Movie Reviews By Movie Reviews Pro

The Losers

Rating:

Movie: The Losers (2010)

Studio : Warner Bros.

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 98 min

Website : the-losers.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/videoxc2luf

Review:

Based on a comic of the same name, this film is an old-fashioned action movie with tough guys, guns, chicks, and explosions. The plot has the main characters, The Losers, traveling from place to place, working together, carrying out various missions, exchanging witty banter, while trying to find and destroy the ever-so-elusive Max, a ruthless boss who is very well-protected.

Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) directs this action flick with lots of confidence, zooms, action still shots, and various editing tricks, which, thankfully, weren’t too distracting. The typical action movie plot had occasional fun twists.

The characters and their relationship dynamics truly make this film shine. They have great chemistry. Jeffery Dean Morgan (who played The Comedian in The Watchmen) is charismatic as the decisive, yet flawed leader of the group. Zoe Saldana brings a lot of feminine charm and spunk as Aisha. The banter between the characters brings a lot of humor and life to much of the film.

Jason Patric is particularly great to watch on screen as the bad guy, Max, an evil genius with the best lines, just short from being completely insane. He is often surrounded by women. He kills and gets people killed for small things. Of course, he may not be realistic, but is a great cinematic bad guy.

There are occasional missteps here and there. A fight scene between Clay and Aisha appear to make little sense in regards to plot (but hey, it looks cool). Also, while the stunt work and real-life action scenes look good, whenever there is CG, it looks out of place, and in some cases, took me out of the film. Now, given its comic book origins, I have forgiven a lot worse in other films that were also made from comics.

This film reminded me a bit of the 2003’s Italian Job, in terms of flavor. Overall, this film, padded with humor, action, and fun characters, was made purely to entertain, and the filmmakers have certainly accomplished that mission.

-”D-Art” Kang

Action, Adventure, Drama, In Theaters, Mystery, Thriller Action, Adventure, Drama, losers, Mystery, Thriller

Layer Cake

Rating:

Movie: Layer Cake

Studio : Sony

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : Layer Cake Movie

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/videox8ptle

Review:

When looking up “Layer Cake” on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, the combined, it only gained a 7.75, but the reasons given by critics were that it was the same as all the other British crime dramas that predated it, mostly notably “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”. As the producer on the two movies, it isn’t surprising that one would make this comparison, but they missed the mark. The point of “Layer Cake” was to take these same ideas, where bumbling criminals can always succeed and turn them on its head.

On previous projects that Mr. Vaughn worked with Guy Richie, the characters played by Jason Statham, Tom and Turkish respectively were neither adept nor even competent. The character played by Craig is a middle man for the British drug trade with aspirations of getting out of the business, not because of morality, but because he is a business man who tires of the incompetence of those he works with. He is backed by a small group of cohorts who help him ply his trade. Because he is careful, Craig’s character tries to stay away from those who aren’t.

Unfortunately for him, in his self-stated last deal, he is given the task of selling 1,000,000 ecstasy hits which were stolen from a group of Serbian militants. The thieves are the kind that he attempts to avoid, but now has no choice but to associate with him. Having both the British drug lords and Serbian militants on either side of him, guns drawn if he decides to sell or give the drugs to anyone but them, he has to get creative.

With a stellar cast, including George Harris, Colm Meanny, Kenneth Cranham, Sienna Miller, and Michael Gambon, the film succeeds at every corner, giving only the exact amount of information needed to move the story forward. For a viewer that wants everything explained to them, this is not the film for you, but on a second watch, the film will answer most of the questions needed to truly enjoy the movie.

A last word about cinematography and soundtrack: I am not sure that I have seen many movies with many more beautiful shots which flow in and out like dancers on a stage or music that so suits the mood, from The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get Blue Monday out of My Head” to Joe Cocker’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, every song fits the moment of film perfectly as if they were written for this project.

Layer Cake is a must watch, and a suggested buy for film.

-M. Sigurd Hall

Crime, Drama, On BLU-RAY, On DVD, Thriller crime, Drama, Thriller

Brooklyn’s Finest

Rating:

Movie: Brooklyn’s Finest (2010)

Studio : Millenium Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 132 min

Website : brooklynsfinestthemovie.com

Trailer :http://www.dailymotion.com/videoxbjqfc

Review:

I’m currently teaching a class in introductory literature, during which students are required to read one play. This semester, that play will be Oedipus Rex. As I’ve been rereading the play and attempting to tie it into my lessons on Greek tragedy, I couldn’t help but think of Brooklyn’s Finest, which stars three characters who could easily be tragic heroes in a Greek drama.

The first is Tango (Don Cheadle), a narc who’s been undercover for so long that he’s become confused about where his loyalties lie, particularly to Caz (a returning Wesley Snipes), a drug dealer who apparently saved him during a prison riot when he did an undercover stint there. Eddie (Richard Gere) is a burnt-out patrolman with seven days left before retirement. We first see him when he wakes himself up by chugging some whiskey and pointing a revolver into his mouth. Ethan Hawke is Sal, a detective with a wife and family that’s too big to support, with a set of twins on the way. In desperation, he’s taken to robbing drug dealers.

