The Debt... You MAY walk away feeling owed.

In 1966, Mossad agents Rachel Singe (Jessica Chastain), Stephen Gold (Marton Csokas), and David Peretz ( Sam Worthington) were sent to East Berlin on a mission to bring back Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen) to be tried for his Mengele style experiments on Jewish women and children earning him the name of the Butcher of Birkenau. The extraction attempt failed and while awaiting further order, Rachel was forced to kill Vogel.

Now it’s 1997 and Rachel (Helen Mirren) ex-husband, Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) and David (Ciarán Hinds) have been heralded heroes for three decades. Rachel and Stephan’s daughter immortalizes them in a book being released but the festivities are cut short when reports of an old man in a Ukrainian asylum claiming to be Vogel are discovered. Perhaps there is more to the agents’ story.

 To call this an espionage thriller wouldn’t be very fair. Sure there is espionage, and some of it is thrilling, but much of the middle is a little dull. Do not be fooled by the gun brazen agents on the movie poster. If you’re expecting a Mission Impossible feel to the movie, you are going to be disappointed. There is some suspense during two different time periods, but these agents have not aged well at all. Even the attempted romantic triangle falls short of “tense.” Helen Mirren is nothing close to the spy she played in “Red” which is a shame, because I love a spunky older she-spy, and since it falls upon her to do the lion’s share of the wet-work, I was expecting more.

The movie does deliver on a mind challenging twist and ends well, but it may be something you wait for cable or renting a DVD for.  

Columbiana – Killing people just got a bit sexier.

Cataleya witnessed her parents killed by a Columbian crime boss when she was little. As any other child of a deadly hitman, she escaped her own death by laying a “whooping” down on the assassins and escaping to America to live with her Uncle Emilio (Cliff Curtis) who is also involved in some savory work in Chicago. Cataleya wants to be a “killer” like her daddy and 15 years later (as Zoe Saldana) she gets busy at it racking up 20+ assassinations in nearly impossibly planned ways leaving her “calling card” drawn on the victims’ bodies as the flower she is named after. 

Life is good until her boy toy Danny (Michael Vartan) wants to know who this incredibly sexy woman who invades his studio and curls his toes is. The Columbian crap hits the fan as the FBI’s Agent Ross (Lennie James, who seems to always play an agent of some kind) closes in and the crime bosses' men come from the other direction.

They managed to have Zoe nearly scantily clad throughout this entire kill-fest which is a good thing. Those who like to the see the bad guys at the mercy of badder guys (or in this case, gal) will love this movie. Cataleya never gives up the upper hand which makes the movie more fun, a bit unbelievable, and the hand to hand fight scenes have some weird angles which usually mean the fighting badasses aren’t as bad as they should be, but it was a thrilling ride. The action was enjoyable. If you want to see a sexy lady kick some ass in her pjs, you’re in for a hell of a ride! 

Don’t be afraid of the dark…. Because it’s nothing a hockey stick couldn’t fix.

I had high hopes for this movie, because the previews had it all, creepy mansion, brat kid, creepy crawly things, ethereal voices, and darkness. I even made it past the fact that Katie Holmes (Kim) played the new girlfriend trying to win over the brat kid Sally (Bailee Madison) and hoping to still have her life unaffected with recently burdened Daddy (Guy Pearce.) Isn’t this always the way these scary little kid movies are?

New girlfriend tries to befriend brat kid without wanting to ruin relationship with the Baby-Daddy, but when the kid gets into supernatural trouble, no one believes the kid which leads everyone down the path to their destruction. Kid gets diagnosed by local shrink, everyone ignores insane child’s claim and eerie similarity to missing/dead previous owner’s story, crap hits the fan, kid wasn’t lying, everyone gets their butt whooped, the end. Well my friend this is no different.

I can only assume Katie played the awkward yet irritating, child ignoring even after putting all the pieces together, oh crap now the beasties are gonna get me, girlfriend so well because of her experience in the Cruise household. Though this movie does have the typical scares during the dark flashing lightning scenes, once the creatures’ true nature is found out, it’s all downhill from there. The kid, the family, and the critters themselves become irritating and not so scary. I kept hoping to please get to the end. The creepy creature voices even lost their eeriness towards the end. Whisper… whisper… oh shut up with it… then the grand finale dumb ending followed by the cliché “this may not be the end” closing. 

