Starring: Jason Momoa, Ron Perlman and Rose McGowan
The story begins, of course, with the young Conan and the destruction of his entire way of life when his village is savagely attacked and his father murdered. The narrative then jumps to the adult Conan, who years later discovers the identity of the men responsible for the massacre, and he sets out on a mission of revenge.
The story is mostly predictable, but that doesn't detract from the movie. The sets and CGI work were quite good, giving Conan's world a sense of reality and history that most fantasy movies just don't have. Jason Momoa was perfect for the part, and both Bob and I quite enjoyed this movie.
The Debt * * * * *
Starring: Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson
I really don't know how to describe this movie in a way that makes sense, so here's the plot summary from IMDB:
"The espionage thriller begins in 1997, as shocking news reaches retired Mossad secret agents Rachel (Helen Mirren) and Stefan (Tom Wilkinson) about their former colleague David (Ciarán Hinds). All three have been venerated for decades by their country because of the mission that they undertook back in 1966, when the trio (portrayed, respectively, by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas, and Sam Worthington) tracked down Nazi war criminal Vogel (Jesper Christensen) in East Berlin. At great risk, and at considerable personal cost, the team's mission was accomplished - or was it? The suspense builds in and across two different time periods, with startling action and surprising revelations."
This movie was amazing!! There are indeed "startling action and surprising revelations," which several times had me nearly leaping out of my seat! This is not, however, a comfortable movie. There were several scenes which were psychologically uncomfortable to watch due to the references to Vogel's crimes, (nothing depicted, just talked about), but that were important to the story. Also the female agent gets beaten on fairly severely in both timelines, which was uncomfortable for me to watch personally, but was really relevant to the plot as well.
The ending was amazing, but left us thinking about the value of lies vs. total honesty, which was one of the major themes in the film. Helen Mirren was, naturally, bloody brilliant, as always. So overall the movie gets 5 stars from me, with the warning that there will be moments where you might be uncomfortable and scenes that will make you think.
Abduction * * *
Starring: Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins, Alfred Molina, Maria Bello and Sigourney Weaver
A thriller (more like thriller lite) about a teenager (Lautner) who sets out to uncover the truth about his life after finding his baby photo on a missing persons website, and realizing that his parents aren't really his parents. Completely predictable, a bit slow in some places, but overall not bad for Lautner's first post-Twilight film. Fun and even humorous in spots, easy and light with no real thought required. Sigourney Weaver and Maria Bello still manage to shine in their supporting roles, as they always do. It would have been better with the romantic aspect, which felt forced and awkward, but I suppose the teenagers will enjoy the movie anyway.
Oh wait. I enjoyed it too. Hmmm - what does that say about me?
Moving on!! Movies I'm still looking forward to include:
In Time - (This looks A-Frickin'-Mazing! Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer, Cillian Murphy, & Johnny Galecki)
The Three Musketeers (Milla Jovovich & Orlando Bloom)
Anonymous (Political thriller theorizing that Shakespeare didn't exist. Vanessa Redgrave & David Thewlis).
Immortals (Henry Cavill, Freida Pinto - Looks awesome!)
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (Jude Law, Robert Downey Jr. Hooray - The boys are back!!)
Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol (I am such a sucker for this theme song!)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Daniel Craig and, oh who cares? It's Daniel Craig! Hopefully this will rock!)
0 Comments:
Post a Comment