Movie Reviews on good movies that are compulsory viewing

Avatar Movie

Movie Reviews this week looks at the sci-fi block buster from James Cameron (Terminator 2, Aliens) Avatar.

It is a wonderful romantic movie, and you can see very quickly why it was much lauded at the Oscars and in the media.

For starters it has state of the art 3D, I believe it was the first movie that used the patent 3D imaging to capture the facial expressions of the actors so not only do we see a realistic portrayal of the Avatar the actors represented, but their facial expressions were shown on their avatars in a very realistic way, and the CGI programming is top notch, you will feel as if you are in a another world.

The story begins with Jake Sully played extemely well by Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation), a marine who has been left in a wheel chair, but the death of his twin, means he now has the opportunity to replace his brother on a mission to Pandora, a distance planet a mining corporation called “The Company” has ear marked for future drilling in the hope of gaining Unobtanium (apparently it costs a million a kilogram, hence it is a very lucrative venture).

Jake uses his brothers Avatar (which as he describes it are remotely controlled bodies made up of human DNA and the DNA of the natives called the Navi). Despite the protests of the team leader Grace played by the stalwart Sigourney Weaver (Aliens) to her boss Parker Selfridge played very convincingly by Giovanni Ribisi (completely different from the vulnerable medic he played in Saving Private Ryan), Jake is allowed to join their excursion.

However his first day using the Avatar is extremely eventful, not only is he chased to within an inch of his life by an angry creature, he happens to meet the daughter of the lesder of one of the clans of the Navi, Neytiri played adoringly by Zoe Saldana (Star Trek), her strength and vulnerability simply makes the movie.

He is brought to the head of the clan, and once Neytiri tells him that he is her father and he is deciding whether to kill him or not, the fast thinking Jake tells them he is a warrior of the Jarhead clan, the leader Eytukan played by the dependable Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans) and his wife Mo’at played by Carol Christine Hillary Pounder (The Shield) are suitably interested and allow Neytiri despite her protestations to teach Jake their ways.

Jake’s new found acceptance by the Navi is seen by an opportunity by the protagonist Colonel Miles Quaritch played superbly by Stephen Lang (Gods and Generals) who Selfridge has as a last ditch attempt to force the Navi to move, as their home (a gigantic tree) sits on the largest unobtanium deposits within a 30 mile radius of any place.

However the longer Jake learns about the Navi, the less he is convinced of the virtue of his task, as he is beginning to falling love with the Navi and Neytiri.

The movie portrays the natives living at one with nature and the contrast of the sky people (humans) who have nothing to teach them but simply wants to destroy their home for their own financial benefits, a parallel to the Amazons, or many other ancient civilisations other people have destroyed in a quest for profit. The movie is extremely well done, with some fantastic action sequences, and superb animtronics and CGI, and it goes without saying you end up rooting for the Navi all through.

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Limitless Review

Movie Reviews this week looks at the fantasy drama Limitless. It stars Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) as Eddie Morra a seemingly lazy author forever trying to complete his book while meandering through life, he happens to come across Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) the brother of his ex Melissa played by the lovely Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies), who introduces him to a whole new drug, which he later calls NZT, which has not been given a license by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), on trying this drug, everything becomes much clearer to Eddie’s mind, his mind is much more alert, and knows how to process information, and to process it at incredible speeds, and he finishes his book that night much to his publisher’s amazement, his mind is so sharp that he picks up learning another language, and helps a student with their thesis with scraps he came across but with the aid of this drug are crystal clear in his mind.

Vernon lets him know that NZT does not make an individual smarter, they have to be smart already, it just heightens it. Unfortunately as with all drugs the high doesn’t last forever, and Eddie sees that he needs more of the drug from Vernon, however there is a serious problem as when Eddie gets to Vernon’s apartment, he finds him dead, and the place ransacked by someone looking for Vernon’s stash of NZT. Eddie eventually finds Vernon’s stash of NZT, but he finds that he is now being followed by not one but two sinister characters bent on getting their hands on this revolutiinary new drug.
With his ability to analyse situations improved by the drug, Eddie tries his hand at dabbling with the stock market. He makes such a phenomenal profit to the stock of a company that he gets the attention of a major investor Carl Van Loon played by the always impressive Robert De Niro (The God Father), trying to seal the deal with a major corporation. As Eddie tries to impress Carl to gain a contract on behalf of the company he is currently working for, he begins to find out some of the aide effects of NZT, and alarmingly finds out that the end result of the drug is a far cry from the start, and is running out of time before the sinister characters either get hold of him and or his supply of NZT, and keeping up appearances to land Carl as an investor. Eddie also has to deal with another ex Lindy played by the lovely Abbie Cornish (Stop-Loss) who remarkably looks like Charlize Theron; falling in love with the new improved Eddie.
Limitless is a great movie with plenty of twists and turns many will enjoy.

