The Eagle

Actors:  Channing Tatum , Donald Sutherland, Mark Strong, Jaime Bell, Tahar Rahim
Rating:  7 out of 10, this is set in virtually the same time period as The Centurion which was a much better picture.  It involves events surrounding the disappearance of the 9th Legion in Roman controlled Britain.  When I first saw the previews for this I was excited because I love movies set in Roman Empire times but I was extremely concerned that Tatum was cast in the lead.  I know its because of the movies but you always expect Romans to speak with British accents.  While Tatum doesn't overachieve in this movie he is at least believable.  The story is of a Roman officer trying to recover the Eagle, symbol of the legion, lost when his father perished with the legion north of Hadrian’s Wall.  There is a great attention to detail on historical accuracy, especially in the first half of the movie with the tactics and accoutrements of the Roman army.  It was fascinating to see a Roman "testudo", the turtle like employment of massed shields, used to great effect.  The first and last half hours of the movie are great but the middle just kills this movie.  This is where they get away from the action as Tatum recovers from his wounds and bonds with Bell.  This part of the movie is rescued by the presence of Sutherland, so good in everything he does.  Once the pair sets off for Scotland the action picks up again although I'm still trying to figure out what the hell the Seal People were supposed to be and why they were supposed to be tough.  They just looked silly instead of fearsome.  I really liked the final battle where the survivors of the 9th Legion rally to help Tatum defend the eagle one last time.  Great themes, guess this was a boy's adventure story in England, and it shows but still makes for a solid action movie.
MVP:  Bell as the undersized but feisty slave Esca

Edge of Darkness

Actors:  Mel Gibson, Bojana Novacovic, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone
Rating:  8 out of 10, a very good, adult dramatic thriller set in and shot in nearby Boston.  Gibson, before he was ostracized, shows what a good actor he is.  I liked that he didn't try to hide his age or thinning hair in playing the lead role of the Boston detective who's daughter is assassinated in front of him.  The barely suppressed rage he feels as he relentlessly follows the trail of his daughter's killers is a great story that lends great pace to the movie.  Huston, a corporate big wig, plays a great villain who's almost disdainful of all the chaos he's unleashed.  I really liked the scenes with Gibson and Winstone as they speak almost in code of two world weary but fundamentally good people who find themselves on the opposite side of a problem.  The final scene of Winstone with the politicians is something I think we've all secretly dreamed could happen.  Gibson, father of a whole brood of children, seemed to understand and convey what the loss of a child could do to a father.  This is a very good movie.
MVP:  Gibson as Thomas Craven, hell bent on avenging the daughter he loved

The Expendables

Actors:  Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Terry Crews, Jet Li, Randy Couture, Eric Roberts, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Giselle Itie
Rating:  7 out of 10, a really ambitious ode to the 70s action movie that injects an immense amount of testosterone onto the screen.  Stallone gathered just about every action star from the past 30 years and put them together in an ensemble cast.  That means the action is incredible, especially the final battle, but that there just isn't enough story or screen time for all the macho men.  Stallone is finally showing his age and pales when he puts himself on the screen next to Statham, who still has it.  This is the type of movie most women will hate but guys will absolutely love, which I have to admit I did.  Its almost a guilty pleasure to see Crews blowing up people left and right with his atomic level shotgun.  This movie has no redeeming value other than appeal to the non-politically correct guys club mentality that lurks in every non-metro sexual male movie goer; in other words - a great guilty pleasure.  Stallone tries to inject some side stories to give a couple of the characters some depth but that's the only time the movie slows down - not what we came to see this movie for.  Rourke plays a kind of bizarre, semi-retired mentor and there is a great, almost comically genius scene with Stallone, Bruce Willis, and the Governator. 
MVP:  Statham as Lee Christmas, one of the few action stars in this still young enough to be believable

