Lamar's Reviews

Lamar Reviews - "Thunderbolts" (Airdate 5/9/2025)

There used to be an excitement when a Marvel movie came out. People talked about it for months before it came to the screens. For over a decade it seemed like they could do no wrong! Iron Man in 2008 got everybody’s attention. The Avengers in 2012 kept it going, Guardians of the Galaxy took it to a new level, and Black Panther blew everyone away. Marvel reached a crescendo with Avengers: Endgame, by killing off some major characters. Then came the decline, all the way down to Captain America: Brave new world, Eternals, (still not exactly sure what that was all about), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (although Evangeline Lilly can do no wrong).

Marvel needed to change it up and do something different, and they did. Thunderbolts is that change. It still follows the classic formula that all successful Marvel movies have, but it noticeably different from the post-Endgame movies.

Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Red Room assassin, and Black Widow’s sister, carry’s the movie. She brings human dimension to Yelena as a depressed going through the motions of being an assassin and wondering why. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is not dark and depressing, especially with David Harbour as the hilarious over the top Red Guardian. This entire group is trying to kill each other before they are forced to join forces and become a team. The fake Captain America played by Wyatt Russell, Kurt’s son, Ghost played by Janna John-Kamen, Bob, played by Lewis Pullman, who looks exactly like his father Bill. They are led by Bucky, The Winter Soldier, played by Sebastian Stan. Of course there can be no Marvel movie without a villain, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, is played completely over the top by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She may not be the best Marvel Villain, but she is the most annoying.

The movie is 2 hours and 6 minutes, Rated PG-13 for strong violence, language, thematic elements, and some suggestive references.

The chemistry and group dynamics of the team are solid and that is important to the movie. The back and forth between the team is entertaining.

I love Marvel movies but after Avengers: Endgame everything has been about the multiverse which is very confusing. Especially if you are not a dedicated Marvel viewer who sees every movie, every TV series, and comic. If you get out of the loop it is hard to get back in and understand all that is going on. If you have never seen a Marvel movie you almost have to go back and start at the beginning to know what’s happening.

Thunderbolts might be a good entry point for someone who has skipped a few or never seen a Marvel movie.

Every time you see The Thunderbolts* there is an asterisk. That is because The Thunderbolts are actually the New Avengers and that is what they will be called in the future.  I think there is a good possibility that that they are the future of the Marvel Universe. At least at this point they have stopped the downward slide.

I really enjoyed this movie.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Frosty Budweisers

Lamar Reviews - Bad Influence: The Dark Side of Kidfluencing (Airdate 5/2/2025)

Lamar Reviews - "Sinners" (Airdate 4/25/2025)

Wow, this movie is a lot! It has many moving parts. It is a period piece, a gangster movie, it’s a horror movie, and it’s about the power of music. Now the question, is it too much? Yes, it probably is, but Writer/Director Ryan Coogler manages to make it work. At least it did for me.

Michael B. Jordan plays two characters, twin brothers, Smoke and Stack. It is 1932 in Mississippi, and they have fought in World War I, then lived in Chicago for 7 years, working with the Italian and Irish mobs. Now, they are back with a bag of cash and a truck load of stolen liquor, ready to open a juke joint and make some big money.

They use the bag of money to buy a rundown sawmill. They go around town hiring musicians, like their guitar playing cousin Sammie, played by Gospel and R&B singing great, Miles Caton, and piano banging Delta Slim, played by Delroy Lindo. The brothers both have women they left behind. Mary, played by Hailee Steinfeld, that stack left, without saying goodbye, and Annie, played by Wunmi Mosaku, who smoke shared a child with.

Opening-night is going gangbusters and the blues music that is the soundtrack for the movie is fantastic. All is going well, until the vampires show up. Yes, that is the horror part of the movie, and it is a bloody spectacle. Think Tarantino’s From Dusk till Dawn.

The movie is 2 hours 17 minutes, Rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and tons of language, especially about sexual content.

Like I said earlier, it is true there might be too much going on in this movie, but I can’t think of anything I would take out that would not change it for the better.

