(film reviews) - Olympus Has Fallen

I read someone before that Olympus Has Fallen is this years Die Hard. Now for those who don't know me, I'm a fan of Bruce Willis. I LOVE DIE HARD MOVIES!!! And for those who know me would understand the puzzled/confused face I pulled. So, I'm sure you could understand that a comment like that would be Blaspheming on the whole Die Hard Movie Franchise especially as a Die Hard movie came out THIS YEAR!!!

(See Review Here: A Good Day To Die Hard)

But the comment was, well, not THAT far from the truth. I still dislike the comment, but after seeing this film after AGDTDH enable me to criticise where necessary.

First of all, the film starts Gerald Butler who I feel is a very decent actor. I do like him and ever since I saw him in 300, I thought, he is THAT guy. Going on to Law Abiding Citizen, he solidified that feeling. He plays a former US Army Ranger Mike Banning, who is the lead Secret Service Agent assigned to head the Presidential Detail for the President of the United States of America, Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart). However, due to a road accident costing the life of the First Lady, Margaret Asher (Ashley Judd) where Mike saves the president instead of her, for obvious reasons, Mike is then demoted as he triggers Ashley's memories of the accident and works in the Treasury Department, within eyeshot of White House.

On the day the South Korean Prime Minister Lee Tae-Woo (Keong Sim) attends a meeting at the White House, the White House becomes under attack by Guerilla Forces, overwhelm the White House and take it over. As this is happening, Mike sees this and makes his way towards the White House and enters through the front door. Yes, he enters through the front door.

Now there isn't really anything more to say as I'm sure you are aware by now that the white house is full of goons and Mike has to save the president and stop whatever the terrorist aim to carry out. It kind of reminds me of a game in the late 80's early 90's when your character enters a building and has to clear out all the goons running and gunning, jumping vertically of course. So with that said, you already know the outcome. Predictable, yet still entertaining.
The brutality in this film I feel, separates from the Die Hard movie franchise. It's kind of hard to say, but the Die Hard movies have lots of blood, grisly deaths, bullets, more bullets, explosions, more explosions and a guy in a white vest managing to take out hordes of goons in a white vest and escaping all manor of death situations. This film on the other hand is very similar, but lacks the creativity, the death escapes and the white vest. Not to say that this is a rubbish film, it's really good, but I guess we have seen all these before, right?
Mike is a no nonsense former US Army Ranger. He gets things done with precision. Very smart, understands the minds of terrorists and is somewhat disconnected with reality. However, with this said, he knows he is able to fulfil his duties as an ex Secret Service Agent and get the job done, so he proceeds.

Anyway, I'll draw this review to an end now. The direction, cinematography and story was all excellent. Even better as the film seems more relatable right now in this current climate, but I can't help but think that maybe something else could have happened to kind of make this film slightly different in delivery. Maybe I'm starting to get bored of these types of films and actually want the bad guys to win or pull off their schemes. I mean, at least we could have some crazy sequel where everything is desecrated with little odds but still triumph. Maybe this is what the world is missing in film, Terrorist who actually win in the end, but in the long run, get trampled on. Not that I will always cheer for terrorists, but if they actually won or carried out part/most of their plan, at least as an audience we would have expected it. Other than Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with the bitter/sweet end, what other film has this kind of outcome. Anyway, watch this film and enjoy it for what it is. Superb acting from Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett by the way.

(film review) - Flight

I almost cried. Like, very almost cried. I was slightly on the verge of crying watching this film and I'm not too proud to admit that. Damn, I'm a grown man and I have feelings too. I understand. I have empathy. And I've got to say, I left the cinema thinking, "That was a Brilliant Movie". Someone asked me if it was Denzel's best performance, hmmm...I don't know. But the story for me was great.

The film is about an Airline Captain named William "Whip" Whitaker (Denzel Washington) who on one day, flies a plane which eventually crashes and he gets knocked out from the impact. However, upon waking up from his state in a hospital, he is crowned a national hero as he was able to saves some lives. But as investigators look into the crash and who or what caused the catastrophe, they say that Whip was flying a plane under the influence of toxins in his blood stream in which they took samples when he was out cold and it also meant that he could spend a lot of years in prison for manslaughter.

Whip's old friend Charlie Anderson (Bruce Greenwood) who has been recently appointed to represent the airline pilots union comes to his aid and gets attoney Hugh Lang (Don Cheadle) to help Whip in any way possible, which includes escaping jail time and to get the NTSB off his back. As simple/difficult as this sounds, Whip has his own personal demons he needs to battle as well as trying to stay out of the media and public eye.

Like I said earlier, this is a very good film and I almost cried. I felt for the character Whip, not that I could relate, but the story was very compelling. I can't say I have experience or a lot of knowledge in the area, but the acting, the story, the direction, it was all just excellent to me. I've also said that it is hard not to like Denzil, especially when he does performances like this and from a director like Robert Zemeckis, I can only say this is a quality film. Go and watch the film. It is A LOT. I'm sure during the film, you will think about a Holiday...and then some.

(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.