Movie Review: A Walk Among the Tombstones

Scott Frank (The Lookout) decided September would be a good time to take us for A Walk Among the Tombstones.

We start by seeing Scudder (Liam Neeson, Darkman) off duty as a cop in the early 90's.  He witnesses a couple of guys robbing a bar and deals with it.  This ends in a way that affects him enough to quit the force.  Cut to 1999, where he is now working as an unlicensed private detective.  He gets pulled into a bizarre case when a drug dealer (Dan Stevens, The Guest) hires him to find out who kidnapped his girlfriend.  Things escalate when he finds that this is not the first, or last, time that these kidnappers have hit someone.

If you're looking for another non-stop (pun, totally intended) action flick from Neeson, then you've come to the wrong place.  This is not another Taken clone, but rather more of a mystery thriller and a character piece.  And not a bad one at that.  The plot itself doesn't take you to too many new places, but the dialogue and acting elevate this film above the mediocre level.  I don't think all of the action movies that Neeson has been doing have been that bad really, but they're not a real showcase of his talent.  He's given a little more to work with in this film though, and I think he really shines.  He's conflicted when given the new case because he's a good man and doesn't want to help a drug dealer. He even refuses at first.  Then he finds out what happened to the girlfriend, and he gets pulled in. He is also kind of alone and haunted by his past, but finds a friend in a homeless teen named TJ (Astro, Earth To Echo).

One weak spot in the film would have to be parts of the relationship between Scudder and TJ.  They work together pretty well for most of their time together.  However, they have a few scenes together where the dialog gets a little clunky.  TJ also is forced to become a little too convenient of a plot device at some points.  With what he's given, he does do a fine job of making it work for the most part.  Another shining star in this film though, is Dan Stevens who plays the drug dealer hiring the detective.  I am not real familiar with his work right now, but this film definitely has me alert to look for more of his stuff.  He apparently has a big role on the ever-so-popular BBC show, "Downton Abbey".  In here he is given the role of an icy drug dealer who's got a bit of a hard edge to him.  On top of this, he let's a vulnerability show through when talking about his missing girlfriend, while still maintaining that edge.  It's a fine line, and he walks it well.

Another thing to note is the time setting of 1999.  It's appropriate because this looks and feels like a gritty 90's thriller more so than the glossy, polished films we get now.  Scudder is the grumpy old detective that doesn't want to learn technology.  Having this film set in '99 helps sell that.  The internet and cell phones were still new-ish at the time.  Him not wanting a cell phone, or wanting to learn to use the internet were legitimate.  Try being a detective in this day and age without those skills and you'll probably be laughed right out of a job.  The only time this became a little distracting was with too many mentions of the Y2K scare.  It worked as a one-off joke about why he doesn't want to bother learning how to use a computer himself.  From there, it just got annoying with all the references.

This film is by no means an Oscar contender or anything, but it really holds it's own.  It is a little slower paced, but it's a nice throwback to the older more deliberate, character driven thrillers.  If you're looking for some solid acting and good dialogue, then this little mystery is not a bad choice.  It's a good chance to see Neeson do something a little different for a change, while still getting some of that shoot 'em up action he does so well in the last act.

Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Scudder: Chased 'em into the street, shot two dead.....got a third one in the leg.

Movie Review: The November Man

Roger Donaldson (Cocktail) brings us this September action/spy thriller, The November Man.


Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan, The Matador) is a CIA agent who retires after his protégé, Mason (Luke Bracey, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) fails to follow an order and things go wrong on a mission.  He has five years of peace before his former boss, Hanley (Bill Smitrovich, Iron Man) calls him back to pull another agent out of deep cover in Russia.  This agent has information on a man trying for the Russian presidency that the CIA needs, and Hanley claims they will only talk to Peter.  Things go wrong again.  The CIA and Russians are both after Peter.  He runs into his old protégé.  Bad guys are good guys, good guys are bad guys.  Who does he trust?  There's a girl they are seeking who was abused by the bad Russian man.  There's a Chechen war that was started on purpose for control of oil.  Ya follow?  Good.


Yeah, let's start with the plot.  It was all over the place, and just about as easy to follow as my description above.  There were just so many plot points crammed into this movie, and the screenwriter tried to put too many twists into it.  This film ran a fairly short 108 minutes, and yet it felt like it was at least 2 hours long.  I will give credit to the fact that despite the jumbled mess of a story, it did all clear up by the end.  It also felt like even with all that was going on, the movie was still a little clichéd and predictable at some points.  There's the retired agent who is pulled back in and has to face his protégé.  There's the obligatory meeting with an informant in a strip club.  There are two-faced characters who are not really who they seem to be.  There was simply just not much in here that set this movie apart from any other generic CIA spy movie like this.


The acting wasn't bad, but it wasn't real great either.  For the most part I don't entirely fault the actors.  They all did a competent job with what they were given.  All the characters were just so by the numbers that there was no room for them to shine.  Brosnan was the only one who had anything to even remotely sink his teeth into and did a fine job.  He plays a man who wants to stay settled down and run his little shop, but in a few scenes you get to see a little bit of the darkness from his past come through and you're not quite sure if he's going to step over the edge.


There's not much else to say about this film.  It's not really bad, and it's not really good.  It just kind of......is.  It's Pierce Brosnan back in the role of a spy, which is a good thing.  There's enough action to keep you interested.  It's the kind of movie you'll find on TBS or TNT, while flipping through your 10,000 cable channels, that you'll stop and watch when you realize there is nothing else on.  You'll enjoy it for what it is, then forget about it month later.


Rating: ****------ (4 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Alice: Do all your friends try to kill you?
Peter: Eventually.

