Mom's Minute

Introduction to Yara Netflix Movie Review

The Netflix movie Yara may remind you of some of the crime shows such as Crime Scene Investigation - CSI, etc. A large segment of the Yara movie depicts the inner-workings of DNA testing and matching in order to locate the guilty party regarding the case of the missing, destroyed teenager, Yara.

Are these CSI type movies interesting to me? More importantly, should you watch the Yara Netflix movie? 

Check out my movie review of the Netflix film, Yara to find out.

Synopsis of Yara Netflix Movie Review

Yara is a 2021 Netflix Italian English-dubbed film based on true events about the disappearance and destruction of a 13 year old girl that occurred in the year 2010.

During the Netflix movie Yara, you will see Yara as she practices lessons in her dance class as well as how she keeps a daily diary. In fact, when she disappeared, the investigators focused on her diary to see if there were any clues as to who was guilty of her demise.

The subplot of the Yara Netflix movie centers around Isabella Ragonese's character as the Italian prosecutor who has a daughter of her own who is about the same age Yara was.

The prosecutor is focused on finding the guilty person who committed the crime. During the process, Isabella Ragonese’s character interviews several suspects to no avail, before she comes up with the idea to use reverse DNA testing where DNA found on Yara’s personal belongings such as her leggings is matched to the DNA of the  criminal.

The difference from Isabella Ragonese's use of DNA testing and the regular procedure is instead of matching the host DNA against a DNA database, volunteers were asked to submit to DNA testing to hopefully find a match to the DNA found on Yara’s clothing.

The process took a few years, but a match of the DNA was finally found, and the guilty party was brought to trial and sentenced.

Repetitive Scenes in Yara Netflix Movie Review

Throughout the Yara Netflix movie, you will see repeat scenes of Yara walking alone down a dark snowy street with a white truck following her. The first few times watching her walking along down the street was fine; however, I think the movie overdid repeating this scene.

Realism of Yara Netflix Movie

A fair amount of realism was in the Yara Netflix movie. For example, you will see Yara practicing with her dancemates at the dance studio. You will also see her numerous times as I mentioned above walking alone down a snowy street with a truck following her.

For the most part the realism elements of the movie were shown adequately. The exception is when Isabella Ragonese’s character was walking down the hall of Yara’s school and she saw Yara standing in front of her.  

After a few seconds, Yara disappeared. In other words, of course she was never there. This scene lasted probably less than a minute therefore it is not a huge fail. Maybe the writer was trying to show how engrossed and focused Isabella Ragonese’s character was in trying to solve the case.

Sexism in the Yara Netflix Movie

If you blink, you may miss a statement Isabella Ragonese’s boss made when verbally reprimanding her for not making progress to solve the case quickly. Here is the statement he said to her – and I paraphrase. “Maybe we need to go back to the conventional way to solve this case.” 

Isabella Rogaonese’s character quickly responded — also paraphrased, “You mean the case should be handled by a man.”

If the above conversation happened in real life, Isabella Ragonese’s character had a potential case for discriminations because of her sex – even if he did let her continue on with the case.

Assessment of Yara Netflix Movie

In my opinion, the movie Yara could have been improved by expanding the information that was known about Yara. Instead, the movie storyline changed the focus from Yara to the DNA testing. Since Yara kept a diary, I’m sure the story could have celebrated her life through her diary much more than it did, instead of using this movie time for DNA testing scenes.

Additionally, the scene when Isabella Ragonese’s character was about to quit her job and leave before the case was solved could have been omitted.  At that time, the story became more about the prosecutor instead of about Yara – which was not ideal.

Should you watch the Yara Netflix movie? If you are interested in how evidence is gathered in solving crimes, or if you are a fan of the CSI type forensic movies/shows, you may be interested in watching the Yara Netflix movie. As for me, the movie was fine but I believe the improvements I suggest above would have made it a more engrossing story.

Rating of Yara Netflix Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Yara Netflix movie 2 stars. 

Introduction to Kevin Costner Tubi Movie Review

How would you like to see a movie with big name stars, similar to Red Notice starring Gal Gadot, Ryan Reynolds and others? Well you've come to the right place.

 If you want to watch a quality A-list type movie that stars Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot and Tommy Lee Jones you may want to check out the 2016 action/spy movie, Criminal.

It’s surprising to me that I missed watching Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie when it was out in theaters since action/spy type movies are one of my favorite films to watch, among many.  

That being said, I happened upon Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie while browsing streaming services that may have movies that would keep my attention. Enter Kevin Costner Criminal film that is currently streaming on Tubi.

By the way, Kevin Costner Criminal movie may be watched on other streaming platforms as well.

