Die Hard With a Vengeance
Release Date: 1995
Director: John McTiernan
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Bruce Willis (as Lt. John McClane) Jeremy Irons (as Peter Krieg) and Samuel L. Jackson (as Zeus Carver)
IMDB Rating: 7.5
My Rating: 6.6
Length: 130 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $90 million/$366 million
Typical of the Die Hard series and many other anti-terrorism/robbery actions, this film lacks the depth that would make it a very good action. Like recent action 12 Rounds, I find the complete the tasks to stop the villian's work plot to be rather simplistic and juvenile. Thus Willis and Jackson's acting was hindered by the range of the plot. Some good escape/fighting scenes, but not an overly great action film in general.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Release Date: 2009
Director: Stephen Sommers
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Channing Tatum (as Duke) Dennis Quaid (as General Hawk) Marlon Wayans (as Ripcord)
Based On: G.I. Joe by Larry Hama
IMDB Rating: 5.7
My Rating: 8.4
Length: 118 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $175 million/$302 million
I had been wanting to see this film for a while due to my interest in the older animated series I had watched when I was younger. The overall product was slightly rough, with a heavy emphasis on the action and use of war technology, with the plot suffering slightly from that emphasis. I did, however, like parts of that action and technology, with it being within the genre of the film, especially scenes with the Joes and their superhuman suit, a sick concept. The acting was slightly above average, with Quaid playing the only veteran role in the film and the rest of the cast playing solid action roles, with decent character development due to multiple flashbacks. Overall, I liked the film a lot, but more for its origins and similarities to the animated series, as well as the solid futuristic action sequences, than its quality of acting and storyline.
The Sentinel
Release Date: 2006
Director: Clark Johnson
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Michael Douglas (as Pete Garrison) Kiefer Sutherland (as David Breckinridge) and Eva Longoria (as Jill Marin)
Based On: on the novel of the same name by former Secret Service Agent Gerald Petievich
IMDB Rating: 6.1
My Rating: 6.3
Length: 108 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $60 million/$78 million
An action/thriller set up film, myself, like most critics, found this movie to be average at best. A very simple plotline coupled with average acting made this film slightly boring to watch. One of the few Eva Longoria castings helped its value slightly, but even with decent closure the film seemed to have little purpose beyond eliminating an assassination attempt, something that every other sub-par television drama inacts. This "thriller" does not keep away the yawns.
Release Date: 2008
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Clint Eastwood (as Walt Kowalski) Bee Vang (as Thao Vang Lor) and Ahney Her (as Sue Lor)
IMDB Rating: 8.4
My Rating: 9.2
Length: 120 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $33 million/$270 million
As previously noted, I have been big into Eastwood and his movies as of late, so I won't touch on this one too much besides saying that it was is masterpiece and in my top 15 favorite films. Eastwood played an absolutely insane character, very similar to Million Dollar Baby, where his tough gritty attitude is supplemented by his sensitivity and care for his Hmong neighbors as the film progresses. There really was nothing wrong with this film in any way, besides it being slightly slow which is typical of its drama genre. The Hmong cast did an excellent job acting as all but one had no previous acting experience. Again, a masterpiece of a film, and look for a more complete review within the upcoming Clint Eastwood special.
Ninja Assassin
Release Date: 2009
Director: James McTeigue
Genre: Action
Main Cast: Raizo (as Rain) Lord Ozuno (Sho Kosugi) and Mika Coretti (as Naomie Harris)
IMDB Rating: 6.3
My Rating: 6.6
Length: 99 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $40 million/$62 million
An incredibly gory and killing-filled action film, Ninja produced little beyond those two categories. Hardly any plotline, character development, or depth of acting supplement this bad film that is only preserved by intense hand-to-hand and sword fighting sequences. The lack of major names of acting also hurts this film. To summarize, Ninja Assassin contains nothing worth watching beyond some good but mostly unrealistic fighting scenes.
Letters from Iwo Jima
Release Date: 2006
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Ken Watanabe (as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi) and Kazunari Ninomiya (as Private First Class Saigo)
Based On: "Gyokusai sÅshikikan" no etegami ("Picture letters from the Commander in Chief") by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War by Kumiko Kakehashi about the Battle of Iwo Jima
IMDB Rating: 8.0
My Rating: 7.9
Length: 142 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $19 million/$69 million
I really liked the general theme and acting presented by this WWII film. Due to its full Japanese audio, it somewhat hard to follow with the subtitles, but Watanabe's excellent portrayal of the Japanese commander on Iwo Jima gives an good relation of the general feeling of the defenders. It is an interesting viewpoint as another of Eastwood's war films, Flags of our Fathers, that came out right before Letters, gave the viewpoint of the Allied side of the fighting on the island. Letters gives a very deep visual of the factors that went into fighting this monumental battle of the Pacific, as well as the personalities represented by the Japanese army that were erased on that battlefront.
