Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West   Overlord Directed by Julius Avery Written by Billy Ray and Mark L Smith   Two talented writers, an up and coming director, and produced by J.J. Abrams?  You would think this would be a Grand Slam of an action horror film set during World War II.  Instead this is a one watch solid effort with really nothing to improve upon the simple straightforward war horror story.  I was pleasantly surprised there were minimal clichés and tropes of the horror genre.  It is an okay film whose plot is stronger than the end result… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Mandy Directed by Panos Cosmatos Written by Panos Cosmatos and Aaron Stewart-Ahn With all of the rave reviews out there I wonder did they see the same film I did.  Sure Nic Cage is your typical Nic Cage, but nothing on display here would be anything I would rave about.  The director also created the story, and this story is not at all unique in the slightest.  In fact it borrow so heavily from other cult classics that it is much like a Frankenstein of parts of better films with better stories to tell.… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Bad Times at the El Royale Directed by Drew Goddard Written by Drew Goddard Films told from various perspective and even edited to put things out of sequence can be very neat and raise suspense at times.  Take the 90’s classic Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino or the modern classic film Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan.  These films use this to their advantages.  This film however makes perhaps its biggest mistake by not taking notes from these mentioned films. Here comes the spoilers. The film opens with a odd mix of people arriving to the… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West VENOM Directed by Rubin Fleischer Written by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel Venom has long been a fan favorite anti-hero in the Marvel Universe.  Fans were very disappointed at the rushed treatment given to the character in the largely panned Spiderman 3 film starring Topher Grace in the role of Eddie Brock.  With three writers on this film, one would hold hope that they could pull off a gritty and dark film for fans who have patiently waited for Venom to truly hit the big screen.  Sadly I must report those fans… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Peppermint Directed by Pierre Morel Written by Chad St John This idea of a female out for revenge is not a new one.  It was done before by Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill films, and many other films explore this concept as well.  Now given the idea of a woman losing her family to a drug cartel drive by is a decent idea to setup a revenge film.   The director previously did Taken which reignited Liam Neeson’s career into action films, and he also directed the wonderfully fantastic film From Paris With Love. … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Mile 22 Directed by Peter Berg Written by Lea Carpenter and Graham Roland The influence of Asian Cinema in Hollywood films is a welcome change of pace to see shake up what has lately become boring rinse and repeat action scenes we have come to expect from Hollywood.  In an Asian action film, the hero can die.  In fact having a glorious death is a trademark.  Yet this film falls flat in some poor choices made in the story which could have elevated this film to an epic status.  Now there are things to… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Skyscraper Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber Written by Rawson Marshall Thurber Many people will call this film a Die Hard wanna be.  In actuality the comparisons are few, but the film suffers from many storyline issues and relies so heavily on Dwayne Johnson’s charisma and screen presence to carry this film.  In their attempt to give Dwayne’s portrayal of Will Sawyer with some questions to his abilities to carry action with his amputated leg from an operation that went bad, just falls flat literally and figuratively. Here comes the spoilers. In Hong Kong, a… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West The Equalizer 2 Directed by Antoine Fuqua Written by Richard Wenk Denzel and Fuqua have made some great films together.  Training Day won Denzel his Oscar.  In 2014, they gave us the first Equalizer film and it was a surprise hit to see a former agent with a penchant for timing his fights and pre-calculating every move like a chess player.  This was unique because the character Denzel plays, Robert McCall, uses everything in his surroundings as weapons.  It can be a teapot, a chair, or even bags of flour.  With a solid first… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Mission Impossible:  Fallout Directed by Christopher McQuarrie Written by Christopher McQuarrie At 56 years old, age is showing across Tom Cruise’s face.  Yet he still manages to convince us he is still capable of doing all of his own stunts on screen.  Mission Impossible films have always raised the bar on the daring stunts Cruise does as Ethan Hunt.  It is largely what propels the set pieces and action, leaving little room for any hugely intriguing storyline.  Yet this film is written and directed by the same guy who delivered the previous Mission Impossible… Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Ant-Man and the Wasp Directed by Peyton Reed Written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari The first Ant-man film introduced us to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd).  In that film Scott robbed the antman suit from Hank Pym and we discovered along with Scott the Quantum Realm which is when you go sub-atomic in size.  This plays huge in this film’s plot.  The writers on this film made sure to make light fun of the pseudo-science talk… Continue reading