Mark at the movies No 4

 

Top Gun Maverick(2020)

Plot.

Over 30 years after graduating from TOPGUN,[a] United States Navy Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell is a test pilot. Despite winning many honours and commendations, repeated insubordination has kept him from flag rank.[b] His friend and former TOPGUN rival, Admiral Tom "Iceman" Kazansky, is commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and often protects Maverick from being grounded. Rear Admiral Chester "Hammer" Cain cancels Maverick's "Darkstar" scramjet program in favour of funding drones. Before Hammer can officially do so, Maverick sets a new flight plan to push into high-hypersonic speed, accomplishing the program's goal. The prototype is destroyed, however, when Maverick pushes beyond Mach 10. Iceman again saves Maverick's career by ordering him to NAS North Island for his next assignment, but Hammer warns Maverick that the era of crewed fighter aircraft will soon end.

The Navy has been tasked with destroying an unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant, which sits in a deep depression at the end of a canyon. It is defended by SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), GPS jammers, and what appear to be fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57[c] fighters. Maverick devises a plan to attack with two pairs of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. He learns that his assignment is to train an elite group of recent TOPGUN graduates assembled by Air Boss Vice Admiral Beau "Cyclone" Simpson.

Maverick out-dogfights his sceptical students to win their respect. Lieutenants Jake "Hangman" Seresin and Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw—son of Maverick's late best friend and RIO Nick "Goose" Bradshaw—clash. Rooster dislikes Hangman's cavalier attitude, while Hangman criticizes Rooster's cautious flying. Maverick reunites with former girlfriend Penny Benjamin, to whom he reveals that Rooster's mother made him promise before she died that Rooster would not become a pilot. Rooster, unaware of the promise, resents Maverick for impeding his military career and blames him for his father's death. Maverick is reluctant to further interfere with Rooster's career, but the alternative is to send him on an extremely dangerous mission. He tells his doubts to Iceman who has throat cancer. Before dying, Iceman advises that "It's time to let go" and reassures him that "the Navy needs Maverick".

With Maverick's protector gone, Cyclone removes him as an instructor following a training incident in which a F/A-18 is lost. Cyclone relaxes the mission parameters so they are easier to execute but make escape much more difficult. During Cyclone's announcement, Maverick makes an unauthorized flight through the training course with his preferred parameters, proving that it can be done. Cyclone reluctantly appoints Maverick as team leader.

Maverick flies the lead F/A-18E in the strike package, accompanied by a buddy lazing F/A-18F[d] flown by Lieutenant Natasha "Phoenix" Trace and WSO Lieutenant Robert "Bob" Floyd. Rooster leads the second strike pair, which includes Lieutenant Reuben "Payback" Fitch and WSO Lieutenant Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia. The four jets launch from an aircraft carrier and Tomahawk cruise missiles destroy the nearby air base as they approach. The teams successfully destroy the plant but are engaged by SAMs during their escape. Rooster runs out of countermeasures, and Maverick sacrifices his jet to protect Rooster. Believing Maverick to be killed, the others are ordered back to the carrier. Rooster returns to find that Maverick safely ejected and is being targeted by a Mi-24 gunship. After destroying the gunship, he is shot down by a SAM and ejects. The two rendezvous and steal an F-14 Tomcat from the destroyed air base. Maverick and Rooster destroy two intercepting Su-57s, but a third arrives as they run out of ammunition and countermeasures. Hangman arrives from standby to shoot down the Su-57, and the planes return safely.

Later, Rooster helps Maverick work on his P-51 Mustang. Rooster looks at a photo of their mission's success, pinned alongside a photo of his late father and a young Maverick, as Penny and Maverick fly off into the sunset in the P-51.

If for some unknown reason you saw the original Top Gun, perhaps you were fishing on the moon this is a direct sequel which pays its respects to the original with great music, aeroplane or I should say jets stunts galore, romance, plus a back story of Mavericks relationship with Gooses son Rooster which their make up in the end after a stunning dogfight between the good and bad guys jets features one of the jets in the original film.

I highly recommend you go out to watch like me you will not be disappointed.

Running Time (130 minutes)

Rated (12A)

4 out of 4 Stars.

