(trailer review) - Crime 101

First of all, sometimes I hate seeing a bunch of familiar actors in a movie. Do not get me wrong, I do like a lot of these actors, but sometimes I wonder, why do you not have up-and-coming actors for movies that the audience do not know of, and not necessarily phase the already established actors out, but to at least bring new actors in, talented ones anyway. I know they do actually do this because how do you think Chris Hemsworth got her? With that said, I know Hollywood is about making money and having bankable talent, so when I saw the thumbnail initially, I wondered, who is in this? That looks like Mark Ruffalo and Halle Berry (as my eyes focused towards the middle of the picture), so I did not even notice Chris Hemsworth really or the actor on the far right. But then, as I was watching the trailer, I found it hella fun to say, "Oh look, it's Hemsworth!" Nice seeing him in something else that isn't Marvel and playing Thor (not like he only does that and is only known for that, I mean he is Captain James T. Kirk's father and he is in other movies such as Extraction for Netflix, and other), but then I saw Halle Berry and my mind instantly went to Swordfish, thinking Hemsworth was in that, ummm, no he wasn't. But then my brain went back to Marvel and was like "Haha, it's Thor, Storm and the Hulk all in one movie", then realised when I saw Barry Keoghan, "Oh and the guy from Saltburn and Eternals!" I couldn't remember his character's name in Marvel, but it was a Marvel "collection" in my head. But as the trailer went on, I thought, this actually might actually be decent.

So the trailer starts off with Chris's character standing around on the roadside and being approached by Halle, who guesses the type of car Chris is waiting for. Later on, she states she is good at reading people. But as the trailer goes on, where it looks like he might be trying to recruit her for heists by assessing high value targets within her business as an insurer, it looks like Mark Ruffalo, (straight off of Task - because he is an officer in that and that looks great, i must see also), is the police officer trying to track these robberies along the I101 freeway and link the robberies to Chris and its a game of cat and mouse where Chris leaves evidence/clues out of habit per job, and Mark is closing in. The exchange in the car near the end is immaculate and reminded me a little bit of the Vulture and Spider-Man conversation in Homecoming. At this point in the movie, does Mark know he has the thief driving him or was that an innocent conversation? I think Mark knows, and it is all very intense. Seeing Corey Hawkins and Nick Nolte is nice, and I hope they have decent roles. When the trailer ended, I was like "THIS, I MUST SEE! Plus, I love the play on words, Crime 101.

(film review) - Angel Has Fallen

I'm a 'Die Hard' Fan!  So, I was in absolute shock and horror when I watched 'A Good Day to Die Hard'.  Although I enjoyed the movie (I probably somewhat felt compelled to, as John McClane is my favourite movie character), but 'Man Like...' Mike Banning showed us heroism at it's finest! Man like Mike was avoiding death and saving the day, just like John McClane would and refusing to die.  However, Olympus Has Fallen was the better "Die Hard" movie of 2013 and deep down, that really upset me.
The sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen is easily forgettable.  All I can remember from it is that, they were in London...yeah, like 'no shit!', and not as good as the first and now a dying franchise because the sequel didn't live up to the original - not even close.
But Angel Has Fallen! This is a different film to the last one or better yet, has a better story and better action than the last one as it seems, the 'has Fallen' franchise has now found it's feet.  Angel Has Fallen could actually be the NEW 'Die Hard' movie...The 'Has Fallen' Franchise. What is going to fall next?  To be honest, if they made 'Kremlin Has Fallen' or something of that ilk where Man like Mike was vacation-ing or taking the President on a presidential trip somewhere to sign some papers for world peace or whatever and they get under attacked wherever the meeting is held up and Man like mike has to figure out a way to evade the terrorists and keep the president safe with nothing but action, action and more action accompanied with near death in nearly every action set piece and some cunning, I. WOULD. NOT. BE. MAD. AT. THAT. AT. ALL!

So, Man like Mike (Gerard Butler) is with the president (Morgan Freeman) whilst the president is on a fishing trip, however, the president comes underfire from drones.  As the President is placed into a comma from the incident and DNA from Man like Mike is found at the scene with the control panel for all the drones, Man like Mike is now an enemy of the state and he is a fugitive of the run doing the best he can to keep himself alive and prove his innocence.

Something we have all seen before, right? 'Enemy of the State', 'The Fugutive' so on and so forth, but none of them had Man like Mike - The John McClane of his franchise who will narrowly escape death and save the President at the same damn time.  This was a loud and entertaining movie.  I knew who the bad guys were and that is something they could probably work on like a Mission Impossible with some double/triple agent stuff for the future, but I hope they decide to do another 3 more before Man like Mike retires or dies in service.  Funny in places and a simple story we have all seen before but executed well.  If you like loud, boisterous all guns blazing type of action, kind of like the Fast and Furious Franchise or Die Hard Franchise, then you will like this.  Nick Nolte is a gem!

(film review) - Gangster Squad

So, late last year I was watching an IGN reviw about something, I can't remember right now and it was mentioning films to look out for. I believe it was someone talking about Peter Jackson 'The Hobbit', then went on to say, Ironman 3 and a few others I simply didn't care for or remember, but Gangster Squad stood out.
I remember seeing the trailer and thinking, "Damn, this looks interesting" So, I set out to watch it and boy did I find this film, a very good watch.

It stars then child Goonies actor, Josh Brolin (I had to say that as I think that is amazing and he has come a long way) as Sgt. John O'Mara who is personally selected by chief Bill Parker (Nick Nolte) to take down Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), a rising to power gangster in post WWII Los Angeles. In order to do this, John must get together the finiest men and form the Gangster Squad in order to help him take down L.A's most powerful figure against his reluctant wife Connie's (Mireille Enos) wishes. To take down Cohen and his merry men, John bands together men of different skills and uses: - Detective Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), Wire-Tapper Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi) & Gangster Killer Max Kennard (Robert Patrick).That is basically it. John heads out to first cripple Mickey's Buiness, then eventually cripple him and put him behind bars.

Now this film is nothing we haven't seen before as I'm sure you know there are hundreds of Gangsta movies based on this era. You know the outcome (unless there is a spin thrown onto it) and frankly, you'd watch it just to see how this Gangster film delivers. And boy does this film deliver. Action, action and action from the moment the opening credits stop rolling. Actually, I don't even think the opening credits were rolling before you saw something happen to this guy. I won't say what. Then Something else happen to another guy. It was all going on, just to show you who was the man about town. Tyranny I believe the word is. And John's assemblement was so well chosen, thinking about it now, it was like watching The Avengers, without the superhero flashy colours and powers and replaced with tommy guns, pistols and sticks of dynamite. Granted the film may not make as much as Avengers did and may not appeal to everyone, but for me, this film was just as good. Serious bits. Sad bits. Sexy bits and ACTION. Through a few parts of the film, i was cheering or making excitement noises like 'Ooooooh' when Athony Mackie did anything. The film was very well scripted, acted out and the direction and flow of the film was steady. No boring or dull moments and a few laugh out loud moments, you know LOL!

If you like gangster films there isn't a reason you shouldn't like this.