Month: November 2019

WARNING!!! EXCESSIVE USE OF THE WORD KIDNAP AHEAD!  READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

Released: August 2017

Director: Luis Prieto

Rated R

Run Time: 82 Minutes

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre: Action/Thriller/Crime

Cast:
Halle Berry: Karla Dyson
Sage Correa: Frankie
Chris McGinn: Margo
Lew Temple: Terry
Jason George: David

Kidnap thrillers have been around since the 40s.  It’s a genre in which a person is abducted for ransom or for some other reason and a detective/hero has to find them.  It’s a simple premise, that despite it’s simple nature can lead to some serious thrills.  There have been a lot of great thrillers of this type over the years:  Kiss The Girls, Prisoners, and Man on Fire.  You also have foreign fare like Oldboy and Furie.  As I have said about other films in the genre, what makes them so interesting and intense, is the level of tension and suspense involved.  There’s almost always a time-crunch involved, which means the hero or heroes have a limited amount of time to find the victim alive.  There was one film that kind of renewed interest in the genre, Pierre Morel’s Taken, starring Liam Neeson.  This was a fantastic little thriller that focused on Liam Neeson’s character taking down a group of sex traffickers that kidnapped his daughter.  This little movie inspired a lot of copy-cat thrillers since then, including Traded, 6 Bullets, and most recently Rambo: Last Blood.  Some of them are pretty damn good, but others…..not so much.  That brings me to Kidnap, an abduction thriller starring Halle Berry.

Kidnap follows Karla Dyson as she takes her son Frankie to a nearby park.  Interrupted by a phone call, she returns only to find that Frankie disappeared.  Frantically searching the park for her child, she sees him being dragged and forced into a car.  Desperate, Karla follows the car in her minivan trying to get back her child.  That’s it.  That’s the whole movie.  I’ve always maintained that when it comes to kidnap thrillers, the simpler it is, the better.  That way, audiences don’t have to worry about getting sidetracked by nonsensical plots that have nothing to do with the main narrative.  Focusing on the main character and her mission is the right move, and Kidnap does that.  There’s a bit of a problem here, though.  In order to really care about the protagonist’s plight, you need to give the villains some kind of motivation for kidnapping a loved one.  It can be as simple as a ransom or intending to sell the victim into trafficking.  It’s not that hard to give the bad guys a motivation, regardless of how simplistic it is.  Any motivation is better than none, and we really aren’t given an explanation as to why Frankie was kidnapped.  Even at the end of the film, we aren’t given any insight into why this happened.  Understandably, stuff like this does happen in real life, but the way it happened here is contrived at best and lazy at worst.  Kidnap is also frustratingly predictable.

Kidnap is Halle Berry’s second abduction thriller, with the first one being The Call.  Admittedly, The Call is a vastly superior film in nearly every way, but one of the things that Kidnap has going for it, is Halle herself.  I’ve never truly been a huge fan of hers, but I’ve never considered her a terrible actress.  She’s not.  With the right material, she’s absolutely amazing.  Unfortunately, with Kidnap, she doesn’t really get a whole lot to do outside of looking panicked and freaking out.  In fact, the majority of the film is focused on her face in her minivan.  She does her absolute best with the material, and at times she’s very convincing.  Honestly, though, I really liked the interaction that she had with her younger co-star towards the beginning of the film.  That felt absolutely genuine.  It’s when she’s in panic-mode that things tend to get a little over-the-top.  Chris McGinn plays Margo, one of the two abductors.  I have to admit, she can play a mean-looking lady with the best of them, but as I was saying above:  No motivation, no threat.  Not only that, some of the decisions that some of these characters make are so ludicrously stupid it’s amazing they can find their way out of a parking lot.  Lew Temple plays Terry, the other kidnapper.  With all due respect to Mr. Temple, this was a role that could have been played by anybody.  He’s not given that much to do, and the film’s reveal of another villain is so last-minute and forced that it boggles the mind at how the script and screenplay got green-lit.

