Baywatch: Movie Review

A fun and entertaining ride into the ridiculousness.

When Mitch (Dwayne Johnson) describes their lifeguard job as saving lives, chasing down criminals, uncovering intricate crime rings and doing everything that the police should be doing, Zac Efron’s character Matt Brody responds “that sounds like an entertaining but really far-fetched TV show.” Considering that’s what Baywatch is, it’s only fitting that that’s also what this movie remake is as well. For the most part, entertaining, but also utterly ridiculous and they play that up big time.		2017 Directed by: Seth Gordon Screenplay by: Mark Swift, Damian Shannon Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron

CHiPs: Movie Review

An action comedy too obsessed with sex jokes.

I haven’t seen the original CHiPs, but I don’t think that matters at all as I doubt this bears any resemblance other than the primary set-up. This CHiPs is a raunchy, buddy, action comedy. I was trying to decide what order those adjectives should go in, but it doesn’t really matter since they are all equally-weighted. Take that as you may, but I’m not convinced a movie should spend just as much time on ass jokes as it does on anything else.		2017 Directed by: Dax Shepard Screenplay by: Dax Shepard Starring: Michael Pena, Dax Shepard

Barely Lethal: Movie Review

A giant leap into nonsense with a preposterous premise and limited comedy.

Barely Lethal is a teen girl comedy and a spy action movie. Like combining Clueless (1995) and Mean Girls (2004) with Kick-Ass (2010) and Sucker Punch (2011). Not a bad combination if it works, but the premise starts at such a ridiculous level and it only gets worse from there. There are some good ideas, but overall it's a far-fetched mess.		2015 Directed by: Kyle Newman Screenplay by: John D'Arco Starring: Hailee Steinfeld

American Ultra: Movie Review

Goes for more action than comedy, but is entertaining.

American Ultra is trying to juggle quite a few ideas, a few genres, and different styles of humour, but it can be a genuinely good time in its earnestness to be entertaining. First it's a stoner comedy and it's a Hollywood-style shoot 'em up action movie, all the while actually being based in reality – albeit a hyper-stylized, uber-violent, way over-the-top form of reality. And you usually can't put those adjectives and the word “reality” in the same sentence, so you can get a sense of the problems that American Ultra is creating for itself.		2015 Directed by: Nima Nourizadeh Screenplay by: Max Landis Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart

Spy: Movie Review

Funny as a spy spoof but does venture into spy action.

Spy is not quite a spy movie nor a spoof of the genre but somewhere in between. Sticking with the latter would have been better, but at least it is funny through-out the entire run-time. Every scene from the Bond-esque opening to the end credits has multiple laughs. Some so funny that you can't help but laugh obnoxiously, probably to the annoyance of fellow movie-goers, except that they're laughing as well.		2015 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Paul Feig Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, and Jason Statham

American Sniper: Movie Review

A complex character portrait of a complicated issue.

What we have here is an anti-war film disguised as patriotism, a character study under the guise of action and war, and a character declared as a hero who may or may not be a hero. Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) is the celebrated Iraq War veteran, a deadly sniper with over 160 kills. American Sniper is his tragic story revealing the mess that war leaves behind. Not just wife Taya (Sienna Miller) and children, but the psychological remnants of murder.		2014 Directed by: Clint Eastwood Screenplay by: Jason Hall Based on book by Chris Kyle Starring: Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller

Stretch: Movie Review

A wild ride but couldn't put a story together.

Stretch starts with a drunk, coked-out gambling addict getting launched through a car window and then before he lands on the pavement, meets a girl and falls in love. And then the movie just gets crazier after that. The lead character, who calls himself Stretch, gets a job as a limo driver after hitting what he perceives as rock bottom, and then getting clean, getting sober and intending to pay back gambling debts.		2014 Directed by: Joe Carnahan Screenplay by: Joe Carnahan Starring: Patrick Wilson, Jessica Alba

Into the Storm: Movie Review

Into a whirlwind of intense stupidity.

“Let’s get outta here!” There’s a storm coming, so this means every character must scream that sentence every 20 minutes. Audiences should also heed their warning and just run aimlessly wherever you feel like it. The tornadoes (yes, that is plural, not just one tornado) in Into the Storm are far greater than anything ever recorded and not even storm shelters can save you.		2014 Directed by: Steven Quale Screenplay by: John Swetnam Starring: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies

Alan Partridge: Movie Review

Parodying action movies with a typically British zany treatment.

Meet Alan Partridge. He’s a radio DJ and has a way with words which makes it very clear that he doesn’t have a way with words after all. He’s not a people person but he does have some understanding of what people respond to. For British comedy fans, they probably already knew this as Alan was first created in the 1990s as part of “On the Hour,” and now his creator, Steve Coogan, has brought him to the big screen.		2013 Directed by: Declan Lowney Screenplay by: Steve Coogan, Peter Baynham, Armando Iannucci, Neil Gibbons, Rob Gibbons Starring: Steve Coogan, Colm Meaney

Pain & Gain: Movie Review

Not much action, but there is comedy as muscleheads set off to achieve the American dream.

Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and Adrien Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) are the very definition of muscleheads – more muscles than brains. Paul Doyle (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) is a Christian musclehead who has accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. They believe in the American dream. If other people have what they want, then, therefore, they should get it. That is the full extent of logic that they could exercise. The premise is funny and the film manages to follow through on that promise.		2013 Directed by: Michael Bay Screenplay by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely Based on articles by Pete Collins Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie, Dwayne Johnson, Tony Shalhoub

Trance: Movie Review

Twisting straight away from reality and into ridiculous nonsense.

Danny Boyle’s new thriller “Trance” seemingly has the ability to put its audience in an hypnotic state making them think that this is actually good as it twists and twists and twists away from reality, and logic, and coherence. I get why people would want to like it – it stars a naked Rosario Dawson and a deliciously enigmatic turn by James McAvoy, and features an intense score which amps up the volume with suspense.		2013 Directed by: Danny Boyle Screenplay by: Joe Ahearne, John Hodge Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel

Hit and Run: Movie Review

A guy's movie for girls with good action, comedy and romance.

"Hit and Run" is an action, comedy, romance, and for the first time in a long time, that's exactly what it is, and in three equal parts. The romance pits Charlie (Dax Shepard) and Annie (Kristen Bell) as a small town couple in love. She's up for her dream job in Los Angeles. The action starts when Charlie drives her to LA in his home-built classic car wtih an engine that all hillbillies desire.		2012 Directed by: David Palmer, and Dax Shepard Screenplay by: Dax Shepard Starring: Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell, Bradley Cooper and Tom Arnold

Savages: Movie Review

Entertaining crime thriller devolving into nauseating romantic drama.

Have you ever wanted to see a crime thriller turned into a romantic drama? Probably not. That's why “Savages” is far from a “must see” movie. It's one of those movies that is all over the map – literally and metaphorically, in all possible ways. We go from a romantic idealistic drug world, to a crooked DEA agent, to a violent comedy-filled drug world, to a philosophy on life and love all with stops in between for a three-way romance.		2012 Directed by: Oliver Stone Screenplay by: Shane Salerno, Don Winslow, and Oliver Stone Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson

The Raven: Movie Review

 

Poe's literary roots still shine through the action-influenced detective story.

A merging of the life of Edgar Allan Poe, his poetry, the crimes of his stories and a woven, fictional tale of all of the above is “The Raven”. In the opening minute, I was ready to knock the film down for missing some of the significant details of The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Except this film isn’t trying to faithfully recreate anything, you just have to get interested in a Poe-based detective story.		2012 Directed by: James McTeague Screenplay by: Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare Starring: John Cusack and Luke Evans

Anonymous: Movie Review

 

Problematic theory, story and characters but worthy acting and end point.

“Anonymous” is a story that accounts the theory that William Shakespeare did not write all the works credited to William Shakespeare. Instead the true author is Edward, Earl of Oxford, a nobleman of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. It is known as the Oxfordian Theory. And it is a real theory; it’s just not a good one.		2011 Directed by: Roland Emmerich Screenplay by: John Orloff Starring: Rhys Ifans

Drive: Movie Review

Driving a slow and thoughtful character study into a full-on violent crime thriller.

Ryan Gosling is a driver. During the day, he’s a part-time Hollywood stunt man and a part-time car mechanic. During the night, he seems to spend most of his time helping out with criminal activities. All of the time, he’s a leading man. He has a quiet and unassuming charm about him that can drive girls wild, and grateful bosses (like Bryan Cranston) since he’s so trustworthy and capable.		2011 Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn Screenplay by: Hossein Amin Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston

Cowboys & Aliens: Movie Review

Action heroes versus cowboys and aliens where thinking is not allowed.

"Cowboys & Aliens" is actually just Daniel Craig versus cowboys and aliens. It's very handy that he has an alien countdown timer bracelet on his wrist that doubles as a special alien killing machine. It works better than guns and knives which is all that real cowboys have. But Jake Lonergan (Craig) doesn't know how he got that bracelet, or what his name is, or who he is. He does know English.		2011 Directed by: Jon Favreau Screenplay by: Too many to name Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde

Hanna: Movie Review

Strong female independence, great action, and impressive filmmaking.

In her words, Hanna is trained to be independent. In our words, Hanna is trained to be something like a super killer. Wild animals, humans, it doesn't matter. She knows all the techniques. With intense action, character development, and inventive filmmaking, "Hanna" is super cool.		2011 Directed by: Joe Wright Screenplay by: Seth Lochhead and David Farr Starring: Saoise Ronan

Limitless: Movie Review

A limitless source of stupidity.

Ever thought about what you could do if a magical pill could turn your life into its most promising form? Hollywood execs have and "Limitless" just shows that they wish they could be smart. And it is just a magical pill because any scientific explanation is lacking, at best.		2011 Directed by: Neil Burger Screenplay by: Leslie Dixon Starring: Bradley Cooper