By TeeJay Small
| Published 27 seconds ago

If you spend as much time trolling around Hulu and Tubi as I do, you’re bound to come across a few hidden gems from time to time. This was certainly the case for me when I stumbled across Self Reliance on Hulu last week. The film is a fun, screwball comedy written, directed, and starring New Girl‘s Jake Johnson. Fresh off that viewing experience, my algorithm detected that I was on some kind of Jake Johnson kick, and alerted me to another starring vehicle for the comedian which released two years earlier.

The second film in my unexpected double feature, Ride The Eagle, touts Johnson’s writing and performance, as directed by Australian filmmaker Trent O’Donnell. While I enjoyed both movies tremendously, I was shocked at just how similar they were. In fact, I’m now on the hunt for a third thematically identical Jake Johnson film, just to see if I can round off a perfect trilogy.

An Unassuming Double Feature

Let’s start from the beginning. On its face, the plot of Self Reliance has little in common with the plot of Ride The Eagle. The former centers on Johnson’s Tommy Walcott as he joins a high-stakes reality game show which is live-streamed to the darkest corners of the internet. Essentially, he’s in a snuff film where he’s being hunted by celebrity lookalikes at all times. The catch is, they can only attack him when he’s completely alone, so Tommy makes an effort to be surrounded by friends and strangers at all times.

Ride The Eagle, on the other hand, sees Johnson portraying a burnout percussionist by the name of Leif Reinhold, who is informed right at the start that his estranged mother has passed away. Leif’s mother abandoned him when he was a child, and the two never reconciled, but she has agreed to leave him a cabin in her will, so long as he follows a set of carefully laid instructions. Feeling conflicted about his tenuous relationship to his mom, Leif packs up his adorable, scene-stealing dog, and moves into the cabin as he begins working his way down the eccentric checklist.

Thematic Overlap

Here’s where the similarities begin. Both films feature Jake Johnson working out his issues with his parents. Leif’s strained relationship with his mother leaves him searching for meaning, and wondering if he should be grieving differently. In Self Reliance, a major plot element is the fact that Tommy’s dad abandoned him in his youth. At one point, Tommy’s dad returns to give him some words of advice, which places major strain on Tommy’s relationship to his sister, since she believes he’s suffering from delusions of grandeur.

The next major through line is JJ’s romantic relationships with women. Ride The Eagle features an absolutely electric performance from The Good Place‘s D’arcy Carden, as Leif’s ex girlfriend Audrey. Lief calls Audrey after his mom’s checklist commands him to rekindle his feelings for the “one who got away,” sparking a level of on-the-phone chemistry that made me blush like I was in a three-way call. In Self Reliance, this character is effectively split into two women, as Tommy sparks up a whirlwind romance with Anna Kendrick’s Maddy. Elsewhere in the film, he confronts his ex girlfriend Theresa about their recent break up, in a scene that feels way too real to be entirely fictional.

Back To Back, Or Over Time?

Finally, there’s the revolving cast of characters that fill out the world of each movie. Jake Johnson has a fun-loving, adorable sidekick in both films, who goes missing for a portion of the runtime only to reappear again later with little explanation. Both films feature Jake Johnson calling out to an uncaring onlooker about keeping his loved ones safe from harm, concluding with a threat of violence if his warning goes unheeded. And of course, both films conclude with JJ going after the girl, having unearthed a level of spontaneity and passion that was previously buried by trauma or listlessness.

I’m not making the argument that Jake Johnson is a one-trick pony here, but I do think it’s odd that these two films have so much in common. Personally, I’d give a slight edge to Ride The Eagle, if only for the knock-out performances of JK Simmons and Susan Sarandon. Despite their obvious similarities, I’d still wholeheartedly recommend both films, but maybe they should be viewed a few weeks apart, so they don’t blend together in your brain.

If you’re interested in checking this Jake Johnson double feature out for yourself, you can find Self Reliance on Hulu, and Ride The Eagle on Tubi. These are a great watch for anyone suffering New Girl withdrawals, or anyone who loves a concise, comedic character study set in a bizarre, offbeat world.

By Chris Sawin
| Published 30 seconds ago

The Furious doesn’t quite live up to expectations, and that’s probably weird to hear from someone who was highly anticipating the film and enjoys martial arts films in general. Looking at the likes of who made the film, The Furious is directed by Kenji Tanigaka, the action choreographer of Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, and the stunt coordinator or action director on at least a dozen of Donnie Yen’s films from Blade II to Sakra. The fight choreography in The Furious is credited to Kensuke Sonomura, director of Ghost Killer and action director of all of the Baby Assassins films.

A Basic Setup With Elevated Action

The Furious capitalizes on the action and martial-arts elements of a film of this nature, but everything else is lacking. The story is that some bad guys are human trafficking children, and that’s about as deep as it goes. A journalist disappears while investigating a story, but her husband, Navin (Joe Taslim), continues the investigation, going undercover to locate her.

Meanwhile, a young girl named Rainy (Yang Enyou) is abducted as part of the human trafficking ring.  Her father, a mute handyman named Wang Wei (Xie Miao), attempts to track her down and save her himself when the police turn him away for lack of evidence.

Outside of Navin searching for his wife and Wang Wei looking for his daughter, there’s no character development in The Furious. The human trafficking syndicate is run by Paklung (Joey Iwanaga), who is marrying into a gangster family and whose wife is pregnant. His motivation seems to be that because he’s expecting a child and because he needs to maintain his life of luxury, he needs to turn to doing despicable things to other children to accomplish those goals.