Movie Review: As Above, So Below

John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine) takes us on a journey to hell and back in As Above, So Below.

Scarlett (Perdita Weeks, The Invisible Woman) is the daughter of a famous anthropologist (no, not Indiana Jones), and is following in his footsteps.  She's adventurous and super smart.  Seriously, she speaks four modern languages, two dead ones, has multiple phds, and is even a black belt in some form of martial arts.  It was a bit overkill for the story, but that's a minor quibble.  In this film she is searching for the infamous Philosopher's Stone.  She teams up with Harry Potter and.....no, wrong story.  Through a little bit of detective work she finds out that it is buried somewhere beneath the city of Paris.  There are catacombs running all throughout the underground of Paris where 6 million people were buried a couple hundred years ago (true story).  The tunnels are a tourist place now, but Scarlett has discovered that there may be a hidden chamber where the stone is now residing.  She gets together a group to go down and help her find it with the promise of treasure.  While down there, they pass an entry that is the supposed gateway to Hell, where they each have to face their inner demons and fight their way back to the surface. Who will survive?

This film is being sold as a horror, and it is for the last half.  The whole first half is something different though.  It is more of a National Treasure/Davinci Code type of movie.  We watch her as she finds clues to the whereabouts of the Philosopher's Stone by sneaking into museums, finding hidden clues, checking the maps.  This worked for me though.  I love those kinds of movies, and this one had a story that held my interest pretty well.  Then when the group gets into the catacombs, we get the horror movie we thought we were going to see.  It is horror set in tunnels and caves, so do we get all the clichés?  Yeah.  Someone falling down long hole?  Check.  Someone getting stuck?  Yep.  A broken bone? Sure.  The difference for me was that they established a good story in the beginning of the film.  The filmmakers kept that story going throughout the last half, and used it to deal with a couple of the clichés in what I thought were interesting ways.  I thought overall the story was a strong point.  It's like The Goonies as a horror movie.

A weak point was the filming style.  It's found footage.  Yes, there are some good examples of found footage movies out there, but I'm just kind of tired of it as a whole.  I will give this one points for implementing the structure better than most.  Scarlett has a man named Benji (Edwin Hodge, The Purge: Anarchy) documenting her journey as she uncovers clues.  When they go down into the catacombs he has a little camera installed on everyone's headlamps, so the story can logically be shown from the viewpoint of any of the characters.  You were never left wondering where a camera was or why it would be there.  The problem I have with the found footage, is movement.  When someone is running through the caves, or worse yet, falling, you just get a blurred image on screen.  It gets hard to tell what is going on when this is happening.  This didn't get real bad too often, but it was enough to be a little distracting here and there.  It also really limits the shot choices for the film, which I suppose is why a lot of horror directors use it.  It's got to be a pretty cheap alternative to traditional camera work.

The acting was just alright, but the characters developed well enough.  I actually liked a few of them, which is good for a horror film, because you want to care enough to not see them get hurt.  Weeks did a solid job of the gung-ho lead of the film.  Ben Feldman (Cloverfield) played her translator friend George.  He was the whiny one that didn't want to be there in the first place that you usually can't stand in these kind of films.  How he ended up going with them when he didn't want to was a little forced, but it was handled better than most.  Even being the whiny one, he was still likeable.  Francois Civil (Frank) was their personal tour guide, Papillon, and also the comic relief.  I thought he did a great job.  Those were the three personalities that really stuck out at all.  The other couple of characters were still likeable, but ultimately forgettable.

I have to admit, I went in not expecting much more than a generic horror.  What I got was a historical mystery adventure with some supernatural horror thrown in.  I could have done without found footage, and the acting was fine, but not great.  The story kept it interesting though, and there was plenty of tension during the last half of the film in the caves.  This film was a pleasant surprise.

Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

George (translating): Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Jonathan Liebsman (Wrath of the Titans) directed this latest version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the story of four heroes in a half shell of a movie.

New York is being run amok by a new gang called the foot clan.  While trying to get the scoop that'll finally put her on top, April O'Neil (Megan Fox, Transformers) witnesses four turtle vigilantes put a stop to one of their raids.  In confronting them, they introduce themselves (in case you missed it from the title of the movie) very awkwardly as ninjas who are mutant turtles......oh, and they are teenagers, but they can still have adult conversations, says Mikey.  Wink wink.  That April is a fox.  (See what I did there?  Pretty bad, but still better than the writing in this movie.)  Turns out that April's father was partners with Eric Sacks (William Fichtner, Drive Angry) in the lab that created these same turtles, along with their master Splinter.  April goes to Sacks to find out about a project they were working on before her father died.  Watch out April!  Sacks is a bad man, and he's got a Japanese man, named Shredder, sitting in the shadows of a back room that he gives a giant CGI suit of oversized knives to in order to stop the turtles before they foil his plan for world domination.  (I don't think that was much more spoilery than the trailers).

I'm not even sure where to begin with this.  I guess I will start by saying that I am a fan of TMNT, from the 80's cartoon to the 1990 movie to the NES game and beyond, even as cheesy as some of that stuff is.  So, I went into this movie wanting to like it.  I really did.  There are just too many things that didn't work.  The story, for one.  The biggest problem is the April O'Neil angle.  Why does the one person who randomly is the first one to witness the turtles in action, out of ALL the people in New York, have to magically be directly linked to their origin.  The writers were trying too hard to tie everything together, and that just called for too big of a coincidence.  Also, in doing so, this movie became more of the April O'Neil story, with the turtles being more of a foot note.  Speaking of footnotes, that's kind of what the reason is behind them actually being ninjas.  Think Splinter has a cool back story like he did in the 1990 version?  Nope, just found an old book in the sewers called The Art of Ninjitsu, and thought that would be cool to teach the turtles as a way to defend themselves.

