Tag: Dave Bautista

Geekscape Movie Reviews: ‘Final Score’

by AnalogJonesTOF

This Friday night I rented Final Score – get ready for soccer and terrorists!

Do you like Die Hard (1988) starring Bruce Willis? Do you like Sudden Death (1995) starring Jean-Claude Van Damme? Do you like Dave Bautista from Guardians of the Galaxy and the WWE? If you answered yes to at least 2 of those, then do I have a film for you! Final Score from director Scott Mann follows the old 80’s and 90’s action movie template of Die Hard to give you a familiar but fun guilty pleasure.

Final Score is the second time Scott Mann has used Dave Bautista in an action movie (Heist, 2015). Can’t blame Mann for going back to Bautista, this hulk of a man can carry an action flick. He’s got a dry comedic timing that I love to watch. The only negative about Bautista’s performance in Final Score is I wish they would of let him go further with his wit.

Ray Stevenson and Pierce Brosnan are brothers and former leaders of a revolution in the Russian state of Sukovia. At least that’s what I think the first 5 minutes tells us in a significant, boring exposition drop at the beginning of the film. I trailed off and didn’t care. We have Russian like bad guys that lost, Stevenson is looking for Brosnan is present day, got it, let’s go!

Bautista plays a war-torn soldier that is visiting his dead friend’s daughter named Danni (Lara Peake). Danni calls him Uncle Mike even if they aren’t blood-related. Mike drops into London to surprise Danni with soccer tickets. The film lets you know Uncle Mike hates soccer several times.

At the game, we see Arkady (Stevenson), and his rebels take control of the stadium with force. All while this is happening Uncle Mike loses Danni while getting hot dogs (remember, he loves the red, white and blue) and has to talk to our comic relief Faisal (Amit Shah). Faisal is a security person of some sort and helps Mike look for Danni. At first, I thought Faisal would get annoying and offensive being his character is brown-skinned in a movie with terrorist. He doesn’t. We do of course get a Muslim joke. They couldn’t help themselves, but in the end, Faisal is useful and not just the butt of jokes.

When Faisal takes Mike to search for Danni, we get a great fight with Bautista and a Sukovian goon beating the hell out of each other in a tiny elevator. It sets the tone nicely for how violent this movie gets.

After the fight in the elevator, Mike contacts the police chief or whatever they call that position in London. This conversation starts off many discussions with Steed (Ralph Brown) and Mike. Mike spends a lot of energy tiring to convince Steed that he’s serious about these terrorists and the stadium is set to explode with hidden C-4 explosives. Out of options, Mike throws one of the terrorists off the stadium’s roof with a message attached to get the point across that this isn’t a joke. These are just two of the many parallels between Die Hard and Final Score, and I don’t care, it works.

Ray Stevenson is just a joy to watch chew scenery. He’s over the top with his methods and owns the camera. Pierce Brosnan as his brother Dimitri barely has a role. He’s in this movie may be a total of 12 minutes. Dimitri has gone through extensive plastic surgery to look completely different (think Face/Off with Nicolas Cage) and wants nothing to do with his brother Arkady. I don’t know why Brosnan is used so little. Stevenson and Brosnan together in their one scene was tense and entertaining. Give me more of that!

The two terriost that steal the show are Vlad (Martyn Ford) and Tatiana (Alexandra Dinu). Ford is a massive bodybuilder in real life that makes Bautista look normal sized in a kitchen fight that is brutal. Faisal is the often used badass female that is more dangerous than her more massive lover Vlad (a lot like Sam Phillip’s character Katya in Die Hard with a Vengeance). Faisal gives Uncle Mike a run for his money is a cuckoo motorcycle chase through the stadium’s food court.

I haven’t talked much about Lara Peake that played Danni, but this young actress held her own around Stevenson and Bautista. Danni makes terrible decisions but in the end is useful and not just a damsel-in-distress to move the plot along.

In the end, Final Score is a popcorn action flick to rent on a Friday night to watch Bautista get the crap kicked out of him. Kick your feet up, order a pizza, drink some beer and start the weekend with some over the top mayhem. Final Score isn’t a classic, but it’s a good time. Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bruce Willis would be proud.

Final Score: C+

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxl0XV89dE0

Thanks for reading, and check out our podcast Analog Jones and the Temple of Film. We are a VHS Podcast that breaks down the box art, trailers and behind the scenes.

