Actors: Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgaard, Rhianna,
Brooklyn Decker, Laim Neeson, Jesse Plemmons,
Tadanobu Asano
Rating: 9 out of 10, in a word was AWESOME! This is
the kind of movie my daughter and I completely disagree on as she is a lot more
cerebral in her cinema preferences while I just revel in this type of popcorn
corniness. Of course this movie did have
Kitsch which seems to help women overcome their cerebral tastes. I worry that the director, Peter Berg, may also
be love with Tim Riggins because of the long, lingering camera shots of Kitsch.
It was almost uncomfortable at times but I guess that was for the ladies
because there was a hell of a lot of action for the guys – must be the new
paradigm. The last 45 minutes of the movie was some of the best action I’ve
seen in a long while – it just really rocked, especially when the battleship Missouri took the
field. Seeing the 16” guns bellowing was
almost worth the price of admission in and of itself. The editing was kind of choppy and Neeson was
severely underused but overall this was a great action thriller. I don’t
understand all the bad reviews because it was not like they were trying to make
Hamlet here and you get exactly what you expect, a big, overblown, heroic fight
against a technically superior alien invader - what's not to love?
If the critics scared you off this movie and you love action – go see
this movie – the last 45 minutes make it all worth it. I loved the old board game of Battleship
which I played incessantly as a kid and really wondered how they could make a
coherent movie out of it, Brooklyn Decker helped a lot. Seeing Riggins and
Landry (Plemmons) together again was also interesting with both playing very similar characters
to what they did in Friday Night Lights.
Rhianna can actually act a little bit which surprised the hell out of me
but she held her own with the real actors.
Put your brain on hold and just revel in the completely over the top
insanity that is Battleship.
MVP: Asano as Japanese naval Captain Nagano was
the best actor on the screen, I’m not saying there was a lot of competition but
he was very good
 |
| Yeah Baby!! |
Actors: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Woody
Harellson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Donald Sutherland, Liam Hemsworth,
Elizabeth Banks, Willow Shields, Lenny Kravitz, Amandla Stenberg
Rating: 9 out of 10, I was really looking forward to
this movie after my daughter gave me the books and I read them in very short
order. The books were very good and the movie had some really good reviews so I
was set up to be disappointed. I was not. The movie was loyal to the books and
the small diversions did not impact in a big way. There’s always a problem when a movie tries
to capture the plot that has so many levels but this movie does. Harrelson proves he can still do more than
just crazy and Kravtiz was extremely memorable in a very small part. This movie though is carried by the persona
of Katniss Evergreen played ably by Lawrence. After reading the books I was wondering if
any actress would be up for the central character but Lawrence is more than able. I really like her as an actress because she
takes chances and she certainly does here.
She’s okay with being less than likable in some of her scenes because
that was what the scene called for. I
think she will be the next great American actress. Some of the best scenes were the ones she had
with Stenberg who is another young actress we should all keep an eye on for
future greatness. Hutcherson was a bit
of a miss as Peeta because he didn’t have the physicality I imagined with the character
but he can certainly act and that covered up what I thought he was missing to a
large extent. I was really wondering how
they were going to pull off the action scenes of the games themselves but this
was the strongest part of the movie. If
anything I think they missed out on the opportunity to show more and especially
how the games were being viewed in outlying districts. It’s rare that a movie
with its limitations as a media format can capture the depth and texture of a
well loved book but this movie achieves it, thanks in large part to the
delightful Ms. Lawrence.
MVP: Who else but Jennifer Lawrence as the deadly
but vulnerable Katniss Evergreen
Actors: Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Terrence
Howard, Nate Parker, Michael B Jordan, Andre Royo,
Rating: 8 out of 10, I missed this movie in the theaters
and due to the recent poor luck with buying films unseen I checked this out as
a Netflix rental. I hadn’t heard
anything good about this movie so I wasn’t expecting much and was truly pleased
with how well done it was. I’m in the
middle of watching the final season of The Wire and many of the same actors
show up in this movie which made it even more enjoyable – like seeing old
friends. There’s been a lot written
about the real world heroes who flew as African-American pilots in World War 2
but this was the most enjoyable I’ve seen.
Most of the other movies about the Tuskegee airman focus on the social struggle
they faced and give short shrift to the combat action which is where they
ultimately proved their worth and validated their place as icons of US military
heroism. This movie rectifies that in a
big way as the action is almost non-stop and the aerial combat scenes are
breathtaking. George Lucas was involved
in this and you can see the special effects expertise manifest itself in the
dogfights. The writing is a little more
lightweight but this is a fantastic group of actors who elevate the work above
the content even though some 21st century lingo does sneak in (obviously
(hopefully) ad libs). The only miss in
the cast was Oyelowo who was not convincing as the supposedly brash guy. He didn’t strike me as very American and
after watching the film I learned he was British. With so many talented American actors
surrounding him he just didn’t come across as genuine. It was great to see a movie about African-Americans
that allowed them to be action heroes and not beat the audience over the head
with the message of racial equality. The
message is there but rightfully and accurately demonstrated by the combat
prowess of the pilots. The first hour of
the movie is riveting and while the plot gets bogged down in the last half this
is still a very well done and fitting tribute to some of the greatest Americans
to ever wear the uniform. While I was
serving I had the honor to meet some of the actual Tuskegee airman and they were some of the
nicest, most self-effacing gentlemen I ever met, true heroes. This movie soars and will soon occupy a
position on my movie shelf.
MVP: Howard as Colonel Bullard in a small but important
part as the leader of the Red Tails
Actors: Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney,
Dallas Roberts, Joe Anderson
Rating: 5 out of 10, I finally snuck a movie (Netflix
rental) in around Olympics watching and now I’m wondering why. Neeson is one of my favorite actors and he
holds his own in this as does the rest of the cast but the story is just
ludicrously stupid. The plot revolves
around a group of oil roughnecks who survive a plan crash and are hunted by a
pack of wolves. The cold arctic weather
is like another character in the movie but again not realistic. It’s just too hard to believe that this pack
of wolves would act so completely different than normal in hunting men who they
avoid whenever possible in real life. There
was a real sense of Darwinism at work here though because this had to be the
stupidest bunch of supposedly tough men.
If they were being stalked by killer wolves would they abandon safety
just to take a wiz? Maybe it just might
be a good idea to take along something to fight back with – like a metal club
from all the plane debris lying around. I guess the writer and director were
going for some deeper meaning here about the evil oil men invading a pristine wilderness
that fights back but they sold it as an action movie and it wasn’t. The characters, outside of Neeson, were so uniformly
unlikable and you almost root for the wolves, like they’re doing us a
favor. I think this was a case where Hollywood tried to capitalize
on Neeson’s recent action successes by packaging this film as something it wasn’t. It fooled me and stole a couple hours of my
life that I’ll never get back. Avoid
this film.
MVP: Neeson as Ottoway, the suicidal leader and
least unlikable survivor
