"SOUND OF FREEDOM" CANNOT BE DENIED AS THE MOST POLITICALLY INFLUENTIAL FILM OF 2023!

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥- SOUND OF FREEDOM [2023] - R - Amazon Prime - Directed by Alejandro Monteverde. Written by Rod Barr & Alejandro Monteverde. Produced by Eduardo Verastegul & Jim Caviezel. Starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, Cristal Aparicio, Eduardo Verastegul, and Kurt Fuller. Budget $14.5 Million.

Based on a true story.  Tim Ballard [Caviezel] is a Special Agent for Homeland Security assigned with arresting pedophiles who download and distribute child pornography. After arresting a criminal, as he has done many times before, he finds himself in a position to be able to save a little boy that was being passed around as a sex slave. Knowing he has a son the same age, this puts him on a newer personal mission to save the little boys older sister who is still in the sex slave system. The amount of work and money that is passed to keep the sex slave operation running is never explained, but Ballard sticks to his training and personal desire to see this through the end and reunite the missing little girl with her family.

***Important note - This is an independent film that has raised a lot of attention concerning the sex slave industry that is a billion dollar operation in the United States.

THE GOOD - This is one of Caviezel's most powerful and emotional roles ever; he sells emotion with very little dialog and just the look in his eyes. The crisp and attentive cinematography captures the right feel for the vastness of the South American jungles and the dark tones of shadows and light that actually exist. All of the acting roles from the prime performances to that of the extras were perfectly cast and performed by actors who have never had much training. The two young actors were perfect for building emotion on the mental toll being put on them to survive. The location spotting was a tremendous effort and refined to keep all of the scenes real and delivered with a gritty feel for the poor environment that most captured sex slaves are exposed to on a daily basis.

THE BAD - The story leaves out some important little details concerning who is actually in charge of making the sex slave industry a success. Obviously, someone is handing over the serious cash to keep things running, but the film never goes into it as one might though it might. There's very little action, but there really wasn't a need for it.

POST MORTEM - This is a tremendously powerful little film. Be aware that Hollywood and other mainstream production companies and media did no support this film upon it's release, do the nature of the subject matter and that many known pedophiles hide within the mainstream entertainment industry. This film isn't that knock-out punch film that can expose everything and bring down the right people, but it does let viewers know that this does happen on a daily basis and that there are evil forces in the United States who support it. This indie film has the right message to send to America and everyone needs to watch it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️[5 of 5 Stars]

AMAZON PRIMES "A MILLION MILES AWAY" DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THAT FAR...

🎥🎞️Movie Review🎞️🎥 - A MILLION MILES AWAY [2023] - [PG] - Amazon Prime - Directed by Alejandra Marquez. Written by Bettina Gilois, Hernan Jimenez, Alejandra Marquez, Jose Hernandez. Starring Michael Pena, Rosa Salazar, Garret Dillahunt, Sarayu Blue, and Ashley Ciarra. This specific film has a heavy Latin Production team, something that is very rare in the era of Amazon Prime films.

This is the life story based on Jose Hernandez [performed by Michael Pena], a NASA Astronaut, who came to the United States as an immigrant, worked in the fields as a child, graduated college, and after what seemed like years of applying for the space program, he was finally selected and went to space to make history. Through thick and thin, no matter how hard things got or how he's looked down upon for being known at work as the resident "enchilada guy," he works hard to prove himself and reaches for a dream he's had as a young boy. With the help of his supporting wife, he makes all of his dreams come true and he unknowingly enters the history books of American space flight.

THE GOOD - The films script was written from the eyes of the Latin/Mexican culture and community, so there is a lot of humor that is hidden within the film, but this feature is far from being a comedy. During the main characters young life, the director does a fine job laying out how hard times were during the 1970's in southern California. There is some incredible attention to detail, classic cars, and even some old cultural Mexican festivals and family hierarchies that are rarely presented in films today. Location spotting was absolutely perfect for this film.

THE BAD - IMO the director went a little too far with the character development, presenting the family moving from one place to another, and another, and another; when all of this could have been edited out and presented in a shorter sense to make more time for the big pay off of Hernandez actually going to train at NASA. Even though the director and writers were trying to sell to the audience that the movie was aimed at developing a "family is important" atmosphere, the point was drug out and very little time was spent on presenting how being an astronaut is a team effort; save one scene where the astonaut's are pushed to the limit underwater, and Hernandez makes a decision to save a teammate which gives the NASA leaders a green light to put Hernandez on the team for a space launch...presenting the team and their tough training sessions should have been a bigger focus in the film.

POST MORTEM - This is a good film, but there are a lot of slow parts and an extreme need to over emphasize “family” and what's happened to the old ways of doing things, living life, and how Hernandez had to progress out of the old culture to fit in with the ever changing society of success. There were no real stand out performances and there's sometimes where I feel that Pena is just lazily sitting there, performing his parts from one scene to another; looking like he could just take a nap to get enough juice to finish the next scene driving around. The true part of the film works and I always like seeing the end credits showing the real Hernandez family and where they are now.

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫[3.5 of 5 Stars]

"WHEEL OF TIME" DOESN'T JUST MISFIRE, IT IMPLODES FROM THE START

🎥🎞Series Review🎞🎥 - WHEEL OF TIME Season 2 - Amazon Prime - [PG 13] - This series is based on the book series by Robert Jordan. During the first season, there was something about this series that honestly intrigued me to follow it...maybe it was the addition of Rosamund Pike [from Gone Girl (2014)] that honed my willingness to give this thing a try; or maybe it was the visual effects, the details in the production, the hint of mystical mystery, the look of being defiant against the new prequel series out there, some distant recollection of the Lord of the Rings...whatever it was, I fell for it watching the first trailer and I only watched the second season in hopes the show would change direction and gain strength. SEASON 1 REVIEW if you dare to read this one too.

