Contraband

Actors:  Mark Wahlberg, Kate Beckinsale, Ben Foster, Lukas Haas, Caleb Jones, Giovanni Ribisi, Diego Luna, J.K. Simmons
Rating:  8 out of 10, a very workable and enjoyable action flick with a very appealing cast.  Wahlberg does well when cast as a blue collar type and he and Beckinsale (blonde for some reason) make a good pair.  Ribisi is a total creep as the violent bad guy.  As an actor he’s become quite the chameleon and is a good enough actor to be an appealing good guy and a despicable bad guy, such as here.  Part of the movie was shot in Panama which was very interesting for me although it did lead me to question the authenticity when they showed Wahlberg taking part in a gunfight on one side of Panama City and then making it to the port of Balboa in less than ten minutes – totally impossible in the real world.  Beckinsale shows that she’s more than just a pretty face and is very believable as a working class mom.  The plot was convoluted enough with a couple of surprises and a nice tying up of loose ends.  Luna was very good as a totally out of control Panamanian bad guy.  Wahlberg shows once again he is more than capable of carrying an entire movie. Not a lot of depth here, but lots of action, suspense, and solid acting.  The only miss in the cast was surprisingly Foster who seemed to have mailed this one in. 
MVP:  Wahlberg as Chris Farraday the talented smuggler forced back into the profession to protect his family

Tree of Life

Actors:  Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
Rating:  7 out of 10, As with all of Terrence Malick’s work this movie was visually stunning.  The great camera shots just keep coming, even if the viewer is struggling to understand what exactly is going on.  My daughter warned me away from this movie but I put it on my Netflix queue just to see what all the talk was about.  It was funny because my wife had seen the end of the movie on cable TV and was trying to figure out what was going on and looked forward to seeing the whole movie.  She was just as confused after seeing the whole thing.  It seemed a little pretentious and really self-absorbed – like Malick doesn’t really care if the viewer likes or understands just as long it looks great.  In that respect it is really superficial.  On the other hand it is a great stab at telling a very deep story from the widest perspective possible, starting with the dawn of life on earth.  Pitt and Chastain are very good representing polar opposite approaches to life.  I try to connect with the people in story of the movie and that is nearly impossible here, mainly due to the non-linear nature of the story.  In the end you’re left a little frustrated but enriched with the spectacular camera shots.  I think it would have helped if it was a little clearer which of the sons Penn portrayed.  I’m glad I watched this movie, it stays with you but I definitely won't buy it or watch it again.
MVP:  Pitt as the father, Mr O’Brien struggling as a 1950s father and engineer who wishes he’d followed his dream on being a musician

The Double

Actors:  Richard Gere, Topher Grace, Odette Yustman, Martin Sheen, Stephen Moyer
Rating:  5 out of 10, This was a Netflix watch and something I definitely will not buy.  I don’t remember this in theaters and I can understand why it went straight to DVD – it just isn’t that good.  It has some very good moments and Gere has his as well – just not enough.  Grace who was very good in Predators in shedding his 70’s Show personae takes a huge step backwards here.  He was totally unbelievable as an obnoxious FBI agent.  He had no gravitas whatsoever and he needed some.  The plot was not confusing at all and that may be part of the problem – no surprises when they were going for some.  I think the director is in love with Washington DC because there are lots of lingering shots of the DC landscape.  This was interesting for me because I used to run, actually jog, through many of these places when I worked at the Pentagon.  Gere can do controlled ferocity really well, see Internal Affairs, but he didn’t tap into any of that here and it was needed.  I can’t say this is even a near miss, just not a very good movie which is a shame considering a very strong cast. 
MVP:  Steven Moyer as the imprisoned assassin Brutus was truly the best thing about the movie, very menacing