If there’s one thing that the film is not, at least not in my opinion, is boring.  At 82 minutes long, the movie does move at a very brisk pace, despite the first two minutes of the film being company logos.  I’m actually not kidding about that.  There are no less than 6 animated logos including the Universal logo.  Anyway, when Frankie gets snatched, the film embarks on a break-neck pace until the very end.  I would imagine that for most people, that would be enough.  If you’re entertained, that’s what matters, right?  If you shift your brain into a certain mind-set, then yeah, it’s entertaining.  The movie is basically one long car chase that has some pretty spectacular stunts and crashes.  For the most part, those are filmed pretty well.  There are some questionable editing choices that I find perplexing.  There’s a moment early on in the chase, when there are multiple cuts inside of the minivan, but each of those cuts is book-ended by a fade to black.  Why?  It’s not like they needed that many cuts anyway.  Not only that, there’s a moment towards the end of the film that involves a dog, but moments later, the dog disappears.  Where did he go?  Is he some kind of….Phantom Dog?  Was he….dog-napped?  These are the questions that I need answers to.  The writing in this film is extremely pedestrian and laughable, if I’m being honest.  The direction by Luis Prieto is not the worst I’ve seen, but he and the writer don’t seem to understand the difference between tension and suspense.  Suspense is a situational thing when the audience has no idea what’s coming next.  Tension is more about character interaction.  There’s definitely tension in the film, but there’s no real suspense, because everybody’s seen this movie before.

That is what I would consider to be Kidnap’s greatest sin:  It has no identity of its own.  It’s a middle-of-the-road kidnap thriller that doesn’t innovate in any way and plows ahead.  The Call, while being simplistic at times, had the benefit of shifting perspectives:  One from the view of the 911 operator and the one from the abducted girl.  That was interesting to me and it was handled pretty well.  Here, we don’t have that kind of innovation.  I realize that a movie of this sort doesn’t require something like that, but if you want to make your film stand out, then you need to do something that we really haven’t seen before.  So, is Kidnap a terrible film?  I personally don’t think so, there are things here that I like.  I liked Halle’s performance, and I liked the car chases and the fact that the film doesn’t let up once it starts going.  But there are things here that should’ve been better in the hands of a better film-maker.  Had this movie gone directly to video, I think the reception might have been okay, but this was a theatrical release, and it just doesn’t quite work for that format.

My Final Recommendation:  I was kidnapped for 82 minutes and all I got was this stupid t-shirt.  6.5/10

Anybody who knows me AT ALL knows that I absolutely love action movies.  Car chases, fist fights, kung fu, gun battles, space battles, sword fights, explosions and anything of that nature I tend to gravitate towards.  Anything that gets my adrenaline pumping I usually pay attention to, good or bad.  While the action movies of the 80s and 90s have a very different feel in terms of how they look and how they were made, some of the action films today are really good, but they do owe a lot to the films of yesteryear.  That being said, there have been a lot of great action films over the past couple of years that deserve recognition.  The real surprise though, is the ones that didn’t make it to theaters.  So, this year, I’m going to divide up action movies into two sub-categories:  Theatrical and non-theatrical.  Obviously, theatrical means that the films were released into theaters here in the States and the non-theatrical ones hit home video or VOD.  So, without further delay, let’s get into the Best Action Movies of 2019.

Theatrical – Avengers: Endgame

“Part of the journey is the end.”  11 years and over 20 movies in the MCU, it all comes down to one final battle.  Avengers: Endgame is the final film in the MCU’s Infinity Saga, and what a finale it was.  As the longest film in the MCU, Endgame had the unenviable task of wrapping up nearly every loose end and nearly every character arc presented to us in the last 20+ films.  Set immediately after the events of Infinity War, Endgame follows the survivors of Thanos’ destructive finger-snap.  After trying to move on, they have an opportunity to reverse the damage that was done and bring back the people that were lost.  When it comes finishing off an entire series of films, few have done it as well as The Return of the King, but Endgame comes really damn close.  Not only does it have some serious action, but there are some incredibly emotional moments in the film that resonated with audiences and critics alike.  Yeah, it’s a lot of fan-service, but it’s handled so well that you really don’t mind.  This is how you end an 11-year journey with these characters.