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Rango Review

Movie reviews this week looks at the very enjoyable animation Rango starring the superb Johhnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands). It also stars Isla Fisher (The Wedding Crashers) as Beans and the lovely AbiGail Breslin (Litle Miss Sunshine) as an adorable and questioning mouse called Priscilla.
We meet Rango a very theatric chameloeon, who spends all of this time alone, but has devised a number of ways to entertain himself (playing roles and making up stories). It jsut so happens that his intrepid story telling is to be put to the test, as he soon finds himself in the real world (it turns out all this time he was improvising with a pet fish for a friend, he was living in a tank, we find this out as there is a road accident, and Rango gets thrown out of his surroundings). He meets an anteater called Roadkill played by Alfred Molina (Spiderman 2, An Education), who is trying to get to the other sie where there is the mythical spirit of the West, and all that they seek.
The two are soon separated and Rango finds himself in a desert town, where the locals are desperate for water, and in fact the local bank (called the dirt bank) instead of money has water instead, but its levels are running dangerously low. Rango’s wild tales of killing several outlaws with just one bullet gets him respect, admiration, and becomes the sheriff of the town, when by some twist of luck (or call it fate), he does manage to kill an eagle that had been preying on the town with just one bullet. The local mayor a turtle played by the much loved Ned Beatty (Superman), sees that the town needs someone to belief in and at that moment it is Rango. Rango on the otherhand takes to his new role with suitable aplomb, getting all the benefits of being sheriff, until you wonder if he has told too many lies to be able to back out, especially as the town is running out of water, and people are looking to Rango to solve it, which he promises he will.
Rango is an extremely enjoyable animation, both adults and kids will like, and some of the lines in the film are certain to be classics, such as Rango saying “I want a urine sample from everybody and somebody get me a latte…don’t get the two confused”.
We also get a guest appearance (albeit in animation) from a well known star, that humorously fits in with the movie anecdotes.
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Prince of Persia – Sands of Time Review

Movie reviews this week looks at the fantasy Prince of Persia -The Sands of Time based on the popular video game. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko) as our ubiquitous hero Prince Dastan who seems to be able to go back in time by the aide of a magical device, and the gorgeous Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as princess Tamina the guardian of the aforementioned magical device from which the movie obtains its name.
We join the movie as Dastan, and his older brothers, Prince Garsiv played by Toby Kebbel (awesone in RockNRolla), Richard Coyle (A Good Year) as Tus and their uncle Nizam played by the dependent Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast), attack the fabled city, looking for the mythical treasure of the city, they do not find any treasure but a princess, as is customary when a more power nation captures another, a marriage proposal is made for one of the princes and Tamina, although it is clear to the viewers that Prince Dastan also has his interests in Princess Tamila. It turns out that Princess Tamila is the guardian of the magical device that at first looks like a normal hourglass, but the holder of it can turn back time depending on how much of the magical sands they use.
Prince datans’s uncle Nizam asks him to deliver to King Sharaman his father played by Ronald (Hustle), one of the treasures they captured, a certain cloak. On arriving at the King’s palace and giving the King the cloak, on wearing it, he collapses, and all realises that the cloak has been poisioned, ofcourse Prince _ is the number one suspect, and the entire army chases him as the guilty culprit.
We also find out that Prince Dastan is adopted by the King, and his two brothers, although all consider themselves to be one family, nevertheless would like to see the murderer of their father brought to justice even if it is their brother. Prince Dastan finds Princess Tamila as she is the only link that can exonarate him, and in so doing finds out about the magic of the sands of time.
Prince of Persia – Sands of Time is a very enjoyable fantasy movie, with plenty of action and will suit the whole family.

