Action

Snitch

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

snitch-movie-posterSnitch is perplexing. Despite the promise of Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson, plenty of action, and a poster that’s oddly similar to the The Rock’s last action flick, what writer/director Ric Roman Waugh and co-writer Justin Haythe deliver is a character study that’s short on action and a treatise whose true purpose is to lecture the audience on the the evils of mandatory minimum sentencing for drug-related crimes.

Despite being the most physically intimidating figure in the entire film, The Rock’s role is written as a upper-middle class suburban dad with little to no experience with violence. The Rock’s part seems obviously written for a schlub (Paul Giamatti would have made for far more natural casting). Choosing The Rock for a heavily dramatic role that doesn’t acknowledge, let alone make use of, his natural assets as an action star may allow the wrestler turned actor to broaden his breadth of work, but it’s just one of many odd choices Snitch makes during it’s nearly two-hour running time (which is about half-an-hour too long).

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A Good Day to Die Hard

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: A Good Day to Die Hard
  • IMDB: link

a-good-day-to-die-hard-posterThe original Die Hard did a lot of things very well, but one of the most remarked upon was its simplicity. Isolating the protagonist to a largely empty office building, Johh McClane spent most of the film without guns, gadgets, even shoes. Playing the game this straight let all of McClane’s accomplishments shine harder, and stacked up the stakes even more hopelessly against him.

But you don’t need simplicity for a great film. That’s surely something the filmmakers of A Good Day to Die Hard kept in mind with this fifth film in the series. This time around, McClane flys to Russia hoping to get his ne’er-do-well son (played by Jai Courtney, not great) out some trouble he’s run into.

Turns out that the boy is undercover – John Jr. has become a professional at one of his Dad’s recurring hobbies – saving the world, or something like it. Both McClanes become entangled, despite their estranged relationship, on a mission to rescue a political prisoner.

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Jack Reacher

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Jack Reacher
  • IMDb: link

jack-reacher-posterI prefer my Tom Cruise action films a little crazy and more than slightly ridiculous. (Hell, I even kinda like Knight and Day.) Jack Reacher delivers on both counts. Based on the character created by Lee Child, Cruise stars as former Military Police officer turned professional nomad who shows up in Pittsburgh when a former Army sniper (Joseph Sikora) is accused of killing five people.

As Reacher tells the man’s attorney (Rosamund Pike), he doesn’t show up to save Barr (Sikora) but to bury him. With Barr in a coma after a prison beat down, the only way Reacher can get the proof he needs to make sure Barr gets the needle is to agree to work with his lawyer. However, the more Reacher digs into the case the more, to his increasing frustration, it appears Barr was framed for the crime. Reacher also discovers the killings weren’t as random as everyone believes.

I’ve never read a Jack Reacher novel, and I’m not sure this film sells me on the character quite enough to pick one up anytime soon. However, as a fun B-movie action flick Jack Reacher succeeds.

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Red Dawn Redux

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Red Dawn (2012)
  • IMDB: link

red-dawn-remake-posterAfter being filmed in the Fall of 2009 this needless remake to 1984’s Red Dawn sat on the shelf for three years before finally being released in theaters this Thanksgiving. The new version of Red Dawn is an uninspired trainwreck of an incredulous plot mixed with a gritty attempt at character study, draped in the flag of simplistic patriotism that would make Michael Bay proud, that can never decide what kind of movie it actually wants to be.

Where the original film saw the United States invaded by the Soviet Union, the remake chooses China as the new baddies. However, unwilling to lose the lucrative Chinese movie market, the studio spent another $1,000,000 in post production and CGI to recast North Korea as Red Dawn‘s new villains. Because, in Hollywood’s view, all Asian bad guys are so easily interchangeable. Seriously, I’ve seen WWII propaganda films which were more subtle.

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Bond is Back (and he’s brought the Joker with him)!

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Skyfall
  • IMDb: link

skyfall-posterI wasn’t the biggest fan of Quantum of Solace which I felt stayed far too focused on the fallout of the first movie in the reboot James Bond franchise without moving our new version of British Secret Agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) forward. Skyfall certainly isn’t a perfect Bond film, in fact it may be the first of the franchise that I’ve enjoyed without liking its choice of villain. However, it does make a concerted effort to blend in elements of the classic Bond franchise with the new version making it feel, really for the first time, that James Bond is truly back.

The film borrows heavily from themes, elements, and even specific props from previous Bond movies. Some of these callbacks include the Aston Martin from Goldfinger, a signature gun (which we saw before in Licence to Kill), an assassin’s with signature bullets (a major plot point used in The Man with the Golden Gun), and even the recreation of M’s classic office. The movie also begins incorporating Bond’s original supporting cast including finally delivering a new Q (Ben Whishaw).

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Bond is Back (and he’s brought the Joker with him)! Read More »