RED 2

ACTION/ADVENTURE, COMEDY

The Best Never Rest

8.0 out of 10 | DVD or RENTAL

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Rated: PG-13 Pervasive action and violence including frenetic gunplay, and for some language and drug material
Release Date: July 19, 2013
Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes

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Director: Dean Parisot
Writers: Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, based on characters created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner
Cast: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Neal McDonough, David Thewlis, Brian Cox

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SYNOPSIS:  Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device.

REVIEW: Galaxy Quest and Fun with Dick and Jane director Dean Parisot tries to rein in Bruce Willis as he returns as Frank, a retired CIA agent designated as RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous). Based on a script by returning scribes Erich and Jon Hoeber, from the comic characters created by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Frank and his elite retirees find themselves in even deeper trouble against the government they served and a new international threat.

Frank (Bruce Willis, A Good Day to Die Hard) returns as an ex-CIA Cold War operative living in quiet retirement with his girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds), still labeled as a RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous). When his long time agent buddy Marvin (John Malkovich, Warm Bodies) is killed, Frank and Sarah go to ground and Frank is arrested and interrogated by a spook specialist Jack Horton (Neal McDonough, Captain America: The First Avenger) who asks him what he knows about Project Nightshade. Knowing nothing about the project, Frank escapes to discover and uncover what he can find out about the highly classified project. He is helped by a former soviet femme fatale Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rock of Ages), a crack shot and former MI6 agent Victoria (Helen Mirren, Hitchcock) while being pursued by contract killer Han Cho Bai (Byung-hun Lee, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) who Frank shares a betraying past.

A sequel to the graphic novel turned movie RED, RED 2 is a action-packed, silly suspense dramedy that does not take itself too seriously. Tongue and cheek, Frank and his ex-agents deal with governments ready to put them out to pasture - permanently - a Cold War relic that could mean the death of millions, and a conspiracy that reaches far beyond the scope of any of their individual experiences and abilities. High on snark, rich with gunfire and close combat, and thundering with explosions, RED 2 is the perfect follow-up to the original and complement to the graphic novel series.

Bruce Willis as Frank finds himself struggling against years of operative training in order to settle down with his girlfriend Sarah. The problem is that his girlfriend has the adrenaline bug and just wants to go out on grand adventures. John Malkovich is at his strange and paranoid best as Marvin, but somehow the voice of reason when it comes to Frank's romantic life. Helen Mirren's Victoria is as stunning as she is dangerous, coupled with the exotic beauty and grace of Catherine Zeta Jones Katja. A couple other familiar faces show up in the sequel, as well as new threats.

RED 2 does not skip out on the high explosives, car chases, gun fights, and close quarters fighting. It also amps up the international espionage and intrigue by forcing Frank and his crew to save themselves by figuring out the Cold War era Project Nightshade to save themselves. Sprinting around the world, Frank and his gang encounter danger and threats from all sides.

If possible, RED 2 is somehow more grounded and believable then its original film counterpart. Remember when Malkovich's Marvin shot a handgun at a rocket propelled grenade? None of that is in this sequel, although there is still plenty of high intensity action for the adrenaline junkie fans of cinema. There still some unbelievable action sequences and you root for the good guys every time.

RED 2 is a grand old time at the movies, especially if you like Bruce Willis' tough guy roles and sheer firepower. Sedate moments throughout balance the raw and plentiful action, keeping this film a perfect trajectory for success.

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War Horse

Be Brave, Be Brave

★ ★ ★ ★ out of 5 buckets | Matinee and BluRay

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Rated: PG-13 Intense sequences of war violence
Release Date: December 25, 2011
Runtime: 2 hrs 26 min

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Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Lee Hall, Richard Curtis, novel by Michael Morpurgo
Cast: Emily Watson, Peter Mullan, Jeremy Irvine, Tom Hiddleston, David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch

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SYNOPSIS: At the onset of the First World War, a man sells and enlisted a horse into the British army to save his farm, breaking the heart of his son and wife. As the war rages on, the horse Joey works for both the British and German armies, encountering many soldiers and families ravaged by the wheels of war.

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REVIEW: Steven Spielberg, acclaimed director of Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, and Jaws, brings to the silver screen a story of a horse. Based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo and the instantly successful Nick Stafford play that followed, screenwriters Lee Hall (Billy Elliot) and Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill) adapt War Horse into an epic film centered around the English countryside, the First World War, a young man and a horse named Joey.

Starting as a just born fold, a thoroughbred horse comes of age and readied for auction. Drunkard and war vet Ted Narracott (Peter Mullan, Braveheart) goes to market in search of a strong plow horse, but fancies the thoroughbred so much that he spends more than he had to buy the horse. Facing the loss of his farm and the wrath of his wife Rose (Emily Watson, Angela's Ashes), Ted tasks his son Albert (Jeremy Irvine, Life Bites) to break in the untested but feisty steed. When the landowner Lyons (David Thewlis, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2) comes to collect the farm's rent, he gives the Narracott family enough time to prove that the horse can actually plow the lower fields and prepare for planting. All the while, Albert and Joey, the name he gives to the horse, become fast and close friends. When the Narracott family faces more bad luck, Ted is forced to sell the animal into the service of an British cavalry captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston, Thor) at the start of the Great War in order to play the rent and save the farm for another season. Upon their departure, Albert and Rose are furious at the way Ted handled himself, but understood why he make the decision he did. From that point forward, Joey plays a central role to a cavalcade of officers and soldiers on both sides of the war, as well as others along the way.

