LONDON HAS FALLEN

Gramercy Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 1:39 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of London Has Fallen from YouTube.



In Gramercy Pictures London Has Fallen, United States President Aaron Eckhart attends the British Prime Minister's funeral in London - and suddenly has to go on the run with Secret Service Agent Gerard Butler to escape terrorists.

In the sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, three years have passed and the western world's leaders are gathering to attend the state funeral for the British Prime Minister - when terrorists attack and President Eckhart and Secret Service Agent Butler go on the run throughout London.

The movie has several actors from Olympus Has Fallen reprising their roles in this movie, especially Vice President Morgan Freeman, Director of the Secret Service Angela Bassett, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Robert Forster, Butler's wife Radha Mitchell, and Secretary of Defense Melissa Leo. Freeman always has a presence as a leader in his leadership roles and this was no exception. Alon Aboutboul was good as the terrorist arms dealer on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. So was Charlotte Riley as the MI6 agent. I wish Riley had more to do, she could have been a kick ass character.

With recent real world events, some of the terrorist scenes can be difficult to watch, as well as the news videos accompanying them. I had a relatives that were in the cities of those real world events, so these scenes hit a little home to me. I also felt a little upset that the movie opened with news reports of terrorism attacks in the Philippines, including the failed real world police operation which lead to the deaths of several members of the Special Action Force in the Philippines. The trailer's initial release also had controversy as to it's timing to the anniversary of the 2005 London bombings attack.

There were typical car chases and explosions but I liked the action sequences with Butler taking charge of President Eckhart's protection throughout the movie, as well as the political scenes both with the heads of state and with Vice President Freeman and the National Security Council at the White House. The movie set up all the political players with graphics of their titles as they are introduced. I had a problem with how the terrorists got pass all of the world security Dignitary Protection services of not only the United States, but all of the other western Dignitary Protection services for the various heads of states in what is supposedly the most protected event in the world, and I also did not like how filmmakers did the tag of the movie.

It is curious that underneath the political terrorism, the theme of the movie was about family, which I liked.

I think this is the first time that I have seen Marine One in action which I liked.

While I think Olympus Has Fallen is a better film, London Has Fallen is a typical action popcorn film.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of London Has Fallen on YouTube.



Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 1:39 Minutes.

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DEADPOOL

Twentieth Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 108 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.
 

In Twentieth Century Fox's Deadpool, God's Perfect Idiot, mercenary superhero Ryan Reynolds goes after a British villain Ed Skrein who nearly destroyed Reynolds life and face and kidnapped his fiancee, the hot chick, Morena Baccarin.

THIS IS AN R RATED MOVIE - DO NOT BRING YOUR KIDS as there is graphic violence and big boy curse words throughout the movie, as well as sex and nudity. This is a different kind of superhero story, and was always intended to be an R movie. Although, surprisingly there is not as much sex and nudity as I was expecting given the hype that I was exposed to. But there is genuine love that grew between Baccarin and Reynolds and in a sense this is the driving force behind the movie. Most of the graphic violence comes from Deadpool's use of his katana swords. What's great is that computer generated graphic test footage was incorporated into the movie and not just used as a gimmick to sell the movie to the studio.

Based on the Marvel Comics character created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicienza, and as of February 2016, is released 25 years after his first appearance in New Mutants #98, the Merc with a Mouth Deadpool is an antihero with moral ambiguity who constantly breaks the "fourth wall" and talks to the audience as he goes about fighting the bad guys looking for Skrein and Skrein's henchwoman Gina Carano/Angel Dust. While the movie is marketed as a comedy - there is a lot more drama in the movie Deadpool than I had expected, similar to the movie Ted which also was a comedy but had a lot of drama to that movie. Most of the drama dealt with Baccarin's relationship with Reynolds and his developing cancer. This is a tour de force performance for Reynolds, especially as he had spearheaded the making of the movie.

The first half of the movie goes back and forth between the present day of Reynolds searching for Skrein so that Skrein can cure Reynolds of his disfigurement, and the origin story of former special forces operative Reynolds/Deadpool - who was trying to find a cure for his terminal cancer. After the movie gets caught up, Deadpool is a fairly straightforward superhero film.