Batman (1966)

Plot

When Batman and Robin get a tip that Commodore Schmidlapp is in danger aboard his yacht, they launch a rescue mission using the Batcopter. As Batman descends on the bat ladder to land on the yacht, it suddenly vanishes beneath him. He rises out of the sea with a shark attacking his leg. After Batman dislodges it with bat-shark repellent, the shark explodes. Batman and Robin head back to Commissioner Gordon's office, where they deduce that the tip was a set-up by the United Underworld, a gathering of four of the most powerful villains in Gotham City: the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and the Catwoman.

The four criminals equip themselves with a dehydrator that can turn humans into dust (an invention of Schmidlapp's, who is unaware that he has been kidnapped), escape in a war-surplus, pre-atomic submarine made to resemble a penguin, and recruit three pirate-themed henchmen (Bluebeard, Morgan and Quetch). Batman and Robin learn that the yacht was a holographic projection and return via Batboat to a buoy concealing a projector, where they are trapped on the buoy by a magnet and targeted by torpedoes. They use a radio detonator to destroy two of the missiles, and a porpoise sacrifices itself to intercept the last one. Catwoman, disguised as Soviet journalist "Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff" (acronym as Kitka), helps the group kidnap Bruce Wayne and pretends to be kidnapped with him, as part of a plot to lure Batman and finish him off with another Penguin's explosive animals (not knowing that Bruce Wayne is Batman's alter-ego).

After Bruce Wayne fights his way out of captivity, he again disguises himself as Batman, and the Dynamic Duo returns to the United Underworld's HQ, only to find a smoking bomb. Batman is met with frustration rushing all over the docks in hopes of locating a safe place to dispose of the bomb but does so in the nick of time. The Penguin disguises himself as the Commodore and schemes his way into the Batcave along with five dehydrated henchmen. This plan fails when the henchmen unexpectedly disappear into antimatter once struck: the Penguin mistakenly rehydrated them with toxic heavy water used to recharge the Batcave's atomic pile, leaving them highly unstable. Ultimately, Batman and Robin are unable to prevent the kidnapping of the dehydrated United World Organization's Security Council, consisting of ambassadors from Japan, the U.S, the U.S.S.R., Israel, France, Spain, West Germany, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria. Giving chase in the Batboat to retrieve them (and Miss Kitka, presumed by the duo as still captive), Robin uses a sonic charge weapon to disable The Penguin's submarine and force it to the surface, where a fist fight ensues.

Although Batman and Robin come out on top, Batman is heartbroken to discover that his "true love" Miss Kitka is Catwoman when her mask falls off. Commodore Schmidlapp accidentally breaks the powdered Council members' vials and sneezes on them, scattering the dust. Batman sets to work, constructing an elaborate Super Molecular Dust Separator to filter the mingled dust. Robin asks him whether it might be in the world's best interests for them to alter the dust samples so that humans can no longer harm one another. In response, Batman says that they cannot do so, reminding Robin of the fate of the Penguin's henchmen and their tainted rehydration, and can only hope for people, in general, to learn to live together peacefully on their own.

With the world watching, the Security Council is re-hydrated. All members are restored alive and well, but continue to squabble amongst themselves, totally oblivious of their surroundings; however, each of them now speaks the language and displays the stereotypical mannerisms of a nation other than their own. Batman quietly expresses his sincere hope to Robin that this "strange mixing of minds" does more good than harm. The duo quietly leaves United World Headquarters by climbing out of the window and descending on their bat-ropes.

Da da da Batman, What more do you need than a man wearing a cowl and a cape and his sidekick wearing bright clothes?

This is the first Batman film I watched as I am a massive fan of the television series.

It does come across a bit camp but it's funny, action is fun look out for the bomb moment.

All the villains play to their strength and Adam West and Burt Ward are having fun and yes it does include the fights with the blurps.

Please go out and watch it, I highly recommend it.

Running Time (104 minutes)

Rated (U)

4 out of 4

I Came By (2022)

Plot

Follows a young graffiti artist who discovers a shocking secret that would put him and the ones closest to him in danger.

This seems at first to be about fore mentioned graffiti artist with his best friend breaking into people in power as a sort of up your s.

Then the story gets very dark when the young graffiti artist breaks into a judge's house where he hears a noise and goes down to the cellar and finds a person behind a door in distress, he panics and leaves but later due to a guilty conscious he goes back gets caught and disappears.

