January 27, 2013

  • The Punisher (2004)

    The Punisher (2004)

     

    ABOUT

    An ordinary lawman goes outside the law to carry out his own brand of justice in this dark-themed thriller. Frank Castle is an FBI agent who deeply loves his wife and son, but is also strongly devoted to his work. Castle’s investigation of a powerful crime cartel leads to a gunfight which claims the life of a young boy, whose father is underworld kingpin Howard Saint . Furious and eager for revenge, Saint arranges for Castle and his family to be murdered in retaliation. However, while Castle’s wife and son are killed, he somehow survives, even though he’s believed to have perished. Bent on stopping Saint once and for all, Castle remakes himself as The Punisher, a ruthless and heavily armed killing machine who will not rest until Saint and his crew have been wiped clean from the Earth.

    DIRECTOR

    Jonathan Hensleigh (Other works include “Kill the Irishman” and “Welcome to the Jungle”

    STARRING

    Thomas Jane as Frank Castle/Punisher (also starred in “The Mist”. “The Thin Red Line” and “Boogie Nights”)

    John Travolta as Howard Saint (also starred in “Battlefield Earth”, “Hairspray” and “Face/Off”

    Will Patton as Leonard Glass (also starred in “The Fourth Kind”, “Gone in 60 Seconds” and “Copycat”)

    Roy Scheider as Mr. Castle (also starred in “Jaws “, “2010: The Year We Make Contact” and “Dracula II: Ascension”)

    Laura Harring as Livia Saint, (also starred in “Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out!”, “All Souls Day” and “Willard”)

    Ben Foster as Spacker Dave (also starred in “X-Men: The Last Stand”, “Prometheus” and “30 Days of Night”)

    “The Punisher,” as a film, has plenty of potential. For those who have read the comic books and know what the Punisher is all about, this is probably the worst adaptation based upon a comic book. The Punisher isn’t supposed to have any humor. He is a dark, violent, anti-heroic vigilante.

    When you need to make a successful movie about the Punisher, you need to preserve the general conceit of the Punisher ethos. 1) He’s insane. Anyone who kills for both a hobby and a living is crazy. 2) He’s only redeemed by the fact that the people he kills are worse than he is. MUCH worse. 3) Since he’s insane and cannot possibly coexist with society in a sane world, it’s nice to have some humor about the whole situation, just to keep some perspective on the issue and with luck, some major distance from any real-life “what-ifs”.

    If you didn’t know the comic book …you probably could say that this movie was an OK movie. But, for me, I can’t overlook the fact that they failed to stick to the comic book version of the Punisher.

    Simply put: Anyone who even remotely knows the character is infinitely better off seeing Punisher: War Zone instead, which actually depicts the character properly and doesn’t waste time with his origins.

  • Colombiana (2011)

    Colombiana (2011)

     

    ABOUT

    a young woman who has grown up to be an assassin after witnessing the murder of her parents as a child. Turning herself into a professional killer and working for her uncle, she remains focused on her ultimate goal: to hunt down and get revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents’ deaths.

    DIRECTOR

    Olivier Megaton (Other works include “Taken 2″, “Transporter 3″ and “Red Siren”

    STARRING

    Zoe Saldana as Cataleya (also starred in “Takers”. “Star Trek” and “Avatar”)

    Jordi Molla as Marco (also starred in “Knight & Day”, “There Be Dragons” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”

    Lennie James as Special Agent Ross (also starred in “Lockout “, ” The Next Three Days” and “Sahara”)

    Michael Vartan as Danny Delanay (also starred in “Rogue “, and “The Mists of Avalon”)

    Amandla Stenberg as Cat – Age 10, (also starred in “The Hunger Games”)

    Cliff Curtis as Emilio Restrepo (also starred in “The Last Airbender “, “10,000 BC ” and “Sunshine”)