Non-Theatrical – Triple Threat

I loved the Expendables films.  Those films had massive ensemble casts that were legendary.  When it comes to martial arts movies, we really didn’t have a lot of films that featured a large number of well-known martial arts actors.  Until now.  Triple Threat features some of the biggest and best martial arts actors of this generation: Iko Uwais, Tony Jaa, Tiger Chen, Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, and Jeeja Yanin.  That’s a recipe for success if there ever was one, and you know what?  It delivered on all counts.  It’s non-stop ride from beginning to end with some absolutely incredible fight sequences courtesy of choreographer Tim Man.  Deftly directed by Jesse V. Johnson, Triple Threat may be light on story, but it’s one of the best straight-up action films that you will see all year.  Give me a sequel!  Now!  Please?

Theatrical – John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum

I don’t know how they managed to do it.  The first John Wick was a surprise action film that was really good, John Wick 2 upped the ante a bit and explored a little more of the world of John Wick, but Chapter 3 takes the action to a whole new level.  Parabellum is one of the most action-packed movies I’ve ever seen.  It rarely lets up.  From the opening library fight to the motorcycle chase, the film only gives you a few moments to catch your breath before slamming you with another action sequence.  What makes it even more impressive is that Keanu Reeves does most of his own stunts and action, and for a guy that’s in his 50’s, that’s incredibly impressive.  Throwing Halle Berry into the mix was another brilliant move as she matches Reeves move for move in the time that she has on screen.  Not only that, I think this movie has the highest body count of any action movie I’ve ever seen.  I know that’s pretty morbid, but it is an achievement.  While the film doesn’t have the same emotional impact that the first one did, the inventiveness of the action scenes is more than enough to make up for it.  Simply put:  John Wick 3 is fucking awesome.

Non-Theatrical – Furie

I realize that I already have this movie in my Best Performances of 2019 list, but the performances weren’t the only reason why this movie is fantastic.  I briefly mentioned the action sequences which are absolutely hard-hitting.  From the moment the lead character’s daughter is kidnapped, she becomes a one-woman war machine determined to get her child back.  One of my favorite fight scenes is when she’s in a garage looking for a guy who might know something about her daughter’s kidnapping and she lays the smack-down on him in front of HIS mother, which leads to a particularly interesting moment in which she decides not to kill him.  The final battle on the train is something to see, as Veronica’s character takes on what remains of the gang leading to one of the best one-on-one fights in the genre.  Furie is thrilling, intense and emotionally gripping.  You don’t really see a lot of action movies that offer so much with a premise so simple.

Non-Theatrical – Avengement

Again, another entry from my Best Performances list.  Here’s the thing though, while I would consider Avengement to be a crime thriller, it’s also an action movie at its core.  Let me tell you, this movie is one of the most savage and brutal action movies I’ve seen this year.  Scott Adkins turns up the intensity to 11 as he mercilessly beats his fellow prisoners to a pulp and eventually takes on an entire bar full of gangsters by himself.  There are a lot of moments where you are wincing at how vicious Scott’s character is.  If nothing else, Scott Adkins knows how to play an angry character out for revenge.  I absolutely enjoyed the hell out of this one.

Theatrical – Rambo: Last Blood

I was honestly debating whether or not I should put this one on the list.  I really enjoyed the hell out of it when I saw it, but I began to wonder over time, if it was really that good.  It’s a grim and bleak film, but it’s still a Rambo film.  It’s predictable and the characterizations are at a bare minimum, but I have to give the film credit where it’s due.  It’s unapologetic about what it’s setting out to do.  It’s definitely one of the bleakest action films I’ve seen all year, but it has a finale that is absolutely insane.  The film has the balls to go in the direction that it did, and getting to see the character of Rambo doing what he does best is nothing short of satisfying.  My only real issue here, is that the film seems rushed and unnecessary.  As an action film, it’s awesome.  As a Rambo film….it’s the weakest of the bunch, but if you’re a fan like I am, you should still see it.

While there were other action movies that came out this year, these ones definitely stood out for me, even though I was having an internal debate about Rambo.  While I wouldn’t say that 2019 was the best year for action, the action films that it did have were very strong.  Stay tuned as I cover some of the best horror movies of 2019.  That one should be pretty interesting.