For the period piece of it, Coogler does an excellent job of showing what it was like for African Americans at that time, in that place. To just say it was a hard, hard life would be disrespectful.

That is where the mournful blues that we have come to love so much came from. I’m sure, as we enjoy the music, we do not normally think about the pain that it originated from.

The cinematography of the huge sky and the endless rows of cotton are breathtaking. The action is nonstop once it starts and is very gruesome. But the music is always there pushing everything in the movie forward. I have to say I have never tapped my foot to the rhythm for the entire time in a horror movie.

When you go, and the movie is over, and you have caught your breath, sit still. Do not get up. There is a post credit scene. After that scene, sit still, do not get up, even if the person sweeping up popcorn is coming. There is still one more scene. Then, get up and walk out, thinking about what a great movie it was.

My Score: 5 frosty cold delicious Budweisers.

Lamar's Review - "Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer" (Airdate 4/18/2025)

This is a documentary about ten sets of skeletal remains that were found along a beach in Long Island between 2010 and 2011, the search for their killer.

What started the investigation was the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24 on May 1, 2010. The Suffolk County police did not put a lot of effort into the case because she was a prostitute. What forced the search and kept it going was her Mother Mari Gilbert. She would not let it go; she constantly called them, she was in the newspaper and on TV, demanding they do something.

In December of 2010 that found a set of skeletal remains. Soon after, three more were found. Through DNA they were able to identify them, all were sex workers who disappeared between 2007 and 2010.

The documentary spends a lot of time interviewing family members and friends of some of the murder victims. Also, journalists, law enforcement officials, and people who knew Rex Heuermann, who had been arrested for the murders.

The Documentary is on Netflix and consists of 3 episodes, each about 50 minutes long. Rated TV-MA

Part one, deals with the discovery of the bodies of the four murdered women and the indications of a possible serial Killer. There was also the possibility of finding more victims.

Part two details the corruption in the Suffolk County Police Department that hindered the investigation and led to the arrest of high-ranking law enforcement officials.

Part three shows some amazing police work along with discoveries that broke the case wide open and led to the arrest of Rex Heuermann.

I’m not sure how this documentary could have been any better. There were so many close calls that could have changed the outcome for these women.

What really sticks out in this documentary is how different the entire situation would have been if the victims had been women of any other profession than sex-workers. When someone that is living that lifestyle goes missing very often there is no immediate urgency. By the time family members get someone to investigate, the crime is cold. These victims were loved by friends, parents, and in some cases, their own children. No one grows up dreaming of a sex-workers life, circumstances and yes, sometimes bad decisions put them there, but they deserve to live and received justice if they are murdered.

The other thing that really hits home is how one act of corruption can affect the lives of so many people, and in this case let a killer get away for so many years.

This is a great documentary that you will want to watch in one sitting.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Frosty Budweisers

Lamar Reviews - "A Working Man" (Airdate 4/4/2025)

The critic score on this movie is not high, but the audience score is. Is this Jason Statham’s greatest movie? No, it is not. Could the plot be better, less complicated, and all make perfect sense? Yes, it could. Are some of the characters played so far over the top that they are almost cartoonish? Aren’t they always? I think we established that this is a Jason Statham movie, so none of this should be a surprise. You can say this about every movie he’s ever done.

He has built a fantastic career by doing basically the same thing over and over.

His 31 films have made $8.2 Billion. And his net worth is well over $100 million.

If you are looking for him to change his brand you need to make yourself comfortable, you’re going to be waiting a while.

In his last movie, The Beekeeper, that made over $162 million, he played a man that had a history of being a badass, who has walked away from all that to seek a quiet life. A person who has been kind to him gets fleeced by phone scam people, and loses her life. He seeks revenge by killing people who use the phone to ruin elderly people’s lives. Who doesn’t love to see that?

In A Working Man, he’s Levon Cade, a former military badass who just wants to be a quiet construction foreman for a family-owned company. Are we seeing a pattern here?  The company is run by Joe Garcia, played by Michael Pena.  All is going well until Joe’s daughter Jenny, played by Arianna Rivas, is kidnapped by human traffickers, which I’m sure we can all agree that we hate, which are employed by a Russian mobster, which we hate even more. Levon has promised to have Jenny’s back and will not let her down.

