All movies this week were rented from Redbox...and yes beware of some plot give-aways below.
RAMPART ***
RAMPART ***
HAYWIRE **1/2
A starring vehicle for the young pioneering fighter in Women's MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), Gina Carano from director Steven Soderbergh. Many big name actors are also involved including Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender and Antonio Banderas. All but Douglas get there asses kicked by Carano. Other than the fight scenes there is not much of interest here. Carano is not yet an actor and the script was less compelling than Soderbergh's usual fare. Imdb's synopsis of the plot is short, sweet and about all you need: "A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission."
A starring vehicle for the young pioneering fighter in Women's MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), Gina Carano from director Steven Soderbergh. Many big name actors are also involved including Channing Tatum, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender and Antonio Banderas. All but Douglas get there asses kicked by Carano. Other than the fight scenes there is not much of interest here. Carano is not yet an actor and the script was less compelling than Soderbergh's usual fare. Imdb's synopsis of the plot is short, sweet and about all you need: "A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission."
TRUST ***
Fourteen-year-old Annie (Liana Liberato) is contacted by another teen online and they become friends in spite of the fact that she keep catching him lying about things, including his age. When tehy finally arrange to meet in person her "boyfriend" (Chris Henry Coffey) is in his mid-30s not a 20-year-old college student as he had claimed. Her parents (Clive Owen and
Catherine Keener) are torn apart by Annie's continued devotion to this man. Well-acted and disturbing. Unfotunately, Keener didn't have a lot to do in the film. Too bad for she is alwas wonderful in anything she does. Directed by David Schwimmer.
THE WHISTLEBLOWER ***1/2
Rachel Weisz plays a true life American police officer who works as a observer and peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia. She becomes involved in exposing a multi-national cover-up campaign of corruption, violence, and human trafficking. Weisz was pregnant when first approached about this film and passed, but later when the project was offered again she accepted and did a great job in the part. See her in theaters now in the BOURNE LEGACY.
BAD ASS **1/2
BAD ASS **1/2
Danny Trejo is just great
as always and truly IS a Bad Ass. What I found out in the bonus footage that I
didn’t know is that he was a champion boxer in the California Penal System
before he was an actor. A-ha. The script was horrible though the fight scenes
were very well-done. This low budget film even used old bus chase footage from
RED HEAT to end in the story in the same way as that old Schwarzeneggar film
did. Even most of the director/writer Craig Moss’s bonus commentary was boring,
weak and shed very little light on what the film was trying to achieve. There
were some fun moments and homage’s to other films which were nice distractions
from the stilted script. The kid actor who played “Frank Vega”’s foul-mouthed
young next door neighbor was fun. Now the thing I liked most other than the action
and Danny’s decent job was the use of downtown L.A. and the hood. A very L.A. looking movie. The opening credits
montage is pure barrio. Having the Mayor (Ron Perlman in a very small role) and
Panther (Charles S. Dutton is wonderfully strong as the heavy) taking a meeting
from Elysian Park up by the Police Academy overlooking Dodger Stadium is a
great shot.
MACHINE GUN PREACHER
***1/2 Gerard Butler in this story of a violent, low-rent Pennsylvania hood who
gets out of jail, sees his ex-junkie/stripper wide has found God, gets in
trouble again and changes his ways and finds Jesus. Which leads him to have a
vision of starting a church and then building an orphanage in war torn Sudan. This is based on a true story of Sam Childers who goes to the
Sudan and takes justice into his own hand doing what ever he can to help the
orphans including shooting up the bad guys. Well-done but a flop in the
theaters. Cost an estimated $30 MILLION and only did $1.1 million
internationally in it’s first 11 months on screens. I almost passed this by because of the title. When I mentioned it to friends, every one of them said unprompted, "Horrible title. Not something that appeals to me." Actions fans don't want preachy and religious types don't want shoot-'em-ups, it seems. Of course, when it comes down to it action movies are full of moralistic pontificating and religions are at war all the time. I thought it might be too preachy but they painted this guy as someone
who would do anything for justice. Butler was good. Very
intense. Footage over the end credits with the real-life Childers is interesting.
HICK **** starred Chloe Grace Moretz who played Isabelle in HUGO as a
young girl brought up by white trash in Nebraska (Juliette Lewis is her
oblivious mom) who runs off with a slimy white guy (Eddie Redmayne) then is
picked up by his ex, a hot slutty wild one (Blake Lively who was even better
here than in SAVAGES). In her travels the 13 year old is shown first hand the violent, sleazy, abusive side of life. Quite a traumatic
misadventure. Done with light humor amidst the sleaze and violence. Moretz is
superb as is the whole cast in this actor’s film. Redbox reviews HATED this
movie but it seems people are complaining about things like subject matter when
if they had read the description of the film they might have steered clear. It
was a very well cast and written film and a cautionary tale. I see a lot of
irresponsibly parented kids in the town where I live and parents should watch
this with their young teens. There is indeed a very tough world out there and
this film addresses these issues directly, with taste and humor and a sense of
realism that rings true if you have ever been around situations like the ones
shown. The use of select music by Bob Dylan is wonderfully done. SOONER OR
LATER’s line “I didn’t really know how young you were…” is perfectly placed and the wonderful
theme music is Dylan’s instrumental “Suze” which appeared as “Suze (The Cough
Song)” on bootleg recordings for years before being officially release on Bootleg
Series, Vols. 1-3: Rare & Unreleased, 1961-1991
WRECKED ***
Like The Edge and 127 Hours, this is a survival story. Man against nature and his own human
nature comes to task. Adrien Brody is trapped in his wrecked car in the middle
of nowhere. He has no idea who he is or how he got there. His hallucinations
distract him but his survival instinct takes over but this film is more about
Brody’s emotional state, his guilt and desires manifested as his confusion and
fear overwhelm him and his scattered memories begin to flow over him. What is
real and what is not seem to be the real questions here. Oddly, this film seems
to have played in only one theater for one week. A physically and emotionally
riveting performance by Brody based on a very simple premise. Interesting that
the movie was filmed ins chronological order and that writer Christopher Dodd
wrote it very spontaneously and sees it as a metaphor for getting a movie
finished. Again, it seems as if so many of the people bitching about this film
didn’t really seem to watch it very carefully. People seem to a) have very
little imagination or b) ability to take anything as something other than
literally. Why they’d bother even taking the time to comment on it online or
even watch it is beyond me.
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