By Kevin Vinas
As we count down the last days until the end of school and start thinking about what to do over our week-long break, a great suggestion is what to watch as you recharge for the rest of the year. There are some great things to watch over this break, so while you are relaxing, try some of these options.
First, there is nothing better than watching a great action movie, just enjoying the mindless explosions, but there are some great stories in the following selections too. First on Netflix there is Red Notice and The Gray Man.
Red Notice, directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot. Johnson plays an FBI agent who is trying to catch an art thief, played by Reynolds. Reynolds is his normal comedic role, so if you like that, you will like this. Johnson also has that role he was made for, being an action hero, with a comedy slant. Johnson is an FBI profiler who is obsessed with capturing Reynolds, who is set on stealing a set of three Egyptian, blinged-out eggs. Having three eggs means that there is a constant battle between Johnson and Reynolds, but Gal Gadot has a major role as well, outsmarting both men and taking the eggs for herself. Not giving it all away, this movie is suspenseful, filled with action and the plot has more twists than you can keep track of. It is a great movie, and one of the most watched movies of 2021 and 2022. It is definitely worth watching. And good news, there are two more of these in the works so there will be more to watch on Netflix soon.
Another Netflix action movie original is The Gray Man. Not the FBI this time, but the CIA is the basis of this movie. This action movie was always a safe bet because it was made by the Russo Bothers, who directed four films in the Marvel Universe. They are responsible for the great movies Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avenger: Endgame. In this movie though, the action is not intergalactic, but based on a novel by Mark Greaney. It stars Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans (which makes sense because he was Captain America) and many others. Gosling is “Sierra Six” who discovers that his bosses at the CIA are corrupt (there is a new one) and then must fight for his life, escaping lethal and psychotic assassins, to get the truth out. This is going to be the first of a number of movies in the Gray Man series. If they are all as good as this one it will rival the work done on the Marvel movies.
If you do not have Netfix then you are certainly missing out because they have all the great action movies now. Another one of these is Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt. Based on a Japanese novel, Maria Beetle, by Kataro Asaka, it was translated into English and retitled Bullet Train (which sounds a lot cooler). In this flick Brad Pitt plays an assassin who is trying to retire and turn over a new leaf to be more peaceful and less deadly. However, he is on a high speed train filled with assasins who are trying to kill him. The film is directed by David Leitch who directed Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Hobbs and Show (all great action movies), but this one has to be one of his best. Even though this movie got mixed reviews from the critics, it was a box office success. It came out this past summer and made over $240 million, but only cost $90 million to make. It is well worth the watch if you like Japanese culture, action movies, funny writing, or just good entertainment.
The top grossing movie of 2022, by a mile, is also ready to be streamed on Paramount+. If you want a good movie with lots of action and a good feeling about beating the bad guy terrorists, then Top Gun: Maverick is for you. Even if you did not see the original Top Gun (and I suppose there are a few who haven’t) this movie will not disappoint. It will be streaming at the time of this publication on Paramount +, and it is good enough to get this service if you do not already have it. This movie was produced by Paramount, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer to be an old fashioned action blockbuster. Starring Tom Cruise (as Maverick, of course) as well as Miles Teller (who plays the son of Goose, Maverick’s first rio) and Jennifer Connelly, who plays the love interest. Val Kilmer is even in it, bringing back his role as Ice Man, even though it is now Admiral Ice Man. When saying it grosses a lot, it is A LOT, making over $1.4 billion. It is a movie that you can watch by yourself or better yet, with your whole family.
Paramount+ might be something to look into if you are bored with the Netflix and Disney option. Maybe take a break and get Paramount+. They have lots of movies and is a little different than the others. Owing to their blockbuster status, they just added over four and a half million new subscribers, which means many folks want to watch what they have. Check it out.
Wait, we are at the end of the article and there was not mention of a super hero movie?
Well, not to disappoint, let me recommend two. The Batman and Black Adam. Having the hookup with DC comics, both of these are available to stream now on HBO Max. The first one, The Batman, made money in the box office but the second one, Black Adam, surprisingly did not.
The Batman is not the big blockbuster Batman movies that we have come to be used to in the past. This is more like a detective story, but also does not disappoint in the action genre. It is a little bit long, and it seems like it, which was one of the big criticisms of it from the critics. But if you are just relaxing over the break, then why not take a little extra time, right? In this reinterpretation of the Batman, played by Robert Pattinson, he is fighting the Riddler. It is not the Jim Carrey funny cartoon version of this super-villain. This Riddler, played by Paul Dano, is taking out the Gotham elites with vengeance and showing them to be all as fakes. Grossing over $770 million there will certainly be more to this franchise as well as possibly a DC extended universe, with spin off television shows and maybe more movies. If they are as good as this one, we will all be anxious to check them out.
The last movie on the list is the only one that was a box-office failure. Starring Dwayne Johnson, it is in the same DC universe with Shazam!. In fact Black Adam got his powers the same way the Billy Batson did in Shazam!. He was given the powers by the Council of Wizards, which makes him indestructible. Even though this movie made $390 million world wide, and only cost $230 million to make, when marketing is included it did not break even. It is difficult to imagine a movie with The Rock not making money, but this one did. However, there may have been some other issues like difficulty getting this movie out and it being overshadowed by Top Gun for movie dollars. This is definitely a good movie to catch even if it did not make that much money. Just make sure you stay to the end of the credits when he is brought into contact with Superman. That will be a movie we do not want to miss.
Well, that is the top five action movies you can catch up on this Christmas break. Get a plate of leftovers, some fresh popcorn and enjoy!
