Archive for the ‘Action’ Category

Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da (A Hard Day) Review

Posted: September 17, 2014 in 2014 Fantasy FilmFest, Action, Foreign, Reviews
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A-Hard-Day-1Ahead of October’s release of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, we have the Korean adult version known as Kkeut-kka-ji-gan-da or A Hard Day. Alexander may have to deal with setbacks like gum in his hair and a trip to the dentist, but that hardly measures up to the grown-up problems our hero, Go Geon-soo (Seon-gyun Lee), faces.

Geon-soo must plan his mother’s funeral, deal with his own divorce and the custody of his daughter, and stay a step ahead of the internal affairs team investigating him and the other members of his police squad for alleged corruption.  But what proves to be the capper for the good detective is when he runs over a pedestrian late at night on a deserted stretch of road.

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Open Windows Review

Posted: September 15, 2014 in 2014 Fantasy FilmFest, Action, Drama, Reviews, Thriller
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Open WindowsIf you try very hard, you can make a case for Open Windows to be a cyber-inspired reimagining of Rear Window. In the 21st century, laptops, smart phones, and surveillance cameras are to us what a telephoto lens and an apartment window were to Americans in the 1950’s: a means to look into the living rooms and bedrooms of our neighbors. That would make Elijah Wood this generation’s Jimmy Stewart, and Wood does carry some of the same nebbish Everyman qualities, though his characters, to date, have not shown the same flinty internal strength. Where this imagined connection between movies falters is with Sasha Grey as a stand-in for Grace Kelly, or Nacho Vigalando for Alfred Hitchcock. Still, Rear Window was a gimmick movie as is Open Windows. The difference is that in Hitchcock’s masterpiece, the gimmick is used to introduce the action; in Vigalando’s rather ordinary effort, the gimmick overwhelms the action.

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iNumber Number (aka Avenged) Review

Posted: September 4, 2014 in 2014 Fantasy FilmFest, Action, Reviews, Thriller
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iNumber NumberThe best thing to be said about iNumber Number is that it leaves you wanting more. You want to see more work from director/screenwriter Donovan Marsh. You want to see more of a stellar cast, particularly lead actor S’Dumo Mtshali. You especially want to see more of South Africa as a setting for hard-nosed crime flicks. The downside to this desire for more, more, and more is that iNumber Number is not quite satisfying in itself. A good bit of the 96-minute runtime is given over to waiting for the film to hit fifth gear, only to discover that it’s more of an automatic transmission ride.

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The Prince Review

Posted: August 22, 2014 in Action, Reviews
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The PrinceHere is what you need to know about The Prince.

It is not a Bruce Willis movie. It is not a John Cusack movie. It is, in fact, a Jason Patric movie. While the trio share prominence in the trailer, poster, and other marketing material, the three do not appear as a group in the film. Willis and Cusack do not have a single scene together. Willis and Patric are ostensibly both in the finale, but are never in the same frame.

This is Old Hollywood – or, at least, the marketing department at Old Hollywood. The same people who put all the good scenes from a movie in the trailer because they know you’ll think, “Hey, they wouldn’t put all the good stuff in the trailer, would they?” place Willis front and center so you’ll think, “Hey, they wouldn’t draw my attention to Bruce Willis unless the movie was all about him, would they?”

Guess again.

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The Zero Theorem Review

Posted: August 21, 2014 in Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Reviews
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TheZeroTheoremA unique pleasure awaits in the not-too-distant future for a film archivist or critic or festival organizer charged with organizing the definitive Terry Gilliam retrospective. The body of work he has amassed to date has already established Gilliam as a historically significant figure in cinema. With each subsequent release that begins with the placard “A Terry Gilliam Film,” his legacy expands. We know his vision: the steampunk designs of modern society strangling itself on ducts and tubes, cathode ray technology, and soul-sucking workplaces populated with mid-level drones assigned to tasks of mindless repetition. Outside, the infrastructure is crumbling, the cacophony of post-modern life is numbing, and the individual is targeted for extinction. The only escape is fantasy and women and a fantasy woman that exists only as long as one can whisper the word, “Hope.” (more…)