With the holidays approaching and 2019 winding down to a close, it is once again time to reflect on the films of this past year.  As with any year, there were a lot of movies out there that I did see and an even more amount of films that I didn’t get a chance to see.  There were also some that I saw that I haven’t had a chance to review yet.  There were many fantastic films that came out this year, and there were a lot that weren’t so good.  I’ve already covered some of the more disappointing films this year in a previous post, so it could only go up from here.  At least, that’s my hope.  So, for this post, I want to look at some of my favorite performances of the year.  Some were expected, others were not.  So, let’s see who really delivered as an actor/actress.

Seann William Scott – Bloodline

It’s really refreshing to see normally comedic actors take on more serious roles.  Robin Williams and Jim Carrey come to mind for that sort of thing and they have been fairly successful.  Seann William Scott of American Pie fame, is one of those actors that I normally never see in a film like Bloodline.  The film is about new father who, during the day, is a high school counselor but moonlights as a serial killer at night.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Scott’s.  His brand of humor usually doesn’t work for me.  So, color me surprised to see him tackling a serial killer role in a fairly ultra-violent movie.  Bloodline itself is a pretty solid effort, but the material is given more weight because of Scott’s performance.  Scott is known for playing fairly dim-witted characters.  In Bloodline, though, he’s dropping the comedy entirely.  He delivers an incredibly blood-chilling performance as a brutal serial killer.  The fact that the film is violent as hell, makes it even more shocking that Mr. Scott would even consider being a part of it.  The funny thing?  It works.  He’s really damned good here.  I want to see more of Seann William Scott taking on more serious roles, because he’s clearly capable of it.

Florence Pugh – Midsommar

Midsommar is a film that really goes off the deep end….in a good way.  It was directed by Ari Aster, the guy who brought us last year’s chilling Hereditary.  Midsommar has a huge Wicker Man-vibe to it as it deals with a really bizarre cult.  The film really takes a turn for the strange about 30-40 minutes in, but it opens with a massive gut-punch.  Florence Pugh, who plays Dani, deals with a horrific family tragedy and is invited by her boyfriend to travel with them to Sweden to observe this cult.  Florence Pugh delivers a knock-out performance in this film, especially towards the beginning of the film when her character is devastated by tragedy.  Her performance is equal parts tragic and incredible.  She just throws herself into this role and the results are absolutely amazing.  Midsommar is a strange-ass movie, but it’s anchored by Florence’s performance.

Veronica Ngo – Furie

Yeah, Furie is a straight-up action movie in the same vein as Taken, but what sets it apart from the other films like it is Veronica Ngo.  She plays a former gang member who is the mother of a little girl who is kidnapped by a trafficking ring.  While the story is nothing new, it does have a lot of heart to it and that’s due to Veronica’s performance.  She brings a huge amount of soul and depth to what many could consider to be a typical “desperate parent” role.  She’s absolutely fantastic here.  Not only is she great with the action, but the non-action sequences are where she really delivers.  The action is fueled by the character’s rage and desperation which gives the fight scenes more power, especially in the ending battle sequences.  Come for the action, but stay for Veronica’s performance.

Scott Adkins – Avengement

I’ve been an enormous fan of Scott Adkins for years, because he’s helped deliver some of the best action movies.  I’ve never really thought too much of him as an actor, though, at least not until films like The Debt Collector.  I think his best performance, however, is as Cain Burgess in the British crime/action thriller, Avengement.  Now, most people who have seen this film would probably point to the moments where he goes absolutely ape-shit.  They’re not necessarily wrong, as Adkins is pretty much let off the leash here.  But, I have to admit, that some of the more effective scenes are where he’s not actually throwing punches.  I really like the scenes where his character spends some time with his mother, as those are pretty effective.  You see Adkins go from this kind of naive wannabe gangster to a full-blown rage-driven maniac.  The evolution(or de-evolution, if you will) over the course of the film feels natural, and Scott really sells it.

