Great style, but too gratuitous violence and nudity.
Content warning: female nudity, language
Closest comparison: It’s like Free Fire by way of 6 Underground.
Setting: Action
Plot: Action
Tone: Action
The Town - 4/5
This movie is a modern heist classic, focusing more on the camaraderie of the lowlife thieves than on the sleuthing of the detectives tracking them down or even the thrill and mechanics of the heists themselves. It’s fun to watch the four main leads fully immersed in their characters and bouncing dialogue off each other. In that there’s a playfulness to the drama that doesn’t sacrifice the impact of the story to engage the audience.
Content warning: brief female nudity
Closest comparison: It’s like Four Brothers by way of American Heist.
Setting: Crime
Plot: Heist
Tone: Lowlifes
Suicide Squad (2016) - 2/5
This movie has an infamously bad reputation, but it’s not entirely warranted. The premise is great and in a few choice parts the execution is as well. But there are just so many bafflingly terrible plot, character, and directoral decisions that it bring down the good parts, making them fewer and further between as the movie goes on.
Closest comparison: It’s like Army of the Dead (2021) by way of Justice League (2017).
Setting: Disaster Action
Plot: Super Hero
Tone: Action Comedy
Justice League - 3/5
This is actually being rather generous. It's really a 2.5 but I had to pick a direction. The fight scenes are ok but uninspired and the writing is really really bad, especially in the dialogue. Everything is oversexualized and the way it's edited shows Joss Whedon tried to minimize that aspect as much as possible when he took over directing in the last month or so of film production. On the plus side it's colorful and the Flash has some funny lines with good delivery. Mostly a dud, but not a dumpster fire like Batman v Superman.
Full disclosure, we saw this movie last week but accidentally missed the first 30 minutes and didn't realize it until we got out and it wasn't as late as it should have been. We re-watched it today and my opinion of it actually didn't change that much. If it were a made for TV movie or a 90's direct to video special I would have said it wasn't too bad. But as it's a $300 million blockbuster it's hard to imagine how nobody on the production team threw up the red flag before it was released.
The Accountant - 3/5
This is a perfectly servicable (and forgettable) action movie. With a more gripping script and a method actor in the lead role (think Leonardo DiCaprio), this could have beccome something like the new Jason Bourne franchise. Oh well, still enjoyable and if you're wathing it I'll watch it with you.