Hector and the Search for Happiness Review

Posted: August 18, 2014 in Action, Comedy, Drama, Reviews
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Hector-And-The-Search-For-HappinessHector and the Search for Happiness  fancies itself a comedy, a drama, an action movie, and a travelogue, but the film fails in each of the genres, revealing itself to be nothing more than an awful little film about one uninteresting man’s mid-life crisis. Wrapped in pretension with a bow of psuedo-self help nonsense and delivered by a squandered all-star cast, Hector is a two-hour illustration of vapidness without even a hint of a redeeming satirical sense. It is a cyncical, clumsy, excruciating exercise in failed manipulation without a single genuine moment.

The critique of Hector as comedy is simple: it is not funny. As a drama, it lacks characters that we care about or a situation that we wish to see resolved. The action/adventure component is ludicrous, while the travelogue is very definitely offensive. (more…)

Frontera Review

Posted: August 3, 2014 in Action, Drama, Reviews
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frontera04Those with strong views on the issue of immigration may find Frontera maddening. The film assiduously avoids coming down on either side of this polarizing issue. There is no macro examination here of the situation on the border between Mexico and the United States. Instead, Frontera offers a micro look at the devastating effects of the forces at play on the families on either side of the divide. Currently, a wrenching, confusing scene is playing out in the southwestern United States with unaccompanied and undocumented minors flooding across the porous border. Local authorities are overwhelmed; the federal government feeble so far in its response. The film offers no insight or answers, glib or otherwise, to what should, must, or even can be done. Frontera takes an almost old-fashioned view of the situation on the border, presenting the problem as one of young Mexican men crossing over illegally in search of employment to provide for their families.

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Hercules: Reborn Review

Posted: July 9, 2014 in Action, Reviews
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HerculesThe new film Hercules: Reborn is so shameless that it’s inspiring. If there are still those in Hollywood who will put aside any shred of conscience or ounce of respect for intellectual property rights in the pursuit of a quick buck, then we can be reassured that some things in cinema have not changed, the digital revolution be damned.

Hercules: Reborn is notable only for the sheer chutzpah of its existence. Following in the tradition of movie milestones like The Day The Earth Stopped and Transmorphers, Hercules: Reborn is an attempt to draft behind a better known, better financed project that will debut in movie theaters at approximately the same time. (more…)

Road to Paloma Review

Posted: July 4, 2014 in Action, Drama, Reviews
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road-to-paloma01Road to Paloma contains two shots of exquisite beauty. The framing and composition of these moments that last no more than a few seconds are perfect. One comes at the beginning of the film and shows the protagonist Robert Wolf (Jason Momoa) sitting under a tree, taking a break from repairing a barbed wire fence. The second occurs midway through and is simply an establishing shot of a gas station/cafe at night, but the contrast of the fluorescent lights against the desert darkness is as striking as an Edward Hopper painting. Those two shots, created by Momoa, who also directed the movie and had a hand in the screenplay, and the cinematographer, Brian Mendoza, are the best parts of Road to Paloma.

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Drones Review

Posted: June 29, 2014 in Action, Drama, Reviews
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2fd06dc1755d9f958747442fa58cec57The poster art for Drones features a 21st-century soldier deep in The Suck, a M16 rifle with grenade launcher at the ready and a Batman utility belt strapped around his mid-section. A female soldier with a daintier weapon and a few packs less ammo follows him. The sky is filled with unmanned aerial vehicles and tracer fire. “THE WAR OF THE FUTURE IS UP IN THE AIR,” we’re told.

Ridiculous.

Anyone purchasing a cinema ticket, DVD, or on-demand rental based on that nonsensical graphic, which is nothing more than video game cover art, should be entitled to a full refund plus compensation. (more…)

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