Tag: Action

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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Thor: The Dark World review

Unfortunately for the mighty Thor, his sequel “The Dark World” turns out to be simply mediocre.

Like “Iron Man 3,” “Thor: The Dark World” picks up some time after the events that took place with the battle in New York City in “The Avengers.” Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, has brought his brother Loki, Tom Hiddleston, back to the world of Asgard for imprisonment after his crimes on Earth.

After doing so and restoring balance to the different realms, Thor decides to check on the woman he fell in love with in the first film, a scientist named Jane, played by Natalie Portman. When he does so, he discovers that Jane has come into contact with an uncontrollable power that is sought after by the film’s villain Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston.

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Escape Plan review

Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back and this time they team up in an action flick that can’t go the distance.

Ray Breslin, played by Stallone, doesn’t exactly have a typical job in the movie, “Escape Plan.” Breslin tests the security of high security prisons by breaking out of them for a living.

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Riddick review

Director:
David Twohy
Cast:
Vin Diesel
Jordi Molla
Matt Nable
Katee Sackhoff
Rated: R

If you enjoy stories about a boy and his dog, the first 45 minutes of “Riddick” might work for you.

“Riddick” is the third installment in the sci-fi series that started well with “Pitch Black” in 2000, yet took a turn for the worse with “The Chronicles of Riddick” a few years later. The latest feature takes place an unspecified amount of time after Chronicles, the title character, Riddick (Diesel), has been betrayed and is left for dead on a planet that appears to be a barren wasteland.

As Riddick reconnects with his survival skills in the wilderness, he meets an alien dog that he trains and they wander the planet. Eventually our protagonist comes across an old outpost for mercenaries and he sets off a beacon to the stars. This results in bounty hunters coming down to capture Riddick, who is a wanted criminal. However, this is the least of all of their problems as dangerous aliens are on the way.

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Kick-Ass 2 review

Looks like Kick-Ass 2 caught a severe case of “sequelitis.”

“Kick-Ass 2” follows the title character super hero who, under the mask, is high school student Dave Lizewski (Taylor-Johnson). The film picks up two years after the first movie where Dave decided to give up being Kick-Ass. However, as time goes on he hears the calling to return to crime fighting.

To improve his skills, he seeks the help of Mindy Macready (Moretz), who goes by her alter-ego Hit-Girl. Mindy helps train Dave for a while, however, circumstances force her to give up crime fighting. In order to continue patrolling the streets, Dave joins a group of amateur super heroes led by a man named Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey).

Trouble starts brewing though as the villain’s son from the first film, Chris (Mintz-Plasse), decides to seek revenge by building an evil army.

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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters review

Director:
Thor Fruedenthal
Cast:
Logan Lerman
Alexandra Daddario
Brandon T. Jackson
Leven Rambin
Jake Abel
Rated: PG

Finally, the sequel that nobody was asking for.

The second “Percy Jackson” installment picks up some time after the events of “The Lightning Thief.” Percy Jackson (Lerman), son of Poseidon, is training in a special camp for demigods, which is sort of like a lame version of Xavier’s School for the Gifted from X-Men. Trouble starts coming up when enemy demigod Luke (Abel) gets involved with a plot to destroy the barrier around the camp and reawaken the ancient evil.

To stop the ancient evil, and save the camp, Percy has to go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. He is once again joined by love interest Annabeth (Daddario) and comic relief character Grover (Jackson) to go on the mission. A new addition to the team is Tyson (Smith), Percy’s half brother who happens to be a cyclops and offers a bit more comic relief.

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Elysium review

Director Neill Blomkamp’s second sci-fi feature venture follows the story of Max, played by Matt Damon, who is out of jail for car theft and is trying to live a normal life in the year 2154. By this point, most of Earth has become one giant slum, for example the setting of the movie is a post apocalyptic looking Los Angeles, however, the very richest members of society decided to build a space station where they could live in luxury called Elysium.

One day while at his factory job, Max gets into an accident and is exposed to extreme radiation that gives him cancer. Having no other options left to rid himself of it, Max decides to go to Elysium where they have pods that can heal just about anything. To do so, Max meets with an underground group that are trying to make it to Elysium as well and Max volunteers to take on a dangerous mission that will take him where he needs to go.

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2 Guns review

Director:
Baltasar Kormakur
Cast: R
Denzel Washington
Mark Wahlberg
Paula Patton
Bill Paxton
Rated:

Denzel Washington sure did make a nicer partner to work with here than in “Training Day.”

Director Baltasar Kormakur’s new film “2 Guns” follows a pair of men, Bobby (Washinton) and Stig (Wahlberg), who appear at first glance to be criminals. The two decide to rob a bank and after they do, it’s discovered that both aren’t who they said they were.

Bobby turns out to be a DEA agent and Stig happens to be a naval intelligence officer. To make matters worse, they find out that the money they stole, both doing so as part of their own investigations, turns out to belong to crooked members of the CIA. The lead CIA agent, Earl (Paxton) is now after the both of them, as well as other forces out to get the money they took.

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