Dallas Fisher

    Tag: movie-reviews

    • The Smashing Machine

      You would think a real wrestler acting in a combat sport movie would make for some exciting fight scenes, right?

      The Smashing Machine, the newest in the line of biopics about fighters that have been addicted to drugs and yelling at their spouse. You get an abundance of both of those things in this rendition, but not done in the most exciting of ways. The MMA part is super interesting on the surface, because it’s showing how today’s UFC started. Not only does it barely touch on that, it also fails to make the fights have any visual or inspirational impact. Benny Safdie’s direction leads you to believe you are watching the fakest of fights, the sound design didn’t do it any justice either. All of this is a huge failure, as you have a real life wrestler as your lead and his existence is wasted in a role perfectly suited for him.

      Speaking of, Dwayne Johnson plays Mark Kerr who is the MMA fighter at hand. He’s large and no longer in charge, in the ring or at home. Johnson has been getting tons of praise for his transformation and I will say he does transform, sort of. He has a new hair piece, teeth, and tons of prosthetics on his face to make him look just a little bit less like The Rock. Plus, his voice and manurisms are basically the exact same. So, I personally don’t understand the praise. He feels and looks super unnatural even if he is naturally funny for what he slightly has to do here.

      His counterpoint in the story is played by Emily Blunt. Now, going in I was under the impression her performance as Dawn was going to at least get her a Best Supporting Actress nomination. The entire runtime I was waiting for her to do anything that wasn’t your typical “girlfriend in a biopic” thing, but that time never came. She looks good, she cries, she yells, then she’s gone. Sorry to say, this was one of my least favorite performances of hers and the most disappointing for one that had so much hype. Johnson and Blunt together were also missing everything that made for an entertaining relationship drama. They were stale and it probably isn’t their fault as the writing for their scenes together was basic beyond belief.

      This is a strange movie where it couldn’t seem to get one thing completely right. Nothing was stuck with long enough to add tension or enthusiasm. The direction, while intentional, added an effect that was offputting but the costume design is the only high praise I can give this movie. For a movie about fists, it never hits and I was fighting to not leave the theater.

      P.S.

      As far as biopics and their enings showing the real people go, this might be the worst of them all.

      4.7/10

    • Roofman

      Talk about a bait and switch, but in a good way for once!

      Roofman is a tale mostly set in the nostalgic setting of a Toys “R” Us that should have been exclusively goofy, but it became much more than that. Channing Tatum plays a real life career criminal (Jeffrey) that made his living by robbing McMillions from a place no one ever thought to look, up. With Tatum’s range he was able to play the role of Buddy the Elf mixed with Tom Hanks from Cast Away, and let’s just say isolation did him well. I could go on and on about how impressed I constantly am with Channing and what he does with the roles he chooses, or is chosen for. Here he is resourceful, romantic, and a genius idiot all wrapped up in one. Safe to say, he’s a jack of all trades.

      This movie does something that 99% fail to do, and that’s surprising the audience. It’s pretending to exclusively be a comedy, but in reality it’s all encompassing. Without spoiling specifics, it heavily becomes a family oriented film where dumb choices can easily ruin it all. The opposite of a mistake was made when casting Kirsten Dunst as the potential love interest, as Dunst’s kind heart and romantic nature really brings you into the story even further. There’s a realism to how relationships work here that always makes me a sucker for what I’m watching. I can’t go much further without mentioning the heck of a supporting cast around them too. Peter Dinklage is perfect at playing a dick (Peter Dicklage), with Lakeith Stanfield and Ben Mendelsohn adding the finishing touches.

      As Jeffrey pushes his luck with every aspect of his life, your heart will race, and there’s quite a few hold your breath moments that will keep your eyes glued to the screen. I keep dancing around it, but there is a comedic edge that is hard to deny. Within the seriousness of this, it’s super funny. Lines are delivered with a sneaky ease, especially as mistakes are made throughout. At first you might think things are played safe, and sure you have to suspend some disbelief but this is one of the surprises of the year.

      You’d be a fool to count on Tatum failing.

      7.8/10

    • F1: The Movie

      An F1 movie produced by Lewis Hamilton, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski, and Brad Pitt should have the combined strength to make an all-time race movie, but does it?

      Kosinski follows up the success of Top Gun: Maverick with another A-list actor putting his life on the line in a high speed manner. Whether you like it or not, Brad Pitt is the dictionary’s definition of charismatic. This time he brings his cheeky and “soft” spoken side into the mix which is just what this movie needed. He might not go to the full levels of what Tom Cruise did in Maverick, but it can’t be understated how important he is to the screen here.