With the creation of Deadpool by supposedly the same secret organization who created Wolverine - at least in the comics - both characters have mutant healing factors. With the promise of a cure, and abilities most men would only dream of, Deadpool's creation cured his cancer - but permanently disfigured him and messed up his relationship with Baccarin. The movie Deadpool is basically the eight X-Men film to be done - especially with a CGI character Stefan Kapicic as Colossus, as well as having a moody teen Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead as the only two X-Men shown in the movie that is trying to recruit Deadpool. This is also the first X-Men related movie where Wolverine does not make an appearance. Wolverine was originally supposed to have a cameo, but was cut from the movie. Pictures of Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine, however do appear in the movie. The movie also has no relationship to the previous Deadpool appearance in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Deadpool's elderly blind woman roommate Leslie Uggams and Deadpool's best friend T.J. Miller were also good in the movie.

For Stan Lee fans, a gratuitous cameo is in the middle of the movie in a strip club.

There are two after credits scenes, which teases Deadpool 2 - with a major X-Men/Deadpool character to be introduced when it gets made. I am also looking forward for Monica Baccarin to becoming the mutant Copycat in a future movie, which was sort of teased in that Baccarin played a lot of roles. Both the opening credits and the closing credits of Deadpool are very creative and are indicative of the type of movie Deadpool is, as well as the music for the opening credits and the closing credits.

The movie broke several box office records for an R-Rated movie, including the first R-Rated movie to open above $100 million at the US Box office. This is especially of interest as Deadpool was made on a smaller budget than a regular superhero movie.

Rated R for graphic violence, graphic language, sexual situations, nudity, and drug use. Running time: 108 Minutes.

Click below to watch an R-Rated review of Deadpool from YouTube.



Click below to watch the comic movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.



Click below to watch the romantic movie trailer of Deadpool from YouTube.



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Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE

20th Century Fox

Rated R

Running Time: 129 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of Kingsman: THE SECRET SERVICE on YouTube.

   

In Twentieth Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service, a smart orphaned street punk Taron Egerton is recruited by tailor Colin Firth/Galahad to join an independent international intelligence agency to stop megalomaniac Samuel L. Jackson from committing genocide.

Based on the comic book, The Secret Service by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, and Directed by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is basically classic James Bond movies meets the British agents from The Avengers as well as a mix of Men in Black, without the aliens, and My Fair Lady, as the movie follows the recruitment and training of potential secret agent Egerton in which Firth/Galahad sponsors Egerton to compete with other various young potential agents for the Kingsmen, which includes candidate Sophie Cookson, and trained by Mark Strong/Merlin to become the next Lancelot agent. The Kingsmen are modern day Knights of the Round Table from Arthurian legends, with leader Michael Caine as Arthur. This is an over-the-top comic book spy film - which is similar in plot to Tom Clancy's novel Rainbow Six - and is a proposed origin film for a new proposed film series. The graphic violence in the movie is lessened by the comic depiction of the violence, but is still rather graphic.

It seems funny to me, but rather more appropriate to me that Egerton's training from Strong/Merlin did not relate to Egerton's final fight scenes in the movie, despite their relationship - but rather it was Egerton's training from Firth/Galahad which trained him for Egerton's final fight scenes. I wanted to see more of a relationship between Egerton and his dog J.B. which added some comedy relief. Actually, I wanted to see more scenes with the trainees and their dogs. I believe the dogs should have been a major part of their training.

I liked the fact that Kingsman has a world-wide scope, like a true James Bond film dealing with various countries and heads of state, including heads of state Hanna Alstrom and Bjorn Floberg. Having Colin Firth doing 80% of his own stunts made his performance even more believable. I also liked the fact that the Kingmen are gentlemen, with A Gentlemen's Guide for a strict code of conduct since "Manners Maketh Man," This Gentlemen's code of conduct is a major aspect of Firth/Galahad's relationship with Egerton. I also liked the fact that the Kingsmen have a stylish line of tailor's clothes in conjunction with men's style retailer Mr. Porter. The collaborations between luxury retailer Mr. Porter and various heritage brands is the first of its kind to make Kingsman: The Secret Service the first film with outfits from the movie available for the moviegoers to buy.