2012
Release Date: 2009
Director: Roland Emmerich
Genre: Thriller
Main Cast: John Cusack (as Jackson Curtis) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (as Dr. Adrian Helmsley)
IMDB Rating: 7.4
My Rating: 5.9
Length: 158 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $200 million/$770 million
King of apocalyptic thrillers The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, Roland Emmerich, came through with gigantic in-your-face effects that are matched by few in the film industry. 2012 had a solid plot throughout but was mostly made successful by its incredible destruction scenes as the earth fell apart upon the Myans predictions. Decent performances and good concepts of post-apocalyptic survival by use of large boats kept the thriller interesting when the natural disasters subsided. This film would be a potential great watch in a threatre of IMax where the surround sound and large screen would heavily enhance the film.
She’s Out of My League
Release Date: 2010
Director: Jim Field Smith
Genre: Comedy
Main Cast: Jay Baruchel (as Kirk Kettner) and Alice Eve (as Molly McCleish)
IMDB Rating: 6.6
My Rating: 6.7
Length: 104 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $20 million/$49 million
Another one of my few rewatches this series, Jay Baruchel's character presents a plot in which he stumbles into a relationship with a very attractive girl that most believe is too attractive for him. Throughout the film, Kirk runs into problems and doubting acquaintances, but he reconciles most of these issues to resolve his relationship within the film's final closure. A good mostly clean comedy different from most of its unrated counterparts released today about the success of the underdog in love.
Tigerland
Release Date: 2000
Director: Joel Schumacher
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Colin Farrell (as Private Roland Bozz) and Matthew Davis (as Private Jim Paxton)
Based On: a U.S. Army training camp located at Fort Polk, Louisiana as part of the U.S. Army Advanced Infantry Training Center
IMDB Rating: 7.1
My Rating: 7.8
Length: 100 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: Unknown/$140 million
I really liked this sort of fake war film about the advanced training for Vietnam soldiers, fake because no actual fighting takes place throughout. The acting and concept of the legend of Bozz (Farrell) was the key to the quality of the film, as Farrell was the mother river from the subplot substituents fed off of. Slightly slow and lacking some meaning, however, Tigerland had a good theme overall that overrode most of its negatives.
Release Date: 2009
Director: Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig
Genre: Horror
Main Cast: Ethan Hawke (as Edward Dalton) Willem Dafoe (as Lionel Cormac) and
Claudia Karvan (as Audrey Bennett)
IMDB Rating: 6.5
My Rating: 6.0
Length: 98 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $20 million/51 million
A typical vampire conquest horror that has little plot twist for the better nor decent acting. It also lacked action that could have saved its simplistic and predictable storyline. The vampire domination of mankind caused by a virus was also a questionable background of the plot and about the only part of the film I liked was its themes of the future and technology, as it did do a good portrayal of each. In general, this film was not scary enough to be a horror and not enough of another genre to be anything else, thus its lack of decisiveness was its demise.
Release Date: 1994
Director: Edward Zwick
Genre: Drama
Main Cast: Brad Pitt (as Tristan Ludlow) Anthony Hopkins (as Col. William Ludlow) Aidan Quinn (as Alfred Ludlow) Julia Ormond (as Susannah Fincannon Ludlow) and Henry Thomas (as Samuel Ludlow)
Based On: the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison
IMDB Rating: 7.2
My Rating: 7.5
Length: 133 minutes
Budget/Gross Revenue: $30 minutes/$67 million
An extremely well acted and well plotted romantic drama that kept me entertained even with it being slightly long and slow. Pitt performed an excellent role in a genre that he doesn't always perform in, and Hopkins played an amazing but subtle character of the Ludlows' war-veterened father. The storyline of three brothers after a single woman kept the plot interesting, but also brought in unneccesary family drama. I did really like how the film resolved, with the family's issues ending with an event that also took place in the opening minutes. This was one of the better dramas I have seen in the past couple weeks, though it is not in the genres I generally enjoy watching.
A great set of film this past week, with Gran Torino leading the way as the superb film of the week. And next week hopes to be as good as well.
-Jarid Holliday
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