Fast Five

Actors:  Vin Diesel, Dwayne Rock Johnson, Paul Walker, Joachim de Almeda, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Matt Schultz
Rating:  7 out of 10, I only went to see this movie because there was nothing else worth seeing at the time.  I was completely blown away by what I thought was a dead franchise.  Walker still cannot act a lick but the rest of the cast was extremely good, especially Diesel.  He is such a physical presence that people overlook that he is a very good actor.  The confrontation between he and Johnson was worth the price of admission alone, two movie bad asses just knocking the bejesus out of each other.  The boys end up in Rio where they decide to take down the criminal mastermind of the city.  De Almeda is once again the criminal mastermind - has he ever been a good guy in the movies?  The car chase has been done to death in the movies and I did not think it was possible to come up with a new exciting angle but this movie has a couple.  Stealing cars off a moving train and what is probably one of the best action scenes in movie history the police chase through Rio while towing a massive safe make this movie.  The cast is an assembly of everyone that had ever "acted" in the series and there seemed to be a real attempt to ensure every ethnic group was covered.  The movie suffers when they get away from the action scenes but there are enough of those to endure the others.  A big surprise and hopefully the final entry in a series that went 3 for 5.
MVP:  Diesel as Dom the leader of the family and a brutally good actor

Flash Gordon

Actors:  Sam Jones, Melody Anderson, Max Von Sydow, Brian Blessed, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton
Rating:  6 out of 10, amazing cast in a totally camp movie that has established itself as a cult classic.  The movie was recognized as completely tongue in cheek when it came out but some serious movie goers who stumble upon it savage it.  The movie was written with the intent to poke fun at the genre and the actors do a great job of camping it up to the fullest.  The actor in the title role is laughingly bad and, as opposed to the other actors, you wonder if this was intended or if he is just that bad.  For whatever reason it works here.  There are some truly great one line zingers in this, such as Ming asking if his henchman are on the right pills.  There is no way this was intended as a straight forward sci fi action movie but it does have a lot of fun.  The plot is totally contrived and the special effects, even for 1980, are abominable.  The costumes and sets are amazing.  The biggest star of the movie though is the music which was produced by Queen in their heyday - it is awesome. 
MVP:  Von Sydow has so much fun and some of the best lines as Ming the Merciless

From Paris With Love

Actors:  John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Kasia Smutniak
Rating:  9 out of 10, a truly fabulous action movie that totally snuck up on me.  I was expecting a run of the mill action flick which it was until Travolta arrives on the screen.  He is a complete wrecking crew who hides his competence behind a facade of pure mayhem.  He totally takes over the movie and is almost hypnotic to watch just to see what outlandish thing he is going to do next.  He takes novice Rhys Meyers with him on a search for terrorists in Paris.  The story is contrived but they play it straight and for some reason it works, magnificently.  The action is pretty much non-stop for the entire movie and the body count quickly out of control.  The parallel story of the love story is quickly turned on its head and becomes the driving theme for the second half of the movie.  This is a truly great movie that I enjoyed from the start - cannot say enough good things about it.
MVP:  Travolta as the super agent and completely dangerous Charlie Wax

Gamer

Actors:  Gerard Butler, Michael C. Hall, Amber Valletta, Logan Lerman, Ludacris, Kyra Sedgewick
Rating: 8 out of 10, really well done sci fi action movie that also tries to send a message about the loss of privacy through today's electronic medium.  Butler plays a wrongly accused murderer who plays a part in a real world combat game where he is controlled by a player, a teenager in this case.  This movie was made by the same guys as the Crank movies and it has that same kind of cool edge to it.  Butler is more than adequate for the action scenes which are extremely well choreographed.  The best scenes are inside the civilian game where people with enough money can pay to have some other people act out their fantasies with the predictable results.  Hall plays a superb villain, a Zuckerburg type billionaire with aims on controlling everyone playing his games through nano-technology.  The movie walks a fine line with poking fun at cyber addicts while still staying on point with the action.  
MVP:  Butler is a bona fide action star again as Kable