Movie: My Spy (2020) Caution: Spoiler Alert

 My Spy

Came out; 2020

Time; 1 hours 39 minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rated: PG-13 for action/violence and language

IMDB Rating; 6.3/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Dave Bautista as JJ

Chloe Coleman as Sophie

Parisa Fitz-Henley as Kate

Kristen Schaal as Bobbi

Ken Jeong as David Kim

Story Line.

A hardened CIA operative finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, having been sent undercover to survival her family.

Thoughts:

This is an amazon original movie from 2020, I came across it from an amazon commercial, I'd never heard of it before.

It's a little like The Pacifier but also hilarious!

I very much enjoy Dave Bautista's movies; he is a pretty good actor. His comedic timing is perfect.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

JJ is a former US Special Forces soldier newly hired as a CIA operative. However, JJ's lack of subtlety causes him to blow his first major mission: busting an illegal weapons-grade plutonium trade in Pripyat between the Russian mafia and Hassan, a Middle East terrorist. Despite this, his boss David Kim assigns him and tech operator Bobbi, who hero-worships JJ, to keep an eye on the in-law family of Victor Marquez, a French illegal arms dealer who has obtained construction plans for a miniaturized nuclear bomb which he intends to sell to Hassan. Victor lost these plans to his brother David, who hid them before he was murdered by Victor; Kim suspects that the plans may be in the possession of David's American wife Kate and their 9-year-old daughter Sophie, who moved from France back to Wicker Park, Chicago, after David's demise.

JJ and Bobbi move into the building where Kate and Sophie live and set up their surveillance. However, Sophie soon finds one of their hidden cameras, backtracks its signal and stumbles upon the operation post. Confronting JJ and Bobbi, she blackmails JJ into keeping her company while she tries to fit into an American kid's life and make some new friends at her school Oaktree Charter School. Despite JJ's social awkwardness, the two slowly begin to bond, and JJ also becomes acquainted with Kate and her neighbors Carlos and Todd. Sophie has JJ train her in the basics of the espionage trade and brings him and her mother closer together.

However, Kim eventually finds out about JJ's personal involvement with his targets and takes him and Bobbi off the mission. JJ reveals his assignment to Kate, who rejects him in disgust. At the same time, Victor discovers and counteracts the CIA's surveillance and coerces his lawyer Koll into revealing where David might have hidden the plans. After faking his own death, he travels to Chicago, confronts Kate, JJ, and Sophie and retrieves the plans. Carlos and Todd burst in and intervene, revealing themselves as independent arms dealers who are also after the plans. Bobbi's clumsy attempt to help results in Victor escaping with the plans and Sophie as his hostage.

JJ and Kate pursue Victor to an airfield in Naperville, where JJ grounds Victor's escape plane and starts a fistfight with him. In her attempt to escape, Sophie accidentally sets the plane in motion, leaving it hanging at the edge of a cliff on some wire fencing. Victor forces Sophie, who has hidden the real plans, to surrender them. Before he can shoot them, Kate clubs him onto the fence and JJ pushes the plane off the cliff, sending Victor to his death. After being reinstated by Kim for his success, JJ has himself permanently assigned to Chicago, where he moves in with Kate and Sophie.

Books: Crash & Burn (Lisa Gardner) Caution Spoiler Alert

Crash & Burn

Author; Lisa Gardner

See all books at www.lisagardner.com

Synopsis.

My name is Nicky Frank. Except, most likely, it isn’t.

Nicole Frank shouldn’t have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero.

I’m looking for a little girl. I have to save her. Except, most likely, she doesn’t exist.

Sheriff’s investigator Wyatt Foster is frustrated when even the search dogs can’t find any trace of the mysterious missing child. Until Nicky’s husband, Thomas, arrives with a host of shattering revelations: Nicole Frank suffers from a rare brain injury and the police shouldn’t trust anything she says.

My husband claims he’ll do anything to save me. Except, most likely, he can’t.

Who is Nicky Frank, and what happened the night her car sailed off the road? Was it a random accident or something more sinister given the woman’s lack of family and no close friends? The deeper Wyatt digs, the more concerned he becomes. Because it turns out, in the past few months, Nicky has suffered from more than one close accident. . . In fact, it would appear someone very much wants her dead.

This is my life. Except, most likely, it’s not. Now watch me crash and burn.