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Movie Reviews – Salt

Movie reviews this week looks at the action thriller Salt, starring Angelina Jolie (Lara Croft) back to her best physically demanding role since Lara Croft (and I must say how impressed by her action scenes seeing she is the proud mother of twins).
The movie begins with Evelyne salt (Angelina Jolie) as a CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) agent, who happens to be asked to interviews a self confessed Russian renegade, Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski) who happens to walk into the building, saying that he has some news that they should hear, seeing that Evelyne speaks Russian, the CIA head Peabody played by the always impressive Chiwetel Ejiafor (Red belt), askes her to interrogate him. As we watch the interrogation, which the CIA monitors with Orlov’s heart beat and brain scan to see if he is telling the truth, he seems to oass all the tests with flying colours. At the end of the interrogation Orlov says something that lands Evelyne, as well as Evelyne’s work colleague who is always on the look out for her best interests Ted Winters played by Liev Schreiber (Xmen Beginnings: Wolverine) on edge. Peabody would like to interrogate her about what Orlov says, but Salt knows something is up, and she has to leave the building, fearing her husband Mike Krause played by August Diehl (brilliant as the Nazi officer in Inglourious Basterds) is in danger.
This begins a cat and mouse chase between the CIA headed by Peabody, and accompanied by Winters to find Salt, and get to the bottom of the allegations Orlov makes, and to prevent Salt from doing what Orlov alledges she is about to do.
Salt is an excellent action movie, and as is standard with Hollywood movies these days, the violence is not for the faint hearted, but the suspense is what makes Salt a great action thriller.

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Movie Reviews – The King’s Speech

Movie reviews this week looks at the autobiographical drama The King’s speech.
It stars the stalwart Colin Firth (The Picture of Dorian Gray) as the king in question King George the IV, and a notably well deserved Oscar for a fantastic performance, and his wife the late Queen Mother, played by the dependable Helena Bonham-Carter. It also stars the brilliant Geoffrey Rush as Lionel Logue the King’s speech therapist, you may recognise him as the antagonist of Capt. Jack; Capt Barbosa in Pirates of the Caribbean.
We join the movie as the Duke of York, Prince Albert (his name prior to becoming King) is at a horse racing event, and is customary with members of the Royal family has to give an address in such public events, but Prince Albert has a stammering problem since child hood, that prevents him from doing just that, and the speech goes pretty badly by his standards, as he is unable to complete it without stammering to the dismay of the crowd. With the widespread use of radio, the Prince realises that events requiring him to speak publicly are going to be much more routine, and with the help of his endearing wife, she seeks out a speech therapist Logue .
There is an amusing scene on how Logue and the Duchess of York first meet, as to how the Royal family are treated in those days, she introduces herself to Logue as Mrs. Johnson, Logue nonchalantly askes for her husband to come along in person next time, and leaves the room, she askes just as he heads out of ear shot “And what if my husband were the Duke of York”?
The Duke eventualy meets Logue, and although his techniques are unorthodox, the reluctant Prince makes more progress than with all the other speech therapists he has seen, and through their sessions, we get to learn about the two men, one trying to cure a childhood illness as his worst fear that his brother is about to abdicate the throne and leave him with the responsbility, and the other trying to make amends for a failed dream.

The King’s Speech is a fantastic historical drama, and the acting from such seasoned veterans are ofcourse superb, and you are captivated all through, albeit the general story is well historically. There is a cameo by Guy Pearce (Memento) as the older brother, Prince David whose relationship with Wallace Simpson sents the monarchy into uncarted waters.
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Movie reviews this week looks at the romantic comedy She’s out of my league, it stars the charming Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder) as Kirk, and the very beautiful and talented Alice Eve (Crossing Over with a flawless American accent, just as she was with a flawless Australian accent in Crossing Over, even though she is British) as Molly.

The movie begins as Kirk and his best friends, Stainer played by T.J. Miller (Get Him to the Greek), Jack played by Mike Vogel (Miami Medical), and Devon played by Nate Torrence, are at an airport discussing Kirk’s breakup with his girlfriend Marnie played by Lindsay Sloane (Entourage), one of them mentions the only way to get her back is to date other people and let her know he is dating other people so she gets jealous. They all work at the airport, with the four guys as Aviation Attendants. A drop dead gorgeous girl walks by, and captures the attention of everyone, including Kirk. She leaves her phone as she boards the plane, and when she phones her number via her friend’s phone, to find out where her phone is, Kirk answers, she reminds him who she is, and of course Kirk hasn’t forgotten her. She then tells him to meet her at a party she is organising (as she organises parties) so he can give her back the phone. On meeting her she tells him she has four tickets to a hockey game, and invites him as well as a friend, when Kirk gets back to his friends and tells them about her, and that she has invited him to a game, they guess this is a date, and are all amazingly surprised if not a little jealous, to which Kirk is reluctant to believe, claiming she is way out of his league. Kirk’s group of friends even go on an intellectual debate about guys dating girls that are out of their league, even comparing King Kong and Naomi Watts.

