Director Doug Liman’s latest action/thriller Road House has Jake Gyllenhaal playing an Ex-UFC fighter named Dalton.
Dalton accepts a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse and soon finds out that things are more than he expected.
Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen and Lukas Gage are among the key cast.
This is not the kind of movie I’d typically be drawn to. But, add Gyllenhaal and my curiosity about McGregor’s performance and suddenly, look at that, I have a ticket.
I may just decide to watch the 1989 original Road House movie after all. The one starring Patrick Swayze; I hear that there’s much to see where fight choreography is concerned – another reason I have to watch this new remake.
Darren Barnet, Post Malone, Joaquim de Almeida, Dominique Columbus, Arturo Castro, JD Pardo, Beau Knapp, Hannah Love Lanier, Kevin Carroll, Bob Menery and Travis Van Winkle also star.
Director F. Gary Gray’s latest action/crime/comedy,Lift, whichstars Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Sam Worthington, is the kind of film I watched in two different ways.
I watched the first half of Lift while simultaneously busying myself on my phone. It’s likely that I would have been okay with continuing to multitask as the movie played, and just considered the film my ‘downtime’ and categorised it as ‘easy viewing.’ However, writer Daniel Kunka’s story about an expert thief and an intriguing plot to steal $500 million in gold bullion from a moving plane became much more engaging once the key characters were on the flight and doing ‘the job.’
Lift (2024), Yun Jee Kim, Billy Magnussen, Úrsula Corberó, Kevin Hart, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Netflix
The second half is when much of the cleverness and fun begins. Before then, Lift felt like plenty of set-up that isn’t particularly new. As such, one can get away with only half-watching.
What just occurred to me right now is that the action sequences in Lift are not quite as memorable after the fact, even though they were engaging as they happened. It’s no wonder that my favourite moment in Lift is the funny, perfectly acted scene featuring air traffic control’s Harry (David Proud).’ ’Poor Sandra’ (Caroline Loncq) is all I have to say about that.
Give Lift a chance if you’re curious. It’s not the best, but perhaps it’s worth a try for that second half.
Vincent D’Onofrio, Billy Magnussen, Yun Jee Kim, Úrsula Corberó, Jean Reno, Viveik Kalra, Burn Gorman and Martina Avogadri also star.
Made for Love (2021), Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen, HBO Max
Cristin Milioti, Billy Magnussen and Ray Romano are the stars of new sci-fi/comedy/drama, Made for Love.
Milioti is Hazel, a young woman who suddenly realises that her husband (Magnussen) has implanted a revolutionary monitoring device in her brain . A device that allows him to track her every move.
Talk about a super controlling maniac. After spotting the detachment in Hazel’s eyes at 0:37 seconds into this trailer, I was committed to see her get out of there.
This kind of entrapment is crazy. Yet, it’s also not completely outside of the realm of what will become possible in the future. That’s, of course, if it isn’t already possible right now.
Caleb Foote, Noma Dumezweni, Augusto Aguilera, Dutch Johnson, Raymond Lee, Dan Bakkedahl and Tom Jenkins also star.
I had a good time watching writer/director Dan Gilroy’s latest movie, Velvet Buzzsaw. The fact that it’s set in sunny Miami Beach, Florida, only has a little something to do with my enjoyment.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, John Malkovich, Zawe Ashton, Toni Collette, and Billy Magnussen, Velvet Buzzsaw is a comedy/crime/fantasy movie about a group of art lovers who become targets of a supernatural force. The catalyst for the vengeance being, the art lovers helped themselves to pieces of art they really shouldn’t have.
I immediately liked the early scenes where the different characters, along with all their various motivations, are established. Yet, I did watch these scenes while somewhat impatiently waiting for the vengeance to begin. The true extent of my impatience didn’t reveal itself until after the very first bit of rather thrilling revenge was enacted. The reason being, some of the scenes after that point weren’t always especially engaging.
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019), Zawe Ashton
Thanks to my favourite characters in the movie, the ones played by Gyllenhaal, Ashton and Natalia Dyer, I feel as though Velvet Buzzsaw had enough to make the nearly two hours I spent watching the movie worthwhile. I mean, I wouldn’t say it’s quite as good as Nightcrawler (2014) – my favourite Gyllenhaal and Gilroy collaboration, but it does have some standout moments that I won’t soon forget. Especially where the creative ways revenge is enacted upon the greedy art lovers is concerned. There are also moments of gorgeous cinematography featuring rich, vibrant colours.
Another good movie that came to mind as I watched Velvet Buzzsaw is Final Destination (2000), a horror/thriller that did a very memorable job of thrilling and shocking its audience because of the well-executed death sequences, something Velvet Buzzsaw doesn’t do too badly at either.
Watch it if you’re so curious. Other reasons include the ‘funny’ replacement personal assistant, the chance to see Gyllenhaal really having fun in this role.
Last but not least, watch it and be surprised by how much you actually enjoy the very last ‘piece of art’ shown in this movie. I know I did. I really could have looked at it for quite a while.
Dan Gilroy, the director of my favourite Jake Gyllenhaal movie Nightcrawler (2014), is back with new crime/fantasy film, Velvet Buzzsaw.
Starring Gyllenhaal, John Malkovich, Toni Collette, Billy Magnussen and set in Miami Beach, Florida, it all begins after a number of art lovers help themselves to a series of paintings by an unknown artist. Soon enough, a supernatural force begins to enact revenge to punish all those involved for their greed.
I’m in for Gyllenhaal’s performance, and who knows, maybe I’ll love what he does in this movie as much as I appreciate his great work in Nightcrawler.
At the time of writing, Velvet Buzzsaw isn’t categorised as horror. As such, my fingers are crossed that the whole experience isn’t nightmare-inducing.
Zawe Ashton, Natalia Dyer, Rene Russo, Daveed Diggs, Peter Gadiot and Tom Sturridge also star.