That brings me to the turtles themselves.  It's a wonder they need to be ninjas at all.  They are each the size of a small car, and as witnessed in the first fight of the film, they can whip around barge crates with the greatest of ease.  They're also bulletproof.  All they need is brute force to take out the bad guys.  Another thing that bothered me about the turtles was the get-ups.  Maybe it's just because I'm used to the belt, the mask, and the weapon on each, that I though the rest of it was overkill in this movie.  Leonardo is the leader, so he has a sort of samurai armor looking thing on.  Donatello is the tech guy, so he is covered head to toe with electronics and nerdy glasses.  Raphael is the loner badass, so he's got the full bandana and black sunglasses.  Michelangelo is the fun-loving party dude, so he's decked out with puka shell necklaces and 80's sunglasses.  I liked it better when writers thought that audiences were smart enough to figure out their personalities without the overstated visual hints.

The writing wasn't much better than the design for the turtles.  They claimed to be teenagers, but I felt like they were written more like they were 8 or 9 year olds.  Mikey was ruined as the party guy, as 90% of his dialogue was devoted to his feelings for April.  I realize that it's nothing new to add this element of one or more of the turtles having a little crush on the hot reporter, but this was taken to a creepy, stalker-ish level. If they would have toned this down a little, then maybe the rest of his dialogue, that seemed more in character for him, would have resonated a little better.  The rest of the turtles' dialogue wasn't written much better, either.  The jokes all kind of felt a little flat.  I never thought this phrase would come from me, but Megan Fox may have been the best performer in the movie.  Some of the jokes and gags were actually direct callbacks to the 1990 movie (probably a few for the old cartoon show also, but didn't catch them).  Usually when watching a remake, I can appreciate these nods to the original and still enjoy the current film.  In this case, however, when they made a reference to the old film it just made me wish that's what I were watching instead.

I will give points to this movie for the CGI work.  This is the age of bigger equals better, and this movie rolled with that.  There is a scene where the main characters are careening down a snowy mountain while also still fighting the foot clan.  Everyone miraculously comes out unscathed, but hey, it was kind of a fun scene to watch.  The only place that the CGI was a problem for me was the final battle.  I just didn't think that Shredder's armor looked that great.

There are two other little positive things I would like to mention.  One is Will Arnett (The Lego Movie), who played April's cameraman, Vernon.  His dialogue wasn't much better than anyone else's, but when isn't that guy fun to watch.  The other is a scene to watch out for.  There is an elevator scene that's only really about 30 seconds long, but such a fun scene.  What is it with elevator scenes this year?  Captain America had a great one too.

Like I said before, I love the turtles.  So, it pained me to write such a negative review.  It just wasn't that good.  Other than a few fun scenes, most of my time spent watching this movie was spent wondering when it was going to end.

Rating: ***------- (3 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Michelangelo: MC Mikey!

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn (Slither) helmed this next installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Guardians of the Galaxy, and it's another great success in my opinion.

The general audience may not know who the Guardians are, but watching this film they'll definitely be hooked on a feeling of complete joy.  The film starts off in 1988 with a small boy named Peter Quill.  After seeing his mother pass away, he runs off and is abducted by a spaceship.  Cut to present day and we find an adult Peter, played by Chris Pratt (The Lego Movie), hunting down this small orb for a buyer.  We find that in the last 26 years he has been raised and trained by a group of ravagers, essentially space pirates.  He tries to sell it on Xandar, the homeworld of the Nova Corp.  It turns out to be a powerful weapon that the Nova's enemies, the Kree, want to steal for themselves to destroy Xandar.  From there it becomes a fun romp through space with Quill (or as he likes to call himself, Star Lord), and the unlikely group of heroes he accumulates, fighting the good fight to save Xandar and the Nova Corp.

It's a pretty basic plot, but the real fun of the movie comes from getting to know the characters.  Peter Quill is a wise-ass womanizing space pirate.  Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista, Riddick) is the literal-minded, muscle-bound alien hell-bent on getting revenge on the Kree.  Gamora (Zoe Saldana, Star Trek), is the "daughter" of the Kree leader, Thanos, whom she incidentally hates.  Then there is the walking tree named Groot (Vin Diesel, Boiler Room) and his little partner Rocket (Bradley Cooper, Limitless), the space-raccoon (although don't call him that to his face) with an attitude.  This group doesn't even like each other to begin with, so the bickering just makes for a fun time as they get to know each other and start to realize that they need to work together.  The role of Quill seems like it was written just for Pratt.  I think it may be the best bit of Marvel casting since RDJ as Tony Stark.  Not knowing the characters ahead of time, I don't know if the part was adapted to him or if that really is the way the character is.  Either way, it was just a ton of fun to watch.  The others did just as well, especially Diesel who did voice-over for the CGI Groot and could only use a vocabulary of three words to get his point across by using different inflections of his voice.  There was also a lot of greatness in the supporting cast with the likes of Glenn Close, John C. Reilly, and Michael Rooker.  One of the standouts, however, was Lee Pace (Lincoln).  He played Ronan, the leader of the Kree army that was after the orb.  He dove so far into the role of the power hungry alien that I didn't even realize it was him until the credits rolled.

