It may share the same plot and title, but this souped-up remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson/Jan-Michael Vincent thriller The Mechanic is really just another excuse for action star Jason Statham to shoot guns and kick butt, albeit one that director Simon West (Con Air) shoots and edits with energetic efficiency.
Read More action, Ben Foster, blu-ray, crime, DVD, Jason Statham, Simon West, The Mechanic, thriller, Tony GoldwynMind-bending indie director Michel Gondry (The Science of Sleep) proves so capable at crafting crackling action sequences in the $120 million big-screen version of The Green Hornet that it’s a shame star Seth Rogen had to go and ruin the rest of the movie.
Read More action, blu-ray, Cameron Diaz, Christoph Waltz, comedy, crime, DVD, Jay Chou, Michel Gondry, PG-13, Seth Rogen, The Green HornetWhat was first an 88-minute French film called Pour Elle is now a 133-minute, big-studio thriller starring Russell Crowe and directed by Paul Haggis that, despite needing a bit of trimming, turns out to be a solidly entertaining effort.
Read More blu-ray, crime, David, drama, DVD, Elizabeth Banks, Lennie James, Liam Neeson, Paul Haggis, romance, Russell Crowe, The Next Three DaysIts 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, RThe cinematic escapades of Swedish author Stieg Larsson’s pint-sized Goth hacker end with a whimper in The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, a redundant, talky and overly long affair that will probably prove a must-see for fans of the books but had me constantly checking my watch and shaking my head in exasperation. After [...]
Read More Annika Hallin, blu-ray, crime, Daniel Alfredson, David, drama, DVD, Michael Nyqvist, Micke Spreitz, Noomi Rapace, R, Stieg Larsson, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, thrillerIt 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, willAfter being betrayed by the organization who hired him, an ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge against his former bossRR Someone once said, “The difference between good pornography and bad pornography is the addition of plot.” I think it might have been Gandhi.
Read More crime, DVD, horror, Mystery, Noah, R, SawTakers 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, thrillerOf the many things that George Clooney and I have in common, and the list grows longer year after year, the one that People magazine hasn’t commented on as much is our shared love of cinema of the 1970′s. We have tended to show our appreciation for this era in different ways; Clooney by starring [...]
Read More Anton Corbijn, blu-ray, crime, drama, DVD, George Clooney, J.D., Paolo Bonacelli, R, The American, Violante PlacidoThere’s not that much to say about The Town, except it was good. Really good. The Town is Ben Affleck’s baby—he adapted the screenplay, he directed it, and he starred in it. It’s hard to believe that the goofy, half drunk kid I saw on Inside the Actor’s Studio nearly ten years ago, could have [...]
Read More Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, blu-ray, crime, drama, DVD, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, joyce, R, Rebecca Hall, The Town, thriller