Monkey Man - Movie Review

The Movie: Monkey Man

The Director: Dev Patel

The Cast: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte, Makarand Deshpande

The Story: An anonymous young man unleashes a campaign of vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and continue to systemically victimize the poor and powerless.

TheTwohSix Top Ten Favorite Movies of 2023

Here its is, TheTwoOhSix Top Ten Favorite Movies of 2023. For me, this was a very strange year for cinema with a lot of heavy hitters missing the mark but still several that knocked it out of the park and more than enough in the overall lineup to keep things interesting. Out of all of those, you will find my absolute favorites in the list below. Enjoy!

Ballerina / 발레리나 - Movie Review

The Movie: Ballerina / 발레리나

The Director: Lee Chung-hyun

The Cast: Jun Jong-seo, Kim Ji-hun, Park Yu-rim

The Story: Grieving the loss of a best friend she couldn't protect, an ex-bodyguard sets out to fulfill her dear friend's last wish: sweet revenge.

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 - Movie Review

The Movie: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

The Director: Christopher McQuarrie

The Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, Pom Klementieff, Mariela Garriga, Henry Czerny, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Charles Parnell, Frederick Schmidt, Cary Elwes, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, Rob Delaney

The Story: Ethan Hunt and his IMF team embark on their most dangerous mission yet: To track down a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity before it falls into the wrong hands.

The Childe / 귀공자 - Movie Review

The Movie: The Childe / 귀공자

The Director: Park Hoon-jung

The Cast: Kim Seon-ho, Kang Tae-ju, Kim Kang-woo, Go Ara

The Story: In a desperate attempt to secure funds for his mother’s surgery, an amateur boxer searches for the wealthy estranged father he’s never met. But after a lead takes him from the Philippines to Korea, he is relentlessly pursued by a quirky yet highly dangerous man.

John Wick 4 - Movie Review

The Movie: John Wick 4

The Director: Chad Stahelski

The Cast: Keanu Reeves, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Shamier Anderson, Lance Reddick, Rina Sawayama, Scott Adkins, Clancy Brown, Natalia Tena, Marko Zaror, Ian McShane

The Story: John Wick uncovers a path to defeating the High Table.

The Protégé - Movie Review

The Movie: The Protégé

The Director: Martin Campbell

The Cast: Maggie Q, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton

The Story: Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody and trained in the family business, Anna is the world's most skilled contract killer. But when Moody is brutally killed, Anna vows revenge.

Hydra - Movie Review

The Movie: Hydra

The Director: Kensuke Sonomura

The Cast: Masanori Mimoto, Miu, Tasuku Nagase

The Story: After retiring as an assassin, Takashi leads a quiet life as a chef at a sushi bar, where he secretly watches over the daughter of a former associate. His peace is short-lived: soon, he is recruited for a final job that he simply can’t refuse.

Deliver Us From Evil / 다만 악에서 구하소서 - Movie Review

The Movie - Deliver Us From Evil / 다만 악에서 구하소서

The Director: Hong Won-chan

The Cast: Hwang Jung-min, Lee Jung-jae, Park Jung-min, Choi Hee-seo

The Story: An assassin goes to Thailand in order to solve a kidnapping case linked to him, and finds himself chased by a man whose sibling he killed.

Nobody - Movie Review

The Movie: Nobody

The Director: Ilya Naishuller

The Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Connie Nielsen, RZA, Alexey Serebryakov, Christopher Lloyd

The Story: A bystander who intervenes to help a woman being harassed by a group of men becomes the target of a vengeful drug lord.

Extraction (2020) - Movie Review

The Movie: Extraction

The Director: Sam Hargrave

The Cast: hris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Golshifteh Farahani, Shivam Vichare , David Harbour

The Story: Tyler Rake, a fearless black market mercenary, embarks on the most deadly extraction of his career when he's enlisted to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.

Birds of Prey - Movie Review

The Movie: Birds of Prey

The Director: Cathy Yan

The Cast: Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ewan McGregor, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Bojana Novakovic, Chris Messina, Greice Santo, Ali Wong, Ella Jay Basco, Charlene Amoia

The Story: After splitting with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord.

2019 Recap - Favorite Films and Performances

2019 has been a very interesting year for the TwoOhSix having watched and reviewed more movies than ever before (210), going global with film festival coverage including virtual stops in Toronto and the UK, joining the prestigious ranks of the Seattle Film Critics Society, earning a press credential from Allied Global Marketing, and debuting the The TwoOhSix podcast that will be reloaded and relaunched in 2020.

Before we move into the new year, it's time to recap what we saw this year and create lists of our favorite films and performances. For those of you that know me or have followed my website over the years, you know that my favorite lists are usually quite different from the typical lists, nominees, and winners of awards season accolades so be prepared for a few unexpected films to either be included or excluded from my lists and of course, have fun exploring my perspective on a year's worth of cinema.

2019 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards

The has been a banner year for The TwoOhSix with a record number of movies watched and reviews posted, global expansion of film festival coverage, and all of it capped off by being accepted into the Seattle Film Critics Society. One of the duties as a member of the SFCS is to participate in voting for the year end awards which have now officially been posted for everyone to see.

2019 Seattle Film Critics Society Awards Nominations

Even though I am nine years into this movie critic thing, this has been my first year as a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society which means I had the honor and privilege of participating in the year end awards nominations process. Over the course of 2019, I have watched and reviewed more movies than ever before so it was quite a task going through all of it to find the best of the best.

Take a look below for the official SFCS press release that contains all the information you could ever want about this year's nominees and stay tuned for the winners to be announced on Monday, December 16th via the SFCS Twitter page (@seattlecritics).

The Fable / ザ・ファブル - 2019 Hawaii International Film Festival Movie Review

The Movie: The Fable / ザ・ファブル

The Director: Kan Eguchi

The Cast: Jun'ichi Okada, Fumino Kimura, Koichi Sato, Mizuki Yamamoto, Ryo Kimura

The Story: An legendary assassin from Tokyo is forced to live as a normal person in Osaka for one year without killing anyone.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum - Movie Review

The Movie: John Wick 3 - Parabellum

The Director: Chad Stahelski

The Cast: Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Laurence Fishburne, Mark Dacascos, Asia Kate Dillon, Saïd Taghmaoui, Jerome Flynn, Randall Duk Kim, Margaret Daly, Jason Mantzoukas,

The Story: Super-assassin John Wick is on the run after killing a member of the international assassin's guild, and with a $14 million price tag on his head - he is the target of hit men and women everywhere.

The Divine Fury (사자) - Fantasia 2019 Movie Review

The Movie: The Divine Fury (사자)

The Director: Kim Joo-hwan

The Cast: Park Seo-jun, Ahn Sung-ki, Woo Do-hwan, Choi Woo-sik

The Story: The film tells the story of a martial arts champion who gains divine powers to fight with a powerful evil force.

No Mercy (언니) - Fantasia 2019 Movie Review

The Movie: No Mercy (언니)

The Director: Lim Kyoung-tack

The Cast: Lee Jun-hyuk, Park Se-wan, Lee Si-young

The Story: A woman seeks to take revenge when her young sister disappears and she finds out that her sister suffered violence and sexual abuse from school bullies.

Anna (2019) - Movie Review

The Movie: Anna

The Director: Luc Besson

The Cast: Sasha Luss, Helen Mirren, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy,

The Story: Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.