I was hanging out with my Dad this evening and we watched two movies on Netflix, at opposite ends of the genre/quality scale.
First up, a
2017 low-budget Western called Justice that had some of the most awful, clichéd plotting/dialogue/acting I've ever seen. The only recognizable names were Stephen Lang in a hammy villain role, Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Tony's daughter, Meadow, from
The Sopranos) and a bearded Robert Carradine in a smaller role. Oh, and Lesley-Anne Down, for a whole two minutes.
I've literally seen Clint do this very type of movie - a surly loner rides into a town run by shitheads, and proceeds to kill said shitheads after they've Pushed Things Too Far - about 6,300 times in my life. But to see it done so badly was kinda funny/interesting in its own way. And after years of seeing Ms. Sigler play Meadow Soprano with that slight NJ type of accent/voice, it was weird to see her with a slight Southern drawl/purr in 1800's-set cowboy movie.
But it had some beautiful scenery, filmed around Santa Fe, NM...great wide shots of desert, mountains, sunsets, etc. and looked really nice on a 60"+ 4K TV. A (barely) 2-out-of-10 on the WTF Am I Watching?!™ scale.
Second was a
2012 spy/action thriller called Safe House, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. It also featured Brendan Gleeson, Sam Shepard, Robert Patrick and my sweetie, the lovely and vivacious Vera Farmiga, in supporting roles. It was set, and filmed in/around, Cape Town, South Africa, a place I've never really seen/noticed a movie set before.
The movie was pretty decent, in a Jason Bourne-y kinda way. Nothing I haven't seen before, but Washington and Reynolds were good in their parts, as were the others above. One of those spy/CIA movies where, 20 minutes in, you truly have no idea who/what to believe or trust...who's crossing who, who's working for which side, who's gonna turn out to be a traitor/backstabber, etc. But some nice action sequences, both on the fighting/gunplay front and chases (in cars and on foot). And some nice locations/scenery as well, throughout.
A solid 6-out-of-10 on the popcorn scale. It wasn't the absolute waste of 90-minutes that
Justice was, that's for sure!