Reviews

Just watched it and was not impressed. Typical crappy remake. Just leave the originals alone! Will anyone remember the remake of this, or Karate Kid or Footloose in 5 years? I doubt it.

This would have been better had it been cast with real actors and not Youtube influencer and LBGQT types. Just horrible and no real acting at all.

I am sure Jake signed on to do this because he got paid well and he got pitched without reading the script.

Oh, and the story? Not even plausible. A black-owned bar on the Florida panhandle. Hmmm. Really?

Fight scenes out of the cartoons, where one second some poor guy gets his head bashed in with a bar stool and he pops right back up and nary a scratch!

If you just take this as a chance to make a money grab off the popularity of MMA and UFC, and throw in the biggest star, well, good enough reason and what Hollywood does. I would have liked to seen this done 15 years ago with Chuck Liddell in Connors role.

How anyone could think this was a great movie is beyond me. No real attempts were made to develop the characters. You simply accepted what was presented and off we go to catch the bad guys. However, it had nice cinematography of the landscape and sky. Emily Blunt was wasted here. Her role here was never really understood, and the black agent seemed to be in the movie just so they could not be accused of being too white a movie, although there were plenty of Mexicans in it. Josh Brolin's character never rises to the level of being likable, the way he was in No Country for Old Men. The most interesting part was the character played by Benicio Del Toro, who doesn't have to speak to be charismatic and effective. He is ruthless but likable at least until the end when he has his payback.

Firstly, there are quite a few really eloquently written and insightful reviews of this movie, I felt silly trying to add my 2 cents, but here goes. Live By Night is a typical Ben Affleck written and directed movie, with a typical Ben Affleck wooden-performance. There, that's really all you need to know. Seen one, seen them all. Yea, it's lushly filmed, capturing the look and sometimes the feel of the Prohibition era, both up north in Boston and in the still mostly wild undeveloped Florida. As far as the story, it could of been a serial Gangster episode of the 1940's because there really is no central hero-type character either in charge or in the making (think Godfather and Don Corleone in the present but also the past). We never really get to care about the central character. All this movie did for me was try and tell a story without really telling it. Yes, some there was some real talent present and waiting to spring into action, but they really never had the chance as the movie would jump from one scene to another with no emotional glue to hold the scenes together.

I saw this movie about a year after it came out and then again now, and it wasn't until I was half-way thru it, that I recall I had already seen it! I never forgot seeing Goodfellas, or The Godfather! Not a good sign.

I really wanted like this. I like Kiststen Dunst, I actually have met her husband Jesse Plemmons thru working on set. However, I digress, as did this show! It had a good start, showing MLM's for the scams they are but how people get so caught up in them because there lives are going nowhere, at least according to the scammers! Sone good revelations along the way. I kept waiting for this show to "get to the point!", of Kirsten becoming a successful and rich MLM'er! By the end of the 5th and most bizzarre episode where Ted Levine(Buffallo Bill in Silence of the Lambs) goes into some LSD type of mind trip and the whole thing just gets stupid and pointless! There are things that come up that don't even apply to the story! Like little Jimmy is beating off now at 9? Is that even possible? The first 4 episodes seem to be about how bad can life get for Kirsten's character! I felt like "we get the point! Her life sucks!" but it just keeps going! Well, I shut it off and deleted the rest of the episodes 6-10. Waste of time and I lost interest in all the characters except the really heavy-set couple who are the only people in the show you actually care about!

I waited to write this review until I finished watching the movie in its entirety. I often will go to IMDb when I start watching a movie that grabs my attention or at least starts off somewhat interesting, after all, its 2-3 hours of my life I will never get back. I turned on the TV to catch some Bloomberg (channel about stocks), then I would surf the channels and see if anything caught my eye. The name Longest Ride caught my eye, so I left it on and made coffee. The movie had only started, and I usually am one who never sees movies from start to end, but wherever I happen upon them while channel surfing. It's probably something many of us do. The movie had only started and I decided to give it a chance. I came in on the part where the 2 girlfriends went to the rodeo to see some cowboys, much to the reluctance of Sophia(Britt Anderson)an aspiring art student attending a local NC college. It is there she meets by sheer chance (or fate?) Luke(Scott Eastwood), a professional rodeo rider, who gets tossed by a bull closeby and whose hat lands at her feet. After locking eyes for a moment, he tells her to keep it. From there a romance unfolds, albeit with some trepidation and reluctance on Sophia's part. It seemd like it was going to be some typical Hallmark type of movie, possibly based on a romantic novel and I was almost about to change channels, but then Alan Alda enters the picture. That is where I came here to IMDb and see what this movie was about. I had no idea who Nicholas Sparks is, being a 62.y.o. Male, not likely to read his type of books or watch these kinds of movies. Don't get me wrong, I love a good love story and will cry at the slightest implication of emotion, human empathy and kindness. I will tell you that I have always like Alan Alda and back in 1990, I worked on the movie Betsy's Wedding, also set in NC, and had a memorable encounter with him on set. I was a set dresser and during a lunch break, he was by himslef and walked by and observed what i was doing and I said something kind of witty about the movie and he laughed and said "good one". I asked for a quick photo from my Kodak, which we used to keep "continuity" and he said sure. I still have that photo and really love it. So, I kept watching the movie and am glad I did! Never seen Scott Eastwood, and the similarities to his legendary father are there yet he still carries his own persona and doesnt try to be his father. Also, Oona Chaplin, grand-daughter to the greatest actor of the silent era Charlie Chaplin! This movie, on pedigree alone would have to be decent, right? Yes, it was and is! All the actors were perfectly cast, including Jack Huston, a descendant of Hollywood royalty, the Huston family(Angelica and Director John Huston). Wow! Like I said, the sparks for this movie are there, but could it deliver the heat? I have to say yes, yes, yes! Many here have written negative reviews (I consider anything under a 6 to be negative) and my one question is "why bother watching it at all?" If you know Nicholas Sparks does these types of romantic movies. Were you expecting something different? Is not the purpose of these movies to make us forget/remind us of what love is, was or could be? Watch the movie. If not for Alan's performance alone, but the backstory of the Levinson's. In between, there is some pretty good rodeo scenes, incredible NC Blue Ridge Mountains and some beautiful art.