I was not crazy about Jackson's lisp in the movie, until I found out that his lisp represents a typical "dysfunction" of some form of a James Bond villain and is reminiscent of Jackson's own lisp when he was younger that he had overcome. It is quite ironic that Jackson's character is named Valentine and that the movie was released on Valentine's Day weekend. In a cameo role - based on a combinations of characters from the comic book, including himself - having Mark Hamil using his Joker voice was a little distracting to me considering his character as I wanted to hear his normal voice, but it is cleverly ironic that Hamil is in the movie after being in the original comic book.

It was funny to me that at the end of the movie, while I was leaving, a lady was telling the usher who was cleaning up, "That was a great movie, except for the end. That was so strange." I thought the ending was totally appropriate for a classic James Bond takeoff.

Rated R for graphic violence, language, nudity.

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JOHN WICK

Summit Entertainment

Rated R

Running time: 101 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of John Wick from YouTube.



In Summit Pictures John Wick, widower John Wick/Keanu Reeves has his car - a vintage '69 Mustang - stolen by punk Alfie Allen from his home. After losing everything he cares for, Wick/Reeves - also known as Baba Yaga, or the Bogeyman - goes after Allen and Allen's father Michael Nyqvist, who is the head of the Russian crime syndicate in New York City and for whom Reeves used to work for, in revenge.

The movie is really a personal story between former syndicate associates Nyqvist and Reeves, with Allen almost being a MacGuffin. The respect that Nyqvist had for Reeves as a surrogate son - as opposed to his arrogant spoiled son Allen - was nice to see. The same relationship, but on a different level,  between hit men Willem Dafoe and Reeves was also nice to see - and you never know which way Dafoe was going. It was also nice to see Adrianne Palicki in the movie, who also learned judo and ju-jitsu. After several action roles, Palicki has become the new action heroine of this generation.

Reeves was pretty bad ass in the movie as a retired hitman. He was not psycho, but very reserved and focused. Reeves trained in judo, Japanese ju-jitsu, and Brazillian jiu-jitsu as well as training with members of the LA SWAT and the Navy SEALs that Director Chad Stahelski and Co-Director/Producer David Leitch had known and did 90% of his stunts for this role. And Wick's/Reeves double tap shooting of his opponents was quite believable as a result. Because of all this, I liked this movie better than The Equalizer. I really liked Wick's/Reeves beagle puppy Daisy and I thought that his dog humanized him a lot. Wick's/Reeves wife Bridget Moynahan did not know anything about Wick's/Reeves past, but she is not onscreen long enough to really know and care about her. I did like the hotel, owned by Ian McShane, in the middle of the movie that was used as a neutral ground centerpiece for this underworld.

The subtitles for the Russian language were most interesting in that they were not shown at the bottom of the screen as with typical subtitles, but in the style of a graphic novel.

The last few shots of the movie I felt were too rushed story wise as I felt it was too cute. I would have preferred a couple more shots to bring out the emotion of the movie tag.

On a technical note, when I saw this movie there was a problem with the video projection when the movie started so all we heard was the audio. It was a 9:00 a.m. showing and there were only a half dozen of us in the theater. There was a girl in the audience with us, and she laughed saying that all but one of the guys, including me, went out to complain. I thought what she said was funny. John Wick is definitely a guy's movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of John Wick from YouTube.



Rated R for violence, language, sexual situations. Running time: 101 Minutes.

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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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WE'RE THE MILLERS

Warner Bros.

Rated R

Running time: 110 Minutes



Click below to watch a We're the Millers movie trailer clip.



In Warner Bros. We're the Millers, pot dealer Jason Sudeikis gets his drug money and stash stolen and is forced by his drug lord Ed Helms to bring a "smidgen" of marijuana across the border from Mexico - by using a fake family in an RV.

