Action

Taken 2: The Wrath of Nameless Eastern European Thugs

  • Title: Taken 2
  • IMDB: link

taken-2-posterDirected by Pierre Morel and written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, 2008’s Taken starred Liam Neeson as retired CIA Agent Bryan Mills – a man forced to use his “particular set of skills” to rescue his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) who was abducted by an Albanian human trafficking ring while vacationing in Paris. Over the course of the film Mills racked up an impressive amount of property damage while assaulting, torturing, and killing dozens of people including shooting the wife of a French police officer (Olivier Rabourdin), and close friend, in front of him.

Taken 2 returns Neeson, Grace, and Famke Janssen (as Mills’ ex-wife), who take a family vacation in Istanbul only to find their past finally catch up with them. Mills and his family are hunted by members (who may, or may not, have ties to the trafficking ring) of the families of the men he killed in the first movie. When Mills and his ex-wife are taken the super bad-ass senior citizen will have to rely on the help of his daughter to wreck another city, rack up a hefty body count, and save both himself and her mother.

Taken 2: The Wrath of Nameless Eastern European Thugs Read More »

The Dark Knight Rises

  • Title: The Dark Knight Rises
  • IMDB: link

dark-knight-rises-posterJoel Schumacher killed Batman, at least in the movies, and at least for the better part of a decade. In 2003 the Caped Crusader was still in limbo six years after the theatrical debacle known as Batman and Robin. (One word: Bat-nipples.) Enter Christopher Nolan.

Batman Begins would hit theaters two years later followed up by the critically acclaimed The Dark Knight in 2008 featuring the Oscar-winning performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Four years later Nolan releases the third, and final, movie of his Bat-trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, which brings the story of Nolan’s version of Batman full circle.

The Dark Knight Rises Read More »

The Amazing Spider-Man

  • Title: The Amazing Spider-Man
  • IMDb: link

After the trainwreck that was Spider-Man 3 Sony decided, rather than allow director Sam Raimi to continue with the character, to reboot the entire franchise. Together director Marc Webb and screenwriters James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, and Steve Kloves were chosen to return Peter Parker to high school.

The result, The Amazing Spider-Man, at times feels very much a retread of Raimi’s Spider-Man as it focuses on a very similar plot and villain. However, Webb’s film makes a number of different choices that make it at least the equal of Raimi’s first Spidey film.

Andrew Garfield is cast in the role of science nerd Peter Parker, a Midtown Science High School student and loner. The film begins with a scene of Peter’s parents (Campbell ScottEmbeth Davidtz), scientists for Oscorp, leaving Peter with his Aunt May (Sally Field) and Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) just before they disappear.

The Amazing Spider-Man Read More »

Brave

  • Title: Brave
  • IMDB: link

brave-posterIt’s taken Pixar nearly two decades, and a dozen films, for the animation studio to give us their first attempt at a feature film centered around a female character. Merida (Kelly Macdonald), the fiery tomboyish Scottish princess certainly fits into Disney’s Princess franchise, but Pixar one-ups the house that Mickey built by giving us a story centered around a troubled, but loving, mother-daughter relationship (something Disney hasn’t been able to achieve in far longer than two decades).

Although I think Brave has a little too much of an American sensibility for an old world fairy tale (another first for Pixar), the film is gorgeous to behold. The story of a young girl attempting to change her fate may not rank near the top of Pixar’s best, but it’s definitely worth a long look and should find quite fanbase in both young and older female viewers who have been waiting patiently for the studio to deliver a character like Merida.

Brave Read More »

(They Sunk My) Battleship

  • Title: Battleship
  • IMDB: link

battleship-posterI don’t know the history behind how this movie based on a Hasbro board game got made, but I have an idea. I’m pretty sure director Peter Berg must have found himself at a Hollywood party where the alcohol was flowing freely and he stated emphatically that Michael Bay was a hack and anyone could make one of his movies. Battleship, I assume, was his attempt to prove this point.

Even for a movie based on a board game, Battleship is dumb. In fact it’s incredibly, inexcusably, mind-numbingly dumb. And for a film filled with explosions, big budget special effects, and alien attacks, the film is neither all that exciting nor enjoyable.

(They Sunk My) Battleship Read More »