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jasonplynch
Reviews
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Highly overrated and poorly directed
Let's take a minute and be objective and honest about this movie. This is absolutely not "one of Spike Lee's best films" despite what critics say. I feel like mainstream critics feel obligated to praise this movie out of guilt and virtue signaling.
The premise for this movie is interesting, but the entire movie was very poorly directed and insists upon itself and rests upon the laurels of Spike's past work and BLM support.
An example of the lazy writing and directing is the flashback scenes. Why do the actors have grey hair when they would have been 20 years old in the flashback scene?
Another example: why was it never explained why 5 enlisted black soldiers were running all over Vietnam together and being sent on a recovery mission? This would have been highly unlikely, especially since they were with the 1st Infantry Division, which is a conventional unit. A mission of this nature would fall far out of their purview.
In short, this film appears to have been written and directed by a complete amateur.
Katt Williams: World War III (2022)
Tragically Bad
I've always been a huge fan of Katt's work, but this performance was not good. In the past, his "pimp" persona added humor to his delivery. In this special, he removed that persona and replaced it with a goofy voice and awkward mannerism. I found his new delivery more annoying than funny. There were a few funny moments in his act, but overall it lacked creativity and originality and replaced them with raunchy and effortless cliches. The overall feel of this special is that he put it together without any heart just to fulfill a contractual obligation.
American Ultra (2015)
A comedy without the laughs
This movie is an over the top cheesy spoof without the punchlines. I generally like cheesy spoof comedies, but this movie just wasn't funny. Some of the acting was hard to watch. I'm honestly not sure why this movie is categorized as a comedy. The only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 1 is because I saw it for free. If I had paid to see this movie I would have been further disappointed.
Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash (2020)
Poorly executed
I believe the story, but this movie is purely the self indulgent tale of Pyle and how he saved the day. It is a great story that deserves to be told, but maybe as a Netflix show and not a movie that I had to pay for. In the beginning of the movie, Pyle says this story is not just about the crash, but about the music. I disagree with that. This movie has little to do with the music or with the band or even their story. I would love to see a "Bohemian Rhapsody" or "The Dirt" style production of the full Lynyrd Skynyrd story. The production quality of this movie was very poor.