Besides the top-notch cast, this film has a lot else going for it.  There's a little something in it for everyone.  The dialog is one of the best things going for it.  This movie had me laughing throughout most of it.  The dialog was just really witty and sharp.  I am a huge fan of 80's movies and this film managed to work in a lot of 80's dialog and references.  It was not shoehorned in either.  It all made sense within the context of the film, since Peter Quill was abducted from earth in 1988.  That would mean all knowledge of Earth for him only goes up to the 80's.  In keeping with this trend, it also had the feel of an 80's action/adventure/comedy.  It's hard to describe.  It was like watching an old Indiana Jones, mixed with a little Ghostbusters, set in space.  I don't mean similar subject matter, but rather tone and feel.  Also, without shoehorning it in, but rather flowing it into the narrative, this film may have the best soundtrack since Almost Famous.  It has a soundtrack that just makes you want to get up and dance.  In fact, there's even some fun dance scenes in here that also seem like they have no place in film like this, but somehow work oh so well.

Well, after this whole love-fest for this fantastic movie, I do have to point out one or two minor things that did not work for me.  First, I was worried in the beginning about the dialog.  These are characters that, as I've said, the general public are not even going to know the names of.  Therefore, that's the one thing they did have to shoehorn in.  I thought the dialog when introducing a couple of the characters was a little hokey.  You'll give this a pass, once you realize that it is only to get the introductions out of the way, which is necessary.  The other thing is, I did not like the camera work for the heavy action scenes.  When there was too much action going on, the camera was all over the place.  It was also full of fast cuts.  Luckily there were not a lot of scenes like this, and when there was a little less heavy action it was perfectly acceptable.  It just seemed like when there was too much going on at one time the director and cameraman didn't know where they should be, so they tried to be everywhere at once.

Other than those small complaints, I highly recommend you go out and see this film.  It doesn't matter if you know these characters or not going in.  By the time you leave, you'll be hungry for more.  And in true 80's fashion they let you know you'll get more with the pre-credits title card telling you "Guardians of the Galaxy will be back".  Also, being a Marvel movie, there is a stinger after the credits.  I will tell you that it does not progress any storyline, but for anyone in their mid-30's like me, there's a fairly unexpected fun little cameo.  This movie has it all, action, adventure, comedy, dancing, and a killer soundtrack.  If you're looking for a fun time at the movies, this is your ticket.

Rating: *********- (9 out of 10)

Memorable Quote:

Gamora: We're just like Kevin Bacon!

Movie Review: Hercules

Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) helps close out the July book with the story of Hercules.


Dwayne Johnson (Pain & Gain), with his yak testicle hair beard (that's what he claims), plays the title role of Hercules, the demi-god son of Zeus and a mortal woman.  To be free of Zeus' jealous wife Hera's attempts to kill him he must go through the 12 labors.  These are tasks set before him that only a demi-god such as himself can perform.  This is the story you expect, going into a film about Hercules.  This is the story you get for the first 10 minutes of this film.  Turns out he's gone through his 12 labors and now is a mercenary for hire that goes around with his rag-tag group of merry men (and one Amazonian woman) doing tasks in exchange for gold.  He is hired by Lord Cotys (John Hurt, Snowpiercer) to train the men of Thrace to defend his kingdom from the evil warlord Rhesus.


This all seems utterly ridiculous, and it is, but it turns out to be a bit of fun.  The story, although told poorly in this film, is quite interesting at the base of it.  You find out that Hercules may not be a demi-god after all.  His nephew travels with him on his adventures and tells the tales of his previous acts.  Each time the tales get taller and taller until you finally have a legend born of a man who was born the son of Zeus.  I think this is an interesting commentary on how myths and legends are created out of word of mouth.  Even though this film is filled with flaws, that was probably the one thing that bothered me most.  It is heavily implied that Hercules is only a mortal man, but you see him perform some pretty superhuman feats throughout.  This and the other flaws didn't even bother me that much though, because the movie was just plain fun.


Before I get to the part where I had fun, I need to point out some other flaws.  This is because I want to make sure you're completely aware that this is not necessarily a "good" movie.  To start with, it's just poorly written.  As I said, the base story is a nice twist, but after it is revealed it becomes a little predictable.  It is also filled with the tropes and clichés of action adventure films like this.  The script is not great either.  There are a lot of lines that just don't work, and some dialogue that seemed to go a little too modern day.  All that being said, if those are the kinds of things that you just cannot get past in a movie, then you may just want to walk away.  If you think that you might be able to move past this if some other proper ingredients were thrown in, then I'll get to what I liked about the film.


The actors.  Not necessarily the acting, but the actors.  It was like they all knew what kind of hokey movie they were in and decided to just go with it.  It just seemed like they were having fun playing these characters, and that flowed through to me having fun watching them.  Dwayne Johnson, in his usual fashion, just oozed with his natural charisma and really hammed it up for the camera.  Some of Hercules cohorts were even more fun to watch.  Rufus Sewell (A Knight's Tale), plays kind of his right hand man, Autolycus, who is handy with daggers.  He gets some good, well-timed quips in with his dialogue.  Ingrid Bolso Berdal (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) plays a fierce no-nonsense Amazonian.  The highlight had to be Ian McShane (Cuban Fury) though.  He played a "seer", Amphiaraus, who was burdened with the ability to receive visions from the gods, including when someone's time was up.  You just didn't know what was going to come out of his mouth.  There is a fun recurring theme about visions of his own death that pays off with what was the biggest laugh at my screening.  There are a few chuckles in this film, but it does try to take itself seriously throughout most.  It's just that it's so self-aware, that it allows you to laugh with it in some scenes instead of at it.


Where it gets serious is the violence.  This is another part of the film that excelled for me.  There were a couple of big battles that, in such a shoddy movie, were themselves well shot and fun to watch.  One of my earlier complaints about the film was the fact that Hercules was still kind of superhuman even though implied that he was merely mortal.  Most of his super-heroic feats were on the battlefield, though, and just gave a little extra flair to the fighting going on.