Then we see the judge talk to his coloured masseur and invites him back home where he drugs him whilst he tells his father befriended a coloured person brought him home to live and had sex with him so this moment of the film may upset him due to the racist undertones. The Graffiti artist's mother who we see have a troubled relationship goes searching for her son, especially for a bit of a plot hole the graffiti artist's friend puts a letter in his friend's room which he took due to be was meant to go with him but did not due his girlfriend being pregnant.

Then the Mother stalks the Judge later breaks into his house and gets caught and then this film goes into horror territory as we see the judge start to saw a man into bits to out into his furnace, we get to see him just to start to saw off the head then we see an id badge of the graffiti artists mothers in the furnace.

Then the film changes a direction and we see the graffiti of a friend seeking out justice for his friend skip a bit and we see him break into the judge's house to find out what happened to his friend and his friend's mother and ends up in a fight with the judge, finds a victim if he's in the red room, it ends a with the police finding the judge tried up and the graffiti tag on the wall(I Came By).

I found this film disjointed and I think it did not know where it wanted to go. I hated the graffiti artist, White man, speaking in a kind of Jamaican accent perhaps that's my hang-up.

I found it a bit slow and almost lost interest until the part when the judge starts to chop his victim but generally it was a bit confusing and I was disappointed with the finished product.

Running Time (1 hr  50)

Rated (15)

2 out of 4.

Samaritan (2022)

Available on Amazon

Plot

The superhumans Samaritan and Nemesis were twin brothers who lived in Granite City. The heroic Samaritan eventually fought his villainous brother in the city's power plant, causing a fire, and both were killed in the ensuing explosion. Many people remain fans of the Samaritan and there are rumours that he is still alive.

In the present, thirteen-year-old Sam Cleary tries his best to help his mom with the financial crisis they are in. He accepts a job from a gang headed by Reza. The plan goes haywire, but the real gang leader, Cyrus, is impressed and personally gives Sam $110. Reza and his friends later attack Sam as payback but are stopped by Joe Smith, a garbage collector who lives in the apartment across from Sam's. Joe displays super-strength in fighting off the bullies, causing Sam to suspect that he is the Samaritan. Meanwhile, Cyrus finds Nemesis's hammer and sets himself up as the new Nemesis, sparking riots and chaos throughout the city.

After Sam confronts him, Joe denies that he is the Samaritan, but Reza - still looking for revenge - hits him with his car. Joe is badly injured but soon heals, causing him to overheat so much he has to be cooled down. Joe and Sam build a friendship, while at the same time, Cyrus invites Sam to work with his gang, although Sam is disturbed when he overhears their violent activities.

When Joe defends a young girl from an explosion caused by Cyrus's gang, rumours spread that the Samaritan is back. Cyrus discovers Joe's identity and connection to Sam and kidnaps Sam to lure Joe in. In their battle, it is revealed that Samaritan died during the power plant fire, and Joe is Nemesis, who survived and left his villainous life behind. Joe eventually kills Cyrus and breaks his hammer but almost overheats from his healing powers and the spreading fire. Sam breaks open a pipe to shower him with water. Joe recovers enough to escape with Sam by jumping out a window. Joe leaves, overhearing Sam tell the press that "Samaritan" saved him.

Yes yet another superhero film this although says stars Sly Stallone he is the b player in this as the film mainly centres on the somewhat part sugar sweet, part dreamer kid Sam, I liked the fact we straight away get the origin story of the two brothers Samaritan and Nemesis then we see how Sam wants to find the Samaritan we get a sort of new bad guy who wants to be like Nemesis and goes around causing trouble with his crew, it does lose itself a bit in the plot but I liked the superhero bits and it does have an element of comedy.

I guessed the plot twist halfway through the film and I did like the fact Sly Stallion looked more like his real age.

Although I would say this is more of a kid's film I stilled my popcorn and drink while sitting in my armchair.

Running Time (1h 39m)

Rated (PG-13)

3 out of 4 Stars.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. (2022)

Plot.

Bee, a working-class young woman from Eastern Europe, travels with her wealthy girlfriend Sophie to a "hurricane party" at a mansion owned by the family of Sophie's childhood friend David. Other guests include David, his actress girlfriend Emma, podcaster Alice, her much-older new boyfriend Greg, and enigmatic Jordan. Another guest, Max, left after a fight with David. After drinking, using drugs, and dancing, the group decides to play "Bodies Bodies Bodies," murder in the dark-style game. Greg goes to bed early and David leaves after a fight with Emma. The power goes out. Bee finds David outside with his throat slashed, a blood-stained kukri nearby. The group try to go for help in Sophie's car but find its battery dead.