      The entire F1: The Movie crew spent an entire Formula One season traveling the world with the real-life drivers to make this as authentic as possible. From one perspective, it does exactly what it set out to do; the racing mainly feels like racing you’d see on your TV. With shots of racers close up and shots only lasting a few seconds at a time, it can make it difficult to feel the full tension of where characters are within the race. What it does really well is the behind the scenes stuff. It shows a side of F1 that I never knew about, the technology. As a person who’s never watched a second of any race, they make it look like these cars and garages are from the far future.

      The conflict that begins and ends off the track is the most interesting part of the whole movie because everything on the track felt fabricated by Hollywood. I’m also not sure how fans of the racing itself will feel about the way they handled some of the actual racing. Some of it comes across as disingenuous and almost a mockery. I’m curious if showing more of the real F1 people and having them interact or if making this more fictional would have been a better idea. Because being right down the middle almost took me out of it completely.

      Do you know what brought me right back into everything? The people. By people, I mean the actors/characters they played. Sonny Hayes (cool name)(Pitt) fit this role about as perfectly as he could have. It will never cease to amaze me with how good he still looks. Javier Bardem as the rich guy owner plays up every scene he’s in, but also has the range to make things more serious. The seriousness didn’t stop there with Damson Idris, our rookie on the track and in my movie eyes, brought a real depth to his acting and within his role.

      Kerry Condon, though. She steals the show every which way. She might have been the only character that felt like a real human. This movie didn’t make her into a typical Bruckheimer character, but actually gave her more to do than almost everyone else. She was subtle, hilarious, relatable and gave a downright great performance.

      F1: The Movie is visually an entertaining spectacle if you don’t look too close. The opening scene will bring your heart right into the speed of it, and if you believe in what you’re seeing, it’ll never let go.

      I almost forgot to mention Hans Zimmer! Talk about a perfect score for a racing movie.

      It’s a good movie that I didn’t fully trust as a racing movie.

      7/10

    • Materialists

      Celine Song follows up her 2022 feature, Past Lives, with another three piece of on screen lovers. This time we have Dakota Johnson as a matchmaker (made up job?) caught between the choices of her past (Chris Evans) and her future (Pedro Pascal).

      At the heart of this movie, we have a pretty standard love triangle that doesn’t handle everything in the standard ways. Instead of attempting to make our characters relatable with over the top comedy, we get real life situations. Where the typical romantic aspects might not even be the things that are pulling on your heart strings. It’s a much deeper film about being human. Defiant contrasts bring a light and darkness throughout, whether it’s the characters or the subtly obvious NYC backdrop.

      Johnson in the lead role is soft spoken, yet firm, and gets the most to do in many ways. It barely feels like she’s acting with the press tour clips I’ve been seeing, and that’s perfect. She’s perfect. Speaking of perfect, Pedro Pascal. Even though Pedro has been super saturated lately, it doesn’t mean I didn’t love every second of him on screen. Evans goes back to a role from his pre Captain America days and he and Pascal are a great, but separate, duo. I will say all of the characters work super well on their own, to a slight disadvantage to the overall story.

      Materialists goes down unexpected, but welcome, paths. Diving into what feels like the real life effects of Tinder or Bumble, made for a spin on the genre as a whole. The film has a way of making things just serious enough for adults while being not too artificial in the story telling. It’s engaging even when characters are just driving around.

      A movie about choices and second chances. Celine Song might not 100% convince me of her romances, but a film filled with flirty dialogue spoken by hot actors is a certain romantic’s dream.

      7.8/10

    • The Fire Inside

      The true story of boxer Claressa Shields and her journey from Flint, Michigan to the London Olympics. The first half of the movie focuses on her working her way out of a bad home on her way to become the first female boxing gold medalist. I know this is her full story over this part of her life, but a lot of this part feels rushed and long at the same time. The second half of the movie pivots to her life after the Olympics and how almost nothing has changed. For her character, I felt this was a much more engaging part of her story that added depth and the inspirational factor the movie was looking for.

      Ryan Destiny as Shields is half good. As the teenage girl who’s trying to provide for her family, she works really well and gives a solid performance. As the boxer, she’s just okay. She’s playing a 17 year old and doesn’t have any imposing factors to her on screen presence. The boxing scenes with her are shot in ways that feel like someone’s watched a lot of boxing movies but didn’t quite perfect it. Brian Tyree Henry as her Trainer is very likeable on screen as always and feels like he’s hired for movies like this just to give great monologues to the main character.

      True stories sometimes struggle with not being shown in a way that makes for an impactful and powerful movie. I wish this one would have (or wouldn’t) have changed parts of it to make that happen. This is a pretty family friendly movie that doesn’t stoop to the levels of a LifeTime movie but it’s also no Creed.

      6/10