Tag: film

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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Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters review

Director:
Thor Fruedenthal
Cast:
Logan Lerman
Alexandra Daddario
Brandon T. Jackson
Leven Rambin
Jake Abel
Rated: PG

Finally, the sequel that nobody was asking for.

The second “Percy Jackson” installment picks up some time after the events of “The Lightning Thief.” Percy Jackson (Lerman), son of Poseidon, is training in a special camp for demigods, which is sort of like a lame version of Xavier’s School for the Gifted from X-Men. Trouble starts coming up when enemy demigod Luke (Abel) gets involved with a plot to destroy the barrier around the camp and reawaken the ancient evil.

To stop the ancient evil, and save the camp, Percy has to go on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. He is once again joined by love interest Annabeth (Daddario) and comic relief character Grover (Jackson) to go on the mission. A new addition to the team is Tyson (Smith), Percy’s half brother who happens to be a cyclops and offers a bit more comic relief.

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Elysium review

Director Neill Blomkamp’s second sci-fi feature venture follows the story of Max, played by Matt Damon, who is out of jail for car theft and is trying to live a normal life in the year 2154. By this point, most of Earth has become one giant slum, for example the setting of the movie is a post apocalyptic looking Los Angeles, however, the very richest members of society decided to build a space station where they could live in luxury called Elysium.

One day while at his factory job, Max gets into an accident and is exposed to extreme radiation that gives him cancer. Having no other options left to rid himself of it, Max decides to go to Elysium where they have pods that can heal just about anything. To do so, Max meets with an underground group that are trying to make it to Elysium as well and Max volunteers to take on a dangerous mission that will take him where he needs to go.

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2 Guns review

Director:
Baltasar Kormakur
Cast: R
Denzel Washington
Mark Wahlberg
Paula Patton
Bill Paxton
Rated:

Denzel Washington sure did make a nicer partner to work with here than in “Training Day.”

Director Baltasar Kormakur’s new film “2 Guns” follows a pair of men, Bobby (Washinton) and Stig (Wahlberg), who appear at first glance to be criminals. The two decide to rob a bank and after they do, it’s discovered that both aren’t who they said they were.

Bobby turns out to be a DEA agent and Stig happens to be a naval intelligence officer. To make matters worse, they find out that the money they stole, both doing so as part of their own investigations, turns out to belong to crooked members of the CIA. The lead CIA agent, Earl (Paxton) is now after the both of them, as well as other forces out to get the money they took.

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The Wolverine review

The latest film belonging to the “X-Men” franchise takes place a few years after the end of “Last Stand.” Logan, played by Hugh Jackman, known as Wolverine, is now living on his own in the wilderness. He is haunted by nightmares on a constant basis and can’t seem to escape his demons. One night, when he makes his way into a town, he meets a woman named Yukio, played by Rila Fukushima, who arrived to summon Logan to Japan to meet with her employer, Yashida.

Yashida, played by Hal Yamanouchi, is an old acquaintance of Logan, the two having met in World War II. Yashida wants to meet with Logan not only to thank him for saving his life during the war, but to also offer him an opportunity to get rid of his healing ability. As Logan ponders the proposition, he starts to learn there is more going on behind the scenes of Yashida and his family than what was first let on.

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RIPD review

Director:
Robert Schwentke
Cast:
Jeff Bridges
Ryan Reynolds
Kevin Bacon
Mary-Louise Parker
Stephanie Szostak
Rated: PG-13

One positive aspect of the movie? It was only an hour and a half.

“R.I.P.D.” follows the story of Boston cop Nick (Reynolds) who one day gets killed in the line of duty. His soul is then immediately sent to a heavenly police station and is told by the chief played by Mary-Louise Parker that he has skills that they could use.

Nick is then officially made an officer for the Rest in Peace Department and is partnered with a man named Roy (Bridges) who died in the days of the wild west.

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Red 2 review

Director:
Dean Parisot
Cast:
Bruce Willis
John Malkovich
Mary-Louise Parker
Helen Mirren
Anthony Hopkins
Byung-hun Lee
Rated: PG-13

Willis is really starting to play the same character in his movies lately.

“Red 2” picks up an unannounced time after the first film. Retired CIA agent Frank (Willis) is trying to live a fairly normal life with his girlfriend Sarah (Parker) after being involved in a massive plot. The action seems to come back into their lives though as Frank’s partner Marvin (Malkovich) informs the two that they have all been targeted by government agencies for a mission they were involved in during the Cold War that involved a weapon of mass destruction.

From this point the three have to go on the run again and try to clear their names. During their mission they are joined by MI6 Agent Victoria (Mirren) and eventually the scientist who created the weapon, Bailey (Hopkins). The team has to watch out on their mission as they are chased by assasin Han (Lee).

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Turbo review

Director:
David Soren
Cast:
Ryan Reynolds
Paul Giamatti
Michael Pena
Samuel Jackson
Ken Jeong
Michelle Rodriguez
Maya Rudolph
Rated: PG

What a random concept to base a film around.

“Turbo” follows the title character played by Ryan Reynolds. Turbo is a garden snail living an uneventful life with his brother, Chet (Giamatti) near a number of tomato plants. Turbo has dreams of being fast and racing in the Indy 500, however, obviously, he has little chance to do so. That is until an accident that has Turbo falling into a car engine and getting blasted with the NOS that is seen in “Fast and Furious” franchise movies.

After this happens, Turbo inherits super speed that leaves a trail of blue light behind him. Through a series of events, Turbo and Chet come into contact with a group of other snails led by Whiplash (Jackson) as well as a taco vendor named Tito (Pena) who wants to race the super snail in the actual Indy 500.

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The Conjuring review

Director:
James Wan
Cast:
Vera Farmiga
Patrick Wison
Lili Taylor
Ron Livingston
Rated: R

Finally some smart characters in a haunted house movie.

“The Conjuring” follows the Perron family, that includes Carolyn (Taylor) and Roger (Livingston) and their daughters. The family moves into a house out in the country and as time goes on they begin experiencing some strange phenomenon. Things start moving on their own and it appears that there is a spirit of some kind that haunts their new home.

Enter Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) Warren, two specialists in the super natural who the Perrons seek for help. These two, who are actual specialists in real life and which this movie is based around, come to the house and begin their investigation.

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Grown Ups 2 review

Director:
Dennis Dugan
Cast:
Adam Sandler
Kevin James
Chris Rock
David Spade
Salma Hayek
Maya Rudolph
Rated: PG-13

You can tell a comedy is bad when it produces more sighs than laughs.

“Grown Ups 2” picks up some time after the first movie, and follows Hollywood man Lenny (Sandler) now living with his family in his home town. The movie follows Lenny and his friends Eric (James), Kurt (Rock) and Marcus (Spade) through a day where they plan on having an 80s theme party that night.

That short paragraph is, in truth, the only story going on in “Grown Ups 2.” The movie is more or less connected by a string of subplots that go nowhere and random hijinks between the four leads and their families.

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