Posts Tagged ‘Liam Neeson’

REVIEW: Battleship

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

BattleshipBattleship is a board game. Now it’s a movie…with aliens. The story is dumb, the action is explosive and extravagant, and the acting is horrendous; but somehow it’s not terrible and still somewhat entertaining. I think every one’s expectations are so low that anything will float with this movie even though it makes Michael Bay look like a cinematic auteur. Battleship is basically Transformers attacking the Titantic in the time of Idiocracy. It’s also as entertaining as actually playing a game of Battleship…fun at first, but then you realize you’re playing Battleship.


Before even starting to watch the movie, you know it’s ridiculous. The beginning had me fooled by being pretty funny and cunning. And then we joined the Navy. The dialogue went from bad to tortuous and the acting went overboard. Every single cliche you can think of found its place into the script and they exploited every patriotic feeling they could squeeze out of a nation with a military fetish. There’s a love story between the obvious screw up and the admiral’s daughter. There’s a semi-racist rivalry between opposing teams. And there’s a big brother/little brother guardianship. Aliens fall from the sky and start causing mayhem. This never really gets explained throughout the movie and instead they try to explain The Art of War.

Battleship

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With everything going wrong in the movie, it still manages to hold its own and be entertaining. People clapped in my theater…like really, clapped. As blindly as we go into meaningless wars…we go into this meaningless movie. If you’re wondering why I keep using armed forces references, this movie is a picturesque commercial for the Navy while being absolutely unlike anything the military has to offer (Do yourself a favor and watch the amazing show Carrier on Hulu to see how it actually is). Still, it would be a fun rental but I couldn’t fathom forking up money to watch this. Sure, it’s a summer blockbuster special effects extravaganza, but there are plenty of other better options out there. Thankfully, this wasn’t shown in 3D so maybe that is its selling point.
Battleship

pew pew pew boom boom kablowie


Back to the movie…it got extremely boring for me in the middle. For some reason, all of the non-star crew aboard the ship vanished and it became a ghost ship. How does that even happen on a Navy vessel? There’s supposed to be people behind every corner but somehow for this segment in the movie, they all were having lunch or something. Believe it or not, they do actually play a variation of Battleship in the movie. Foxtrot One Three – that’s square F13. MISS! Sadly, nobody said, “You sunk my battleship!” which was the only gimmick I was hoping for throughout the entire thing. Instead I got the fidgety geek saying, “Who talks like this?” Also, why doesn’t anybody show any emotion when people are dying? Is everyone too amazed by the aliens we’ve never seen before? Nope, nobody shows a bit of emotion for that either.
Battleship

cliche slow walk towards screen


If you’re looking for big visual effects over water than Battleship is your kind of movie! I’d be curious to see what percentage of this movie was done in post production because it seems like 40% of the movie wasn’t real. The other 60% didn’t feel real from the lack of a convincing script, interesting story, and charismatic acting. If you’re going to check out RiRi’s acting debut, she does fine as there isn’t much for her to do to begin with. Liam Neeson does his job and delivers another angry growl or two. Taylor Kitsch, the main focus of the film is actually pretty funny and his unfaltering deep voice is as persistent as his blank stares. But nothing can fix the fact that this a movie inspired from a board game with aliens thrown in. There’s even a scene pulled straight from Titanic. Titanic did it better.

REVIEW: Wrath of the Titans

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

All these Greek mythology movies are starting to give me a headache. Immortals? Percy Jackson? Blank of the Titans? All of their stories are starting to merge together and we forget who stars in who and which Gods are in which. Wrath of the Titans is the sequel to Clash of the Titans from about two years ago and follows the story of the demigod Perseus (Sam Worthington). He’s somewhat of a God now himself after defeating the Kraken in converted 3D. You should know what to expect from this series and they don’t hide it in the trailers: Greek Gods, Enormous Monsters, and Explosions. If that’s what you want, Wrath of the Titans will quench your thirst.


