Sheep Movie Review: The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

Aug 9, 2019 Limited
Directed By: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz

Written By: Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz

Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Dakota Johnson, Zack Gottsagen, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal

Rating: G-13 (for thematic content, language throughout, some violence and smoking)

Genre: Action & Adventure, Drama
Runtime: 93 minutes
Studio: Roadside Attractions
A modern Mark Twain style adventure story, THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON tells the story of Zak (Zack Gottsagen), a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck (Thomas Haden Church). A strange turn of events pairs him on the road with Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), a small time outlaw on the run, who becomes Zak's unlikely coach and ally. Together they wind through deltas, elude capture, drink whisky, find God, catch fish, and convince Eleanor (Dakota Johnson), a kind nursing home employee charged with Zak's return, to join them on their journey.

I’d you aren’t a fan of superheroes, sometimes it’s hard to find a good movie nowadays, but I have a new hero - Peanut Butter Falcon! This is the story of Zak, a young adult with Down Syndrome, who runs away from his long-term care facility to chase his dream to attend pro wrestling school. He picks up misfit Tyler (an amazing Shia LaBeouf!) as they are each chased across the countryside, and sometimes they are just running from their pasts.

What a great film to see, I highly recommend it as a perfectly paced, feel good movie. Believing in yourself can be everything; believing in others is a gift.

5 Sheep

Jo Dawson

Sheep Movie Review: Lawless

Lawless, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, and Jessica Chastain is a gritty film that left me emotionally wrecked by the credits. However, I don't think the film could have ended any other way and is worth the emotional turmoil.

Plot:

Lawless is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic gangster tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant's family in his novel "The Wettest County in the World", the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation's most notorious crime wave.

It's a part of the past that many Americans, especially of the younger generations, are quick to forget. Prohibition left many folks scrambling to take matters into their own hands and start making their own bootleg moonshine and bathtub gin. Add the fantastic sums of money to be made from bootlegging, and you end up with citizens and cops alike all taking part in the buying and selling of this illegal but tasty drink. This movie is extremely stylish and visually breathtaking to watch, it leaves you truly feeling like you're right in the thick of Virginia partying at the local square in town. I'll bring the banjo! Combined with a musical score that's on point and you've got yourself the makings of something really special.

Give me characters I can stand behind and root for! Lawless has its moments of really shaking the audience down with the emotional stick when it comes to its characters. I wanted to jump in and help kick some butt, and then laugh with the boys afterwards. The actors all did an outstanding job of knowing the characters and delivering them in a very authentic and rich way. Shia has a tendency of grating on my nerves, but I found him both refreshing and spot on throughout this film. Hardy brings the heat and passion like no other, he's gruff and probably smokin' a tad too much of the wacky tabacy but it all works out in the most delicious of ways.

The only downsides I found were the lack of clear pronunciation at times and the mumbling of lines was annoying. This was recently a problem in the Batman movies, like The Dark Knight Rises and it really takes away from the movie. I want to be able to hear what the heck the characters were saying! I can dig the accents but it's so frustrating when you have to turn to the person next to you (Shout out to my girl Ceci!) and ask "what'd they say?". And even worse when they don't know either. Some choppy editing from scene to scene left me a tad confused as we transitioned along the storyline. You add that the movie's core lacked a serious something and I have to give this movie a lower rating than I'd like.

Dirty cops that you'll love to hate and bloody realistic fights will leave you rooting for these backwoods brothers, this drama is one to see.

Getting 4 'girl what you doing in my bed' Sheep

KD

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is directed by Michael Bay and stars Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Alan Tudyk (from Firefly!) and Patrick Dempsey. While I didn't like a few things in the movie, overall it's not anywhere near as bad as some the reviews out there right now. Will it be the best of the three? No, but it's a good film.

Plot:

Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) taking his first tenuous steps into adulthood while remaining a reluctant human ally of Optimus Prime. The film centers around the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, suggesting there was a hidden Transformers role in it all that remains one of the planet's most dangerous secrets. The villain of the third film will be Shockwave.

