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Drive Angry

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  • Title: Drive Angry
  • IMDB: link

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The biggest problem with this grindhouse/70’s style car flick from Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier is the almost complete lack of fun. A little humor, maybe a couple of sly winks at the camera, would have helped a story hellbent (so to speak) on trying to be gritty.

Nicolas Cage stars as an escaped soul from Hell who has returned to Earth to kill the leader of a Satanic cult (Billy Burke) who murdered his daughter and plans to sacrifice his granddaughter to bring about Hell on Earth. He’s assisted by a spunky waitress (Amber Heard, the only one here who seems to be enjoying herself) and hunted by an Accountant (William Fichtner) enlisted to return him to Hell.

Here’s what I knew going into Drive Angry: Nicolas Cage is occasionally wildly entertaining when choosing crazy projects like this one, and Amber Heard is really hot.

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Once Upon a Time in the West

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  • Title: Once Upon a Time in the West
  • IMDb: link

Although I know many love it, I’ve never been a big fan of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In fact the only film I really enjoy out of the “Man with No Name” trilogy is the second film – For a Few Dollars More. For my money Sergio Leone‘s best western, and his best film, is Once Upon a Time in the West.

Co-written by Leone’s longtime partner Sergio Donati, Once Upon a Time in the West is a love letter to the mythology of the Old West and more than thirty American Westerns Leone had deep affection (several of which are referenced throughout the film including High Noon, 3:10 to Yuma, The Searchers, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Iron Horse, and The Magnificent Seven).

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The Mechanic

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  • Title: The Mechanic (2011)
  • IMDb: link

Remakes, Hollywood’s second favorite shortcut (after sequels) for quickly churning out mediocre flicks. If I have seen the original 1972 film with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent I don’t remember it. And there’s nothing in the remake that makes me think I’ve missed anything.

This version stars Jason Statham as hitman Arthur Bishop who takes on the son (Ben Foster) of a old friend (Donald Sutherland) he was forced to kill.

As action flicks go this version by director Simon West is average at best. There’s plenty of poor decision making and plot holes where the story is sacrificed for more action scenes. I also found the film’s main villain (played by Tony Goldwyn) to be rather bland. His near limitless supply of generic soldiers are even less memorable than he is. If a movie is only as good as its villain The Mechanic is pretty damn forgettable.

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Covert Affairs – The Complete First Season

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  • Title: Covert Affairs The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

Most people remember Piper Perabo for her starring role in 2000’s Coyote Ugly, but my crush on her started with the first movie I saw her in where she played newbie FBI Agent Karen Sympathy. Covert Affairs is a return to form (of sorts) as Perabo stars as a young woman in her first days as an agent for the CIA.

The First Season follows Annie Walker (Perabo) going to work for the Domestic Protection Division of the CIA under the command of Joan Campbell (Kari Matchett), the wife of the Director of the National Clandestine Service (Peter Gallagher). Throughout the first season Annie will learn much about trust, spycraft, and the new shade of gray her life has become as she lies to her sister (Anne Dudek) about what her new job entails. She will also begin to unravel the mystery of a short-term love affair (Eion Bailey) from her past which has much more to do with the CIA than she could have possibly imagined.

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No Strings Attached

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  • Title: No Strings Attached
  • IMDB: link

no-strings-attached-blu-rayThe subject of friends with benefits usually makes for lackluster Hollywood scripts. No Strings Attached is no exception. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher star as acquaintances who meet occasionally over the years and eventually get together in as sex friends who “use each other for sex at all hours of the day and night.” The story obviously wants us to root for these two wacky kids to get together in a real relationship, but gives us no real reason to do so.

There are also subplots about his career as a hopeful writer in show business and his father (Kevin Kline) dating his former girlfriend (Ophelia Lovibond), but neither of these amount to much. And, in true Apatowian homage (nicer than saying rip-off), we also get several scenes with and his friends (Jake M. Johnson, Ludacris) and and her friends (Greta Gerwig, Mindy Kaling) discussing relationships, sex, and menstruation with slightly inappropriate (but only occasionally funny) ways.

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