Tag: cinema

Trouble with the Curve review

Director:
Robert Lorenz
Cast:
Clint Eastwood
Amy Adams
John Goodman
Justin Timberlake
Rated: PG-13

The movie could also have been called Trouble with Writing Characters.

“Trouble with the Curve” follows the story of Gus (Eastwood), an aging baseball scout who is beginning to have trouble with his eyesight. At the same time there is a new up and coming baseball scout who uses computers more who doesn’t believe Gus can do the job anymore, the organization still sends Gus out to recruit a kid who looks like a great draft pick.

Meanwhile, Gus’ daughter Mickey (Adams), who he doesn’t have a great relationship with is almost at the point where she can get a promotion at her law firm. However Gus’ eye condition convinces Mickey to come back and help him during the scouting process.

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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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The Bourne Legacy review

Director:
Tony Gilroy
Cast:
Jeremy Renner
Scott Glenn
Edward Norton
Rachel Weisz
Rated: PG-13

So will the next one just have Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner taking names for two hours?

The fourth “Bourne” movie in the series doesn’t actually follow the character Jason Bourne who was played by Matt Damon. This film instead follows a character named Aaron Cross (Renner), one of the other agents who was in the same program that Bourne was involved with. When it is found that the whole program is a liability to the Government, supervisor Eric Byer (Norton) decides to eliminate all the current agents and restart the program.

For the most part, the elimination goes well, except for one agent. Cross manages to evade the Government. During his time hiding and being on the run, Cross meets up with a lab worker named Marta Shearing (Weisz), who after being attacked for knowing too much, joins with Cross to help him get away.

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Total Recall review

Director:
Len Wiseman
Cast:
Colin Farrell
Kate Beckinsale
Jessica Biel
Bryan Cranston
Rated: PG-13

The only thing this “Total Recall” did was make me recall how much I enjoyed the original more.

“Total Recall” is a sci-fi remake of a 1990 film of the same name which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. The remake is much like the original, following a man named Douglas Quaid, a construction worker who is having a recurring nightmare of him and a woman being chased by armed men. The added stress eventually has him go to a place where memories can be implanted called “Rekall.”

After going there, though, he begins finding out that he actually had his memory erased and replaced and turns out to be a different person all together. It turns out that our main character is actually a special agent named Hauser and is a in the mix of a huge civil war between two major factions on Earth. Once he realizes this he has to join forces with a woman named Melina (Biel) to fight off the people who are now after him and try to figure out who he really is.

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The Watch review

Director:
Akiva Schaffer
Cast:
Ben Stiller
Vince Vaughn
Jonah Hill
Richard Ayoade
Rated: R

We’ve now had movies on Mall Cops and Neighborhood Watches, I’m kind of curious as to what’s next.

“The Watch” follows the story of Evan (Stiller), a man who lives a relatively peaceful life in a calm neighborhood. He’s part of many local clubs and is a manager at the town’s Costco. One night however the community is shaken one day as one of Evan’s friends who work at Costco is murdered.

This leads Evan to form a local Neighborhood Watch to find the killer and protect other citizens. Unfortunately the recruits he gets for the crew aren’t exactly the best. The only people that join are a young man that failed out of police academy named Franklin (Hill), a guy who doesn’t take many things seriously in Bob (Vaughn) and an awkward new resident to the town who wants to help out in Jamarcus (Ayoade). However the four have to learn to work together as they find out that their town is under a threat of an alien attack.

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The Dark Knight Rises review

Director:
Christopher Nolan
Cast:
Christian Bale
Tom Hardy
Anne Hathaway
Gary Oldman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Rated: PG-13

Time to use Bat-Computer to write Bat-Review for Bat-Movie!

“The Dark Knight Rises” is the third and final film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and takes place eight years after the end of “The Dark Knight.” We pick up with Gotham City now living in a state of relative peace. Because of Batman (Bale) and Commissioner Gordon’s (Oldman) cover-up of the Harvey Dent situation, the city was able to put away most criminals and clean up the streets.

Since then, Bruce Wayne has hung up the cowl and stays reclusive in his mansion. However his services once again become required when a new threat comes to Gotham in the form of Bane (Hardy), a terrorist with a lot of strengths and some old ties with Batman’s past.

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The Amazing Spider-man review

Director:
Marc Webb
Cast:
Andrew Garfield
Emma Stone
Rhys Ifans
Dennis Leary
Martin Sheen
Sally Field
Rated: Rated: PG-13

A retelling, reboot, remake, recycled, it’s every “re” you can think of.

The film follows Peter Parker’s origin story beginning when he was a young boy, when his parents suddenly had to go away and leave him with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. The story then picks up to where Peter is a teenager in high school, having to deal with the average everyday problems. That is until he sneaks into a science lab to uncover answers about his parents who used to work there and is bitten by a genetically enhanced spider.

After this he begins getting new powers like heightened speed and strength as well as the ability to walk on walls. Meanwhile, one of the scientists at the facility, Dr. Connors (Ifans), who worked with Peter’s father, is working on a way to replace his lost arm by DNA splicing with that of a lizard. At the same time, Peter’s uncle is shot and killed by a robber; this sets Peter off on a quest of revenge, getting a costume and everything to go after the criminal. The two plots of Dr. Connors and Peter who has become Spiderman eventually meet as the two become the most powerful things in New York City.

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Magic Mike review

Director:
Steven Soderbergh
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey
Channing Tatum
Alex Pettyfer
Cody Horn
Rated: R

Magic Mike follows the story of the title character. Mike, played by Channing Tatum, has been a stripper for a few years now, all to save up enough money to eventually start his own furniture business. To Mike, the lifestyle is just a means to get by, as he happens to work in other jobs, too, like construction. One day at his construction job he meets a young guy named Adam (Pettyfer).

Adam is for the most part, a screw-up, living on his sisters couch and not really able to hold his job. That is until Mike decides to help him out and convince the owner of the strip club Dallas (McConaughey) to hire him. At first things seem to be going well but as time goes on Adam starts getting into trouble, meanwhile Mike begins getting closer with Adam’s sister Brooke (Horn).

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