There’s really no point into going into the story…it’s basically the same storyline as the last one. The Gods believe it’s the end of days and Perseus must save the day because for some reason being half human is better than being full God. This time, instead of the Kraken, the big boss at the end is Kronos, the father of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. He’s trapped in the constructed prison of Tartarus located in the underworld where a bunch of these other demons are being released from. Demons like Chimera, a double headed fire-breathing dog-like thing or another and Makhai, a sword-wielding siamese mutant that takes the term eyes in the back of my head one step further.

Wrath of the Titans

The monsters of Wrath of the Titans (the true stars)


They keep the Greek mythology to a minimum here including only a handful of Gods: Zeus (Liam Neeson), Hades (Ralph Fiennes), Poseidon (Danny Huston), and Ares (Édgar Ramírez). They lay on the mythological explanations pretty thick making sure they all keep referring to each other as “my brother” or “my son” so you don’t get confused with who is who. I really enjoy the mythology so I was pretty disappointed that they limited it so much. Our two new characters are another demigod Agenor (Toby Kebbell) who is the son of Poseidon, and Hephaestus, the fallen God who forged all of the God’s bad ass weaponry like Zeus’ lightning bolt, Hades’ spear, and Poseidon’s trident. Bill Nighy did a terrific job playing Hephaestus as a lunatic talking to an owl but Toby Kebbell didn’t quite sell me the overused funny/clever liar/thief that the crusading party can’t trust but has to trust because otherwise the movie wouldn’t move on.
Wrath of the Titans

The motley crew of Wrath of the Titans (all typical roles represented)


If you haven’t guessed, there’s a journey involved into the great unknown. Stuff happens that sets them back and I guess we’re supposed to believe that they won’t succeed? Come on, you’ve seen this movie before…the non important people in the group die but they get there just in time but it’s not just in time, they’re a little late but they figure something out and change plans for a last ditch effort and then a whole lot of people have to die until the final plan is done and then Perseus rides on his Pegasus and saves the day once again and and and you get the idea. This movie did have one of the coolest labyrinth scenes though. Whenever I see a maze, I want it to move and interact like it did in this film. And of course, with a labyrinth comes a minotaur so they threw that in but I was they didn’t because it was just more monster filler.
Wrath of the Titans

SPECIAL EFFECTS! LIGHTNING LAZERS ZOOM!


Everything you expect going into this film is what you get on screen. The main point is that they didn’t mess it up. The story is just good enough to keep your attention span for the length of the movie and the big explosions and gruesome monsters are enough to enjoy the visuals. The 3D is actually pretty playful and fun in this one leaning more towards the gimmicky side than the layered immersion side. There are no “wow” or “awe” scenes in this one, just more of the same grunting action that you got from the original. All the characters are interchangeable and none of them really developed but who cares? The audience just wants to see big monster carnage, right? There are already talks for a third installment but I can’t fathom what they’d do next…they’d have to use their God powers to keep me coming back…or just make another monster a little bigger than the last one that moves a little faster. Why do big beasts always move in slow mo?

REVIEW: The Grey

Wednesday, January 25th, 2012

“Wolves are the only animal that kill for revenge.” I’m not sure if that’s true but it doesn’t bode well for Liam Neeson and company in The Grey. The Grey is an intense, jump out of your seat thriller set in the Alaskan tundra. It follows a group of men who survived a catastrophic plane crash and are now fighting for their lives against the horrid temperatures and a pack of man-eating wolves. Lucky for them, Ottway (Liam Neeson) was paid to kill wolves in the wilderness and has trained himself to know everything about them. Did I say lucky or unlucky?


The sound of the movie in the beginning is striking. The way director Joe Carnahan uses it to bring you in and out of scenes is frightening. It’s actually more scary than most of the recent horror films that have come out. The plane crash itself is a heart-pumping experience and that takes place very early in the film. The deafening winds of winter and howling of the wolves take over as they terrify you without being seen. It almost gets to a point where it’s unbearable but then you have to realize the conditions that these guys are in and they can’t turn it off…so why should you?