Thoughts.

This book is written amazingly! There were so many ups and downs, so many directions and yet at the end you almost think “What did I just read”!

I couldn't put this down; I was obsessed with finding out what the hell happened, and, in the end, it was not at all what I expected!

 

Book: Frankie Elkin Series (Lisa Gardner)

 

Before She Disappeared

*Frankie Elkin #1

Author; Lisa Gardner

See all books at www.lisagardner.com

Synopsis;

Recovering alcoholic Frankie Elkin spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own--and she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

Thoughts.

I didn't realize this was a series until I looked it up, I'm going to have to read the next two!

I couldn't put this book down, it was so good. Very detailed while going though the missing person case.

One Step Too Far

*Frankie Elkin #2

Author; Lisa Gardner

See all books at www.lisagardner.com

Synopsis;

Timothy O’Day knew the woods. Yet when he disappeared on the first night of a bachelor party camping trip with his best friends in the world, he didn’t leave a trace. What he did leave behind were two heartbroken parents, a crew of guilt-ridden groomsmen, and a pile of clues that don’t add up.

Frankie Elkin doesn’t know the woods, but she knows how to find people. So when she reads that Timothy’s father is organizing one last search, she heads to Wyoming. Despite the rescue team’s reluctance, she joins them. But as they hike into the mountains, it becomes clear that there’s something dangerous at work in the woods . . . or someone who is willing to do anything to stop them from going any farther.

Running out of time and up against the worst man and nature have to offer, Frankie and the search party will discover what evil awaits those who go one step too far . . .

Thoughts;

I couldn't put this down, I feel like I read it in 3 days! These books are so very well written.

I'm generally decent at figuring out the “who done it” but this writer is so good that she steers you in the wrong direction all while having the answer right in front of you!

Movie; They Cloned Tyrone (2023) Caution; Spoiler Alert

 They Cloned Tyrone

Came out; 2023

Time; 2 hours 2 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rated: R for pervasive language, violence, some sexual material and drug use

IMDB Rating; 6.7/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

John Boyega as Fontaine

Jamie Foxx as Slick Charles

Teyonah Parris as Yo-Yo

Kiefer Sutherland as Nixon

David Alan Grier as The Preacher

Story Line;

A pulpy, sci-fi mystery caper in which an unlikely trio investigates a series of eerie events, alerting them to a nefarious conspiracy lurking directly beneath their hood. Fontaine, a neighborhood drug dealer, is shot dead by rival Isaac and then is very shocked to wake up in his bed the next morning unharmed. He and Slick Charles and Yo-Yo begin looking into the incident, and their search eventually leads them to a vast underground complex where a government backed lab is performing experiments on the local Black population. Realizing that he is an artificial clone controlled by Nixon, Fontaine initially feels despair, but decides he needs to stand up to these White institutional overlords for the sake of his neighborhood.

Thoughts:

This movie looked funny in the preview. It wasn't as funny or as action packed as it seemed like it should be. The story line was definitely different and Jamie Foxx is great of course!

It's a little weird, a little goofy and a little gangster but it was fun

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Fontaine is a regular drug dealer in a retrofuturistic neighborhood called the Glen with odds against him and a schedule he seemingly keeps daily. His mother stays in her room all day and rarely speaks to Fontaine, and he still mourns the death of his younger brother. Fontaine goes to one of his customers, Slick Charles, a pimp who owes Fontaine money. Slick initiates a fight with Yo-Yo, one of his many sex workers, who also encounters Fontaine when he arrives. Fontaine is able to get some of the money from Slick but is then fatally shot by an opposing drug dealer named Isaac.

The next morning, Slick is shocked when Fontaine shows up for more money, alive and without any recollections of the previous night's events. Yo-Yo arrives to confirm Slick's claims of his death, which confuses Fontaine. He suddenly remembers when a man, bleeding from a gunshot, was kidnapped by a mysterious van, which is now parked outside of a house. Fontaine goes inside the house to investigate, while Slick and Yo-Yo voice their concerns. Their concerns are proven right, however, when they discover an elevator leading to a hidden underground lab. Inside, a white scientist with an afro tells them that the operation has gone widespread. Slick and Yo-Yo snort a mysterious white substance they think is cocaine, but end up laughing forcefully and accidentally killing the scientist. Before they leave, the trio discovers a corpse lying on a table, identical to Fontaine.

