If you haven't seen the movie Red, check your tv listings and get on it. It is an hilariously entertaining spy movie starring Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Merrin, and John Malkovich. Red 2 picks up where Red left off: dodging bullets and crack skulls.
Red 2 brings back the original killer cast and adds Catherine Zeta-Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and Lee Byung-hun. In this sequel, we find that there is a hit out on Frank Moses (Willis) and Marvin (Malkovich) due to some documents that were posted on the internet that says they were involved in weapons of mass destruction plot during the cold war. The two don't know anything about that, but while running for their lives and trying to protect Frank's girlfriend (Parker), they find out that MI6 has hired their friend, Victoria Winslow (Merrin), to kill them, and the US government has hired Frank's nemesis, Han (Lee), to assassinate them as well. All sorts of craziness ensues while globetrotting trying to figure out everything, save themselves, and the world from a nuclear boomb created by a insane genius played by Hopkins.
This movie is non-stop action and comedy. John Malkovich is the comic relief in most scenes, but everyone has their funny moments. Helen Merrin is such a tough chick and Mary-Louise Parker wants to be one so badly, that you can'd help but laugh at her. Bruce Willis is on my old man CGI list. I think it has something to do with the bald head, that soft tone he has in his voice, and his constant need to beat up on people. I just can't get enough of him. I think I've seen all of his movies that has come out in the last 15 years. The great Anthony Hopkins as an insane bad guy isn't a new role, but he's such a great actor that you don't care that he's like Hannibal Lecter on LSD. Hopkins is funny and a little creepy at the same time. Red 2 is a very silly movie, but it's mix of high flying stunts, gun play, and comedy really keep you entertained. I enjoyed it, and although I don't like movie series, I'd be glad to see a Red 3.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
The Wolverine - Ninja vs Mutant...Let's GO!!!
I'm a huge fan of all the X-men movies. Of course X-men Origins-Wolverine is my favorite. How could it not be with Hugh Jackman at the helm? The Wolverine, is the sequel to that movie and kinda the fourth in the X-men series as it follows Logan on his journey to rediscover his purpose in life after the death of Jean Grey/The Phoenix in X-men: The Last Stand.
Logan/Wolverine played by Jackman is sent to Japan to say his last goodbyes to someone he saved from death decades earlier. This man, IchirÅ Yashida, is dying of cancer and wants to give Wolverine mortality as a thank your for what he did for him years ago. The Wolverine is immortal and wants to die to be with Jean Grey, or so he thinks. After Yashida dies, all the action begins as Logan tries to save Yashida's granddaughter from those who would try to kill her for reasons he doesn't understand.
The plot is a little thick, but understandable. It moves quickly, and keeps you interested. The 2 hours and 6 minutes of movie is full of twist and turns that you can kinda see coming, but you don't really care because it's exciting. There's a new mutant (one not in previous movies) called Viper. She's a bad arse chick who has her hands or venom in every plot going on in the movie. Keep your eyes on her. I love a tough chick, and there are 3 who kick ninja butt all over this movie. Makes me want to learn how to use a samurai sword and flip over buildings and people while breaking necks!!! Doesn't everyone want to do that?
The Wolverine is entertaining. It's not the greatest movie ever, but I enjoyed it. I'll probably add it to the collection, but mostly because I like to see Hugh Jackman shirtless and slicing up ninjas. Doesn't everyone? Oh, and you don't need to have seen any of the previous movies to understand this one. You may want to see X-men: The Last Stand just to understand why Logan is so distraught, but if you don't, you'll be ok.
Logan/Wolverine played by Jackman is sent to Japan to say his last goodbyes to someone he saved from death decades earlier. This man, IchirÅ Yashida, is dying of cancer and wants to give Wolverine mortality as a thank your for what he did for him years ago. The Wolverine is immortal and wants to die to be with Jean Grey, or so he thinks. After Yashida dies, all the action begins as Logan tries to save Yashida's granddaughter from those who would try to kill her for reasons he doesn't understand.
The plot is a little thick, but understandable. It moves quickly, and keeps you interested. The 2 hours and 6 minutes of movie is full of twist and turns that you can kinda see coming, but you don't really care because it's exciting. There's a new mutant (one not in previous movies) called Viper. She's a bad arse chick who has her hands or venom in every plot going on in the movie. Keep your eyes on her. I love a tough chick, and there are 3 who kick ninja butt all over this movie. Makes me want to learn how to use a samurai sword and flip over buildings and people while breaking necks!!! Doesn't everyone want to do that?