The plot, which is too complicated, involves Levon being a widower with a daughter he is trying to get custody of from a bitter father-in-law. Add a blind gunnery Sargent played by David Harbour and you have more plot than you will ever keep straight.

The movie is just shy of 2 hours, Rated-R for strong violence, language and drug content.

I dare say that not one person walked into that theater expecting something they did not get. I went on a Sunday afternoon and it was crowded. I looked around the theater and saw every possible representation of age, race, and sex. I sat on a row of 2 grandmothers, late 60’s early 70’s that ate popcorn and watched Jason Statham brutality kill the bad guys, and giggle while he did it.

Whether he is killing giant sharks in The Meg and The Meg 2 or driving cars that fly upside down and keep going in the Fast & Furious, and Transporter movies, he has proved that nothing can stop or even slow down Jason Statham at the box office.

He’s got 4 more movies lined up including another Fast & Furious and Beekeeper 2. I already have my tickets.

My Score, as a critic: 3 Buds 

My Score, as an audience member: 5 Cold Buds

Lamar Reviews - "The Alto Knights" (Airdate 3/28/2025)

In this movie Robert De Niro plays the two main characters, mobsters Frank Costello and Vito Genovese. I know it was supposed to be magical, but to me it was tedious.

I don’t think having Robert De Niro playing both major parts was the way to go. Having one actor play two parts really doesn’t make any sense to me, unless they are evil twins or brothers or some other reason. These guys are not kin, and they are completely opposite in all ways. In this movie it seems more like a stunt to me.

Costello grew up with Genovese and they formed a crime business selling black market alcohol during prohibition. Genovese got it some trouble and went to Europe to hide out. It was supposed to be for a short time, but World War II broke out and Genovese was stuck overseas for a long time. By the time he finally got back Costello had built it into a huge business, so he doesn’t feel like he owes Genovese anything. To keep the peace, he gives him some territory.

That does not set well with Genovese who is hot tempered, paranoid and a really bad guy. Costello, make no mistake, is a gangster and a bad guy, but he is also a businessman and tries act like one.

De Niro shows absolutely no energy in either role. As Costello he seems to spend most of the time sitting in his chair smoking. Every once in a while, his wife, played by Debra Messing, comes in and asks if everything is ok, and Costello tells her everything is fine.

The title Alto Knights comes from a local club that really never figures into the story except when it shows the history of Costello and Genovese growing up.

The movie starts with Costello being shot and then we jump to flashbacks that confuse, more than they move the plot forward.

The movie rehashes a lot of the famous mob stories like the Mafia summit meeting in upstate New York that ended when local police became suspicious of all the fancy cars with out-of-state tags all in one place. Nothing new, it was like watching a slow documentary about something you already know all about.

The movie is 2 long hours, Rated-R for violence and language.

There is nothing here that we have not seen many times in many mob movies. And the one thing it lacks is the excitement and tension of a good mobster movie. There was some action but not as much as you would expect.

I did manage to stay awake, but just barely. This movie did not add anything to De Niro’s career or legacy.

For an actor to have accomplished all he has in the movie industry, this was definitely a step down.

My Score: 2 Buds

Novocain

Jack Quaid is turning out to be a really good actor who gets better as he goes the fifth Scream, The Boys on Prime, Companion earlier this year, a lot of voice work in animated features, and now this movie.

The title of the movie is Novocain, and if you’ve seen the trailer, you know this is action from start to finish.

The main character in the movie is Assistant Bank Manager Nathan Caine, played by Jack Quaid and he is as mild-mannered as any human can be. The main reason for this is he is afflicted with congenital analgesia, a very rare condition that does not allow him to feel pain or temperature. The movie makes it easy to understand by showing things he has to do to survive like being on a liquid diet because he can’t chew food because he might bite off his tongue, sorta like when you go to the dentist and bite your cheek or tongue by mistake. He also has to set the timer on his watch to remind him to pee or he will burst his bladder. Nathan has one friend, a fellow gamer Roscoe, played by Jacob Batalon, and he has never seen him in person. He has a serious crush on a co-worker named Sherry, played by Amber Midthunder, but he has no earthly idea of how to talk to her. When he finally works up the courage it is Sherry who makes it a successful date.