Not only does Molly know a lot about Hockey but she even knows one of the star players, after the game Kirk invites Molly to meet his family (she asked and he couldn’t refuse), where a hilarious scene occurs, as some of Kirk’s family members are in a pool, and are shocked at the very pretty girl Kirk has brought with him, they ask her to join them in the pool, she says she would but she didn’t bring a bathing suit, they mention underwear would be fine, but she says yes it would be if she was wearing any.

Kirk somehow has to convince his friends and more importantly himself that maybe he is good enough for her, despite her ex, Cam played by Geoff Stults trying to win her back.

Eventually it’s turn for Kirk to meet Molly’s parents Mr. and Mrs. McCleish, who surprisingly are played by Alice’s real life parents Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan, there is a hilarious sequence where Kirk refuses to shake Molly’s father’s hand due to an embarrassing incident, which Patty, Molly’s best friend, played by the lovely Krysten Ritter (What Happens in Vegas), suggests she should dump him, as she is only dating him because she sees him as safe, and someone who won’t break her heart.

She’s out of my league is a nice romantic comedy with superb acting from all sides, many will enjoy.

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Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 12/09/2010 11:37:00 AM

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Movie reviews this week looks at Red the movie. A crime and action thriller with an all star cast starring Bruce Willis (the Sixth Sense) as Frank Moses, the very dependable Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption) as Joe Matheson, Helen Mirren (The Queen) as Victoria, Mary-Louise Parker (with the same funny charm in Weeds, something about her eyes reminds me of a deer caught in headlights) as Sarah Ross, and Richard Dreyfuss ( many had to do a double take for his uncanny portrayal of Senator Cheney in W) as Alexander Dunning.

The movie initialises with Frank talking to a Pensions Adviser (Sarah), we sense from their conversations, that the two like talking to each other, Frank mentions about an avocado plant that has two leaves, to which Sarah sounds elated at, we presume that this is a long distance romance that has been going on for some time, albeit via phone calls only. The two talk about a book that they have been reading, we are not quite sure who recommended the book to each other, and we see them later tuck themselves into bed, reading the same book.

A little later in the night, Frank is attacked by a SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team, we are not quite sure, if this is a dream, as Frank dispatches them with relative ease, but when we next see him in Sarah’s apartment telling her that she is in danger because she spoke to him, and that from their conversations it is obvious that he likes her, we realise this is real, and we also realise that this is the first time, Frank and Sarah have met, as Frank says this is not how he pictured their first meeting would be like, to which Sarah replies, “I always pictured you with hair…now none of our dreams have come true“.

It turns out Frank is a retired CIA agent, and one of their bests, responsible for toppling governments, and code named RED (Retired Extremely Dangerous). Frank had taken part in a rescue mission in Guatemala, and for some reason all the people associated with that mission are being executed, a journalist who discovered this, and the list of the names of the people involved in the Guatemalan incident, is herself executed, when Frank and Sarah find the list of names, it is no surprise that Frank’s name is on the list.

Frank visits his old friend Joe to find out if he knows who could be behind it, Joe is a in a hospital battling cancer. They gather up some of their old comrades, with an eccentric Marvin Boggs played by the dependable John Malkovich (Con Air), and Ivan Simanov played by the stalwart Brian Cox (X Men 2). Frank visits him in his Russian Embassy stronghold, and the two get into a nostalgic chat about the good old days of the Cold War, there is a hilarious conversation where Ivan asks about a cousin he believes Frank killed, to which Frank says he didn’t kill him, but flipped him (i.e. turned him to the CIA’s side), and that he now weighs 500 pounds. Matters are made complicated as a young CIA operative William Cooper played by Karl Urban (His performance as Bones in Star Trek is simply phenomenal, had Bones’ mannerisms right down to a t) has been ordered to eliminate Moses.

Red the movie is a great action thriller, with plenty of romantic comedy thrown in the mix, and one many will enjoy, especially with the great cast involved, and a cameo by the much loved Ernest Borgnine as Henry, the Records Keeper.

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Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 12/04/2010 05:43:00 AM

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Movie reviews this seek looks at the crime thriller Takers, with an all star cast starring Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious) as John Rahway, the stalwart Idris Elba (Rock N Rolla) as Gordon Cozier, Michael Ealy (The Good Wife) as Jake Attica, Hayden Christiansen (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) as A.J., Matt Dillion (Traffic) as Jack Welles, and an impressive performance by Chris Brown as Jesse Attica.

We meet the cast in the middle of a bank job, that goes as smooth as they planned, leaving no trace as to their identities or who could have done the job, and they even have the courtesy to wave at the security camera (masked of course) and offer a signature salute. It is left to two cops Jack Welles and Eddie Hatcher played by Jay Hernandez (The Rookie) to figure out who carried out the robbery, with basically nothing else to go on except the heights of the culprits, and their gestures to the camera.