The Wolverine is entertaining. It's not the greatest movie ever, but I enjoyed it. I'll probably add it to the collection, but mostly because I like to see Hugh Jackman shirtless and slicing up ninjas. Doesn't everyone? Oh, and you don't need to have seen any of the previous movies to understand this one. You may want to see X-men: The Last Stand just to understand why Logan is so distraught, but if you don't, you'll be ok.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Pacific Rim - Godzilla on Meth
Haven't you always wanted to know what Godzilla's meth babies would look like? Watch Pacific Rim. Pac Rim is a Guillermo del Toro film which if you know his work means lots of action and interesting creatures. (Some of del Toro's films include Blade 2, Pan's Labyrinth, The Hobbit, Hellboy 2, and Mama.) This movie stars my husband, Idris Elba, and Charlie Hunnam (yeah, I don't know who he is either). It is basically a movie about robots, Jaegers, controlled by two individuals who have a vulcan mind meld, or drifting, and try to protect the world from aliens, Kaijus, who come to the planet through a dimension that is in the earth's core.
These Kaijus are like a cross between several different dinosaurs. In fact, they believe that these aliens were the original dinos, but couldn't handle the atmosphere, so they left until we screwed it up with all of our CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The Jaegers are like a cross between gigantic Robocops and morphed Power Rangers. The fighting between these two are epic and would put the Godzilla versus King Kong battle to shame. Del Toro must be a huge fan of Godzilla because this movie is very reminiscent of those old movies even going so far as to have a large chunk of the movie being set in Hong Kong.
There's so much action in the movie, that it's often times hard to keep up with some of the fighting scenes. I did like the hand to hand combat, and the minimal use of guns and bombs. It was very exciting to see the evolution of the Kaijus, waiting to see what they would do next in battle. The action is enough to keep you entertained because the acting jobs surely will not. Idris Elba is one of two A list actors in the movie. Ron Perlman is the second and has a very small role. The rest of these new faces have a lot of work to do. Although somewhat thrilling, Pacific Rim is one of those movies that you should wait to see on tv. It's just all right; amusing enough to watch on a Sunday afternoon, but I don't know if it was compelling enough to spend the money to see it at the theaters even if you are intrigued by Godzilla's meth babies.
These Kaijus are like a cross between several different dinosaurs. In fact, they believe that these aliens were the original dinos, but couldn't handle the atmosphere, so they left until we screwed it up with all of our CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The Jaegers are like a cross between gigantic Robocops and morphed Power Rangers. The fighting between these two are epic and would put the Godzilla versus King Kong battle to shame. Del Toro must be a huge fan of Godzilla because this movie is very reminiscent of those old movies even going so far as to have a large chunk of the movie being set in Hong Kong.
There's so much action in the movie, that it's often times hard to keep up with some of the fighting scenes. I did like the hand to hand combat, and the minimal use of guns and bombs. It was very exciting to see the evolution of the Kaijus, waiting to see what they would do next in battle. The action is enough to keep you entertained because the acting jobs surely will not. Idris Elba is one of two A list actors in the movie. Ron Perlman is the second and has a very small role. The rest of these new faces have a lot of work to do. Although somewhat thrilling, Pacific Rim is one of those movies that you should wait to see on tv. It's just all right; amusing enough to watch on a Sunday afternoon, but I don't know if it was compelling enough to spend the money to see it at the theaters even if you are intrigued by Godzilla's meth babies.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
The Lone Ranger - Was Johnny enough?
The Lone Ranger is a movie based on a fictional character from a 1930's radio show which became a tv show and several feature films. The only thing I remember about the tv show was that it was in black and white. I'm not really into westerns, so it didn't peak my interest. That is probably why this is the first of the films that I've seen as well. The only thing that peaked my interest this time is Johnny Depp as Tonto. I'm not sure if he was enough for me to say this was a good movie.
Before I go any further, let me first say that I'm not so sure that this movie should be rated PG13. There was a lot of violence, blood (I mean dude cut out and ate someone's heart!), prostitutes, decapitations, cross dressing and slightly confused villains (not that there's anything wrong with drag queens), and lots and lots of death. Although it wasn't gory, I just thought some of the subject matter should have caused the rating to be a bit higher. But I digress...
Johnny Depp is the only reason I wanted to see The Lone Ranger. I've been a fan of his since 21 Jump Street, and having Helena Bonham Carter in the movie (those two must be a package deal because they are in everything together and I love it) was a bonus to me. I don't know who Armie Hammer is, and this movie didn't really make me want to either even though he's the star of the show as The Lone Ranger. Mr. Depp was his usual quirky self which of course kept this sort of dark film, light, but he wasn't enough to make the movie a really good movie.