From veterans like Emily Watson and Peter Mullan to the up and comers like Jeremy Irvine and David Kross, a fine cast is assembled to bring War Horse to life. The formerly mischievous and currently dashing and proper Tom Hiddleston brings a quiet aplomb to his role as Captain Nicholls, even as he and Joey take on Benedict Cumberbatch's (Atonement) competitive and cocky Major Stewart and his massive black horse. But through all of the impressive acting, Joey himself is the center of the story and deserves all the attention. Fiery and rebellious, but loyal and fearless, the animal makes the movie the epic it deserves to be - just like the puppetry that dazzles on stage in Manhattan, Toronto and London.

War Horse is simply a magnificent beast. Joey is strong and true through every landscape, from the lush rolling green fields of the British countryside, filled with rocks and harsh planting fields, to the golden hues of the tall dry grasses prior the war's first battle, to the overcast barbed wire laden cratered fields of battle. With strong silhouettes and colors, Spielberg adds motion and emotion to the film's palette. At times, the film looks as if it is painted and set on a play stage. Other times its scope is reminiscent of classic films like Gone With The Wind. If you close your eyes for a moment and enjoy the scores of longtime colleague and composer John Williams, the symphony will lift your spirits and break your heart in equal measure. Open your eyes, add in the breathtaking scenery and ageless tale of faith and perseverance, and you have a superior film in the long tradition of Spielberg.

I was distracted by the altered lighting of some of the re-shoots scenes edited into the originally shot film, but only for a moment. And the speech that Major Stewart gives his cavalry before charging into battle against the Germans seems to carry more weight in the trailer than it does in the final film.

Spielberg is respectful of both the life and death that the subject matter in War Horse touches on. Interspersed in the story's serious and dramatic tones are little gems of humor and good well that keep the 146 minute film fresh, entertaining and engrossing. Laughs snuck out unexpectedly, tears fell down my cheek, and I yearned for the innocence and faith of a boy and wept for the innocence lost of that boy as he becomes a man hardened on the fields of war.

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WORTH: Matinee and DVD

Anonymous

A Triumph In Tragedies

Director: Roland Emmerich

Writers: John Orloff
Cast: Rhys Ifans, Vanessa Redgrave, Sebastian Armesto, Rafe Spall, Edward Hogg, Xavier Samuel, Sam Reid, David Thewlis

SYNOPSIS: Set during the reign and eventual succession of Queen Elizabeth I, it is postulated that Edward De Vere, the Earl of Oxford actually penned all of the plays that William Shakespeare is noted for writing.

REVIEW: Roland Emmerich, notable director of such disaster movies as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and the 1998 version of Godzilla, takes a break from the science fact/fiction of the end of the world in favor of the heavier drama of 16th Century England and the works of William Shakespeare. Led by a script by Band of Brothers and The Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole writer John Orloff, Anonymous proposes a new version of history with William Shakespeare as a fraud.

During the 16th Century and the England and Ireland rule under Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave), known as the Elizabethan Era, the kingdom is fighting invaders and campaigns on many fronts. From the Netherlands to Spain, England has spread out its forces to defend its interests. During her reign, English drama flourished. In Anonymous, the plays of one William Shakespeare have come into question. Edward De Vere, Earl of Oxford (Rhys Ifans - Pirate Radio, young Edward played by Jamie Campbell Bower)) grew into nobility after the death of his parents, taken in and tutored in the was of state, policy, language and philosophy by one of the royal's ministers, William Cecil (David Thewlis - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2). Growing up in a Protestant house, drama, theater and poetry are considered sacrilege. As a young man, Edward becomes a lover of the not-as-young Queen Elizabeth (Joely Richardson), taken by his musings and poet's heart. In later life, knowing that a nobleman would be branded and ostracized if it were known that he had written plays for the theater, Edward approaches Ben Johnson (Sebastian Armesto - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) to take his plays and manuscripts under the Johnson pen name and publish and produce his works for him. Concerns about his own work, Johnson balks at stepping forward as the play write. And when the play is received to thunderous applause and Johnson did not step forward, actor Will Shakespeare (Rafe Spall - Hot Fuzz) announces that the play is his work - propelling him into the spotlight for money and notoriety.

There is so much more that could be revealed, but at what cost? A political suspense thriller, the validity of William Shakespeare's work in only part of the story. The lifelong relationship of Edward with Queen Elizabeth holds the heart and center of the film, setting off numerous chains of events that affect both the stability of the Tudor monarchy and the kingdom of England. Back stabbing, stolen work, blackmail, assassination attempts, forbidden love, supposed heirs to the throne, and plots to overthrow a nation all play their part in this classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy.

Rhys Ifans Edward performance is tortured and deep, all the while trying to purge the demons of the words in his mind by inking them to parchment. Jamie Campbell Bower portrayal of the young Earl of Oxford adds lightness and the eventual weight that his later version carries. And what of a queen, played expertly by Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson, whose entire life was shaped by attempts of overthrows to her throne and her crown?

Anonymous is a brilliant work, carrying all of the earmarks of what makes a Greek or Shakespearean tragedy so classic and enduring. Every performance is superb, every actor and actress engrossing. If all the world is a stage, and if period quasi-historical films are your genre of choice, Anonymous should not remain unknown to you.

WORTH: Matinee and DVD