Tag: cinema

Dracula Untold review

Director:
Gary Shore
Cast:
Luke Evans
Sarah Gadon
Dominic Cooper
Charles Dance
Rated: PG-13

“Dracula Untold” of course tells the tale of the world’s most famous vampire, but this time, instead of going down the Bram Stoker route, this film goes for what feels almost like a super hero origin story.

The movie picks up with the main character, Vlad, the ruler of Transylvania, a few years after fighting in multiple wars where he became known as one of the most fearsome warriors in the region. Retired from his life as a soldier, Vlad rules his kingdom and spends time with his family, and things seem good.

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Gone Girl review

Director:
David Fincher
Cast:
Ben Affleck
Rosemund Pike
Neil Patrick Harris
Tyler Perry
Carrie Coon
Kim Dickens
Rated: R

Ben Affleck plays Nick Dunne, a man who lives in the suburbs of St. Louis and is for the most part seems happy in his marriage to his wife Amy (Pike). After coming home from a visit to the bar he owns, though, he finds broken furniture and his wife missing.

Nick immediately calls law enforcement and officers and detectives, including lead investigator Rhonda Boney (Dickens), stop by the house to see what evidence they can find. The only problem, though, is that as a short time passes, both law enforcement and the media start seeing Nick as a potential suspect. And that is just the first of many twists.

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The Equalizer review

Director:
Antoine Fuqua
Cast:
Denzel Washington
Marton Csokas
Chloë Grace Moretz
Rated: R

Denzel Washington returns to the action movie genre with “The Equalizer,” a film that wants to be serious at times and not so serious at others.

The story follows a man named Robert, played by Washington, who lives a fairly normal life. He has a simple job at what is a Home Depot rip-off, a nice apartment and a quiet life. Quiet isn’t enough to keep Robert asleep at night and because of his restlessness he often goes to a local diner to read.

It is apparent early on that Robert has a violent and somewhat troubled past he is trying move on from. This life starts to come back when he meets a prostitute named Teri, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, who is in trouble with the Russian mafia.

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This is Where I Leave You review

Director:
Shawn Levy
Cast:
Jason Bateman
Tina Fey
Jane Fonda
Adam Driver
Corey Stoll
Rose Byrne
Rated: R

Jason Bateman plays Judd in “This is Where I Leave You,” a down on his luck man who lost his job, finds out his wife is cheating on him, and learns that his father has died all within the same short time period. This brings him back to his home town where he has to once again interact with his two brothers, sister and mother.

He soon finds out that his father’s last wish was for everyone to live together under one roof for a week and interact. Through that, the family begins to learn that they each are living with their own problems.

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2014 Summer Movie Awards

It was a good summer for science fiction, with “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” and “Edge of Tomorrow” both having a lot of success. “Edge” earned three awards while “Dawn” won six, including Best Movie.

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Ranking Marvel Movies (as of September 2014)

10: Thor: The Dark World
Released in 2013, “Thor: The Dark World” is Marvel’s weakest entry into their universe. While it included some good banter between the hero Thor and his brother Loki and an ending fight scene with an interesting teleportation concept, the rest of the movie was lacking. An overuse of secondary comic relief characters and an uninteresting villain with no personality resulted in a plot that was difficult to get invested in. Hopefully, Thor can rebound in future films.

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The November Man review

Director:
Roger Donaldson
Cast:
Pierce Brosnan
Luke Bracey
Olga Kurylenko
Rated: R

He may not be James Bond anymore, but Pierce Brosnan is the best part of this spy action thriller.

“The November Man” follows a character by the name of Peter Devereaux, played by Brosnan, an ex CIA agent who is called in for a special mission. Things take a deadly turn when Devereaux finds out he will be squaring off against Mason, played by Luke Bracey, who is an agent he trained.

As the plot thickens, Devereaux learns his espionage mission has more sides to it than he originally thought and the amount of enemies in his way grows larger.

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What if review

Director:
Michael Dowse
Cast:
Daniel Radcliffe
Zoe Kazan
Adam Driver
Rafe Spall
Rated: PG-13

Daniel Radcliffe plays Wallace in “What If.” A guy who is fed up with love and relationships after a not so great break up, Wallace finds himself just stumbling through life with no real direction. His life brightens up, though, when he meets a woman named Chantry (Kazan) at a party one night.

The two have an instant connection and develop a friendship, the problem for Wallace, though, is that Chantry is already in a relationship with her boyfriend Ben, played by Rafe Spall. This leads to the dilemma of Wallace getting close as a friend while keeping his romantic interest a secret.

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Let’s Be Cops review

Director:
Steve Quale
Cast:
Matt Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies
Richard Armitage
Max Deacon
Nathan Kress
Rated: PG-13

Ryan (Johnson) and Justin (Wayans) are a couple of guys pushing 30 who are trying to make it living in Los Angeles, but don’t appear to be going anywhere in life. Justin isn’t making progress as a game developer and Ryan is still trying to ride the success of a commercial he starred in.

One night when the two are preparing to go to a costume party, they decide to dress as cops. It all comes off as fun to the two buddies as people actually believe they are from law enforcement, however, things take a turn for the worse when real officers and the mob think they are police, too.

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The Expendables 3 review

Director:
Patrick Hughes
Cast:
Sylvester Stallone
Jason Statham
Mel Gibson
Wesley Snipes
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rated: PG-13

The novelty has worn out on this franchise.

In “The Expendables 3,” Sylvester Stallone once again returns to the role of Barney Ross, the head of a mercenary group which goes on some of the most dangerous missions that can be given. Despite his crew being experts, though, during one particular mission, an old foe of Ross appears which turns out to be the most deadly opponent a person could face.

The enemy named Stonebanks, is played by Mel Gibson. After Stonebanks injures one of Ross’ teammates, the gun-for-hire decides to let his old crew go and hire younger mercenaries to take down his greatest enemy yet. However, the older warriors still want a piece of the action.

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