TAKEN 2 is an unnecessary follow-up chronicling the further mishaps of the Miller family when they choose to go abroad on vacation again. In TAKEN 1, it was daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) who was kidnapped by the 21st-century version of white slavers, leading to an improbable but rousing rescue by her ex-CIA agent of a… Read More »
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4
With PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4, we see the decline of a once fresh and robust franchise into something dull and predictable. Worse, with this installment, we see the franchises transition into yet another entry into the slasher genre. The tale is still told via rough cinema-verite footage from surveillance cameras and other assorted forms of home video.… Read More »
SKYFALL
SKYFALL may not be the best Bond film ever, but there has certainly never been a better entry in the series. The trademark mordant wit, breakneck action, and visceral eroticism are all in evidence here, and operating at their finest level, but there is a subtle yet piquant, tweaking of the usual formula that makes… Read More »
2012 TOP (>) TEN FILMS
I refuse to bow to the convention of a top ten. Sure, there is a nice consonance to the phrase, but ten films? Please. It’s just wrong to deprive fine films their rightful recognition because a “t”-filled catch phrase has a mellifluous quality and, we as a species have, as the norm, five fingers on… Read More »
BULLET TO THE HEAD
It was a gutsy thing to do casting Jason Momoa as the villain in BULLET TO THE HEAD, what with star Sylvester Stallone obviously being under the impression that he is still in his action-hero prime, and Momoa being all that Stallone ever was and a whole lot more. Momoa, all musky charisma and bulging… Read More »
PARKER
Patton Oswalt once opined that Jason Statham can make any movie better. He is not wrong. For those who have succumbed to Mr. Stathams particular appeal as a cool and deadly action hero, his charisma is an umbrella over the rougher patches of all but the most cretinous scripts. In PARKER, he has found a… Read More »
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
It is the way of franchises. They begin with breathless delight and end with a wheezing sigh. And so it is with the Die Hard series. Bruce Willis, whose name was not above the title in the first installment, was a quipping wonder as police detective John McClane, a man out to save his marriage… Read More »
DEAD MAN DOWN
DEAD MAN DOWN begins and ends in a blaze of gunfire. In between if focuses on the smoldering anguish of two people longing for revenge, and fighting their better natures in order to achieve it. Though rife with elements that will get it categorized as an action flick, this film aspires to be a psychological… Read More »
OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN
Antoine Fuqua has delivered many fine films that deal with the harsh, gritty, and dangerous aspects of the human condition. OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN is not one of them. This story is one of a terrorist attack on the seat of government, but the only real danger presented is killing the audiences will to live by… Read More »
OBLIVION
OBLIVION is a slow-moving behemoth of a film that has been art-directed into a coma. Sure, its gorgeous to look at, but is just as sterile and cold as the retro-futuristic home its hero occupies. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, it retains the static quality of the paper-bound format. In keeping… Read More »
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