Tag: Action

Captain America: Winter Soldier review

Marvel has made its best super hero film to date, by not playing out like a super hero movie.

“Winter Soldier” is the sequel to the premier film, “Captain America: The First Avenger,” in 2011. The film takes place after the events of “The Avengers,” with the Captain, aka Steve Rogers, adjusting to his life in the 21st Century. He lives his life as an agent for SHIELD and works together with Natasha Romanoff, played by Scarlett Johansson.

Rogers follows orders from SHIELD Director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and carries out those orders on missions. However, Rogers begins to have issues with how SHIELD is operating.

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Need for Speed review

Director:
Scott Waugh
Cast:
Aaron Paul
Dominic Cooper
Imogen Poots
Scott Mescudi
Harrison Gilbertson
Rated: PG-13

Video game fans will have to wait for another adaption if they want to see something good.
“Need for Speed” follows the story of a mechanic named Tobey (Paul), who is facing some financial hardships when it comes to his repair shop. That doesn’t stop him and his friends from enjoying some leisurely street racing from time to time, though.

One night after a race Tobey gets a visit from his old rival and professional driver Dino Brewster (Cooper). Dino makes a deal with Tobey and the shop crew to fix up a car in exchange for a large sum of money. After the job is finished, though, Dino challenges Tobey and his younger friend Peter (Harrison Gilbertson) to a street race. The race turns out to be deadly as Peter loses his life in an accident and Tobey is sent to prison. Upon his release him and his crew decide to enter an underground race competition that Dino will also partake in to get revenge.

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300: Rise of an Empire review

If there’s one thing I didn’t expect to be in a “300” movie, it was bored.

The film “300: Rise of an Empire,” takes place before, during and after the events of the original “300.” Instead of focusing on the Spartans again, this film focuses on Themistokles, played by Sullivan Stapleton.

Themistokles is an Athenian leading a small group of ships to combat the Persian navy, commanded by Artemisia, played by Eva Green. For the most part, like the original movie, everything plays out in a sort of “David vs. Goliath” manner.

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Non-Stop review

Director:
Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast:
Liam Neeson
Julianne Moore
Michelle Dockery
Rated: PG-13
Trailer

If Liam Neeson keeps making movies like this he will have a bigger action library than anyone in “The Expendables.”

“Non-Stop” follows the story of Bill Marks (Neeson), a United States Air Marshall who has a drinking problem. As he boards a flight that will go over the Atlantic Ocean, everything seems like “another day at the office,” that is until he starts receiving mysterious text messages from someone making threats.

As the flight reaches higher altitudes, the texts continue, and the culprit threatens to kill a passenger every 20 minutes. From that point on it’s up to Bill to try and stop the threat, however, as time goes on the suspect makes it seem like Bill himself is trying to hijack the plane.

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Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit review

January is probably the worst time to be a film critic. Sure, the award ceremonies are fun, but almost without exception, the movies are just terrible. I’m looking at you “Devil’s Due.”

Fortunately, though, Hollywood just released, “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” last month and it turned out better than expected.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, who also stars, the film follows the title character.

Jack Ryan, played by Chris Pine, is a former marine who now works as an analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency. While analyzing financial reports with Russia, Ryan notices an irregularity and the CIA, namely his superior Thomas, played by Kevin Costner, sends him to Moscow to investigate.

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Lone Survivor review

Director:
Peter Berg
Cast:
Mark Wahlberg
Taylor Kitsch
Ben Foster
Emile Hirsch
Eric Bana
Rated:
Trailer

“Lone Survivor” really puts the phrase “war is hell” in your face.

The film dramatizes the events of a true story, based on the accounts from Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell (played in the film by Wahlberg).

The movie introduces Luttrell and three other Navy SEALs, played by Kitsch, Foster and Hirsch, who go on a mission to possibly take out a Taliban leader in Afghanistan.

During that time, the mission goes wrong as they come across some herders who inform the Taliban of their whereabouts.

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47 Ronin review

Director:
Carl Rinsch
Cast:
Keanu Reeves
Hiroyuki Sanada
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
Rated: PG-13
Trailer

The movie “47 Ronin” says that it was inspired by a true story, although I doubt the real thing included dragons and witches.

Keanu Reeves stars in “47 Ronin,” portraying the character Kai. As a young man, Kai is found in a forest and brought in to live in a land filled with samurai. The samurai, however look down on Kai as they feel he is unworthy of any good treatment, in particular, the lead samurai Oishi (Sanada).

The situation changes, though, when the lord of the land is framed for a crime he didn’t commit and is forced to take his own life to reclaim honor for his family. This is followed by the samurai under his guide becoming masterless, making them “ronin.” In response, Oishi seeks out the help of Kai and the other samurai to avenge the death of his master.

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The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug review

Unfortunately, it looks as if “The Hobbit” trilogy won’t be as great as Director Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings.”

“Desolation of Smaug” picks up a short time after the events of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, played by Martin Freeman, is continuing on his quest with a traveling group made up of dwarves lead by Thorin, played by Richard Armitage and the wizard Gandalf, played by Ian McKellen.

The group is being chased by a pack of evil orcs who are trying to stop them on their quest to reach the caverns where the dragon Smaug resides. The group is on a quest to kill Smaug and retake the land back for the dwarves, which in the process would make Thorin king. Along the way they are met by enemies and allies, and some who fall in between.

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Homefront review

Director:
Gary Fleder
Cast:
Jason Statham
James Franco
Kate Bosworth
Winona Ryder
Rated: R
Trailer

Movie rednecks sure are scary.

Jason Statham is Phil Broker. Just your average single dad raising a young daughter out in a rural area. Oh, and he just happens to be a former DEA agent with knowledge of how to use powerful weapons, as well as having detective and martial arts skills. One average day, Broker’s daughter gets into a school ground fight with a boy who happens to be the nephew of a local criminal.

The criminal is called Gator, played by James Franco, who is trying to start a drug ring in the local community. At first, Gator just tries to scare Broker as a revenge tactic for his nephew and sister. However, the stakes are raised when Gator learns about Broker’s past as an agent with the DEA.

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The Hunger Games: Catching Fire review

If you liked “The Hunger Games,” then you will love “Catching Fire” because it is an improvement over the first one in nearly every way.

The film picks up not long after the first movie. Both Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson, are on a victory tour after winning the Hunger Games. Although it is all smiles on the outside, inside, both characters are conflicted.

Katniss is troubled both by post traumatic stress disorder from the first games along with the fact that her relationship with Peeta is actually fake. She has feelings for the character Gale Hawthorne, played by Liam Hemsworth. Peeta is troubled by the same fact that the relationship doesn’t exist.

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