THE EQUALIZER

Sony Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 132 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Equalizer.



In Sony Pictures The Equalizer, hardware depot manager Denzel Washington takes it upon himself to protect a hooker Chloe Grace Moretz from her pimp David Meunier  - and soon goes up against the Russian Mafia.

Living an ordinary life as a hardware manager, at a hardware depot that is based on Home Depot and Lowes, Washington works closely with his fellow hardware workers, including security guard applicant Johnny Skourtis. Washington soon makes friends with Moretz who is interested in Washington's books. After Moretz is beaten by Meunier, Washington goes after Meunier - who happens to be with the Russian Mafia.

Based on the TV show The Equalizer that starred Edward Woodward, and Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Equalizer is about a former government operative who offers his services in helping people who have the odds against them. In the movie, Washington meets with his former government colleagues Bill Pullman and Melissa Leo about Marton Csokas, a Russian enforcer who was assigned to find out what happened to Meunier. The adversarial relationship between Csokas and Washington was most interesting to me. It is interesting that Washington's character had no real back story in the movie so Washington created his own back story for his character, with the character having obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

While a popular TV series, I had never watched The Equalizer at the time. I have a feeling that the movie took on more of the style of the TV show in that the movie was more of a suspense thriller - rather than an action film, which some people might think the movie would seem to be. But make no mistake that the violence in the movie is fairly graphic.

At the end of the movie, I was pleasantly surprised to read that The Equalizer was Written by someone I used to work with at Showtime, Richard Wenk. Sony Pictures plan on doing a sequel to The Equalizer with Richard writing the script. I hope they keep Richard, not just because I know him, but so that there will be more of a coherent consistency to the next movie. Fuqua hopes the sequel to be more international.

Rated R for graphic violence and language. Running time: 132 minutes.

Pancho
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Dolphin Tale 2

Warner Bros.

Rated PG

Running time: 107 Minutes


















Click below to watch a movie trailer of Dolphin Tale 2.



In Warner Bros. Dolphin Tale 2, bottlenose dolphin Winter is depressed and is in danger of being removed from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium that she is rehabilitating at unless she pairs up with another dolphin.

Based on real events and Written and Directed by Charles Martin Smith, this sequel to Dolphin Tale continues the story of Winter - whose tail was lost in a crab trap. Most of the cast Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Kris Kristofferson, Morgan Freeman, Juliana Harkavy, Austin Stowell, and Austin Highsmith from Dolphin Tale returns in Dolphin Tale 2.

I did not know that the USDA, United States Department of Agriculture, was responsible for aquarium animals. USDA inspector Charles Martin Smith was appropriately upset about the condition of Winter, although he refers to Winter as a number than her name. After giving Connick Jr. a violation for keeping Winter in isolation and her deteriorating health, Smith issues a requirement that Connick, Jr. match Winter with another female dolphin or he will have Winter transferred.

Young people Gamble and Zuehlsdorff are of course upset that Winter may be transferred from the aquarium and argue with Connick, Jr. that they can not lose Winter and should pair her up with another dolphin named Mandy that Connick, Jr. is planning on releasing back into the sea. It is fortunate that a juvenile female dolphin named Hope has been rescued and is being brought to the aquarium. Not only would Gamble and Zuehlsdorff be happy with this new development, but this would also appease the Board of Dirctors of the aquarium. It is sad, but there is also the reality that the aquarium is also a business as well as a marine hospital - although being a business is not the focus of the aquarium.

I have always liked dolphins, especially after shooting a documentary video Dolphins of the Orange Coast for the Coastal Dolphin Survey Project for Orange Coast College. Knowing that there are teams of marine scientists that care for our sea animals makes me very happy.

I liked the cameo of disabled surfer Bethany Hamilton, and also that dolphins Winter and Hope played themselves. It is great that the movie was filmed at the actual Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

At the end of the movie there was actual archival video of the events that the movie had portrayed - including interaction with Winter with many people with disabilites, most of which were children.

There are plans for a third Dolphin Tale movie, continuing the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's mission of Rescue, Rehabilitate, and Release.

Click here to watch a movie featurette of Dolphin Tale 2.

http://www.traileraddict.com/dolphin-tale-2/featurette-the-mission


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THE MAZE RUNNER

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 113 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Maze Runner.

In Twentieth Century Fox's The Maze Runner, amnesiac Dylan O'Brien finds himself transported into a mysterious Glade with a group of boys - which is surrounded by a giant maze.

In a cross between The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Flies, the apocalyptic movie The Maze Runner is based on the book The Maze Runner by James Dashner (who had a cameo in the film). Told from the point of view of O'Brien, we follow the amnesiac O'Brien as he tries to figure out what is going on, who put them there, and how to escape The Glade that the boy Gladers have struggled to make into a low technology camp by running the dangerous maze.

What I liked about the movie is that the audience learned what was going on in the movie at the same time that O'Brien learned what was going on. You did not have to read the book to know what was going on. In fact I had never even heard of the young adult book series The Maze Runner until the movie came out. As a result, the movie The Maze Runner is the first of the movie series that will be made out of The Maze Runner books. While not mentioned in the movie, I also liked the fact that the characters names were named after historical figures and scientists as those are some of the themes of the movie.

While the cast was made up of a group of talented young British stars, similar in age to The Hunger Games, such as Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and Kaya Scodelario, the only actor that I had actually heard of was Will Poulter, as O'Brien's rival who got upset that everything has changed ever since O'Brien arrived in The Glade. It was bad enough that O'Brien is not following the rules, but that the Gladers are dying as a result of O'Brien not following the rules.

While the movie is good on the action and suspense, and the acting by the stars - the movie did make me cry - there were a couple of things that did not make sense, like the fact that it takes incredible resources and technology to even build the huge miles long maze.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 113 minutes.

Pancho
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