Its title makes it sound like the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise, but Faster is actually a stylish and surprisingly good revenge thriller starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who coincidentally appears in the fifth F&F entry next month) and Billy Bob Thornton that looks and feels a little like film noir. [...]
Read More action, Billy Bob Thornton, blu-ray, Carla Gugino, crime, David, drama, DVD, Dwayne Johnson, Faster, Maggie Grace, RHaving already done the underground train thing with their remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott move above ground with Unstoppable, a rousing runaway train thriller co-starring Chris Pine that barrels right along and barely brakes for nuance.
Read More action, blu-ray, Chris Pine, David, Denzel Washington, drama, DVD, Kevin Dunn, PG-13, Rosario Dawson, thriller, Tony Scott, UnstoppableIt takes a while for RED get around to explaining its title, but it won’t spoil anything if I tell you it’s an acronym: “Retired, Extremely Dangerous.” This tag is specifically applied to Bruce Willis, who plays former CIA operative Frank Moses, and more generally to the motley (and all-star) assortment of his former cohorts [...]
Read More action, blu-ray, Brian Cox, Bruce Willis, comedy, crime, DVD, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, PG-13, Red, Richard Dreyfuss, Warren Ellis, willTakers is the epitome of slick Hollywood entertainment, a fabulously flashy piece of action filmmaking featuring a plethora of pretty boys and virtuoso set pieces that mostly make up for the fact that the thing doesn’t have an original thought in its handsome little head.
Read More action, crime, DVD, Hayden Christensen, Jay Hernandez, Matt Dillon, Michael Ealy, Paul Walker, PG-13, Takers, thrillerMilla Jovovich resumes her sexy gun-toting, zombie-butt-kicking ways in fantastic fashion in Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth and easily most entertaining entry in the horror-action franchise based on the best-selling videogame.
Read More action, adventure, Ali Larter, blu-ray, David, horror, Milla Jovovich, Paul W.S. Anderson, R, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Wentworth MillerIt took a couple of viewings, but I ultimately found Salt to be the real deal when it comes to action thrillers, a most excellent assault of relentless pacing, cool stunts and ridiculous logic that not only sees star Angelina Jolie back in sexy-shooting mode, but marks a successful return to mainstream form for Australian [...]
Read More action, Angelina Jolie, blu-ray, Chiwetel Ejiofor, crime, Daniel Olybrychski, David, DVD, Kurt Wimmer, Liev Schreiber, Mystery, PG-13, Phillip Noyce, SaltSo, there I am, quietly minding my own business, providing the kind of customer service to the clientele that has my fellow employees looking upon me as some sort of titan of the industry, when I am approached by the Overseer of the Newsletter. “We need you to write a review of the Will Ferrell [...]
Read More action, blu-ray, comedy, crime, DVD, Eva Mendes, J.D., Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, PG-13, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Coogan, The Other Guys, The Rock, Will FerrellI was all set to hate this big-screen version of The A-Team the moment I learned Liam Neeson had been cast as Colonel ‘Hannibal’ Smith, the role made so memorable by a cigar-chomping George Peppard in the same-named 80′s TV show. Turns out that, for its first two acts, at least, this is a not [...]
Read More action, adventure, blu-ray, Bradley Cooper, David, DVD, Gerald McRaney, Jessica Biel, Joe Carnahan, Liam Neeson, Patrick Wilson, PG-13, Sharlto Copley, The A-Team, thrillerChristopher Nolan seems to be fond of magic tricks. Sure, he made a whole movie about them (The Prestige), but in his broader career he appears to relish the idea that film itself can be a playful illusion to rival any magician’s sleight-of-hand. I think his newest, the much-discussed, lauded and/or overrated Inception, is as [...]
Read More action, blu-ray, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy, crime, DVD, Ellen Page, Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mystery, PG-13, willCouch-jumping theatrics aside, Tom Cruise is still a movie star, and also the main reason to see Knight and Day, a breezy, Hitchcockian action comedy co-starring Cameron Diaz that nails the action stuff but veers a little off course when it comes to the comedy.
Read More action, adventure, Cameron Diaz, comedy, David, James Mangold, Jordi Molla, Knight and Day, Marc Blucas, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, PG-13, Tom Cruise