Again, I must say that this is not really a "good" movie in the technical sense, but it is entertaining.  If you want an Oscar contender, you're in the wrong place.  If you're looking for a light, fun summer popcorn flick on weekend afternoon, then there are far worse movies you could go with.  And in the land of 2 1/2 to 3 hour movies that have recently been flooding the theaters, this movie has the added bonus of breezing by with a mere 98 minute run time.


Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Amphiaraus: Do you mind? I was having a moment. 

Movie Review: The Purge: Anarchy

Lock up your doors and barricade the house, because James DeMonaco (The Purge) is bringing us our second annual crimefest with The Purge: Anarchy. (Note: I never saw the first movie and was still able to follow this one just fine in case you haven't seen it either.)


Oddly enough the story in this sequel to last years film takes place during the 6th annual purge in America.  The purge is a 12 hour period that happens every year where all crime is legal and emergency services are not around to help you.  Within the film, the news is claiming that the yearly purge is responsible for lower unemployment and poverty the rest of the year.  Also, it seems that during the purge, everyone who goes out resorts to murder.  There doesn't seem to be much looting or vandalism, which is convenient for businesses not losing money.  I'm assuming we can all just get past how ridiculous this premise is.  It's made blatantly clear in the previews, so if you're still interested in seeing it after that I can assume you have looked past that.


This film follows a sergeant (Frank Grillo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier) who goes out during the purge on a specific task, not just general mayhem like most others.  Who he is after is left a mystery until the end, but you understand that it is some sort of revenge on someone because he is heading out on the one night when crime is legal and he's armed to the teeth.  Meanwhile, a struggling waitress (Carmen Ejogo, Alex Cross) and her daughter (Zoe Soul, Prisoners) are trying to stay safe locked up in their apartment, but a group of almost military type men break in and force them to go on the run.  They are caught and the sergeant sees their struggle on the way to his destination and decides to rescue them out of the goodness of his heart.  As he does this, another couple, Shane (Zach Gilford, The Last Stand) and Liz (Kiele Sanchez, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium), hide in the back seat of his car.  They were trying to get to Liz's sisters house for safety before the purge, but their car broke down and they were trying to escape a group of masked individuals that were chasing them down.  Once this unlikely group gets together, the fun begins as they try to survive the night and evade all the people that had been trying to get them to do God knows what.


As it turns out, this is another film about the 1%ers versus the 99%ers.  There is an anti-purge group that is trying to stop the purge from happening because they believe that the rich and powerful are just using it as a form of population control.  Of course the poor are the ones who are going to wipe each other out because they don't have the money to protect themselves.  Besides greedy, this film also depicts the rich as sadistic people who would watch murder as sport if given the chance to do it legally.  I would say if you want to see a better violent film about class warfare, then check out Snowpiercer.  That's not to say this film doesn't have a few merits of it's own though.


I thought that once you get over the whole silly story setup in the beginning of the film, it turns into a pretty decent little thriller.  The five heroes of the story are trying to get across the city in the middle of the night with different kinds of people out to get them.  This keeps the tension up because you get focused on their efforts to get away from one group just to have them round a corner and all of a sudden you go, oh yeah, there's that other group.  It's mostly a thriller, but there are a few little scenes thrown in there that will make you jump as well.


The acting is competent by most.  They make the most out of the material they are given.  The script gives them the problem of just having hokey dialogue here and there throughout the film.  The exception to this rule would be the lead, however.  Frank Grillo is just fun to watch and rises above any problems there might be with the script.  He plays a torn man very well.  He is a good man who is out to do something bad and you can see how it is eating away at him through the film.  Grillo has been in several films that I have seen, but I haven't paid much attention to him.  After this and Winter Soldier though, he is definitely on my radar to watch for what he does next.


So, the film's premise has it's problems.  I don't think it's as clever as it pretends to be, but it is still a different and interesting idea.  It will be interesting where they take this idea in the inevitable next film. Maybe they'll show the clean-up the day after the purge.  I'd hate to be the one who has to deal with all those dead bodies.  This one itself had a great lead performance and some good tension through the second half of the film.  Worth a rental when it comes around.  And in case you didn't get from this review or the trailer, it is a bit of a violent movie.  Not really recommended for children 3 and under.....apparently someone at my screening didn't get that memo.


Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Half the cast at one time or another: Stay safe.

Movie Review: Snowpiercer

The international train, Snowpiercer, (directed by Joon-ho Bong (The Host)) finally rolled into theaters here in America.  I recommend you hop on board while it's still around.


The film opens in present day, and people are all concerned about global warming and the damage we're doing.  So, in our infinite wisdom, us humans created some chemical or something to counteract it.  It does the complete opposite and brings on a new ice age, killing off everything.  There was one man, however, who had invented a train that runs on some sort of perpetual motion engine, basically meaning that it runs forever without stopping.....because science.  The people who were lucky enough to get on board are the last people on Earth.  Cut to 17 years later.  The train has been divided into different classes.  The haves live up in the front by the engine.  The have-nots live at the tail end.  Soldiers come to the back to check the head count routinely and give the "lower class" some protein bars for food.  They also occasionally kidnap the children.  Enter Curtis (Chris Evans, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), the reluctant hero, to lead the tail-enders on a rebellion to run the length of the train and take over the engine.




This film is really heavy handed with the commentary on society and classes.  The haves and have-nots, the rich vs. the poor.  Any given movie has some sort of social commentary, or reflects the views of the filmmaker, but the heavy handed ones *cough* Avatar *cough* usually lose me.  This one kept me by also being a very entertaining film.  I did like the way it turned things around and brought everything full circle at the end, much like the train ride itself, though.  The movie was good from the start, but it got even better when some questions started getting answered.  I think this film did a good job of getting most of my big questions answered, even the one about why they would even keep the tail-enders alive if they were such a nuisance.  You can watch this movie and see the tail-enders working their way up the scale of society.  They fight through the soldiers in the middle of the train (the middle class), up to the front of the train (the 1%ers).  Or you could just watch this film for the bizarre, entertaining romp that it is.  You take the journey with these people because each time they come to the door of the next car, you are just as clueless about what is behind it as they are.  Anyway you look at it, it is just an entertaining, well acted, fun movie.




For the most part, the story is pretty serious.  It even gets downright violent and bloody at times.  The only pitfall of the film may be that at some points it just gets weird out of the blue.  One example, without spoiling, would be a big battle in the middle of the train.  There is a scene involving a fish that just makes you wonder what it was even about and kind of takes you out of the moment.  It comes around and sets up a sight gag later, but still leaves you wondering.  In the same fight scene everyone just stops, and when you find out why it's another wtf moment.  There is even one particular character that seems very out of place in the whole thing.  Tilda Swinton (Constantine) plays Mason, sort of the "right hand man" to the creator of the train.  She is just over the top goofy with fake teeth and a big old overbite.  She is taken as a hostage by the rebellion to help them get through the train.  She is such a key player that you eventually just go with it because she stays so well in character the entire time.




The rest of the acting was really good as well.  Chris Evans does a wonderful job as the reluctant hero.  You wonder the whole time why he doesn't think he's good enough to lead this group even though he does a hell of a job of it.  He does get to have a monologue towards the end that he delivers well, and also makes you wish you hadn't wondered.  Among the rest of the cast is a kind of mentor to Curtis, Gilliam (John Hurt, Alien).  He was one who once was friends with the train's creator.  Then Curtis has a young man who idolizes him played wonderfully by Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot).  To get through each door, they break Namgoong (Kang-ho Song, The Host) out of prison along with his daughter Yona (Ah-sung Ko, The Host).  Namgoong is the designer of the doors separating each car of the train.  He and his daughter agree to help in exchange for a potent drug they are addicted to on the train.  They are quiet figures and you slowly figure out their story as the film progresses, and get to know just what other motivations they have.  That is another great thing about this film.  Chris Evans is leading the rebellion, but the film is not just focused on him.  It takes the time to develop each of the supporting characters without getting overly drawn out and also without derailing the main story.  And finally, in mentioning the performances, I can't fail to mention the kick-ass Tanya who joins the crusade because she is on a mission to find her kidnapped son.  She is played by the always wonderful Octavia Spencer (The Help).




This film is just a fun and bizarre ride.  The first viewing is the best also, because you just never know what you're going to get behind each new door.  The cinematography is done well too.  It does get bloody, but the camerawork is done in a way that the actual blows are not shown on screen, but it still gives you enough of the picture to squirm a little.  There are also some beautiful shots of the frozen wasteland outside of the train.  This movie will definitely not be for everyone.  However, if a little blood doesn't scare you away, and you like action (with a few random moments of weirdness), then I recommend taking a ride on this crazy train.


Rating: *********- (9 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Mason: Know your place. Accept your place.  Be a shoe.

Movie Review: Deliver Us From Evil

Scott Derrickson (Sinister) delivers another creepy, atmospheric tale in his latest movie Deliver Us From Evil, inspired by true events.


Eric Bana (Munich) plays NYPD officer, Ralph Sarchie.  He and his partner, Butler (Joel McHale, Ted) get called to a case of domestic dispute where a man had beat his wife.  Later, they take a case where a woman had thrown her child over a railing at a zoo.  Things just get stranger and stranger as the clues start tying the cases together.  Sarchie is a man who lost his faith in God a long time ago and just believes that the people he is dealing with are certifiable whack jobs.  A priest named Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez, The Bourne Ultimatum), who is familiar with performing exorcisms thinks otherwise.  Slowly, Mendoza changes Sarchie's mind and they start to work together to bring this bizarre case to a close.


First and foremost, this film is labeled and advertised as a straight horror film.  I thought it was much more than that.  To me, it was more of a police drama with supernatural tendencies.  I think this is a good thing.  That is what I appreciate about Scott Derrickson's newest film.  He doesn't just throw a generic horror story up on the screen.  He gives you a solid story in a horror setting.  This film was more about Sarchie, and his lack of faith.  It was the age old story of good vs. evil.  After seeing man do so many bad things, can Sarchie's faith be restored?  What exactly will it take to restore that faith?  You find out he's got his own personal demons to work through from things he's done and seen done as a cop in NY.  Don't get me wrong.  The horror element is definitely strong.  There are many jump scares.  Also, if you believe in demons and possessions, then the possession and exorcism scenes can be quite terrifying.  Derrickson is also good at creating a dark, creepy atmosphere in his films that keep you on the edge of your seat, expecting something terrible to happen at any moment.


The acting was another solid thing about this movie.  I think Eric Bana is a fine actor, and he really shined in this film.  He did a good job of keeping his New York accent throughout.  He also just really got into the character.  The only time I felt he fell a little short was in his scenes with Olivia Munn (Magic Mike), who played his wife in the film.  Her acting was just a little too over the top for me.  Part of this was that the dialogue just didn't work as much for me between these too characters.  Her overacting seemed to rub off on Bana, who in turn kind of fell apart in his scenes with her.  The chemistry was much better between him and his other two co-stars.  Joel McHale really surprised me as Sarchie's partner.  I'm so used to seeing him clowning around on "The Soup", or "Community".  He was still the comic relief in this film, for lack of a better phrase.  However, he still really pulled off the tough guy act well.  He just had to be the one to throw in a few zingers here and there.  Edgar Ramirez plays the kind of priest you expect to show up in this kind of film, but he just does it so well that you don't care.  He's the "unconventional priest" who smokes and drinks and knows how to exorcise your demons.  He is just written and acted so well that it just kind of works.