When something unexpected happens and puts Sherry in jeopardy, Nathan makes it his mission to save her. He is a very unlikely hero with zero fighting skills, but since he can’t feel any pain, he sure can take a lick and keep on going.

The movie is 1 hour 50 minutes Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout.

No action movie deals with physical punishment in a realistic way. Both heroes and villains get kicked in the face multiple times and keep getting back up. As unrealistic as the action scenes may be in this movie, at least his condition explains how he can reach into a deep frier and pull a gun out of it.

Jack Quaid’s winning smile and unassuming cheerfulness makes it very easy to believe in his quest to save the woman he loves and possibly have the life he’s always wanted.

And speaking of that woman, Amber Midthunder does a wonderful job making you understand why Nathan is so smitten by her.

This is another one of those movies that is not going to change your life, unless you are looking to get in a better mood. The plot is certainly not deep and complicated, but there are a few twists, turns, and surprises to keep you paying attention.

It is bloody, violent, at times cringy, funny all the way through, and at times, sweet. Did I mention bloody, it truly is bloody.

My Score:5 Buds

Lamar Reviews - Mickey 17 (Airdate 3/14/2025)

First week out Mickey 17 is number 1 at the box office. The critics love it, and so does the audience. For me, there are some things that are fantastic, and some things not so much.

The movie is based on a book Mickey 7 written by Edward Ashton, Director Bong Joon Ho. I’ll get to the 10 Mickey difference later.

Robert Pattinson plays Mickey 17 and because he made a horrible business decision with a partner that included borrowing from a loan shark that cuts up late payers with a chainsaw. He has the opportunity to flee the planet with a crazy politician that is putting a colony on a distant planet. The ship is full, and the only job left to leave the planet is Expendable, he does not read the job description and paperwork and takes it. The bad news is he’s literally expendable, meaning they can test diseases, poisons, suicide jobs, and many other things that will cause him to die. The good news is they have the technology, which has been banned on Earth, to clone him, over and over. He basically gets reprinted and comes out of a machine that looks like an MRI.

He is called Mickey 17 because he has died 16 times in the most interesting and weird ways, and this is the 17^th version of him. If you have seen the trailer, you know there is another Mickey. I won’t spoil for you how that comes to be. But it is a problem.

The movie is 2 hours 17 minutes, Rated-R for violent content, language throughout, sexual content and drug use.

The best thing in this movie is the acting of Robert Pattinson. I can’t say enough about what a great actor he has turned out to be. He killed it as Batman in 2022 and he’s doing Batman 2 in 2027. If you went as far to say he is number 1 Batman over Christian Bale, I would not fight you.

In this dual role of Mickey 17 and Mickey 18, he is a genius. Because of a glitch their personalities are completely different. Mickey 17 is a people-pleaser of the highest order, kind and caring. Mickey 18, not so much. He is selfish, opportunistic, and mostly an a-hole. The way he switches back and forth is amazing. Director Bong Joon-ho insisted on filming certain key scenes without Pattinson knowing which version of Mickey he was playing until a few moments before shooting. He did this because it would capture the confusion and existential dread of a clone struggling with his own identity. I love Pattinson as both characters, absolute great acting.

Mark Ruffalo was over the top, as the politician that is in charge of the mission. He is a religious zealot that craves power and adoration. He and his wife, played by Toni Collette, are so over the top it becomes buffoonish. The movie is at least 25 to 30 minutes too long, and it started to really drag. I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

6 of us went to see it, 3 loved it, 3 didn’t.

I give Robert Pattison’s performance 5 Buds

I give the movie itself 2 Buds maybe it’ just me.

Lamar Reviews - Last Breath (Airdate 3/7/2025)

I do think this is a movie that is best appreciated on the big screen of a theater. It will draw you in and put you on the edge of your seat, literally I spent the last half of the movie sitting on the edge, elbows on my knees, my chin resting in my hands. 

