Action – Page 33 – Matthew Liedke on Film

It boldly goes where other Star Trek films have gone before.

“Star Trek Into Darkness” is the sequel to the 2009 movie that served as a sort of reboot to the franchise going back to the original characters. The film, which takes place in a sort of separate reality than the original series, follows Captain James T. Kirk (Pine), who is now in command of the Enterprise. His reckless actions though cause him to get into some trouble with the higher ups in Star Fleet.

Kirk’s issues with the upper command is pushed aside though as a new threat arises to challenge Star Fleet. Because of this, Kirk, along with his crew consisting of Spock (Quinto), Uhura (Saldana), Leonard McCoy (Urban), Scotty (Pegg) and Sulu (Cho). Have to go after the individual raising the threat. However the villain behind this threat, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, turns out to be one of the most fierce adversaries that the Enterprise has to face.

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Iron Man 3 review

Director:
Shane Black
Cast:
Robert Downey Jr.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Don Cheadle
Guy Pearce
Rebecca Hall
Jon Favreau
Ben Kingsley
Rated: PG-13

The 2013 summer movie season starts with a lot of booms, most of them coming from Tony Stark’s house getting blown to bits.

The third installment of the “Iron Man” franchise picks up not long after the mega super hero team up film “The Avengers.” After the events in New York, billionaire, Iron Man inventor Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is trying to move on and live his life normally. However, because of the events that occurred with the alien attacks, Stark has been feeling nervous and has had anxiety attacks. To deal with this, Stark has been building multiple versions of his high tech suits.

While this is going on, a new threat begins to rise with an international terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin (Kingsley) starts taking responsibility for a number of mysterious bombings. At the same time, a man who has his own science corporation, Aldrich Killian (Pearce), has his own mysterious dealings going on and could possibly be connected to The Mandarin. Because of the threat that is brewing, Stark has to fight against The Mandarin, yet he finds himself short of much of his technology.

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Olympus Has Fallen review

Director:
Antoine Fuqua
Cast:
Gerard Butler
Aaron Eckhart
Dylan McDermott
Morgan Freeman
Rated: R

This movie is like a patriotic overload.

“Olympus Has Fallen” follows the story of a United States Secret Service named Mike Banning (Butler), who, after a terrible accident is demoted to a guard at the treasury department. Meanwhile, an attack is set in motion by a group of terrorists who capture the president, played by Eckhart, and take over the building creating a hostage situation.

Because the president and much of the cabinet is taken hostage, the speaker of the house, played by Morgan Freeman becomes acting president and the only one who manages to get inside to fight back is Banning.

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Oz the Great and Powerful review

Director:
Sam Raimi
Cast:
James Franco
Michelle Williams
Zach Braff
Joey King
Mila Kunis
Rated:
PG

This movie can be used as a lesson on how to correctly make a prequel.

“Oz the Great and Powerful,” tells the story of the title character, Oz, who we know from the beloved 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” In this film, we find Oz, played by James Franco to be a rather selfish, prankster of a magician and yet seems to have a heart of gold somewhere inside. Through a series of events of being chased out of a traveling carnival and ending up in a hot air balloon, Oz finds himself sucked into a twister and ends up in the land of Oz.

As he begins to explore his surroundings, Oz meets Theodora (Mila Kunis), who tells him where he is and that she is a witch. Oz is trusting of her and is led to the Emerald City and is told that he is a wizard of prophecy that will eliminate the threat of the wicked witches. Oz decides to take on the task so that he can be rule the land. However through his journey, he begins to become a better man as he makes new friends.

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A Good Day to Die Hard review

Director:
John Moore
Cast:
Bruce Willis
Jai Courtney
Sebastian Koch
Yuliya Snigir
Radivoje Bukvic
Rated: R

I don’t know if I want to hear Yippee Kay Ye any more.