At a chicken restaurant, every person in the building begins laughing at the same time, which makes Slick realize that the fried chicken, which has been said to have a new secret ingredient, contains the same white substance that he and Yo-Yo consumed previously. Investigating further, Yo-Yo initiates foreplay with the restaurant manager, who coincidentally looks very similar to the scientist Slick killed. While pleasuring him, she discovers that the entirety of the Glen is being surveilled and recorded. Through some hidden messages from a drunk that Fontaine encounters daily, they discover a local black church where the group becomes deeply unsettled by a disturbing set of lyrics that the churchgoers collectively sing. After the service finishes, the group discovers an elevator on the altar. In this lab, however, Fontaine and Slick find clones of themselves. They also find evidence that the scientists behind the operation can control the clones through certain trigger words and items like the chicken.

They find an exit to the facility, which is connected to a local strip club. The DJ, secretly part of the operation, brainwashes the clubgoers with music, forcing them to chase the trio down until a mysterious white man named Nixon shows up and incapacitates all of them. Nixon reveals that scientists like him conduct experiments on impoverished, predominantly Black populations, including the Glen, to allow the operation to go unnoticed and supposedly achieve peace in America. It's also revealed that Fontaine and Slick are clones, themselves, as Nixon uses a deadly trigger word on them that he threatens to use on them again if they don't stop their investigation.

The next morning, Fontaine falls deeper into a state of despair after discovering that his mother, whom he had never actually seen, was just a voice on a tape recorder. Yo-Yo decides to take matters into her own hands, but has her identity accidentally exposed and is subsequently kidnapped by Nixon. Fontaine comes up with a plan with Slick and Isaac to rescue Yo-Yo, faking his death to sneak into the lab undetected. Fontaine successfully sneaks in and lets Slick and Isaac storm the lab with numerous residents of the Glen. Yo-Yo frees herself and finds Slick, while Fontaine is overpowered by his clone and is taken to an older version of himself, revealed to be the real Fontaine. He explains that he is helping scientists to create peace by literally whitewashing Black people into white people because of the racially-motivated murder of Fontaine's little brother, which prompted him to start making the clones. After explaining that the country would be better with assimilation than annihilation, the real Fontaine is killed when Fontaine uses Nixon's trigger word on another clone, shooting him. Meanwhile, Yo-Yo stalls Nixon from killing her before Slick shoots him in the head.

The facility entrance to the church opens up, spilling naked clones out to the public and exposing the country's secret operation. The trio decides to head to Memphis after Yo-Yo announces her retirement from her job. In LA, a man named Tyrone lives the exact same lifestyle as Fontaine. With his friends, he watches as one of Fontaine's clones appears on TV, realizing that he himself is a clone of Fontaine.

Movie; Barbie (2023) Caution: Spoiler Alert

 Barbie

Came out; 2023

Time; 1 hours 54 minutes

Watched: Theatre

Rating; PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language

IMDB Rating; 7.6/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring.

Margot Robbie as Barbie

Ryan Gosling as Ken

Issa Rae as Barbie

Kater McKinnon as Barbie

Alexandra Shipp as Barbie

Emma Mackey as Barbie

Hari Nef as Barbie

Sharon Rooney as Barbie

Ana Cruz Kayne as Barbie

Ritu Arya as Barbie

Dua Lipa as Barbie

Nicola Coughlan as Barbie

Emerald Fennell as Midge

Simu Liu as Ken

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Ken

Ncuti Gatwa as Ken

Scott Evans as Ken

John Cena as Ken

Michael Cera as Allan

America Ferrera as Gloria

Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha

Rhea Perlman as Ruth

Helen Mirren as Narrator

Will Ferrell as Mattel CEO

Story Line;

Barbie suffers a crisis that leads her to question her world and existence.

Thoughts:

This movie was way better than I thought it would! I see so many people say this isn't for kids, but it's for everyone!

So many nostalgia moments in this movie, the history of barbie and the story was super cute!

The movie was the perfect length, Margot Robbie is cute and even Will Ferrell as the CEO is great!

I will forever quote “Hi I'm weird Barbie, I'm in the splits and I smell like basement”

I wish the listing would say who played what Barbie, as they all had their “jobs” and Ken of course is just beach so that one makes sense!

