Black Adam is the latest installment within the DCEU and while I was at least moderately entertained, the story felt disjointed but it’s worse offense is the introduction several new characters, most notably the Justice Society.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation actually isn’t a terrible movie, thanks in large part to Dwayne Johnson, and a fair step up from Rise of the Cobra but it’s still a relatively generic action movie with nothing discernibly memorable about the action set pieces or the standard plot itself.
Southland Tales no doubt was ambitious and back in the day, based purely off of Donnie Darko, I looked forward to it, but the blend of political satire/commentary and end-of-the-world science fiction never gelled.
Hobbs & Shaw is a weak entry within the franchise for sure and although I do like both Johnson and Statham and their respective characters, but having them bickering at one another reminded me that perhaps less is more.
Fighting with My Family is a surprisingly well done biographic drama featuring a transformative performance from Florence Pugh aided by a great supporting cast including Nick Frost and Lena Headey as Paige’s brash but loveable parents.
Skyscraper isn’t a terribly impressive action film even by the mindless entertainment kind, but it is passable enough even if the plot heavily borrows from The Towering Inferno and Die Hard.
Walking Tall is a fine enough action-crime movie and an early film in Dwayne Johnson’s career where he probably was just getting used to becoming the action-filled actor we know him to be today.
Rampage is not great yet still a fun and entertaining enough action film that features Dwayne Johnson pretty much playing a similar character to that featured in San Andreas, but still his charisma does go a long way.
Baywatch actually was a bit better than I expected as I did manage to chuckle throughout and the film does a good job honoring yet also making fun of the old series (a la 21 Jump Street). This is a worthy rental.
The Fate of the Furious is a perfectly fine entry into the now long-running franchise that doesn’t really show signs of slowing down. The action scenes are well done and although none of the acting, or dialogue for that matter, will impress, I still found myself relatively entertained.
Snitch is an entertaining suspense-thriller vehicle for Dwayne Johnson and while there were stretches that were unbelievable yet I still bought in to enough to make it a worthwhile watch.
Moana is a fantastic musical animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios and maybe one of the best by the studio since Beauty and the Beast, though in general Pixar is still king with pulling at the heartstrings.
Ballers: The Complete Second Season is a lot of fun especially if you’re either a fan of the NFL or Dwayne Johnson. The stories generally are compelling and this kind of material, given he was a player for the semi-professional Miami U, is right in Johnson’s wheelhouse.
From just the tagline of “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson”, Central Intelligence could’ve been a fun, if not throwaway, comedy but with very few laughs despite the ernest attempts by Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, the film just did not work.
I have a soft spot for disaster flicks so something like San Andreas, as goofy as it was featured solid visual effects and even with a thin plot the film still managed to entertain. The acting for what they were given wasn’t bad and once again Dwayne Johnson proves himself to be a great action hero.