    I placed the DVD in my player expecting to see a poorly made, crappy movie where all the actors are uttering cheesy one-liners and doing unbelievably stupid stunts that did not add to the plot of the movie

    From start to finish I was blown away with the storyline and its continuous different turns. Ok, the plot isn’t exactly rocket science, I mean, Little child, all grown up, looking for the killer of their parents, so they can have revenge. It is not a new plot and it has been done before The action is pretty good though and there is a good pace to the whole movie,

    Zoe Saldana really sells this movie, as an action hero. It feels like if Jason Statham was a female, it would be Zoe Saldana. This had some pretty good action scenes, and some good shoot outs, and it has a pretty good fight scene also.

    In short, know what to expect from Colombiana and you’ll enjoy it fine. It’s a straight-up action movie, no more, no less

  • High Lane (Vertige) (2009)

    High Lane (Vertige) (2009)

     

    ABOUT

    A group of twenty-something friends undertake a mountain-climbing expedition to Croatia. Despite petty internal squabbles, a romantic rivalry, and one poor fellow’s dire case of acrophobia, all goes as well as can be expected, until one of the climbers, Guillaume, makes the ignorant decision to chart an abandoned trail. Before long, the innocent travelers fall prey to the machinations of a crazed mountain butcher named Anton

    DIRECTOR

    Abel Ferry

    STARRING

    Fanny Valette as Chloé (also starred in “The Crossing”. “Welcome Home ” and “A NY Thing”)

    Johan Libéreau as Loïc (also starred in “Spiral”, “18 Years Old and Rising ” and “You Will Be Mine “)

    Raphaël Lenglet as Guillaume (also starred in “Home Sweet Home “, ” Night Squad” and “Return to Algiers “)

    Nicolas Giraud as Fred (also starred in “Taken “, and “A Butterfly Kiss “)

    Maud Wyler as Karine (also starred in “Twiggy ” and the “Low Life “)

    Justin Blanckaert as Anton (also starred in “Bruc, the Manhunt “, “Eden Is West ” and “Have Mercy on Us All “)

    High Lane is a very entertaining movie with a lot of intense suspense in the first half that is comparable to “Cliffhanger”. By watching these scenes you really can identify with the character and you won’t feel at ease as well. You feel as if you were climbing up the mountains of Croatia and suffering from vertigo for real. The first half also shows us many great landscapes captured by a very good camera work once again.

    The second part of the movie turns from a suspenseful action drama into a solid horror movie that can be compared to The Hills Have Eyes, Wrong Turn and The Descent. The transition is well developed enough to not feel like a sudden rupture

    There are a few mildly annoying things in the story..like…

    1. Why was Fred running through the trees when he was caught in the trap?

    2.Why did he not immediately throw down the rope to the climbers below when reaching the top?

    3. An inability to finish the job. Both Luke and Chloe die because they were not willing to kill the killer. They killed your friends and you had the advantage why stop when you have him. Luke had the advantage when he was hitting the killer on the head with a stone. Why throw away that advantage (literally) and crawl to the edge of the precipice? Chloe decided to show compassion and leave the killer alive behind her.

    4. Is it likely that the killer could loosen or cut a steel cable (carrying Chloe) with what looked like a small home-made knife?

    If you can over look those things and just enjoy the movie, overall it ua a superior film of its genre and well worth a watch.

  • Dredd (2012)

    Dredd (2012)

     

    ABOUT

    The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge

    DIRECTOR

    Pete Travis (Other works include “Vantage Point” (2008), “Endgame” (2009) and “Omagh” (2004))

    STARRING

    Karl Urban as Dredd (also starred in “Star Trek (2009)”. “Priest” and “Red”)

    Olivia Thirlby as Cassandra Anderson (also starred in “The Darkest Hour”, “Juno” and “United 93″)

    Lena Headey as Ma-Ma (also starred in “300″, ” The Brothers Grimm” and “Imagine Me & You”)

    Wood Harris as Corazon (also starred in “Remember the Titians”, and “As Good As it Gets”)

    Langley Kirkwood as Judge Lex (also starred in “Invictus” and the “Endgame”)

    Junior Singo as Amos (also starred in “In My Country”, “Beat The Drum” and “The Wooden Camera”)

    The basic aim of Dredd is simple – it needs to be bold, true to the source material and full of juicy violence, to the point that wipe out the memories of the notoriously poor Stallone attempt. I believe this movie succeeds.

    The film is written by Alex Garland (28 Days later, Sunshine), and has had plenty of input from Dredd’s creator (and still main writer even now) John Wagner. Karl Urban (Dredd), who has previously stood out for turn as Dr McCoy in the new Star Trek revival, was bot afraid to go through an entire movie with a helmet on. He is spot on as Dredd. He gives us an emotionless machine, a man who cares for nothing but the law, but a man you want to get behind and cheer on as he shoots the bad guys. The humanity comes from Anderson, and it helps that she have to wear a helmet herself, with the handy excuse that it interferes with her psi abilities.

    The film does not aim high in terms of blockbuster material, but instead tells a very focused, character driven story – a day in the life of a Judge tale that will have you thankful you don’t have to walk in their shoes.

    What follows is a harsh look into a dark world. If there is a hell on earth, then Mega City 1 is most certainly it. A futuristic version of New York with very few of the positives.

    Unemployment is a rampant plague that feeds the city’s crime. The sky is littered with Justice Department surveillance drones and infractions for crime, if you’re unlucky enough to be spotted, are harshly dealt with. Many film-makers would have flinched at making such a movie incorporating such clear violence and obvious fascism, and tried to soften the blow with lashings of humor  but this movie has done no such thing. The result is an extremely violent, often times bleak adaptation of a comic character that was always more violent than its peers to begin with.

    In Short…. For the long time fans of the comic book…..Dredd has finally arrived on screen

  • Sunshine (2007)

    Sunshine (2007)

    ABOUT

    As the sun begins to dim along with humankind’s hope for the future, it’s up to a desperate crew of eight astronauts to reach the dying star and reignite the fire that will bring life back to planet Earth in this tense psychological sci-fi thriller

    DIRECTOR

    Danny Boyle (Other works include “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), “127 Hours” (2010) and “Trainspotting” (1996))

    STARRING

    Cillian Murphy as Capa (also starred in “The Dark Knight”. “Batman Begins”, “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Red Eye”)

    Chris Evans as Mace (also starred in “The Avengers”, “Captain America” and “Push”)

    Rose Byrne as Cassie (also starred in “X-Men: First Class”, ” 28 weeks later” and “Insidious”)

    Michelle Yeoh as Corazon (also starred in “Babylon A.D.”, and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”)

    Hiroyuki Sanada as Kaneda (also starred in “Rush Hour 3″ and the TV show “Lost”)

    Clif Curtis as Searle (also starred in “The Last Airbender”, “Colombiana” and “Push”)

    On the surface, this movie seems not that special, as it basically melds various sci-fi sub-genres – space adventure, natural disaster, and psychological horror – but it infuses its familiar story with symbolism, subtext, and a much deeper meaning. So much so that it may take a few viewings to catch most of it. There is a sharp turn toward horror in the final act, which is jarring, that doesn’t stray from the overall message. Every part of the film, from the story to the characters to the visuals, works towards its common theme, and that makes it a very powerful experience.

    I don’t think it would be wrong to call this film a modern day “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Alien”? Some people my think comparing the director Danny Boyle to Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott may seem a tad much, but after viewing the film I’m sure viewers will be inclined to agree. The film is a high-caliber thinker’s science-fiction movie, just like those giants of old. It is not a Star Wars/Star Trek inspired flick where anything goes, and for the most part it is grounded in reality. The attention to detail is just stunning.

    In short, Sunshine is an amazing movie, from beginning to end.

February 1, 2012