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

Actors:  Tom Cruise, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyquist
Rating:  9 out of 10, exactly what you would expect out of a mission impossible movie and then some.  Cruise spends a lot of time sprinting from one place to another, did you ever notice how much he does that in movies, it’s like his signature move.  There’s a little more comedy in this one as Pegg is aboard.  Patton is nice to look at but she was clearly out of her depth, acting wise, compared to the rest of the cast.  Cruise is actually very generous as the lead with other actors.  He does a great job with the physical aspects although he is starting to show a little age around the periphery.  The special effects are top notch and, as expected, the action is almost non-stop.  The scenes with Cruise scaling the outside of the highest buiklding in the world with a pair of failing climbing gloves took my breath away.  For some reason this installment seemed a little smarter and not take itself too seriously.  There were several instances when the vaunted IMF technology failed and that made the always unbelievable action seem a little more human.  Nyquist, who starred in the Swedish Dragon Tattoo movies as Michael Blumquist, is eerily creepy as the nihilist villain.  The plot was all over the place but always made sense.  This was a very good movie that held my attention throughout.  Renner was superb as the conflicted side kick and I really like the interplay between he and Cruise.
MVP:  Cruise as IMF agent Ethan Hunt owns this franchise and delivers again

Rocky Balboa

Actors:  Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Milo Ventimiglia, Antonio Tarver, Geraldine Hughs, AJ Benza

Rating:  7 out of 10, I picked this movie out of the bargain bin when I was buying this week’s new releases.  I remember that I liked the movie when it came out but not enough to buy it.  When I watched it last night I really liked it as you see Stallone taking the character back to his roots.  Rocky was a totally lovable loser in the first movie, a lug with a heart of gold.  In the innumerable sequels he became something of a super-hero – solving world problems.  I expected to see him elected president on Mars or something.  This movie takes him back and he is once again a sweet guy just getting by and grieving for the loss of his beloved Adriane. He may be slow witted but he has depth and Stallone shows that he is a much better actor than he is given credit for or he demonstrates with his usual fare.  There are great, subtle links back to the original Rocky movie which was really the only one with any real quality.  There is a great supporting cast and a real gritty feel to the Philly scenes that rang true.  The movie is also a fond farewell to one of the great characters in cinema history.  At least this time we get a chance to shuffle him off with his dignity intact, as opposed to some of the truly terrible earlier sequels.

MVP:  Stallone owns the title character and truly delivers here – Rocky is back  

Darkest Hour

Actors:  Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby, Max Minghella, Racheal Taylor, Joel Kinnamon

Rating:  8 out of 10, I liked this movie.  If you saw the previews for it then you know the plot.  Some Americans are partying in Russia when semi-invisible aliens descend and start vaporizing every living thing.  Of course there are survivors, of course they’re the Americans, but this movie actually does a good job of keeping you interested after the carnage of the first twenty minutes.  There are some great shots of Moscow, both before and after the invasion.  Seeing the empty streets after the bustle of pre-invasion times was especially jarring.  After spending four days in a basement hiding out, the young people head out across Moscow and link up with some plucky survivors.  I loved the Russian patriots who show up on horseback to rescue the Americans.  At times the plot threatens to descend into maudlin horror movie traps with a couple of the stars repeatedly doing stupid things that you know they’re doomed, cinematic Darwinism at it’s best.  The movie is better than that though as it is willing to sacrifice some of the good guys and the spirit of the Russians fighting back was inspiring.  The lead actor was terrible, Hirsch, just doesn’t have the chops for an action lead, you can see him thinking about what his lines should be.  The rest of the cast is excellent, especially the Russians.  The alien invasion story has been done so many times but the film makers found a novel way by making them invisible and seemingly invincible but then slowly revealing vulnerabilities.  The Blu Ray also had some interesting extras including one called Survivors.  I don’t know if it was a teaser for a sequel or just some plot line that was abandoned but it showed the struggle against the aliens at a bunch of different places around the world and was pretty interesting. 

MVP:  Thirlby as Natalie was both interesting and smart as the female lead but the real heroes for this movie were these guys – casual deadly competence and fighting spirit – gotta love em.