“A Good Day to Die Hard” takes place some unknown amount of time after the fourth film. In this one, John McClane (Willis) finds out that his son Jack (Courtney) is in trouble in Russia. John decides to travel over to find out if he can somehow help his son in any way. What he finds out is that his son is actually a CIA agent working a major case.

Through a wild course of events, John becomes involved with the operation his son is working on and the two have to work together to bring down a large organization of terrorists.

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Rise of the Guardians review

Director:
Peter Ramsey
Cast:
Chris Pine
Alec Baldwin
Jude Law
Isla Fisher
Hugh Jackman
Rated: PG

I wonder what group of characters they’ll team up next.

“Rise of the Guardians” mainly follows the story of Jack Frost (Pine), who 300 years ago was chosen by the Man in the Moon to be the one who brings cold, ice and everything in between to the world. Fast forwarding to the present, Frost has no memory of his life before becoming a force of nature and feels like he is largely ignored by most of the world. This causes him to not exactly be much of a team player.

Frost is forced to work with others though when he is called upon to be a member of “the Guardians,” a crew consisting of the Sandman, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. The group is brought together because the Boogeyman, named Pitch Black (Law), is threatening them and the children of the world. Because of this, the five have to go after Pitch, however Frost still feels a bit out of place which causes some mishaps.

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007: Skyfall review

The twenty third Bond film, “Skyfall,” Begins with 007 being seemingly KIA in a mission to receive codes containing the whereabouts and identities of the agents of MI6. Bond manages to survive though and lives in seclusion for a while. That is until MI6 comes under attack by the mysterious organization who stole the codes.

James then returns to London to take up the mission, However Bond hasn’t been in the game for a while, is getting older and might not be as great as he used to be, none the less he still goes on the mission. What this leads to is an exploration into Bond’s past, his upbringing and a villain who has ties to MI6.

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Here comes the Boom review

Director:
Frank Coraci
Cast:
Kevin James
Salma Hayek
Henry Winkler
Bas Rutten
Rated: PG

“Here Comes the Boom” follows the story of Scott (James), a teacher who was once really confident in education and school however has recently lost his drive. At the same time he finds out that the music department of the school, as well as other departments are going to be cut, which would mean Scott’s friend Marty (Winkler), would lose his job.

This sets Scott off on a quest to try to raise some money to rescue the music department. After watching a UFC fight with a man named Nikko (Rutten), who Scott teaches in a night class for American citizenship, he decides to go in and try to raise money by fighting since he had experience as a Division I wrestler in college.

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Hit and Run review

Director:
Dax Shepard
Cast:
Dax Shepard
Kristen Bell
Bradley Cooper
Tom Arnold
Rated: R

So Dax Shepard wrote, directed and starred in this film. He’s the real whole package, only problem is that what’s in the package isn’t very good.

“Hit and Run” follows the story of a man in witness protection who was once a getaway driver named Charlie Bronson (Shepard). Charlie is in a relationship with a woman named Annie (Bell) who doesn’t know everything about his past being involved with robberies.

One day Annie finds out she can get a better job at a University, however it would be in Los Angeles, where Charlie could be in danger.

Charlie however decides to bring Annie to LA anyways, yet one of the people who he testified against finds out and goes after him.

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The Expendables 2 review

Director:
Simon West
Cast:
Sylvester Stallone
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Bruce Willis
Chuck Norris
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Jason Statham
Rated: R

More action stars, but somehow less enjoyment.

“The Expendables 2” is the sequel to the 2010 action film which featured some of the biggest action stars ever. This film doubles down on that concept by expanding on roles from the previous film and adding new action stars into the mix. The film continues the story of Barney Ross (Stallone), leader of the mercenary group ‘The Expendables.’ One day he is approached to do another job for a returning character, Mr. Church (Willis).

This time the job is to retrieve a major piece of technology for the Government. The stakes are raised for the group when the rookie of their team is killed by a criminal organization led by the character who is very appropriately titled Villain played by Jean-Claude Van Damme.

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