jamiedecourley

Rob Zombie dips back into his same old over-stylized bag of tricks to bring us his newest production. While Rob has certainly honed his skill behind the camera, once again his amateur writing ability and failure to explore original ideas leave '31' tasting like a bottle of soda someone left the cap off of overnight. The plot is best described as 'Hostel'/'Saw' meets 'The Running Man' wrapped in Zombie's own special brand of disgustingly low brow levity. The dialogue is so much the same as Rob's usual fodder that you'll often forget Bill Moseley and Sid Haig sat this one out. Every underdeveloped character takes their turn at spouting out pathetic attempts at pretentious thought soaked in hillbilly mop water. It's supposed to remind of us the restroom in a 5 star restaurant ..but sadly, it often comes off more like a port-a-potty outside a Taco Bell. That being said, it's fun, shot well and probably better than 75% of everything else that horror can claim on it's 2016 charter. My predictions, Zombie fans will hail it as a new instant classic, old school horror hounds will trash it, and most of us will just accept it for what it is.. Another almost good film from an aging rock star director with a horrible actress for a wife. 6 out of 10 for me.

Ah, "The Ridiculous 6" ..Adam Sandler's Netflix Western. Sony, Paramount & Warner Bros. all passed on it, Problems with Native American extra's walking off the set and Adam's recent flops made the film hard to sell and it was eventually basically given over to Netflix as part 1 of Sandler's four film contractual obligation with the streaming giant. ..Gotta say, it really wasn't good. There are moments where the movie succeeds however, most of the gags are telegraphed worse than a Rhonda Rousey straight right. I'll admit it has a huge cast of comedians and known actors that are fun to watch but, sadly, it quickly becomes a bad SNL skit that somehow drags in to 2 hour territory. Probably the last Sandler movie I'll venture to watch for a bit. Too bad there's 3 more coming to Netflix soon. 4/10

Age of Ultron gets hurried here and there but seems to unite at all the right moments. James Spader is truly amazing, even if he's really just playing himself/Red. I felt his character succeeded in challenging our super group this time out. Plus,against RDJ who comes better e"quip"ed There often seems little for the Captain to do this time around, but Hawkeye finally gets some love and most of our other heroes have connections to the overall story (just don't pull at too many plot strings. Another well-done Marvel film. I will add this, the end of this film rivals the first, even if the sum seems unequal at times. Good Movie 8/10.