In this raunchy comedy, Sudeikis realizes the only way that he can get through border customs is to pose as a family. The dysfunctional group of people that he hires, stripper neighbor Jennifer Aniston, teen aged runaway girl Emma Roberts, along with his virgin neighbor Will Poulter to become the All-American Family the "Millers" in order to sneak past the border. The road trip back and forth from Mexico becomes even more raunchy when they meet up and make camp with their RV counterparts, the "Fitzgerald's" - Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, and Molly Quinn. In the meantime, the "Millers" get chased by Mexican drug lord Tomer Sisley and his henchman, former NFL player Matthew Willig, because Sisley wants his marijuana back from Sudeikis.

I thought Jennifer Aniston was pretty hot as a stripper. I liked the fact that - despite the fact that they're not being a real family and rather hate each other - the "Millers" pull together and do become a family. Sudeikis reluctantly becomes a father to Poulter and Roberts, with Aniston being a natural mother. I actually thought that henchman Willig had more of a presence in the movie than his boss drug lord Sisley. Helms is decidedly sleazy as Sudeikis businessman drug lord.

At the end of the movie are bloopers, including a classic blooper concerning the Millers and Aniston.

Rated R for drug material, language, sexual situations, violence, nudity. Running time: 110 Minutes.

Click below to watch what I consider a red tag movie trailer of We're the Millers.

 
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THE CALL

TriStar Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 94 Minutes



Click below to watch The Call trailer.



In TriStar Pictures The Call, 911 operator Halle Berry receives a call from kidnapping victim Abigail Breslin and must find her.

In this high concept thriller, Berry works in a 911 emergency dispatch center - otherwise known among themselves as "The Hive" - dealing with various 911 calls, from the mundane to the intense. After making a mistake during an intense home intrusion call with teenaged victim Evie Thompson  - a distraught Berry gives up fielding calls and becomes a 911 trainer, giving a jaded view of what being a 911 dispatcher is like to her students. In the middle of the training, rookie operator Jenna Lamia gets a kidnapping call from Breslin - and is too overwhelmed and can not handle the call. Berry takes over the call, doing everything she can to help Breslin - who is locked in the trunk of a car.

After listening to the voice overs of the 911 calls at the beginning of the movie, I liked going behind the scenes of a 911 public-safety answering point (PSAP). I do not recall seeing this much detail with the 911 system before. These are real people dealing with intense situations, thus the necessity of a quiet room to decompress and the availability of psychiatric help if they need it. Berry herself was a wreck while during her research in watching them and said that she could never do this job. Berry having the support from 911 supervisor Roma Maffia in the movie was nice. I never realized that the not knowing of the results at the end of a call would weigh on an operator's mind - but when I think about it, not knowing would weigh on my mind as well.

What I did not like was that the movie went from an intense police procedural with the 911 and police resources - into a Hollywood thriller along the lines of the TV series Profiler during the last act of the movie. While by itself, the last act was good as a thriller and I was pulling for them, it was disappointing to watch stylistically after watching the technical aspects of the rest of the movie. I liked the idea of Berry using the resources of 911 - with the computer programs and communications with the first responders, like police officer Morris Chestnut - and wish that the movie would have taken the 911 resources to the ultimate level. Considering how ingrained cell phones are with people, especially with teenagers, this movie shows the much more important role that phones have in our society.

The manhunt for kidnapper Michael Eklund reminded me of the recent manhunt for former LAPD officer turned killer Christopher Dorner. The movie also reminds me that police officers are people with lives of their own too, especially with the relationship between Chestnut and Berry.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 94 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN

Film District

Rated R

Running time: 120 Minutes



Click below to watch the Olympus Has Fallen trailer.



In Film District's Olympus Has Fallen, disgraced former head of Presidential Detail Secret Service agent and former U.S. Army Ranger Gerard Butler is on his own - when terrorists attack the White House and kidnap Aaron Eckhart, the President of the United States.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, this is an action-packed political thriller that was a lot of fun for me to watch. It was basically Die Hard at the White House, although there were worldwide implications that were shown for the events that were happening in the White House. You got to see the security of the White House at work as well as Camp David as the Presidential family, including Ashley Judd and Finley Jacobsen, relaxes there. This is the most that I have seen Camp David in a movie, although I still would like to see more of Camp David in a movie some day.

