Category Archives: Fist Fight

2020, Abduction, Acceptable Trash, Action Film, Action Hero, B-movie, Bloody scenes, Car Chase, Fist Fight, Flashbacks, Invincible Hero, Mayhem, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Pakistan, Sociopath, Surprise Ending, Thriller, Violent

Extraction (2020)

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From IMDB:

Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary, embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he’s enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 57 minute killing festival.

As one critic noted: “I hope the actors were paid by the bullet.”  Indeed what you see is what you get and probably expected. Still, from time to time who doesn’t enjoy some gratuitous violence.

Of course, our hero Tyler Rake (played by Chris Hemsworth ) never misses a shot even when wounded so gravely that he can barely lift his assault weapon.  Similarly he never loses a martial arts bare hands fight.  However, I suspect the ending might surprise you.

Just insert your earplugs and let the adrenalin flow.

2018, Abduction, Basically Sad, Bullying, Father-son relations, Fist Fight, French, French Culture, Friendship, Gay theme, High school students, Homophobia, Mother-son relations, Netflix Streaming, Promiscuity, Unusual ending, Violent, Young Adult

I Am Jonas (2018)

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From IMDB:

Two moments of Jonas’s life intertwine, each reflecting the other: in 1995, when he was a secretive teenager, and 18 years later, as an attractive and impulsive thirty-something looking for balance in his life.

From Netflix you can stream this 1 hour 22 minute French film with English subtitles.

Also from IMDB:

Boys (Jonas) is a mystery told in two separate timelines. In the first, it’s 1997 and Jonas is entering 9th grade. A new boy in school immediately catches his eye. Perhaps it’s the bad-boy scar on his cheek or his devil-may-care attitude, but Jonas is smitten. The two boys quickly become friends and before long are skipping class to kiss in an empty gymnasium. In the film’s other timeline, it’s 2015 and the excitement of a teenager in love has been replaced with the sorrow of a man who can’t escape the past. The adult version of Jonas (Félix Maritaud, outstanding in this year’s sexually graphic Sauvage and last year’s ImageOut favorite BPM) is a broken man. His boyfriend has thrown him out for cheating on him a few too many times, and he’s been arrested for getting into a fight at Boys, a local gay bar. There’s something about the bar that seems to set him off. He meanders through life still carrying that same old Game Boy, trying to fill a hole that can’t be filled. So what happened …

Curious as to why Netflix is strongly promoting this film, I decided to give it a try.  Turns out the film is a well-made story about two gay boys Jonas and his impulsive friend Nathan. There is no sex in the film except for a kiss or two.  While centered in Jonas’ adult life, the story proceeds by flashbacks.

Different, satisfying while inconclusive ending, and not at all a waste of time.

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Bad Acting, Barely Acceptable Trash, Beautiful Seaside Town, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, Career Competition, Chick Flick, Child Molestation, Contract Killing, Contract Maiming, Corny, Corruption, Dancing, Detective, Drama, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Eccentric cast of characters, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Ethical struggles, False Imprisonment, Family Conflict, Fist Fight, Frame someone for a crime, Friendship, Gangs, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Improbable details, Latino Culture, Love Story, Male Prostitutes, Mediocre, Melodrama, Mental Illness, Mother-son relations, Motorcycles, Murder, Murder Investigation, Must suspend disbelief, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Plot twists, Police Corruption, Police cover-up, Police Politics, Rape, Revenge, Ridiculous plot, Soap Opera, Sometimes seems silly, Somewhat trashy, Spanish, Telenovela, Uncle-Nephew relations, Unjust crime conviction, Various Romances, Violent

Toy Boy (2019)

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From Netflix:

A stripper sets out to prove his innocence for a crime he didn’t commit and was unjustly incarcerated for seven years earlier.

From Netflix you can stream the 13 episodes (each episode about 70 minutes) of this Spanish telenovela.  Many spoken languages and caption languages are available.

Spanish telenovelas inhabit a world of their own.  Chief among their attributes are “corny”, “amateurish”,  and “sometimes really stupid.” So why on earth did I watch this unintentionally laughable marathon? Netflix seemed to promote this series, so I started. Injustice and villains always get me going.  Because I have to see justice done I just keep plodding along to the end.

Before you waste your time let me list some of the “features” of this charmer:

  •  You might enjoy listening to the original Spanish (as in Spain, not Latin America) sound track. You might want Spanish captions. At the very least it could possibly be a learning experience although there are better options.
  •  Each tension point is almost immediately resolved so you don’t have to get all worked up.  Sometimes those immediate solutions seem far fetched or just too convenient.
  • Recall that telenovelas for all their involvement with sex are really very chaste.   Certainly the endless number of male stripper dance sequences are as innocent as they are boring.
  •  Warning: From the very last scene, it is obvious that there will probably be another season or even 100 more seasons. Possibilities are endless.

You can do much better, but in a certain sense the whole production is a hoot!

2018, Abuse of Women, Acceptable Sci-Fi, Action Film, Action Hero, Bloody scenes, Brother-Sister relations, Bullying, Child abuse, Complicated, Confusing Plot, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Detective, Disturbing Image, Dystopia, Explicit sex, Father-son relations, Fist Fight, Gloomy, Gory, Grim, Human Cloning, Invincible Hero, Murder Investigation, Netflix Streaming, Nudity, Police Corruption, Prostitutes, Romance, Sadism, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes, Suspense, Torture, Valium appropriate

Altered Carbon (2018)

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From IMDB:

ALTERED CARBON is set in a future where consciousness is digitized and stored in cortical stacks implanted in the spine, allowing humans to survive physical death by having their memories and consciousness “re-sleeved” into new bodies. The story follows specially trained “Envoy” soldier Takeshi Kovacs, who is downloaded from an off-world prison and into a combat ready sleeve at the behest of Laurens Bancroft, a highly influential aristocrat. Bancroft was killed, and the last automatic backup of his stack was made hours before his death, leaving him with no memory of who killed him and why. While police ruled it a suicide, Bancroft is convinced he was murdered and wants Kovacs to find out the truth. 

From Netflix you can stream currently one season but soon two seasons of this science fiction series. Season 1 consists of 10 episodes, each of which last about an hour.

Would you like to live forever? Be careful what you wish for. In a dank earthly atmosphere reminiscent of “Blade Runner”, this series presents a really gloomy future in which a “person” is digitally encapsulated into a small disk that is somehow inserted into the spinal column. By now it is unimportant into which body that disk is inserted, so that each person is now wearing their current “sleeve”. Real death can only occur if the disk is destroyed.  Therefore, when you see a person, you don’t really know who that is. Your grandmother can look like a pot-bellied biker.

As you might guess from the last paragraph, the plot can get really complicated.  In fact I must confess that most of the time I am fairly confused about what is happening.  But I understand enough to continue watching this inhuman plot, somewhat to my shame.

Digital wizardry continually produces really bizarre scenes. Unfortunately the series is ultra violent and portrays a very decadent society that delights in cruelty. Ancient Rome anyone?

Of the many actors, two stand out:

  • Joel Kinnaman plays Takeshi Kovacs who is the action [anti-]hero  tof the story.  “But wait”, you say, “that’s an Asian name and Joel Kinnaman is Swedish.”  Ah yes, but that’s because the actor for much of the series is wearing his Swedish “sleeve.”  See what I mean?
  • James Purefoy , as is often the case, is the smooth arch villain Laurens Bancroft.  He does dangerously evil to perfection.

There is an awful lot of Kung Fu fighting which could get boring. Possibly the story drags on too long.  Sometimes the plot turns are too good to be true.  Torture scenes are horribly explicit.  So just begin to watch and judge for yourself whether the slog is worth the effort.

Possibly the only worthwhile effect this story had on me was that I more easily accept that it is fitting that our life has a beginning, middle, and END.

2016, Acceptable for teenagers, Boarding school, Bullying, Drama, Fist Fight, Friendship, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, High school students, Homophobia, Irish, Netflix Streaming, Rugby, School Teacher, Teenagers, Unloved Child

Handsome Devil (2016)

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From IMDB:

Ned and Conor are forced to share a bedroom at their boarding school. The loner and the star athlete at this rugby-mad school form an unlikely friendship until it’s tested by the authorities.

From Netflix you can stream this  1 hour 35 minute feature Irish film.

As far as gay themed stories go,  this film is a really well-done film that avoids both clichés and sex scenes.  In fact, sexual activity is not in any way a part of the plot.  Ned is a non-athletic, gay, loners who is forced by his uncaring parents to attend a rugby-mad school.  He is forced to share his bedroom with a closeted, gay star athlete who has switched to this school because of past troubles.

All the administrators, teachers, coaches, and students care only for winning a coming important rugby match.  However, along comes a new teacher Mr. Sherry who is himself gay and somewhat closeted but with a strong, defiant personality. Mr. Sherry is played by Andrew Scott who played the priest in the series Fleabag.

Of course, you might argue, overcoming homophobia is a cliché. In this respect the film wears its heart on its sleeve.  Enjoy it anyway.

2019, Acceptable for teenagers, Clever Plot, Comedy, Dancing, Fist Fight, Human Cloning, Masturbation, Netflix Streaming, Romance, Sex Scenes

Living With Yourself (2019)

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From IMDB:

A man undergoes an experimental treatment to improve his life, only to be replaced by a new and improved version of himself, and must fight for his wife, his career, and his very identity.

From Netflix you can stream all 8 half-hour episodes of this series.

Paul Rudd plays 2 roles at once, namely Miles Elliot and his clone. There are comic moments. But it was the plot that was for me quite original. How on earth would the conflict between his two selves be eventually played out? Along the way expect some foul language, some sex scenes, and a wrestling match toward the finale.

Would you want there to be a clone of yourself that was somehow an improvement of your personality? Enjoy the basically innocent fun.