Check Those References Carefully..."The Babysitter"

The Babysitter (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Andrew Bachelor, Emily Alyn Lind, Leslie Bibb, Ken Marino

Directed by McG

The Story:

Cole (Lewis) is 12, and he's the only kid his age who still has a babysitter. He doesn't really mind when his mom and dad (Bibb & Marino) leave though, because his babysitter, Bee (Weaving) is hot! However, when he finally decides to break curfew and spy on what his sitter does when he's supposed to be asleep, he learns that Bee is not the sweeetheart he was led to believe!

A Netflix original released in time for the holiday season, it's a worthy addition to the horror-comedy genre.

If you've managed to somehow miss this one so far, my recommendation is to avoid the trailer as it's a little spoiler-ific.

Or, if you don't have 90 minutes to spare, watch the trailer and you'll see a lot of the fun condensed into 2 minutes.

The cast is a lot of fun, and the script lets them poke fun at the genre while still never letting go of the fact that this is supposed to be a scary movie.

Amell does such a great job as Max that you almost aren't rooting for him to get killed as the movie goes along. :)

Fun stuff, and I'll be back next year for another round!

Final Grade: B

Have You Got "3 Days To Kill" ? Okay, How About 2 Hours?

3 Days to Kill (2014)

Rated PG-13 for language and violence

Starring Kevin Costner, Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld, Connie Nielsen

Directed by McG

The Story:

 Ethan (Costner) is a CIA operative who is diagnosed with a critical disease.  Wanting to make up to his daughter (Steinfeld) for all the lost time and attention, he moves to be close to her and his estranged wife (Nielsen).  However, when a ruthless agent (Heard) comes calling with a possible cure to prolong Ethan's life in exchange for his help in nabbing some really bad dudes...

What would you do?

And yes, reluctantly, Ethan agrees to try and catch the Wolf and the Albino.

Of course, he needs to keep his life hush hush from the family since he swore that life was over.

This marks two nice turns for Costner as the aging hero (Jack Ryan) who can still bring it in a fight.

Steinfeld plays the jilted, angry teenager role that is becoming all too cliche in these films.  One of these days they'll do a story about the kids who love that their parent(s) are assassins and think it's awesome.

Strangely cast is Amber Heard who is just... mean.

You'd think she was actually the villain of the piece, but she's working for the United States.  Apparently, she just doesn't want to get her hands dirty, so that's why she's got Ethan.

I think I would have preferred a little more to her story, but at close to a 2 hour running time, something had to give.

Apparently, hers was the more judicious plot piece to eliminate.

Still, not a bad action-thriller.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not a bad little thriller.  That Kevin Costner may have a future in Hollywood.

I Spy With My Little Eye... "Chuck"

Chuck (2007)

TV PG

Starring Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Adam Baldwin, Joshua Gomez, Sarah Lancaster

The Story:

Chuck Bartowski (Levi) is a member of the Nerd Herd at the local Buy More.  When he receives an email from an old college roomate, he opens it and subliminally absorbs all of the nation's defense secrets from the INTERSECT device.  With the INTERSECT offline, only Chuck holds the key to American defense.  So the CIA sends Agent Walker (Strahovski) and the NSA sends Agent Casey (Baldwin) to watch over Chuck while they attempt to bring their computer back online.  Meanwhile, Chuck can't divulge anything to his sister (Lancaster) or best friend (Gomez) and he keeps flashing on unsavory people or things which keep getting him one step closer to danger in being part of the spy business.

You know when you see the commercials or hear about those shows that you think, "hey, yeah, I'd probably enjoy that one?"

Well, Chuck was one of those shows for me.

It looked like a fun show with an interesting premise.

A comedy-action show, much like Psych, how could I go wrong?

But, I never got around to watching it.

Until now.

Scrolling through Netflix, and there was Chuck staring back at us, almost begging for us to watch it.

So we watched the pilot, directed by McG (!!!) himself.  Well, I've never been one to shy away from McG material...

He didn't disappoint.

It was fun, funny, filled with action, great dialogue, and fun characters.

The relationships all run through Chuck.

Chuck with his sister.
Chuck with his best friend.
Chuck with Agent Walker.
Chuck with Agent Casey.

Each one is different, and each vital to the show.

As the season moves along and each of the supporting characters grows and has interaction with one another, it's a balancing act between actual spy cover that they must maintain.

Looking forward to seeing what is in store for the gang next season! 

Sadly, unlike Psych, the house is divided over this one.  One half is really enjoying it, and one half is wondering what the heck we're watching it for.

:: sigh ::

Can't win 'em all...


Available to stream on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Won't need to own it, at least not yet.  One season down, 4 to go, we'll see if it jumps the shark or if it stays this much fun.

For the Hand of Reese Witherspoon..."This Means War" !

All's fair...

The Story:

Two CIA operatives, FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy) are pretty much the best at what they do.  While they are teamed up on a case, Tuck is trying to get back out on the dating scene since his divorce.  He dates a lovely girl, Lauren (Reese Witherspoon).  Ah, but FDR wanted to be a pal and provide backup to his partner just in case.  When he runs into Lauren later that same night, they hit it off, never realizing he's just made the move on his best friend's new girl.  So when two top operatives become rivals in love, neither one is going to be safe on any date!

This is one of my favorites from last year.

Not "great enough" to be a Top 10 movie of the year, but good enough to be an enjoyable "hey, let's watch this one again" movie.

I love those kinds of movies.  My library is full of them.

: )

The best part, it's a romantic comedy, buried underneath an action comedy.

So win-win for the guys on date night! :)

Reese Witherspoon of course plays the romantic comedy lead in her sleep.  She's the 2010s version of the 80s/90s Meg Ryan.

This is not to be seen as an insult either, I'm quite pleased with the comparison and have enjoyed many romantic comedies starring Ms. Witherspoon.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy have an excellent rapport as best friends and bitter rivals, often within split seconds of each other.

All the while that they are trying to figure out who gets the girl, an angry villain who has vowed revenge from their last case is trying to kill the boys.

Saving the world, stopping the bad guy, and getting the girl.

CIA 101.

Naturally, you'll see which guy Lauren will pick a mile away.  They telegraph it in the story, but at least it provides the happiest ending all around.

Directed by the always underrated McG, the man makes slick, fun action films.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I liked it so much, I bought it. :)