Category: action
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The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones [2013] ★½
I’m always fascinated when a studio thinks a movie it has produced sucks so bad that it refuses to screen it for critics. So Monday afternoon I paid up to see “The Mortal Instruments”. Two guys walked in then left 45 minutes later. That left me and 2 other girls in a warm theater with…
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R.I.P.D [2013] ★★
It was a huge flop at the box office, critics destroyed it (they said it was too much like “Men in Black” but then again so what?), and the audience didn’t bother to see it. And yet “R.I.P.D” wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. It’s not an unprecedented success (far far far…
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The Wolverine [2013] ★★½
Anyone looking for unforgettable thrills in “The Wolverine” is out of luck. The movie isn’t innovative, it isn’t deep, and the characters aren’t particularly well developed (Blame it on Christopher Nolan and Joss Whedon who truly raised the bar for D.C/Marvel at the movies). But I still had a good time watching it. It’s hard…
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Killing Season [2013] ★½
Some people think Robert De Niro and John Travolta in one movie would be a kick to watch. Not a chance. “Killing Season” defines the word “boring”. Travolta, with an Eastern European accent, a shaved head and bizarre, ugly facial hair plays a member of the Serbian Scorpions. In a lousy prologue, we learn that he…
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The Lone Ranger [2013] ★★
It’s pointless to describe “The Lone Ranger” because even it doesn’t know what it wants to be. The result is a long, often confusing film with an underwhelming performance by Armie Hammer as the title character. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski (“Pirates of the Caribbean”) wanted to have fun with the concept of a western/action…
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Pacific Rim [2013] ★★★
Granted, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is not a work of art like his Oscar-winning Pan’s Labyrinth. But his latest Hollywood blockbuster sure is a surprise package of fun, fright and stunning visuals. For starters, it pays homage to such classic era monsters movies as “Godzilla” (1954). The director may be working off a borrowed…
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White House Down [2013] ★★
Another action movie featuring the president of the United States? Seriously? From the peak of “Air Force One” to the low of “Olympus Has Fallen” (sorry about that), we’ve seen it all. The makers of “White House Down” tell us we haven’t seen the version starring Channing Tatum as a wannabe secret agent who tries…
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World War Z [2013] ★★★
I’m a bit late coming to this movie (blame it on surgery), but having heard good buzz I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into it. I can’t call “World War Z” a feel good movie. In fact, you won’t want to be feeling anything after seeing this Zombie apocalypse. But you won’t be able…
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Bullet To The Head [2013] and The Last Stand [2013] ★½
1- Bullet to the Head: This film is Sylvester Stallone’s way of saying “I make crappy movies but you pay to see them anyway”. He plays a hitman who teams up with a…wait for it… detective (Sung Kang from “Fast and Furious”) in order to bring down a common enemy. Can you guess what happens next? But…
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Fast & Furious 6 [2013] ★★
The Fast and the Furious franchise ran out of gas halfway into “Tokyo Drift”. Yet the filmmakers decided to revive it by bringing back the original cast in 2009. Not a bad idea, especially if you’ve seen “Fast Five” (which remains my favorite so far). So what’s new here? Nothing much. But if you care about…
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![Iron Man 3 [2013] ★★★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/20130423184409iron_man_3_theatrical_poster.jpg?w=864)
Iron Man 3 [2013] ★★★
Just when you wanted to forget all about the ”Iron Man” franchise (yes, part 2 sucked), along comes this primal blast of a second sequel, a potent reminder of what jazzed us about the first “Iron Man” film and the Marvel comics that inspired it. Must have been really hard coming up with a second sequel to a movie everyone…
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G.I Joe: Retaliation [2013] ★★
Sounds like fun. A sequel to the 2009 surprise “hit” based on the popular children’s toys and cartoons. Cool right? Not right. But here’s a little confession: I actually wanted this one to be good. Or at least decent. Or at least a reminder of what got us all fired up about the Joes in…
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Olympus Has Fallen [2013] ★★
For about an hour, before the movie crashes and burns in a bonfire of exaggeration and stupidity overkill, “Olympus Has Fallen” shapes up as a fun ride. I’m not a huge fan of director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day” was massively overrated in my opinion), but the guy knows how to pump the action pedal. Hell, he…
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A Good Day To Die Hard [2013] ★★½
It’s easy to joke about Bruce Willis, now past 55, returning for a fifth chapter in the “Die Hard” series. It’s been over 20 years since the first one and 5 years since the last. Shouldn’t Willis be retired by now? OK, I said the jokes were easy. But you know what? Willis gets the last…
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters [2013] ★½
Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton hunt and kill witches. That’s it for subtext in this formula January flick. Were you expecting more? Didn’t think so. It’s obvious that Norwegian writer-director Tommy Wirkola has no faith in his story, so in order to keep goosing the audience, he throws in one witch after the other, explodes heads and…
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Killing Them Softly [2012] ★★
I’m a bit late reviewing this movie, but having seen it a while ago I can safely say that it was one of the most disappointing films of 2012. It isn’t a requirement that you like a movie’s central characters, but it usually helps develop rooting interest. That’s one reason “Killing Them Softly” comes up short: it’s…
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Zero Dark Thirty [2012] ★★
Finally Hollywood has produced a movie that dramatizes the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Lol as if you didn’t see that coming. In a nutshell, “Zero Dark Thirty” is the most overrated movie of 2012. Overrated because it’s been nominated for a best picture Oscar and everyone is talking about director Kathryn Bigelow’s wonderful achievement.…
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Django Unchained [2012] ★★★½
Like a crazy motherfucker, Quentin Tarantino lets all his obsessions hang out in “Django Unchained”. Some people may want to kill him for it, but if you’re down with that, head off to the “historically inaccurate” “Django” which should have been called “The Good, the Bad and the Slave” by Quentin Tarantino. In fact, “Django” is an act…
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Dredd [2012] ★★½
Since Sylvester Stallone screwed up the the comic-book character with his 1995 screen version. I dreaded the idea of another “Dredd” movie. Surprise. This version starring Karl Urban is not half bad. The first movie was pure cheese, and it had Rob Schneider in it (yes it was that bad). Here, things get much darker as Dredd…
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Jack Reacher [2012] ★★★
Call it cheesy, call it bullshit, call it whatever you want, but gotta admit: “Jack Reacher” is one heck of a vehicle for its leading star Tom Cruise, and he makes the most out of it. I couldn’t care less about it when I first saw the trailer and some folks I spoke to told…
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