Like so many reviewers here have explained much better than I, the technical processes that were used to bring this tragic war to life, I am also in complete awe of Peter Jackson (has he ever disappointed?) and his crew for this astounding and affecting documentary of war. I read many of the negative reviews of this film(anything 4 or under) and feel genuinely sorry for those poor souls who completely miss the point or misunderstood what they were seeing. This isn't supposed to be an action-thriller type of war movie! This unfolds slowly as it moves towards what becomes almost what seems like a dream because of what came before in the black and white footage and "Charlie Chaplinesque" type action. I had a very long work day and was tired when I started watching but, in a way, that made the experience almost surreal for me. I was drifting off asleep but occasionally would come back to my senses after hearing a bomb explode or machine gun fire. The film was black & white when I started drifting off but when I was startled to my senses by some onscreen gunfire and bombing, I saw the film had changed to color. I also saw the men themselves talking and even looking into the camera and some even playing to it. I thought for a moment this was a different! I soon realized it was not and I had to literally pinch myself when I realized this was actual footage that had been enhanced to appear more modern in sight and sound that we are accustomed to seeing in more contemporary movies! I can tell you now, I watched the rest of the documentary quite mesmerized and stunned not only by the sheer technical achievements( I couldn't wait to research HOW this was all accomplished!), but by the humor and the horror of the whole experience of this at first, seemingly patriotic war, where even underaged boys(15-17) wanted to participate and were even encouraged by some Army recruiters to " go back outside and have yourself a birthday." , to the later revelations as expressed via the restored voices in another technical marvel, of just what madness this war had become. The day-to-day drudgery of trench warfare seems to almost come out and make you feel the mud, smell the gunpowder, almost recoil when the bombs exploded nearby and of course the shocking and horrible many torn apart and blown-up pieces of what only seemed like a few minutes before had been living, breathing young men just doing their duty and trying to "get on" with it.

I was simply, blown-away (pardon the bad pun) but I was. My senses of what it must of been like have been greatly enhanced bu this technical marvel of restorative film-making, not only in terms of its technical feats but just the style and way Peter presents the footage and the Great War itself.

It should be "must-see" for everyone.

I watched the first 3 seasons in 2019 so I was able to binge and that's the best way. So Covid happens and many shows were delayed and some even cancelled. During Covid, Blacklist(the best show ever written from beginning to end imo) became my fix as well as Bosch and Longmire. Then I move to Thailand to retire and needed something to pass the long hot days and I see Animals Kingdom has 3 more seasons. Yippeee! I decide to pick up with the last few episodes of Season 3 to remind me of the characters and storyline. It didn't take long to see why i was hooked on this from Season 1 episode 1 ! Having spent the last 30 years living in Los Angeles, I was well familiar with the lifestyle and the terrain of this show! It felt like home in some ways! Now that I am into Season 5 now, it feels a little played out. There are too many weak points in the various stories that just don't seem realistic enough to be believable. For instance, Josh's girlfriend discovers who he is, knows he is dangerous and yet still rats on him. Not until she is threatened by Josh, does she back down. Real life, it never happens. The big gunfight at the Cody's with the gang they stole the gold from. So the neighbors are so used to parties and what not, they don't know the sound of a semi-automatic weapon? Just didnt seem plausible. Lots of moements like this. Ok, I heard Season 5 is the weakest, maybe they were struggling for ideas? But heard S6 is the one! I also like the parallel storyline of a young Smurf(even though they never say how she got that nickname) running congruent with the present, giving us insight into how Smurf and her family of misfits evolved into thier present day form. That was a great idea and the younger Smurf and Pope's dad were magnetic on camera. Hated what happened. So, I may come back and revise the review after completion but I really like the show, even if I did have to watch a little too much of 2 men kissing!