Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  We’re nearly up to date with this offering which came five years after the original Waco miniseries, which I have previously reviewed. This one is a bit leaner at five episodes compared to the predecessor’s six, and is less satisfying too.   The series takes up the story straight after the end of the Waco siege and we get various threads that show us the origins of the Branch Davidians as well as the fall out in the FBI and the consequences of their actions, which the series suggests gave rise to more Patriot style militias who were distrustful of the government.   There are three main threads with the origins of the cult getting the most attention initially with a courtroom drama then playing out along with Shannon’s character trying to work out what the promised ‘Payback’ will take the form of – spoiler – it’s the Oklahoma City bombing.   We see the cult in its early days in 1981, with Koresh joining under his original name of Vernon. The cult is led ...

Here’s another early, and brief, Shannon entry, coming just after his sterling work on ‘Kangaroo Jack’. It’s a massive production and having seen the film years ago I couldn’t have told you that he was in it. He is though, and does OK trying to get noticed amongst the explosions and body mutilations. Despite being nearly 2.5 hours in length there is not a lot of plot to speak of and the film is essentially a load of action sequences taped together with the flimsiest of stories. Martin Lawrence and Will Smith are the titular Bad (at acting) Boys who were childhood friends and are now cops in Miami. Smith has a trust fund which means he can drive around in a Ferrari and wear loads of bling. Lawrence is a family man and although meant to be hard up he has a pretty sweet crib on the seafront. He has a demanding family including a horny sister who is banging Smith on the side. We open with a drugs boat coming in with loads of ecstasy. We see the drugs being manufactured in Holland before go...