Tag: Action

No Escape review

Director:
John Erick Dowdle
Cast:
Owen Wilson
Pierce Brosnan
Lake Bell
Claire Geare
Sterling Jerins
Rated: R

“No Escape” stars Owen Wilson who plays a father relocating his family to an undisclosed county in Asia for a new career opportunity. Upon arrival, Wilson’s character Jack, his wife Annie (Bell) and their two daughters make their way to a hotel and, despite some reservations, settle in to their new home.

The peace of the first few moments with the family is quickly shattered, though, as a revolution begins and rebels with anti-western motives start attacking the hotel. The film then follows Jack and his family’s attempt to get away from the hostile city and find safety.

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Fantastic 4 review

Director:
Josh Trank
Cast:
Miles Teller
Michael B. Jordan
Kate Mara
Jamie Bell
Toby Kebbell
Reg E. Cathey
Rated: PG-13

The latest reboot of “Fantastic Four” starts off in 2007 with the protagonists Reed Richards and Ben Grimm as young kids building a teleporter in their garage. Flash forward seven years and Reed (Teller) and Ben (Bell) are still working on the science project, with Reed being the brains and Ben being the assistant.

It isn’t long before Reed’s skills are noticed by Dr. Franklin Storm (Cathey). Reed is soon brought in to work on a major teleportation project, partnering with Storm’s children Sue (Mara) and Johnny (Jordan) as well as another young genius named Victor (Kebbell). Just when the group cracks the code on teleportation, though, an incident occurs which results in the whole group getting mutated abilities.

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Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation review

Director:
Christopher McQuarrie
Cast:
Tom Cruise
Jeremy Renner
Simon Pegg
Ving Rhames
Rebecca Ferguson
Sean Harris
Rated: PG-13

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in the fifth installment of the “Mission Impossible” film series and this time, he’s looking for a syndicate of spies that is causing chaos around the world.

It seems like Hunt has met his match with these new enemies, and on top of that, his agency, the IMF, gets shut down for the events of Ghost Protocol (Part 4). This once again leaves Hunt without many resources at his disposal, making the challenge that much greater.

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Southpaw review

Director:
Antoine Fuqua
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal
Rachel McAdams
Forest Whitaker
Oona Laurence
Rated: R

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Billy Hope in “Southpaw,” a boxer who holds a title belt and is undefeated. Hope is a fighter that isn’t afraid to get bloody and he often takes a beating in the ring. With his undefeated record, Hope has experienced a great adult life, however, after a tragedy happens, he is sent into a downward spiral.

To get his life back on track, Hope relies on the help of trainer Tick Wills (Whitaker), not just to improve as an athlete, but as a person.

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Ant-Man review

Director:
Peyton Reed
Cast:
Paul Rudd
Michael Douglas
Evangeline Lilly
Corey Stoll
Rated: PG-13

In Marvel’s Ant-Man, Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, a man who has just been released from prison for breaking into a high security business in which he used to work for. At the same time, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), a brilliant mind who invented a suit which can adjust size and strength, finds out his old company is going to use that technology to make a new, dangerous weapon.

As Lang finds himself falling back into his ways of theft in order to make enough money to be a better father to his daughter, Pym decides to give Lang a better opportunity. With the help of Pym’s daughter, Hope, the old scientist mentors Lang to use the suit to steal and dispose of the weapon to create a safer world.

“Ant-Man” had a bit of a rocky road in getting made since the project had to change directors along the way. The result is a movie that for the most part is good, but still had some noticeable areas that felt a bit disjointed.

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Terminator Genisys review

Director:
Alan Taylor
Cast:
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Jason Clarke
Emilia Clarke
Jai Courtney
PG-13

“Terminator Genisys” is the fifth installment of the evil machine franchise, however, this movie largely ignores the events of the third and fourth films.

“Genisys” starts off in the late future with the leader of the human resistance John Connor (Jason Clarke) finding out that the machine program Skynet has sent a terminator back to 1984 to kill his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke). To stop the terminator, John sends Kyle Reese (Courtney) back in time also to bring the machine down.

Up until this point, the plot mirrors that of the original “Terminator.” The similarities end, there, though, not only because this film lacks any of the suspense of the original, but also because it turns out, Sarah has been aware of Skynet since her childhood and has her own Guardian terminator (Schwarzenegger).

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Jurassic World review

Director:
Colin Trevorrow
Cast:
Chris Pratt
Bryce Dallas Howard
Vincent D’Onofrio
Ty Simpkins
Nick Robinson
Rated: PG-13

“Jurassic World” takes place 22 years after the disaster at Jurassic Park on the island Isla Nublar. At this point, the company InGen has successfully reintroduced dinosaurs to a controlled environment and the island has become a fully functioning theme park. The only issue for the staff is a dip in the number of visitors.

To bring in new guests and bump sales, an operation is done to create a new dinosaur attraction by combining multiple bits of DNA. The plan backfires, though, and to help get the situation under control, Claire, the parks’ director played by Bryce Dallas Howard, calls in Owen, a former member of the Navy, played by Chris Pratt, who has trained raptors.

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REVIEW: ‘Spy’

Director:
Paul Feig
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy
Jude Law
Rose Byrne
Jason Statham
Rated: R

Melissa McCarthy plays Susan in “Spy,” a CIA mission analyst who has remained at the agency’s headquarters for most of her career. From her desk, Susan monitors other agents, mainly an operative named Bradley (Law) to keep a watch for potential threats.

Susan’s whole world begins to shift, though, when Bradley is killed in the line of duty by an arms dealer named Rayna (Byrne). On top of losing a great agent, the CIA learns that Rayna has uncovered the identities of other operatives. In order to bring her down, Susan steps up to take on a field mission for the first time.

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San Andreas review

Director:
Brad Peyton
Cast:
Dwayne Johnson
Carla Gugino
Alexandra Daddario
Ioan Gruffudd
Paul Giamatti
Rated: PG-13

Bring your checklist of famous landmarks and be ready to check them off one by one as they get destroyed.

The major California fault-line goes wild in “San Andreas,” a film that centers on the scenario of a huge earthquake hitting the West Coast. Ray, played by Dwayne Johnson, is a fire-rescue first responder who has main duties in helicopter rescues.

In his personal life, Ray is currently trying to deal with the divorce between he and his wife, Emma, played by Carla Gugino, which has put a strain on the relationship with his daughter Blake, portrayed by Alexandra Daddario. The family has to come together, though, once the earthquake hits the metropolitan areas and causes widespread destruction.

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Tomorrowland review

Director:
Brad Bird
Cast:
George Clooney
Britt Robertson
Raffey Cassidy
Hugh Laurie
Rated: PG

Britt Robertson stars as Casey in “Tomorrowland,” the latest live action flick from Disney. Casey is a smart teenager who spends her nights trying to preserve a shuttle launch pad from being demolished. While her actions do eventually get her in trouble with the law, they also catch the attention of someone who invites her to Tomorrowland.

The invitation is given by Athena (Cassidy), an android in the form of a girl who is seeking dreamers to help save the future by way of Tomorrowland, a place full of the best and brightest that mankind has offered. To help get there, the two end up recruiting the help of Frank (Clooney), a former resident of Tomorrowland who was exiled.

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