Fright Night - Finally Vampires are sucking blood again, instead of ...other things.

People are disappearing in Charley Brewster’s (Anton Yelchin) small town near Las Vegas, but Charlie is too busy being cool to notice, even when his high-school friend trys to warn him that his new neighbor Jerry Dandridge (Colin Farrell) is a vampire. Charlie’s world with his hot girlfriend Amy Peterson (Imogen Poots) is about to be severely altered. Who else can Charlie turn to except for the famous Vegas vampire hunter Peter Vincent (David Tennant) who has made a nice living as an illusionist with a passion for ancient things.

The 3D effects are typical with some fast blood splattering, but other than that this movie was entertaining. There is enough in common with the original 1985 storyline that old fans will be happy, and enough of a modern spin to make new fans appreciate it. To me, Colin Farrell nails the part of cocky, immortal vampire. He’s just that kind that makes you want to run a stake through his heart. The funny parts in the movie are just enough to relieve the tension, with a surprise visit from the original Jerry Dandridge from the 1985 film, Chris Sarandon who fares as well as the rest of Colin’s victims.   

It was refreshing to see a vampire movie in which vampires were killing machines and not the lonely, love starved immortals today’s paranormal romances has reduced them to.  

Final Destination 5 - 3D in all of it's gory. Death can be funny.

If gore is what you want and you’re a fan of the Final Destination series, this movie in 3D is a must. The makers have taken full advantage of the 3D effects rather generously (and obnoxiously in the opening credits)

As typical in FD movies we have the seer, Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto), seer’s girlfriend/love interest Molly (Emma Bell), best friend Peter (a very Tom Cruise like Miles Fisher), the peacemaker Nathan (Arlen Escarpeta), the clueless arrogant boss Dennis (David Koechner), best friend’s girlfriend, hot tough chick who never gets naked, and total jerk who all get saved from a very graphic and panic driven suspension bridge collapse thanks to a timely vision from Sam.  Tony Todd (of Candyman fame) returns to deliver the ominous warning to the group. Death will not be cheated.

The warning is eventually taken seriously by the survivors as one by one members start to die in unique, gory, and 3D gratuitous ways. Maybe it’s my age or outlook in life, maybe I have been desensitized as all of the media has warned, but the movie was more funny (in that 1000 ways to die television show way) than scary. With all of the laughs and flitching from the rest of the audience, I can tell I wasn’t alone.  

The movie does have a nice twist at the end and there is a nice 3D enhanced montage of the previous four movie killing enhanced with a 3D surprise. The representative mentioned that there were 12 other movies planned, which seems very optimistic to me, but who knows.

50/50 - part funny, part not, part dull... kinda like real life.

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a 27 year old typical guy with a somewhat obnoxious and funny friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), hot artist girlfriend whom he is trying to understand and life doesn’t get much better, until he gets diagnosed with a rare type of spinal cancer. Adam struggles to get a grip on having cancer as he goes through chemotherapy, trying not to be too much of a burden on his girlfriend, avoiding his meddling mother, and hanging out with his best friend who will stop at nothing to have a good time. Katie (Anna Kendrick) is his therapist trying to gain Adam’s trust as he deals with the disease and the chemotherapy.

The movie plays upon the emotions of being diagnosed with cancer and dealing with the realization that it just may take Adam’s life. Throughout the sickness which comes from chemo and the changes in his life, Adam finds out whom he can count on, and whom he can’t. Seth Rogen provides much of the comedy, with glimpses from Gordon-Levitt and Kendrick through this testament to humanity. There are some very strong moments that brought some tears to the eyes of the audience, but some parts of the movie dragged. This would not be a movie I would purchase on DVD/Blue Ray after seeing it in the theater.  

30 minutes or less.... more than I was expecting!

