Sniper: Ghost Shooter

Definitely a B-movie in the action/war genre. Both the dialogue as written and as delivered are noticeable as contrived, showing how hard it is to actually have a film feel authentic. The story follows a JSOC sniper team (4 sniper/spotter pairs in a team) who travel around and do sniper stuff. In the current assignment, they are providing protection for some VIPs at a Georgian oil pipeline and the bad guys seem to know exactly where they are. The shooter has an idea about what is wrong, the officers don't believe him, send him to Siberia (literally) where he learns valuable lessons, comes back and saves the day as it turns out he was right. All pretty standard in terms of plot, and pretty plain in terms of execution. 

2 stars (out of 5)

Gunpowder Milkshake

I like myself a good action assassin film. This entry is a grindhouse-like film, with Hotel Artemis vibes, but instead of steampunk coloring (strangely) I kept feeling Roger Rabbit. I know that's not right, but... Anyway, Sam is left by her assassin mother, and then grows up to be an assassin, and then everything goes wrong (she is left hung out by the Firm after on little mistake). This has hints of a #metoo assassin tale, but really is just a straight forward action shoot-em-up a la John Wick...some of which I liked too.

3 stars (out of 5)

Black Widow

My first theater film in 18 months and the first Marvel feature in even longer. Black Widow does not disappoint with action, connections both forward and backwards in the universe and a pretty well written and acted "family dynamic" between sisters. The storyline follows Natasha after the breakup of the Avengers, with nothing to do but hide, finding her sister and joining forces to take down (again) the red room and the widows project. On all those counts, it was a success and well done. But somehow I came out wanting more depth. Marvel, I think, would be well advised to transition out of sci-fi comic entertainment and into sci-fi with social and cultural commentary in order to stay relevant for another decade. Something that makes you think about who you are, why you are, etc. This would have been an easy place to start.

4 stars (out of 5)

Major Grom: Plague Doctor

Russian action film in the vein of a realism-superhero (no super powers, but fighting against bigger than life villians). Igor is a cop who works on his own to bring down the criminals of St Petersburg. When a vigilante serial killer starts taking out the most corrupt businessmen and political leaders, and gains a huge following leading to near anarchy, Igor is on the case. But he can't necessarily do it alone. A fun, comic style action film.

3 stars (out of 5)

Vampire Academy

Like most vampire entertainment of the past few years, this is really a teen drama with some vampire action thrown in. In this case, there are good vampires and their mortal protectors as well as the bad vampires. The good vampire protagonist is the last of her line and the princess heir. She and her protector left the safety of the academy, and upon return, found that someone within the academy wanted her dead. So a mystery, with a little bit of magic, and a little bit of romance and... well you get the picture. Ok as a teen romance drama, not so interesting as a vampire film. 

2 stars (out of 5) 

Big Timber (serial)

A reality series in the vein of Swamp Loggers or Rust Valley Restorers. A family runs a mill and logging operation on Vancouver Island. The series follows the owner as he works to clear a timber claim and keep all his old junky equipment running. Not quite as well put together as Swamp Loggers, but still fun as a short series and seeing some of the behind the scenes of small time logging. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Tehran (serial)

A Mossad agent enters Iran undercover in a plot to disable air-defense systems and allow an Israeli attack on nuclear facilities. The agent is relatively new to undercover work. Her family connections to Iran are what make her the ideal candidate. In fact, there are Persian-Jewish connections throughout this series that is really interesting - highlighting again that fact that people groups and family and culture are generally unrelated to national boundaries and politics. In many ways, this is a classic spycraft series and it is done well, with appropriate near-misses and improvisations and moral-fine-line-walking. 

4 stars (out of 5)