While President Eckhart is having a meeting with the South Korean Prime Minister, a cable of North Korean terrorists, led by ex-North Korean terrorist Rick Yune invade the White House by air and ground. Working at the Treasury Department within eyesight of the White House, Butler rushes in to help to defend the White House - and winds up being forced back inside the White House. Butler then uses his Ranger skills as he goes up close and personal amongst the terrorists, while President Eckhart is trapped inside the White House bunker.

Angela Basset once again is the head of a government organization, this time she has a more meaty role to apply to an organization such as the Secret Service. Speaker of the House Morgan Freeman, as an actor also once again - due to the Presidential Line of Succession - acts as President. It has come to the point that I like these two worthy actors in these roles and I look forward for Basset to be an action hero in a similar role some day. Melissa Leo was great as the Secretary of Defense and reminded me that she is a lady I would not like to piss off.

Before North Korea became a topical enemy, the producers choose them because of their political mysteriousness years ago - as well as because the Middle East has been done to death as an enemy. As a result, I accepted North Korea as the enemy as well as being less obvious a security threat to the Secret Service.

What I did not like was that there were no U. S. Marines on Presidential Guard Duty at the White House, everyone was all Secret Service. It also appeared that there was only one anti-aircraft weapons system in place. You would think that there would be at least two anti-aircraft systems. I liked the fact that the civilian District of Columbia Metropolitan Police tried to back up the White House personnel and that the local military forces were sent in to back up the White House. Although you do not see what happened to the heavy terrorist forces that were outside. I also liked the fact that Butler's wife Radha Mitchell is a nurse and was dealing with the civilian victims of the attack at her hospital as the aircraft that attacked did strafe the surrounding territory around the White House - showing that there were consequences to the events, rather than just shooting up everything.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 120 Minutes.

Pancho 
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A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD

Twentieth Century Fox

Rated R

Running time: 97 minutes



Click below to watch the A Good Day to Die Hard trailer.



In Twentieth Century Fox's A Good Day to Die Hard, NYPD cop Bruce Willis leaves his home in American and travels to Russia to retrieve his wayward son Jai Courtney from a Moscow prison - and gets involved with Russian terrorist intrigue and the CIA.

In Moscow, high-ranking but corrupt Russian official Sergei Kolesnikov plans on incriminating political prisoner Sebastian Koch without a fair trail when Koch refuses to hand over a secret file believed to have evidence against Kolesnikov. Meanwhile, Courtney - who was arrested for an assasination - agrees to testify against Koch for a shorter sentence. Willis, arriving in Russia for his son arrives at the courthouse - just as Kolesnikov's men attempts their own explosive justice against Koch. Courtney and Koch escape into the streets of Moscow - with Willis and Kolesnikov's men, who are led by Radivoje Bukvic, now after them.

In this fifth installment of the Die Hard movies, this is perhaps the most dramatic Die Hard movie that I have seen, as well as the most dysfunctional family oriented movie in the series. Don't get me wrong - there is still a lot of action in the movie, especially with the car chase and the helicopters. It is a shame that Willis's wife Bonnie Bedelia is not in the movie. I would hope that in the next Die Hard film that Bedelia will be in the movie so that they can have the entire Willis family of Courtney, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Bedelia in a Die Hard film before Willis retires the character. Willis has expressed a desire to do a sixth installment in the franchise and it would be great to see the entire family. My favorite line of dialog in this movie was "the things we do for our kids."

The dysfunctional family dynamics between Willis and Courtney in partnership together, as well as with Koch and his daughter Yuliya Snigir working together were quite interesting - especially when all these characters all interacted with each other. That made these characters much more interesting than bad guy Kolesnikov. Even Kolesnikov's henchman Bukvic was more interesting than Kolesnikov. What happens to Kolesnikov was something out of The Godfather.