Again, I don't want anyone to think that I don't think this is a horror movie by any means, but it just worked as more than that for me.  However, that being said, the cinematography in this film is very creepy.  It is always dark and rainy, but never so dark that you can't see what's going on up on the screen.  The mood is always suspenseful, but there is some tension easing moments from the likes of Joel McHale.  He never went light enough to throw you off though.  There is one scene towards the end of the film that I'm a little on the fence about whether it was too much comic relief or not.  A character shows up at the police station during a key scene towards the end of the film.  I felt this was a serious and scary moment that made the comic relief lines almost a little too jarring, and took me out of it a bit too much.


Overall, this was a solid movie.  If you are looking for something to scare you this summer, then this could be the one to check out.  It's also a great police drama about a man who's searching for answers after seeing too much evil from his fellow man.


Rating: *******--- (7 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Butler: What's wrong with it?
Sarchie: It's a cat.  That's what's wrong with it.

Movie Review: The Rover

David Michod (Animal Kingdom) paints a bleak and desolate future in this new Australian road movie, The Rover.


The film opens in Australia "10 years after the collapse".  That is the only thing we're given in the set-up to the world of the movie.  There are hints throughout that it is some sort of economic collapse that has left Australia in kind of a shambles.  The plot then kind of takes a back seat, as the film focuses more on character.  The first scene introduces Eric (inexplicably named in the credits when he pretty much goes out of his way to remain nameless throughout the movie), played by Guy Pearce (Memento).  He looks like a man who has seen too much after this "collapse" and has lost everything, including any sort of hope, and become a bit of a drifter, oblivious to everything.  Sitting on a bar stool he is even oblivious to the car wrecking down the road right outside the window.  Three criminals are in a hurry to escape after whatever it is they did (I'm not sure it was made clear, but they were in a hurry).  They get their car stuck and steal Eric's car.  This finally catches Eric's attention and he runs out and gets their car unstuck to go after them.  In trying to figure out where they went, he runs into Rey (Robert Pattinson, Cosmopolis) who is the brother of one of the criminals played by Scoot McNairy (Monsters).  He was left for dead on the side of the road by the others.  From there the film follows Eric using Rey to track down the others to get his car back.  And you learn, never steal a car from Guy Pearce.


The real driving force of this road movie (pardon the pun), is the acting of the two leads.  It is much more about character than plot.  Guy Pearce does an excellent job of doing most of the heavy lifting here.  He is a man of few words, but that is good.  His actions speak loud enough.  In this desolate landscape that has been built, he's not afraid to outright kill to get that car back.  However, I felt that this was a result of the change in the world around him.  It was easy to get away with anything, including murder.  The country is in shambles and there is very little in way of police or military force that care.  Underneath it though, he seems like a man who doesn't want to do any of this.  He just wants to be left alone in peace.  This comes through in one of the final scenes when he gets this look of defeat on his face like he doesn't know what the point of any of it is anymore.  You really want to know the entire time what could possibly be in this car that would make him do all this.  It's either going to work for you, or simply not.  It ultimately isn't even about this at all, but more about his character's journey and development.  In this sense, it worked for me.


In a surprising turn of events, I set my prejudice for the Twilight movies aside and came to realize that Robert Pattinson actually has some acting chops.  He's the injured brother who was left behind.  His brother and him are from America and have a southern accent.  It doesn't seem like he is supposed to be full on mentally handicapped, but he is a bit dim-witted.  He seems a little slow, and has this little nervous tick.  He's a character that seems torn throughout loyalty-wise.  He wants to believe there is a reason that his brother didn't come back for him, but Guy Pearce takes advantage of his slowness to slowly convince him that his brother is simply a bad man that left him to die.  He gradually turns from reluctant helper at gunpoint to a willing helper by the end.  He's more just scared than anything else and I think Pattinson does an excellent job with all of these conflicting emotions.


Another major character in the film was Australia itself.  The cinematography is great in this film.  It's got a real dusty, dirty, beat down look to it.  The buildings are all run down.  The people all hide behind closed doors and all have guns to protect their stuff.  It seems like all things are a rare commodity in this almost non-economy.  The score of the film is also just as jarring as the landscape and some of the outbursts of intense gun violence in the film.


One problem I had with the film was the pacing.  Michod took a real minimalist approach to this film, and that included the slow, deliberate pacing.  I understand and appreciate this approach, but it simply didn't work for me.  Sometimes the film would just slow down too much and I'd start to get a little bored.


This film is definitely not for everyone.  The plot is minimalist and there are some scenes of pretty intense shootings.  The slow pacing is what ultimately brings it down a notch or two for me.  However, the film is very well shot and nice to look at and the two lead performances are great.  With the things it had going for it, I really wanted to like it more than I actually did.  I would still recommend it if you are getting burnt out on the summer Hollywood blockbusters and want a change of pace though.


Rating: ******---- (6 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Rey: Should I shoot him again, just to make sure?

A Week (or 2) of Entertainment - Issue 13

Took a week off again.  It was Father's Day.  That's an excuse, right?  As of this past Wednesday, I've been a father for 5 years now, and it's been fantastic.  I took both my girls to see The Lego Movie.  Definitely a movie you should check out, whether you have kids or not.  Now, on with the show.


