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Killing Season (2013)
Killing Season (2013)
John Travolta has not been making as many films as he used to. Ever since his son died in 2009, he has made noticeably fewer movies.
It seems like Travolta has maybe gone off the deep end because his characters have gotten angrier and more intense. His role in Killing Season appeared like it was going to continue this trend. The pairing of Robert De Niro opposite Travolta as another darker character was enough to make me want to see the film. Travolta out for revenge on De Niro on screen is bound to be entertaining.
Killing Season is about a retired war-hardened veteran (Robert De Niro) who is trying to live a quiet life in a remote cabin in the wilderness when a man from his past (John Travolta) comes back to hunt him.
The film was directed by Mark Steven Johnson and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Milo Ventimiglia and Elizabeth Olin.
The movie touches briefly on the Bosnian war, which I found interesting because I knew nothing about it.
I thought that Travolta pulled off a Serbian accent quite well. Along with his short, dark hair, facial hair, and eyebrows, he was believable as a Serbian. He certainly continued his recent trend of grittier characters and he was a likable bad guy.
De Niro has showed no sign of slowing down even at the age of 70. He ran around in the woods and held his own against the younger Travolta.
The film was a drawn out battle between two aging veterans in the style of The Most Dangerous Game (1932). One man hunted the other while the other man fought to survive.
The movie was a little too predictable at times. However, the quality acting, moderately intense action, and the built up tension throughout the film was enough to make up for where it was lacking, and ultimately made the movie worth watching.
Without spoiling the film, I think that the movie would have benefited from having more time spent hunting. If the chase was a little more spread out, the film might have been less predictable.
The movie is a 2 man show. The bottom line is if you are a fan of De Niro or Travolta, then you will probably enjoy Killing Season.
I rate this movie a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)
The movie should have just been called The Butler, but director Lee Daniels somehow felt that he had to put his name in the title. I’m not sure if there is a real reason for his name being in the title, but to me, it just seems a little narcissistic.
Lee Daniels’ The Butler is very, very lightly based on the life of Eugene Allen. The film changed Allen’s name to Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker). The film paints a pretty disturbing picture of the struggles and pain that Gaines and his family faced during his childhood and throughout his life as a butler at the White House for 34 years. The movie showed how the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement had a major impact on his life.
The rest of the noteworthy cast includes Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, John Cusack, James Marsden, Robin Williams, Liev Schreiber, Alan Rickman, Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Lenny Kravitz, Mariah Carey, Clarence Williams III, John P. Fertitta, Colman Domingo, Yaya Alafia, Minka Kelly, and Nelsan Ellis.
The movie modifies many of the facts about Allen’s life in order to make it more entertaining and therefore less true.
I left the film wondering just how much of it was true. After doing a little bit of research, I found out a number of things about the movie that are completely fiction. It’s a little upsetting to me how this film tries to pass itself off as based on a true story. I don’t want to spoil anything about the movie for anybody, but let me just say that a lot of it is pure fiction.
I really felt for the main characters after seeing what they went through, and thinking how terrible things were for them. After finding out that a lot of the details in the movie are made up, I question just how honest the rest of the movie is. I feel like I was a little duped. I felt bad for Cecil Gaines, but that was not even his real name. I felt bad for some of the things that Gaines went through, but found out that some of those things didn’t even happen. Because the writers and director played so fast and loose with the facts and tried to pass it all off as truth, they succeeded in ruining the movie for me.
The film was very slow and dragged on at times.
There were so many big names in this movie that a few of them were underused. A lot of the supporting characters do not get fully developed. They are in the film in almost cameo-like roles, and then they are gone.
Forest Whitaker is superb in the lead role. His performance alone is enough to make the film worth watching. Even at the film’s slowest and almost boring parts when the movie seems like it is unraveling, Whitaker is enough to bring everything back together again.
Oprah Winfrey was miscast. Her character hardly seemed believable and this took away from my enjoyment of the film. The rest of the supporting cast all did a fine job.
Overall, I felt like the movie was too slow at times. If they had trimmed some of the fat and gotten rid of a few scenes, the film could have been better. I am a little annoyed at how many facts were changed as they are trying to pass this movie off as inspired by a true story. Most people read “true story” and think that it is true. If they dressed this movie up to make it more entertaining, I cannot imagine how slow it would have been if they had stuck more to the facts.