There are subtitles when the characters speak Russian, which added to the James Bond-like worldliness feel to the movie. It is interesting to see the evolution of the Die Hard series, from destruction in a claustrophobic building - and going beyond to a world wide scenario with MAD implications. Despite the americanization of taxi cab driver Pasha D. Lychnikoff, Russian security was pretty professional and the use of the military helicopter was intense. It is too bad that you did not see any official Russian response to the situations in the movie, you just saw the terrorist response.

I liked the scenes with the helicopter, the Mi-24 HIND. They actually shot the movie with the HIND firing live ammunition to get the most realistic action. This reminded me of Act of Valor and their live fire use of the Navy SEALs riverine warboats. While the car chase was a great car chase, especially with the Cougar HEV armored truck used by the terrorists, Willis did not care about what he was doing to other people with his cars that seemed very reckless and uncaring to me. What if I was in the cars that he was hitting?

This is the first Die Hard movie that was actually written as a Die Hard movie. The others were actually written as different movies and turned into a Die Hard movie. This is also the first Die Hard film released in the IMAX format.

Rated R for violence and language. Running time: 97 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews


 

MOVIE 43

Relativity Media

Rated R

Running time: 94 minutes



 Click below to watch the Movie 43 trailer.

 

In Relativity Media's Movie 43, filmmaker Dennis Quaid tries to convince movie producer Greg Kinnear to buy his movie script. As Quaid does his pitch of what the movie is about, the film turns into a series of 13 short raunchy films and commercials of what Quaid's movie is supposed to be about.

Make no mistake, this is a raunchy film that will have something in the movie to offend everybody. While everyone complains that this is a bad movie, the audience I saw the movie with was laughing throughout the entire movie - so there is an audience that would appreciate this movie, like me. I will admit, however, that the short film I was uncomfortable with was "Machine Kids" which was about children working inside machines. This was especially relevant to me, as we had just replaced a numbers of copiers at work.

While Quaid did lead the movie from one segment to another initially to describe his film - the many film shorts, each one directed by a different director, eventually ran into each other making me feel like I was at home watching TV with commercials coming on. I had to remember - I am in a theater watching a movie.

Apparently the framing story of the movie is different in other countries. Instead of a movie pitch, the films are connected by teenagers searching for the most banned movie in the world apparently online. As a result of which, the title of the movie refers to the forty-third rule of the Internet - you can find anything on the Internet if you are willing to look for it long enough.

While everyone laughed at the movie, no one laughed at the Hollywood jokes except for me. That was mainly because the Hollywood jokes were not raunchy, but more of a satire on Hollywood which only the Hollywood industry people like me would get.

The movie had a lot of stars in the movie. I think one reasons the producers were able to get such an ensemble of stars to act in this movie is because the actors might have liked the idea of doing a short film for their segment, similar along the lines of a student film, which will not take up a lot of time for them to do. Although apparently Richard Gere tried to get out of being in this movie and that the actor's agents did not want their big client actors working for scale. I can imagine how Halle Berry's agents would feel having their beautiful client winding up in huge ugly makeup, or Hugh Jackman with his makeup.

When the end credits start to roll concerning the various short films - stick around as there is one more short film to be shown after the preliminary end credits that stars Elizabeth Banks and a raunchy animated pet cat, which is basically a raunchier version of the movie Ted. Actually when the preliminary end credits started to roll, I felt that the movie was short. The extra short film at the very end filled out the movie, making the entire movie feel like the right length of time to be watching a movie.

Rated R for sexual situations, language, nudity, violence. Running time: 94 minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Review
 

PARKER

FilmDistrict

Rated R

Running time: 118



Click below to watch the Parker trailer.

 

In FilmDistrict's Parker, Jason Statham is a highly principled thief who wants revenge against the gang who reneged on his share of the booty and tried to kill him.

Based on the novel Flashfire written by Richard Stark, pseudonym of writer Donald E. Westlake, and Produced and Directed by Taylor Hackford, the movie is similar to the movie Payback and which was also a Parker movie/book written by Stark. That is why the two movies are similar as other reviewers have pointed out, although Parker is a different type of film for Hackford since Hackford does not want to get stuck in any type of genre.