The Grey

Liam Neeson = badass


Only a handful of men survived the crash and their numbers dwindle as the story goes on. It’s a game of survival and these men don’t know how to play the game. Except for Ottway, that is, who takes charge and sets out a plan to live. After recent movies like Unknown, The A-Team, and Taken, Liam has cemented himself as a bad ass man’s man so it’s fitting that he’s an adventurous grizzly man that doesn’t take bullshit from anybody. He’s the alpha and everything else in the movie – including the wolves – are omegas. A couple more roles like this and Liam Neeson is going to end up in the Expendables 3.
The Grey

Let's play who's gonna die first?


I loved the script. I really liked how the men interacted with each other and what they actually said. It was a great mix of movie lines and real dialogue making you think that this is how it might actually go down. The different personalities from Diaz (Frank Grillo) to Talget (Dermot Mulroney), Hendrick (Dallas Roberts), Flannery (Joe Anderson) and Burke (Nonso Anozie) make it easy to fit in with the group. There are different opinions, reactions, and stereotypes that any audience member can empathize with. The story and filming was also impressive as they took you through a lot of different scenarios. You’ll be glad to know that you won’t just be following these guys through snow for two hours.
The Grey

The whole cast and crew must have been freezing the entire time of production


This isn’t another action-packed fighting movie – it’s more about perseverance and will to survive. The Grey tests your own endurance as it holds very few things back. It will scare you, it will make you think and it might piss you off in the end. You never know what can happen next and some of the twists might surprise you. I definitely recommend watching this movie but it can wait for DVD or TV. There’s nothing really gained from watching it, it’s more of a nice way to pass the time on a plane ride or night in. One thing is for sure though, if you don’t have a good sound system, you should watch The Grey in theaters, because that sound mixing will make you jump – guaranteed. Stay til the end of the credits if you’re into that kind of thing but there’s not much there.

REVIEW: Unknown

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

UnknownDo you know how it feels to be going insane? It’s like a war of being told who you are and knowing who you are. Liam Neeson stars as Dr. Martin Harris who has lost some of his memory in a car accident shortly after entering Berlin for the first time. After awakening from a four day coma, he knows who he is but everybody keeps telling him he’s not. He has to figure out who he is and what happened to him. Unknown is being compared to Taken and while there are some similarities, Unknown is not action-packed…it’s more of a thinker. So if you want to turn off your brain and just watch a flick, this one isn’t for you.


Unknown is going to surprise a lot of people. It’s an action thriller mystery…heavy on the mystery. I don’t think anybody expected what they saw or how the movie turned out. It starts off as any other movie would and then a wrench gets thrown into the gears. Instantly, tons of questions are being asked on screen and in your head. What would you do if you woke up from a coma with no identification in a foreign country? It’s fun to play along and think for yourself. The movie does a good job of answering a lot of those questions like “why don’t you just check the internet” but there are a bunch of plot holes too…


The highlight of the action has got to be the crazy car scenes. Germans drive their Mercedes-Benzes like no body’s business! The chase scenes can compete with some movies made specifically for cars. Come to think of it, the main plot points all involve cars in one way or another. There are crashes, dings, flips, and explosions so you won’t be disappointed. Other than a few fight scenes, this is where most of the action lies. There are also a few unexpected tense sense that may make you look away from the screen once or twice.

Liam Neeson looking as confused as some audience members


The bulk of the movie is the mystery of Dr. Martin Harris and trying to figure things out alongside him wondering if he actually does know who he is or if you’re as insane as he is. Through this journey, he befriends a cute illegal immigrant named Gina (Diane Kruger) and stumbles upon a quirky ex stasi officer (Bruno Ganz). Without these two characters, the movie would be unbearable in the slow parts…and the movie does start slow (again, it’s more of a thinker than action film). In my opinion, you can easily piece some things together and figure out the movie before the great unveiling in the end but based on audience reactions, a lot of people didn’t get it until the movie explained it for them. So don’t worry, this isn’t one of those movies that leaves you in the dark or lets you come up with your own interpretations.

Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger at a German rave, woop woop


I still don’t know if I would recommend this movie or not. I hate when studios market their movies in a certain light and not represent them correctly. I loved Taken and was anticipating more kick-ass action like that so I was kind of disappointed while watching Unknown realizing that it was slower and more plot-centric. However, as the movie progresses, it comes into its own and it is a nice interesting twist of ideas. I enjoyed it, but they could’ve done a lot of things better with more cohesion and development. With other films like this, you realized everything is connected in a crazy web of deceit or illusion but in this one…some characters and side stories could have been cut or made more paramount. In the end, it’s a nice attempt at a movie that’ll make you go hmmmm.

REVIEW: The Next Three Days

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

The Next Three DaysThe Next Three Days is such an awkward movie but if you can sit through the first hour, the ending just might be worth it. The movie follows John Brennan (Russell Crowe), a community college teacher, as he rescues his innocent wife (Elizabeth Banks) from jail. He turns from a timid loving father to a conniving MacGyver via YouTube in just three days! That’s a lie, it takes about three years and that is why most of the movie is a drag. (This is Paul Haggis’ remake of a French film, “Anything for Her” from 2008 which I have not seen)


This movie will confuse some people right from the beginning because it doesn’t start with the movie title, “The Next Three Days.” Instead, it starts with “The Last 3 Years” and it takes about that long to get the story going. We join John Brennan and his wife, Laura, having a double dinner date with John’s brother Mick (Michael Buie) and big-boobed wife (Moran Atias). Laura just had a bad day ending with a fight with her boss. The next morning, Laura’s boss is dead and she is arrested for murder in front of her husband and traumatized son.

The Next Three Days

Laura (Elizabeth Banks) being arrested in front of her husband and traumatized son


John does everything in his powers to prove his wife’s innocence in court but the evidence is stacked up against her. Like Don Quixote, the book John is teaching in class, he is irrational with reality and can’t accept that his wife will live her life in prison away from their son. He begins researching on how to escape jails which leads him to a brief cameo montage with Liam Neeson. (Sadly, he does no ass-kicking like in Taken). Liam tells John that escaping jail is the easy part, it’s figuring out how to stay free that’s hard. Hence, “The Next Three Days” but this movie doesn’t move that fast, now it’s “The Last 3 Months.”
The Next Three Days

Olivia Wilde and Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days


Over the next three months, John meticulously plans his wife’s getaway while taking care of their son and having play dates with Olivia Wilde (I had to throw her in here because she’s beautiful but doesn’t really have a role in this film). As per Liam Neeson’s advice, he keeps track of anything and everything going on in the jail preparing for that one opening to set his plan in motion. Throughout his escapades, he goes into the underworld of Pittsburgh where he runs into the RZA, Kevin Corrigan, and a deaf biker.
The Next Three Days

The RZA continues to get his foot into Hollywood's front door


The Next Three Days begins extremely slow and sad to say doesn’t really pick up that much. The movie is pretty long (over 2 hours), filmed in a dull tone, and doesn’t have much action…it’s more of a thinker. You can expect a lot of piano notes and string instruments to set the curious mood. However, it was satisfying to see Russell Crowe execute his plan in the end. It gets very tense at moments and you never really know what’s going to happen next or what he had planned for. Is he two steps ahead of the police or are they going to catch up? Did he anticipate everything like Liam Neeson warned or does he want his wife’s freedom too much that he’s going to f- it up? As I said in the intro, if you can sit through this movie, you’ll be somewhat satisfied by the end.
The Next Three Days

Don't draw attention to yourself, just run through the streets!


Let’s sum it up…3 years turns into 3 months and then 3 days. Brief cameos from Liam Neeson, the RZA, Kevin Corrigan, and Olivia Wilde. Stuff happens and then more stuff happens and then the credits roll. All in all, it’s better than a lot of the bad films this year but still not worth a seat in the theater, I’d wait for Netflix. (or maybe just go rent the French version now..it’s shorter!)

