Actors: Chris Evans, Kim Bassinger, Jason Statham,
William H Macy, Noah Emmerich, Jessica Biel
Rating:
7 out of 10, I’m not a big fan of Kim B. so I avoided seeing this when
it came out a few years ago. It turns
out I missed a pretty good action/suspense flick. This movie belongs to a young Chris Evans
before he got all Capt America-ed on us.
He’s very good as a young surfer dude called upon to charge around L.A. trying to save a
family from a gang of rogue cops.
Surprising, now at least, to see Statham as a down in the wool bad guy
(my wife was upset at her hero’s descent to the dark side and the lack of
shirtless scenes). William H Macy steals all of his scenes (but of course he
did) as the one honest lawman in the movie.
MVP: Macy as SGT Mooney the dedicated if harried
veteran cop
Actors: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki
Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova
Rating: 8 out of 10, The Wolverine which could be re-titled “Hugh Jackman
Without his Shirt On”. This was indeed a pleasure for my wife who spent the
entire movie sighing every of the multiple times Hugh was called upon to divest
himself of his shirt. There’s even a scene of Hugh in a bath tub where he
flashes his long admired (by my wife) posterior. I thought she would faint. All this being said, this was a pretty good
action flick. I’ve never been apprised of the X-Men mythology outside of my
kids’ failed attempts to educate me. I’m sure there were lots of hidden
meanings known only to the initiated but Jackman is an incredibly good actor.
He defines the role and even I have to admit that he got himself in scarily
good shape for the movie. (PED testing
coming to the cinema?) This movie was
very Japanese and the supporting actors were uniformly good except for the female
lead playing Mariko. She just couldn’t
hold her own, absolutely no screen presence.
MVP: Jackman and his abs as Logan
Actors: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, John Malcovich,
Mary Louise Parker, Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Neal
McDonough, David Thewlis, Brian Cox
Rating:
8 out of 10, This was much better the second time seeing it and I liked
the first viewing as well. All the entertaining characters of the
original return and are thrown into another outlandish adventure. The chemistry
between Willis and Parker really works and Malcovich plays crazed assassin to
the hilt. It seemed like every secondary character was a major star as well.
Anthony Hopkins shows up and acts his ass off as usual. A great summer movie of
excess without any message other than some good kick ass fun.
MVP: Hopkins
is so funny as the supposedly crazed scientist
Actors: Jason Statham, Agata Buzek, Vicky McClure, Benedict
Wong, Ger Ryan
Rating: 6 out of 10, This should have been titled, Muddled. A kind of strange and at times
engaging Statham action flick that can’t seem to make up its mind. Statham is a flawed hero this time although
still capable of kicking ass and charming the ladies. Even skinny nuns will drop their drawers when
Statham comes a calling and that’s part of the problem. This purports to be the story of Joey, an
ex-military street person who emerges from the street for a summer to rescue people, exact
revenge, and serve as a mob enforcer. It’s
all over the place and ultimately totally unbelievable; even given that
believability is never one of a Statham movie’s abiding strengths.
MVP: Statham
as the damaged Joey, trying to act but still kicking ass
Actors: Amanda Seyfried, Peter Sarsgaard, Sharon
Stone, Adam Brody, Juno
Temple, James Franco
Rating:
7 out of 10, A Netflix rental I hadn’t heard much
about it but the cast looked amazing and it took on the story of one of the cultural
icons of the 1970s (a real comment on that era). Lovelace tells the story of the actress who
achieved her fifteen minutes as a porn actress.
It’s more about her victimization by an abusive husband and the courage
she eventually found to escape him. I
may be one of the few people from that era who never saw this flick (just a
little too young at the time) (honest) but it was fascinating to see this back story. The movie is almost like a documentary in
form. It was a little strange to see
Sharon Stone as a cold, unrecognizable mother and the young dude form the O.C.
as Harry Reems not to mention James Franco as Hugh Hefner. Seyfried is just a litle too good looking for this role but does well.
MVP: Seyfried
in a layered performance as the title character
Actors: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine,
Martin Freeman, Rosamund Pike, and Eddie Marsan
Rating:
8 out of 10, the latest Simon Pegg/Nick Frost was very British. Pegg plays the low life this time as he
gathers childhood friends, including the young Bilbo Baggins, for a memorable pub
crawl back in their hometown which has been inconveniently taken over by
robotic aliens led by a retired James Bond. This leads to a hilarious chase
towards an apocalyptic finish line. There are so many one line zingers that I
know I’m going to see this again just to catch the ones I know I missed. It also has some interesting things to say
about the vanity of lost youth and the importance of friendship, but always
very irreverently. A very funny movie and very British.
MVP: Frost
overtakes Pegg as the stolid yet dangerous Andy
Actors: Denzell Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton,
Edward James Olmos, Bill Paxton, James Marsden
Rating: 8 out of 10, Mark Wahlberg and Denzel
Washington; on the surface that sounds like a mismatch but Wahlberg is evolving
into a very good actor and more than held his own with Denzel. They play two undercover agents trying to
survive after being double-crossed by everybody from a Mexican drug cartel to girlfriends,
the US
military and the CIA. This was a very
good, very funny movie as the two actors chewed up the scenery although it does feature some historically bad headgear - just really bad hats. It’s a great example of a fairly mundane plot
that’s elevated by the actors involved and included some very well staged
action scenes. In what has become his go
to movie role – Marsden’s girl is cheating on him again and Ms Patton shows a completely
new side (s) (worth the price of admission right there). Not a deep effort by
any means but a lot of fun, especially the give and take between the two leads.
MVP: Wahlberg as Stig, the hyperactive but dead
shot foil
