Moltisanti and Harold Mcbrayer. Tony Soprano is in it maybe ten percent of the film, if that. So it was a lot different than I thought it would be. A cool little fact though, the kid who plays Tony Soprano in this, his father played Tony Soprano in ‘The Sopranos’. So that’s really cool he’s playing his dad’s famous character. Anyway, it’s pretty good though, it’s very ‘Godfather’, and Goodfellas-esque. So overall it’s a good watch especially if your a fan of the classic style mob movies. Again I may have appreciated it more, or possible less if I have seen ‘The Sopranos’, but I haven’t so you have to take that into consideration with my score. I give it a 7/10, but it does make me want to watch ‘The Sopranos’ now.