Safe! (Movie Review)

This is such a kick-ass movie, it may start off slow but once the action starts in ‘Safe!’ it is relentless! Although the hero in this film is a down to earth guy, he has absolutely nothing to loose and that’s what makes him push himself and his story to the limit. The story- line is supposed to have some drama and have some emotional motivation, but this link is very weak and somewhat uninteresting; what makes this movie worth watching is the action.

The story is a bit convoluted, a former NYPD cop Luke Wright (Jason Statham) blows a rigged fight controlled by the Russian Mafia, which to punish him leave him with absolutely nothing and a promise to keep an eye on him for the rest of his life. While living on the streets and contemplating suicide, he runs into a Chinese girl, Mei (Catherine Chan), who’s running away from the mafia that ruined Luke’s life. He’s motivated to help the girl, who happens to be a math wiz being used by the Triads (Chinese Mafia).  Luke decides to save the girl’s life at any cost and automatically jumps into an underground war between the mobs as well as some corrupt cops, as they all try to get a hold of the girl.

Director Boaz Yakin welcomed us to the screening of this film very humbly and explained to us the connection between the action and drama in the film as well as his reason for choosing Statham. There’s no question as to why Statham was chosen for this role, he is built for this type of high fast paced action films. If you’ve seen any of the films throughout his career, then you know this actor who usually performs his own fight scenes and stunts delivers every time and this film isn’t an exception. Despite of the fact that Yakin meant for there to be some deep emotional motivation behind the story, this is very feeble and even the main character himself accepts to not being able to make a strong connection to this girl he’s saving. But that’s beside the point, because that sets the base to this crazy ‘Grand Theft Auto’ like story.  Chan might be meant as the part of the story that softens your heart, but this girl is far from that because she is independent, smart-mouthed and of course although she is a child she is still very strong in a lot of ways.

Yakin also told us here he wanted to represent the New York he grew up in, so this is a throwback type of action film bowing to some of the classics. You may hold your breath in some scenes, laugh and stay with your mouth open in others. So, get ready to be part of a story where a man and a girl give the City of New York a make over, while trying to survive this action thriller.  

‘Think Like a Man’ takes the #1 spot at the box office!

We begin the week with an incredible surprise! ‘Think Like a Man’ premiered in the number one spot, finally taking ‘The Hunger Games’ out of the spot it occupied for four consecutive weeks. This comedy not only makes you die laughing, but it has done the impossible taking the first place with $33 million dollars.

‘The Lucky One’ took second place in the box office with $22.8 million dollars. This romantic movie with Zac Effron is not very entertaining, but it seems like the public decided that it was time to change the look of the box office.

‘The Hunger Games’ took third place with $14.5 million dollars. Although it still holds a prestigious place, the hard fall is surprising from first to third place. It was thought that only ‘The Avengers’ was going to be able to take its place.

The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:

1.Think Like a Man – $33 mil

2. The Lucky One – $22.8 mil

3. The Hunger Games – $14.5 mil

4. Chimpanzee – $10.2 mil

5. The Three Stooges – $9.2 mil

6. The Cabin in the Woods – $7.8 mil

7. American Reunion – $5.2 mil

8. Titanic 3D – $5 mil

9. 21 Jump Street – $4.6 mil

10. Mirror, Mirror – $4.1 mil

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

This really is a treat for action lovers; ‘Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol’ is filled with relentless action almost all throughout the film. Seeing the film in IMAX made it even more enjoyable because a lot of the shots in the film are so thrilling that you feel like you are hanging on by a thread along with our main character Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise).  This film is one of the best action films of the year and it really lives up to the hype and fits in nicely with the phenomenon of all the ‘Mission Impossible’ flicks.

In this sequel Ethan gets some new team members from the IMF: Jane (Paula Patton), Brandt (Jeremy Renner) along with his old pal Benji (Simon Pegg). After a terrible misunderstanding between Russia and the U.S. the team is sent to try to stop a terrorist: Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist), from detonating a missile that will start a nuclear war. The trick is that the team must complete this task on their own without help from the IMF, since because of the misunderstanding the president has shut them down and so they begin what they call “Ghost Protocol”. If the team is not able to stop Hendricks intricate plan, which involves using a satellite, then Ethan’s team will be blamed for the terrorist act and everything they’ve worked for will go down the drain along with their entire lives.

Cruise is the exact same Ethan we’ve seen in the past, he still performs amazing stunts and has the same strong character that seems to be untouched by anything physically and emotionally. We travel to Hungary, Russia, Dubai and India. The Dubai sequence has some of the best scenes, my favorite is Ethan having to climb the tallest building in the world with some “spider-man” like gloves. There are some interesting twists in the movie but one of its biggest flaws is the plot. The whole Russian/American tension just like in the Cold War era has been overplayed.

If you are a fan of the past Mission Impossible movies this one will certainly not disappoint, it connects it to the rest nicely. Director Brad Bird certainly made his own version of the series while still respecting those that already exist; the combination of both of these elements is what made this film maybe the best out of the Mission Impossible series. 

