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The Wolverine

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  • Title: The Wolverine
  • IMDB: link

The Wolverine

Taking place several months after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand (yes, this movie states the atrocity that was Lamest Stand counts as X-Men movie canon), The Wolverine picks up with a haunted Logan (Hugh Jackman) coerced out of his cave by an assassin (Rila Fukushima) and taken to Japan for a meeting with an old friend (Hal Yamanouchi) who wants to repay Wolverine for saving his life at Nagasaki more than 70 years ago (in a terrific sequence) by offering the hero turned hermit the one thing denied to him – morality.

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Red 2

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  • Title: Red 2
  • IMDB: link

Red 2Not every movie deserves a sequel. Based on the early 2000’s comic from Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Red was good dumb fun about retired spies forced to get back into the game when their past caught up with them. Not straining any brain muscles, the sequel is roughly the same premise as Frank Moses (Bruce Willis), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Frank’s girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) find themselves marked for death based on Frank and Marvin’s part in a secret operation more than three decades ago.

The movie begins in much the same way as another of Willis’ regrettable sequels as the former spy attempts to lay low in the suburbs with a girlfriend who wants more crazy adventures. Forced on the run, the threesome are pursued by the world’s best hitman (Byung-hun Lee) with a personal score to settle, as well as Victoria (Helen Mirren) who is ordered by MI6 to put Frank and Marvin in the ground. Brian Cox reprises his role as Ivan, and the movie also offers up Catherine Zeta-Jones as the Russian spy who has Frank wrapped around her little finger and Anthony Hopkins as a mad scientist locked away for 30 years.

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Turbo

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Turbo
  • IMDB: link

TurboTurbo is a good reminder that most animated movies fail to reach the heights or depths of live-action theatrical films. Most fall somewhere in-between. That’s not to say this tale about a snail competing in the Indianapolis 500 isn’t a good movie. Turbo is a cute, fun, and mostly entertaining 96-minute story about chasing impossible dreams and the complicated relationships between brothers that’s likely to please, but not wow, the whole family.

Our story centers around two pairs of brothers who share quite a bit in common even though one pair is human and the other are snails. We’re introduced first to Theo (Ryan Reynolds), the dreamer who yearns of nothing more than being fast enough to race his idol (a charismatic human driver voiced by Bill Hader), and his far more down-to-earth brother Chet (Paul Giamatti).

A pair of accidents involving Theo get the pair banished from their garden home and provide Theo with the unbelievable speed which allows the snail to chase his dreams.

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Despicable Me 2

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  • Title: Despicable Me 2
  • IMDB: link

Despicable Me 2It seems sequels are taking over the summer, even animated ones. 2010’s Despicable Me gave us super-villain Gru (Steve Carell) who, to further his latest evil plan of stealing the moon, adopted three young girls only to discover he was far better at being a father than a career criminal. Despicable Me 2 takes place with Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Kate Fisher), and Edith (Dana Gaier)  firmly entrenched in Gru’s home and heart and his countless minions working on his latest enterprise (a less than delicious brand of jams and jellies) when an agent from AVL (The Anti-Villain League) approaches the former super-villain about coming to work for them.

Despite his initial reluctance, Gru accepts the invitation to work alongside Agent Lucy Wild (Kristen Wiig) and search for the super-villain hiding out at the local mall while experimenting with a dangerous stolen chemical that can turn those effected in monstrous killing machines.

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Die Hard in the White House (with a kid)

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: White House Down
  • IMDB: link

White House DownAfter the initial success of Die Hard there was a time when every movie studio was trying to cash in on the concept of a great action star (usually a cop or specially trained soldier) in the wrong place at the wrong time and forced to save the day (which almost always also included endangered hostages and some kind of robbery or cash grab). We got Die Hard on a plane, Die Hard on a boat, Die Hard on a bus, Die Hard on a train, and so on. More than 25 years later Hollywood still hasn’t given up on the formula.

Much like Olympus Has Fallen, released earlier this year, White House Down offers us a story of a terrorist attack on Washington D.C. and the capture of the White House, the President of the United States, and several high ranking members of the United States Government. Where Antoine Fuqua‘s film struggled to be Michael Bay-style action porn, director Roland Emmerich‘s movie has a far better sense of humor and an understanding of the complete ridiculousness of its entire premise. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is dumb as dirt at times, but at least it knows this.

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