Action – Matthew Liedke on Film

REVIEW: Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ is an extraordinary cinematic experience

The word epic is sometimes thrown around loosely, but Christopher Nolan’s films usually earn the title. His latest flick once again qualifies.

“The Odyssey” is the latest from the Academy Award winning filmmaker. Based on Homer’s ancient text, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of the city state Ithaca. Following the victory by Greece at Troy, Odysseus and his army are now trying to sail back to their home, but as legend tells, their journey is a perilous one.

Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, Odysseus’ son Telemachus (Tom Holland) is anxiously waiting for his father to return and deal with an escalating situation. The issue in question is the group of suitors wanting to marry Ithaca’s queen, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), as most believe Odysseus is dead leaving the throne vacant.

REVIEW: ‘Supergirl’ is astonishingly underwhelming

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s another DC cinematic universe going off track!

Sadly, that’s seems to be the case with this follow-up to last year’s movie depicting the Man of Steel. This time around, the focus is on the titular Supergirl, or Kara Zor-El, portrayed by Milly Alcock. The movie picks up with Supergirl traveling around space to celebrate her birthday by partying it up in intergalactic dive bars.

Though it should be a time of celebration, Supergirl doesn’t appear too happy, as she still hasn’t quite settled in to a life on Earth or wandering in space. However, she finds some purpose when approached by a girl, Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who’s seeking someone to help her get vengeance on the man who killed her family.

REVIEW: Fantastic fights mostly carry ‘The Furious’

Kenji Tanigaki already proved he knows action to me because of his stunt choreography work on “Blade II” back in 2002. More than 20 years later, he proves it again.

In the case of “The Furious,” Tanigaki sat in the director’s chair, helming a picture centered on two angry men on a mission. Xie Miao stars as Wang Wei, a mute tradesman who sets off on a mission to rescue his daughter who’s been kidnapped. Though he appears as just an ordinary blue-collar worker, he soon shows he is highly skilled in martial arts.

Navin (Joe Taslim), meanwhile, is a journalist whose wife, another reporter, went missing investigating reports of child trafficking. He’s now following up on what she found, and meets up with Wang. Together, they embark on a mission to stop the syndicate and rescue their loved ones.

REVIEW: Aside from Jackman, final tale of ‘Robin Hood’ is mostly mixed

This is far from the first big screen showing of Robin Hood, and it certainly won’t be the last. However, there’s no doubt this one stands apart in its subject matter.

Directed by Michael Sarnoski, Hugh Jackman stars in this film as the legendary outlaw, now in his later years. The film picks up with him living a directionless life, no longer interested in prior adventures, and under threat from old enemies. However, he takes up a new task to help protect the family of Little John (Bill Skarsgard), but is gravely injured in the process.

Badly hurt, Robin Hood finds himself waking up in a monastery where he’s nursed back to health by a nun, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer). He begins to recover and even finds some peace, but the past still rears its head often.

REVIEW: ‘Disclosure Day’ is a major disappointment from Spielberg

Steven Spielberg is no doubt a fantastic filmmaker with a spectacular career. But when it comes to his recent filmography, things have been rough. Sadly, that trend continues.

The latest movie from the notable director stars Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City-based meteorologist at a local station who, after a strange encounter, acquires the ability to speak several languages, as well as some telepathic power. Meanwhile, cybersecurity expert Daniel (Josh O’Connor) is on the run from a nefarious company.

The group, led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) is chasing Danile and his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson), because he’s carrying evidence of the government covering up alien life. As the film goes on, the paths of Daniel and Margaret are on a collision course, as the former knows something needs to be revealed, and the latter realizes she has to bring something to light.

REVIEW: Strong set pieces don’t resolve ‘He-Man’ adaptation issues

Was this supposed to be “Masters of the Marvel Universe?” No? Could have fooled me.

In this titular universe, the focus is primarily on the world of Eternia, where a great cosmic power has long been held in the form of a sword and safeguarded by a royal family. That world comes under attack by a warlock, Skeletor (Jared Leto), hellbent on taking the sword, and the associated power, for himself.

With defenses failing, the young prince of Eternia, Adam, is sent to Earth with the sword to keep it away from Skeletor. The film then picks up with Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) as an adult, who is seeking the sword after losing it in the wormhole to Earth. Once he does retrieve it, he has an opportunity to return to the world he left and stand against Skeletor’s evil.

REVIEW: High octane ‘In the Grey’ excites, but doesn’t fully engage

In terms of grey movies, this isn’t as good as 2011’s “The Grey,” about on par with 2020’s “Greyhound” and better than 2022’s “The Gray Man (I think that counts).” Take that for what you will.

When it comes to “In the Grey,” Eiza Gonzalez stars as high-powered attorney Rachel Wild. The title gives insight into Rachel’s profession, she works in-between the criminal underworld and major financial institutions, or as she calls it, the black and white of the fiscal world. The grey. Her latest effort involves trying to recover a loan from a crime lord for a major establishment.

In order to do so, she recruits her elite team, headlined by two black ops-level individuals, Sid Sensible (Henry Cavill) and Bronco Beauregard (Jake Gyllenhaal). The trio, along with others on the team, set up an elaborate scheme to not only hurt the crime lord’s wallet, but come prepared with firepower in case the situation gets out of hand.

REVIEW: ‘Mortal Kombat’ is mostly poor filler between a few fun fights

Karl Urban is back in a video game adaptation and it’s certainly better than his last outing 20 years ago. Although, 2005’s “Doom” isn’t exactly a high bar.

Regardless, in this sequel to the 2021 “MK” film, Urban stars as Johnny Cage, a former martial artist turned action movie hero whose Hollywood career has declined. Now just attending fan conventions for money, he’s somewhat directionless in life. That is until he’s recruited to represent the realm of Earth in a tournament.

That tournament is one that will determine whether the empire of Outworld, ruled by the warlord Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), can conquer Earth. However, while the emperor’s forces are powerful, there is a dissenter in his daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), whose own world was conquered by Outworld after her realm lost a similar tournament.

REVIEW: Dizzying, absurd story causes ‘Fuze’ to fizzle out

The director of “Hell or High Water” being attached to this built some excitement, but the experience in this new crime drama from David Mackenzie isn’t on the same level without writer Taylor Sheridan.

Mackenzie’s new film centers on a World War II bomb being discovered in the London metro area by a construction crew. Following the discovery, the military is called in, with bomb defusing specialist Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) leading the examination of the explosive.

With threat of the bomb potentially going off, the police department, under the leadership of chief Zuzana (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) evacuates the nearby area. Meanwhile, a bank heist is taking place during the distraction including characters X (Sam Worthington) and Karalis (Theo James).

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REVIEW: ‘Normal’ goes big with action, humor with nominal impact

Bob Odenkirk has now starred in a trio of action flicks, but he still has a way to go before he matches the older grizzled action hero status Liam Neeson has.

In Odenkirk’s latest film, he portrays Ulysses Richardson, a law enforcement officer who’s taken the role of temporary Sheriff until the county of Normal can elect a new one. The county seat is also named Normal, and that’s where Ulysses finds himself trying his best to manage a smooth transition to a permanent replacement.

It’s the latest in a string of temporary jobs he’s taken since a traumatic experienced flipped his life and marriage upside down. But his latest stint starts to look less mundane than he first thought. As his law enforcement instincts kick in, he begins noticing suspicious things, and it leads to a thrilling ordeal he didn’t expect.

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