How was the action in the Kevin Costner Criminal movie? How did I feel about the science fiction part of the film? More importantly, did I enjoy watching the film? Would you? Check out my movie review of Kevin Costner Criminal film to find out.

Plot of Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

As you can tell by the title, a criminal is involved in the plot of the Kevin Costner Tubi movie. That criminal is none other than Kevin Costner’s character, Jerico Stewart. Jerico Stewart is the criminal who was behind bars when a CIA  agent, Bill Pope played by Ryan Reynolds, unfortunately was destroyed while performing a CIA mission.

The problem was Ryan Reynolds’ character knew of information that would be helpful to the CIA, but the agency was unable to get it due to Ryan Reynolds’ character demise.

Here is the science fiction portion of the movie. Apparently there is a scientist (Dr. Micah Franks) played by Tommy Lee Jones who is able to perform surgery to transfer brain matter including memories housed in those brains to other living people. The living person retains new memories from the host, as well as keeps part of their own. Kevin Costner’s character was taken out of prison and became a patient for this surgery due to the CIA’s aggressive posture to obtain information that only Ryan Reynolds’ character would know.

Therefore, if you watch Kevin Costner Tubi Criminal movie, you will see Kevin Costner’s character, who is partly Ryan Reynolds' character in his mind due to the brain/memory transplant.

Realism of Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

Of course, realism is low relative to the brain/memory transplant; however, I think Kevin Costner did an adequate job pretending as if his character really went through this procedure. However it took him time to adjust to effects from the procedure because initially after the transplant, he had problems with his speech which carried over to having altercations with other people.

In other words, due to Kevin Costner’s acting skills, he made his character with a transplanted brain seem believable.

Gal Gadot in Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

As you probably know, Gal Gadot rose to enormous fame from her Wonder Woman movie that broke lots of box office records in 2017 when it was released as well as her follow-up Wonder Woman 1984 film.

However, at the time of the movie, Kevin Costner Criminal, Gal Gadot, before her Wonder Woman break-through role, probably was considered your run of the mill actor. She in no way could command the salary she probably gets now for movies because of her Wonder Woman as well as Justice League fame.

The above being said, I think Gal Gadot did an adequate job in her role as Ryan Reynolds' character's wife, Jillian “Jill” Pope - who believed her husband perished in the line of CIA duty. 

According to the Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie, her husband’s character 's memories lived on in the body of the character played by Kevin Costner - Jerico Stewart.

Inconsistencies in Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

One of the main inconsistencies in the Kvrn Costner Criminal Tubi movie, in my opinion, is his reaction towards Gal Gadot’s character when he first meets her. Since he had her husband's Ryan Reynolds’ character's memories, it seemed odd that he first treated her in a cruel manner, but later in the movie, he softened up towards her. Maybe this happened because after all, he was a stranger to her and he had intruded into her home. Possibly he was reacting to her being frightened.

Another major inconsistency in Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie is how the enemies found out that Jerico Stewart had Ryan Reynolds' memories. Nobody outside of the CIA building as well as the science laboratory knew that Jerico Stewart got a brain/memory transplant from Ryan Reynolds' character. 

I believe the transplant information would have been unknown to the enemies who were initially chasing Ryan Reynod’s charatcer, unless there was a news story about this brain/memory transplant -- which was not the case.

Assessment of Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

I found Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie to be entertaining. There is just the right mixture of action, drama and suspense. The suspense includes not knowing how the brain/memory transplant would turn out and how Gal Gadot's character would react towards Kevin Costner's character.

I think the idea of the brain/memory transplant was a different, creative twist from a movie that has basically similar plots as other spy type films.

Ryan Reynolds’ fans may be disappointed that he doesn't have a large part in Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie. However, if you are a Gal Gadot fan, you may be glad that her character gets longer screen time in the film, Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie.

I wholeheartedly recommend you watch Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie wherever it is streaming. I think you will enjoy not only the action, but also the fact that one of the criminals in the film (The Dutchman) had a change of heart and in so doing provides protection instead of harm to people. You will know what I’m talking about if you watch the Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie.

Rating of Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate Kevin Costner Criminal Tubi movie 4 stars.

Introduction to Silverton Siege Netflix Movie Review

You may be curious as to why I watched the Silverton Siege Netflix hostage movie. There are many hostage type movies available to watch – so the hostage plot was not the draw for me. What grasped my attention was the movie disclaimer that indicated the events that happens in the film are based on true events.

Of course the Silverton Siege Netflix movie scenarios were probably embellished for entertainment and dramatic as well as suspenseful purposes. But these approaches can be excused because after all, Silverton Siege is a movie with fictional elements included.