After pulling off a heist at a country fair, Statham is betrayed by Michael Chiklis when Chiklis wants to use the money from the heist to fund an even bigger heist. When Statham refuses to go along with the next heist and wants his share of the money, Chiklis has his gang try to kill him. When gang member Michah Hauptman leaves Statham for dead, Statham recovers and plans on getting revenge against Chiklis and his gang.

While Jennifer Lopez was the female lead in the movie and the one promoted for the movie, Emma Booth was Statham's love interest in the movie - especially since Booth's character is a semi-regular in the Parker novels. With Booth as Statham's love interest, Statham certainly did not encourage any relationship with Lopez. As a result, since Booth was the love interest, Statham and Lopez had no real chemistry despite Lopez's efforts. I had mixed feelings about Lopez's character in the movie as she was both a street-smart realtor and a ditsy divorcee at the same time, who seemed desperate to have a relationship after her divorce to take her away from this life. Patti LuPone as Lopez's mother, and their dog, had larger roles than I thought they would.

Michael Chiklis was was appropriately scummy as the leader of the gang doing the heist, although the gang itself were not strong enough characters to really appreciate their individual talents. Nick Nolte as Booth's father was not a strong enough character either to be the central godfather-like character connecting Statham, Booth, and Chiklis in their business - especially since Nolte had such a minor role in the film. I almost pitied Nolte as he has gotten quite old instead of mature, and was rather rundown looking in the movie.

Palm Beach, Florida was a beautiful location for the site of the next heist as Statham checks out hotels, mansions, and beach houses with Lopez and did make me curious as to what kind of heist would be the target at such a rich location.

I liked that Statham's character was highly principled, who conducts himself with a certain moral code, so I could relate to this anti-hero character as he does become the hero after the first act of the movie. As a former diver for the British Olympic Diving Team, Statham performed all of his stunts in the film - including jumping out of a moving car.

I saw the movie at a matinee so there was hardly anybody in the theater, but the audience reacted to the action so I can imagine a larger young evening audience would have reacted just as positively to the movie and had as much fun. For a novel character that has been around for 45 years as of 2013, I thought this was a fun movie.

Rated R for violence, language, nudity. Running time: 118.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

THE LAST STAND

Lionsgate

Rated R

Running time: 107 Minutes



Click below to watch The Last Stand trailer.



In Lionsgate The Last Stand, Sheriff Arnold Swarzenegger must stop a FBI fugitive Eduardo Noriega from crossing the border through his small town.

In Arnold's first lead role since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Arnold is a small town sheriff looking forward to a nice quiet weekend after most of the town has gone out of town for the local high school's football game - when escaped drug lord Noriega heads toward his town in order to cross the border.

This is a good ol' boy version of Jack Reacher and Seven Samurai, but not as intelligent. Although, the characters were quite relatable, even the small town bit townspeople It is too bad that Harry Dean Stanton did not have more to do. He would have been a great town character. It is kind of nice that the movie played up the fact that as a character, Arnold has been out of action for a while and played up his being old. International drug lord Noriega was a character more interested in power than being an intelligent bad guy, and his henchman Peter Stormare is even worse and more over the top as a character. With Noriega driving a modified Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 as his escape car racing towards Arnold's small town and the Mexican border, the movie had a Mad Max type of feeling as well.

Forrest Whitaker is basically wasted in this movie as his character really was not very dramatic or kick ass as Noriega escapes from FBI custody in Las Vegas. It was also disappointing that Whitaker does not interact with Arnold and Arnold's people, except by phone - and that generally being about the legal jurisdiction between the two of them on their manhunt for Noriega. Johnny Knoxville and Luis Guzman were basically the film's eccentric comic relief.

Having the town shootout done with assault rifles instead of your typical six-shooter wild Western shootout was quite fun.

Rated R for graphic violence and language. Running time: 107 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

 Pancho's Movie Reviews

ZERO DARK THIRTY

Columbia Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 157 Minutes



Click below to watch the Zero Dark Thirty trailer.



