Movie Review: American Made (2017)

Those who frequent this blog may remember that I wrote a piece a few months back titled "10 Tom Cruise Movies Everyone Should See" (you can check that out by clicking here). Obviously 'American Made' wasn't out at the time I wrote that but if I ever decided to update or redo that list of films, this one would be hard to leave off.

Without giving too much away here's a sort overview:

Tom Cruise plays Barry Seal, an airline pilot, who is recruited by the CIA to gather reconnaissance information regarding a communist threat in Central America. It isn't long before Barry finds himself not only in charge of a massive covert CIA operation, but also flying drugs into the U.S. from a South American cartel. Tensions ramp up with Barry caught between the CIA, the DEA, and the cartel. It's a wild ride.

 The film is well directed and Cruise turns in a really solid performance. The movie is fun, exciting and even the little moments of comedy sprinkled throughout all hit the mark. It was definitely nice to go to the theater and watch a film that felt like something fresh among the vast landscape of prequels, sequels, reboots, and re-imaginings.

Overall, this is one I definitely recommend seeing.

 I give it a 4.5 out of 5


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Movie Review: Dead Awake

Well, I haven't reviewed a horror movie in a while...

While scrolling through Netflix suggestions at 1am, in the mood for a so-bad-it's-good horror flick, I came across this I came across this 2016 psychological horror movie. 

The film is about a woman named Kate who decides to investigate her twin sister's mysterious death and the sleep paralysis that her sister suffered from. Well, while connecting the dots between people who die in their sleep and the sleep paralysis condition, Kate ends up stuck with an entity that takes the form of an old creepy hag and kills people in their sleep.  But here's the kicker: the 'hag' only targets those that believe in it, and a person can rid themselves of the entity by getting a adrenaline shot while they're experiencing sleep paralysis.

It sounds dumb, but the movie almost works. The concept is interesting, the plot moves along at a decent pace and, even though some of the characters are blandly written, the acting isn't terrible.

 The real problem is a failed execution ideas: It deals with something attacking while your helplessly asleep but it doesn't really delve into what that can really do to you psychologically other than a throw away line or two and one brief scene with a guy who found a way to never sleep. Also, it fails to deliver any memorable scares. There are no over-the-top deaths, or gore, or even variety. The hag is a pretty basic design and all she does is choke people while they sleep.

 

It's not a terrible movie, but it's one you can skip.

I give it a 1.5 out of 5