Heartbreak Ridge

Heartbreak ridge is a 1986 action/comedy/drama movie directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. A standard military film, which while it has a standard plot is more driven by its characters. It's a motion picture made when more and more action films were becoming special effects heavy, but is more of a bare bones action film.

The plot is fairly straight forward, Clint plays Tom Highway, a veteran marine. Highway seeks a transfer to a new unit and is put in charge of training a recon team to straighten up and turn them into marines. At the same time as he is training this platoon, he knows that his life as a military man is coming to an end and is trying to cope with that. In addition to everything else that is going on he also talks to and seeks to mend fences with his ex wife.

I found this plot to be entertaining, despite being a fairly cliched story. Its a very well written and well paced story that has a little bit of everything, but never too much. Its balanced out and every part of the story has something to advance the plot and keep the story rolling.

+

The Acting in this film was great and it was interesting seeing these characters change and grow over time. Eastwood did a great job with the Highway character being both tough as nails, and able to show emotions in other scenes.

The supporting actors also did an amazing job with their characters. Mario Van Peebles as "Stitch" Jones, Everett Mcgill as Major Powers and Marsha Mason as Aggie all turned in great performances. Everett Mcgill especially did a great job as the antagonist to Highway, by the end of the movie you really do hate his character.

There are some bad points to this film though. The army base doesn't seem as expansive as you would imagine, only having what seems like a few barracks and only house two platoons. Another thing that I noticed is the ending scenes seemed to give off a "low budget" feeling.

Heartbreak Ridge is not only a great war movie, but a great dramatic film as well. Dealing with the battles being waged in the field, but also the internal battle of a man trying to deal with his past and future. An enjoyable film for anyone looking for a great story told on screen by some great actors.

Grade: B


Trailer:

Jack Reacher

Tom Cruise movies over the past few years have been very hit or miss. For every good movie there's one or two mediocre films. So when I got the chance to see Jack Reacher, I went in not knowing what to expect from the film. Was it a explosive action thriller, or just a bomb? lets find out.

Plot: One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The man's interrogation yields one statement: Get Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). Reacher, an enigmatic ex-Army investigator, believes the authorities have the right man but agrees to help the sniper's defense attorney (Rosamund Pike). However, the more Reacher delves into the case, the less clear-cut it appears.

Thoughts: The plot in this film, in my opinion at least, was great. A smoothly laid out story that goes along at a steady pace and always has a surprise or twist waiting ahead. There was rarely a boring moment in the story, unlike some action thrillers, which often have their dull spots.

Acting: Tom Cruise was on top of his game here. Delivering some sharp dialog with some funny lines, this is one of his best performances in years. He is backed up by a great supporting cast, which have very defined characters and don't fade into the background. Rosamund Pike and Richard Jenkins playing Helen and Rodin gave outstanding performances as a daughter/ father with a strained relationship, which in turn elevated the tension at points. Good stuff all around.

What I liked: This film used comedy to lighten the tension of what was going on. Nothing to overpower the action or drama, but just enough to get laugh in and lighten the mood.

In addition to this, I also liked how the film showed things from multiple angles, especially when Reacher was giving his take on what happened.

Overall: A fantastic mystery movie with a bit of action to it. Even if you have never read the books (which I haven't), you should still have a fun and entertaining time watching this film.

Final Grade: A

A Haunted House

Normally when I see a film involving any of the Wayans brothers now a days, I just walk away from it. I decided to give this one a chance since it seemed like a concept for parody with fairly decent potential. So was this movie making people run away scared....or just running away? Here's A Haunted House!

Plot:Malcolm and Kisha move into their dream home, but soon learn a demon also resides there. When Kisha becomes possessed, Malcolm - determined to keep his sex life on track - turns to a priest, a psychic, and a team of ghost-busters for help.

Thoughts: I kind of knew what to expect from the film based on other films I've seen from the same genre, like the "Scary Movie" films. I was thrown a curve ball with this one as I didn't expect the mix of parody and seriousness.

Acting: The acting was pretty goof in this film, better than I thought it would be. All the actors had very distinguishable characters and were fairly entertaining in each of their roles.

What I liked: Flip flopping between seriousness and mocking films like "Paranormal Activity" made for a fun viewing experience. I also liked that this film didn't try to drag in pop culture references like so many other parody films do.

What I disliked: To a degree this movie was more of the same that we've seen since the first "Scary movie" film.

