torrascotia

Currently being pushed to the fore at Amazon Prime is Freaky Tales. Yet another Stranger Things rip off which of course is a rip off of 80's VHS movies. There is a video doing the rounds where a man at a multiplex cinema debates whether he should see a Pedro Pascal movie, a Pedro Pascal movie or a Pedro Pascal movie. If you didn't know this is a Pedro Pascal movie.

It opens with a familiar voice, that of the Oakland rapper Too Short, along with faux 80's animations, that look nothing like anything anyone ever seen during the 80's.

Then we are introduced to the cast of the first act. The main hero being a coloured hair, nose ring wearing punk who is part of a multi-racial friend group. Who likes giving racist skinheads the finger. Yep its one of those movies. It seems Hollywood is no longer satisfied with calling people who are hard left nazis, they are literally portraying them that way. Talk about on the nose. Speaking of noses, nose rings were not a thing in the 80's.

This movie serves as a great example of why people are tuning away from movies in droves. There is no point in trying to bash people over the head with 2025 politics when you are supposedly making an 80's style movie.

A hard pass, even if they did base the title on a Too Short song.

Trouble Man is the lates Michael Jai White vehicle aimed squarely at the black action movie market. And anyone else who wants to drop by.

The story is straight from the annals of Black Dynamite, something about a record label? Something else about Chinese gangsters? And something about a hot middle aged lady or two. Of course none of this actually matters, what matters is the action and in particular the fight scenes. And these actually hit the mark, unlike Seagals movies which his fight scenes no longer cut it due to his physical limitations. Jai has none of these hang ups, so he can still deliver due to his physical condition.

This is a tight 90 min movie with zero fat that needs trimmed. This is a well written and executed script aimed directly at the hood market, with Method Man and Mike Epps in featured roles. If you don't know who they are, this may not be for you, and its likely the black culture jokes will fly over your head.

Its a solid action movie which is hard to find, mainly because thats an 80s/90s genre and most of the original stars simply aren't in good enough condition to be convincing. This movie doesn't have that issue.

I will deduct a point for Michaels wardrobe. His hats look terrible, some of the jackets it looks like he made them himself, he is still wearing bleach effect jeans and he wears his favourite oversized dive watch throughout. Even with a suit.

The only other janky aspect is the obvious green screen during the fight scenes.

But for me, its a pass.

Leonard Part 6 has a reputation for being one of the worst movies ever made. Even Bill said don't waste your money on it. But the question is why is it bad and is it as bad as they say?

On a second viewing the answer is yes and no. It is bad but not in the sense of is it badly produced. It obviously cost lots of money and its clear that what is on screen is what they want you to see. The question is why?

Leonard part 6 starts off as a black American parody of James Bond. But then it slides into something far more sinister and weird.

That's because the story is about mad vegetarians trying to take over the world, using animals. Its just a very weird idea and the execution is every more weird. Because the animal attacks are a mix of gross and weird which is so off for this type of "family friendly" movie.

The other odd thing is the use of food in the movie. Its well known that there are people who have a kind of fetish for food. They like to see people covered in food and this happens a lot in this movie. Particularly to the main character. Does this movie suggest the main driver of the movie has a food fetish like Tarantino likes feet? There have already been stories about him and food IRL.... What this movie does is suggest that the people who wrote and directed it have some very weird ideas, which is why the movie is hugely disliked. Because technically its not badly made. Its just weirdly made and thats the take away. Too many people are focusing on the "not funny" aspect and are missing out on just how strange the ideas in this movie are. You will come away thinking, this was made by some very weird people...