Tag: Drama

Prisoners review

Director:
Denis Villeneuve
Cast:
Hugh Jackman
Jake Gyllenhaal
Viola Davis
Terrence Howard
Paul Dano
Rated: R

Hugh Jackman didn’t need any claws to dish out some pain this time around.

“Prisoners” is a movie that takes the audience on a suspenseful and quite uncomfortable ride. Hugh Jackman plays Keller Dover, a midwestern, middle class father who has brought his family over to a friend’s house to celebrate Thanksgiving.

During the festivities, Keller and his friend Franklin’s (Howard) daughters go outside to play before dinner. However, they end up not coming back.

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The Way Way Back review

Directors:
Nat Faxon
Jim Rash
Cast:
Steve Carell
Toni Collette
Sam Rockwell
Liam James
AnnaSophia Robb
Rated: PG-13

Ah, the good ole’ coming of age genre.

“The Way Way Back” follows 14-year-old Duncan (James), a socially awkward teen who is on a summer vacation trip with his mother Pam (Toni Collette) and Pam’s boyfriend Trent (Carell). Duncan doesn’t exactly get along with Trent very well and keeps to himself for much of the start to his summer at a beach house.

The mundane nature of Duncan’s summer comes to a screeching hult, though, when he meets Owen (Rockwell), a man who works at the local water park. Owen is a carefree, fun loving person working with a staff who invites Duncan to get a job at the Water Park as well. Duncan starts working there and it becomes an escape from his less than stellar life at the beach house.

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White House Down review

Let’s get the most obvious thing out right away. This film cannot be reviewed without mentioning “Olympus Has Fallen,” which also had a story where the White House gets taken over by terrorists. I will come out right now and say that “Olympus Has Fallen” is the better movie, it balances having fun and being entertaining while still being somewhat believable. That being said, “White House Down” isn’t bad.

The film follows a low- ranking security agent named Cale, played by Channing Tatum, who is trying to get into the Secret Service to protect the President. The president in the film, James Sawyer, played by Jamie Foxx, is trying to get legislation passed through that could bring peace to the Middle East.

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After Earth review

Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Cast:
Jaden Smith
Will Smith
Sophie Okonedo
Zoe Kravitz
Rated: PG-13

Well, let’s be happy Jaden is only acting and not rapping.

“After Earth” begins with a large backstory of what happened to the human race. Years into the future, because of environmental problems, humans are forced to abandon the planet. While relocating to another planet, the surviving humans come in contact with aliens and the forces have a conflict. The brave general Cypher (W. Smith) leads them to victory by fighting off monstrous creatures by ghosting, which completely suppresses one’s fear.

Cypher’s son, Kitai (J. Smith) not only tries to live up to his father’s name and become a ranger himself, he still has bad memories of his sister being killed and not being able to help. Cypher and Kitai eventually go on a mission together on a ship but unfortunately it crash lands on a planet and the rest of the crew is killed. Because Cypher’s leg is injured, Kitai has to travel to another piece of the ship that broke apart during the crash to recover a beacon that can save them, however the planet they have landed on is Earth and it has become very dangerous for humans.

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Pain and Gain review

Director:
Michael Bay
Cast:
Mark Wahlberg
Dwayne Johnson
Anthony Mackie
Tony Shalhoub
Ed Harris
Rated: R

This is certainly a step up for Director Michael Bay from “Transformers.”

“Pain and Gain” follows Daniel Lugo, played by Mark Wahlberg. Lugo is a steroid-using muscle trainer at a gym who, after attending a convention which tells the audience to be a “doer,” decides to do something to make himself get all the wealth and glory that he thinks he deserves.

Lugo eventually gets fellow trainer Adrian, played by Anthony Mackie, and ex-prisoner- turned-devout-Christian Paul Doyle, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, to assist him in a rather crazy plan. The three execute a scheme to abduct a wealthy man named Victor Kershaw, played by Tony Shalhoub, who goes to the gym where they work. The three end up pulling off the kidnapping, however things don’t go so well from there as the three are just plain stupid.

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Django Unchained review

Director:
Quentin Tarantino
Cast:
Jamie Foxx
Christoph Waltz
Leonardo DiCaprio
Kerry Washington
Samuel L. Jackson
Rated: R

Leonardo DiCaprio should consider playing a villain more often; he’s quite good at it.

“Django Unchained” follows the title character played by Jamie Foxx. At the beginning of the movie Django is a slave being led to an unknown location. However the caravan that he’s in is stopped by a man named King Schultz (Waltz). Schultz, a bounty hunter, ends up freeing Django and asks him in return to help him identify a trio of criminals for their bounties. Django agrees and the two end up working together as a bounty hunting duo.

As the two work together, Django informs Schultz that he has a wife who is still a slave and aims to get her free. The duo discovers that Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Washington), is owned by a rich plantation owner named Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). The heroes then decide to try and get into the plantation and rescue Django’s wife.

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Les Miserables review

Adapted from the 1862 novel written by Victor Hugo, “Les Miserables” follows the story of an ex-convict named Jean Valjean, played by Hugh Jackman, whom upon leaving prison tries changing his life and becoming a better man than he was before. He breaks parole though and because of this, the law-obsessed inspector Javert, played by Russell Crowe, goes to no ends throughout the movie to try and capture Valjean.

After getting his life back on track and avoiding Javert, Valjean meets a woman named Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway who has had to sell her body to support her young daughter, Cosette. Upon her death, Valjean makes a promise to protect Cosette and raise her as his own. The rest of the film is about his struggles of raising Cosette and an envisionment of France in the early 1800s.

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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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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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The Hunger Games review

Director:
Gary Ross
Cast:
Jennifer Lawrence
Josh Hutcherson
Donald Sutherland
Woody Harrelson
Rated: PG-13

Amazing how the technology in this flick ranges from the 1800s to the control deck of the Starship Enterprise.

“The Hunger Games” is set in what can be described as a post-apocalyptic future where the main country where the story takes place is divided up into 12 separate districts and one large capital city. In the Capital resides the government and the richest of the population, where as the 12 separate districts are where the poor live.

To keep order and peace in the country and stay in control, the government created ‘The Hunger Games’ where one young man and woman would be chosen from each district and compete in a survival/fight-to-the-death competition. Our main character, Katniss (Lawrence) was originally not suppose to participate in the games however her sister gets picked and because of this she volunteers herself to take her sister’s place. The movie then follows Katniss’ journey of learning about the capital and fighting in the hunger games itself.

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