A large part of the problem is that the storyline is really really dark and kind of disturbing. After John Reid, his brother, and all the other Texas Rangers are murdered, John decides to get justice with the help of a spirit horse and Tonto. He becomes the Lone Ranger in the process. On top of that, the "white man" is trying to take land from the Comanche Indians to build a railroad through their land for commerce and profit. Not to mention, there is lots of murder of Indians for the sake of mining pure silver with the blood, sweat, and tears of asians help Oh, and there's that sadistic cannibalistic villain who is orchestrating all of this. Doesn't that sound like a Disney movie? Well, it is. This movie really tells part of the tale of how the native American population was decimated for money and land, and how sad that is. It's really hard to laugh when all of this it happening.
This movie isn't bad, but it isn't good. It's just, alright. You will laugh a little and some of the action is good, but I just couldn't get past the underlining story. It could just be me. You can go see it for yourself, but remember how Will Smith's Wild Wild West was? You could have gone your whole life without seeing that western, and you can go your whole life without seeing this one, and you'll be just fine. Don't get sucked in my Johnny Depp. He's just not enough this time.
Before I go any further, let me first say that I'm not so sure that this movie should be rated PG13. There was a lot of violence, blood (I mean dude cut out and ate someone's heart!), prostitutes, decapitations, cross dressing and slightly confused villains (not that there's anything wrong with drag queens), and lots and lots of death. Although it wasn't gory, I just thought some of the subject matter should have caused the rating to be a bit higher. But I digress...
Johnny Depp is the only reason I wanted to see The Lone Ranger. I've been a fan of his since 21 Jump Street, and having Helena Bonham Carter in the movie (those two must be a package deal because they are in everything together and I love it) was a bonus to me. I don't know who Armie Hammer is, and this movie didn't really make me want to either even though he's the star of the show as The Lone Ranger. Mr. Depp was his usual quirky self which of course kept this sort of dark film, light, but he wasn't enough to make the movie a really good movie.
A large part of the problem is that the storyline is really really dark and kind of disturbing. After John Reid, his brother, and all the other Texas Rangers are murdered, John decides to get justice with the help of a spirit horse and Tonto. He becomes the Lone Ranger in the process. On top of that, the "white man" is trying to take land from the Comanche Indians to build a railroad through their land for commerce and profit. Not to mention, there is lots of murder of Indians for the sake of mining pure silver with the blood, sweat, and tears of asians help Oh, and there's that sadistic cannibalistic villain who is orchestrating all of this. Doesn't that sound like a Disney movie? Well, it is. This movie really tells part of the tale of how the native American population was decimated for money and land, and how sad that is. It's really hard to laugh when all of this it happening.
This movie isn't bad, but it isn't good. It's just, alright. You will laugh a little and some of the action is good, but I just couldn't get past the underlining story. It could just be me. You can go see it for yourself, but remember how Will Smith's Wild Wild West was? You could have gone your whole life without seeing that western, and you can go your whole life without seeing this one, and you'll be just fine. Don't get sucked in my Johnny Depp. He's just not enough this time.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Despicable Me 2 - Definitely Cute
Despicable Me is one of my all-time favorite animated movies, second only to The Lion King! Those darn minions are just too darn cute and funny. I really hope after Despicable Me 2, they get their own movie because at one point, I laughed so hard at them I cried. What makes them so adorable and hilarious? Is it because they are yellow? Because they speak some strange french Klingon? Or is it because their comedic timing is always just right on point? Whatever the reason is, they steal the show.
As to not give away too much, in this sequel Gru (Steve Carrell) has given up being a villain, but the Anti-Villan League, the AVL, needs his help to find a villain that has stolen a drug that turn minions into indestructible killers. He's been teamed up with Lucy (Kristen Wiig) from the AVL to help solve the case. In the meanwhile, everyone is trying to hook Gru up with a date especially his 3 girls because the super cute Agnes needs a mom. And, the answer to both of these situations is right in front of them.
It was really going to be hard to top the first one, and I'm not so sure they tried. I think the powers that be said, "let's just stick to the same formula and make a funny movie." Which, I think they did. The storyline, albeit extremely predictable, was easy to follow for young and old, was fast paced as to not lose the kids' interests, and reinvented some of the old jokes. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The kids laughed at the slapstick comedy, and the adults laughed at the youthfulness of the movie and the little adult innuendoes. There was a minion dressed as Issac from "The Love Boat", and in their layer, there was stripper pole. Kids wouldn't get that, but I found it extremely comical!
I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd watch it again and again like I do the first one, and I'll probably add this one to my dvd collection like I did the first one. Honestly, it's better than Monsters University to me. Go see it. Take the kids, or not. Whatever you do, be ready to laugh at all those cute little minions from the beginning until the credits are almost finished rolling.
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