In Columbia Pictures Zero Dark Thirty, CIA operative Jessica Chastain conducts a decade long search for Osama Bin Laden after the events of 9/11.

Based on the actual events, and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, this film is more of a drama than a war movie. It is very similar in feel to Argo, especially with Kyle Chandler playing similar roles in both movies, although Argo was a more suspenseful film.

After the opening of 911 calls of 9/11, young CIA operative Jessica Chastain spends her entire career interrogating various detainees to the whereabouts of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, or Usamah Bin Laden - otherwise known as UBL. Most of the movie dealt with the years of pursuing leads to Bin Laden, until they finally located the compound where Bin Laden is. Considering how long it took in pursuing those leads during the decade, it made me impatient for the movie to get to the scenes with the U.S. Navy SEALs.

In actuality Zero Dark Thirty was originally about the unsuccessful decade-long manhunt for Bin Laden - and had to be rewritten after the news story of Bin Laden being killed. I think the original story would have been very depressing and unsatisfying to watch for a movie. As a movie, the reality of Bin Laden being killed is more satisfying to experience as a movie-goer. Not that I am promoting killing people, but that the bad guy getting justice was very satisfying in a movie setting. It is curious that the sequence on the raid on Bin Laden's compound is only a few minutes less than the actual SEAL assault. I liked that the stealth Black Hawk helicopters used in the assault came from the secret aerial base Area 51. and the GPNVG-18 (Ground Panoramic Night Vision Goggles) made the SEALs look like bug-eyed aliens. The SEALs added a sense of normalcy to the movie on their downtime. Although I was not happy that the movie did not show the SEALs training on a mock up of Bin Laden's compound.

Zero Dark 30 means the very early morning hours when it is still dark outside and most people are asleep, and is usually said as "oh dark thirty" in the military. This was basically the time when the assault by the SEALs on Bin Laden took place as the assault took place at night.

While the torture scenes in the movie were bad, they were not as graphic as what I have seen in other movies with torture. This was a surprise to me, as due to all the publicity and protests about the torture scenes in the movie, I was expecting something really graphic. I don't know if that means that the U.S. is nicer in their treatment of prisoners than the rest of the world or that Hollywood is pretty sick in making movies. These scenes were especially relevant with a news clip of the President of the United States Barack Obama denying that the U.S. employs torture.

At the end of the movie, during the end credits, there was a dedication to the 9/11 victims and the victims of the various terrorist activities, like the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing and the Forward Operating Base Chapman bombing, since then.

Rated R for violence, language, nudity. Running time: 157 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews

FLIGHT

Paramount Pictures

Rated R

Running time: 138 Minutes



Click below to watch the Flight trailer.



In Paramount Pictures Flight, after flying through a turbulant storm - a drunken airline pilot Denzel Washington makes a miraculous crash landing with his passenger airliner.

Produced and Directed by Robert Zemeckis, in his first R rated film since Used Cars, this is a tour-de-force performance by Denzel Washington. Similar to real-life events, the focus of the movie really is on Washington and his situation rather than on most anything else in the movie. Just as the rough weather was rougher than I thought it would be, the movie is much more dramatic than what the trailer makes it out to be. I could see an Oscar nomination for Washington for this role. With the media staking out his home and the National Transportation Safety Bureau, NTSB, hearing for the plane crash headed by Melissa Leo after him, Washington is in for a rough ride - with the possibility of going to jail. It is a shame that he has this situation as after such an incredible feat to save the plane because Washington, for a time, is called a real American hero for his relevant skills as a pilot. Even with the help of his airlines collegue Bruce Greenwood, his lawyer Don Cheadle, and his new girlfriend, addict Kelly Reilly, Washington is in for a rough time. Even being sequestered in a hotel does not help him. It is sad that it is a tradition that passengers are called souls by the flight crew. John Goodman was a lot of fun as Washington's hippie best friend.

Rated R for alcohol and drug abuse, nudity, language, smoking. Running time: 138 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews