 Good evening, fellow movie fans! This is my first movie review for the 2019 schedule. Cold Pursuit is an R rated crime thriller that stars Liam Neeson as a grieving father who's searching for revenge. Does this film start the year on a positive note or is it just another lackluster February release? I'll tell you my thoughts about it.
Let's begin with a short plot synopsis. The story takes place in a small resort town outside of Denver called Kehoe. Nelson Coxman plows snow for a living, so people can maneuver through the city during the worst part of winter. Shortly after he wins the Citizen of the Year award, his son allegedly dies from a drug overdose. Coxman knows his son isn't a drug addict and he tries to find answers. Soon, he realizes organized criminals are the real culprits. The film's protagonist goes on a rampage, mercilessly killing mobsters and anyone who's responsible for his son's death. Ultimately, Coxman crosses a line that can't be undone. I felt pretty underwhelmed with this movie, but it has a few decent elements. Liam Neeson plays the lead character and he's the best part of the film. Usually, I enjoy Neeson's action films and this performance is very similar to his earlier work. You know what they say. If it's not broke, don't fix it. He's tough, but still relatable and his portrayal as a grieving, angry father is completely believable. Coxman isn't a superhero either. He uses creative, although realistic methods to dispatch his enemies. This movie is a dark comedy as well. The humor is very inconsistent, but I felt amused sometimes. I laughed a handful of times during my viewing. Cold Pursuit becomes a little bit silly periodically, but it works. I think a somewhat humorous tone makes a little more sense than complete stoicism. The dark humor makes the film less boring and it makes the violence seem a little more appropriate for mainstream audiences. It's pretty simple and I consider that aspect a good thing. This movie isn't trying to set up a sequel. It's not pretending to be a huge, epic adventure film. The plot isn't pretentious, confusing, or pretending to be a tremendous work of art. Everything about the film is quite small and cozy, which makes sense for a story set in a rural area. Sometimes less is more. I'm tired of modern films trying to set up a dozen sequels or becoming the next Lord of the Rings. Let's move on to the negative elements. I actually have a lot of criticism for this film. Overall, it's quite mediocre. A lot of elements don't come together very well. Even though I laughed sometimes, much of the humor doesn't work. It tries to be funny and falls flat. The musical score is really forgettable. It's not bad, but I have a tendency to enjoy substantial music. Actually, the score adds some pacing issues to the movie. This film isn't even violent enough for fans of the action genre. It's a pretty soft R rating. There's some blood, but it only has one or two gruesome scenes. I know gore or violence shouldn't be mandatory in cinema, but that's what a viewer should expect from this type of film. Aside from Liam Neeson, the rest of the cast ranged from unmemorable to awful. Laura Dern played his wife, but she has very little character development and disappears after a few scenes. Tom Bateman is the antagonist and the main crime boss. He's a goofy and annoying caricature who isn't very intimidating. Emmy Rossum and John Doman play a couple of police officers. Rossum isn't terrible, but Doman is a stereotypical dumb movie cop. The film also has multiple silly and disposable henchmen. I really wish the movie had better characters. In general, Cold Pursuit has too many stock characters and stereotypes, including racial ones that might offend people. It also seems like Liam Neeson's movies look the same. I've seen Taken, The Grey, Run All Night, and The Commuter. All of them feature a regular man who winds up in a terrible situation and breaks into a violent streak. Usually, the villains get their just desserts. I would especially like to see something different with the plot and supporting characters. Here's another annoying part of this movie. All of the villains are completely incompetent. I couldn't tell you how these mobsters are making so much money without getting caught by the FBI or IRS. They're also really fragile and anybody could kill them. I could kill these mobsters. You could kill them too. I'm pretty sure your grandma could kill them as well. Is this film worth watching in theaters? Definitely not. However, it might be a decent experience on a streaming service like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon. In fact, I don't understand why it wasn't released directly to one of those streaming services. I doubt it will make a lot of money at the box office. Cold Pursuit has a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and that seems a little bit generous. All right! That's the end of my film review. What movies are you planning to see this year? Tell me about it in the comment section. 2019 is another crowded year for cinema, so you should expect to see quite a few reviews on my blog. Thanks for visiting and I'll see you again next week.
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We're all done with Super Bowl LIII! There are only winners and losers. Nothing in between and that's how it works. I'm sure many of you are delighted and others will be very disappointed with the results. This is my first sports post. 2019 is my trial run for sports discussions. I watch several sports games a week, so it should probably be part of my online topics. Today, I'm giving my thoughts about the general NFL season in 2018, the playoffs, and the Super Bowl. Let's dive right in!
