Search

Search only in certain items:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
2015 | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
All good things must come to an end and with the fourth and final film based on Suzanne Collin’s widely popular Hunger Games series, audience get a chance to say goodbye to their favorite characters.

Literally picking up mid-scene, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2” features Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), dealing with the vicious attack from Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), after having his mind scrambled by the evil minions of President Snow (Donald Sutherland).

Despite the desires of District 13 President Coin (Julianne Moore), for Katniss to stay behind the lines following a harrowing incident during a visit to the Districts, Katniss is determined to kill Snow, and sets off with a dream team who is actually working behind the lines to film propaganda videos.

Naturally things are not as safe as they seem and before long, Katniss and her team are not only dealing with the dangers of the Capitol, but with an unknown element in the form of Peeta who was assigned to accompany them mid mission.

Politics soon appear to be as big a danger to Katniss to the traps and deadly creations that Snow has devised for her, but undaunted, Katniss and her crew must face the dangers to restore freedom to the people.

The film follows the book well in the second half of the film but it does suffer from pacing and editing issues. The film takes a while to get to the action and then takes a rest and conversation route for the characters. This is followed later in the film which undermines a sense of urgency for the characters. What made the earlier films such a success was the social commentary and horrific fascination of great splendor while those around them suffer and starve to toil away to provide creature comforts to the elite class. There was also the fact that the children of the oppressed were forced to battle to the death for the entertainment of the wealthy as well.

This element is lacking from this film, as it is in many ways a road trip of sorts with a couple of action scenes tossed in. Lawrence does well with what she has but she is essentially like most of the cast forced to play out the string save for some powerful but all too fleeting moments. Hutcherson shines as Peeta as you can see his torment as he strives to recover the personality and memories that are his and not fabrications, as well as his constant turmoil.

In the end the film unfolds not In a grand spectacle but rather pedestrian which while in keeping with the book, does seem disappointing compared to how good the series has been to date.

The film will satisfy fans but it does not hold your attention and fill you with suspense the way the first two films did, and despite its best efforts, is slightly below part 1. That being said, it is entertaining and does make for a satisfying end to the series, despite missing on the potential to do more with the material and characters.

http://sknr.net/2015/11/19/the-hunger-games-mockingjay-part-2/
  
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
2004 | Comedy, Horror
With the recent influx of the walking dead at your local multiplex, it would be easy to dismiss the British film “Shaun of the Dead” as just another cheap zombie film. While few will mistake “Shaun” as a landmark in cinematic history, but despite its flaws, there are a few funny moments on the film.
The film attempts to mix horror and comedy and largely but works best if viewed as a comedic satire of the genre. Shaun, (Simon Pegg), (who also helped write the film), is a working class stiff who toils away his time in an London district selling electronics by day and squiring the love of his life Liz (Kate Ashfield), to the local pub much to her dismay as the monotony of the situation and Shaun’s obscene slacker friend Ed (Nick Frost), have worn on her last nerve.
Despite getting an ultimatum from Liz to take her to someplace other than the pub, Shaun becomes distracted and fails to secure a table elsewhere, causing Liz to storm out and send Shaun into a spiral as he begins to question his place in life and suspect that there is much more that he should be doing.
As if this was not enough of a burden for Shaun to endure, the local population seems to be acting oddly as reports of mayhem and carnage are starting to arise and the streets start to fill with Zombies. At first Shaun and Ed are oblivious to the changes around them as they continue their daily routines without noticing the blood stains, bodies and walking dead in the neighborhood, that is until one decided to attack.
Shaun and Ed soon get a nasty dose of reality and Shaun eventually decides that he must get his mother and Liz to safety, so armed with his Cricket bat, he takes on the grisly horde of undead against overwhelming odds.
While the film does have some good comedic moments, it drags horribly for the last 20 minutes as only a funny but albeit brief segment involving a zombie attack to a Queen classic is the only respite in the monotone that the film crawls to. The biggest problem is that the film seems to run out of material about 40 minutes in and the makers of the film try to stretch the film using standards from past zombie films. We have the desperate stand in a surrounded building, the improvised weapons, the infighting between survivors, and the classic bearing of the soul when it seems darkest.
I do admire the creative element that the creators of the film came up with especially with the obvious budget restrictions they were under. That being said, the film is not worthy of the praise that is being heaped upon it. Yes, it shows promise for the cast, and yes it is a nice twist on the tired zombie genre, but any momentum that was gained in the early portion of the film is quickly destroyed by the sputtering plot that crawls its way to the finish with a ho-hum climax that will disappoint any in the audience who still care.
  
