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John Carter

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  • Title: John Carter
  • IMDB: link

john-carter-blu-rayJohn Carter may not have been the box office bonanza Disney was expecting, but the film (based on the stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs) was one of my favorite films of the first-half of 2012.

The film stars Taylor Kitsch as a reluctant Civil War hero turned prospector who found himself miraculously transported to Mars and caught up in a war between the martian cities of Helium and Zodanga.

Over the course of the film John Carter will be captured and made a part of the the tribe of Martian Tharks, fall in love with a Martian princess (Lynn Collins), and uncover the secret that the mysterious group known as Therns want so desperately to be kept hidden. For more on the movie check out my original review.

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Man on a Ledge

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  • Title: Man on a Ledge
  • IMDB: link

man-on-a-ledge-dvdThe premise of Man on a Ledge seems rather preposterous, but I was surprised at how well this story of an ex-cop pushed to the edge held together (at least until the final act).

While on a one-day pass to attend the funeral of his father, former cop and convicted thief Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) escapes custody. The next morning, with a new suit, false ID, and a wad of cash, Nick checks in to New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel and steps out onto a ledge.

As the police cordon off the the block, a police negotiator (Elizabeth Banks) on leave following the suicide of a cop she was unable to talk down finds herself pulled into the scene at Nick’s resquest. However, that’s only half the story as across the street Nick’s brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and Joey’s girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) are breaking into the vault of the man (Ed Harris) who framed Nick as part of a complicated heist while all the eyes outside are focused on the jumper.

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Chronicle

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  • Title: Chronicle
  • IMDB: link

chronicle-blu-rayI like super-hero movies but I’m far from fond of found footage films which present events from the perspective of characters documenting their own adventures. Chronicle stars out with a really good idea as it shows us what might happen if three high school misfits (Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan) found themselves with super-powers. However, the execution and thinly written characters produce mixed results for a movie that should have knocked my socks off as the shaky-cam pseudo-documentary style narrative is far from the film’s biggest problem.

The action sequences are impressive, especially the final battle between two of the super-powered teens, and the realistic way in which the kids used their powers (basically to screw with people and for their own enjoyment) worked well, but every time the film attempted to put the super-human powers on hold in favor of high school drama the film stalled.

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Gone

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  • Title: Gone
  • IMDB: link

gone-dvdOne year after Jill (Amanda Seyfried) was kidnapped by a serial killer her sister Molly (Emily Wickersham) disappears without a trace leaving the excitable young woman to believe the kidnapper has returned. The police (Daniel Sunjata, Jennifer Carpenter), who could find no physical evidence to back up Jill’s story of the first kidnapping once again believe the young woman with a history of mental illness is simply letting her imagination get away with her.

For Gone to work both stories need to be given equal weight, but despite Jill’s increasingly erratic behavior (which only grows because everyone refuses to help her) we know something has happened to her sister and Jill isn’t simply imagining the situation. The film follows the same movie logic of plenty of thrillers where dumb movie cops aren’t able to solve a crime for an entire year but one woman with no training is able to track the killer back to his lair in a single day. She also proves to have a remarkable ability to elude detection when an entire city’s police force is looking for her.

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Coriolanus

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  • Title: Coriolanus
  • IMDB: link

coriolanus-posterFor his directorial debut Ralph Fiennes chooses a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare‘s Coriolanus. To help, Fiennes enlisted the help of screenwriter John Logan (Hugo, The Last Samuari, Sweeney Todd, Rango, Gladiator). It’s an ambitious project to be sure but despite some solid performances the film hits some snags when adapting the story to modern day.

Fiennes stars as Caius Marcius Coriolanus, a legendary general of Rome who cares little for politics, and far less for the troubles of the common man. Despite his disinterest he agrees to run for the Senate to please his mother (Vanessa Redgrave). This action, far more than any risk ever taken on the battlefield, will prove to be his undoing.

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