Greg is suspected after the group discovers he has a go bag with a knife. They confront Greg, who was asleep in the mansion's gym, with weapons. Initially disbelieving, Greg realizes they are serious and returns their hostility. After a struggle, Bee kills him using a kettlebell. The group doubt that Greg was the killer and Emma theorizes that Max, who had confessed feelings for Emma, returned to kill David. Sophie, a sober addict, relapses. Emma kisses her, to Sophie's confusion, before accepting drugs. Alice later finds Emma dead at the bottom of the stairs, and believes the group is being killed one by one. Jordan and Alice cast suspicion on Bee, revealing that no one with her name is on record as having graduated from her college; they cast Bee out into the hurricane.

Returning to Sophie's car, Bee finds underwear that matches Jordan's bra in the backseat. She sees Jordan holding a gun through a window, then crawls back into the mansion through a pet door. Bee confronts the group, revealing that she dropped out of college to take care of her mother, who has a borderline personality disorder. A vicious verbal fight ensues between the group. Jordan, revealed to have been the "killer" in the Bodies Bodies Bodies game, expresses resentment for Sophie due to her drug addiction and using David to get access to her trust fund back, and claims Sophie cheated on Bee with Jordan. Sophie expresses why she would not date Jordan, that she avoids her friends because their behaviour challenges her sobriety, and reveals that Jordan only "hate-listens" to Alice's podcast. After Alice responds by insulting Jordan's insecurities, Jordan shoots Alice in the leg. A struggle for the gun follows; Alice is fatally shot in the throat. As Sophie and Jordan fight, Bee pushes Jordan over the staircase bannister. With her dying breath, Jordan tells Bee to check Sophie's text messages.

When morning comes, after the storm has blown over, Sophie tearfully confesses to Bee that she relapsed and witnessed Emma falling down the stairs to her death. However, Bee holds her at gunpoint, demanding to see her texts. Sophie tosses her phone away and the two struggle, inadvertently picking up David's phone in the process, which reveals that David accidentally slashed his own throat trying to use the kukri to open a wine bottle for a TikTok video—revealing there was no real murderer after all. As Bee and Sophie realize the night's bloodshed was all for nothing, a confused Max returns to the mansion, and the power comes back on.

This is more angst than Agatha Christie with lots of screaming from the character at each other about some imagined sight, why is it that films require girls to scream in films?

I did not understand the terms used in film such as ghosted or ablest perhaps it's an age gap thing but it went over my head completely.

The problem with this film despite the premise it's getting boring with its cacophony of self-pity.

If you stick out until the end you get to see a neat twist.

Running time(94 Minutes)

Rated (15)

2.5 stars out of 4.

I Used to Be Famous (2022)

Plot.

A washed-up boyband star hopes for that one more chance at the big time when is inspired by watching an autistic teenage boy called Stevie jamming with him on the streets of London.

  

The role of the autistic teenager is played by Leo Long who is autistic and a musician in real life.

I am afraid this film disappoints as in my humble opinion the story focus is mainly on the so-called misunderstood former pop star Vinnie D.

This does plod along like a slow policeman walking a beat and what lesson do we learn from this film?

Being famous is not everything.

Running Time(104 Minutes)

Rated (15)

2 out of 4 stars.

See How They Run (2022)

Plot.

Two police officers investigate a murder committed during the celebration of Agatha Christie's stage play The Mousetrap, its 100th in the year 1953.

This is a comedy based on the famous whodunit with the tried and tested buddy cop duo, the gags or jokes get repeated a lot so a bit like the BBC does this so the viewer finally laughs out loud.

The pratfall is more Marks &Spencer than the comedy gold of Frank Spencer but in end, this film is largely unashamed of being an old-fashioned farce. With lots of hamming it up by the actors involved in the film

Running time(94 Minutes)

Rated (12A)

3 out 4 stars 

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I hope you enjoyed my collection of movies in this week's article, I shall carry on trying to mix old with new movies.

Don't forget your Popcorn.

Bye Bye Bye for now.

Mark Raines.