REVIEW: The A-Team

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

The A-TeamThe A-Team was Awesome. Yes, the A stands for Awesome (it really stands for Alpha). I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and didn’t expect the movie to be this good. To me, it’s exactly what an action comedy should be. It’s really funny and the plot keeps moving along with help from the action. It has almost every type of humor: quick quips, corny jokes, tongue and cheek, physical humor, play on words, etc. so everyone’s going to laugh. Guaranteed. I saw it in Dubai and that audience was laughing and clapping throughout the film and the theater wasn’t even half filled. And if you’re in it for the action, there’s enough explosions and gun fire to make anyone trigger happy…happy.


The A-Team is about a group of rogue Army Rangers who band together and make a unit who specialize in the ridiculous. It consists or Face (Bradley Cooper) who is your good looks get into and out of trouble guy, B.A. Baracus (Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson) who is your solve any problem with his fists type of guy, Murdock (Sharlto Copley) who is literally crazy but can fly almost anything with wings, and they’re all led by Hannibal (Liam Neeson) who is your man with a plan. Together, they can get anything done that needs to get done no matter what the circumstances. Jessica Biel is also in the movie as an army member and love interest to Face but she didn’t add much to the movie except for a little eye candy.

The A-Team

The A-Team planning out one of their impossible missions


The lines in the script are really good and the chemistry between these four guys fits together so well. As they interact with each other, it seems seems as if they’ve known one another for a lifetime. With comedy, it’s not just the lines but the delivery and timing and all four of these guys play their role really well and deliver funny performances. The action is comedic too being way over the top. This is the type of action where the plan has to go exactly right, the shots have to be miraculously aimed, and the timing has to be impeccable. This is only achieved through movie magic or highly trained covert government professionals…lucky enough this is a movie about highly trained covert government professions so you get two times the ridiculous action. As Hannibal puts it, “overkill is underrated.”


The script on the other hand, isn’t that good. You get to see more than one mission from the crew, which I like…but the main mission (which is set up by being betrayed and framed in a previous mission) is a mishmash of other movie tricks and twists. I enjoyed the movie right up until the very end. While watching the bulk of the movie, I was asking myself how fast they could make the sequel because I want to watch it now! There’s so much going on between these four characters that they could easily pull in another story line and make another great movie. Or maybe turn this into a tv-show where every week they go on another crazy adventure. (That was a joke, if you don’t know, this is a remake of the popular tv-show of the same name.)
The A-Team

The A-Team showing their guns


The ending went over the line for me though. It turned into just an action film with big explosions and no real substance…pretty much a Michael Bay film. It stopped being funny and forgot it’s own special quirk that made the rest of the movie work. But I guess you have to finish the mission and tie up all the loose plot lines. Most of the movie is good enough for me to ignore the lackluster ending and give my approval for the movie. I’d recommend it for anyone and everyone…it’s a great summer movie. Oh, and you can wait until the very end because there is something after the credits.

REVIEW: after.life

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

after.lifeThe premise of after.life is really intriguing. When you see it play out in the film, it’s very thought provoking and you will find yourself asking yourself a lot of questions during and after the film. This is a messed up and twisted movie about the transition from living to dead…to the afterlife. Based in a massive funeral home of Eliot Deacon, you join Anna Taylor as she confronts the idea of her losing her life. The story begins while Anna, played by Christina Ricci, is still alive living her everyday life as a middle school teacher with her boyfriend Paul, played by Justin Long. She goes to a funeral of her old piano teacher where she meets Eliot Deacon, played by Liam Neeson, for the first time. Anna’s everyday life isn’t all that well…she constantly pops pills and can’t seem to not have an argument with her boyfriend. One night, she gets into yet another argument with Paul and storms out of dinner by driving away in terrible weather where she eventually gets into a crash. Don’t worry, this isn’t a spoiler to the movie as it happens pretty early and the whole focus of the film is her journey to the other side. She wakes up dazed and confused in the funeral home meeting the funeral director hovering over her body. She doesn’t believe she’s dead and Deacon lets her know that he can communicate with her because he has a gift and that he’s the only one with this gift that can talk to her.