Joaquin Phoenix – Joker

I didn’t put this one at the top of the list for one reason:  It’s too obvious.  I wanted to give others a chance to shine before I got to this one.  Well before Joker was released, there was a lot of talk about Phoenix being nominated for an Academy Award.  If he doesn’t get at least a nomination, any chance of the Awards being taken seriously will get thrown out the window.  Joker is Joaquin’s movie.  I’m not going to compare Joaquin’s performance to Heath Ledger’s because these are two very different interpretations, and both are excellent in their own way.  What makes Phoenix’s performance so special is that Phoenix gives the character a more sympathetic angle, which is not what you would expect from a character called “The Joker.”  We are actively rooting for Arthur Fleck to NOT go off the deep end, which eventually he does, making this film a tragedy of sorts.  This is a film that tackles mental illness in a realistic fashion, and Joaquin Phoenix really delves into the character so much that he disappears.

Rosa Salazar – Alita: Battle Angel

I know what you’re thinking:  “Really?”  Let me explain:  Motion capture performances have been improving steadily over the past decade, with James Cameron evolving the technology in Avatar.   Alita: Battle Angel is just another step in creating almost life-like CGI characters.  I’ll be the first to admit that putting a CGI character on this list would seem…..odd.  The thing is, is that I’m looking at the performance behind the character.  The character is really nothing if the performance isn’t there, whether it’s live-action, cartoon or motion capture.  Thankfully, Rosa Salazar steps up to the plate as Alita.  Yeah, the character’s features are exaggerated(the eyes in particular), but that’s part of the charm here, and Rosa gives the cyborg a very human quality and you generally don’t see that from characters like this.  Rosa makes Alita a uniquely innocent character that has no idea who or what she is until she’s forced into a fight.  Say what you will about the rest of the film but you really can’t fault Rosa for delivering a strong performance.

Naomi Scott – Aladdin

I’m not going to sugar-coat it:  The new Aladdin sucks.  It really does.  It takes everything that made the original animated feature work and throws most of it out the window.  The sets are weak and the costumes even more so.  So why am I putting it on this list?  Naomi Scott.  While I think that Will Smith did pretty good, it was Naomi Scott as Jasmine that stole the show.  Ms. Scott is obviously beautiful, but she’s also very talented.  Her character of Princess Jasmine is feisty and fiercely independent, and Ms. Scott nails every aspect of her character.  Not only is she a fantastic actress, she’s got a great voice for the parts where she’s required to sing, and she’s absolutely wonderful.  It’s just a shame that the rest of the film doesn’t deserve that kind of performance.

Those are some of my favorite performances of the year.  What are yours?  Tell me down in the comments below.

Released: November 2019

Director: Roland Emmerich

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 138 Minutes

Distributor: Lionsgate Studios

Genre: Action/War/Drama

Cast:
Ed Skrein: Dick Best
Patrick Wilson: Edwin Layton
Woody Harrelson: Chester W. Nimitz
Luke Evans: Wade McClusky
Mandy Moore: Ann Best
Dennis Quaid: William ‘Bull’ Halsey
Aaron Eckhart: James Doolittle
Nick Jonas: Bruno Gaido

November 11.  Armistice Day.  Remembrance Day.  Veteran’s Day.  Whatever name you choose to call this day, it’s an important day regardless.  Historically speaking, today was the day that World War I came to an end.  Around the world, the day would continue to be known as Armistice or Remembrance Day.  In 1954, a bill was signed by President Eisenhower declaring the holiday be renamed Veteran’s Day in the United States.  Regardless of what name you call it, it’s the day that people use to commemorate the service and sacrifices of the men and women of the armed forces.  Whether it’s the British, French, Australian, or American military, this is THEIR day.  Because of that, I really wanted to do something special for this year’s Veteran’s Day, so I decided to pick a military movie to review.  I chose the new Midway by director Roland Emmerich.