Honestly, after Season One, I have no earthly idea what this series is about or what is going on. There are witches or sorts in a world led by strong women, some guys that have the abilities of Warlocks, and I honestly don't know or care to know anything else about this dumpster fire. There are three plots and at least five storylines all going on at the same time and your guess is as good as mine to what this season is all about.

THE GOOD - Uhmn...lets see. Rosamund Pike is in the series. She definitely is the best actor in the entire production and she takes up the entire screen with her emotions, which sell perfectly when she's upset or failed to do something...uh yeah, that's about it.

THE BAD - Good Lord, where do I start. The pacing is atrocious; primarily due to the lack of emphasis on the plot and making a story that aligns with it. The writers to this train wreck lost all credibility to the series by slowing down and having arc after arc of character development, when all of that should have been established in the first season. There's tons and tons of bad acting. The screenplay completely fails to bring in a big reveal when it's needed and every episode ends with a badly choreographed battle or quick skirmish that leaves some of the main characters injured, maimed, or unconscious. There's so much mystery in this "what could be" epic series, but the director and the production team can't being in enough CGI to save the show from just drowning in the huge toilet flush that the viewers are sure to activate within the first two episodes of this fresh season.

POST MORTEM - There's far too much female liberalism and hints of lesbian love that's damaged the core of this show. Wiping the male race as a bunch of brainless warriors and lower priests just brings this thing to a non-clamactic pyre of burning dog shit that I just can't review anymore.

COMPLETE DOGSHIT! [💩]

REACHER EMBARKS ON STEADY JOURNEY

🎥🎞Series Review🎞🎥 - REACHER - Amazon Prime - (R) - Fans of the Jim Grant (aka Lee Child) book series, JACK REACHER, are in for a real treat this year as REACHER was released in February to some stunning and action packed episodes in its season one debut. Led by a new and tremendously athletic actor, Alan Ritchson as Jack Reacher, this new series follows in detail the first book in the Grant series entitled, ”The Killing Fields” which introduces fans to the simple life of a hobo-type traveler with extensive military experience and deeply entrenched investigative skills, who has a history of being at the wrong place and at the right time.

The series is well developed and presented to viewers with precision story telling and character developments which make you feel comfortable with the direction of the show at each new turn in the story. Kudos go out to Willa Fitzgerald, who plays Deputy Roscoe, and does an impressive job assisting Reacher in his introduction into the show. She’s definitely presented herself as a formidable and sexy police officer that has more to offer than just a natural sense of duty to uphold the law; and to Malcolm Goodwin, who plays Police Detective Oscar Finlay, a hard nosed investigator who rubs Reacher the wrong way at first, but whose true colors surface after they both begin to work together to solve a case of murders.

Season one was well produced, well located to fit the narrative of Grant's intended character description; at this point I will agree with JACK REACHER fans that Tom Cruise may have had the right temperament for the character, but not the right size and massiveness described in Grant's books to sustain a realistic preview of what the actual character has to offer readers and future fans of the series.

I would recommend you to read the JACK REACHER books before you watch the series, but in this day and age of the mindset that reading is just way to painful to endure, be sure to avoid the JACK REACHER movie with Cruise before watching this series, you will be pleasantly surprised at the new reboot of the character!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [4 of 5 Stars]

“JOLT” BRINGS SPARK BACK TO AMAZON PRIME

🎥 🎞  Movie Review 🎞 🎥 - JOLT - (R) - Amazon Prime - Kate Beckinsale is back in this action robust, gritty, sometimes overly humorous, but dark comedy that lights up the streaming window with fun scenes, while bringing a clear grudge-like, homicidal feel of entertainment back into the realm of solid movie making. 

In the recent years, Beckinsale movies have been a hit or miss with success, but JOLT has something not expected in both the writing and directing department. This movie is clearly an original installment of a possible series which could elevate the lovely Beckinsale into a new plateau of movie-series that are planned for streaming instead of hitting the movie theaters...and I like that!

Written by Scott Wascha, a first time short script writer who also plays a small part in the film, the format of the story falls right in line with what you might expect in a comic book formatted film. The action sequences are simple, but delivered in a style that you might expect from a real life  scenario when you're dealing with a sexy, semi-psychotic, impulsive bouncer with anger-management issues. Where most Beckinsale films cater up to a shoot'em up finale, this film keeps things up tight and personal, showing the dexterity of the actress at every chance. Each action sequence builds up with an overly explosive result, some make believe, some very real; but all of which result in a character building motif that makes this dark comedy a huge relief from the other robustly bad films that have been released from Netflix and forced down your throat with exaggerated reviews and trailers that doesn't have any class at all.

Directed by Tanya Wexler, who is known for being a bit aggressive on set herself, I found that the texture of tension between the main character "Lindy" - performed brilliantly by Beckinsale, and her unsuspecting prey is the magical touch this movie needed to launch me in the right direction at the beginning of the films character development phase. Kudos to Wexler for keeping the pace of the film at an upper level of flow, choosing not to use an over abundance of camera angles to "add action" to each scene.

Outside of a few editing errors that I noticed in a restaurant scene, the film was patched up well in post production. The surprise ending wasn't a smash up, "Oh shit, I didn't see that one coming!" moment, as I am sure the director wanted it to be but, the film had an acceptable ending that is surely going to lead into a sequel or sequels to come, should Amazon Prime gets off it's ass an push the advertising on this fantastic film.

Go to your Amazon Prime account and click on this movie. You will NOT be disappointed that you did! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️  [4 of 5 Stars]