Identity Thief (2013)
Identity Thief (2013)
2013 | Comedy
5
5.7 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Life for Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman), is a comfortable middle class existence. He is a father of two daughters and is expecting a third child soon with his loving wife Trish (Amanda Peet). While they have financial concerns with the pending arrival of their new baby, Sandy is hoping for a bonus and promotion at his job working for a financial service company. Things take a turn for the worse for Sandy when not only does he get neither a bonus nor promotion, but he learns that his supervisors are authorizing themselves large bonus checks which he is in charge of issuing.

Sandy and his friend Daniel (John Cho), decide that enough is enough and decide to start their own company with Sandy as V.P. Although a risky move, this could be the answer to his financial needs and Sandy jumps aboard without a second thought. Enter Diana (Melissa McCarthy), a professional identity thief who packs her Florida home with all manner of items obtained via her knack for creating credit cards belonging to other people.

Sandy thanks to his unisex name, has become the latest target for Diana and in no time, finds that his credit cards are maxed out, and worst yet, he is wanted by the police. This does not sit well for his new position as a V.P. with credit issues and warrants will scare off investors. Sandy learns that the timeline for clearing his name can be extensive, so he hatches a plan after receiving a spa confirmation call from Florida. Sandy with the knowledge of the police plans to travel to Florida and bring the person who has stolen his identity to Denver to clear his name. He hopes that a promise of no prosecution will trick her into the trip and clearing his good name.

Since the film is a comedy, things naturally do not go as planned as Denise is crafty and will resort to anything from throat punches to vehicular assault to stay one step ahead of the law. Denise has run afoul of a criminal element for issuing them credit cards that she has already maxed out and they dispatch two killers to take her and anyone she is with out. As if this is not bad enough, a psycho skip tracer (Robert Patrick) is also in hot pursuit and set on capturing the large reward on Denise. What follows is a mixture of the buddy comedy formula and road trip film which more than once reminded me of the recent “Due Date”. “Identity Thief” has a great premise and cast to it, but it is saddled by long stretches that drag on. The film takes a while to get started and never seems to find a pace that works for it.

McCarthy has some great lines and moments and Bateman does a solid job as the straight main foil. The problem is, the laughs are to few and far between to justify the nearly two hour run time. This is a shame as with about 30 minutes trimmed this could have been a very tight and witty comedy but instead under director Seth Gordon best efforts, the film never reaches its potential.
  
The Tomorrow War (2021)
The Tomorrow War (2021)
2021 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
6
7.3 (20 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Slow to start but finishes as a fun Summer flick
The reviews that I had read before I watched the Chris Pratt/Alien Invaders flick THE TOMORROW WAR was that it was a pretty okay film for the first hour and a half, but goes “off the rails” in the last 1/2 hour.

I couldn’t disagree more. The Tomorrow War is a safe and confined film for the first hour and a half and only becomes interesting when they take off all constraints and “goes for it” in the last 1/2 hour.

Directed by Chris McKay (THE LEGO MOVIE), THE TOMORROW WAR follows a working class guy (Chris Pratt) who is recruited to head into the future to help fight alien invaders. He teams up with one of the leaders of the “Tomorrow War” (Yvonne Strahovski) for whom he has a special bond with to recapture Earth for the humans.

The premise is solid enough, but the Direction by McKay keeps the film in the “safe zone”, never veering away into anything interesting and original, almost like McKay wanted to keep the events of the future “believable”. This is a miscalculation by McKay (and Pratt) and makes the film “fine”, but not much more than that.

Pratt’s performance is also in the “safe zone” and tones down his usual daffy charm and charisma - rarely a good idea with a Movie Star who relies on these qualities. Strahovski is solid and believable (enough) as the tough-as-nails scientist as one of the leaders of the future humans. She and Pratt worked well off each other and this helped get me through the middle of this film (where it sags under the weight of it’s own pretentions).

Also along for the ride is Sam Richardson (VEEP) as a fellow Tomorrow War draftee who provides much needed comic relief in the first part of the film. But he does veer into the “over-acting/caricature” territory that these types of parts can lead to. It was also good to see Mary Lynn Rajskub (Chloe in the TV Series 24) up on the screen again. I was rooting for her throughout the film.

But it is the work of the always great J.K. Simmons that salvages the film. He only appears in 1 scene in the first 3/4 of this movie - he is the estranged father of Pratt’s character - but when these 2 join forces for the last 1/2 hour, the film takes a dramatic turn to the Summer Blockbuster over-the-top action hero fun flick that it probably needed to be from the beginning. Simmons looks like he is having a blast taking out Alien after Alien and Pratt suddenly looks interested and his natural charm and charisma comes out.