The movie intercuts these three stories, as we’re meant to see the hardships that real New York City cops endure: it’s the antidote to the fake buddy cop picture. We see Tango’s frustration appear to drift into borderline madness as he keeps being promised Detective First Grade by his supervisor (Will Patton) and threatened by a slimy agent (Ellen Barkin) if he doesn’t bust Caz. Eddie’s being asked to mentor rookie cops by taking them into the high-crime Brooklyn streets that have worn him down. His “retirement ceremony” brings some dark humor, all the more because it’s so sad. Sal’s wife (Lili Taylor) has to go to the hospital because of mold on the ceiling, which is threatening the health of her unborn twins. “Can you move to a bigger house?” the doctor asks. If only he knew…

The pacing here is excellent. Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day, does a great job at moving back and forth between these three stories, never dwelling on one for too long but allowing us enough time to get to know each character. The only downside was I had a hard time sympathizing with Hawke’s character, who seems to have put himself in his predicament of “too many kids.” My reasons will make me sound inhuman, so I’ll stop there.

The cinematography is fitting to the story as well. We don’t see overhead shots of the Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan skyline in the background, like most New York-set movies. Shots are limited to the streets, because this is the world occupied by these cops. The romance of New York is lost by most people who live there, but these guys appear to see it as a crime-ridden hellhole. With the exception of a shot of a subway station and the Brooklyn accents (well-done by both Gere and Hawke), this could really take place in any city.

One of my favorite movies is Requiem for a Dream, based on the Hubert Selby book. I hadn’t seen his name on any of the previews, but I wondered for a bit if the screenplay had been adapted from one of his novels. Brooklyn served as a fitting backdrop for his stories, all of which focused on multiple characters suffering from their own faults, and ultimately, succumbing to the consequences to follow. Michael C. Martin and Brad Caleb Kane, the screenwriters, certainly seem to have been inspired. It’s well-written and well-made. Not as good as Training Day, but worth the trip to the theater.

-Craig Wynne

Action, Crime, Drama, Just left Theaters, Reviews by Genre, Reviews by Status, Thriller Action, Brooklyn's Finest, crime, Drama, Richard Gere, Thriller

Daybreakers

Rating:

Movie: Daybreakers(2010)

Studio : Lionsgate

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 98 min

Website : daybreakersmovie.com

Trailer :
http://www.dailymotion.com/videox9ot1f

Review:

When the Spierig brothers plotted out this film, you can tell from the start that they have a passion for vampires and the culture around them.

The world of Daybreakers is a reflection of our own, cast in a shadow where the dead work at night through a Metropolis-inspired cityscape as they drink their coffee mingled with AB positive. From sun-blocking tinted panels to LCD mirrors, the design of this alternate reality is perhaps the most breathtaking thing about this film.

We step into this world long after humanity was given an ultimatum to live as vampires or die as their cattle. Unfortunately, living this way has led to a decline in the once mighty human population, and humans are becoming rarer as vampires begin to starve. What’s worse, those that starve do not simply “die,” but instead lose their sentience and mutate into mindless bat-human hybrids (think Nosferatu). The fear of starving and the greater fear of mutating is creating havoc within the populace, and the only salvation to be found is in a blood substitute that will keep vampire society alive.

Ethan Hawke plays Edward—did they really have to name him that?—a researcher for a “Big Brother” pharmacy agency that is trying to find a blood substitute while trying to maintain their dwindling supply of humans to feed the country. He is also one of the only humanitarians of this world and brother to a soldier who enjoys life as a vampire. Along the way, Edward encounters a small colony of humans and a potential new way to save vampirekind.

The movie starts off as interesting, but the storyline can not seem to hold up. It wants to be a horror film, but really comes off as more of a thriller with action elements. I don’t mind this, but a lot of cheap scare tactics get thrown in to prove its origin and it gets annoying. Worse still, the luxurious pace of the film fails as it goes from a scenic stroll of this new world into a clumsy gallop past the interesting grotesqueness of this rotting society. It’s a shame considering there’s so much detail that is easy to miss by the later half of the film.

I think this film would have been better as a mini-series. With what the Spierig brothers made, it would have given more time to love being in their vampire-dominated society and made it that much more horrifying to watch it slowly crumble away. As it stands now, it’s only a good idea with a half-baked execution. Don’t get me wrong, it has a lot of cult potential, and at a 20 million dollar budget this is an impressive film, but I don’t see it winning the recognition it has the chance to gain.

-Donald Lee

Action, Horror, In Theaters, Thriller ethan hawke, michael spierig, movies better off as mini-series, peter spierig, spierig brothers, vampire city, willem defoe