The question is – Did the Silverton Siege Netflix movie hold my interest? Most importatly, will it keep yours? 

Check out my movie review of the Silverton Siege Netflix film to find out.

Plot of the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

The 2022 Silverton Siege Netflix movie is a South African period film set in the year 1980 during the time when the late Nelson Mandela was in prison. The Silverton Siege Netflix film opens up with an angry man (Thabo Rametsi as the leader, Calvin Khumalas) jumping on a circular table in the center of a large bank and acting as if he and his two accomplices were going to rob the bank.

However, the Silverton Siege Netflix movie backtracks to show where the story actually begins. The storyline starts with a group of four South African Freedom FIghters discussing their plans to destroy certain buildings, in protest, making sure there were no civilian casualties. 

One of their targeted buildings was located near a gas station. As the group exited the truck in the vicinity, they noticed suspicious activity including a homeless man who was really an undercover policeman. 

There is gunfire shortly thereafter and the group runs to escape the police. During the chase, a man who was the romantic interest of a woman in the group (Noxolo Diamini's character) is destroyed. As a result, she is visibly distraught and seems to become even more angrier and aggressive towards their assailants.

The chase continues underground where they emerge from a manhole and for refuge, they quickly run into a bank crowded with people.

The bank is where the majority of the hostage-taking, negotiations, burning of money and other actions take place. In the meantime, the leader is curious as to who initially informed the police of their whereabouts. In other words, who was the mole in the group? 

Also, the group’s intent was not to rob a bank or take hostages, but this happened as a consequence of earlier events.

Casting Selection of Actors in the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

In my opinion, the casting staff of the Silverton Siege Netflix movie did an adequate job of selecting actors for the Silverton Siege Netflix movie. The characters in the Silverton Netflix movie included Noxolo Dlamini as Mbai Terra Mabuna, the lone woman in the group, Stefan Erasmus as Aldo Erasmus, an accomplice, and the main character and leader of the group, Thabo Rametsi as Calvin Khumalo.

Other actors in the Silverton Siege Netflix movie included the hostages and the police captain who also did adequate jobs playing their roles as well.

Stand Out Actors in the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

In my opinion, there are two stand out actors in the Silverton Siege Netflix movie. They are Thabo Rametsi as the leader, Calvin Khumalas and Mbali Terra Mabunda as Noxolo Diamini, the lone female in the group. 

Without these two actors in their particular roles, I do not believe the Silverton Siege Netflix movie would have been as riveting as it was. 

The above being said, there were some moments in the movie where these characters were not at their best at acting. One such scene includes the segment when Thabo Rametsi’s character has a heart to heart talk with Michelle Mosalakae as Rachel about his upbringing.  

 I believe actor Thabo Rametsi as Calvin Khumalo did his best acting when he was angry and frustrated with the police regarding his demands not being met – including the immediate release of Nelson Mandela.

Another instance of poor acting was towards the end of the movie when Noxolo Diamini's character embraces Michelle Mosalakae’s character as if she has sympathy for her, when all through the movie, she showed a rough and tough side. This gesture seemed out of place for her character.

Realism of the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

The lighting in the movie Silverton Siege provided an atmosphere to let the audience know the events in the film are not current – but are set in the year 1980. Kudos to the set crew who made it seem as if you were watching scenes unfold and happen in 1980 when the film itself was released in 2022.  

As a side note, sometimes, you may see a blooper in some period movies where someone inadvertently leaves a Starbucks cup on the table, etc., however, I did not see any such mistakes in the Silverton Siege Netflix movie.

Highlights of the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

Spoiler Alerts: In a nutshell, the entire Silverton Siege Netflix movie was attention grabbing to me; however, spefifically, these highlights of the Silverton Siege Netflix movie stood out:

–-The police captain enters the bank and suddenly realizes the helicopter pilot is not among the hostages

— Noxolo Diamini's character asks the police captain to place his foot on a table and makes a discovery

—Noxolo Diamini's character suddenly realizes who the mole is and how she came to this conclusion

—Last but not least, the basis upon which the hostages were released was surprising and may or may not have happened as depicted in the Silverton Siege Netflix movie

Assessment of the Silverton Siege Netflix Movie

I believe the Silverton Siege Netflix movie was well made with an adequate cast to make the actions that took place in the film believable. The Silverton Siege Netflix movie had a sufficient mix of action, adventure, suspense and even drama to make it a well-rounded film. 

Additionally, the length of the movie was just right – not too long or too short. In fact, you may become so engrossed in the Silverton Siege Netflix film where time is not an issue.

By the way, the Silverton Siege Netflix movie is rated TV-MA due to violence and should not be watched by anyone under the age of 17 years old.