The villains in the film have such strange motivations. What makes the story frustrating at times is that the police chief is corrupt for its own sake. The cops are difficult to work with because he’s in charge. The human trafficking syndicate sells children because they can make money. It’s true that you don’t go into a movie like this for memorable acting or a well-written story, but it should also be considered a hindrance when lackluster film elements are this noteworthy.

A Frenetic, And Phonetic Experience

The film does pack a lot of surprises into its action, though. The Furious seems not to be a huge fan of children, as they’re killed and terrorized throughout the film. It’s borderline ridiculous at times, too, as people never seem to die from lethal injuries. Wang Wei gets hit by a car while running and gets back up like it’s nothing. There’s a climactic bicycle duel in the rain, people bite off fingers unexpectedly, and somebody does a handstand, holds a knife with their feet, and then stabs somebody else with it.  

With foreign films like this, it’s baffling why the filmmakers choose to make the films (mostly) in English. When everyone involved is from Hong Kong or Indonesia and English is clearly their second language, it’s evident in their performances, regardless of how much effort they put into it.

Dialogue takes the biggest hit in The Furious because it is slow and broken up in a way that sounds like it’s being performed phonetically. It’s like it’s done in an effort to appeal to a wider audience, since reading subtitles isn’t for everyone, but the majority of the fanbase of foreign and martial arts films are used to it by now. Unless an actor is fully fluent in the other languages they speak, their performance will be affected. The easiest fix is to allow them to speak in their native language so they can feel more confident, natural, and sound more genuine.

Despite the film featuring wushu, judo, and taekwondo as fighting styles, the action in The Furious is reminiscent of Muay Thai mixed with a lot of grappling; think Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior meets Donnie Yen’s Flash Point. And, for the most part, it’s awesome. But personally speaking, it grew a bit redundant. You can only slide on the ground, hit someone with your back, elbow, or knee, suplex, or use a hammer as a weapon so many times before it feels stagnant.

Hammering Its Way To The Top

To be fair, there are some incredible sequences in The Furious, as well. Wang Wei’s first real use of the hammer is so awesome. He’s trapped in an MMA cage, so he uses a hammer to smack and pull people down to build this unconscious mountain of bodies to jump out of the cage. Xie Miao is a beast throughout the film. He spends the first third of the film either in flip-flops or barefoot running in the streets as he chases the men who take his daughter. The bloody feet T-1000 runs combined with the constant pitter-pattering of his feet smacking against the ground will be playing on repeat in your head for a long, long time.

Before the mountain of dudes sequence in the cage, the club sequence is really awesome as Wang Wei shows up wearing steel-toe boots with a picture of his daughter in his mouth and just annihilates anyone that stands in his way. There’s also a sequence where Wang Wei is riding a motorcycle through a tight hallway as Rainy rides behind him and pummels passersby with a pipe. There’s no doubt that adrenaline-fueled innovation pulses through every frame of The Furious, but it loses its steam the longer the fights last.

Tak (Yayan Ruhian) is Paklung’s right-hand man and is a weapons expert. He uses a bow and arrow for the majority of the film and is just as fast and as wicked as you’d expect him to be. The finale is also ridiculously amazing as it involves five different people using five different fighting styles, and it eats up the last 15-20 minutes of the film so effortlessly.

The Furious is one of the best action films of the year, but not the best of all time. It’s crazy innovative, but its unique nature fades as the film progresses. Its ingenuity is swapped for a fast pace that doesn’t let up, so the action is quick but repetitive. It’s a film that deserves its praise with a slight caveat.

The Furious is pummeling its way through theaters now.

We’re just days away from one of the biggest shopping events of the year.

This year, Amazon decided to launch into Prime Day a bit early, and we’re in for big savings between June 23 and 26. But I’ve been covering Prime Day deals for nearly five years now, and I can tell you with certainty those dates are merely suggestions. You can find plenty of great deals before the sale starts, and other linger on into the days after the sale.

Anyone who’s looking for gaming upgrades is likely in for some treats from Amazon. Before the sale starts, I’ve spotted some excellent gaming deals that are already live. Since I’m not one to enjoy strong mid-day summer sun, you can find me inside gaming until it’s time for a dinner in the backyard.

If you’re shopping ahead of the sale, these are the top gaming deals to grab before Prime Day hits.

Best gaming monitor deal

Why we like it

A gaming monitor has the power to change the whole gaming experience. Go curved, and you’ll never go back to a dull flat screen. Lucky for us, the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G5 has a 1000R curve, and it’s on sale for a massive 42% off ahead of Prime Day, coming in at just under $190 instead of the list price of $329.99. It’s also worth noting the 27-inch model is on sale for about $200 which makes the cheaper price on the 32-inch model a fantastic snag.

The Samsung Odyssey G5 come with game-worthy specs like a 165Hz refresh rate, AMD Radeon FreeSync, and a glare-free display.

Best gaming-worthy TV deal

Why we like it

We often think of gaming as an expensive hobby, but it doesn’t have to be if gaming items are multi-functional. For example. the 65-inch TCL ClassQM6K QLED TV can serve as your gaming display as well as your TV. Pair this with the sale price of $527.99, and things are looking a lot more realistic, price wise.

The TCL has a native refresh rate of up to 144Hz for crisp and quick gaming. The refresh rate is also excellent if you’ll be sitting down to enjoy watching World Cup games this summer. TCL has the list price for the 65-inch ClassQM6K QLED TV set at $799.99, but Amazon’s early Prime Day sale takes 33% off.

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