Category: action
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Kings Of Egypt [2016] ★½
“Please make it stop!” I kept shouting at the screen as I suffered through this endless CGI-driven crap-fest starring Gerard Butler as a merciless God who is ruling the once peaceful Egypt with an iron fist. Now it’s up to a mortal hero (Brendon Thwaites, clueless) to team up with Game of Thrones’ Nicolaj Coster-Waldau…
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Deadpool [2016] ★★★½
“Deadpool” is everything an R-Rated superhero movie could hope to be: fast-paced, hilarious and incredibly entertaining. And yet I have to admit that I didn’t know what to really expect given its odd (but brilliant) marketing campaign (oh, Betty White) and the fact that Ryan Reynolds fucked up (excuse the language but it is an…
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Pride And Prejudice And Zombies [2016] ★½
I swear I’m not making this up. Someone actually decided to butcher Jane Austen’s classic story by adding zombies to the plot. Bad move. Based on the 2009 novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, the movie follows five sisters in 19th Century England and their quest to marry wealthy businessmen while having to deal with an army…
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The Finest Hours [2016] ★★½
As far as sea disaster movies go, this one isn’t bad. But if there’s anything I learned from Hollywood it’s that a true story doesn’t always guarantee a great movie, and “The Finest Hours” is proof of that. But at least I can begin on a positive note: Chris Pine is a very likable actor…
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The Hateful Eight [2015] ★★★
Only Quentin Tarantino can make a Western film that feels and looks like a stage play and get away with it. I’m talking about “The Hateful Eight”, Tarantino’s 8th feature film and second consecutive Western. If you’re down with that, you’ll have to endure a surprisingly slow first act as we meet the story’s weird but…
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The Revenant [2015] ★★★½
Prepare yourself for the most tension-filled Western film you’ve seen in a very long time. Writer director Alejandro González Iñárritu follows up last year’s Oscar winner “Birdman” with another spectacular film. “The Revenant” is an epic 156 minutes survival story set in the cold West, circa 1823. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a brutal, Oscar worthy performance as Hugh…
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens [2015] ★★★½
Fans can relax, the real “Star Wars” finally returns to the big screen in “The Force Awakens”, a burst of pure filmmaking exhilaration that manages to pay tribute to the original trilogy and still boldly add new elements that will make fans of the series jump for joy. I couldn’t be happier. After six movies, an…
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Bus 657 [2015] ★
Another paycheck movie for the once great Robert De Niro in which he pretends to care about the movie or his audience. Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays a father who has to pay for his daughter’s medical treatment. His boss, played by a phony De Niro, refuses to help. So Morgan and his co-workers decide to rob…
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Creed [2015] ★★★
I expected to hate on Sylvester Stallone’s seventh round as Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion who boxed his way into popular and Oscar glory with the first and best Rocky film back in 1976. I was wrong. Stallone, now 69, and in fine, feisty form, has a ball mixing it up with Michael B. Jordan, who…
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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2 [2015] ★★½
In dutifully completing the Hunger Games series, director Francis Lawrence has sadly saved the weakest for last. I’ve been a huge fan of the series, so you can understand why I expected more from this final chapter. For starters, there’s surprisingly less action here. Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, still as good a ever), Peeta and the…
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Spectre [2015] ★★★
It’s quite difficult to top “Skyfall”, one of the best Bond movies ever made, but as a long time fan of the series, I thought “Spectre” was highly entertaining. Its canny blend of ingredients is sure to entertain any audience but I think Bond enthusiasts will relish it most, as it draws on our familiarity…
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The Last Witch Hunter [2015] ★
What to say about this lame-brained, terrible attempt to start a witch hunting franchise starring Vin Diesel? I say, screw the damn thing and run the other way. It’s all kinds of sad to see the legendary Michael Caine wasting his talent for the sake of a quick payday. It’s even funnier to see Vin Diesel play Kaulder, a witch hunter…
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The Martian [2015] ★★★
“The Martian” stars Matt Damon, whose name cannot be uttered without thinking of “Saving Private Ryan” and “Good Will Hunting”. Now he’s teaming with Ridley Scott, who’s been desperate for a hit after recent misfires such as”Exodus” and the God-awful “The Counselor”. Damon plays astronaut Mark Watney, a NASA botanist who has been left for dead…
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Sicario [2015] ★★★½
“Sicario” (which means “Hitman” in spanish) is a cannonball of a movie from director Denis Villeneuve, who did such an incredible job with “Incendies” and “Prisoners“. This is a world-class director, at the top of his startlingly creative form. Working from a tense script by Taylor Sheridan, Villeneuve opens his movie with one of the best sequences you’ll…
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The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials [2015] ★★
As someone who liked the first “Maze Runner” movie, I was quite disappointed with this 2nd installment. For one, the element of mystery is gone. There’s also less suspense and tons of new characters. I’m sad to report that I couldn’t care for any of them. It’s too bad. Dylan O’Brian, who did a fine…
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Everest [2015] ★★★
It hurts to watch “Everest”. I have never seen a more powerful story about mountain climbers and I can’t count how many times the movie forced the audience to look away. Director Baltasar Kormakur, his actors and cinematographer outdid themselves to bring this gripping story to the screen, and they have much to be proud of. The reenactment of the…
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American Ultra [2015] ★★
I have no faith in myself to speak coherently about this silly farce. But I do have faith in Jesse Einserbeg. Yes, I liked “Zombieland” and “The Social Network” that much and I’m eager for his next, “Batman Vs Superman” with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. Ok so here are the facts: Einsenberg goes crazy in “American Ultra”…
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The Transporter Refueled [2015] ★★
Alright folks let’s play a fun game called “Can you tell the Transporters movies apart?”. Probably not. So to make things easier, Hollywood replaced Jason Statham with the much younger Ed Skrein as former special-ops mercenary Frank Martin. His latest mission? Help a femme-fatale and her three partners get revenge against a sinister Russian kingpin. Not an…
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Southpaw [2015] ★★★
You’d think with movies like “Rocky”, “Cinderella Man”, Million Dollar Baby” and “The Fighter”, Hollywood would run out of good boxing stories to tell. Hold on tight. “Southpaw” is a beast of a movie, an emotional roller coaster that threatens to go off the rails, but never does. Director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”, “The Equalizer”), working from…
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Hitman: Agent 47 [2015] ★★
I may sound like a party pooper but didn’t we agree that Hollywood should stop making movies based on famous video games? “Super Mario Bros”, “Resident Evil”, “Silent Hill”…to name a few. Then there’s “Hitman”. The first attempt goes all the way back to 2007. The movie opened to mostly toxic reviews; in short: fans…
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