Rating of the SIlverton Siege Netflix Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Silverton Siege Netflix movie 5 stars.

Introduction to The Informer Netflix Movie Review

The Informer movie has been ranked as one of the top 10 Netflix movies for some time now. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out this film first to see what was the draw of the movie, and second, to find out if the movie deserved to stay in the top 10 slot for as long as it has.

What did I find out about Tthe Informer Netflix movie? Was I impressed with it?

How about you? Have you watched The Informer Netflix movie? Should you? Check out my film review of the Netflix movie, The Informer to find out.

Plot of The Informer Netflix Movie

The title of the Netflix movie, The Informer is pretty much self-explanatory. From the title, you probably know that the storyline involves someone (Joel Kinnaman as Peter Koslow) being an informant to either the police or the FBI. 

What you may not know is the twist in the movie, The Informer, that comes towards the end of the film that puts Joel Kinnaman’s character in grave peril, especially considering where he was located -- in a crowded dangerous prison.

The above being said, the Netflix movie, The Informer is about a former prison inmate who served a few years and was released early on probation to serve as an informant for the FBI. As an informer, he would keep the FBI in the know about dealings with unlawful drugs as well as the people involved in these criminal activities.

After being an undercover FBI drug informant in the streets, he was asked to find out who was the drug distributor in a prison from a drug kingpin who probably wanted to know who his competition was.

Initially, Joel Kinnaman’s character was reluctant to return to prison as an undercover informant, since he had already served time before. Additionally, he now has a wife and a daughter.  

However, the FBI convinced him wth the promise of freedom if he went along with the drug kingpin's plan since they too had an interest in finding out who was doing these criminal drug deeds in prison.

Twist in The Informer Netflix Movie

The Netflix movie, The Informer reminded me of a film I watched previously, dealing with the issue of trust. The movie is Uncharted where it was difficult for the main character to decide who was worth his trust and who would deceive him.

Spoiler Alert: By the same token, even though Joel Kinnaman’s character agreed to this one last informant job inside prison, he was actually double-crossed by the FBI agents due to the negative publicity surrounding him as well as the relentless investigation by Common as Edward Grens of the NYPD regarding a crime involving another informant.

In other words, Joel Kinnerman’s character appeared to become a liability to the FBI and he was expected to face dire consequences, especially since the FBI would no longer help him if he got in danger.

Joel Kinnaman’s character found out about the double-cross when he called one of the FBI agents from prison requesting help and only got silence on the other end of the phone. From that point on, it was up to him to save himself inside this dangerous prison.

Movie Magic in The Informer Netflix Movie

There are several unexplained and illogical incidents that occurred during the Netflix movie, The Informer, which I’ve listed below.

–Since the informant was wired, he was keeping tapes of his conversations with the FBI. It seemed to me that he should have  known that eventually, the FBI would ask for the tapes, so the question is why didn't he make copies of the tapes and hide them somewhere.

–Once in prison, Joel Kinnaman’s character hid a razor in his pillow and was surprised to later find out that somehow, it was missing. In subsequent prison scenes, you see him fighting against a man who took the razor, but he is using a letter opener instead of the razor.

–When Joel Kinnaman’s character got into a fight with one of the inmates in a crowded bunk bed room, how could all the other inmates first ignore what was going on and towards the end of the fight, the scene showed empty beds. It appears to me, someone would have intervened to stop the fight.

–If the FBI agent Rosamund Pike as Erica Wilcox recognized who was on the gurney as it left the building mainly by the tattoos on Joel Kinnaman character's arm, why didn’t the police officers, SWAT team and others notice, especially, since they were probably briefed as to what the informer looked like.

–After the catastrophic fire in the prison tower toward the end of the movie, how did Joel Kinnaman’s character escape the explosion with no more than minor cuts and bruises.

–Spoiler Alert: Last but not least, how could a seasoned FBI agent at the end of the movie just assume that the person he was talking to was not wired, since it seems that this is one of the main ways the FBI catches or tricks their suspects.

There may be more movie magic moments in the Netflix movie, The Informer, but I will stop here.

Realism of The Informer Netflix Movie

Due to the adequate and skilled acting abilities of the actors, including Ana de Armas as the informer’s wife, Sophia Koslow, the film had a hint of realism to it. The casting staff did a good job of selecting the villains, and other characters to make this seem like a believable story, even though we all know the Netflix movie, The Informer is fiction.

Assessment of The Informer Netflix Movie

If you enjoy watching action movies with an FBI backdrop, you may want to check out The Informer Netflix movie. There are some gruesome, gritty scenes in the movie, which you may or may not like, but the good news is you can turn your head away from the screen during these parts.