Setting all of the things about this film that I did not like aside, Whitaker and most of the rest of the cast all do a great job. It’s fun to see all of these big names in the same movie even if some of them are not in it long enough. The film does an excellent job of showing people overcome hatred and violence and that is always a good shot to the arm for the human spirit.
I rate this movie a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
Kick-Ass 2 (2013)
After being surprised at how much Kick-Ass (2010) actually kicked ass, I was excited to see this sequel.
This time around Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has teamed up with a group fellow wannabe superheroes that he inspired to dress up and fight crime. Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is out for revenge on Kick-Ass and has gathered a group of so-called super villains to destroy him and everyone he knows.
The movie was written and directed by Jeff Wadlow and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Chloe Grace Moretz, Morris Chestnut, Jim Carrey, Clark Duke, John Leguizamo, Lindy Booth, Claudia Lee, Donald Faison, and Garrett M. Brown.
I did not like this movie as much as the first one. At times, it was pretty tacky. Ass was kicked and laughs were had, there was a lot of quality action, but it just was not as good as it could have been. It was less believable and more predictable.
With the addition of Jim Carrey, I thought that for sure Kick-Ass 2 would be funnier than Kick-Ass. I was wrong. There were a few more laughs, but not because of Carrey. His role was not big enough to make a difference. Most of the other new characters in the film were not developed enough.
Moretz stole the show in the first movie and she was still probably the best part of this one, but she did not get the opportunity to kick as much ass as she did in the first film.
The film concentrated a little bit too much on the drama that the characters were having at school and at home instead of concentrating on them fighting crime. This made the film a little slower at times and less enjoyable.
Even though I didn’t like a few aspects of the movie, it was still entertaining enough to have fun watching. Almost all sequels are not as good as their predecessors, but maybe I just went into this film with expectations that were too high. The story went a slightly different direction than I anticipated, but I still laughed and had a good time.
I rate this movie a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
42 (2013)
42 (2013)
Unfortunately I missed this film in the theatre. It was one that I wanted to see, but I just did not get to it.
42 is based on the incredible true story of how Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) broke the color barrier in major league baseball in 1947 with the help of the Brooklyn Dodgers Executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford).
The film was written and directed by Brian Helgeland and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Nicole Beharie, Christopher Meloni, Ryan Merriman, Lucas Black, Andre Holland, Alan Tudyk, Hamish Linklater, John C. McGinley, Toby Huss, Brett Cullen, and Jesse Luken.
The film feels like a genuine depiction of America’s favorite pastime in the 1940s. Having not lived during that time, I cannot say it is exactly like it was, but the set certainly brings you back to an earlier time. The cars, clothes, uniforms, houses, and cleanliness of the cities make it look like the 1940s, but it’s the performances by the actors and how they are filmed that make it actually feel like the 1940s.
The scenes during baseball games were so detailed that I could practically taste the Cracker Jacks. It felt like you were in the stands with the rest of the audience watching history being made.
I was familiar with who Jackie Robinson was and what he did before watching this movie, but I did not know much of his story. 42 tells his story so well on screen that if I didn’t know any better, it could have actually been the real Jackie Robinson in the film.
You are really able to feel for Boseman’s Robinson character and the racial hatred that he was subjected to and stood up against. He persevered, overcame, and ultimately changed baseball forever. He was the tip of the spear that cut out racism not only in professional baseball, but in all professional sports.
42 could quite possibly be Harrison Ford’s best performance as an actor. He was brilliant, but Boseman was equally dazzling as Robinson. If you ask me, I think that Boseman could easily win an Academy Award for Best Actor and Ford could win one for Best Supporting Actor. It would be a crime if neither actor is at least nominated. They both deserve recognition for their awesomeness.
My only issue with the film was that it was so good throughout that the ending seemed almost anticlimactic. Instead of building up to a finale, it felt like it just ended a little too abruptly. The ending was not bad by any means, it was just a little unexpected.
You do not have to be a fan of baseball to enjoy this movie. However, baseball fans will probably respect it even more.
I rate this movie a 9 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Movie Picture of the Day 8/15/13
Ethan Hawke is starting to wonder what he has gotten himself into with Denzel Washington in the gritty thriller Training Day (2001).
Bullet to the Head (2012)
Bullet to the Head (2012)
This is another movie that I skipped seeing in the theatre because I was uncertain that the aging main character could make the movie worth watching.
