They went all Texas Chainsaw massacre with this one for a moment... and gritty! Was expecting a low-budget movie when they started - and maybe not a part of the official Death Race franchise at all, yet when Danny Glover and Danny Trejo came into the picture, and with the overconfident SWAT team intermezzo, with the fire and flame and carnage and Heavy Metal concert with topless bitches (just feels like proper terminology here - no offense intended) and initial showdown at the abandoned pool that looks a bit like the one in Chernobyl... I started getting convinced.

Ex-cheerleader?
Ex-pornstar?
Exactly.

This one is good.

They're back on track. They're hardcore. There's violence and nudity. Action for adults. There are certain imperfections, like the fake bridge gap, but you couldn't have expected them to catch that one could you?

Overall it's more Death Race than maybe any of the Death Race movies before it. Back to origins with a bad-ass main character to boot.

Though whatever happened to Bexi? I'm a little disappointed it ends the same way as all before it, and we never even knew who Frank was. He didn't seem like the one from the prequels...

There's also a Lucy Aarden shower scene btw. Take note.

It's not perfect but I am satisfied with this movie - it's gritty like few new before it - Mad Max style! Hope there'll be more.

 rated 4/5: fo shizzle

I didn't realize I grew up in such a great era of film.

The flies a buzzing. The cars by the bridge. The glass and gruesomeness, the honorable yet unexpected death, and a Jay-Z feature to match the Denzel action acting. This was massive. Better than The Departed. Better than Heat. Better than any regular spy movie of today.

They do go overboard with shaky cam, saturated sunshine and close-up shots occasionally, but the acting's solid, and the action's solid, and everything just permeates professionalism, and desperation, both. Organized chaos. Charisma. Fearless resolve. Scrutiny and savagery. It's the CIA ey. It's not fancy - it's real.

Not sure if it's truly a top tier score movie but... yeah I think so.

And Ryan's been around a round huh. Didn't realize he'd tried so much more than the comedy we now know him for.

Great watch.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

It starts as a party movie, Wolf of Wall Street-like, a blitz of glamour and beauty. The great event. Then the romance. Then the comedy. Then the killer twist. I didn't expect it... and yet I did expect it.

You both do and don't. You both know, and loath the ending; wish to turn away from what you know will be there... and yet you don't.

It's an entrancing exploration of the old age NY with black music in back and a not too great set of ideologies and mustaches that might give you a hint at who the good guys are and who aren't early on, and yet...

Well just watch the movie. You'll see. Let's keep spoilers marginal.

Tobey Maguire was unexpectedly great as the main lead, and apparently he and Leonardo (DiCaprio) have been real-life friends since childhood!!! Who knew. Maybe it makes this all the better. All the more real. Maybe it breaks the fourth wall a bit. Is this good acting or is it just how they are together?

The rest of the cast's killer as well, starring the likes of Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton, Lisa Adam and Isla Fisher. Among others.

The movie's art, and I loved it.

From the intro to the credits, and everything in-between.

It's magical. It's old. It's new. It's sad. It's unreal. It's everything. If you like the unorthodox - or the finesse of the old days, or the imaginative and authorly... give it a shot won't you. If you won't terribly mind.

I haven't read the book though, which apparently may be even better.
The viewers who critique this seem to hold than in almost unrealistically high regard.

But personally; without prior reference of comparison? This was a definite...

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

It's a little cheesy yes, sometimes. The kids all look like adults. The story's cliché - but it plays with cliché too, and the ending is still one of most memorable ones in scary movie history. Not to forget the garage door scene! Props Rose McGowan, who looks a bit like Lindsay Lohan. And Billy like that guy from... who does he remind me of? Not sure.

I coincidentally ran into a podcast with Neve Campbell just after I'd watched this, and she spoke a bit about this movie on it: It took a look at the genre itself. It was self-referential. It was fresh and new and had humor as well. Neve Campbell, on Literally with Rob Lowe.

The sights were better than I remembered too. The sunrises.... it had some moments. Maybe it's the only scary movie parody that managed to be more than a parody, and actually received an actual parody based upon it too... maybe? (Scary Movie.)

Either way it still is great. Classic. Iconic. Praise. Straight A's.

 rated 5/5: friggin awesome

Go watch the 1998 version. That's one of my favorite movies ever.

This isn't a rip-off though, or a sequel, or a movie inspired by the former great - as I thought it might be. Rather it's a French movie about a theater play starring a bunch of criminals fresh out the pen.

It's not bad. It's not what I expected to watch, but they've got comradery, and passion, and it all ends with what I believe is a promising reform of the prison system? Something about this theatre programme being further funded? My French is a little rusty.

Good movie after all. Left me with a smile. But it's not really like my favorite at all...

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

Anytime they include a RTJ track in one of these: Hell yeah. Even if it's just for a moment!

Though it comes back again. Hell yeah!

John Cena really overplays things sometimes, but overall... this the kind of overplayed comedy I can have a laugh with anyway.

It's party humor but more than that. It's friendship. It's life. It's about values that transcend this silly little thing they have going on here, and certain scenes - like the bit with the squirrel and the mushroom and the Ferrari follow-up - showcase a refreshing kind of creativity too.

You're not just stuck in the one house and wedding for the full duration of the film, either. You go places. You experience things.

It feels like... adventure. For real.

It had me thinking a bit of Neighbors at first, but while that one went over the top in a scary way this one does it more so in a genuine and heartfelt one.

No top score but I did really like this movie.

It's all in the moments. And the chemistry sometimes hits just perfect.

Like whenever Marcus (Lil Rel Howery) really loses his temper and suckerpunches a bro.

Meredith Hagner and Yvonne Orji are awesome too.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all