1) "Bloodshot" - I don't know why I bothered to watch this... I suppose I thought, "sci fi" so I gave it a try. Well, if it weren't for the "twist" in the middle, it would have been retarded from the start, but I literally slept through half this movie. I fell asleep, twice, because it took two sittings to watch, and I slept both times. The action was meaningless, paint by numbers from point A to point B. We knew the bad guy was going to die, we knew the good guy would have his revenge, we knew that the ending would be happy and there'd be a sequel. There was simply no point, whatsoever, to any of the excessive action. It accomplished nothing. It was a ridiculous exercise in explosion porn for the sake of special effects and CGI. Boring as hell movie, with a somewhat interesting premise--and that premise alone leads me to not bury this movie. I realize there are folks out there who may like this type of film. I should rate it a half star lower than I am about to. ** out of ****
2) "After We Leave" - An independent sci-fi movie that was the exact opposite of Bloodshot. There's very little to no action in this at all. Plenty of dialogue, interactions with characters, and a strange premise that builds through the film. I did not fall asleep once, was interested in the characters and conversations and the outcome. There are folks here that might loathe a film like this--"Too slow!" "Pointless!" I can hear the cries. Well, I think action for the sake of action is pointless. I liked this movie, but alas, I have to call it for what it is--a good, but not great movie, but the length was appropriate. There were some nice character dynamics going on here, and perhaps with some greater depth and dimensionality to the characters and relationships, might have pushed it a half star higher. Good effort, nice lazy evening movie. ** 1/2 out of ****.