– Stephen M. Bay

The Geekscape Non-Spoiler Review: ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2’

by AllieHanley

James Gunn’s new film “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2,” opening this weekend, brings back everything good we loved about the first one, and then some.

What’s on most people’s minds who are intending to see GOTGVol2 is if it will be as good as the first one.

Let’s face it, that’s a tall order to fill for writer/director James Gunn and the other ten people who share the writing credit for this sequel (seriously, ten people).

The first film pretty much embodied near perfection and landed on many top ten lists for fans and critics alike in 2014. Gunn proved he was adept at instilling a retro feel mixed with space opera camp and fans ate it up.

“Volume 2” continues the story with the theme of talented misfits doing their best to one-up each other as they help Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) discover his origins. Gunn recaptures a lot of what made the first film so memorable and injects it into a new story that elaborates on the main characters and adds a few news ones.

Not a lot of time has gone by since the first story ended. Peter Quill is pretty happy with his reputation as Star Lord; The sort-of human from Terra who saved the Galaxy alongside his team. However, when he gets the opportunity to get to know his biological dad, Ego (Kurt Russell), he starts thinking about what he might have missed out on as a kid. That dynamic between father and son is part of the emotional narrative of the film.

In this outing, GOTGVol2 focuses more on the dynamic between the characters as we get to know more about why they do what they do, especially Yondu (Michael Rooker), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and new character Mantis (Pom Klementieff).

Like the first film, every character gets their moment, especially baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) who captures the big screen in several comedic scenes that will probably be many people’s favorite part. However, the film has so many solid characters that not one really stands above another, a true ensemble.

A notable performance from the versatile Michael Rooker as space pirate/ Ravager “Yondu” is a stand out amongst a fine cast, including a small role for Sylvester Stallone and Jeff Goldblum who seem headed for more in the Marvel Universe.

In a film of mostly positive there are a few negatives including the strange accent that Klementieff used for Mantis. Reminiscent of an Asian American speaking English with a heavy Asian accent. The film has a lot going on, including a ton of Easter Eggs, but at times almost seems a little bloated but it’s hard to fault the sequel because it moves along quite fast except the third act feels just a tad too long. All in all, these are nit picky compared to the overall quality of the film.

You may recall that the soundtrack “Volume 1” was almost like a character unto itself in the first film, and was a big part of Quill’s motivation. “Volume 2” nearly achieves that same vibe in this film however it seems Gunn might have chosen to put slightly less emphasis on music in order to focus the narrative a bit more on character interaction and smartly so.

Sequels tend to focus too much on being exactly like the first. Gunn is astutely aware of that and has created a follow up that embodies the essence of the first while creating enough of it’s own narrative to be on nearly equal ground. There is a bit of a lag in act 3, and visually a heap of action that becomes almost dizzying in 3D, however the film lands lightly on its feet with just enough sentimental emotion to justify any slip. Easter Eggs abound and GOTGVol2 fits nicely into the Marvel Universe as did the first one.

4 out of 5

PG-13,2 hr. 17 min.

  • Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
  • Directed By:    James Gunn (II)
  • In Theaters:    May 5, 2017 Wide
  • Walt Disney Pictures

Dave Bautista Gets Cast in ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel!

by J.C. Marquez

The cast of Blade Runner 2 just added a ton of muscle this morning.

Alcon Entertainment has officially announced that Dave Bautista will join Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, and Robin Wright in Blade Runner 2, the official sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic 1982 science fiction film.

Dave Bautista is better known from his role as Drax the Destroyer in Guardians of the Galaxy, and he recently appeared in Spectre–the latest entry in the James Bond film franchise. Blade Runner 2 is set to begin principal photography this July and will be directed by Denis Villenevue (Sicaro, Prisoners) with Ridley Scott serving as executive producer.

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 20: Actor Dave Bautista attends Marvel's "Guardians of The Galaxy" press line during Comic-Con International 2013 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 20: Actor Dave Bautista attends Marvel’s “Guardians of The Galaxy” press line during Comic-Con International 2013 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel on July 20, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

There is a ton of secrecy behind the plot of Blade Runner 2, but the only thing we do know about the films story is that it will take place a number of decades after the events of the original film. Not much to go on (we know), but we will take anything we can get.

At this point, the cast looks solid, and with Ridley Scott involved in the project, fans have much to look forward to.

What kind of story would you like to see Blade Runner 2 head into? Sound off in the comments below!