First, I'm going to touch on the strongest and weakest teams in each division. Naturally, the Patriots conquered the AFC East with eleven wins and five losses. Honestly, I'm sick of the Patriots winning all the time. But they're a tremendous team with one of the best coaches and a phenomenal quarterback. In fact, the Patriots are a well rounded team overall. Somehow, they tend to play much better in the second half. It's not unusual for them to grab two or three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Jets had the worst record in the AFC East with four wins and twelve losses. Ouch! I feel really bad for their quarterback, Sam Darnold. He took a lot of heat for those losses. Darnold performed really well at USC, but the Jets are a different situation. Also, the offensive line is awful and none of the wide receivers can catch. Darnold's only hope for a decent career is getting traded to another team. This one surprised me. The Chiefs edged out the Chargers in the AFC West with twelve wins and four losses. Patrick Mahomes is a hugely talented quarterback who came out of nowhere. He also became the NFL MVP of the year. Congratulations, Mr. Mahomes! You deserve it! Actually, I'm pretty sure the Chiefs would have a better record if their defense wasn't so weak. They have one of the worst defenses in the NFL. The Raiders had the worst record in the AFC West with four wins and twelve losses. Go figure. The Raiders need completely different management. They're not going to have decent records with the current owner. Maybe their move to Las Vegas will help. You never know. The Ravens took the AFC North with ten wins and six losses. Truthfully, the Ravens are a middle of the road team in a weak division. Switching quarterbacks was a good idea though. Joe Flacco is at the end of his career and it was time to give a younger quarterback a chance. I didn't think the Ravens would go very far in the playoffs. The Bengals were on the bottom of the AFC North with six wins and ten losses. This is an average season for Bengals. Again, their management is terrible. All the talent in the world can't save this team. I don't follow the Texans, but they won the AFC South with eleven wins and five losses. That's a pretty good record! From what I understand, the Texans have a good running game, talented wide receivers, and a middle of the road quarterback. They probably have a serviceable defense as well. The Jaguars had a disappointing record with five wins and eleven losses. Quite a few NFL fans were shocked with their bad record. I knew Blake Bortles was going to be a lousy quarterback from the beginning, but they also had other problems. In general, everything about the Jaguars was a mess. The Cowboys won the NFC East with ten wins and six losses. They learned some valuable lessons from the previous season. The team obtained a different quarterback and younger players. It definitely helped their depth. Surprisingly, the Giants had the worst record with five wins and eleven losses. I think it's time for Eli Manning to step down as the lead quarterback. He was a major part of their negative record. They actually have an okay offensive line and some pretty good linebackers. However, they don't have great wide receivers or defensive backs. Honestly, the special teams is probably their strongest element. My local team beat the NFC West. Go Rams! Their record was thirteen wins and three losses. It's amazing! They're a young team with an innovative coach, a tremendous offense, and a decent defense. The special teams need some work, but you can't be number one at everything. Super Bowl LIII was their chance to take it all. I have some complaints about the Super Bowl's outcome, but we'll get to that part momentarily. The Cardinals were slightly worse than the 49ers with three wins and thirteen losses. That's a truly awful record. I don't think the Cardinals had any positive elements. Josh Rosen didn't have a chance to thrive as their new quarterback because the entire offense was atrocious. Granted, I found him somewhat overrated at UCLA anyway. Their defense was lousy too. I don't have a good opinion about their head coach either. Basically, the Cardinals need a huge overhaul. The Bears performed much better than I anticipated in the NFC North with twelve wins and four losses. I don't have a lot of faith in their quarterback, but they have a good running game and a very strong defense. It seems like the Bears have been obtaining better players during the past couple seasons. The Lions underperformed with six wins and ten losses. Matthew Stafford just isn't a top notch quarterback. They should definitely draft a new quarterback in the NFL draft. Many people thought the Saints would triumph at the Super Bowl this year. It wasn't meant to be, although their overall record was great with thirteen wins and three losses in the NFC South. They were a very well rounded team and Drew Brees was on the top of his game as their lead quarterback. The Saints didn't have the best running backs, but their offensive line was strong and the wide receivers could catch anything. I found their defense a little bit inconsistent, but pretty good in general. The Buccaneers had a lousy record with five wins and eleven losses. I don't keep track of the Buccaneers very much. Most likely, they still don't have a decent quarterback and the defense is probably weak. In general, the playoffs didn't surprise me. In the divisional rounds, the Chiefs beat the Colts without much of a problem. The Colts were the Wild Card team and the underdogs. Andrew Luck underperformed as the Colts lead quarterback and the entire team seemed underwhelming. Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense basically stomped all over their opponent. I actually thought the Colts might have a slightly higher score than a measly thirteen points because the Chiefs don't have a strong defense. The Colts just haven't been the same since Peyton Manning left. After that, the Rams beat the Cowboys. The score was much closer with thirty to twenty-two points in the Rams' favor. It was a pretty tight game with ups and downs from both teams. The Cowboys put in a surprisingly good effort, but the Rams had the better offense. Some turnovers went in the Rams' favor as well. It was a pretty exciting game. The Chargers were the other Wild Card team and they lost really huge to the Patriots. It was a bloodbath with a forty-one to twenty-eight score. The Chargers only achieved twenty-eight points because the Patriots played more conservatively later in the game. A lot of NFL fans think the Chargers are going to achieve something great every season, but it never happens. I'll believe it when I see it. I found the game between the Saints and Eagles quite interesting. At first, the Eagles were the better team. Then the Eagles pooped out and the Saints started to perform better. Between Drew Brees and the Saints' defense, the Eagles were simply outmatched in the long run. Nick Foles is still a good quarterback and I'm pretty sure his team is going to trade him away. Maybe they'll get some solid talent from the trade. The NFC Championship game was a big shootout between the Rams and Saints. Ultimately, the Rams were the victors in overtime. It was a seriously tough game! At first, the Rams really struggled, but they kept chipping away. Their defense kept the Saints' offense at bay, especially later in the game. Overall, the Saints are a great team, but they didn't keep the momentum strong enough to win. Many of you probably know about the controversy. Some fans believe a bad call from the referees handed the game over to the Rams. That's a bunch of nonsense. Referees miss calls in every game. By the way, one of the Saints' defensive players got away with a face mask on Jerod Goff. I guess they're even. The Rams simply played better for that particular game. I was hoping the Chiefs would beat the Patriots at the AFC Championship game. Sadly, the Patriots won in overtime. It was a pretty good match though. Both offenses were on fire. Eventually, the Patriots wore out the Chiefs toward the end. I can't say either defense played very well. However, the Chiefs definitely need a better defense next season. I honestly believe the Chiefs should have won if their defense was better. In the end, consistency from Tom Brady and everyone else on the Patriots paved the way to victory. They never give up and that's why it's so hard beat the Patriots. But I'm still tired of them going to the Super Bowl. The actual Super Bowl was incredibly disappointing. It was a very low scoring game with a thirteen to three total. The Patriots won another Super Bowl. Darn it! Their defense led the team to victory. The Rams' wide receivers were covered, the running backs didn't have any room, and Goff was under a lot of pressure. It was futile. I'll give some credit to the Patriots' kickers. They played an important part. Brady had a really mediocre game and that can be my one moment of solace. Actually, the Rams' defense was pretty strong. That's why it wasn't a runaway game for the Patriots. It was just a really frustrating watch. I assumed this Super Bowl would have really high scores. The actual results were shocking. Julian Edelman was the Super Bowl's MVP, despite scoring zero touchdowns. He had quite a bit of yardage, but I would have picked a defensive player for the MVP instead. Here are my general thoughts on the NFL's 2018-2019 season. There weren't many surprises. Certain teams are usually good and others are terrible. Some teams are right in the middle. It's pretty consistent from one season to the next. I thought some of the rookie quarterbacks would perform much better. However, they were drafted by lousy teams and it's hard for young quarterbacks to thrive with limited resources. More coaches need to be fired before the next season begins. It's unacceptable for any NFL team to have multiple consecutive losing records. I've been rooting for the Rams since they returned to Los Angeles and their regular season was excellent. Unfortunately, everything fell apart during the Super Bowl. I'm also a big fan of the 49ers, but their season was awful. In fact, I didn't have a chance to watch most of their games because hardly anything from the bay area was televised in LA County. It seemed like a pretty bad season for offensive lines. With the exception of Tom Brady and a few other quarterbacks, it seems like the NFL is lacking lead passers as well. A lot of kickers missed their points too. That's pretty unusual for the NFL. Hopefully, the following season won't go in the Patriots' favor. I don't want to see them at next year's Super Bowl. You made it through my inaugural sports post! Be prepared to see more of them in the future. I'm planning to write some posts about the NBA and NHL at some point. You'll see some posts about professional wrestling as well. Fear not. I'm still going to write many posts about my usual topics, such as steampunk, post-apocalypse, writing, films, gaming, etc. What did you think of Super Bowl LIII? Do you even care about sports at all? Feel free to leave a comment. Have a good week and watch out for my next post. Bye! |
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