Jon Loder's Reviews
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
No wokeness that I could see.
It's a remake of a cult classic that was very campy. The over-the-top, fights breaking out every night, idiots with knives, etc. is expected. It's fiction, enjoy it. That said, I was pleasantly surprised. Dalton (Jake G.) had some great one-liners. Connor McGregor broke new ground in character acting. JG's history with Brokeback (which I only heard about) is hard to ignore, especially when he has the blue, equal sign tattooed on his neck. If that's a woke element, it's the only one I noticed. It's worth a watch in my opinion.
Created: 04-15-2024
Is the novel the standard? If so, it missed some important points.
Part one was reasonably well done with the blatant and unnecessary substitution of Dr. Kynes. After all, the original story has women controlling the political and social structures through the Bene Gesserit order. Also, the Fremen women are just as vicious fighters as their men. in the book. Part Two has a more troubling change. Chani isn't the devoted supporter of Paul that the novel portrayed. The novel has Chani gladly accepting her role as Paul's consort while he's married, in name only, to the Emperor's daughter. This movie has Paul intentionally leaving her behind to fulfill his role as Kwisatz Haderach and Chani growing more bitter. The movie ends with the implication of some major conflict between Paul and Chani. The movie also left out the characters of Paul and Chani's son as well as Jessica's daughter. That changed things. I'm not impressed.
Created: 04-15-2024
A little hard to watch but, worth it
The director seems to like the scene were there's a lot of emotion and everybody involved is trying to talk over everyone else. That happens at least 3 or 4 times every episode. that's why it's hard to watch. Building tension to the point of stressing the viewer is the norm. Other than that, the story unfolds a little too slow sometimes. The acting is tops. Every character is realistic and believable. The long story threads through the episodes with pleasant diversions into the individual characters with everything coming back together at just the right time. The language is continual f-bomb and violation of the Third Commandment. I'm expecting cooking schools to experience the kind of surge that the chess clubs got after Queen's Gambit. The culinary aspects appear to be genuine and interesting. I learned how to make a better omelet. I didn't expect a story about a Chicago restaurant to be this entertaining. SEASON TWO EDIT; About that slow story line, they found a lower gear. The entire season was one big buildup of tension that was never resolved. After a few episodes, the tension wasn't even building anymore. It was just held in anticipation of the big reveal that never came. I'll probably watch season 3 when it releases but not with the anticipation I had for starting season 2. I hope it gets back on track quickly.
Created: 02-14-2024
