Point Blank

Unfortunately, this movie is almost immediately forgettable. Anthony Mackie plays a nurse who, while caring for an incarcerated shooting victim, gets sucked into a scheme to break said victim out of custody. His motivation is that his pregnant wife has been kidnapped. Along the way, he experiences violence and traitorous behavior that makes him question his morality. But none of that really sticks with you... it is a low level, shoot-em-up.
2 stars (out of 5)

Illang: The Wolf Brigade

In this futuristic thriller, North and South Korea have been working toward unification, and the time is finally come to consummate the merger. Of course, there are detractors and the governments have developed a high tech, super warrior group to maintain order. This story follows one officer in this special force as he is confronted with questions of loyalty, subterfuge and morality in his position of power. Strange plot setup, but again, a fascinating look at the North-South relationship. Perhaps the futuristic sci-fi approach is the only way these explorations can happen without recrimination in Korea???
3 stars (out of 5)

Steel Rain

South Korean film that explores the North/South relationship through a politically intense scenario. Of course this plot is fiction and far fetched, but I found it to be interesting how the relational aspects of individual attitudes toward North-South relations played out. In this story, a coup in the North leads to a Northern special ops soldier bringing an injured "Number One" to the south. There he is attacked by North and South alike while he tries to figure out how to save his leaders life and prevent a nuclear war on the peninsula (pressured of course by U.S., China, Japan). Watch this for more than just the spy action.
4 stars (out of 5)

Long Way Round (Serial)

Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charlie Boorman conspire to take a motorcycle trip around the planet. Well, London to New York -- through Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia, Canada, U.S. This is an 11 episode series, and probably 6 of them are really good. The introductory stuff is boring but necessary, Europe is unnecessary. Asia is fascinating, both in terms of scenery and in terms of travelogue. U.S./Canada unnecessary. But of course, you can't just skip most of the way around for the fun parts. The two travelers have a chemistry and innocence and sense of wonder at what they are doing to make this really fun to watch. Well done.
5 stars (out of 5)

also watch Long Way Down (London to Cape Town) and I've heard Long Way Up (Patagonia to Canada) is now filming.

All the Devil's Men

A bunch of former military special ops guys go to battle. Some of them are working for private military contractors, others are independent. There is supposed to be some morality or ethical line between the two differentiated, but it was really fuzzy, and not really interesting or relevant to the killing and personal grudges that drove the action (notice I said action, not plot).
2 stars (out of 5)

Destination Wedding

Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are both guests at a destination wedding in Napa. He as the brother of the groom and she as the jilted ex. They are both cynical and dry and in a manner of speaking, hit it off. Reminds me of a Richard Linklater conversation pic, but not as well done.
2 stars (out of 5)

Spider Man: Far from Home

This is good fun and I like the personality that Tom Holland gives to Peter Parker. This fits well in the MCU and plays with us as viewers like others haven't in terms of sleight of hand plotting. My one critique is the use of the blip as a story device. The blip is introduced to describe the gap people experienced because of Thanos snap. It is shown as a marching band reappearing right where they disappeared from 5 years earlier. But now they are in the middle of a game... Haha. But wait, that means anyone who was in a car is now sitting in the road, an airplane... freefall, giving birth... ??? etc. Seems like at least half of the people who blipped back died a tragic death on return. Kind of a big story hole that bugged at least me.  Otherwise... Great.
4 stars (out of 5)

Wine Country

A bunch of friends gather in Napa to celebrate the 50 the birthday of one of them. They used to be a squad and are now all in different phases of life. And they have to learn to know and like each other again. A little bit funny. Not really thought provoking or poignant.
2 stars (out of 5)

Wolf's Call

A french Hunt for Red October of sorts. Our protagonist is Socks, the sonar/sound listening guy on a submarine. Socks has an ear that is unparalleled and he can differentiate different type of submarines, creatures, etc with exquisite detail just by listening. So invaluable on a submarine. Through a series of events, a French nuclear sub is tasked with launching a reprisal nuclear strike, and Socks is on a lesser submarine trying to stop them. In all, this is quite tense, and quite entertaining.
4 stars (out of 5)