I wanted to like this but was very disappointed. I expect better from Shane Black. I know it’s supposed to be a buddy movie/action-comedy but I simply didn’t buy any of it. Give me something to hang on to! The little girl was cute but didn’t belong in most scenes. Gosling trying to channel Lou Costello after he finds that corpse is just plain embarrassing. I had a few chuckles but the flimsy story doesn’t hold together.
(low FF because I kept hoping things would fall into place; they didn’t)

FF=0

I seem to be in the minority (as usual) but I liked the cast and had some good laughs from this. If the 1984 film had never been made, this might have been the start of a franchise. But the 1984 film is in the canon, and its iconic cast and jaw-dropping succession of outrageous twists, culminating in the humongous Stay Puft marshmallow man, make this come off as an also-ran. Too much deja-vu / been-there-done-that to make me want another look.
FF=2.

After seeing “The Front Page” on B’way, I rented this 1940 adaptation by Howard Hawks. The central character, Hildy, is changed to a woman (Rosalind Russell) and Walter Burns is not only her editor but her ex-husband. The gender switch works, adding romantic conflict to an already very busy storyline. But the real star here is Howard Hawks and his trademark overlapping dialogue. How you direct three actors all talking at once and keep it comprehensible is beyond me. But he does it. I sit and watch/listen with jaw agape. There’s real chemistry between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and the film flies along.
FF=0

Nowhere near as bad as I was led to believe. The effects were excessive and the direction/editing cornfusing at times, but I was more engaged than I expected. High point: Gal Gadot as WW; Linda Carter go away, this Gal (sorry) owns the part. (Must see WW feature.) Low point: Jesse Eisenberg as LL; wrong-wrong-wrong for the part; get Corey Stoll next time.
FF=2

Ove is pronounced OH-veh.  A gentle adaptation of a gentle story about a lonely curmudgeon who’s softened by the younger family that moves in next door. (If you’re flashing to “St. Vincent,” I’m right there with you.) Frothy, sentimental, predictable, but…soothing.
FF=0

Have you seen any of Matt Damon’s other Jason Bourne films? Good. Then you don’t need to see this one. It should have been subtitled “Deja Vu.”
FF=3

At the suggestion of David Schow, I streamed this Norwegian revenge flick through Netflix. Think “Death Wish” crossed with “Fargo” and “Yojimbo” and you’ve got the idea. The Norwegian snowscapes are as daunting as they are awe inspiring. (There’s something majestic about those snow plows sending up endless plumes of white.) Good cast, mostly strangers but so few of them survive it doesn’t matter. It’s all done with a bit of a wink; I even LOL’d in a couple of spots. (Remade – very well, in fact – as Cold Pursuit with Liam Neeson.)
FF=0

Okay, the first question is “Why?” The 1960 version, from its iconic cast to its rousing score, is nearly perfect. The remake ups the violence and creates a more politically acceptable villain (i.e., a white businessman instead of a Mexican bandito). Sarsgaard’s villain is a flat, mustache twirling psycho murderer, whereas Eli Wallach’s Calvera was mostly looking to keep his men fed.

But the worst change is making it personal. The charm of the original was that the 7 were dinosaurs with little call for their skills and looking to earn a few bucks. When Calvera captures them, he doesn’t kill them because he’s afraid all their friends will cross the border looking for revenge. The sad irony here is that these guys have no friends up north. All they have are the bonds forged with each other as they worked with the peasants on defense. And lo and behold, they’ve become invested in the village. The remake gives Denzel’s Chisolm a personal reason to gather the 7, which strikes a false note at the end.
Wisely, they kept some of the iconic lines, like, “I have been offered a lot for my work, but never everything.” And “If God didn’t want them sheared, he would not have made them sheep.”

Vincent D’Onofrio (not one of my fave actors, as a rule) is a hoot here; he and Pratt look like they’re enjoying themselves.
FF=1