Jon Loder's Reviews
The movie is great, the story behind the movie is even more so
A teenage girl started writing a novel at age 15. It was published in 1967 when she turned 18. It has since been listed in the 100 most influential novels of all time. The librarian at her high school sent a petition consisting of 15 pages of signatures from students to Francis Ford Coppola who was riding high on his success with The Godfather. Convinced, he cast a bunch of unknown actors such as C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, etc. This may be the most star-making movie in history.
This is not a shallow movie. The stories of teenage angst in tumultuous class division are amazingly well depicted. Any more descriptions of this movie would be spoiler material. Just watch it. You'll be glad you did. Having read the book, I can attest to the story line remaining intact on the screen. Coppola allowed Hinton (said teenage author) to co-write the screenplay.
Created: 08-09-2024
A great compliment to the movie itself.
If you want to enjoy The Godfather even more, watch this miniseries first. The movie is even more watchable when you know what it took to make.
Created: 08-05-2024
It's the standard by which I judge all movies
There's a reason that this movie sits so high on every "greatest movie" list. Actually, a lot of reasons. It's a story about a good-hearted man being placed in a situation that compels him to abandon his resolve and follow the path in life he was trying to avoid. Every time I re-watch this movie, I keep trying to find that one place in Michael's journey where I would've done something differently to avoid the path to corruption. I haven't found it yet. The story behind the making of this movie makes it even more watchable. The Offer is a miniseries about the making of The Godfather. I highly recommend that.
Created: 08-05-2024
For the kids.
Not woke. It is, however, kind of boring. It's one of those movies that have all the good parts in the trailers. There's no apparent agenda. The language and subject matter are clean. It's for kids. I recommend it accordingly.
Created: 08-05-2024
I recommend this.
This movie would appeal to anyone who likes John Wick, Nobody, The Accountant, The Foreigner, etc. That means I love it. It's on my re-watch list. There's some very clever production with Mel Gibson being an entirely remote character. Don't look for too much realism. I did mention John Wick. Just enjoy the very interesting story with top notch acting.
Created: 08-05-2024
Contains satire of woke
I think this movie would've been offensive to me if I were woke. It treated wokeness with a feel of ridicule. Other than that, it's Ryan Reynolds. Enjoy it. It's not as good as the first one but, that's typical.
Created: 08-05-2024
Not woke. Just another vengeance flick
Typical for the genre: make the bad guys so bad that they deserve a tortuous death, put the protagonist in a no-win situation where he needs to be clever and skilled in righteous violence. Add the tension of being down by 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th with bases loaded, two outs and two strikes, and... you can guess the rest. I'm not saying it's a bad movie. It's just another John Wick, Death Wish, kind of thing. Orlando plays his part to perfection with a top-notch supporting cast.
Created: 07-29-2024
No woke that I can see.
Funny and somewhat predictable. Most of the good stuff is in the trailer.
Created: 07-06-2024
A subjective review from the viewpoint of a christian...
I like Sci-fi. I like time-travel stories that make you think. That's why I watched this one day when I was bored. I didn't realize it was a religious movie until I was immersed in the story. The basic premise is that removing Christ from moral teaching will cause a kind of social drift away from Biblical teaching. When a Bible professor gets a chance to visit 21st century America from over 100 years in the past, he encounters the outcome of such concepts. When people are left without a moral anchor, they drift away in the currents of rationalization. The slow changes in social morality over a century can be shocking if experienced all at once. This is definitely a B movie. The acting and directing are not bad. It's just obvious that it wasn't made with the level of production we've become accustomed to. I would recommend this to anyone, Christian or not, who is interested in American sociology.
Created: 06-25-2024
Great resolution to the series
I had never heard of Serenity or Firefly before seeing this on a streaming service on a day when I had nothing to do. It was a very enjoyable sci-fi adventure. Afterward, I learned about the series that spawned this movie. I binged that and had a better understanding. The cancellation of Firefly was a huge disappointment to a small but intense (and rapidly growing) fanbase. Reasons abound as to why Fox pulled the plug before the first season was completed. The result is the same. Unanswered storyline questions outnumbered answers by far. This movie remedied that with a resounding last-hurrah of the ragtag crew. The acting and directing were superb. Every character is played to perfection with a combined chemistry that rivals any casting, ever.
Created: 05-31-2024
