Grudge Match

Actors:  Sylvester Stallone, Robert Deniro, Kim Bassinger, Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin, Jon Bernthal

Rating:  8 out of 10, I didn’t have high hopes for based on what I’d heard about it, but c’mon Rocky Balboa against Jake Lamotta – I was going to see this movie.  While it certainly did have its awkward moments it was very enjoyable.  They went a little overboard trying to make connections back to the Rocky movie, some more blatant than others and Kim Bassinger was completely out of her league. Stallone’s gone the lunkhead route for most of his career but he’s really not that bad an actor and more than holds his own with Deniro which is no mean task.  The movie is predicable but again, enjoyable.  It was the kind of movie I know I should dislike but I couldn’t help myself, a tribute to the two leads, ably supported by Alan Arkin, one of the funniest guys to ever draw breath.  The hardest thing to do was suspend disbelief that Stallone would not immediately mop the floor with Deniro in the ring, so maybe this was really an Oscar level turn for Deniro.

MVP:  Arkin steals every scene as the ancient trainer and is funnier than Hart 

Homefront

Actors:  Jason Statham, James Franco, Winona Ryder, and Kate Bosworth

Rating:  8 out of 10, The latest Jason Statham offering, that’s all the description you need to understand what kind of movie we’re talking about.  Statham is kicking Cajun redneck butt in this one with James Franco as a really un-scary meth gang leader.  We’re not delving into Shakespearean fare here but this was pretty entertaining as the action moves towards the inevitable show/smack down.  The biggest surprises were two of the female supporting actresses.  Kate Bosworth completely shunned her good looks and looked to be method acting the part of a meth-head low life.  Winona Ryder was completely unrecognizable as Franco’s girlfriend/business partner.  I just hope they offered Bosworth rehab after filming because she seriously looked like she needed it; her best performance in years.  

MVP:  Statham kicking ass and taking names

Escape Plan

Actors:  Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Vinnie Jones, Vincent D'Onofrio,  Amy Ryan

Rating:  7 out of 10, This is another of their combined attempts of Stallone and  Schwarzenegger to recapture their 1980’s glory days even as they pass into senior citizenry.  Both can still carry a movie and this was watchable, if predictable.  They both end up incarcerated in a sadistic private prison and their geritol fueled angst is palpable.   Stallone has obviously done a whole lot of steroids and can barely walk in a straight line, but then again, did he ever?  Caveizel does an interesting turn as the bad guy.  No surprises but some very good set action pieces.

MVP:  Stallone as the incarcerated escape artist

Blue is the Warmest Color

Actors:  Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos

Rating:  8 out of 10, This was a movie my daughter really liked but was leery recommending to me.  First of all it’s French and that’s never a good starting point for me but it does have an overwhelming amount of female nudity so the French factor was mitigated.  It’s a coming of age flick about a young girl who meets her true love (who happens to be another woman) and follows their relationship for the next decade or so.  Despite all the subtitles and the length (really long) this is a very engaging film about the essence of true love not tied to societal norms and that a relationship need more than great passion in the long run.  The director ensured that the color blue was represented in every scene which became an interesting game to note after spotting this.  The film is very explicit as the camera is for extended periods brought right into the various writhings going on and it had my wife running to close the curtains so the neighbors wouldn’t be exposed to our depraved viewing of French anatomy.  If you’ve got the time and aren’t offended by graphic nudity – a great movie.

MVP:  Exarchopoulos as the confused and semi-tragic Adele

Dallas Buyers Club

Actors:  Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare, Steve Zahn

Rating:  7 out of 10, A movie that grabs you from the outset mainly because McConaughey appears so absolutely wasted physically by AIDs.  He and Jared Leto went all in on portraying the ravaged characters and it’s almost mesmerizing.  The plot is kind of thin but doesn’t get into Hollywood preaching mode which was refreshing.  A Texas cowboy finds out he is afflicted with AIDs during the Reagan years and is given thirty days to live.  He becomes an illegal purveyor of unapproved treatment drugs and over the next seven years turns his life around with an unlikely alliance with a cross dressing Leto.  This film does accurately capture the panic and hopelessness when the AIDS epidemic first surfaced.  You leave the movie worried about the real world health of the lead actors who went to award winning lengths to lose weight.

MVP:  While Leto’s Rayon was astounding McConaughey as Ron dominates 

Hours

Actors:  Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez

Rating:  6 out of 10, This is virtually a one man show and at the risk of criticizing the dearly departed, thespian skills were Paul Walker’s strongest suit.  He plays a new father struggling alone to save his newborn baby in an abandoned New Orleans hospital during Hurricane Katrina and aftermath.  There just wasn’t enough meat hanging on the bones of the script.  The plot device of being anchored to his kid’s lifesaving apparatus which needed recharging every two minutes opened some gaping plot holes.  Walker’s forte was action and he shouldn’t have wandered away from that.  The dog was pretty cool though.

MVP:  Walker as the only guy really in this movie 

Jack Ryan, Shadow Recruit

Actors:  Kenneth Branagh, Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley

Rating:  7 out of 10, Chris Pine is the fourth actor to portray Tom Clancy’s iconic hero and this movie goes back to his origin story although updating it to present day (and setting up a new franchise).  The movie is extremely well done and at least the first half is loyal to Clancy’s character.  For the second half Ryan is transformed into a combination of James Bond and Sherlock Holmes as Pine Captain Kirk’s his way to the finish line.  This is just me waxing philosophical about a new take on a cherished literary character in the cinema.  All that being said the action is literally non-stop and extremely well done.  The only miss in the cast is Keira Knightley (someone I usually like a lot) as Cathy Ryan who struggles badly maintaining her American accent.  Costner and Branagh (who also directed) are typically fabulous in important supporting roles.

MVP:  Costner continues a strong series of middle aged action dudes as Thomas Harper, Ryan’s CIA controller