War Horse

Actors:  Jeremy Irvin, Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, David Thewlis, Tom Hiddleston, Neils Arestrup, Celine Buckins, Toby Kebbell
Rating:  7 out of 10, I was totally prepared to dislike this movie when I first saw it in the theater.  I’ve never been a horse guy and thought this was going to be another Spielberg attempt on our hearts.  It was certainly that but damn it, Spielberg is such at expert at the heart thing that I actually ended up liking the movie.  Horses are not like dogs but the horse in this movie almost reaches that level of interaction which I thought would be impossible.  The movie suffers a little because the human star, Irvin, is a little too earnest to be real.  It almost begs the question about why he likes the horse as much as he does.  The rest of the cast is extremely good and captures the innocence of pre-World War 1 England.  Kebbell is once again extremely good as the British soldier who rescues the horse from barb wire doom.  I think we’ll be hearing a lot more from this actor – he has great screen presence. The cinematography of this movie is among the best I’ve ever seen and that is preserved watching it on blu ray – some scenes just blow your socks off.  I did have some issue with the military tactics shown, such as the Germans placing an undefended encampment in front of their defensive line.  I really did like the depiction of the lives of the soldiers, even the German side which Spielberg didn’t demonize, which I know must have been hard for him.  The simple soldiers trying to survive the hell of trench warfare was eloquently portrayed during the rescue scene.  So, well worth a watch if a little too sickly sweet at times, what is going on between Irvin and the horse?
MVP:  Arestrup as the grandfather expertly plays the grandfather totally bewitched and trying to protect his sickly granddaughter both from the Germans and herself

The Black Six

Actors:  Lem Barney, Gene Washington, Mercury Morris, Mean Joe Green, Willie Lanier, Carl Eller, Ben Davidson
Rating:  1 out of 10, this may be the absolutely worst movie ever made.  My friend gave it to me as gag gift because it is a film that has reached mythic proportions with a group of friends.  It is a film made with football stars from the early 1970s, the height of “blaxploitation” films, some of which were actually pretty good.  This most definitely was not – it is so poorly made as to defy explanation.  The “6” are a black motor cycle gang of Vietnam veterans wandering the countryside until they learn of the murder of one of their younger brothers.  They return to the hometown to battle a white motor cycle gang.  In the credits they actually list which NFL team each guy played for.  The acting is nonexistent and the action, which you think would at least be credible, is laughably bad.  I kept asking myself, who would mess with a gang of huge NFL players but they keep coming.  Apparently Gene Washington was the only one of the six able to put three sentences together because he has virtually all the lines.  The climatic battle is not, although it does have a drugged out Ben Davidson, as Thor, leading the white motor cycle gang.  This was an hour and half I will never get back but again, the unintentional comedy factor is off the chart.
MVP:  Washington as Bubba Daniels (I’m not kidding) who is really the only one who talks, doesn’t act, just talks

Kelly's Heroes

Actors:  Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Carrol O'Conner, Harry Dean Stanton, Gavin Macleod
Rating;  8 out of 10, this was a cult classic and favorite film to discuss over a couple of beers with friends over the years.  One of these friends learned I didn't have the movie and surprised me with it as a gift.  I was in turn surprised to learn that the director was the same that had directed Eastwood a couple of years earlier in Where Eagles Dare, which was a pretty good, straight WW2 action movie.  This one is a whole lot harder to classify but if I had to I'd call it a dark comedy.  The action is there and is pretty well done, to include a coherent battle plan for Kelly's adventure.  The military equipment is extremely authentic, much more so than many of the other WW2 films of the same era.  I actually studied, at the US Army War College, the actual WW2 battle, the Battle of Nancy, where the movie's action was set.  I get the impression that this started out as an action film but the producers decided it had to include some counter-culture elements (M.A.S.H. was released the same year and was a big hit) since this was the height of the anti-Vietnam movement.  Thus was created one of the great comedic parts in movie history, Oddball, played by Donald Sutherland.  How a 1960s hippie was transported back to the 1940s and placed in charge of a tank platoon is never really explained, but he steals every scene in the movie and has some great lines.  I think this could have been a great movie if the film makers had decided to go with either action or comedy but by straddling the fence it loses something.  Most of the characters are one dimensional and come across as extremely hard to root for.  It turns out to be a great dark comedy that is extremely quotable and funny as hell.  There is an awesome ode to Eastwood's spaghetti Western past with the final showdown with the Tiger tank and this movie has one of the best musical scores in movie history.
MVP:  Donald Sutherland as Oddball, the counter culture leader of Kelly's tank platoon