This is a hard film to review because I don’t want to give away too much of what happens next. The film takes us, the audience, on a back and forth battle where it tries to convince us as Deacon tries to convince Anna that she is in fact dead. You never really know if she’s alive or not and the movie gives you clues to both states. You’re also not only kept to the funeral home, you also follow Anna’s boyfriend as he tries to figure out what really happened to his girlfriend since he thinks it’s his fault that she stormed out that night. At times the move is suspenseful and at other times it is aggravating because it toys with you and puts the characters in different scenarios where you just want something to happen to prove whether or not she’s really alive or dead. It’s a very interesting concept.


The film itself isn’t as strong as the idea behind it. The dialogue is pretty bad and childish giving punny lines and obvious foreshadows like when characters say “scared the life out of me” and “I’ve never been to a funeral before.” However, it does offer some nuggets of intrigue with lines from the funeral director as he tries to convince Anna that she’s already dead like “you all say you’re scared of death, but you’re all scared of life” and “maybe you died a long time ago.” The movie itself tries too hard to be indie and adds scenes that could’ve been left on the cutting room floor. The imagery is plain and common and doesn’t really add anything to the movie.


I really liked the idea behind the story but I know that audience members will hate the movie if they don’t get it. Walking out of my screening, there were a lot of groans and moans from the audience and people saying “I don’t get it” or “I’m so lost.” People also complained that the movie ran a bit long and could’ve ended at a couple points which is true, but the film was trying to give its opinion on a lot of subjects. I didn’t like the ending myself because the movie presented Deacon as one thing but then totally ruined it at the end turning him into something else. I would recommend the movie if you want to see something different and give your brain a little something to think about. Let me give you a question to begin with: How can you convince yourself that you’re living…right now?

REVIEW: Clash of the Titans

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

Clash of the TitansHere’s the gist of it: Clash of the Titans follows a demigod (half man/half god) named Perseusas as he fulfils his fate to bring in the new era of man and replace the rule of the Gods. Man was created by Zeus and man’s prayers fuel the God’s immortality. However, Man started to grow tired of the Gods and started to turn on them. Hades, Zeus’s bitter brother, decides to use this opportunity to overthrow his brother and take power over both Gods and Man through his pet monster called the Kraken. Long story short (the movie is 2 hours long), this is yet another one guy goes on a journey, meets people along the way, finds himself, and saves the world movie. The visuals are pretty poor, the acting is blah, and the music is mundane. It definitely should not be in 3D, but more on that later…


I’m going to try and steer you away from this movie and give you some alternatives. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (review) which is actually a pretty similar story line and shares some of the same Greek myths and themes, has better imagery (you can put almost identical scenes side by side) and is honestly more entertaining. But, Percy Jackson was made for kids so if you want better action (and a lot more gore), wait for Centurion (review) which is in a similar era (not mythology, but still swords and arrows). It comes out in the UK next month, but I got to see a screening at the South by Southwest Film Festival and you can check out my review here.


When it comes to new things, a lot of the time after you take 2 steps forward (Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon (review)), you take 1 step back. Clash of the Titans was one huge step back…in more than one way. The biggest issue everyone will have with this movie is the unwarranted 3D. This movie was made in 2D but then the studio decided they wanted to squeeze a few more bucks out of it so they delayed the movie and made it 3D in post production. What does that mean? It means that instead of using the new 3D cameras that were made for and used in movies such as Avatar, they filmed the movie with regular cameras and added 3D elements after. As a result, the 3D was pitiful and in some ways distracting. If you can, watch this movie in 2D or just take off the 3D glasses, trust me, you’ll enjoy the movie more. To be honest, some of the scenes surprised me with how they could transform 2D into some cool 3D, but most of the time with most of the scenes, it was crap.


So, that’s one step back. This movie also took another step back for Greek mythology. They used the same old worn out stories and didn’t go in depth on anything in particular. I know this was a remake but there were only small glimpses of reimagination when there was so much potential to retell the golden tales of past and expose an audience to some new gems. As the movie stated when it began, the oldest stories are told in the stars…these are some of the greatest oldest stories; they could’ve tried to breathe new life into them. Instead, you got a blockbuster movie aimed to squeeze that first weekend box office for all its worth and then fall to the Kraken of public opinion.