As with great movies we are made to sympathise with the characters early on, as we get to know a little bit about their personal struggles, especially for Cozier, as he tries to look after his sister Naomi played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste (28 Days), fresh from rehab; amidst the job they are planning, a job that they unexpectedly have been asked to do, by one of their associates, no one in the group quite trusts, Dalonte Rivers, played very convincingly by T.I., who tells them of an opportunity he learnt of while in jail, with several millions to them to obtain, if it goes smoothly.

The background to this distrust for Rivers, is five years ago he was caught and the time he has just spent in prison was as a direct result of the joint job he had with them, Rhaway assures him his takings from that job are in a savings account, and still good for collection, which Crozier and the others reckon, this is the only reason why he did not give them up.

We also get to see a little bit of the problems faced by the police force as they deal with some of the criminals, Welles as he tries to make time for his daughter, and deal with the case at hand, while Hatcher tries to explain to Welles his priorities are a little squinted.

Romantic interest for Jake is provided by the gorgeousJoe Saldana (forever in our minds as Neferti from Avatar) playing Lilly, this proves a little contested issue, as she was Dalonte’s love interest before he went to prison, and has his sights on taking her back. There is a scene where Jake and Dalonte have a little confrontation in front of Lilly as Dalonte tries to reassert that she still has feelings for him in front of Lilly.

The acting in Takers is top notch and you will be on the edge of your seat to find out how it all onfolds.

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Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 12/01/2010 04:41:00 AM

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Movie Reviews this week looks at the all action drama The Expendables.

The Expendables is billed as the greatest action stars ever assembled in one movie, and you can see why. Fans have been pinching themselves from the expendables movie trailers alone, with Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Rambo), Dolph Lundgren (Universal Soldier), Jet Li (Hero), Arnold Schwarzeneggar (Terminator), Bruce Willis (Die Hard), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) not to mention Terry Crews (Everybody Hates Chris) and Randy Couture (Red Belt), a MMF (Mixed Martial Arts) superstar in his own right, this is a feast for action fans of the last 20 years.

The movie begins with a group of Americans being held hostage and it is up to our heroes to put an end to it, the inevitable shoot out goes in favour of our heroes, except that Gunner Jensen played by Dolph Lundgren is a little too eager to hang one of the pirates, Ying Yang played by Jet Li attempts to stop him, but it takes Barney Ross played by Stallone to place a gun to his head to make him stop. This sets the stage for Jensen being the loose canon of the group.

The main plot of the movie is that a rogue CIA operative James Munroe played by Eric Robers, is distributing drugs via Bolivia into the U.S. after getting a certain General Garza played by David Zayas (Dexter) to do his bidding. One of the CIA heads Mr. Church played by Bruce Willis has hired Ross to get rid of him, albeit off the books, he also sent the same mission to Trench played by Arnold Schwarzeneggar, and the two superstars play on their well known off-screen feud, as Trench walks away after declining the mission Church asks Ross what his problem his, to which Ross replies sarcastically “He wants to be president“. Ross agrees with his band of men to take the mission, and he must now convince his men to also accept the mission regardless of the danger.

Ross and Lee Christmas played by Jason Statham go on an initial exploration to Bolivia, pretending to be wild life naturalists, they meet their contact Sandra played by the gorgeous Giselle Itié, who happens to be the general’s daughter, and inevitably the soldiers arrive for an encounter (Stallone mentioned he was injured during this fight scene and you can see why), as always the action scenes are brutal, and fans of Jason Statham’s movies won’t be disappointed.

Ross and Christmas escape via the plane they brought in, but Sandra is taken hostage, and Munroe intends to find out from her who were these men that killed most of his men, and why she has gone against him. Despite the fact that she is the general’s daughter the signs are looking ominous for her, unless Ross and his gang are willing to return to Bolivia, rescue her and put and end to Munroe’s drugs campaign.

The Expendables as all action movies go is a treat for the fans, not so much for the plot mainly because of the assembly of casts many wouldn’t think their demands or egos would allow them to share the screen with their contemporaries. Much of the melancholy of their lifestyle is envisaged by the stalwart Mickey Rourke who plays Tool, a tattoo artist and former member of Ross’s gang, who has a lifetime of regret for some of the things he had to do. Already there is talk of a sequel, with Stallone asking fans what they would like to see in it.

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Posted By Mr D Stevens to Movie reviews on 9/03/2010 11:03:00 PM

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