A lot of disappointment was felt after Transformers 2, for me one of those disappointments was Arcee not having a bigger role as one of the only female bots finally coming to the screen. Aside from a plot that was severely lacking in Transformers 2 I was a little nervous to continue. But my love for the Autobots is too deep to deny: Optimus Prime, Iron Hide, Ratchet and Bumblebee are my boys! Needless to say I had to give them another shot. First the downsides, Shia was a bit annoying with his constant screaming and whiny behavior. At some point the boy needs to grow up and be a man, and I had hopes that with this time around (as an Ivy league grad and all) he would be a bit more adult like but unfortunately he was again let me down with his acting ability. With a run time of almost 2 and 1/2 hours the film felt way too long, quite a bit could have been shaved off to save the audience from all the excess that really held no bearing on the main plot. The script didn't flow easily and gave it a little disjointed feel but overall the action makes up for anything that might have been lacking.

Positive side. This film has some of the best robot fighting I have ever witnessed on the big screen, the highway scenes and hand to hand combat in the street of Chicago were pretty exciting. I did notice they took a little more time slowing down the action, where as before everything was blown through so quickly you couldn't tell who was fighting who. I really appreciated that. Sam's parents are hysterical side characters that really keep the comedy rolling whenever they appear on screen. I am NOT a fan Of Megan Fox so I had a much more enjoyable time with this movie. Was Rosie a good actress? ..not really no. But she did a so-so job with the part and was much more tolerable than Fox.

With a plethora of fighting (sometimes graphic in nature) and a PG-13 rating parents be warned that little ones may not need to see this film. It may not be blood but when heads of robots or humans are being ripped off it's still a bit disturbing. So use good judgment with the younger kids. Loved seeing Optimus and his Axe taking names and kicking Decepticon butt! With lines like "We will kill them all!" how could you not root for the giant heroes?! These guys hold my heart and for nothing else but their scenes alone this movie is well worth the money to see it. It's a summer popcorn flick and nothing more. :)

Getting 3 and 1/2 Allspark Sheep

KD

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. yeah well i came close

Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone, stars Michael Douglas, Josh Brolin, Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. It hit theaters this weekend. Never one to miss a movie staring Michael Douglas, I made my way to the theater with my movie gal pal, Ceci. :)

Plot Summary:

The sequel to the 1987 popular movie, "Wall Street". This film follows the actions of a Wall Street trader Gordon Gekko after his release from prison. As the global economy teeters on the brink of disaster, a young Wall Street trader partners with disgraced former Wall Street corporate raider Gekko on a two-tiered mission: To alert the financial community to the coming doom, and to find out who was responsible for the death of the young trader's mentor.

This movie review for me is a little hard to write. Let me explain a bit. Something definitely felt off in the script. Ceci and I discussed this for at length after the movie but could not put our finger on exactly what the problem was. To quote her words "the whole thing just needed to be redone". I don't know if I agree with that 100% but I get where she was coming from. Something did not work out, there was a big lack of finesse missing. More smoothness needed maybe? Definitely tricky.

Okay, review time. Bling is one of the big themes in this movie. So much time was taken to show who was wearing what and what fancy shmacny place they got it from. Really? Ok if thats what you want to waste film footage on. Oh wait! Film makes big money on showing off corporate names...got it. No wonder Heineken and Ducati are mentioned so much as well. :P

As for the acting, it was decent. Carey can sure cry on cue, had that water faucet pouring a plenty. Almost became annoying IMO. Michael, Shia and Josh put forth the best performance they could, but it all seems to come back to that script. Not much you can do if its horribly lacking. Cinematography was done well enough, but focus felt more on the architecture around the actors and left me with a feeling of emotion detachment.

Overall, it's a bunch of bling-bling look at my ring and Wall Street mind games. As I myself am such a direct person and HATE being manipulated in any fashion. The whole back stabbing and cut throat business that is Big Money was a huge turn off in it's own right. So again, writing this review comes with mixed emotions for me. And seeing how I was just recently screwed out of some money by a cleaver con-artist, this movie hit very very close to home.

Gets 2 1/2 sheep from me and a big recommendation to miss the high theater ticket price and wait for the dvd.

KD