The senior action movie stars keep making movies and I think that audiences are beginning to question whether or not these old guys are just too old for the parts that they are playing. In this case, Sylvester Stallone is the main character.
Earlier this year Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger were in similar situations respectively; Willis in A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) and Schwarzenegger in The Last Stand (2013) .
I respect my elders, and these guys rule! However, if they keep making action films, I will probably keep waiting until those movies are released on DVD before I watch them. (Bruce Willis is the younger of the mentioned bunch, but can still be questionable.) There are always exceptions, but right off the bat, their old age is not working in their favor.
Stallone has had the right idea by bringing all of the old geezers together for his Expendables movies, but in this day and age, if there is one old headliner then it better be in the right movie.
All 3 movies mentioned lost a lot of money:
The Last Stand (2013) lost 18 million dollars.
A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) lost 25 million dollars.
Bullet to the Head (2012) lost 46 million dollars.
Bullet to the Head is about a ruthless hit man (Sylvester Stallone) who goes on a rampage tracking down the men responsible for the murder of his partner in crime. He is a one-man wrecking ball out for revenge. Along the way, he teams up with a cop who happens to be tracking the same people.
The film was directed by Walter Hill and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Sung Kang, Jason Momoa, Christian Slater, Jon Seda, Sarah Shahi, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Holt McCallany, and Brian Van Holt.
Like the title suggests, Bullet to the Head brutally gets to the point early on and the graphic violence continues throughout.
The film is fast-paced and loaded with tons of great and for the most part, believable action.
The movie very much deserves the R-rating as there is a lot of language, nudity, and very realistic blood and guts. There are in fact, many people that end up taking a bullet to the head and or the rest of their body.
As with most action movies, not all of the characters get fully developed, but the action and witty dialogue make up for what is missing.
The film accomplished what it set out to do and that was to be explosive.
Even at his age, Stallone carries himself well in perhaps his most gruesome role yet. He is a stone cold, no nonsense, sarcastically funny killer. It’s almost like he flipped a switch and became somebody else. The rest of the cast is likable, but Stallone takes over and makes it a one-man show.
Compared to The Last Stand and A Good Day to Die Hard, in my opinion, Bullet to the Head is the better film. Ironically it lost a lot more money than the other movies and it was probably the most underrated of the bunch. Stallone also gave a better performance than Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
If you enjoy rooting for the bad guy, then this film is for you.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent or run? Buy.
Movie Picture of the Day 8/14/13
One of my all-time favorite actors Nicolas Cage in his best role and my favorite singer Jared Leto from my favorite band 30 Seconds to Mars play brothers in arms in the film, Lord of War (2005). Lots of my favorites were a part of this movie. It’s no wonder this is another one of my favorite films.
The Last Stand (2013)
The Last Stand (2013)
Arnold Schwarzenegger is back, again. He must have gone a little heavy on the spray tan and make-up because his face looks like a tanned piece of aged leather, but he’s back. I held off seeing this movie in the theatre because I was not sure if Ahnuld could pull this one off.
The Last Stand is about a drug lord that escapes from protective custody and heads for the Mexican border. The only thing standing in his way of freedom is small town Sheriff Ray Owen (Schwarzenegger) and his band of misfit deputies.
The film is directed by Kim Jee-Woon and the rest of the noteworthy cast includes Forest Whitaker, Johnny Knoxville, Luis Guzman, Peter Stormare, Eduardo Noriega, Jaimie Alexander, Zach Gilford, and Harry Dean Stanton, and Genesis Rodriguez.
The film does not have a lot of character development, but there is a bit of stupid comedy and tons of action. The special effects are actually quite good and they help to make the film enjoyable. There are endless car chases, bullets are flying, people and things are exploding, blood is spattering, and fans of 90s action movies are applauding.
Schwarzenegger, Knoxville, Guzman, and Stormare all make this action movie more of a comedy not to take too seriously.
Whitaker seems to be the only person in the film taking his part seriously and it fits his character like a glove.
Overall, the film was better than I expected it to be. It’s a bit predictable at times, but for the type of movie that it is, that is to be expected. It certainly seemed like they had fun making it. Even though Schwarzenegger looked a little goofy, he pulled his character off quite well and it was fun to see him acting again.
I rate this movie a 7 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
If you liked The Last Stand, then you will probably enjoy:
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