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Stereotypical Barbie ("Barbie") and a wide range of fellow Barbies all reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal society where all women are self-confident, self-sufficient, and successful. While their Ken counterparts spend their days engaging in recreational activities at the beach, the Barbies hold all important job positions such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Beach Ken ("Ken") is only happy when he is with Barbie and seeks a closer relationship, but Barbie rebuffs him in favor of independence and female friendships.

During a dance party, Barbie is suddenly stricken with worries about mortality. The next day, she finds she can no longer complete her usual routine and discovers her feet have gone flat and she has cellulite. Weird Barbie, a wise but disfigured outcast, tells her that to cure her affliction, she must travel into the real world and find the child playing with her. On her way to the real world, Barbie finds Ken stowed away in her convertible, and reluctantly allows him to join her.

Arriving at Venice Beach, the pair cause multiple antics and are arrested, alarming the Mattel CEO, who orders their capture. Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween girl named Sasha, who criticizes her for encouraging unrealistic beauty standards. Distraught, Barbie discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee and Sasha's mother, is the catalyst of her existential crisis. Gloria began playing with Sasha's Barbie toys while experiencing her own identity crisis, inadvertently transferring her concerns to Barbie. Gloria and Sasha rescue Barbie from Mattel's CEO and his subordinates, and the three travel together to Barbieland.

Meanwhile, Ken learns about the patriarchal system, and feels important and accepted for the first time. Returning to Barbieland, he persuades the other Kens into taking over, and the Barbies are subjugated into submissive roles, such as maids, housewives and agreeable girlfriends. Barbie arrives and tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were, only to be rebuffed. She becomes depressed, but Gloria gives her an inspirational speech about what it means to be a woman.

With the encouragement of Sasha, Gloria, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other discontinued dolls, the Barbies free themselves from the Kens and manipulate them to fight amongst themselves, allowing the Barbies to regain their positions of power and prevent the Kens from altering the constitution to enshrine male superiority. The Barbies also realize the error of their previous societal system, and decide to make some changes in Barbieland, including equalized treatment for the Kens and all outcasted dolls.

Barbie and Ken apologize to each other and acknowledge their failings. Ken bemoans that he has no identity or purpose without Barbie, to which Barbie encourages him to find an autonomous identity. Barbie, who remains unsure of her own purpose and identity, meets with the spirit of Mattel co-founder Ruth Handler, who explains that Barbie's story has no set ending and her ever-evolving history surpasses that of her roots.

Barbie decides to become human and return to the real world. Sometime later, Gloria, her husband, and Sasha take Barbie, now going by the name "Barbara Handler", to her first gynecologist appointment.

Movie: A Man Called Otto (2022) Caution Spoiler Alert

 A Man Called Otto

Came out; 2022

Time; 2 hours 6 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rating; R for strong/bloody violence throughout and language

IMDB Rating; 7.5/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Tom Hanks as Otto

Mariana Trevino as Marisol

Rachel Keller as Sonya

Mack Bayda as Malcom

Cameron Britton as Jimmy

Story Line;

Otto Anderson is a grump who no longer sees purpose in his life following the loss of his wife. Otto is ready to end it all, but his plans are interrupted when a lively young family moves in next door, and he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol. She challenges him to see life differently, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world around. A heartwarming and funny story about love, loss, and life, A Man Called Otto shows that family can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places.

Thoughts:

This movie was sad, but not in the sad type of way. This movie was actually really really good and very well written.

