Haywire

ATTENTION: MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED!!

Haywire

January 21 2012

Another perfect day for an action flick!

My opinion:

3.5 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

3.5 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my personal entertainment

My suggestion: Wait for the DVD

The gist: This movie is about an assassin for hire, Mallory, who gets double crossed by…..well…….basically everyone. She is an ex-marine with fearsome combat skills. She is contracted along with 3 other team members to rescue a hostage. The person she works for soon contracts her again and things start to unravel as the hostage she helped to rescue ends up dead and she has been framed for murder. She kicks some major butt and gets her revenge on those who betrayed her.

I wanted to love this film as I have been waiting for a good woman kicking butt movie since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and I did really enjoy it, but I just didn’t LOVE it. First off, I will say that the star, Gina Carano, was absolutely amazing. She is beautiful in some scenes (reminded me a little of Rachel Bilson) and is also plain in some scenes which helped turn her into a TOTAL bad ass!

Cheers to Steven Soderberg for going outside the box and making a different type of movie then he normally does. This is no Ocean’s Eleven! The fight scenes were all shot in a very raw setting without music or fillers. As a viewer you could tell you were seeing some real ass kicking action! I also loved the super-hero-ish type music playing while she is being chased by the bad guys.

It was great to have Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and Antonio Banderas in this flick. I really enjoy all of them as actors and they were spot on in their roles. I also enjoyed Channing Tatum….YUMMMMMM! Bill Paxton had a small role as Mallory’s father and he very good as well.

The reason for my lower opinion on the film is because it is a little short and it takes a while to get going and the character building falls flat. If you are going to have all those amazing actors in a film, I would like to get to know at least a few of them before the movie ends. On a positive note, throughout the movie you can’t seem to peel your eyes away from Mallory!

Contraband

ATTENTION: MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED!! DON’T READ THIS IF YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO THE THEATRE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

Contraband

January 14 2012

Today was COLD and rainy so it was the perfect time to take in an action flick and drool over Mark Wahlberg. The previews before the movie started were awesome. There was a new trailer that I had never seen for The Hunger Games and a great Haywire trailer too…..can’t wait to see both of those.

My opinion:

3.5 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

4 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my personal entertainment

My suggestion: Go to the theatre it won’t be the same on DVD

The gist: This movie is about an ex-smuggler, Chris Farraday, played by Mark Wahlberg. Chris has gone legit and is self-employed installing home security systems. Although he has been out of the smuggling game for a while he gets sucked back in when a deal his brother in law is involved in goes very wrong. After this his brother in law’s life is in danger unless he can pay back the fearsome Tim Briggs (played by Giovanni Ribisi). Chris strikes a deal with Briggs to smuggle in some funny money and fully pay him back to get his brother in law’s name cleared. He sets sail on a ship to Panama where he uses his influence to procure a crew and uses his knowledge of the game to get out of some life threatening situations. Meanwhile, back home his wife and kids lives are threatened by Briggs and she seeks shelter with Chris’ best friend who is also an ex-smuggler. This movie is full of fast paced fighting, a double cross, a wife in danger and everything that makes a great action flick!

I really enjoyed this movie. There was so much to love, the gorgeous Mark Wahlberg for one and the always creepy Giovanni Ribisi for another. These two were perfect in their roles. No one plays a better bad boy turned good then Mark Wahlberg. He has really kept in shape in his middle age! Giovanni Ribisi has certainly found his calling as a threatening bully of a criminal. He is just ruthless enough to make us believe he is a little bat shit crazy. I also cannot overlook Ben Foster. He is also one of those actors that can send chills down your spine as kind of a creepy character. (see him in Alpha Dog and you will see what I mean!) He plays Chris Farraday’s best friend and ex-smuggling buddy. It is clear from the beginning that they are as close as brothers. His transformation from good guy to not so good guy is totally predictable, but he made the conflicting emotions just believable enough which saved the whole plot line. While we are on the subject of the cast, Kate Beckinsale played Chris’ wife and she was just okay. I think she is beautiful and I don’t prefer her in roles where she has to be somewhat gritty. I like the Pearl Harbor Kate better!

I love a good action flick and this one certainly delivered. There was a HUGE car chase/shoot out in Panama along with a crashing boat. Although the plot is pretty predictable it still had enough interesting elements to make it enjoyable and set it apart from every other action movie out there right now. The end of the movie is great, just the right amount of revenge and good luck to make you smile!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

ATTENTION: MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED!! DON’T READ THIS IF YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO THE THEATRE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

January 7 2012

My first movie of the New Year!