Watch the first hour and a half as a setup for the last 1/2 hour. If you are looking for mindless Summer entertainment, the final part of this film will fit the bill, indeed.

Letter Grade: B- (the first hour and a half takes some initiative to get through)

6 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
    YouCam Snap

    YouCam Snap

    Productivity and Utilities

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Scan and Digitize Your Photos, Notes, Presentation and More!! - Automatically de-skew, straighten...

    WPS Office

    WPS Office

    Business and Utilities

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Rated as  ”Best Office App for Mobile”  ”the Easiest Word Processor on Phone” by Millions...

    Lifeform

    Lifeform

    8.5 (2 Ratings) Rate It

    Tabletop Game

    9.1 Lifeform (2018) 16 Ratings & 43 Comments · GeekBuddy Analysis Gameplay 2–4 Players ...

Land of the Dead (2005)
Land of the Dead (2005)
2005 | Action, Drama, Horror
Twenty years after his last installment of the classic “Dead” zombie genre, landmark Horror writer/director George Romero has returned to the delight of fans worldwide.

After years of various horror projects, and remakes of his previous “Dead” films, fans had begun to wonder if they had seen the last of Romero’s Zombie films and had to content themselves with the remakes and rumored offshoots and sequels from such.

Thankfully, with Land of the Dead Romero has returned to his basics and has crafted a Zombie thriller that is not only better than 85’s disappointing “Day of the Dead”, but on par with the ground breaking “Dawn of the Dead and the classic Original “Night of the Living Dead.”

For those who are not familiar with the series, the dead have arisen and now walk the earth looking for humans to feed upon. Gone is any memory of their former selves, only the insatiable desire to feed remains. How this event happened is never explained in the films viewers simply have to accept that it is happening and that those who are bitten by zombies are destined to join the ranks of the undead.

Like the previous films, the story follows a group of humans who are attempting to survive against the zombie hordes and who seek shelter and a way to stave off the zombie masses.

In Land of the Dead, a group of survivors have taken refuge in a fortified city where the common folks live in the streets while the affluent live in pristine high rise complex with many of the luxuries of their past lives.

One such survivor is Riley (Simon Baker), who spends his time venturing beyond the walls of the city with his team as they attempt to locate food, medicines, and other needed items in cities that have been abandoned due to zombie infestation.

As the film opens, Riley is completing his last run as he plans to venture north to find a cold and desolated area that is devoid of zombies and huddled masses.

His second in command Cholo, (John Leguizamo), is anxious to take over, as he sees the expeditions as a chance to obtain valuable items such as cigars and whiskey, which he can in turn sell to those who live in luxury. This desire causes much friction between Riley and Cholo but with the pending departure of Riley, Cholo realizes he may be able to finally purchase a home of his own in the luxury high rise.

Things do not go as planned for Cholo as when he tells his boss, Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), about his plans to move into the new complex, he is shocked to learn that Riley’s prediction of class exclusions in the building apply to him as well.

Furious over being used and cheated of his dreams and money, and an attempt upon his life, Cholo decides to hijack a well-armed armored vehicle that defends the city in an effort to extort his payment from Kaufman.

At the same time, Riley has learned that he has be swindled from his car, and soon finds himself working with Kaufman in an attempt to recover the armored vehicle from Cholo before he unleashes a hail of rockets upon the city. In short order, Riley and his support team are forced to enter the zombie infested streets to save the day.

Of course with “Land” being a Zombie film, the city will soon find itself overrun with all manner of ghouls and there will be plenty of flesh splitting, blood spattering, gore spewing scenes that will delight fans of the genre and elicit more than a few shrieks and cheers from the audience.

It is learned that the zombies have started to evolve and as such, now communicate with each other in a basic way, which makes their attacks even more dangerous as they are organized and starting to use tools and weapons.

What this all ads up to is a thrilling romp that will delight fans of the genre. Sure the story and characters are not the deepest, but as horror films go, there is a complexity to them. Hopper does great work as Kaufman as his malicious and selfish nature provides the perfect focal point to the films numerous commentaries on topics ranging from social class, to politics and well fare as well as the plight of the inner cities.

The genius of Romero is that he can insert so many topics into the film without it every seeming heavy-handed or over the top. The use of social commentary adds strength to the story as while the characters are in a very unrealistic situation, their base desires, motivations and behaviors are easily identifiable and strong.

Some may see Land of the Dead as just another blood and guts film with a basic story that lacks depth. To those who are fans of the genre and series, “Land” will likely be seen as a triumphant return to the genre he made his own by Romero and will enjoy the ride.