The Informer Netflix movie may be rough and gritty, but at the end of the day, the film is just actors playing pretend with props and maybe a touch of Computer-Generated Imagery - CGI mixed in.

Even more importantly, this film kept my interest from the beginning to the end. As a result, I understood why it held its spot in the top 10 Netflix movie category for so long.

Rating of The Informer Netflix Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate The Informer Netflix movie 5 stars.

Introduction to Below the Fold Amazon Prime VIdeo Movie

There are movies with intriguing, interesting plots, and there are movies with plots that should be left on the cutting room floor. The Amazon Prime Video movie, Below the Fold, fits the latter category. 

Specifically, Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie seemed to be crafted by many writers who probably had ideas regarding what the story should be about -- when in reality the movie has only one writer.

For example, the writer may have been under the impression that the Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie should be about relationships; later he probably had an idea this same story should be about a missing girl; and after much more deliberation, he may have come to the conclusion that the story should be about the strange people who live in a small town.

Does the above hodgepodge of plots make for an interesting story – one that you may want to watch as a movie? Did I enjoy watching Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie? 

Check out my movie review of Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video film to find out.

Synopsis of Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video Movie

I alluded to the various different plot points previously. However, to summarize the Below the Fold story, the plot is about news reporters (David Fremont as Davis DeRock and Lisa Johnson as Sarah McGuire) who are researching for a news story what happened to a young girl who was destroyed about 10 years ago. During their research, they visit a mysterious small town where the crime occurred but no one initially seems to want to talk about it.

During the reporters preliminary visits, the people of the small town were closing their doors in their faces when they asked about the missing girl; however, as the story progresses, some people slowly began to secretly talk to the reporters about the case, as well as who may have committed the gruesome crime.

A subplot is the relationship between the two reporters. Apparently Lisa Johnson's character is the ex of the other reporter, David Fremont's character who was angry because she left him unannounced a few years prior.

Inconsistencies in Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video Movie

There is inconsistency in the relationship between David Fremont and Lisa Johnson’s characters. The storyline never explained why Lisa Johnson's character returned to the newspaper where her ex was still working except that she was fired from her previous job. The ex at first was distant with Lisa Johnson’s character but eventually warmed up to her for no apparent reason except that she seemed to be overly involved and upset in trying to solve the cold case.

Another inconsistency is their boss continuing to let the reporters work together even though he made it clear at the beginning of the movie storyline that Lisa Johnson’s character was getting behind on her projects due to time spent working on the missing girl crime story. If this was not a movie, she probably would have been fired due to insubordination since she continued to work on the story throughout the movie.

An additional inconsistency involves a situation when the reporters tried to find out more information about the cold case of the missing girl. After they literally committed a crime by breaking and entering in someone’s home (the Priest) nothing happened. They simply walked out of the house after being caught by the homeowner and they experienced no repercussions afterwards even though the Priest knew who they were and they had committed a crime.

There may be more inconsistencies in the Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie but I will stop here.

Recommendations to Improve the Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video Movie

I think the writer should have picked one main plot and stuck with it, without adding all the unnecessary drama involving the two reporters' present and prior relationship.  It looked like this scenario was added to lengthen the movie instead of moving the story along.

For instance, Lisa Johnson's character could have been brought in on the newspaper story as a new hire, with her and David Fremont’s characters becoming reporter partners with no relationship involved.

Her backstory could have been that maybe in the past she worked on a case which was never solved, but the person involved was related to her in some way. This would explain why she was working extra hard to solve a case that had been cold for a long time.

In other words, the writer could have improved the story by having the plot revolve around the reporters trying to solve the cold case without adding unrelated relationship scenarios to the storyline.

Assessment of Below the Fold Amazon Prime VIdeo Movie

I watched the Below the Fold movie in the hope that the story would get better as it progressed. In fact, the opposite happened, the movie got worse. How? The reporters attempted to solve a cold case when at the end of the movie, they covered additional new information but the story went nowhere. They could not provide any proof and basically they pretty much ended up where they started.

Spoiler Alert: On a positive note, at the end of the movie, Lisa Johnson’s character left David Fremont’s character again for good at a coffee shop saying that this time she would not just disappear like she did a few years ago. This is an unexplained turn of events since during the movie, she was his ex, they are no more than coworkers and he already had a relationship with his office assistant, so essentially, there was no relationship between the two. Go figure.

I am unable to recommend you watch the Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie, unless you are curious as to how to make a movie that will waste your time and does not have any redeeming qualities.

Rating of Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate the Below the Fold Amazon Prime Video movie 1 star.