My opinion:

3.5 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

3.5 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my personal entertainment

My suggestion: Wait for the DVD

The gist: This movie takes place in the early 1970’s during the cold war. Control, the alias for the head of the British Intelligence, resigns following an operation to expose a mole in his agency that goes very wrong. The agent he assigned to the mission is shot and taken as prisoner in Budapest. Smiley, a top agent (Gary Oldman) is also forced into retirement but he begins to investigate the story of a possible mole in the agency. As he digs deeper using information he obtains covertly he finds the missing agent that was shot in Budapest and begins to unravel a plot involving 4 of the top men in the agency. One of them is the mole and Smiley sets up a brilliant trap to catch the mole in the act. In the end, Smiley is reappointed as head of the agency, and the mole gets what he deserves.

The best part of this movie is the casting. All the characters are perfectly cast and Gary Oldman absolutely steals the show. His performance is incredible!! I love the way this movie was filmed, you really felt like you are being transported back to the 1970’s. The haircuts and clothing are RAD!! The name of the movie, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, also plays into the plot very well.

The first 45 minutes of the movie is VERY slow and intense. It gets much more interesting once you start finding out more details surrounding the mole and the agent that was taken prisoner in Budapest. I see tons of movies and consider myself very skilled at reading plot lines and finding the hidden details in a film, but this one was a bit of a head scratcher for me. There were so many characters to keep track of and after a time they all begin to blend together. I also lost track of the good guys and the bad guys and even now I am sure I got them all right. The meticulous information surrounding the search for the mole is somewhat exhausting.

What pissed me off about this movie is you literally sit through over an hour and a half of vital plot information and the introduction of character after character only to lead you to an underwhelming conclusion. The mole ends up being exactly who you thought it was going to be and there is no side plot. That is it. You find the mole the mystery is solved. There is one problem with this, however, we as movie goers today expect a little more than an ending that we guessed half way through the film. I am all fine and good with guessing an ending of a film, as long as I didn’t have to endure over an hour of material leading up to the conclusion. I wish there would have been more of a surprise at the ending and that is why I suggested the wait for DVD on this. If you like Gary Oldman, then I would definitely go to the theatre……if you are one of his fans; his performance alone is worth the price of admission.

Movie - The Descendants

ATTENTION: MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED!! DON’T READ THIS IF YOU ARE ON YOUR WAY TO THE THEATRE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!

The Descendants

December 31 2011

My last movie of 2011! Well unless I somehow talk my hubby into watching another one tonight, but even I am not that good.

My opinion:

3 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

2.5 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my personal entertainment

My suggestion: Wait for the DVD

The gist: This is a story about a seemingly workaholic out of touch Dad (played by George Clooney) trying to build relationships with his 17 and 10 year old daughters after his wife is in an accident that leaves her in a coma. He is tasked with trying to break the news to his children and holding his family together. No small feat. The oldest daughter is a rebel, and quite cynical and the youngest daughter is a confused girl trying to find her way. As the story unfolds, he is confronted with the fact that his wife was having an affair with a sleazy, married, real estate agent. His oldest daughter knew all about this which made for an interesting spin on their relationship and her relationship with her Mom. He struggles with the decision to confront the other man and out him to his wife. To make his life even more hectic, he is also in the middle of a very important land sale deal which will affect his HUGE Hawaiian family.

My thoughts: I am floored that this movie was nominated for 5 golden globes including best picture. That blew me away given all the wonderful movies that were out this year. This is not a feel good movie; it is sad 95% of the time with a couple of comedic additions. That doesn’t mean it can’t be great, it just wasn’t. The best part of the story, in my opinion, was the plot involving chasing after the man the dying wife was having an affair with, his name was Brian Speer. Even I hated Brian Speer by the time we met him. He was played by Matthew Lillard the guy from Scream (that is how I know him best) He plays a jerk really well! I also enjoyed the part about the selling of the land on Kauai, but you knew about halfway through the movie what was going to happen with that. The scenery was spectacular, how could it not be, it was Hawaii!

I definitely think that the best performance of this movie was given by Shailene Woodley (she plays 17 year old Alexandra King). I absolutely loved her. My take on her is that she is a bit Mischa Barton-esque…..meaning she is absolutely gorgeous and kinda awkward. She was right on cue with her entire performance. George Clooney was good…..nothing spectacular in my opinion but he did bring a real life feel to his character. Another highlight was Nick Krause (he plays Sid one of Alexandra’s friends) and also Amara Miller (she plays Scottie King). Basically I am saying the casting was awesome, but to me the movie fell flat.

I guess the morale of the movie is supposed to be that we don’t know what we’ve got ‘till it’s gone. In the end it seems everyone learns to forgive and a little revenge is sometimes good. All good things, I just didn’t enjoy the way they were portrayed.

Usually I am a fan of George Clooney movies and certainly of movies nominated for 5 Golden Globes. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to see this movie, or maybe I just disagree with the critics on this one. Let me know what you think, or take my advice and wait for the DVD.