It's a very heartwarming story that hits you deep

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Otto Anderson, a 63-year-old widower, lives in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After retiring from a steel company, he plans suicide, having lost his wife Sonya, a schoolteacher, six months previously. During a suicide attempt by hanging, he is interrupted by his new neighbors: Marisol, Tommy, and their two daughters, Abby and Luna. Otto has flashbacks to his past; years previously he tried to enlist in the army but was rejected due to his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He meets Sonya on a train after returning a book she dropped. Otto attempts suicide again, this time via carbon monoxide poisoning. He experiences a flashback to a dinner with Sonya, confessing to her that he is not enlisted in the army due to his heart condition and does not have a job, prompting Sonya to kiss him. Marisol disrupts Otto's suicide attempt, asking him to take her and her kids to the hospital after Tommy fell and broke his leg using a ladder Otto had lent to him. Otto reluctantly agrees. Otto has a flashback to his graduation when he asked Sonya to marry him. During a suicide attempt by train, an old man faints and falls on the railroad tracks. Otto saves the man and the incident goes viral. Otto takes Marisol for a driving lesson and they visit Sonya's favorite bakery, which the couple formerly frequented every weekend. There, he tells her about his friendship with a man named Reuben, the two having worked together to establish rules and order, with Otto as chairman of the neighborhood association board. The two grew apart after Reuben's preference for Fords and Toyotas over Otto's Chevrolets and the "coup" of replacing Otto as chairman. Reuben, who had a stroke, now uses a wheelchair and is cared for by his wife Anita and neighbor Jimmy.A local transgender teen, Malcolm, recognizes Otto as Sonya's husband while delivering newspapers and circulars in the neighborhood. Malcolm cuts through Otto's disgruntlement at receipt of the newspapers and recounts that Sonya was his teacher, and one of the few people who accepted him as he was. A friendship forms between the pair and Otto fixes Malcolm's bicycle. After dodging a social media journalist named Shari Kenzie who is attempting to interview him in relation to the earlier viral video, Otto gets angry at both Marisol and a Dye & Merika real estate agent, not wanting to come to terms with Sonya's death. He attempts to commit suicide by shotgun, but is interrupted by Malcolm, who asks to spend the night after his father kicked him out.Otto learns that Dye & Merika is planning to force Reuben into a nursing home and take their house, after illegally finding out that Anita was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Otto agrees to help Anita and Reuben. Marisol refuses to assist Otto until he tells her that he and Sonya went to Niagara Falls to celebrate Sonya's pregnancy. On the bus back home, they were involved in a crash, and Sonya became paralyzed and had a miscarriage. The neighborhood was not accessible to Sonya and Otto was voted out of the chairmanship after a heated confrontation with a Dye & Merika representative. Otto wanted to put all of the real estate companies out of business but decided against it to care for Sonya. With the help of the neighborhood and Shari Kenzie, Reuben and Anita are able to keep their home.Otto collapses and is taken to the hospital, where he lists Marisol as his next of kin. After being told by a cardiologist that Otto's heart is too big, she laughs, before going into labor and gives birth to a son.One day, Tommy notices that Otto did not shovel the snow on his walkway. Marisol and Tommy enter Otto's house to find him dead, having succumbed to his enlarged heart. A funeral is held, attended by his neighbors. In a letter to Marisol, Otto says that his lawyer will give her his bank accounts, providing them with enough money to take care of her family, along with his new car and house.

Chronic Pain Thoughts: Volume 10

 Dear Reader,

I started this page to be able to reflect my feelings into words regarding my chronic pain. I wanted to share everything I've been through and share my frustrations. For the past few months, I've been just too sick, barley making it through my day and trying to figure out what is going on with my body.

On June 25 I woke up with the worst right-side pain I've ever felt. I was in the emergency room by 9 am and in surgery for gallbladder removal by 12noon. It was 95% blocked and my bile duct was 100% blocked. I had 2 procedures in 2 days. I quickly developed pancreatitis and it was severe.

My care team was amazing, and I truly had no idea what was going on, I was in pain and what felt like hours to me was in reality only 1, before I knew it there was an NG tube from my nose to stomach and my entire system had shut down. I was in the ICU for 5 days. It was the single most terrifying thing in my life and extremely painful.

I am thankfully on the mend now and am trying to recover. I am traumatized, bruised and a bit broken. I'm still in pain and am trying to get moving every day to heal. Recovery from anything is hard and adding chronic pain to that is even harder.

To all of you who fight through it every day, keep it up. Please always feel free to share stories or ask for advice.

Movie: Extraction II (2023) Caution Spoiler Alert

 Extraction II

Came out; 2023

Time; 2 hours 2 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rating; R for strong/bloody violence throughout and language

IMDB Rating; 7.1/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Chris Hemsworth as Tyler Rake

Colshifteh Farahani as Nik Khan

Adam Bessa Yaz Khan

Tornike Gogrichiani as Zurab Radiani

Tornike Bziava as Davit Radiani

Story Line;

After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission

Thoughts:

There was no dialog in this movie what-so-ever. The entire movie was just action and nothing else.

