Category: action
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Fantastic 4 [2015] ★½
Don’t let the success of other superhero movies tell you that Hollywood can’t fuck up. For that, get a load of “Fantastic 4”, a new example of how NOT to make a comic book movie unless you want to screw things up. Terrible CGIs, horrible acting, cheesy writing (was it written by a 10 year…
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The Man From U.N.C.L.E [2015] ★★★
Caught between James Bond and this year’s surprise hit “Kingsman”,”The Man From U.N.C.L.E” is an elegant combo of action, espionage and comedy that breathes exciting new life into the spy genre. Adapted from a TV series that aired from 1964 to 1968 and directed by Guy Ritchie with the same “anything-goes” ingenuity he brought to “Snatch” and…
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Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation [2015] ★★★
I’m a sucker for the Mission Impossible movies. And I do believe that, unlike many series, this one has actually improved with each new installment ever since MI3 hit theaters back in 2006. Director J.J Abrams reinvigorated the concept back then and Brad Bird followed it up with the incredibly entertaining “Ghost Protocol” a few…
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Ant-Man [2015] ★★★
It’s about time that a tiny superhero got to kick dirt in the face of the other heroes in the Marvel universe. I’m talking about Scott Lang (Paul Rudd, well cast), a small-time thief who just got out of prison. He can’t seem to find a decent job, his friends are all crooks, and his wife…
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Terminator: Genisys [2015] ★★½
Going into the fifth movie of the “Terminator” series, I expected the worst. Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly desperate for a hit after a series of flops (“The Last Stand” and “Escape Plan”). Never mind that it’s been 12 years since Arnold’s final appearance in a Terminator movie. Or that he’s 67 years old. Or that…
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La French [2015] ★★★
Don’t you just hate it when they remake classic movies like “The French Connection”? I don’t, especially when it’s a remake starring Jean Dujardin (Oscar winner for “The Artist“) as police magistrate Pierre Michel in 1970’s France and his relentless dedication to stop the most notorious drug smuggling operation in history: the French Connection. Directors Cedric Jimenez…
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The Gunman [2015]
Unlike many people, I didn’t quite hate “The Gunman”. Sure, the movie comes up short and doesn’t always make sense, but its credentials are impeccable: a fine cast headed by Sean Penn, Javier Bardem and Jasmine Trinca just for starters, and directed by Pierre Morel (who did such a fine job with the first “Taken” and the…
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Jurassic World [2015] ★★★
Who says a big Hollywood movie about dinosaurs has to be dumb? “Jurassic World” is a spectacular piece of entertainment that doesn’t insult its audience and gives us more than our money’s worth. Fans can rest assured that this easily eclipses the last two installments (what the hell were they thinking back then?), and builds…
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San Andreas [2015] ★★
History has taught us that disaster movies rarely rise to their potential. “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact” in the 90’s (sue me), “The Day After Tomorrow” and “2012” in the past decade, and now “San Andreas”, directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson”. Despite its impressive visual effects, this earthquake popcorn flick fails…
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Mad Max: Fury Road [2015] ★★★
Maybe you never heard of Mad Max, the 1979 cult movie starring Mel Gibson. Or maybe you think a big-ass reboot isn’t worth your time and money. Snap out of it. “Mad Max: Fury Road” does the impossible. Through dazzle and spectacular action scenes, it turns the cliche of Hollywood reboots on their heads and…
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Avengers: Age of Ultron [2015] ★★★
Step up, Avengers junkies, and see the summer 2015 blockbuster that you’ve been waiting for since 2012. Like the first Avengers movie, “Age of Ultron” tries to stuff part of the Marvel universe (past, present and… future?) into one movie. The character overload may leave newbies dazed and confused. But fans are in for an exhilarating rush.…
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Tracers [2015] ★
Fun fact: Taylor Lautner can’t act. Not in “Twilight”. Not in “Abduction”. And definitely not in “Tracers”, his latest action misfire. Lautner plays Cam, a New York bicycle messenger that had me remembering Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s underrated “Premium Rush”. Anyway, Cam is also in debt. So he quickly joins a group of urban free-runners or “tracers” who use their skills…
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Furious 7 [2015] ★★½
Vin Diesel called “Furious 7” a “labor of love”. It shows. Not when Jason Statham is onscreen, but trust me, you’ll know. Behind the clumsy script, cheesy dialogue, and awkward acting (exhibit A: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), there’s something irresistible about this installment. I watched the cars smashing and smiled. I watched Paul Walker in his last…
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Run All Night [2015] ★★½
I don’t know about you, but after the horrible “Taken 3”, I was beginning to get Liam Neeson’ed out, at least as an action hero. The loose-cannon vibe that hooked us in the first “Taken”had completely disappeared in the third movie. So here’s the good news: “Run all Night” is far from being a disaster. It’s…
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Everly [2015] ★
Reserve a special place in hell for movies that waste your time and patience. To a list that includes “Taken 3“, “Mortdecai” and “Jupiter Ascending“, add “Everly”. Joe Lynch is credited as a director and Yale Hannon with the script. But the movie seems untouched by human hands or originality. Salma Hayek plays a woman who…
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Kingsman: The Secret Service [2015] ★★★
Guns, gadgets, spies, over-the-top action scenes. That’s the juice of classic Bond movies. It’s also the juice in “Kingsman”, an incredibly entertaining piece of comic book movie that dares you to dive into its own madness. Allow it. Chances are, you won’t be seeing a spy movie as fresh and clever for quite some time (“Spectre”…
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Wild Card [2015] ★
Look at the poster. Read: from the director of “The Expendables 2”. This ought to tell you how horrible “Wild Card” is, the latest action fiasco starring non other than Jason Statham. He plays a lethal Las Vegas Bodyguard with a gambling problem. That’s it for subtext in this formula action swill. Why do I sound…
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Taken 3 [2015] ★
Ripping off “The Fugitive” and pretty much every single action thriller ever made, Liam Neeson has sadly saved the worst for last. “Taken 3” (or “Tak3n”) is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent desperation. At 109 minutes, it’s almost 20 minutes longer than its crappy predecessor. Which means you’ll have to suffer even more before the credits start…
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American Sniper [2014] ★★★
Does Clint Eastwood ever sleep? At 84, he’s directing an edge of your seat war movie about Chris Kyle, a real-life Texan Navy SEAL who served four terms of duty in Iraq. The reenactment of harrowing real-life events is as believable as any movie could hope to be, and while the outcome of the story was foretold…
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The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies [2014] ★★★
I wouldn’t call myself a Hobbit junkie, but I have certainly enjoyed following the odyssey of Bilbo Baggins and company over the past 3 years. Nothing can compare to the experience of The Lord of the Rings, but given the need to keep the series alive, I think Peter Jackson has done justice to J.R.R Tolkien’s intentions. While “Desolation of Smaug”…
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