Midway tells the epic story of The Battle of Midway during World War II.  This battle was widely considered by many historians to be the turning point in the Pacific Theater when the U.S. Navy turned the tide of battle against the Japanese fleet.  The film follows ace pilot Dick Best as he leads his air group into a battle of long odds against an enemy that outnumbers, outguns, and outclasses the American Navy in nearly every way.  With the aid of intelligence officer Edwin Layton and the trust of one Admiral Nimitz, the American forces attempt to lure the Japanese into a trap to prevent them from reaching the West Coast of the United States.  It is no exaggeration to say that if the Japanese won the Battle of Midway, the outcome of the war would have been very different.  As it was in real life, Midway is very much an underdog story, and those tend to be the most exciting and compelling.  Overall, the story here is excellent.  There are some issues that I have here.  While the focus is definitely on Midway, the film does touch on the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Marshall Islands, and the Doolittle Raid.  Each of those story elements are enough to warrant their own films, with Pearl Harbor getting a couple of its own.  While I appreciate that it does tackle those particular moments, the way the film transitions between them is very jarring.  Instead of a smooth transition involving Layton and Nimitz coming up with how to execute these plans, the film abruptly cuts to one story segment and then to another.  I think that could have been handled a little bit better, but the overall story is fantastic, hard-to-believe, yet absolutely true.  The film also takes some inspiration from Tora! Tora! Tora! in that it shows things from the Japanese perspective, which gives the film more depth than it would normally have.

Unlike Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, the actors in Midway are all portraying real people.  The real standouts are Patrick Wilson as Edwin Layton and Woody Harrelson as Admiral Nimitz.  These two are incredibly amazing actors and they really make their characters important and compelling.  Harrelson in particular just nails it as Admiral Nimitz.  Ed Skrein is okay as Best, even though Skrein is not the greatest of actors, and I think anybody could have played Dick Best.  That being said, Dick Best was extremely important in the battle with him managing to hit three of the Japanese carriers and sinking two of them.  Aaron Eckhart plays James Doolittle, who was known for leading a squadron to Tokyo and bombing it.  Eckhart is one of my favorite actors working today, and even though he really didn’t have much to do here, it’s awesome seeing him play somebody that had a pivotal role during the war.  Dennis Quaid is unrecognizable as William Halsey, who commanded the USS Enterprise.  He gave the character a very gruff and demanding demeanor which was respective of the actual person.  He did a pretty good job.  Overall, the acting was pretty good.

The battles in this film are simply outstanding.  The opening attack on Pearl Harbor doesn’t quite measure up to what Michael Bay did, but it’s still intense.  Each battle escalates in intensity as it has in real life.  From attack on the Marshall Islands to the actual Battle of Midway, the film throws everything at you, and yet what stands out the most about this film is the attention to detail.  Unlike some movies where each torpedo hits its mark, in this film, they don’t hit their targets, because the pilots and sailors have to rely on their own senses to make sure that they hit their targets.  That means they have to be damn good at their jobs.  Not only that, the dogfights are incredible to watch.  You look at the gunners in the American planes and how they move around whenever a maneuver is being made and they react accordingly.  You’ve definitely got huge explosions, but the human element is never lost here and that’s a hard thing to accomplish in a film like this.  You have to be careful that the spectacle doesn’t overshadow the people that made all this possible.  In terms of accuracy, the film is pretty much on the nose.  Even the tactics that pilots like Best use to hit their targets are very real.  Again, attention to detail is important.

There are a couple of things about the film that bug me, though.  The spoken dialogue sounds like it’s been written by a high school student.  The dialogue at times feels like it’s supposed to belong in a b-level movie.  Sometimes, this film does feel like that.  I understand that the film is trying to be inspiring, and it mostly succeeds, but sometimes it trips over its own two feet trying to sell the American Navy as the underdogs here.  It didn’t always quite work and the way some of the characters were written seems one-dimensional.  The film’s musical score is also something that doesn’t really stand out to me.  It’s not awful, but I won’t remember the music in a couple of days.  This is a Roland Emmerich film, so you kind of have to know what you are getting yourself into.  If, like me, you are a fan of Emmerich’s work, you’re going to find a lot to like here.  If you’re not, this movie isn’t going to change your mind.  If you’re willing to give it a chance, you may be surprised at how authentic it feels at times and how historically accurate it is while being entertaining at the same time.

It is to the brave men and women of the armed forces that I dedicate this post and review.  Without your service and sacrifice, I wouldn’t be able to do this.  We must never forget that the price of freedom is blood and that so many of our men and women shed theirs so that we could have that freedom.

My Final Recommendation: 8.5/10