Movie Review: Suicide Squad

August 19, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 4 Comments

Before I saw this summer’s long-awaited and nauseatingly-hyped antihero ensemble movie Suicide Squad, I was having a difficult time processing all of the venom with which the Internet had become flush over it. I’m going to preface my review by stating that although I may be in the minority, I enjoyed the film overall. That certainly does not mean the movie was without its flaws, because there was plenty that the audience at large, myself included, did not like about it. Here I will paint an honest picture of the Suicide Squad – the good, the bad and the ugly will all be analyzed in this review. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: Nerve

August 17, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Are you a watcher or a player? That’s the question that lies at the premise of this summer’s hip and unique thriller Nerve. In this 2016 film starring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, an online game has been created in which players win money by performing increasingly dangerous tasks out in public, and those prizes are funded by people who pay to watch them accept dares that range from the embarrassing to the potentially deadly. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: Hush

August 16, 2016August 16, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 2 Comments

At the suggestion of a friend, I recently watched the movie Hush. Although I viewed this film on Netflix, there was no chill. Hush is a horror film that revolves around deaf writer Maddie (Kate Siegel) who has retreated to in a cabin in the middle of nowhere to live a life of isolation, and to pound the keys for her new book. The solace she thought she would enjoy soon turns to terror as a masked psychopath shows up outside her house and begins to engage in psychological warfare. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: No Escape

August 9, 2016August 16, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

When I first saw the trailer for No Escape, I was intrigued enough to say “That’ll be one for RedBox,” and that’s precisely how I’m watching it as I write this. An action movie set on foreign soil, featuring Owen Wilson as the unlikely hero admittedly comes from more than a little out of left field, but I was still drawn to it. I rented the movie thinking it was going to be one of those turn-your-brain-off, over-the-top action flicks with a clear protagonist and villain, but it was more complex and actually packed a heavy message. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: Jason Bourne

August 4, 2016August 16, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Jason Bourne is back. It’s been nearly a decade since Matt Damon played the title role in this incredible thriller series, and it’s more than safe to say he hasn’t lost his touch. Damon takes up the mantle again in Jason Bourne, as his character, a former assassin for the U.S. government lives on the run while the secretive government agency that made him what he was tries to bring him back in, or better yet, kill him. This time, he finds out some more than unpleasant news about who was involved with the program that in the name of patriotism transformed him into a killing machine. That revelation hits entirely too close to home, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: The Secret Life of Pets

July 28, 2016August 16, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / 2 Comments

I have a soft spot for adorable animated movies, so I was excited about The Secret Life of Pets from the moment I first saw the trailer. What better way to hook an audience than with a trailer that makes pet owners of all kinds shake with laughter and nod in agreement when they see pixelated depictions of the shenanigans (albeit greatly exaggerated ones) in which they imagine their non-human companions participate when those pets are left to their own devices. Pets is the story of Max (voiced by comedian Louis C.K.), a loyal pup whose world is turned upside down when his dog-loving owner brings home a large and graceless mongrel, with whom he is forced to share their Manhattan flat. Continue reading →

Mini Movie Reviews: London Has Fallen

July 25, 2016August 16, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Welcome to the first edition of “Mini Movie Reviews” at The No Seatbelt Blog! I love movies more than most things in life, and when I write about them, I tend to be longwinded. I’m starting this series to present small, digestible reviews of movies that I enjoyed, but on which I don’t feel the need to compose a novel. I’m kicking the series off with London Has Fallen, the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, which was one of two 2013 flicks that revolved around a terrorist attack on The White House (the other being White House Down). Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Shallows

July 9, 2016 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

We’ve seen the classic shark-attack movie Jaws, in which an entire shore town has an inordinate amount of trouble killing one man-eating beast. We’ve seen Deep Blue Sea, in which intelligent and genetically-modified sharks break free of their captors and start striking back. Now we have The Shallows, a refreshing suspense flick that pits scrappy surfer and med student Nancy (Blake Lively) against one terrifying and relentless shark. Continue reading →

Film Review: The Gift

November 30, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Last week, I finally got to watch The Gift, a thriller that I had heard mostly good things about and was eagerly awaiting. The directorial debut of Joel Edgerton (who also wrote and starred in the movie), The Gift revolves around Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall), a young couple whose lives seem to be coming together as they move into a new home, Simon gets a significant promotion at work, and they work on starting a family. This ultimate happiness comes crashing down when they run into Gordo (Edgerton), a former classmate of Simon’s who harbors a dark secret. Continue reading →

Ryan Remembers…My Fellow Americans

August 5, 2015August 7, 2015 / The No Seatbelt Blog / Leave a comment

Released in 1996, My Fellow Americans is one of the sharpest, most well-written comedies of that decade. With an all-star cast including Jack Lemmon, James Garner (both of whom are unfortunately no longer with us), Dan Aykroyd, Bradley Whitford, John Heard, and Wilford Brimley, the movie delivers a plot complete with a frame job that goes all the way up to the Oval Office, and loads of laughs along the way. Lemmon and Garner star as two former Presidents who form a most unlikely alliance, forced to set aside their hatred for each other when one of them is framed for taking a kickback on a defense contract while in office.

Continue reading →