Category: Action
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Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – Finally, a fairy tale that’s rated “R”
Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters – 2013 Writer and Director Tommy Wirkola Starring Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stromare, Pihla Viitala, Derek Mears, Robin Atkin Downes, Thomas Mann Hansel and Gretel as children look to be less than a year apart. When we see them as adults, in the forms of Gemma Arterton (27) and…
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CPE & Em: Iron Man 3 grows into Downey, Jr.
Iron Man 3 – 2013 Director Shane Black Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Rebecca Hall, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, Stephanie Szostak Screenplay by Black and Drew Pearce “Don’t shoot! Seriously, I don’t even like working here. They are so weird!” Shane Black is the most original screenwriting voices to emerge,…
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CPE, Em & El: Not quite an Epic, but it’ll do
Epic – 2013 Director Chris Wedge Starring Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson, Colin Farrell, Beyoncé Knowles, Christoph Walz, Aziz Ansari, Chris O’Dowd, Pitbull, Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler Written by William Joyce based on his book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs In the end, I really expected nothing from this film, so I did not leave disappointed. Epic…
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Gangster Squad: Which way is Zombieland?
Gangster Squad – 2013 Director Ruben Fleischer Starring Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte, Sean Penn, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña , Merielle Enos Screenplay Will Beall from Tales from Gangster Squad by Paul Lieberman Gangster Squad is not nearly as bad as has been reported. It’s nowhere near as good as it could have been. It’s…
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Parker, like Statham, is precisely blunt
Parker -2013 Directed by Taylor Hackford Starring Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Michael Chiklis, Wendell Pierce, Clifton Collins Jr., Bobby Cannavelle, Patti LuPone, Carlos Carrasco, Emma Booth Screenplay by John J. McLaughlin based on Flashpoint by Donald E. Westlake Someone’s always done Parker wrong. As many of the different iterations of the Donald Westlake character as there have been, whether Lee…
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The Last Stand: Clean the chunk of beef off your hat
The Last Stand – 2013 Director Kim Jee-Woon Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Johnny Knoxville, Luis Guzmán, Forest Whitaker, Rodrigo Santoro, Jaimie Alexander, Eduardo Noriega, Peter Stormare, Zach Gilford, Génesis Rodríguez, Harry Dean Stanton Screenplay Andrew Knauer Arnold’s first starring role since he was governor of California s the kind of film that would have een a modest hit around the time…
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Jack Reacher plays like a procedural with an edge
Jack Reacher – 2012 Written and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie Starring Tom Cruise, Jai Courtney, Rosamund Pike, Richard Jenkins, Werner Herzog, David Oyelowo, Robert Duvall, Alexia Fast Taking on book franchises can be a tricky business. One can run the risk of pissing off the fan base even before the movie is released. Tom Cruise managed to…
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The Impossible: Harrowing, simple and beautiful
The Impossible – 2012 Director J.A. Bayona Starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pedergast, Sönke Möhring, Geraline Chaplin Screenplay Sergio G. Sánchez The Impossible is a simple story covering the most incredibly horrific event one could ever imagine happening to a person, a family or community. In this story, we see the Bennett family, on…
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CPE & Em: Oz the Great and Powerful (****) fits like a glove
Oz the Great and Powerful – 2012 Directed by Sam Raimi Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff, Bill Cobbs, Joey King Screenplay by Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire based on the books by L. Frank Baum It was a movie that I had no idea needed to be made. There are 14 books written…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 