Hilariously funny.  Jesse Eisenberg (Nick) and Aziz Ansari (Chet) play friends who are stuck in life’s hum-drum reality. Nick is a reckless pizza delivery guy whose wit in far greater than those he delivers to. He hates his job, he hates his boss, and the only ray of sunshine is his friend Chet’s twin sister Kate (Dilshad Vadsaria). The friends reveal some hilariously uncomfortable revelations and quickly build the tension that only true friends have. Danny McBride (Dwayne) and Nick Swardson (Travis) play the redneck goofball villians that would rival the “wet bandits” from Home Alone. The play side-splitting believable misfits that plan to gain Dwayne’s father’s (Fred Ward) lottery winnings by having him killed. The problem is, the need $100,000 and a patsy to do it. Nick finds himself at the mercy of the dumb-namic duo. He has to rob the bank and bring back the money or else the bomb that has been strapped to him will go off.  If there’s a chance you may die in an explosion and take out innocent bystanders, who else would you need with you but your best friend in the world!   

It is hard not to root for Nick and Chet in this humorous tale as the friends bumble their way through the day to get the $100,000. Though not as action packed as many other shows coming out this summer, there are some good car chase scenes and this movie quickly makes up for its lack of star power with entertaining quips and interactions from start to finish. Every character adds a bit of humor to the movie. If you’re looking for a movie to make you laugh out loud, this is it. Let the amusement begin!  There is some vulgar language, but it adds to the character development.  

Cowboys and Aliens

Daniel Craig (James Bond and Defiance) plays Jake, who finds himself in the desert not remembering who he is, how he got there, and how he acquired an odd metal manacle on his arm. As most westerns, he finds himself in a confrontation where he is revealed to be an able warrior. He finds himself in the town of Absolution where a kindly preacher dresses his mysterious wound and enlightens him about the town. 

Harrison Ford, the Colonel, is a cattle baron, who has survived the civil war with a reputation of being gruff, intimidating, and heavy handed. Absolution, failing at gold mining, is relying solely on the cattle trade for survival. He is the father of an ungrateful son Percy, and father-figure of a likeable, Nat played by Adam Beach (Windtalkers).

As the action in town comes to a head, the typical western confrontation is interrupted buy the appearance of strange lights which quickly become ships destroying the town and lassoing away the townsfolk. Olivia Wilde plays Ella, a survivor of another people wiped out by the aliens.

All differences are set aside as the rag-tag group of townsfolk set out to rescue the taken revealing glimpses of Jake’s not so honorable past. It becomes revealed that these aliens must be stopped, or they will return and wipe out all civilization on earth.

This comic book adaptation was rich in scenic western backdrop. It was easy to get into the “old west” feel. Jake is quickly established as a likeable hero with a soiled past. Surprisingly, Harrison Ford’s character takes some warming to, instead of his normally heroic parts. Eventually Ella becomes a mysterious figure and possible love interest for Jake who slowly gains flashes into his past. The technology of the aliens is far superior to the cowboy which gives the movie an unrealistic vibe. If not for the weapon Jake has attached to his wrist the movie would quickly have been over as the townsfolk were one by one taken away.

The movie is confusing at times when the “big battle” ensues. It appears that the humans have the aliens outnumbered, whereas the aliens have armored skin and are “sporadically” armed with fantastic weapons. If you were being attacked, wouldn’t you have armed EVERYONE in the fort with a weapon and, as later revealed to be the contrary, sent all of your warriors out to defend your ship? The movie would like you to believe that the aliens simply view the humans as “insects” but after the aliens lose two ships, I would imagine they would take their enemy more serious.   

The action is exciting and the effects are very well done, but the storyline is a bit unreal. Since I haven’t read the comic, I don’t know how much story they squeezed into the 118 minute movie, but some of the pieces fall to quickly into play for me. There were a lot of parts in the movie that left me with unanswered questions. The movie is worth the time to watch the battle of the icons, and the ending is believable, just a bit fantastical. Why is it that aliens are always stronger, scarier, tougher, and kicking our ass at the beginning, then we somehow overcome it? I want a movie where they land, find out they really underestimated humans, we recreate an armada using their own technology, go back to their planet and invade them for once!