Robert Zemeckis returns from the motion capture world to give us another movie with a plane crash and a pretty great staring turn by Denzel Washington. [Read more...]
Looking Ahead to 2012 – Quarter 4 (October – December)
10/01/2012 by 2 Comments
Alright people, it’s almost the end of the year – which means some big releases are coming out. Some of the biggest albums, movies, and video games are slatted for release, making for one incredible last quarter in 2012. Enough of this, let’s get to our selections. [Read more...]
HST… Film Review: Safe House
02/09/2012 by Leave a Comment
Lauren: Maybe it’s just me, but Safe House is possibly the worst title for this film. We’re talking Alanis Morissette levels of irony; at least upon first glance, anyway. After all, before long it is easy to lose track of the meaning of “safe as houses” as Denzel Washington brings down a heap of pain on Ryan Reynolds and the US government. [Read more...]
Review: Unstoppable
11/12/2010 by Leave a Comment
Tony Scott’s latest, Unstoppable, is a straight forward suspense action thriller that fails to ever live up to the intensity it hopes to create.
The plot is simple; a runaway, unmanned, train is barreling through Pennsylvania carrying explosive materials. It must be stopped before it hits an elevated turn in the middle of a highly populated town and two rail employees, one at the edge of the retirement the other just starting his career, decide to go after it and attempt to bring it too a stop. What follows is a series of events meant to build suspense and danger but the results fall flat.
The film’s pace is relentless and the film takes place more or less in real time. The movie starts and doesn’t waste a moment getting the train on the run but for all the supposed high suspense this film is supposed to have there are literally only three quick instances of suspense to be had in the picture. Three, that’s it, and obviously you know how every one of these is going to end before they even happen as well. Outside of these brief moments as we lead up the finale we are left to endure endless rotating shots of Denzel Washington and Chris Pine in their train cab. [Read more...]
Now Playing Review – Unstoppable
11/12/2010 by Leave a Comment
An unmanned train carrying hazardous materials is barreling down a stretch of track at 70 miles/hour that eventually passes through populated areas. A second train is also on this track traveling in the opposite direction towards it. If the second train is traveling at 40 miles/hour, how soon will the impending collision occur?
Okay, so technically the variables of this word problem don’t completely match the plot of Unstoppable, but when it comes down to it the film does play out like a high quality dramatization of a high school physics problem. There are trains moving towards each other, trains following each other, helicopters flaunting their velocity, and other crazy antics with the hope of bringing this train to a stop. Basically the list goes on and on. Luckily for us this makes all the variations of this physics problem much more exciting than I remember, and this is coming from someone who actually enjoyed that class. [Read more...]
Rental Review – The Book of Eli
07/01/2010 by 1 Comment
Throw together a lone figure with their own arsenal of weapons and a post apocalyptic world and you have the potential of a pretty cool film. But you also have the same description of about a billion other movies out today. Though we will trudge through the familiar in The Book of Eli, the end of the road is well worth the path taken to get there.
The lone figure for this film is Eli, a man who has been traveling across the barren remains of the United States, hoping to someday reach the western coast. Sounds simple enough, but it’s not as easy as a two-day journey in a commandeered car. Instead, Eli has spent the last 30 years hoofing it, dealing with the usual downside of an apocalypse, including the scarcity of food and water, and murderous thieves who will pry your stuff from your cold, dead hands before eating the body attached to those hands. Though these roadside attacks show that the value of a civilized society has gone down hill once the world as we know it was destroyed, small towns still exist, including one ran by a man with a strange obsession with the written word. I’ll give you one guess as to who is currently carrying a book with him. [Read more...]
Review: The Book of Eli
01/16/2010 by Leave a Comment
The Hughes Brothers post-apocalyptic adventure doesn’t bring a whole lot new to the table but has a good lead cast that keeps the film entertaining to a point but will have you scratching your head at the logistics of the film and make you a bit restless with not a whole lot going on.
Following a lone wander, Eli, through the desolated American west he patiently survives day to day, spending his nights reading from a book and only encountering those that are unavoidable. Upon showing up into a little town we are introduced to the boss of the neighborhood, Carnegie, who has gangs pillaging wanders on the road looking for a specific book that we come to figure out is, The Bible. Well it just so happens the book Eli is in possession of is in fact a bible and after a failed bid by Carnegie to charm Eli into turning it over to him so he can use its words to will people to his bidding they end up in a chase on the road west.
Unfortunately for the Hughes Bros. their film is covering quite similar territory to last year’s post-apocalyptic entry, The Road, and it doesn’t come close to touching that films quality. While Eli is a cool and pretty bad ass hero the film settles to be nothing more than a light on the action, action film, with a bit of Christian mysticism thrown in that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Eli is on a mission from God, who has spoken to him according to Eli, and the mission is to protect the book and to head west. [Read more...]
Review: Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
06/12/2009 by Leave a Comment
Tony Scott’s latest with frequent collaborator Denzel Washington is a mediocre affair that is poorly written and can’t even muster much style out of Scott either.
Walter Garber is introduced to us as an everyday transit authority civil servant that mans and maintains the New York City subway traffic so that it flows with ease and there are no delays for the many commuters it sees daily. Ryder and his crew are taking over the Pelham 123 train and after stopping it mid tunnel they detach the lead car and Ryder gets in touch with the sectors operator, Garber. Ryder demands ten million for the hostages he has on the train car and that he will execute one per minute the money is late. The police and mayor are both pulled into the fray and while the police have position on the train car, they are holding out for the possible negotiations; that don’t go entirely too smoothly. Garber and Ryder begin a series of discussions that expose them both for more then they led on to believe while the lives of the hostages are hanging in the balance as they wait for the money to arrive and more plot ensues. [Read more...]
Review: American Gangster
11/03/2007 by Leave a Comment
Keys to a great movie? Ridley Scott, check. Denzel Washington, check. Russell Crowe, check. Larger than life and wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t true story, check. Now all of these are thrown into one movie, and what comes out is absolutely fantastic. I do not have a single complaint about this movie and can not recommend to you enough to see it. But it was missing just that little something to make it special and absolutely amazing. [Read more...]