Overall: A decently entertaining movie, funniest parody film I've seen since Scary Movie 2

Final Grade: B

Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world

Very seldom does a film come around where its title truly describes it. It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world lives up to and surpasses its name. A wacky film, bursting at the seams with actors and one insane plot. Lets enter a mad, mad, mad, mad world! 

Plot: The dying words of a thief spark a madcap cross-country rush to find some treasure.

Thoughts: This films plot, as with every other part of the movie is a roller coaster ride of insanity. Seeing all of these characters wrapped up in these crazy situations in a race against the clock was hilarious. In all honesty it was more fun than I expected for such a simple story concept.

Acting: There are way too many actors to focus on anything specifically, but overall this films acting / gags exceeded my expectations. Some of the best comedy work I've ever seen, and it still holds up despite the film being 50 years old. 

What I liked: There were so many cameos in this film, that you lose count. In some films this would be a bad thing, but here it works. 

What I disliked: If I had to say I disliked something from this film, about the only thing I could say is that at times so much is going on that you lose track, but really it adds to the hectic fun that this film is. 

Overall: A fun film, that is a testament to all involved and an excellent example of screwball comedy at its finest. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who is a fan of comedy, or is just looking for a throwback to a different time of comedic films. 

Final Grade: A

Blue Thunder

Blue Thunder, a 1983 film starring Roy Scheider as helicopter-pilot-officer Frank Murphy was a huge success when it was released. With an outstanding cast, a great plot and best of all brilliant flight sequences, its easy to see why. Now the question is, how well does it hold up 30 years later?

Plot: The cop test pilot for an experimental police helicopter learns the sinister implications of the new vehicle.

Thoughts: While the plot is pretty standard fare for an action film like this. For what seemed to be a basic plot, the story was very entertaining. After the true intentions for the helicopter are discovered the films story really picks up and it only gets more exciting.


Acting: This film had so many great actors in it. From Roy Scheider to a very young Daniel Stern, the characters were all cast very well and complimented the other actors in certain ways. Roy Scheider's Frank Murphy character was a great hero for the film, made even better by an outstanding villain in Malcolm Mcdowell's  Col. Cochrane. Other notable actors include Warren Oates as Capt. Braddock and Candy Clark as Kate.

What I Liked: While the acting no doubt made this film, the flight scenes with the helicopters put it over the top. Even with all the action films made since 1983, I don't think I've seen a better dog fighting sequence than in this film.

What I disliked: The only thing I disliked with this film was the sub-plot between Frank and Kate. They made a little bit bigger deal of it than was needed, then acted like everything was perfectly fine between
them.

Overall: A thrilling action film that is interesting and fun the whole way through. Blue Thunder still holds up well for an action movie in my opinion and would highly recommend this to any action film fan looking for an exciting and fun movie.

Final Grade: A-

Trailer:

The Hunger Games

While I never had any interest in the books, The Hunger Games did interest me as a film. With an all star cast and what sounded like a decent story idea behind it, I decided to finally check it out.

Plot: Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete.

Thoughts: While my immediate thoughts went to "The Running Man", after watching it I really enjoyed the plot. Having never read the books I still enjoyed the story from the film version, which it succeeded on that point, as all films based on books should.

Acting: The acting was outstanding in this film. Jennifer Lawrence did an amazing job as Katniss, and her performance took me from not caring about the character, to actually rooting for her. She conveyed the feelings of the scene to a viewer in such a way that you feel the emotions and get invested in the film and story.

The supporting cast was amazing, featuring such stars as Stanley Tucci, Elizabeth Banks and Woody Harrelson. They all did a great job with their characters, Banks especially was almost unrecognizable as her character. I couldn't tell it was her until looking at the cast list.

What I liked: I LOVED the way the film used its music. During some of the heavier action sequences, using music over the actual audio created a powerful sequence on screen. 

What I disliked: At times there was a little too much going on screen. For instance the scene at the very start of the games was hectic. So much was going on that it was hard to keep track of what was happening.

Overall: For a film which I had mild interest in, The Hunger Games took me on one heck of a ride. It was a great roller coaster ride of emotions from pity to fear to excitement. All in all an enjoyable film to watch, even if you've never read the books.

Final Grade: A

Man of Steel - Official Trailer 3 [HD]

My standard for a Superman movie is the original film starring Christopher Reeve...looks like that's about to change in June.

This trailer shows everything that I wished would be in a Superman film, and it fits the character perfectly.

Thankfully it looks like this film will be MUCH better than Superman Returns