The Verdict

The Valero Verdict: Aquaman

| Richard Valero

Welcome to another edition of the “The Valero Verdict” movie review. In this I will give you a quick movie review with a couple of bullet points of which I either liked or disliked. I will end the review with rating of the movie and a short overall thoughts.

On the docket today, Aquaman. The very highly anticipated DC movie starring Jason Momoa.

  • This story was a complete rip-off of Black Panther.
  • This movie really tried way too hard to be funny, like it got embarrassing at some points.
  • The colors were pretty.
  • The action was a bit lackluster, the “big fight” scene in the water was just horrendous, at times you didn’t even know who was who during the fight.
  • Momoa was okay, but honestly he didn’t really have much to work with here. The screenplay was not very good and they didn’t put him in position to succeed at all.
  • Arthur? I feel like you could go back in time and get a better Super-hero name for this guy, this is what I think when I hear Arthur.

The Verdict:

* out of ***** stars

A loaded cast with a terrible script, while colorful and pretty to look at (Add Momoa to that if you’d like) the film feels like one big dud. Aquaman is one of the characters that belongs in ensemble movies but not his own standalone film.

Should You See It?: Absolutely NOT. Especially on Date Night, don’t be like “You can stare at Jason Momoa for two hours”, THEY WILL LEAVE YOU. Just no.

Tell me what you thought of the movie, hit me up on here or talk to me on Twitter @RickyValero_

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The Valero Verdict: The Kid

| Richard Valero

Welcome to another edition of the “The Valero Verdict” movie review. In this I will give you a quick movie review with a couple of bullet points of which I either liked or disliked. I will end the review with rating of the movie and a short overall thoughts.

On the docket today, the Vincent D’Onofrio directed film about a young boy who witnesses Billy the Kid’s encounter with Sheriff Pat Garrett

The Kid is Rated R and in theaters now
  • Dane DeHaan is perfect as Billy the Kid. He just has this perfect witty, sarcastic charm that can’t make you not like him. He was in the movie with some heavy hitters and held his own on every occasion
  • The introduction to Jake Schur….. I was totally impressed by not only this kid’s ability to act but to show some raw emotion in some really tough to watch scenes. For his first movie ever, I was shocked that this kid not only was as good as he was but really stole the show. Which was impressive considering the cast.
  • Ethan Hawke. He is easily becoming one of the best actors of our generation. We are truly blessed every time this man is in a movie anymore.
  • D’Onofrio directed a very well shot, very well told and very well put together film. When it started slow, I was concerned, but as all the pieces started to come together, you understood why the slow build. The payoff was well worth the wait.
  • The little things, like the shootouts. There aren’t many of them but when they happen, they mean something and they are brilliantly shot.

The Verdict:

**** 1/2 out *****

I am not a huge fan of Westerns but D’Onofrio knocked this one out of the ball park. With each Act came more and more layers to peel off with such a massive payoff at the end. You can’t help but come away from this movie satisfied. From DeHann to Schur to Hawke, the acting was top notch. One of the best films of 2019 so far.

Should You See It?: Well it’s only sitting in roughly 258 theaters right now, but if you get a chance to see it, do it. Ignore the bad reviews on this film and go see this movie.

Tell me what you thought of the movie, hit me up on here or talk to me on Twitter@rickygangster

Fast & Furious 6 Movie Review

| Richard Valero

Yesterday I had the opportunity to see a special screener of Fast & the Furious Six. This was on my list of movies that were Must See this summer, so I had high expectations after Fast Five was the best of the franchise. So I give you the Good, the Bad & the Ugly of Fast & Furious 6.

The premise of the movie was based around Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez) who the crew thought was dead. Hobbs (Johnson) shows up with photos of her at Toretto’s (Diesel) doorstep. So he gets the crew together to get the member of the family back together. In order to get her and their freedom they have to bring down former Special Ops solider Owen Shaw (Evan).

The Good –

The Directing & Story – As you saw from the trailer this was going to bring the most outlandish explosive scenes we have seen yet from this franchise. Boy they didn’t let down one bit, whether it was seeing Shaw go down the interstate in a tank or seeing the crew bring down a plane. The cars, the woman, the action, the stunts & the fight scenes were all there in this movie. Justin Lin brought it to the table in this movie, with a non-stop thrill ride that left you on the edge of your seat. Lin who doesn’t look to be directing the 7th installment of the franchise went out with a bang in my opinion. He really brought in a new story that worked honestly. It was a nice build that lead to some great scenes amongst the cast.

The Fight scenes – I am not sure anything could top the fight scenes between Hobbs & Toretto in the last film but they came close. The fight scene between Han, Roman & Jah was classic, Jah just whooped both of these guys asses after taking out some cops in a subway. The 1st and 2nd battle between Letty & Riley (Gina Carano) were great, Carano carried her weight in this film for sure. Paul Walkers fight scene in the prison added a nice touch to something you don’t see from him regularly. Then you had the final battle, Toretto, Hobbs, Shaw & Muscleman where we saw Toretto with a flying head butt and man that was awesome!!!!!!

The Stunts – They laid it all on the table for the stunts in this film. The car scenes were as good as ever and the new cars brought to the table were a nice touch as well. Even as crazy as it looked in the trailer the taking down of the plane was completely insane. I couldn’t believe it while watching it and still not sure I believe it. But that’s what makes this franchise good at what it does.

The Cast – Johnson has really brought this franchise full circle, when he came in on Fast Five he brought a new interesting approach to this film. I thought he made the film what it was and he didn’t stop in this one either. He brings an outside force that is practically unstoppable that has a level head that you don’t get with sometimes “close-minded” Toretto.

Diesel, Walker & the rest of the crew brought the regular old selves to the table in the film. They are made for these roles and perfect them with ease. The Tyrese and Ludacris banter back and forth will never get old honestly. They are the little highlights of the film that I think everyone enjoys.

The Return of Letty – The trailer I thought kind of gave away too much in this but in reality they fooled you on what really happened. Without spoiling it I really enjoyed the build to bringing her character full circle in the movie.

The Bad –

There was a bit of lack of character development in the “bad guys” of the movie. There was Shaw and kind of just everyone else (outside Letty).

The Ugly – None

The Verdict –

4.5 Out 5 Stars

This automatically jumps into my top 5 for 2013; the action in this movie was amazing. The fight scenes, the car chases & the unbelievable twist that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Even better was the after credits that set up Fast & Furious 7 for next summer. This movie joins Iron Man 3 as the must see action movies of the summer.