Tag: film

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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When the Game Stands Tall review

Director:

  • Thomas Carter

Cast:

  • Jim Caviezel
  • Alexander Ludwig
  • Michael Chiklis
  • Laura Dern
  • Matthew Daddario
  • Rated: PG

The film follows Bob Ladouceur (Caviezel), a coach of a high school football team which achieved the longest win streak in football at any level. The movie begins with business as usual for the team. They win another state championship and everything seems to be going fine.

In the offseason, though, tragedy strikes on more than one occasion. Ladouceur gets a heart attack from pushing himself so hard and one of the teammates set to graduate and go on to the University of Oregon football program is shot and killed. To make matters worse, at the beginning of the next season, the team loses… TWICE!

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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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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review

Director:
Jonathan Liebesman
Cast:
Johnny Knoxville
Alan Ritchson
Noel Fisher
Jeremy Howard
Tony Shalhoub
Megan Fox
Will Arnett
William Fichtner
Rated: PG-13

Yo dudes this is no cartoon. Well, the turtles are animated, so technically it sort of is a cartoon.

The 2014 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is a retelling of the comic book/cartoon series phenomenon of the late 80s and early 90s. The movie follows the character April O’Neil (Fox), a young TV reporter just starting her career, who is trying to break a story on a secretive group of criminals called the Foot Clan.

On one of her assignments she comes across four mutant turtles who have been trained in the art of being a ninja. As the plot thickens, April finds out that she has a connection to the turtles from her youth and also to the mysterious Foot Clan.

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The Hundred-Foot Journey review

Director:
Lasse Hallstrom
Cast:
Helen Mirren
Om Puri
Manish Dayal
Charlotte Le Bon
Rated: PG

Helen Mirren plays Madame Mallory in “The Hundred Foot Journey,” a strong willed woman who runs one of the finest restaurants in France. Her establishment gets some unexpected competition, though, when a family from India opens up their own restaurant right across the street.

The point of pride for the family restaurant is Hassan (Dayal), an aspiring chef who wants to learn the very best about cooking fancy cuisine. While doing so, he meets another young chef who works in Mallory’s kitchen named Marguerite (Le Bon). The two start a friendship and also a rivalry. Meanwhile, Hassan’s father played by Om Puri goes into direct competition with Mallory to see which restaurant can be the best in the small French village.

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Get on Up review

Director:
Tate Taylor
Cast:
Chadwick Boseman
Nelsan Ellis
Dan Aykroyd
Viola Davis
Octavia Spencer
Rated: PG-13

The harsh upbringing and rise to stardom is explored in “Get on Up,” which chronicles the life and music of singer James Brown. The movie shows his life as a child growing up in Georgia, how he became a singer and his eventual decline.

The film also shows some of the hardships he had in his own family life.

“Get on Up” breaks away from a traditional format of story-telling, as the film goes back and forth between different stages of Brown’s life. This helps the movie to an extent, since it is at least an attempt to break away from the normal biopic style.

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