This is a totally true story, and the movie is directed by the same man that made an actual documentary about this story in 2019.

When Chris Lemons, one of the saturation divers, played by Finn Cole, is trying to calm his worried wife, he says “It’s just like being an astronaut in space,” she replies, “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Really it shouldn’t, because being in space is the only thing that possibly come close to being as dangerous as being over 300 feet underwater.

They are not called “saturation” divers because of being wet in the water, they are called that because the deeper you dive and the longer you stay underwater, the more nitrogen gets dissolved in your blood, so your blood is saturated.

These divers are in the North Sea where there is absolutely no light, and the normal temperature is 39 degrees, and the pressure is 10 times more than the surface.  Their job is to maintain and repair the pipeline. Their lives depend on the 300-foot umbilical hoses that provide heat, air, and communication. This is not a job for the faint of heart.

Woody Harrelson plays Duncan Allock, a former diving partner of Lemons, who recruited Chris for this job. This is Duncan’s last dive mission because the company is retiring him. Dave, played by Simu Liu, is a legendary diver who shows zero emotions, and focuses only on the job. His nickname is Spock.

When things go wrong during a huge storm, Lemons is tragically lost, with minimum oxygen, and left behind until they can get back to him.

The movie is a perfect 93 minutes, Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Woody Harrelson is perfect as the sarcastic, wisecracking, mentor who loves the guys he works with, and feels responsible for them.

When things go wrong, it is a race against time that the ship and its crew may or may not lose. The big question is, are we watching a rescue mission or a body recovery.

This is a really good movie, that at times is very uncomfortable to watch.

As I said earlier, this is a true story, not based on a true story. They spliced in actual footage from the real boat and real divers in the movie. After the movie, before the credits they have actual footage of all three of the real people in the movie.

I loved this movie.

My Score: 5 ice-cold Budweisers!

Lamar Reviews - American Murder: Gabby Petito (Airdate 2/28/2025)

No matter how much you know about Gabby Petito’s murder, no matter how many news stories you watched, and especially if you think you have no more interest in this story, you still need to watch this documentary on Netflix.

One of the things that makes this documentary so interesting, and so chilling, is all the video that Gabby shot. She was Vlogging their trip cross-country to post on You Tube. She made this trip with her boyfriend Brian, who will from this moment on be referred to as SPOS, which stands for Sorry Piece Of Crap. No, I did not get the spelling wrong.

All of the video gives you a sense of Gabby’s bubbly personality, love for life, and sadly how her love for SPOS blinded her from all the red flags of possible danger.

All of the interviews with family and friends show how SPOS was gradually separating her from everybody else in her life.

The camera footage of the police when they stop them on the side of the road because of a 911 call from someone that saw a man hitting a woman going down the road in a van. It is nerve-racking for us as the viewer with all the information about what is eventually going to happen, watching the decisions the police made. But we have to remember that the police have zero information and can only go by what they see and hear from both Gabby and SPOS. Given what they knew they did the best that they could.

The second most infuriating person in this documentary is SPOS’ Mother, who from this point on will be referred to as EBICUP. That stands for Evil Witch In Cover Up. Again, the spelling is correct. Because that is exactly what she was. Knowing exactly what happened and doing everything in her power to help SPOS get away with it. There were some red flags about her early on in Gabby and SPOS’ relationship. Why she and her husband are not in jail right now is a mystery for the ages. Sadly, I assume their only punishment will be the fact that if they had cooperated with authorities, their son would be jail, but still alive.

Yes, I realize that I have discussed a lot of what is on the documentary, but all of this went down in 2021 and if you are not already familiar with the details, your name is Jebediah and you were busy with a barn raising, or sittin’ on the porch eating shoofly pie and sippin’ on some meadow tea.

The documentary is 3 episodes total time a little over 2 hours, Rated TV MA for some language.

This is a tragic story that happens way too much, and the Petito family started a foundation that supports location missing persons and to provide assistance to victims of domestic violence. They hoped something good could come out of their tragedy.

My Score: 5 Ice Cold Budweisers