‘The Hunger Games’ is #1 for the fourth straight week!

‘The Hunger Games’ continues owning the box office; no one can take its place. It added an extra $21.5 million dollars to the jackpot it has already collected. Perhaps the only movie that will be able to take its’ spot will be ‘The Avengers’, which premieres in a couple of weeks.

‘The Three Stooges’ took ‘American Reunion’’s spot, which fell to fourth place, with $17.1 million dollars. Critics have said that the remake of the stooges is worth seeing and the box office clearly shows it.

‘The Cabin in the Woods’ a perfect film for Friday the 13th, came in third place with $14.9 million dollars. This comic-horror movie is a breath of fresh air for a genre that seems to be falling flat more than not.

The Top 10 movies at the box office are:

1. The Hunger Games – $21.5 mil

2. The Three Stooges – $17.1 mil

3. The Cabin in the Woods – $14.9 mil

4. Titanic 3D – $11.6 mil

5. American Reunion –  $10.7 mil

6. Mirror, Mirror – $7 mil

7. Wrath of the Titans – $6.9 mil

8. 21 Jump Street – $6.8 mil

9. Lockout – $6.3 mil

10. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax – $3 mil

Lockout (Movie Review)

‘Lockout’ is a fun action film despite its predictability. The concept of it is interesting and although you may know how it will end, it is all about the ride. Although I enjoyed the action my favorite part of the film was Guy Pearce, his character is just a smart mouth agent who’s looking out mainly just for himself; his sarcastic humorous comments make most scenes entertaining. This isn’t the best action film out there, but if you want to have fun at the movies and have a couple of laughs, this is definitely a good choice, despite of its’ flaws.

Agent Snow (Guy Pearce) is convicted of a crime against the U.S. government, that he denies having committed. Despite that he is offered to take on a mission upon MS One, an experimental prison in space where the 500 most dangerous criminals on planet Earth are kept in artificial sleep. He must rescue Emilie (Maggie Grace), the president’s daughter who has gone out to the station in a humanitarian mission and has fallen hostage to inmates who’ve broken free.   

Directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger are two Irish boys from Dublin who sought out to make a futuristic action thriller that was entertaining. They reached their goal, however with a little more effort it could have been an even more entertaining film. They inserted a bit of themselves, which we perhaps can see in many of the inmates. Snow, Pearce’s smart mouth character is charming in his own jerk-like way although at points he does get dangerously close to being too macho therefore a bit irritating; but obviously he’s the one that carries the film on his shoulders. Honestly, I mainly hated Grace’s character, she was such a helpless girl throughout most of the movie that she was just annoying to watch, although she does redeem herself at the end.

My biggest problem with the movie is that the storyline didn’t convince me, starting by the fact that I could figure out the outcome since the beginning and there are some holes and various weak points. At times the storyline tries to get complicated and layered which takes away from the simplicity that would have enhanced it. The special effects are not that great, one scene in particular is just a videogame shot shaming the movie.

This is just a good time at the movies; it takes you on a wacky futuristic story in outer space, where a man and a woman alone face the world’s worst criminals. The arena they are in is unusual, defying authority is their motto and getting out alive is their goal. So if you can put the technicalities aside, get ready to go on a crazy journey with an insane guide that somehow has a good head on his shoulders and enjoy the video game like scenario where the bad guys outnumber the good ones. 

Detention (Movie Review)

The best word to describe ‘Detention’ is- WEIRD! This movie is so wacky in every sense: the storyline, the characters, even the images. This is a mash-up of various genres: horror, comedy, teen-movies, and romance. It is hard enough for just one movie to accomplish something good in just one genre, therefore one that tries to encompass various is bound for disaster. The movie does make you laugh more than once, mainly because of the witty dialogue, but also because of the ridiculousness of it. This might only be worth a watch if it’s on TV on a day where you have nothing else to do and there’s absolutely nothing to else to watch.

The movie explores high school life for seniors in Grizzly Lake. There are the popular kids among them Clapton Davis (Josh Hutcherson) and Ione (Spencer Locke) and the outcasts like Riley Jones (Shanley Caswell) and Sander Sanderson (Aaron David Johnson). Not only are they all trying to survive high school, but they are also trying to survive a killer named Cinderhella who’s slashing one student at a time.

The movie tries to be fun and cool and it accomplishes it at some points, by having the characters talk to the audience, making small movie montages about each character’s life and even taking us through a journey in music and fashion. The movie is like ‘Mean Girls’, ‘The Breakfast Club’, and ‘Scream’ all in one. But the storyline goes on a tangent and as it develops it becomes less and less interesting, because it gets more ridiculous by the minute.

The movie might ride off on Hutcherson’s success in ‘The Hunger Games’ and that’s a smart move on their part, but he should also be happy that this film didn’t do wide-release a year ago when it began to be promoted. Movies are expensive to make so it is hard to understand why a studio or director would decide to spend money on such a fruitless project, especially because it is said that director Joseph Kahn used his savings to make it. All in all there are better movies coming out this weekend than wasting your money on this one.