This starts off at the same place the first one ended, but that's about all there is for it being a sequel. Not much is explained and there isn't much to listen to except for violence and fight scenes.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Nine months after barely surviving a previous mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake retires from mercenary work to a cabin in Austria to recuperate. There, he is approached by a stranger and asked to rescue Ketevan, the sister of his ex-wife Mia, and her two children Sandro and Nina from Georgia. Ketevan married Davit Radiani, one of the co-founders of the Nagazi, the largest crime syndicate in Georgia. After Davit threw a DEA agent off a bridge, he was imprisoned and unable to bribe his way out due to the pressure from the Americans. Davit forces Ketevan and her children to move into the prison, wishing to be near his family, but the bad living conditions and Davit's abuse cause Ketevan to call Mia for help. Meanwhile, a governor on his payroll informs Davit's brother Zurab that Davit's sentence is extended by ten years. Zurab asks the governor to release his brother, but the governor refuses since he does not want the Americans to go after him. Enraged, Zurab kills the governor and his bodyguards. Tyler recruits Nik and her brother Yaz to join him, and they infiltrate the prison with help from a bribed guard. Davit alerts the prisoners, who start a riot. During the extraction, Davit attacks Tyler and Ketevan, resulting in Tyler killing him.

Tyler and Ketevan fight their way through the riot but manage to board an armored train and, after fighting off Nagazi forces and corrupt soldiers, get to a plane and escape to Vienna. However, young Sandro, who idolizes his father, secretly contacts his uncle and reveals their location. Zurab and his men find and attack Tyler and his team in their DC Towers in Vienna. Ketevan scolds her son for endangering his own family and naivete. In the chaos, Sandro abandons his mother and joins Zurab. The team flees in one of Zurab's helicopters, but Zurab mortally wounds Yaz. The team retreat to Tyler's cabin, where he and Ketevan are reunited with Mia.

Tyler apologizes to Mia for leaving on a mission before their son died from cancer, regretful that the last memory he had was Tyler leaving him. Meanwhile, Avtandil, Zurab's right-hand man and uncle, discourages Zurab from seeking revenge to prevent more losses and to set a better example for his nephew. Refusing, Zurab kills Avtandil and contacts Tyler, telling him to meet at a nearby airfield next to a church. Tyler heads to the airfield but, unwilling to risk losing her, leaves Nik behind. Tyler kills the remaining Nagazi and finds Zurab and Sandro in the church, with Sandro wearing an explosive vest. Zurab forces Sandro to take Tyler's pistol, but Sandro, having realized his mistake and what kind of people his father and uncle really are, refuses to shoot Tyler. Nik arrives and disarms the vest, while Tyler fights and kills Zurab. Tyler and Nik are left wounded as police storm the church.

In the aftermath, Nik and Tyler are imprisoned and Mia informs Tyler that Ketevan and her children have been moved to protective custody, but their assets have been frozen. Tyler tells her to give them $1 million cash, which he had hidden under the floorboards in his cabin. She assures Tyler that their son died believing his father was a hero. Tyler is transported out of prison to meet with the stranger from the beginning, who came with another job. Tyler will not accept without Nik, only to find that the stranger has brought Nik, knowing Tyler would not go without her.

Movie: The Out-Laws (2023) Caution Spoiler Alert

 The Out-Laws

Came out; 2023

Time; 1 hours 35 minutes

Watched: Netflix

Rating; R for language throughout, violence, sexual material and brief drug use

IMDB Rating; 5.4/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Adam Devine as Owen Browning

Pierce Brosnan as Billy McDermott

Ellen Barkin as Lilly McDermott

Nina Dobrev as Parker McDermott

Michael Rooker as Agent Oldham

Poorna Jagannathan as Rehan Zakaryan

Richard Kind as Neil Browning

Julie Hagerty as Margie Browning

Blake Anderson as Cousin RJ

Lauren Lapkus as Phoebe King

Story Line;

A straight-laced bank manager about to marry the love of his life. When his bank is held up by infamous Ghost Bandits during his wedding week, he believes his future in-laws who just arrived in town, are the infamous Out-Laws.

Thoughts:

I like Adam Devine, I truly wasn't aware of him until Pitch Perfect but his comedy timing is good and I find him to be a great actor. This movie was decent and had a great story line but feel like it was lacking a little bit.

I don't know what could have made it better but it was a fun watch! It's also very nice to see Pierce Brosnan showing off some comedy!

