The Green Hornet--I did not like the film as much as Jay did...I had a hard time buying into Seth Rogen as a playboy. The Cameron Diaz role is painfully underwritten. It's almost like she's not on screen even when she is. She deserves better Christoph Waltz as villain Chudnofsky has plenty of scene chewing to do The action can be fun to watch at times and although the 3-D pops a bit better here than it did in TRON: Legacy It was not enough--meh...
127 Hours--James Franco did an excellent job as real-life climber Aron Ralston Franco is on screen for just about the entire film most of the time acting alone Not an easy thing to do folks--In a confined space no less. I loved the fact that director Danny Boyle didn't spend a lot of time telling me about Aron's life before his ordeal but rather let that aspect play out in snippets of memories during the time he was trapped. Bravo. The amputation sequence was not as difficult to watch as the media led me to believe Go see the film
Paranormal Activity 2-The film is both prequel and sequel to Paranormal Activity and manages to do something I was not expecting--be more intense than the first--with a climax that I did not see coming at all.
My Soul to Take-Wes Craven borrows story elements from his earlier work--A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream-- to tell this tale of a serial killer who returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest. Craven tries to shake it up by having a male as his protagonist and Max Thieriot, John Magaro and Denzel Whitaker try their best. But in the end the film is very disjointed and not all that scary or suspenseful...Hope Scream 4 turns out better than this one did.
Unstoppable-Tony Scott's got all his action bases covered here of course. Denzel Washington stars as Frank,a seasoned pro in the train business who’s been recently partnered with Will (Chris Pine), a rookie with the right last name to help his career take off. Predictably the 2 men don't care much for each other. As an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train heads towards a heavily populated city, the pair soon find themselves in a race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe. Washington and Pine are great together--elevating the material. Rosario Dawson was also very very good as Connie the railway supervisor--Sure Scott can do this kind of pic all day long blindfolded--it's still pretty entertaining and engaging.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps-Solid sequel from Oliver Stone Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko is tops and up to his old tricks Still the original Wall Street is better Shia Labeouf and Carey Mulligan have good chemistry Following a lengthy prison term, Gecko finds himself on the outside looking in at a world he once commanded. Hoping to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie (Mulligan), Gekko forges an alliance with her fiance Jake (Labeouf). But Winnie and Jake learn the hard way that Gekko is still a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to acheive his goals…A bit surprised that the ending turned out so happy here
127 Hours--James Franco did an excellent job as real-life climber Aron Ralston Franco is on screen for just about the entire film most of the time acting alone Not an easy thing to do folks--In a confined space no less. I loved the fact that director Danny Boyle didn't spend a lot of time telling me about Aron's life before his ordeal but rather let that aspect play out in snippets of memories during the time he was trapped. Bravo. The amputation sequence was not as difficult to watch as the media led me to believe Go see the film
Kaboom is a movie with science fiction elements constructed upon the sexual awakening of a group of college students Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who identifies sexually as "undeclared" with a strong sexual appetite. His best friend Stella (Haley Bennett), a lesbian, is every bit as eager to have new partners. Smith begins having recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and one with red hair. The women from his dreams begin appearing in his waking life, leading Smith to wonder whether he has discovered a potentially world altering conspiracy.Written and directed by Gregg Araki Kaboom is not as ambitious in its use of sex as say The Dreamers or Lie with Me So--Ultimately you are left to ask if what the main characters experience in the pic was real or not a drug induced trip.
Paranormal Activity 2-The film is both prequel and sequel to Paranormal Activity and manages to do something I was not expecting--be more intense than the first--with a climax that I did not see coming at all.
My Soul to Take-Wes Craven borrows story elements from his earlier work--A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream-- to tell this tale of a serial killer who returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest. Craven tries to shake it up by having a male as his protagonist and Max Thieriot, John Magaro and Denzel Whitaker try their best. But in the end the film is very disjointed and not all that scary or suspenseful...Hope Scream 4 turns out better than this one did.
Unstoppable-Tony Scott's got all his action bases covered here of course. Denzel Washington stars as Frank,a seasoned pro in the train business who’s been recently partnered with Will (Chris Pine), a rookie with the right last name to help his career take off. Predictably the 2 men don't care much for each other. As an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train heads towards a heavily populated city, the pair soon find themselves in a race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe. Washington and Pine are great together--elevating the material. Rosario Dawson was also very very good as Connie the railway supervisor--Sure Scott can do this kind of pic all day long blindfolded--it's still pretty entertaining and engaging.
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps-Solid sequel from Oliver Stone Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko is tops and up to his old tricks Still the original Wall Street is better Shia Labeouf and Carey Mulligan have good chemistry Following a lengthy prison term, Gecko finds himself on the outside looking in at a world he once commanded. Hoping to repair his relationship with his daughter Winnie (Mulligan), Gekko forges an alliance with her fiance Jake (Labeouf). But Winnie and Jake learn the hard way that Gekko is still a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to acheive his goals…A bit surprised that the ending turned out so happy here
Takers--Directed by John Luessenhop (Lockdown), this pic went virtually unoticed when it was releaed last Summer. It stars Matt Dillon Paul Walker Idris Elba Jay Hernandez Michael Ealy Tip T.I.. Harris, Chris Brown, and Hayden Christensen. A group of high-living young criminals bankroll their extravagant lifestyle with a series of painstakingly planned bank robberies while a dedicated police officer makes it his personal mission to stop them. The film is better than you might think--the action is cool and the performances by Elba, Walker, Dillion, Ealy, and Hernandez are solid This one gets high marks. Check it out,
You Again-The comedy all but wastes its otherwise talented cast-Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Victor Garber, Kristin Chenoweth, Jimmy Wolk, Billy Unger, Christine Lakin, Patrick Duffy and Betty White The story concerns a young PR rep (Bell) who finds out that her brother (Wolk) is planning to marry the girl (Yustman) who made her high school years a living hell. Soon she tries to convince him that his fiancee is not the nice girl she seems to be. Helmer Andy Fickman is saddled with a cliched screenplay by Moe Jelline. There are a few chuckles here and there but I'm afraid not even White can rescue this one...
That's it. I might just do more of these multii-review posts in the future--particularly with the rentals.
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