RIP Casey Kasem - Father's Day wasn't all fun and games for the entertainment world.  We sadly lost another favorite.  Casey Kasem was a disc jockey and actor/voice actor and more.  A whole generation will remember him as the voice of Shaggy in the old Scooby Doo cartoons.  Even more so, he will be remembered as the host of the American Top 40 for many years.  I remember growing up listening to him countdown the current top 40, playing long distance requests, and giving shout-outs to a few different stations each week who aired his program across the country.  We'll all miss him (and if you've listened to the crap on radio lately, you'll miss the good music we use to have in the Top 40). Luckily, in my area, I can still pick up repeats of his shows in syndication from the 70's and 80's on weekend mornings.  We'll never forget you or your voice Mr. Kasem.


75 Years of the Bat - To celebrate 75 years of Batman, Warner Brothers has tour dedicated to the character in California.  For $54 they will take you to different locations from the films and then to the WB studio museum, which has dedicated the whole first floor to Batman.  They will have props, replicas, vehicles, and costumes from many of the different movies throughout the years.  I now wish I lived in California, because that sounds amazing.


Meanwhile, back at DC headquarters... - The list of DC's planned films has been leaked lately.  This seems to be still rumor stages, but it's still worth noting.  Shazam, Sandman, Justice League, Wonder Woman, Flash/Green Lantern all in 2016/17, followed by Man of Steel 2 in 2018.  If they follow through on this, they will all of a sudden be pumping out more films a year than Marvel.  While I'm excited for this (I grew up reading more DC than Marvel), I'm still a little worried too.  I'd love to finally see some of these characters up on the big screen, but I'd like to see them take their time to put out a good product.  The official announcement is meant to happen at ComicCon this summer.  We'll see then.  I think one of the big things to note is that they seem to have altogether dropped the entire façade of Batman v Superman being a Man of Steel sequel with the mention of Man of Steel 2.


Irony House - Looking for a home in Long Island?  Well, for a mere $12.5M you can own the home used in the Tom Hanks classic Money Pit.  The irony is that only the outside was used for shots in the movie, with interior shots being done on sets.  And yet, the current owners claim that the actual interior of the house was falling apart when they bought it.  Now they have cleaned it up and put this ginormous mansion on the market.  Who want's to buy me a house?


Until next time......I'd like to make a long distance dedication.


Weekend top 10 at the box office:
1 - Think Like a Man Too (new release) $30M
2 - 22 Jump Street $29M
3 - How to Train Your Dragon 2 $25.3M
4 - Jersey Boys (new release) $13.5M
5 - Maleficent $13M
6 - Edge of Tomorrow $10.3M
7 - The Fault in our Stars $8.6M
8 - X-Men: Days of Future Past $6.2M
9 - Chef $1.8M
10 - Godzilla $1.8M

Movie Review: 22 Jump Street

Well, Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Lego Movie) have another hit on there hands, as far as I'm concerned.  In the year of surprisingly good sequels (Winter Soldier, The Raid 2, X-Men: DOFP), we can now add a great comedy sequel.


Schmidt (Jonah Hill, Accepted) and Jenko (Channing Tatum, Haywire) are back.  After their "successful" operation that they ran from 21 Jump Street, they are given another go.  This time they are given a bigger budget and a bigger base of operations across the street at 22 Jump Street.  Looking too old to go undercover as high school students again (because they weren't in the first film?), they are assigned a case to track down a new drug supplier posed as college students.  Hilarity ensues.


This movie made me laugh, a lot.  Success!  I think a lot of things went in to making that happen.  Start with Lord and Miller.  They did not have any writing credit on the Jump Street movies, like they did on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie.  Their presence was still felt, however.  They direct a movie with a rapid fire approach.  The jokes just keep coming one after another.  They don't wait for the laugh.  You either laugh at a joke, or wait a very short time for the next one to hit you.  Fortunately they had good writers to make this work as well.  Lord and Miller have a knack for doing meta jokes better than people who are making straight parody movies in this business as well.  There is a whole dialog near the beginning of the movie about how bad sequels are, and why, that could have been a complete mis-fire in the wrong hands.  Many would take jokes like this and just cram them in.  They cleverly weave these things into the story, to make the whole thing make sense, and they don't give you the nudge-nudge, wink-wink pause to see if you got the joke.  Again, they keep it flowing and move on to the next thing.  The biggest parody this film makes is that it is a complete (b)romantic comedy under the guise of being a buddy cop sequel comedy.


The other big thing this movie has going for it is the cast.  Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum surprised the hell out of me in 21 Jump Street.  They have had some successes in my opinion, but I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of either one.  Together, however, they have amazing chemistry.  You can definitely tell that their friendship only grew after doing that first movie, because they work even better together in this one.  They have that flow of two people that genuinely like hanging out and goofing around with each other.  They don't seem to take themselves too seriously, which works to the film's benefit.  The only thing that may not have worked as well for me were some of the Jonah Hill scenes where he didn't have Tatum to play off of.  There was also a great supporting cast surrounding them.  Ice Cube (Three Kings) returns as the angry captain.  He even gets a bigger presence than the first film, which turns out to be a good thing.  New additions to this film include a few new college students.  There is a pair of twins played by the Lucas Brothers who come in for some amazingly timed jinx jokes.  The best newcomer may be Jillian Bell (Bridesmaids) playing a college student that just continuously points out how old the two leads are with great straight-faced dead-pan timing.


There is not much else to say.  This movie was just the perfect mix of writing, directing, and acting.  The result of which was a fun time at the movies.  It's a movie that will be funny at any viewing, but I felt was enhanced with a crowd.  For every joke that didn't work, there were 2 or 3 that did.  The year is only half over, but I think it will be hard for this comedy to be topped.


Rating: *********- (9 out of 10)


Memorable Quote:
Jenko: Something cool!