Flesh + Blood is the Robin Hood myth filtered through a very Verhoeven lens. A group of mercenaries (one of them even named Little John...) are betrayed by a greedy lord and band together to steal from him and kidnap his son's fiancé. Verhoeven takes that premise and asks Verhoeven questions. What would be the effects if the superstitious nature of Christian faith led his followers to deify Robin (or Martin in this film)? How could he manipulate that faith…

Sometimes when your uncle has won 14 Academy Awards and you are preparing to do the effects work on the Point Break remake that no one asked for, or wanted, or watched, you can buy a digital camera and round up a crew to volunteer to go film the Caligula meets Animal House meets Hellraiser fanfic script you wrote (likely as a really horny pubescent boy) and no self-respecting agent would promote. You can convince Shane Brolly to show up,…

The super obvious three act structure does not help the feeling that the movie is a supersized and super-budgeted three episode arc of the television series. But if you can get over the televison-ness of it all, and your own pretensions about the series, there is some fun pulp storytelling going on here. Jeremy Allen White gives a really interesting vocal performance as roided up Baby Hutt, Sigourney Weaver gets to look cool in a flight suit and lead a…

This movie is boring and looks terrible.

I mean, that really is all there is to it but I guess I'll elaborate. The first Venom movie is a surprisingly charming buddy comedy with the Hardy and Hardy dialogue interactions providing some genuine laughs and just enough action to keep the narrative moving along. It is really shocking how much these movies miss the effect of the Rosenberg and Pinkner (Jumanji et. al.) writing duo. The Marcel only scripts for the…

The longest movie I can remember feeling disappointed when it ended. Mild spoiler I suppose but there is a post-credit sequence with a time shift and I was ready for three hours of that new movie right then and there. This is just ecstatic and enthralling film making. I was in it for however long this ride wanted to last.

Part of the reason I think this movie hooked me so quickly and deeply is that I have spent a…