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

Owen Browning is a young bank manager who's about to be married to Parker McDermott, whose estranged parents contact her to come to the wedding. He's excited he's finally going to meet them, as she's concerned they can be a bit much.

We soon see Owen's parents Neil and Margie, who themselves are difficult. Owen calls to tell them the good news about Parker's parents coming to the wedding. He first has to hear about an odd allergy of a guest, then they show their ignorance of her profession as a yoga instructor, believing it involves a stripper pole. Rather than being happy about the news that the other in-laws are coming, they criticize them for having been absent in Parker's life.

At the bank, Owen has to free an employee who's been pranked by being locked in the vault. So, he shows and talks about how state-of-the-art their bank's security system is, they point out their rival bank's vault security is considered to be the best in the state. Owen also points out all vaults have an emergency escape latch.

Out at dinner with his parents, they talk about the soon appearance of Parker's parents. Meanwhile, Owen talks with the storage space facility where they rent as he's hoping to access photos of Parker for a wedding photo montage. His call inadvertently alerts Eastern European mobster Rehan to their return.

The following night, the McDermotts let themselves in to their home while Parker is still out leading a yoga class, and scare Owen. They insist he call them Billy and Lilly. The next day, Owen takes off work to spend the day with the in-laws. They pick the agenda, so they go skydiving, get tattoos and go drinking.

The next day, the bank is held up by an infamous pair of criminals known as the "Ghost Bandits". As the robbery occurs during his wedding week, certain indicators such as the cologne the man wears and flashbacks to the bar and what he told Lilly the previous day, lead Owen to believe that the robbers might in fact be his future in-laws.

FBI special agent Roger Oldham questions Owen as the bank manager with his in-laws directly behind him. Not able to say anything, Parker insists they leave once he breaks out in tears. Oldham has dedicated most of his career chasing the Ghost Bandits and he's convinced they are behind the robbery.

Trying to enlist his parents' help in outing the McDermotts, Owen tells them his suspicions. They do ask the direct inappropriate questions at dinner, but Billy and Lilly expertly redirect the conversation. Parker later asks Owen, but she thinks his theory is crazy.

Owen follows his in-laws to Rehan's and hears her threaten to kill Parker if they don't get her $5,000,000 more before the wedding. Oldham stops Owen on the highway, finds planted evidence in the trunk, so he spills on his in-laws. Oldham puts a wire on him, hoping he can get the McDermotts to confess. Instead, Rehan takes Parker hostage as insurance. Disgusted, Owen joins forces with his in-laws.

They first choose Victory Union Bank to rob. However through a comedy of errors, they lose most of the cash. So then they focus on Atlas Reserve, managed by Phoebe King. Owen goes in, asking her how he can better equip his bank. Phoebe's arrogance kicks in, so she shows him all of the safeguards with him. Just as the safe opens, the McDermotts create a diversion out front while Owen locks himself in then uses the emergency escape latch to escape with the money.

At the ransom drop, Rehan is pleasantly surprised that Owen brought the money, but is going to kill them anyway. He miraculously guns them down, then the McDermotts distract the cops so Owen can sneak back into the vault with the money.

As the McDermotts turn themselves in and help Oldham with his ex, he lets them go briefly to Owen and Parker's wedding reception.

In the credits, Owen slips a paperclip in a piece of cake for his new in-laws to use to get free of the handcuffs.

Movie: John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Caution Spoiler Alert

 John Wick: Chapter 4

Came out; 2023

Time; 2 hours 49 minutes

Watched: Amazon

Rating; R for pervasive strong violence and some language

IMDB Rating; 7.9/10

Caution; Spoiler Alert

Staring;

Keanu Reeves as John Wick

Laurence Fishburne as Bowery King

George Georgiou as The Elder

Lance Reddick as Charon

Clancy Brown as Harbinger

Ian McShane as Winston

Marko Zaror as Chidi

Bill Skarsgard as Marquis

Story Line;

Condemned by the tyrannical High Table to be on the run for the rest of his life, deadly assassin maestro John Wick (2014) embarks on a Sisyphean mission of suicidal fury to decide his fate after the merciless carnage in John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019). At last, John's violent journey, fuelled by vengeance and grief, ultimately leads him to a fateful confrontation with his former employers, the crime masters that forced him into exile. And as the blood-stained vendetta to destroy those who pull the strings continues, old companions face the brutal consequences of friendship, and all-powerful, well-connected adversaries emerge to bring Wick's head on a platter. But talk is cheap--now guns have the final say. Can Baba Yaga, the grim messiah of death, make every bullet count in this bloody, once-and-for-all struggle for freedom?

