Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews

Category: Action

  • Taken 2: Electric Boogaloo

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    Taken 2 – 2012 Director Oliver Megaton Starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, John Gries, D.B. Sweeney, Luke Grimes Screenplay Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen I became smitten with Famke Janssen almost 16 years ago, when I first saw her as Xena Onetopp in Goldeneye.  The wish to inflict damage was her major selling…

  • Seven Psychopaths: Sam Rockwell out-Walken’s Walken.

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    Seven Psychopaths – 2012 Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh Starring  Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko The craziest notion in the film Seven Psychopaths is the idea that Colin Farrell is any sort of writer.  I can buy the alcoholic part, even if it’s a cheap stereotype…

  • Dredd: A world that no one wants to live in

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    Dredd – 2012 Director Pete Travis Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Wood Harris, Leana Headey Written Alex Garland One could suppose that there is an attempt at some artistic statement to be made with the world as it appears in Dredd, which is the 2nd attempt at starting a franchise based on the comic book.  Something akin to…

  • Django Unchained: If Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t win an Oscar, there is no justice

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    Django Unchained – 2012 Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson, Walton Goggins, James Remar, Michael Parks, Dennis Christopher There is a scene that resonates deeply.  On the way into Candyland, Jamie Foxx’s freed slave, Django, rides along a group of men in chains.…

  • Looper is wound just right

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    Looper – 2012 Written and Directed by Rian Johnson Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Jeff Daniels, Pierce Gagnon, Garrett Dillahunt, Piper Perabo, Xu Quing, Joe Brennan The only thing that gives one pause in the first 20 minutes of the Looper is the obviously disfigured face of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.  Even as…

  • Premium Rush: Don’t expect Fly By Night

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    Premium Rush – 2012 Director David Koepp Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez, Wole Parks Screenplay Koepp and John Kamps Ever since discovering we were going to get a preview of Michael Shannon as a bad guy in Premium Rush, the movie rose to the top of the must see list.  His skills have shown him without peer…

  • Total Recall remakes Mars into Australia

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    Total Recall – 2012 Director Len Wiseman Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsdale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho, Bill Nighy, Dylan Scott Smith, Bokeem Woodbine, Screenplay Kurt Wimmer, Mark Bomback, based on the original script by Dan O’Bannon, Ronald Shusett based on the story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick “If I’m not me, then who the hell am…

  • Forgotten Gem: Cool Hand Luke is the man

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    Cool Hand Luke – 1967 Director Stuart Rosenberg Starring Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper, Wayne Rogers, Jo Van Fleet, J.D. Cannon, Clifton James, Harry Dean Stanton, Lou Antonio, Morgan Woodward, Joe Don Baker, Ralph Waite, Joy Harmon, Anthony Zerbe, Luke Askew Screenplay Donn Pearce, Frank Pierson “Sometimes nothin’ is a pretty cool hand.” In many…

  • Savages: Oliver Stone is just average weird

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    Savages – 2012 Director – Oliver Stone Starring Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Salma Hayek, John Travolta, Benicio del Toro Screenplay Don Winslow, Shane Salermo and Stone based on the Novel Savages by Winslow Somewhere along about 1994, Oliver Stone was lost to me.  He’d been weird before that, with The Doors, and history-challenged JFK.  Then came…

  • Lawless shows everyone at the top of their game

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    Lawless – 2012 Director John Hillcoat Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman, Guy Pearce, Mia Wasikowska, Jason Clarke, Lew Temple, Dane DeHan Screenplay Nick Cave based on The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant Lawless is one very rare movie indeed.  I can’t recall seeing a film where there are so many high-caliber actors who are doing…