Thoughts:

I expected more from this movie. I know that with more movies comes less story line but for this franchise I just expected more.

The first movie was amazing

The second movie had plot holes galore

The third movie was ok

The forth was just unbelievable

I liked the “hit man who can't be killed” story line however this movie put John Wick in some unbelievable situations. Falling down all those stairs and not being injured? Come on, it was better when they just couldn't find him or he won in a fight.

CAUTION; Major Spoiler Alert

In New York City, John Wick prepares to exact vengeance against the High Table while hiding underground with the Bowery King. He travels to Morocco and kills the Elder, the "one who sits above the Table". In response, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont, a High Table member, summons New York Continental hotel manager Winston and his concierge, Charon.

The Marquis explains that the High Table has given him unlimited resources to kill John Wick. He chastises Winston for failing to assassinate John.[a] As punishment, the Marquis strips Winston of his managerial duties, declares him "excommunicado", destroys the Continental, and executes Charon. The Marquis then enlists Caine - a blind, retired High Table assassin - to kill his old friend, John, threatening to murder Caine's daughter otherwise.

John takes refuge at the Osaka Continental, run by his friend Shimazu Koji. The Marquis' second-in-command Chidi, backed by High Table assassins and Caine, arrives to investigate the hotel. Koji's daughter Akira, the hotel's concierge, evacuates the hotel just before the High Table "deconsecrates" it, igniting a melee when Koji and his men come to John's defense. John fights through waves of armored assassins, leading to a showdown against Caine. "Mr. Nobody", a bounty hunter, interrupts their fight and facilitates John's escape after determining the bounty for killing John to be insufficient. A wounded Koji repeatedly attacks Caine on John's behalf; Caine reluctantly kills Koji and spares Akira.

John returns to New York and meets with a vengeful Winston at Charon's gravesite. Winston advises John to invoke an old High Table tradition to challenge the Marquis to a duel. Winning would free John of all obligations to the High Table, but he can only request a duel on behalf of a crime family. He travels to the Berlin headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, with whom he had severed ties,[a] to request readmission. His adoptive sister Katia stipulates that for readmission, John must kill Killa Harkan, a High Table member who murdered her father. John confronts Killa at his nightclub. Caine and Mr. Nobody assist John against Killa's henchmen when a fight breaks out; John ultimately kills Killa and regains his status.

Winston relays John's formal challenge to the Marquis. Acting as John's 'second', Winston requests that the New York Continental be rebuilt, with him reinstated as manager, should John win. In Paris, John and the Marquis decide on the duel's parameters - dueling pistols on the following sunrise at Sacré-Caeur - in a meeting moderated by the Harbinger, the Table's emissary. The Marquis nominates a reluctant Caine to take his place; John and Winston will be executed should either fail to appear on time. The Bowery King arrives in Paris to give John a pistol and a new ballistic suit.

The Marquis intends to prevent John from arriving at the duel in time by placing a $26 million bounty on him. John fights off hordes of assassins on his way to Sacré-Caeur, including Mr. Nobody, who negotiates a bounty increase to $40 million. During their confrontation, John prevents Chidi from killing Mr. Nobody's dog, causing a stunned Mr. Nobody to abandon his pursuit of John. After Caine and Mr. Nobody assist John in fighting off several assassins-including Chidi, whom Mr. Nobody kills-on the Rue Foyatier, they reach the summit just in time for the duel. John and Caine wound each other through two rounds of dueling. The third round comes to a halt when Caine severely wounds John. Demanding the right to administer the coup de grâce, the Marquis eagerly swaps places with Caine. Winston chides the Marquis for his arrogance, revealing that John has not yet fired his third bullet; John shoots and kills the Marquis.

The Harbinger grants Caine and John their freedom from the High Table, and Winston is reinstated. After collapsing on the staircase, John reflects upon his life and marriage before succumbing to his injuries. Sometime later, back in New York, Winston and the Bowery King bid farewell to John at his grave, located next to that of his late wife Helen.

In a post-credits scene, Caine returns to Paris to reunite with his daughter but is approached by the vengeful Akira, who brandishes a knife.